PS3 Fanboy

Capcom's VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development, Christian Svensson, has a series of answers up on the Capcom blog clarifying why the company decided not to run a PS3 Beta for Street Fighter II HD Remix. Svensson stated that a major issue was a lack of resources; the necessary time, effort, and funds needed to run a parallel Beta would cause delays in the production schedule. While that's all understandable, this last part is a bit tough to swallow though, " ... any issues found in 360 will be fixed in PS3." We certainly hope so.

Now, giving Capcom the benefit of the doubt, the company's PS3 and 360 e-distribution games are usually on par with each other. Svensson backs this up by reiterating that Capcom is "the only third party publisher doing cross platform, simultaneous digital releases." This is pretty much true. Super Puzzle Fighter, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, and the company's other upcoming offerings all reflect this. Let's just hope that when it comes time to play, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on the PSN will be bug free.

Looking forward to Beta testing Street Fighter II HD Remix on your PS3? Capcom says it's not going to happen. Instead, Beta test privileges are going straight to Xbox Gold subscribers when they purchase Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. Don't feel too bad fellow PSNers, the Beta is only an eight week trial of a reworked gaming classic -- a 1080p widescreen remake to be exact. It's absolutely not a reason to storm into town with torches. Absolutely not.

But hey, everything that's got a downside has an upside. To keep you from feeling down out of luck about missing the Beta, we've got tons of media for you to check out. Such as these screenshots down below. Wow, they're sho-ryu-ken good. Yep, sure looking good, had to repeat that just in case you didn't get the play on words there. If you didn't get to see the pics from Joystiq earlier, then have a look at them now. Otherwise, check out the four gameplay vids we have waiting for you after the break.

Sob, sob ... it's quite unfair that we're not getting a Beta on our side of the console pond. Oh well, the game is expected to come out later this year and so it won't be too long before we kick it old school. While the Xbox gamers enjoy their Beta, we'll be stuck watching that purple Street Fighter VHS tape again and again. You know, for nostalgia's sake. Come on, you know you have one buried in the closet somewhere. Dig it up!

Everything old is new again. The internet has been abuzz ever since the first sprites from Capcom's upcoming HD Remix of Super Street Fighter II were publicly released. The art, created by Udon, looks absolutely spectacular. We interviewed Jim Zubkavich, Artist and Project Manager at Udon, about their collaboration with Capcom.

How did Udon and Capcom first team up?
UDON began in 2000 as a team creating illustration/design artwork for comic book or toy manufacturing clients. After a couple years getting established, we decided to publish our own comic books. One of the first ideas that came to mind was creating comics based on licenses that all of us enjoyed growing up. At the top of that list was Capcom's Street Fighter property. After some negotiation and art samples sent back and forth, Capcom allowed UDON to create a new full color comic series that debuted in the summer of 2003. When the comic series began we would just send Capcom the script and artwork for approval each month. Eventually our relationship with Capcom grew stronger and they started communicating with us more frequently about the franchise and the strength of our artists.

In 2004, after the debut of our Darkstalkers comic series and translation of the Eternal Challenge Street Fighter artbook were well received, Capcom approached us about contributing artwork to their Fighting Jam video game. In turn, that strengthened the bond between the two companies even more. At each step we've strived to show Capcom how much we respect their properties and how much we enjoy being a part of their creative process.

With the 20th anniversary of Street Fighter coming in 2008, Capcom wanted us to be a part of the festivities. The high definition re-release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo is something we're very proud to be contributing to.

Last week we got our first look at Ken from the upcoming 1080p remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and today Udon Comics has given us a look at SFII badass, Akuma. Just like Ken before him, Akuma's HD treatment looks absolutely amazing and sports an incredible amount of detail. The artists at Udon have really done an awesome job at updating the geriatric sprites -- these new shots look almost too good to be true. According to the post on the Capcom blog site though, the images are straight from the game with the backgrounds removed, which bodes fantastically for the final product. Luckily, SSFIITHDR is coming out later this year so we don't have long to wait until we get our high-def Hyduken on.



[Via High-Score]

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (please Capcom, can you make this title longer?) is shaping up to be the single best retro revival ... ever. Their upcoming downloadable title puts Sony Online Entertainment's 1080p envisionings of Midway classics look downright lazy, to say the least. Capcom is showing PS3 gamers what real high definition is all about: instead of simply reusing and resampling the same assets from the original title, SSFIITHDR will feature brand-new high-resolution sprites hand-drawn by the amazing folks at Udon Comics.

The new HD sprites, as found on Capcom's forums, make the originals look as antiquated as they truly are. These sprites dwarf their nearest competitor, Guilty Gear, as shown in this "confidential" Capcom presentation slide. We thoroughly applaud Capcom's endeavor in avoiding a lazy re-release of this title -- now if only all retro games on the PlayStation Store would feature the same kind of effort.

At Capcom Gamer's Day, Capcom revealed three new downloadable titles for the PlayStation Network. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake of the classic 16-bit fighting game. The entire game is being redrawn, from the character select, all the way through to backgrounds and endings, most likely to take advantage of your shiny HDTV.

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is a intensely action-oriented approach on the constructible strategy game of the same name. Like Cash Guns Chaos, the game will have players blasting enemies in a colorful, cel-shaded world. For images of the game, check out the gallery at Joystiq.

Talisman is based off yet another strategy game, but unlike Rocketmen, it'll stay true to its original gameplay. This downloadable title will be a digital recreation of the game, and will be playable offline and on.

Finally, Puzzle Fighter II HD will also be making an appearance on the Network. This lovable puzzle game will also get a glorious high-definition makeover. See a video of the game, after the cut.