Video Games

SoulCalibur V: Preview

I never got into the original SoulCalibur. It was released at a time when I didn’t have much interest at all in fighting games. Fast forward years later to SoulCalibur II and all of a sudden I had found the series within this genre I had been looking for all along. SoulCalibur V is the latest entry in the now long running series and it is looking better than ever.

Unlike most fighting games, SoulCalibur isn’t about kicking and punching or, to an even lesser degree, focused on elaborate combos compared to others.  Instead, every character wields a melee weapon of some kind and is geared towards slow and powerful attacks, fast and nimble strikes, or a more unusual approach such as characters like Voldo who can fight facing backwards or Yoshimitsu who despite appearing in Tekken feels more at home in this series.

Microsoft Launches Hardcore Kinect Site With Some Interesting Choices

The Kinect isn’t exactly what you’d call a hardcore gaming device. It has so far only captured the imaginations of those hungry for crazy new tech that makes them feel like they live in the future and, strangely enough, roboticists. The library so far has mainly been the usual casual fare and a long string of titles serving as weak justifications for a Kinect purchase. Microsoft, ambitious and motivated as they are, still persist in bringing the Kinect to the hardcore masses.

To reflect this, they have launched a new site for ‘Kinect-Core’ games. Launching a site, at least compared to the actual development of a video game, is a relatively small task, but rather than just being a side-note in the gaming peripheral’s history, it makes the occasion of Microsoft acknowledging the gap between Hardcore and Casual gamers, especially with the schism between them that the Kinect has created.

Amy Runs Into Pricing Debate

I find it odd that the most news that I have heard about the upcoming survival horror downloadable game Amy relates to the recent news that the pricing of the game has become a bit of a controversy.  For those who do not know, those who want to purchase Amyon the Xbox 360 were going to be charged $10 (or 800 points) whereas if you were to buy the game on the PlayStation 3, the cost would be $12.99.  This is the exact same game; the difference is that if you were to buy the game on the PS3, you would be charged more for (ostensibly) no reason.

The reasons for this extra charge were recently discussed by the CEO of the studio developing the game (Lexis Numerique), and the main point that Jose Sanchis tried to make was that, while 800 points was equal to ten dollars in the US, it was actually worth roughly $12.80 when converted to Euros.  Because of the following outrage, Lexis Numerique put up a Facebook poll that may end up changing the price of Amy on the PS3 to $10, but if this were to occur, Lexis Numerique would need an extra week to release Amy on the PS3.  Regardless of this odd news, Amy will release over the next few weeks, and looks to be a somewhat intriguing jaunt in survival horror

Mass Effect 3 Could Prove To Be One of the Best of 2012

Bethesda Wins Rights To Fallout MMO

Last week we reported that there had been a settlement in the lawsuit between Bethesda, the current holders of the rights to Fallout, and Interplay, the creators of the series who had recently been developing a MMO version of Fallout.  The details of the settlement have been made public and Bethesda now has full rights to thethe Fallout Intellectual Property and to develop their own Fallout MMO.

Soul Calibur V Goes Gold

The
fifth tale of souls and swords has officially gone gold. Namco Bandai announced
that development for Soul Calibur V is
complete and will begin mass production in time for its release on Jan. 31.

Capcom Responds To Death Threats Over Devil May Cry

Recently,
Capcom, and by extension Ninja Theory, have been receiving death
threats for the treatment of cult-classic character Dante in the new
Devil May Cry game. By trailers, the game seems to be elevating the
formula and taking it to sick new heights. The character design,
however, can charitably be described as controversial. Dante’s new look
seems to be embracing hipster culture, or at least some sort of hipster
sub-culture that sticks to darker shades of red.