Shooting, Smashing and Soaring with Capcom at E3

By Nick Mokey June 3, 2009

Shooting, Smashing and Soaring with Capcom at E3

Looking at Capcom’s release list for E3 and having to select just a handful of titles to see in our limited time there was tough, but we’re fairly confident the titles we ended up seeing were among the finest the company has to offer. Here are our hands-on impressions of what’s brewing behind the scenes at Capcom.

First up, Dark Void looks incredible, and plays about the same. Anyone who has ever seen The Rocketeer and dreamed about strapping on a rocket pack will appreciate the fluid and effortless flight style Capcom has obviously tweaked and tuned to perfection for this game. The lush outdoor environments reminded us a bit of a much more realistic version of Tribes, but more impressively, the transitions to less organic, indoor environments are seamless, and the engine handles them just as well as the great outdoors, which is traditionally tough for developers to accomplish (again, look at Tribes).

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles feels much like more of the same from the storied franchise – in part because it revisits the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica. The camera angles have been cranked up to make the action seem more frantic, but to us it just felt like helter-skelter, nausea-inducing amateur home video. Not a good change.

Spyborgs, an action brawler, has been one of the quieter releases from Capcom, but the team working on it has done an excellent job working within the graphical limitations of the Wii to produce a non-cartoon title that doesn’t immediately look dated, as some do. The cooperative action rolled along smoothly, for the most part, but slowed-down cutscenes that allow you to tag-team enemies with finishing moves got to be a bore quickly, even in our relatively brief demo. (This was apparently necessary to compensate for the delay of the Wii controller when used for motion, a developer explained.)

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Capcom Showcase 2023: how to watch and what to expect

Key art for the 2023 Capcom Showcase.

Capcom has been on a hot streak this year with the launches of Resident Evil 4's remake, Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, and Street Fighter 6. Now, later this month, the storied Japanese game developer and publisher is going to continue celebrating its fortieth anniversary us a look at what's coming next from them. This will come in the form of a new Capcom Showcase, which the company has typically held around this time each year.

While we don't really know if this show will contain many exciting new reveals, it's still probably worth tuning into for Capcom fans. If you're wondering when and where to stream it, we've rounded up all of that information for you as well.
When is Capcom Showcase 2023

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Resident Evil 4 Shooting Gallery guide: locations, rewards, and tips

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The fact that Resident Evil 4 remake retains the original's ability to mix horror with campy fun is one of its greatest aspects. One moment you will be gripping your controller for dear life as a swarm of bloodthirsty villagers relentlessly pursue you, and the next Leon's making quips and performing suplexes. There was one small fun diversion in the original game that has been expanded and improved for the remake, which is the optional Shooting Gallery. This time there are multiple of these safe spaces to hone your aim, but also a fully developed system of challenges, scores, and, best of all, rewards. If you want to take a breather from all the horrors that await you in Resident Evil 4 remake, here's where you can find all the Shooting Galleries, what you can win, and some helpful tips.
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There are a total of five locations across all 16 Chapters of Resident Evil 4 remake, and they all are within the safety of a Merchant zone. Each one, except the last, will introduce a new set of three challenges, but all previous challenges from past Shooting Galleries will be present in the later ones. That means you could technically wait and only visit the final one to take on all the challenges there. Here's where you can find each individual Shooting Gallery in order of appearance:

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With E3 2023 gone, other gaming events need to step up

Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don't currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward.
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I’m lucky enough to have the experience of attending three E3 shows across 2017, 2018, and 2019 and many publisher-run events focused on specific games or tighter game lineups. In its final years, E3 felt like the perfect middle ground to the gamer-focused PAX and industry-focused GDC, where people from all walks and sides of the video game industry could come together, see what’s coming in the future, and share their love for games.

It also felt more freeing than publisher-run events, as I discovered and experienced games of all sizes that I may not have otherwise and got to meet many people from every angle of the game industry. Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association struggled to convince enough people that this style of expo was important four years after the last physical event.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Entertainment Software Association president Stanley Pierre-Louis blamed E3 2023’s cancellation on the Covid-19 pandemic, “economic headwinds” due to the current recession that impacted marketing budgets, and the fact that “companies are starting to experiment with how to find the right balance between in-person events and digital marketing opportunities.”
The first two are understandable and have impacted a lot of physical events over the past couple of years. Still, the last reason speaks to a bit more worrying of a shift for those looking to network, get attention from the press, get a broader look at the industry’s future, or even pitch a game.
What we lose
Events are a great way for indies to get unexpected and much-needed attention from players and the press; look at the chance encounter that got one of our team’s freelancers hooked on Homeseek at PAX East. Now, indies will have to hope to gain attention at those more indie-focused events like PAX or be cherry-picked to be featured in a more prominent company’s showcasing. There’s also the networking and pitch factor to it.