She'll come in two variants; a standard blue version, and a pink one that goes for an extra $20. Both will be available early next year.

This means we get all kinds of characters from the cute to the scary and the fugly to the sexy. Pictured here is Morrigan from Capcom's Darkstalkers (among other 2D fighting games) who is both sexy and scary.

Sadly, I didn't get to see her for myself in the 25 minutes I spent playing the game at last night's NIS press event. As a matter of fact, I can't say that I saw nearly enough to get a good feel for the game – but what I saw looked like old school RPG with a layer of sexy on top.

Cross Edge is a "classic" RPG in that there are a lot of gameplay throwbacks to many of the franchises from which it borrows characters. The brief taste I got of the game were mostly combat encounters on a 2D plane where you could angle the camera with the right analog stick to create a 3D angle. Battles occur by random encounter with the agility stat determining who goes first and AP determining what moves your characters could use.

There were four characters in my party (none of whom I recognized immediately, but I missed out on Ar Tonelico and Mana Khemia) each with their own AP gauge. I could cycle through the characters with L1 and R1, which came in handy whenever a chain attack between multiple characters became possible. Once a character ran out of AP, the only way to replenish was to end the turn either through the start menu or with the right analog stick shortcut I eventually discovered. You could also score AP by breaking the enemy's guard with special moves.

I was totally sucked in at this point and only noticed that the journalist next to me had triggered a Morrigan cut scene when some lookers-on started catcalling the screen. I thought they were being silly ‘til I got at look her bust line. Turn-based combat? I bet she can't eat a sandwich without falling out!

Cross Edge was supposed to ship this March, but it slipped to a late May release. Just as well – an epic game like this will require epic amounts of time that only the summer can provide.

Get a look — and see if you can spot the downloadable content teaser screens:

This July, Japanese figure maker Max Factory is releasing 1/6 scale PVC Morrigan. Yours for ¥12,800 (US$130), but never ever really yours if you know what we mean.

Now until March 1st, UDON is accepting fan submissions for artwork to be included in the definitely Darkstalkers art book. If chosen, they get to provide original artwork to UDON for completely free! All you need to do is submit your fan art to UDON via the submission page below, and if your work is chosen, you get everlasting fame among a very specific group of fans, and a free book you probably would have bought anyway!

Oh, did I mention they have to be PG-13 or cleaner? Wait...where'd everybody go? Don't be angry. Have you ever seen a cat do that with her tail in real life? Just draw some clothes on Felicia real quick and see what happens.

About Darkstalkers Tribute [UDON Entertainment]
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Heads up, though. Unless you're willing to part with about $300 American for one of these mixed media ladies, you may not want to even look.

Darkstalkers Morrigan Statue [Action Figure]

In addition to all that Street Fighter stuff, new comics based on the Onimusha and Devil Kings games are planned. Beyond even that, a pair of Capcom art books from Udon—Onimusha Dawn of Dreams: Official Complete Works and the Darkstalkers Graphic File—will eat away at your savings next year. One Darkstalkers art book, please!

New Street Fighter Comics! Plus - New Manhwa, Manga and Art Books [Udon]

Lots of goodies await you in Hardcore Gaming 101's article including loads of screen shots, character descriptions, MP3s and a compendium of all the game's sequels. So, if you are a Darkstalkers fan you'll definitely want to check out this extremely comprehensive and interesting article. Flynn De Marco

Darkstalkers History [Hardcore Gaming 101]

Pre-order At Entertainment Earth