Official Box Art for SSFIV Revealed

So, here's the final box art as stated by Capcom.

Sonic 4 Screens Hit

Nostalgia, isn't it great? Amidst the years and years since we first set our beady eyes on the original Sonic the Hedgehog game(s) Sega fanatics have clamored for a TRUE follow up. As time passed we were served up lack-luster 3D renditions, sonic on human love scenes and even a Cart Racer installment...yup, Cart Racer. Well, it took over a decade of forum trolling, petitions and Dear Abby letters for Sega to get the hint and finally give us a "true to its roots" follow up/sequel: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 episode 1. The game will be 2D with 3D visuals and will be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii [and will be distributed] as a downloadable game upon its release this summer.

As of late yesterday we were given a slew of new screen shots of the "skinnier" hedgehog doing what he do best...running fast! Images provided by SEGA.

---Oh, Sonic...Those Were The Days---

Extensive Frame Data Analysis

One of the most respected fighting game websites (primarily dedicated to the SF community) has been giving us tips, tricks and insider knowledge for quite sometime now. Maj, over at Sonic Hurricane has bestowed upon us an excellent article covering frame data titled, "Avoiding the Frame Data Trap." Normally, I don't cover these types of articles/stories because they tend to cater to the very hardcore fighting game enthusiasts. However, after doing my daily reading of Sonic Hurricane (this article in-particular) I had to do a post on it. The article covers Frame Data and its subsequent "reputation;" i.e. why people rely to heavily on it. Excellent read for any fighting game enthusiasts...
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Big Ups to Sonic Hurricane, we here at Warp Love This Site! -OverlordStrider-

"Frame data can shackle your creativity. If you don’t understand it completely – and nobody does – access to frame data can limit what you think is possible. There’s a whole range of fundamental tactics that top players have been using since Hyper Fighting, which are just now being explained in terms of frame data. Who knows how much longer that development path would’ve taken had frame data gotten in everyone’s way from day one?

Unless you can visualize how fighting game engines run better than i can, be careful about restricting all your ideas to frame data. Even the most experienced combo video makers commit mistakes when interpreting and applying that breadth of information.

Not to mention, published frame data neglects or misrepresents a broad spectrum of elements including jumping attack properties, cancelability windows, elusive hitboxes, effective ranges, pushback distances, and a whole slew of projectile characteristics. If you think about it, the sheer amount of critical information regularly left out of frame data tables is simply staggering.

The question is, how much of your game do you want to put on the line for some oversimplified numbers you read on a chart? In truth, the way to learn fighting games hasn’t changed since the first generation. You simply browse through the available cast, narrow down your choices to a handful of characters which appeal to you, and choose one to start with. Spend an hour or two learning their moves, and then it’s on to matches – either against the CPU or preferably against human competition.

Obviously you shouldn’t pass up any major opportunities to augment your knowledge by reading strategy articles, discussing matchups on SRK forums, or using frame data as a backup option. However, your core understanding of the game should always come from firsthand experience with your own senses and digits.

Frame data works much better as a quick reference than as a foundation. At the end of the day, nobody processes games numerically in real time. Even people like me, who cite frame data when answering questions, never treat live matches like a two-player math quiz.

Fighting game mastery is all about “feel” and it’s a serious mistake to drift away from that principle. For example, if you need a quick attack to counter a specific rushdown tactic, it helps to glance through frame data for the most promising candidates. At this point, anyone who’s had any experience with frame data will tell you that trusting the smallest startup number is a losing bet more often than not. Fighting games are usually balanced in such a way that the most impressive attack on paper tends to have the weakest hitbox properties as compensation.

The golden rule is: You never know until you test it. Most people have a much easier time coming up with new tricks and solutions when freely messing around in Training Mode, even though – or possibly because – it requires more work than basic arithmetic. You have to admit, playing the game is certainly more conducive to creativity than staring at a number sheet.

Equally important is understanding that fighting game strategy evolves in direct relation to players actively trying to bend and break the established rules of the engine. Frame data can still be helpful in explaining these deviations, but it’s nearly useless in deriving them. The point being, frame data will only lead you so far. Don’t stop there."

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Lost Planet 2 Release Date Moved Up!

I guess Crackdown's one week "move-up" in its scheduled release date inspired some people over at Capcom. It looks as though the juggernaut game Lost Planet 2 has officially up the release date on its final product by one week. Originally, the game was expected to launch before the end of March, but the publisher pushed it back to May 18 in order to avoid an unusually potent assortment of high-profile competition. Now, set for May 11th Lost Planet 2 looks to trump its competition and solidify its place in gaming history.

To whet players' appetites for the game further more, Capcom also announced that it will release a new multiplayer demo of the game on both the Xbox 360 [April 21] and on the PlayStation Network [April 22]. The 16-player versus mode demo will include a single map, as well as chat support and stat tracking features.

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Player Select: PAX East Shows off SSFIV!

Check out this short stack of videos straight from PAX East. Justin Wong (Pro-Player) shows us a bevy of characters which include Makoto, Dee Jay, Ibuki and even the "over-powered" Dudley. Also, the last video (done by the good fellas over at Giantbomb.com) is a long one but extremely good.

Enjoy!

Player Select: Makoto Profiled

"She has the tools to destroy any character in the game."
Seth Killian on Makoto

Big BIG Ups to BitMOB for this extremely beneficial profile of Makoto; one of the new characters that will be playable in SSFIV. I'm not going to flood you with comments on these in depth looks but I will say this: Seth Killian (the person being interviewed and doing the profiles) knows his stuff. So if your interested in using this kick-ass Karate Girl you owe it to yourself to read this.

Let's do this...

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On what he likes about Makoto:

Seth Killian: Makoto is one of my personal favorite characters -- not only in Super Street Fighter 4 but also in Street Fighter 3. I call her the equivalent of poker's "all in" [laughs]. When you're a Makoto player, you've got to stay on the offense. She's got pretty terrible defensive options, but her offensive options are some of the best in the game.

Beginning with her command grab.... A lot of her offense centers around either her command grab or the threat of a command grab -- and there's a lot of range on that grab. She's sort of like a mini-Zangief, but she's actually more dangerous than that because she has a superfast dash, which makes her really mobile. She's got this very dangerous command grab, but she's faster than Zangief and can actually do more damage than he can...because the command throw leaves you vulnerable for a minute just like in 3rd Strike, and you can land a combo.

Basically, when you're playing Makoto, you're in this sort of offensive flow, and you're keeping the opponent on the defensive. And if they pause for even a second -- if you see a moment of hesitation from them, or they start to get scared, or they're like, "Ah! What should I do?" -- Makoto is in a unique position to punish that. She can grab you, she's got a lot of great rushing strikes, she can chase you in the air pretty effectively, she has one of the fastest dashes in the game...she's just an offensive beast.

That's why I call her the equivalent of the "all in" because if you're going to be on the defense, you're probably going to lose. I like characters like that, where I can just say, "Ahhh...I'm going right after you!" It's sort of like a character who's going straight for the throat. If you've got your mojo working, she can kill people before they even know what happened. When they think they should be blocking, they're getting thrown...when they think they should be doing something else, she's rushing them down.

She's got a really interesting Super move which causes her to be raged. In 3rd Strike, she couldn't block while in that mode, but in Super Street Fighter 4, she can -- and also her meter lasts for a longer time. That's a really dangerous Super.

She's also got two really great Ultras. She can fly off the wall and hit you with a series of kicks, which is great for countering things like fireballs. Or you can opt for the other one, which is more a direct-damage Ultra. You can do things like use a command grab then go straight into that Ultra for a nice, fat chunk of damage.

She has the tools to destroy any character in the game.

On the troubles Makoto might face:

SK: She's going to have trouble against certain players and their psychology more than any particular characters. She has almost no good defensive options. She has a few things she can do -- she's got an uppercut, but it's almost worthless. It won't hit anyone who's on the ground, so it's very situational. For the most part, she's very weak on D.

She does have to be up close to do damage, so someone like Zangief will potentially be tricky for her. Obviously, Makoto wants to be in a position to perform command grabs and things like that, but if she's going to be in that position, then Zangief is also going to be in that position.

She's like a mini-Zangief -- and I think mini-Zangief is going to have a hard time with regular-sized Zangief.

Wednesday Video Extravagansa

One of Ken's new win quotes

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Yup, it's "hump" day and here at Warp we like to keep things simple. Especially for Wednesdays! Late yesterday Gametrailers TV was kind enough to dump us some extremely good SSFIV vids showcasing a great preview of the game, multiple new outfits, an in depth explanation of their new Online Modes, an interview with Yoshinori Ono and Hakan...lots of Hakan.

One thing I have to say is that my hype-O-meter for this game is simply off the charts. Having invested a lot of my time in gathering all relevant details on one game has never been so high. My hats off to Capcom for "reinventing the wheel."

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Player Select: SSFIV Stamina & Stun Statistics

The good people over at iPlaywinner (primarily Haunts in this matter) have posted an extremely beneficial breakdown of a few characters Stun and Stamina ranges as it pertains to Super Street Fighter IV. This allows players to take a closer look at which characters are top tier in respect to meter-playing. The breakdown comes courtesy of Meristation and the descriptions on each one comes from Haunts...over at IPW.


ALSO: Located near the bottom of this post you can check out some of the new Alternate Costumes "in action" via Meristation!

Each Character is outlined with Stat Numbers and a quick description/breakdown of those numbers...as provided by Haints over at iPW:

DeeJay - Stamina: 1000 / Stun: 1000

"With DeeJay being what appears to be a fairly well rounded charge character, this balanced stun and stamina seems to make sense."

T. Hawk - Stamina: 1150 / Stun: 1100

"This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone really, I think we all expected T. Hawk to be a tank in Super. He will probably have to block fireballs with his face and other assorted attacks just to get in so it will probably balance out in the end. That said, he has a lot more mobility than say Zangief so we'll have to see."

Juri - Stamina: 950 / Stun: 950

"I'd say this is fair considering she appears to be a rushdown beast with the ability to zone out opponents with her various Fireballs."

Cody - Stamina: 1000 / Stun: 1050

"A brawler indeed, it looks like Cody will be able to take a couple hits without being phased too much. He is still a wild card in this game but after watching the Ruliweb Poongko videos it appears he will be able to do some pretty solid damage and then run away when he needs to. Having solid Stamina and Stun to boot will most likely make him a really good character."

Guy - Stamina: 950 / Stun: 1000

"Guy is another character we haven't heard a ton about, but with his chain combos, air grabs and no projectile,s he will most likely end up being another rushdown character with a ton of mix ups. Having slightly lower than average Stamina might hurt him in the long run though."

Adon - Stamina: 950 / Stun: 1000

"Not much to say here that wasn't said with Guy. Adon looks like he will be another rushdown character with lower than average stamina."

Ibuki - Stamina: 900 / Stun: 950

"This is another set of stats that probably wont surprise anyone -- with Ibuki having seemingly unlimited chain combos and options, players will be able to really inflict a lot of damage quickly, but one mistake could make her think twice before pulling off anymore ninja shenanigans."

Makoto - Stamina: 950 / Stun: 1050

"Below average Stamina but above average stun seems to make sense here. She is the epitome of rushdown but from what we know she wont have a true uppercut or any really solid reversal so she needs a little extra stun to take an extra hit or two without seeing stars."

Dudley - Stamina: 1050 / Stun: 1050

"Seriously, CAPCOM? After all we've heard about Dudley most likely being top tier, this pretty much seals the deal. He has a ton of chain combos, multiple ways to deal out serious damage, and now if the other player happens to get an opening to attack he still takes less damage and stun than many of the other characters in the cast. Forget the 'Rog Army, that was so 2009 -- 2010 is year of the Dudley Army."

Hakan - Stamina: 1050 / 1100

"With Hakan's need to be oiled up to be competitive, I suppose this makes sense, allowing him to take a couple extra hits or two while he gets in position to catch his opponents slippin'."

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KillaSasa from NeoGAF translated some areas of the Meristation blog revealing updated stats on Shoryuken-type moves. Well, Sagat, you had a good run.

SRK Damage changes:

Ryu - 160-140-130 to 150-130-100 (the larger two are 2 hits).

Cammy - 150-140-120 to 100 for all three.

Sagat - 170-150-140 to 100 for all three . EX Scar version does 180.

Ken - no exact #'s, but LP DP is 120 now and his others will be 140-160.

Fei - the same, apparently

Akuma - 190-160-120 to 150-130-100

New Weekly Feature...Well Kinda.

First off I apologize for the absence of a post yesterday. It was a hectic day of running around doing errands that should have been completed a week before. I do however, have something I want to introduce to you all. Something that I have been thinking about implementing for the past few months. Warp 9 Gaming will now be covering all things Street Fighter on a weekly basis. The entries will be titled Player Select! and will cover everything that's happening in the Street Fighter community. From breaking news, official Japanese blog translations to national tournaments; Warp will be right there covering it and relaying it back to you: The Reader!

Each week will consist of daily posts covering anything that's happened; so expect real-time coverage of events, tourney's and even press events. We here at Warp are passionate about Street Fighter and hope that our readers are too!

With that said, it's also been a few days since any real interesting news has dropped on the Super Street Fighter IV front. So, I figured this is a great opportunity to cover two things:

1. Official Japanese Weekly Super Street Fighter IV Blog - Translated
2. Show Off an Unbelievable Street Fighter IV Picture Montage done by Sonic Hurricane

UP FIRST: This Weeks Japanese Blog Summary

Not much to be ultra interested in with this week SSFIV Blog Run Down. In fact, its slim pickings. That's why I have chosen to do a brief summary in list format. If you want the official Japanese write up, hit the jump link above and have at it!

• Really happy to the response to Hakan, its better than they'd predicted.

• All characters, including Hakan, will be available to play at the SSFIV setup at the National Tournament.

• Opened the "Saikyo Dojo" on the official site. Using "Dan-sensei", Sakura and Jimmy, they will give various explanations about the SSFIV system. Mostly geared towards players who didn't play SFIV but want to give Super a try. SFIV players might be bored, but watching their explanations may be good for a laugh. There will be 6 updates, ending no 4/23, right before the release of Super.

• New wallpapers on the mobile site - Ryu/Ken, Chun-Li/Cammy/Viper, Dudley/Balrog. More updates next Friday and in the following weeks as well.

• Next week's blog will be another Q&A session, so hit her with your questions/comments/concerns/tears/love, etc.

• There are also plans to release more info about the MAD CATZ sticks next week.

Now, onto one of the coolest "Montages" of Street Fighter IV I have ever seen..Yes, I said Street Fighter IV and not Super SFIV. The good fellows over at Sonic Hurricane (dot com) have always been at the forefront of the Street Fighter scene and are always pushing the limitations of capturing some of the most epic HD stills I have ever seen. Case in point? Just take a glance at these [click the pics for larger stills]:

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FFXII Progression Update and Initial Thoughts

Having been a "decently big" Final Fantasy fan for the past couple of decades I have come to realize that this series is hit or miss. FFVII was epic, FFX was mehh at best, and FFXI was...well, we wont even go there. This, however, isn't the case with Final Fantasy XIII...in fact it's the furthest thing from the truth. In short - here's my progression rate, initial thoughts and even a score (for what I've played thus far).

• Still Ripping Through Disc One (of three)
• On Chapter 11 in Story Mode
  
• Hours Played: 12 Hours /22 minutes /47 seconds
• Battles to Date: 200+
• Boss Battles to Date: 7
• Hours Grinding: 5 Hours Dedicated to Level Grinding
• Graphics: 9.5
• Storyline: 10
• Character Exposition: 9
• Battle System [mechanics]: 10
• SFX: 10
  
• Music: 10+ (wow, this score is epic)
• Initial Overall Grade Thus Far: 9.5
• Extra Credit Props: Again, the SFX are downright amazing!

Rejoice: Crackdown 2 Gets Official Release Date!

Mark your calendars folks cause Crackdown 2 just got serious. The Ruffian-developed follow-up to the Xbox 360's exclusive hybrid shooter has been given an actual street date for release! The game arrives in Asia and Australia July 8, UK and Europe July 9th and here in the states on July 6th!

Here's the press release given yesterday [3/15] via Gamespot
And on a side note: please disregard Gamespot's horrible grammar.

"This morning, Microsoft announced that Crackdown 2 will miss its previously announced, first-half-of-2010 release window…by not by much. The Xbox 360 exclusive will now ship on July 6 in North America, July 9 in the UK and Europe, and July 8 in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The game is not yet rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board in the US and Canada.

Developed by newly formed Scottish studio Ruffian Games, Crackdown 2 is the sequel to Realtime Worlds' popular 2007 hybrid shooter-platformer. The studio is taking one of the original game's biggest strengths--online cooperative play throughout the campaign--and expanding it to support four players. Crackdown 2 will also feature competitive multiplayer modes for up to 16 gamers"

If you haven't noticed by now, Crackdown 2 has been sitting in at the number 3 spot on my most anticipated upcoming games. The first one left me wanting more...much more and if this one lives up to the insane hype its been getting then I believe we might have one of 2010's best games. Only time will tell however and until then....

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A deeper Look into Hakan Provided by G4 TV

PS3 Games - E3 2010 - Super Street Fighter IV

SSFIV Update: More Hakan!

Its Friday and all I can think about is leaving for CT to see Legend and BlizzKid for our monthly Street Fighter IV marathon session (amongst other things) this afternoon. With that said, I do want to leave you with the most recent splattering of Hakan stills. The more and more I look at this newly announced character the more and more I start to like him...for some odd reason. Enjoy!

Might and Magic coming to XBLA

Ubisoft will be bringing its' critically acclaimed Might & Magic Clash of Heroes game to the Playstation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade this Summer. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is a puzzle role playing adventure video game in the Might and Magic franchise. Originally developed for the Nintendo DS by Capybara Games and published by Ubisoft Entertainment, this installation has garnered some pretty high praise.

• 8.9/10 - IGN
• 9/10 - EDGE
• 8.5/10 - Gamespot
• 9/10 - Gamesradar

Gameplay wise M&M CoH resembles games like Puzzle Quest and even Critter Crunch. But to give a further synopsis I turn the floor over to Wikipedia:

"Borrowing elements from the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise, it combines elements of the JRPG, turn-based strategy and puzzle video game genres, allowing players to embark on story-based and optional quests while employing army recruitment and resource management.^[3][4] Five of the eight playable factions featured in Heroes of Might and Magic V - the Haven, Inferno, Sylvan, Academy and Necropolis - comprise the game's forces, though their troop lineups are not replicated from Heroes V.^[5] Instead, armies are made up of an unlimited number of faction-specific basic troops, as well as finite numbers of larger "elite" units. Each faction has three types of basic troops, and five types of more advanced troops, with players selecting from these to form their individual army compositions.

The player controls individual heroes representative of each faction, each of whom act as avatars in alternating exploration and battle phases, growing in experience and obtaining new abilities as the game progresses.^[2] The game's producers described battles as the center of the game, and these battles are turn-based.^[6] Battles take place using two separate grids of troops, with enemy troops being shown on the top screen, while friendly troops are shown on the bottom screen. Each turn, players have a number of moves (generally three) with which to move individual units around on the grid (battlefield) in an effort to stack similarly colored units vertically. When the correct number of units of the same color are stacked, the units begin charging for an attack which will execute some number of turns later. If the charging units are not destroyed prior to the beginning of their attack, the attack launches vertically towards the opponent's army, interacting with any enemy units which are in the way, and possibly striking the enemy leader or hero as well." [wiki]

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Hakan Confirmed for SSFIV!

Well, its about damn time I guess. We all pretty much new this was coming for the past three weeks or so...but I guess its nice to get an official "statement" via Capcom/Famitsu Magazine. I don't necessarily have to say much in respect to Hakan being announced as the brand new (and final) character reveal for Super Street Fighter IV. BUT I will say this: Man, does he look goofy.

When Capcom was asked to briefly describe Hakan they stated that he is somewhat similar to E-Honda but with a more diverse sub-set of grabs and throws. The videos below support this theory as they show Hakan doing an assortment of E-Honda-Esq moves intertwined with Ultra's, EX's and even some FA's.

Here's the announcement via IGN [at 1minute in]:



Gameplay Footage and Introduction Vid:

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All Games Are Currently "On-Hold" As of Tomorow

As of tomorrow around the 6:00pm mark something big is going to happen at Casa De OverlordStrider (err, my house). I'll be getting my copy of Final Fantasy XIII in the mail (via Gamefly), ripping it open and doing an old fashioned gaming marathon in honor of the 13th installment of the Godfather of All RPG's series.

Simply put: I have been clamoring for a good RPG for over a year now and have probably driven Soulstealer up a wall complaining about all the Action-RPG's that have disappointed me and how I just want a traditional Role Playing Game. Sorry duder. But it looks as though my waiting has paid off.

Check back here for updates on my progression and initial thoughts tomorrow night (probably Thursday morning). Until then, enjoy these HD Stills of the game in action. If you cant wait to read up about FFXIII then please check out one of the best "put-togetehr" wiki pags I have seent o date...and Ive seen a lot: FFXIII Wiki