Street Fighter 2 HD Remix Gets XBL Beta, New Art; XBLA File Size Limit Not a Concern

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Capcom announced its intentions to release a beta for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3, X360) alongside an upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, GameSpot reports.

The company revealed that the eight-week beta program will be accessible to Gold Xbox Live subscribers via purchase of its upcoming Commandos 3 on Xbox Live Arcade this spring. Commando 3 will be priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

The beta will allow gamers to play online as either Ken or Ryu on a single stage. Aimed as a stress test to gauge the title's network functionality prior to its full release on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network later this year, the HD Remix beta will be unlocked shortly after Commandos 3's release.

Capcom also revealed on its official blog that SSF2T HD Remix's art style has been revamped, owing to difficulties in production with the previously established style.

The new visual scheme adopts a scaled-down color palette which producer Rey Jimenez suggests will be much more efficient to animate. The screenshot of Ryu in the new style, Jimenez noted, had not gone through the edge clean-up process the original shot went through and as such might look "a little fuzzy."

The producer went on to dismiss that concerns of file size limitations on the Xbox Live Arcade version of the title may result in a lesser incarnation than its PlayStation Network counterpart.

"I can officially say that the filesize will not be an issue. With great help from the guys at Microsoft, we will be able to offer the same features on both platforms to the same quality as each other," Jimenez wrote. "To use the term I've been reading on the forums, neither console version will be 'gimped' due to any kind of limitation."

From The Chatty
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    March 12, 2008 2:03 PM

    So they're making it less "HD" in order to pump out the sprites?

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      March 12, 2008 2:09 PM

      Yeah, maybe they should have done whatever was needed for the graphics to not be fuzzy. Do these publishers think anyone is gonna read into things exactly the way they want? They're gonna see the "new art style" and straight up see worse graphics.

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        March 12, 2008 2:11 PM

        "Please note that this screen has not gone through the edge clean up process the other one has gone through, so it may seem a *little fuzzy," said producer Rey Jimenez.

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          March 12, 2008 2:14 PM

          Yeah, I read that, but not everyone will. Maybe they should have gone through the effort.

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          March 12, 2008 2:15 PM

          Why would they release these shots then. The white-colored one is SO much better.

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      March 12, 2008 2:19 PM

      Time constraints maybe. Probably never know why they toned it down and less detail in the sprites. Who would have thought redrawing sprites would be such a pain in today 3d days.

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      March 12, 2008 4:02 PM

      Animation, especially 2d animation, is a bitch, a real chore. There is a reason that just now, after all these years, you have the 2 major 2d fighting houses finally revamping the old engines with new art. It's expensive, time consuming, and oftentimes hard to get to render at the speed you want when programming it in.

      This isn't an attempt by Microsoft or Capcom to "screw" you over in any way, or a case of Capcom being lazy. The studio handling it within capcom is a comic-book art studio, there was most likely a transition between "can we get this done this year and have it perform better than the HD SF2 abomination already on the marketplace, or keep it like the concept art, as is, take forever, and possibly have it perform like ass".

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        March 12, 2008 4:26 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 12, 2008 7:00 PM

          nobody ever said there was even 1 issue regarding file size. not one person in charge. They are laying HD art over an engine that is over 15 years old now. It is the very same code that was in the original. Animation takes FOREVER to do, and 2d art is very hard to keep consistant at a high level without taking forever. Considering that it wasn't even 2 months ago that they said that this project was having major delays, it doesnt suprise me in the least that they slightly alter the art style to allow for a limited production staff put out a still beautiful remake of a 15 year old game sometime this coming year. They probably want to capitalize on SF4 when it comes out.

          It's like the whole sony defense task force that lurks on the frontpage got high off of Bionic Commando having lower rez textures on the 360 version, that suddenly they know what the deal is with every multiplatform arcade release. JEEBUS.

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