Earlier this week, I featured the actual Mega Man 9 as the $20 game of the week, so now here is the game that would have been Mega Man 9. After releasing Mega Man made a phenomenal 32-bit debut on the Saturn and Playstation with Mega Man 8, Capcom went to work on one last 16-bit Mega Man game. It wouldn’t be just a patchwork job though. Capcom pushed the limits of the Super Famicom (or SNES as we know it over here) to its limits in ways which have not been achieved even with Mega Man 7 or the first three Mega Man X games. The game would be one of the last 3rd party games released on a 16-bit system, and what a game it would have been. Unfortunately, this was 1998, well after Nintendo killed off Super Nintendo support in the US. Thus, the game saw a Japan-only release, and until recently, the only way players could see it was via emulation (which Powet does not condone by the way) or import. Even then, you had to be able to read Japanese in order to understand the story. Thankfully, along with GBA re-releases of other games in its 16-bit catalog, Capcom decided to bring this game over with them, giving North American fans the chance to experience one of Mega Man’s finest adventures of the 16-bit era.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

More fun stuff coming out of the Tokyo Game Show, and this time around we have a sweet treat from the ever wonder Resident Evil series. RE5 has a new full-length cinematic trailer, basically showcasing what the majority of the plot will be for the game. We also finally get a good long look at everyone’s favorite guy you love to hate, Albert Wesker, as he makes his actions clear.

Resident Evil 5 drops in North America on March 13th 2009.

At Tokyo Game Show Bungie and Microsoft announced their next collaboration in the Halo universe. Called “Halo 3 Recon” its a Halo 2/3 Sidestory. A totally new campaign and a new hero, introduced in the above video. Could this be the rumored ODST tactical shooter we’ve been hearing about? Probably. Four Player online co-op, Multiplayer, Save Films, and Forge are all promised for the game. More details will be coming soon.

Personally I love that the Halo universe is expanding beyond John 117’s helmet, especially into different types of games (IE, Halo Wars), but the music in this trailer seems… familiar….

It’s been raining Castlevania these days it would seem. Two games, Order of Ecclesia and Judgment, will be released within the next few months; an arcade game is being released in Japan; the manga to Curse of Darkness is being translated and released here in the states – not to mention the live-action movie and the animated Dracula’s Curse OVA that are in production. You’d think this would all be enough!

It would seem series frontman Koji Igrashi begs to differ. He announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they have yet another Castlevania game in production to be released in the future for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Iga dropped the bigger bomb when he said that this new game would be a direct sequel to series highpoint, Symphony of the Night.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

It’s been nearly a full decade since the former video game development giant SEGA has released hardware of any kind into the market. The last console was the Dreamcast, which despite being a strong system with good games, was beat into the ground by Sony’s Playstation 2 a year after the Dreamcast was released. Sadly, the console was discontinued a few years later, and SEGA has since survived merely as a third-party publisher for software and games.

Now it seems SEGA’s renewed strength as a software publisher has given it enough of a confidence boost to try and test the waters of hardware production yet again. SEGA announced the release of a new portable media player called the Vision PMP.

The new handheld will actually be less of a portable game player, and more of a multimedia device. It will only be able to play Java-based games, but will also function as a TV tuner, a movie and music player, a video camera and recording device, as well as an eBook reader. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it very well may be. The design of the Vision is bulkier than both the PSP and Nintendo DS, and looks more like it’s failed handheld elder brother, the SEGA Nomad. We also have not heard about a price tag to go along with the portable player, and I can tell you that many people probably won’t bother with it unless the price is right.

Regardless, 2009 does mark a significant date for SEGA as its return to the hardware industry after being in the proverbial darkened corner of the video game scene for so long. Will it be a taste of things to come, or a complete bust?

Old school gamers rejoice, for Mega Man has returned. Not Mega Man ZX, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man.exe, or even Mega Man X. No, it isn’t any of these poseurs. It’s the original blue bomber, in all his 8-bit glory. Keeping up with it’s retro revivals (see Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando), Capcom had the ingenious idea of creating a new 8-bit Mega Man game and releasing it for all three consoles via their respective download services. The result is a classic throwback that caters strictly to longtime series fans while introducing the Mega Man series to a new generation.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Set 20 years before “Halo: Combat Evolved” this is the opening cinematic for “Halo Wars”

GameTrailersTV has a longer look at the game, footage of gameplay, and words from developers Ensemble Studios.

And in a move that surprises no-one, Microsoft confirmed earlier this week that former Gearbox director of Technology Corrine Yu has joined one of the Halo Teams. Gearbox developed Halo CE for PC as well as Brothers in Arms. Former Bungie writer Frank O’Conner is also working at Microsoft on Halo. Oh and Ryan Payton, the Metal Gear Solid 4 producer who helped bring Hideo Kojima’s wacky world to life? He’s also leading a Halo team, quite possibly Halo 4. None of these people are working on Peter Jackson’s Halo project, which means there may be as many as 4 new titles in development. Get ready for Halo 4… as well as Halo Kart, Halo Party, and Halo Tennis

This is not to say Halo creators Bungie Software aren’t staying busy because they just released this clip last week… [Read the rest of this entry…]

This is the latest in Powet Editor Zac Shipley’s series on video game culture in Madison, WI for TheDailyPage.

Rock Band 2 retains title as the Golden God of music games
Music and video games have been naturally complimentary since the latter became complex enough to emit more than a single beep. Rhythm games have allowed players to experience music by tapping out beats on controllers, using dance pads, or even shaking maracas. But there has been no game as successful at simulating the truly American art form of rock ‘n’ roll as Rock Band. >More