If you were to look at Capcoms long history of games, you’d see that with every Street Fighter game they’ve put out that there has been a re-release of the same game with new additions like characters and balancing tweaks. Well it looks like Street Fighter 4 may be getting the same treatment. Coming from a reliable source of mine the unofficial name of the next game will be “Street Fighter 4 Dash” and from what I’ve heard it will include 10 new characters from the previous Street Fighter games.

The rumored characters inlcude:

- From Street Fighter 2: Dee Jay and T.Hawk

- From Street Fighter 3: Dudley, Ibuki and Makoto

- From Street Fighter Alpha: Adon, Cody and Guy

- Plus two completely new characters that have never appeared in a Street Fighter game before

If 10 new characters are added to Street Fighter 4 then it will just be adding to already outstanding game. Also if this turns out be true then I can’t to see who the two new characters would be.

According to the NY Post, a cousin of the rapper Common died after being knocked off his motorbike in a collision with a bicycle in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Friday night, cops said.

Ajile Turner, 38, was hit by the bicycle as it turned off Greene Avenue onto Washington Avenue.

The cyclist, Julian Miller, 45, who lived on Washington Avenue, also died.

“Ajile was a good guy,” said his friend, DJ JS-1. “Everybody liked him. He was a world traveler, he helped a lot of people out and he was everybody’s friend. That’s why this is such a shame.”

Turner, who lived on Cumberland Street, had been riding the Kawasaki bike east on Greene Avenue when the collision happened at 10:45 p.m., cops said.

The Final Fantasy title being worked on at GRIN before the studio collapsed is still in development by publisher Square Enix, GamesIndustry.biz understands.

Sources close to both parties have revealed that the game, initially signed off in Tokyo in the second half of last year and codenamed Fortress, was central to the collapse of the Swedish developer – Square took the project off GRIN after only six months of development due to concerns over quality issues.

Because business law in Sweden prohibits companies from going into debt without severe penalties, the developer was subsequently unable to bear its wage burden without new projects, and so closed its doors.

GRIN had previously worked with Square Enix’ fellow Japan-based publisher Capcom on a new instalment in the Bionic Commando franchise, and while critical reception and sales numbers were relatively modest, GamesIndustry.biz has been told that the Japanese firm was pleased with the results.

But in the end the size of the developer’s staff base meant that continuing indefinitely without concrete deals in the pipeline was impossible, and the company announced in August this year that is was shutting down due to an “unbearable cashflow situation”.

As well as Bionic Commando, the studio released two other titles earlier this year – Wanted: Weapons on Fate and Terminator: Salvation – both of which scored poorly in the specialist press.

SOURCE

Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg does not expect recent price cuts for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to leave a lasting impression on the console sales race.

“I don’t believe the price cuts that both companies have made will impact the market dynamics too dramatically in the long term,” Greenberg, who is director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, told our sister site Eurogamer in an interview published today.

“We typically see a month or two of lifts and share adjustments, but then things tend to settle back to roughly the established market ranking.”

Sony cut the price of PlayStation 3 to £249 / €299 in Europe last month and introduced a smaller, redesigned console.

Microsoft subsequently cut the price of the Xbox 360 Elite to £199 and retired the old Xbox 360 Premium, although it said the price cut timing was a coincidence.

Both price cuts brought their respective parent companies handsome returns, with Xbox 360 enjoying a 43 per cent sales rise in one UK bank holiday weekend, before Sony was able to celebrate a 999 per cent jump week-to-week following the new PS3’s launch and platform price drop.

And while Greenberg is sceptical about the two companies’ pricing changes having a long-term effect on the market dynamic, he does see positives.

“We do, however, expect that these new lower prices will bring in more consumers that were potentially a bit resistant to the previous pricing in place,” he explained in today’s interview, before reiterating that platform-specific content remains a key part of Microsoft’s strategy.

“Our focus continues to be on adding more value and more exclusive experiences across games and entertainment, so that consumers will continue to select the Xbox 360 as their console of choice,” he said.

SOURCE

Lord of the Rings Online maker Turbine has revealed the thinking behind its forthcoming console MMO, saying that PS3 and Xbox 360 offer a “superior MMO platform” with an untapped market worth an estimated USD 2.3 billion.

In his presentation at GDC Austin, Eurogamer reports, VP of product development Craig Alexander revealed that Turbine has targeted PlayStation 3 as the lead platform for its console endeavours, saying that while the Xbox 360 is the more tempting and easy-to-work-with format, the PS3 presents a number of technical challenges that once overcome result in better code for all platforms.

The MMO maker hasn’t really told us anything we don’t already know in this respect – citing the slower access times on the Blu-ray drive as an issue, as well as the PS3’s split memory pool and its tricky performance monitoring and debugging tools. In short, in common with many developers, Turbine said that migrating code from PS3 to Xbox 360 is far less challenging than doing things the other way around.

Perhaps more surprising is just how committed the company is to bringing its next MMO project to console. While many believe that the PC is the natural home to the genre, Turbine disagrees. Alexander mentioned that the same arguments were made about in-depth sports sims and the FPS genre, but now market leaders like Madden and Call of Duty all have far larger installed bases of players on the consoles.

Alexander said that the evolution of the PC games market is being mirrored on console, and it is only a matter of time before the MMO development scene shifts to PS3 and Xbox 360.

Lending weight to his argument, Alexander reeled off a number of RPG-related facts: namely that Mass Effect, Fable II and Fallout 3 have all sold in excess of three million units, and that, at launch, Oblivion sold to over 50 per cent of the Xbox 360 installed base. In Turbine’s view, the appetite for adventuring is there on console, and MMOs are the last piece of the puzzle.

While the notion of “pay to play” subscriptions may introduce unwelcome friction for the gamer, Alexander offered that the platform holders have systems in place to make this element as easy to work with as possible, and said that over 50 per cent of Xbox 360 owners pay an annual USD 50 subscription – so the precedent and the payment mechanisms are already in place.

The LOTRO maker also revealed some of the philosophy behind its new forthcoming console game, suggesting that PC ports to console don’t work, and need to built from the ground up for the platform. This in itself presents a number of challenges. First of all, the tech behind the game requires a 10-year lifespan – it needs to be ultra-scalable to accommodate the creation of additional content. Alexander put a USD 20 million price-tag on the development of the core tech, before even a penny has been spent on the actual game itself.

Furthering his “ports don’t work” philosophy, he also said that “grinding” is a no-no for console gamers, again suggesting that the future of MMOs is very, very different to the present. In explaining his “superior MMO platform” comment, Alexander mentioned that consoles are designed to be more accessible and playable, that they’re more social, that the gaming budgets are higher and that the competition is stiffer.

But for MMO game-makers like Turbine, he said, the potential prize simply can’t be ignored. The company’s revenue estimates for 2011 suggest that the PC MMO market will be worth USD 2 billion, but it will be an ultra-competitive, risky environment. Console on the other hand will still be fresh, with far fewer competing games on the market and an estimated USD 2.3 billion of revenue up for grabs.

So, what can we expect from Turbine’s first console MMO if it’s not a port of one of their existing offerings? Alexander suggested an interesting formula for success: take your favourite console game, add your best MMO features, sprinkle with innovation, invest tons of money, beta-test with thousands and “stay as flexible, agile and nimble as possible, for as long as possible”.

SOURCE

Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that BlurTM, the company’s highly anticipated foray into the racing genre, is now scheduled to ship in 2010. The company is moving Blur from 2009 to give the development team more time to enhance the game’s innovative and distinctive online multiplayer gameplay.

Separately, Activision Blizzard reaffirmed the calendar year 2009 outlook it provided on August 5, 2009 due to global demand for Modern Warfare 2TM, which continues to exceed expectations, and strong attach rates for the recently launched Call of Duty®: World at WarTM map packs.

For 2009, the company continues to expect GAAP net revenues of $4.05 billion and GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.26. On a non-GAAP basis, the company continues to expect net revenues of $4.5 billion and earnings per diluted share of $0.63. Nonetheless, because of the continuing uncertainty in the global economic climate and the difficult retail environment anticipated during the 2009 holiday season, Activision Blizzard urges investors to be cautious and prudent in evaluating the company’s forecasts and projections. The company reports results on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. Please refer to the tables at the back of this press release for a reconciliation of the company’s GAAP and non-GAAP results.

“We are committed to making Blur a great new racing franchise, and we are very encouraged by the game’s design,” stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing. “The additional time will allow the studio to fully optimize the vision they set out to create for Blur including a distinctive and groundbreaking multiplayer mode that will appeal to a broad audience.”

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a worldwide online, PC and console game publisher with leading market positions across every major category of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry.

Activision Blizzard maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, China, South Korea and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision Blizzard and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activisionblizzard.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Blizzard’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Blizzard generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” “future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Blizzard’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Blizzard’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Blizzard’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms (including next-generation hardware), declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Blizzard’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Activision Blizzard, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, vendors, licensees, licensors and third-party developers, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, Activision Blizzard’s success in completing the integration of the operations of Activision, Inc. and Vivendi Games in a timely manner, or at all, and the combined company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction to the extent, or in the timeframe, anticipated, and the other factors identified in the risk factors section of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and Activision Blizzard does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Bethesda’s over the top action shooter is sure to please action game fans and the use of the grindhouse theme really helps give WET its own unique style, so please watch the review and enjoy. Please leave your comments.