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Here's what you'll be fighting over at Evo 2012
The organizers of the Evo fighting game tournament series have revealed this year's lineup of games, allowing you to start practicing now! Ideally, you'd have been playing a bunch of fighters already, but now you have a better idea of which ones you should be obsessively replaying. The roster includes Street Fighter X Tekken, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver. 2012, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Soulcalibur 5, King of Fighters 13, and Mortal Kombat. Admittedly, you'll have a harder time getting practice in on a couple of those right now. The locations and dates for this year's events were also announced, with tournaments scheduled for all over the world. Shoryuken has the full list of locations for fightstick-toting pilgrims. This year, there are more tournaments, "which means more chances to earn seeding points." In addition, you can earn those points from any of those games, making it easier to move on if you're not a Street Fighter or MvC3 player.
Best of the Rest: Jordan's picks for 2011
Catherine I have a soft spot for the bizarre and the esoteric. If something is complicated, either through the machinations of its mechanical workings or through the intricacies of its conceptual nature, its hard for me to focus on anything else until I feel like I really understand what I'm looking at. Catherine gave me something to think about, and also made me think about myself, which isn't something I can usually say about puzzle/dating games. The experience is complicated in both the literal and metaphorical sense; its ever-changing puzzle gameplay and surprisingly deep, multifaceted story are the result of brilliant design decisions, exceptional writing and an amazing localization job by Atlus. Catherine managed to satiate my craving for the intellectually surreal while immersing me in the delightfully idiosyncratic world of Japanese storytelling.
Best of the Rest: Jess' picks of 2011
To the Moon Sometimes we play games to ease real-life frustrations, to cure boredom, to slaughter enemies or to participate in a captivating story. To the Moon, developed by Freebird Games, can do all of these things. It doesn't require you to murder any foes, although its very foundation is in death, and it offers a soothing, philosophical story with more depth than its pixelated graphics initially suggest. As a point-and-click adventure, To the Moon is more of an interactive tale than a full-on game, yet it is so engaging that the lack of quests, boss fights or bullets becomes irrelevant. To the Moon chronicles the last day of an old man's life, but that day includes a Benjamin Button-style adventure through his past as a duo of snarky scientists attempt to change his memories. Why? So that his final wish can come true, at least in his mind, before he dies. In the end, To the Moon is a beautiful and complex love story and, though I don't want to give the entire plot away, I'll tell you his final wish has something to do with interstellar travel.
UMvC3's various Vita attributes outlined via trailer
The PS Vita version of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will largely be the same experience as its console-captivating big brother, save for the touch controls, however Capcom has snuck in a few little extras to whet the whistles of anyone who may be on the fence about purchasing a Marvel vs. game for the third time in one calendar year. In addition to sporting Heroes and Heralds mode out of the box, Vita's UMvC3 variant also includes a spectator mode for watching online matches, as well as the ability to record and save match replays, a feature sorely missed from the console release. Players will also be able to import DLC from their PS3, as well as "trade content" with other Vita owners. Which content specifically is tradable, however, is still up in the air. Let's just hope it isn't Pokemon-style character trading; we don't trust ourselves to not accidentally trade Sentinel for a second Hsien-ko.
Latest UMvC3 patch live, includes Heroes and Heralds mode and various fixes
Heroes and Heralds mode, one of Capcom's biggest power plays to convince Marvel vs. Capcom 3 veterans that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 would be worth their time and dollars, has finally been delivered to patiently punching patrons the world over. In this new mode, players can either fight to save the Earth from Galactus and his cosmic crew of ne'er-do-wells, or join said group of miscreants and work towards the planet's inevitable chomping. The mode's big selling point, beyond the shiny silver costumes of course, is the new Ability Card mechanic, which allows players to equip their characters with cards that provide ridiculous and otherwise unobtainable power-ups, such as an X-Factor burst or projectile immunity. Ability Cards are limited to the online and offline versions of Heroes and Heralds, however, so purists need not worry about the numerous balance implications inherent to the system. The patch also fixes several game breaking bugs, including Wolverine's Spencer-assisted Swiss Cheese infinite combo and the Reverse World, as seen in the video above. Most importantly, the "tech throws whenever you want, don't even worry about it" glitch has been corrected, much to the dismay of Wesker haters everywhere.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 'Ancient Warrior' DLC delayed, Magneto's regalia deemed too regal
Bad news, kind of: a selection of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 costume DLC has been bumped a few months, and will offer one fewer option when it gets here. The "Ancient Warrior Pack" DLC, once set for December 20, has been bumped until March 6 in North America, and March 7 in Europe. When it does arrive, it'll be short one costume, the Magneto get-up from Marvel's "House of M" series. Shoryuken notes that the costume has caused a bit of controversy in Spain, due to its resemblance to the traditional garb of king Juan Carlos. We suppose it is a bit undignified to see someone who looks just like your monarch being punched by a space raccoon. For that matter, it's probably not the most flattering thing to be indirectly referred to as an "Ancient Warrior." There's no word on whether the price will change in acknowledgement of the now smaller DLC pack; Capcom said it will announce pricing "closer to launch."
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 lets you use the Vita as a PS3 controller
In an announcement of new Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Vita media (in our gallery), Capcom shared some kind of weird news about the portable port: it allows you to use the Vita as an "Ultimate Controller" for the PS3 version. We're guessing this means you'll be able to use the touch controls when playing the console version. We're sure Hori and Mad Catz are raising their collective, corporate eyebrows at the "Ultimateness" of that option, but more options are always welcome. In addition, the Vita version will offer "exclusive Gold Herald" color options for the characters, essentially making the game look like a battle between Academy Awards. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will be released on February 15, concurrent with the Vita's week-early "First Edition" hardware bundle, providing an escape from Little Deviants.%Gallery-141701%
How UMvC3's Vita touch controls work
Portable versions of fighting games have a long and storied history of using alternate control schemes, although it's primarily been more out of necessity than for the sake of innovation. These days, however, modern handheld systems (like Sony's upcoming Vita) offer just as much input dexterity as their shelf-based counterparts, if not more so, to the point where developers are able to expand and experiment with their control paradigms. The Vita port of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, for example, makes use of both the device's touch screen and its rear capacitive touch panel for movement and attacks. Moving your finger horizontally along the back panel moves your character left or right, moving it down makes them duck and moving it up makes them jump. Attacks are initiated by tapping the screen, and hyper-combos are triggered by tapping the hyper meter; assists are called in by tapping the respective character's icon. It sounds like an awful lot of furious tapping and awkwardly loving strokes along the back of the device, and considering that all of your characters' meters could be on the left or right side of the screen, a bit of ambidextrousness may be required as well. Fear not, however: Conventional control methods will be included at no extra charge.
Welcome to UMvC3's Reverse World
Glitches usually come in one of two varieties: The hilarious, and the game breaking. Sometimes, however, you'll stumble across a bug so profoundly weird that it falls into both categories. Enter the "Reverse World," an Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 error which flips the camera 180 degrees on its Z axis, turns the characters into silhouettes and reverses all input motions. As explained in the above tutorial video, the glitch is activated by performing Morrigan's Astral Visions hyper combo and then sliding down a wall as Strider. The effect is devastating to the match, but since the glitch requires the participation of both parties, it doesn't seem like it could be abused for trolling purposes. In fact, we'd take a smiling, floating Servbot over Wesker's DHC glitch any day.
Deja Review: Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. There are certain prerequisites that simply come with being a Capcom fighting game enthusiast. Alongside the need to recognize and understand various fundamentals (mostly in the form of now standardized button combinations), there's also the acceptance that game X will be regularly updated, and largely at the cost of the player. Most revisions bring with them various tweaks to the formula, fixes for flaws that were only discovered once the completed game was in the hands of experts on the tournament circuit. Beefier updates add fighters new and old to the fray, while slightly less substantial but nonetheless obligatory cosmetic enhancements fall closer to the realm of shameless nickel and diming. Most of Capcom's updates have been no-brainers, but in the case of the not-yet-one-year-old Marvel vs. Capcom 3, there is enough cause for trepidation. Could the expanded offerings of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 not be added as DLC? More pressing: Is UMvC3 worth the $40 price of admission? Not surprisingly, it depends entirely upon how much you loved the first edition. %Gallery-137983%
Hori's Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 fight stick hitting US on Dec. 8
In the market for a new fight stick? We know a guy -- well, okay, it's not so much a guy as a big, faceless corporation, but you get the point. Come December 8, you can snag Hori's custom Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 rig for $149.99, Capcom-Unity has revealed. There will be three different versions: the one with the colored buttons above, another with white buttons and a super deluxe edition with built-in cup holder and FM radio. Okay, fine, we made that last one up, but how awesome would that be? So awesome.
All UMvC3 costume DLC priced and dated
Just like any relationship, the one between player and game can grow stale after a while. Eventually the fire dies down, even with a title as good looking and engaging as Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and a little extra something may be required to bring back that spark. As it turns out, the key to reigniting that passion is, just like any relationship, costumes. Separated into (loosely) themed packs of 4 to 5 characters, UMvC3's Costume DLC will be gradually released between November 22 and February 21 at $4.00 (320 MSP) a pop. A "Value Pack" containing all 48 outfits will drop on March 6 at $20.00 (1,600 MSP) for the extremely patient fighters out there; everyone else should peep the gallery below, and hop past the break for a complete character/pack configuration breakdown.%Gallery-139921%
UMvC3 pre-order costumes include Cyber Akuma, Casual Friday Morrigan and more
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 may be out in less than 48 hours, but that doesn't mean you can't cancel your existing pre-order and re-pre-order somewhere else in order to snag one of the exclusive costume packs Capcom detailed on Capcom Unity last Friday. People willing to pre-order from Gamestop will receive the Femme Fatale pack, which provides protective and/or provocative outfits for Morrigan, Chun Li, Storm and X-23. Amazon pre-orders grant the New Age of Heroes pack, which reskins Strider, Sentinel and Doctor Doom in their classic garb, while transforming Akuma into Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter's Cyber Akuma. Best Buy patrons will receive the Villains pack, which includes an Elvis MODOK, as well as less confusing alternates for Wesker, C. Viper and Super Skrull. Capcom also announced two new skins for vanilla MvC3's DLC characters Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorrath, which will be automatically included with new purchases, as well as made available to those who purchased the characters in MvC3. Jump past the break for galleries of each costume pack, and remember to choose wisely. No pre-order bonus is worth buying multiple copies of a game, no matter how unbuttoned Morrigan's shirt is.
Not How It Looks Theater presents: Mega Man X (isn't) in UMvC3
Hold all of your horses, padre, and don't get too excited just yet. See that picture up there? That sparkling, dynamically lit and exceedingly impressive Mega Man, torn from the pages of the upcoming Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 guide and punctuated by an emboldened "DLC" classification? So do we, and it's a lie. The blue bomber's Mega Man X variant won't be joining his sword-wielding comrade in battle, but rather will be providing said comrade with a fancy new outfit. That's right, that's costume DLC for Zero, and that sound you hear is the noise made by a hundred thousand simultaneously shattered hopes and dreams. No word yet on availability or pricing, or whether this means more deceptive DLC costumes await the game's fighters down the line. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to clean up the remnants of our rage-torn office.
Cross-examining Phoenix Wright in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
I'm not the world's biggest Marvel vs. Capcom fan -- I prefer Street Fighter's comparatively slow-and-steady pace to what I often describe as "a bunch of insane stuff flying all over the screen for the entire match" -- but one particular addition to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's roster has me excited. The character in question: None other than ace attorney Phoenix Wright, who's made the jump from his own niche Nintendo DS courtroom adventure series to one of Capcom's biggest fighting game franchises.%Gallery-137983%
Hori reveals Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 arcade sticks
Mad Catz has some competition for Capcom fans' branded-controller budgets, in the form of two Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 arcade sticks from Hori's Real Arcade Pro V series. Announced at an event in Japan, the stick features splash artwork of a bunch of UMVC3 characters, and will be released in Japan on November 17. The PS3 version will sell for ¥13,800, with the Xbox version costing ¥2,000 more. Both the Hori RAP V series and the Mad Catz Tournament Edition S sticks feature genuine Sanwa internals, so the choice of whether to import one of these or a Mad Catz stick is basically personal. Do you want the lighter Hori stick, with a panel made to closely resemble a Vewlix arcade cabinet, or the more easily moddable FightStick? If that's too fiddly a distinction, of course there's always the distinction of "which stick looks nicer to you."
Killian: Marvel licensing responsible for UMvC3 timing
Capcom fighting ambassador Seth Killian offered an explanation we hadn't considered for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's seemingly early release (just nine months after MvC3): Marvel licensing constraints. "We have the license for this specific game, but other companies outside of Capcom have licenses for other Marvel games that impinge," he told Eurogamer. "So we have to find specific times where we're able to release products. It's on the Capcom side and on the Marvel side." He added that "I don't ask anybody to feel sympathetic about that." As for why the game is a standalone product on a separate disc, rather than DLC, Killian cited the slow adoption of DLC in Japan. "Capcom obviously has strong roots in the disc based tradition," he said. "That's the way most games are sold in Japan, so this is the way to approach it naturally. Clearly they're active in a global market, but are putting their toes in the water of shifting tastes for consumers in other places. Having just an all DLC release would be considered a strange move in Japan. Having an all DLC release would be odd." Taking a game about a lawyer fighting a sentient space raccoon, and then letting you download it. That would be odd.
Meet Frank West and Rocket Raccoon, UMvC3's latest fighters
No doubt, most (if not all) of you are intimately familiar with Frank West and his impressive photojournalist/zombie murderer resume. Not only has he fought for his very life against imesurable odds, but he's also fought for Capcom against Japan's historic anime alumni in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. His survival instinct is apparently up to snuff, and as such he'll be fighting alongside Ryu and the others in next month's Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. You may not, however, be as familiar with the latest addition to Marvel's cast of characters: Rocket Raccoon. As an anthropomorphic space-jet fighter pilot and military strategist, Rocket predates similar ilk by 17 years, originating in the mid 70s and eventually becoming a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Ironically enough, both characters feel reminiscent of MvC2's Jill Valentine; namely, Frank's ability to summon zombies and Rocket's zoning traps. Check out Frank's introduction trailer above and Rocket's after the break, followed by two enlightening match videos featuring the new fighters.%Gallery-137983%
Have a beer, play Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 a week early in a London bar
Villain, a bar in London's Shoreditch neighborhood, is hosting a preview night of Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 on Nov. 9, one week before the game is released and because that's what an establishment called "Villain" does. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 will mark the first installment of the bar's monthly "Ultimate Villain" night, which includes six screens for hands-on gameplay held inside of an aircraft fuselage with a car dangling from the ceiling, apparently. If you're of age and you'll be in the Shoreditch area, RSVP to the event here, and if you won't be -- don't fret. Everyone there will probably get too plastered to remember playing the game at all, which also sounds like a lot of fun, just in a different, headache and upset-stomach kind of way.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 character changes, part two: Capcom characters
Last weekend we took a look at the changes coming to Marvel's fighters in November's Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and now it's time to scrutinize the nerfs and buffs being administered to Capcom's side of the isle. Jump past the break for the incredibly "inside baseball" list of adjustments and start planning your strategies accordingly. There's plenty of alterations being thrown around, but MvC3's tiers have been so well defined up until now, we doubt we'll see any fewer C. Vipers in tournament finals, especially now that she has an "Optic Laser," whatever that may be.
