Impact Clash: ATL's Own Video Game Tourney

The Aftermath: Black Friday Video Game Deals

Retailers offered some unbelievable gaming deals for Black Friday week and weekend.

Amazon offered:

• Street Fighter IV was reduced to $19.99
• Tekken 6 Limited Edition Xbox 360 Bundle, $60
• PS3 Bundle with inFamous & Killzone 2, $299
• Metal Gear Solid 4, $14.98
•  Left 4 Dead 2, $34.99 (priced to match Best Buy's Black Friday Ad)
• Magna Carta 2 $32.98
• Dragon Age: Origin, $34.99 (priced to match Best Buy's Black Friday Ad)
• Halo 3: ODST, $34.99
• Tales of Vesperia, $14.99
• Tekken 6, $34.82 for the PS3 and $32.98 for the Xbox 360 
• Uncharted 2, $40
• Tekken 6 Limited Edition Bundle for PS3/Xbox 360, $60

Walmart held it down too, with:

• Grand Theft Auto IV PS3, $10.00
• PS3 Slim Bundle with Batman Arkam Asylum, Infamous, Dark Knight movie $299
• The Godfather II PS3, $10
• Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition, $25
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon DS, $10
• Rock Band Bundle, $50
• Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Bundle w/ an exta controller, Pure, & Lego Batman, $289.86 (Sam's Club Online Only)
• Uncharted 2, $40

Radio Shack had PS3 dual shock controllers, online (with free shipping) and in stores, for $29.99.

All and all this Black Friday was pretty excellent on some great gaming deals. Seriously, since when have we ever had hot new $60 games discounted for $35? Here's hoping that next years Black Friday is as hot as this ones.

Review: Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li

 

Ever since Christopher Nolan successfully rebooted the Batman franchise into a gritty melodrama, every new superhero movie has imitated it . While Chun-Li technically isn't a superhero, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Chun-Li attempts to do the "Batman Begins" thing but it fails miserably and comes off incredibly bland.

The pacing is slow, the acting is terrible, and the plot defies all logic. Mind you, none of this would have been so bad if the action scenes were actually fun to watch. After all Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is billed as an action film, with "action" being the operative word here. However, there is NO action in this movie. Only several action-less fight scenes totally devoid ofany sense of believability. For instance, Kristen Kreuk (the actress who plays Chun-Li) tries her so hard to look tough but she's too fragile looking to be a considered  a threat to anyone.  Neal McDonough's Bison moved so stiff you had to wonder why it was so easy for him to defeat Robin Shou's Gen.  Taboo of the Black Eye Pea's Vega was so clumsy and cheap looking (his mask looked like it came from the Party City clearance rack) that he couldn't match the gracefulness of his virtual counterpart. Perhaps, the only character whose scenes were somewhat decent to watch were Robin Shou's. But his Gen is so downgraded to the "Teach-the-main-character-to-conquer-themselves-so-they-can-get-revenge-because-they-are-naturally-stronger-than-you-anyway" character that he really wasn't given much room to shine.

While this movie isn't necessarily the worst movie, I've ever seen. It's most certainly the blandest. Which is sad because Street Fighter is an amazing universe with plenty source material to create a good movie. Unless you are in love with Kristin Kreuk or your only consideration for 'what to do on a Saturday night' is to stare at the wall, than there is absolutely no reason for you to watch this movie.

Street Fighter Characters and the actors who played them in this movie: Chun-li ( Kristen Kreuk), M.Bison (Neal McDonough), Charlie Nash (Chris Klein), Balrog (Micheal Clarke Duncan), Gen (Robin Shou) , Vega (Taboo of the Black Eye Peas), Rose (Elizaveta Kiryukhina), Crimson Viper aka Maya (Moon Bloodgood).

Tekken 6: Director Says No Unlockable Characters

All 40 Tekken characters will be available from the start.

Katsuhiro Harada, the director of Tekken 6, believes that unlockable characters in fighting games is now "outdated." In his conversation with videogamer.com, he explained the real reason behind unlockables was to extent the life of the game. So in the arcade players would put in more quarters or at home buy the game instead of rent, in order to unlock all the characters. Now that online play has become nearly standard in all current gen fighting games, Harada believes that unlockable characters are no longer neccessary.

Personally, I feel that having no unlockable characters is a tremendous benefit to tournament bound players. Seeing as how many tournaments, including Impact Clash 5, have dated their tourneys a month or so after Tekken 6's release. This means players can spend more time practicing and getting a feel of all characters instead of wasting time on fruitless tasks just to unlock some character you may or may not like.

Pre-Order: Tekken 6 Limited Edition Bundle

Tekken 6 Limited Edition Bundle, release date Oct. 27,  is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com, GameCrazy, Gamestop, and Best Buy for $150. The bundle includes the Tekken 6 PS3 or Xbox 360 game, a Hori wireless stick, and artbook. Pre-order at Gamestop and get two extra bonuses; the samurai pack downloadable content and a calendar. Not a bad deal considering the Madcatz's Tourment Edition fightstick cost $150 with no added extras. Anyhow, check out Tekken's official site for more pictures of the bundle.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Scores Big with the Critics

 

Blazblue is sitting pretty with a 90 out of 100 score on Metacritic.com. Critics praise the highly detailed 2D HD graphics, balanced fighting mechanics, no lag response (even when using the 360 D-pad) and for being a solid  game for newcommers as well as veterns to the fighting scene. Read more about Blazblue's Critical Response from Gamasutra.com.

FYI: BlazBlue is on the game roster for Impact Clash 5: Revenge. So if you're planning on blowing away the competition and capturing the champion spot, I'd advise you'd start practicing now.