Kotaku

I finally got a chance to check out Street Fighter IV on the Xbox 360 today. More importantly, though, I got to the booth early enough to play a match as both Akuma and Sakura.

I've had plenty of time to play Street Fighter IV both in arcades and at shows, but I'm still blown away with the game's seamless blending of 2D and 3D in an aesthetic that polishes the look of characters I've grown so accustomed to.

I'm typically a Ryu or Ken when I play SF, but Akuma is close enough to their move set that I've played around with him over the years as well. This new Akuma maintains the tattered look of previous versions of the character delivering relatively fast, relatively powerful blasts as he hops around the screen. His moves seem to have remain unchanged, which makes him a great middle option for those of us who tend to cycle between Ken and Ryu when they play.

She's turned her brown eyes blue. The first Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li promo pic of actress Kristin Kreuk featured her brown puppy dog eyes (and dirty nose!), but the first official movie poster shows off pale blue eyes. This poster was designed especially for the Tokyo Game Show and dates the movie as simply 2009.

Hit the jump for a first look at the poster and her buns. Her hairy buns.

Bethesda Looking Into Fallout 3 Leak

Were you the one that leaked Fallout 3? Well, you better not be, because Bethesda is looking to find out just who did! Bethesda VP Pete Hines says they've narrowed it down and they're gonna get you!

"We're looking into it. Since we haven't sent out a single disc, it greatly reduces the number of places this might have come from."

So that means it must have been an internal leak (really doubtful) or someone haxored their way in. Me? I like to buy my games (or at the very least own a used retail copy). Nothing beats the smell of opening a new game and displaying it proudly on your bookshelf with the rest of your collection.

(Tom's Games va Maxconsole)

Spider-man: Web of Shadows S.H.I.E.L.D Survival Guide

Blizzcon 2008 Round-Up

In a World...filled with Blood Elves...one man....must resist touching them long enough to post stories about BlizzCon 2008. The convention is in full swing, and we've been trying our damndest to catch all of the major moments. Today saw some pretty big news out of both Diablo III and StarCraft II, and tomorrow promises even more...though mainly just pictures of women dressed as Blood Elves. Stay tuned for more!

BlizzCon 2008 - The Kotaku Griffon Has Landed
Diablo III Playable On BlizzCon Floor, New Class Reveal
Inside The BlizzCon 08 Swag Bag
Liveblogging The BlizzCon 2008 Opening Ceremonies
Diablo III's Third Class - The Wizard!
Diablo III's Wizard - Behind The Magic
StarCraft II Single Player Is A Trilogy!
The Best Of Blizzard - Retro Arcade
StarCraft II Lead Producer On The Split Single Player Campaign

StarCraft II Lead Producer On The Split Single Player Campaign

Don't think of it as a split. That's main point StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty was trying to get across during our brief interview following the StarCraft II panel at BlizzCon where it was announced that the single player campaign would be delivered as three separate products - first Terran, then Zerg, and finally Protoss. "Effectively each game in the will be an expansion," Sigaty explained when I told him of our reader's initial concerns about buying the same game three times with a different single player component. Think Warcraft III's The Frozen Throne, or the original StarCraft's Brood War.

Each new single player campaign will come with upgrades and changes to the multiplayer. The main difference here is that instead of giving you a tacked-on extension of the single-player experience as you often find in an RTS expansion, each title comes with a fully realized campaign.

Church Of England Thinks Games Can Be Force For Good

A bunch of Church and charity leaders gather around a table to discuss video games and their impact on society - surely a recipe for military-grade Moral Outrage, no?

Well, no, actually. To interrupt your scheduled grumblings about know-nothing moral guardians and anti-games cliches I bring news that several figures from Church of England groups and charities met at a round table chat organised by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and came to the conclusion that this gaming lark might actually have something positive to contribute to society.

Mike Royal, national director of the Lighthouse Group said that games can encourage children to talk about 'boundaries' and what behavior is good and acceptable, not only in gaming but other aspects of their lives.

Up next - Jack Thompson "really getting in to Tales of Vesperia".

Computer And Video Games Are Good for us!! [Yet Another Review Site]

The Best Of Blizzard - Retro Arcade

While World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo are all fine and good, some of us are Blizzard fans for completely different reasons. The retro arcade portion of BlizzCon 2008 showcases some of those reasons with playable versions of old favorites like Rock N Roll Racing, BlackThorne, and my own personal favorite, The Lost Vikiings. There's something unbelievably awesome about seeing those three little guys on a banner above a show like this. I think I am going to ask them if I can have it when they are done.

We're All Not Home Right Now, But If You Leave A Message...

To: Bashcraft
From: Fahey
Re: I have no idea at this point what I am supposed to be REing.

I realize it's a little bit late now, but did we remember to leave the Kotaku reserves the instructions to Kotaku Tower? With you, Crecente, McWhertor, and Luke away in Japan and myself up to my ass in murlocs at BlizzCon 2008, I don't think we left anyone back home who knows how to disarm the defenses. I'd hate to come back home on Monday night to find Jim, Stuart, and Adam reduced to piles of smoldering ash. Oh well, suppose there's nothing to be done about it. You guys are going to be busy delivering the latest news from Japan all throughout the weekend, and I've still got one more day of BlizzCon to cover, so we'll be far too busy keeping the readers up to date and entertained to worry about such things.

ADAM! Whatever you do, do not press the red button. Or the green one. I forget. One turns on life support, the other fills the chamber with deadly neurotoxin. You'll figure it out. :)

What you could have missed:

No More Heroes 2 To Come In Gory/Non Gory Flavors
StarCraft II Single Player Is A Trilogy!
Flash Gear Solid - Think Inside The Box
Diablo III's Third Class - The Wizard!
A New Street Fighter IV Trailer Has A Little Bit of Everything
Liveblogging The BlizzCon 2008 Opening Ceremonies
Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 Sales Slip In Japan
How Erotic Games Influenced Platinum Games
Bionic Commando Movie Is A Definite Possibility
TimeSplitter 4 Star Wars Parody Disappears