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]

I will be getting the Deluxe Edition from Steam for $60 which includes the game, the soundtrack, making-of video, bonus Babylon Civilization as well as a free map pack when you pre-order (which I will be doing). To add to that, the game is fully integrated with Steamworks which will give you cloud support, achievements, and all the other great stuff that anybody that plays games on Steam has become dependent upon.

So here is my problem with the Special Edition. I love the convenience of having the game on Steam; I am not one of those people that needs a physical copy of the game and actually prefer to not have a disc. The Deluxe Edition on Steam gives me everything the Special Edition has except for the figurines and the art book. I would love to have those two item but there is no way I can justify spending the extra $40 for those two items and then add the inconvenience of having the game on a disc on top of it.

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.

As many of you know from listening to our podcasts, I’m an avid fan of the Zelda franchise.  Though I’ve gotten a lot of crap from Cory and Dr. Whomiller over never having played “the best Zelda” (A Link to the Past), I still think I know a thing or two when it comes to the world of Hyrule; more specifically, what a good Zelda game should consist of.  Without further ado, here’s my recap of the Skyward Sword demo that I got to play at E3 this year.

The demo starts you off in a forest of some sort, where you’re thrown into a basic environment so you can get your bearings and become familiar with how Link is controlled, and how to use his various new weapons.  I encountered a couple of familiar enemies during the demo, such as Deku Babas and Keese.  Combat has been improved upon in the sense that it takes a degree of strategy now to actually defeat foes.  The Deku Babas will now open their mouths either vertically or horizontally, and it’s up to you to predict how they’ll attack.  They can only be defeated with the correct corresponding slash; for example, if a Deku Baba opens its mouth vertically, it can only be killed with a vertical slash.  If you execute a horizontal attack when the Deku Baba is open vertically, Link’s sword bounces off the monster and you’re left vulnerable for a moment while you recover.  Whenever this happened to me, the Deku Baba usually immediately counter-attacked, so you’ll definitely want to use the correct attacks against each enemy.

After I hacked and slashed my way through a patch of Deku Babas, I made my way through a cave where I tested out a new weapon, Link’s whip, on some startled Keese.  It really goes without saying, but the whip relied heavily on subtle movements from the WiiMote (exactly as the Master Sword does).  I’ve heard a lot of people complaining that though Nintendo is claiming the controls are 1:1 for this game, they aren’t.  Well, after getting to try it out first-hand, I’d have to say it’s pretty darn close to 1:1.  Even slight movements of my wrist were detected, and on screen, Link mimicked everything I did.  The whip was a little strange to control with this aspect; it felt as though the tip of the weapon responded to the movements you would execute, rather than its handle.

Another new weapon Link has acquired in Skyward Sword is the beetle, which is more or less what it sounds like: a mechanical beetle.  This device has become the replacement for the boomerang.  You launch it and it will retrieve an item for you, simple as that.  If you’ve played Twilight Princess, however, you’ll notice that the beetle can be controlled much like the falcons you can call on occasionally.  When I played, I used the beetle to pluck a piece of fruit out of a nearby tree.  Once you pick up items, you’ll switch to an overhead view and a target will display below the beetle.  Essentially, you can use this weapon to pick up various items and use them as bombs against enemies.

There are several new gameplay mechanics that have been implemented into Skyward Sword as well.  Link can no longer roll; instead, he is given the incredibly useful ability to dash.  This useful technique, however, is limited with a stamina meter.  From my experience with it, your stamina doesn’t deplete very fast, so expect to be dashing most everywhere in this game.  Link is still quite agile and acrobatic, which comes in handy while battling monsters; he can still back-flip and jump from side-to-side like no one’s business.  Again, battles have become more strategic.  You really need to be aware of what you’re doing and you also need to anticipate your foe’s movements to successfully defeat them.  They’ve also changed the way you throw bombs – you can roll them like a bowling ball now, as well.  The demo ends right around the time you finish a battle against a Stalfos.

Now, there are a lot of things I haven’t mentioned yet that I should, like the art style and game’s overall graphics.  Skyward Sword has stepped away from the more mature look of Twilight Princess to something closer to Ocarina of Time.  The subtle cell-shading in the game is a familiar throwback to Wind Waker, as well as a few other things, such as the cartoonish design of some of the enemies (namely Moblins and Stalfos), and the way monsters disintegrate after they are defeated (they fade to black and then explode in a colorful smoke, ala Wind Waker).  Most everyone in the Golgotron Crew is complaining about how the graphics look worse than Twilight Princess, which was just a Game Cube game ported over to the Wii.  With this statement, I don’t agree.  I would say the graphics in Skyward Sword are better than its predecessors, but the new cell-shaded art style makes it seem like the game looks fuzzy.  To me, it looks like it’s less cell-shaded and more like it’s a watercolor painting.  It is said that the graphical design of the game was inspired by Paul Cézanne, an impressionist artist, and comparing screenshots with the French artist’s work, I’d agree.  I think the game definitely has a graphical improvement over Twilight Princess, and looks absolutely beautiful.

So there you have it, folks.  All that’s left in this article is for me to rant about how excited I am for this game.  I’ve never been disappointed by a 3D Zelda title(even though I was slightly put-off by Wind Waker initially because I wasn’t sure about the graphics) so I’m sure I’ll be pleased with this.  I had a lot of fun with the demo for Skyward Sword and can’t wait to play the full game in 2011.  To everyone else that doesn’t agree with my love for this game, I can only say this to you: Haters gon’ hate.

We all know that most of the Golgotron Crew are avid Pokémon fans.  Hell, everytime Molly opens her mouth she’s spewing out something about Pokémon or those stupid-ass Final Fantasy games.  Regardless, we were all aflutter, and by we I clearly mean me, when we got word that some live footage found its way to teh internetz.

The trailer debuted yesterday on the Japanese TV show Oha Suta much to the delight of the weeaboo community.  In it, we get our first look at the 3D world, as well as a couple new Pokemanz, and a look at the fully-animated combat.  There also appears to be 3 on 3 battles and a more involved storyline.  We pulled the video from Flib.de, and the fine people at GoNintendo.

Sources:
Flib.de
GoNintendo

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.