At New York Comic Con this year, I was treated to a behind closed doors preview of an eyes-only session for Max Payne 3. This was an eyes-only presentation showed off on the Xbox 360.

Max Payne 3 features a whole new experience for gamers, and picks up where Max Payne 2 left off. Max is still haunted by the traumatic events of his past. I am first shown an early level in the game in Max’s apartment in New Jersey, where an older more cynical Max with a head of hair, is visibly distraught and tired. He just looks like he’s waiting for someone to walk in the front door and hand him the bullet to end his life while abusing painkillers. An old friend, Raul, from his police academy days appears and offers him a job in the world of private security in Brazil. Max of course didn’t have much time to think about the offer as he had just killed Anthony’s only son prior to the meeting with his friend Raul and the mobster of course is out to get revenge.

The game at this point has switched seamlessly from cut scenes to gameplay and Rockstar mentions they have worked hard to bring this transition smooth and unaffected to the user experience. They also mentioned any item pick-ups like different weapons or accessories get carried/shown into the cut scenes as you progress through the intense story. As the gameplay begins some gang members are already in the same floor as soon as Max opens the door from his apartment in New Jersey. But these thugs are easily taken out as bullet-time kicks in. It certainly wouldn’t be a Max Payne game without bullet-time and Max Payne 3 continues to build on that feature. Bullets are animated with complete detail and you’ll visibly see where your targets are hit and react in the manner of which they were killed. Rockstar mentions you’ll have many choices to use throughout the game whether it’s free form all out shooting or target-locking depending on different play styles.

As Max continues through the apartment complex, a gang member with a shotgun knocks him down and just before he is taken out a hobo bursts out of the door and takes out the gang member saving Max. The random hobo starts spewing some sort of dialect and runs off to fight off the invading gang members. Here is where Rockstar guided Max into the hobo’s apartment and explained about the amount of detail given to the environments and finds a bottle of painkillers. Max Payne 3 will not use regenerating health as most modern games have become accustomed too. You’ll have to find painkillers to heal yourself up during the fight.

Max can carry up to three weapons at a time with one slot for two-handed weapon (like a rifle or two pistols), and two other slots for other single-handed weapons. You can also dual single-handed weapons like a rifle and a pistol. Max also has the ability for detailed melee attacks. So if you’re up close to an enemy and hit the trigger Max will perform a pre-scripted melee kill. The bottom right of the screen shows a silhouette of Max with a number inside of him indicating how many painkillers you have on you. Also to the right is a meter indicating how much bullet time is available and below that is where your ammo count is located. This area of the demo ends where Max is seen firing bullets through the apartment windows to thugs on the other side of the roof and Rockstar again mentions the destructibility within the windows and wood destruction. We are forwarded to a point in the game where Max is in Brazil and bald-headed looking like he’s about take out someone like Jack from and episode of 24. In this part of the demo, the now bald-headed hero is on the run with Raul’s girlfriend Giovanna in Brazil. In the cut scene, you notice that the original voce actor James McCaffrey has returned to reprise his role as Max and Rockstar felt he should be given a work out and motion capture his movements as well. Rockstar mentions that sets were built to scale to capture the in-game environments you see Max interacting with. So in the next scene we see Max and Giovanna climbing over barricades, going through fences and climbing into buses, you would be well to remember that with motion capture, those actors climbed over those obstacles in real life.

During the game, you see Max and Giovanna working together much like Monkey and Trip working together in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. You’ll see her pulling down ladders for you and helping you getting into the hard to reach places. I should mention that during all of this the enemy AI wasn’t stupid. They’ll react based on the position you’re in and where you’re firing. Also, in the beginning of one section of the demo we were shown, Max is hiding as a group of thugs enters a junkyard, and you’ll have to move quickly to avoid detection, as the enemy will search every nook and cranny. The one thing I could see players getting frustrated with is the continuous switching from shooting section to cut scene. You’ll be fighting to reach every checkpoint and get to that next save point.

Multiplayer wasn’t mentioned, but given the success Rockstar received with its multiplayer in Red Dead Redemption, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see some sort of multiplayer showing up at some point. This is where our demo ended and we see that Max Payne 3 will hit store shelves in March 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you will be able to check out the first Superman video game release since Superman 64 on Nintendo 64. IGN has the exclusive announcement coming from Chillingo and Tiger Games. The game is set for release this November and feature 18 levels as the Man of Steel.

According to the report, this won’t be based on the recently re-launched DC comics line or the upcoming Superman movie currently in production.

Via IGN

This year, the New York Comic Con, taking place in New York City, Nintendo of America will be bringing out all the stops with its upcoming releases this holiday season. The New York Comic Con takes place from October 14th-October 16th in the Javits Center in Manhattan.

Show attendees will get a chance to play games such as The Legend of Zelda^™: Skyward Sword for the Wii^™ console as well as Super Mario^™ 3D Land and Mario Kart 7^™ for the Nintendo 3DS^™ system. They’ll also be invited to take part in special activities to celebrate the upcoming release of the first Pokémon^™ game created exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS system, Pokémon^™ Rumble Blast, which arrives Oct. 24, and Professor Layton and the Last Specter^™, which launches Oct. 17 for the Nintendo DS^™ family of systems.

Pokémon fans can participate in an expanded interactive experience at the nearby Pokémon Gaming Lounge on Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., located at Stage37 at 508 West 37th Street (one block from the Javits Center). Pokémon Gaming Lounge visitors will enjoy hands-on game play with the Pokémon Rumble Blast game prior to its Oct. 24 launch and participate in a wide array of activities highlighting the imaginative fun of the Pokémon franchise. Pokémon Rumble Blast is an action-packed Pokémon adventure and the first Pokémon game for Nintendo 3DS. The game lets players battle against more than 600 Toy Pokémon in full 3D without the need for special glasses. Planned activities include a Pokémon photo booth, oversized Pokémon AR Markers for the Pokédex^™ 3D application, special appearances by Pikachu, Pokémon giveaways while supplies last and other fun Pokémon activities. The Pokémon Gaming Lounge will be free and open to the public.

On Oct. 14, Nintendo will host an exclusive screening of Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, an animated feature film based on the fan-favorite series of puzzle-based mystery games and distributed by VIZ Media. Beginning at 8 p.m. in Room 1B01 of the Javits Center, the event will include appearances by costumed characters, trivia contests and a chance for fans to play the Professor Layton and the Last Specter game, the fourth installment in the Professor Layton puzzle adventure series. This game is the earliest story in the series and tells the tale of the case that made Layton famous. Nintendo will also give special recognition to the winner of the Professor Layton and the Last Specter Quiz Challenge, a contest that was recently conducted via Twitter. The screening event will be open exclusively to registered New York Comic Con attendees with a valid conference pass.

These are the games that are scheduled to be playable at the event at their booth #1538

Nintendo 3DS

• Super Mario 3D Land
• Mario Kart 7
• The Legend of Zelda^™: Ocarina of Time^™ 3D
• Star Fox 64^™ 3D
• Tetris^®: Axis
• Pokémon Rumble Blast
• Shinobi^™ by SEGA^®
• Sonic Generations^™ by SEGA

Wii

• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Fortune Street^™
• Kirby’s Return to Dream Land^™
• Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure^™ by Activision Publishing Inc.

Nintendo DS

• Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker^™ 2
• Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Earlier today at Capcom’s panel at Comic Con in San Diego California, Capcom revealed to the public and new collaboration project. During its panel, “Street Fighter IV and Beyond”, Producer Yoshinori Ono was interrupted by Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada with an announcement that excited everyone. He would be collaborating with the Capcom team to bring to the US, Street Fighter X Tekken and Tekken X Street Fighter collaborations.

The games were introduced with a short demo and teaser trailer to go along with it. It was announced the games would be available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, there was no timetable revealed for a release date. Ono first surprised the crowd with a live Blu-Ray disc of the game showcasing the first playable demo for Street Fighter X Tekken. It appears the game was using Street Fighter IV’s mechanics locked into a 2D plane according to Kotaku. As for Tekken X Street Fighter this was a title that had Tekken’s gameplay mechanics and fighting in a 3D arena as shown with a playable demo by Harada.