Fans of charismatic characters pounding one another until time runs out are celebrating today as Capcom and Marvel have announced a re-release of the classic brawler Marvel vs Capcom 2 as a $15 downloadable title releasing in Summer 2009 for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360.  This surely puts a cramp on the outrageously expensive out-of-print PS2 and Xbox versions of the game, but so what?  Those of us without deep pockets and time to kill on eBay finally get a crack at the game with upscaled HD visuals, online multiplayer, and custom soundtrack options.  Neat, eh?  A free demo of the game will be released on Thursday, April 30 in North America on the PlayStation Network.  What's in the demo?  The PlayStation Blog has the details.

• Two-player local matches
• Six available characters – Ryu, Chun-Li, Strider, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Wolverine
• Seven selectable environments
• Upscaled 1080p graphics
• Widescreen or 4:3 aspect ratio
• Two graphic filter options for character sprites
• And other cool options to check out

I'm looking forward to this one.  I've played all of the other Capcom/Marvel productions (Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, etc.), but never got around to this one.  It has been hard to find for a reasonable price.  I've never even seen the older versions in used game shops with the single exception of a GameStop that wanted $90 for the worn PS2 version without a manual or original case.  The used game market can certainly be a demanding beast.