Before continuing, please watch this. I know it’s hard, but bear with me.

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH AKUMA?

Honestly, that’s just ridiculous. Who approved that? He sounds like an amorous gorilla.

I am not the be all end all of voice acting by any means, but if I had a whole studio and loads of money, I could guarantee that I wouldn’t be so daft as to hire someone who obviously didn’t fit the part. Of course, Akuma, is really just the first on the roster that is completely ruined forever. Thank some ethereal heavenly body that we can switch vocal options based on individual characters.

So, in the regard, I’m going to quickly run down a list of the characters and dictate which language they should be set to. This, I believe, will benefit all mankind.
(continue reading…)

There’s a lot of heat passin’ around right now about the new Street Fighter IV that will be hitting home very soon. It’s received a lot of praise about the new graphical approach its taken, and in that respect its well-deserved. They’ve done 3D exceptionally. The primary factor that drives it above the competition is that it doesn’t try to be photo-realistic or gray and brown but instead achieves a wonderfully stylized vision that suits the series’s roots.

However, this post is actually about a franchise that is also being revamped. Granted, it’s a lesser-known series, but it still has a strong following. The King of Fighters has always held a place in my heart, at least. Whether it’s the ever-changing game mechanics that are fresh in each and every iteration, the sheer amount of characters that is ever-growing still, or even the sprites and animation that each have so much care, detail, and attention attributed to every single one, this fighting series has remained a strong underdog in this shrinking market.

With the latest chapter, SNK Playmore has taken it upon themselves to finally update the graphics from the more-than-a-decade old set they’ve been using for the last 11 or so games, in addition to other titles of theirs not a part of this particular series. Rather than going into the details of the full HD rendered sprites and the soft shadow and lighting effects, here is a fat truckload (go to page 2) of videos from the first location test for the game. I feel these three are the best.
(continue reading…)