The PMO Capcom.com Experience

Wowee-zowee, Batman. The official Capcom USA website has undergone revision! How exciting! Let’s look and see what delightful surprises are in store for us now!

For starters, at the bottom they seem to have a “Featured Character” which in theory will change at set intervals. Right now, it’s Leon “I Took A Chainsaw To The Chest” Kennedy from Resident Evil 4… wielding a space gun?

I really gotta look at that game sometime.

Oh, and after a refresh, it’s Frank West from Dead Rising, so it IS random after all. And now it’s Amaterasu from Okami. And I’m not getting anyone else. C’mon, gimme Vent or Aile…

Ok, enough of that.

On the right are current events… well, sort of. Their most recent event came over a month and some change ago, and Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PSP just came out today, with God Hand(noted as “Coming Soon” to the left there) having come out over a week ago. Can’t say that’s a good sign. Maybe that’s what the marquee on the left there is for, though that doesn’t seem to do much but take you to the “official sites.”

Details are also present(with links) to other Capcom titles, such as the upcoming Power Stone Collection and the semi-recently release Mega Man ZX.

Bottom-right(yeah, I know, I’m all over the place here. Think of it as an online roller-coaster tour) is the Capcom Online Store, home to all of your Capcom merchandising needs. Top-right on that page features a “Featured Item,” an action-figure of Devil May Cry‘s Dante with Revoltech “Revolver Joint” action, and parts that are interchangable with other figures in the series(like maybe that Optimus Prime we mentioned earlier?). All for the low, low, low price, of $23.95.

Well Hell, who can resist that. I’ll toss one in my cart right now. Doo-doo-doo… ok, scratch that. Looks like they only ship to the U.S., which is ok, because as I recall, they tried to charge a few hundred bucks to ship a game to Canada, so they can keep it. Besides which, economy shipping in the U.S. jacks that pupper up to almost 31 dollars. I guess if I need some Dante in my life, I’ll stick with my cat:

…see? He likes playing Mega Man, too.

Back on the Online Store page, we have some options to the left. Even though I’m no good for any of it(apparently), let’s see what we have. Besides the usual suspects in platforming(both stationary, AND portable), we have… hello! Music! Books! Action Figures! I’m home!

Now I can listen to Capcom, read about Capcom, and make Mega Man’s sister do whatever I want.

(Oh, wait, crap. I forgot, she’s not legal anymore…)

Anyway, let’s see what we got here. Action figures… takes us to Dante again. And that’s it. Maybe they should retitle that one “action figure.” Ok, fair enough, let’s try music.

Ah, yes, the Biohazard 4(Resident Evil 4 to us gaijin) soundtrack book. With a bunch of pics and music, I’ve seen worse for 25 bucks(plus shipping and handling).

And books gives us… er, the same exact thing. Right, well, back to the Store hub.

“Store Specials: Come See All Of The Great Specials ON YOUR Favorite Items.” I can dig that. Let’s see…

Oh, maybe I can’t dig that. It’s not a link.

After awhile here, you start to get the feeling that it would’ve been more useful to just dump everything on one page, rather than make a “store” for it. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, I don’t know when this thing went up, maybe they’re just waiting for more stuff.

Last thing in the store may hold promise, though: Brands! Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, Mega Man, and Resident Evil… sure, we’ve seen stuff from two of these elsewhere in the store already, but maybe this is where they stashed the rest of the goodness.

Let’s try “Mega Man” first.

Rats… just games. Street Fighter… same deal. Damn.

Ok, this is peculiar. Under Devil May Cry, it’s just the figure; no games. Under Resident Evil, it’s just Resident Evil 4 for PS2… no artbook.

Oh, almost forgot. I’m kinda interested in Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PSP(shaddup), let’s see what we’ve got… I can’t order it, but at least I can inform myself. Be educated, if you will.

$29.95, released the 24th of October… *clicks link* Hmm…

Capcom? Classics Collection Reloaded compiles more than 18 of its classic arcade hits in one complete package. This classic collection consists of some of the greatest arcade games in history.

That’s great, but what’s on it?

…that’s great. But what’s on it? Maybe one of these links on the right will tell me… “Game Info.” Makes sense… oh, that’s the page I’m already on. Let’s try screenshots…

…

…I don’t know what the hell any of these six shots are from, except two from Street Fighter II. That’s. Not. Helping.

We’ll try “video.” And evidently get nothing.

“Download Manual.” I love there are so many options now… except that it’s coming soon, so it’s not much of an option.

“Official Site.” You’re now leaving our seal-covered website. Capcom cannot guarantee that the privacy policies of the site to which you are about to link meet our high standards and the requirements of the ESRB Privacy Online Program. Remember to always check the website’s privacy statement before you give out any information about yourself.

WTF? So the official Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded site isn’t covered the same as their official website? Whatever, proceed…

Oh, this is just their PSP page. “Great Classic Games Only Capcom? Can Deliver!”

BUT WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?!? This tells me NOTHING!!!

Ok, one LAST resort. There’s a link for the game’s forum here… I’ll try that.

…great. It just takes me to the central forum hub. Fine, let’s see… evidently, Classics Collection isn’t considered a brand. Let’s try “Capcom Games Discussion.”

“Hi capcom classics reloaded usa psp game coming soon”

…I guess this is the place. And I guess that’s sort of a sentence…

Hmm, a link to GameStop’s page for the game, which is just as useless as Capcom’s… and one for GameSpot. So I’ll try that, and… FINALLY, some answers!

How ridiculous is it that I had to go through all that just to find out I don’t really know/care about maybe a third of the titles on there? Sure, I might like to try them, but for forty Canuck-bucks? Tempting, but my papers still need to be Lose Weight Exerciseed, too, so I guess CCC:R loseWeight Exercises out for now.

Alright, that’s enough shopping for now… back to the front page!

Press Releases… coming soon. Must suck to be the Press. Careers… coming soon. Company Info… coming soon. Register… also coming soon. Support… oh dear.

Ah, the forum still works! And so does my old login. Oh, glorious day… hmm, “The New Guy!”

Hi guys!

Just wanted to introduce myself as your new Community Specialist. I will be doing a lot of the forum moderation and administration. If you have questions, I will be the guy to go to for answers.

We have some big plans here at Capcom to deliver to you one of the best gaming communities around in the near future. Therefore, you may see changes being made, some small, some drastic.

If you have any suggestions about how I can help make this community better, please let me know by posting your ideas in the Capcom Community Ideas forum. I’ll be going through there and gathering ideas constantly.

Once again, nice to meet you all, and I hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship! 8)

Crap. Guess that means I didn’t get the job. Moving on…

…huh. I’m working my way backwards along the top. “Games” and “Store” take me to the exact same page.

Alright, so going back to Home, there’s just one thing left: the Game Series pages on the upper-right. I see Viewtiful Joe is no longer listed.

Let’s see if they’ve done anything with Street Fighter. Looks nice, won’t go blow-by-blow here, but of interest is that the “Store” link goes back to the OLD Capcom store…

One more, let’s look at Mega Man. Last I saw, they hadn’t updated it since Zero 2 came out. Funny they still use MegaMan.EXE as the icon, given that his series is dead.

Ok, so you go in, and it starts playing trailers. Nothing for ZX, though. The most recent they have is Battle Network 6, and the graphic to the left reflects the game being played, which is neat.

Bottom, “Mega Series” just seems to rotate and pop up a graphic and quick blurb about different Mega Men. Classic ironically shows the original version rather than Powered Up, and ZX and Legends are nowhere to be found(nevermind Star Force). I guess they’d just like us to forget one of the most memorable gaming experiences of the 32-bit generation.

AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN.

Hmm, and “Mega News” lacks any mention of ZX as well. Hasn’t been updated since May, in fact.

“Mega Stuff.” Looks like it links to other sites, rather than anything interesting here. Hey, they brought over the mobile phone version of the first Mega Man! Oh, last January, in fact. Guess that one kinda slipped under my radar. Let’s check this out…

1: Select your carrier.

Lessee… Rogers… Rogers…

Well, that didn’t last long.

Huh, this is rich. Under “Features:”

Game contains both classic Arcade mode as well as a Saga mode where you have unlimited lives, ensuring that no matter what your skill level, you can achieve the full Mega Man experience!

Two things wrong with that. One is that this wasn’t an arcade game. Well, maybe Playchoice 10, but that doesn’t count. Two is, I thought “the full Mega Man experience” was about getting your ass kicked. At least, that’s how it is to hear so many others talk about it. Non-community folk, mind.

Let’s see, back in Mega Man’s crib, we have… Jazwares.

Ah, Ripple Junction, who do t-shirts…

Well, this bites. Looks like you have to be some sort of business or company to look at or do anything there. Guess they just make it, they don’t sell it…

Let’s see, back in Monsteropolis… “Recent Titles,” which stops back in May; “Mega History.” Hey, there’s Legends! And it confirms that it takes place far in the future after the other series, no less. Not that anyone will believe them…

Aww, Hell. Guess “Rock” is no more, the bit for Classic refers to him as “Mega” pre-upgrade.

Overall, the history isn’t too shabby, certainly better than what was here before. Moving on to “Mega Fun!”

Better than before, I’d say. Some decent wallpapers(both Battle Network, d’oh), a few buddy icons(half Battle Network, one Classic and one Zero), and a pair of matching games that seem to cover no specific series.

Queerly enough(can I say that? I mean, is “queerly” a word?), the “Store” tag takes you right back to Capcom’s doorstep. And the Community link… is a dead-end. Just as well, I wasn’t feeling very social after watching a 20-year standard get pissed on. LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!

…and that’s it. I spent far longer on this than I ever planned to, and I hope someone finds it all useful, or at the very least, entertaining. Or at the very VERY least, better than boredom.

Thank you, and good night.

LBD “Nytetrayn”

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.