August 2nd Release For Street Fighter II

Gamasutra reports that Microsoft has announced Xbox Live Wednesdays, a soon-to-be weekly release of content to Xbox Live. They have a listing of the next few weeks worth of content, and happily Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting is slated for August 2nd. Frogger will be coming out tomorrow, July 12th, with Cloning Clyde due next week, Galaga the week after that, and Pac-Man expected on August 9th. From the article: "Xbox Live Arcade's Frogger has been enhanced for the Xbox 360, and features new, enhanced artwork that matches and complements the original style. In addition, according to Microsoft, the game's audio, including sound effects and music, has been modernized to sound crisp and clear on today's high performance sound systems." While these releases have mostly been seen as filler for the 360's very uneventful summer schedule, I can't complain too much about the chance to play Street Fighter II again. I'll be playing Chun Li; Who is your character?

I paid $400 for this?

[roguenine19]

1991 called. They want their game back.

great balls of fire

[Digitus1337]

That's just a down-right decent thing to do for those of us that enjoy some of the older games.

Re:No Wonder...

[Donniedarkness]

I understand your complaints about the 360 (although everyone I know that has one is happy with it), and I agree that the Wii is pretty much promised to sell, but what makes you so sure about the PS3 before release? It could have just as many defects as the 360, and the price tag is high enough to ensure that most of the non-working kids (the ones that rely on their parents to buy stuff) won't be able to get it-- I mean, as a parent, how do you justify spending $600 on a console when another (of the same generation) costs $400 (which you thought was high enough to begin with)?

dime/dozen

[Kyeo]

You've been able to get SF2 (in some of its many verieties) on pretty much any system. This doesn't seem like a big deal.

I, for one, welcome our new SF2 overlords!

[romrunning]

Nostalgia aside, SF2 really introduced one of the most balanced (character-wise)games to date, and became the touchstone against which other PvP fighting games had to measure up. Having the analog stick controls will also simply things greatly. I've been waiting for the release of SF2:HF on Live for quite a while; Geometry Wars, while quite entertaining, doesn't give you any PvP goodness. It will also be nice to have the HD graphical update for those with larger screens.

Why not just buy the Street Fighter Collection

[anlprb]

...for 10 bucks at Toys R Us? Then you get to keep it, take it to your friend's house and not have to worry if your DRM'ed file will be deleted after your "Rights" have expired. Remember, they update the Live firmware, so what works today may not work tomorrow. ::Cough WGA Cough::

Finally, some hard dates on these!

[2Flower]

As someone who drank the 360 kool-aid (and more importantly, the live arcade kool-aid) I've been increasingly annoyed with the complete lack of new content. Last thing we got was Uno, around E3; there was a drought before then and a drought since then with all these games promised, but not delivered, delayed time and time again. (SF2 was supposed to hit around March, originally.)

One thing the 360 regulars have been asking for are real, solid release dates. After the debacle with the Prey demo being delayed with no word from HQ because as MajorNelson noted, "release dates are bad," since slips mean trouble... I'm surprised we're getting actual numbers. One a week is great pacing, too; you can plan which ones you want and when you can expect to pick them up. Assuming they stick to the schedule.

Hats off to MS here. They've fumbled around a lot, but now they've got a good plan in place and are communicating clearly. And about time.

Now, if we could only get some retail releases that aren't shootdrivballing games with 2stick+2trigger control schemes...

Gamasutra is not a blog

[acomj]

Gamasutra has been around for a long time and reports on game industry things. They also have some excellent articles on the making of games and game algorithms (physics engines, collision detection etc..)

Check it out.

If you buy this again, you are a tool

[Anonymous Coward]

I've played Street Fighter II in the arcades, on the SNES and Genesis (in all their versions), on the TG-16 via a ROM, Street Fighter Collection on the PS1, and both Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and Capcom Classics Collection for the Xbox. I know I am missing one or two systems but I have gotten enough Street Fighter II to last a lifetime.

I dunno why people are paying AGAIN for this and probably around $10 or more. You can get Hyper Fighting and all of its variants plus like 17 other games with the Capcom Classics for around $20 or less. Why waste it on Xbox Live Arcade? You are a tool if you are buying this again.

DRM?! OH NOES!!!!11oneoneoneeleven

[WndrBr3d]

Oh man, because xbox live games are all DRM'd, I can't copy them to my other compatible platform based on the custom xbox 360 hardware... err... never mind :-(

I'm just curious, but if these titles WEREN'T DRM'd, which platform pray tell would you play them on? Lasy checked most of these titles coming out (Frogger, PacMan, SFII) have been available on the PC via emulation or PC versions for -years-, most being had for free.

So for those complaining about the DRM, just get a free version on another platform. And to the others who are complaining that XBox Live Arcade has been really lack luster lately with the games being released, perhaps you should ask the actual development studios?

Re:If you buy this again, you are a tool

[Anonymous Coward]

...says the person who admits he's already bought Street Fighter II about 30 times.

Re:Why not just buy the Street Fighter Collection

[anlprb]

I still don't understand why this downloadable content is viewed as a good idea. There is too much room for abuse on the providers' end. Plus, now all of the games are tied to a physical machine. my family has a beach house with a second PS2. I take my games and memory card and that is it. This is one reason I don't play Live, it is tied to a physical machine. This means lugging the whole darned unit with me, if I want to play a game. Plus, you never really "OWN" the game. With a Disc, they can never take it away from me. With a download, they can just delete it. It also lends itself to subscription usage. What happened to the days when online content was a means to ADD to a game experience or entice a consumer away from another similar game? It used to be the deciding factor in buying a game. "Well, game A has a good single player and no online content. Game B has a good single player game AND online content, NO BRAINER" Now, it just appears to be a way to control how many times they will charge a consumer. With downloadable maps, you can still play the game without a network connection, it was a bonus to download the extra maps, etc... Now, it appears that they are getting us used to not really "OWNING" anything. Once the publishers get us used to that, that is it, there is no going back. Then we have no rights to what we play.

Re:I paid $400 for this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, if you paid $400 just to play street fighter II, and you're not even happy with it, then you are the king of all jackasses. I can only assume based on the way you worded your post that you didn't notice or care about the 40 or so titles that AREN'T ports of old arcade games?

You may find it hard to believe, but a lot of people in the world, and even quite a number that own xbox 360's, are actually excited over the prospect of playing this game on the 360 what with the global online multiplayer and the global scoreboards and all.

Re:I paid $400 for this?

[generic-man]

You don't need to pay $50/yr to access Live marketplace.

Re:No Wonder...

[Golias]

I hear a lot of people talk about how game dev for HD is sooooo much more expensive, but game companies have been making PC games for decades now with way more than 1080 lines of vertical resolution, and strangely enough PC games do not cost more than 480i GameCube products.

What's the problem? Don't you just plot vectors and let the GPU do all the work?

Could it be that game companies are simply falling back on this as an excuse to sell half-baked products (like Madden 06) to a niche market (360 owners now, PS3 owners tomorrow) who are starving for good high-res content?

MISSING THE POINT!

[MrJynxx]

ok,

I understand you can go to the local dollar store and pick up an SNES version of street fighter, or pretty much for any system. I know this is where people are getting confused, "why would I pay for this shit when I can dust off my old trust SNES and play for hours!" Well this is the reason why

YOU PLAY ONLINE WITH PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD!

that's right! instead of having a select few friends that actually know how to play this game or even care to play you can now play . . . online!

that's all I have to say, online play is a great selling point now a days.. I sure as hell will be buying this when it's released on the 2nd..

MrJynxx

Re:Why not just buy the Street Fighter Collection

[lubricated]

Just that little hard drive on the side will do you. Or a memory card and you can re download it somewhere else. I've found the online games to be enjoyable and inexpensive.

Re:Why not just buy the Street Fighter Collection

[skreeech]

I agree. I also like to physically own things I pay for. Also having the right of resale. I don't feel very safe about online purchases. I tolerate it for MMOs but I really don't like it for things like steam. I'd rather have a physical product that is mine.