A handful of moveset images have inadvertently revealed M. Bison, Akuma, Jin, and Ogre for Street Fighter X Tekken.

The images were spotted by Taiwanese blog Gamer. You can find the moveset images below, if you’re interested in seeing what the movesets actually are.

There’s not much more to it than that, unfortunately. Stay tuned to Ripten for more Street Fighter, Tekken, and related news as it happens.

Via [Shoryuken]

• New Street Fighter X Tekken Character, It’s Steve Fox
• Two New Street Fighter X Tekken Videos Are Better Than One
• Bunch of New Street Fighter x Tekken Screenshots
• Street Fighter x Tekken Gets Mega Man, Pac-Man as Sony Exclusives – Trailer
• E3 2011: Street Fighter X Tekken for PSVita, Cole from Infamous As Exclusive Fighter
• Cammy Joins Street Fighter X Tekken Cast

It’s sad that some of the most iconic videogame characters of all time where junkies. Mario loved his mushrooms, Sonic would die if he couldn’t get his rings, and Pac-Man would consume every pill in sight. No wonder he saw ghosts. Sigh. At least he got some fruit in his diet.

Five O’Clock Fan Art is perfect for wrapping up the work day. You don’t want to think anymore, you just want to look at awesome things. And there’s nothing more awesome than a well crafted piece of videogame fan art. If you don’t agree, what the hell are you doing at a gaming blog?

This is actually a Threadless shirt designed by Travis Pitts, so go get you some.

• Five O’Clock Fan Art: Pacbusters
• Five O’Clock Fan Art: Cammy
• Five O’Clock Fan Art: Waluigi
• Five O’Clock Fan Art: Prototype
• Five O’Clock Fan Art: Samus and The Cat
• Five O’Clock Fan Art: Red Dead Redemption

Seventeen years after the events of SoulCalibur IV, the spiritual weapons that are Soul Edge and SoulCalibur arbitrarily decided they would start causing all sorts of nuisances because Namco’s not done making these games yet. Why have 17 years passed? Well, how else would SoulCalibur V feature many new characters, some of which are related to characters from the previous games? Magic? Yeah, but instead, 17 years DO pass, so let’s see if those years in-game meant anything in real life.

Yes and no. SoulCalibur V has everything fans of SoulCalibur have come to expect from the franchise and in spades, but one big change has occurred in the transition from IV to V: the story mode. Well, that, and no more Star Wars characters. There are some other new inclusions along with features removed, but we’ll get to those later; like maybe 800 words from now.

A huge piece of fighting games, for whatever reason, is to tell really bad narratives. I jest, I jest! Many a single player fighting game experience, for instance SoulCalibur IV, lets players choose whom they would like to play as through the story. The character is introduced in one fashion or another, with text being a very common and supremely lazy method, and that’s it. The player then goes through a series of events, fighting at different locales that bear some relevance to that character (as far as you know). There, they fight some people spouting very specific intro and victory lines, along with some people they don’t seem to care about and who are likely just in a bad mood. It’s easy to tell, because usually, if they know the other character they’ll say something like “You… killed my father! You’ll PAY for that!”, and if they don’t, they’ll say “Out of my way!” or “Do we really have to fight?” or “My what big eyes you have!”. Not really much of a narrative. Well, SoulCalibur V is taking a different route, with a set-in-stone storyline featuring Sophitia’s children Pyrrha and Patroklos and that’s it. To my knowledge, there are no alternate endings and no different characters to choose from; nothing of that sort.

Thanks to having a dedicated storyline, my initial cynicism and apathy (a brutal combination) towards the characters in this game slowly evaporated. There was drama, there was tension. I genuinely wanted to know what each character’s next move was. The tale of this SoulCalibur begins with young Patroklos, son of the Holy Warrior Sophitia, on a quest to find his kidnapped sister. She was abducted by the “malfested,” demons and staunch followers of Soul Edge, and Patroklos is determined to rescue her. That’s all good stuff!

However, while the little picture of Patroklos and Pyrrha’s adventures is interesting and even made me care for a bit (not too much since the story wasn’t nearly long enough), SoulCalibur V ultimately fails to capitalize on the setting it creates. There are several new characters in the game, and many of them are related to classic characters in some way. For instance, Yoshimitsu is Yoshimitsu the 2nd, but he’s nowhere to be found in the story. Several characters hailing from Asia, such as Leixia (daughter of Xianghua) get very little exposition, and even less background. Not sure why the whole game is setup on the idea of having progressed 17 years when many of its ties to SoulCalibur IV are hardly touched, but it’s disappointing. Indeed, Namco might as well have just gone with silly random fights and a big text document introduction, though the in-game cutscenes were appreciated.

Beyond the realm of the story, one very large piece of the game is missing: a proper introduction to the fighting engine. There wasn’t much of this in SoulCalibur IV either, but in V, a series of pop-up screens show up the first time you see something you’ve never seen before, such as combat, or the online section of the menu, etc. There are a lot of things about the game that are incredibly easy to miss, like how the critical gauge works, or how “Brave Edge” works or what it does, or the fact that parry is now gone and has been replaced with a modified guard impact. It’s a minor nuisance as these are things the player learns after a while anyways, but it’d be nice to be properly introduced to the game.

Other single player features include arcade mode, quick matches and this new bit called Legendary Souls mode where you face off against incredibly difficult CPU players. As far as I know, it’s just you losing to a certain character with a polearm until your head explodes, but surely there are other characters beyond him. So my advice is, if you like Kilik, play the Legendary Souls mode to see all of his combos acted out upon your face, butt, and other humorous bodily pain-receptive locations. Beyond that, I’m not sure why you’d submit yourself to such pain, but perhaps major enthusiasts and competent SoulCalibur players will want to test their mettle in this mode. In modes designed for sane people, the AI is pretty consistent and intelligent, however, like just about every AI for fighting games ever, it can be vulnerable to the old “infinite sweep” technique.

All that’s well and good, but how does it PLAY? How does it FEEL? It FEELS like SoulCalibur. For all the talk of being more accessible to new players, it’s certainly not varied much from its predecessors. There’s now a Critical Gauge, which behaves much like the super bar in any Street Fighter game, and each character has their own Critical Edge which does lots of damage and has a nifty animation with lots of sparkles and blade clanging sounds. This mechanic does absolutely nothing to help new players. Although, now they can mash something out and hope it lands, but it certainly doesn’t make the finer mechanics any easier to understand. At its core, SoulCalibur has not changed, and people who hated the gameplay in IV will hate it, and those who loved it will love it. If I have to nitpick, and I do, I’d say the game’s a bit faster and “in your face” now, but even that is only marginally so, though it is a welcome improvement.

SoulCalibur V is largely a game of zoning and poking, managing your character’s speed and reach versus your opponent’s and reacting to their strategy appropriately. There’s much to love here for core fighting game enthusiasts. Mixups are an incredibly large part of the metagame, pressuring slower characters, kiting characters with long reach, and landing powerful combos on those evasive characters. Something that never ceases to piss the hell out of me that SoulCalibur has always had though is ring-outs, which despite being a perfectly valid part of the strategy, will be a very large irritation for new players and even for experienced players during fights against advanced AI.

One piece of gameplay that’s been removed is the whole weapon/ability/perk system-majigger introduced in IV. Thank bananas that’s gone! What a useless piece of gameplay. If that’s what Namco meant by making the game more accessible they’re wrong, it’s just less convoluted, but fine, we can give them a tally mark in the win column if they really insist (and they do).

Speaking of Namco winning, the increditacularly awesomepressive character creation makes a triumphant return in SoulCalibur V and it’s got tons more of the aforementioned bells and whistles, literally. Amongst a veritable bevy of customization clothing is now equipment, allowing players to affix realistic things like bows or scrolls, or slightly silly things like horns and apples, to their character to add to the customization. Surely this will result in many different perverted characters, and I’m just fine with that, and so is Namco. The fact that people have the option to do more or less whatever they want is awesome. If it’s not a perverted character you want, then go ahead and make some sort of anime chick, or a flamboyant homosexual, or an angsty teenager, or even your mother (hopefully, the two aren’t the same).

To go along with the much-appreciated color changing, is the option to imprint clothing with a variety of patterns. This would be great if the options weren’t mostly atrocious. The voice pitch and tone modifiers are also very cool, though sometimes both male and female voices can get a bit T-Painish, which is unfortunate if that’s not the desired effect. There are also stickers, which can be placed, altered and moved on most any part of created characters, adding for even more variety. The customization is freaking winsauce, and should (and can) be poured over just about every facet of your experience with this game. It’s also probably fattening.

The final, and arguably most impressive, set of features in SoulCalibur V is nestled in the online section of the menu. This is where Namco’s fighting game development experience really shines, demonstrating their expertise relative to other fighting game developers. Players can choose from the typical Ranked and Player match styles, the difference being leaderboard recognition and average level of try-hardiness, as well as a nifty thing called the Global Colosseo, named thus likely to make Ezio feel at home in this strange world.

This piece of awesome is a giant lobby where people can find matches for training or look for people they’ve met online before (like their rivals). They can join random matches, or search for their own by scrolling over each person’s Player License and decide whether or not they think they’ll have any fun with that person. The game also allows people to chat, which… is probably a really bad idea, but it’ll be awesome until the trolling sets in. To top it off, there are tournaments people can join which presumably last a week. Winning likely comes with nifty things like in-game prizes or people caring about you a little more than they did at the beginning of the week.

In comparison to other fighting games, namely Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (because it pissed me off), the online and lobby features are freaking amazing. You can search for lobbies by some obvious criteria (region, lag, rank, etc.), and once inside, you can chat via voice or text. If you join while a match is going, you can observe the information of the players around you, make them your rivals, report them for being douchenozzles, or ignore them and be enigmatic and ominous. Once a game starts, it is viewable in full screen, but if you’re still enjoying your chatting or looking at player’s licenses, you can view the game in a smaller windowed mode.

Oh, and the graphics are awesome. I’m really not a stickler for graphics as long as the game doesn’t look like an unwashed donkey’s behind, but you probably do, and yeah they look great and they don’t get in the way of the gameplay. The music is also very high quality, though ultimately, the only song I ever want to listen to while battling is Ezio’s character theme. So yeah. Neo-anime 3D presentation wins.

SoulCalibur V is a quality fighting game. As someone who enjoys the genre, I did indeed enjoy this entry, despite the amount of game-fighting I had to do as a traditionally 2D fighting game enthusiast. It takes some getting used to for newbies and unfamiliars alike, but ultimately, the mechanics are solid for a 3D fighter, and the variety of play styles featured in the characters is rather robust. For people who enjoyed SoulCalibur IV but are on the fence about upgrading, rest assured, all the new characters are decidedly different from their older (and in some cases dead-er) contemporaries, boasting new combos to learn and skills to practice. Old characters returning to the franchise are largely similar if not congruent to their previous iterations, so if you loved Mitsurugi and don’t want him to change, no problem, because he didn’t. It’s unfortunate that the story failed to capitalize on its premise, but it’s not the worst thing ever and certainly can be called a story rather than a collection of people fighting each other for no reason. If you like fighting games, character customization, and awesome weapons and stabbing things with said weapons and don’t mind a short story and a bit of a steep learning curve, definitely add SoulCalibur V to your gaming library.

Here’s The Rundown:

- Combat  mechanics are solid
- Character play style is varied
- Customization is very robust and gives players many freedoms
- Online options are thoroughly thought through and implemented
- Swords 

- Story’s too short and too minimally focused
- Steep learning curve
- No tutorial

8 and 8.5 represent a game that is a good experience overall. While there may be some issues that prevent it from being fantastic, these scores are for games that you feel would easily be worth a purchase.  Read more about our scoring system in detail here.

SoulCalibur V was developed Project Soul and published by Namco Bandai Games and a Xbox 360 copy of this game was provided for the purposes of this review. The story mode was played to completion on normal in 3 hours and 8 hours were spent playing additional single player and multiplayer content.

• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?
• Soul Calibur V DLC Schedule Revealed, Tons of Customization Items and Music
• Watch Ezio Swing Swords In This Soul Calibur V Trailer
• Soul Calibur V Coming in 2012 (Trailer)
• Soul Calibur V Launch Trailer Goes Big
• Will Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio to be Playable in Soul Calibur V?

Namco Bandai’s release of Soul Calibur V is less than a week away, and as you’d expect around this time, they’ve got a launch trailer for you to feast your eyes upon. Will you be picking up the fifth installment of this fan favorite fighting franchise? Ask that five times fast. Here’s the trailer.

• Soul Calibur V Coming in 2012 (Trailer)
• RipTen Review: SoulCalibur V (Xbox 360)
• Soul Calibur V DLC Schedule Revealed, Tons of Customization Items and Music
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?
• New Soul Calibur V Trailer Shows Off Killer Character Creation Capabilities
• Watch Ezio Swing Swords In This Soul Calibur V Trailer

Soul Calibur V, latest in the long line of Namco’s weaponized fighting game, will be releasing just around the corner on January 31.  One might think it’s easy street after that, but there’s another corner the following Friday upon which the first DLC will be released.  In the coming weeks, as listed below, two more DLC packs will be released, each priced at 160 Microsoft Points, and each containing nine customization items and music from other Soul Calibur games since the dawn of time.

Lovers of the Soul Calibur franchise should rejoice at this, and haters of DLC should be equally glad that they won’t miss out on any new characters introduced as DLC like a game in recent history involving two major franchises fighting each other in three-person teams. This is a good deal, and players won’t have to wait long for it either.

DLC 1: February 3

• Nine exotic-themed customisation items, including bikinis wings and face paints.
• Original music from Soul Blade and Soul Calibur. Tracks will also be available to purchase individually at €0.99/80 Microsoft Points.

DLC 2: February 14

• Nine fearsome customisation items, including breast plate, kimono and animal heads.
• Original music from Soul Calibur 2 and Soul Calibur 3. Tracks will also be available to purchase individually at €0.99/80 Microsoft Points.

DLC 3: February 28

• Nine exclusive customisation items including mask, face paint, camouflage and skull.
• Original music from Soul Calibur 4 and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. Tracks will also be available for purchase individually at €0.99/80 Microsoft Points. 

If you missed it, here’s the full cinematic intro in all its glory.

• RipTen Review: SoulCalibur V (Xbox 360)
• Watch Ezio Swing Swords In This Soul Calibur V Trailer
• Soul Calibur V Launch Trailer Goes Big
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?
• Will Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio to be Playable in Soul Calibur V?
• New Street Fighter X Tekken Character, It’s Steve Fox

Namco Bandai’s Inversion was originally announced to come out this February 7. That’s no longer the case. The publisher has pushed the game back to a later date. Here’s why:

This additional development time will allow the team to polish several key aspects of the game ensuring Inversion is of the highest quality.”

Typical response, yeah? As soon as the game has a release date, we’ll let you know.

via [Game Informer]

• Check Out Inversion’s Co-op Mode In Action
• Inversion – Where Manipulation and Gravity Collide (Hands On)
• Knight’s Contract To Be Released Early 2011
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?
• RipTen Review: Ace Combat Assault Horizon (Xbox 360)
• Think You’re Good At Dark Souls? This 90 Minute Speed Run Will Make You Look Silly

With the launch of Soul Calibur V imminent, Namco Bandai are looking for players who hope to become the best in the UK.

You heard me correctly, there are people out there who not only play Soul Calibur, but also get good at it. It might sound odd to us “normals,” but it certainly seems that there are people out there buying Soul Calibur games for more than just looking at Ivy’s chest.

The first 200 gamers to get to the Chapel Bar in Islington from 12-6pm on Saturday 4th February will get themselves in to the game’s UK launch party, “where some of the world’s biggest fighting game champions will be in attendance.”

There are more details to follow, but the fights that take place at this even will lead on to the UK finals on March 16th “at a so far secret location with a whole host of exciting prizes up for grabs.”

So put down your good, proper 2D fighting games and try out this new 3D one. What’s the worst that could happen?

• RipTen Review: SoulCalibur V (Xbox 360)
• Soul Calibur V Coming in 2012 (Trailer)
• New Soul Calibur Confirmed
• Watch Ezio Swing Swords In This Soul Calibur V Trailer
• New SoulCalibur V Trailer – ‘Nuff Said
• SoulCalibur V Gets a New Set Of Screens

The latest Touch My Katamari trailer by Namco deals with a startling revelation by the King of All Cosmos (no not Howard Stern, he’s King of All Media). Watch it to find out and discover a little bit about the upcoming game’s plot. Sorry, no gameplay for you!

Touch My Katamari launches on the PlayStation Vita February 22nd .

• Shinobido 2 Trailer Shows Off Killer Ninja Techniques and Gameplay Features
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus Dated for PS Vita Launch, Stunning New Screens
• Ridge Race Vita Trailer Features Fast and Furious Portable Action
• Sony: Vita to be “Easiest and Most Well Supported” Platform Yet
• New Trailer for ‘Uncharted: Golden Abyss’ Shows Off Cool PS Vita Tricks
• PS Vita ‘Social Gaming Revolution’ Trailer – How It Will Change Your Gaming Life

It’s almost Thanksgiving and you know what that means – tons of stuff is on sale! To make it easy, we’re working on compiling a list of all the iOS games that are on sale. Check it out below! Know of any deals we’re missing? Let us know in the comments or email me.

G5 Games: 

Namco Games:

• Microsoft Kicks Off Xbox LIVE Fan Appreciation Sale
• iam8bit Having Crazy Nerdy Sale on Crazy Nerdy Stuff
• Namco Celebrates Valentine’s Day With iOS Sale
• PlayStation Network’s ‘Stock Up for Winter’ Sale’s Awesome Deals
• Awesome PS3 Black Friday Deals
• Xbox Live Prices Go Up Despite Decline in Metacritic Scores (XBLA)

Yes internet, you called it. Ezio is officially in the Soul Calibur V roster. It makes more sense than a tiny green goblin with a laser sword, so it’s actually a cool addition all things considered. Watch the trailer below;

I guess using stealth is out of the question? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

• Will Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio to be Playable in Soul Calibur V?
• RipTen Review: SoulCalibur V (Xbox 360)
• Soul Calibur V DLC Schedule Revealed, Tons of Customization Items and Music
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?
• Pick Up Ezio’s Threads in Final Fantasy XIII-2
• RipTen Review: Assassin’s Creed Revelations

The earliest dream I can remember is of flying. I’m soaring over rooftops, climbing above the collected chaos of city life. Every time I awoke from these moments, an intense sense of deflation immobilized me. I was, and always would be, earthbound. Sadly, this is how I was made and this was how it would stay. But man and his ingenuity outsmarted nature and forged machines to defy gravity. Those like me, sky-starved, but unable to sate that hunger for flight find solace in the safety of commercial airlines, and through windows to that world we imagined, like Namco Bandai’s Ace Combat series . If you don’t understand this need to be airborne, then you have no business in Assault Horizon. Now sit down and shut up while I tell you about how amazing it was.

"I want my callsign to be 'Spaghetti.'" "... What?!" "SPAGHETTI!"

I fell in love with Ace Combat 4 during the glory days of the Playstation 2 and sunk hours into it, challenging my friends to dogfights and losing myself in the convoluted, Japanese plot. I didn’t care much for what was going on. Frankly, I thought there was a great disconnect between the still cut scenes and hectic radio banter blasting in my ears during missions. This is not the case in Assault Horizon. American author Jim DeFelice who wrote Rogue Warrior (the great book not the shitty game) is behind the story on this one, delivering a good ole fashion tale of Americans versus Russians. No fictitious Eurasian nations or impossibly dramatic wars. There’s something about these Cold War-esque plots that appeal to me. Perhaps it’s my intense love of “Hunt for the Red October,” but any movie or game that involves some kind of conflict with the Russians immediately has my attention. You play primarily as Colonel William Bishop, leader of Warwolf Squadron, a U.N. task force comprised of international unit. Bishop is a damn good pilot, but when a Russian crime syndicate mobilizes and reveals its deadliest asset, Andrei Markov, Bishop must face his greatest adversary yet. Worst of all? Markov has a super-powered warhead called “Trinity” and he’s dead set on using it. Players will alternate between multiple mission types. Jet combat puts you in control of Bishop, while helicopter missions will have you playing Captain Doug “D-Ray” Robinson and his gunners. Lastly, you’ll actually have a chance to carry out bombing and fire support missions from larger aircraft, like Nighthawks and AC-130′s as Major Janice Rehl, the coolest pilot ever.

I don’t want a ridiculous Japanese plot standing between me and my aerial combat experience. Perhaps that’s what the franchise was known and lovingly mocked for in the past, but what was the point? Key story elements were delivered in the heat of combat, leaving me completely confused as I was too busy fighting for my life to listen to some wingman try to feed me exposition. This story was refreshingly simple and, while not entirely original, provided me with all the fuel needed to spur me on, to make me understand why I fought. I knew better than ever the consequence of failure. If I don’t stop this man, he will destroy me and my home. Kill him and his supporters, or everything I love will cease to exist. It incites emotion on the basest of levels. You are threatened. You must defend yourself. Why would you want a ridiculous plot to get in the way of that?

It's much cooler in cockpit view. Trust me.

These pilots bring with them three distinct types of gameplay. Bishop will put you in the cockpit of a standard fighter, attacker, or multirole plane. I personally stuck with the Typhoon unless the mission called for anti-ground measures, but I was able to quickly pinpoint my preferred style. This is where things are going to feel vastly different from previous Ace Combat games, but I assure you, it’s all for the best. The left stick controls all your plane’s movements. Pitch and yaw are determined by the degree of your turn and your speed. Decelerate for sharper, more accurate turns. Right thumb stick lets you look around the cockpit and get a better idea of what’s in your peripheral. Roll control is virtually nonexistent unless you’re playing on Expert difficulty (which then allows you to roll rather than turn harder), but seems to have been assimilated into Assault Horizon’s newest feature, CRA (close range assault). Players press LB and RB simultaneously to change attack perspectives and begin close-range combat. CRA is broken down to two variations. DFM (dogfight mode) can be activated when the player is within range of an enemy. A green assault circle appears, signaling the player to press the bumpers. The game then becomes semi-on-rails and the player must focus on keeping the plane within the target reticule. Missiles become deadlier and machine gun firer packs a much greater punch at close range. When an adversary is defeated, a mini, slow-mo cut scene plays, and Bishop zooms through the wreckage. It’s an incredibly satisfying system that also works on the defensive. Players can perform a reversal when pursued by enemies. Decelerate until the red and green arrow overlap, then tap the shoulder buttons. You’ll either barrel roll, cobra, or do a complete 360 degree vertical loop until the hunter becomes the prey. You can chain several enemies while in DFM and it provides a satisfying means to properly decimate your foes. Rather than watch your 4AAMs detonate from far, you can get right up their aft and shred’m. I found myself tailing three bandits through Dubai, weaving between skyscrapers while trying to track down the last remaining bomber on an impact course. It gets intense, I mean intense. You’ve got five things to do and five minutes to do it, but the sensation of getting it done is wholly rewarding.

Mmm, jet carngae.

CRA has another mode, ASM (air strike mode) that you won’t use nearly as frequently as DFM, but it offers a very different combat experience. Players target the triangular entry point for the bombing track and trigger ASM similarly to DFM with a bumper tap. Your aircraft decelerates and descends as you attempt to eliminate all ground targets in as few attack runs as possible. Think Death Star trench run, except slower. While ASM isn’t nearly as exciting, it does have a few poignant moments during some naval missions later in the game. The helicopter scenarios are perhaps the grittiest, thrusting you into the heart of combat as you provide aerial support to the ground forces. A lot of the time, you’ll be gunning down poorly-armed men with machine guns, which takes little to no effort. When the situation escalates, you’ll find yourself blowing Hinds out of the sky and turning Howitzers into scrap metal. Major Rehl’s air support missions are probably the least exciting, but offer the best weaponry. It gets a little ridiculous when you’re suddenly packed inside a stealth bomber at night, weaving between radar cones en route to the facility you’re supposed to carpet bomb, but the end result is always the same: “Holy crap, I just owned everything.”

For those of you who absolutely must have your classic Ace Combat controls intact, rest assured. The kind devs at Project Aces have included an”Original” control scheme in addition to “Optimum,” the default setting. Original puts roll control back in your hands, giving you the ability to fly sideways, upside down, or just… whatever you want to do. While it’s great to see that there’s still some Ace Combat inside this otherwise realistic spinoff, Optimum really starts to sing its siren song when you realize just how difficult it is to initiate CRA while using the original controls. It’s not impossible- I managed to snare a couple of bandits, but keeping them in my sights was incredibly frustrating.

• Ace Combat Assault Horizon Gamescom Trailer Features a Full Blown Assault
• Four More Planes Revealed for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
• RipTen Review: Splatterhouse (PS3)
• Ace Combat Assault Horizon Announced for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• Namco Bandai Delays Inversion to Ensure Quality
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?

The best thing about video games is that you’re able to get away with any kind of crazy crap you want. No genre knows that better than the fighting genre. No one batted an eye when Kratos entered Mortal Kombat, or when Yoda, Vader, and Starkiller duked it out in Soul Calibur IV.

If what we’re hearing is true, Ezio from Assassin’s Creed may be joining the lineup of Soul Calibur V. The photo above was taken at a recent fighting game event. There’s no word on if the character is exclusive to one console or if he’ll be included in the game day one, but we’ll keep you posted. What I want to know is, when Ezio takes a guy down, is he going to talk to them before they get KO’d?

[Via Joystiq]

• Watch Ezio Swing Swords In This Soul Calibur V Trailer
• RipTen Review: Assassin’s Creed Revelations
• Assassin’s Creed Revelations ‘Previously’ Trailer Recounts Desmond’s and Ezio’s Tale
• Finally, The Epic Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Launch Trailer
• Assassin’s Creed Revelations – ‘No Mercy’ Trailer Is the Most Epic Yet
• Check Out the Full Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Achievement / Trophy List

Everyone loves to say they’re the best at their favorite video game, and how they can kick all their friends asses. So you may think you’re pretty pro at Dark Souls, but Youtube user SexyShoiko‘s seed run will have you crying like a new born baby.

I myself have spent over 50 hours with Dark Souls and only managed to complete the game once and am currently half way through New Game+. SexShoiko however has managed to complete the entire game in less than an hour and a half. Un-friggin-believable. Next time you’re bragging to your friends about how good you are at Dark Souls, remember these videos and realize you actually suck.

For more on Dark Souls be sure to check out the RipTen Review.

• Prepare to Die in the New Dark Souls “Bartholomew” Trailer
• Behold This New Dark Souls Trailer and Screens from Gamescom
• Dark Souls Is Pretty Much The Same Game with Better Graphics and Checkpoints, Sweet? (Hands On)
• Namco Unveils Dark Souls Contest – Design a Shield, Get Your Name in the Game!
• This Dark Souls Trailer is Hardcore
• Getting Dark Souls Early, Punk? Prepare To Be Slaughtered by the Devs

Dark Souls is hard.  We get it.  However, Namco and From Software seem to love driving this fact down our throats at every available turn.  In this latest trailer, you will die.

For more on Dark Souls be sure to check out the RipTen Review!

• Dark Souls Release Date and Gameplay Will Likely Kill You
• The Witcher 2 – A Pre-Review To Die For
• Dark Souls Coming This October! (Trailer)
• Rockstar Shows Off Their New Tech With Max Payne 3
• Watch The Devil May Cry HD Collection… In HD!
• Think You’re Good At Dark Souls? This 90 Minute Speed Run Will Make You Look Silly

To celebrate Ace Combat: Assault Horizon’s demo hitting the 1.2 million download mark, Namco has released a special trailer for its fans. Be warned, if you’re already as hyped as I am about this game going live next week, then the trailer may just send you into a pre-release fit of joy.  Having beaten the demo myself today, I can only sit here and salivate as I wait for more sweet, sweet Apache carnage. There’s nothing like swooping down on an enemy convoy, machine gun fire lighting up the streets as you give them a taste of sweet superiority. Bogey on your six? Come about and blow him to kingdom come. Get in my way and I’ll punch you in the face. With an F-16.

Watch the damn trailer.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon will be touching down on October 11 for PS3 and Xbox 360. I can’t freaking wait.

• Ace Combat Assault Horizon Gamescom Trailer Features a Full Blown Assault
• Dark Souls Release Date and Gameplay Will Likely Kill You
• Tekken Blood Vengeance CGI Movie Announced (Trailer)
• Dark Souls Coming This October! (Trailer)
• RipTen Review: SoulCalibur V (Xbox 360)
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?

Namco has finally revealed all the juicy details about the multiplayer modes in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.  They include Co-op, Capital Conquest, Deathmatch and Domination.  When I say they’ve given details, I mean ALL the details.  Wall of text alert.

The first mode is Co-Op:

Namco has detailed it as such:

CO-OP MULTIPLAYER

In CO-OP mode, players team up with friends to take on deadly AI opponents. A total of eight missions from the Campaign mode have been specially re-designed and optimised for CO-OP play to maximise the enjoyment for 2-3 players sharing the adrenaline-pumping fun online.

Team up with friends for a variety of missions around the world

As in the Campaign mode, the CO-OP missions take place in different real-world locations with a rich variety of maps and situations, such as dog fights, attacking ground targets, protecting cities, escorting and even an attack helicopter mission.

Team play kicks in when players decide between themselves what different types of aircraft and weapons to use. For example, the player who chooses the aircraft best suited to dog fights will be assigned the role of intercepting enemy aircraft in the air, whereas the one who chooses the aircraft better equipped for ground attacks will be given the job of attacking enemies on the ground.  Alternatively, everyone can choose the same aircraft and take to the air in formation.

Use DFM and teamwork to attack strong enemy aircraft

The enemies encountered in CO-OP are stronger than those in the normal Campaign mode. In addition, there are a number of enemy ace pilots that appear only in CO-OP mode.

The Dog Fight Mode (DFM) support comes into play against strong enemies that players can’t take on alone.

While an ally is attacking the enemy at close-range using DFM, the player moves in closer, and at a certain point will be able to go into DFM against the enemy quicker than normally, gaining a combat advantage. By using DFM support with 2 or 3 aircraft there is more chance of inflicting serious damage against fast, powerful enemies.

Have fun cooperating with friends in the chaotic aerial battlefield surrounded by a whirlwind of allies and enemies!

Attack massed enemy ground troops using ASM support

Similar to DFM in the air, in CO-OP players can use the Air Strike Mode (ASM) to fight against massed enemy ground troops.

When an ally has entered ASM and the player subsequently initiates their ASM support, they can enter the attack flight path right behind their ally. Up to three aircraft can attack close to the ground one after the other, raining down a ferocious bombardment on enemy ground forces.

And that’s just the first mode!!  Next up is Capital Conquest:

Basic Rules

1. Players are divided into 2 teams and attempt to destroy the other team’s HQ within the time limit.

The team that destroys the other team’s HQ first within the time limit wins.

If neither team destroys the HQ within the time limit, the team with the most remaining on their HQ durability gauge wins.

Each HQ is defended by NPC ground objects and is resistant to non-ASM attacks (Attack power is increased when in ASM).

2. Secure TGTs to earn the right to go into ASM (Air Strike Mode) against the opposing HQ.

Destroying all of the TGTs on each map gives players the right to go into ASM.

Once the right has been obtained, an ‘ASM box’ for the enemy HQ will be displayed and the player can enter ASM via that point.

In the initial state, the right to go into ASM is given to the first team to destroy all applicable enemy TGTs.

Once one side gains the right to go into ASM, all enemy units are revived.

The right to go into ASM is transferred when all of the revived TGT enemies are destroyed.

3. Respawning lets you sortie again in a different aircraft, recover from all damage and replenish ammunition.

Players will return to the sortie screen if shot down or if Respawn is selected from the Pause Menu.

Respawning allows players to change aircraft, recover from all damage taken and replenish ammunition for weapons.

Players can respawn from their own HQ or any of their own bases.

4. Capturing respawn bases increases available respawn points.

They must belong to one of the teams, and they change sides if they are destroyed.

In Capital Conquest, the following rules can be set up / adjusted:

• Map: Washington D.C., Paris, Moscow, Miami, Tokyo (DLC), Hawaii (DLC)
• Time limit: 10min. / 15min. / 20min. / 25min. / 30min.
• Players: 4vs4 (one squadron in team) / 8vs8 (two squadrons in team)
• Selecting teams: Automatic / Manual (if manual is chosen, the players can choose their squadron)
• HQ durability: High / Medium / Low
• AI aircraft: ON / OFF　(When ON is selected, AI aircraft will be put into play)
• Aircraft limitation: (Can limit the aircraft usage of Jet fighter / Multirole / Attacker / Attack helicopter)
• Skill usage: With skill / Without skill

Respawning

After being shot or crashing, players have to wait a certain amount of time before respawning as a penalty.

The better the aircraft’s performance, the more penalty time the player incurs.

There is no penalty time if the player selects Respawn in the pause menu.

Respawn in the pause menu is not available if the player’s aircraft is in DFM (Dog Fight Mode) or ASM

Use of Bombers

Once the durability of a team’s HQ falls below 20%, that team can then choose to sortie in bombers (B-1B / B-2).

Once the right to use bombers has been obtained, bombers will be added to the aircraft list when players return to the Respawn Screen.

Bombers are used under the following conditions.

• They have no attack power during regular non-ASM flight.
• Bombs cannot be used until in ASM flight. Only flares can be used during regular non-ASM flight.
• Once in ASM, the MUGB (multi unguided bomb) can be used.

Capital Conquest is the only online mode in which bombers can be used.

But that’s still not all.  Of course there’s also Deathmatch:

• Resistance 3 – Multiplayer Detailed, New Screens Revealed
• New Max Payne 3 Screens Feature Stylized Ass-Kicking Multiplayer Action
• New Battlefield 3 Screens To Drool Over
• Behold This New Dark Souls Trailer and Screens from Gamescom
• SoulCalibur V Gets a New Set Of Screens
• Dark Souls Release Date and Gameplay Will Likely Kill You

I don’t know anyone who plays Dark Souls for the story, but apparently it has one anyway.  For those of you who are really into that sort of thing, Namco has released the entire prologue cinematic.

Behold!!

Prepare to die on October 7th.

For more on Dark Souls, check out our hands on preview HERE.

• Think You’re Good At Dark Souls? This 90 Minute Speed Run Will Make You Look Silly
• This Dark Souls Trailer is Hardcore
• More Dark Souls In Prologue Video Part 2
• Prepare to Die in the New Dark Souls “Bartholomew” Trailer
• Behold This New Dark Souls Trailer and Screens from Gamescom
• Dark Souls Is Pretty Much The Same Game with Better Graphics and Checkpoints, Sweet? (Hands On)

I’m goin’ goin’, back back to Namek Namek…

There are few battles in the history of animation as epic and legendary as the one between Frieza and Goku on Namek.  You know, the one where he went all Super Saiyan for the first time ever?

It’s sort of a big deal.

Anyhow, in the new DBZ Ultimate Tenkaichi – you can relive that epic battle.

Get your KAME HAME HAAAAAAAAAAA going on October 28th.

• This Dark Souls Trailer is Hardcore
• New Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi Trailer Lets You Customize Your Character
• Dark Souls Release Date and Gameplay Will Likely Kill You
• Why Splatterhouse 2D Will Not Be Paid DLC in the 2010 Remake
• RipTen Review: SoulCalibur V (Xbox 360)
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?

NAMCO Bandai Games have release the latest trailer for their upcoming fighting game, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, featuring an all new “Hero Mode”.

Hero Mode will allow players to create their own avatars by customizing body, skin color, hair style, costume & voice. Fans can then train their avatars all the way up until they are ready for ultimate Super Saiyan transformation while learning super attacks and skills as they are taught by their master of choice!

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi is set to release on October 25th for Xbox 360 and PS3.

• Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi Goku vs. Frieza Gameplay
• Namco Bandai Delays Inversion to Ensure Quality
• Are You a Bad Enough Dude to be the UK’s Top Soul Calibur V Player?
• RipTen Review: Ace Combat Assault Horizon (Xbox 360)
• Think You’re Good At Dark Souls? This 90 Minute Speed Run Will Make You Look Silly
• Prepare to Die in the New Dark Souls “Bartholomew” Trailer

NAMCO BANDAI and From Software have released a brand new trailer for their upcoming RPG, Dark Souls.

“With tense dungeon crawling and fearsome enemy encounters, the seamlessly intertwined world of Dark Souls is full of extreme battles, rewarding challenges, nuanced weaponry and magic, and the flexibility to customize each character to suit any desired play style”

Dark Souls is set to release on October 4th for Xbox 360 and PS3.

• Think You’re Good At Dark Souls? This 90 Minute Speed Run Will Make You Look Silly
• More Dark Souls In Prologue Video Part 2
• Behold This New Dark Souls Trailer and Screens from Gamescom
• Ace Combat Assault Horizon Gamescom Trailer Features a Full Blown Assault
• Dark Souls Is Pretty Much The Same Game with Better Graphics and Checkpoints, Sweet? (Hands On)
• Namco Unveils Dark Souls Contest – Design a Shield, Get Your Name in the Game!