The Electronic Entertainment Expo is the most wonderful time of the year to be a gamer. New hardware, new add-ons, and most importantly all the new games for the next couple of years are revealed to the press and public, and E3 2010 was especially kind to comic fans. Join me as we take a look at some of the news that should have you marking your calendars and ponying up cash for pre-orders in no time!
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Staying true to their promise from WonderCon, Activision and developer Beenox lifted the viel of the next playable Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions: Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099!
Judging from the trailer it looks like the 2099 world will be focused a lot on vertical gameplay as Spidey hurtles down the faces of massive skyscrapers. Combat looks to be very fast-paced, with Spider-Man 2099 using is arm talons and awesome futuristic shiny attack effects to take down foes. Hobgoblin, new to the 2099 universe, is the only villain shown but hopefully we can expect some familiar faces from the 90s Marvel future.
Expect the fourth and final Shattered Dimensions universe to be revealed next month at the San Diego Comic Con. Although with 2099 revealed, no matter who the next Spider-Man is I can't wait to get my hands on this game come September.
Comic Jumper
You probably haven't heard of Comic Jumper yet, but comic fans should definitely have this one on their radar. Created by Twisted Pixel, developers of The Maw and Splosion Man, Comic Jumper is a comedy action-platformer coming to Xbox Live Arcade later this year.
The story alone is enough to make a long-time comic fan smile: Players take the role of Captain Smiley, a half-witt superhero who realizes that fans are losing interest in his comic and sales are starting to dip. In an effort to avoid cancellation, Captain Smiley enlists the effort of his creator to for a massive crossover event. Joined by his surly sidekick Star, who also happens to be his chest symbol, Captain Smiley jumps into other comic franchises inspired by different genres. Interested? Check out the E3 trailer!
<
The gameplay looks amazing, and Twisted Pixel has said that their main gameplay inspiration is the Sega Genesis classic Gunstar Heroes. And I can't wait to jump into the Manga universe, if only to fight that giant kid's head. No word on an exact release date yet, but Comic Jumper should be dropping sometime in 2010.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
If Scott Pilgrim is, in part, Bryan Lee O'Malley's love letter to video games, then the upcoming Ubisoft adaptation is the gaming world saying "I love you, too." iFanboy recently posted some screenshots for the game, but just in time for E3 Ubisoft has released a montage video of Scott Pilgrim in action.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a four-player brawler in the vein of such classics as River City Ransom and Castle Crashers, which is so perfect it makes tears come to my eyes. Players can choose from Scott, Ramona, Kim Pine or Stephen Stills, with levels based on each volume of the series. As enemies are defeated, the Sex Bob-omb crew will earn XP that will unlock new attacks with each level gained. There will also be 8-bit style bonus stages, complete with NES glitch effects.
With pixel artist Paul Robertson (some content NSFW) and chiptunes masters Anamanaguchi on music, everything about the Scott Pilgrim game is working out right. Evidently the game is a timed exclusive for Sony, so hopefully Xbox owners will get to experience it's greatness eventually. Look for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to drop on the Playstation Network on August 10th.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
The biggest comic game news of E3 has to be the playable version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on the show floor. This game is shaping up to be everything gamers have hoped to be, and these gameplay videos show that Capcom's Vs. series traditions are alive and well. Check out Extremis Iron Man busting out his classic Proton Cannon super move!
A few more characters were officially confirmed: Deadpool, Dante, Captain America, and Dormammu. I can't stop giggling like a twelve year old girl at a Justin Beiber concert whenever I see Deadpool in action; he's got the now-famous Shoryuken attack and one of the best death cries in fighting game history: "You pushed the wrong button!"
The biggest MvC3 news this week might not come from E3, but from gaming forum NeoGAF where the full roster for the game has leaked. The internet being what it is though, please take this list with a grain of salt.
Capcom: Ryu, Chun-Li, M. Bison, Mega Man Volnutt (Mega Man Legends), Roll, Zero, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, Dante, Trish (Devil May Cry), Morrigan, Felicia, Viewtiful Joe, Frank West (Dead Rising), Mike Haggar (Final Fight), Arthur (Ghosts N' Goblins).
Marvel: Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Magneto, Spider-Man, venom, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Dr. Doom, Super Skrull, Dr. Strange, Dormammu, Deadpool, Ms. Marvel
Supposedly discovered by someone going through the page source from the official Marvel vs. Capcom 3 website, if this list is true I will be one massively happy camper. The character roster for the Wii fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom leaked in the same way, so I'm holding out hope. Being about to kick massive ass as Dr. Strange is some kind of fantasy I didn't know I had.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 should be dropping in early 2011. Can someone put me into a deep freeze until then, please?
Sadly missing from the show floor this year was Batman: Arkham Asylum 2, which lends a bit of truth to the rumor that game will miss it's expected Winter 2010 release date. Ah well, I think comic fans will have enough to sate their gaming itches this year.
Josh Richardson would do terrible and unspeakable things to make that Marvel vs. Capcom 3 roster a reality. Check out his ongoing commentary on Twitter.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
I was hoping for Luke Cage but i will take Dr. Strange and Ms. MArvel
DeadPool FTW. I am pleased.
So looking forward toward MVC!
deadpool is the man………..lol
DCU Online?
I like the 2099 levels. Reminds me of Shiny’s MDK game. So by process of elimination, what’s left for the fourth dimension. Brenden McCarthy’s Spider-Man Fever? Taking a trip to Battleworld with the Beyonder? Maybe something out of an old-forgotten What-If? Or maybe Cosmic Spider-Man? To me nothing sounds like a sure-thing, so why don’t they let Paul drop him in the DC Universe and stun the iFanbase by having him kick the stuffing out of Dick & Damien?
@PymSlap The power cosmic will be in the game, but as a pre-order bonus from Gamestop. You’ll get a cosmic version of each Spider-Man and adittional cosmic powers.
Spider-man:
HOLYSHIT!!!! MIGUEL NEVER LOOKED SO COOL.
They actually make that 90’s costume badass.
I bet the next spider-man will be left field, maybe House of M’s spider-man.
Comic Jumper: Looks alot like a mix of the following games:
– The Captain Qwark vid-comics (a sidescrolling game within a game) in Ratchet and Clank 3: Up your arsenal
– Earthworm Jim
– Borderlands (the setting of one of the levels)
– The ever classic Timeless River in Kingdom Hearts 2
I’m in. Unfortunately, this is going to make me actually buy a 360… >_> which, by the way, is not making my wallet happy.
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Still a little disappointed but impressed all the same.
Alot of questionable physics involved particularly Chris Redfield’s dis-continuous effects on opponents like Hulk and Iron Man.
VERY disappointed that Jin Saotome and Hayato didn’t make the cut especially since they are character fighting strategic types.
Scott Pilgram: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O= YES YES YES!
Safe to say I will NOT be having a life for the next few months.
Friends, how you will be missed.
@Josh: Too bad the roster couldn’t be a cool 50+ like in MvC2, god I miss the anime style. Safe to say that this newsfeed will make oldschoolers covet their copy, which of course will increase the value on it on ebay.
@Mangaman: The physics of the game are going to be fine tuned later, as this is still only a working model, so I’m hoping your complaint doesn’t come back to haunt us. Also, while Jin is a MvC veteran, I think he’s one of those cases where a less popular character is removed to make room for new blood. As for Hayato, I’m sorry, I play tons of lower tier strategic characters from MvC as well, but you really can’t expect them to make it in a decade later without pop culture noteriety or a big player base, it’s just unrealistic.
@360Logic: you sure got a point there. Boy am I gonna miss Jin. He needs his own beat ’em up. He’d be great for a God of War-esque game. Capcom should probably have made that instead of God Hand. It’d have been more fun.
Maybe 1602 Spider-man? Spider-girl from MC2? Six-Armed Spider-man? Scarlet Spider? Spider-Ham?
The date on Batman has been first quarter 2011 since the start of this year. It’ll probably be delayed until Summer of 2011 if I know anything about video games.