Although it’s all but unknown over here, Hirohiko Araki’s manga Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has enjoyed a sizable following in its native Japan. A bizarre mash up of vampires, martial artists, fortune tellers, superheroes, and gangsters, Jojo is a story about the trials and tribulations of the Joestar family. A major focus of the series are the stands, psychic entities which grant their users powers. Much of the series has been inspired by music, as it features several characters who have been named after songs, rappers, and rock bands. The series has been divided into 6 arcs, each taking place in a different time period and centered around a different main character. Capcom produced a series of games based on the third story arc, in which Jotaro Joestar, his grandfather, and their allies travel to Egypt to defeat a vampire in order to save Jotaro’s mother from her own stand (don’t ask). Although they are fighting games, they are as far removed from Street Fighter as they get. The first game, Jojo’s Venture, was released in the arcades in 1998 and was bought to the PS1 and Dreamcast with exclusive features. In typical Capcom fashion, Jojo’s Venture received a championship edition-style update complete with new characters and features known as Heritage for the Future. A third game was released in Japan for the PS2, but never made it over here.
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Welcome back to Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. This is part 2 of our special edition X-men $20 GOTW and lost classics. In the first part we looked at some of the lows of the X-men franchise. In this second part, we’ll take a look at the Marvel Vs Capcom series, as well as Activision’s X-men games. You can find pretty much all of these games in stores, and most of them retail for $20 or less.
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Today, we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, a man who has dedicated his life to equality between people of all races. In the 1960s, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-men, a comic book about a team of superheroes dedicated to equality between human and mutant. Even though the cast was all Caucasian at the time, the book explored race relations in a profoundly brilliant manner without the material being heavy handed. Over time, the team’s roster would expand to include heroes from many different backgrounds, from the Jewish Kitty Pryde and the African Storm to the Native American Mirage. Throughout their 40+ year history, the X-men have seen many ups and downs, both in and out of comics, and video gaming is no different. What better way is there to celebrate Dr King’s dream than to have a look back at the interactive adventures of Xavier’s finest? In the first part of this two part special, we’ll take a look at some of the earliest games starring the children of the atom. The second part, coming later this week, will feature the Marvel vs Capcom games as well as Activision’s X-men titles.
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Any of you junkies out there that have been itching to see actual footage of the upcoming Street Fighter 4 game currently in production can get your wishes fulfilled. The boys over at 1Up.com produced a video that gives the first ever seen gameplay straight from the game, as well as info concerning the game’s setup.

There’s an interview with game producer Yoshinori Ono that you have to muddle through before getting to the actual footage, which doesn’t appear until the 3:20 mark (in case you don’t wanna wade through). I just got a kick outta the little Street Fighter chibis behind Ono’s back. Too cute.

It’s not uncommon knowledge that the presumed “last” of the trailers for Devil May Cry 4 was released a few days ago. You can see the trailer below, but do be warned as it does contain a shyte-load of spoilers for the game.

Seeing as DMC4 released on February 5th here in the US, the connotations that this could be the final trailer very well may be true. Even if that was officially announced as such, it wouldn’t be the first time a game’s marketing team has fibbed to the public to create hype. Regardless, if previous trailer for this game haven’t made you want to go out and grab it upon it’s release, then this one will test your resolve even further.

Hell, Dante’s got a rocket-platform of all things! How can that not entice you?

There it is from 1UP. A full cover story on the game will appear in EGM’s January issue, which should be in the mail and in stores any day now.

They did reveal the game is 2D six-button fighting with Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim returning.

This past week was Thanksgiving, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Friends and family for being in your corner, Butterball and a bunch of dead turkeys for supplying dinner, and the staff at Powet for giving you the latest news, insights, and info. Castlevania fans have Konami to thank for finally releasing Dracula X over here, and they also have Sindra to thank for letting us know how awesome it was as seen below. Gamers on a budget have me to thank for giving them the lowdown on cheap games. Most importantly, the citizens of Metro City have Mike Haggar and his friends to thank for keeping the peace, and beat-em-up fans have Capcom to thank for allowing them to witness his adventures first hand, by way of the Final Fight series.
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Capcom was releasing some major teasers at their Gamer’s Day event yesterday, including a new Bionic Commando, and announced that their stellar Xbox 360 game Lost Planet would come to PS3 next year with all the downloadable content on disc.
But the announcement that takes the cake is Street Fighter IV. Its been a long time since Capcom made a new 2D fighter, and the last time the Street Fighter crew appeared was on the less than great Neo Geo game SVC Chaos.

But now we have A New Beginning, and a teaser trailer to go with it.

We don’t know who is making it, what system it will be for, or even if it will be a true 2D fighter, but if its not, why bother? Capcom knows their hardcore audience is still playing Alpha 2 Gold and 3rd Strike like they’re new games, so it makes the most sense to keep the legacy in tact. I hope for a limited arcade release followed by versions on every console that can run it. HD, 16×9, all that stuff.

If you’ve been wondering what happened to all the characters from Street Fighter II, you may want to look up The Later Years…