If you've been around the internet, or youtube, you've probably seen this character select screen of Super Street Fighter IV. One thing that should stand out to you, is that there are still 4 slots to be filled. There's already speculation out there that suggests they will be three Street Fighter III characters, and likely one more all-new character. Looking at the layout of the character select screen, you can see why that speculation is pretty concrete.

In one area (left side) you have: Ryu, Ken, Honda, Juri, Chun Li, Dhalsim, Guile, Blanka, and Zangief. That's one new character (Juri), and eight World Warrior (Classic) Street Fighters. To the right of them, we can see three unfilled slots, and in one area we have: Abel, C.Viper, El Fuerte, and Rufus. These characters are the new additions from Street Fighter IV, if you noticed. Next to them, we have the bosses, or Shadoloo team: Bison, Vega, Sagat and Balrog. To their right you see the additions from SF II Turbo: Cammy, Fei Long, Dee Jay, and T.Hawk. Above them you have those crazy a-hole bosses that you hate: Akuma, Seth, and Gouken. Finally, on the far right you have your Street Fighter Alpha characters: Gen, Dan, Sakura, Cody, Guy, Adon, and Rose.

So how does that point to any Street Fighter III characters and one new addition? Well, it's the only game from the Street Fighter series left - besides Street Fighter EX. If you're even thinking Street Fighter EX, don't; most of the newer Street Fighter EX characters I believe are licensed to Akira anyways. Unless Capcom wants to pay them licensing fees for those characters, they'd best go with their own creations. - I'm speaking about Street Fighter III. I anticipate the following characters will make it from Street Fighter III: Makoto, Dudley, and Ibuki. As for the new character? I haven't the slightest idea, but it should be very interesting and fun to see.

After being heavily scrutinized here in the west, it comes as no surprise Bayonetta has gotten its first patch. It seems like a long time to release this however, after Sony had announced they'd be lending SEGA a hand in eliminating the PS3 version's issues nearly a month or so ago. Nonetheless a patch for HDD drive is added, and after just installing it first hand, I can tell you it makes a huge difference in loading times. Whether anything else is addressed remains to be seen, but hopefully they're still working on it. Either way, I never felt the issues were enough to hinder the experience, as it's still very playable.

You might be wondering when my Tekken 6 tutorials will be up on youtube. Look, I often spend the time I get working on them, however I admit they don't receive priority because of the views they receive. Even though I appreciate the positive feedback, and I love giving more insight on your favorite characters, it just can be a lot of work to put them together. Believe it or not, I generally am only 70% satisfied with my finished product. Ideally, I want to make the tutorials as appealing to everyone as possible. So with that said, I'd like to know who your favorite character is so I can pick up that particular character to give some tips for. Vote in the poll on the right.

After what seems like a long drought, PS3 is finally getting it's share of solid RPGs. It started with the incredibly awesome Demon's Souls, which is still very fun to play; thanks to its original online co-op and PVP options. Now White Knight Chronicles and Star Ocean: The Last Hope International seek to join the PS3's incredible line-up of diverse RPGs for 2010. If you felt like Demon's Souls wasn't heavy enough on the story for your tastes, then don't overlook White Knight Chronicles. It promises to boast its own share of online co-op functions as well, while still maintaining its traditional single player story mode. Personally, I'm more looking forward to Star Ocean, being the avid Tri-Ace junkie that I am. I still remember getting nearly every battle trophy in Star Ocean 3, and thinking about how amazing a Star Ocean for PS3 would be.

Which brings me to my current poll - the one below the favorite Tekken 6 character poll. There are several aspects of RPGs that have put RPGs on the forefront of gaming. Since the saturation of several shooting games however, RPGs have almost taken a back seat in gaming. We're in an era right now that is naming Fallout 3 an RPG. Which seems very unusual and unsettling, in my opinion. It seems like anything with RPG ELEMENTS is being slapped with an RPG label. With all due respect to shooting fans, I just think it's a farce to label any game that doesn't have RPG fundamentals at its core, an RPG. That said, I don't really blame shooters for this - no it's the lack of RPGs in general that allowed Fallout 3 to get away with this. It seems like it's the fact that you can jump right into Fallout 3 and get to killing stuff. So I want to know: what is it that you look forward to most in an RPG?


Most RPG enthusiasts will likely point to story as their favorite aspect. And while I certainly agree to an extent, I can't help but get addicted to the battle aspect of RPGs. Yes, there's just something about getting max stats, and pounding out tons of damage that just satisfies me. My history with games is more rooted in the fighting genre; that might explain my enthusiasm there. That's not to say that any RPG that allows me to dish out 20,000 points of damage is instantly my favorite. No, I need balance as much as game play depth, and most importantly a challenge. Who really likes mashing buttons to finish a fight anymore? Casual gamers maybe, but fighting games have taught me better than that. - I actually know what buttons I'm pressing.



Likely, we'd all disagree on this one, which is fine, but I urge RPG enthusiasts out there to aim to be a little more conscious of what RPGs should be. After all, if we stripped away everything from RPGs, all we'd be left with is novels. Please vote in the poll to the right (below the Tekken poll) so I can see what you think.

Tekken 6 is expected to get a much needed update for Scenario Campaign tomorrow. The update is to finally allow for 2 players via online co-op. Hopefully that isn't all however, since it'd be safe to assume that Tekken enthusiasts have probably exhausted the use of SC mode by now. No announcements regarding anything new with the update, but I'm personally hoping for something in the way of costumes. Regardless, it will be great to finally replace Alisa with a reliable human partner.

As for my youtube channel & its videos, well I've finally ordered an HD capture card, which should arrive on the 20-21st this month. In the meantime, I'll be putting together my final Bayonetta video - no not the combo video - for the broken moon pearl locations. Also, I'll be making a tutorial video for the wavedash technique, specifically for Jin Kazama. I've recorded the necessary videos to piece together a tutorial, but I'm putting this one off until I get my HD card, so bear with me. There's still a chance I may just put it together anyway, since the 21st is a few days away.

Hopefully, you've found my slew of Bayonetta videos helpful from my youtube channel. There is still 1 video that needs to be produced, however. A simple video(s) that covers all the Broken Witch Heart and Moon Pearl locations. Speaking of Bayonetta videos, the combo video is on hold until I get my hands on that elusive HD capture card I'm always talking about. It sounds simple, but it required me to get myself an upgraded PC to use the hardware. Thankfully, in the previous weeks I've purchased the necessary parts for this. This also means that I have a much better workhorse for video production - my laptop just isn't sufficient for heavy tasks.

My Japanese copy of Bayonetta finally arrived about a week ago, courtesy of Play-Asia.com. I already gave my impressions of the demo that hit the PSN a couple of weeks ago, so you probably know how I feel about Bayonetta at this point. Reviewers out there like to give you a run down of the rather mundane aspects of the game, but they'll never personally go in-depth with Bayonetta as I have in the last week. Combat in Bayonetta is much like Devil May Cry in that it's very deep, yet simple and very dynamic. In fact, I have planned a combo video (yes, I can do more than play fighting games, fellas) for Bayonetta. Currently, the videos I have been working on are for uncovering the secret weapons, and also the locations of all the necessities.

The videos should be ready hopefully by tomorrow, but it will definitely be done by Sunday. As for the combo video, I haven't recorded a lick of it. Ideally, I'd like to do one as soon as possible to attempt to raise more interest in this game. However, I really want to finish up the Tekken 6 tutorials I've been promising first. The holidays have freed up my time enough that videos have kept a steady pace, so a tutorial shouldn't be too unreasonable.

I know, I said I'd give my impressions of End of Eternity, but it will have to wait until the previously mentioned projects are complete. As for Dante's Inferno well, it really was leaving little to be desired. The plot seems interesting, but who isn't thinking that it just seems like a God of War clone? Beyond that, combat is just too shallow for my tastes, and the Devil May Cry series has me spoiled. Personally, I believe that if a game wants to just walk me through a cinematic story, then I'd rather spend $8.50 on a movie than waste $60 on a 12-15 hour single player campaign. That's not to say Dante's Inferno has nothing to offer, but so far that's the impression it's left me with. A full game could definitely change my mind, so I'll reserve my final judgment until then.