If you've already read my last blog about PAX, then you know I got some pretty sweet stuff and saw some fun games. Day 2 was no different, albeit I STILL didn't want to wait forever and a day for max payne 3. I promise, tomorrow I will go to it. I was speaking about Borderlands 2 and whatnot last night and I honestly have no urge to see it. If the line is fine I'll go but the lines for Max Payne 3, borderlands, and spe ops thin line were the WORST ever. Demos this year are like 20-30 min long! So I'm gonna wait 2-3 hours to play some long ass demo? Last year demos were easily 10 min tops and that's how it should be. You get more people to actually play your games!

So I arrived later today, figured since I have my badge and the exhibition hall opens at 10am I'd be fine... I was wrong... almost. You see at PAX they queue everyone up near the tabletop gameplay area then let them in at 10am. I figured, as media, that I could get in at 10 whenever. Wrong. Not taking no for an answer, I walked around PAX and found a way in and just walked right into the line of people as they came into the hall... I got in at 10:10 having gotten there at 9:30pm. So missions complete. The sad news is, at this time, Max Payne's line was already around the booth and against the wall... as was Borderlands AND Spec Ops... So i chose XCOM Enemy Unknown and then my day began:

High Points:
- XCOM Enemy Unknown: This game looks fantastic. Simply put. It keeps in with tradition of the series with its strategy/tactical gameplay, just with enhanced visuals (semi-cartoon like, hard to explain, I guess Team Fortress only slightly less cartoon-like if that makes any sense). So you move your troops or attack during your turn, sometimes both depending on your abilities. Then the enemies move and this happens back and forth. But on the other side of things you go back to your base and can train troops and upgrade things all to help save the Earth. You have to go to a world map and find enemy landings, or sometimes fight ships in the air. Now I absolutely LOVE this play style in games. I am in love with turn based games for some reason. I prefer the strategy style of a game rather then smash attacks and kill enemies. With that said, it plays a lot like Gladius did and to me that is the best news ever. Granted this is aliens and that was gladiators BUT it's still a "move your character and/or attack" style gameplay and I love it to death. I forgot all about XCOM even being a thing! I played XCOM 2 many moons ago and then this re-imagining/reboot/remake whatever you want to call it comes up and I couldn't be happier. I will 100% be buying this game and if you too enjoy aliens and turn based strategy/tactical games then I suggest you do so too in the Summer. Also, if you like lots of one liner jokes, this game is gold in that respect too!

- Dragon's Dogma: Now I have had my doubts about this game. I mean seriously, how many more medieval games can we make? The game caught me by surprise how interesting it plays. SO you control a man who they call the Arisen. Whether he gets a name later, I don't know. But you control this guy who has a sword and shield and you start with a friend with you wearing armor. As you progress, you find some stone which can summon in more teammates, called pawns, and a portal literally opens up and they flow in from the ether to assist you. So you walk through a cavern, fighting goblins and large birds. The system works very well and is pretty clever in its execution. X and Y do light and heavy attacks and B does another attack. When you hold the left or right bumper, the moves change however. So when I held LB and hit B, the Arisen would tap his shield to lure enemies. Your teammates are computer controlled but they aid you both in battle and healing and they have some clever one liners referencing modern day things much like XCOM also did in that non-playable demo. Then in the end you fight a Chimera (snake head for tail, lion body, and goat head attaches to it's back) which was pretty intense. You could jump and grab onto the creature Shadow of the Colossus style and slash at him or hold the bumpers for more varied attacks. Graphically the game held its own but was nothing spectacular as I've seen much better in medieval games but all in all a fun experience. Might pick it up for the game and not just for the Resident Evil 6 demo once it releases in May. Also the cool poster and large cardboard shield were cool swag.

- I Am Alive: As we know this game came out a few weeks ago and is getting odd reviews. I have no idea why because I thought it was creepy and it had me guessing and searching often. I mean you have a handgun at the start with no ammo, but you can useit to scare enemies and some will back down. Other times you want to wait for THEM to come to YOU so you can attack them and get their weapon or kill them with yours. Apparently this was the full game (which they didn't tell me until 30 minutes later). I found this odd since the game HAS a demo to download. I am inclined to believe that's why some of these demos at PAX are WAY too long. I mean, do I need 30 min with Spec Ops to know its another military shooter? gimme 10 min and kick me off, you know? I'm here to PEEK at new games, not play half the game. But I am alive is post-apocalyptic, it uses the silent hill map system where blocked routes get marked on the map, it has a dark gritty grey style to the game (I didn't see an ounce of color just blacks, greys, and whites). It feels like Silent Hill but with surviving people

- Card Game: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Now I don't play games but I'll gives these guys a shout out. It's a super hero card game that has 4 players, an environment player and a villain. To those of you who play card games, I hear its a normal setup. In this game you are each a specific hero and you battle the villain. small rings on a player card are used t denote current health or damage modifiers and a die or dice represents health of smaller enemies. If you're into card games and like super hero themed games, check it out. I played a 15 min card game demo (if thats a thing) and got that cool signed poster you see below my Xenoblade chronicles poster that Nintendo gave me (I also picked up my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles today during my Gamestops last 10 min of being open, which I went to right from PAX. I got the last art book too for my preorder which was awesome).

- Double Dragon Neon: This was announced Friday and I played it today. It's cool in style, but kind of boring. I know I have it on my high points of PAX, but it's a very early build and the design is awesome and very 80s inspired. They stole elements from other games like resuscitation in Castle Crashers. THe difference is that in Double Dragon Neon you put a pencil in a cassette tape, and wind it with the left stick to wake up Billy/Jimmy. I thought that was hilarious and clever. They also have crazy 80s hair and the females wear dominatrix gear and have their junk hanging out all over the place. Think Poison from the SF universe but definitely female. My only gripe is there were only 3 enemy types and a giant Abobo. It got boring quick. Now with rumors that maybe Battletoads DLC could happen, that would make it a LOT more interesting, but hey have a lot to go, but I say it's going in the right direction. Also its a re-imagining not a remake, so while there will be similarities, it won't all be the same stuff just revamped, it'll be all new.

Low Points:
- Losing the puzzle fighter and PAC-man tournaments: it happened again, I was denied victory. Puzzle fighter I didn't expect much since it's been a while, I beat 1 guy then lost. That was that and it's all done. My big one was the PAC-Man Championship DX tournament. I made it to the FINALS and choked. I won my first round, barely from minor errors, but then the next 3 i killed it, breaking 1.9 mil each time on the Championship II map (which is a VERY good score) but then in the end I died.. and when PAC-Man dies even once in this game, you can forget about hitting 1.9 million... and it sucks because the winner had 1.890 million, a score i beat 3 matches in a row. I was asked to rest before the final, since my match was the 2nd semi-final. I chose not to and paid the price. The cool part of it all was that last year i was final 4 in PAC-man, and 2 of those guys were there this time too. The winner last year was at PAX, but didn't go to the tournament, he told me yesterday when i saw him for Puzzle Bobble that he wasn't playing a lot of PAC-man DX so he'd be crappy... a guy who holds a top 20 score in this PAC-man level on the PSN leader boards. But the fun part was the 2 other guys were last years 2nd place winner and my fellow sem-finaler from last year and I got to fight against them both and beat them. I beat the 3rd placer, Luis, by 4000 pts... that's a ghost and a couple pellets. Amazing match. I guess I can find solace in the fact that my score of 1.947 million. Despite choking in the finals only getting just over 1.5 million. Sad sad day, but I still did better than last year so practice does pay off.

- Girl Fight: Yes, they finally did it, a game called girl fight where... well.. only girls fight (and yes I know Arcana Heart exists, but that's at least playable). This thing was a mess. It looks like a wanna be DOA, but has nothing but scantilly clad and skanky looking females who fight. You also select 2 "psi" augment abilities like fire skin or stone skin for perks in the match. Now they had no control scheme listed but me and some other guy played and good lord was it sloppy. The character models look kind of scrubby, one minute B is blocking, the next I'm countering, but the next I'm doing a grapple, The attack buttons did different things, like no specific punch or kick button. It was pretty lame. Think Rumble roses only put it in a fighting game, make the girls sluttier, and somehow manage to make it crappier than rumble roses.

- Steel Battalion looks boring: I didn't play it yet, so don't go BUT the line was super short.. and the demo super long. So I stood there for what seemed like an eternity and just watched the players try this game out. First off.. it's a Kinect game where you use a controller... umm.. what? Yes you use a controller for movement and aiming but then randomly throw your arms out to hit switched from within the tank to look in a scope, and all kinds of other craziness. Graphically the game looks great but it looked like a "why is this on Kinect again?" type of game. IF I have to use a controller.. it defeats the purpose. I'd rather use the original giant steel battalion controller then mix and match Kinect and controllers for a lesser realistic feel. It looks as though it's not very immersive. If the line is short I'll try it, but I am not so sure.

- Secret World seems kind of crappy too: Again, I am NOT a PC gamer, so don't go all crazy if I don't understand things. I hate using WASD for movement, there I said it. So right there I was miffed to even attempt this game but a spot was open, i had time to kill before PAC-man, so I tried. The female character I used would NOT run. But whenever I died, I come back in like a spirit world kind of thing, have to walk to my dead body, and resurrect myself.. only to be slaughtered again. I was on some beach with these Fallout-Mirelurk-wannabes but my girl had attacks that did nothing and would NOT outrun them, she wouldn't even run. The i finally got off the beach after constant ressurrection and saw zombies that just seemed out of nowhere. IF this game is free to play, I might give it a go, but I don't recall if it is free. It grabs my attention since the girl had powers but there's also zombies and creatures in the game.

Day 3 Attempts/goals:
- More SWAG: I got way more on day 1, and the posters are from day 1 but I forgot to post before, but I know there's more out there I can feel it!
- Lollipop Chainsaw: The lines were bad but not borderlands/max payne 3 bad
- Firefall: a free online FPS which looks pretty nuts (and had inflatable futuristic gun so I am up for it if they have some left)
- Spec Ops The Line/Borderlands2: Maybe if the lines aren't still super ridiculous but if so, I won't bother waiting and will try more smaller games.
- Play more small scale games: Everyone keeps talking about Shoot many robots and Orcs must die 2 but I never really played those kinds of games. So I think the final day will be all smaller games along with Max Payne 3 and others if time permits. Sure I have 8 hours there.. but if it takes 2 hour to wait in a line and play for 30 min, my day is more than 1/4th over for ONE game.
- Actually buy something from a merch booth: In keeping with tradition with ANY event, merch is off the wall expensive. They have 2 different classic video game booths.. and ALL their games are SUPER overpriced. I cannot stand seeing places like this. I swear they see what ebay sellers are TRYING to sell it for, but don't actually notice what they DO sell for ultimately. On what planet does shovelware N64 games cost $10-15? The prices sucked and as a video game collector of over 2300 games, I know what classic games go for because I buy and sometimes sell them often enough to know. Sorry end of rant (it just irks me that these types of booths at events/carnivals do this and rip off so many people). The buy it now price does NOT indicate what a game is worth, that's just what some sleazebag is trying to get someone to buy it for so he makes more cash. There's my ebay tip for everyone.

I leave you with these pics from PAX. As I said last time I'm sure I forgot some things, but if it comes to mind I will an I will post many many pics after the 3rd and final day of PAX. ENjoy and comment if you feel so inclined.

As some of you may know, I was fortunate enough to get a Media badge for this weekend at PAX East 12 thanks to my good friends at www.glitchytasty.com. So after having spent the first day at PAX, I'd like to tell you all how Day 1 on my journey went (and sub-sequentially I will post about Day 2 tomorrow and Day 3 sunday). I'll also post a couple of pics pertaining to games I played as well as pics of Day 1 SWAG.

High Points:
- Assassin's Creed 3: The game looks amazing, easily looks to be the best in the series. I however am biased to this because I prefer the Revolutionary War era to that of Italy that has been a big staple in the series as of late. the game can fit an astonishing 2500 characters on the screen at once. You literally have to fight/sneak/run your way through full on army battles to get to your targets. You can swing from tree limbs, climb up rock faces, much more seamlessly and realistically. Connor, Assassin's Creed 3's protagonist, uses a dual blade fighting style, but also can use weapons such as a bow & arrow, hatchets, a small handgun, and even a blade with a rope attached to it used to string enemies up and hang them from treetops.

The battle system seems much more refined as jumping from one enemy to another flowed smoothly and there were many different take downs as the video I saw showed when Connor was surrounded by 4 enemy soldiers. We couldn't take photographs but in the pics you'll see the cool inflatable AC3 hatchet I received after watching the video. Hell, when I got out they even interviewed me about the game and my thoughts on it which was a nice touch (signed a waiver and everything!). Also if I pre-order at PAX I get a steel case and something else, I debated on it since you have to preorder it online and I don't know if I want my credit card info being typed in on a comp thousands will use and that someone takes home after PAX. We shall see. I have not been huge on the series but now I cannot wait to play thru it (near the end of AC1, never played 2 yet or revelations and I don't yet own brotherhood).

- Joe Danger the Movie: OK so this game may not be that well known, but I have to say I was pretty impressed with the build. It was also a nice touch that if I played the demo I got a free XBLA copy of the first Joe Danger game, so that was pretty kick ass. But the game is a side scrolling race style game, but good old Joe Danger is a stuntman. So you are filming scenes in movies and the director guides you when to jump and whatnot, sometimes it's just signs. It plays VERY much like Excitebike and even has a level creator in the same vein. Not only is it a side-scrolling game, but some levels have you move inward and outward in the screen, more lanes if you will. The build they had had lots of levels too, so if you're a fan of the first game (which I will play soon) I don't see how you could not enjoy it.

- Kid Icarus: This year I went right to the DS booth on my "Media Hour" from 9am-10am. They were giving out free Kid Icarus AR cards just for playing. Well according to them there's HUNDREDS of these cards, and you can only get them from trade shows, and magazines and whatnot, they cannot be bought as of yet. The cool thing is, They have the game setup for Multiplayer, single player, and AR card battles. This allowed them to give me a pack of AR cards for playing all 3 and all the packs have random cards, so they say. Now granted, Kid Icarus has been out for a few weeks, but I don't own it yet (birthday coming up on the 18th) so it was cool to try.

- Mario Tennis Open and Spirit Camera: I grouped these together because I only tried them for a few minutes. Mario Tennis plays just like the N64 version. I saw no signs of super moves like in Mario Power Tennis. Spirit Camera, the spiritual successor to Fatal Frame, was pretty creepy. The game plays as if you are wherever you are now, but occasionally you're in a creepy house. Creatures and ghosts appear in real life with you as you look through the 3DS, much like the camera in Fatal Frame. SO one minute I am in a hallway then all of a sudden I see PAX in my surroundings then BAM ghost chick pops up looking as though she's right there at PAX. It was an exceptional use of the 3DSs gyroscopic controls to say the least.

- Hell Yeah: Made by SEGA, is sick and twisted fun. I mean an enemy is a pile of poo with a chainsaw on it's head... and you play the prince of darkness who is an undead bunny rabbit killing enemies in hell all because some scandalous video went on the internet so he wants to kill everyone who saw it and mocked him for it. It is one to check out!

- Deadlight: Side scrolling apocalypse game with Zombies (called Shadows). Think of the old Genesis game Flashback, or the old SNES game Out of this World (Another World everywhere else) or old style Prince of Persia. This game had scares, a very dark and almost comic like style. If the Shadows get you, you die. So you must avoid them at all costs. In the demo you eventually get an Axe to fight them off, but otherwise you have to use your wits, or even taunt them luring them to fall to their deaths, be electrocuted, or fall into other traps that you have waiting for them. I am actually very excited to check this game out this summer.

Low Points (at least for me):
- Way too much PC stuff: I love video games as much as the next guy, but the last thing I am is a PC fan. There was easily 30% more PC stuff here than last year. Now granted I'll probably check some out on Sunday, but it all feels like a "I'm here so I might as well try it" kind of feel. I mean I want to try the Free-to-play FPS called Firefall but other than that I'm not too interested.

- Lost the Puzzle Bobble Tournament: Not a huge deal, I mean I made it to the final 4. The funny thing is, the guy who beat me at Pacman DX last year was here this year, and we both lost to the finalists, but the guy he lost to won it all. It was still fun and I did great for not having played a Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move game in a long time, on a console anyway.

- Risen 2 sucks: That is all. It looks like a poor man's Skyrim but with pirates

- Didn't notice a lot of Vita displays: I played UMVC3 and it plays like garbage on the Vita. The analog stick is useless and I don't know why but the D-pad wasn't comfortable. Plus, it kept saying "waiting for other player" on and off the whole match.. the other player was 1ft away from me...

My Day 2 attempts:
- Max Payne 3,Borderlands 2, and/or Aliens: Colonial Marines booths: These were PACKED today, so I chose Assassin's Creed for today.
- Capcom Booth: It was packed and the Dragon's Dogma Demo is way too long.

I'm sure there's crap I am forgetting but I'll end it here. If anyone has questions leave some comments. I saw a whole lot more but thus far this is all I can remember at the time. Here's some Pics of the things I mentioned (many more pics tomorrow now that I know the layout of the Exhibition Hall) and my Day 1 SWAG (and yes those are an inflatable AC3 hatchet and an inflatable Omni Blade from Mass Effect 3):[i]
- GrimmTrixX

Back in 2003, when the Xbox/PS2/Gamecube generation was picking up in full force, there was a highly unplayed gem called Gladius. This Lucasarts Strategy RPG, set in a medieval/Roman era, had it all. The game was 4 players, it had so many different character types rangin from Centurions, Murmillos, Barbarians, Ogres and even giant scorpions!

In Gladius you can choose from 2 main characters, Ursula or Valens. The game is based on schools battling for supremacy in the lands. When I say schools I mean training with weapons, not Math battles or gym class dodge-ball. Ursula represents the normal campaign, as she starts with less powerful enemies while Valens is considered Expert mode. The main different is with Valens you start in Imperia, Ursula starts in her hometown.

So as the game plays on, you begin to build up the forces in your school. As you pass through neighboring towns, you enter battles and tournaments to ultimately win in that land's cup, finally reaching the final battle. As you go to these towns you can permanently recruit members to your school, or simply pay a smaller fee so they join you for 1 or 2 fights. Some of the battles you need to win to get to the final round in that land require certain classes. Some are all animal battles, some all female, things like this. But this game had it all! Skeleton warriors and shaman, mongrels which look like Planet of the Apes monkeys only much thinner. There's Satyr's who do jigs and drink wine from flasks/bottles, and spear throwers who do RIDICULOUS damage as you level up their abilities.



The game has a rock-paper-scissors type mechanic. Heavy beats medium, medium beats light, light beats heavy. Obviously heavy characters are stronger but slower, and light characters have better speed, but overall it works great! There's also an affinity system (elements) with stuff like fire, water, Air, earth, light and dark. These to have advantages and disadvantages between one another. Weapons also get these affinities attached to them occasionally and make for even more strategy in battle.

So let's get to the battling! Turn based, but also involving movement, is the name of the game here. So you choose where you want your character to walk to and depending on their stats/class they may take a turn or 2 to get there or you set it up so they move then attack. The order of attack is based on your stats, but also on appeasing the crowd. If the crowd likes your style, you can advantages such as more speed or more strength. The name of the game is not always to kill everyone (you knock them out not kill them anyway) but sometimes to beat a specific person, or survive a specific amount of time. The only way your characters can actually die is if you are confronted in the overworld while moving from town to town so be careful and save often. Lost odyssey and Last Remnant are probably close to its style since you do have button presses during attacks, only Gladius had a few different styles. Some involve hitting the right combination while others involve sequential mashing.



So I ask you Lucasarts... What's the hold up? EVERY video game site/magazine praised the game. It was available for Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube, and is still not super rare. But why not revive this game? I have been looking for a game with this exact fighting system SINCE 2003 and it's driving me insane! If any game could benefit from a sequel it is this game. Hell I'd take an XBLA version of the game with online battles anyday! I mean Gladius was a 4 player RPG for crying out loud! IF you never heard of this game and still own any of the systems it's on, buy it, especially if you love turn based RPGs as much as I do.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to start as Valens and take our some arrogant Centurions with elves and nipple-ringed Minotaurs.

Who here is going to be at PAX East 2012 this year? I shall be attending in full effect representing the site me and my friends write for www.glitchytasty.com. I am also representing myself at www.GrimmTrixX.com, my personal blog site and hub for all the places I blog at (including good old Destructoid).

Now while I may sound like I am advertising.. well yea I guess it does seem that I am, but the reason is I would like to see who is ready to have a blast at PAX this year? Being the only person from my site going, I am a 1 man gaming machine. I'll be at the Pac-man, doom, and puzzle bobble tournaments in case someone wants to see my ugly mug. Now while I haven't played doom since it was a NEW game on my PC with 8gb RAM way too long ago, I am entering JUST so I can say "I entered a DOOM tournament in 2012" which is something I assume does not happen on a regular basis.

Is everyone as excited as I am? As a media rep, I get to go in for that sweet sweet extra hour from 9am-10am on Friday morning. The downside to this is last year it was on Saturday, so you had all day Friday to see which places had the biggest lines so you knew what to hit during that extra hour. Sadly, this year is different. This year is a guessing game. I assume Max Payne 3 will be hard to get to unless I feel like waiting in line forever (i don't).

But I for one can't wait to check out new Assassin's Creed info, try Steel Battalion on Kinect, and get some sexy free SWAG at the booths (maybe some complimentary download codes for reviews? Indie game developers I'm looking at you).

Sadly I am not into card games. They seem interesting enough but I don't have time to invest in it. The same can be said for MMORPGs. Let's just say I am a lifetime member for Star Trek Online since day 1.. and I've played the game 4 times. Will it stop me from trying the free to play MMOs? Not at all. Also the game Firefall, a free to play FPS, looks like it could be very awesome and I will be checking it out.

So what else is everyone interested in seeing? Do you have any questions you want me to answer while I am there or when I return? I will do some blogs after each day chronicling my experiences at PAX East 2012. If it's anything like last year, then it's going to be one hell of a time. So hit me with some CrazySexyCool replies, follow me on twitter/like me on Facebook at GrimmTrixX for my fun musings while I am PAX bound, and chat away! If talking about games is your thing, then I am definitely all ears.

For fun, here's the MAIN reason I HAD to go last year:

Let's face it, the world is full of video games with intense and epic stories, fantastic gun blazing shoot outs, and shocking twists and turns. This is something that we have come to expect from any forms of media whether it be movies, TV shows, books, or video games. But if there's one thing I like about stories, it's simplicity. Toejam & Earl is a simple addicting fun adventure with a story told through little to no cut scenes and just outright hilarity.



So let's talk more about ToeJam & Earl (a.k.a the greatest Sega Genesis co-op game ever made). The game starts off in the most simplest fashion, and that is two joy riding teenage aliens crash land on an unknown planet. We find out this planet happens to be Earth and they are just struggling to survive by trying to find the pieces of their ship and get back home. Simple enough right? Wrong. Not only are there presents all over the Earth (we later see Santa Claus with a jet pack, so I guess we know why it's raining presents), but there are insane Earthlings as well.

I mean don't you all hate when the mole people steal your stuff or a bunch of nerds trample you? I know I'm sick of it! But on this journey, ToeJam & Earl find out that not all Earthlings are evil. They make friends with a man in a carrot suit, and an opera singing fat lady, who aid them on their quest to return home. So eventually, as our heroes embark on their journey, they gain some major funkdafied cool points and evolve from Weiners, to Poindexters, to Peanuts and then to the ultimate role as Funkmasters!



The co-op in this game was revolutionary for it's time. Most games wouldn't let your friend leave the main screen, making the two of you always argue where we go next. But TJ&E threw that out the window and made the screen split once you were too far away. But the creators made it so you get a perk to working together, where any presents you use, while in the same screen, are given to both players. this was a great advantage when running low on presents and struggling to find the elevator or ship piece.

So how does their legendary journey end? Do they get stranded on Earth, forced to live out their days running from mailbox monsters and mad scientists? Funk No! These Funkmasters find all 10 pieces of their ship, somehow manage to reassemble it (i guess they were grease monkeys and we had no clue), and make their way back to their home planet of Funkotron!

Is this where the game ends? Do we simply get credits and that's all she wrote? No way! As we continue to play, we see them make it home, and you actually get to walk through their neighborhood on Funkotron and say hi to all their friends, eventually making it to their homes and their families. From their zany antics at the beginning to their triumphant victory and return trip home, ToeJam & Earl prove that two funky gangsta aliens can survive in the universe.... too bad they brought a whole mess of Earthlings back with them and have to try and capture them all in ToeJam & Earl 2: Panic on Funkotron but hey... it's better than a "To be continued," right? Now excuse me while I go into the sound settings and make remixes using their random sounds and make ToeJam & Earl dance all funky like.

As we all know, Soul Calibur V hits this tuesday and no one is more excited than I am. But since Namco's been hanging with Capcom lately due to SFxTekken, it makes me bit nervous. You see SCV has a ton of characters, as always, BUT there are MANY who are missing from the roster. Among the missing are: Taki, Zasalamel, Talim, Hwang, Amy, Rock, Cassandra, Sophitia (technically), Inferno, Kilik (in a traditional staff user sense), Seong-Mina, Setsuka (mostly), Xianghua, and yun-seong, just to name a few.

Now I know we get many characters similar to them, or those who have their old styles, but many do now at all. So it begs the question... Will Namco pull an "Ultimate" and make a special Soul Calibur V in the future. I meanw e all thought MvC3 wouldn't do it, and then it happened. We have 4 editions of SF 4 (3 on consoles and then 3ds; maybe more for all i know). While I am getting the limited edition from best buy (for Dampierre DLC) on tuesday, I cant help but wonder if later they'll pull a fast one on us. I mean if they DO make the characters and make them DLC thats all well and good, I'm just nervous theyll make a 2nd edition with the characters and add extra stuff that you can only get if you buy that edition.

At any rate, who else is excited that Soul Calibur V is almost here? I am, one way or the other. I just home Namco isn't gaining any of Capcom's bad habits.