Eye Up Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine in Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Waste of flesh, is what you all are. Shuma Gorath's words, not mine. Hard not to love the one-eyed cockiness of a hideous octopoid demon. And if that's not your cup of tea, you can roll with the sleek humanoid curves of Jill Valentine. Marvel vs. Capcom 3's first batch of DLC characters has something for everyone! 

March 15 is the due date for these two, if that digital currency is burning a hole in your console, you'll only have to wait a bit longer.

REVIEW: Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Capcom's Versus series is one of the quirkiest and most respected fighting franchises in the industry today. Its last entry, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom may not have captured a broad audience due to its Wii exclusivity, but Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has charmed both OGs and new gamers alike. Alas, the 11 year old game has shown its age. With the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, fans of the fight have let out a collective sigh of relief, but does the Fate of Two Worlds take us for a ride?

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3 DLC Shows New Costumes, Teases New Characters

If you have yet to purchase Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I ask you this: what the hell is wrong with you?! While you're busy lollygagging on possibly 2011 most anticipated release, Capcom is making moves on the DLC tip. They got schedules, schedules of DLC that detail what you'll miss if you haven't copped Marvel vs. Capcom 3 yet, and what date you'll miss it. 

Landing on March 1 is the first of many costume packs, which re-outfits 6 of your fighters in stylish new duds. Ryu gets thrown back to his Street Fighter gear, complete with terrible slippers. Dante gets ladies with his fathers features in his Sparda outfit. Chris Redfield gets hooked up in his duds from the original Resident Evil, though unfortunately he doesn't bring his stroke face with him. On the Marvel side of things, Thor rocks his tried and true 80's suit that I grew up with. It's not quite Beta Ray Bill, but it will have to do for now. Iron Man gets all TSA on your ass with his Iron Patriot gear that was worn by Norman Osborn for a hot minute. And saving the best for last, Captain America lets his locks hang, with the maskless Steve Rogers look, complete with the sweet freakin' shield. This pack runs you $5 on PSN, or 400 MS points if you're using funny money.

Also dropping March 1 is the first Shadow Mode DLC pack, which allows you to play against AI controlled characters who are programmed to fight in the style of several notable Capcom staffers; producer Ryota Niitsuma, along with assistant producer Akihito Kadowaki and a namless "QA team leader". Bet he's the worst of the bunch! 

And finally, news from the rumor mill. Everybody who's anybody knows about the first two downloadable characters, Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine. Now grain of salt, but a eagle-eyed reader of Destructoid did some digging in Marvel vs. Capcom 3's coding and found two things of interest. Namely Frank West and Doctor Octopus, who either will be added as DLC or are left over code as character that didn't make the final cut. It was already said that Frank West was in an early build of the game and cut at the last minute, but fuck it, keep fingers crossed these guys get added in. I would love to whoop some ass with Doc Ock.

Galactus Celebrates his Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Reveal with 185 Hits

Galactus is a busy man. When he's not eating planets, or being a douchebag, he makes appearances frustrating the shit out of gamers, most recently in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. 

He appears, talks a whole lot of mess, creates Cosmic infused clones of Marvel and Capcom villains, then takes off, presumably to feed his cat. After you're done with the clones, who happen to have the ability to consistently double team you, Galactus returns and casually laces you with 185 hits of finger lasers, before he hammer-fists, and subsequently KOs the Earth. Good times!

The encounter looks like a stressful affair for sure, but taking on Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison at 8 stars was no cakewalk either. Totally ready for Galactus and his cheap tactics.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Gives You Voice Options

One of the under-appreciated, but incredibly freaking awesome features of Street Fighter IV was the ability to not only toggle voice tracks from English to Japanese, but to choose which characters you wanted to adjust. Capcom knows what we like, and that's why they're bringing this feature over to Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Sort of. 

While you'll be able to choose which of Capcom's brawlers you want to sound like goof balls in English, and which you want to sound much cooler in Japanese, Marvel's fighters don't appear to have that option. Understandable perhaps, but I would find much twisted pleasure in hearing Captain America scream out his Stars & Stripes in perfect Japanese. 

Oh well. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, it's going to be nice to hear at least some Japanese amidst six fighters beating the X out of each other.

None of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's Secrets are Safe!

Update: Videos have been taken down by Capcom. Here's a picture of Galactus being a douche bag instead. Less than two weeks until release, suck it up!

Another day, more leaked Marvel vs. Capcom 3 information. Up today are the full intro cinematic and spoilerrific boss battle. If you plan on being surprised at MvC3's final battle, avoid at all costs. Though I'm sure that if you keep up gaming news on the interwebz, this won't be much of a surprise.

The boss battle can be found here. Do not click if you hate spoilers. This is your final warning.

Sentinel and Hsien-Ko are Marvel vs. Capcom 3's "Final" Fighters

Sentinel and Hsien-Ko are Marvel vs. Capcom 3's final two characters. Supposedly. Though between DLC and unlockables, I'm not ready to sign off on any finalizations.

Could Marvel and Capcom could've done better with this last two slots? Possibly, Capcom especially with the news that Frank West and Phoenix Wright were late cuts, I'd much rather have either of them than Hsien-Ko, whose bandwagon I never really hopped on. I'm feeling Sentinel though, especially since it's almost guaranteed that he'll have his mango colors. That's right baybee, the Knicks say fuck you too!

via Eurogamer

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 New Challengers! Taskmaster and Akuma

Further proving that no secret is safe on the interwebz, today Capcom has revealed two of their worst kept secrets; Taskmaster and Akuma. 

Akuma has been hinted at pretty much forever, but was officially unofficially sealed last week when he was listed as a playable character on a retailers Marvel vs. Capcom 3 listing, with game artwork and all. Taskmaster was given up when MvC3 comic book artist put some of his work on his online portfolio, which included art of Taskmaster, and Galactus as well (though he hasn't been announced -- yet). 

Akuma is Akuma. People can argue all day whether or not he's a Ryu clone, and whether his inclusion is a waste of a roster spot. I read something a few weeks ago that stated Akuma has been in every Versus title to date, as well as being the first crossover character to appear in one of my favorite all time fighters, X-Men: Children of the Atom. Maybe he's just a sentimental choice at this point, but regardless, I don't see myself playing too much Akuma. 

Taskmaster on the other hand, woo-wee, he's looking hotter than some fresh baked biscuits! He's got a bevy of attacks to compliment all his weapons, as well as shield deflecting functions and all that jazz! Of course, as a muscle mimic, he'd be incomplete without a way to steal his enemies moves, which is both awesome and accounted for. 

Everything is starting to fall into place for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. People are growing more excited as release nears. Even the God of Thunder himself can't stop talking. 

CES11: All About Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Photography by Mark Hagan

I came to Vegas having played Marvel vs. Capcom 3 a few times prior, so for the most part I knew what to expect. Capcom's set up in a posh suite high atop the swanky Aria hotel left nothing to be desired. Four stations housing the Fate of Two Worlds; three with fightsticks, and one with a gamepad for those who prefer less protrusion. One of the stations was even streaming its matches live on Capcom-Unity. Good stuff, all around.

Coupled with the the pimp setting, Capcom broke out the newest build of the game. Well, what I thought was the newest. The CES whirlwind had put me out of touch with the week's news, so word that Mike Haggar and Phoenix had been confirmed as the latest challengers almost slipped past me, until Capcom PR and all around awesome dude Jason Allen enlightened me. Before the announcement of the two newest fighters, the build we played had everyone who was previously announced. MODOK, Zero, Storm, She Hulk, Arthur, Magneto, X-23, Wesker, Tron Bonne, Dormammu, C. Viper. Did I miss anyone? Of course I did, but you get the jist. 30 playable characters thus far, and I'd be happy with that. Bigger and badder though, the folks at Capcom and Marvel aim to please, so we can expect a ballpark of around 38, not including any DLC characters.

I played some X-23, who was fast as hell. She made moves around the screen real estate and dished it out close range in blazing bursts. My type of fighter, all the way. I also messed around with Zero, who didn't seem to play much at all like his Tatsunoko vs. Capcom counterpart, though I could just be rusty. His style of laser sabering and charged shots was fun, but will definitely take a lot of practice to master. Finally, MODOK was a great big 'what the fuck' moment for me. My rush n' pummel tactics were not well received by the lumbering, big-ass head. He seems like more of the thinking man's fighter, who methodically picks apart his enemies mentally before punishing them physically. 

The ebb and flow of MvC3's play styles are encouraging. The game moves slower than Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and each character seems to have their own weight and pace, unlike the 2nd installment, where 75% of the combatants best strategy was rush rush rush. 

Just for the hell of it, I asked when Galactus and Taskmaster would be revealed. No comment. I asked whether or not the holiday picture reveal of Haggar was intentional. No comment. You win this round, Capcom.

February 15th can't come soon enough.

Check back in the coming days for video behind Capcom's lines at CES!

Oops! Someone Just Leaked Two More MvC3 Characters

Galactus (left), and Taskmaster (right) loafing around with Super Skrull, as illustrated by Kevin Sharpe

The Eagle-eyed boys at Shoryuken.com have just assured that Marvel vs. Capcom 3 comic book artist Kevin Sharpe never gets a gig in this town again. They've brought to light that Sharpe has posted some of his work from the MvC3 comic to his online portfolio.

Maybe Capcom hadn't informed Mr. Sharpe that not all the characters have been revealed yet, because he just blew the top on both Galactus and Taskmaster, both of whom have been previously rumored combatants, the former as the boss of the whole damn game. Word on the interwebz travels about as fast as a blown secret, so of course the source images can no longer be found on Sharpe's portfolio.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are one step closer to closure on Marvel vs. Capcom 3's roster. Capcom, you may now roll out the Galactus and Taskmaster trailers.