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Free Realms #4 (of 12)
Written by J.S. Lewis. Drawn by Jon Buran.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
Based on the hit virtual world with over 3 million users worldwide! When Dane and Maya return to Briarwood, Darkthorne's followers accuse them of trying to assassinate the sorceress with a deadly poison. Now the pair must survive the darkest corners of Briarwood as they search for an alchemist who can prove their innocence!

Mirror's Edge (trade paperback)
Written by Rhianna Pratchett. Drawn by Matthew Dow Smith.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
The 6-issue miniseries based on the Electronic Arts video game is collected! Faith is a Runner in the city - a courier who delivers sensitive cargo by traversing the rooftops of the city's skyscrapers. But how did she come by this unique trade...and what secrets from her past may affect her future?

American McGee's Grimm Vol. 01
Written by Dwight L. MacPherson. Drawn by Grant Bond.

Summary Via Website Things From Another World:
In American McGee's Grimm (the popular video game series available at GameTap.com), the player controls Grimm, a dwarf who creates a trail of destruction wherever he goes. Sick of how happy fairy tales have become, Grimm makes it his mission to revert the lighthearted yarns to their darker original versions with his patented butt-stomping chaos. Now he's set his wicked sights on comic books, and the funny pages will never be the same again...

The Legend of Zelda Vol 8: The Minish Cap
Written and drawn by Akira Himekawa.

Summary Via Publisher Viz Media:
On the day of the Picori Festival, Link and Princess Zelda go to watch the sword-fighting tournament. The winner is a strange man named Vaati, who has come to claim the Light Force which is sealed within the Bound Chest. When the Light Force turns up missing, Vaati turns Princess Zelda to stone! To save his friend, Link needs the power of the Picori Blade, but only a certain master swordsmith can reforge it. Can Link find the pieces of the broken sword before Vaati does?

Pokemon Adventures Vol. 4
Written and drawn Hidenori Kusaka.

Summary Via Publisher Viz Media:
Pokémon trainer Red goes off on a training challenge and...never comes back! But a tired and tattered Pikachu manages to return home by himself. A mysterious young trainer in yellow befriends Pikachu, and together they set out to find our missing hero!

And watch out for Team Rocket, Yellow Caballero... Could they be behind Red's mysterious disappearance?

Sonic The Hedgehog #207
Written by Ian Flynn. Drawn by James Fry.

Summary Via Publisher Archie Comics:
"Blackout": The Iron King wants the force-field over Sonic's home city gone, so he heads to its power source: the radioactive remains of Robotropolis! This could spell doom for our heroes - not to mention the surrounding environment! As Sonic races to the rescue, Princess Sally finally comes to a pivotal personal decision.
PLUS: "The Iron Queen:" The second half of this intriguing new villainess' thrilling origin is revealed!

Street Fighter: Legends of Chun-Li Vol. 2 (trade paperback)

Summary Via comics website Comixology
:
She's the strongest woman in the world! But before Chun-li was a no-nonsense Interpol officer she was a fresh recruit in the Hong Kong Police. SF Legends: Chun-li takes a trip through Street Fighter history throwing a young Chun-li's into her first encounter with the criminal Shadaloo organization. Expect appearances by Dan, Gen, Fei Long, Sagat, and more Street Fighter favorites!

Street Fighter Vol. 5: Kick It Into Turbo
Summary Via comics website Comixology:
The World Warriors battle across Hong Kong, Japan, and America to secure their spots in the ultimate competition - the Street Fighter Tournament! Fan favorites Ryu, Chun-li, Guile, Sakura, Cammy, and dozens more compete in what might be their final fight! Contains Street Fighter II Turbo #1-6, plus the 6-page Turbo story from Street Fighter Remix #0.

While Tekken 6 hit Japanese arcades in 2007 and 2008, those of us without a booming arcade scene have had to patiently wait. For those of you who only own an Xbox 360, the wait has been even longer. Was it worth it? Let's see.

Loved
Really, Really Long Campaign: If you're a fan of playing through a single-player campaign in a fighting title, then Tekken 6 is the game for you. The single player experience is a seemingly never ending trip of branching choices, boss fights and low-level thug brawls.

Roster: With more than 40 characters to choose from, Tekken 6 offers gamers a virtual bounty of play styles to learn and try to master. The single player campaign even has a mech suit you get to ride around in for a bit. All of the characters, even the silly ones, are a delight to control.

Controls and Tweaks: Liquid-smooth controls and a design mechanic that relies more on rhythmic button tapping and stick slapping are some of the reasons that Tekken is my other favorite fighter. This iteration adds a few new touches to the core mechanic, like a low-life rage mode that boosts damage and the ability to bounce an enemy off the ground and prolong your chain of attacks. What it doesn't do is mess with what already works.

Graphics: This time around you can play the game with motion blur, which does knock the resolution down to near-standard definition, but if you would rather skip the blur Tekken 6 plays at 720p, the same resolution as in arcades. Graphically, Tekken 6 is an artistically crafted game with fluid movements and an eclectic, colorful cast.

Online Options: The game offers both ranked and unranked matches online, but more interesting are its data options, which allow you to upload or download a player's replay and ghost data which can be used to tweak the play style of enemy AI offline.

Hated
Slippery Slope: In the single-player campaign there will be times when you fight in areas with drops, drops that seem to want to pull you over the edge and kill you instantly. Worse still, sometimes performing a special move will make your character, apparently unaware of their location, flip, kick or punch right into a chasm. It's incredibly frustrating.

Identity Crisis: If I'm going to spend the amount of time it takes to play through Tekken 6's lengthy campaign the least Namco could do is make sure that the character I'm playing is the one who shows up in the many and lengthy cut scenes. I'm Law, not some other guy. It's very off-putting.

Odd Save Points: The game saves at the end of every level. The problem is that later on in the games some of those levels have two, three, even four incredibly difficult bosses. If you die you can start right back up with the boss, but if you want to switch out your powerful items you need to start the entire level over again. It's a fairly annoying issue tied to what amounts to a wardrobe change.

Online Play: I only played a half dozen matches or so online, but even in those I experienced a bit of lag in my battles. Games like Tekken 6, fighters, are all about the mutiplayer, more so then even shooters. If you can't get your netcode right, don't bother releasing your game.

Loading: Tekken 6 is lousy with loading screens. You load between levels, you load between battles, you load to go online, load to get offline. You even sometimes load going from one cut scene to the next. Seriously.

I'm a big fan of the Tekken franchise, but I really don't care about the single player campaign. All I want is to be able to smack other people around online, at home or in AI-controlled arcade mode. So I can forgive almost all of the issues I pointed out. They're almost entirely about what I think is a completely needless single-player campaign. What I can't forgive, won't endure, is online lag. Let's hope Namco gets right on patching that, because until they do I won't be risking my piddly ranking

Tekken 6 was developed and published by Namco Bandai for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on Oct. 27. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through single player campaign mode and multiple matches off and online on the Xbox 360.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Watch Seth Show You How Frank West Works [Capcom-Unity via Joystiq]

What Is It?
Japanese eroge visual novel game Fate/stay night, turned anime television show, turned 2D fighter for the Playstation portable.

What We Saw
I played a couple of matches with three or four different characters.

How Far Along Is It?
Completed.

What Needs Improvement?
Something: There's nothing really wrong with the game, but there's also very little to set it apart from other 2D fighters. Sure you can play as women in Victorian dress, but I'd like a little more sizzle with my fighters.

WiFi: While Fate: Unlimited Codes features local wireless play for two players, it doesn't support any online gaming, which is tragic. Capcom seems to be the master of this tech, why not bring it to the PSP.

What Should Stay The Same?
Solid Fighting Mechanic: The moves, the specials, all feel very similar. Not surprising since developers behind it also made Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection for the PSP and Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 for the portable. Fortunately, I see more of those games in this one, than Castlevania Judgment, which they co-developed. In particular, the game reminded most of Tekken 5, even before I realized the same studio made it.

Faithful Adaption: The game includes the same anime cut scenes and same art style as the anime. So what fans there are of the show in the U.S. should be pleased.

Plenty To Do: With 17 characters, 250 missions and unlockable costumes, it should be quite some time before you run out of things to do in Fate.

Final Thoughts
The game seems to be a solid enough fighter, but without any personal experience with the source material, I found myself wondering why I would want to play it. For fans of the show or "novel", I'm sure Fate: Unlimited Codes will be a big hit.

Recently announced for Japan in the pages of Famitsu, Aksys is picking up the ball and running it to North America with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game due out this summer. As mentioned previously, the 2D fighter features twelve highly-detailed characters, each one animated with over 1800 frames worth of hand-drawn sprites. That's a whole mess of sprites.

The console version of the arcade fighter features new music, new animations, and a full-fleshed out story mode that apparently makes use of a girl with chipmunk ears and a tail, so I wholeheartedly approve. Online play and the ability to switch between Japanese and English voices is nice, but they had me at random chipmunk girl.

Style versus substance, red versus blue...

Loved

• Characters - There may be only 11 playable characters, but each one has a distinctive fighting style and design that sets her apart from the rest. Making the tiny girl in the water globule the wrestler character tickled me to know end.
• Graphics - As far as 2D graphics go, these are definitely on the upper end of the scale. While not as fluid as Guilty Gear at its best, Arcana Heart's sprites come pretty close.
• Combat - A relatively simple four-button system hides an extremely deep combat system full of counters, reverses, cancels - all the buzzwords you'd expect in a 2D fighter; a system where skill will win over random flailing 90% of the time.
• The Arcana System - This is where Arcana Heart really makes its mark. First you select a character, then you choose one of 11 Arcana to aid you in your fight. Depending on which you choose, you're able to not only access powerful special attacks, but also inflict status ailments on your enemies, or buff yourself. Which Arcana you pick can completely change your fighting strategy.

Hated

• Difficulty - I know I praised the complex combat system under the "Loved" section, but I'd still like to be able to sit down next to a friend who wasn't familiar with the game and give them the slightest chance of beating me. Hell, I'd like to have a chance at higher difficulty levels.
• Music - Aside from the opening song, the music in Arcana Heart could have been ripped from just about any generic 2D fighter in the history of the genre. Pleasant at first, I soon found myself setting the volume down lower and lower.

Plenty to love and not too much to hate in Arcana Heart, which deftly rises above the girl gimmick. If it weren't for the fact that they're all so damn adorable, it would be easy to forget that Arcana Heart's characters are all female, and that's no mean feat considering the core gamer demographic. When questions of which girl is the cutest (Puppy Girl!) give way to which character / Arcana combination fits your play style the best is when you know the game has you. The high cuteness factor may not be for everyone, but don't let it fool you - this is not a game for reflex-challenged button mashers. This is a game for fighters.

Arcana Heart is an extremely solid 2D fighting game, packed with intriguing gameplay variety and dipped in sexy anime sweetness, making it well worth its $30 price tag.

Arcana Heart was developed by Examu, published by Atlus and was released on April 8. Retails for $29.99. Available on PlayStation 2. Completed story mode for each character on medium difficulty.

The game includes 10 characters, a pretty bitchin soundtrack and some amazing graphics, all packed into a flash game you can play on your keyboard. The controls are a bit awkward because they force you to move with the arrow keys and attack with the number pad, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Hokuto No Ken

Get Your Art in New UDON’s New Street Fighter Art Book!

[blog.capcom.com]

I was looking at Capcom's blog and noticed that Capcom and UDON were holding a contest to add fan art to UDON's new Street Fighter art book.  I remembered Kotaku showing some interesting in the art books earlier and thought it was pretty nifty.

Games Radar has a new batch of screens of Soulcalibur IV, which I don't remember looking quite this good before. They feature a fantastic look at both Cassandra and Mitsurugi, the latter of whom Cassandra's modest rack doesn't seem to be lost on.

Soul Calibur IV [Games Radar]

The Wii version sports 32 character and will let you use the Wii remote and nunchuck to slash, jab and lunge in 3D battles. Each of the characters have their own special attacks. The DS version will be a 2D fighter with 28 characters and battles that can move between the upper and lower screens of the DS. The DS version also supports four-player combat via a WiFi and the use of something called Spirit Card Decks.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

Hit TV Series Delivers Intense Swordfights in Video Game Debut in North America

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (July 6, 2007) - SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced that Bleach(tm): Shattered Blade will be available on the Wii(tm) home video game system from Nintendo and Bleach(tm): The Blade of Fate on the Nintendo DS(tm) portable handheld system. Based on the hit animated series, Bleach(tm) offers relentless action and dazzling swordplay with crisp, highly-stylized graphics that deliver an authentic anime experience. The games feature a robust cast of characters voiced by the actors from VIZ Media's award-winning BLEACH anime. The TV show is currently featured in the U.S. on the Cartoon Network's, Adult Swim. With a dynamic cast of over two dozen characters in the games including Rukia, Kon and hero Ichigo, gamers can spend hours furiously fighting while unlocking individual character stories, all based on the animated series' story arc.

The Bleach storyline follows fifteen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki who is able to see spirits, including warriors from the afterlife known as "Soul Reapers". The Soul Reapers are tasked with defending humans from otherworldly beings called "Hollows". One fateful day, Ichigo meets Rukia, a Soul Reaper who lends him her powers after she is injured by a Hollow. In the game, players progress through an exciting storyline facing increasingly difficult opponents in their quest to uncover the truth.

"Bleach offers both fans and newcomers alike an action-packed arcade experience that delivers fast-paced swordplay in the tradition of the animated series' intense action sequences," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "Bleach is an exciting and highly anticipated property that translates extremely well to the versatility of the Wii Remote and the DS' portable gameplay, and SEGA is proud to be the first to bring the video game series to the North American audience."

"We are thrilled to be partnering with SEGA for the Bleach Wii and DS games," states Linda Espinosa, Vice President, Content Management, VIZ Media. "The SEGA games have enjoyed immense success in Japan, the manga is a top seller in both the Japan and US, and we are expecting great fan response when these games release."

Bleach: Shattered Blade for the Wii enables gamers to wield the Wii Remote(tm) and Nunchuk(tm) as their weapons - slashing, jabbing, and lunging in furious battles like a real Soul Reaper. Bleach: Shattered Blade offers an exclusive storyline created specifically for the Wii with 32 characters to choose from. Once a new character is unlocked, players can replay the story episodes utilizing the characters' special moves and weapons which brings a whole new perspective to the storyline.

On the Wii, each character can perform special attacks that inflict massive damage on opponents with powerful weapons and super power attacks taken straight from the TV series. Characters can summon supernatural allies for battle support such as a giant serpent, a samurai titan, or a tidal wave. Gamers can also square-off against friends in high-speed multiplayer combat in 3D arenas and environments based on settings from the series.

On the Nintendo DS, Bleach: The Blade of Fate offers more of the impressive 2D action and brilliant visuals that have become the hallmark of Treasure, the game's legendary development team. Players will face a variety of opponents as one of 28 highly-stylized characters in intense action-packed battles based on the animated series. Bleach: The Blade of Fate on the Nintendo DS brings a twist to the traditional 2D fighting game with a new kind of battle system that enables players to move between upper and lower split-plane battle arenas to chase after or escape from opponents.

Bleach: The Blade of Fate for the Nintendo DS also allows gamers to build Spirit Card Decks to strategically access power-ups and power-downs to perform special attacks, cast healing spells on themselves, displace opponents, or prohibit them from using their own Spirit Cards. Additionally, gamers can take to the streets battling against enemies with up to four players in fast-paced combat via the Nintendo DS' Wi-Fi capabilities.

Bleach: Shattered Blade on the Wii and Bleach: The Blade of Fate on the Nintendo DS is slated for release in fall 2007, just in time for the beginning of the highly-anticipated second season on Cartoon Network.

Listings for Senko no Ronde Rev. X, published by Ubisoft, have appeared on mega-site Gamespot and multiple North American online retailers. All list different dates in May but all peg Ubi as the publisher.

Coincidence? Of course not! We await comment from Ubisoft but know, deep in our hearts, that our localization prayers have been answered. Michael McWhertor

Game Factory today confirmed that they are working on a 3D fighter for the Wii based on the JETIX cartoon Legend of the Dragon.

"We are thrilled to be publishing for the WiiTM," said Henrik Mathiasen, Game Factory's President. "While the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 next-gen consoles have really captured the imagination of the more mature gamer, at Game Factory we're really excited about the potential impact WiiTM will have on the children's market, as this is obviously our forte."

The game will let you choose between one of 19 characters, all of which wear magical wristbands that allow them to transform. The game also includes a real-time spell-casting system that is suppose to lend an RPG element to the fighter.

The whole thing is being done with cel-shading, so I'm at least marginally interested. Press release after the jump. Brian Crecente

ENTER THE DRAGON'S DEN

The Game Factory announces Legend of the Dragon for WiiTM

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (December 15, 2006): The Game Factory today announces it is publishing the forthcoming 3D fighting title, Legend of the Dragon, for Nintendo's WiiTM system. The game is due for release in Q2 2007.

Legend of the Dragon for Nintendo WiiTM will be the publisher's first release for the recently-launched next-generation video game system, based on the hugely popular Children's TV show currently airing on JETIX.

"We are thrilled to be publishing for the WiiTM," said Henrik Mathiasen, Game Factory's President. "While the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 next-gen consoles have really captured the imagination of the more mature gamer, at Game Factory we're really excited about the potential impact WiiTM will have on the children's market, as this is obviously our forte."

Allen Bohbot, BKN's Chief Executive Officer stated, "we have been thrilled with the success of Legend of the Dragon's first series on Jetix this year and The Game Factory has proved to be master at translating the action, drama and excitement of Legend of the Dragon into brilliant videogames, and the WiiTM version will take this to the next level"

The Legend of the Dragon story begins against the backdrop of China's sacred temples and just as a new Golden Dragon is selected. The Golden Dragon is the honourable title given to the chosen warrior set to fight the evil Zodiac Master, Woo Yin.

Each of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs has its own temple protected by a guardian; all guardians have individual powers unique to their zodiac symbol to help them defend their temple. The Zodiac Master - Woo Yin - plans to capture these powers; with them he will be unstoppable in his fight for the dark side to reign over China.
.../more

Legend of the Dragon/ WiiTM

Ang Leung has been chosen as the new Golden Dragon over his twin sister Ling, but the surprise and humiliation of this decision is too much for Ling and she quickly defects to the dark side. In her new position as the Shadow Dragon, she will fight against her brother and old friends in a bid for revenge.

Gamers can choose to play as one of 19 characters, each with unique fighting techniques, strengths and movements. All characters wear magical wristbands that enable them to transform into mystical warriors. Once transformed, each character takes on the exact likenesses and superhuman powers of the zodiac creature they represent. An innovative real time spell casting system enhances the classic experience of a fighting arcade style of gameplay in addition to blending RPG elements through various available power-ups.

The videogame captures not only the compelling story of the cartoon series by using cell shading technology but also dramatic fighting scenes that will grip any gamer. It also mirrors a variety of locations from the cartoon series, using them as destructible combat areas, including Hong Kong Bay, The Dragon Dojo and The Great Wall of China.

The only problem? The game kinda sucked. I've only seen it in person at one arcade—Playland—in central Pennsylvania where it was installed for no more than a month. One look at this video will show you why. Michael McWhertor

Tattoo Assassins (60 Fatalites out of 2196) [YouTube, via negatendo]

Check out the full gallery for more shiny beefcake and demure lady brawlers, but keep in mind these are 720p shots. Not for the faint of heart (or the 56K crowd)! Michael McWhertor

Virtua Fighter 5 Screenshot Gallery

Jay doesn't do fighting games. He's an avid gamer. He's a Madden fan. He's a great friend of mine. But that's not something he does.

There's one word to describe individuals unwilling to lend their likeness to video games in which they get beat up: Wuss. Brian Ashcraft

Jay's A Lover, Not A Fighter [MTV]

Okay, it absolutely sucks the sound on this video is so bad. But any commercial this wonderfully surreal deserves a post, regardless. For the upcoming PS2 brawler, God Hand. Florian Eckhardt

One of the disadvantages to being Weekend Editor, is that when something pops up during the weekday that I'm really psyched for, I have to wait until Saturday morning to gush about it. The other downer is that none of the other editors seem to give two squirts about Senko no Ronde Rev. X for the Xbox 360. Jerks!

On the plus side, I can do a write up on a wildly unpopular subject like Senko no Ronde and won't get any grief from the management. They're all off on their respective yachts, screwing models on piles of cash. Where was I? Right, Senko no Ronde! I've previously written about the game, but now you, lucky reader, can see it in motion not just carefully chosen words.

Thanks to the lovely Blimblim of Xboxyde, we've now got 10 minutes worth of white hot shmup-fighting action in video form. And its in 720p for those of you with beefy computers and overflowing bandwidth. Put down that porn and start downloading! Michael McWhertor

The first 10 minutes: Senko no Ronde Rev. X [Xboxyde]