As mentioned in my Street Fighter 4 Update, there will be an animated short involving Ryu and his storyline against Akuma. Well it looks like Gametrailers has managed to source a world exclusive of this trailer and here it is in all its glory. Enjoy!

Now if only this were a true OVA…

More details have been released about Street Fighter 4, especially about the home console versions on the Playstation 3 and XBOX360. First up, there will be a 2D animated bonus video featuring Ryu and his master from the early years and all character endings will also receive the same animated treatment. Long gone are the stills of yesteryear and about time too! Also it will be nice if more background story was given to the characters so this is a perfect opportunity to advance the story further. Thus far the studio used for the 2D animation has yet to be released but we should know more details soon.

Beyond that characters Fei Long and Dan Hibiki has been confirmed to be playable in the home versions only. I’m not sure if they will be unlockable or available from the outset but it should be interesting to see if they have become stronger as they were not the most powerful characters in the Street Fighter universe, with Fei Long getting plenty of tweaks in the soon to be released Street Fighter II HD. check out more screenshots below as its shaping up beautifully. Can’t wait for this baby to be released!

Square-Enix has announced a multiplatform RPG (PS3 and XBOX360) title in The Last Remnant, powered by the impressive UnReal 3 engine. It does look very good and the engine itself is very capable of rendering superb scenery at high detail and the characters within without too much of a sweat. Check out the images below for more insight and then the trailer too.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (formally known as Star Ocean 4) has been announced by Square-Enix that it will be an XBOX360 Exclusive which is a massive coup for Microsoft’s console. Developed by the established Tri-Ace company the game is on track to be released in Japan in 2009.

The premise takes place after the Third World War which happened in 2064 as the Earth was destroyed by such conflict. As life and the surroundings were decimated beyond repair, humanity had to then flee out into space to survive as a race once more as we forward 6 years on to 2070 to where the story takes place. The two heroes are Cara, a 20 year old male employed by the Space Frontier Corps and Remi, a 19 year old female that specialises in archery who is also a childhood friend of Cara.

Not much else is known about this game as such but it is shaping up very well judging from the screenshots which is a mix of CG and realtime graphics. It certainly looks like a good year for RPGs as many big titles are expected to be released soon. Below is the debut trailer for the game. Check it out!

Looks like Namco have released more information about Soul Calibur IV and carrying on with the Star Wars theme to appeal to more Western gamers, it looks like there will be a third playable character from the massive franchise. The Sith apprentice will be available to play! Coming from the story of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, he will be on a mission to search and destroy Rahm Kota. I wonder what his moveset will be like…

This new Fatal Frame game is coming to the Nintendo Wii and is looking pretty decent so far. The story revolves around a group of teenagers that have been kidnapped several years ago in a remote island in Japan. Sadly two of the girls have died but the remaining three managed to survive, only without their memories. You control the three girls going back to the remote island to reclaim their memories and to further understand what exactly happened. Armed with only a flashlight camera, the girls then use this to seal the spirits into the film for further investigation.

The plot line will hardly win any awards but fans of the previous games will know how atmospheric and dark this game can be. Here are some screenshots of the game.

At long bloody last the seminal racing simulator for the PS3 will obtain real time damage come the latter half of this year! The main stumbling blocks were not Sony Polyphony themselves, but of the racing manufacturers not wanting to see their cars deformed in a videogame. It will come part of a digital download for Prologue (which was released not long ago on our shores) and will be integrated in the final GT5 game.

Trouble is, even though real time damage might happen, the developers have been pretty coy about the extent of the damage physics… One idea that was touted about was that the damage would simply be superficial, where the body would deform but performance would not be hindered, must like in Burnout. If this is the case then there will me many fans pretty upset about the whole ideal…

For now though here are some more fantastic screenshots taken from the game!

At long last, around 8 months I believe since word got out that a version was in development it has been released! For those who don’t know what this will actually do, here are the official features…

Features

* Play ANY region of Wii or GameCube game on ANY Wii.
* Easy to use.
* No console modification required.
* Doesn’t invalidate warranty.
* Play games never released in your region.
* Play local games on your imported console.
* 100% unofficial.

The last point is quite funny as Nintendo wouldn’t make sure a product official! I actually own a US Nintendo Wii so would test this out as its annoying not being able to take advantage of sales and rentals over here because of it…

If you have a US Nintendo Wii, then pop over to Datel’s website here and place your $19.99 order!

To be honest I don’t know an awful lot about this game however I’ve just found out that it supports Head Tracking. Those who keep an eye on YouTube might have come across this video by Johnny Chung Lee. The video below explains what Head Tracking basically does and is worthy of your time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw[/youtube]

Now EA’s Boom Box game, headed by none other than Stephen Spielberg has unveiled a cool Easter Egg in the game. Hopefully the setup for this is much more easier and indeed games actually start using it on the Wii.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd296bxdi30[/youtube]

It would be pretty cool to see this used on First Person Shooters as you would be a lot more immersed into the gameplay and can actually start to sway or dodge attacks. Maybe this in a boxing game too could work… Could be an idea for Wii Sports II…

Now this is pretty cool. Its a simple interface to what is quite a complex engine to make things work in real time and the creative possibilities for multiplayer are near endless. The premise is simple - Draw anything you want and it gets converted into a tank. By placing more drawn items on the same piece of paper, tank tracks are made, guns added and possibly much more. Watch the video to see it in action!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=denLFS2SxXE[/youtube]

It’s similar to a DS game Drawn to Life however since this is on the PS3, the scope can only grow bigger and indeed they are aiming at the demograph correctly, one that Nintendo currently has sown up. If Sony play their cards right they could capture the imaginations of children and parents by using technology to come together in the living room. I would like to see this idea further expanded though and hopefully available via PlayStation Network or as a budget PS3 game with other engines bar the Tank War one illustrated.

Still, as a demo, it is very cool indeed.