Rockman 3 announced for PSN Game Archives & Rockman 10 promotional contest

Much in the same way Capcom of Japan announced Rockman for PSN Game Archives, known as PSOne Classics in the West, the release of Rockman 3 Complete Works has been announced as a tie-in with the release of Rockman 10.

50 people who buy Rockman 10 between March 9th (the game’s launch day in Japan) and March 23rd will win an exclusive voucher to download Rockman 3 from PSN. Much in the same vein as the Rockman 9 contest’s Rockman 1 prize, the drawing will take place far before the game’s actual release in the Game Archives. If history holds true, this also means the winners will be able to access and download the game prior to release.

Unlike last time, Capcom have announced Rockman 3’s public release window of late April.

Source: Andriasang

Mega Man’s Birthday Live Stream – Chat Live with Us! (Updated with Show Footage and Inafune Q&A)

What’s better than watching Mega Man’s 22nd live stream birthday party? Watching it and chatting about it with us Mega Man nerds! We’ll be goofing around as the show goes on, and then update afterward with show highlights. So sit back and enjoy!

UPDATE: The live chat is now over. Thank you everyone who came in and participated! It was very fun, maybe a little weird. Comments are now open for this post. We will post media and info from the show below.

Ariga’s slice of Mega Man birthday cake, as seen on the Spiceman blog.

Update 2: Seems we forgot to include this in here, but Inafune did answer some questions presented to him from the Capcom*Unity, though for the two hours the show took, this portion was disappointingly short.

The first question was, naturally, about MegaMan Legends 3. Inafune jokingly responded that “if Ben Judd (one of the English co-hosts for the evening) would produce it, we could have a sequel.”

Another question involved another possible move for Mega Man into 3D, which Inafune said would be difficult due to the different expectations which would be had by fans of 2D and 3D games. He added that there were some elements of 2D Mega Man which simply would not translate well into 3D. (If anything, X7 seems like proof of this to some degree.)

Asked about creating a new 16-bit Mega Man game in the style of Mega Man 7 for the Super NES, Inafune responded that 8-bit is where Mega Man was born, and he hasn’t done everything that he wants to in that style yet. But in the future? He’ll have to see where the series takes him.

Naturally, once Legends 3 was out of the way, a question regarding Mega Man X9 was inevitable (they should have simply combined every series into a single question). Inafune professed his love for the X series, but noted that he was quite busy at the moment, and has some different things he would like to do with Mega Man before heading back down that road.

Asked about the popularity of Mega Man 2 making a Mega Man 2 Powered Up possible, Inafune did not commit to the idea, but expressed a rather surprising amount of confidence toward the possibility of it happening.

Someone suggested the idea of Inafune creating a Mega Man game which uses hand-drawn artwork as Vanillaware’s Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade do, and while he did like the idea to some degree, he said he would not wish to simply imitate that idea.

And shortly after that, the show ended. Capcom says they are archiving the video, however, so we’ll post/link to it when they have it up.

Mega Man 10 likely coming to PSN too

The Mega Man 10 news just keeps on flowing, with recent comments that indicate the game’s very possible arrival on PSN.  The game’s predecessor having been on all three digital download services, this was an expected turn of events.  One can only hope that the same team who did Mega Man 9 will continue their level of port quality for this next release.

Source: PlayStation US Blog

Here’s what’s in the box

So people were wondering what was in that mystery box Capcom was giving away today.  Seems like Siliconera got their hands on it and the contents are a sight to see.

Yep, it’s a Mega Man 10 T-Shirt and a new version of the E-Tank energy drink! Interesting to note that the Mega Man 10 logo is very similar to that of Mega Man 2’s. Here’s hoping they both end up on the Capcom store very soon.

Source: Siliconera

Enjoy The Zoo’s Insane Custom Drum Set

Mega Man has influenced many creative talent over the years and quite a few of them have in turn made some awesome homages to the Blue Bomber.  Shane from Enjoy The Zoo is definitely up there, with this incredible custom drum set.  Viewing the video in HD is highly recommended!

To show how much more of a fan he gets, Shane went ahead and did some Hard Man drumming.

Thanks to Kramez for the heads-up and mainfinger gets a shout out for letting me fill in!

Credit: Capcom Unity

Keeping it retro: Game shows from around the world

With this trend of finding retro video game shows to reminisce about, here’s something that is sure to please our Canadian visitors (all 20,000 of you).

Video & Arcade Top 10 was a long running YTV (Youth Television) show where kids were invited to play games and compete for a shot at a prize.  Much like Video Arcade, the usual competition was getting the farthest or having the most points left.

Ok, so that doesn’t sound too special.  Now while they’ve featured Mega Man quite a few times over the years, there’s yet to be any sign of those episodes showing up on Youtube.  However, one point of interest would be the intro song:

Just in case, here’s an extended version…

Sound familiar?  Some have gone so far as to say it resembles this song:

Considering how this theme song is ten years old, one would think they were getting some pretty recent inspiration, don’t you think?  Still, that’s not bad for a 3000$ intro.

Mega Man hits Japan’s PSN once again, four more times to go!

The Complete Works version of Rockman 2 has just hit the Japanese PSN for the cool low price of ¥600.  As the second release from the collection, expect the same added features from the PSOne release.  The game is reportedly 235 MB in size and as with all PSOne releases, it’s compatible with both PS3 and PSP systems.

Source: andriasang

Where are those Capcom PSN re-releases?

While I’m sure the rate with which the PSOne/PSP games are released on the North American PlayStation Store isn’t controlled by Capcom, one has to wonder when the ten titles they promised us will be released in the coming months.  Let’s not forget how they’re aiming to re-release 20 to 40 games in the future.  Most importantly, will there even BE any PSOne Classics Mega Man releases?

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I’ve owned a PSP and PS3 for quite some time now.  While I’m used to PSN updates bringing borderline mediocre PSP/PSOne content for the months before, during, and after the summer period, 2009 almost felt like it could finally break free from being stuck in this vortex with Capcom’s release announcements.  Three months running, we’ve only seen three such releases from Capcom: One per month.  Worse yet, this last week saw the first PSOne Classic-less store update since the North American store started putting up titles weekly back in late May.

Let’s do the math here: 9 confirmed upcoming PSP/PSOne re-releases, 1/month average, start the countdown from August 2009.  By those numbers, we’re looking at the last of those games coming out in April 2010.  February 2011 for 20 games total and October 2012 if we get all 40 games Kramez was talking about.  With some people saying the next generation of gaming could come as soon as 2012, that’s hardly an appealing prospect, don’t you think?

Alright, so I’m being a bit unfair.  We all know that the PSP Go is coming this fall and that downloadable PSP games will be a far more interesting release by then.  I fully expect a lot of those re-releases to be out once the PSP Go launches.  PSOne releases, however, are compatible with PS3 systems and have seen very good sales without the need of a digital-only device.  Capcom has three such games confirmed yet not a single one has come out yet.

Even on the Mega Man front, the September release of the Irregular Hunter X/Rockman Rockman Value Pack might be what’s stalling the release of Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man: Powered Up; which is perfectly understandable since PSN releases are region-free.  Moving toward PSOne releases, we already know that MegaMan Legends isn’t cleared for release.  Stretching that, one could guess that licensing problems could afflict a number of other games with voice acting, so let’s count out Mega Man 8, Mega Man X4, and (to an extent) Mega Man X6.  What does that leave us with?  Mega Man X5 and MAYBE Mega Man Battle & Chase.  X5 could just as easily fall off the list if Guns N’ Roses need to be talked to…

While the prospect of Mega Man games being re-released on PSN in the near future is looking somewhat harsh, take heart.  Capcom haven’t abandoned the Blue Bomber and surely won’t just stop at the two PSP releases.  Japan will soon see the release of the first Rockman Complete Works game, so that’s surely a sign of something good to come.

More Capcom content for iPhone/iPod Touch fans

Emily from Capcom Unity reports that a new App is currently available for download on the iTunes App Store.

Called the Capcom News and Updates App, it’ll provide you with trailers and screenshots of current and upcoming releases, one of them of note being MegaMan Star Force 3.  Check it out today!

Source: Capcom Unity

TheSpeedGamers to take on Mega Man on August 14th, 72 hour marathon awaits!

TheSpeedGamers have announced that their next gaming marathon will take place on August 14th and they will do so while playing everyone’s favorite blue robot: Mega Man!

In an effort to raise money for Earth Day, they’ll be running through what is suspected to be as many Mega Man games as they can.  One must suspect that a 72 hour marathon couldn’t possibly cover all of the games, especially when MegaMan Battle Network is involved.  Here’s hoping they at least go through the Classic games and introduce more people to Mega Man 9 and the upcoming PlayStation Network release of Mega Man Powered Up!

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