SDCC brought fighting game fans one of the biggest surprise announcements since (zOMG) Street Fighter IV.  Not only is Capcom working with Namco to produce a Street Fighter x Tekken cross-over fighter, Namco is producing their own versus game, Tekken x Street Fighter,  presumably using the Tekken 6 engine. Both games are expected to have tag-team fighting and team-up super moves, and both are loosely scheduled for a 2012 release.

Capcom is already working feverishly on Marvel vs Capcom 3, but managed to put together a proof of concept teaser for fans. The announcement came at Capcom’s “Street Fighter Mania! SSFIV and Beyond” panel. Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono was stopped during his Q&A session once he asked where fans wanted to see the Street Fighter franchise go in the future. Katsuhiro Harada, producer of the Tekken series for Namco, stood and joined Ono at the speakers’ table to offer a challenge.

Ono has since mentioned that these games have been on the table for over a year but only began development in the past few months. He said neither side is assisting the other and each company has full creative control over how they handle the characters. Ono fully expects Capcom’s version to be ready long before Namco’s.

Famitsu was able to get a few answers out of Ono as he returned to Japan. So far, Ono only confirmed the appearance of the four characters featured in the teaser gameplay video, but said it would surprise him if either game had a smaller roster than Tekken 6 or Super Street Fighter IV. He also hinted that there may be alternate versions of Street Fighter characters to help balance the match-ups.

Ono said he’s aiming for 2 on 2 gameplay, stating that after seeing MvC3’s 3 on 3 fights, he realized he’s too old to handle that much chaos on screen. Gameplay of each company’s release will be very similar to current SF and Tekken releases and should feel very familiar to fans of each. He hinted at adding assists to help add some variety to his own project.

In regards to collaboration, Ono said that neither company is sharing 3D models or design assets and are going to recreate each character as an homage to their strengths and assets they’re known for. He joked that Namco wouldn’t know one way or the other if Capcom decided to make Nina appear naked in the game, but the same could apply to Chun-Li.

Ono has said not to expect any updates from Capcom until Captivate in April 2011, but with the recent string of leaks that have proven to be true, we’ll see how well they keep this under wraps.

Ron and I went to GameStop the other day and picked up an old used copy of an Xbox LIVE Arcade compilation disc. We were delightfully surprised when we watched this amazing marketing video. It was too good to not share with the world. Watch this video right now.

There isn’t much to discuss here, other than the fact that a new video was released for Pokémon Black/White, showing new gameplay footage and new features added to the upcoming games being released sometime next year for the Nintendo DS (and all variations of aforementioned handheld console).  Check out the video after the jump!

The main highlights of the video are as follows:

• Some new character art is shown, including designs for Black/White’s Pokémon Professor and the Team “Whatever” of the game (they look like knights in armor, wtf?).
• Online communication has been completely revamped, and it looks like you can walk around in a plaza and talk to multiple people while they walk around as well.
• “Pokémon Musical” – looks similar to the mini-games from the older DS titles, where you dress your ‘Manz up in silly hats and costumes, except now you can make them dance up on stage!
• 3 VS 3 Pokémon battles, with fully-animated sprites.
• You can now somehow have your Pokémon go to “sleep” in your DS game while you transfer them to a computer and play various mini-games (think Pokéwalker, except way more advanced).
• A Pokéball-launching game is played with a crossbow to catch your ‘Manz that have been traded from your older DS games (it sounds like it’s compatible with Diamond/Pearl, HeartGold/SoulSilver, etc).
• Pokémon “000″ is announced and shown at the very end of the video (again, wtf).

There you have it, folks.  This has been a breaking-news report from Mollbuffet on the streets of Kanto, bringing you all your Pokémon-related info.

So there was this game announced back in March of 2009 by Curve Studios (a UK-based game developer) that promised to be an original IP, influenced by old Japanese platform action-based games that were released on the SNES.  Cut to present day (a good year and a half later) and you’ll find that Explodemon! has been confirmed for release for Q4 2010 for the PlayStation Network.

Explodemon! is described as a “2.5D” platform action game that will combine MegaMan-esque like battle with physics-based puzzle solving.  Here’s what Jonathan Biddle, the game’s design director, had to say about Curve’s upcoming title:

“We’re really excited to finally be able to reveal Explodemon! to the world.  The game is chock full of gameplay nuggets carefully mined from the greatest titles ever to grace our joysticks.  Whether you’re experiencing its intense combat, head-scratching puzzles, or classic platforming, you’ll find we’ve combined all of these elements into an addictive and elegantly balanced package.”

I enjoy puzzles.  I enjoy platformers.  In conclusion, I think I’m going to enjoy this game.  In the meantime, enjoy these screenshots and get pumped for Explodemon!

On top of those two announcement, Mircosoft also detailed their new Holiday Bundle for this year. Instead of bundling a couple of 2 year old games that nobody wants they decided to bundle the Kinect. For $300, you can get the new Xbox 360 4GB with Xbox Kinect. It isn’t a huge discount but you can take that $50 you will be saving and buy Dance Central with it. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention. All the Kinect games will be priced at $50 instead of $60.

While Microsoft didn’t say anything about the current/older SKUs, I think it is safe to assume that Microsoft isn’t manufacturing them anymore. Once they are sold, they will be off the store shelves forever. I already have two Xbox 360s in the house so I don’t need to get the bundle but I think I might have to preorder a Kinect when I go down to GameStop to preorder my Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s Edition and kill two birds with one stone.

[via Major Nelson]

The name 3DS makes it obvious that Nintendo has taken part in the 3D movement by adding 3D capabilities to the system, this being the top screen.  The top screen is now larger than the bottom touch screen, a departure from four previous versions of the DS (Phat, Lite, DSi, and XL) which had uniform sizes for the top and bottom screens.  Now I know what you are going to say, “The 3D is just the newest gimmick in a long line of new hardware options from Nintendo”.  Maybe 3D isn’t for you and that’s okay, because you can turn it off.  There is a slider on the right hand side of the top screen to adjust it from 2D to full 3D and anywhere in between.  The main thing that Nintendo is pushing with the 3DS is that you don’t need to wear glasses to view the games in 3D, and it does look very good.  However, the drawback of this is that you need to be looking at the screen dead-on in order to see the 3D clearly.  Any shift to the left or right will make it appear very blurry, so you can forget about having your friends crowding around the 3DS like the in the DSi XL commercials.  I suppose when these moments, which are bound to arise, you can just slide the switch down from full 3D into 2D.

Sticking with the new screens, the graphical horsepower has definitely been turbo-charged and the screens have been upgraded to keep up.  To give you an idea for what you can expect graphically from the 3DS, Nintendo had several impressive tech demos on display.  Sure, they had trailers for the movies How to Train Your Dragon and Legend of the Guardians, but the most impressive display was Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater.  Yes, this is a remake of the Playstation 2 game, complete with 3D done specifically for the 3DS, and it looked fantastic.  This was not a playable demo, but it was a video of the gameplay that you can expect, starting with the opening credits and then ending with the final battle between Snake and the Boss in a sea of white flowers in glorious 3D.

The software announced was possibly the biggest announcement of all with tons of original Nintendo titles and third party support.  There were very few playable titles up on the stage, as most of what was on display was tech demo videos of what you can expect in the future.  In addition to the previously meantioned Metal Gear Solid game, you could take a look at Animal Crossing, Nintendogs and Cats, Resident Evil Revelations, Paper Mario, and Star Fox 64 (which was playable).  Star Fox was pretty cool in 3D and it actually helped out a lot for the gameplay itself by giving you a better depth of field for moving your fighter plane around enemies and obstacles.  The biggest games that were announced for the system were nowhere in sight on the stage.  Those titles being the return of Kid Icarus and the remake for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  Hopefully Ocarina of Time will get some polish on it to get it more on par with the capabilities of the 3DS than a straight N64 port with added 3D depth.

In addition to the 3D and upgraded internal hardware, there were several external changes made to the hardware.  A couple of steps forward are the analog stick, WiFi switch, and the addition of another camera.  The analog stick is very smooth and if you have used a PSP you know what to expect here, but it has been improved upon.  It is a much larger button and it has a small lip on the edge to keep your thumb from slipping off.  The addition of a switch for turning WiFi on and off may not seem like a big deal, but as a DSi user, I can tell you that it is a welcome addition.  On both the DSi and DSi XL, if your WiFi is not enabled, you need to restart your DSi and go into the software settings to turn it back on and then return to your game.  It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but it’s a minor fix to solve a minor problem.  The addition of a second camera on the outside of the 3DS is to aid with the overall 3D theme of the console.  You will now be able to take 3D pictures as a result of the two cameras.  The quality of the photos that they produce has been upgraded to 0.3 megapixels (yeah I know 0.3, but still beats VGA).

Other additions are a motion sensor and a gyro sensor.  These were mentioned in passing and not many details were given, but this will be a huge addition to make for some very interesting gameplay elements.  Other than these changes, the rest is pretty much the same.  The D-Pad and YXBA buttons are solid like the they are on the DSi.  My only complaint is that they went back to a slider for the volume control.  Though it is not as bad as the volume slider on the DS Lite, I don’t know why they would go back when they had it dialed in so well on the DSi.

Overall, this is a very solid package which will take handheld gaming well into the future.  The hardware upgrades are numerous and welcomed.  The software support seems to be starting off very well, which is traditionally a problem for Nintendo systems at launch, besides a few first party titles.  I was very impressed with the package that was presented and this will be a day-one purchase for me sometime in 2011.

GameTrailers Stream Stats

IGN Page Views

IGN Purchase Intent

IGN Page Views Publisher Share

Sony maybe up 1% over last year’s polls, but again, that’s not saying much.  I hope I’m right in assuming that they looked at what Nintendo and Microsoft had this year and kind of backed off to crush it in ‘11.  Ted thinks I’m wrong, but as I explained to him, they had a lot in their war chest they could have unleashed: Uncharted 3, The Last Guardian, FF versus, or a new Kingdom Hearts, perhaps?  They could have had a much better show.  However, I’m sure they know that they can’t just tie, they need a win.  So, here’s to hoping for a breakout TGS… or a better next year.

Thanks to Jesse Divnich of EEDAR for sending me these, and more thanks to IGN.com and Gametrailers.com for putting this information together.

I spent the majority of Wednesday at E3 checking out the Nintendo booth.  They had all of their upcoming games and also plenty of third party games on display for both the Wii and the DS.  There weren’t very many surprises as far as the games that were coming out, but there were a couple of games that were surprisingly fun to play.

I will start with all of the DS games that were featured.  The Nintendo titles that were on display were Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Professor Layton: Unwound Future, and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Mini Land Mayhem.  I got a chance to play Golden Sun and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong but only caught the trailer for Professor Layton.  The newest entry into the Professor Layton series starts off with the Professor receiving a letter from himself from ten years in the future, warning him of the trouble to come.  This should be another solid entry into the puzzle solving series.  Golden Sun was pretty limited for what you could do, but it takes full advantage of the touch controls to cast spells and attack enemies.  Look for more on this title in the future.

My favorite of the Nintendo DS games was Mario Vs. Donkey Kong.  This series of games doesn’t get enough credit, in my opinion.  It is a puzzle-based game in which you must move mechanical Mario around the screen, gathering coins and other bonus items while avoiding spike pits and Donkey Kong’s barrels.  It is very similar to Lemmings from back in the SNES days.  Mecha Mario can only march in one direction until he hits a wall or gets to the edge of the map.  This strategy comes into play when you only have so many items to use for new floors and walls.  If you have missed the other games in the series, do yourself a favor and check this one out.

There were many third party DS games on display as well.  Square Enix was showing off their latest entry in the Dragon Quest series, while Capcom had Okamiden and 5th Cell brought out Super Scribblenaughts.  All three of these games are new entries for existing properites but all three of them looked to stay true to their series’ roots.  Okamiden stood above the rest for me.  No matter what your tastes are for handheld games, it was definitely a great thing to see such a good group of third party titles being supported inside this Nintendo event.

There was also no shortage of third party titles available for play on the Wii.  I got a chance to play Sega’s Sonic Colors, EA Sports’ NBA Jam, and Activision’s GoldenEye 007.  None of these titles were a disappointment in their demo form.  Sonic Colors was a surprise for me, as it looks to be what a Sonic game should be: no story and plenty of speed.  The camera switches back and forth from side scroller to third person follow behind, but in either mode it flows nicely and keeps you moving forward through the level.  My concern here is will there be enough content to justify a $50 price tag?  The NBA Jam demo was just fantastic as EA took the game back to basics.  The Wii controls are very well done and feel very natural for this arcade-style basketball game.  Another item worth noting about this title is that EA let the fans vote for their three favorite players from every team.  Hopefully the upcoming NBA free agency period doesn’t mess up those rosters too much.

The good news with GoldenEye is that it will support multiple control options.  It was playable on the floor, but only in multiplayer and only with the new Wii Classic Controller.  I don’t want to read into this too much, but having it setup with only the Classic Controller is telling me that Activision isn’t putting their full weight behind the WiiMote controls.  That being said, they are shipping the game with a Golden Gun attachment to aid with using the standard Nunchuck/WiiMote combo.  The game played just like a typical Call of Duty title, however, and it worked very well.  The two systems setup at the booth were ready for two- and four-player split-screen, but hopefully the shipped game will support online multiplayer.  Yes Oddjob is in the game and yes, he can throw his hat.

There were plenty of first party Wii games also available.  There was a new Pokémon game, a new Kirby title, another Mario-playing-random-sport game, Wii Party, and then a brand-spanking new Donkey Kong Country game.  I skipped playing the first four and went right for Donkey Kong Country.  This game looks like it will be no slouch, as it is in the same vein as all of the SNES Donkey Kong Country games.  You can play this game in single-player or two-player mode with one player controlling Donkey Kong and the other Diddy Kong.  The two-player game is a co-op game, requiring both players to work together to complete the levels and collect all the items.  For example, Diddy can jump on DK’s back to complete a hover move to jump over larger gaps to reach secret puzzle pieces and all of the letters to spell KONG.

The highlight for Nintendo’s first party software and the winners of longest lines were for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Metroid: Other M.  I didn’t wait in the line for Other M, as there were only four stations setup for this game and it releases at the end of next month.  I did, however, spend an hour of my life waiting in line to get ten minutes in with the first Zelda game built specifically for the Wii.  I wish I could say that it was worth the wait, but it is not the game I was looking for.  I was really hoping that Nintendo would keep moving in the direction of Twilight Princess and continue with a darker theme.  Instead, they have moved in the opposite direction with a much brighter and more colorful color pallet, at least for the demo.  There isn’t a whole lot that you can discover about the story from the game from the demo.  The only new things that you can see from the demo are the new tools that have been added to Link’s arsenal.  You still have your sword, shield, bow and arrows, bombs, and slingshot.  The new additions are a whip, flying beetle, and the ability to roll your bombs like a bowling ball.  I didn’t get much of a chance to mess around with the new items as the demo was limited to 10 minutes.  Instead, I spent more of my time working with the new Wii Motion Plus controls for the sword.  The sword follows your movements almost exactly.  However, how you are holding the WiiMote in your hand is how the sword is represented in the game.  This seems like it would be a great idea, but it didn’t translate that well when fighting enemies.  Even with the Motion Plus attachment, it still felt like waving your arms around until you got an attack to land.  Keep in mind that this is just a demo and that the final game will not be released until the end of this year, which leaves plenty of time for these types of issues to get ironed out.  I would not be upset or surprised if this game does not get pushed back from holiday 2010 to a spring 2011 release date.  I still have pretty high expectations for this game, but so far they have not been met.

That about wraps it up for the software that Nintendo featured at E3. Overall, I was pretty happy with the games that I played, and the future looks bright for both the Wii and the DS.  The main thing that impressed me was Nintendo’s support for the third party developers.  Often frowned on for their system’s lack of third party games, Nintendo not only has good third party games to look for in the next couple of months, but they are using the largest stage possible to help bring more attention to them.  The first party games that they have in the pipe are also something to be excited for.  All of this new software is coming out and I didn’t even get a chance to mention the biggest announcement of them all, the new Nintendo 3DS.

I’m probably not alone in this one, but the original Disney classic Tron was one of my favorite movies growing up.  It had a huge following, including some ridiculous guy that became an internet icon after he dressed up in a costume that lit up.  Tron could also possibly be one of the first “Movie Games” with its arcade-only companion that took you into the world of the game.  At the time, Tron’s interactive experience made the game and ahead of its time.

28 years later, the Tron world is getting a redux and it’s looking like they might be able to pull off the success the original game saw again.  With the dynamic duo of Movie and Game, they are reaching to make the experience just as captivating as it was back in 1982.

Tron Legacy is set to hit theaters this winter and is already generating a lot of hype; at E3, the unveiling of Tron Evolution is doing the same.  Showing off some of the original props from the new movie and a giant light cycle model, Disney made a great showing and left people wanting to see more.

We were able to get some hands-on time with the two new Tron games to accompany the movie this winter: Tron Evolution for Xbox360/PS3 and Tron Evolution Battle Grid for the Wii.  Chris Whiteside, the Design director from Propaganda Games, was on-hand to give us a guided tour into the inspiration for Tron Evolution.

Tron Evolution melds parkour 3rd person platforming with your main weapons (being your agility and your disc).  Playing as a law enforcement officer in the computer world, you are charged with protecting Olivia Wilde’s character, which has not yet been announced.  The game is a story-driven prequel that leads up to the events of the movie.  Also, Chris stated that the movie and the game will be interwoven in some ways, and there will be parts in the movie that will reference events from the game.

The art style and the world of Tron were top priority.  According to Chris, they did tons of research on the world’s background to tie-in as many authentic touches that old fans would recognize and enjoy, while adding a new-age updated look and feel.

While movie tie-in games generally have a weak track record, this game is looking like it’s not just an afterthought to ride the coattails of a blockbuster, but a true duality that will give fans a singular experience in two kinds of mediums, as evidenced by the time we spent flipping around throwing discs derezzing people and experiencing the amazing light cycle chase scene.

Gunnar is a company that makes glasses for people who stare at a computer or any digital screen for extended periods of time.  The tinting on their glasses “filters specific wavelengths to selectively neutralize harsh parts of the color spectrum”. What that means in English is that your eyes don’t get nearly as tired, if at all, from staring at a screen all day.  I got a pair of their amber tinted ones a while back from Rich, and right after I got them I started playing Battlefield Bad Company 2; the combination of the killer game and the lack of eye fatigue kept me crushing for hours.  That was cool and all, but when we set up the booth tour I figured it would be more of the same; I was actually blown away by what I saw.

I should start by explaining that it wasn’t a booth so much as it was a bus outside of the convention center filled with cool shit.  The back of the bus had seating for the six of us and had a 3D TV mounted on the wall.  The TV was playing UT2k4 and I knew I was in the right spot.  It was a few minutes before they were ready so I started trying on various Gunnar glasses they had on display in the back.  I found some standard 3D glasses, as well as some amber tinted Gunnars, but then I saw a few pairs with clear lenses.  I threw those on and holy shit, the 3D makes Unreal look…  well, Unreal!  Gunnar is now making 3D glasses that are a million times better than any I have ever seen before.  With the standard 3D glasses from a theater, the center may look alright, but the edges are fuzzy and warped.  Gunnar’s design, materials and polarizing filters provide an unparalleled viewing experience.  Not to mention that they are a lot more stylish than the BCGs you get from the theater.  They might cost more, but to quote Gunnar,

“a $300 million movie shouldn’t be experienced with eyewear that costs less than a
gum ball.”

Gunnar announced that they are working on 3D prescription glasses as well, but there is no ETA for them at this time.

In addition to their 3D glasses, Gunnar also has announced glasses developed specifically for the graphic/video geeks out there too!  The Gunnar CRySTALLINE lens tint and coating provides an equally-balanced color spectrum that allows you to see every color properly.  This is a must-have item for anyone that does a lot of video or image editing.

All in all, it was a great tour; they were extremely hospitable, provided us with drinks, and had a great presentation.  I think the thing that left the best impression on me was just how great everyone on that bus was.  Mark chatted us up for a while after the tour and Rishi was awesome, not to mention the DJ Scratching outside the bus as well.  Thanks again for the tour and the ride!  If you want to snag a pair of these, check out http://www.Gunnars.com.  Do it!