Summer of Mega Man Star Force 3 Contest! Win Star Force 3 and More!

Yepper, it’s that time randomly selected again! Time for another Mega Man Network contest! Because why work for your love when we can simply buy it, like some kind of simple commodity. And you can WIN BIG!

This time around, Tabby has insisted we do an artwork contest again, and none of us likes to see Tabby upset (she’s scary). And with both Mega Man Star Force 3 around the corner, as well as summer, what better festivity than whittling potatoes to look like Zero’s head! I’m kidding, it’s a summer themed Mega Man Star Force artwork contest.

You have big chances of winning, because in this contest there will be a total of THREE winners, with the first place grand prize being a copy of Mega Man Star Force 3, the Ryuusei no Rockman Official Complete Works art book, and a Star Force 3 mini poster! That is just cool beans!

So, check out the official contest rules and regulations. Make good note of them! Then get started on your beuaitful artistic entries! You have until June 30th, plenty of time for now but nor for long! Get crackin’!

RnROCW: The look you’ve been waiting for

Ryuusei no Rockman Official Complete Works is out. People are buying it. And if you’ve been wanting to check out what the book holds, we’ve got some exclusive photos of the contents to show you.

The book is pretty standard as far as the Official Complete Works series goes. It may be understandable why, when the book was first announced, it was tentatively named Ryuusei no Rockman 3 Official Complete Works – pretty much the first two thirds of the book are dedicated to that one title. Numerous pages are devoted to not just showing artwork, but slices of various levels of detail of that artwork. There’s also plenty of unused stuff, such as Pirate and Angel Tribe forms.

But, you’re probably just impatient for the goods. Below are 12 photographs from the book. Don’t want to get too in depth for people planning on buying the book, and since Star Force 3 still isn’t out yet, but I managed to still get some pretty cool contents. Enjoy!

Anime Insider Closes with MegaMan Cover

Earlier today, I discovered some sad news as I made my usual daily round to Topless Robot (no, there isn’t any hardcore Roll or Alia action… under normal circumstances, anyway). It seems that the longtime Wizard publication, Anime Insider magazine, has unceremoniously seen its last issue published, with the editorial staff laid off. It is the end of an era, albeit a modest one, lasting about eight years. You can read more about it here, and leave your own thoughts as well as read those of others.

So, why am I mentioning this here? As it happens, the final issue has a slightly ironic twist: To the best of my knowledge, Mega Man has never graced the cover of Anime Insider, not even with MegaMan NT Warrior. And yet, on the final issue’s cover is none other than Geo Stelar’s MegaMan from Ryuusei no Rockman 3. The blurb for the accompanying story is as follows:

GAME FACE
2009 is gonna be a busy year for anime gamers, so here’s a cheat sheet to get you safely through it and to the hottest games on the horizon. By Matt Hawkins

We had seen previous rumors of an online resurgence for the NT Warrior and Star Force anime series earlier this month. With any luck, this may shed a little more light on the subject.

We’ll keep an eye out for the issue, and report any findings. In the meantime, how often does Mega Man grace a magazine cover any more? You might want to grab this one for collectability’s sake. You can learn more about the issue at Wizard’s website.

A little look at RnR Official Complete Works

After having just put up preorders yesterday, Capcom’s Ryuusei no Rockman 3 site now has a page for the Ryuusei no Rockman Official Complete Works book. While only a small preview, this should give a pretty good idea of what’s to fill the book’s 170+ pages. The detail is pretty amazing.

Very sweet. Additionally there’s also a page for another Capcom book releasing at the same time, the Ryuusei no Rockman 3 Ultimate Guide: Battle Block Box. This book will cover all of Ryuusei no Rockman 3’s secrets and such. The book also comes with a Noised Card for the game’s final boss.

RnR Official Complete Works cover revealed

Ryuusei no Rockman Official Complete Works is coming soon. Coming the end of this month! While it may not be your favorite series, it’s still exciting to have another huge book full of Mega Man artwork. Capcom of Japan’s online store e-Capcom has unvealed the cover of the book on their preorder page, featuring snazzy artwork of the Black Ace form from the upcoming Mega Man Star Force 3. Import shops like Play-Asia ought to be getting preorders soon as well, so you can do more than just look at the cover, you can HAVE it. We’ll definitely entice you with pictures once it’s out, so be sure to check by in early April.

Rumor: Return of MegaMan NT Warrior & Star Force Anime Online

Recently, I lamented my inability to see the MegaMan Star Force anime, as a result of it being confined to the US-only and now-defunct Toonami Jetstream website, with the DVDs only being available in Europe’s Region 2.

However, it seems that there may still be hope for people like me, who would love the opportunity to see this and more of NT Warrior, as the following news comes in from Viz Media’s appearance at Wondercon:

“Just got back from Wondercon, my last stop was at Viz’s booth were they talked adding an assortment of licensed anime to Cartoon Network video such as Naruto, MAR, and suprise…Megaman Nt Warrior/ Star force! An official annoucnement is suppose to be coming soon, they didnt specify a date when the video service would launch.” — 102b, to Protodude’s Rockman Corner

Of course, whether or not this only means the episodes that have already aired previously, such as MegaMan NT Warrior, MegaMan NT Warrior Axess, and MegaMan Star Force’s first season, or further episodes from Rockman.EXE Stream and Beast, or later seasons of Ryuusei no Rockman will be aired remains unknown.

At the very least, this seems to indicate that Viz has not forgotten the property, and will hopefully capitalize on it with some new DVD releases. Combination subbed/dubbed DVDs might be a bit much to hope for, but who knows? At least hope is alive.

Ryuusei no Rockman Official Complete Works details

A Japanese online shop has some details about the forthcoming Ryuusei no Rockman (Mega Man Star Force) Official Complete Works. Most important, it has a specified release day of April 1st (hopefully not a joke). It will be 176 pages and A4 format, the same jumbo size as the OCW books for Zero and R20, and cost ¥2100 (a little over $23 US with the current exchange). As for the contents, it’s pretty much what you can imagine: loads of official and conceptual artwork. This includes never-before-seen created specifically for the book. There will also be plenty of staff comments. I’m certainly looking forward to this book!

News Credit: Gyroman Black

Capcom reports sales sluggish, RnR3 met expectations

Capcom of Japan released its earnings report for the third quarter of the financial year, and things aren’t pretty, but they aren’t bleak either. Net sales dropped 8.6 percent from last year, while net income dropped 95% from this same time last year. Capcom stated the reason for the decline is not having any flagship titles releasing during the quarter, such as the upcoming Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5. Another cause naturally is the current worldwide economic situation.

Besides this, however, sales of Ryuusei no Rockman 3 in Japan apparently met expectations, despite being lower than the previous two series entries. Doom and gloom has been pronounced by some followers of the series previously, but if Capcom is satisfied with the number of sales then that’s the important thing. After all, sales numbers alone don’t give us the big picture on the success of a game.

News Credit: Kotaku and NeoGAF

RnR3: Amazing Wave Battles

As you may know, the Winter ‘09 World Hobby Fair has been going on in Japan, and Capcom has been there hosting Wave Battle tournaments for Ryuusei no Rockman 3 (Mega Man Star Force 3). You can catch the action for some of the top battles at Capcom’s website. So far they have videos of battles from the Osaka and Tokyo conventions, with Nagoya and Fukuoka coming in the next couple of weekends. And let me tell you, these kids are pretty good. Just be warned that the videos may contain mild spoilers for Star Force 3, since they go all out with many of the special attacks. Think you could beat these guys?