New videos were uploaded on iPLAYWINNER showing off matches between some of the best players of Street Fighter.  Listening to the commentary done by Seth Killian and FilthieRich and watching the pros play help give insight into the deeper mechanics of the gameplay.





  

Rasengan!

There have been many disappointing releases when it comes to the transition from anime to video game form. Usually with clunky controls and gameplay, and poor graphics, most of them are only bearable to die hard fans of whatever series. Well, luckily that isn't the case with Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2. The new installment of the Naruto series is a breath of fresh air, for long time fans and people who have never heard anything about the knucklehead ninja.

While Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is a fighting game at heart, the story mode has a surprising amount of depth to it, featuring some RPG elements in between intense battles. The story covers ALL of the Shippuuden series to where it stands now in Japan (episode 1-175, minus the fillers). What's amazing about this is that CyberConnect2 put a lot of detail into the story mode, so even people that have never followed the show can understand what's going on.

Aside from the story, you have an extremely fun fighting game in this title. It's not as technical as Super Street Fighter 4, Blazblue, or Tekken by any means, and some people looking for a hardcore fighter might be turned off by how simple this game appears to be. The gameplay mechanics are very unintimidating at first glance, with one button for punch/kick attacks, and another for ranged attacks. You have a chakra gauge, which is used to pull off different special attacks, along with up to two different assist characters, who will come in briefly and attack your opponent. Each character also has four different sub-items which are preset and designated to the D-pad buttons.

Poor Kakashi

Once you scratch the surface of the gameplay, you'll find there's quite a bit of strategy to winning. You have to plan your attacks carefully, keep a constant watch on your chakra gauge and know the best time to use your teammate assists. Using your assist characters builds up a meter, which allows for more deadly combos and team attacks when filled up. Your teammates can also take an ultimate jutsu to the face, in place of your own. Good stuff. Guarding at the instant you get hit lets you perform "substitution jutsu", basically teleporting you behind your opponent. Perfect chance for RASENGAN!

 Another big plus for Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is the graphics. They are simply amazing, quite frankly. The backgrounds have plenty of detail, and all 44 characters are crisp and colorful. The animations are all very smooth and signature moves look exactly how they should, and all without any noticable drop in framerate. I'm almost willing to say that I wished the show looked more like this game, rather than vice versa.

As a fan of the series, I'd have to say this game about as close to perfect as it gets. Some fans were upset about the changes made to how some of the story mode fights played out, and I can see how that would bother some folks. I can also understand why some of those changes were made, though. CyberConnect2 did a great job of improvising and adding sequences to make the fights a bit more action-ish, which I assume was to keep them from being too long.

Story battles get pretty hectic.

In my opinion, Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2 is one of the best games to come along this year. Almost any gamer can find something to like about this game, I think. Between the lengthy story mode, the huge roster of characters to pick from, and online battles, there's plenty of replay value. Luckily, there's also an option to turn on japanese voices, since the english dub is horrid. Below are some of the official trailers for the game, in case you're interested.


This game has set a new bar for anime-based games, and that bar is pretty damn high above any of its competition. Believe it!

With the upcoming release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 getting closer and closer, (February 15, 2011) a lot of people are starting to get antsy. Many of the characters have been announced already, and the roster is looking pretty good so far. But even so, there are a few characters that many people are still eagerly waiting for.

Capcom stated early on that there would be around 30 characters when the game comes out, and the official site room for exactly 32 on their characters page. With the recent announcement of She-Hulk and Zero, along with the confirmed Special Edition of the game, which contains early access to two other characters, (Shuma-Gorath and Jill Valentine) the roster seems to be pretty full. Only two more slots remain on the site, and with a lot of favorites still left to be unseen, many fans are starting to get worried.

UPDATE: Capcom revealed that there will be 10 more characters announced for the roster before release. Time will tell who makes the cut.

Here is a list of the confirmed characters so far:

Character models are looking great!

Dante > all

A lot of awesome new additions have been made since the previous title, along with some good ol' classics making their return. There's also some characters that make us wonder what they were thinking. (M.O.D.O.K., really?) I'm especially excited about Dante making the cut, since he's the most badass capcom character out there. But then again, where's Mega-Man? There are quite a few characters that would make an awesome addition to the game, and some who we'd also like to see return from MvC2. Here's a list of the top 10 characters I'd like to see added:

Marvel Universe

Ice-Man - Two words: Ice beam.

Mr. Sinister - One of my favorite villains from X-Men comics. He could have a very unique set of moves in a fighting game.

Carnage - We've seen Venom, and even though I'd like to see him return, I'd much rather see Carnage added to the lineup and what kind of sadistic special moves they could give him.

Moon Knight - Pretty much a Marvel version of Batman. With all his weapons and close quarters fighting style, he'd be a shoe-in.

Nightcrawler - With his power to teleport, he could make for a very fun to use, but hard to master character. He would also probably end up being one of the most annoying to fight against.

Capcom Universe

Samanosuke - Not enough samurai are in games these days. And with his wide range of different weapons and magic attacks used throughout his career in the Onimusha series, he'd be a perfect choice.

Mega-Man X - We've had the original Mega-Man, and the Mega-Man Legends version in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, so why not put X in this one?

Leon S. Kennedy - In my opinion, Leon would be a better candidate than Chris. Just sayin'.

Strider Hiryu - One of my favorite characters in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, It'd be nice to see him make a comeback.

Cammy - Sure, she wasn't the most popular choice in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but she's always been one of my favorite Street Fighter characters, and her victory poses alone should make everyone want her in this game.

I know, there's so many other characters that could be on this list besides these, but for the sake of not naming 50+ characters, I narrowed it down a bit. However, if you care to argue any of these, or if you just want to name a character you'd like to see in the game and why, I'd love to hear it.