Daily Contemplation: Marvel vs Capcom 3 Shadow Mode Announced

In a totally unremarkable move, Capcom has announced DLC for a game before it's even on the shelves. Far more notable is the fact that it looks as if it will be rather nifty and free to boot. 

Shadow Mode will essentially see you fighting against AI simulations based off of playing styles of notable fighters. Some of those already announced include the game's producer, Assistant Producer, a QA team leader, and other members of the staff. Notable community members seem like a no-brainer somewhere down the line.  

When I first read about this I was dismayed because I assumed Capcom would charge for it. Other fighting games, such as Virtua Fighter 5 and Tekken 6, have included similar features which I greatly enjoyed, only MvC'3s new mode will pit you against actual names instead of faked ones. Modes like these can potentially add a lot of life to a fighter and I'm glad to see MvC3 including one. I must admit that, though the recognizable names are nice, I hope the game will do the fake opponents thing too as I imagine the virtual personalities in this DLC are going to be way above my skill level.  

I also hope the rumors that this will be free are true because man would that be a nice change from the norm. Capcom's no stranger to charging stupid prices for virtual costumes and such, though they certainly aren't the worst DLC abuser in the genre (I'm looking at you, BlazBlue). They have released substantial online modes for free for both Street Fighter IV and its followup, if memory serves.

In less impressive MvC news, it will apparently feature an option that lets you simulate Internet lag to practice for less than ideal conditions. Yay?