Zombies on the way!

Capcom granted the wishes of more then a few survival horror fans when they announced the coming release of genre classics Resident Evil 2, 3 and Dino Crisis for PSN.

Thankfully, Capcom PR has said that gamers won’t have to wait much longer before they can play the classic titles on their PS3 or PSP.

According to Capcom’s Chris Kramer, the games will be out “within the next three months.”

While Kramer stressed that they “can’t be more specific at this time,” with that kind of timeline it can’t be too long before scare junkies have a date to salivate over. Now if only they’d add Dino Crisis 2 to the list…

Oh Wonderboy, what is the secret of your power?

It’s truly no secret that, somehow, one of this year’s biggest titles is nothing more than an 8-bit revival to one of gaming’s heartiest of franchises. But Mega Man 9 sees no use in merely being nostalgic in its presentation, but also in the sheer difficulty of achieving your main goal.

Or twelve, really.

(more…)

We tried to wait for the blue bomber.

We watched his franchise spawn many branches and go through numerous changes. And then, we weren’t so sure we wanted to wait any longer.

A lot of the adults playing games today started that habit in their childhood. Primarily, marketing departments aim for the 20-24 age bracket of young men, and believe they’re only capable of playing Halo and more Halo. This results in a lack of gameplay variety amongst AAA releases. Because a lot of these aimed-for consumers played Mega Man entries during the late 1980’s and mid-90’s, and Master Chief’s diminutive predecessor was also armored and did have a gun he could shoot, maybe executives thought it wouldn’t hurt to release a title like that today. Were they right?

There are no franchises I love more than Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, but I don’t see the sense in a release that mimics graphics from 1988. One could argue that Mega Man has never been about originality, but over the years, it did introduce Rush, new moves (like the slide), additional playable characters, and more. It was the same old, same old at its core, but it did evolve. Why buck that trend? In this effort to revitalize the original series, and after the fine Mega Man X8, why are we going so far backward in time?

This is a game about robots, isn’t it? You know, from the future? Where things are supposed to be… advanced?

Regardless, I await the game, knowing that Keiji Inafune is involved and this isn’t just some throw-together knock-off (even though it looks like that so far). If he’ll be able to infuse some excellence, much as he did with MMX4 and the original Zero, I’m all for it. More closure beyond what Mega Man 2: The Power Battles’s story offered? Please, I’d love that too. What about a memorable soundtrack? Oh, that better be there! It’s going to be hard to top the music from the series’s NES entries, along with inspired tunes by modern bands like The Protomen, and unofficial remixes by Japanese doujin artists.

In other words, you’ve got your work cut out for you, Capcom. Fans are jaded, and the market group you’re aiming for already rejected the wonderful Mega Man Powered Up!. This has to be amazing, and is it going to be?

Does anyone even care?

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.

Now with some nifty online features.

For the five of us who have not been swallowed by the Halo 3 hype machine, I offer this tasty morsel:  the venerable Sega Genesis classic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, is now available for purchase on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 400 points (or five dollars).

It is part of the SEGA Vintage Collection, which is essentially a way of saying that they are going all Square Enix with their library, but in a more economically reasonable manner.  While there is no online co-op mode, you can utilize the Internets to play the versus mode.

Classic games enhanced with some form of online multiplayer…  Are you paying attention, Nintendo?

Granted, Sonic 2 has seen several releases over the years.  However, if you suffered a deprived childhood, or if you didn't pick up Sonic Mega Collection a few years back (and shame on you if you didn't), go ahead and part with your points.  It's a small price to pay to experience blast processing in its arguably finest form.

And now, special "behind the scenes" insight that you couldn't care less about: I should point out that this isn't exactly "news," as it was released a couple weeks ago.  But when your day job encroaches on the twilight and seeks to also become your night job, these things happen.  Hopefully, I will soon have enough capital raised to open Andrew's Dildo Emporium.  From then on, as an independently wealthy entrepreneur, I will be able to bring you the latest and greatest in a more timely manner.

That's my roundabout way of saying I've been busy over the past couple of weeks, but everything is now back to normal.  If any non-Halo 3 news drops in the near future (unlikely), I'll let you know.

It's gotta be cheaper than 16 NeoGeo games on VC. 

Anyone who was considering purchasing individual NeoGeo games on Virtual Console for $9 a pop, you may want to wait a little while and see what games will be making their way on to SNK's recently announced NeoGeo Collection for the Wii. No specific titles have been mentioned but there are going to be sixteen of them, so chances are there'll at least be a few that catch your eye.

It should be interesting to see how they price this, since collections such as these usually sell for $20 and no more than $30. Quite a bit cheaper than the $144 that sixteen NeoGeo games would cost you in WiiPoints. And certainly much cheaper than the $3200 the games originally retailed for.

If there are 3-4 games on it you want, it's already paid for itself in that regard, and the rest are just gravy. I'm hoping there are at least a handful of games included that aren't 2D fighters…

[via GoNintendo]