San Diego Comic Con 2011 Game Coverage: Part One

San Diego’s Comic Con International has become one of the biggest multimedia events of the year. From comics to movies, and especially video games, SDCC International has grown well outside what anyone would have expected when it started 42 years ago. This show has become second only to E3 for huge announcements and surprises from some of the biggest names in the industry. Having been in attendance myself, I thought I would share a bit of the experience with anyone who wasn’t able to go, or perhaps had not yet caught word of some of the news. 

First up, I’d like to share a bit about my personal favorite at the convention, Capcom. Capcom is well known for their A-list franchises like Mega Man, Street Fighter and Resident Evil, but this year was truly the year for fighting game fans, and Capcom brought their biggest games out to play. Street Fighter X Tekken (which is exactly what it sounds like: a fighting game featuring characters from Capcom’s Street Fighter and Namco’s Tekken series) was in full effect this year. Daily tournaments were held in the booth, ending with the final match on a TV big enough to display 10 ft. tall fighters blasting it out until their last slice of health. This game is sure to please. With comfortable pacing and familiar input layouts, hardcore fans will be comfortable; newcomers and casual players may want to brush up so as to avoid getting knocked out without any pride left to show for it. Allowing for tag-teams that cross the two games' boundaries, utilizing fighters from both rosters, makes for a game unlike any other incarnation in either franchises' history. The game moves quickly, but not quite as fast paced as Marvel vs Capcom 3; it is nowhere near as likely to induce seizures, but just as likely to induce FUN!

Also at the Capcom booth this year was the big announcement of Mega Man Legends 3, which is absolutely coming out! *Starts weeping silently into his hands* Ok, so despite my hopes and dreams, that didn't happen. They did, however, announce Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, which will release in November in North America. The game will feature 12 new fighters in addition to the cast from the original Marvel vs Capcom 3, rather than releasing them over time as a more costly DLC pack. The new additions will include: Hawkeye, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Nova, Rocket Raccoon, Firebrand, Nemesis, Frank West, Phoenix Wright, Strider Hiryu, and Vergil. Touting a lower price tag ($40), and more characters (which equals even more epic battles) this game will be a must have… even if it may seem like it's only a small change from the original to casual players.

More excitingly, for me at least, Yoshinori Ono, legendary producer of the Street Fighter series, has announced his hopes to release a reboot of the classic horror based fighting game, Darkstalkers. He apparently first pitched the idea to Capcom’s higher-ups last year, after taking a picture of the entire audience in attendance at a Capcom panel flailing dollar bills in the air. This was in response to Ono-san’s polite statement of “If you would purchase a Darkstalkers game on the first day, please hold up a dollar.” This year Ono-san returned with a delightful graphic stating “Darkstalkers are not dead!”. Unfortunately, he then said that the dollar bills picture had not quite invoked the response from the other folks at Capcom he had hoped for, and once again he asked the crowd to hold up money; this time in larger denominations. Everyone in attendance quickly brandished their cash and thrust it into the air. Hopefully, this picture will get some wheels turning over at Capcom HQ, as the last original Darkstalkers game to be released was in 1998 for North America.

This concludes the first portion of the San Diego Comic Con coverage, but check back shortly for more news and impressions from this year's show. Next time: Resident Evil is taking a trip back to its roots, and the exciting conclusion of the Capcom 2011 booth coverage! Thank you for reading!

Submitted by: Corey Hall (Employee)