NewNews - MNC Beta goes live and new Contra game talk

I couldn't decide which of two topics to talk about today so I'm going to talk a little about both:
-http://kotaku.com/5714402/a-new-look-at-the-cartoon-contra-hard-corps-uprising/gallery/
-http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/16/monday-night-combats-steam-beta-live/

Both of these were just posted on their respective pages about 15 minutes ago.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5714402/a-new-look-at-the-cartoon-contra-hard-corps-uprising/gallery/

 So Konami and Arc System Works are developing/recreating "Contra: Hard Corps" as "Hard Corps: Uprising" in a more animé-ish art style.  Knowing and loving both companies, I can expect fast-action challenges with flashy and stylish gameplay.  If any of you have played "Contra: Hard Corps" on the Sega Genesis, you'd remember that it was a monster of a game and that it was very VERY easy to die resulting in a continue or game over.  From the looks of the picture, it seems as though they added a health bar that looks similar to the one in "Castle of Shikigami 3".  More than likely, it's going to be digitally sold.  I haven't bought anything digital other than on Steam for PC.  It makes me feel uneasy buying a game that isn't tangible and relies on accounts and the services of the developers/publisher (especially online exclusive games).  I sunk into using Steam religiously now because of the Christmas gift my friend got me last year (Team Fortress 2).  I now have 128 hours on that game, which is a LOT for me.  Maybe I'll eventually go to a GameStop and buy one of those prepaid card points and start playing these digi-downloads.  There are quite a few I want to play other than "Hard Corps: Uprising".

Source: Youtube Channel UberEntChannel

I was kinda sad to see that I couldn't play the beta when I pre-purchased it 2 days ago, but behold!  It's now available for beta testing and I'm going to download it right now.  I find the concept of a 3rd person action shooter mixed with a MOBA gameplay structure to be an interesting one to experiment.  If it was popular enough on Xbox Live Arcade for the developers to create a port for the PC, then it must hold some merit of genuine entertainment.  So as far as I can tell, it's a mix between Team Fortress 2 and DotA (or League of Legends/Heroes of Newerth) in a 3rd person perspective.  It's a 6 on 6 versus battle with class based characters and MOBA leveling system.  I've played all 4 games referenced and have enjoyed each one for their unique aspects (TF2, DotA, LoL and HoN are all hybrid genre games too!) and am glad that developers of the gaming industry continues to further that experiment by mixing and matching.  It's only $13.49, so log onto steam and pre-purchase it now so that you can participate in the beta!