Super Street Fighter 4

I have to admit I haven't been keeping that close of an eye on news about Super Street Fighter 4, but now that Capcom have brought back Cody, they may have piqued my interest quite a bit!

If you don't know, Cody was originally part of the 3-man roster for a very old side scrolling Arcade Beat-em-Up game called Final Fight back around 1989 i think. Back in 1998 he was featured as a returning character in the classic fighting game Street Fighter Alpha 3, and one of the main characters I used back then.

I just hope they tighten up the controls and make things a bit more intuitive for the next iteration of the Street Fighter franchise!

My New Shiny PC!

Sorry for the late post, I've been playing so many games since I upgraded my PC. Well maybe 'Upgraded' isn't really the right word, since the only thing left thats original is the case.

I've been having so much fun in Fallout 3, Street Fighter 4, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. But what really surprised me is how World of Warcraft looked! So THIS is what people are usually seeing when they see me cast spells? Kewl!

In other news, at the end of this week I'll be visiting GenCon to see what geek coventions that aren't Supanova look like. Apparently the guys from OzHadou have decided to put together a little tournament and casual SF4 play, so I might actually get some time to play the game competitively!

Speaking of Street Fighter 4, I've come to realise how closely it resembles SF2, the speed and many of the pokes are the same, links are almost essential to know, but I can understand why the game is as slow as it is. People complained about the speed, but when you are inputting Special Move Dash Cancels into Target Combos into Dash cancel Supers, things get very hectic.

Perhaps its just that I've played SF3 for so long, but I miss some of the familiar things from that game. But I do have to admit, it does look damn good.

SF4 - First Impressions.

Today I headed into the city to get myself out of the house, and while I was out I decided to take a look at SF4. I had only played it at JB Hi-Fi previously using a controller and playing alone, so this would be my first time on Arcade sticks against human opponents.

The first thing that stuck me was how similar to SF4 was to Super Turbo and the EX series. I suspect that players who are more accustomed to Alpha and SF3, will have more problems than other Street Fighter players. The game is very ST in it's hit boxes, timing, links play a massive role, 'safe' pokes, etc...

Which is why I wonder; old school ST players that hold positions of influence in Capcom USA and other places, did they guide the game to it's current finished product? It's been no secret that many of the high ranking ST players in America viewed SF3 with disdain, calling it things like a random turtle fest.

I just feel a little bitter at the point that ST players will probably get more out of this game than other players, simply because they can get more wins in the game with old ST tactics while they perfect the new systems that were introduced with SF4.

Basically, I don't think I am going back to the arcade any time soon to play SF4. If I want to at least get my moneys worth, I'd practice my skills up on the home console version first. Then at least I could get a chance at some decent gameplay time for my money investment.