FIFA 99

• Tagline: “All the Clubs, Leagues and Cups”
• Title song: “The Rockafeller Skank (Remix)” by Fatboy Slim
• Released for: Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64
• Release date: 10 June 1998
• Cover player: Dennis Bergkamp
• Commentators: John Motson
• Co-commentators: Mark Lawrenson and Chris Waddle
• Introductions by: Des Lynam and Gary Lineker

While the indoor mode was no longer featured, the gameplay’s fluidity and responsiveness was increased. The increasing number of websites dedicated to the game and a larger number of leagues (the Malaysian league was removed, and on its stead came two new leagues: the Belgian First Division and the Portuguese Liga; this came to be a problem when the owners of the rights to the Primeira Liga tried to pull the game from the shelves locally) ensured good sales. Graphically, it is a major improvement over FIFA ‘98, with the inclusion of basic facial animations and different players’ heights as well as certain other cosmetic features such as improved kits and emblems, although they are unlicensed. Gamers may also create their own custom cups and leagues and select the teams they wish to participate.

FIFA 99 also features an elite league called the “European Dream League” in which 20 top teams from across Europe battle it out in a league format. It was also the first game to feature a block containing teams which did not pertain to any of the main leagues (back then, it was known as “Rest of Europe” since all teams were European, the vast majority of them featured either in the 1998-99 season of the UEFA Cup or Champions League).

Fight as a range of characters from around the globe in training, one-on-one and tournament modes. Simple defeat each fighter that stands before you to progress through the ranks until you defeat everyone. Each fighter has a set of basic moves and special moves to use.

Along with 2 player multiplayer options, you can also create your own fighter and train him/her up to the elite level.

M.U.G.E.N is a 2D fighting game engine, originally released in 1999. M.U.G.E.N is designed to be highly customizable, allowing very fine control over each character’s behavior, as well as allowing customization of almost all screen elements.

The majority of content created for M.U.G.E.N tends to be distributed as individual characters, stages or motifs. Assembling a game is as simple as downloading the content of your choice, and configuring M.U.G.E.N to know about it.

M.U.G.E.N is designed to be used by people with little or no programming experience, but with some artistic talent and patience to learn. Of course, having some programming background does give you a bit of a headstart. However, if you are just looking to play with downloaded content, all you need to know is how to unzip files and edit a text file.

Here’s a sampling of features you can find in M.U.G.E.N:

• Customizable title screen, character select screen, life and bars, game sound effects, fonts and more.
• Characters can have any number of sounds and sprites of any size limited by your computer’s memory.
• Choose from multiple resolutions, ranging from 320×240 up to full HD at 1920×1080.
• Cutscenes.

Game Engine

• Use up to 7 buttons for a character.
• Regular moves, special moves, super moves, etc.
• Projectiles and special effects.
• Move cancels and combos, multi-part moves and throws.
• What your character can do is defined by a scripting language (and your imagination).

Sega has posted its fiscal year results and, in the process, revealed its best-selling games of the previous year.

As expected, the company’s report shows that Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games was by far the best-selling game for Sega, with Aliens vs. Predator, Bayonetta and Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing taking slots two through four.

The full list of Sega’s best-selling games for its fiscal year follow:

1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii, DS) – 6,530,000
2. Aliens vs. Predator (PS3, 360, PC) – 1,690,000
3. Bayonetta (PS3, 360) – 1,350,000

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Could StarCraft II eventually find a home on consoles? Lead designer Chris Sigaty hinted that Blizzard is growing more and more open to the idea as developers tinker with new methods for playing real-time strategy games using a controller.

“Console is not on the radar for us right now, but there have been a lot of interesting moves in that direction — taking RTS to consoles — and there’s been some pretty cool things on the control side,” the Blizzard designer said in an interview with CVG.

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Ubisoft formally announced Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood today, promising a 15 hour single-player campaign on top of a new multiplayer mode.

According to a fact sheet released this morning, the single-player mode sees Ezio return as a Master Assassin in “the living, breathing, unpredictable city of Rome,” and is estimated to last 15 hours.

The brand new multiplayer mode allows players to “choose from multiple authentic character classes, each with their own signature weapons and killing moves.”

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Sony started off with an entirely free online service unlike Microsoft, which has always required that gamers with the desire to play online pay a fee. We’ve recently begun to hear rumblings and gotten hints that Sony might add a premium subscription service to the PlayStation Network. We might begin to hear those same sorts of rumors from Nintendo soon, as the head of Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis and Development division, Shigeru Miyamoto, has suggested that Nintendo should be investigating the possibility of charging gamers for certain online services.

“…Probably the other thing that we are desperate to realize is the core [online] business structure,” he told Edge. “Do we need to demand customers pay monthly fees to enjoy online activities? Or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value? With these core business strategies I think we are less active than we should be.”

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Super Street Fighter IV launched in North America on Tuesday, in Japan Wednesday, and the UK and Europe today. And while it’s early days yet, Capcom is confident the game’s glowing reviews will make it a best seller along the lines of 2009’s Street Fighter IV, which shipped over 2 million copies within a week of its launch. That game helped the Japanese publisher hit nearly $1 billion in annual sales during its last fiscal year.

In preparation, Capcom today announced it has already shipped 1 million units of Super Street Fighter IV to retailers worldwide. The figure puts lifetime shipment figures for console Street Fighter games at 29 million units internationally, since, as of March 31, the series had already shipped 28 million units, according to Capcom. The series started in 1987 with the arcade original and will continue with the arcade version of Super Street Fighter IV, which was just announced for the Japanese market.

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The final project from the studio formerly known as Secret Level will receive a posthumous release this week, as Iron Man 2 ushers in a huge May of new releases.

Arriving in stores May 4, Iron Man 2 won’t be a note-for-note adaptation of the big-budget feature film launching just a few days later. While the game takes its visual style from the big screen, it will feature more nods to the character’s comic book roots, including an original story involving the Crimson Dynamo, Ultimo, and the bucket-headed criminal organization AIM.

The week’s only other multiplatform launch won’t actually be appearing in stores at all, as Activision and Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package add-on arrives on the PlayStation 3 and PC. Released on the Xbox 360 at the end of March, the $15 Stimulus Package was an instant success, as gamers downloaded it more than 2.5 million times in its debut week. The add-on from controversy-plagued Infinity Ward includes three new multiplayer maps and two updated arenas from the original Modern Warfare.

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This morning game designer Dave Perry, known for titles like Earthworm Jim, MDK, and Messiah, and now the co-founder of a the future game streaming service Gakai, posted a rather cool picture on his blog: World of Warcraft running on the iPad.

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