Capcom had its full suite of Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network titles on hand at Captivate 08, including Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Plunder, and Bionic Commando: Rearmed as well as two games I was looking forward to getting time with, 1942: Joint Strike and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. As a fan of both the 194X series—I started with 1943—and Mercs—Commando passed me by—I was pleasantly surprised to see both pop up on Capcom's release list. Given that we had ample time to play, I spent a respectable time with both.

In fact, I came this close to beating Commando 3 on my third attempt, making it to the final boss solo. While the game supports up to three players at a time, it's not much of a challenge to take down the game's five levels on your own. That's mostly due to potentially too powerful guns, plus copious power ups and screen-clearing attack ammo.

If Commando 3 has a fault, it's that there's not much of a challenge to it, making for occasionally dull play. With familiar Smash TV-style controls and constant flow of bullets (or flamethrowers or rockets), mowing down scores of rebels is easy for any arcade vet.

Bionic Commando Multiplayer In Action

When Capcom first showed Resident Evil 5 at E3 2007, there was a collective sense that what we'd just seen was going to stir the pot, as a big brawny white guy had just done his share of laying waste to an angry mob of Africans. Sure enough, Capcom of Japan received more than its share of criticism from those inside and outside of the gaming press. The first to lobby a notable complaint was blog Black Looks, writing that RE5 was "problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages."

Newsweek's general editor of tech N'Gai Croal later levied a similar but more measured assessment, saying that much of what was shown in the initial trailer "dovetailed with classic racist imagery," leaving him with the impression that "Clearly no one black worked on this game."

We were curious, in light of new media that seems to show a more racially diverse set of enemies and a noticeably less WASP-y new partner for Chris Redfield, if the team had taken that criticism to heart and altered some of their design decisions

Street Fighter IV's Sandy Summer Fun Trailer

Capcom Giving Neopets The Puzzle Quest Treatment

Capcom, Neopets, and Puzzle Quest creators Infinite Interactive are teaming up to deliver a new Neopet title to the Nintendo Wii, DS, and PC this holiday season, Neopets Puzzle Adventure. It combines the cute collectibility of Neopets characters with...puzzles...and quests. Rather than the Bejewelliabaise we are used to in the PQ universe, the Neopets puzzles will be based on the classic board game Reversi.

Capcom is working to expand the breadth of our catalog to gamers of all ages in North America and Neopets is a perfect brand for us to bring to casual and family gamers,” said Germaine Gioia, senior vice president, licensing, Capcom Entertainment. “Combining Capcom’s experience, the rich world of Neopets, and Infinite Interactive’s skills in the puzzle/adventure genre makes a perfect match.”

It sounds like a terrifyingly addictive mix actually, and I personally know several combination Puzzle Quest / Neopet addicts that are probably hyperventilating as they read this. Add the fact that the games will feature unlockable codes for exclusive items on the Neopets website, various mini-fames, and 150 different petpets, and this is a game that has already sold several thousand copies. Hit the jump for the full scoop.

Capcom shipped in four Street Fighter IV arcade cabinets for its international media event, dubbed Captivate 08, giving us a chance to go hands on with final code, an experience that was far better than what we'd played at GDC earlier this year. With a final roster of sixteen—the twelve classic Street Fighter II Champion Edition fighters and four newcomers—we longed for between-battle character switching to get a feel for each fighter. Eventually though, we got a chance to go hands-on with every new street fighting tough, plus almost all the returning pugilists.

The most noticeable change was how much tighter the experience felt. While jumping about in the previous build we'd played felt floaty and attacks didn't quite connect with the same precision we were expecting, it appears that Capcom has tweaked both previous complaints. The end result was a game that felt more like a classic 2D Street Fighter than before.

Dark Void is basically Crimson Skies with on-foot combat. That may be overgeneralizing things, but Ed Fries co-founder at Airtight Games and former Microsoft Game Studios guy essentially pitched the game as such at Capcom's Captivate 08 event as the type of game that the team wanted to make. With a mechanic the studio is referring to as "vertical cover combat," Dark Void looks to distinguish itself from the 3D action game crowd by way of Crimson Skies know-how and a sci-fi mythology that pits man against alien invader, selectively borrowing from classic science fiction properties in intelligent places.

The story of Dark Void, if you aren't up to speed, is that our hero Will becomes trapped in the Void during a routine cargo flight that ventures a bit too closely to the Bermuda Triangle. Will and his compatriots, known as the Survivors, will battle a "mysterious alien race" known as the Watchers in order to save the Earth from (what else?) total destruction. Or something.

Street Fighter IV Trailer Features New, Classic Characters, Grating Voice Over

Capcom's big-budget revitalization of its Bionic Commando intellectual property has the potential be outshone by its classic remake, Bionic Commando Rearmed, as far as hardcore fans are concerned, but the new-gen update, the one starring Nathan Spencer, shouldn't be overlooked. Both are graphically gorgeous in their own ways, with Rearmed presenting a tight, clean and colorful 2.5D re-skin, with the all-new Bionic Commando appearing to be an impressive visual achievement, stuffed with attention to detail and smart level design.

Bionic Commando's move into the third dimension looks to potentially present challenges on par with the original NES classic, bringing a rather complex mechanical arm-swinging mechanic (plus jumping!) into a more freely navigable 3D space. Add to that camera control that's totally up to the player and Bionic Commando could be seen as overly complex, a potentially rough 2D to 3D transition.

We're still hopeful despite that, for reasons we'll hopefully make clear.

Capcom Announces Spyborgs For Wii