AU News Wrap, August 01 - What Happened Today

The first day of a glorious new month, dominated by Nintendo, fighting games, and a some neato Australia-centric newsbites.

Pat will be along with a Bulletcast shortly, in addition to minding the site from his base in a secret underground sky volcano. In the meantime, this happened over night.

• Featured content: Win a 5-star trip to play Battlefield 3 at DICE in Sweden!
  Only open to UK residents because Pat hates me. So much for this fake identity.
• Street Fighter x Tekken teasers hint at two new characters
  "Kuma" was the first word I learned in Japanese, and it's still the best one.
• Namco Bandai comments on perma-save decision
  Spoiler: it doesn't actually explain very much. Why is everyone so cagey about this?
• Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition to be re-balanced
  Man, remember when you could just mash madly and still win?
• Wii U and 3DS to support premium DLC
  Werl, Nintendo's got to start making money somewhere, doesn't it? Trollololololololol.
• Rumour - Timesplitters news on the way
  Are we leading up to a major event? Right! Time to polish up the old chestnuts, then.
• Xenoblade Chronicles gets September AU launch
  You may want to have your nostrils widened so you can pay for it.
• Iwata: 3DS price drop avoids Gamecube's mistakes
  Finally, some positive spin - Iwata almost makes it sound like Ninty knows what it's doing.
• Halo: Anniversary Edition trailer reminds us it has a plot
  I gotta tell you: Halo's plot does not move me. But I acknowledge your emotional investment in Master Chief.
• Modern Warfare 3 drops Commando perk
  What will you blame for your constant deaths now? Well, there's always lag.
• Batman: Arkham City Comic Con panel reveals playable Bane, more
  Bane, as you recall, is the one who broke Batman's spine. Don't ask difficult questions about that, it makes comics nerds rage.
• Metro: Last Light to support "pretty modest" PCs
  My new PC isn't modest, so I expect Last Light to blow my mind.
• Breath of Fire IV dated for PSN
  All my friends were obsessed with this series. Every D&D sessions dissolved into arguments as to whether everyone could br dragonborn.
• Batman: Arkham City Steelbook Edition exclusive to AU, NZ
  Cynically, I believe all this exclusive Aussie tat is to try and stop us importing at half the price.
• Catherine on-disc files hint at PC port, realistic design
  Yeah, no, I am kind of judging, actually.
• Fuudo wins SSFIV AE EVO championship, Daigo beasted
  Johnny sat up to watch the finals and said it was pretty much magnificent.
• Sony handing out free Vita dev kits to indies
  Sony fangirl levels rising.
• More StreetPass Mii Plaza uses inbound
  StreetPass and SpotPass are really neat. Nintendo would do well to ramp up those features.
• Soul Calibur V gets new gameplay footage from EVO
  I think Soul Calibur may be the de riguer fighter at VG247. z
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 gets an hour’s worth of gameplay footage
  Fighters, fighters, fighters, and some more fighters. My god, I'm starting to miss shooters.
• Metro: Last Light aims for console parity and PC swank
  The art of mixed messages.
• Monday Shorts - Bank games, Binding of Isaac art, Dredmor patch
  Bit of a not-quite-news indie fest today, plus some Aussie oddities. Like soccer. What is it even.

That seems to be everything. I'm off to enjoy the last specks of daylight with a pair of working dogs, a dam, and many, many sticks.

[Image of Killer 7 via Dead End Thrills]