For years there has been an on-going rivalry between Street Fighter fans, and those who love Tekken. Now, thanks to Capcom and Namco Bandai, gamers will get the chance to officially face-off. Read the full story

Xboxers knew these were coming for awhile, and now they are here! Fans of the Street Fighter series can now dress up their Xbox Live avatars like some of their favorite characters. Read the full story

At some point in life, everybody considers getting a tattoo whether they want to admit it or not. Some go through with it, while others choose not to for various reasons. Read the full story

It’s been about a week and a half since I posted anything (I’ll explain why in a post later this week), but I knew I would be remiss if I did not make this post now.  Back in May, I wrote about two Street Fighter fan films I found on the internet.  They were released within two days of each other, and were both very respectable efforts, to be sure.  What I missed, however, to both my detriment and yours, was a Street Fighter fan film that preceded both fan films from May.  I present to you, Street Fighter High.

Street Fighter High follows the World Warriors before they were the World Warriors.  While the production quality, effects, costumes, actors, etc. may not be on par with Street Fighter: Legacy and Street Fighter: Beginning’s End, the sheer entertainment value alone propels it far above the two serious fan films from May.  Released in April 2010, Street Fighter High is a look at the World Warriors when their hearts were being broken, instead of their bones.

Did I mention that the Street Fighter High team is working on a sequel, with a plethora of new characters? Well, they are.

I, for one, can’t wait.

-[insert BLANKA IS A GINGER! here]

Oh God…. where do I begin? It was only a month ago where gamers were gifted two fan made Street Fighter films, that were surprisingly good, but I don’t know what to make of this.

Mortal Kombat is a game that is very dear to my heart. As a little girl I had a crush on Shang Tsung in MK II, and I used to go to the local arcade daily during the summer time to play it. When the old Mortal Kombat movies came out, I wanted to have a heart attack because they were disgustingly butchered. One would think that, with the technological advancements we’ve made, a proper Mortal Kombat movie should be easily achievable. Well, yes and no.

Yesterday a trailer was released for a movie called Mortal Kombat Rebirth. I have heard rumors of a MK reboot, and that the guy who originally played Sub-Zero would reprise his role, but what I watched was fucking wrong on so many levels. I thought Michael Jai White, best known as Spawn in the live-action movie, was a good pick for Jax, but it wasn’t the Jax we’ve all grown up with. He was in a police station setting, grilling some guy who was hidden behind shadows.

Jax starts listing off these killers, beginning with Reptile. Fans of Mortal Kombat should easily remember Reptile. He looked just like Scorpion and Sub-Zero, except the color accents on him were green. He also had a memorable fatality known as ‘head snack’. Canonically, Reptile was a part of a race known as Raptors, and were enslaved by Shao Kahn. He was promised the freedom of his people in exchange for his loyalty, so Reptile became Shao Kahn’s bodyguard. In Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Reptile is ordered to kill Kitana, but he fails and is exiled. Obviously he returns later on, but what I just listed is his origin. In this movie, Reptile is a man, whose name I’ve forgotten, with this genetic defect that causes his skin to be covered with these diamond shaped patches, as well as the change to his eyes. He is 30, kills people, takes their heads and stores them in his fridge, and when he gets hungry, he eats the heads.

Jax then goes in to Baraka. Baraka was a regular guy who was a plastic surgeon. I can’t remember why, but dude decided to go ape shit, file his teeth to a point and implant those trademark blades into his arm. I’m fucking sorry but Baraka is Tarkatan, an actual race in the Mortal Kombat universe, not some guy who decides to flip his lid and surgically alter his appearance.

Then we get Johnny Cage. Jax talks about him, and we are shown a fight scene where Baraka attacks Johnny. Now, Johnny Cage is a badass. In Rebirth, I saw no badass. There were no sunglasses, no shadow kick, no splits and a punch to the balls, and JOHNNY CAGE DOESN’T FUCKING DIE! Of course, the writers decided to make the massive mistake of having Baraka decap Johnny, but at this point, it’s all pretty much downhill from here.

We are given a picture of Shang Tsung, who is more like a Chinese mob boss and secretly Steven Seagal’s twin, and then Sonya Blade walks in. Played by Jeri Ryan, Sonya is nothing like she should be. This Sonya isn’t nearly as cool as canon Sonya, and to be honest, I don’t see Jeri being able to do the fight choreography. Jax and Sonya tell our little mystery man about Sub-Zero, and it becomes a little obvious who the guy is. Being shown the iconic Scorpion spear, I then became disappointed because there was no ‘GET OVER HERE!’ when the spear was in ‘Sub-Zero’s’ throat.

I won’t go into a play by play for the rest of the trailer, but I will say this. Where in the fuck is Raiden? How about Kano? Kitana? Kung Lao?  Oh… and Liu Kang! WHERE IS LIU KANG?! Doesn’t the entire Mortal Kombat story revolve around Liu Kang? Yeah, I believe it does. With Mortal Kombat Rebirth they are trying too hard to make it dark, edgy, and it just isn’t right. I know some of you might say that Mortal Kombat is dark, but when you really think about it, it’s not. Sure it’s violent, but what’s dark about a man who goes into a tournament, and saves Earth Realm from evil? Sounds pretty ordinary and hopeful to me. Mortal Kombat isn’t The Dark Knight, and it almost feels like that.

I appreciate the nods they gave like how on the door to Jax’s office, the name JACKSON has the O and N missing so it says JACKS. When showing Reptile reaching into one of the heads to eat it, Jax mentioned fatality, and in a way it’s similar to ‘head snack’… but it’s not. I just didn’t like it. I really didn’t, and I am so sickened to see another video game movie turn to shit all because they want to appeal to the masses. All I want is for somebody to do an accurate portrayal, sticking to canon and the true story. Is that too much to ask for?

Here it is, if you care to watch it, but you’ve been warned….

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MqZn7E-mk&feature=player_embedded#!

- Me

I love Street Fighter.  I may not love all things Street Fighter (I’m looking at you Jean Claude and Kristin Kreuk), but I love the concept of Street Fighter.  This week was a great week for fans of Street Fighter.  I feel like saying “Street Fighter” one more time: Street Fighter.  …Street Fighter.

I said Street Fighter (8) seven times in that opening paragraph, and I’m okay with that.  Back on topic, however, I said that this week was a great week for Street Fighter (9) fans.  This week saw the releases of two independently produced Street Fighter (10) live action fan films, Street Fighter: Legacy (11), released on Thursday, and Street Fighter: Beginning’s End (12), released on Wednesday.  Neither film was perfect, and there were areas where, in my opinion, each film excelled over the other, but all in all, both films were a treat for those of us who have had to suffer through the Street Fighter (13) movies.  Below you will find each fan film, followed by commentary on that fan film.

I’ll start with Street Fighter: Beginning’s End (14), since it was released earlier.  There are a few things that I feel need to be mentioned first and foremost.  First, Ken’s wig is atrociously bad.  Second, Ryu’s headband should be red, not white.  Third, they should both be fighting barefoot.  Costume design is one of the failings of Beginning’s End.  The fight choreography, however, is excellent, as are the special effects used to create the Hadoukens and the Shoryuken.  Most of all, however, I like how the Round 1/Round 2/Final Round aspect of Street Fighter (15) was incorporated.  For the most part, other than costume design, this was an excellent fan film.  Beginning’s End loses on costume design, and ties for fight choreography and Shoryuken effects, but soundly defeats Legacy with the effects used for the Hadoukens and the inclusion of the Round 1/Round 2/Final Round aspect.

Now we’ll move on to Street Fighter: Legacy (16).  Legacy had more hype leading up to it due to the individual who had created it, actor Joey Ansah.  I heard about Legacy on Monday, and anxiously awaited the premiere on Thursday.  Luckily, I was treated to Beginning’s End in the interim to help me cope with the wait.  Legacy‘s true victory over Beginning’s End is in the costume design.  The effort put into costume and character design for Legacy really shows in the quality and accuracy of the final result.  The actor playing Ken Masters truly looks and acts like Ken, moreso than in Beginning’s End.  Ryu, while a bit scrawnier than I would imagine Ryu being, and looking much older than he should, otherwise looks the part, including the RED (not white) HEADBAND.  The teaser at the beginning with Akuma was well done as well, with his hair and costume looking good.  The fight choreography in Legacy is also excellent, for the most part, and I love the effects used for Ken’s Shoryuken.  I do not, however, like the effects used for the Hadoukens.  I prefer the simplicity and speed of the Hadoukens in Beginning’s End.  Overall, however, it is also an excellent fan film.

Both fan films had their flaws, and both had their shining moments.  From the effects of Beginning’s End to the phenomenal costume and character design of Legacy, as well as the excellent fight choreography in both films, Street Fighter (17) fans were given an excellent view at what a truly good Street Fighter (18) live action feature film could be.  Take note, Capcom.  Hire these guys and make a Street Fighter (19) movie we can all be proud of.

-[insert STREET FIGHTER! (20) here]