The UK's official Xbox 360 magazine posed an inevitable question to Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono: How's it going to play online? For his part, Ono was quite frank, saying, "Obviously lag will be a huge problem for online play. We're working on it. It's quite difficult for 3D Street Fighter at the moment."
Asked how the developer is going about, er, combating the problem, Ono got technical. "In order to prevent the lag we're thinking about trying to balance it up at [the] user interface level and input timing," he said. "We still haven't got a complete plan as yet. We're still working on it. That's all we can say at the moment." Okay ... we'll let you get back to that, then.
Q Entertainment is bringing an utterly unstylistic version of its two-times-released (well, maybe we shouldn't count the Disnied version) DS puzzler, Meteos, to Xbox Live Arcade. Dubbed, Meteos Wars, the console port will include a new multiplayer experience. The game will feature a two-player versus mode where each player has a gauge that fills as sets of blocks are launched and enemy attacks are thwarted. Filling the gauge unlocks a special attack that predictably spells disaster for the opposing player.
Meteos Wars will also include a few added extras, like customizable characters. It's due in Japan this October, but has yet to be confirmed for release elsewhere. Wouldn't this be the perfect tie-on for that rumored motion controller...? (We're just sayin'.)
Update: Q Entertainment just shot us word confirming Meteos Wars for US release in October, priced at 800 ($10). Check out first screenshots of the game in our gallery below.
As promised, Sony and Incognito have rolled the latest Warhawk update out of its hanger, prompting a mandatory install once you start the game. Major additions for version 1.5 of the game include much-anticipated PlayStation Trophies (57 of them, with a good mix of gold, silver, bronze, and "mystery offerings") and support for custom music via the in-game XMB.
We've just installed the patch and are firing up a match with Hanson's "MMMBop" on full blast! Sure, the update's no new-map-and-rocket-packs gala like the upcoming Fallen Star booster pack – which hits tomorrow – but it's nevertheless another nice show of free support for a still very popular, ever-expanding game.
It's "The King and I" in the World of Warcraft lately -- the Lich King is everywhere, and this past week we moved even closer to the release of the most popular online game in the world's second expansion. Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider, as usual, has all the angles covered -- if you want the hottest new spoilers, a more casual look at why the expansion is so important, or just to keep up to date on what's in the old game (wait, there's an old game?), we've got you covered.
Wrath cinematic trailer unveiled Blizzard showed the cinematic for the first time at Leipzig. Arthas has left his throne and now he's summoning dragons.
Maybe it's the upcoming expo, or that we made the focus of this week's wrapup on the comic series, or maybe (just maybe) it was the favored gaming comic. Whatever the reasons, Penny Arcade's"A Life of Service" took top honors in the webcomic wrapup.
Second place was taken by 2P Start's Level Up!, while Hijinks Ensue's Scared Straight claimed a distant third. A special mention goes to Robot Martini's two great tastes, which came in last place, even though we actually quite enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!
Microsoft has released their partial game schedule for the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, and it's chock full of Gears of War 2, Halo Wars, and the New Xbox Experience ... experience. Sure there's plenty of other stuff happening at their booth as well, but we're drooling over these three right now, fetch the bibs. Hopefully those "TBA" slots mean there's going to be some surprises from Bungie someone, which will really kick our saliva glands into high gear.
If you're going to be at PAX, be sure and stop by for some hands-on time with these titles, and then search out one of your favorite Joystiq bloggers to pal around with. We'll be the ones with the plastic spit-shields on to keep the precious electronics dry.
Halo doesn't have a ton of airborne combat in it, but if you've ever been on the receiving end of a non-stop Banshee spawnkilling attack, you know how frustrating the skies can be. Thankfully, Halo Wars feels your pain and is introducing a new unit: the UNSC Wolverine.
It's armed with two anti-aircraft missile pods that can be lowered to target ground units as well, and it features a front-mounted heavy grenade launcher to take out "soft targets," like meat-shield infantry puppets. However, it looks like the thing is pretty vulnerable and will need plenty of ground support so it doesn't get blown to smithereens after it launches its first missile volley. We can't wait to see if they include this in the upcoming PAX demo. WOLVERINES!
... by Martijn Van der Meulen. To be fair, Van der Meulen is a producer on the Home project, who apparently assured IGN during Games Convention that the service would launch sometime this year. "Van der Meulen told me (without hesitation) that it is a 100 percent guarantee that Home will be released by the end of this calendar year. He has absolutely no doubt that this will be the case," IGN's Ryan Clements reports. Well, there you have it, just blame Van der Meulen when Sony rushes to get you all moved in later this year and, with the first step you take into your new Home, you fall right through the ... map.
Valve's four-player fix of zippy-fast zombie action has been pushed back a bit, but thankfully not 28 days later; just 16. Left 4 Dead had been slated to hit PC and Xbox 360 on November 4, but its evil will instead take up residence on your platform of choice November 20. The date is significant in that it's the 10th anniversary of another Valve game you may have heard about – the original Half-Life.
If you just can't stand a first week of November devoid of something new to play, fear not. Might we suggest: Fallout 3 (Oct. 28) or a little game called Gears of War 2 (Nov. 7).
Following the Leipzig unveiling, Incognito has dated, priced and detailed, in painstaking, um, detail, the third Warhawk expansion pack, Operation: Fallen Star. An update on PlayStation.Blog has the exhaustive breakdown, but let's scroll down to the good part: "Operation: Fallen Star is being released on August 28th worldwide [this Thursday!] and is $7.99 in the PlayStation Store." In addition, a new "Booster Combo Pack" will combine all three Warhawk expansions into a tidy $15.99 download, making the complete Warhawk experience just $46 through the PS Store.
And, in case you missed it, we've embedded an encore presentation of the Fallen Star trailer after the break. Did someone say, rocket packs?
Next week at the Penny Arcade Expo, we've been given a chance to sit down for an interview with PA creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (i.e. Tycho and Gabe). While we'd love to brainstorm hard-hitting questions for the two, we suddenly realize we're very lazy people. So please tell us what you would ask the Dynamic Duo and we'll pick out the best quesitons and use them in our interview.
Here are our (admittedly too numerous) picks for the week's best game-related webcomic. Polling after the break; be sure to vote for your favorite!
The much ballyhooed Team Fortress 2Heavy Update that Valve released this past Tuesday will be heading to the Xbox 360 by year's end, according to Gamespot. At last, you can start cracking your knuckles and bone up on your sandvich eating skillz. Just watching those videos made us want to start playing TF2 again. We know, you're saying, "What?! Why'd you put it down in the first place?"
New maps, new weapons, and new achievements? What's not to love? Anything that can extend the wonderment of TF2 is just fine by us. Now get cracking on a massive Portal update, already. The XBLA title is only going to keep us sated for so long.
Meet 1ickTh3P0l3. He can vote. But why tell him that? When Rock the Vote comes to Xbox Live on Monday (the start of the Democratic National Convention), it won't find the disempowered young citizens eager to be mobilized it's expecting. In fact, the Xbox Live community is a conglomerate of well-organized sub-divisions -- or "clans" -- which communicate through a modified, verbalization of "133t speak" with a large admixture of derisive language; including racial, ethnic, gender, sex, and religious slurs. These nihilistic hatemongers shoot first, typically with rocket launchers, and top it off with a teabag over your dead body. Oh wait, these are just the Xbox Live users under 18. Imagine how the ones of legal voting age spend their nights and weekends ... And you want them rocking what now?
This week American McGee's Grimm retells the story (in Grimm's special way) of the anthropomorphic Puss in Boots. The episode is free for everyone the first 24 hours after release and will be available only to GameTap subscribers after that time.
Grimm: Puss In Boots (Windows) - Cats are evil and Puss is no exception. Dogs rule!
Patrician III (Windows) - How to describe ... how to describe? Oh, it's like playing "Medieval Tycoon."
There are no new additions to GameTap's free games lineup this week. As always, though, the full list of free-to-play titles can be found after the break.
Sony, Guerilla – our hats voice headsets are off to you. After all, you tried to deliver the total online play experience with your official Killzone 2 multiplayer trailer at Leipzig. The only problem is ... well, it sounds too much like real mutiplayer. Or maybe someone's polite approximation thereof.
Oh, we like what we see (and say, are those auto-turrets from Aliens?) but the "radio chatter" not only sounds forced – it's totally free of racial slurs and/or comments regarding the sexuality of those playing. Now, how can we expect to take that seriously?
Interview: Dyack addresses Too Human complaints
Joystiq Interview: LittleBigPlanet's Pete Smith and Jim Unwin
Tabulator: Comparing the PlayStation 3 SKUs
ION Drum Rocker: Unboxing and initial impressions
Joyswag: The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed book
Listen to the Joystiq podcast (because your ears can't read)
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($10). Check out first screenshots of the game in our gallery below.
Maybe it's the upcoming expo, or that we made the focus of this week's wrapup on the comic series, or maybe (just maybe) it was the favored gaming comic. Whatever the reasons, Penny Arcade's "A Life of Service" took top honors in the webcomic wrapup. 
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
