Although there was nothing particularly wrong with the original box art for Super Street Fighter IV, Capcom evidentially felt it needed less Cammy and more yellow. According to their official blog:

“We brought in color and texture to the background, swapped the placement of Juri and Chun-Li, and dropped out Cammy for the awesome Dudley. We did this because we know you guys love you some Dudley! But the other reason was that we now have three series represented with those three characters. Adon = Alpha / Dudley = 3rd Strike / Dee Jay = Super SFII. Add in SF’s leading man and woman, Ryu and Chun-Li from SFII, and Juri from Super SFIV, we almost have a full SF representation.”

The last part sounds like math, which has no place in video games as far as I’m concerned. We’ve got a high res shot of the new box art after the break.

New and Improved Box Art:

Original Box Art:

via Kotaku

There’s nothing like a little friendly competition, right? Sony seems to think as much in their latest ad for the upcoming Playstation Move. Sure, they take some pot-shots at Natal’s lack of any real-control-mechanism or the Wii’s lack of depth, but it’s all in good fun. The fact is, the real losers in this upcoming motion-control war will be gamers who just want to PLAY games. Here’s hoping by 2011 I can still game with by PS3 control. I know, I know. How retro of me.

After playing the latest installment of Final Fantasy for over 45 hours, and having finished it, I’ve realized the crippling shortcoming in the game. Yes, it’s linear. Yes, it focuses too much on looking pretty rather than letting you explore said pretty areas. And yes, there are no towns. But I don’t dislike any of these things. They’re all design choices that make sense to me. They feel complete. But there is something that just doesn’t sit right. Something that felt wrong from the beginning, but took me a day of playing to recognize it. Since noticing it, I can’t look at FF:XIII the same way.

There is no victory fanfare.

Before we go any further, I should state that I love that song to the end of the earth. It’s actually my ringtone — I enjoy feeling like I’ve defeated my unpopularity with each incoming call. It just doesn’t feel like Final Fantasy without that iconic battle winning song. And yet, here we are at the 13th part — and the music has been removed. It’s been a part of the series since the original, had a minor role in FF:XII, and has faithfully guided me through FF:VI so many times that I’m more conditioned to it than a Pavlovian dog. Hell, victory fanfare has become so crucial that when my preferred WoW boss mod got rid of its music, I would forget to update it. (I still hate you Princess Huhuran.)

Amazingly, what did make the game is a song by Leona Lewis!? Didn’t Nostradamus predict this half a millennium ago?

Telltale Games has released a trailer for the upcoming third season of Sam & Max today. What’s more, it’s been revealed that the series will debut on the Playstation Network – then later on the PC and Mac. No word if previous seasons will be made available on PSN, or when season three will grace the Xbox or Wii. The premiere episode, entitled “The Penal Zone” will release April 15th. Stay tuned for more info.

LucasArts (via original series creators Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer) has just announced the release of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge for XBLA, PSN, iPhone and PC this summer. Like the previous installment which was released last year, Monkey Island 2 will get the full “Special Edition” treatment; Meaning newly created high-definition graphics and audio, all the while retaining the original 1991 version through a single button click. What’s that you say? You want more? Well, thankfully LucasArts likes you ungrateful bastards and will also be including a brand new (and thankfully very optional) control scheme, new art from Peter Chan and Steve Purcell, and an audio commentary.

Finally, for inquiring minds, Monkey Island 2 is arguably one of the finest adventure games ever crafted. So everyone will be in for quite a treat this summer. Screen-shots and comparisons to the original after the break.

via Joystiq

My pants are drenched from wetting myself upon reading this very short blog post announcing that Portal 2 will be shipping this holiday season. Since my birthday is around that time, this makes it even more exciting. Imagine the cake that will be had!

Plus, who knows where they’ll take the series. No matter what, it’ll be an epic multi-dimensional explosion of awesome.

We can only hope, wait and eat cake.

via Steam

As fans of retro, we at Bad Cart are really excited about Mega Man 10 gracing all next-gen consoles this month. Sadly, not all of us will be able to experience the block jumping frustration right away. If you’re a Wii owner who doesn’t like fancy things such as achievements and high definition (a somewhat useless feature considering the game replicates the 8-bit Nintendo era) – then you can download MM10 right now for 1000 Wii Points. Playstation users will have to wait till March 11th when the title hits PSN for $9.99. And finally, Xbox Live users are forced to wait until March 31st before they can purchase the title for 800 points. Why? I can only speculate at this point – perhaps something to do with a certain plumber greasing some very specific pipes.

While I appreciate the urgency in which this video’s been seemingly released, you’d think the room tone of a wailing toddler might cause you to consider a second take. One where your child, already in second place to Sonic the Hedgehog, is put into a closet to further muffle the cries for attention. Just a thought.

Otherwise, enjoy this leaked footage from the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Note how it seems very much like the original Genesis titles. A very good sign, me thinks. Unless your a hard-to-please fanboy, of course.

via 1UP

Sony’s Santa Monica Studio really seems to be set on blowing people’s minds apart. Case-in-point, this latest trailer for God of War III which is comprised entirely of in-game footage. I know, right? It’s kind of wrinkling your brain right now realizing that gaming has come to a point where you can have a boss battle on the arm of a larger boss.

via Playstation.blog

For the several months now, Sega has been teasing via their blog what looked like a reboot of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Today, Sega finally announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4 – not a remake, rather a sequel to Sonic & Knuckles released all the way back on the Genesis in 1994. Despite Sonic 4’s 3D upgrade, the gameplay will be remain faithful to the original 2D style from the 90s. Likewise, Sonic will be the ONLY playable character; meaning no gun-toating Hedgehogs or Werewolves. Launch trailer and more info after the break.

Curious about the “Episode 1″ subtitle? Sega’s brand manager Ken Balough assures Gamespot that this denotes a larger story arc, rather then segmented gameplay: “When Sega released Sonic 3, ultimately it was the part 1 of a story that saw its conclusion in Sonic & Knuckles. In that same spirit, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a bigger story, and this is that first chapter. I think it’s also safe to say that by the end of the episode one, fans will be very excited to see what’s in store for episode two!”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a HUGE Sonic fan. However, wasn’t adding a “story” what nearly buried this franchise since its move to the Dreamcast? Does Sonic REALLY need a narrative? Not to mention an episodic narrative? Seems like all the needs is fast paced level design, robots and lots of rings. But, I digress.

An official site has been launched as well, however, many of the details have been time locked. The game will be released this summer for Xbox Live Arcade, Wii Ware and the Playstation Network. Both the Wii and PS3 versions will feature motion controls for some reason.

More info as we get it. Until then, check out the launch trailer.