Nintendo’s involvement with Youtube and the people who do let’s plays of their games is well-known. The company’s stance to those videos who earn a living by reviewing games in video-form was simply “don’t do it, or if you do be prepared to give us all the revenue from it” and led to many, many content creators simply deciding not to do Nintendo content as it was simply more trouble than it was worth.

Now it seems that Nintendo has relaxed its policy. Reviewers and Youtubers who make their living from gaming video content can make and monetise videos of Nintendo’s games now… as long as they’re prepared to sign up to what the company calls an ‘affiliate program’. These programs are arrangements made between ad companies, Nintendo and Google and mean that the revenue gets shared between the video maker, Google and Nintendo.

While it’s a step up from the previous policy, it’s still probably not what Youtube content creators would hope for. As of yet, the standards of the program is unknown which could mean smaller channels might get rejected. Either way, this new policy might not convince those who swore off Nintendo content to start making it again.

A multi-layered series that looks back to the formative years of Ryu and Ken as they live a traditional warrior’s life in secluded Japan. The boys are, unknowingly, the last practitioners of the ancient fighting style known as “Ansatsuken” (Assassin’s Fist). The series follows them as they learn about the mysterious past of their master, Goken, and the tragic, dark legacy of the Ansatsuken style. Can their destiny be changed, or will history repeat itself?

Well, time for our first on demand/youtube review and what a doozey of a review aswell…
Season 1 of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, the follow on to the Youtube short from 2010, Streetfighter: Legacy, which showed a night time fight between Ryu and Ken and got the whole of Street Fighter fandom around the world salivating for a real live action Street Fighter spectacle (especially after the travesty that was Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li)

This is very much a prequel to the First Street Fighter: World Warriors game/story and the years of Ryu (Mike Moh) and Ken Master (Christian Howard) training, aswell as the young life and training of their Sensei Goken (Akira Koieyama) and his brother Goki (Gaku Space), and his betrayal of Gotetsu (Togo Igawa) to become Akuma (Joey Ansah), the Demon of the No Hado!

The first thing that strikes straight away is the choreography of the training and fight scenes.  The training is utterly wonderful to watch and the fight scenes, especially the CGI added for the ingame moves, like the Hadouken and ShoRyuKen look cool.

Filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria, the locations are stunning too, the perfect backdrop for the training of two young world warriors into the video game characters we’ve been knocking heads with for nearly 30 years now

What I WASN’T expecting, yet supremely surprised about was the introduction of Ken’s father (Mark Killeen) in Episode 4: A Rough Night,  a boxer, who spends a day training with Ryu and Ken and showing them a few of his moves.  What really stood out most in this episode was the bond and training these actors and fighters have, the moves and dialect is fluid and warm and the fighting/training is quick and beautiful to watch aswell.

But they also get a taste of street fighting at a local bar against some American GI’s (and leave them in a mess of course) in this episode, of course we see Ken in full flow offering large bets, while Ryu looks out of his depth and uncomfortable being thrown into the ring.  Everything we know about these characters is there and real.

The real stand out throughout the series though is Goken, more than just their teacher, he’s a father figure and one that is respected and loved by both teenagers, and the flashbacks to his own training and trials with his brother Goki under the training of Gotetsu is part of the Street Fighter legacy that hasn’t been deeply looked into before now and it was good to get to know.

Goki’s transformation into Akuma is good to watch aswell, almost a rocky level montage of his body falling apart under the power of the No Hado and his transformation into the demon Akuma is great to watch.

The one thing that I don’t get with this series is why its even a series.  All 12 episodes were released right away and at 9/10 minutes an episode, I have to ask why…   If this was released on DVD/BluRay as a feature length episode, like  , Then I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Here’s hoping Machinima see sense to release it as a movie.

Now, to get back into the dojo myself, this gave me a definite recharge to my No Hado!

~9.5/10  Utterly Amazing!

There has been relatively little new information on Tecmo Koei’s Zelda/Dynasty Warriors mashup since the initial announcement some months ago. That changed with the release of Famitsu this week, as the magazine has revealed new images and details.

Titled Zelda Musou in Japan, Hyrule warriors is being developed by Omega Force and Team Ninja with some supervision from Eiji Aonuma, the Zelda series producer. Link will be cast as a soldier in-training that must resuce Princess Zelda from the witch Shia. There will also be several playable characters, including Impa who will be cast as the captain of the Royal Army and will wield a giant long sword. In addition, it will be possible to equip different weapons that will change the way characters fight, and the game will feature a weapon upgrade system. The gameplay is being described as Dynasty Warriors style action combined with Zelda’s Z-targeting, allowing players to avoid attacks and focus on enemy weak spots. Bombs also make an appearance, but are not a combat item.

Hyrule Warriors will include a two-player mode that will use the Wii U GamePad as a separate screen. Reportedly 70% complete, the game will be playable at E3 2014. and is slated to be released in Japan on August 14.  The Japanese version will also be available in a premium set that comes with a Triforce shaped clock and codes for 6 special character costumes. As yet, Nintendo has not announced a western release date for the game.

We’ve known about it since February, but finally, D-day (Deactivation Day) has arrived for online services on Wii and DS games. At some point in the next 24 hours, Nintendo is turning off the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service as used for Wii and DS games. This means you’ll no longer be able to use the WiFi on Wii and DS to play those games online, download new content, or access leaderboards.

That means no more Mario Kart DS races; no more Professor Layton downloadable puzzles; no more online Multiplayer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl or the original Monster Hunter 3. And while it was originally suggested that DSi-enhanced games would not be affected, this seems to have been wishful thinking, as even Pokémon Black and Pokémon White and their sequels (along with the other DS-era Pokémon Titles) are being disconnected (Nintendo UK’s page about it only lists games with Downloadable Content as being discontinued; the American site is a little more comprehensive, although some titles have different names between regions).

While the games will no longer be playable online or be able to receive downloadable content, local Wireless is unaffected – so you can still wirelessly race, battle, puzzle against or otherwise play with your mates within a ten-metre range; and use Download Play if your game offers it. The games will also continue to have all their offline play features. Meanwhile, Pokémon fans worried their Pokémon collections from Generations 4 or 5 are permanently locked to stay in that generation need not worry – using a 3DS, it’s still Possible to move Pokémon from some DS Pokémon Titles to the Pokémon Bank and then to Pokémon X and Y, thanks to the Poké Transfer app for 3DS which remains functional.

Online services that do not use Nintendo WFC, such as Netflix and Youtube apps, also remain functional on their respective devices (for as long as the companies behind those apps continue to support the Wii or DS, anyway); and Internet Browsing is still also possible. Meanwhile the Wii Shop Channel is also remaining up and running for the moment, so WiiWare and Virtual Console games can still be downloaded, gifted and so on. Even so, it’s clear where the real focus of online for Nintendo is now – Wii U, 3DS, and the Nintendo Network, all of which will continue their normal lives long after their predecessors are cut off later today.

In 2004, we had Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, remakes of the original Pokémon titles Red and Green. Then in 2010 (2009 for Japan) followed Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, remakes of the original Gold and Silver. While both had their own reasons for existing – FireRed and LeafGreen were to introduce Kanto Pokémon into Gen III games after all the previous games were rendered incompatible with the GBA due to hardware changes; while HeartGold and SoulSilver did the same for Gen IV due to the removal of the GBA slot for the DSi and 3DS, though fan demand was also obviously a factor – to many people’s eyes, a trend was emerging; and barely a few months into the release of HeartGold and SoulSilver, many people were speculating whether Nintendo would reboot the next games in the timeline – Ruby and Sapphire – with a DS or 3DS remake.

The logic was sound – with both Johto and Kanto getting their appearance updated to modern standards, Hoenn was now the only region NOT to have its own redesign. Many speculated we’d hear news of such a remake some time after Black and White – following the “two generations later” trend of the previous games – but instead, after two Black and White sequels, Generation V ended with not a whisper. Then came X and Y and the start of Generation VI; and suddenly people noticed teasers in the game that reignited the belief. 14 berries only obtainable from other regions? A backpacker who talked about a region that isn’t any of the known ones (even though this included Hoenn)?

It all added up to something; and now finally, Nintendo has delivered. Strangely timed to coincide with their annual earnings call and pre-dating E3 (itself subject to many speculations of its own) by many weeks, Nintendo this week revealed it is to launch two new Pokémon Titles, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, worldwide this year.

At first, all we had to go on was the names of the games and some tentative box art, revealed in a short trailer; nothing of the game itself was shown. However, as of today, that’s changed. The first trailer showing actual footage from the game was posted on Pokémon’s official Youtube channel this morning. Strangely silent apart from dubbed-over sound effects which the trailer makes clear aren’t from the game, the Trailer appears to show Groudon and Kyogre activating their respective abilities – though whether these are cutscenes, or actual in-battle animations is unclear.

The trailer’s subtext also confirms that these titles will be 2D with “some areas in 3D”; this combined with the visual style of Groudon and Kyogre shown seems to suggest these games are built upon the same visual engine as X & Y.

While the new Trailer answers a few questions about the game so far, much else remains to be seen. First of all, is it ACTUALLY Hoenn? Many assume so, but the first Trailer talked about “a whole new World”; and what about that Backpacker saying he didn’t come from Hoenn? Plus, we still haven’t seen any game play. E3, anyone? Let’s just say, the next few months just got very interesting…