Just for kicks, here’s some footage of the Tekken 7 Evo Announcement, care of LevelUpYourGame.
It’s still a few days till our next glimpse of what the next Tekken, or Tekken 7, will look like at SDCC, but this early fight fans are already being teased by the possibility (or is it already confirmation?) that the next Iron Fist Tournament may be headed for PCs.
Aside from this article from Shoryuken, the simple fact that the next Tekken is using the Unreal 4 Engine means that portability to any platform, PC included, is a given. So what will playing Tekken on PC entail, aside from needing to buy a spiffy game controller or fiddling with new specs?
For the most part I am salivating for Tekken 7 PC for the possibility of mods. If the awesome mods I’ve seen (and am enjoying) with the PC versions of Streetfighter X Tekken and Super Streetfighter IV AE are any indication, just give a few talented individuals the tools to play with and you’ll find awesome, awesome treats for the Tekken characters on the platform. Mods will give the game untold longevity and replayability, and I hope that the Tekken Team embraces this aspect of the PC version.
In any case I am also quite curious to how the game will look apart from the previous versions, given the new graphics engine. We can speculate all we want though- SDCC is just a few more days away, and I can’t freakin’ wait to see the next trailer.
Taking apart the first video of the upcoming Tekken sequel.
We’ve seen it, and now it’s all we have to know that the next canon Tekken game is coming. Tekken 7 is in our futures, and with that little snap, Katsuhiro Harada and recaptured the attention of thousands and thousands of dormant Tekken fans all over the world. Well, this 1 minute and 30-second or so video is all we have to go on until July 25, when the full, first trailer for Tekken 7 is revealed. So, let’s take a look at the spot, shall we? Note: I will be referring to the Japanese language version.
• The spot starts with grainy, scratchy video footage of a woman in very traditional-looking Japanese hairstyle and costume sitting/kneeling in a temple, her back to the camera so we cannot see her face. The sepia-toned look and sounds reveal this is a flashback, something that happened many years ago- presumably before the birth of Kazuya Mishima.
• The Temple is similar to stages like the Honmaru Shrine in Tekken 4. The Japanese do love their temples.
• The woman is almost certainly Kazumi Mishima, wife of Heihachi and mother to Kazuya.
• A figure opens the doors going into the Temple, behind the seated woman. It is that of a male, and I speculate that this is probably a young(er) Heihachi.
• There are many cuts of images from past Tekken Cinematics, most of them involving Heihachi and Kazuya, including bodies being dropped into volcanoes and such. The woman mentions that she must stop Heihachi, whom she knows has finally realized that Kazuya has inherited her powers.
It is common knowledge in the Tekken mythos that the Devil Gene, the power that lies inside Kazuya and Jin, which is coveted by Heihachi, is not present within Heihachi, Jinpachi or Lars. The original person who first had the Devil Gene may now be assumed to be Kazumi herself. In order to protect Kazuya from being exploited by Heihachi for his power, she resolves to fight him.
• We then see a scene between Heihachi and an angry Kazuya who says, ‘You killed my mother!’ Up to now, it has been said that Kazumi had died in childbirth delivering Kazuya. The truth may be that she was murdered/killed by her own husband, dying to protect her son.
• The confrontation between Kazuya and Heihachi apparently takes place in a place with splashing lava and flames- the volcano from which both father and son have in turn thrown each other into may be the setting of their climactic final meeting.
• After the Tekken 7 logo, we then cut to a final scene (which seems to be missing from the English-dubbed trailer) showing the names ‘Heihachi and Kazumi’ engraved into the Temple’s woooden floor. Awww, so sweet.
• It is not known in what capacity Kazumi will appear in the game. To have her only appear in flashback cinematics seems to be a waste of a character, and supposedly dead people often return to the story very much alive, and very malevolently powerful (like Jinpachi and Jun before). Perhaps we’ll see Kazumi appear as a boss or playable fighter as the first and long-sought-after female Mishima fighter? That would be awesome.
• We don’t know how long Tekken 7 has been in development, but I hope that the game is far more along that we may know or hope- this IS being touted as an offering marking the 20th Anniversary of the series, which is this year…
In any case, I just hope that this doesn’t need to head for arcades and have the customary 2-year wait before coming to consoles. In any case, the next time we see anything of this game is at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, this coming July 25.
It’s been a LOOOOOONG time coming since the last CANON Tekken game… Tekken 6 came out in 2006 after all (arcades). But about eight years later, the long-suffering fans of one of the most popular fighting game franchises ever may be rewarded for their vigil. Tekken 7 has finally, FINALLY been announced at this year’s EVO Tournaments, via a teaser trailer from Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada.
But the announcement didn’t come without a bit of controversy or hiccups- earlier today, the teaser was supposedly leaked on AOL by IGN, and because of this there were fears the reveal would be postponed. But here it is, nevertheless, and it’s something fight fans have long been wanting. No, it’s not Tekken X Streetfighter yet, but arguably it’s BETTER. The 7th REAL Tekken. No silly Tag-gimmicks. No Revolting Revolution crap. This has to be the real deal. I am hoping this is a return-to-form for the Tekken team and their baby- depth of characters, detail, modes aplenty, customization that hearkens back to Tekken 6 at least (not the garbage from TTT2 please) and hopefully, continuation (and what appears to be a conclusion) to the Mishima War.
No details yet aside from the teaser above, which I want to just take apart second by second. Who is this mysterious lady? What ‘Power’ does she speak of?
More details as they come. Time has finally started moving again.
UPDATE: Here’s the Japanese version trailer via Tekken Channel. It also has subtitles, and also a scene I believe wasn’t in the English-dubbed trailer. Check it out. I think it may reveal the identity of the mystery woman…
The Japanese trailer also has a bit that mentions that the game will use the Unreal Engine- Harada has said during Evo that they chose Unreal Engine 4 since it will allow the game to look like a proper next-gen game, and still let them port it to any system they wish (I expect it to arrive in some form to every console out there).
Next update for this game will be at the upcoming San Diego Comic Convention (July 25), where Harada will debut the full trailer. Damn, it’s About Freakin’ Time.
At their panel during EVO 2014, developer Iron Galaxy revealed their second character to come in Killer Instinct’s sophomore season. Set to appear alongside the previously-shown T.J. Combo is the warrior woman Maya, who originally debuted in the original KI2. Just as before, this femme fatale fights using dual daggers, which this time apparently can be leveled up in power, and will entail a bit of risk and reward as these weapons may actually be left on the ground and need to be recovered after some specific attacks.
The character design has also seen a bit of updating- and while I love the stylistic upgrade (gone is the ‘Janet Jackson’ clone look of before’s game), I expect (nope, DEMAND) that her classic ‘Jungle Queen’ look be available, at least as a set in her accessories or alternate costumes. Heheh.
No videos yet shown of Maya in action, but I expect that to arrive soon. Of course, this reveal will surely disappoint fans expecting Cinder (who was assumed to be the one teased at the end of T.J’s trailer), but I am ecstatic to see more of the fairer sex entering the arena for KI. More on this as we get it.
This F2P Time and Money Sink should have stayed lost.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Sigh. I guess it was inevitable, given the apparent failure of Soul Calibur V to meet the expectations of the Namco-Bandai masters. On one hand, that could have been the end of the Tale Eternally Retold right there… and perhaps this would have been better. But nope, NB resurrected their beloved franchise as a zombified version of itself with Soul Calibur: Lost Swords.
Soul Calibur: Lost Swords is a way to get your money. That’s all there is to it.
On Twitter, the Project Soul Twitter continually tries to sell the game with cheesecake poses of the female characters in lingerie or swimsuits, doubtless trying to draw in hot-blooded gamers like Dead or Alive does. In fairness to DOA, at least they sell DLC stuff that builds on an already solid game. Lost Swords is not even that much. The cheesecake does not exist in the game aside from the fan service outfits. The game itself is so bare bones and joyless, it is ridiculous.
Lost Swords has one mode- a single player ‘Quest’ divided into chapters with some useless text blocks of ‘story’ that makes utterly no sense or context- it’s also totally generic to any character, which means it really doesn’t matter. All there is to the game is one-round fights with three or four enemies per chapter. Defeat them to move forward. There are some missions that may unlock a playable character, or get you some gold or items.
Oh, and you start off with just one playable character- Sophitia, the longtime veteran Soul Calibur fighter killed off in SCV. For some reason (perhaps fan rejection of SCV’s killing of their beloved fave) they brought her back for this non-canon Free-to-play garbage- heck, I’ll say it… they brought her back to sell the damn game, of course.
You unlock other fighters in missions that come randomly. You get to play missions by using AP points, which you get periodically. Finishing rounds or chapters nets you chests of stuff (random loot, mostly junk to sell or use for crafting). Losing a round means you have to start over, unless you use a ‘Continue Ticket’. Continue Tickets and AP Potions (which let you play missions) are sold, by the way, for real money. Free to download, but yeah, you are encouraged strongly to pay.
On the one hand, you can play without paying anything. But really, why do that? If you want to play a single player Soul Calibur, why put up with a cut-down roster, no modes, no Character Creation, No NOTHING except load times, load times and load times?
Bottom-line, this Free-to-play time and cash sink is really a disgrace. If you ever loved Soul Calibur and wish to play it, go get a copy of Soul Calibur IV or Soul Calibur V and play to your heart’s content- everything is there to be played, with many modes, varying difficulty, at no charge after you buy the game.
There’s really NO REASON to play this Lost Swords atrocity- no new stuff to be seen, no new characters, no multiplayer, no innovations, no story worth experiencing, NOTHING. Not unless you want to make the soulless gods of Namco Bandai happy that you are throwing money at them.
To play this is to reward laziness and greed. Please don’t.
For shame, Project Soul. First that Tekken Regurgitation crap, and now this. Crap.
It’s been known for some time that the console versions of Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN will be featuring some new characters, and now we know who at least one of them is- Sin Kiske, the son of series’ favorites Ky Kiske and Dizzy. Sin first appeared in the GG spin-off game, Guilty Gear 2: Overture. Being the son of a King and his Gear wife/lover is a bit of a big secret, so Sin was sent off to be taken care of and raised by Ky’s best friend/rival Sol Badguy. Despite being just ten years old(!) chronologically, he looks quite grown.
Sin’s fighting style revolves around his battle standard and ‘full stomach’ meter- using special moves depletes this, and when his belly’s empty he can no longer do specials. Eating something in mid-battle will rectify this.
Sin will have all the trimmings of regular characters, including a part in the Story. It’s not know yet whether Sin will be the only new character added to GGXrd, but we’ll surely see more if gamers want that. The game will be released on PS3 and PS4 this holiday season.
It’s a bit late, but I’d like to chime in my thoughts about the next epic chapter of the MGS saga. Behind closed doors, Kojima Productions showed off their upcoming stealth-action sequel at E32014. Thankfully since then, the demo has made its way to Youtube, all 30 or so minutes of it (as you can see above from IGN). All I can say it, wow! Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain looks freakin’ amazing. But it’s quite refreshing to see that despite it looking all photo-realistic, there’s still that Kojima charm and surreal, comicky feel with the goofy but cool ‘Fulton’ gizmo that lets you capture enemy personnel and equipment for your own use. This was already existing in previous MGS games, but actually sending off the stuff you capture via super balloons (and the size of what you can capture is astounding) is off the wall amazing.
So far though the stuff shown is Snake taking on mundane obstacles and enemies- you just know all the freaky stuff like weirdo bosses and wild character designs will show up later. This is definitely a game I will be playing either on my XBox One or my PS4 (when I get it) with utter gusto.
Even as I am totally obsessed with Skyrim today, I am of course looking forward to the next big RPG and perhaps the first big Next-Gen RPG in many a gamer’s sights- and that’s Bioware’s Dragon Age Inquisition.
I was able to play Dragon Age Origins a few years ago on Xbox360 (I have the game as well on PS3 today), and thoroughly enjoyed it for the likable cast of companions, the involving story and the cool gameplay. I did however find quite lacking in customization. It still ranks among my all-time favorite RPGs, and I even bought most of the DLC expansions that came after release. I remember that I didn’t play through the game with every character option, mainly only playing as the Human Noble.
As for Dragon Age 2, I played it a bit, but my interest in it tapered off soon after I realized that the lovable cast of DAO would only appear in negligible cameos. The story at the time failed to engage me, and I just drifted away from it.
But then, here comes DAI; which frankly looks SPECTACULAR. While I haven’t seen all of DA’s media, I am very invested in the world, and I love the characters and the way that this latest chapter still involves aspects of the previous games, and puts your hero and allies in a headlong clash against or alongside many of the world’s powerful factions is irresistible.
I am loving that you are in command of building a powerful, world-changing organization, and will be given the choice of assembling the various heroes and characters that make it up. Being able to affect the world, making decisions and choices that matter, is awesome.
I do recognize that unlike Skyrim (sadly, comparisons are inescapable for me), this isn’t a world where you create your own story; DAI isn’t a sandbox where you make up your own saga, it’s a set playground with set rules where you battle to the top. In that, it’s a totally different beast but that is actually what I am looking forward to.
I am quite intrigued at the incredibly varied locales and environments, the vast spaces to explore, the countries you will enter and deal with as the story progresses. I am hoping the quest is long and very involved, with many options and branches that will allow for long stretches. I do not expect to ‘power through’ this game; I want to build up my Inquisition and see my forces grow and battle enemies who are worthy of such a formidable force.
I am intending to get the PS4 version- this may be the game that makes me get a Next-Gen Sony Box. I think it may be a bit too much trouble to put together a monster PC for it (and too pricey), and unlike Skyrim I don’t think this is a game given to extensive modding (I may be wrong) like Skyrim was.
Anyway, I am really wanting to digest every bit of info on this game as we crawl excruciatingly to the October release. Damn, it’s going to be a hard, long wait.
Mortal Kombat shows off some of the goods to come.
Ed Boon showed off his latest baby on stage at E3, revealing a ton of tidbits for this spectacular-looking gorefest. Mortal Kombat X will feature a bunch of all-new characters, some of which made their debut on the previously-seen trailer. The so-far shown newcomers include D’Vorah (‘Ladybug’), a half-human/half-insect female combatant, Ferra and Torr are the Master-Blaster combo character and Kotal Khan is the male fighter shown squeezing blood into his face from a crushed heart (Eew).
But there’s MORE! The vid above also gives a first look (character portrait only) at Cassie Cage- yep, the daughter of vets Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade (yep, they hook up some time after the previous tournament). Cassie will fight using a combination of both her parents’ styles.
Some other bits from the game- each character will have 3 Variations which will effectively be very different versions of the character, each with exclusive moves or weapons. This may pretty much triple the roster in a way- awesome.
The story of MKX is set up to 25 years after the first game (the story may happen in stages throughout that time lapse), allowing for both older and newer characters to appear. This still doesn’t answer whether we’ll see any of the fighters killed off in the last game though… Lastly, the game’s Final Boss will be a returning character, though it may be a ‘surprise’.
Man, Mortal Kombat X is looking darn intriguing and awesome. The graphics look amazing, the fighting looks solid, the character designs are wild, and I can’t wait to see more of this one. Sadly we still have to wait a while- the game is set for release in 2015 on pretty much every console. Color me excited. Hit me with your best shot, Nether Realm! I want your game now.
Cassie Cage makes her debut in this demo video.
UPDATE: Added in IGN’s Stage Demo vid from Day 2. This new vid shows off action with new characters Cassie Cage and Kotal Khan, along with their pretty cool new fatalities. I have to say I am loving the fatality/victory screen layout, with the victor standing in the background, the loser’s body in the fore. Really nice. They really are impressing me with this one.
Frustrating watch for one of my most-wanted games coming this year.
Okay, the video above- Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN’s stage demo feature from Gamespot- is just yet another example of why Japanese fighting games are sadly hamstrung whenever they present on shows like this. The actual guy who knows everything (in this case GG’s creator/game dev Daisuke Ishiwatari) can’t speak a word of Japanese, so half of the time is wasted on him speaking in Japanese and for his translator (whom I think they just sourced externally since she also plainly knows NOTHING about what she’s trying to explain) to try and figure out how to relay his words to a reporter who ALSO knows nothing (I love Cam on the Skyrim Mod series but DAMN he’s out of place here). It’s sheer frustration. Harada of Tekken should really value his English-speaking colleague, Michael Murray.
They barely talk about the game, the story, the modes, any home-only features… they can’t even show more than the series’ two most common ly-seen characters when you have a whole roster of awesome and interesting fighters to show off. DAAAAMN. Such a wasted opportunity.
ANYWAY… Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN features awesome, awesome-looking 3D anime art and graphics, hardcore fighting action, a more expanded Story mode and will feature at least one new character exclusive to the console. It will be out on PS3 and PS4 this Holiday 2014. Can’t freakin’ wait.
