It begins... CCC2

[fluxcore]

The first ever actual news... As you may or may not know, Capcom Classics Collection 2 was recently released in the US to acclaim by Street Fighter fans all over. It contains many fantastic games of yore such as Strider, Street Fighter 1, and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. The reason SF fans are so interested in this release is that the version of SSF2T is ARCADE PERFECT. This is not just a claim, since the game is EMULATED. Dave Sirlin of Sirlin.net fame was lead developer for the title, and was a champion Street Fighter player in the day, so this is not a claim to be taken lightly. The release is for PS2 and XBox, and I recently emailled Sirlin about the possibility of a PAL/Au/NZ release. Here is his reply (abridged):

"I know that Capcom cancelled the Xbox version of CCC2 in Europe, but I don't know why. That disc will probably play on any xbox that can handle NTSC video. The PS2 version is already shipped in the US, and it will see a release in Europe as well (for PAL tvs), but that release is still pending Sony's approval process. I don't know when the real release is, but it's coming."

So, the upshot is an NZ PS2 release is expected, but not guaranteed. I for one can't wait, since SSFT2 is widely acclaimed as one of the best Street Fighter releases, and MAME can't emulate it properly. SONY, if you read this, release it. I don't care if it's unprofitable, just do it.

In further news, Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection has been "announced" for PS3 as a downloadable. Frankly I think this is a bit of a gyp, even with "hi-def graphics". Personally I have only just acquired even a PS2 (two broken ones on trademe = one working one) which I'll probably bring into work to play on the projector with my work mates, two of whom play Tekken a bit. Of course, it's only crusty 5.0, and Julia sucks in it, but it's the best I've got.

Virtua Fighter 5 on the PS3 has a release date of February 20th 07, as useful as this is to NZers, since we won't be getting the PS3 until March anyway... but that's the news. No mention of PAL release.

For you SNK fans, NeoGeo Battle Coliseum was released for PS2 on 1st December. I haven't tried it or read much about it, but it seems to be getting some tourney play in the states, so might be worth picking up. The Warehouse has King of Fighters 2k2 for $30, but the loading times are a bit crap. Otherwise seems a decent port.

Well, that's it for now, I'll try to keep some updates in the pipelines. For now, check out Alphaism radio. Cheers.
--flux