Fighting

A few days ago we reported that NCsoft had revealed some new projects at a Korean press event. One of those projects is a title called Blade and Soul. Now our sister site Massively has some more info on the title which is apparently an Unreal Engine 3 powered title that combines elements of a traditional fantasy MMO with a fighting game.

As one might expect from a game developed by a Korean dev company. Blade and Soul will have a lot of Asian fantasy and myth influences and will incorporate martial arts as well. A trailer showcasing gameplay from the title has been released and can be seen above but at the moment it's looks like Blade and Soul is being made solely for the Korean market; there have been no announcements of a US release.

Shacknews is reporting that Good Old Games, CD Projekt's digital distribution source for classic PC games, will be delaying its beta, which was supposed to launch on August 1. Additionally, GOG marketing VP Tom Ohle has said that, due to a "huge response to the site announcement," GOG has been forced to rethink its beta plans -- namely, the beta has been changed from closed to open, and should launch in a few weeks.

Though anyone who signed up for the beta will receive access to the GOG site, Ohle is hesitant to confirm whether or not all participants will receive a free game. "We're not sure if we're going to be able to offer everyone in the beta a free game, but ...we're definitely offering everyone who's signed up early access to the site."

GOG is still taking sign-ups for the beta, so if you haven't submitted your email address, do so now -- you'll get beta access at the very least, and possibly a free classic game of your choice.

Big Download recently interviewed Ohle, who divulged a thorough explanation of all that GOG will offer. With its line-up of classics such as Fallout, Fallout 2 and Descent, GOG is still scheduled to launch in September.

Looks like Battlefield Heroes wasn't the only game to get a lot of online attention this past weekend. S2 Games, the creators of the multiplayer fantasy FPS-RPG Savage 2, had a big sale of their game via Steam this past weekend where people can buy the full game for just $9.99.

That apparently caused a lot more people to purchase the game and play it online. The game's official web site has a note that states, "Due to tremendous response we have more players than expected. We will be putting more official servers online this week to handle the popularity! Thanks everyone." If you want to try the game out before you purchase it you can download the free demo right here at Big Download.

[Via Blue's News]

If you are lucky enough to be able to attend the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, you will get a chance to check out a ton of exhibitors, including game publishers. One of those game publishers is Capcom and they have announced their schedule of events at their Comic-Con booth for the four days of the show beginning on Thursday.

The big highlight of the show at the Capcom booth has to be an autograph appearance by actress Kristin Kreuk. Yes, Smallville's hot Lana Lang will be signing at the Capcom booth on Thursday to promote the upcoming film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (she plays the title role). Capcom will hold tournaments throughout Comic-Con (the game is scheduled to be released on the PC as well as consoles) and there will be appearances from Bionic Commando himself (don't ask).

There's a sub-genre of shoot-'em-up that we here at Big Download do not see all that often. It shows up once in a while, but never for too long before it re-submerges itself into the dark and murky waters of the internet. I am, of course, talking about the 1v1 Arena shooter. Much like a fighting game, you must tear your opponent to pieces with a variety of special attacks while maneuvering around them. Thanks to Lithium Leaf, another one has surfaced! Over The Horizon is an extremely pretty shmup brawler. The gameplay is fairly standard for games of its kind, but you won't see us complain. If you are a fan of shmups and fighters, you owe it to yourself to give this genre a try. And Over The Horizon is the perfect place to do start.

[Via Lithium Leaf]

Also available is a digital store for newer Midway titles, which is accessible via Midway.com. Available games include Unreal Tournament III ($19.95), John Woo Presents Stranglehold ($19.95), The Suffering ($9.99), The Suffering 2 ($14.95), and Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe ($19.99), a collection of classic arcade games from Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and Midway Arcade Treasures 3.

More adept at ripping heads attached to spines than building digital shops, both MidwayArcade and the Midway.com store were built by Digital River, Inc., a leader provider of e-commerce services. "We are excited to work with Midway Games and help maximize the sales opportunities on its online stores," said Joel Ronning, Digital River's CEO. "Using our e-commerce expertise, we can help Midway offer a consistent, reliable and user-friendly way for its consumers to purchase their favorite Midway games."

"The Midway brand has a long and rich history of fast-paced and addictive games from our arcade and touchscreen heritage," said Mona Hamilton, vice president, marketing, Midway Home Entertainment. "The new digital storefront at midway.com and the casual games site at midwayarcade.com allow us to deliver these classics, favorites and recent releases directly to a wide-range of Midway fans."

Earlier this year The Witcher developers CD Projekt announced an extension of their franchise called The Witcher: DuelMail, a free-to-play browser based combo of fighting and fantasy RPG that they developed alongside the company onetribe. Well today the game has come out of its beta phase and has received a new name along with it: The Witcher Versus.

The game itself remains the same but thanks to the input of over 48,000 beta testers The Witcher Versus has received a number of improvements including better animations and background visuals, improved character balance and more. CD Projekt claims the game will receive additional content updates and improvements in the months ahead.

There's an of internet phenomenon called the OS-tan. It's a sort of anthropomorphic personification (hello Terry Pratchett!) of operating systems as people. Bootfighter Windom XP SP-2 is a sort of off-shoot of this movement. Only instead of cute girls, the operating systems are deadly mechs. Bootfighter is a fairly easy to grasp mecha brawler, especially if you play a lot of PC games. The controls are effective, the graphics crisp, and the sound clean. The game itself is loads of fun, bringing to mind memories of Zone of the Enders and the battles therein. As it's freeware, it never hurts to try it out if you are curious.

[Via LithiumLeaf]

Street Fighter IV is releasing on the PC and while we know we've mentioned it before it just feels really nice to be able to say it! Those of you at home waiting for the day to wind down so you can ignite your favorite fireworks are invited to check out this special trailer for Street Fighter IV that was originally shown during Capcom's Captivate 08 event. Featuring series mainstays Ryu and Akuma engaging in an epic battle peppered with classic moves, the trailer is nothing short of amazing. Make sure to stay glued to your seat until the end for the arrival of another classic character and a tease reveal of someone very special.

Street Fighter IV is intended to reawaken a classic franchise -- a franchise that's been dormant so long, it's hard to even picture it in today's 3D, hundred-million-dollar-budget gaming world. A 2D fighter in 2008? Can it be done?

The latest trailer from Capcom ought to sell you on the idea if you're skeptical. Let's face it, though; if you grew up playing Street Fighter in the 90s, then you're probably not all that skeptical. You're probably just plain psyched. Either way, we have the new trailer here for you. It displays several characters new and old. It's full of great artwork and impossibly epic special moves. It's also a whopping four minutes long. If you've been craving Street Fighter IV content, today's your lucky day!

When you watch it, you might even start to wonder if 2.5D is the new 3D.

Download the Street Fighter IV Gameplay Trailer from Big Download.

Capcom has been putting more and more effort into its PC game line-up but few expected that one of their most anticipated games, Street Fighter IV, would be released for our platform. Simply put, fighting games just don't appear on the PC. So we got excited when we first learned that Capcom's long awaited 3D (with 2D backgrounds) revamp of the Street Fighter series would be on a PC hard drive.

Now Capcom has launched their official Street Fighter web site to help promote the game along with a truckload of new screenshots. More importantly, the site linked to the Gamestop web site that offers pre-orders of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions with a ship date of Feb. 3, 2009. Now naturally release dates for games can (and usually do) change and both the official game site and the Gamestop pre-order page don't even mention the PC version. But at least there's some kind of road-map we can use to guage when we can expect Street Fighter IV to appear.

Earlier in the week we reported that PC gamers would likely have the chance to square off in Capcom's upcoming Street Fighter IV on PC as well as next-gen consoles, and last night Capcom confirmed it's happening (via IGN).

Street Fighter IV becomes the first in franchise history to release simultaneously on consoles and PC and further solidifies Capcom's recent admiration for the platform. In recent months, after shying away from PC development, Capcom has released Lost Planet and plans a July release for Devil May Cry 4--two high-profile console titles.

While no details regarding Street Fighter IV were announced, we expect more information at Capcom's upcoming Captivate08 event in Las Vegas.