Who was there: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom producer Ryota Niitsuma, Capcom's Seth Killian, Marvel's Chris Baker, and a translator. From left: Niitsuma's translator, Niitsuma, and Baker.

　　What they talked about: Speaking through a translator for the duration of the presentation, Niitsuma joked about the character roster leak for the $40 Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but he was firm about discussing only the four new characters: Strider, Hawkeye, Firebrand, and Ghost Rider.

　　While Niitsuma reiterated the basic Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 features, he also went into greater depth on specific tweaks and enhancements being made to the game. One of these additions is the new Spectator mode, which Niitsuma said was the result of taking fan feedback into consideration. In the original game, players in a lobby waiting for their turn to fight couldn't watch the matches of the people ahead of them, which was a frequently raised complaint.

　　Niitsuma also talked about tweaks made to the game's X-Factor mode. Also a result of fan feedback, he said the team decided to allow gamers to enable this hyper mode in the air, no longer limiting it to a ground-based attack. Niitsuma said this will force gamers to "rethink their strategies."

　　In a brief question-and-answer session, a fan asked why there are not more African Americans in the game. The panelists balked and punted the question to Capcom's Killian.

　　"The approach is driven by what's happening right now on the Marvel properties," he said. "Capcom looks at who is going to fit on a game design lens. I appreciate the bent of the question, but that's not how the game is approached."

　　Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 launches this November. Slides were then shown for new costumes coming to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Niitsuma said each character is getting two new costumes because, "You can't go out there naked." And like the downloadable costumes from the original game, Niitsuma said the new costumes are "more than a color palette swap."

　　Lastly, Niitsuma introduced and then showed the opening CGI cinematic for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He declared that it was "a little short" and just an "excerpt" from the final trailer. However, he claimed it still showed the flavor and direction of the finished clip.

　　Quote: "It's a bit of a sausage-fest this time around"--Capcom's Seth Killian, acknowledging the male-centric cast of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

　　Takeway: The changes being made to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 go beyond the already leaked roster of 12 new characters. Gamers will be able to decide just how substantive the changes are on November 15, when the game arrives for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.