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At it's recent Gamer's Day, Capcom announced that it will release two new collections of classic games for console systems: Mega Man X Collection and Capcom Classics Collection. These two titles come after the success of the PS2 and GameCube's Mega Man Anniversary Collection and the same game's upcoming release on Xbox.

Mega Man X Collection brings together the first six Mega Man X titles on one handy disc. The first three X games first appeared on SNES, X4 on PlayStation and Saturn, and X5 and X6 on PlayStation. Although the quality of the last two titles is somewhat dubious (OK, X6 sucked), the remaining four titles were quite good and should please fans of the Blue Bomber's futuristic adventures.

The biggest treat for Mega Man fans, however, comes in the form of X Collection's seventh title -- the previously unreleased in America Mega Man Battle & Chase. Although not part of the X series (it features characters from the original series), this polygonal kart racing game was originally supposed to be released on PlayStation until Sony rejected it at the last minute. Capcom had even run magazine ads for the game before it was cancelled. An English version of Battle & Chase was released in Europe, however.

News source: GameSpy

While the number of official WCG games remains the same, two titles from 2004, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Project Gotham Racing 2 were replaced with a Real Time Strategy (RTS) PC game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (aka Warhammer 40K) and a console-based action game, Dead or Alive Ultimate. Dead or Alive Ultimate is the first action title selected as an official WCG game.

Warhammer 40K, which first joins the list of official games this year, was first launched in the United States last September as a next generation RTS game expected to follow in the footsteps of the popular PC game Starcraft. Gaming industry webzine Gamespy (www.gamespy.com) selected Warhammer 40k as one of the top 10 PC games for 2004.

Dead or Alive Ultimate, a new player in the console arena, is the latest installment in the Dead or Alive series. Since first launching last October, Dead or Alive Ultimate has enjoyed enormous worldwide popularity. The addition of a high caliber action game further diversifies the official WCG game lineup, which was previously comprised of RTS, First Person Shooter (FPS), and sports genres.

The WCGC conducted online surveys of gamers, communities and partners in many countries prior to making title selections. The committee also sought opinions from game experts with an aim to fully reflect preferences of gamers and trends in the world game market. Publishers¡¯ technical support in terms of event operability and fulfillment of sports spirit were also among the factors taken in to consideration.

# WCG 2005 Official Games

PC : 6 Games
1) StarCraft: Brood War – RTS
2) Warcraft¥²: Frozen Throne – RTS
3) Warhammer 40,000 : Dawn of War - RTS
4) Counter Strike: Source – FPS
5) FIFA 2005 - Sports
6) Need for Speed : Underground 2 – Sports

Console : 2 Games
7) Halo 2 (Console/Xbox) - FPS
8) Dead or Alive Ultimate (Console /Xbox) – Action