PS3 Fanboy

Yeah. They're making a Tekken movie. The popular PlayStation fighting game gets the silver screen treatment, just like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat before it. Love them or hate them, but video game movies are here to stay.

Cung Le plays "Marshall Law" from the franchise, and he can be seen in costume in this newly released pic (available on his MySpace page). Looks like he's going to need to grow a mustache if he wants to complete the role. But hey, at least the pants look pretty spot on.

For more details on the upcoming Tekken film, which takes place near the Tekken 6 timeline, visit SDTekken.com.

[Via Joystiq]

PSN downloadable Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection is getting another update today, one which Japanese players have enjoyed for weeks now. The most significant additions in this recent patch include DualShock 3 support and Pickup Match mode, which allows players to bypass the waiting room and continue playing one-on-one matches continuously.

Other tweaks include the ability to input and display names for rooms, a "flag" search (to find the best possible connections), new notifications and new casual matches. As expected, bugs have also been squashed.

The patch should be available for all American gamers today.

Namco will soon be re-energizing the PS3 version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection with a new update coming March 18. The update is set to bring on a few changes by adding gameplay modes, DualShock 3 rumble support, and doing a little patching up of things all around.

The most notable addition to Tekken 5: DR is the Pickup Match Mode that let's players continuously fight new opponents without having to switch back to the matching room. This change will probably make the experience feel more arcade-like as there's a quicker transition from match to match. You can also change your match search settings after the brawl, just in case you want to face another type of opponent. Other tweaks call on the ability to create/display names for rooms, an added flag option for rooms which toggles certain search/fight conditions, an adjustment to the point allotment system, and match results are now unrecorded when Rank Match is set to off.

After reading all that, we bet you can't wait to fire up your PS3 and grab that update. Hold on just a sec there, you might want to sit down for this: this update is currently only for the Japanese version. Yep. We feel your anger; however, we're positive this baby will be coming our way soon. Namco probably just needs to test the waters and make sure everything is all hunky-dory before unleashing this killer patch upon the rest of the world.

Indeed it does. Quite literally. The Octave Engine is the world's first simulation engine to dynamically simulate hydrodynamics on a game machine. In the video, the Octave Engine shows how it accurately simulates waves and splashes in Tekken 6. Described as "natural environment middleware," the Octave Engine is not only capable of simulating hydrodynamics but also the physics of other small particle systems, like sand.

In a game like Tekken 6, this technology would definitely add a touch of realism to an otherwise static fighting arena. Imagine this: two combatants are brawling on a beach; characters leave their footprints in the sand as the waves crash against the shore, slowly washing away the prints with each pass. And of course, don't forget this is happening while the characters are knocking each other into the water for some huge, realistic splashes.

Brand new images of Namco's upcoming Tekken 6 look good. Too good. The images, while not in glorious 720p, still do a great job of highlighting the stellar looks of Namco's next iteration of its classic brawler. Dark Resurrection looks good, but this looks like its in a whole new league.

[Via NeoGAF]

Wow. How about that - it's past midnight in the UK and there's been no European releases post. Well it's not exclusively our fault - while the Uncharted demo may have kept us busy for the past hour or so, the fact that the PSN Store was inaccessible also contributed. It's taken us until now to get the exact information for today's PSN update, but we finally have. Here's the complete release list:

• Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online (£14.99)
• Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online Upgrade (£3.49)
• Cool Boarders PS1 game (£3.49)
• NFS: PROSTREET demo (free)
• Folklore "Bottom of the sea" pack (£1.49)
• Motorstorm "Devil's Weekend" pack (£3.99)
• Uncharted "Animation Overview" trailer (free)
• PSP Shapes Your World trailer (free)

Not a bad wee update. Certainly nothing as impressive as the previous couple of weeks, but Tekken 5 fans will certainly be happy. Cool Boarders is a nice wee extra along with the add-on packs for Folklore and Motorstorm. Be sure to check out the "PSP Shapes your World" trailer - it may look like an IKEA advert to begin with, but give it a chance.

For those of you upset about the Uncharted demo debacle, take solace in the knowledge that we will be receiving it within the next few weeks. Until then, we have actual games to be getting along with - Call of Duty 4 and Ratchet and Clank both get released tomorrow. Er, make that today.

The upcoming online update to TEKKEN 5: Dark Resurrection will cost $9.99. The update, which will be available later this year, will include Opti Match, Quick Match, Custom Match and Friend Match, "making it easy to find opponents to fight with anywhere, anytime." While waiting for their turn to battle, players will also be able to study their opponents by watching battles in the lobby. Online will also include two new single player modes, including Practice mode and Survival mode.

A new Online News Ticker will post the weekly, monthly and overall rank leaders at any given point. According to the press release, "Players will fight their way to the deadly Dark Lord to prove that they are worthy of battling it out in the online TEKKEN ranking." Whatever that means.

"It is beyond words how excited we are to finally be bringing our famous fighting franchise, TEKKEN, online for the first time," Makoto Iwai, Senior Vice President and COO of NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. said. "Not only is TEKKEN 5: Dark Resurrection Online a great value, but it now features the largest evolution in the franchise to date."

Haruki Suzaki, director of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, sat down for an interview with IGN recently. While we'd love to talk about that game, there's something else of greater interest in the interview. Something called... beautiful. By a show of hands, who here would like to play the hell out of a "Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter" title? Would they call it Namco vs. Sega? Either way, that would be a fantastic crossover idea. But is it possible?

Suzaki said this about the idea: "I had the opportunity to speak with the director of Virtual Fighter on many occasions in the past and actually talk of collaboration came up again recently. Being from the same industry, this is something we definitely would like to try at least once. Looking at it from another perspective, we began to realize that it would actually be more difficult to make this happen than we first thought. More than anything, we believe this decision greatly lies in our fans. So, we would actually like to ask for our fans' opinion on this."

He wants to know what we think, guys! IGN wants you to send your request for a T vs. VF to their email address and they'll forward it to Sega and Namco. I did it and you guys should too! If they did a two-man tag team style, what would your dream team be? Go, go, go! This is our chance to be heard!

[thank you very much, Joe!]

Goodness! Fighting games seem to be the popular franchises to port lately. What with the recent announcement that Virtua Fighter 5 is headed for the 360, this is almost painful -- Tekken was a staple of PlayStation-ology, always dependable for a great fight on a great console. Let's not confuse this with the false rumors of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Devil May Cry 4 losing exclusivity -- those still stand, but who knows for how long.

However, this rumor is still just that and shouldn't be celebrated yet. The rumor stems from the same "source" (of course they're anonymous, or else they'd have to answer to the company for spreading rumors or they'd take the heat from bloggers, etc for dishing out BS knowledge) who leaked the Virtua Fighter 5 info, so it's partially credible. However, they might just want to cause a stir. I would.

Limber up those weapon combos because Soul Calibur IV has been confirmed for a next installment. One of the producers from Namco Bandai spoke to GameDaily about it being in production, but other than that we're not sure if it will be coming to next-gen consoles or not.

However, with Tekken 6 skipping the arcade phase and going straight to PS3, what are the chances of seeing Soul Calibur IV do the same thing? Having a next-gen version of the weapons-based fighter would be a big score for Sony. And just think about what they would try to do with the motion-sensing controller. So we know it's on the way, and there's a good chance it will go straight to consoles, but which system (or systems)?

Check out the shaky cam action someone scooped from E3 this year. It's not too bad, but it will give you the full Tekken 6 trailer treatment you may have been looking for. Unfortunately, it's a little stiff on actual gameplay footage. Instead you'll see some cinematic FMV sequences that show off some of the characters pretty nicely. Clocking in at a little over five minutes, you can check it out by clicking above.

[EDIT: Fixed the player- Sorry all!]

Fans of the Tekken series may find themselves tilting to the moves with the PS3's motion-sensing controller. Imagine being able to shake your fighter out of submission when put in a hold. That's the kind of application producer Katsuhiro Harada has in mind for the new installment.

A lot of the characters that were shown off at E3 are still in development, and hopefully the different uses for the new controller are too. When you think about the motion-sensing controller, driving and other simulation titles jump to mind. But a fighting game like Tekken 6 could easily take advantage of the technology too (say, for jumping perhaps?). What are some other potential applications would you like to see here?