For me, fighting games continue to be a part of my everyday fundamental, button-mashing diet. It only seems like yesterday when I was able to execute my first Hadoken in Street Fighter II. The first time I managed a Fatality off Mortal Kombat’s Johnny Cage, ripping his pretty little head off in supreme satisfaction. The first time experiencing Kasumi’s bouncy-breasty radiance in her Rabbit swimsuit from Dead or Alive Xtreme Volleyball… Oh wait, that last one didn’t have any fighting it in, did it? Ok, more or less, it still had the bouncy-breasty radiance that DOA games are still known for. Upon further reflecting on perpetual conundrums, even cruddy fighting games still had a memorable gimmick or two, like how Primal Fury was essentially Mortal Kombat but with prehistoric animals. Or how Kakuto Chojin so hilariously ripped off Fight Club’s plot. Ah, how one mingles in the memories of the inconsequential!

Getting back to the point, there are still game companies which have stayed long with the fighting genre and continue to support it, despite knowing that the days of coin-op arcades have long passed (Japan notwithstanding). Newer entries continue to be pumped – and thanks to the advent of better net infrastructure, more and more franchises are taking the leap to online matchmaking. No longer content to just playing your homies from the hood or the local game cafe, you’ll now be given the opportunity to fool around with players from all sorts of regions. You haven’t played a real game of Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves until some random 15-year-old Asian munchkin promptly hands over your carcass in less than a minute.

Thusly, I solemnly declare that a brief rundown on potential, forthcoming Beat em’ Ups shall be in effective order. Heaven or Hell, let’s fight!

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Nothing says “committed” like changing your stance every couple of months. Originally announced as an Xbox 360 exclusive before winding its way onto the PC a couple of months back, Capcom has now announced that the frozen shoot-em’-up Lost Planet: Extreme Condition will now be made available for the PS3 as well.

Announcing the much anticipated Street Fighter IV and a new sci-fi action-adventure title called Dark Void, Capcom dropped the weak little bomb that Lost Planet will be made available on the PS3 sometime next year, and will bundle all the extra content and characters from the PC and the Xbox 360 versions.

Hmmm, so like every other major multiplatform game before it, it looks like PS3 owners are being left to stand outside in the cold yet again as they wait for another port job from the PC and the Xbox 360. Wonder what happened to the first party exclusives…

[via CVG]