Did you know that in addition to being boring and for old people, VH1 also has a website that raina lee (1up-zine) writes for sometimes? Well it's true, and simon pointed it out to me, after raina herself did but I didn't actually look because I was busy and not AT ALL because at the classic gaming expo 2003 she caught me playing NARC all the way through to the end and said 'oh hey, that looks like a game brandon sheffield would really like.' Anyway, this recent one is really nice, and pretty true, talking about how games are transmitted within relationships. Short but sweet, and after reading, I imagine lots of persons named chris are raising their hands.
While Eric-Jon and Tim wandered around the Tokyo Game Show pointing at D3's Earth Defense Force 3 (also using spyglasses to induce exclamation marks over Hideo Kojima's head at the Microsoft press conference!), myself and Brandon were also there on behalf of Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine (and GameSetWatch, even!), and we posted a wrap-up of our total TGS coverage on Gamasutra.
We're a bit more developer-centric, but interesting things to IC-ers might include Inis' Keiichi Yano talking about the state of the game biz in Japan from his perspective ("Nintendo made a really good comeback... you can't buy their hardware, that hasn't happened since the Famicom"), and the first interview in a while with Dylan Cuthbert of Q Games (Star Fox DS, Digidrive GBA), in which he talks about the 'salaryman' ethic from Japanese game developers.
Mr. Sheffield's full interviews will be posted gradually over the next few weeks, but include chats "...with LocoRoco director Tsutomu Kuono, Q Entertainment game director Reo Yonaga, Sega veteran Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball), Capcom and Clover Studio's Atsushi Inaba (Okami, Viewtiful Joe), Bandai Namco development director Makoto Iwai and representatives for Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, and Sega's Yojiro Ogawa (Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii)." Plenty to look forward to!
EntDepot is having a little Dead Rising contest. It's not a very tough one! I could be doing these sorts of contests, but it's a pain in the butt to mail things out. Would you people actually care if I did? Lemme know if so.
About a year ago, somebody posted on the VIP boards in the japanese bbs 2ch saying they should make a game about a cafe filled with tsundere waitresses. Now, a year later, Shame on is released and available free for download. The game is actually quite well done, considering the fact that it was born from a post in a bbs. It even comes with its own opening song (which is also downloadable on its own).
What is a VIPPER you ask? This is VIP. brandon's notes: and also this, but much less exciting. I like how the interviewer lady is all 'WOW the internet is full of dangerous people, right?' Yes. Also, the term 'tsundere' comes from 'tsuntsun' - a cutesy word indicating that someone is aloof/combative, and 'deredere', or lovey-dovey. Putting the two together, you've got a character who is initially mean and abusive, but then incredibly caring (to the main character, but still mean to others), ala insert credit's iggy, or any girl I've ever dated.
I went to the famous doujin shop Messe Sanoh in tokyo last week, and as usual, only bought CDs. It's not a widely-known fact, but they have a good selection of underground techno and doujin remix CDs (there was a mother II one, which I'm sure I would've loved if I had...ever played mother II). One of the albums I picked up was from Sharpnel Sounds (mixed by DJ Yousuke), and called Sharpnelsound J-Core Revolution. Really good stuff if you're into J-core/gabba/dnb type stuff, which I am, among other genres. Anyway, it's got lots of interesting mashups and samples, including a theme from the anime Noir, Powerpuff Girls samples, and lots of other stuff.
Down to the point though, listening through, I heard a familiar tune that took me by surprise - the chocobo theme remixed with some heavy thumps. Pretty good - there've been chocobo techno mixes before, I understand, so this isn't revolutionary (album title pun!), but still pretty fun. The song's called 'fuck DJ', and here it is. This isn't the best song on there, but I probably shouldn't just be throwing these things around. If you're curious, just send me an email.
So X06 happened, that's an Xbox 360 thingie in Barcelona (this year anyway), and the press release they sent reminded me that EA's making a game called Superman Returns: The Videogame, though I think the official spelling is in ALLCAPS. Anyway, that made me think that something needed to be done, and you can see partial results of that below. There might be more coming to this thread in the forums soon...I can't guarantee it though. We here at insert credit hope that, like in the NES version, Superman rides the subway to get around. He's a regular guy, dammit!
Update! Using my insider contacts, I've learned that the next title in the series is already in the planning phases. I shouldn't be talking about this in a public space, but why not - the working title is Superman Takes Out: The Garbage. But you didn't hear this from me.
Update the second! Now there actually are some more images in that forum post, and they are of excellent quality. Find them here, here, here, and here if you're lazy.
In a continued effort to not go bankrupt, and appeal to the base interests, here's SNK's new project - the latest in DS training games. This one's called iiotokocheck - or with a loose meaning-based translation, 'hot guy check'. You can see in the lower screen all the things you can do to this dude. *pan pan* indeed.
Note: game may not actually be from SNK and might possibly be from 2ch, but I don't know! If you think about it, it wouldn't be so different from their maid simulator. It specifically references the witch check mode from Doki Doki Majo Saiban. Thanks to substance J for the image. Click to make it bigger, if you know what I mean. The image comes from the original comic which spawned the whole 'uho! ii otoko' internet meme, and this is the original line he says in that scene (so says iggy), which is something about, expelling...things...into...dirty things. I think you can guess.
While it was announced some weeks ago, today the name was finally revealed, along with a release date: december 21st. Ys Origin won't have Adol Christin as the protagonist for the first time in the series. Coming for Windows-based computers on DVD media, it'll use Napishtim no Hako's engine, much like Felghana no Chikai did.
Note: We had some internal conflict over the name - Adol Christian is the preferred western spelling, but the official japanese name seems to be Christin. Also, check the YsO "secret page" for more screens.
News: tokyo game show coverage
September 26, 2006, 07:49 PM
by tim, via next-gen.biz, gamesradar.com, CESA - [permalink]
Hello!! If you're wondering why there's not much Tokyo Game Show coverage on insertcredit.com, it's because it's somewhere else. You can see my "TOP TWENTY FROM TOKYO", which is titled very Britishly yet written very not-Britishly. It contains paragraphs like this:
White Knight Story, in many ways seemingly subtly different from the screeching anime-voiced RPGs that bring bread and butter to Namco-Bandai, is also in many ways just as friendly-looking and accessible. Namco's "Tales of..." games succeed in making money because their titles almost never carry numerals, and their characters are always new people of familiar personalities in new situations. White Knight Story represents Hino's furthering attempt to make a name for himself and his studio without sticking to one series. In an age where saying "Final Fantasy XIII" aloud makes me blush for mathematical reasons, I can't think of a better cause to applaud.
If that seems like something you'd enjoy reading, knock yourself out!! Also, a special bonus prize will go to the reader who can tell me which two games on the list had their places mysteriously swapped by the editor. (Email responses to tim at this website dot com.)
The only person out of, say, twenty-something to reply both seriously and correctly to the previous question, regarding seats in taxi cabs, was Aaron Novak, aka the forums' newave. Yes, you let the most important person in the cab sit in the seat behind the driver.
Meanwhile, eric-jon has written up this leisurely stroll through the Tokyo Game Show floor. It is portentuously called "Tokyo Game Show: The Report." I think it would be better titled -- in all caps -- "TOKYO GAME SHOW: THE REPORT: THE NEXT GENERATION: BY NEXT GENERATION." Below is a sample of some of the words you'll see in there:
So we've got DEAD OR ALIVE Xtreme2. How about that water, huh? Really, I'm impressed by the waves in the Wave Race mini-game. They don't look at all like water -- more like molten glass. Still, wow. How pretty! The sound was turned down; I'll be disappointed if, in the full version, the girls don't giggle and yell "whee!" when they ride over jumps.
Also, if you know this website called Games Radar, they'll be posting some Tokyo Game Show video footage by tomorrow, so keep a look out for it -- because, well, it stars me. Okay, well, I'm off-camera the whole time, interviewing Japanese gamers. We interviewed hundreds of showgoers, trying to get a bit of a grasp on which new console will sell the most in Japan. Our answer was surprising and, at the same time, not surprising at all.
I might as well tell you: Japan wants the PlayStation 3. Common reasons include "Because I already have a PlayStation 2" and "because I hear they're making Final Fantasy for it." If 75 out of a hundred people interviewed said they wanted a PlayStation 3 (and they did), and 192,000 people attended the show, I'm sure the PlayStation 3 is going to do just fine. And if you don't believe these words: well, keep checking here for the video footage.
Really, though -- you should have seen the people. Nearly a thousand people were crowded around the PlayStation 3 in a glass case at the Sony booth at any given time, snapping pictures with their cellular phones. Do you realize what that means, when someone takes a picture of a piece of electronics hardware with their cellular phone camera?
Let me try and give you some exclusive show impressions before I sign off: okay, how's this -- Dimps' Gundam first-person-shooter on the Xbox 360 was pretty disappointing, and slow, and extremely buggy. And, worse than that, none of the HDTVs at the Bandai-Namco booth were configured correctly. They were all in regular AV mode, with the image in "wide zoom" -- on Samsung 27-inch HDTVs. It looked positively awful. Sony, meanwhile, had some nice Bravias in 1080p under moody red lights, and Microsoft's combination of glossy displays and bright white lighting was probably not conducive to enough positive opinions.
Lastly, full disclosure: Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, Hironobu Sakaguchi's two games for Xbox 360, are tied for game of the show in my article linked up there.
Beyond lastly -- on the last day of the show, the staff in the press room distributed flyers listing the games that won the "best of show" awards from the CESA (Computer Entertainment Suppliers' Association). Those games included Elebits for Wii (non-playable at the show) and Seiken Densetsu: Dawn of Mana for PlayStation 2, as well as Monster Hunter 2 for PSP and Gran Turismo HD for PlayStation 3. Lost Odyssey, a brand-new game with a story by a living literary figure (Kiyoshi Shigematsu) and character designs from a world-class artist (Vagabond's Takehiko Inoue), designed by the back-from-retirement creator of Final Fantasy (Hironobu Sakaguchi) was not on the list. The semi-3D remake of Tales of Destiny for PlayStation 2, however, was.
The chairman of the CESA jury -- according to the top of the flyer -- is Yoichi Wada. He is also the president of Square-Enix.
That's a little bit interesting!!
Also, under Wada's firm, unbiased guidance, the CESA gave Final Fantasy XII the "Grand Award" at its Japan Game Awards: 2006 on September 22nd.
I probably would have given it to Final Fantasy XII as well, come to think of it, seeing as Dead Rising had yet to be released at the time of the vote. Still!
Samurai Spirits - Rokuban Shoubu's actual content has been revealed and it seems that SNK Playmore isn't including all the MVS games there - instead of Samu-Supi Zero Special they're adding Tenkaichi Kenkakuden, the latest episode born on Sega's Atomiswave which got a PS2 port only a few months ago. Weird, but official.
Garou Densetsu Battle Archives 2 has also been exposed. As expected, Real Bout: Garou Densetsu, Real Bout: Garou Densetsu Special and Real Bout: Garou Densetsu 2 will fill the pack (so no Dominated Mind as a bonus, sadly), while The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match is confirmed as not getting a graphical update, but just an Arrange Mode with extra characters, moves and balance adjustments. To compensate, it'll be sold for only 3800 yen. Thanks to Fighters Front Line.
I covered the upcoming 360 bound Super Robot Wars XO in a previous update, but Banpresto have added a movie to the site as well as the news that the game will support Xbox Live versus battles. Despite being similar to the lacklustre GC iteration, the fact that XO will now be online partially makes up for the faults of its progenitor. Though, the main draw here (for me, obviously) is that Layzner and the mighty Cougar get to strut their stuff online.
In other news Armored Core 4 is looking lovely and has had quite the gameplay makeover. The salient points being that; there's a new HUD with a 3D radar, you have masses of AP compared to the previous games, the entire screen is now the lock-on window, the new vernier thrusters are very spritely and the environments are suitably huge.
The only downsides thus far are that the game speed is equatable to Last Raven, which is no bad thing but is not the step up we were promised, and that the heat mechanic from Nexus et al has been dropped (though the jury's out on whether the latter is a detrimental loss).
That's the name of the Samurai Spirits compilation SNK Playmore is developing for its Neo-Geo Online Collection for the PS2. It'll include 6 titles in the series (presumably all the episodes born on the MVS), according to Famitsu. The already announced World Heroes compilation will get the name 'World Heroes Gorgeous' and will include the full series, while rumors of a Fuu-Un Mokushiroku series pack [Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter in the West] are still in the air. Famitsu also shows us the very first screen of Doki Doki Majo Saiban (Dengeki Online has the second one), one of those games from the new batch of non-action titles for the DS from the company, which we mentioned here. Finally, SNK Playmore has just confirmed brand-new graphics for The King of Fighters XII. That implies 'true hi-res' sprites, if you ask us.
While we're actually waiting for something like a Golden Axe compilation or a 'System 32 Collection', it's nice to see more of these coming. Phantasy Star I - II - III - IV is now promised for this winter with direct ports of the Mark III/MD games, as well as Opa Opa no Bouken, the follow-up to Fantasy Zone for the Mark III, which is also coming back as 'Fantasy Zone II DX'. Since it's a 'deluxe' edition and it's a single (very old) game, we can expect a full remake this time... we believe.
Called "Team 17's Finest Hour" by legendary games journalist Stuart Campbell (who has a bit of a history with Team 17, so he wouldn't say so lightly) the fondly remembered Amiga platformer is in the process of being recreated on GBA, and there's a demo now available for you to try out on your flash cart or emulator.
We've had a go, and it's a cute and very playable (if not particularly special) little platformer, well worth playing, and well worth registering your interest in owning, as if enough interest is shown the game may be released in full as a cartridge or an online download.
What happens when you mix grenades and gavels? MercAttorneys. This quick box mockup from drem of the insert credit forums puts the team in the middle of the south/north korean conflict. He had this to say: "I really think Phoenix Wright should become a franchise. The game is pretty ridiculous, and I think it could benefit from getting more ridiculous-er. Sure, there would be the main series of normal attorney games, but then there could be games like this."
It looks like being a small developer in Japan today, there aren't many ways to stay alive. After learning it the hard way, freshly-reborn SNK is going the easy route: 3 new games have been announced for the DS, all moving drastically away from the punch-in-your-face approach the company used to be known for.
The first game is called "Dokidoki Majo Saiban" which, from the name and the description (a very evil girl is tricked by some god to participate to a witch hunt) might try to mix Disgaea and Gyakuten Saiban (mostly the latter, since it's an adventure game). The second is called "Denshi Maid Techô", and is a simulation game featuring Iroha, the Samurai Spirits maid created by Yuki. Finally, the last one is "Kimi No Yûsha" and seems to be an RPG aimed at light users.
Cashing on moe and low budget games might very well be the easiest way for SNK to survive, and quite a logical step towards the semi-professional-doujin game market (especially after releasing several copy-and-paste games that looked more and more amateurish, and the excellent KOF XI that sold nearly one tenth of Melty Blood, originally a doujin game). It could also be less risky than the recent addition of underaged girls Momoko and Malin to KOF, which alienated part of the series' core audience. The recent flow of ports and remakes (the Real Bout compilation or KOF 98 Ultimate Match) might be enough to keep this crowd hanging around during the company's transformation. Yeah, all 6 of them.
Falcoon just posted a new entry on his mixi blog talking about how his 'new game' will be on display at TGS. Most people in the responses are speculating it'll be the Max Impact arcade game, but there's also the possibility that it could be Air Dash (mentioned here). Guess we'll find out soon, eh?
Those who think Mario is for kids need to sit down and check this out. It's a hellishly brilliant mixture of your childhood memories and Hokuto no Ken. The rest of the site has similar mind bending work. Thanks to Saur for giving the heads-up.
Compile Heart's new arcade/Wii game, Takoron, has an official site now. And here's the Wii announcement if you're one of them curious types. Thanks to Rid for pointing it out.
Well, by proper I mean an arcade stick with pink buttons. It's for the upcoming Virtua Fighter 5 and the stick is called the "VIRTUA STICK High Grade". It's nice to know, in spite of the collective memegasm surrounding high-definition visuals, that SEGA have cottoned onto the fact that some games need a decent peripheral. Now all we need is a linear seat cockpit setup for Armored Core 4.
Update: Sega has put up the official Monster World Complete Collection announcement on its Sega Ages 2500 Series line-up page, confirming that the four Monster World games will be there along with Wonder Boy and Wonder Boy III. So the content list is as follows:
Wonder Boy (ARC, 1986)
Wonder Boy: Monster Land (ARC, 1987)
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (ARC, 1988)
Wonder Boy V: Monster World III (MD, 1991)
Monster World II (GG, 1992)
Monster World IV (MD, 1994)
We can expect though, coming from Sega, that the home ports from Sega itself wil be included, such as the Mega Drive version of Monster Lair, or even the original Monster World II version for the Western Master System.
Did you know that Behemoth art guy and general talented jerk dan paladin has finally released his debut musical CD? It's very blippy and goofy/circuslike. You can listen to samples before you buy, at the very same place that you can purchase it. That being here. If his drawings were music, they'd sound like this, so you should pretty much know what to expect. So buy it or don't! But at least now you can't say you weren't told. Update: Argh! As has become frustratingly common, turns out I bought the last one for the time being. You can wishlist it though. I hope dan paladin knows he's currently missing out on the crucial insert credit demographic!
And by the way, the behemoth has an amusing chronicle of their PAX journey, which included tom fulp jumping in front of various things ala mary tyler moore. Just like this.
An MMC forum member whose name I don't know (update! his name is thomas henson) sent tim this photo, and I'm putting it here. It continues our hard-hitting coverage which began with our tell-all Yakuza review, now bleeding over to the Sammy side. This photo documents a crucial fact about Sammy Corporation, which also (basically) owns Sega. It is not the immigration bureaw. And you know what? Thank godding jesus it isn't. You might say in this way we've reviewed Yakuza 2 before it even came out. We're done with new game journalism. What's new is old. Only Futurist Game Journalism from now on.
P.S. You pretty much need to click that photo to see it properly. If you just want to see the funny part, it's here. Kotaku, we did this for you so you wouldn't have to go through the trouble of cropping it yourselves.
Longtime person-on-the-internet-who-used-to-not-like-us-much- but-now-does nich maragos has done up a nice short review of Cooking Mama's manual, on account of he bought it without having his DS at work. I would've put this up yesterday, but Yakuza madness had us all aflutter. Anyway, insert credit continues to be your source for hard-hitting coverage like this, so check back for updates soon because if you read other websites you'll get the cancer! I've been told that by someone!
News: Where are they now?
September 14, 2006, 12:29 PM
by ollie, via where there be bees... - [permalink]
Before anyone decides to shoot me in the head and cover me in several million angry bees, hear me out. The Great Reno Balloon Race was held recently and some nice chap decided to host a timelapse video of the event on YouTube. Despite the mesmerising visuals you might be curious to know that the chap who did this patient photographic act was none other than Mike Posehn. The same Mike Posehn that helmed the Strike games that we all know and isometrically love. He's now working on, wait for it, timelapse photography. Okay, bring on the bees.
While it won't be open to the non-professional public till tomorrow, the 44th issue of the AM Show started yesterday, and some sites are already reporting the event, so let's see what can we steal from them. The most commented-on news has come from the Taito booth, where it has announced its new agreement with SNK Playmore, which will be developing the next episode in the King of Fighters series (namely 'XII'), as well as another couple of games for the PC-based Type-X 2 system, after finishing its relationship with Sega-Sammy (Brandon's note: Those games are KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A and Samurai Spirits Sen). This confirms the company as a mere 'third party' in the arcade game industry, which seems to have lost the potential to publish its own games.
Taito also presented its brand new non-dedicated cab, the Vewlix, with a 33'' LCD monitor supporting 16:9, 4:3 and 3:4 displays. The star of AMI's booth was, as usual, Cave's latest game. Ojakan has some videos and the new flyer of Mushihime-sama Futari which you should check out. For better-quality videos though, (and English-lettered impressions) you may prefer to go to Insomnia's article on the recent location test. AMI also presented Compile Heart's Takoron (which you might remember from this newspost and which also seems to be scheduled for the Wii). Sega had the new iteration of Out Run 2, Guilty Gear Accent Core and Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B (based on the PS2 version and adding a new character), among others. Bandai-Namco, Banpresto and Capcom were also there, showing some new and not-so-new machines that you can see in the usual reports from Game Watch, G-Para, and Kobayan, while for a good selection of flyer scans, you can visit Alpha Station's homepage.
So, kind of funny. I took a picture of it, and you can make it bigger with that left mouse button you've got there. Unless you're on a mac, in which case get a PC, or a mouse with a left button on it. That's about all I gots to say about this here.
The betting stations are now officially closed. The insertcredit.comGAME OF THE YEAR is officially Nintendo's Common Sense Training for Adults for the Nintendo DS. It meets the criteria for a great many reasons. Here are just a few of them:
1. It isn't out yet (released October 26th, 2006, for 3,800 yen).
2. I haven't played it.
3. I'm probably not going to play it, either.
4. It's totally in Japanese.
5. It might change the world.
Allow me to go off on a tangent and elaborate why this game is so brilliant. See -- much like the Brain Training series of games, this game is by Nintendo and it plays like a multivitamin. A little bit each day. You answer ten questions a day, and then the game tells you if you're becoming a better person or a worse person or what. Only this game isn't testing your mathematics skills -- no, it's testing to see if you're a an inconsiderate moron, a jerk, a know-nothing jerk, or just a run-of-the-mill jackass.
The picture to your left is one of the game's 1,800 questions. The question reads: "When riding in a taxi with three other passengers, which seat do you offer to the most valuable passenger?"
Previous copy written on the game had said the game would "test players' common sense"; at the earliest stage, the game was set up as interesting. Then the "common sense" became "common knowledge", and I got kind of worried. The first screenshot showed a picture of a man in a wig and four clickable buttons. The question was "Which one of these compositions is by Mozart?" I thought, well, that's kind of clever. Still, though, I'd rather the game be a drill on common sense.
Well, today's orgy of screenshots on GAME Watch brings the hope back. This game is a world-breaker. I type this, excitedly, just six minutes before the Nintendo Wii announce-everything press conference here in Tokyo. It doesn't matter what they say there! Not to me!
I reckon that anyone who needs this game right here wouldn't have the common sense to buy it. And anyone who wants it has already admitted they're lacking in knowledge, which indicates a desire to improve. Therefore, this game is one that, upon being merely touched by the player, is completed, which makes it, quite abstractly, the greatest videogame ever created. To wit:
Dear You, that guy in my company who gets on the elevator at floor eleven and stands right in front of the doors: people push past you to get out. You notice them and apologize profusely, like your mother taught you, to all of them. I can forgive you for wanting to stand in front of the doors. You're eager to get back to your telephone and your old-school calculator, I imagine. However, I cannot forgive you for what you do when the elevator crosses floor five. You put your hands on your hips and swivel around and look everyone in the forehead. The elevator stops on floor four, which was the button you'd pressed when you got on, and you swivel around again and ask, politely as they come, "Is anyone getting off?" I look you right in the eye and maybe show a couple of teeth. You have to stop the doors from closing with your foot, and then you get off when they open again. I get off behind you.
I doubt you have the means to buy this game on your own. You probably work so late every night out of filial duty to the company (partaking of their overtime pay by pretending to be busy and/or constipated) that you can't remember what an electronics store looks like when it's open.
I notice (from your wedding ring) that you're married. May your wife have mercy, and buy you this game as a present. You'll look at the package, read the back of the box, and think, "Why and how did this game come into my hands? What have I done, or not done?" And you will be changed, and maybe I'll say hello to you in the elevator next time.
At any rate, the question presented here is a tricky one. Which seat do you offer to the most "valuable" person boarding a cab? Moreover, how do you answer "All men are created equal"? Do you leave the console plugged into the wall for 255 hours, at which point a solemn voice declares, "YES. I SUPPOSE YOU ARE CORRECT," and the game shuts down, and the cartridge explodes?
Readers of insertcredit.com, tell me -- which seat would you offer to the "most important" person? All participants will be publicly shamed as "wrong" or publicly lauded as "right" in the next post.
News: An insert credit review of Sega's Yakuza, produced by toshihiro nagoshi with voices by mark hamill
It was conducted by tim rogers and brandon sheffield, with eric-jon rössel waugh assisting, just around this time last year, in tokyo in front of a Don Quijote. The game wasn't even out yet, so we had to wait til now to show it. See here.
Atlus' Nich Maragos says of our review: "That review seems pretty fair. I think you have a better understanding of what the game was trying to accomplish than a lot of people."
Backbone Entertainment's Thomas Grové of Backbone Entertainment had this to say, "This interview draws many insightful parallels between Yakuza and Gene Kelly's 1952 classic Singin' in the Rain."
Surreal Software's Jim Shepard was heard to remark, "ok ok ok, I am being pulled away from my desk." So smitten was he by the onslaught of quality!
Jarik Sikat of Koei remarked, "I'm relieved that no one lost a finger to cover this story." - but is it true!? Find out within!
Wired Magazine's Chris Baker inquired: "Excuse me, do either of you sure-footed gentlemen know where I can find some sailors?"
Games Radar's Christian Nutt reminisced: "It's almost like playing Yakuza, which is almost like being there. Last time I went to Don Quijote I bought a towel, and it brings back those memories."
Ian Adams of GameHouse mentioned that "Brandon Sheffield is a XXX man. That's what you don't realize during most reviews." But what does the XXX mean? Sexy? Amazingly talented? Only clicking can teach you!
Tom Drake of LucasArts says, "I found this review a bit harsh, although quite honest. I hope more reviews in the future use some form of emotional expression as well."
Brad Johnson from Crystal Dynamics raved: "breathtaking... I'm speechless..." - miraculously, he was still able to type.
Indie developer Sony Green of Puppy Gang (and ex-LucasArts) said, "I haven't been this aroused since they captured jonbeney ramsey's kidnapper/murderer." - keep in mind that this man is completely bald.
The Behemoth's goddamned president John Baez said, "I'm not sure how brandon and crew achieved the amazing game-like spinning background which plays thoughtfully throughout the review, but this is certainly what next-gen is all about." - Nobody's righter than this man!
Holy-crap-actually-from-SEGA Jennie Sue said, "Tokyo is lots of fun. I like Don Quijote and batting cages." - thereby proving this is the most important review of Sega's Yakuza ever in perpetuity throughout the universe.
Recap's site Postback has updated once more, with some very nice content in spanish. There's a feature on suggested arcade stick parts, a review of Magical Taluluto Kun, as well as Tora he no Michi, aka Tiger's Road, all with nice screenshots and things (there's also the full version of the image to the left). Give it a look!
There are lots of interesting new projects announced in the latest Famitsu (such as the next episode in the Marie no Atelier series, a brand new Seiken Densetsu game, or Tri-Ace's new production, 'Infinite Undiscovery' for the XB360), but it's the next compilation for the Sega Ages 2500 Series what we find the best of all. 'Cause it's called 'Monster World Complete Collection' and that implies that all of them, from Monster Land to Monster World IV (theone for the MD which Sega didn't want to bring outside Japan) will be on one disc for the PS2 and for only 2500 yen. A collection of true masterpieces which really needed to be done some day. It's also revealed that Virtual On will get another volume in the Sega Ages 2500 Series, while a new Puyo Puyo ('15 Anniversary') is being made for all the main systems.
You remember it, right? The latest Famitsu issue reveals it's finally coming to the PS2 in March, with Survival and Training modes added as extras. So now we only need a Rumble Fish 2 announcement. Pssst, Sega.
For those that are familiar with Hirohiko Araki's manga magnum opus Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken, Bamco is in the process of finishing a PlayStation 2 game based around the first part of the manga. Called Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken: Phantom Blood the game is set for release on 26th October. If only more games depicted Victorian England in the same bone crunching way...
Doujin circle Yakiniku Banzai has released Tomitake Princess, a hilarious Sister Princess style game made based on the character Tomitake from Higurashi no naku koro ni. The premise is that you have... twelve Tomitakes, and they love you oh so very much. And as you improve your relationship with them, one of them will confess his love to you under the tree of oyashiro-sama on the promised date. There are also fun mini-games such as ripping their bikini(?) off while you court the love of the Tomitakes. It was released as freeware on the official site.
It's been growing for a little while now, and some interesting games have come out of it - notably from dessgeega and professorscissors (see sept. 03 for that one) - but you may not know that we have an independent development community on the insert credit forums. It's pretty nice, with a want ads section, and lots of discussion of relevant topics. You have to be registered to see it, and I don't think I'm going to change that any time soon - but it's worth a look if you're in that scene. Topics should be very focused in that direction, without simply trying to hype your own game. A good example of a new poster coming in and contributing would be the fellows who posted about Bollen, a 2D, chunky looking game with very nice graphics and fantastic music. They did come in to post about their freeware indie game, but then facilitated discussion about its creation (and will hopefully make a v1.2 in the near future). So, that said, if you're in the indie development scene, you might do well to have a look.
It has been revealed that SNK Playmore has gotten a patent for the name Air Dash (here). Naturally everyone is hoping this will be a brand new game, but it could well just be something for mobile or Pachinko - but it's likely they wouldn't file a brand new patent for that. Fingers gingerly crossed. Thanks to Iggy for finding this.
For some reason we don't get (maybe because these games aren't usually developed with the Western markets in mind? Hmm...), the S-RPG genre is the only one where you still can find sprite-based graphics (coupled with superlative character design usually by some acclaimed artist) as the standard. There are two major titles scheduled to appear this fall, both expected to be big hits for the PS2, both have Flight Plan as the (co)developer, and both were already announced here - Aqua Plus' Utawareru Mono (just delayed to October) and Banpresto's Summon Night 4. Portable systems have Marvelous' Luminous Arc and SCEJ's Jeanne D'Arc (this one won't be using sprites, but 3D models which want to be sprites, so still interesting) coming too. But there's more to it. Flight Plan's first solo production has its actual name revealed via Famitsu - Dragon Shadow Spell. You can see a small preview for it here.
Another just-revealed title is Nippon Ichi Software's next game for the PS2. It's called 'Soul Cradle' and will get a European medieval setting, less 'dark' than Disgaea's world. Let's hope it doesn't ruin the sprite work with an upscaled presentation this time like it did in the last one. And finally, Spike (that company formed up from Human's ashes) has unveiled its latest project through Famitsu magazine - Elvandia Story, its very first S-RPG (previewed here), also scheduled for the PS2. So we have to wonder - who's working for the 'next generation', these days?
So basically there's a game for PSP by Bandai-Namco Games, what's called Portable Island: Tenohira no Resort. That means "Resort in the palm of your hand." This is an article about that game. Maybe it's a review. Maybe it's not. It certainly uses the F-word a whole lot, so if that sort of thing scares you, you might not want to read it. It's also very, very long and deals mostly with hypothetical things some might find inane. Though really, do you really want to read a review of a game about a vacation on an island? An island where you're all alone? You want to know about the graphics and sound, and how it plays?
Here's the capsule review, then: the graphics are boring. Not as good as real life. The sound is alright, though the PSP has a serious volume problem. The smell isn't right -- a real ocean should smell a lot different. The gameplay is "a mixed bag" and the inclusion of musical instruments feels weirdly insulting to anyone who has ever owned a toy ukulele. The producers were sanctimonious enough to pretend people were calling it "Boku no natsuyasumi for adults," though they were mostly faking that, because Boku no natsuyasumi is already for adults. The next thing you know they're going to make a game about putting on shoes and say that their mothers called it "Animal Crossing for girls." Then they'll make an action game with a darkness sensor and pay a magazine to give it a glowing review that calls it "Boktai for people who don't want to go outside."
So yes, click here to read an article with its head up its own rear-end about a game that has its head up its own rear-end.
In other world news, summer will be over in fourteen days. Go find some place the sun still shines hard, and stand there for a while, and feel the heat fade, like it's supposed to.
CritHit5000 has given me a bit more news today - there's a Mushihimesama Futari first stage video up on youtube, and NTSC-J from the shmups.com forums has posted some impressions from the location test at Akihabara's HEY arcade. In brief, according to him - nice music, good graphics, first boss is a T-rex, higher difficulty, no extends or extra bombs. Seems neat.
I had no idea this thing even existed - maybe you did. But even so, this ebay auction (the seller had better thank me, it only had 130 views before I linked it) has some great, absolutely humongous pictures of the unit from multiple angles. It's a mini CD-I with a screen (Sony had a part in the system's creation, after all), controller port, and really odd controls on the top of the lid. Definitely a cool piece of history (fullly named, the Sony Portable CD-I IVO-V11 Intelligent Discman), and one you likely won't see again for some time. Hope somebody saves those pictures somewhere!
Gamesetwatch has put up an interview with the guy translating Segagaga (unofficially, of course), and his deltahead translation group. It's got some intersting info in it, but unfortunately doesn't hint at when the translation might be finished. Shame! And cyclical promotion thanks to GSW for linking Kumar's virginia piece - we (global ic we) didn't go to the trouble of creating new game journalism just so you could not read it when we put it up! hoho!
Gabe from penny arcade makes a good point about game reviews in his post today. Sure, it's the same old point, and is done in an overly snide way which detracts a bit from its impact, but it's still a good one - namely that current game reviews are pointless, the scores they assign subjective and arbitrary (gamespot might escape from that, just slightly, but perhaps more due to company edicts than reviewer integrity), and what's more, most of the time the writer doesn't even have time to get past that three hour tutorial to know that you really play the game with a different crew.
Here's a slightly different spin on it - these people have too much pressure on them to put this stuff together. Even as game review sites and magazines decrease in relevance, what with all them free websites on that internet (and as they increase in popup ads and lag, in the case of games radar - jump ship christian nutt, we still respect you!), the staff of these sites still have to review every goddamn thing that comes out, in order to fight for the remaining scraps. So, really, they don't have time to create something along the lines of what we might want to read, that is to say a personal experience with/about a game from a writer whose opinions you trust, or at the very least, recognize as valid. In some ways it's not their fault, and they're just trying to do their jobs the best they can. And besides, these aren't written for us, largely, they're written for the skater kids and 'bought a PS2 for Madden' crowd. Reviewing games isn't wrong, but when you're making a bare, factual features list for a game and telling me whether those features work or are broken (as gamespot does, which is why they escape my ire), at least do it right. Those can actually be useful sometimes. So, bravo - penny arcade makes a second good game journalism point after this one from some time ago. Note, you should probably read the p-a front page soon, as gabe's post doesn't seem to show up on the direct link.
Sound Horizon will be performing live at the upcoming TGS 2006 on the 24th of September, at 15:00. They will be performing Shuutan no ou to isekai no kishi (from the crossover SRPG Chaos Wars), hiiro no fuusha, and kamigami ga aishita rakuen (MMORPG Belle Isle theme song). Samples for the songs are available here.
Sound Horizon is a doujin music circle that started in winter 2001, producing a total of 6 incredibly popular CDs before making their major debut into the commercial scene in 2004. Their recent concert DVD released early 2006 made 2nd on the oricon weekly.
I (basically) forced mathew kumar to go to virginia to hang out with old people and college professors, all of whom wanted to talk about how technologically advanced virginia is, or could be. Then I didn't put up his article for a few months. That's just the kind of guy I am. Anyway, he certainly did go there, fleeing his canada home in search of...something. Did he find it? Did he encounter medical equipment? Did he get grilled in an airport because he's got an indian-ish sounding last name? Did he take photos of himself? That's for you to decide. It's quite a nice article, and back to the ic style for a bit, if you like that sort of thing. If you don't, well! Aren't you just the contrary one. It's also a Trauma Center DS review, for instance. Praises be to eric-jon for doing up the html so nicely.
Entitled Super Robot Wars XO, the franchise has finally migrated to the 360. To all intents and purposes though, this is merely a snazzed up port of Super Robot Wars GC. The problem here is that 1) the Gamecube version didn't do that great and 2) doing another 3D version is tantamount to suicide with the franchise, especially when Alpha 3 had some of the best 2D game animation ever seen...well, ever. Thankfully, it has the Cougar and Layzner. As such, all is not lost.
The game's released in Japan on November 30th for 7329 yen.
Ollie Edit: To display why 3D equals bad in this context look at Dancougar's Final Dankuu Kou Ga Ken on the GC version and then in Alpha 3.
I was transcribing an old interview for a proper publication (maybe even the one I work for!?), and this part is just not interesting to anybody but me and maybe, well...five other people. So you get to read it instead. This discussion, which took place while tim, chaz, and myself were all interviewing Castlevania composer michiru yamane, actually turned toward CV director koji igarashi, who happened to walk in while we were talking. The discussion was about Mana, the only man I'd ever propose to, guitarist of Malice Mizer, and leader of his own current band Moi Dix Mois. Previously, there had been a poster released which had iga and mana sitting near a throne, which I at one time assumed to be indicative of a collaboration between the two, in which mana would provide music for Harmony of Dissonance. This view was shared in one of eric-jon's earlier works. However, it was quite wrong, as the interview (finally) reveals, conducted at TGS 2005. Note: Some people have gotten confused, so to clarify, both images here are of Mana.
tim: It seems like lately the Castlevania series is getting less and less popular in Japan. Have you considered hiring a Visual Kei band to do a tie-in with a future game, like with vocals and everything?
michiru yamane: I haven’t, but who do you think would be good?
brandon: Maybe Mana, who you did a tie-in with at one point.
michiru: For next time we do plan to integrate some music with vocals, but it won’t be rock, it’ll be more operatic. (koji igarashi walks in)
brandon: iga, you met Mana, right?
koji igarashi: Yes, I met him once.
brandon: Weren’t you having him do some music or something?
iga: No, it was just a promotional Q&A with him, as he’s always been a fan of the series.
brandon: Ah, so that’s what the poster was all about.
iga: Right.
brandon: Did you see him with or without makeup?
iga: He didn’t have his stage makeup on.
brandon: How did he look?
iga: He’s a very beautiful man, definitely.
brandon: I’ve never seen him like that.
iga: Most people haven’t heard his voice, either.
brandon: I heard it once, on an old radio show…he sounded very normal!
iga: Yeah, well he used to hide behind Gackt’s voice.
brandon: Have you heard Mana’s music?
michiru: No, actually…
brandon: I used to describe Mana’s old band Malice Mizer to my friends as ‘Castlevania music with guitars’.
michiru: Well, perhaps I'll look into it.
So there you have it, an embarrassingly nerdy discussion which illuminates some specific things for a small group of people. Hooray. Oh and incidentally Mana has a little game on his site, in which you guide a bat to hell by clicking its wingflaps.
Usually I rely on AtarianAllStar to supply me with Minter news, but unfortunately he's dropped the ball, so I was pointed to this rather late by Quarter to Three. Minter/Llamasoft is releasing something new for Xbox Live Arcade, which may or may not be called Space Giraffe (it certainly stars one), and may or may not strongly resemble Tempest. Minter reveals certain details in a post on his forum in which he says the following: "You are in control of the giraffe. Generally it fires from its hooves but if you make it raise a hoof and hover it over a channel, it'll fire from that hoof too (up to a point, you can't do that indefinitely).
As you shoot stuff the tail grows longer. The length of the tail determines how many things get smart bombed when you press the smart bomb button - the segments of the tail explode sequentially, taking out one enemy with each segment.
If you keep the tail until the end of the level, it'll explode as you leave the surface, yielding bonus points as it does so.
There will be a "helper" you can get as a powerup but it won't be a space giraffe."
Fans were suggesting titles, including but not limited to 'Giraffes on a Surface', which is cheesy, but made me chuckle anyway. Speaking of fans, one made a very nice animation of what the game might look like without all the fluff. I'd love to make it an image link, but being 1.2 megs, it might kill the weaker among you, so you can just look at it directly here. It was made by one PurpleChair on the YakYak forums. You can see all of the released images here: 12345678.
As an aside, I was supposed to interview Jeff Minter at length during the last E3. I achieved this by inadvertantly insulting his programming skills (specifically with regard to Tempest 3000) here, and he emailed me right after that. I'd still like to interview him, so I'll take this opportunity to say Jeff, you're not very good at programming, and I don't like your games very much, even if I do post about them all the time. Further, you smell of Yak - or don't, whichever makes you angry. Also you're a Welshman. That should do it, expect an interview soon!
A nice fellow asked me to link his G.rev fansite, and so I will, if only because it's rather quaint. You'll see what I mean. Not a huge source of information, and it's all a bit Dreamcast Petition, but fun if you remember Internet 1.0 with any fondness. He's a uh, graphic designer too, you know.
News: Alice Soft announces 13 more titles for free distribution
The ever-popular eroge maker Alice soft has announced that 13 more of their older titles will soon be free for distribution, including the famous Kichikuou Rance which is still quite high priced in 2nd hand shops. This brings the total of free Alice soft games up to a total of 28 titles. Sites such as Lost. and the Alice matome site have already started distributing the newly announced games for download. The older announced titles are available at the Alice soft archives at RetroPC.
The links are work safe in terms of pictures, aside from the official Alice soft site. But you wouldn't want to be downloading Kichiku games at work anyway...would you?
Brandon's note: I guess that means my copy of Rance IV for the Towns Marty is free to distribute? Or maybe Fujitsu still owns the rights to that. Ahhh, the grey areas.
There's a Nanostray 2 site up now, though it's not been linked from Shin'en's main site, and doesn't have much significant info on it. The one thing it does tell us though, is that the game will be released in 2007 for the DS. And that it has an ok logo. Thanks to crithit5000 for pointing it out. In other Shin'en news, they've also continued making children's games, the latest being Miss Spider for the DS, which to be frank, doesn't look nearly as nice as that Maya the Bee: Sweet Gold game they put together. Maya the Bee is apparently getting a DS iteration, as evidenced by these folks, who played the game and took some video at the Game Convention 2006 in Germany. They also apparently don't play videogames much, given the footage.
While Eric-Jon and Tim wandered around the Tokyo Game Show pointing at D3's Earth Defense Force 3 (also using spyglasses to induce exclamation marks over Hideo Kojima's head at the Microsoft press conference!), myself and Brandon were also there on behalf of Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine (and 
About a year ago, somebody posted on the VIP boards in the japanese bbs 2ch saying they should make a game about a cafe filled with tsundere waitresses. Now, a year later, 
I went to the famous doujin shop Messe Sanoh in tokyo last week, and as usual, only bought CDs. It's not a widely-known fact, but they have a good selection of underground techno and doujin remix CDs (there was a mother II one, which I'm sure I would've loved if I had...ever played mother II). One of the albums I picked up was from 
While it was announced 
Hello!! If you're wondering why there's not much Tokyo Game Show coverage on 
I covered the upcoming 360 bound 
That's the name of the Samurai Spirits compilation SNK Playmore is developing for its Neo-Geo Online Collection for the PS2. It'll include 6 titles in the series (presumably all the episodes born on the MVS), according to 
Called "Team 17's Finest Hour" by legendary games journalist 
Those who think Mario is for kids need to sit down and 
Compile Heart's new arcade/Wii game, Takoron, has an 
Well, by proper I mean an arcade stick with 
Did you know that Behemoth art guy and general talented jerk dan paladin has finally released his debut musical CD? It's very blippy and goofy/circuslike. You can listen to samples before you buy, at the very same place that you can purchase it. That being 
Longtime person-on-the-internet-who-used-to-not-like-us-much- but-now-does nich maragos has done up a nice short 
Before anyone decides to shoot me in the head and cover me in several million angry bees, hear me out. The 
While it won't be open to the non-professional public till tomorrow, the 44th issue of the 
The betting stations are now officially closed. The 
It was conducted by tim rogers and brandon sheffield, with eric-jon rössel waugh assisting, just around this time last year, in tokyo in front of a Don Quijote. The game wasn't even out yet, so we had to wait til now to show it. 
Recap's site Postback has 
There are lots of interesting new projects announced in the latest Famitsu (such as the next episode in the Marie no Atelier series, a brand new Seiken Densetsu game, or Tri-Ace's new production, 'Infinite Undiscovery' for the XB360), but it's the next compilation for the Sega Ages 2500 Series what we find the best of all. 'Cause it's called 'Monster World Complete Collection' and that implies that all of them, from Monster Land to Monster World IV (theone for the MD which Sega didn't want to bring outside Japan) will be on one disc for the PS2 and for only 2500 yen. A collection of true masterpieces which really needed to be done some day. It's also revealed that Virtual On will get another volume in the Sega Ages 2500 Series, while a new Puyo Puyo ('15 Anniversary') is being made for all the main systems.
For those that are familiar with 
Doujin circle 
It's been growing for a little while now, and some interesting games have come out of it - notably from 
For some reason we don't get (maybe because these games aren't usually developed with the Western markets in mind? Hmm...), the S-RPG genre is the only one where you still can find sprite-based graphics (coupled with superlative character design usually by some acclaimed artist) as the standard. There are two major titles scheduled to appear this fall, both expected to be big hits for the PS2, both have Flight Plan as the (co)developer, and both were already announced here - Aqua Plus' 
So basically there's a game for PSP by Bandai-Namco Games, what's called Portable Island: Tenohira no Resort. That means "Resort in the palm of your hand." 
CritHit5000 has given me a bit more news today - there's a 
I had no idea this thing even existed - maybe you did. But even so, this 
Entitled 
I was transcribing an old interview for a proper publication (maybe even the one I work for!?), and this part is just not interesting to anybody but me and maybe, well...five other people. So you get to read it instead. This discussion, which took place while tim, chaz, and myself were all interviewing Castlevania composer michiru yamane, actually turned toward CV director koji igarashi, who happened to walk in while we were talking. The discussion was about Mana, the only man I'd ever propose to, guitarist of Malice Mizer, and leader of his own current band 
Usually I rely on AtarianAllStar to supply me with Minter news, but unfortunately he's dropped the ball, so I was pointed to this rather late by Quarter to Three. Minter/Llamasoft is releasing something new for Xbox Live Arcade, which may or may not be called Space Giraffe (it certainly stars one), and may or may not strongly resemble Tempest. Minter reveals certain details in a 
A nice fellow asked me to link his 
The ever-popular eroge maker 
There's a Nanostray 2 
