More Street Figher art on the way!

Udon and Capcom have just announced SF20: The Art of Street Fighter. Yeah, I know, that'll be like the 3rd time, but there's promises of never before seen stuff. Plus, it also features more recent games not covered in previous Capcom or Udon SF art books, including SF IV and Tatsunoko vs Capcom.

Over 1500 images will be featured apparently, and looking at the images released so far it definitely looks like there is some new goodness.

Amazon are taking pre-orders at just $23.99, with an estimated shipping date of October. It's Udon, so that'll never happen, but may as well get those pre-orders in - that's a great price for what's bound to be a gorgeous art book.

More info at Udon's official page here!

Pre-order get!

Insert Coin 09 - a rare day out for artificial construct.

I don't go out much. There's inevitably other people involved. The promise of 250 arcade cabinets with loads of hardcore Japanese beat'em-ups and shmups in one room, on freeplay no less, well, that could entice me. Insert Coin 09 promised just that, and so on Saturday 18th of May at 6am, I jumped into the FTO and headed south towards Northampton for a day of arcade mania!

Arriving at the Saints Rugby ground at just before 9am, I met my brother Ross who had been there since the previous day, helping to set up the vast array of candy cabs. He'd been up since 5, and there was a mild panic amongst the organisers as they were short on kick harnesses for the huge amount of Capcom fighting games that had been brought along. One qiuck crash course later, and I'm helping my bro put together the much needed harnesses. We got finished just before 10, which was lucky as the event was due to start.

I've never seen this many cabinets in one room before, outside of Japan at least. Egrets, Astros, NAOMIs were in plentiful supply, as well as some dedicated machines such as OutRun 2, Ghost Squad, House of the Dead 2, Inital D 3 and more! The candy cabs were lined up down the centre of the hall, back to back, in one long line, and it was quite a sight! One side was primarily fighters, with the other featuring shmups for the most part. There were eight Atomiswaves linked up for Street Fighter IV, which proved to be a massive draw all day, with some great competition on display. X-Men vs Street Fighter, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and 3, Marvel Super Heroes, Arcana Heart, Final Fight, King of Fighters variants, King of Dragons, Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike and plenty more filled out the fighting game side. Only one SF3 unfortunately, but I guess I CAN play it at home anytime I like, so nothing to cry about.

The other side of the divide featured puzzlers and shmups, with Cave games getting a strong showing in particular. Muchi Muchi Pork, Ketsui, etc were busy all day, but Death Smiles was the highlight for me. Very tempted to import a Japanese 360 just for this, it's a great hori shooter, which is something you don't get so much of these days. Puzzlers included Puzzle Bobble, Puzzle Fighter 2, and a quirky puzzler based on Mushihimesama, which I could make no sense of whatsoever... >_<

Dotted around the outside where the NAOMI set ups, featuring Border Down, Ikaruga, Project Justice, Zero Gunner 2 etc, and the dedicated cabs. It was an awe inspiring sight, but it wasn't long before they were ALL busy! Time to get stuck in!

With the guys from Radio Sega playing Sega tunes over a seriously loud sound system and every game blaring away, it soon got pretty loud, but at least it wasn't smokey like a real Jap arcade! I flitted around the hall, catching up with Ross, and watching other people play inbetween trying my hand at a few games myself. X-Men CotA, X-Men vs StreetFighter, Marvel Super Heroes, and Street Fighter IV were all as enjoyable as expected, and I enjoyed giving Ross a sound drubbing on them all. He did win ONE round on CotA, but that's only cos I forgot Psylocke's moves. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Puzzle Fighter 2, Rainbow Islands and OutRun 2 were all enjoyed over the course of the day, as well as an aborted attempt on DOA2 - the counter button just didn't seem to want to work, and I got thoroughly fucked off with it.

Death Smiles and UN Squadron were the only shooters I really messed with, as every other one was pretty packed throughout the entire event. Oh, I tried Ghost Squad in Radio Sega's competition, but I was utterly shit. No big deal though, it was nice just to hang with my bro and enjoy the atmosphere.

Definitely gonna go again next year, and the entire thing was good enough to convince me to lay down the cash on a Marvel vs Capcom 2 cart for my forthcoming NAOMI setup. Well, I won it on ebay, but Jodi paid. Early birthday present get! ^_^

Scarlet Widow!

Marvel movies are notoriously unreliable for their quality. They're even more unreliable for their casting in my opinion, and never more so than when it comes to the laydeez of the Marvel Universe.

Anna Pacquin as Southern Belle and all round hottie hardcase Rogue? Not buying it. Famke Jansen as super hot(in more ways than one) mutant mentalist Jean Grey/Phoenix? Not a chance, she's too old for starters. Kirsten Dunst as the fittest girl next door ever, Mary Jane Watson? Get out of town, the girl just doesn't cut it, at all. Jessica Alba as blonde bombshell Sue Storm? OK, she's tidy, but she's not blonde, and looks far too latin for Mrs Fantastic.

Basically, I HATE it when they cast the wrong look/type for a part. Rogue was arguably the worst, especially as they didn't let her become anything like the comic character, leaving her as a whiny bitch who couldn't do anything useful, rather than an invulnerable flying tank who could scrap it out with just about anybody.

Then, out of the blue, comes Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow in Iron Man 2. Oh my stars and garters, what a quality bit of casting. She's got the lips, the eyes, the front and the back, and plenty of it to fill out the catsuit. Coupled with a top notch redhead hairdo, the girl IS Natalia Romanova - she even looks like the Shunya Yamashita Bishojou figurine for god sake! Whether she can manage the sultry hard faced bitch shtick we'll have to wait and see, but at least she looks the part.

Well done Marvel, and well done to the Iron Man team. The first film was great fun, if a little bit lightweight, so hopefully we can see some more action, more Tony in suit combat, and plenty of frisson between the tincan alcoholic and the leather wrapped can. Looking forward to it!

You're so pringles! Marvel vs Capcom 2 hits XBLA & PSN 29th July!

Quite possibly my all time favourite Dreamcast game, Marvel vs Capcom 2 hooked me in big time back in 2000 when it was released in PAL land. Ridiculously over the top three on three action with a massive cast of fighters, it was incredible fun. And still is, thankfully, as Capcom are punting the insanity onto XBLA and PSN on the 29th July! Yay!

To celebrate, Capcom have been pushing out some new trailer featurettes, so here's part one for your viewing pleasure.

J-pop earworm of the week - Perfume: Dream Fighter

Perfume's third album is out this week, and it's winging its way to my house as I type. Here's hoping CD Japan can be as on the ball as they were with the advantage Lucy album they managed to get to me in just over 24 hours last week.

In the meantime, here's Dream Fighter. I was gonna post the version of the Japanese guys doing their own dance routine to it, as it's guaranteed to make me laugh, but I'd rather have ladies on the blog. Easier on the eyes. ;p

Free 2D Japanese beat'em-up!

It's called Vanguard Princess. It's by an ex-Capcom employee called Tomoaki Sugeno. It looks bleeding lovely. It's free to download on PC. What a fantastic idea.

More new free 2D games please! 360 compatible preferably...

Meh, Onimusha NOT on the way.

It's a bit of a Capcom bad news double header today. First off, the teaser site that many assumed to be hinting at the return of the Onimusha series is actually for the 3rd in the Sengoku Basara/Devil Kings franchise - which tbh, I don't care about in the slightest. Dynasty Warriors is dull, so why Capcom decided to copy it is beyond me. Oh wait, there's cash to be made, and DW is HERUUUUGE in Japan.

Worse than that though, Milla Jovovich confirmed a 4th instalment in the stinky as old meat Resident Evil movie series. Just let it die!

Me am cry.

Chainsaw mouths, machine gun tits, and bloody arses? Yup, it's a Japanese film....

Robo Geisha to be precise, another gonzo gore, guns and more gore cinematic mindfart from the creators of Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police.

It looks completely batshit, so it's probably going to rule. Still not got round to watching Machine Girl which I picked up on DVD the other week - that's this weekends entertainment taken care of. Presuming I can stop rewatching Lost for long enough...

New Onimusha on the way?

A teaser site over at Capcom Japan certainly seems to hint that it is. Three 16th Century dates appear on screen before being crossed out, followed by the final date of 1600. The first three dates tie in with the first three games in the series (let's not bother with the fourth game, it was shit), so the new date looks likely to be the timeline for a sequel.

Xbox 360, PS3 and PC knowing Capcom, but you never can tell these days. Just don't put it on WIi please, wavey controls are not required.

Capcom.co.jp 1600 teaser site.