Characters / Personajes:

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In English | En español

Some days ago, millions of people saw the vice-presidential debate between Biden and Palin (it was fine and there were no blows), and tomorrow Tuesday (October 7th), we’ll see Obama and McCain again (I smell another win for …). Although people may be in complete disagreement with the ones from the opposite party, even members from both political affiliations can have fun at Atom.com by playing a cool Flash game à la Mortal Kombat called Kung-Fu Election.

Let’s begin with the gameplay. You may be disappointed (or not) because of the lack of fatalities, but the gameplay, control and mechanism feels like the one from the 90s versions of Midway’s Mortal Kombat and Atari’s Pit Fighter. The action is not like the one in 2D Capcom fighting games, but it’s still fun to play.

The graphics are realistic. I'm surprised by the realistic graphic details of the game. The characters look awesome, but make sure your PC has a normal amount of RAM. Even in computers from two or three years ago, if your PC has 256MB DDR, it would work a bit slow. Make sure you don't have that many applications open or in use. Anything higher than that should be good.

The characters have been updated, meaning people can choose a fight between Palin and Hillary Clinton. Of course, some of the previous presidential candidates are present like Guillani, Biden, Richardson, Edwards, Romney and others. Edwards (he does a Hadouken to freeze his opponent just like Sub-Zero) and Bill Clinton (you can see him when you use one of Hillary's special moves) both look like Ryu, and Hillary seems to be a fan of Chun-Li, from Street Fighter II. Cindy McCain has the same costume as the main character from Kill Bill, while Huckabee and Giuliani look somewhat like Raiden and Baraka (not Barack). Biden's character seems to come from Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur games. Michelle Obama is also present in the game.

Every character has two special attacks. Make sure to practice with your favorite fighters a lot in the training room to execute their attacks effectively and get to understand your opponents' abilities as well. The one I don't like that much is Palin's hockey stick because it can turn into a rifle and can fire three bullets at you, one at a time. That special attack may take some of fun away from the game, unless you find out someone else’s special move to counterattack with, or be patient in order to learn your opponents’ techniques to beat him or her. The same can happen with other characters as you get to play the game. There’s no time limit (cool!), and no way to pause the game ( :( ). My wish list: a 2-player mode, and an online mode (like Street Fighter Online), and maybe even add past presidents like George Washington. It’s a great Flash game to play. I’d like to know now if the current president is a hidden playable character (like Goro is in Mortal Kombat Armageddon).

If you've played Bible Fight (where there is a hidden, playable character indeed) on AdultSwim.com and had lots of fun with it, then you should definitively try Kung-Fu Election. Unlike politics, this is fun. Like politics, be careful as to whom to choose. At least, in this game, the best fighter will win without cheating. To play this game, go to www.kungfuelection.com.

En español | In English

Hace unos días, millones de personas vieron el debate vice-presidencial entre Biden y Palin (estuvo bueno y no hubo golpes fuertes) y mañana martes (7 de octubre) veremos a Obama y a McCain otra vez (ya huelo otro triunfo para …). Aunque la gente pueda estar en desacuerdo completo con la gente del partido opuesto, incluso los miembros de ambas afiliaciones políticas pueden divertirse en Atom.com al jugar un juego chévere Flash à la Mortal Kombat con el nombre de Kung-Fu Election.

Comencemos con el juego en sí. Tal vez se encuentre decepcionado (o no) por la falta o carencia de las fatalidades, pero el juego, control y mecanismo se parece al de las versiones de Mortal Kombat de Midway y de Pit Fighter de Atari. La acción no es como la de los juegos de combate 2D de Capcom, pero aún es divertido para jugarlo.

Los gráficos son realísticos. Los detalles gráficos realistas del juego me sorprendieron. Los personajes parecen impresionantes, pero asegúrense de que su PC tenga una cantidad normal de RAM. Incluso en computadoras a partir hace de dos o tres años, si su PC tiene 256MB DDR, trabajaría un poco lento. Cerciórense de que ustedes no tengan muchas aplicaciones abiertas o en uso. Cualquier cosa mayor que eso debe ser bueno.

Los personajes han sido actualizados, y eso quiere decir que la gente puede escoger una pelea entre Palin y Hillary Clinton. Claro, algunos de los candidatos a la presidencia están presentes tales como Guillani, Biden, Richardson, Edwards, Romney y otros. Ambos, Edwards (él hace un Hadouken para congelar a sus contrincante como Sub-Zero) y Bill Clinton (lo pueden ver cuando usan uno de los movimientos especiales de Hillary), se parecen a Ryu, y Hillary parece que es una hincha o fanática de Chun-Li, de Street Fighter II. Cindy Mc Cain lleva el mismo traje que la de la personaje principal de Kill Bill, mientras que Huckabee y Giuliani se parecen en algo a Raiden y Baraka (no a Barack). El personaje de Biden parece que viene de los juegos de Soul Calibur de Namco Bandai. Michelle Obama también está presente en el juego.

Cada personaje tiene dos ataques especiales. Asegúrense de practicar con sus combatientes favoritos bastante en la sala de entrenamiento para ejecutar sus ataques efectivamente y para que de igual manera lleguen a comprender las habilidades de sus oponentes. Lo que no me gusta mucho es el stick de hockey de Palin porque se puede convertir en un rifle y puede disparar tres balas, una a la vez, a ustedes. Ese ataque especial puede quitar por sí mismo la diversión del juego, a menos a que encuentren el movimiento especial para contraatacar con el movimiento especial de alguien más, ó sean pacientes para aprender las técnicas de sus oponentes para vencerlos. Lo mismo puede suceder con otros personajes a medida que jueguen el juego. No hay tiempo límite (¡qué chévere!), y no hay manera de poner pausa en el juego ( :( ). Mi lista de deseos: un modo de juego para dos jugadores, y un modo online (como en Street Fighter Online), y tal vez aumentar a presidentes del pasado como George Washington. Es un juego Flash divertido para jugar. Me gustaría saber ahora si el presidente actual es un personaje oculto capaz de ser escogido (como Goro en Mortal Kombat Armageddon).

Si han jugado Bible Fight (donde sí hay un personaje oculto jugable) en AdultSwim.com y se han divertido bastante con eso, entonces definitivamente debería tratar Kung-Fu Election. No como en la política, este es divertido. Como en la política, cuidado a quien escoja. Por lo menos en este juego, el o la mejor combatiente ganará sin hacer trampas. Para jugar este juego, vayan a www.kungfuelection.com.

Once again our community has proven that no feat is too great. Last year the thought of promoting the Xbox 360 to a primarily Playstation weaned generation of gamers with closed-minded thoughts on believing that JRPGs exist on the PS3 alone and that 360's die in 2 and a half days of use was pretty much our main goal to debunk. This year nobody really seemed to give a damn. The 360 had games, and they were f'ing gold. And the people saw it for themselves. The main glaring fact was that we had Rock Band 2 and, not that its bad, but the PS3 had Rock Band 1. Sorry for the quick dig on 360 timed exclusivity, but I'm making a beeline for RB2. I must say never has the Playstation 3's penchant for late game releases and one-year-later games have been so obvious to the Filipino masses than today's Anicon.

We live in a world where, believe it or not, the Xbox 360 has more JRPG's than the PS3. Right now, we have, I believe, 5 JRPGs. The Playstation, "home to the JRPG", has Enchant Arm. (and Eternal Sonata, you know, that game we've had for a year now) DMC4 is something we played months ago in our xboxes. You know, just in case people were wondering if the Xbox had Japanese action games. Niko Bellic has become part of our vocabulary (and our lives) and not just in Playstationese. And we're poised to have exclusive downloadable expansion packs for it soon. We regularly play various japanese online fighting games that actually work, online. You know, hassle free game invites and all that.

I don't think anybody who's been to Anicon thinks the Xbox doesn't have Playstation's old exclusive games anymore.

Combine this with PXB's spacious environment and friendly faces, where playing a game seems to just require a quick calling of attention to yourself when the last player is done, and you find yourself wierdly part of the community. A community you probably just met a couple minutes ago. With games where you don't have to elbow your way around and wait behind lines to partake in. Our message was clear: "We want you to try our games and we want you to be part of our community".

This probably sounds like too much hyperbole, but after an event like this I feel like someone needs to describe it so that people that were there will nod their heads in agreement and the people who weren't there will understand what it was like to be there, in enough detail to convince you of the point and not just straight up tell you the facts.

The fact is, PXB's "booth" was a resounding success, and the reason/s for that fact are all explained above.

The characters can be odd, but they are almost always awesome

Soulcalibur IV may just be the best fighting game I've ever played. Granted, you'll remember how I just said I'm not a huge fan of fighting games (so I haven't played very many), and yes, Tekken 3 is pretty sweet. But when it comes to incredibly deep and polished weapons-based gameplay, jaw-dropping graphics/art design, and addictive one-on-one multiplayer, few games can challenge SC4.

Even being a noob to the genre, I can tell that most gamers don't play fighting games for their stories. However, if you are one of the three people that do, Soulcalibur IV provides a serviceable plot. The basic jist of it is that there's a mythical and powerful weapon called "Soul Edge" that everybody wants. Each character has their own particular backstory about why they personally want the sword, some with good intentions and others with evil, and it appears the only way for anyone to get their hands on it is to beat the crap out of everyone in their way. It goes deeper than that... there's relationships between some characters and the whole Siegfried/Nightmare alter ego spiel, but all the background stuff is completely optional reading. I haven't delved into the giant pile of Soulcalibur literature myself, but then again, there's a good chance you won't either.

The worst part of the game's story aspect is how the actual "Story Mode" is virtually identical for each of the game's 33 characters, save for maybe a different challenger on a couple of levels. Different challengers or not, the structure of the story mode is unchanged. It's also incredibly short, with only about 5 fights until you're finished. This is why "Arcade Mode" is the best single-player offline option. Starting easy and ending brutally difficult, this staple mode of the fighting game genre has you play through eight different one-on-one fights in a quest for the highest score possible. You may not be able to watch the cutscenes at the end of the Story Mode, but Arcade is a tougher and more rewarding challenge.

There is no hand-to-hand combat in SC4; every character uses only their unique weapon

I mentioned 33 characters in the paragraph above, and while that is technically true, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, 4 of them are "bonus characters", which means they are exact duplicates of some of the real fighters except with a different look designed by some random manga artist. Also, some of the developer-made characters have a few moves in common with each other, though they thankfully aren't full-on clones like the kind you see in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This really isn't that big of a deal, but I guess the developers could only come up with so many moves you execute with a rapier, or a giant wooden stick, or whatever other similar weapons there are. Most importantly though, is that while there are a few duds, most of the characters provide very fun and unique experiences. The fact that the game is weapon-based really opens the door for creative fighting styles, and the developers took full advantage of that. Balance is a tad questionable at times; for example, someone with a long-reaching weapon is naturally going to be able to easily take down someone with a stumpy little sword. The logical remedy to this problem would be to make the long-reaching character slow or weak, but that isn't always the case in Soulcalibur IV. There are also some cheap moves that are a bit too easy to pull off. Kilik falls under both of these complaints, and the fact that I see him so often when I play online makes me cringe.

And are the much-hyped Star Wars characters as awesome as we've hoped? Well... not exactly. Having played the Xbox 360 version of the game, I can only comment on Yoda, and my comment is that he's one of the worst characters in the game. His short height means that no one can use grab moves on him - not even when he's fighting another Yoda. Also, too many attacks go straight over his head, making battles against him tedious. Perhaps the most disappointing of all, though, is how underused the force is in Yoda's moveset, making him more of an annoying little hairy green mouse than the kick-ass fighter he ought to be. The Apprentice is better, and while he uses the force in much better ways than Yoda, he's still not the best character in the game. I guess overall it's fine to have these guest characters in Soulcalibur IV, but I won't be missing them by the time number five rolls around.

Yoda and the Apprentice - missed opportunities

The computer-controlled players can be tough at times, but the real challenge is online. Soulcalibur IV has a massive enough audience that you can always find someone in matchmaking to fight within a matter of seconds. In other words, if you select the "Create Match" option when playing online, someone will join you almost instantly. Those who choose Quick or Custom Matches will have a harder time hopping into a battle right away, I've found out. There is a ranking system in the online mode, and it is handled about as well as it can be. To go to the next level, players must earn experience through victories or other things (first strikes, perfects, etc.) until they max out a bar. Once the bar is maxed out, the player must win one more match to level up, or else they'll lose some experience points and have to try again the next time they have a full bar. This system keeps matches intense and fun, and my only gripe is that there aren't enough rewards for reaching high levels except for one achievement.

In a game played as precise as this, online lag can ruin it. It ruined Super Smash Bros. Brawl's online fighting, but thanks to the power of Xbox Live, Soulcalibur IV has no serious lag problems at all. Hearing people talk on their headsets is pretty much impossible unless you're wearing one yourself, or you're pwning a particularly whiny 12-year-old who can't except defeat. Most of the time however, you'll face mature enough players, so in other words, Halo 3 this is not.

One of my favorite parts of the online is seeing the creative and amazing designs some people make in the Character Creation feature. When someone can accurately recreate a character from some other game or show, it's tough not to appreciate the depth and versatility of the Character Creation. When you throw on a complex stat system that every piece of your custom character's equipment affects, you realize how much time can be spent working with that mode alone.

Two fighters made in the Character Creation mode

Few fighting games look this crisp and detailed. The Soulcalibur series has always been known for its graphics, and number four (five, if you count Soul Edge) in the series excels in visuals. Each stage presents a new breath-taking look into the game's universe, and even though each stage plays relatively the same, it's easy to find favorites just because of their graphics. Likewise, the art design of both the characters and the stages sets the new standard for fighting games.

To sum things up, Soulclaibur IV is an amazing fighting game. It excels in almost everyway and even after you've memorized the moves of each and every character, it has enough content to keep you busy for quite some time. Fans of fighting games should pick this up for sure, and those who are not yet fans of the fighting genre will have a hard time finding a better game to enter the genre with.

Pros: Supurbly polished weapons-based gameplay, addicting multiplayer, jaw-dropping graphics, interesting and varied characters, great stages, easy achievements, nearly flawless online play, incredibly deep and robust character creation feature, lots to do

Cons: Story mode is too short and almost exactly the same for every character, Star Wars characters are not the greatest, some characters share a handfull of moves, Kilik

Final Score: 9.2 out of 10

By Josh60502

I'm stuck on the 33rd floor in SCIV. I've played numerous hours and have tried various character customizations to beat Zasalamel and his 10 other cronies. Last night I had a show to attend (CSS to be exact - Brazilian electro -pop which is totally catchy and fun) but I nearly bailed due this fucking level. Its come to the point of obsession, as in the thought of being stuck on a level is interfering with work. I don't exactly know what I'm going to do when I have to go into the office tomorrow for our staff meeting. Just the thought of it is making me a bit nervous. Anyway, I suppose I should get back to the Tower of Lost Souls, lest my soul be encompassed by the rage of failure.

Press Release | Comunicado de Prensa

The Best Comes Together in Three Action-Packed Box Sets

Santa Clara, Calif., (September 17, 2008) – Leading video games publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that it has shipped a trifecta of renowned franchises with Namco Classic Fighter Collection™, NARUTO™: Ultimate Collection and PAC-MAN Power Pack™ to North American retailers for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. Each box set comes with three exciting titles from NAMCO BANDAI’s PlayStation 2 system library and carries a MSRP of $29.99.

“Namco Classic Fighter Collection, NARUTO: Ultimate Collection and PAC-MAN Power Pack feature some of NAMCO BANDAI’s most successful games in recent years,” said Todd Thorson, director of marketing and public relations at NAMCO BANDAI Games. “Each set is packed with top quality entertainment that no PlayStation 2 system owner should be without. It’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone who missed out on these great titles the first time around.”

Namco Classic Fighter Collection
Relive two classic King of the Iron Fist Tournaments and the sequel to the highest rated fighting game ever with Tekken® Tag Tournament™, Tekken® 4 and Soulcalibur® II.

· Tekken Tag Tournament – One of the hottest PlayStation 2 system launch titles, Tekken Tag Tournament brings frenzied tag team battles to the Tekken universe. Pair up your favorite characters and battle it out against friends. After the dust has been settled, take in a quick 10 frames with the popular Tekken Bowl mini-game.

· Tekken 4 – The true sequel in the Iron Fist Tournament saga, Tekken 4 introduces eager new contestants and environmental hazards for bone-snapping strategies. In the Tekken Force beat ‘em up mini-game, players fight through waves of enemies across four stages until they reach the final boss.

· Soulcalibur II – Fight against world-class warriors in the follow up to the universally acclaimed original.  Test your skills in Weapon Master Mode as you travel the land as a lone swordsman searching for the fabled Soul Edge. Making a special appearance as a guest character is Heihachi of Tekken 4 fame.

NARUTO: Ultimate Collection
Take part in epic fights straight out of the NARUTO™ animated television series, from VIZ Media, with NARUTO™: Ultimate Ninja®, NARUTO™: Ultimate Ninja® 2 and NARUTO™: Uzumaki Chronicles™ 2.

· NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja – Battle against Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and other beloved NARUTO characters in stages inspired from the animated show and manga. Unleash fantastic character specific attacks as the best of the best duke it out.

· NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja 2 – Unleash your inner Jutsu with over 30 playable characters and 16 unique stages in intense head-to-head ninja action. Play through over 60 unique missions, test your skills with challenging mini-games and experience an original storyline in Ultimate Road mode.

· NARUTO: Uzumaki Chronicles 2 – Follow Naruto and his friends through an original story line that leaves the fate of the ninja clans in your hands. Drop-in cooperative gameplay lets a friend join in on the fun at any time. Multiple modes of play including Head-to-Head mode, Mission Mode and Survival Mode will have ninja in training coming back for more.

PAC-MAN Power Pack
Chomp through three exciting PAC-MAN® titles that the whole family can enjoy with Pac-Man World 2™, Pac-Man World 3™ and Pac-Man World Rally™.

· Pac-Man World 2 – Explore six vast worlds with Pac-Man as he gains new abilities in this action-adventure game.

· Pac-Man World 3 – Pac-Man must team up with his old nemeses Pinky and Clyde as they try to foil an evil scheme and find their friends Inky and Blinky. Use Pinky and Clyde’s ghostly special abilities along with Pac-Man’s new moves to traverse classic platforming levels.

· Pac-Man World Rally – Race as one of 12 Pac-Man World characters in this zany kart-racing classic. Use top notch racing skills and power-ups scattered throughout the tracks and battle arenas to finish in first place.

Namco Classic Fighter Collection and NARUTO: Ultimate Collection are rated “T” for teen by the ESRB. PAC-MAN Power Pack will carry an ESRB rating of “E” for everyone. For more information about these titles, please visit http://www.namcobandaigames.com. For more information on NARUTO go to www.NARUTO.com.

Namco Bandai has just released a Namco Classic Fighter Collection for the PS2.  It includes Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, and Soul Calibur II.  The bundle is available now and retails at $29.99.  Follow the jump for a picture of the full boxart.

Where to Buy:

• Amazon.com

Nova meta: finalizar com 100%.

Falando em video games cá estou eu analizando consoles. talvez em um futuro não muito próximo nem muito distante eu adquira uma nova plataforma. O maior dos problemas é: dinheiro. Ou melhor, a falta dele!

Os video games em vista são: PS3 e a mania virtual de todos: o Wii. claro que eu tb cogito o DS uma vez que as primeiras opções estão praticamente inviáveis financeiramente. Mas deixando o portátil um pouco de lado, quero deixar aqui registrados meus prós e contras das duas plataformas.

PlayStation 3:                                                                                          Nintendo Wii:

- pode se fritar um ovo nele                                                                   - é pequeno.

- ele é gigantesto                                                                                   - tem interatividade.

- roda SoulCalibur4 (e eu qro...)                                                             - Personagem de infância: Mario!

- gráfico lindos                                                                                      - gráficos fofos

- os próximos FF e KH também vão rodar nele...                                    - milhões de itens complementares

- é pornograficamente caro.                                                                   - pornograficamente caro. (+ q o PS3)

Deixando  as questões filosóficas dde lado, (já que por enquanto nenhum é cogitável mesmo XD) eu gostaria de fazer mais dois parenteses. Sim. 2DOIS!

Primeiro parenteses: (esse eu lembrei por causa de SoulCalibur) Lá estava eu há algumas semanas atrás, fuçando sobre a (mais nova) animação (meio do meio da primeira parte) de StarWars (e posterior à feita pelo Gendy Tartakowsky e exibida no Cartoon Network) quando lá estou eu felizinha coletando informações novas sobre o assunto quando me deparo com (bem vc deve estar se perguntando o que diabos StarWars tem haver com Soul Calibur...) O trailer de SC4!!! (sim e daí???) Daí que temos uma digamos assim, participação especiail de niguém menos que: Darth Vader e Master Yoda! (e segundo fonte segura, confiávelque no momento não estava bêbada... eu acho... tb disse que há um suposto aprendiz do Vader...)

reações de uma mente insana:

O QUE DIABOS ELES ESTÃO FAZENDO NUM VIDEO GAME MEDIEVAL!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!

EU QUEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2º parenteses: Lá estou eu... entrando no meu e-mail e me deparo com... (não não é o Yoda nem o Vader... infelizmente eles não estão me perseguindo ultimamente...) PlayStation 9!

reação de uma mente insana2: WHADAHELL????

Bem... não não lançaram nenhum PS9 mesmo pq é impossível já que eles ainda tem que passar pelo 4, o 5, o 6, well vcs sabem contar! é um video sabe lá de quem que mostra como seria o PlayStation no futuro. O vídeo é bem fantasioso,mas sonhar é de graça e não faz mal pro estômago! o fato curioso é que se passa em 2072 (ou algo entorno disso segundo o site em que eu achei a pérola). Mas pelas minhas contas mal feitas provavelmente o PlayStation estaria num número mais elevado. Contudo minha mente designer me disse releve, afinal PS9 fica muito mais bonito que PS25. Afinal é informação demais! Mas dou os parabéns para quem fez o vídeo! Mesmo que tenha sido alguém da própria sony, está não só bem feito mas o conceito é muito bom, apesar de surreal.

E claro fuçando mais nessa coisa do djanhu que é o YouTubs, eu achei vídeos idiotas na esprança de ver o PS4¬¬" maldição...

Conclusão do dia: Video-games estão cada vez mais caros, vc pode fazer maravilhas com softwares, patrocínio não tem lógica, e internet é do djanhu, mas ainda tem coisas boa!

Ouvindo no momento Sinhá Insana

First on the list is Warcraft 3.  Of course, people who play this game would hat me for calling it old, but it's true; it was made about 5 years ago, and is still popular.  Although there are (in my opinion) better games, some older (Starcraft), and some newer (Warhammer 40000), this game has such a large fan base that online and single player still remains amazingly fresh after so long.

If one goes online, they will find many people to play with. The units are diverse and interesting, the heroes are great for leading, the story is compelling, and the graphics are quite resilent.

Next up is the oh-so-great Metal Gear Solid, also known as MGS.  Of course, since i have to keep all these game review out of the year 2008, I can't include mgs 4 and review it in this post. Either way, the series is still freaking awesome.

The MGS series stars 3 main characters, when it  really indirectly revolves mostly around the main-main character, Solid Snake.  I personally don't want to ruin the story for those who may wish to start the series or continue it, due to how it is possibly one of the best war stories I've ever had told to me in my life.  The graphics qualities increase with each game released.

Out of all 3, I'd have to say mgs 3 is my favourite, not because of the MUCH better graphics, but because of the amazing story and gameplay.

Next up is the Star Wars: Battlefronts 1 and 2.  Possibly my favourite star wars games, simply because rather than trying to emulate what it would be like to lead the glorious life of a jedi, it shows what it would have been like to be one of the soldiers.  Obviously, the online mode is possibly one of the best ones.

Another cool part of battlefront 2 was the space battles.  Not only was losing all control of ones ship and flying upside down amazingly entertaining, but it was also fun to land in the enemy hangar and screw around in their base.

The gameplay varies for those who wish to play first person and for those who wish to play third person.  Also, if you don't intend on playing as a soldier the whole time, in battlefront 2, heroes are also involved, which dominate the field, but also have a time limit to keep the fairness.

The second last series of games I'll be showing is the great Soul Calibur 2 and 3.  Personally, my favourite fact was that while all other characters wore a shit-load of armouur, the great samurai Mitsurugi wore a bathrobe.  I used him all the time.

Final on my list, is Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3.  Although I have no idea wtf a Budokai is, its still an amazing looking game, which truly captures the DBZ spirit.  The beams look better than they did in the show, the cell shading is great, the game has almost no lag, loads fast, and the gameplay is fast-paced.  Just as it should be.

But enough of the history lesson! How does this XBLA game play? In short, extremely well. Its easy to understand why the original Soul Calibur is rated as such a balanced and polished game when you can revisit it the best part of a decade later and still find an amazingly playable, fluid, deep fighting experience.

To the utterly uninitiated, Soul Calibur is basically like Namco's Tekken fighting game franchise but with swords and set roughly around the 17th century. The characters use a range of edged and blunt weapons ranging from a hulking battle axe to an experimental mechanical sword that can break apart into a whip.

An inviting thing about Soul Calibur are its controls: there's 1 button to block, 1 button to kick and 2 buttons to swing your weapon either horziontally or vertically. Like all brilliantly designed games, its easy to grasp the basics but will take you a long time to achieve mastery. This is aided by some well thought out mechanics.

The 8 way diagonal running system meant that for the first time 3D fighting games authentically ventured into the third dimension as you side stepped and danced around your enemies. Also, the fact that every single character in the game was able to interrupt their opponents attack with the correct timing made for some very deep tactics as players thought many moves ahead.

Visually its still very much a pretty game, and it feels very authentic - complete with slightly dodgy physics when people bounce off the edge of an arena during a ring out. A virtual museum in the game also allows you to read character biographies, browse concept, developer and fan art and look at some impressive weapon demonstrations as each character fluidly shows exactly what they're capable of doing with their weapons of choice.

The XBLA version comes with all of the secret characters, costumes and arenas of the Dreamcast version unlocked so you can get started straight away. Although the scoreboards have online functionality, there is no feature to play against other people over Xbox Live. A lot of people may find this disappointing, but given the rushed and totally flawed online experience of other XBLA fighting games (Streetfighter II Turbo, I'm looking at you here!) I'm actually quite glad they haven't tainted an otherwise fond memory of this fighting classic.

9/10

Sitio Oficial del Soul Calibur IV, que en esta entrega tendrá las presencias de Yoda, Darth Vader y su Aprendiz Secreto. Qué hay dentro de tu alma??

Name: Soulcalibur IV
Category: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Language: English
Genre: 3D Fighting
Release Date: 29-06-2008

Description

When Soul Calibur was released for the Dreamcast in 1999, it set a new standard for fighting games on home consoles. Subsequent entries in the series have changed very little as far as the weapon-based fighting mechanics are concerned, and have introduced new features and gameplay modes with varying success. Soulcalibur IV is no different in that respect; the series-first online play is a great addition, but though the visuals have improved and the gameplay has undoubtedly evolved, it still feels very familiar. And that's no bad thing.

The majority of the characters on Soulcalibur IV's roster will also be familiar if you're a fan of the series, though only around half of the 30-plus combatants are available at the outset, including Yoda on the Xbox 360 and Darth Vader on the PlayStation 3. Others are unlocked by defeating them in the single-player Story and Arcade modes, and by purchasing them with the gold that you're awarded for winning fights. There's more than enough variety on the roster to ensure that you can enjoy playing as at least a handful of different characters, and a robust customization system gives you the freedom both to edit their appearances and to create your own fighters from scratch.

Regardless of who you play as, Soulcalibur IV is accessible enough that even first-time players will have no trouble performing some powerful and great-looking moves. Rather than memorizing lengthy combo attacks and knowing how to attack your opponent, the challenge here comes from knowing when to attack, when to block, and when to sidestep around the arena. That's not to say that the combatants in Soulcalibur IV don't have impressively large repertoires of moves, because they do, it's just that very few of them are tough to pull off.

Your goal in Soulcalibur IV, of course, is to defeat your opponent by depleting his or her health bar. Alternately, you can win by knocking your opponent out of the "ring," which is possible in almost all of the game's beautifully realized arenas. New to the series--though reminiscent of a feature in 1997's Soul Blade--is the soul-gauge system, which appears alongside the health bar and changes color if you spend too much of your time blocking attacks and not retaliating with your own. When the gauge turns red and your health bar starts flashing, you're just an attack or two away from entering a defenseless "soul crush" state, at which point your opponent can perform a one-hit-kill critical-finish move. It takes a long time for that to happen, so the soul gauge isn't always an effective deterrent as far as overly defensive players are concerned, but it at least discourages online players from trying to score cheap victories simply by landing a couple of blows and then blocking until the time runs out.

Online play is where Soulcalibur IV really shines, though there aren't many different modes of play available. The action is fast-paced and free of lag for the most part, though if you have a slow Internet connection, you might find that your character takes a split-second longer to respond to your inputs than you're used to, which can prove fatal against a skilled opponent. You can choose to play ranked battles online against random opponents or join up to three other players in an unranked lobby, in which the winner of each round gets to stay in the fight as spectators get their turn in the ring. Both Arcade and Special modes of play are available online, the difference being that in Special mode all of the characters' move lists are augmented by special skills bestowed on them in part by weapon and clothing choices. Disappointingly absent from Soulcalibur IV, both online and offline, is an option to pit teams of fighters against one another. Team battles have appeared in the series previously, and given that the tagging mechanic is present in the single-player Tower of Lost Souls mode, its omission is baffling.

Considering that Arcade mode does nothing new and Story mode is really short and text-heavy, the new Tower of Lost Souls mode is where you'll find the majority of Soulcalibur IV's compelling single-player content. Taking control of one to three fighters, you must ascend (and later descend) the tower one floor at a time by defeating multiple groups of enemies without ever having your health replenished. Variety comes courtesy of opponents with carefully tailored skill sets, as well as battle-specific challenges that can be completed to unlock treasure chests containing new armor and weapons. For example, you might have to defeat three fighters who all have the ability to leech health from you, or who are impossible to force out of the ring. Optional challenges during these fights can be completed by meeting very specific conditions, such as landing the final blow as the timer ticks down to zero, performing four or more counter hits, or for defeating all opponents by knocking them out of the ring. As you ascend the tower, the difficulty level can ramp up pretty quickly, and you might find that you have to revisit the character-customization mode to prepare your chosen combatant for certain challenges.

How you go about customizing or creating a character for Soulcalibur IV depends on the use that you have in mind for the character. For Arcade mode, the only thing you need to concern yourself with is how your character looks, and you'll find that the number of armor pieces and weapons available for you to choose from increases quite dramatically as you spend time playing. For other modes, you'll have to consider the pros and cons of everything that you equip, even if that means ending up with a character who looks like he or she has just stepped out of a medieval thrift store. That's because just about every item has an impact, not only on your basic attack, defense, and health attributes, but also on the distribution of skill points, which fall into five distinct categories labeled power, impact, boost, gauge, and special. For example, equipping an executioner's breastplate will give you 30 power skill points to spend and will boost your attack and defense attributes, but at the expense of health points. There are dozens of items to choose from, and they're balanced so that it's possible for you to make more specialized fighters but not to gain an unfair advantage. Even skills such as temporary invisibility, unblockable attacks, and health recovery--which on paper sound like they'd break the game--are kept in check because to get any real benefit from them you have to forgo spending skill points in other areas. It's worth mentioning that more powerful (and costly) skills can be used only if you've played your character enough to reach a certain "style level," but reaching the level-nine cap doesn't take very long.

Style is something that Soulcalibur IV certainly has no shortage of. The nicely detailed character models look even better when the flamboyant animation kicks in, and the sheer variety that's on show in the arena locales can't fail to impress. The orchestral soundtrack ends up feeling a little too epic for its own good in places, but that's largely because it's paired with cheesy character dialog and an announcer who delivers his melodramatic lines without even a hint of irony. Fortunately, this isn't a game that's ever in danger of taking itself too seriously, as evidenced by the presence of Star Wars characters, animal costumes, novelty weapons, and plenty of amusing arena details.

Perhaps the most amusing, or at least laughable feature of Soulcalibur IV is that Yoda, Vader, and The Apprentice from LucasArts' upcoming Force Unleashed game all have stories that attempt to explain their sudden presence in the Soulcalibur universe. In terms of gameplay, none of the aforementioned fighters from a galaxy far, far away are a great fit with the rest of the roster, but they're certainly not so far removed that they ruin the game or anything like that. Some Force powers aside, Vader actually isn't radically different from some of the other members of the cast. The Apprentice uses the force a lot more liberally and, at least until you figure out how to fight against him, he can feel like a really cheap opponent when he throws lightning bolts and even his lightsaber across the screen at you. Given his diminutive stature, it's no surprise that Yoda feels very different from any other character in the game. He's impossible to throw and, considering that he spends most of his time jumping around very acrobatically, he can also be tough to hit. He doesn't use the Force a lot, though, and he moves around the arena relatively slowly, so he's not so much overpowered as just tricky.

The fact that Yoda and Vader are exclusive to the 360 and the PS3 respectively is easily the most pronounced difference between the two versions, but given that both games have an empty box on the Star Wars row of the character-select screen, it seems reasonable to assume that it'll no longer be an issue once downloadable content starts coming. The only other noteworthy difference between the two games is that the PS3 version offers an optional install to make the load times between fights shorter. Depending on how seriously you take your fighting games, the controllers that you use to play Soulcalibur IV might also be a consideration The PS3 controller's D pad is superior to the Xbox 360's on this occasion, but the latter's analog sticks fare a lot better. The question, then, isn't whether or not you should play Soulcalibur IV, it's which version you should play.

By Justin Calvert

1. GTA 4
2. Battlefield Bad Company
3. Soul Calibur 4
4. Assassins Creed
5. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock
6. Haze
7. Buzz! Quiz TV
8. Beijing Olympics
9. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
10. Top Spin 3

Essa é a primeira de duas partes de um artigo que trata da transição do mundo 2D para o 3D nos games. Semana que vem falaremos sobre séries que deram certo e razões que fazem, em geral, as transições darem certo ou não.

Tendo se tornado um meio importante dentro do mundo moderno, os vídeo games têm se dado até ao luxo de “reviver” tendências do passado, assim como se perdem e se renovam tendências da moda ou técnicas de cinema em grandes produções.

Quem imaginaria que depois da preocupante transição dos jogos 2D para o 3D que assolou (principalmente negativamente) a vida de muitos gamers, diversos games voltassem às suas raízes para trazer versões 2D primorosas de suas aparentemente esquecidas séries. É o caso de Megaman, que em um surpreendente visual de 8 bits adaptados à alta resolução das TVs atuais, reapareceu na seqüência de sua mais antiga série, em Megaman 9, inicialmente lançado para para Xbox 360. E isso considerando que jogo tranqüilamente rodaria em um antigo NES. Ele não está sozinho. Com a ajuda dos portáteis séries como Castlevania receberam jogos inteiramente novos em 2D (Portrait of Ruin e Dawn of Sorrow, para DS), ainda que as plataformas dessa geração suportem gráficos em 3D.

Existem duas principais razões para esses e outros títulos terem escolhido se manter no mundo 2D:

1 – Eles literalmente já fracassaram na tentativa de transição para o 3D
2 – Nem tudo fica tão bom em 3D quanto fica em 2D (alguns só descobriram errando).

Pelo menos fica claro que, depois de terem errado na tentativa de uma transição, empresas como a Capcom e a Konami ergueram a cabeça e voltaram a produzir seus jogos em 2D. Só que nem todo mundo sobreviveu à crise financeira quando ousaram transformar clássicos títulos da era 2D em 3D sem que isso tenha dado certo. Vejamos agora algumas séries que fizeram essa transição e quais deram certo:

Sonic

Talvez o maior e mais famoso exemplo de série que não se adaptou ao mundo 3D. Quando Sonic apareceu em 3D no fadado Dreamcast, ele até causou boa impressão. Graficamente o jogo era muito bom e a jogabilidade não era tão ruim assim. O problema é que além de ter sido rapidamente superado por jogos com jogabilidade e gráficos melhores os jogos seguintes do Sonic, que também se mantiveram em 3D, não somente não mantiveram o nível, como chegaram a piora-lo. A Sega efetivamente ganhou o troféu abacaxi de ouro tornando a série Sonic cada vez mais linear, repetitiva e desinteressante, ficando muito longe da até hoje idolatrada série de ouro que foi na era 2D. Nem a trilha sonora boa dos jogos 3D salvaram o porco-espinho de sua atuação medíocre.

Megaman

Tudo estava bom pra todo mundo enquanto o herói de todos, Megaman, se mantinha no mundo 2D. Mas a Capcom não teve essa opinião e lançou para o Playstation o que viria a se tornar o pior jogo de toda a série Megaman: Megaman Legends (ou Rockman Dash como é conhecido no oriente). O que poderia ser ruim apenar por ser graficamente péssimo era ainda pior: o jogo carecia de jogabilidade que o tornasse jogável, tinha uma história extremamente infantil (diferente da série X que era a “bola da vez”), tinha um mundo 3D muito pouco explorável, repleto de salas vazias com caixas sem graça que explodiam com um tiro e pérolas afins. Capcom falhou miseravelmente e manchou a imagem do amado Megaman!

Castlevania

Eu não entendo a Konami. Em meados de 1997 ela lança o que é por muitos considerado o melhor jogo da série Castlevania (Symphony of the night, para Playstation) e um ano depois lança, talvez na frustrada tentativa de acompanhar os tempos modernos, o que foi o primeiro (infelizmente vieram mais) jogo 3D da série Castlevania, para Nintendo 64. Ambientes fechados, jogo linear, gráficos muito ruins, jogabilidade ruim e perda da essência da série. Simplesmente você não parecia estar jogando Castlevania. Falha enorme na série. Felizmente a Konami se redimiu lançando novos jogos em 2D que reviveram a essência da série, no Nintedo DS, além de fazer a alegria dos fãs de Xbox 360, liberando o clássico Symphony of the Night para download na Xbox Live. Se quiser jogar algo que seria um Castlevania 3D e deu certo por ter sido muito bem executado pela Capcom (aquela que falhou miseravelmente no Megaman 3D), jogue Devil May Cry, porque Castlevania bom mesmo ainda é Castlevania 2D.

Soul Calibur

Simplesmente o melhor jogo de luta com armas brancas de gráficos 3D com jogabilidade 2D. Pena que ele tentou entrar no mundo dos adventures e lançou uma bomba chamada Soul Calibur Legends para o Wii. Surpreendentemente o jogo é de 2007, mas isso não evita que seja um pedaço de cocô. Fique com Soul Calibur IV, que é a obra prima dá série de luta com jogabilidade 2D e esqueça essa falha na série que foi esse adventure 3D muito mal executado.

Super Heróis

Não que eles fossem muito bons em 2D, mas em 3D os jogos de Super Heróis têm chegado a níveis de decepção nunca antes visto. Fruto de principalmente adaptações vindas filmes de heróis, os jogos que poderiam dar aos grandes ícones dos quadrinhos a vida que eles realmente precisam ter com a ajuda de um amplo mundo 3D mostram que a falta de seriedade na produção de um jogo pode produzir uma montanha enorme de lixo formada por títulos de super heróis mal produzidos. Tem pra todo gosto: jogos ruins do Superman, do Homem-Aranha, do Homem-de-ferro e até do Hulk. Se quiser jogo bom de heróis, terá que ficar ainda com os de luta, onde nas mãos da Capcom heróis ganharam os ótimos “X-men versus Street Fighter” e “Marvel Versus Capcom”. Se você gosta da DC Comics, terá que chupar o dedo ou torcer para que Mortal Kombar Versus DC Universe que será lançado em breve não seja mais uma bomba.

Se você ficou triste com essa avalanche de conversões ruins não deixe de conferir na semana que vem a continuação do artigo, que fala das transições que deram certo e analisa os porquês dessas falhas e acertos!

Discuta essa postagem no Fórum Omega Geek, clicando aqui.

I think we could go for another round of some SC IV.  Matt and I both have all the characters unlocked, and some more create-a-fighter pieces for the more creative amongst us.  I've got a 2 stick arcade setup that is pretty fun to use.

Instead of a tournament, last time we just played Braid.  We could get a bit more competative this time.  Anyone know how to set one of those ladders up (rather than just a winner stays...which is kinda of lame).

Last time, I got very few rsvps here, but 9 people showed up.  That was a great turnout.  Just let me know ahead of time whether to expect you, either here, email, or phone.

Without further yappin'. Here the Joker Fatality. Unlike the other sites that make it look like this is awesome....we at elohel refuse....shyt was wack. So I better see a entire head blow off or two fatalities fast. I want a Real MK game man! So come hard or not at all. Peace to Ed Boon though. He's really putting in some work to make sure this looks like a next gen game. Looking forward to more video from this fighter. Soul Calibur might have woke the Fighter giant up in the midst of all these FPS cookie cutters. Hope MK can keep the fire going.

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SOUL CALIBUR 4!

SOUL CALIBUR 4!
(that was intentional).

I just cant get that typical arcade sounding 'SOUL CALIBUR 4!' out of my head. And the game's menu designs and (press start) and even the loading scrolls are resounding of the arcadey and nauseous feeling of playing a game from back in the day.

Yet, once you've done the character selection, the game's totally not that. The levels and the characters (but not the music) are definitely new age, albeit Japanese fantasy like. On HD the game looks super sweet; the environments are palpable and the characters believable.

[caption id="attachment_386" align="aligncenter" width="494" caption="oooooooh!:breath:Looks better in HD!:breathe:"][/caption]

Speaking of characters, the fans may already know that everybody's favourite Darth Vader is a playable character in the roster for the PS3 version (the one we received). In the 360 version you can wield the long eared, short guy, Yoda for your fights. In case you're wondering who YODA is, here's a pic!

The great thing about these new characters is that they are made ground up and aren't just skins over existing players of the game. Therefore you wont see Darth Vader doing any of the crazy samurai moves, but he'll definitely play to his weight and also use 'the force'. But enough of the Dark Side; lets pull out some shades for some bright stuff!

Another addition that brings much needed innovation into a fighting game is the character creation model. You do have a certain number of fixed stances and weapons that you need to adhere to while creating your character, but there are absolute heaps you could do with costume and feature customization. Better yet, you can play your character in matches (but of course!) and also take him/her/that online and show off your red underpants! This is one place where crazed fans and normal humans can definitely sink hours and hours in tweaking and tricking out their unholy children.

One of the best things about the game though is the balance that each character is made with. Even though someone would be wielding a range weapon and another a knife, the characters make up for it in other departments. Whereas Tekken may lose in this respect of character balancing, Soul Calibur adds alot of accessories and still pulls it off really well. There is no one super character (not even Darth Vader) and this only makes the game a lot more challenging.

[caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="*insert random explicit picture here*"][/caption]

Then again, how can a conversation about Soul Calibur and its aesthetics ever be complete without some female mammary glands? Yes, we're talking about the jiggle effect and frankly speaking its completely unnecessary. Namco Bandai must thank God that Soul Calibur delivers on so many fronts that the cost to add physics to them is nullified but DOA has never been half as good and burning money for such stuff should either be put to better use for the game development as a whole or be paid to grow trees or something. This world can do without some extraordinarily animated breasts which you'll never get to see amidst all the action and armor they are wearing during the fight sequences. And even if you were able to catch a glimpse and get high, then you my sir, seriously need a life! (or a better internet service ;)).

[caption id="attachment_393" align="aligncenter" width="617" caption="FAAEEET!"][/caption]

I dont like to learn things and that's exactly what Soul Calibur's fight sequences force you to do, since the combos are not that easy to pull off and you must learn the moves if you dont want to see just a few punches and kicks and a random body slam that you have no idea how you pulled off. But learning the list is another hassle since they dont directly indicate with X and O etc, they use ABC KGH etc which acts as a legend to the X O and all the buttons. It definitely got my head spinning, and knowing my tendency to give up easily, I didnt even try. Then again when I did pull off something cool, I liked the effect.

In simpler terms, the game actually rides a thin line between the super fast button masher Tekken and the carefully strategic Virtua Fighter series. In that it's slow but it's got precision. It may not be very flashy, but it's got the weapons and the armor, that are actually put to use and are not there for funsies only. Eventually its a good game, and it rewards you for digging deeper into its stomach. They speculate to bring in newer characters for DLC and that could only be good for its longevity.

But as far as we are concerned down here at deculture, we've got enough SOUL already ;)

[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="370" caption=".. and so do we!"][/caption] ]]> http://gamescratch.wordpress.com/?p=4 Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:11:51 +0000 Tchesco http://gamescratch.pl.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/4/

Namco's Soul Calibur, is a title that definitely emerges  on    the  minds of hard-core Dreamcast fans. It is the second installment of the Soul series, which started off with Soul Blade (1996), for the Sony Playstation. Soul Calibur has the basic "Arcade Mode" which is found in most fighting games, along with the addicting VS. Mode, where you can play against a friend. A new addition to the game is the "Mission Mode". In Mission mode, the player completes stages, by fighting other characters and earning points by completing various tasks. Soul Calibur offers 19 characters, each with their own fighting styles, and statistics. Character outfits are also unlockable in the Mission mode. The factors that greatly separate Soul Calibur from other fighting games are the fantastic gameplay mechanics. The game's fast combat, and complete list of hundreds of button combos, greatly increase its replay value. Each stage is uniquely rendered, ranging from Buddhist temples, to ancient castles with detailing to the top of the Sega Dreamcast's ability. This game really does look great, and blows previous fighting games out of the water. The controls of Soul Calibur are very easy to handle, taking very little time to master.
Soul Calibur for the Sega Dreamcast should be a game that all Dreamcast owners get their hands on. It is debatably the best fighting game to date, as it completely redefined the fighting genre. After the release of Soul Calibur on the Sega Dreamcast, over 1 million copies have been sold. The game's reception was amazing:it received a perfect 10 from Gamespot, a 10/10 on IGN, and a 40/40 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. On April 16, 2008, due to the game's success, Namco-Bandai announced a Soul Calibur port for the Xbox 360 on Xbox Live Arcade. The game became available for download on July 2, 2008. Soul Calibur, has become a model for future fighting games.

- Alexander Garovi (GameScratch Admin & Editor)