Galactus!

The creators at Capcom had to have a big villain worthy of bringing the long dormant Marvel VS series back into gaming, and it wasn’t Dr Wily. This game play video courtesy youtube user Bunnyspatial shows the planet crushing Galactus and many of his attacks straight from the game. The player loses, of course, and we get a chance to see what happens if you don’t win before the continue screen.

Are there any shock character reveals left? I don’t know, but even if the surprises are spent, we still haven’t played the game yet, and that is certainly still worth looking forward to.

Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate Of Two Worlds will be out on February 15. Pre-Order the Special Edition now to get one month of Marvel Digital Comics, 12 Art book, 12 page prologue comic, and access to the first DLC pack of Jill Valentine and Shuma Gorath a month before other players.

For years, the Battlefield series was a multiplayer-only affair. While certain games may have contained single player modes, they were there simply to train offline gamers, as they were fought with bots instead of live opponents. That changed with Bad Company. For the first time in the series, the single player component would take center stage. You step in the shoes of Private Preston Marlowe, a soldier reassigned to the Army’s “Bad Company”, a platoon filled with the worst of the worst. Their job is mainly cannon fodder as they are caught in a war between the U.S, Russia, and a Middle Eastern Coalition along with a group of mercenaries gets involved in the chaos. The environments are destructible, creating strategies for players in both the single and multiplayer modes. Speaking of multiplayer, the game includes the Gold Rush mode, in which attackers attempt to destroy crates of gold as defenders try to protect them. Conquest mode was added sometime later. Like other Battlefield games, Bad Company’s multiplayer is class-based and features ranks and awards. There is a selection of vehicles to drive, from tanks to helicopters. Bad Company isn’t perfect, as the controls are a bit sluggish and the AI is lacking, but the game’s destructible environments and hilarious chatter more than make up for it. Bad Company was so successful that a sequel was released this past year, so check them out if you love shooters.

After Starcraft, Total Annihilation is perhaps one of the greatest old-school RTS games ever. Although there isn’t much of a plot (something about two armies fighting over weather or not to transfer human consciousness to machines), the strategy options that the game gave players were unprecedented compared to other RTS games around that time. The game is considered a spiritual predecessor to Gas Powered Game’s Supreme Commander (lead designer Chris Taylor developed both games). There is no resource gathering, as the two resources you need (metal and energy) stream into your reserves at a fixed rate, and battles can consist of over 1000 units on the field, which was unheard of at it’s time. The game also featured a rudimentary physics system for explosions, projectiles, and wreckage. Various patches and utilities have been constructed by both developer Cavedog and the fan community, adding new units, races, maps, and other features.

If you’re a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to check out this lost classic. The game, along with its two expansions Core Contingency and Battle Tactics are both available on GOG.com.

Late last night (or right in the middle of the day in Tokyo), Sony announced the next generation PSP. Yes, it has two thumbsticks, you can stop crying now.

What you can’t see immediately: The display is 960 x 544 pixels (thats 16×9 widescreen) with OLED lighting (great for outside or natural light), and capacitive multi-touch screen. Oh, theres also atouch pad BEHIND the screen too. Six-axis tilt sensors like the PS3 controller. Built in Wifi, Built in GPS, and built in 3G support: You’ll be able to download games anywhere. Front and rear facing cameras round out the cool features, though the power of the processor is said to rival current home consoles.

Games will be available on the Playstation store as well as on flash cards (like the DS). UMD is officially dead, but you’ll still be able to buy games in a brick and mortar store if you want.

Speaking of games: Uncharted, Killzone, WipEout, Resistance, Lost Planet, Metal Gear, Yakuza, and Call of Duty were all mentioned as in development. Nothing is official, and we’ll post video as soon as we have it (blurry shaky cams are all over youtube, but no quality video from Sony yet)

Read on for a gallery of photos of the device, and see official specs. Leave us a comment! What do you think? Obviously this blows the previous PSP out of the water, but will it compete with 3DS if the price is right?
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Powetcast is back with a bang! The gang is all here to discuss the week’s news and have a roundtable discussion.
This week’s topic is “Do Superheroes Belong On Live Action TV?”

Direct Link: Powetcast 48: Small Screen Heroics

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes

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Ever wanted to become a computer hacker? Don’t know how to program? That’s okay. Uplink, created by indie development group Introversion shows gamers what it’s like to be a hacker (well, at least the way it’s depicted in movies like Hackers and Sneakers) , without having to learn how to program. As a newly hired employee for the Uplink Corporation, you take on several types of missions, such as altering a student’s academic record or hacking into a corporation to steal data. You are given a computer, and you must earn money to upgrade your hardware and software in order to take on more complex missions. Make sure you cover up all evidence of your deeds, least the police trace anything back to you. As you’d expect, the game is light on graphics, but the soundtrack is catchy. The game is available on Steam for cheap, so if you’re willing to look beyond the lack of flashy graphics, you can indulge your 133t fantasies to your heart’s content.

The original Elevator Action was nice, but it got pretty monotonous. Taito decided to create a sequel which has about as much in common with its predecessor as Final Fantasy 7 does with Final Fantasy 6. Eschewing the first game’s light-puzzle gameplay in favor of a action shoot-em-up, EA2 adds a plot and additional characters, things that the first game didn’t have. EA2 has players taking control of one of three secret agents as they battle a terrorist organization. The first level is a remake of the apartment complex in the original game, but afterward you’ll travel across a variety of different levels. The graphics are crisp, the controls are smooth, and most importantly, it has VARIETY, something the original game sorely lacked.

Note: This game is available on PS2 and PC as part of the Taito Legends 2 compilation.

It looks like two more characters are entering the fray. No stranger to the Marvel vs Capcom franchise, Akuma will be an unlockable player at 2000 Player Points (which is said to be about a single play through of the Arcade mode). Newcomer Taskmaster will also be an unlockable player at 8000 Player Points. Taskmaster is a Marvel comics character that has the ability to duplicate the fighting style of anyone he has ever watched or fought.

Supposedly there are still two more characters we have not seen yet. Feel free to speculate in the comments!

Taskmaster:

Akuma: