IGN reports that the classic Capcom beat-em-up is making it’s return. Despite the name, this is not a new or updated version of Final Fight, but rather a double pack consisting of the original versions of Final Fight and the much lesser known (and not as good) Magic Sword, which is also a side scrolling beat-em-up.

So both games are in the one download, and both boast two visual modes. One is the normal untouched graphics and the other will “make the games shine in crisp and clear HD glory”. So a filter like Super Eagle then I guess. Leaderboards and drop-in online play are present in both games.

Release date and pricing has yet to be announced.

(Source: IGN)

Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has some startling revelations about the video game industry. Unfortunately he’s a couple of years late. Speaking with MCV, Wada speaks of a complete change to how we play our games, with the possibility of making consoles obsolete. He believes in as little as ten years time, sever-powered, streaming games and those that are digitally distributed will replace disc-based formats. We almost have that now with PSN, XBLA and Steam but Wada also thinks that the hardware we play those on won’t be needed as everything will be run on some distant server hooked into our TVs. He added that Sony and Microsoft, in his opinion, have altered their ways for such a shift and Square Enix are doing the same by concentrating on social and browser based games. Let’s not forger the MMO that will be Final Fantasy XIV which SE are paying particular interest in how successful the beta in 2010 will be.

There’s no doubt about a change from disc to digital distribution with Sony trying out that very method thanks to the PSPgo which, for whatever reason, is failing. That suggests this change may be longer than Wada’s “ten years time” as the platform holders figure out the best way of initiating such a shift. It is difficult to imagine either Sony or Microsoft relinquishing their grip on the video game industry by allowing another format to play their games – similar to the idea that one day there’ll be only one console even though the market and platforms are more diverse than they’ve ever been.

Scotland’s very own Proper Games, developer of the brilliant Xbox Live Arcade title Flock! has today revealed that it is working on a revamped version of Capcom’s scrolling beat-em-up Final Fight for 2010.

The game will be available as a digital download via Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Store under the name Final Fight: Double Impact, which includes a glorious HD version of the original arcade smash, along with a second game, Capcom’s fantasy side-scroller Magic Sword.

So far no price has been revealed, but if you haven’t had a chance to play Final Fight before, I strongly recommend that you do when this tasty twin-pack lands next year.

A fistful of screenshots lie just below the jump…

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website dedicated purely to Xbox videos.

The X Tube is Xbox Hornet’s Video Vault. Check it out now.

You can submit your own videos or browse the ones already on the site, while you are there you will find that you can comment on and rate clips too.

There are a number of ways to navigate the site, by category, alphabet, rating, most viewed, date added or featured videos.

So pop on over and let us know what you think.

The Beatles Rock Band High Score Competition

Relive those classic tracks! Play through on your own or with friends to earn the highest points. The higher the points, the better your chances!

With the Beatles taking the world by storm again in video game form, what better way to bring everyone together but with a big competition with Xtival. Take part in the event by just playing with your friends, grab the high scores and you could win some great prizes! (prizes TBC)

To enter, all you need is a band. Your band can be 1-4 players full, the more people you have the better chance you got at winning! Play the select songs given for the competition, grab a screenshot/take a picture of your groups highest scores on each of the songs and submit them to myself over the weekend. Don’t rush yourself though! Entries will be accepted from Friday 27th November starting 10am through to Sunday 30th Nov at 10pm. All I need is the images of your points and your team and its that simple!

Rules-

- 5 songs will be chosen before the event and these will be posted up Friday morning. (No DLC will be used)
- Bands must be signed up before Thursday 26th November.
- You and your band mates must be members of Xboxliveaddicts.co.uk and have valid Xbox Live Gamertags.
- Signing up requires posting in this thread with your forum username(s) and gamer tags.
- Score entries must be sent to the email address (mechrxbla at live. dot co dot uk) within the allotted time of the weekend event, please try to bunch the images together in one email rather than sending separately.
- Substitutes are not allowed. If someone doesn’t show up, you must continue with the group you have.
- Difficulties can be set to what your comfortable with, remember the harder you try, the better chance you have!
- Microsofts Code of Conduct and our forum rules apply.

-Prizes

For the winning team, theres up to 12,000 Microsoft Points and 2 years worth of free live to share between your band!

“The Bejeweled-meets-D&D smash Puzzle Quest proved serious RPGs and sparkly gem matching puzzle gameplay could tie the knot and keep from strangling one another. Gyromancer treads similar territory but adds in a few new twists… literally.”

Check out the full review here at GamesRadar.

Link to review

I was slightly skeptical on beginning Grand Theft Auto’s The Ballad Of Gay Tony for one main reason.

Whilst GTA 4’s main campaign was great, what does the final chapter of the GTA 4 episode installment have in store? Something to guarantee me coming back to it? Or the same old boring day to day grind GTA ever so easily portrayed after the honeymoon period left?

This week sees Madden NFL Arcade on XBLA and PSN

A 5 v 5, backyard-rules NFL game. Sounds good, right? Well this week you can get your hands on it. The game has an arcade style with power-ups and a much smaller field than in real life. The player also needs to get the touchdown within four tries and there is no way of getting a first down.

The PSN will be recieving this game, a day earlier than XBLA, on Tuesday 24th of November. XBLA will be getting it on Wednesday 25th of November. Madden NFL Arcade will cost 1200 MS Points, on XBLA, and $14.99 on PSN.

Source: News, Image

Following on from my celebrations of the PS3’s third birthday, I must raise a glass to the Xbox 360 who turned four yesterday. However, the achievements of the 360 are somewhat different to that of Sony’s now-gen beast. Microsoft was able to build on the success of Xbox Live from the original Xbox and launched with a credible online service that, after four years of tinkering, still bests Sony’s efforts. We may have to pay £40 for the privilege but it’s money well spent if stability, decent download speeds and other such niceties are what we’re after. Read on!

Other than a favourable online service, most of the 360’s success has come from the PS3’s failings. Such as the initial difficulty to program for the PS3 and being out a year early. Developers chose the 360 as the lead SKU meaning many cross platform games suffered when porting up to the PS3. What it meant for gamers was simple – Xbox 360 versions looked and ran better. With a year of sales under it’s belt, Microsoft’s little white wonder was already settled when Sony decided to finally launch it’s dip into HD and the difference in price made the 360 look all the more enticing – despite the inferior hardware.

Launch titles were plentiful (18 in the US, 16 elsewhere), but not necessarily a huge leap in video game advances. Take Perfect Dark Zero. This was the most successful first-party title yet played like an early Xbox title. Thankfully, Infinity Ward were able to lend their talents and gave early adopters Call of Duty 2 – my first Xbox 360 game. Graphics were sharp but apart from amazing particle effects (some of the best smoke in a video game) it was still very much a ‘quick we need to get this finished’ kind of launch title. What it did do well if not brilliantly was online play. Such a strong online presence helped solidify Xbox Live’s dominance. That and Halo 2. Yes, while Microsoft had all but killed the Xbox when releasing the 360, fans of Halo 2 still battled hard on their newer consoles. It’s the reason why we only able to have 100 friends on our 360’s. The older architecture of Halo 2 has forced the hand of Microsoft, making us be more selective as to who we accept as friends.

As of September 2009, 31 million 360’s have been sold but unfortunately, a startling percentage would have red-ringed. I’m lucky enough to only be on my second 360 but know people who’ve been through considerably more. So much so that Microsoft couldn’t ignore the problem any longer and increased the warranty from one year to three years. A good move on their part but something that should never need to happen in the first place. Another cock-up/masterpiece was the Core system. Unlike the Premium console, Core – which has been replaced by Arcade – came without a hard drive meaning the firmware powered backwards compatibility was simply unable to happen. Not to mention limiting the size of Xbox Live Arcade titles to only 50MB since they had to fit on a memory card for those Core owners. Thank heavens for the Arcade model with it’s 512MB hard drive and Microsoft’s initiative of selling refurbished 20GB hard drives to Arcade owners. This was mainly because the massive overhaul to the 360’s operating system going from the bladed dashboard to the New Xbox Experience late 2008. With the NXE came Avatars – a feature still yet to find its place for many 360 gamers.

With the demise of the HDDVD, Microsoft now fills it’s Xbox Live Marketplace with HD movies, ready to be rented and streamed onto our systems. It didn’t take long for Netfilx – streaming media company – to partner up with Microsoft and offer their services via the console.

After four years of red-ringing, foul-mouthed online players and leading in the HD gaming genre, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been able to offer some fantastic ‘must-have’ titles. Halo 3 concluded the trilogy (for now) and satisfied most of the Halo fans who moved onto its online shenanigans. Cliff Bleszinski’s Gears of War looked beautiful and played even better with its stop-and-pop mechanics. Nothing new to video games but somehow perfected. Gears of War 2 in 2008 bettered the original and became a system seller in its own right. My personal favourite of first party (now third party) titles has to be Mass Effect. Glitchy as hell and arguably unfinished, it still won the hearts of like minded gamers who found the escapades of protagonist Shepard hard to ignore.

Despite being almost the same age the the console it replaced, the Xbox 360 looks to have a lot of life left in it. Next year will see the release Project Natal with its advanced motion capture abilities to either help or hinder upcoming titles and the long awaited Alan Wake is rumoured to have a launch date of around May. It has had a fair share of troubles and some lonely months at the start when games were thin on the ground but join me won’t you as I raise my carton of orange-juice aloft in celebration of the Xbox 360’s fourth year. Well done you.

If playing the first three zones in Braid has taught me anything so far, it’s that time and the human mind are a lot like oil and water — they don’t mix. Sure, I can solve the temporal puzzles being thrown at me…but when it comes to interpreting these in a meaningful, narrative fashion, there’s some very real disconnect.

Maybe it’s developer Jonathan Blow’s voice that’s the problem. By coloring the experience with textual meditations prior to each level, he’s throwing words around like some kind of ventriloquist. His dummy text becomes the center of critical attention, where what we should really be examining is his artful designer’s puppeteering. Of course, Braid’s mechanics HAVE received a lot of acclaim quite apart from the game’s writing. I just think these design aspects are more than capable of speaking for themselves without the assist.

And what they’re saying is a lot about regret, hope, and, well, precision. This last bit seems particularly strange and intriguing to me: few people treat time as a serious, concrete thing. We have very little reason to measure it with such a high degree of exactitude as demanded by this game. But in Braid, time is a switchboard, a coil, a gadget to be fiddled with. It just won’t do much of anything special unless you’re extremely careful to manage it.

Hopefully I’ll master this task soon so I can better evaluate what kind of statement this element makes in the broader context of the game. Perhaps in the end Blow’s ambling text will end up being a perfect complement to Braid’s demanding machinations.

Diner Dash ist ein kurzweiliges Arcade Game. Du bist Flo und arbeitest in einem Restaurant, nimmst bestellungen auf, servierst den Gästen ihr Essen und machst danach die Tische sauber. So einfach das auch klingen mag, die Schwierigkeit nimmt zu, denn die Gäste wollen nicht warten. Ihre Freude wird in “Herzen” angegeben. Wenn sie zu lange am Eingang, auf ihre Bestellungen oder die Rechnung warten, verlieren sie Herzen. Dies verringert dann den erhaltenen Score. Später gibt es noch Boni, wenn man den farbig gekleideten Gast auf den Stuhl gleicher Farbe setzt. Immer mehr Gäste strömen später in das Restaurant und deshalb ist Eile das Stichwort. Es gibt sogar ein gewisses “XP-System” für alle paar Lvl-ups erhaltet ihr einen Upgrade-Punkt. Diesen könnt ihr dann in neue Turnschuhe, die eure Geschwindigkeit erhöhen, oder einen extra Tisch investieren.

-Fenrol

The Game Eye has the full scoop on Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, Capcom’s updated version to their previous hit Resident Evil 5 that will include the original game along with added content (new episodes, costumes and modes). For the details, visit the link below:

The Game Eye/Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition Details