A first look at Tekken x Street Fighter!

There were tons of previews and details on Capcom's Streetfighter x Tekken, but Namco didn't have much to show besides its announcement. Well, they've released some prototype images of Ryu rendered in the Tekken engine.

Well, it looks awkward just as I expected it to be. His uniform is Paul's uniform too. It doesn't scream awesome like Kazuya did in Street Fighter x Tekken. Luckily, this is just a very early test render and isn't anywhere near final. I have faith in Ono and Street Fighter x Tekken, since if follows Street Fighter 4 closely enough, it should be loads of fun. I'm still iffy about Harada's game, however. I'll need more information than this.

Tekken: The Movie...

In case you didn't know, there's a live-action Tekken movie that came out recently. I'm a huge fan of Tekken, so I had to see it. Just a heads-up: I knew it was going to be crap the moment it was announced, but being a relentless fan, I thought I could have some stupid fun. I didn't know I would be disappointed at every fucking turn.

Ranking the Final Fantasy Games

Many fans and gaming sites have tried to rank the Final Fantasy games, so I thought I'd give it a shot as well. I consider the Final Fantasy series to be my all-time favorite game series. I've loved it for years, and I've played each and every game several times. So this begs the question: which game is the best in the series? This question is furiously debated, and opinions are often all over the place. Here is my personal list of the Final Fantasy games, ranked from worst to best. Note that these are just my own observations, so feel free to comment on your own thoughts.

Trine [Review]

Trine is a side-scrolling platformer and a gorgeous one at that. If you can imagine a fairytale come to life with high resolution graphics, Trine is exactly that. Most of the environments are in the woodlands, complete with detailed forested backgrounds, glowing plant-filled foreground, and all manner of platforms and traps. The screenshots really don't do it justice; it really looks nice is what I'm trying to say. The gameplay is that of a platformer,but it is anything but simple. The physics are incredibly smooth and responsive, and you take advantage of this realistic environment with three different playable characters. They consist of a wizard, a thief, and a knight. You play as one at a time, and you magically switch between them by pressing the shoulder buttons.

Street Fighter X Tekken Announced!

GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!  GIRLY SCREAAAAM!!!!!



So anyway. As you may have figured, I'm a huge fan of fighting games, with Tekken and Street Fighter being my all-time favorite fighting game series. A crossover fighting game with these two games is a concept dreams are made of, but for years it wouldn't come. They fooled around with the concept in Namco X Capcom, but the game was a finicky strategy RPG and it was only released in Japan. But finally, rumors flying around on the internet were answered recently at this year's Comic-con. The head honchos behind Street Fighter and Tekken have announced Street Fighter X Tekken! The teaser trailer is above, and a rough gameplay trailer is below.

Impressions: Final Fantasy XIII

I've been playing the hell out of my PS3 lately, and I've already bought several games for it. My games include Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4, Bayonetta, and Super Street Fighter 4. All of these games are excellent, but I've spent the most time with FFXIII so far.

My first impression of FFXIII was borderline negative, mostly because of the noted linearity of the game. It was running from point A to point B, fighting and fighting again. But as I advanced further into the game, the intricate mechanics of the battle system were unlocked and battles were made infinitely more fun. The paradigm shift system makes combat very strategic without complicating things, and access to Eidolons makes battles incredibly flashy. Accompanied by amazing visuals and a kickass soundtrack, I came to really enjoy the constant battles. Battles in Final Fantasy really have never been better.

Finally, I've joined the next gen gaming scene!

Just got my new Playstation 3 Slim yesterday! It's the 120gb model, which I hear is being discontinued soon in favor of a newer 160gb version that's coming out soon. I really don't need all that memory really, I'm fine with 120gb and I can always upgrade the hard drive.

I'm trying not to play it right now because we only have standard def TV's in the house right now, and we're about to get a 55inch HD TV tomorrow. Let me tell you this right now: YOU CANNOT PLAY NEXT GEN CONSOLES WITH AN SD TV. The graphics are too powerful for older TV's. First of all, text is not well defined so it is extremely blurry and very hard to read. The graphics are also too detailed, and all of that is condensed so it does not look nearly as good as it should and it is very hard to see everything. This is common knowledge really, but its just a heads up to anyone thinking of buying a PS3/360.

So, the only game I have so far is Final Fantasy XIII. I'm aware of all the controversy and mixed reviews its gotten by fans, and after playing about 7 hours in I'm totally understood all the complaints. I'm going to write a review for it soon, but seriously, its just been a rail-shooter the whole time. Its starting to pick up since combat has gotten more fun, I can further develop characters and weapons, and the story is picking up. I haven't been totally disappointed, but it still hasn't impressed me yet either. We'll see...