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Fans of shmups will be happy to know Raiden IV will be hitting Xbox 360s very soon. It's coming in August, to be exact, and bringing with it some nice pseudo-3D visuals, online support and exclusive content not found in the arcade version.

To celebrate, we have the official box art, some screen shots and a plethora of artwork to check out below. Make sure you watch the debut trailer after the break, too!

After listings were spotted on both GameFly and Amazon, the North American release of Raiden Fighters Aces has been made official by Valcon Games. You may recognize the company as the publisher of Totally Spies! Totally Party! for the Wii. No? How about Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge for the Xbox 360 and PS3? Still no? Never mind then. The point is that Valcon will be bringing Raiden Fighters Aces -- a compilation of all three games in the Raiden Fighters series -- to North America, thus ensuring that Japanese gamers don't have all the fun.

There is no official release date, though both Amazon and GameStop point to an April release and a $29.99 price tag.

[Via Siliconera]

You ready to dance like Vamp? To get your ninja skills right as Raiden? Metal Gear Online's third expansion pack -- SCENE -- adds new playable characters and new maps. Of course, you knew that already. The upcoming DLC will be available in March, but you can take a first look at the new content in this Japanese trailer. Like most everything Kojima-related, it's filled with some truly zany moments.

"It is a matter of life and death, a road to game over or to win!"

Ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which kicks off tomorrow in Beijing, homebrew developer Anti-Social Gaming has put out a polemic game titled Olympic Battlefields.

Unlike Mario and Sonic's Olympic outing, however, you won't jump into any traditional events to win the gold for their respective franchises. Rather, you'll pick from one of four countries to represent their tacit agendas and "fight terrorism."

For instance, if you choose the Tibetans, you'll be tasked with dragging Chinese people out of your country before they "turn militant." If you decide to side with China, you'll need to tap the "revolting Tibetans" and turn them into farmers, otherwise "they'll suicide bomb." Also, for some reason, the Chinese farmers and terrorist Tibetans look like Raiden and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.

If that isn't controversial enough, you have the option of playing as Israelis or Palestinians, too. On the Palestinian side, you'll be charged with converting Jews to Islam by dragging them off the map. If you play as the Israelis, you will have to tap and convert Hamas terrorists into Jews. Again, if you don't neutralize them in time, they blow up!

Looks like RanAway and In the Afternoon Sunshine have some serious competition now when it comes to the most offensive homebrew DS game.


[Via DCEmu]

The character creation tools of Soulcalibur IV look to be rather robust. Kotaku's CB has created facsimiles of our favorite Metal Gear Solid characters, Snake and Raiden, using the in-game system. While not 100% spot-on, these renders do add a distinct Metal Gear flair to the classic fighter. Seeing these two fighting on the Death Star with Soulcalibur weapons ... well, that's the kind of stuff fanfics are made of.

[Thanks, Gambit07!]

This article contains enormous spoilers, just so you know.

Playing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty again, after all these years, has had an interesting effect on my opinion of it. Which is to say, I actually like it now. I'm tempted to compare it to a maturing, fine wine, a substance I'm sure was heavily consumed during the game's development, but the truth is that Sons of Liberty remains every bit the unhinged and convoluted mess I remember it to be. A mess that, with patience and even the slightest idea of what you're getting yourself into, becomes considerably easier to navigate. Wait ... does that make me the wine?

In actuality, the headline above should read "Raiden Fighter Aces demo hits any Xbox 360 with a Japanese Xbox Live account." Unfortunately, that headline lacks pizazz, and we're all about pizazz around here. At any rate, the point is that there's a Raiden Fighters Aces demo up on Xbox Live Marketplace for those keen on finding it. The demo gives players a crack at all three Raiden titles in the compilation (Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters II, and Raiden Fighters Jet). It also settles the question of whether the title is a retail title or an XBLA release (hint: it's retail). Now we have a new question: will gamers be willing to shell out retail price for a compilation of ten-year-old arcade games. Hopefully Raiden Fighters Aces will debut at a budget price.

We'd be surprised if anyone saw "Mortal Kombat movie" in the headline and decided to keep reading, regardless, we will continue on, if only for our own amusement. Entertainment news site Moviehole recently had the ... opportunity, we guess, to sit down with the director of the third chapter in the esteemed "Mortal Kombat" film franchise, a grown man who goes by the name of 'mink'. Yes, if there were anyone we could trust to revitalize this already sterling series of movies, a man with a penchant for weasels and poor capitalization skills would be first on our list.

mink mentioned that the film (which is still in pre-production) will not actually be a sequel, but instead, a "re-envisioning of the Mortal Kombat franchise from top to bottom." He also promises that the film will be an "A plus plus" title to try and "capture the magic of the first film." We're not convinced -- between Christopher Lambert's oddly effeminate portrayal of Raiden and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's frequent, impassioned delivery of "YOUR SOUL ... IS MINE," we don't think that kind of lightning is capable of striking twice.

GameTrailers has posted new footage of Raiden Fighters Aces, which was revealed last month. Unlike last month's footage, which can be missed entirely if you blink too much, this new footage is much more satisfying. Unfortunately, while the video is much longer than the previous one, it doesn't reveal anything new. We can still see that Aces is a compilation of Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters II, and Raiden Fighters Jet. We'd still like to know if the game is going to be downloadable on Xbox Live Arcade or if it's a full retail title. As we wait for answers to this and other questions (Live co-op, please?) all we can do is marvel at the shootery goodness of it all. Check it out after the break.

First of all, we should probably let you know that the "footage" referred to in the headline above is only ten seconds long. That said, we're still damned excited to see visual proof of a Raiden title for Xbox 360. What isn't made entirely clear is whether or not the game is a full retail title or an Xbox Live Arcade game. The description on GameTrailers notes, "Get ready for an action-packed collection of some of the greatest shooters ever created!" which leads us to believe it may be a retail disc. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that this is not Raiden IV, which was confirmed for 360 earlier this year. It's hard to say exactly what's going, but one thing is certain: Raiden on Xbox equals shootery goodness. Check out the video after the break.

The developer of the Raiden series of arcade shooters, Moss, recently posted a poll that suggests the console that's died a dozen deaths may not be out of life just yet. The "Which system should Raiden IV be ported to?" section features the usual suspects -- PS2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, etc. -- but curiously the Dreamcast is also an option. Sega officially killed the console a few months ago, but it seems the Dreamcast just won't go away. The system has been a sanctuary for Japanese shmups even after production halted, so perhaps our grandchildren will enjoy Raiden IX on an antique jury rigged Dreamcast someday.

[Via insert credit]

After XS Games dropped the distribution rights to the North American localization of Raiden III for PlayStation 2, UFO Interactive Games graciously picked them up -- and, despite low-demand forecasts, kept the project alive. The vertically-scrolling shmup originally debuted on PS2 (in Japan) back in September 2005, and next month Raiden III will finally arrive in North America; for $30. UFO product manager Chong Ahn confirmed as much during the latest Team Fremont podcast, adding that the game's follow up (currently Arcade-only) Raiden IV is being prepped for release on Xbox 360.

Ahn remained vague on further details, not willing to commit to a launch date or format; but he seemed to indicate that Raiden IV would be released to retail and not via Xbox Live Arcade (à la Treasure's Ikaruga port). Expect an official announcement after Raiden III gets off the ground.

Last year we ran a brief series entitled "That should be on XBLA." In that series we suggested that the arcade classic shooter, Raiden, would be a perfect fit for the service. At the time, we never imagined a full blown sequel would ever arrive on the Xbox 360. Lo and behold: Raiden IV is coming to the Xbox 360. The news comes from a Team Fremont interview with Chong Ahn, product manager for UFO Interactive. UFO Interactive's website, incidentally, doesn't even have an Xbox 360 section. Ahn notes that it has not be decided whether Raiden IV will be a retail product or an Xbox Live Arcade release.

First Ikaruga and now Raiden IV? What did we poor fanboys ever do to deserve this?

[Via 1UP]

It's been a while, but it's time again for another exciting edition of "That should be on XBLA." This week, it's the arcade classic, Raiden (no, not that effeminate guy from MGS). If you've never played Raiden, then all you really need to know is that it's chock-full of shootery goodness. Read on to to discover the joy of Raiden.

Other sites may still be covering the old Metal Gear comic and treating it as "news," but we've discovered a real juicy story, via IGN: a new Metal Gear Solid Graphic Novel will be heading towards the PSP, thanks to the success of the original. It will follow the story of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and not only will it feature pretty-boy Raiden, it'll have a lot of Snake's story as well. A release date, and a title hasn't been revealed yet, but you can expect us to keep an eye out for this one. Hopefully, this new version will feature voice acting. Please, Konami?

[Via IGN]