Celebrating the Tekken franchise's 15th anniversary this year, Katsuhiro Harada took the Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion movement to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as an opportunity to rework the game's graphics. One of the big improvements to hit the release is the addition of the full-time variable motion blur - a first for fighting games. This feature adds to the overall visual impact of Tekken 6, applying more emphasis to the movement of each character.

In his post at IGN, Harada stresses that this is not like the partial motion blurring already present in past games. Full-time variable motion blur varies in intensity depending on the speed and type of motion, plus gets rendered in real time. This isn't just for the attacker, even the one getting pummeled will get to savor the experience. Harada even provides a few screens to show the difference.

The ones on the left are those without full-time variable motion blur, while the ones of the right are evidently the ones blurred. It might be a bit difficult to appreciate as screenshots, but I can imagine the better effect that the blurring will give the game. It'll make hard hits look harder, while small jabs will look less flimsy. Seeing as this feature is heavy on the detail, I doubt it's gonna be available for the PSP version.

But for those of you who don't like it, Harada may provide an option for you to turn it on or off, depending on your preference. "It's hard to picture, so maybe I should just include a motion blur on/off feature in the home version so everyone can compare it for themselves," he posted. "A lot of people on the team are quite surprised at the difference once they have played without it and then turn it on again. "

I think it'll look much better once we see it moving. *cough* video please *cough*. But that's just me. What about our Tekken-playing readers, what do you guys think? Kayuza? Cloud X?

Oh, and remember that "groundbreaking" trailer I posted last month? Harada said it was only running on 30 frames per second, but the game's gonna do 60, so go figure.

---

More on Tekken 6:

• A montage of matchups for Tekken 6
• Tekken 6 will have console specific features