The Versus series now firmly established, rumours were abound that Capcom was planning a new title, drawing on characters from their broader universe of games. Rumour became fact when Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998) arrived in arcades, pushing the limits of what was possible with the now ageing CPS-2 hardware system.

With Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 being thrust upon us, I can't help but reflect on the crazy crossover journey that has brought us here. And thank the Capcom designers that dreamt up this Marvel fan service.

I’ve never been much of a handheld gamer. A childhood filled with Amiga, Lego and Scalextric was conspicuously absent of the Japanese wonder boxes of my friends so when we attended a pre launch event for Nintendo’s 3DS console last week my only frame of reference was of a couple stolen weeks in the summer with my mum’s DS Lite and Dragon Quest IX.

Last week Sony announced the NGP – Next-Generation Portable – reaffirming their commitment to portable gaming and the Playstation brand. With brute force power, and more input methods than a Move Starter Pack, it looks like we have worthy successor to the PSP in our hands.

We're excited to introduce Sam Riley, our 3rd seat for episode 4, with the new dynamic pushing us to our longest podcast yet. Remember, you have the whole month to enjoy. We take a closer look at gaming news from CES, along with Torchlight XBLA, Killzone 3/Crysis 2 Betas, PS3 Steamworks and more. While this month's Playback features possibly our first mention of Wii games, with Civ 5, Heavy Rain, Dead Space 2, Gran Turismo 5 and then some.

Wakka Wakka Wakka... There’s something in the spirit of a classic game that makes it a classic. Feeds the nostalgia. You can play the original game that you remember from your youth, but often it’s best left untouched. The mental image intact. It seems in this day and age you can have the best of both worlds.