Today, Yu Suzuki received the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony held during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. This prize This prize rewards the creators of innovative technologies and concepts that have paved the way for other developers. Yu Suzuki began his career at Sega in 1983. He created many arcade hits in the 80's: Hang-On and Space Harrier in 1985, Out Run (1986), After Burner (1987) and Power Drift (1988). In 1992, he inaugurated Sega's new 3D rendering hardware (Model 1) with Virtua Racing (1992) and its technological advances such as on-the-fly view change and resistance feeling in the steering wheel. In 1993, he produces Virtua Fighter that will serve as the basis for all 3D fighting games. Follow Virtua Fighter 2 in 1995 (Model 2) adding textures mapping to polygons and Virtua Fighter 3 (Model 3) in 1996 with its detailed graphics and onduling stages. Ferrari lover, he comes back in 1999 with F355 Challenge, an authentic simulation where action unfolds on three screens which requires the usage of 4 Naomi. He then switch to console games with the ambitious Dreamcast adventure game Shenmue (1999) which development cost $47,000,000. Shenmue II on Dreamcast and Virtua Fighter 4 in arcades (Naomi 2) are released in 2001. Then come Chihiro games Virtua Cop 3 and OutRun 2 in 2003. The following years are a dark period for Yu Suzuki: in 2006, his touchscreen arcade fighting game Psy-Phi (Lindbergh) is cancelled then in 2008, he releases the not so good Sega Race TV. Pioneer in many domains, Yu Suzuki really deserves this award. Current video games would surely be different without his works.
Author: Nomax
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Konami abandons musical games to release today Love Plus Arcade: Colorful Clip. This "love simulation" game offers to the player in search of love the possibility to try to steal the heart of a young lady. The action takes place in a high school and three potential girls (Manaka Takane, Rinko Kobayakawa et Nene Anegasaki) could become the player's virtual girlfriend. The goal is to get the girl doing cute things and then take pictures of her. The lucky boyfriend receive printed photos of his darling at the end of the date. A medal version of Love Plus is also released today: Love Plus - Happy Daily Life. This version is more focused on mini-games and is compatible with the DS version released in 2009. Thus, the player can import his girlfriend from the DS and play with her... It seems many Konami male employees have become addicted to Love Plus! Many products are already available (figurines, key chains, CDs, pillows, ...).
Author: SophieKitty
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Arcade version of Last Hope - Pink Bullets (by German developer NG:DEV.TEAM) is released today (pre-ordered cartridges were sent on Wednesday). Already out on Dreamcast in September 2009, this horizontal shoot'em up will offer a nice challenge to shooting fans. A video of the game is on YouTube. Pink Bullets brings many improvements to the original version of Last Hope (released on Neo-Geo in 2006, then on Dreamcast and Neo-Geo CD in 2007): player's weapon is more powerful, bullets are more visible thanks to their pink colour, difficulty is lowered a bit, scoring system is more elaborated (point multipliers for chains and when absorbing bullets with the pod), there are new graphical effects for explosions, new enemies and new vocal effects. And last but not least, the soundtrack is remixed. Last Hope - Pink Bullets is available now in MVS cartridge format (main board needed). You can purchase it at NG:DEV.DIRECT (only 25 copies available) at the price of €399 (all tax included). The package includes the original sountrack CD and a poster. Last Hope - Pink Bullets is a good shoot'em up in the tradition of R-Type and Last Resort, 2D graphics are very nice, the music is superb and the difficulty is steep. The only criticism one can make is the lack of multi-player. Please note that NG:DEV.DIRECT sells new cartridges of Fast Striker 1.5, NG:DEV.TEAM's other shjoot'em up. It is the commercial version which accepts credits. New price is €399 (was €599).
Author: Nomax
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Tenkaichi Shogikai 2 is released today in Japan. This is a competitive online shogi game authorized by the Japan Shogi Association. Shogi (literally "generals chess") is a traditional Japanese board game, approaching the Western chess, pitting two players whose aim is to take the opponent's king. Konami has worked with the Japan Shogi Association to initiate a large public to shogi and contribute to its promotion. Tenkaichi Shogikai 2 will feature many Japanese champions such as Akira Watanabe and Yoshiharu Habu on the men's side and Kana Satomi and Ichiyo Shimizu on women's side. During online matches between two players, professional players "sit" as observers and provide comments. During solo game, professionnal players will appear to support player. "National ranking battle" mode allows players to compete across the country to get into the national ranking and "CPU Battle" mode will allow them to test their skills in choosing computer's playing level. During the game, music and background images change depending on the player's strategy to strengthen the atmosphere of the battle.
Author: SophieKitty
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Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (but also Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom Fighting Jam), will answer all of your questions about the Street Fighter saga. The appointment is set for Friday, February 4 at 18:00 (CET) on Unity Events USTREAM channel. You can already post your questions on Snow Infernus's blog at Capcom Unity. Hopefully Mr. Ono will be able to answer to everybody because at the time of writing, there are already 68 comments.
Author: Nomax
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World Game Cup 2011 will take place at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes (France) on February 25, 26 and 27. Many arcade and console fighting game competitions will be held there. The main event will undoubtedly be the Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (3vs3) tournament on Saturday (which is organized by Versus Dojo). Indeed, the winning team will win round-trip tickets to Japan where it will represent Europe at Tougeki Super Battle Opera 2011. Because of this, only European players can take part to this tournament. Other arcade tourneys will be: The King of Fighters XIII (2vs2), The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (single and 2vs2), Super Street Fighter II X (2vs2) and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (2vs2). Finals will be broadcast live on Gameblog.fr website. Visitors will have free play access to arcade cabinets outside competitions. BlazBlue Continuum Shift game producer, Toshimichi Mori from Arc System Works, will be here to answer questions and sign autographs. Please find tournament schedule on our forums.
Author: Nomax
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Fighting game fans will meet in Liège this Sunday. Indeed, the Player arcade and video game shop is organizing a "fighting session" from 2pm to midnight. Entry is free for fighters. Arcade games setup will consist of Capcom vs. SNK 2, The King of Fighters XI, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. There will also be sessions on the console versions of BlazBlue Continuum Shift, Super Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur IV. Player shop is located at number 40 on Rue de Herve in Liège. To get there by public transport, take the train to Bressoux station. Then board bus 38B (direction: Verviers) and get off at "Robermont Cemetery" bus stop. Player is only 100m away.
Author: Nomax
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Taito musical shooting game, Music Gungun! 2 is out in Japan today. Two players, Cyan (the boy) and Magenta (the girl) can compete on more than 100 songs. These are divided into categories: "Games" with titles from Taito (Darius, THE IDOLM@STER, ...) but also medleys from Nintendo games (Mario and Zelda) and songs from Taiko no Tatsujin (Namco); "Animes" (Naruto Shippuuden, Haruhi Suzumiya, .Hack//Roots, Lucky☆Star, Evangelion, ...); "Miku" with songs recorded by... Miku; "J-Pop"; "Original"; "Classic" and "Kids". The songs are classified from "easy" to "very hard". Music Gungun! 2 runs on Type X².
Author: SophieKitty
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Taito's NESiCAxLive platform hosts regularly new releases of popular games. Tomorrow, King of Fighters series will be honoured with two titles: KOF 98 Ultimate Match Final Edition and KOF 2002 Unlimited Match. Thanks to NESiCAxLive system and to increase interest to these releases, new features are added. Players data (name, statistics, performance) are saved on NESiCA card. Furthermore, KOF 98 UM Final Edition, unlike KOF 98 UM Hero, is an official version by SNK Playmore. Characters are more balanced and game response is improved by the use of the new "FAST I/O" interface. Two other games will be also released tomorrow: Spica Adventure (Taito) and Senko no Ronde DUO v2.00 (G.rev).
Author: SophieKitty
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To celebrate Pac-Man's 30th Birthday in 2010, Namco America has organized a series of events: a website, mobile games, an interactive Google logo, goodies, and especially the announcement of a new arcade game: Pac-Man Battle Royale. At Amusement Expo 2010, Namco America unveiled the game to the public. Then, Pac-Man Battle Royale was presented at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles before more than 45,000 visitors and stole the spotlight from the games console ... Pac-Man Battle Royale is the first Pac-Man arcade game to be playable up to 4 players in a competitive mode. The original concept was revised: now, to win the game, the player must eat the other to eliminate them and being the last survivor (so the title). When a player eats a power-up, his size is doubled and his speed increases. Once powered up, he is able to eat the other competitors and ghosts. Two Pac-Man of the the same size will just bounce off each other. Ghosts are also dangerous becaue they can eat Pac-Man. Eat a fruit or every power-up reset the maze with a set of new power-up. At the end of the game, statistics such as "Most Rounds Won" and "Ate Most Pac-Man" are displayed for each player. Pac-Man Battle Royale is available today in the U.S. To get the latest info about the game, visit the official Facebook page.
Author: SophieKitty
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