Ninja Gaiden III Is Still Happening...

Its GDC week in the world of games and usually people are expecting to hear bombshell announcements, but that's what E3 is for. However, it doesn't mean they can tease away till June, which is the case for Team Ninja and this quick clip for Ninja Gaiden III. Unmasking Ryu is a big thing for the "modern" franchise (he's been unmasked before in the old school games on NES and that DS game Dragon Sword, but that doesn't count to me), so expect that at E3 along with lots of blood.

Music Video of the Day for 2/28/10

Yup... its Gaga's video for "Born This Way" (Just another weird & crazy video by her as expected)

Child of Eden Footage from the Microsoft Event...

My #1 most anticipated game of the year, Child of Eden, gets delayed to this summer, but its okay to wait a little longer. Ubisoft and Q? Entertainment did show a new build over at some Microsoft event yesterday and here's new footage from it. My goodness, it sounds looks amazing and still my reason to get a Kinect, but I'm curious how they're handling the PS3 version, since no details about that have been revealed yet.

Welcome Back Gears, We Missed You

The Gears of War 3 Multiplayer Beta is slated to come out in April and those that bought the Bulletstorm Epic Edition get it a little bit earlier. So far, looks like Gears is back alright. Look at the new chainsaw kill animations! Also, it is still Gears with smoke grenades, grenade tags, perhaps shotgun spam again, and then some, but we'll see how the beta shapes up for players soon.

First In-Game Footage of Skyrim...

Wow, just wow. After feeling a little unimpressed by the Dragon Age 2 demo, I watch this new trailer for the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and it is already shaping up to be amazing. November is going to crazy for RPGs if both this and Mass Effect 3 are out at the same time. In the meantime, enjoy the brilliant clip above.

A little LLTP, but finally there's a 4th one coming...

A little late to this, but yes, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 is coming soon to arcades by Namco Bandai. After nearly three years and three iterations of Maximum Tune 3, they decided to make a fourth one after all. The graphics seem beefed up even though it looks the same graphical engine used throughout the whole franchise. New cars for the series keep getting introduced and the Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack will be still as amazing as it was for past games. Then again, this is probably the same racing grind you expect for the franchise with its card system spending money like no other leveling up your car to competitive status. The multiplayer will be still where its at too especially with four cabinet setups. U.S. arcades will get it sometime later this year after Japan gets it first.

Today in the World of Shooters...

As shooter fans continue to go crazy with Killzone 3 and Bulletstorm (both great games) since they came out yesterday, the big boys in the future have to something to say about those two. Microsoft and Epic announced the final release date for Gears of War 3, which is September 20. Even though I don't have a 360, I'm still looking forward to the campaign wandering how the fate of Marcus Fenix will end up and this trilogy will conclude (or not?). Of course there is the multiplayer beta coming out in a month or two for owners of the Bulletstorm Epic Edition as I'm also curious what improvements are made and will the third time be a charm that Epic gets Gears MP done right? Meanwhile in the modern shooter front, a gameplay teaser rolled out for Battlefield 3 this morning. This Transformers 3-like trailer show gameplay glimpses (game trailers ripping off movie trailers? - How original...) as there should be previews rolling out for it during GDC week. If you want more intel on Battlefield 3 before then, get the new Game Informer mag since it is the cover story there.

PSN Demo Showcase for 2/23/10

My PSN Demo Showcase returns since there were a lot of demos that came out yesterday on the Playstation Store. A variety of universes gets represented here this time (Footage may be from the 360 versions, but they're the same on PS3).

First off is Dragon Age 2 by EA, one of highly anticipated games of this early part of the year and for good reason since it is a BioWare production. Even though I didn't play the first one, I have read it was a great game, but filled with flaws as well. BioWare hopes to fix their mistakes in the sequel especially with a console-focused direction. If you don't know what's up with this franchise, Dragon Age is the famed developer's return to the fantasy RPG setting that was made popular by them with the Baldur's Gate series. With Dragon Age 2, BioWare added more features seen in their sci-fi RPG epic Mass Effect 2 from the simplified combat and the dialogue trees. However, after playing through this demo, the fantasy setting didn't seem to grab me as much as the Mass Effect universe did, but then again maybe I was spoiled by the characters in that game compared to the characters here in Dragon Age 2. Combat is not as deep as I thought, but that's also a given being a demo mashing the attack button along with some specials here and there as a warrior (the mage class is also playable). The graphics look fine for the most part and better than the original, but it still has that BioWare feel visually too especially during cutscenes. "Dragon Effect" does sum up this game so far for me, but now things will be more fleshed out in the final game that will be released in a couple of weeks. If you like BioWare games and RPGs, try out the Dragon Age 2 demo on both consoles. Personally, I rather wait for Mass Effect 3 for my BioWare RPG fix as the fantasy setting doesn't seem to be my thing now (Maybe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be my fantasy RPG).

Next up is Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars and believe it or not, it is still the same core Lego game that has been around for nearly several years. The Clone Wars cartoon gets the Lego treatment this time as there two levels playable in this demo that have on-foot and vehicular sections. Little to the formula has been changed as you play as numerous characters in the Star Wars universe and you tag them out here and there to solve puzzles and press switches. It is a still a kids game at heart, but very enjoyable for all ages as seen in the many Lego game iterations that have been out. Going crazy with the lightsaber is well, still cool and all in Lego form and at least the saber throw has been added in to spice up the jedi combat a bit. Vehicular sections still control wonky as you can't reach out to studs that you want to collect. Of course, this demo can be also played cooperatively with another player and that's still fun as it is in past Lego games. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (out next month too) so far seems to be another solid addition to the franchise even though the core formula hasn't changed significantly, but these games are still great mindless fun especially in co-op.

Finally, there's a demo of Yakuza 4 and Sega actually dropped the ball on this one by only having the battle sections playable and no story mode demo at all unlike the Japanese version that came out last year. I wonder what was in Sega's mind not to include that as you can easily get a hour of playtime with this demo compared to just ten minutes. If you played the Japanese demo though, the battle sections are the same from that with all four characters to mess around with. The Yakuza franchise for me is another one of those franchises I respect a lot and glad that it exists, but never gets to play them fully. Yakuza 4 is coming out next month and I hope it is as successful as the last game here at the States, so Sega can bring out the next game, which is out in Japan relatively soon. Then again, Sega of America doesn't give the same effort Japan does in regards to handling the franchise since it doesn't perform that well sales-wise here at the States compared to Japan, which is unfortunate because they are great games that are feel underappreciated.

That's it for the PSN Demo Showcase this week. I would talk about MLB 11: The Show, since the demo for that also came out yesterday, but baseball games are not my thing.

ALL OF THE LIGHTS!!!!

Also, shoutouts to seizure warnings. Another simple yet great video by Yeezy.

But wait, there's more!

Can Yeezy take out Kobe??

Tekken Tag 2 at the AOU

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is playable at the AOU, an arcade expo showcasing what's coming for arcades over at Japan. There is also a trailer (above) that has released showing off new card features, more characters you expect returning along with classic returns of Jun (Tekken 2), True Ogre (Tekken 3), and Jinpachi from Tekken 5. In addition, the tag assist system is debuted in video here as your partner comes for an attack and goes back out a la the Capcom versus fighting games (more recently MvC3). The tag assists are pretty handy in continuing crazy juggle combos that the franchise has been known for, so the potential has been already set high for some insanity. Team moves also work similar to the first Tekken Tag, but at its core, its still a Tekken game. I'm pretty excited to go back to Tekken after playing a good amount of the sixth game even though I'm not tourney-level good as I hoped compared to Street Fighter IV & now Marvel 3. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is expecting to come out at arcades in the summer time over at Japan and I'm pretty sure SoCal will get it a little afterwards.

We Waited 10 Years, But Does It Live Up to the Legacy? The Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Review

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds has lot to live up to. The second game was just one of these special games that spawned a legacy and a community for ten years. All the internet memes, the brokenness of only a handful of the roster was playable because they were so good compared to the rest, and the hype is arguably something that cannot be repeated for another game. After the success of the downloadable release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, it was inevitable that this third installment will finally come and it is indeed here now on the current generation of consoles. Does it live up to the legacy that the versus series, but importantly the name of being called Marvel vs. Capcom 3? In a short answer, yes it does because it is as fun for both casual fans that want to press buttons and make crazy stuff happen, but for also hardcore players that want to be the best and compete in tournaments.

For those that played the last game a lot, the new controls will take getting used to in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for a few minutes, but if you played Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes on the Wii, you will feel right at home here with the three attack buttons/special button scheme. It is arguably a good thing that TvC was pretty much the experiment that set up the core gameplay mechanics for the return of the 3v3 fighting that is MvC3. All of this results in a simpler and more approachable approach to do crazy combos along with setting up potential sheninegans. It also means this game is more approachable for pad players, but still having the arcade stick is the recommended way to go to execute what you want to do. The special button is called the exchange button, which is also your launcher to start up air combos. It is also used to finish simple air combos, but you can tag in your partners during these for a safe switch to continue the combo. Your opponent however can guess right which direction you're going to continue the team aerial combo and counter it, which is a similar to the crash animation of TvC when you break combos there. The other significant new gameplay concept in MvC3 is X-Factor, which you press all the four attack/special buttons to activate as your speed and damage increases along with healing your red health for a limited time. This will last depending on how many characters you have left in play during a fight. If used on your last character, it lasts a whopping 30 seconds to give players a chance for crazy combeacks. Even with the TvC-like controls, it is still also a mesh of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 because of the 3v3 concept once you add in all the assists, hyper combos, snapbacks, crossover counters, and more. In other words, it still plays like a versus fighting game that is fun and addictive to the point you can't put it down after hours of playing. The core gameplay works and it was designed beautifully as Capcom really took their sweet time making every character a viable threat and fit their personalities like they were in their respective games.

Speaking of the over than 30 characters, the roster in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a pretty good mix of versus mainstays, iconic heroes, and odd newcomers for a fighting game. Of course there are your obvious guys like Ryu, Chun-Li, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America. Then you got your versus regulars such as Magneto, Storm, but also numerous newcomers to a versus fighting game from Dante and Trish from the Devil May Cry franchise, the charismatic Deadpool, the thunder god Thor, Amaterasu from Okami, Chris and Wesker from Resident Evil 5, and so on. Even classic Capcom franchises get their shot of redemption with Arthur from Ghouls n' Ghosts, Mike Haggar from Final Fight, and Viewitiful Joe (returning from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom). There are however four unlockable characters with Akuma, arguably the best versus version of him, Sentinel, who is still good here, Hs-ienko from Darkstalkers, and Taskmaster. These characters are easy to unlock just by accumulating player points in a couple of hours, who I will explain more of it later. As I mentioned earlier, Capcom took a lot of time and effort to make all the characters feel true to themselves especially Dante as an example with his 40+ special moves since it is the Devil May Cry 3 iteration of him. Deadpool is as charismatic as ever with numerous quotes calling out opponents and hearing him scream "Bang bang bang bang" is never old. As far as overall balance is concerned, it is still early to tell, but every character can win, but it is all about having the right team with the right assists in mind to be successful.

If Capcom didn't devote too much time in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 despite making the core gameplay work is the lack of modes, but expected if you played the Street Fighter IV games. There is the traditional arcade mode of seven stages that culminates with a final battle against Galactus for Earth. Galactus surely is a better final boss than that abomination that was Abyss in the second game, but comparable to Onslaught in MvC1. One neat feature is that you can suspend your arcade playthrough and come back into it at any time. There is also the ability to turn on online fight requests like Street Fighter IV. Beating arcade mode accumulates a good amount of player points to unlock characters and other content for the gallery, which isn't much besides looking at art and character endings again. Versus mode is pretty self-explanatory for local competition. The training mode is also self-explanatory practicing combos and team setups, yet still deep full of options to mess around with especially playing in laggy situations by network simulation. Mission mode is basically SF4's trial mode, but with a versus twist doing complicated combos. The drawback here though is sometimes it is hard to recognize what you have to do especially the later difficult ones out of the gate. Then again, you probably have to get used to the computation of the game compared to Street Fighter IV. Despite those concerns, mission mode is a good challenge to learn advanced combos with all the characters.

Then there's the online play, which is also pretty bare bones. The standard ranked and player match options are there, but there's also a lobby system similar to previous Capcom online fighting games with a maximum of eight players. The lack of spectator mode waiting for your turn in the lobby though really sucks as you will see the players' health only. Replays are also missing in online now if you want to see crazy online matches, but of course all of this can be patched in at a later date. It is telling that different development teams worked on Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Super Street Fighter IV, but it makes you wonder if the MvC3 team knew what the SSF4 team was doing handling the online options and wanted to use that they had. As far as online matches go, they go smoothly, but of course you will run into an occasional laggy match here and there. Stat tracking is pretty deep with a chart tracking your offense and defense, win/loss record (it shows before an online match starts), and which teams are being used. Another nice feature is you can reserve teams in the character select screen to quicken the process. Also similar to Street Fighter IV is customizing your icon and title, which are unlocked by just playing all the game's modes. Even with the lack of features, online play still works functionally, and that's the important part at the end of the day.

After dealing with years of the same graphical sprite style of previous versus fighting games, Capcom went with a more comic book-y & modern visual style that started with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and then turned up to 11 with Marvel vs. Capcom 3 thanks to the MT Framework engine, which was seen in previous Capcom games such as Lost Planet 2 and Resident Evil 5. The game looks great with that style and the best thing is that everything runs at a smooth framerate with no instances at slowdown even if a lot of crazy things are happening on screen. Most of the characters look great and animate so fluidly that fit their personalities while some others didn't the comic book-y transition that great, but that's a minor gripe. All of the flashy beams and effects are an amazing sight to see and that alone will make people drop their jaws of what in the world is going on screen. Even the backgrounds look great and varied spreading across both universes from Asgard, Metro City, and Resident Evil-like lab. The UI presentation could of been better though especially online because you are backed out of one or two menus at times when you can't connect to a match.

Capcom also did an amazing job on the audio department in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Everything just sounds great and fans will get a kick out of the "Take You For A Ride" when selecting characters in training mode. There are character and stage theme songs as they cater really well especially signature themes from past games. The expected Ryu Street Fighter tune is there, along with BGMs from past versus games for the Marvel characters and even songs from previous Capcom games remixed for this game like Dante's and Amaterasu's for example. The voice acting is also superb for all the characters fitting their personalities especially on English. There is an option to change the Capcom characters' voices to Japanese as they're not bad, but their English is good enough to leave them on. Dante still acts like he was in Devil May Cry 3, Nolan North nails Deadpool amazingly, and most of the voice actors were casted as characters from their previous works as the character whether the Marvel cartoon they're in for instance or a previous Capcom game.

So was ten years worth the wait for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds? Yes it indeed is. Whether you love or hate being owned or blown up by cheap sheninegans both locally and online, it is still a lot of fun and can't put down at the end of the day. Even with its missing flaws like the lack of online features, the simplified approach to the controls that that was in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom that may not appease the faithful Marvel 2 crowd, and how easy how insane you can dish out damage in this game with or without X-Factor, MvC3 is here to stay for a while as you can't help yourself having a good time both with local friends, online, and in serious competitive tournaments coming up in the future. It also helps the fact it is beautifully well made game making the core gameplay systems work fluidly, all the characters can be a viable threat if used at a high level, and amazing graphics that fit the comic book style. With DLC from new modes, characters, and alternate costumes, it is going to be around your console for months and years to come. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is well worth your money if you love fighting games along with both the Marvel and Capcom universes.

Score = 9.5/10

Pros:

• The core gameplay is fun and well-made whether you love or hate getting blown up by anything cheap both offline and online.
• Great roster of characters from both Marvel/Capcom universes from obvious favorites, versus mainstays, and odd newcomers you didn't expect.
• Amazing visuals running smoothly even when too much is going on screen

Cons:

• Lack of modes both offline and online (No spectator and replay options online specifically), but more are coming via DLC and hopefully updates
• Mission mode is disappointing by pretty much replicated Street Fighter IV's trial mode and called it a day.

Born This Way Friday is Here...

Lady Gaga's new song is out and yup, good as expected. "Don't be a drag, just be a queen!"

Fireballs & Bicycle Kicks... Liu Kang in the new Mortal Kombat

It wouldn't be Mortal Kombat without Liu Kang and he's finally revealed with his signature moves. I miss his MK2 and MK3 voice, but this can do for now. Also in the video is Kano and Shang Tsung being confirmed, which we will probably see videos of those two soon.

Finally... First Gameplay Footage for L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire is already shaping to be another Rockstar classic like last year's Red Dead Redemption as the developers themselves premiered the first gameplay footage for the game. As expected, it is a mix of a detective game/action parts of GTA, and that's good enough for me.

February Plans for the World...

• Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review (we'll see how early I get it)
• Music roundup maybe??
• Whatever else...