This weekend, I’m on site at the “World Series of Fighting Games,” the EVO Championship Series, located in fabulous (chaotic, disorienting) Las Vegas! Top fighting game champions from around the world have gathered to duke it out in Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Tekken 6, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, plus a host of other niche fighting games, culminating in a nail-biting series of finals Sunday night. Luckily, PlayStation Home users can watch the battles live for free. Not a bad way to spend the weekend!
In addition to the competition, Capcom and Namco Bandai are showing off upcoming fighters such as Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter X Tekken, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 to the throngs of hungry fighting-game fans. I’m hoping to score some interviews with Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono and Tekken creator Katsuhiro Harada, among others. Keep your eyes peeled for the results this week on the PlayStation.Blog!
- I’m playing: Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Batman: Arkham Asylum
- I’m watching: Captain America
- I’m reading: Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi, The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
The Most-Watched Video of the Week: Naughty Dog’s UNCHARTED 3 Comic-Con Panel Highlights
The 10 Most-Viewed Posts of the Week
- PlayStation Store Update — New games this week include Section 8: Prejudice, Deadliest Warrior: Legends, Golden Axe, and the final episode of Back to the Future: The Game, plus a demo for No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise. PlayStation Plus subscribers also got several massive discounts (50% off Eat Them and SEGA Rally Online Arcade) to round out this week’s Store update. What did you buy?
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation DLC Hits Tonight, Get Domination Tips — Activision’s Dan Amrich kindly stopped by the PlayStation.Blog to confirm the imminent release of this highly anticipated DLC pack. As an added bonus, he laid down some helpful tips for mastering Domination — coincidentally, my all-time favorite Call of Duty multiplayer mode. What can I say? The man has good taste.
- SoulCalibur V At Comic-Con: Ivy, Natsu, Z.W.E.I. Detailed — Project Soul Producer Hisaharu Tago was kind enough to give PlayStation.Blog readers an up-to-the-minute report on Soulcalibur V’s new characters. Personally, I was most interested in his account of how the support of Soulcalibur fans, with the help of Tekken creator Katsuhiro Harada, made SCV possible. His post makes for fascinating reading.
- Move.me Available Today on PlayStation Store, Free for Students and Educators — I’m not much of a programmer (HTML scrambles my brains enough as it is!), but I still like to see that hobbyist programmers and academics can now tinker with the technology behind PlayStation Move using this new development application. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!
- PSN and THQ 50% Off Content Sale — Who doesn’t like a good sale? THQ has generously (and exclusively) discounted quality PSN games such as Red Faction Guerrilla, Stacking, Costume Quest, and MX vs. ATV by a whopping 50%. The sale ends on August 2nd, so don’t wait.
- Watch the 2011 EVO World Finals Live in PlayStation Home — With EVO in full swing this weekend, here’s the perfect chance to be a part of the show — even if you can’t afford tickets to Vegas. Are you watching EVO this weekend?
- Resistance 3 Public Beta Dates: Early Access Starts August 4th — With Resistance 3 earning an avalanche of kudos from top critics, I’m more eager than ever to try out this fast-approaching multiplayer beta. Early access for SOCOM 4 owners begins August 4th, with PlayStation Plus invites going out on August 23rd. Who’s in?
- Sound Shapes for PS Vita: Jonathan Mak Demystifies Music Creation — I was an enormous fan of Jonathan Mak’s PSN gem Everyday Shooter, and I’ve always wanted to pick his brain about game development. With his next project being the PS Vita musical platformer Sound Shapes, I finally got my chance…and the results don’t disappoint!
- Free inFAMOUS 2 UGC Vehicles Pack, Search Function Available Now on PSN — inFAMOUS 2 owners have wasted no time in putting together some excellent user-generated missions (look here for five top picks from Sucker Punch). This new game update, the first of many, will only expand those options.
- Hands-on With LittleBigPlanet 2’s Move Pack — I finally went hands-on with LittleBigPlanet 2’s Move-imbued expansion that’s due out this September, and it didn’t disappoint. The new Story mode levels, minigames, and Create options prove that there’s plenty of life left in Sackboy.
Such an AMAZING week with all the Comic-Con panels. So many good times :)
I’m Playing: Prince of Persia (2008),
I’m Watching: Captain America. A great film if you haven’t seen it.
I’m Reading: The Dresden Files Book 14: Ghost Story.
I’m Listening to: Rise Against’s album “Endgame.”
I didn’t love Captain America, but it was solid. I’m still going with Thor as my all-time top comic book movie.