Captivate 08 Blow Out!

Gaming jobs are awesome. Why? Well, just last week I spent the entire week in Las Vegas from Tuesday to Saturday, living it up in a posh hotel on the 32nd floor with free booze, food, video games and 150 like-minded video game folks to play them with. Plus we got to shoot at zombies. Now, before you’re overcome with jealousy, live the event vicariously by clicking through and checking out all the games we showed off at Captivate 08.

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Posted in Resident Evil 5, Dark Void, Plunder, Captivate, Spyborgs, Star Force, Neopets, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, 1942, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter®, We Love Golf!, Bionic Commando, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Street Fighter® IV, Mega Man® | 5 Comments »

Bionic Commando Rearmed: the Soundtrack

Why release this soundtrack?  Simple:

1) Because it’s awesome.

Simon Viklund has created a soundtrack that perfectly mixes the infectious melodies you had burned into your brain by the original game with new instrumentation and beats. The effect is a fresh sound that feels brand new and immediately familiar at the same time–really outstanding and a perfect modernized encapsulation of some deep love for the NES.

2) Because Ben Judd loves his fellow Bionic Commando nerds. That’s YOU.

Over at BC HQ, he explains that this will probably be losing us some money, but he believes in the music so strongly he wanted it to be out there as a proper album.

Consider the album the Bionic Commando team’s attempt to hug the internet. Become a believer and check it out at Sumthing Digital, or at iTunes.

Also check it out because if this attempt to hug the internet doesn’t pan out, Ben Judd may attempt to hug you each individually. This is to be avoided at all costs, so buying the soundtrack is a double-bargain. Do it now!

Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, music | 3 Comments »

Reclusive Eccentric Ben Judd Grants Interview

Deeko is running a nice interview with Capcom’s own red-headed stepchild, Ben Judd! Ben talks Bionic Commando Rearmed music, multiplayer, and the future of downloadable games with the help of some surprisingly thoughtful questions from the interviewer.

Check it out here, (or just read this, the part where they talk about how awesome Capcom community efforts are):

Not being content delivering the AAA titles we’ve come to know and love, Capcom is also embracing the gaming community and actually listening to gamers; and listening it has.

Okay that’s not an A+ sentence construction, but Capcom Unity ftw!, and remember to check out the latest Bionic Commando podcast HERE!

Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, Bionic Commando, Interview | 1 Comment »

Kotaku talks to Ben Judd about bringing Western games East

Kotaku’s Man In Japan, Brian Ashcraft, has a long-ish feature with Capcom’s Ben Judd and Gearoid Reidy on the challenges inherent in bringing Western games to the Land of the Rising Sun. It’s a pretty interesting article — more so if you’re involved in the production of video games — and hits on all sorts of tricky issues that must be overcome, including tough text translations, the merits of dubbing vs. subtitling spoken dialog and good old-fashioned cultural differences.

The article also contains this bit:

‘In Japan, we can’t do community. It’s considered a liability here.’ There are too many unknowns with community sites. What if an employee says or does something stupid? The lack of direct corporate control is dangerous.

Scary! We’re doing/saying stupid stuff on Unity every day, but it seems to be okay with y’all. Do us a favor and don’t tell anyone in Japan, por favor.

Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, Bionic Commando, Interview, Capcom® | 1 Comment »

Bionic Commando Rearmed Multiplayer?

I had a little taste of this last week in Osaka myself. My feelings were as follows:

1) Result: Seth loses. Thought: This game is clearly BS. That weapon is ridiculously overpowered. Also maybe my Bionic arm doesn’t work. Or maybe it’s this controller.

2) Result: Seth loses (somewhat less badly). Thought: BS I tell you!

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Posted in Capcom Digital, Bionic Commando Rearmed | 1 Comment »

Bionic Commando Rearmed gets an M rating in the US

Turns out, one exploding dictator head can ruin a whole day. Or fetch you an M for Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, whichever. Over on the official Bionic Commando website, Benny J, leader of all things grapple-armed, has revealed the ratings for Bionic Commando Rearmed, the most excellent upcoming digital re-imagining of the classic 8-bit game. Read ‘em and weep, kiddies:

North America (ESRB) - M
Europe (PEGI) - 18+
Germany - 16
Australia - M
Japan - B

Posted in rating, Capcom Digital, Bionic Commando Rearmed | 3 Comments »

Bionic Commando Rearmed: Turning your Hastily-Sketched Spikey Pits into Glorious Digital Realities Since 2008!

A few weeks back we posted a little Bionic Commando Rearmed contest, inviting you to design your own “Challenge Room” for the game. We got lots and lots of cool entries. Some people wrote out an idea, others drew, and some even turned the tools we provided into their own photoshopped masterpieces. Great and small, they all got sent off to the Bionic Commando team.

There, a spirited debate broke out (and, knowing that team, probably at least one slap-fight) over the winner. Eventually, they settled on this inspired scrawl from Aaron Sedillo, and turned it into…

(hit the jump to see the level)

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Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, Fan creations, Contests | No Comments »

Capcom Community Do Digital Day, Change of Pants Not Included

As you probably already know, our recent Capcom Digital Day event was a media event. Meaning, the invites were extended only to gaming press and media folks, as opposed to the general public. What you probably didn’t know was that we actually extended a few “community” invites to the Capcom community: Loyal Capcom community fans who happened to be located around the San Francisco area.

I followed two of them, Tony and Alex, around for most of the event, getting their informal impressions on what they saw and taking pictures of the whole thing. At the end of which held a special surprise for them!

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Posted in Community, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Street Fighter® IV, Event Pictures, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 5 Comments »

Capcom Digital Day Blow Out!

Earlier this week we managed to turn our normally spacious lobby area into a place packed with a better ratio of Quality Fun Per Square Inch than Disneyland during our Capcom Digital Day. We invited members of the press and community to come and check out in person both the announced and unannounced new titles we have coming up this year. As the event title suggests, the focus was mostly on “digital” titles, downloadable titles to be released on XBLA, PSN, or PC, however, we still managed to sneak in a couple of full retail titles.

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Posted in 1942, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, Plunder, Capcom Digital, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Lost Planet™, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, We Love Golf!, Mega Man® | 10 Comments »

Next, on “a Very Special Exception” for Bionic Commando Rearmed and Super Turbo HDR…

Doesn’t that title sound like a promo for the inevitable, unfunny substance abuse/pedophile/date rape episode of an 80s sitcom? In this case, we’re not talkin’ ’bout Gary Coleman drinking wine with that creepy dude from WKRP, Willis. For once. Instead, we’re referring to recent rumblings regarding the XBLA versions of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Bionic Commando Rearmed. There had been some concerns, both from the producers and the public, that XBLA versions of both games may not be as super-duper as the PS3 versions. Specifically, we had been concerned that the 1080p resolution art for SSFIIT HDR would not fit onto Xbox LIVE Arcade, while Ben Judd mused that the 360 version of BCR might not have the same hi-res textures as the PS3. Good news, everyone! Problems solved for both titles.

Capcom has a solid relationship with both Sony and Microsoft, as evidenced by the amount of titles we have released for the two systems, both at retail and digitally. Given the huge amount of content going into Bionic Commando Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (turns out, hand-drawn art takes up a lot of space at 1080p!), Microsoft has allowed Capcom to work with a larger file size limit for both games. The larger limit is good for you, our happy-go-lucky gamer, as it allows us to pack an extra-huge amount of content into these games; just look at all the modes (co-op, Challenge Stages, not to mention a full game!) that are included in Bionic Commando Rearmed. The Xbox LIVE Arcade versions of both titles will have complete feature and graphical parity with the iterations that will be available on other platforms. Excellent! I can’t speak for them, but it certainly seems like Microsoft recognizes that Capcom is putting the quality into these digital titles that Microsoft wants to make available to their audience.

Microsoft has told us that their partners have been very happy with the file size for Xbox LIVE Arcade titles, and they do not see a need to change their policies anytime soon. They’re going to continue working with their partners on many levels (including offering technical support from their own engineering staff, which is really nice!) in order to bring the best entertainment possible to their network. Microsoft is going to continue working with ALL their partners – not just us, mind – and if a game warrants a file size exception, they’ll provide one on a case-by-case basis.

So, there you go. Whether you pay in Points or American dollars, rest assured that you’ll be receiving the best level of quality that Capcom can deliver digitally. Hi res textures for Bionic Commando Rearmed? Check! 1080p graphics for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix? Got ‘em! Carry on.

Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | No Comments »