Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3... Leggo!!!!

After all the rumors and the hype for the past few weeks, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 gets announced for a November release on PS3 and 360. Fighting game fans are instantly excited for the upgraded game, but some wonder if it is too early? Personally, I believe so as vanilla MvC3 should be able to last at least a year like vanilla Street Fighter IV did before Super came out. I guess all the complaining and begging about certain characters missing, some current characters being too good, and X-Factor being ridiculous paid off for a whole new game to happen. Like Super Street Fighter IV, Ultimate MvC3 is shaping up to be a substantial upgrade being disc only and 40 bucks (no plans of a download like SSF4 Arcade Edition). Changes to current characters and even new moves for them, a HUD change (who could be weird when you're trying to figure out who to snapback), spectator mode, X-Factor changes, and new stages are just the basics for this new version, but the 12 new characters is gonna be what's really exciting for Ultimate. Ghost Rider and Hawkeye are announced for the Marvel side as versus veteran Strider Hiryu and Firebrand are confirmed for the Capcom side so far. Plus, Capcom is going crazy with alternate costumes again with pre-order bonuses like no other for costume packs at various retailers (Femme Fatale Pack for Chun-Li, X-23, Storm, and Trish along with a pack for Doom, Sentinel, Akuma, and Strider). I have been unmotivated as of late playing MvC3 and this Ultimate announcement has obviously got me on the train again. Hopefully, Evo next weekend can give us a show to remember with vanilla's only year.

Anyway, here are the gameplay clips below of the new characters...

UPDATE - Looks like Capcom leaked the rest of the new cast

Marvel - Ghost Rider, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Nova, Iron Fist, Rocket Raccoon

Capcom - Strider, Firebrand, Frank West, Nemesis, Phoenix Wright, Vergil

I'm happy with the Capcom choices (maining Vergil yo - hopefully not as fancy as Dante), but the Marvel choices though will disappoint some folks that wanted more returning versus characters.

Yay, a Voltron Game!!!! Oh Wait....

Voltron definitely holds a special part with my family back in its glory days of the 80s since I wasn't around yet. Today, THQ finally announces Voltron: Defender of the Universe, a new downloadable game based on the Voltron anime which you can play as the original cast. IGN has the first reveal as the game has online co-op up to five players and local co-op with only two players. From the debut trailer above, there is some variety with lion shooting sections (there's an area that makes things look like a shump) and one-on-one robot arena battles. Even though it is a downloadable game, the graphics don't look so hot at its current state. Hopefully the gameplay and the source material of having scenes from the actual anime can make up the slack for the unimpressive graphics, but considering the developer's pedigree (Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime and Naughty Bear), even I'm not having high hopes. Then again, it is nice that a Voltron game finally exists, but this could of been so much better. We'll see how the fan reactions are with its showing at the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend as Voltron: Defender of the Universe is currently slated for release on October 25/26 on Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade respectively for ten dollars (800 Microsoft Points).

My Favorite Trailer of the Year gets Dissected...

The "Power Trailer" for Saints Row: The Third gets dissected by lead writer Steve Jaros as he tells all the little details and easter eggs from the infamous clip that proved why Kanye's "Power" was the song of E3 2011.

Star Fox 64 3D is out in Japan...

Star Fox 64 3D was finally released at Japan two days ago as us Americans still have to wait till September to experience arguably the best remake on 3DS (Once again, its better than Zelda OOT 3D). The graphical facelift is pretty outstanding now that I have seen some full levels in action from Zoness, Solar, and Macbeth. The control preferences will probably be a personal thing as some would enjoy the gyroscope controls, but I think playing without them seems to be the way to go especially going for medals. The music has been also remastered for all the levels as they sound for the most part, but I wished there was an option for the old music as well. I'm not sure with the Japanese voices if they're the same as the original, but the other sound effects still sound the same though. Anyway, here's part of a full playthrough above even though the quality is not as great, but of course it can be hard to record 3DS stuff without proper equipment.

UPDATE - Here's a full playthrough of the game in direct feed quality. (spoilers I guess if u haven't even played the original at all yet)

This Week in Live Performances...

You probably might be sick of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" after hearing it so much on the radio. If you still don't mind listening to it though, here's Linkin Park (well just Chester and Mike Shinoda) doing a cover of it, which is not that bad I guess.

VEVO finally put out the G.O.O.D. Music concert from SXSW this week after months of waiting. Kanye and Jay-Z did "H.A.M.," but my performance pick from this set is "Blame Game" with John Legend. One of my favorite tracks from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sounds great live, but imagine Chris Rock coming out doing his part whenever Yeezy performs it in the future. That would be kind of funny to see, but of course it doesn't really make sense in a concert setting.

So The Catherine Demo is now out in English...

Catherine is out in less than two weeks here at the states as the demo came out yesterday on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. This is the same demo as the Japanese one, but now with English voices. At least we can finally understand what in the world they're saying during the cutscenes unless you know some Japanese. The English voice cast so far seems fine to me even though I still prefer the overdone Japanese emotions. I'm not planning to get the "Love is Over" Edition even though the bonus goodies seem crazy, but expect a review of Catherine after I spend some time with the final version.

Now to get that rap theme song as my ringtone... then again maybe not.

Music Roundup for 7/12/11 aka the "If Not Now, When?" Edition

The new Incubus album came out today and after listening to it a few times for the past week, I appreciate the change of direction for If Not Now, When? Sure, its just another band taking the more mature and mellow direction, but Incubus has been around for a good while to be able to take a risk in changing their overall sound. There will always be fans that still want more of the same mix of hard rocking and mellow tracks, but as the band grows older, you're bound to make some changes. The title track, which starts things off, does set up the overall mood and tempo for the rest of the album. "Promises, Promises" is a great lead-off single as I look forward to their picks for the rest of the singles since they most of them have single potential. I definitely dig the chill vibes from the album's first half as the only songs that has a little faster tempo you'll hear is later on with "In the Company of Wolves" and "Switchblade." Those songs are not that bad as they're probably the closest thing you'll get for old school Incubus.

Basically, this new Incubus album is worth a listen if you're looking for some new "chill rock" stuff to listen to as you're mostly going to get that for the majority of the album. It is also great to blast while driving casually (when you're not really in a rush to go somewhere). Certain fans may hate the new direction of their sound being more mellow, but this is probably for the best as they're another band that has matured over the past decade and capable to change things up. Plus, the frontman Brandon can still kill it with the vocals especially for this long. Then again, I'm been over the metal-ish type of rock for a while as my fixes for that have been the chill stuff, which is why Incubus's If Not Now, When? is something up my alley.