Kakuto Chojin and the Banned Game Blues

Does the name ‘Kakuto Chojin’ ring a bell? No? A forgettable, banned, dereritive 3D Xbox fighter doesn’t come to mind? Wait, forgettable… oh, that’s it. If not for its questionable content that led Microsoft to take Kakuto Chojin (pronounced cock-toe-choe-gin…yes, really) store shelves, we wouldn’t even be bringing this laughable 2002 fighter up today.

So, why was this third-rate Tekken clone banned from retail stores? Was it because of the generic character designs? The lifeless stages? The overly shiny, unrealistic visuals? Nope, none of that – a controversial religious chant found in Kakuto Chojin was the reason Microsoft rushed to rid this title off of every game store shelf a few months after it was released. Kakuto Chojin featured a level with a background sound effect featuring a passage from the Quran being repeated over and over.

Due to generally poor reception and inadequate original sales, Kaktuo Chojin was never re-released back onto the market. All copies of this game were ordered to be destroyed or returned to Microsoft. Despite being an extremely rare find in the B&M market outside of flea markets, Kakuto Chojin is readily available online for under $5 on auction sites like Amazon. Not even game collectors want anything to do with what is one of the bottom-tier fighters of the last generation, despite its cancellation and limited print run.

Games That Never Were: Fear and Respect (Xbox 360, Playstation 3)

What do you get when you mix Midway, ‘hood film director John Singleton, Snoop Dogg, and Max Payne? Fear and Respect, the third-person action title that was originally revealed for the Playstation 2 and Xbox in 2004 and then was being re-tooled for the next generation of consoles. However, Midway put this title to rest over two years ago due to a crowded market of urban-themed action games.

This title starred Snoop Dogg and was set in South Los Angeles. John Singleton (of Boyz ‘n the Hood fame) added his talents to this release in terms of direction, and the game play was supposed to be similar to the Max Payne titles.

Beyond starring one of the most successful gangsta rap artists of all time and having a big-time director underneath its belt, Fear and Respect appeared as if it had little to offer compared to the other numerous urban third-person action titles released through the years. No matter how good an album Doggystyle was, I still can’t find myself excited to play as Snoop in a videogame (whether it was in the original True Crime as an unlockable character or in this).

Past entries in this series:

#1 - Capcom Fighting All-Stars
#2 - Frame City Killer
#3 - Vectorman

When Game Covers Rip Each Other Off

Saints Row 2 and Mercenaries 2 are both slated for release this year, and although they're by two entirely different publishers, the covers do share a rather striking resemblance to each other:



Ok, I'm sure it's more of a coincidence than anything, but it is still rather... intriguing. And how about this one - Breakdown, the Xbox game, and St. Anger, Metallica's worst album?





Breakdown was released at least a year later than St. Anger. That is to say, Namco used some shameful source material (if they were inspired by Metallica's cover).

Mechassualt 3 - Make It Happen, Microsoft!

Besides the 800-lb. gorilla of online gaming that was Halo 2 on the original Xbox, Mechassualt 2 was some of the most fun I had online on Microsoft's first black box.

Even despite that "other" title consuming most people's online time on Xbox Live, Mechsassualt 2 still managed to have a healthy online user base. A more slow-paced, methodical title than the typical frag-fests that dominated Microsoft's online network, Mechassualt is a series that needs to be revived on the 360.

Really, Microsoft, what's the big holdup? Both of the titles in the series managed to sell well-enough to earn Platinum Hits status, and both were home to a good-sized online fan base, which I'm sure some are still enjoying today. Yeah, yeah, Halo is your hottest property by far... but that doesn't mean you should just ignore your other franchises. After the enormous disappointment that was Halo 3 (a mediocre FPS that somehow managed to garner praise reviews, despite being inferior to past titles in the series) , I'm sure many of us Xbox Live addicts (and Mechassualt fans) are ready for it.

Say Goodbye to Backwards Compatability Updates on the Xbox 360

It’s been quite awhile since Microsoft last updated the Xbox 360 backward compatibility list, and with their ‘Xbox Originals’ coming in exactly one week, it looks like the industry giant is putting an end to the ability to play Xbox games you already own on the 360… unless they’re already on the current backwards-compatibility list.

In case you haven’t heard about last month’s announcement of Xbox Originals, Microsoft will be re-releasing popular original Xbox titles on their Marketplace for $15 a pop. The initial titles announced to kick off this service will be a little game called Halo, the overlooked cult-classic Psychonauts, and the highly-successful action-RPG Fable.

Honestly, I think this is dreadful news. If you’ve been itching to play that copy of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath on your 360, it means you’re S.O.L…. until Microsoft charges you $15 to re-purchase it again on Marketplace. This goes for dozens upon dozens of other titles that are currently unplayable on the Xbox 360 without a backwards-compatibility update. Not only that, but the titles being released right now are actually more costly to download as digital files than to own the physical disc editions. Halo and Fable are both ‘Best of Platinum Hits’ releases, which means they retail for a paltry $9.99, and Psychonauts is pretty much universally cheap to own (I picked up a copy on clearance for a mere $5.50!).

I’ve never been a fan of digital distribution, and the more gamers eat up this nonsense the more widespread it’ll become.

Source

One Year Ago This Month in Pro-Gamer... (October 2006)

At the beginning of each month I will take a stroll down memory lane and see what incongruous subjects I was writing about at this time last year.

On this particular month last year, I was speculating on whether the 3D Sonic demo Sega originally unveiled for the DS in 2004 would eventually become a full-fledged game.

I also found time to review Luxoflux's shockingly-good Grand Theft Auto inspired game, True Crime: New York City.

Oh, and did I mention that I wrote about reprints of highly demanded Playstation 2 games like Disgaea, Zone of the Enders: the 2nd Runner, and Suikoden III?

Last, but certainly not least, I shed some light on a mostly unknown boxing game inspired by a manga series.

Xbox 360 Controllers: Now Available in Two Tasty New Colors!

In terms of Xbox 360 controllers, so far we’ve had the classic white, the slick black, and even the two recently released Halo 3-themed pads. If none of those colors suit your interest, then you’ll be thrilled to know that Microsoft has two new Xbox 360 controller colors in the works: blue and pink.

Set for an October 10^th retail release and available for the standard wireless Xbox 360 controller price of $49.99, I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed in how these new pads turned out. The colored pads for the original Xbox were far superior in terms of design. Although those were only released in blue and green, they had a very stylish see-through design. These, on the other hand….well, take a look at the colorful pics and decide for yourself.

Hopefully we’ll get more special edition pads in the future…. Although I’m not too found of the two new ones coming out, I’m usually a sucker for these things (provided I can get a good deal on them).

One of the special colored controllers for the original Xbox.

One of the ultra-cool Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 controllers

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Although this only happens once in a blue moon, game publishers will sometimes change the covers of games that were already released. Sometimes it’s necessary – legal rights might prevent a certain athlete from appearing on the cover of a sports title, but in most cases it’s a total mystery. Here are some games that received unique covers after already being released for awhile (note: the original release is on the left, while later releases are on the right):

Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox)

NHL 2004 (multi platform - pictured: PC)

Street Fighter Collection (PSX)

Sly Cooper (PS2)

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Nintendo DS)



And there are plenty more that exist, but they are not pictured because I either don't know about them or pictures of them were excruciatingly tough to come by.