Capcom Makes a strong showing at WonderCon

Last weekend, as you all know, was the Wondercon spectacular and Forbiddenpanel had front row seats to this very cool comics and more show. Unfortunately for yours truly, the gaming section was extremely limited. There were only three game companies representing their wares this year. Nintendo, Namco and Capcom. All presenting some pretty cool games though and we will go through some of the highlights of what Capcom had to bring to the table.

DuckTales Remastered has seen the development team take the levels and layout from the original 1989 release as a foundation before expanding upon them to significantly enhance the gameplay experience but where this update truly impresses is its graphics and sound. All of the visuals from the 8-bit game have been beautifully re-created as hand-drawn and animated sprites, across a backdrop of luscious, re-envisioned level backgrounds. Furthermore, original Disney Character Voices talent, including some from the cartoon TV series, bring in-game characters to life with charm and wit, while the classic melodies of the original soundtrack are given a modern twist.

Further additions to the original include an all new tutorial level where players can get familiar with the iconic pogo jump and cane swing; while Scrooge McDuck’s Museum allows players to track all their stats and compare their progress with others via global leaderboards.

A Disney Interactive licensed property, DuckTales Remastered is being developed for Capcom by WayForward and is scheduled for release digitally on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Wii U™ this summer.

While walking around the Con, I ran into Tad Stones, who produced the original Darkwing Duck series. Though the beloved Darkwing isn’t in Disney’s DuckTales Remastered, it was still an awesome nostalgic moment to run into one the creators of  such an amazing era in animation! Stones told me that he hadn’t worked on the Capcom game but that he has a new project in the works with the hopes of getting back in the saddle with Disney. Let’s hope they greenlight his project.

Playing DuckTales Remastered was exciting and a huge bummer at the same time. It was so awesome to replay a game from my childhood and see the evolution of technology and seeing the once 8-bit characters redrawn into a high level experience. The controls I used were for the Xbox and it was really intuitive. I will admit that the Pogo Jump did take me a little bit to master but once I had it, good old Scrooge McDuck was bouncing on his cane like a mad duck! The extreme downside to this was that I only had 7 minutes to play the demo.  🙂 The demo took me through some exposition between Scrooge and his nephews but other than going through a couple of areas, all i got to do was bounce on a few treasure chests and collect some gems and try to avoid the ghosts. All in all, still a fun game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, players take on the role of a hunter and are sent to explore a settlement within the Monster Hunter™ universe, completing quests on their journey to seek and slay monsters while improving their skills and earning equipment upgrades. With an additional 38 monsters since the release of Monster Hunter™ Tri, extra stages, hundreds of additional quests and thousands of new pieces of equipment, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the most expansive offering of the series to date.

Players can experience the world of Monster Hunter alone or with three friends in local multiplayer on Nintendo 3DS, while Wii U players will be able to form hunting parties of up to four players online or enjoy the hunt with Nintendo 3DS players via a local wireless connection. Nintendo 3DS players will also have access to play online via the Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Packet Relay Tools for Nintendo 3DS (appropriate cables required and sold separately), which utilizes the Wii U hardware to play online using one Nintendo 3DS hand-held system.

Hunters who own both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions of the game will be able to transfer their own personal save data from the Wii U version to their copy on Nintendo 3DS, and vice versa, taking the hunt from the living room to the streets in immersive 3D. In order to do so, players must download the “Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Data Transfer Program” for the Nintendo 3DS in the Nintendo eShop.

This being the third venture in the franchise it wasn’t surprising to see long lines of gamers waiting their turn to play the game.! I spoke with one avid gamer, but first time MH player,  Gio Carr, as he was playing the game to get his insight at Capcom’s latest iteration. Although he was more than happy to answer my questions, his concentration was most definitely focused on the game. Between kills he managed to explain that “I really love the design that MHU3 has. It’s really beautiful to look at– the monsters, the environments, all of it.  But the monsters seemed derivative of previous creations I’ve seen in other games and the gameplay is painfully slow. My character, the Samurai, moved way too slow. He looked like a fast character and I expected his movements to be much quicker but he slashed like he was branding a broad sword.”

Considering this a big release, Gio felt disappointed because he wasn’t seeing anything new to get him excited.  “I know it was just a demo, but because I am not familiar with the story, I didn’t feel super engaged. Other game demos have shown me enough wow factor that I couldn’t wait to buy it.  MHU3 didn’t have anything that stood out as a unique, innovative experience. It was instantly familiar–which is a good and bad thing. Positive note–it was great to look at.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Capcom titles:

There was such a mad rush of gamers around the Capcom booth that it was really difficult to get any play time myself. Since this was a consumer event, the fans got the V.I.P. treatment and I was left to watch behind the ropes. Here’s the other games that Capcom was showing.

Resident Evil Revelations features two brand new enemies, including the Wall Blister and a surprise new creature that appears in Raid Mode once players have reached a certain level. Screenshots of both are available for download today.

Wii U players will be able to take advantage of the unique features of that system with three different styles of play. Using the screen on the GamePad players can quickly access their map and weapons, or switch the GamePad out for a Wii U pro controller.  Alternatively, players are able to transfer all the horror to the GamePad as the title utilizes Off TV play.

The Miiverse feature will offer Wii U players further exclusives. Players can post a dying message on the Game Over screen for other players around the world to see.  The ‘Creatures Voice’ function allows players to personalize the thoughts of enemies in Raid Mode to taunt their friends. Screens of all the Wii U functions can be downloaded here.

Resident Evil Revelations supports Residentevil.net with online events and in-game connectivity planned for after launch. Exclusive dioramas of the game’s characters and enemies can be collected through the online service. Earn custom parts and weapons for use in Raid Mode and items for Campaign Mode.

Resident Evil Revelations will be released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii U across North America on May 21 and Europe on May 24.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capcom and Valve are going to band together and work on the Resident Evil® 6 x Left 4 Dead 2 project. This crossover project between two of the interactive entertainment industry’s most respected publishers will see characters from Left 4 Dead™ 2 featured exclusively in the forthcoming PC version of Resident Evil® 6, while enemies from Resident Evil 6 will invade the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2. All content will be made available completely free for fans of either game to access and play.

Owners of Resident Evil 6 PC will be able to select one of four survivors from Left 4 Dead 2’s iconic cast – Coach, Nick, Ellis and Rochelle – when playing PC exclusive mode, The Mercenaries No Mercy. Each character will have a special customized weapon load-out created just for use in Resident Evil 6.  In addition to the four survivors, two of the infamous Special Infected zombies from the Left 4 Dead franchise – the Witch and Mini Tank – will also make a cameo appearance in this mode, relentlessly attacking players regardless of whether a character from Left 4 Dead 2 or Resident Evil 6 is chosen. This new and exclusive content will automatically be downloaded in the background to all owners of the PC version of Resident Evil 6 from April 5.

Making the leap to the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will be some of Resident Evil 6’s most fearsome enemies – Lepotitsa, Napad and Ogroman. All three characters were brought to life in Left 4 Dead 2 by Valve’s renowned developers using its Steam Workshop tools. Owners of the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will be able to face a new deadly challenge when Resident Evil 6 characters infect Valve’s classic zombie title this spring.

Commenting on the crossover project, Chet Faliszek from Valve stated: “We’re huge Resident Evil fans, so when the opportunity arose to work directly with Capcom to combine L4D2 and RE6, we jumped at it.”

Resident Evil 6 Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi added: “The Resident Evil 6 team really enjoyed working on this crossover, and we’re confident that our fans will have a great time with it too! We hope you enjoy this unique content.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the recent announcement of Capcom Arcade Cabinet it’s now time to lift the lid and reveal the full list of classic 8-bit titles and how gamers will be able to transform their PlayStation3 or Xbox 360 into their very own customizable, HD 80s arcade.

Starting February 19 until early May, a total of 15 titles from 1984-1988 will be released on a staggered schedule available to purchase digitally either as a series of packs or individually, allowing players to choose what they want to buy. By purchasing all 15 titles, either separately or together, players will gain access to two bonus games absolutely free.

Downloading an individual title or pack will also give access to the Capcom Arcade Cabinet ‘platform’ which provides additional features including DIP switch functionality, a music player, and the ability to capture and share screenshots or video. When playing in standard mode, players will be able to access DIP switch-like settings to adjust their number of lives and difficulty, including a Casual Mode which tones down the difficulty level and makes it more attainable to see the end credits. Further features include 2 player online play for certain titles; a global leaderboard; a training mode with infinite lives to hone your strategy and an option to select either the Japanese or international versions of the individual titles.

In order to share their experiences with friends, PlayStation 3 users will be able to capture video of gameplay to post on YouTube, while Xbox 360 users will be able to upload screenshots to Facebook. Further additions include a sound gallery that allows players to listen to the background music of any of the games in their cabinet, and an art gallery which fills with new pieces as players progress through the games.

Game Pack 1 and the first individual title, Black Tiger, will be available on February 19. Xbox 360 owners will be able to play through the game with a single credit before restarting. On the PlayStation 3, players will have unlimited credits effectively giving them the full game for free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were so many other games represented at the Capcom booth but the one that stood out the most for me and that I am the most excited to play through completely is their new game, “Remember Me”. Out of all the games that I saw at , at WonderCon, this was the only one that impressed me.

Developed by Paris based DONTNOD Entertainment, Remember Me is a third person action adventure game  for PlayStation®3 system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, and Windows PC, published by Capcom and scheduled for release in May 2013.

In Remember Me, players assume the role of Nilin, an elite memory hunter who is not only incredibly athletic and trained in martial arts, but also has the special ability to break into people’s minds and steal or even change their memories. When her own memory is erased, Nilin begins her journey to reclaim her identity and discover how she can change the world.