Review: Super Street Fighter Volume 1: New Generation is a treat for fans of the franchise

Street Fighter will blow your mind once again with its recently released hardcover graphic novel series by UDON Entertainment. Super Street Fighter Volume 1: New Generation is printed in art-book size - 8.25 by 11.75 inches - and you've gotta see it to believe how clear the quality of the art has become for the largest-size novel yet from UDON. Can someone say "perfect"?

Also included is a sketch gallery, allowing fans to peek at rare and never-before-seen character artwork. Ah, the Akuma art... beauty.

Now, let's "Focus Attack" our way through. The graphic novel incorporates the stories and match-ups from Street Fighter IV - but insiders know these events were actually between SFII and SFIII.

The prologue starts out with a secret society and its lord, Gill, who's praised for his power to conquer death. From there, the real adventure begins. Col. Guile learns about a secret society, which leads him to Japan to find Ryu. Having no contact with an agent, he sent for more intel. Guile reminisces about his last visit to Japan when he searched for the infamous M. Bison and the past tournament along with the fighters he has faced. From here, is where the story gets wild.

Not once during my read was I lost on the characters' stories and how they are intertwined.

The impressive attention to detail will have you immersed into their world and wanting more. UDON and the artists make this read visually stunning. Their style is nothing like the typical Japanese animation one may recognize. This is smooth. Not "cartoon" smooth, but something you may see in cut scenes from actual video games but better than cell-shaded images.

This Bonus Stage is absolutely hilarious!

As I read, I've noticed that the writers added a few enjoyable - and some hysterical -mini stories to keep you intrigued, cleverly titled "Bonus Stages." One in particular is a match-up between the Japanese sumo E. Honda and the oiled Turkish wrestler Hakan. Seeing Hakan pull off his ultra move "The Oil Coaster" on big ol' Honda had me howlin'. The Bonus Stages are truly a worthy effort from UDON that cannot be overlooked.

The fights? Epic. The storyline? Amazing. The UDON crew has really nailed the spirit of Street Fighter. I have been a Street Fighter fan since Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, and I can proudly say this will make you smile from ear to ear. And just let me say this (and no spoilers here): Sakura and Dudley are BADASSES! And if you've ever wondered why Juri, the sexy tae kwon do vixen, has a yin and yang as her left eye, be excited to know that you will learn the brutal truth. You will also find cameos that will make you chuckle - Thrasher? From Final Fight?? Now that is awesome.

Needless to say, I can go on and on, but you need to pick this up. It is worth the read and will want you begging for a "Run Back." Be salty no more my friends; UDON has got your back!

Super Street Fighter Volume 1: New Generation, a four-issue comic book miniseries in one graphic novel, sells for $34.95 and is available now.

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No Zombies Allowed: Here's what happens when Small Street meets the zombie apocalypse

Earlier this year, Glu Mobile released Small Street on iOS, which was in itself a horizontal clone of the vertical tower-builder Tiny Tower. Now, Booyah has released yet another game that's inspired heavily by both of the above: No Zombies Allowed, which includes the company's famous location-based gameplay.

No Zombies Allowed is a horizontal city-builder, giving you a relatively infinite amount of space to build your safe-haven from left to right by constructing homes and businesses. The object is to complete enough homes to save the many survivors of the zombie apocalypse, while also making sure to defeat the zombies that appear at your compound's front gate. Every few moments, a survivor will appear, with each containing a personality type relating to the job they'd like to perform (a leader, warrior, joker, and so on), and you can choose to bring them into your compound and give them a place to live and work. When zombies appear at the gate, you'll simply tap on them to shoot them (the gate is appropriately outfitted with an armed guard) and will receive bonus coins and goods when doing so.

These coins can be used to purchase additional buildings in your compound, while the goods go to order products to serve at your many businesses (up to three products per business). Apparently, the zombie apocalypse didn't actually break supply chains. Every few "levels" or buildings, you'll have the chance to open up a direct supply route with one of the businesses in your real world town, based on your current location. You can search for businesses, or simply choose from a list of those businesses closest to you, with Google Maps working to bring in your search results. Different businesses will give you different amounts of goods, and you'll need to assign survivors to the truck routes, which can take an hour or more to complete.

Technically speaking, the game performs fine, with plenty of adorable graphics (who knew zombies could be so cute?), but ultimately, the gameplay is just another take on Tiny Tower with the inclusion of zombies and some location-based play. If you've exhausted all of the options for Tiny Tower clones in the App Store, by all means try out No Zombies Allowed, but you shouldn't go in expecting something revolutionary.

Click here to download No Zombies Allowed on iTunes --->

Have you tried No Zombies Allowed on iPhone or iPad? What do you think of this cute take on the zombie apocalypse? Sound off in the comments!

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Football, Modern Warfare 2, Adele, Street King, Jesus and More on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Pages

Football and soccer-related were both popular on our list of Pages growing by the number of Likes this week. In addition to several games, popular musical acts like Adele and LMFAO, 50 Cent’s energy drink Street King, a religious Page, McDonald’s, Samsung Mobile and more.

We compile this list with our PageData tool, which tracks Page growth across Facebook.

The football and soccer Pages on our list seemed to make their appearance due to consolidations, as most of the jumps in Likes came from one-day leaps. Spanish FC Barcelona player David Villa Sánchez saw more than 1 million new Likes this week, topping our list, bringing his total to 3.1 million. The Pittsburgh Steelers grew by 582,000 to 3.5 million, the Atlanta Falcons Football Club grew by 372,900 to 582,200 Likes and Spanish Premier League goalie Pepe Reina saw his Page grow by 367,800 Likes to 408,200.

Games on the list included Modern Warfare 2 at number two with 946,500 Likes to grow to 4.9 million, though it seemed to be a Page consolidation. Then there was Texas Hold’em Poker, moving 410,000 Likes to 51.6 million. Battlefield grew by 328,800 Likes to 2. million after moving from its beta version to its final version this week.

Music-related Pages included Jamaicansmusic.com, which appeared to be a consolidation-related jump of 700,700 Likes taking the Page to 1.2 million. Then Adele’s Page grew by 471,800 Likes to 7.4 million and finally LMFAO grew by 427,000 to 7 million by promoting their performances and album.

Film and TV Pages included the popular TV show “The Walking Dead” growing by 477,700 Likes to 3.5 million. The popular film “Paranormal Activity” with 379,200 Likes to grow to 8.7 million and the two Pages frequently on our list as of late: “Titanic” with 409,500 Likes to grow to 13.4 million and “Titanic” with 356,200 Likes to grow to 8.9 million.

The rest of the Pages were a mixed bag. Jesus Daily grew by 489,700 to 9.6 million Likes. Samsung Mobile grew by 390,500 Likes to 2.8 million by promoting engagement and prizes. Street King is a really interesting case of a product-charity combo; rapper 50 Cent is promoting his energy drink by pairing it with a Page growth charity giveaway. If the Page gets to 1 million, he will double his donation to feed 1 million hungry children; the result is 363,900 Likes this week to bring the Page to 400,500. Facebook’s Page grew by 352,700 Likes to 54.5 million, McDonald’s with 349,200 Likes to 11.3 million and  facebook realesed the new Dislike Button™! Add it Now!! not a fake! 333,000 Likes to 445,400.

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Wall Street Journal’s Facebook App WSJ Social Unites Article Suggestions From Editors, Friends, and Likes

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Fighting games are Facebook-bound, says Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono

by Joe Osborne, Posted Apr 12th 2011 12:10PM

The man behind Street Fighter 4 3D Edition for the Nintendo 3DS sees Facebook as the future home of fighting games, Siliconera reports. Finally, Facebook users can duke it out in a game rather than publicly through News Feeds. After a CVG reporter mentioned the lack of fighting games on Facebook to Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono, he replied, "I can't say much but I will say there will be. I can't say why - but I do think there will be." In other words, Ono knows something we don't.

According to Siliconera, Ono believes that Facebook and fighting games are a natural fit, thanks to the improved communications options through the 3DS version of the game and the reply modes on consoles. "I think the framework of social networking and fighting games, or the amalgamation of fighting games, have already started," Ono said. "So, when I say something will happen I'm just going to add a little bit more on top of the framework we have now and once that is done I think we will get there."

In short, it looks like Capcom is working on bringing fighting games to Facebook one way or another. Considering Capcom already has experience with Facebook-connected games like Smurf's Village, it's not exactly a leap to bring Street Fighter to Facebook. Come to think of it, a Street Fighter game on Facebook would likely not be short of ... awesome.

[Image Credit: Next Gadget]

Would you play a traditional fighting game on Facebook? How successful do you think they would be on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.
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Tags: brawler, capcom, CVG, facebook games, fighting games, ryu, Siliconera, smurfs village, social games, street-fighter, street-fighter-iv, yoshinori-ono

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