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THANK YOU -WARP 9 CREW-

Online Servers Reaching World Wide For Street Fighter IV

Do you have a strong desire to get the snot beat out of you at Street Fighter by some kid rresiding in Japan? Well, fear not your time has come! Credit N4G for this short but most interesting tid-bit: "In the latest edition of the Weekly Famitsu (gaming magazine), Capcom has confirmed that the online versus servers for Street Fighter IV will be worldwide, not region locked. It's important to note, however, that this will not be the equivalent of the arcade's guild mode, which allowed players to join guilds and record their wins and losses."

Also announced was that the PS3 would be getting its very own exclusive opening Anime sequences for each character on the roster in Arcade Mode. "Speculation points to this being due to the extra space provided by Blu Ray. The size of the save data for the title was also revealed to be 3,752 KB, though no word on whether the game can be installed or not. "

This is fantastic news for those (like myself) who play competitively online. Worldwide servers will let it be known just who is the best in the world at Street Fighter IV. Sources point to me.

-GAME HARD-

Success!

Email confirmation direct from Microsoft:

"Dear Sir, Your Xbox 360 repairs have been completed. The console has been shipped and will arrive in two to three days. Thank you."

I have to say, the process was pretty damn fast. It's only been about a week and a half now since the death of my third Xbox and its already been patched up. Here's to hoping they just swapped my 360 with one of the new Falcon Chip Set 360's...which happens to be the rumor. I kind of feel bad for all those who are still in limbo waiting for their broken 360's to be repaired. It's like Im the happy one surrounded by thousands of screaming pissed off gamers...oh well. Any who, look out for OverlorStrider to once again grace the world of online gaming and commence the pwnage of newbs.

-GAME HARD-

Fill That Void Rocketman!

Dark Void sounds like a deep and painful venereal disease, doesn't it? Maybe not but whats more important is the fact that Dark Void, one of Capcom's up and coming titles, looks extremely interesting..and not to mention pretty. DV is an upcoming video game being developed by Airtight Games and published by Capcom on Unreal Engine 3 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. In the game players must face an alien threat that humanity had previously banished. The game is said to mix on-foot and mid-air combat. It also features a unique Vertical Cover system which allows the player to take cover while looking up or down. In one video released by the developer, the main character, Will, is shown flying his jet pack into a generator, and taking cover at the bottom of ledges, firing up at enemies above him. Sounds all in fun when you got a nice handy jet pack at your disposal. I hope the game features free roaming spaces and really utilizes the Unreal Engine.

Enjoy this little Demo Video!


Watch Dark Void Gameplay Demo in Game Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

-GAME HARD-

A Plethora of Street Fighter IV Images!

Credit Video Gaming 247 for this short stack of images. Every time I see new images for Street Fighter IV I get goose bumps and rightfully so. The game is going to change the face of the fighting genre for ever as we know it. Enough gushing. There is however one tid-bit of info that needs to be explained. The Madcatz Joystiq specifically made for SFIV has officially sold old. No official word has been released on what both companies plan on doing but rumors are afloat and the inside scoop is that more are being produced as we speak.

Circuit City Goes Boom!

Self imploding Circuit City has finally put the kibosh on all of its remaining 567 stores...laying off nearly 34,000 employees by March of this year. I don't necessarily like reporting these things due to the fact that the economy is horrible right now and these poor bastards will have a rough time finding follow up jobs. But in all honesty, Best Buy has been laying the smack down (competition wise) for the past 6 years now and in all retrospect, we all saw this coming. Here's the full story story as reported by Gamespot.

-GAME HARD-

More Fallout Coverage

Getting tired of the Fallout 3 coverage yet? Well, I'm not so I'm gonna thrust some more onto you! Bethesda Software just posted another batch of still shots from the upcoming expansion pack entitled: Operation Anchorage hitting download servers January 27th. Take a gander!

-GAME HARD-

Fallout 3 DLC and Patch Info

"You lookin' at me?"

Ok we all know that Fallout 3 was terrific. However, we also knew that it needed some quick fixes for a few minor bugs, glitches and problems. Lo-in-behold, Bethesda has issued a "minor" patch to correct some of the glitches. They also recently announced the DLC content and the date it would be shipped. (scroll down past the bug fixes to see information on the DLC. Here is a quick rundown of the Patch and what it has fixed:

BUG FIXES
-Friends notification no longer causes the game to pause. (Playstation 3)

-Fixed occasional crashes during loading and waiting.

-Friendly or neutral NPC health bars, when taking damage, no longer flicker repeatedly.

-Fixed issue where certain NPCs would occasionally disappear from the game.

-Fixed issue where dead NPCs would occasionally come back to life.

-Fixed rendering issue with the Gatling Laser gun's tracers.

-Fixed issue where the haircut menu would occasionally not appear properly.

-Added ability to remap your VATS and pip boy buttons.

-Fixed rare load/save issues that would cause NPCs to behave incorrectly.

-Fixed issue where quest objectives would occasionally not update properly due to talking activators, intercoms and conversations.

-Using Radaway from the Pip-Boy's Status Menu repeatedly no longer crashes the game.

-Player no longer gets stuck in level up menu if their skills are maxed out.

-Fixed issue where multiple followers would occasionally not load into an interior.

-Fixed rare issue with getting stuck in VATS mode.

-Fixed rare crash with fighting NPCs with corrupted data.

-In game radios will now play properly if player was listening to the radio in the Pip-Boy first. (Playstation 3)

-Fixed rare crashes while loading and saving games.

-Fixed rare issue where player would fall through the floor while in VATS.

-Fixed occasional crash after scoring a critical hit in the head with a Railway Rifle.

-Prevent NPCs from inadvertently dying from falling.

-Fixed occasional issue where the controller would stop working properly.

-Fixed crashes related to repeatedly equipping and dropping clothing and armor into the world.

QUEST FIXES
-Fixed several instances where quest item stayed in inventory permanently after completing quests.

-Fixed an issue where the distress message would occasionally not play in Trouble on the Homefront.

-In The Waters of Life quest, the Citadel gate will open properly if the player fast travels away after exiting the Taft Tunnels but before reaching the Citadel gate with Doctor Li.

-For the Home Sweet Home quest, the broken protectrons in Big Town become active at the proper time.

-In The American Dream quest, fixed specific issue which prevented the player from accessing their belongings in the locker by the door if they left the room first.

-Fixed infinite caps exploit in Strictly Business quest.

-Fixed rare instance where Dad would have no valid dialogue during The Waters of Life quest.

-Prevent issue during the Finding the Garden of Eden quest where player would fade to black, instead of traveling to Raven Rock, while in combat with a follower.

-Fixed several XP speech exploits with certain NPCs.

-Fixed XP exploit with a robot in Fort Bannister.

-Fixed issue where player's controls can become locked permanently during The American Dream.

Courtesy of Gamespot.com:

"Fans of Fallout 3 got a double-shot of good news today. First, Bethesda dated the forthcoming Operation Anchorage expansion pack for the game, the first of three exclusive add-ons for the PC and Xbox 360 editions of the game. Available only as a download from Xbox Live or Bethesda, it will arrive in two weeks on January 27 and cost 800 Microsoft points or $10 on both platforms. It will allow players to participate in a simulation recreating a battle between Chinese and US forces in pre-nuclear holocaust Alaska. February and March will see two more PC/360 Fallout 3 add-ons, the last of which will expand the main storyline and raise the level cap to 30." -Tor Thorson-

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Review

Boy has it been a while since I've played a Fire Emblem game. In fact, the last one I excavated through was Path of Radiance for the Nintendo Gamecube. The series has been around since the beginning of time (1990 to be exact) and has helped pave the way for Tactical Grid Based RPG's, a somewhat niche market that I happen to have a certain affinity towards. The gameplay is sometimes tough and calls for deep tactical strategy but the core mechanics are extremely gratifying and call for you to use that thing inside your dome called...your brain.

With the recent downfall and demise of my XBox 360 I was thrusted into a dark void that seemed daunting at first. However, after a while of pontificating and deep meditation I realized something...I have a Wii. It had been a while since I used the "old guy" so I was a little rusty as to where to start looking for a game. The it hit me. I needed a game that was going to last at least a couple weeks to keep me preoccupied until my 360 got back. Well, I found one and it was so fun it lasted me 5 days. Enter: Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn.

{wiki} The Fire Emblem series of turn-based tactics games centers around moving units through a map grid in order to defeat the opposition. Players use strategic movements and positioning to complete mission objectives such as seizing a base,^[8] surviving for a number of turns, or defeating a boss. Many conventions of traditional console role-playing games are also present; for example, there is extensive use of scripted cut scenes to advance the story, units gain experience points and grow stronger over the course of the campaign, and the player can visit shops to outfit characters with weapons and equipment.^[9] Depending on the game, these events may take place during or in-between battles.

Another great point to mention is that of "unit death." Basically, if one of your characters dies that's it, he or she is dead and gone for the entirety of the game. So tactical placement, management and battle preparation is of the utmost importance. There's nothing worse than leveling up a character that you enjoy using and then seeing him die because of poor planning.

Ok, enough background and history. Having played the hell out of Path of Radiance a few years back I was extremely excited to find out about the direct sequel (Radiant Dawn) released on the Wii. The game features the same mechanics, structure and core gameplay that its predecessors have; pretty much picking right up after Path of Radiance. The story is pretty much "mehh" at best but the Fire Emblem series hasn't really ever been acclimated to the "ohh my goodness this story is brilliant" kind of mentality. It's all about the gameplay and this installation is nothing short of great.

Radiant Dawn retains the gameplay mechanics of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, with turn-based battles taking place on a square-based grid. The fights are somewhat fast but not daunting and the animated fight sequences that play out when you attack the opposition makes for a good balance/break. A few oft he maps can be a little hard to maneuver due to the fact that each location has it's own set of rules, i.e. holes in ther ground, dessert sand, spikes etc. This can get frustrating at times but adds to the stigma that the Fire Emblem makes you "think before you move." I found myself at times getting agitated at the fact that my Thief (Soeth, the bad ass) could traverse the sand with ease but my Paladin could not.

Balance wise the game does a pretty good job. Some fights are harder than others, some fights are extremely easy and the there's the occasional skirmish that makes you wanna pull your hair out. If you've played a Fire Emblem game you know exactly what I'm talking about. Example: About a third of the way into the campaign it took me nine tries at one battle (approximately 2 hours) to complete the fight without any casualties. Lets just say I stopped playing after that.

Graphically, Radiant Dawn looks solid. There are, however, a few texture pops from time to time as well as the occasional blocking of the character animations. I know, I know...it's a Wii game not a 360 game. There is one other thing I want to mention as it played a big role in my grading decision; color saturation. I felt as though the game lacked color and almost felt bland. There was basically no color differentiation between maps making everything almost look yellowish/gold. This actually at times took me out of the experience and made me wonder if the artist for the game were color blind.

Radiant Dawn couldn't have come at a better time for me. My love for tactical grid RPG's has led me to play just about every title in that niche corner. And though non can really touch the true champion of the genre (Disgaea Series) Fire Emblem sure does fill the void that I've been missing for a while. Solid core mechanics and sound structure makes Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn a welcome installation into the venerable series.

Radiant Dawn Gets a 8.0 out of 10

-GAME HARD-

Diablo III: Worried Update

Will the wait bring greatness? That is the drama surrounding Diablo III at the moment. Blizzard foolishly released a very promising gameplay trailer some time ago, but has yet to update it. If you visit the official site today, it is still featured on the main page. They also still seem to have no idea when a possible release date could be. All signs point to a unfortunate halt in progress for Diablo III development.

I am also disappointed that they will only be featuring five classes. World of Warcraft currently features ten classes, and it is still very hard to feel unique while venturing the world. I easily predict that a limited number of class choices will quickly turn a great game into a very boring one, unless they can find a way to make the game nearly impossible to beat, which would let players enjoy their character for an extended amount of time. If you know anyone on the Diablo III design board let them know this, add more classes, trust me, it is worth the production time.

Time itself is going to be an issue again for Blizzard, unless they are just teasing us by not updating on the game's progress. My prediction of a December 09 release still looks possible, but I am quickly losing hope. My advice, add classes, make the game extremely hard, and work overtime to get this game out by December 09. Easy enough, right?

Why am I pushing this release so hard? Simple answer. The game looks sick. The gameplay graphics look better than WoW. The gameplay itself looks very similar to WoW. So in a nut shell, this game has the potential to be outstanding. Diablo III is looking to become a MMORPG and (serious overkilling) action adventure (smash-mouth) hybrid. PC gaming needs this more than anything. Blizzard, please don't mess this up. Add more classes, make the game harder than you were planning. The pro PC gaming community needs a challenge.

Good luck... you'll need it! -Smash TV

-GAME HARD-

Another 360 Bites The Dust

Once again I have been cheated into buying another faulty XBox 360. This time, the box didn't even last 6 months! I'm really starting to get agitated with Microsoft. Come on, a 49% return rate for their console? In my opinion, this is something beyond ridiculous.

360's Owned: 2
360's Died: 2
-----
OverlordStrider - Zero
Microsoft - Two

Looks like its back to playing the Wii on a hardcore basis. Lets hope I don't kill this one too.

-GAME HARD-

From out of No Where!

Sometimes in life you find little gems that make a huge impact on your thought process. Sometimes, those gems turn out to be awesome and sometimes they turn out to be a huge let down. In the case of Ninja Blade, I believe we gamers might just be in for one hell of a treat!

Ninja Blade is an upcoming action-adventure game developed by From Software (developers of the Otogi series) exclusively for Xbox 360. The game has been categorized as a "Cinematic action game," combining a mixture of hack and slash elements with context sensitive commands. Ninja Blade features character designs by Capcom's Keiji Nakaoka, a soundtrack by Norihiko Hibino's GEM Impact studio, as well as storyboards and animation from Production I.G (a very honorable Anime Studio to boot!) The game is slated for an early 2009 release, published by Microsoft Game Studios.

If you don't believe in hype or the astuteness of verbal ambiguity then by all means feast upon this CES 2009 Demo Clip and see for yourselves. Keep an eye out here for all the up to date CES coverage!



-GAME HARD-

The Countdown Begins

February 17th, approximately forty-three days until one of the most prolific (and significant) game releases in over a decade is lock, stock and ready to go! I'm talking about non other than Street Fighter IV. Since the series inception way back in 1987 the Street Fighter franchise has been at the fore-front of cutting edge fighting mechanics and game play. Specifically, Street Fighter 2 perhaps was the catalyst that set the series apart from all other fighting games. The intuitive control scheme, the lush 2D graphics and a stock of extremely interesting characters made for a great "pick up and play" style game which was easily accessible to just about anyone. With 6 iterations of the series, Street Fighter 4 may just be the most anticipated and highly regarded SF game ever!

Having had the privilege to actually play a $50,000 dollar imported Street Fighter IV cabinet from Japan, I can honestly say one thing: "Oh...my...god." If the arcade skew is any indication as to what us console owners will be treated to than cancel all my appointments for the next year because I can honestly say I wont leave my gaming room. Enough about the Arcade cabinet though and onto the more daunting task of "hyping" a game that needs no hype what so ever. The console port has been was available to play at this years Tokyo Game Show and made a serious impact winning the award for "Best Fighting Game." In all honestly, who in the blue hell would have thought another fighting game could even come close to the coat tails of SFIV...In Japan non-the-less?

There is, however, at least one concern from console gamers in regards to the 360 and PS3 controllers and how well they work with the game. Fear not! As reported by multiple gaming outlets, the controls felt extremely good. In many cases, arcade style "fighters" tend to get no love from current generation console controllers and if this were the case with SFIV I believe Capcom would have a small riot of rabid Street Fighter players to deal with. There's of course the other route many hardcore players (such as myself) will be doing: Importing the Hori Championship Edition Joystiq!



Here's a quick character run down sheet:

Returning characters from Street Fighter II

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Ryu	Hiroki Takahashi	Kyle Hebert
Ken	Yūji Kishi	Reuben Langdon
Chun-Li	Fumiko Orikasa	Laura Bailey
E. Honda	Yoshikazu Nagano
Blanka	Yūji Ueda
Zangief	Kenta Miyake
Guile	Hiroki Yasumoto	Travis Willingham
Dhalsim	Daisuke Egawa	Christopher Bevins
Balrog (M. Bison in Japan)	Satoshi Tsuruoka
Vega (Balrog in Japan)	Junichi Suwabe
Sagat	Daisuke Endou
M. Bison (Vega in Japan)	Norio Wakamoto

New characters

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Abel	Kenji Takahashi
Crimson Viper	Mie Sonozaki	Michelle Ruff
Rufus	Wataru Hatano
El Fuerte	Daisuke Ono

No other fighting franchise has captivated and assembled such a hardcore following than Street Fighter and I believe that with the new addition (Street Fighter IV) right around the bend, the series will get a brand new generation of players and loyal fanatics. Check back here for up to date release notes as well as a special hands on with the 360 console version come February.

Long live the fighitng game genre!

-GAME HARD-