The Reset Button: Haunts, Crackfiend, LPN, and N3SS in GamesRadar's Street Fighter x Tekken livestream!

Check out the two-part video as Haunts, Crackfiend, and LPN join N3SS (Marcos Sanchez) in GamesRadar's Street Fighter x Tekken livestream!


Characters shown in demo:

Sagat, Abel, 
Nina, Kazuya, 
Steve, Rolento, 
Hugo, Juri
, Balrog, Xiaoyu
, King, Lili
, Poison, Ibuki, 
Chun-Li, Guile, 
Cammy, Raven
, Asuka, Vega, 
Law, and Kuma.

Part 1


Part 2

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

The Kraken

By Doug Beaver

Many pirates tell the tale of a beast so grand that they only dare to whisper its name.  It’s a monster so powerful, ye scallywags, that it even makes the mighty Google herself hoist her anchor and head for bluer seas.

This new-aged Kraken that has come up from the depths of Hell – aka bowels of Congress – is the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

But when the myth is separated from the monster, this animal is just another bloated government jellyfish, full of formless regulation, with nonspecific goals.  It’s an internet business owner’s nightmare, but a lawyer’s wet dream.

Even the mission statement on the first page of the Act trails off at the end:  “To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes.”

“And for other purposes” is more vague and ambiguous than a Netflix business plan.

It’s not as though the idea of protecting intellectual property (like music, games, movies, and even pictures) is a new one.  We all know the drill, if you’re a pirate, you’re stealing.  In the long-term, pirates can ruin the market that creates the work you love.  Pirates take away the biggest driving factor behind all this popular art: profit.

While many artists claim that their work is for the masses, and that they stand out against greed, they are referring to pieces that would be distributed for free anyway.  These pieces aren’t in danger of being pirated.  That art will always be safe.

SOPA is trying to protect Lindsay Lohan’s breasts.

Lohan’s rack hit the internet right in the face (which doesn’t sound too bad) before the magazine went on sale at newstands, costing Playboy revenue, and forcing them to release the issue ahead of schedule to prevent major damage.

Playboy still does rather well for a gentleman’s magazine when there are fewer gentlemen in the world than ever before, but piracy could threaten to shut down The Mansion for good – and no one wants that before we get a chance to party there.

While it’s tough to be a business that has to constantly find new and innovative ways to protect its content from piracy, SOPA is also attacking entrepreneurs from the opposite angle by placing costly and time-consuming regulations that are difficult to enforce.

Internet companies will have to constantly monitor its own users’ actions to ensure no copyrighted material is even linked to, or access to the whole site could be immediately blocked.  That’s like shutting down a Target store if a customer were to show his friends a leaked trailer on his iPhone at the checkout line.

The government has placed internet businesses at a real disadvantage, because sites are responsible to follow traditional business rules and regulations (like Sarbanes-Oxley) as well as the PRO-IP Act, which is the forerunner to SOPA.

There will be a lot of winners if SOPA were to pass.  Lawyers and bean counters love these regulations, as it gives them purpose with a paycheck, and keeps them in business.  True pirates see PRO-IP and SOPA as a challenge, and internet geeks love nothing more than to be challenged and demonstrate holes in existing systems.  The government would get to collect on fines and fees. 

The only ones that don’t win in a SOPA controlled internet are the businesses, and that’s why sites like Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook are against it.  It made perfect sense that GoDaddy was boycotted for supporting SOPA, because the businesses that get their domains from GoDaddy are facing additional hurdles.

Instead of congress creating these acts that benefit everyone except the businesses they effect, a better solution would be to have the companies that need piracy protection laws – companies that support SOPA, like the MPAA, Viacom, and Nike – work with companies like Google to create a system to combat internet piracy without government interference. 

After both sides of the argument come to terms that can be agreed upon, the government can be consulted to ratify it.  Other than that, congress should stay out of the internet’s way, and keep the krakens they are trying to implement away from private enterprises.

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,” are still the nine most terrifying words in the English language… and the attempt to the internet by implementing SOPA is just another great example.

2011's Game Of The Year

We have now come to the end of the year and we have seen the best the industry has had to offer. Now, we must decide, what were the games this year that really pushed the industry forward, what made us say wow, what will we still be playing for years to come. Ladies and gentleman, let us begin.

Sound Design:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

In gameplay you can actually use the sounds in the game to locate bad guys, make yourself harder to find, make enemies investigate curious noises, and identify what’s running toward you, trying to eat you (bears and wolves announce themselves from a ways off, dragons shout challenges, skeletons rattle like old bones should) . All this plus weapons unsheathing have different sounds (which change based on which enchantments you place on them), arrow’s impacts sound differently based on what they hit, and no loud annoying click announcing that you just scrolled through a menu. Games like this are the reason people bother to hook their consoles up to surround sound.

Graphics:

L.A. Noire

If you really read the above description, you would have to know why this game had to win this award. The facial motion capture improvements used in this game really put people to shame. This was the first time that a game really fooled me into believing that what was moving on the screen wasn’t just normal mapping and pixels, but human flesh, muscle, and skin. There were prettier games this year (Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, arguably Crysis 2) but this game has now reset the bar for facial animation in engine (that is to say, not a cutscene) and their advances will no doubt disseminate into the rest of the industry.

Best RPG

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Multiple main storylines, interesting NPCs, almost unlimited builds and play styles possible, and more enemies than you can shake a six foot glass warhammer at. This game is quite possibly going to be the Final Fantasy VII of its console generation, the new official heavyweight champion of RPGs. And its not from Japan! Bad news though: not that many hot chicks to cosplay as (except Aela).

Best Mulitplayer

Super Street Street Fighter 4 AE 2012 Ed

Yeah, I went there. Call me a fanboy, but when you look out over that room, and all you see are faces of people who paid through the nose, and waited forever in line just to sit (or mostly stand) and watch people play a game, you have to give props. Ask yourself this, have you ever cheered while watching someone play a FPS like this roomful of people cheer while watching Daigo play?

Don’t get me wrong, Mortal Kombat 9 has more players, and lets not even talk about MW3, but the design of Street fighter really does allow for great multiplayer fun through the integration of big comeback moves (Ultras), enhanced moves that significantly change the characters abilities for a moment, the ability to save your online matches to watch again in the future, spectator mode, and mostly lag free online. Plus, at high level, the game is still fun to watch: not just who gets first hit wins, or who picks Bob first, or who has the best near-infinite combo. Now that Yun, Yang, and Fei have been put in their places after the new update, we should have some great matches for the next year.

Best Shooter

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Think of a big Hollywood movie. Got it? This game made more money than it. How about a book? Still more money. Game? Same answer. CD or record of your favorite artist or group? Not Even close. In the first day of sales, MW3 sold $400 million plus, and in a week, blew right past $1 billion. And guess what, the game ain't bad either. Kinda settled the MW3 vs. Battlefield argument right there, huh?

Best Fighting Game

Mortal Kombat

While Street Fighter is traditionally always the better gameplay-wise, Mortal Kombat has been more fun. And while Mortal Kombat once again borrowed heavily from its fighting game counterparts (Ultra vs X-ray, Enhanced vs Ex, 2d gameplay with 3d characters, Tekken juggle system and four limb control…), the package they came up with is well, fun. With the challenge tower, and deep story mode, Mortal Kombat even added value for people who didn’t have friends. Granted, at high levels, the game basically becomes less about fun, and more about meter management, first hits, and 40 to 60% combos (yeah, really); but really, who didn’t want to watch Kratos fight Freddy Kruger?

Game of the Year

The game of the year is not the game that had the best graphics, although they were pretty good. It’s not the game that sold the most copies, although it did ship more than $450 million worth of copies in the first week. It’s not the game with the best multiplayer or co-op, because it has neither of them. If there was an award for most ridiculous glitches, it would win easily. This is game of the year, because it exceeded what we at J1 Studios thought was possible to do in a game. It won because there will never be a good reason to trade it in. It won because it simply blew everything out of the water as far as sound design, attention to detail, story, and depth of gameplay.

Our Game of the Year is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Here’s how it broke down for the top ten list of 2011 GOTY Nominees (and conveniently, the last ten games for 25 Days of Begging)

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2. Batman: Arkham City

3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

4. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

5. Assassins Creed: Revelations

6. Rage

7. Portal 2

8. Battlefield 3

9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

10. Gears of War 3

The King of Fighters XIII (Console-version) Review

Platform(s): Playstation 3, X-Box 360

Developer(s): SNK Playmore

Publisher(s): Atlus

Genre(s): Fighting

Rating: T for Teen

So who remembers a little game released about 2 years ago titled The King of Fighters XII? If you do (or want to), then you can agree with me that the game was a complete disappointment to KOF fans worldwide. Why, you ask? Because, in comparison to all the previous games under that title, KOF XII was nothing more than an incomplete title that should have stayed in the development labs. But now, with the release of The King of Fighters XIII, will SNK Playmore’s legendary fighting game title get the revival that fans have been longing for or will it be the sad end of an otherwise illustrious legacy?

The Story:

The King of Fighters XIII takes place after KOF XI, and is the last game of the third story arc that started in The King of Fighters 2003. The fighter Ash Crimson has absorbed the powers from two of the descendants of the clans who sealed the Orochi away 1,800 years ago, Chizuru Kagura and Iori Yagami, while Kyo Kusanagi is to be his last victim. As his former comrade, Elisabeth Blanctorche, prepares to stop him, fighters receive an invitation to another King of Fighters tournament hosted by a person labeled as "R". The tournament is sponsored by Rose who is being controlled by "Those From The Past", the organization behind the two previous tournaments that has been trying to break Orochi's seal.

The Pros:

Okay. So the first major pro that I have to add on here is that this game is a major improvement from its previous version, KOF XII. There’s no more Critical Counter system (tapping Heavy Punch at the right time to make your own custom combo), Guard Attacks or anything of the sort. It’s all taken out, and replaced with better moves that are reminiscent of the older titles of the games.

My next pro is the roster. KOF XII had myself (and many other players) ticked when certain people weren’t included in the short roster. Once again, XIII has fixed that problem by bringing back the characters we wanted to see in the game. Yuri Sakazaki, Mai Shiranui, and K’ are just a few of the returning faces making it on the roster for the newest installment.

Next, the combat has to be a favored pro of mine. As I said earlier, they’ve taken out all the failed moves from KOF XII and added newer moves to keep the combat fresh. EX moves is one of the newer things added to the game, allowing the characters to not only perform an EX version of their special, but of their Desperation moves. Also, the Hyper Drive gauge is a new addition, where players can sacrifice half of this gauge meter to perform Drive cancels, or activate the once it’s full to have a short but unlimited use of Drive cancels.

That means that if you catch the opponent in a combo and activate the Hyper Drive gauge, you can create your own devastating combo. It’s not an easy task, seeing that combos in this game require near surgical precision to execute a lot of moves, but once you get it down, it’ll be a problem for opponents.

Finally, the extra modes that are included in this game are a personal pro. For the beginners and newcomers to the game, they have a solid tutorial mode that really teaches you the mechanics of the game. A Mission Mode is added for players to get the character-specific combos down (which goes from simple to ridiculous sometimes). However, the Time Attack and Survival modes are the two that’ll keep the fighting game fans who aren’t big on playing online busy for a while. And personally, the last 2 modes should be a staple for any fighting game.

The Cons:

What can I say that’s bad about this game? I can mention a few things, to be honest. First of all, I’ll mention the one thing that every fighting game fan knows about a SNK game. Yes, the SNK Boss Syndrome is heavy in this installment, folks. For those who don’t know what that is, the SNK Boss Syndrome is the term associated to the bosses in a SNK fighting game, who are nowhere near easy to beat due to their cheapness, sheer strength, and ridiculous difficulty. So if you thought that Seth (Street Fighter IV), v-13 (BlazBlue), and Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat 9) was bad, fight against Saiki and Shadow Ash. It’s guaranteed that you’ll hate every moment of that fight.

My second con falls in the story mode. Now…the story mode is done well, considering that it tells the story from different teams’ perspective and everything. However, the one thing they could have added in there was some voice-overs. As much as I like the story mode for KOF XIII (which is a first for the series, I believe), they could have added that in as well.

My final con isn’t really a con at all, but I think that it should be noted. Now, I love the fact that there are new moves added to here to improve the game. But on the other hand, it seems that they are taking a few pages away from their rival’s books. What do I mean? EX moves and NEO MAX moves…you can easily see the resemblance to Capcom’s famed EX Moves and Level 3 Supers. Overall, it’s not a bad thing, considering that the NEO MAX moves look and are more devastating than the Level 3’s, however it seems a bit monotonous in a way.

Overall:

It’s safe to say that The King Of Fighters XIII is an exceptional improvement over its predecessor. However, I can say that the 13th installment of KOF is possibly one of the best fighting games this year. From the roster to the solid, technical game play and even the extra modes, this is probably the one game that most hardcore fighting game fans will keep with them for a while.

Final Score: 5 out of 5

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review

Platform(s): Playstation 3, X-Box 360

Developer(s): Capcom

Publisher(s): Capcom

Genre: Fighting

Rating: T for Teen

Price: $39.99

9 months ago, we were gifted with the long-awaited sequel to one of the best fighting games in the past decade: Marvel vs. Capcom 3. And while we enjoyed it, we all could recognize that there were a few things missing that Capcom should have fixed. So, Capcom gave us Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as a way to improve on a good foundation. But is it a good improvement or does it need to go back to the development team?

The Story:



Capcom's Firebrand goes at it against Marvel's cocky archer,
Hawkeye.

Doctor Doom has assembled the greatest villains of the Marvel Universe and has joined forces with Albert Wesker in order to unite their respective universes in an effort to conquer both. However, this course of action awakens a great and powerful threat that could potentially destroy both worlds. It is up to the heroes of the Marvel and Capcom universes to put a stop to this evil before it is too late.

The Pros:

Okay…before I get into the good and bad parts of the game, I’d like to clarify something for people who’re probably wondering why they made a 2nd version of Marvel 3. Originally, this game was supposed to be all DLC for the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3. However, production was delayed due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Once that was cleared up, the director and producer of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 decided to release the proposed DLC for MvC3 as a game with a lower cost with new concepts and re-balanced gameplay.

Now that we know that…onto the pros of the game.

The first pro that I have for this game lies with the online mode. Players that are in a room who are not participating in the match are now allowed to watch the match as it plays out. And honestly, you don’t know how glad I am that they’ve included this in there. Because honestly, sitting in the lobby watching nothing but the character’s bars diminish and wondering what is going on wasn’t a good idea, especially when you’re allowed to watch the fights in Super Street Fighter IV.


Ghost Rider performing his Level 3: Penance Stare.



Now, my next pro has to be the new characters added. One of the things that I enjoyed about Marvel 3 was that the character list was diverse. Well…the new addition still rings true about this game. The added characters still hold their own different fighting styles from the ground/air rushdown tactics of Firebrand and the keep-away style of Hawkeye to the long-ranged fighting of Ghost Rider and the pure power of Nemesis. Add in the fact that they’ve added in fan favorites like Vergil and Strider Hiryu and you have a great addition for this game…mostly.

Finally, the re-balancing of the game is a solid plus. Everything in this game got re-balanced, from basic combat to character specific stuff. Even the X-Factor has a much needed revamping, including the ability to do it in mid-air. And I’m thankful (so thankful for this) that they limited Phoenix’s ability to release as many fireballs in the air. Because honestly, you don’t need a high-level character like Phoenix to be able to spam fireballs.

The Cons:

Okay…so now we’re at the part of the review where I talk about what’s bad about the game. And I have a feeling that I’ll probably rant about a specific con.

The first con that comes to mind has to deal with some of the character re-balancing. Or, to be more specific, a certain character re-balancing in general. That character would be Albert Wesker. Now, Wesker’s a top-tier character who was easy enough to play with but had a few complex things. So instead of toning him down a bit, Capcom decided to barely balance him out and made his Teleport a lot simpler this time around. How? Simply do his gunshot move and press a button directly after it.

Why, Capcom? Why?

Phoenix Wright doing his most famed gesture on his
opponent.

My second and final con has to be one of the biggest issues that many people voiced when they seen this character released. And I’m pretty sure that by reading that sentence above, everyone knows who I’m talking about. He’s the Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright and even I can say that he’s possibly the only character in the game that will make you want to turn the game off when you see him in action. Why, you ask? All of his attacks are more suited to prosecuting the defense (searching for and submitting evidence, walking forward and thrusting papers at you, pointing…) rather than fighting, his trademark maneuver – pointing at you and shouting OBJECTION!!! – activates a special mode that makes certain moves unstoppable, and his level three is dangerous. And that’s without being in X-Factor…

Granted he's actually a good character in the game, he has a large fan following in the Capcom universe, and they were trying to put him in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom but wow…you could have handed us Megaman X over him.

OVERALL:

Overall, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is the game that the original version should have been. With the new characters added, fighting system re-balanced, and being able to watch online matches as you fight, you’ll enjoy this game a lot more than you did the first one. However, I can guarantee that if you were a fan of the first one, you’ll find something in the game that’ll tick you off. And, most likely, it’ll be something other than Phoenix Wright.

Final Score: 4 out of 5

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Platform(s): PC, X-Box360, Playstation 3

Developer(s): Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s): Bethesda Softworks

Genre(s): Action/Role-Playing
Rating: M for Mature

There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Skyrim, especially since its predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was such a world-raved success, and because Bethesda Studios had more than 5 years to work on it. The important question then stands, “Is the hype worth it?” especially since such vicious competition as Modern Warfare 3, Arkam City, Uncharted 3, and Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 were all released within 14 days of each other?

I think so, Yeah. 

The first impression of the game is the graphics. Thick mountain forests with non-cookie-cutter trees placed at irregular intervals, a touch of frost on patches of grass or collected in the base of one side of the trees and rocks, and splashed onto the faceted faces of the surrounding mountains. The wagon you are in creaks and warps and splinters as it’s slowly pulled over an irregular landscape, and the faces  of the surrounding initial characters with their several days of stubble, old battle scars, and an articulation of the mouths that match the well-voiced acting.  If you look around, since it takes a minute to realize that the opening scene is in-fact *not* a CG rendered cutscene, you can watch as a small town looms out of the woods, clearly behind on the upkeep as the splintered wooden buildings break under the elements. Then a sense of doom washes over you as before you can even control yourself yet, you are shoved forwards towards your execution. 

And just when you think you finally get a sense for the spectacle, the Dragon appears, and all hell breaks loose. 

The opening tutorial mission is chaos incarnate for an opening mission. The fog of war holds no greater meaning then when you and your allies are fighting tooth-and-nail against unknown enemies in the dark of the cave, and you can’t differentiate friend from foe among those struggling silhouettes in front of you. The landscape is proven to be destructible as it is literally torn apart around you.  When you can finally move on by yourself into the world, the sheer scope of the world is laid bare and boy are you tiny in comparison.

Gameplay is in many ways an improvement over Oblivion. Each hand is now an independent entity to which you can assign a weapon, shield, spell, torch, or go barehanded in any combination you may like. Skills are once again independently leveled based on use, and your own personal level is increased by the improvement of skills, but now there is no limitation to “talented” skills or not. Stat points are reduced to general stats that improve automatically with levels. Finally, skill-related perks are no longer gained automatically with skill rank. Now you have to buy those perks with leveling points, meaning that you really do need to specialize this time, since it is impossible to buy every perk in the game. Another big improvement is that weapons and armor don’t break anymore, so you never have to worry about wasting weight limitations with stupid blacksmith hammers. 

The AI is a major improvement over the predecessor. A pack of wolves will fight like *a pack of wolves!* meaning, one will draw your attention while the others flank, and then they’ll hit and run until you’re dead or they get injured enough to flee. People will press you with melee and defend while their partners pick you off with arrows, and dragons will roast you with their breath from above, strafing runs, or directly in your face on the ground, depending on what is most likely to kill you first. 

Some downsides to the game: The shortcut menu is too limited. With so many spells, weapons, enchanted armors, and powers at your disposal, having only 8 or 9 shortcut buttons simply isn’t enough. The favorites menu quickly fills up into a ridiculously long list to sift through for your chosen thing, and it’s an annoying break in the action to pause in the middle of a fight just to jump through several screens of articles  to equip the next thing you need.  The game sometimes glitches, rendering some missions impossible, such as the one where I needed an NPC to open up the wall to the dungeon, but he’s already further along leaving me trapped in the foyer.  Finally, no matter what kind of character you want to play, smithing seems to become a necessary skill to level, since it’s the only way  to get any decent, or matching, high level equipment in the game. Enemies rarely ever wear anything more than Fur stuff, and hoping to find a type of weapon or armor underground is a crapshoot at best. 

All in all, though, it is incredibly easy to lose yourself for hours, days, and weeks at a time in World of Tamriel across the snowy mountains of Skyrim . Since I had to struggle to find faults with the game, I’d say that Bethesda used these last 5 years of development wisely, and that the Elder Scrolls V is in fact all that it was hyped up to be.

Alice: Madness Returns Review

Platform(s): Playstation 3, X-Box 360, PC, Apple

Developer(s): Spicy Horse

Publisher(s): Electronic Arts

Genre: Action/Adventure, Platform

Rating: M for Mature

Ten years ago I learned about a game that fueled my love of twisted fairy tales as well as action platform games. American Mcgee released Alice in 2001 but it was only for the PC much to my dismay. Then just recently, EA games released the sequel Alice: Madness Returns. The story picks up after the end of the first game with Alice now living in an orphanage in Victorian London after being released from Rutledge Asylum. At the orphanage, she is under the care of a psychiatrist named Doctor Angus Bumby, who uses hypnotism to help his child patients to forget their harsh memories. Still haunted by her family's death in the house fire ten years ago, Alice continues to have hallucinations. Sent to the local chemist to get medicine, Alice wanders after a white cat and has more hallucinations, witnessing asylum Nurse Witless transform into the Jabberwock. And this is where the games madness begins.

The Story

Alice: Madness Returns version of Wonderland is a twisted malevolent landscape of its former self. Upon arriving, Alice encounters the Cheshire Cat who informs her of a new law ruling Wonderland, this time it’s from the outside world. Alice must stop it and restore Wonderland to normal. After learning of Wonderland’s plight, I guided Alice through the beautiful yet strange landscape. I found it pretty easily to navigate. Once I picked up my first weapon, the Vorpal Blade, found in the remains of the Jabberwock, my first enemies appeared. The game’s combat system is fairly simple. Alice targets the closest enemy when attacking; however, I am able to manually target my foes as well. The manual targeting set-up is similar to Darksiders placing a black border around the screen keeping it fixed while I moved Alice around. I can cycle through enemies with ease, keeping the action moving. Madness Returns’ offers lots of platforming which becomes a larger part of the game as you traverse through Wonderland’s areas. I found this to play out more in later stages and since there no ledge grabbing like in most current titles, I had to make my jumps count. However, this is compensated by Alice ability to triple jump and float. The game also has lots of secrets and hidden areas which can be accessed using Alice’s ability to shrink. Alice’s other ability is her Hysteria mode that she enters when her health is low. In this mode, she is invincible and her attack strength is doubled.

The Pros

The combat mechanics are simplistic enough for anyone new to the game or to the type of game play. Alice’s primary weapon, the Vorpal Blade, attacks with lightning speed which quickly finishes off weaker enemies. There are also long range weapons in the form of a gattling-gun firing Pepper Grinder and Teapot Launcher which fire boiling tea at your enemies. I like the fact that I can switch between close and long range on the fly. The platforming element is very basic, a kind of throwback to its early days where timing is everything. I was pleased with the level designs and the disturbing atmosphere of each world which truly represented the madness of Wonderland. Also, you get to access to the first game either with a redeemable code or purchasing it for $9.99.

The Cons

Before I mentioned the simplicity of the game’s combat mechanic, but it couldn’t hurt to have a little variety in Alice attacks. I found myself button mashing the whole way. True, there are moments where I had to strategize to defeat certain enemies but I would’ve liked to be able to vary my attacks rather just simply swing the weapon wildly. The game does glitch a few times. Sometimes my long range weapon remained deployed even though I had switched the Vorpal Blade. My mayor problem was the camera especially when using the long range weapons. The camera is not always fixed behind Alice and in some instances this infraction ruined my jumps during a platforming section. I found myself having to adjust the camera before and sometimes during a jump or when using my long range weapons. The umbrella Alice uses for defense is only deployable when in targeting mode. I would’ve liked more freedom with this.

OVERALL

Despite its faults, Alice: Madness Returns is a good action platform game in the tradition of Darksiders and the God of War series. Its disturbing cut scenes keep the story moving which may be confusing unless you’re familiar with the Lewis Carroll story. I like how the game’s storyline switches between Wonderland and the real world, which has an atmosphere relevant to Silent Hill. Exploration of both worlds will keep you interested as well as the secrets found using Alice’s shrink ability. Fans of the first game will have fun with the sequel. If you haven’t played the first game but are looking for an action platform to kill some time then pick up this game. Though I have not played the first game, I like Madness Returns. It is a bizarre twist on a classic tale told like never before.

Final Score

Alice: Madness Returns gets a 3 out of 5.

-Brian M.

King of Fighters-i (iPhone edition review)

King of Fighters-i

Developer: SNK PLAYMORE

Publisher: SNK PLAYMORE

Genre: Fighting game

Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Release date: July 07, 2011

Price: $7.99

Buy it Here!

Various fighters from around the world come together in 3 on 3 teams to find out who is the true King of Fighters!

FEATURES:

In King of Fighters (also known as KOF-i) you can choose from the following 4 game modes when playing in ARCADE MODE:

“TEAM BATTLE” for classic KOF 3-on-3 battles,

“SINGLE BATTLE” for 1-on-1 gameplay,

“ENDLESS” to defeat as many opponents as possible with just one character (life).

“TRAINING” to get accustomed to the Virtual Pad-based controls and practice your combos.

"BLUETOOTH" is for local versus matches as well as trading cards in the Trading Card mini-game.

"TRADING CARD" you can buy with Battle points various cards and sometimes you might get more than one so you can go to the KOF shop (in the game menu) and sell your extra cards to get more points to buy other cards.

PROS:

I say that these are some of the best graphics I've seen for a fighting game on the iOS platform to date. They captured the exact look and feel of the upcoming King of Fighters XIII, and I do mean captured! Unlike the visually stunning but disappointing KOF12 (console version) this brings the classic "good fighting game" KOF engine right into the palm of your hands. I love that you can do not only all of the specials and supers but you can do all the combos that they show you online for the upcoming KOF13! The gameplay and sound feels just like I'm playing the arcade version of the game. You can hear the vocals clearly and everything! This game lets me know how awesome KOF13 will be when it comes to console. The controls are solid, you just have to get used to touchscreen pad controls. Once you do that it'll feel completely natural.

CONS:

No endings. Understandably it is a mobile phone game. You can't expect to have EVERYTHING that's in a arcade or console to be in an iPhone game. There is the fact that it doesn't allow you to play opponents online, but after seeing how well that works (or doesn't) in other games, I'm not sure if that fits as a con.

OVERALL:

With hours of replay value especially just to see what each individual fighter says to one another, and free character DLC in October, I couldn't understand why this wouldn't be in your list of apps.

4 out of 5

Jason Kanter interview... :)

We here at The Reset Button got ahold of our good friend Jason Kanter. When last we saw him (in person) I believe he had just finished up work that he did on BioShock 2. So for people who want to know more about what Jason did, or you want to know more about the industry read on...

As an audio engineer, what got you into the gaming industry?

I was working in the music/record industry as a producer and tracking/mixing engineer for a long time and in the late 90’s/early 2000’s I was seeing a significant decline in record budgets. Labels were seeing decreases in sales. They started dropping bands from their roster in droves and slashing recording budgets. This was combined with the fact that bands were becoming savvier as to what studios were capable of achieving technologically. Bands would come in knowing they had a drummer that couldn’t keep time or a singer with piss poor pitch and would expect the engineer to make them sound like god. And we would but the job became more about fixing shitty performances and less about capturing great music. It was simply not why I got into making records. Overall the horizon for record making looked pretty bleak.

Then in 2003 my brother in-law, Scott Carroll, started working for Maxis/EA as an animator on “The Sims 2”. They were in need of freelance audio editors and I’ve been an avid gamer since age 13 so I jumped at the opportunity. Although editing Simlish for 12 hours a day can be somewhat maddening, I was making good money and was able to combine my passion for audio with my love for games. After finishing “The Sims 2” I decided to make the switch to games full time and haven’t looked back since.

Besides gaming what other projects have you been involved with? Will you or have you been involved in film?

I still work on music projects from time to time and I’ve also provided sound for the occasional website or new-media project but when not working on games the majority of my time is spent working on film and television. I’ve done sound for a few projects on Comedy Central like “The Awkward Comedy Show” and this crazy animated series about a crack addicted robot called “Crackatron”. Currently I’m working on co-producing a TV show with a good friend of mine, Victor Varnado, and I have a number of film projects going on. But generally I love providing sound for anything visual.

Working on games as a sound designer I’ve learned how satisfying it can be to add sound to an otherwise silent scene. Sound designers have significant influence on the weight that even a single animation can have. Every animation is like a blank canvas and you have so much freedom in the sounds you use to paint that canvas.

A few years back I got to try my hand doing sound design and re-record mixing for film on a short film called Roboto Supremo and found it immensely satisfying. Although it’s the same basic concept as providing sound for games, the gratification I get from working on film is much more immediate since it’s a linear process and everything’s right there in front of you. Plus you generally don’t have to wait several years before the project is completed. When I get the film the visual is basically complete and when I add sound to a scene it’s done. Levels might change in the mixing process but otherwise I don’t have to worry about a sound file not firing due to bad coding or the sound being dropped because the audio engine has reached its limit.

We know that you were involved with the dialogue editing of BioShock 2. What was the hardest thing you had to deal with?

The hardest part about working on “BioShock 2” was the pace. I was the lead dialogue editor and had two editors working for me. The turnarounds were pretty fast and we were getting multiple sessions every day so it was easy to have the work suddenly pile up. Plus, in addition to editing I was responsible for QC’ing every single line before I submitted it back to 2K. It was a pretty massive undertaking. I had to pull a few all nighters and by the end of it I think we were all a little burnt out but I live to tell about it. Hehe.

I’m currently lead dialogue editing “XCOM” for 2K and I’m handling it a lot better. I’ve basically tripled the number of editors working for me so I’m able to focus on the QC and file management more and do less of the actual editing myself. Getting a new editor on board is always an investment of time since I’m a meticulous bastard in terms of the way each file is edited, but it’s well worth it once I get a new editor up to speed.

Now I know you did audio work for Sims 2, Rat Race and even Barbie Diaries: High School Mystery Game . Now what exactly did you for each one of them?

On “The Sims 2” I was working as a freelance editor whereas the other two I was the in house audio director so my involvement was completely different.

“The Sims 2” was a fairly simple job. I would be sent DVD’s filled with Pro Tools sessions and every single session was a different animation voiced by one actor. The actor would do six or seven takes for each animation and I had to select the best take (or edit the best combination), clean it and bounce off the edit with the appropriate filename. Now mind you this is Simlish we’re talking about, so the actor is for all intents and purposes speaking gibberish; it’s not as if I’m listening for script accuracy or pronunciation. But listening to Simlish for 8-12 hours a day, you do start to pick up a sense of what is and is not Simlish. As crazy as it sounds there were actors that were definitely better at doing it then others.

Basically I had to watch the animation and try to get what the character is saying emotionally. Then I’d listen to each of the takes and pick the one that best matched the emotion conveyed and how the character is gesticulating.

After completing “Sims 2” I took a job as Audio Director for a small developer in NYC, Super-Ego Games. They were developing an original IP called “Rat Race”. It was supposed to be a playable sitcom set in an office so needless to say it was very character driven and there was A LOT of dialogue. While “Barbie” was a different game in that it was a licensed IP aimed at kids, it was also comedically based and character driven so it too had a lot of VO. As audio director I was in charge of all aspects of audio for both titles but the majority of my time was spent casting, recording and directing the voice actors. I also handled the majority of the sound design and edited the music as well as mixed all the cutscenes. Like audio directors for most small companies I had to wear many hats so I did whatever I had the time and skills to handle and hired staff and freelancers for everything else.

At any these gigs, did you ever get to meet a celebrity (as in a movie star)?

We had big plans on “Rat Race” to hire celebrity talent to voice guest characters in certain episodes, which would have been very exciting, but sadly that never came to fruition.

Not sure if they’re the A-list “celebrities” you were looking for but I’ve worked with some known musicians like Anthrax and Bruce Hornsby during my record making career and in the last film I worked on, “Tell Your Friends”, I got to meet Jim Gaffigan, Janeane Garofalo and Colin Quinn. I was also snubbed by Henry Rollins once… that was pretty exciting.

Any future titles that you will be adding audio skills to?

Aside from the aforementioned game “XCOM” I’m currently audio directing on an undisclosed title set in space by a small company in NYC. I’m also about to start post on the film, “Tell Your Friends”; I’m scheduled to do post for a spooky horror indie feature later this month; and I’m co-producing a TV pilot with my friend Victor Varnado. I think that’s all I have scheduled right now.

Any words of wisdom for those who want to get into the audio world?

Get an internship at a busy studio ASAP; on the job is the best way to learn the trade. While getting formal training in audio never hurts and it’s good to learn some of the nuts and bolts science behind what you do, true knowledge comes through experience and when you’re done with school you’ll still need to get that experience somewhere. If you get your foot in the door at a busy post house you may start out making coffee but you’re more likely to be thrown in on a project earlier on and there is no better teacher than experience. Then you can take all the money you saved on audio school and spend it on some nice gear.

To learn more of about Jason Kanter go to www.jasonkanter.com