Register Now!

Media

  • scanner scanner
  • scanner screengrab
  • modern materialist the modern
    materialist
  • video 61 frames
    per second
  • video the remote
    island
  • date machine date
    machine

Photo

  • slice slice with
    giovanni
    cervantes
  • paper airplane crush paper
    airplane crush
  • autumn blog autumn
  • chase chase
  • rose &amp olive rose & olive
Scanner
Your daily cup of WTF?
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Slice
Each month a new artist; each image a new angle. This month: Giovanni Cervantes.
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Autumn
A fashionable L.A. photo editor exploring all manner of hyper-sexual girls down south.
The Modern Materialist
Almost everything you want.
Paper Airplane Crush
A San Francisco photographer on the eternal search for the girls of summer.
Rose & Olive
Houston neighbors pull back the curtains and expose each other's lives.
chase
The creator of Supercult.com poses his pretty posse.
The Remote Island
Hooksexup's TV blog.
61 Frames Per Second
Smarter gaming.
Date Machine
Putting your baggage to good use.

61 Frames Per Second

Soul Calibur IV: An Exercise in Brand Dilution

Posted by Cole Stryker


Dear Namco, and developers of fighting games et al,

After viewing the recently leaked cover for Soul Calibur IV, I feel it's time we had a little talk. This "everything but the kitchen sink" approach is why I haven't been really, truly interested in a conventional fighter in over a decade. There are more egregious offenders (Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 boasted 42 playable characters), but really, Darth and Yoda?

This begs two questions:

1. Grasping at straws, are we?
2. Why aren't those lightsabers slicing through the swords?

Throwing crossover characters into the mix is nothing new, especially in this genre. Soul Calibur II caused a stir by including Nintendo's Link, Todd McFarland's Spawn, and Tekken's Heihachi for console exclusives. Fanboys love crossovers, as evidenced by the collective squeals resulting from Solid Snake's inclusion in Super Smash Bros Brawl. It's a marketing ploy, one that probably yields short term gains. But what about long-term brand loyalty? The anticipation for Soul Calibur II was huge, not so much with Soul Calibur IV. Brawl has blown the franchise's load, so to speak. Will the next Smash Bros game sell if it features Homer Simpson and Krang? Game mechanics matter in the long term, gimmicks don't.

You could say the same about every fighting game that has relied on constant expansion of breadth but little of depth -- and that's why I'll probably be playing Street Fighter II on the Virtual Console this July instead.


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

John Constantine said:

Am I the only one that would play the bejesus out of a SSB game that had Krang on the character roster?

I'M PART OF THE PROBLEM!

In all seriousness though, while the cameo appearance can be a particularly offensive marketing ploy in any media, it's one very well suited to fighting games. SSB itself is about blending characters in the name of fan service and, while Street Fighter 2 is still a pure piece of excellence, what about Capcom and SNK's fantastic Vs. fighters? Are Capcom's accessible and enjoyable 2D fighting mechanics less enjoyable because Spider-man's kicking the crap out of Ryu?

Also, forget the lightsabers. The real question is how Vader and Yoda made it into the Soul Calibur universe with their clothing intact and without a noticeable increase in bust.

June 10, 2008 1:18 PM

Derrick Sanskrit said:

Keep in mind that Capcom's fighters have always been goofy, not just Marvel Vs Capcom and Rival Schools, and that most of the others (including the Soul Edge/Soul Calibur series) have been more serious and "realistic". We were willing to let Link & Spawn slide before because they were like fun li'l easter eggs, but the marketing behind these games so far has been HEY LOOK! STAR WARS!

June 12, 2008 11:22 AM

Roto13 said:

I think the reason SC II was so much more anticipated than SC IV is because SC I was such an amazingly fresh and new and awesome game, while SC III felt rushed and unbalanced. More SC I is more appealing than more SC III. :P

June 14, 2008 1:02 AM

xntricpunk said:

i will be playing the shit out of SCIV. of course this was true before i found out about Darth/Yoda and it remains true after the fact. yeah it's gimmicky and i'm not sure if it'll work out or not but, like i said, i will be playing the shit out of SCIV.

June 18, 2008 4:01 PM

John H. said:

Good summation of how far SoulCalibur has fallen since its Dreamcast glory days.

(Oh, it unfortunately falls to me to inform you that "begs the question" is misused in your post.  It means circular reasoning, not an obvious question.)

June 18, 2008 6:01 PM

Cole Stryker said:

"In popular usage, "begging the question" is often used to mean that a statement invites another obvious question."

To be fair, Wikipedia goes on to say that this usage is often disparaged. Well shucks, I've learned my lesson.

June 20, 2008 4:57 PM

in

Archives

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


Send tips to


Tags

VIDEO GAMES


partners