NYCC10: X-Men Arcade, No Quarters Necessary

One of the fondest memories from my childhood was taking vacation with family down to Florida, where the local pristine and hi-tech arcade was home to the much sought after 6-player X-Men Arcade. A world of difference from the local arcades I haunted in Queens New York, which were mostly found in the back of pizza stores and comic book shops. Even then, the best we had were Sunset Riders, Street Fighter: Rainbow Edition, WWF Superstars, and a Neo Geo 4-in-1 cabinet. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ghetto games of my ghetto arcade in the back of the ghetto pizzeria, but damn son, I get to play as Wolverine with five other people? That's what I'm talking about.

When the trailer for X-Men Arcade started rolling at Marvel's Saturday morning video game panel at New York Comic Con, and I realized what it was, my childhood came rushing back. I remembered taking family trips down south, swimming in the pool with with girls more mature than I, being fascinated with their boobs, playing Simpsons Arcade, Tekken, and of course, X-Men Arcade. I also remembered just how much I hated this particular game. Well, hate is a strong word, it was more like I was at odds with it. 

I loved X-Men, and I loved arcades, so it's obvious that the joining of the two would be a dream come true for a snot-nosed punk in the early 90's. And it was for a while, until I couldn't beat it with the quarters allotted to me by my father. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many people who teamed with me, I could never conquer this damned game.

I remember coming close once, really close. I must have spent around five bucks to get to the point I was at, me and one other kid holding it down long after the rest of our team had succumbed to renegade mutants and mutant hunters. The level was epic, the enemies were vicious, and the life was draining quickly. Magneto was the next boss, I could feel it! Boy, was I wrong.

I don't remember the stage, or the boss, but we beat it, and him. Only to move on to the next stage, and die, quickly. Well, I died. My compatriot valiantly fought on, lasting a good 5-10 minutes after me, but he met his inevitable end as well. Dejectedly, we sighed and bid our final farewells as our parents dragged us off, back to the real world.

X-Men Arcade is an awesome throwback to the arcade glory days of my, and probably your, childhood. Unfortunately, Konami says nothing new will be added, so don't expect to be playing as Bishop via DLC. Yes, someone will still be forced to play as disco reject, Dazzler. Not it, I've got infinite dibs on Nightcrawler. That was my man! All things aside, this is an excellent re-release. With six player drop in online support, the fun of the original will be upheld, and you'll be able to save your quarters for laundry. 

So Marvel, what's good with the re-release of Captain America and the Avengers?

NYCC10: Hands On with Mega Man Universe

Since the announcement of  Mega Man Universe, I've been struggling with how to feel about the 'open source' platformer. I had a chance to give the game a shot on the New York Comic Con show floor, and to be honest, I'm still not sure what I think.

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NYCC10: A Few Minutes with Dead Space 2 and a Developer

We had a chance to sit down with Dead Space 2 producer Zach Mumbach and ask him a little about what makes his game tick. In true developer fashion, he doesn't reveal too much, but we get enough out of Zach to make it interesting. 

Before watching him play, I was able to log 10 minutes or so with the demo on the floor, which is "very close" to being an end product. I liked what I saw and enjoyed what I played, the build was polished and handled tightly. The graphics are sharp and detailed, and the environments seem to exist to haunt the player. The sterile and cramped confines of the stage I tried really messed with my head. Blood and severed limbs strewn around the floor panels should have really alerted me, but I was still rightly spooked when a necromorph burst through a panel from behind and forced me into a gruesome retirement.

The experience was topped off by entering an eerily beautiful cathedral area where I fought a boss who has a stinger with a fetus growing on it. Dead Space 2's art designers are sick sons of bitches, I love it. The stinger makes for one of the sickest death animations we saw, and you will too in the video below.

I'm very excited for Dead Space 2, which for a player should be all about ambiance. It's all fun and laughs on the Comic Con show floor, with plenty of lights and a flood of people around, but when the game releases, and it's just you in a dimly lit room with no one home, that's where the real fun begins. 

Dead Space 2 releases January 25th, 2011.

NYCC10: Cosplay Revue

 

We here at Otaku But Gangsta appreciate the fine art of cosplay. We appreciate the effort most people put into it, but to truly earn our respect, your cosplay has to be done right. You need to bring your A-game cousin, because you're in public, thus you're on film, and therefore, you are on the interwebz. So don't screw this up, you only get one chance to shine!

New York Comic Con Cosplay gallery
Photography by Ernie Deeb, David Irlanda, and Eric Blackwood

NYCC10: Hands On With Undead Nightmare

I make my feelings for Rockstar no secret; I enjoy and respect their work and the effort they make. Their games are always so full of life and brimming over with content, however the departure from their light-hearted roots concerned me. C'est la vie, you can't please all of the people all of the time, but Rockstar aims to please however many as possible with their games. So is Undead Nightmare a six feet under snooze or a howl at the moon?

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NYCC10: In Depth With Captain America: Super Soldier

We got a chance to chat with Morgan Roberts, a producer at Sega of America, who was kind enough to demo Captain America: Super Solider and give us some insight into its development.

Morgan was playing a pre-alpha build of the game, which is a stage before in depth testing and finalizations. Even in this early point of its development, what we saw had tons of promise. Be forewarned, the video is lengthy, which speaks volumes for the product on the floor, complete or not. The pre-alpha demo had to have been a good 6 to 8 minutes, which is better than a lot of demos on PSN or XBLA marketplace. 

Good stuff. Captain America: Super Solider is definitely one to keep your eyes on. 

NYCC10: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Reveals New Challengers!

So, I was finally able to get some hands on with Marvel vs. Capcom 3 today, and I'm impressed. I mean, it looked good on it's first few trailers, but something about it didn't excite me. After getting to play, and kicking the ass of two random challengers, I'm sold. You want impressions? I got 'em.

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New York Comic Con Men

Otaku But Gangsta will be at Comic Con all weekend so you don't have to get down on yourself about not being there. We plan on busting our ass to bring you the dopest, livest, funniest, and realest coverage you'll find anywhere on the interwebz. 

We'll be updating at the end of each day with some of the the day's best of show. However for the refined gangsta who wants his or her information immediately, we'll be posting frequent updates on Twitter so our faithful followers will know what's hot, and whats a steaming pile. So sit yo' down, put your fun pants on, and get ready to have your head exploded by the awesomeness. 

Got anything in particular you want to see from the show floor? Hit us up on Twitter and we'll do our best to make your dreams come true, as long as it doesn't involve any sort of penetration. You sick bastard.

Sega Developing WWII Captain America Title

Sega and Marvel are good friends. The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Iron Man 2 games have given good efforts, but generally don't live up to the dreams fanboys have of flawlessly controlling their favorite Marvel heroes in beautifully rendered environments with a compelling storyline. Thor is next in line to receive the Sega treatment in summer 2010, and after that? Mister Avenger himself, none other than Captain America.

Set during World War 2, Captain America: Super Soldier puts players in the flared boots of the ultimate soldier, using his shield, free flowing combat mechanics, and acrobatic platforming to overcome enemies and obstacles. Batman: Arkham Asylum meets Assassin's Creed? Oh Sega, stop it. 

The Cap will face off against Red Skull and his scientifically advanced Hydra army, with the ability to use the iconic shield to deflect incoming fire, incapacitate multiple enemies, climb walls and solve puzzles. Hm, not sure how a shield would be better than hands at climbing a wall, but okay, I'll roll with it for now. No confirmation yet on whether or not you'll be able to hit fools with the Final Justice.

The story will be penned by Marvel vet Christos Gage, who has written Avengers: The Initiative, Siege: Captain America, Iron Man, X-Men, Spiderman, and Civil War: House of M. So that means there's a high probability of the story actually being good, right?

Captain America: Super Soldier gallery

You're Tearing Me Apart, Shenmue!

Shenmue, at the time of it's release on Dreamcast in 1999, was an amazing game. It's been a while since I've played it but I bet it's still pretty good. The graphics were sleek, the story was deep, and the action was intense. Sure it had its what the fuck moments, but it also had its moments of absolute win, like the 70 man battle, which at the time was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnesses and been part of in a video game. 

Shenmue was supposed to be a multi-chapter story. Unfortunately it's life did not last beyond Shenmue II. So, one of the best and most influential series of it's time was left incomplete. No one knows exactly why Shenmue III never went into production, somewhere between poor sales forecasts, budget issues, and clashes between developer AM2 and Sega, it looked like the Shenmue series was dead. Until last night, when the latest installment of Shenmue has been announced.

Calm down, it's not Shenmue III. It's not even close. It's social game for Japanese exclusive service Yahoo! Mobage called Shenmue City. So, you follow up one of the deepest and most involving games of it's day with Shenmue Farmville? You gotta be kidding me. The fan outrage, the petitions, the letters to Sega, the crying into my pillow at night, all for naught.

It ain't all bad though. It's been 10 years since we've last seen a Shenmue game. It's good to know Sega hasn't forgotten about it. For all we know, this could be a test of the waters. If Shenmueville does well with Japanese PC social gamers, maybe it will outgrow Yahoo! Mobage. Maybe if sales are good and interest in high, development will begin on Shenmue III for this generation of consoles. Anything can happen, I mean Duke Nukem Forever is being released after 14 years in limbo, maybe we'll finally get closure on the Shenmue series after all!

Or maybe I'm tripping balls. I don't expect another Shenmue to be released. I had forgotten about it for a good long time and maybe I should continue to do so. As much as I'd love to get Shenmue III, it probably won't ever happen. So to the Japanese gamers out there, enjoy Shenmueville.