News From 04/28/03

 

Psikyo Reveals Game Department's Closure (Erroneous report) [ Image1 ]

Psikyo's parent company X-nauts revealed that their posted statement, together with the magazine's supporting comments that Psikyo will be resting eternally, were erroneous and they will contiune operating as before. The following was the original report. In the latest issue of Enterbrain Co.'s Arcadia magazine, arcade and home developer Psikyo Co. reveals that their game department has closed down. In a section where game developers state a monthly comment, Psikyo quotes "Psikyo's game development and business department are "a bone". Thank you for 10 years of support". The term "a bone" refers to the state of death in Japanese terms, originating from the national bulletin system "2ch". A crying face consisting of Japanese text characters can be seen at the end of Psikyo's statement. Short Comment: Man, no more Hot Gimmicks? Psikyo really stopped operating once they merged with X-nauts, but this is a pity. -Henry A. Moriarty

Short Comment- SNK NeoGeo to Appear at E3 /w SNK vs Capcom Footage?

If they really end up being there with the first game footages, that would be truely something. For the details on the news, check [ Game Daily ]. Special thanks to RiskBreaker for the news. - Henry A. Moriarty

Short Comment- Ragnarok Online Character Simulator in Flash

Since Ragnarok Online fans seem to be looking forward to the upcoming open beta which will open registration in 2 days, here's a character sim which allows viewing from multiple directions, with partial animation. [ Le Syb Monde- IRO Character Simulator ]. Special thanks to RiskBreaker for the news. - Henry A. Moriarty

SNK vs Capcom Scheduled for Release in July (Alpha Station) [ Alpha Station | Section ]

According to Japanese arcade operation site Alpha Station, Playmore's upcoming title, "SNK vs Capcom - SVC Chaos" is scheduled for operation starting mid-July. In related news, Alpha Station also reports the operation of Capcom Fighting All Stars as mid- June.

News From 04/27/03

 

SNK vs Capcom - Additional System and Illusts Released

Playmore has revealed an additional system to their upcoming title, "SNK vs Capcom - SVC Chaos" through Enterbrain Co.'s Arcadia magazine. SNK vs Capcom will be adopting a new system called "Ground Step" instead of the traditional running system, which will be an advanced version of a short hop(dash) system. The Ground step system will also allow the player to attack seamlessly, although it is not clear if attacks can be made in the middle of the step(s). Short Comment: No screen images or anything released as of yet. But from the way that Playmore is releasing info on their official site prior to any published media, I have a feeling that we might be seeing the first in-game shots from their site too. -Henry A. Moriarty [ ... More ]

News From 04/24/03

 

SNK vs Capcom - Default Roster Revealed [ Playmore | Section ]

SNK successor Playmore has revealed the default list of characters to be in their upcoming title, "SNK vs Capcom - SVC Chaos". The character roster goes as follows. SNK Side Capcom Side Kyo Kusanagi Ryu Iori Yagami Ken Mai Shiranui Chun-li Earthquake Hugo Terry Bogard Guile Ryo Sakazaki Tabasa Shiki Dhalsim Choi Bonge Gouki (Akuma) For small samples of the character illustrations, check the official site. SNK vs Capcom is scheduled for release in the Summer for the NeoGeo MVS. Special thanks to Chupiler for the news. Short Comment: What an interesting pick- Shiki from Samurai Shodown 64 and Tabasa from Warzard. I still wish for more characters however, even though I understand that 16 are good enough already. Let's also hope that some of the SNK characters aren't rehashed sprites, like Capcom did with their characters in the CvS releases. -Henry A. Moriarty

News From 04/14/03

 

Mother/Earthbound 3 Announced for GBA, 1&2 Compilation also to come [ 2ch | Mirror ]

In a TV advertisement released today, Nintendo has revealed that a "Mother1+2" - a compilation of the NES and SNES titles, will be released for the Game Boy Advance. The advertisement also revealed that Mother 3 is currently in development, and will be released under the GBA as well. Mother 1+2 is scheduled for release in 6/20, priced 4,800 Yen. A mirror of the Advertisement can be found here. Special thanks to 2CH for the news and footage.

News From 04/13/03

Short Comment- Development Stage Images of Guilty Gear

Here's something pretty interesting: mid-development images of the original Guilty Gear on the Sony Playstation. It was apparently originally supposed to be a game which used (ugly, ugly) pre-rendered polygon sprites, and it's a good thing the game was changed to the hand drawn sprites that we're used to seeing. Check them out at the Japanese site [ Hakoniwa ]. Special thanks to Play On Nine III for the news. - Henry A. Moriarty

News From 04/12/03

 

Metal Slug 5 To Be Released, Ad Revealed [ Alpha Station | Section ]

The advertisement to Metal Slug 5 has been released by a site operated by an arcade store, "Alpha Station". Aside from the series'es four main characters apparently still being in the game, no details are known about the title. For the advertisement, check the site. Special thanks to Namae no nai Heya for the news.

News From 04/08/03

 

Doad Or Alive - Movie Details Revealed, Volleyball Included [ Hollywood Reporter | Yahoo News ]

Image: DOAX Hollywood Reporter, Quoted: LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The "Dead or Alive" fighting video game franchise is coming to the big screen in a film described as "Charlie's Angels" meets "Enter the Dragon." The project, targeted for a fall 2004 release, is set up at Impact Pictures, which currently has video game-to-movie titles "Driver" and "Resident Evil 2" in the works. The $30 million movie will focus on four female fighters from Japanese video game publisher Tecmo's franchise and stay within the realm of reality, unlike Impact's "Mortal Kombat" movie, which was based on a violent video game heavily draped in mythology and fantasy. The PG-13 film will feature different environments on the island and introduce a cast of characters fluent in various martial arts styles. The movie will focus on a half-dozen characters from the game, but additional characters will appear in the background. "The four voluptuous girls in the movie are invited by Fame Douglas to partake in the 'Dead or Alive' world fighting tournament on an exotic island," Bolt said. "Like we did with 'Resident Evil,' we will remain faithful to the essence of the game franchise but create an original story that will play to a broader audience." There will be also beach volleyball sequences with "babes in bikinis," according to Anderson, as the movie license also includes Tecmo's current Xbox (news - web sites) best seller "Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball," a spinoff of its fighting franchise. No director has been named. Anderson, who also directed the original "Resident Evil," is not available because of his previous commitment for the other two Impact titles. Along with Bolt, he will serve as a producer. The "DOA" script is being written by J.F. Lawton ("Pretty Woman," "Under Siege"). The film's release date is expected to coincide with the video game release of "Dead or Alive 4." "Dead or Alive 3," an Xbox exclusive, has sold more than 1 million units worldwide, and the Mature-rated "Volleyball" spinoff is approaching sales of 500,000 worldwide, according to Tecmo marketing manager Tony Tarpey.' For the full article, check Yahoo News Archive.

News From 04/02/03

 

Doujin Group "Type-Moon" to cease doujin Operations [ Type Moon ]

Major doujin software group "Type Moon"- known for their famous title Tukihime, has announced to close down operations as a doujin group after their next convention appearance on April 29th. Originally a group united just to create the Tsukihime series, the doujin/amature software group has decided to convert operations to a commercial company. One of the main reasons to the change- according to the group representative Takashi Takeuchi, is that the capacity and effort put into their upcoming release "Fate /stay night" is far beyond that of a hobby, and that this is the perfect timing to make the decision. Type Moon is the second doujin software group to make a major move since the beginning of the year. The first was Watanabe Seisakujo - the group known for the popular "Queen of Hearts" fighter game series, which decided to close down operations in Febuary. The group is scheduled to ressurect under a new name in the future.

Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution Wallpapers released [ Sega AM-2 | Section ]

Sega AM-2 has released all of their Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution wallpapers in their official site. The site also features movie demos and wallpapers of their other products, including the upcoming release "Virtua Cop 3". For the wallpapers and movies, check the official site. Thanks to Dengeki Online for the news. Short Comment: Man, AM-2's site navigation is as awful as my site. Henry A. Moriarty

Short Comment- Street Fighter Comic coming up

The art looks quite fine, and I think I'll be looking forward to this one compared to the comic release from a few years ago. For the details, check [ Comicom and Newsarama ]. Special thanks to CrazyMax for the news. On a related point to Capcom, check out the latest [ Gachapon figures ] which inculdes Akira and Ingrid. There's also a number of interesting non-Capcom material as well. Special thanks to Holiday for the news. - Henry A. Moriarty

Short Comment- No no, not Closing!!

No no,. The Madman's Cafe is not closing. It'd be too easy to do that. I just didn't have enough time to prepare any serious joke. Two thumbs up to Insert Credit's Brandon F. Sheffield for his roast. On the serious side, Insert Credit's focus is quite similar to MMCafe's, so if you're not used to ivsiting it. go check it out. [ Insert Credit ] However, the thought of closing has come to my mind a number of times in the past two months. Quite simply, the number of updates will definitely decrease when compared to the past, due to my current situation. And add to that, every time I recover from an injury or sickness, I wind up in another incident. In example, two days ago on my way back from signing a contract, I got hit by a motorbike. I'm somehow surviving without any bone cracks, but talk about bad luck. I'm still debating on what to do about the site, though closing it down is not in my option. The options which I'm thinking of are... 1. Run it as it currently is. 2. Keep it closed, and ressurect it once every blue moon when something happens. 3. Make it into a Forum index based site. 4. Make it into a diary site. 5. Rename it as "Misato Mitsumi Cafe" and continuously run coverage on the famous Pia Carrot / Comic Party illustrator. Humm. I think I'll leave the site as it is, for now. If I ever find the energy to do so, I really to let the instant noodle guy on the left side get some rest. I need to find an easier way of archiving news backlogs as well. But I think that updating the news will be as far as I can go for at least the rest of the year.. or is it? Time will tell. - Henry A. Moriarty