Reminder: The “What am I Fighting For?!” Contest Nears Its Close, With Slight Extension

Okay, folks, we’re down to our final week of The Mega Man Network’s “What am I Fighting For?!” Contest. We last extended the contest deadline to January 15th, so that people would have the Christmas/New Year holidays to work on their entry, plus a little more time.

In doing so, I freely admit I really should have looked at a calendar. Having done so, I’m extending the contest by two more days– you have until the clock strikes Midnight PST on the night of Sunday, January 17th to submit your entry to mmncontest(at)gmail(dot)com, thus giving you the weekend to finish things up.

And honestly? I don’t want to divulge numbers yet, but there have not been a lot of entries thus far. Ergo, if you enter, your chances may still be pretty good. Click here for the rules and a reminder of what you are fighting for.

“What Am I Fighting For?!” Update

Just a quick note, a reminder of sorts to those who kept up with our last post about the contest: we have decided to extend the contest deadline indefinitely to allow for more people to enter and have time to work on and polish up their entries.

I have not heard back from Jaxel regarding any preference as to when to end this, but I’m hoping that with the Christmas and New Year holidays and vacation coming up, that it will be enough time for people to do what they would like to do. As such, I figure ending the contest a little into the new year– I’m thinking at the end of the second week of January– should hopefully give people the extra time they need.

And for those who have already submit entries to the contest, you are more than welcome to adjust, fine-tune, or otherwise work more on your entries and send them to us again, if you wish. We still have the originals if those are what you prefer to stand with.

Remember, entries and questions go to mmncontest(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thanks, and I hope we’ll see more of your best inquiries into the reason for which you are engaged in conflict.

MMN Contest Update: What Are You Waiting For?!

One month ago, we informed you of our latest Mega Man Network contest, the “What am I Fighting For?!” contest. This is just a reminder that the contest deadline is at midnight PST this Friday, November 20th.

And on that note, despite a lot of enthusiasm for the contest, we have only received a scant few entries. As a result, I just wanted to throw the question out to you all of whether or not the contest deadline should be extended. Let us know in the comments if you need more time, and if there is sufficient demand, then we will extend the deadline past this Friday.

Questions and contest entries can be submitted to mmncontest (at) gmail.com, and we hope to see plenty more entries!

MMN Presents the “What am I Fighting For?!” Contest (Updated w/ Prize Picture)

It is a cry which has echoed through the years among the fans of Mega Man, living on in infamy long after the words first passed the lips of a frantic Zero as Iris passed away in his arms in Mega Man X4. But despite the serious and dramatic intent of the writing, it has gone on to be the subject of jokes and parody.

And even today, the question still stands: “What am I fighting for?!” Well, MMN readers, we are going to tell you here and now exactly what you are fighting for.

Thanks to our associate Jaxel and Lucas Gilbertson, who provided the voice of Zero in Mega Man X Command Mission, Mega Man X8, and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, we are proud to give you the chance to take home a piece of Zero. Specifically, the picture of Zero you see at the top of this article, autographed by none other than Mr. Gilbertson himself with the memorable line.

So, what must one do in order to stake their claim to this unique collectible? We are so, so glad you asked.

The answer lies in five little words: “What am I fighting for?”

You know the scene; you’ve likely seen it dozens of times, if not more. You’ve seen it remade by Mr. Gilbertson, you’ve seen it parodied, you’ve seen it hacked, and you’ve seen it in other contexts. Now, it’s your turn to give us your take on it.

We want you to give us your own take on the infamous scene. You can make submissions by YouTube videos, or just send us an MP3 of you (and perhaps some friends) re-enacting Zero’s tragic moment.

You can be dramatic. You can be humorous. You can remake the scene with startling detail, or you can put it into another context entirely. Be creative. Just reusing the original sound-byte (or Gilbertson’s) isn’t going to do it, unless you compensate for the recycling in some other way. Woo us, impress us. Make us laugh, make us cry. In costume or out, or some other way. The sky is the limit.

The chief condition is simply that you must use the line “what am I fighting for?!”, or at least some close variant. If you’re unsure whether or not your concept will count, mail us at mmncontest (at) gmail.com. That same address is also where you will direct your entries, or links to those entries; just use the subject line “What am I fighting for?!”

The contest begins now and runs until midnight PST on Friday, November 20th. The plan from there is that we will judge the entries over the weekend, and depending how that goes, have Jaxel send the winner the prize on Monday, before Black Friday and the holiday season sets in and mail becomes a nightmare.

Now, get to it, Mega Man Network fans! Show us what you’re fighting for!

Update: For those of you wondering, international shipping is a go.

Update 2: Added picture of the prize, as provided by Jaxel.

Update 3: Contest deadline has been extended to January 15th.

Update 4: A reminder brings one last small extension, so entrants can take advantage of the weekend to finish their entries.

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.

Fanmade Mega Man X4 Redub Hack

Good news, if you happen to own a copy of the PC version of Mega Man X4.

Knight of the Sky informs us that Community member Hypershell was so inspired by the remake of Iris’s death scene from the title that he has created a hack which you can download for the title, thus enabling you to play the game with the scene in question, plus sound bytes of Lucas Gilbertson and Mark Gatha as Zero and X, respectively.

You can see the hack in action for Zero at the spaceport here:

Hopefully, Hypershell will make another video featuring Mark Gatha’s X soon. And hopefully, tell us himself (come on, man, where’s the love?).

Sadly, it seems unlikely that we’ll ever get a true, authentic version of this. As Mr. Gilbertson reveals to Soulrokkuman in his ever-growing thread on YouTube, it seems that our dear Mark is no longer the Mr. Gatha we once knew– he’s now Dr. Gatha, working in Nova Scotia. So a reunion seems unlikely.

(Then again, if my family doctor is any indication, he could probably take the time off if he really wanted to.)

Zero & Iris: Special Edition

Remember when George Lucas decided to gussy up all those old Star Wars movies with modern day polish, special effects, and new footage, effectively ruining them in the eyes of many fans?

Well, this isn’t quite as bad as all that, namely because the anime cutscenes in Mega Man X4 have nowhere to go but up.

But if you’ll recall, during his interview with a Protodude, Zero’s recent voice actor Lucas Gilbertson expressed his desire to redub the death scene of Iris from the early PlayStation title, much like what had been rumored to be included in the Mega Man X Collection. But he left us with the question: To do it seriously, or to do it humorously?

So what did he pick? Watch and find out.

So, did he go for serious, or humorous?

Seriously, please tell me. Thanks to the internet, I can’t tell the difference anymore.

Anyway, great job, Lucas! May we be so lucky as to get this– along with the rest of the speaking parts of the Mega Man X titles– in such a fashion in the future. And don’t let us stop you from doing more– or that other version you spoke of. It would be quite awesome.

News Credit: Protodude’s Rockman Corner