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After pushing back its crazy shooter concept, Hybrid, to a 2012 launch window, Scrriblenauts dev 5th Cell is once more ready to talk about the forthcoming Xbox Live Arcade game. First things first: Hybrid is now scheduled for a summer 2012 launch window. Hooray!

Moreover, 5th Cell is promising a variety of major updates as a result of the delay time. Said promises include locking the shooter’s framerate at 60FPS, a redesigned look, and a new twist on the in-air movement. Take a look at the improvements with the latest media straight from 5th Cell, above and below.

Soul Calibur 2 and I used to be “an item,” back in the day. We spent every evening together, laughing over the ridiculous ring outs we shared and taking special pride in infuriating my friends, together. It was rare to ever find us apart for more than a few hours at a time; I loved Soul Calibur 2 with all of my heart.

Things change, though, and as time marched on we realized that staying together wasn’t the best thing for the both of us. The world had moved on, my needs had changed, and Soul Calibur 2 understood that it was time for me to go. Despite trying to reconnect a couple of times, we haven’t really talked much since the old days.

So imagine my surprise when SoulCalibur 5 showed up at my apartment, looking better than ever and wanting to go a few rounds. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and it’s been a pretty intense emotional rollercoaster, truth be told. I’ve rediscovered all the little things I used to love, as well as the reasons why we broke up in the first place.

It’s hard, because when you get back with an old flame, you want things to go back to the way they used to be, and that’s rarely (if ever) possible. SoulCalibur 5 is a far cry from the game I used to love, and it’s got more than its fair share of problems, but deep down, the soul still burns.

Mechanically, SoulCalibur 5 feels like a halfway point between Soul Calibur 2 and Soul Calibur 4, in that movement is tighter and more controlled like SC2, but the actual mechanics of fighting feature more complex systems, a la SC4. Unlike SC4, however, the meters implemented in SC5 are more in sync with contemporary fighting game conventions, and as such are easier to conceptualize and utilize right away.

The “Critical Gauge” located next to your character’s health bar fills while attacking or while guarding, and can either be spent on Brave Edge moves (think EX moves in Super Street Fighter 4), Critical Edge moves (think Ultra Combos in SSF4) or Guard Impacts, which have been a mainstay of the series since the beginning. Brave and Critical Edge moves add a satisfying extra layer of strategy to SC5‘s otherwise straightforward gameplay and are a welcome addition, even though activating the Brave Edge version of an attack has been implemented less elegantly than similar systems in Super Street Fighter 4 or Mortal Kombat.

Changing Guard Impacts from being an ability you can do at will to something that requires meter feels counterintuitive, however. By making something require a resource, you’re limiting the number of times that move can be used in a given round and are therefore reducing its effectiveness while increasing its strategic importance. The player must think, because now Guard Impacting may prevent them from using a Brave or Critical Edge move in the same round.

Or at least, the player would think that, had the player any incentive to use Guard Impacts in the first place. In addition to making Guard Impacts require meter, Namco Bandai has also introduced a mechanic called “Just Guarding,” which functions almost exactly like Guard Impacting did in previous Soul Calibur games. By blocking an attack at the moment of impact and immediately releasing the block button, the player will “Just Guard” and nullify any block stun or frame disadvantage they would have suffered had they blocked normally.

Granted, this doesn’t provide the complete combo interruption or satisfying green flash that a Guard Impact does, but it does accomplish roughly the same defensive goal without using any meter. It’s a superfluous addition; why not leave Guard Impacting as is and reduce its push-back/frame advantage? Or, conversely, make it more difficult to properly time a guard impact against an oncoming attack? Either option would have reduced the number of successful Guard Impacts in a round without adding an extra layer of abstraction for the player to worry about.

An altered version of the guard break system from SC4 also returns, leaving misery and frustration in its wake. The player can only guard so many attacks before their guard “breaks,” at which point they are momentarily unable to block or attack. This is a flawed system, both mechanically and philosophically: First off, how close your guard is to breaking doesn’t reset between rounds, meaning that if you finish a round with your guard almost broken, you’ll start the next round with your guard still almost broken. This places you at a severe, uncalled for disadvantage.

Secondly, the only way to bring your guard-break level back to normal is by dealing damage, rather than receiving it, which would be the more logical and effective method. Were it reduced upon receiving damage, the player could try being more aggressive, and even if they lose they’ll at least have reduced their guard-break level back to normal. As it stands now, a player on the brink of guard break can stop guarding, become more aggressive and attack rapidly, get punished for attacking with reckless abandon, lose the round and still be close to guard break at the beginning of the next round. It’s excessive, and what’s more, it discourages proficiency in arguably the most important, fundamental skill set in competitive fighting.

I have the same philosophical problem with this concept as I did in SC4, which is that I don’t believe the player should be punished for being super good at part of your game. If I’ve put in the time and effort to get so good at guarding mix-ups that the other player/CPU can’t land any attacks, I feel like I’ve earned the right to not take damage. It also heavily weighs the game towards the more aggressive fighting styles rather than the defensive, and while that’s incredibly beneficial for characters like Xiba or Nightmare, it makes things unnecessarily difficult for more deliberate, calculated characters like Astaroth.

Guard Impacting and the guard-break system are only two pieces of a very large puzzle, however, and while very annoying, neither issue is explicitly game breaking. Despite these flaws, SoulCalibur 5 is still the best Soul Calibur game since SC2, at least as far as fluidity and combat are concerned.

In other respects, SoulCalibur 5 is the worst game of the series, primarily when it comes to the presentation, polish and content of the single-player experience. While other Soul Calibur games have included multiple arcade modes, time trial modes, survival modes, team modes, “Special” versions of all those other modes, character creation modes and hundreds of hours worth of missions and challenges, SoulCalibur 5 has a story mode, some arcade modes, a training mode, character creation and … that’s it.

Now, this wouldn’t be such a big deal if the story mode were captivating like Mortal Kombat‘s spectacular story mode, but this is sadly not the case. Instead, it’s a 3-hour hodgepodge of indecipherable, confusing storyboard panels punctuated by random (although admittedly gorgeous) cinematics. It’s almost as if Namco Bandai had intended to animate the entire thing, but instead ran out of time and had no choice but to narrate the storyboard sketches. The entire experience only took about three hours to complete, and since there’s only one ending, the mode is totally devoid of replay value.

SoulCalibur 5 also lacks any of the unique and interesting unlockable content that came standard in previous series entries, such as concept art or cinema/exhibition theaters. Now, the only unlockable content is either characters, which take about as long to unlock as story mode takes to complete, or items for the character creation mode. Beating arcade mode unlocks the “Legendary Souls” arcade mode, or as I like to call it, “Kilik’s Ring Out Funhouse.”

Legendary Souls is exactly the same as the regular arcade mode, save for the fact that it is bowel shatteringly hard. In all sincerity, Legendary Souls is the most difficult thing I’ve ever encountered in any video game, ever. Ever.

I took the cellphone picture above to prove just how ridiculous this mode is: I lost to Kilik and Nightmare so many times that the time-attack timer at the bottom of the screen maxed out at 99 minutes and 59 seconds. That timer doesn’t run when the game is paused or between rounds, so that’s 99 minutes of actual game time. Assuming that the average SC5match lasts 13 seconds, I lost to Kilik and Nightmare approximately 461 times before advancing to stage 3.

I had to keep going though, because it was literally the only single-player thing left to do in the whole game, and I’d only been playing for a few hours. It’s heartbreaking, because the game (actually fighting) is incredibly solid and fantastic amounts of fun, but the “game” (actual single-player content) is universally disappointing considering the exemplary precedent set by every other title in the series.

There is some hope at least, as SoulCalibur 5‘s online multiplayer is surprisingly good. The Global Colosseo mode functions similar to Mortal Kombat‘s online lobby system in that it throws dozens of players into a room and allows them to freely challenge each other. It’s a big step forward in both convenience and usability, especially compared to the antiquated lobby systems in games like King of Fighters XIII and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

SoulCalibur 5 is simultaneously one of the best Soul Calibur games ever made, as well as the worst Soul Calibur game ever made. All things considered, though, I’d rather have fantastic gameplay spoiled by lackluster presentation than incredible production values ruined by frustrating, disjointed fighting. Of course, that won’t be enough for everyone, and the lingering thought that this could have been the best there ever was (given more development time) is hard to shake off.

I’ll never have the kind of relationship with SoulCalibur 5 that I did with SC2, but I still plan on the two of us spending as much time as possible together. I love this game, I’m just not in love with it.

The Simpsons Arcade is headlining February’s PlayStation Plus bonuses. Sony offers an HD adaptation of the classic 1991 game free, for Plus members, through the end of the month. This is the Simpsons‘ first official launch confirmation, with previous sightings exclusive to XBLA, including this set of Xbox achievements spotted earlier this month.

Sony is handing out a special Valentine’s Day present for Plus members as well, with a free download of the complete Far Cry 2 game, the week of February 14.

The Simpsons Arcade will include four-player online co-op and will be available at no cost to Plus members from February 7-29 — and yes, that’s a whole extra day this year, probably to contain all of our nostalgic Simpsons love.

“What if we could provide add-on content through the network?” Iwata asked, positing a solution to the problem of players growing tired of the games they’ve purchased. “As I referred to before, for example, this is the idea of supplying new stages to Super Mario users who want to play the game more but have completed the game and lost interest in the existing stages.

“This will not only give us new profits but will lengthen the life of a product, in that it will never be out of fashion and can keep attracting public attention as long as many people play it.” DLC functionality was added to the 3DS with the last firmware update, and will first be used in a retail title in Japan with Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.

Dragon’s Dogma is going to be the Zone of the Enders of 2012. We don’t mean it’s going to have awesome robots — rather, a significant portion of its audience will be buying it only for the included demo.

Capcom announced today that Dragon’s Dogma will be out in North America on May 22, and in Europe on May 25. Each copy will include a code for access to a Resident Evil 6 demo — if you buy it on Xbox, you’ll be able to get the demo 60 days before anyone else, on July 3. The PSN version of the demo will go up on September 4 in North America and September 5 in Europe. It’s not quite an Xbox exclusive, but it might as well be given that lead time!

For those of you actually interested in Dragon’s Dogma for its non-Resident Evil content, Capcom shared the new trailer above. It also announced exclusive pre-order DLC from various retailers: the “Pawn Upgrade Pack” from GameStop, the “Armor Upgrade Pack” from Best Buy, and the “Weapon Upgrade Pack” from Amazon. More DLC will be forthcoming, including weapons, armor, and new quests.

Finally, Dragon’s Dogma will feature a new original song by “Japan’s foremost rock band” B’z.

The co-op demo for Syndicate is ready to infiltrate Xbox 360s in North America and Europe right now. The PlayStation Network will likely gain access today at the close of business on the East Coast, which is when the PSN usually updates in North America. The PSN version for Europe will have open enrollment tomorrow.

The demo covers the “Western Europe” co-op mission, as your team steals blueprints for Cayman Global (the TCBY of the future) and assassinates what may or may not be a bad guy. Hey, it’s business, there’s very little room for ethics.

Paul McCartney, legendary recording artist of the band Wings, is apparently working on music for a video game — and, no, it doesn’t appear to be Beatles Rock Band 2. In an interview with Germany’s Die Zeit, McCartney was asked if he’d consider writing music for a video game. He responded that he’s already working on it.

McCartney said he finds the video game market fascinating and was excited by the opportunity to work on a game project. He noted that growing up, he only had radio and records, but now music is everywhere. He feels that by writing music for a game that it may be the first time his music will be heard by the next generation.

There’s also the business of music. McCartney said, “A new computer game is selling these days so much better than a new CD. And you reach a different audience.” Might we suggest Paul of Duty, a music shooter. It worked out well for Aerosmith.

THQ’s woes continue as the troubled publisher receives a delisting warning from the Nasdaq stock exchange. The company’s stock has been trading below the minimum of $1 for the past 30 days.

The publisher has 180 calendar days (until July 23, 2012) to make its stock regain compliance for 10 consecutive business days. If the company can’t comply, well, let’s just say these things don’t end happy. There are examples of game companies coming back from the brink. Heck, Majesco has done it twice.

THQ is hurting bad, as it works through a realignment and sets off waves of layoffs to stabilize the company. The publisher is expected to explain its current financial issues during an investor call this Thursday, February 2. THQ’s stock price is trading at $0.70 as of 8AM ET today.

Right now, most of us are thinking about the next Mortal Kombat — and no, we don’t mean the Vita version. It’s gotta happen, right? We’re sure it will, but according to MK creator and NetherRealm Studios head honcho, Ed Boon, his team is more than just a Mortal Kombat studio.

“I would be surprised if Warner Bros. and us never released another Mortal Kombat game again. We don’t have a title to announce, but if this last one sold over 3 million and counting, there’s a certain amount of assumption that we’d consider doing another Mortal Kombat game,” Boon told GameSpot. “But at the same time, we want our studio to do more than just make Mortal Kombat games. We love making them but we also want to do different types of games. Different genres, different IPs.”

It’s hardly telling of the future for NetherRealm Studios, but Boon did mention the studio’s Arkham City tie-in for iOS as an indication for his studios’ plans to branch out. “The Batman iOS game was kind of like us dipping our foot into that whole different types of games to do. We’re going to continue in that direction, but I would be surprised if we never did another Mortal Kombat game again.” Finally, when asked whether 2012 would be a year of diversification for NetherRealm, Boon responded, “Oh yes, without a doubt.”

Unless you were at Sundance or are Jonathan Blow, you’re probably still waiting for a chance to see Indie Game: The Movie. Your next potential opportunity will be at GDC, where it’s accompanied by a panel discussion featuring all the involved game developers, and filmmakers Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky.

The screening will be free to all GDC pass holders, and will occur March 5 at 6PM. This information is, once again, redundant for those of you who are Jonathan Blow. Sorry, Jonathan! We have lots of other posts that should be of more use to you.