A port of Raiden IV for the Xbox 360 is apparently in alpha stage and is scheduled to be released in the US at some unspecified point in the distant future. This news comes from an interview with one of UFO Interactive's managers recently conducted by Team Fremont. (And don't forget, UFO is also bringing to the US the PS2 port of Raiden III later this month.)
This is all very surprising, especially considering that it's going to be a while before Raiden IV is even released in Japanese arcades (it's currently slated for July). Moreover, no news of a Japanese 360 port has emerged through any of the usual sources. What has me worried the most is that UFO is considering releasing this on XBLA, which could very well mean a shoddy port in unsuitable resolution and with no option for tate. On the other hand, even if this is a regular disc release it could turn out ugly. By Royal decree all Xbox 360 games have to be 720p minimum and Raiden IV is a 640x480 game -- which is not even a widescreen resolution. G.rev faced the same problem when porting Senko no Ronde, but then again their game was in yoko so things were much simpler. It will be interesting to see how this gets handled.
News: Wonder Festival 2007 Winter and more AC4 stuff
It's that time of the year again and otaku have descended upon Tokyo Big Sight to look at various toys and model kits. Apart from the delectable scratch built fair, there are also several instances of commercial goods getting a preview. Anyway, hit the link to feast your eyes on the miniature army.
AC4 on the PS3 has also received another Regulation file (Ver. 1.30) and its main change is that of aerial boosting; you can stay airborne for a lot longer now. They've also balanced various parts.
As of today though, AC4 will make it's way onto Xbox Live Markletplace as a demo (in Japan admittedly, no word of a Western demo as yet). Finally, we'll see what the 360 version has in store and whether any kind of graphical change has taken place. In addition, From Software have covered the "original content" for the 360 version on the official AC4 site (it's down the bottom on the left). It's nothing particularly earth shattering though; namely pad rumble, Xbox Live voice comms and other online shenanigans.
News: Art of Fighting Anthology coming to the u.s.
As the title says, the Art of Fighting Anthology for PS2, which we've covered a few times before, is coming to the u.s. This news comes from SNKP's u.s. forums, which indicate that the game is coming out here in spring. It's a bit of an odd choice for localization, as Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, Last Blade, Mark of the Wolves, and others still haven't had their remakes released here. But perhaps they've just given us too many versions of the same game? Either way, I won't really complain. This compilation, as you may know, contains all three AoF games. Thanks to ishmael's post on the Madman's Cafe bbs for the news.
If you like old stuff, you may appreciate this three-part series on the making of Atlantis, by Imagic (they did some of the better graphics of the day, especially on Intellivision). Here are parts one, two and three, a half hour in all, with actual decent reporting! Thanks PBS! Indeed, if reporters today were half as savvy as the clearly 70 year old reporter who put this together, we'd be much better off.
Gamesniped is a new website I stumbled upon, which finds rare/interesting videogame auctions on ebay. It can be a bit overwhelming, as there's a lot in there, but I quickly found some good stuff like this talking Seaman can, or these quite rare military-adapted Multi Arcade Cart Simulator M16 lightgun and carts, which are made from SNES bits. That went for quite a lot of money! Anyway, seems to be updated pretty regularly, so might do with a check now and again.
So, after talking about the hyakumegashock Minesweeper Vista announcements some time ago, as promised, top-10 Minesweeper player damien moore has informed me about the upcoming Microsoft hungary Minesweeper competition announcement.
First of all, Microsoft hungary doing anything is interesting enough for me, but a competition that advises you to bring your mouse, and not to mention the Minesweeper competition when getting a visa to enter hungary - that gets my extra attention. That's sound advice, too! Right now there are 10 competitors, but the competition was announced quite recently (on valentine's day). Registration is free, and I do not believe there is any prize other than the knowledge that you're the world's best. The competition takes place on april 14, 2007. Here's a nice excerpt from the site:
"This is the first time Microsoft has sponsored a tournament related to one of its integrated games. gergely nagy, organiser of the event, has been working behind the scenes since the last competition to secure the deal. As a result, the session featuring the popular variant Nonosweeper will be moved to the following day. The event is being timed to coincide with the hungarian release of Windows Vista."
Incidentally, Gamesetwatch has a huge post up on minesweeper right now, if you just can't get enough.
Remember when bits were everything? 32 bit versus 64 bit...the "24-bit" neo geo, the Jaguar "do the math" controversy - then the Dreamcast came along, the first 128 bit system, and pretty much everyone stopped talking about it. I even remember a time when I thought the intellivision and 2600 were 4 bit, because they came before the NES. You doubled the bits with the next system, that was just how it worked! But then it started to be about how emotional your engine was. Anyway, I decided to mail sony and ask how many bits the PS3 has. A gajillion? Six? Here's the official answer (bless them for indulging me, thanks to Sony PR boss dave karraker for getting a tech guy to respond to this - I can't think of anyone else that would do something this awesome):
"The PS3 is 128 bit, but it is more 128 bit than the others.
The number of bits isn't really a very good measure anymore.
To be honest, it hasn't been a good measure since PS1 days.
That said...
Most single pieces of data fit in 32 or 64 bits. The benefit
of 128 bits is that you can operate on 4 pieces of 32-bit data
at the same time, which is called SIMD (Single Instruction,
Multiple Data). This is only useful for data that needs the
same operation on all 4 pieces, which is common in games
for things such as 3D graphical transformations, physical
simulation, collision detection, etc. 128-bits is the "sweet
spot" of price and performance, so that is what everyone
seems to have settled upon.
To get more power, people have instead now been moving
to more processor cores. (PS3 has 8, Xbox 360 has 3,
Wii has 1, PS2 had 1 + 2 special-purpose, Xbox had 1, etc).
For graphics, it is even trickier to explain. The biggest difference
is that in the past, graphics chips were "fixed-function". Now,
they are programmable. But people don't really talk about it in
terms of bits; instead, they usually measure in terms of flops."
Aside from maybe a little fudging in terms of the PS2 cores, because by that logic the Saturn had three, that's pretty interesting! So the PS3 is 128 bit - just like the Dreamcast! Which means the Dreamcast is still top of the line! The Intellivision, which I mentioned before, was actually 16 bit, according to the all-knowing wikipedia. So this clearly means the PS3 is worth 8 Intellivisions! I was also assured that the 360 and Wii are 128 bit as well. So while I knew bits no longer really 'mattered', I guess this is official confirmation that the bits war is over. It's all about cores now, and flops. Now that's a loaded word! As a bonus, here are some fun equations for you. Create your own!
Jaguar + N64 = PlayStation 3 Intellvision + Genesis + Jaguar - Saturn + Neo Geo + NES + 32X = PlayStation 3 Dreamcast - Wii + NES x SNES = PlayStation 3 Dreamcast / PS2 x supergrafx + PC-FX + Neo Geo Pocket Color - CD-i + Nintendo 64 + 3DO + MSX + (Pippin / CD32 x Game Gear) = PlayStation 3
Here's another thing that's gone MIA - Ghouls Ghosts Online. It was being developed by Game Factory in taiwan (many people thought it was developed by Zona, because of this poser, but Zona is actually an online middleware provider), and was very very early. No enemies yet, just a trailer, and a playable environment. Why they showed something so early is beyond me, but I was glad they did!
Anyway, I got basically the only footage of it that exists, as far as I'm aware, so give it a gander if you're curious. The intro, and several gameplay segments are included - incidentally I have absolutely no idea who the person standing behind me making comments was! Ah, the mysteries of our time. The game was cancelled pretty early on without much pomp and circumstance - though it was further along than Metal Slug Online, which was supposed to have its first beta in december 2004. In fact, Game Factory's website is no more, so I wonder if they're still around? Here's the best other source for info on this game, in the form of an official press release. I'll excerpt a few clips:
"This is the first time that a Chinese digital
entertainment company has been authorized to re-design a classic Japanese game
and develop into a Massive Multi-Player Online Game (MMOG), which will be the
first product launched into the international market since Game Factory
Digital Entertainment Studios established its own brands.
Mr. Monte Singman, founder and Chief
Executive Officer of Game Factory, states, "It is Game Factory's honor to be
authorized to network Ghouls and Ghosts. It shows Capcom's confidence in the
research and development capacity of Game Factory. Game Factory will create a
brand-new version of "Ghouls and Ghosts" by integrating the essence of this
classic game with the most cutting-edge 3D technology for the online game. We
will offer 'Ghouls and Ghosts Online', a game created by the Chinese that
meets the international standard. Game Factory hopes to navigate a new path
for the Chinese game industry, that is, to initiate a development pattern
incorporating international markets into originality."
"Ghouls and Ghosts Online", currently under development, is projected to
be finished in the middle of 2004. At GDC, two versions, PC and Xbox, were
disclosed, which will be displayed at E3 in the United States next May and
will be launched into markets in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Europe
and Greater China region."
Obviously that last part is the most interesting - PC and Xbox development. I'm not sure that an Xbox build was playable at the time. Another odd bit of info from my own post, was that there was a title called 'Ghouls & Ghosts Match Fight' as well - not sure if that was simply a renaming, or if it was a second title in development. At this rate, we may never know...
Update: A number of people have written in, not the least of whom was my boss, saying that Game Factory is indeed defunct, as the CEO (monte singman) has moved on to form Radiance Digital Entertainment, also in china. He used to work at Capcom with Yoshiki Okamoto, thus the license crossover. Slateman also wrote in to send a batch of concept images from the game. Unfortunately I can't confirm the origin of these files to prove they're legit, but they sure seem to be.
Another game, another wacko ending. Beware of spoilers obviously, but here's the clip. Greeeeeat voice acting in there. Ways this could've been made better: No crying human girl (or elf or whatever). "Coming back to life" meaning zombies. At least one explosion in a base or flying fortress. Gem.s Fighting a mech version of yoursel.f No crying girls. Did I mention this already?
Anyway...not as bad as the 360 game ending, but still, we're not there yet! Thanks to James for pointing it out.
The Classic Gaming Expo is making its triumphant return, after a year hiatus. It's coming back to vegas as well, where it all began (sort of). That's good! But the bad news is, it's right at the end of Comic Con. Amazingly, they actually knew this, and didn't think it would be a big problem.
Unfortunately, most of us are going to have to choose, and while the choice is difficult, it's clear what conference is going to win out in my book. Another limiting factor for some is that it's actually on the strip this time, meaning slightly pricier hotels, and more obnoxious tourists. But I can imagine the strip is a draw for some! The 'guys who like old stuff' market has a difficult choice ahead. I love the Classic Gaming Expo, but it looks like once again, I'll just be hitting California Extreme instead.
I got the idea last night - there's a lot of stuff we've reported about that hasn't been talked about many other places, and subsequently disappeared. I figured it'd be nice to bring these things out into the open again, with fresh eyes. I may do another deeper post with news bits that have since dried up, but for now, I'll focus on things we saw at tradeshows and did full reports on. Let's begin! Just one for now, perhaps another tomorrow.
Here's the FreeOn. This was a korean handheld we saw at E3 2003, which had cellphone properties to it, but was a dedicated system with bluetooth and a 32bit ARM 7 Core CPU, and actually used carts. It was touted as the 'first bluetooth handheld,' but of course wasn't, as it didn't come out. Here are some things about it, according to, well, me when I wrote it! "The voice recognition device (though called a voice recorder above), allows you to tell the game to do certain things. Like if you want to drop a bomb, say 'bomb', and the game does this. Very curious thing to do with a handheld.
The SDK is free, and games can be downloaded online, though most will come in the rom carts. There's a Virtual Machine in the hardware, though it's not JAVA. It's a proprietary VM, and java games must be ported to it in order to work. Again, a very odd choice. "
We used to have a video of it, I'll have to see if it's still around somewhere. The website for the handheld has long since disappeared, but we had updates on november 27, 2003 and april 4, 2004 showing new hardware revisions. You can find those images here and here via the wayback machine. That last one I linked was basically the final update, and that original link is pretty much the only available english-language account of the thing.
What we saw was an actual playable version, which was a bit uglier than some of the concepts, but at least it worked. I also remember that the president of the company had really bad breath, so I didn't get as much information as I otherwise would have. You can check out some of their own videos here, which mostly consist of zooming in on blonde girls, and setting up their booth. If you want to see a bit of the system in action, check the video 6.wmv - not much though. I'll keep you updated as to whether the insert credit archives actually still contain any FreeOn videos, and anyone who knows more about the whereabouts of the hardware or the company, please let me know!
Following on from a news post I did over a week ago, SEGA have created a new community site for Armored Core in the US. Called AC Ravens it's got a semi-interesting currency system going on. Much like in Armored Core missions, where you complete the objectives to earn cash, this community offers AC$ to those that complete certain tasks on the site. You can also use these AC$ to buy real world goods, such as games and toys in the Gear section (though bear in mind that you start with 100 clams and most items require about 30,000 or more).
Slightly disheartening news on the cover art however; the original Japanese box art is being dropped in favour of "Revenge of Roboman", which is a nasty composite of desktop publishing mediocrity. Apparently, the Roboman cover is "locked down" and "can't be changed". This despite protests from the people, who are now used to shiny From Software artwork since Nexus. Honestly though, why ship a game with a crap cover when a far better one already exists?
Here's a very nice site devoted to the Road Rash 16 bit series. Recently at the 1up awards I asked a group of folks to guess the one EA game I ever liked (the ones they published in japan, such as Soukyuugurentai and Rabbit don't count against this - and that wound up being a bonus question later). The answer, of course, was the original Road Rash. Good game! I even stumped EA's head of corporate communications.
If your feelings toward the game are similar, this site is probably for you. It's got profiles of all of the characters, screens from each stage, weapons, and of course...the sounds. The complete stage soundtracks are all here, though I can't direct link the section, as the webmaster knows more about html than I do. The Road Rash CD sounds section isn't working at the moment, but I'm sure he'll fix it.
And incidentally, if you want to hear about how EA initially got in with Sega, and then started hating them (which basically killed the Dreamcast, hurrah), you can read about it in this nifty history of EA feature. Most of the good stuff is on page 3.
The Saturn (#5,980 in amazon's sales ranking, sadly) was notoriously tough to crack, and even harder to emulate. Far more difficult than the Dreamcast on both counts. Initially, it seems, each developer was to be given specific boot discs so that they could run their dev burns on retail systems. But that ultimately never happened - what did happen is the system disc, which a white hat hacker by the name of programming ace has checked into. In the end he winds up stumped, but it's an interesting piece of Saturn lore nonetheless.
Yet another version of the SMS handheld has surfaced, in addition to the two we already mentioned. This one's got an MP3 player in it, and supports SD cards. Likely you can't load SMS roms on it, but wouldn't that be nice? It only comes with 10 games, versus the Coleco/PlayPal's 20, but certainly has a nicer general design.
Plus it's got both 'start' and 'stop' buttons, which is clearly the best thing ever. They're obviously for different purposes, but I like having them so close together.
No word on whether the games are merely half the ones you find in the others, or if there are different titles found herein, but we do know that it's sold exclusively via British Airways. You can either click a reminder to purchase it on the plane, or you can get it sent through mail order. It's discounted to £65 from £75, but that's still around $120, so quite an investment. I've asked to be sent one, we'll see if I can get additional info. That 1gb of internal memory just begs to be filled with SMS roms...if only! Thanks to sweater fish for the link, though apparently some of this info was around the block a bit before the unit was released...
Incidentally, the day after I posted about the Coleco version of the handheld at Target, it went on sale for $20. I'm guessing all of you who clicked the link a bit late noticed this, because now it's completely sold out. That's that, then!
An oldie but goodie, and a worthy addition to our previous music posts. And I realize, compared to some of the other stuff that's been posted, it's a bit newish! This 'cover' of Sega Bass Fishing is on the grindcore band's our last day album, which is pretty good if you like your grindcore a bit more progressive. It's under a meg, and I've uploaded it right here. If you want to hear the next song on the album, entitled 'Ikaruga,' well...I guess you'll just have to buy it, won't you?
Nevermind that this looks a bit like a blog post, I found this humorous. Reading some UK Resistance comments today, I came across something interesting - the SNES is outselling the PS3 on amazon's video game sales section right now (which realistically means very little in the grand scheme of things, but who can resist?).
I took screenshots, because of course this isn't going to last. When I checked the SNES was at 15, and the PS3 was at 51. Right now it's more like 13 and 32, but still! Must be a virtual console-inspired resurgance. Also worth noting that the Wii, DS, and 360 are all still selling better than the SNES. But where's the Genesis? As of right now, Model 1 is #148, Model 3 is #829 (but that's its own fault). The superior Model 2 is at a ridiculous #1,968 - probably due to not having a picture by it when you search.
I remember the dark days of the Barcode Battler, ruffians ripping barcodes off packaged goods to find the most uber monster they could. Bandai, it seems, have outdone themselves with a range of toys that detect natural magnetic fields which then unlock uber monsters to play with. Entitled, Treasure Gaust (I am assuming the latter is an Engrish attempt at spelling gaussed) these toys are pretty rudimentary.
However, there's a DS game now on the way that uses the same technology. Yes, that's right; the terrifying popularity of the DS Lite in Japan coupled with kids fervently searching the country for the ultimate magnetic field...I...I can't comprehend that level of merchandising carnage. Just...can't. Personally, I think it's a novel feature to use in a game mainly because you can't see magnetic fields and kids (predominantly) will be forced to search for them (unlike games such as Boktai that worked off, well, sunlight).
No release date is set but it's penciled in as Q1 2007, so that should give people in Japan enough warning to fortify their homes and don body armor (preferably de-magnetised body armor, obviously).
feature: the insertcredit.com 2006 fukubukuro: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION
Greetings, princes and princesses of the universe and/or the internet! It's just me, tim rogers, tired after a long journey and lots of iron pumping. I'm here bearing a gift -- the insertcredit.com fukubukuro 2006: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION.
If you recall, I have, on previous occasions, written articles called "fukubukuro", which is Japanese for "lucky bag", and made big events out of putting those on the website. A real-life fukubukuro, sold at various retailers all over Japan on New Year's Day, might have a Tonka truck tire, a handful of kitty litter, a couple of Tootsie Roll Pops, and an HD-DVD player in it, though you'll never know when you put down the money for it.
This fukubukuro is a little late for New Year's, and maybe that means that we're not just getting rid of overstock -- maybe it means we (and I) have something to say. Or maybe it doesn't!
See for yourself! Expect very long reviews of at least three major games, and maybe a giant, rambling, world-changing essay of sorts. It's bursting with content -- ten full-length articles totalling roughly 80,000 words, written in sentences and paragraphs, here and there, over the course of 2005 and 2006 (though mostly in the closing weeks of 2006). The reason I never put them on the website, uhh, as I was actually writing them is because, uhh, HTML is a hell of a lot harder than doing nothing.
Thanks for reading, and send me an email at tim at this website dot com to let me know what you think. I'm personally not poor anymore, so you don't even need to send me money to guarantee a response! What a bargain!
You simply have to realize how much value you're getting here. 80,000 words! That's like 27 issues of EGM! Or thirty-five days of CNN!
Goodnight, then, and continue to be gorgeous!
And oh yes! Before I twinkle off into Fairyland, let me inform you that the officialinsertcredit.com fukubukuro 2006: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION discussion is right over here, at the selectbutton.net forums.
Much like with almost every game in the Armored Core series, Armored Core 4 is being treated to a large tournament. The main differences now are that instead of having the tournament held in a real world location it is instead being hosted over the ether first, the second big difference is that the winner will receive 200,000 yen in prize money. The tournament starts on March 1st and lasts for 21 days. Those that find themselves in the top 30 in the online rankings will then have a showdown in Tokyo. Entry into the tournament will be free.
Yep, Atsushi Inaba and crew have set up shop in Osaka with a new development studio called Seeds. It currently has 51 staff and Hideki Kamiya is still wearing Union Jack themed attire. For those unfamiliar with Clover's works then I suggest leaving the cave you live in and actually start playing games. Anyway, I feel a large amount of running around and screaming happy things at people coming on.
Our friends on SRK are reporting that the Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 works fine with Windows and MAME, so if you were thinking about getting one it might be a good idea to place an order soon, as stocks are not expected to last long. For more information on the HRAP 3 check Hori's page, and also check its cool-looking upcoming accessories: the so-called professional wristpad
and rubber sheet, available in april with an MSRP of 1,575 yen each. Are these things even useful? I've no idea, but I'll let you know once mine arrive.
In the meantime, it's worth noting that we still don't know whether Hori's cheaper Fighting Stick 3 works with Windows out of the box, but at this point I'd say it's a fair bet. Update: According to tim, who has contacts at Hori, the Fighting Stick 3 does indeed work with Windows.
You may remember a while ago we mentioned that Treasure freelancer yasushi suzuki was doing a manga. Well, he still is - but now there's an artbook being announced. It will contain art from Ikaruga and Sin & Punishment, as well as original art. Roughly 100 images total.
So, I started writing this before I read the full press release, and I just got to an interesting bit. Turns out there will be some bonus stuff in the book, such as a forward by Play's dave "crazy" halverson, a sneak peak at the upcoming manga, and interviews with IGN.com, PULSE and insertcredit.com.
That was a bit of a surprise, as I didn't actually know my interview was going in the book, but I do assume that I'll be able to publish it myself before the book's may release. I sure hope so! Fingers crossed! Anyway, aside from that initial shock, I'm sure this will be interesting. Check out some of the art, which as you'll clearly see, is "not final."
The PlayPal is re-branded variant of the Coleco handheld I mentioned some time ago. Both are Game Gear/SMS-based systems, with 20 games built in. The trick is, the PlayPal is currently selling for $20 CDN at canadian Wal-Marts, which is like $15 u.s. dollars. I don't advocate shopping at Wal-Mart whatsoever, so steal it if you must. At Target, the original (arguably cooler) Coleco branded one is $50.
Here are some impressions from comic-kaze, who bought one: "Feels quite solid and very cool. Unfortunately, the screen scales the sprites quite a bit and you get a wierd grainy effect on some textures in games because the colors are dithered (image dithering on a color printer). And with games like Sonic Drift 2, it's Game Gear resolution so it's small than the overall screen space which is small enough already (GBA Micro size). Still a neat thing for $20 CDN. This also has one of the better TV outs I've seen and the games that have scaling issues with the LCD look fine on TV." I'd also like to add that it's stereo. Pretty rare for something like this.
Toshiaki Fujino is back with two new shooters, both of which will be shown for the first time at the upcoming AOU show. Exzeal, the sequel to Trizeal, is of course the one we are most interested in, but the mobile game titled Shooting: Technical Skills Test sounds cool too. Screenshots indicate that it might be just a port of "Shooting Ginokentei", the omake game included with Trizeal's PS2 port, but what's nice about it either way is that it will feature national ranking tables, and, well, the title sounds like something you'd expect to see on the DS.
As for Exzeal, the hardware hasn't been announced yet, but it will almost certainly run on the Naomi, so I guess we can expect a DC port at some point in the future. Rumor has it that when that happens Fujino will slice off his little finger live on his website, to promote its sales. Thanks to twe and others from Shmups for some of this info.
I've been playing a lot of japan-only Xbox 360 games lately, most of which have received little to no coverage in the western press. So, in order to get more information on these games, I often have to break out the dictionary and head over to the shady .jp region of the net. A new and promising fansite I recently discovered in this way is Xbox Next. The frontpage features news posted by CT, the site's owner, as well as so-called "pick-up" news, which are simply links to news on other sites. Though most of the other sections are still empty (we are promised reviews, guides, etc.), the extensive links section is priceless.
Note that the menu on the left side of the frontpage doesn't work at the moment (at least not in Firefox), so use the menu bar at the top for navigation.
The guys at Junker HQ have relaunched their Policenauts site in anticipation of their English translation of the PlayStation version of the game. Marc Laidlaw, the translator, is aiming for the second half of 2007, but whether he hits that target or not is irrelevant; the important thing is that the patch is finally coming.
Hold onto your pants, kids! Check out the latest screens of Odin Sphere. That's in-game 2D stuff, folks. Keep in mind this is coming to america via Atlus, so don't get too worried. They haven't officially announced it yet, but they will!
Update: Well, now they have officially announced it for north america, and the date is a loose 'spring 2007.' Interesting elements include five playable characters (Princess Crown had four), as well as a cooking and alchemy system. Seems to take existing bits and expand on them, at least on paper. Here's a bit of worry though: "Fully-voiced dialogue that heightens the drama!" I've heard Atlus' dubs before, and I hope to high heaven they see their way through to leaving in the original language track as an option. Konami did it for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin! So can you, Atlus!
Link: Sega seeking "relationship" with Armored Core fanbase
So it begins, though a little belatedly. The long-suffering US Armored Core community has been approached by Sega of America, in the hope that they can help get the word out on the upcoming 360 and PS3 releases (historically the series has received almost no marketing outside of its native Japan). So, if you're interested in actually seeing some real advertising (on this new fangled device called a "television" I hear) then feel free to join in the threads here and here.
My first suggestion would be to change the suitably lacklustre boxart. The Japanese 360 release, pictured left, is far more stylish and From Software has already gone to the effort of changing it over the PlayStation 3's release (good on them I say).
doug lowenstein, now leaving the ESA (which runs E3 and the ESRB) is pretty mad. He seems to be mad at developers who don't stand up for what they represent, and mad at games press for being immature and shallow. Hey, guess what, he's right! I'll give you an excerpt, but most of the speach can be found here.
“Great other forms of media have a very very powerful forms of critical components,” he continued. “Look at the film and music industries. The quality of the nature of the criticism is very deep, it’s very thoughtful. The game industry press has the ability to push this industry to greater heights of creative success. People in this room care a lot more about what the games press say about what they create than what anyone else will say. And I hope that that platform is used in a way that is more empowering and more ambitious. I just don’t think the games press has asked enough of itself, and I hope that it does.”
Years later, we're still talking about the same thing. Something's got to change, eh?
After being unveiled at E3, and then suddenly not allowed to talk about, Odin Sphere has had the veil truly lifted in Famitsu (through early leaked copies). For those who don't know, this is the spiritual successor to the gorgeous Princess Crown for the Saturn, which done some 10 years ago, and recently re-released on PSP in japan. Odin Sphere will follow in the same horizontally scrolling 2D action RPG vein, with highly detailed backgrounds and animation. The game is headed by jouji kamitani, with h. sakimoto on soundtrack duty, and you can see a youtube video (with no sound!?) right here. Looks fantastic. Mr. soejima, of Stella Deus and Persona 3 fame is doing the illustrations, and scans are floating around if you have the desire to seek them out. Thanks to recap's post for most of this info.
Not wishing to miss a trick, Gundam Musou will be bundled with 60GB PlayStation 3s. Listed in Koei's Game City shop, the bundle is being touted at the sphincter tightening price of 72,000 yen (though other places online are saying that the price will be "open"). The bundle comes with two artbooks and 8 cards (though these little trinkets aren't available if you decide to purchase the vanilla release). This bundle will be available on March 1st and will probably sell in epic numbers.
It's not often that we can learn historical facts from video games. When Sega's MegaCD was released most developers were coming from computers to Sega's new console. Many games, and in fact it could be argued too many were simulations and games that would suit the system's developing audience: hardcore geeks with a taste for the intellectual. Mahjong sims and wargames and hex strategies were very popular, and many managed to educate while entertaining the few sad loners who bought into the platform.
It's saying something when even the best shooter for the MegaCD had a history lesson to offer. Luckily, for those of us who speak English, Tengen's otherwise execrable localization of Dennin Aleste (renamed Robo Aleste) kept the history lesson intact. NFGGames has transcribed this history lesson, and it offers a unique insight into a period of Japanese history you probably didn't know much about.
As of today, Thanko are taking reservations for their USB Wii Remote Chargers to be released at the end of this month. Priced at 3,480 yen each (or 6,480 yen for two), these plug into the back of your Wii and, you guessed it, charge your Wii Remote (along with two bespoke AA lithium ion batteries included with the charger). It takes about 3 and a half hours to charge the batteries, which then last for a good 25 hours.
To be honest, it's amazing that Nintendo didn't include this kind of functionality with the Wii in the first place.
So, Games Radar again. christian nutt put up this feature, in whcih the many costumes of Bullet Witch protagonist alicia are rated by a fashion school grad. Pretty humorous, uses the word 'pantkerchief' in reference to the left photo, and all of the costumes basically get panned. Here's a quote: "The demi-bomber jacket and elaborate medical truss combination is an upsetting one. Demanding comparison with Rifat Ozbek's seminal 1990 White Collection, as well as suggesting the work of a blind medical intern, the ensemble works on few levels."
Ouch! Anyway, I was yelling at nutt for the intro, before realizing it had funny parts in it, because it's a bit too Games Radar company line for me. Nutt, we hardly knew ye! Note to game writers: when writing about this game and feeling like you have to talk about how sexy she is, just copy and paste this phrase: "like us, you'll probably intinctively move the camera to look at her panties within minutes of playing. That's ok, they rendered them for a reason. There's just nothing you can do about it." See? Not so hard.
It's certainly worth a visit, though there's only a single page for the moment. According to twe from the Shumps forums, the translation of that line above the logo is "pioneering, plump-style vertical scrolling shooting game". We are also promised that on the 13th the "Pork Story" will be revealed, though of course no one gives a crap about that. What the STG world wants right now is a screenshot, and some indication as to what exactly the word "pioneering" is supposed to mean, in this context. Well, it won't be long before we find out...
In the meantime, speculations continue to run wild, and the most compelling one I've heard so far is that this could be a Guwange-style walk-along shooter, which would rock all kinds of awesome. Oh, and before I forget, a pic of the game's promotional flyer for the upcoming AOU show surfaced at Swedish site stgfan. Check it out. Recap says it gives him a Game Tengoku vibe, but I'm not seeing it (most likely in the amalgam of characters and frenetic style ~BS). I guess I am blinded by the plump T&A, which, by the way, is just how I like it.
Brandon's note: Fabien, our onetime internet niche compatriot, shared with us the not entirely work-safe website of the Muchi Muchi Pork character illustrator recently (known as kawahiko), so this is a good place to put it. And anyone whose taste for T&A runs along the lines of alex's should probably pay close attention to rid's illustration updates.
No I don't mean this one, I mean the official one. Nintendo recently launched it to celebrate the series in anticipation of the 10th installment, due to be released for the Wii on the 22nd of this very month. The best thing there for the moment is a cool history page, but I expect we'll be seeing more content soon.
Regardless of the fact I'm not precisely sure what a co-CEO is, mark long seems to be one, and for Zombie studios specifically. They made that ZPC game which we mentioned back here, with the curious art design from the KMFDM cover artist. He talks about the game here, in his 'desert island games' column, saying that's one of the five games he'd take with him on a desert island. Of his picks, I'd personally only keep Tetris, but we can't all be videogame super geniuses. Here's my favorite bit of his ZPC description:
"adian [hughes - the artist guy] used to pitch it as jesus versus the nazis. Before ZPC released, GT Interactive ran a print ad campaign that had jesus, hitler and stalin in it - this would never happen today! And, of course, we got some email complaints. But one day we came in to work to find a long voicemail message from some nutcase in the general mailbox that was just epic. So we sampled and edited it and created a level in the game around it called the Propaganda Stadium. It's still hilarious when you get to the level and you hear this guy shouting about the "angry jesus" game."
No, it's not a joke! After all these training games, it was inevitable (perhaps you don't know but, roughly ten training games get released by companies other than Nintendo for every one that is endorsed by dr. kawashima). DS Therapy has the subtitle 'mainichi kokorobics', a conjunction of the words 'heart' (kokoro) and 'aerobics', this 'daily heart aerobics'. The game has you answering quizes in a 'light hearted' manner, and then you're diagnosed based on the latest psychological research, or so says developer Dimple Entertainment, creator of adventure sims, largely. Theoretically it should track your progress as well.
The game is planned for a may release at 4,800 yen, and features character illustrations by kaorin wakamatsu. They actually do seem to have consulting psychologists on staff, but this is still quite odd to me.
Banpresto has put up a commercial for their Dimps-developed original DS fighter Draglade, which shows a bit of action from the game. Looks fast-paced, and you can see just a little of the 'custom beat battle' elements. There's actually a section up now which explains it. Basically it's a bit like how records work in Samurai Champloo for PS2. New beats allow different combo chains, and it seems you have the ability to actually create beats yourself. Also, I can't recall if this was mentioned before, but Wifi is now confirmed for the game. There will be realtime ranking, and for local users, download play is supported.
Rocket Company's budget-priced DS curling game has been out for a little while now, and is officially endorsed by an actual japanese curling team. They've recently put up a commercial, if you want to see if the game is actually as boring as it seems (hint: yes, but probably better on a DS than any other system).
A few places are listing the possibility of a Western release for G.Rev'sSenko no Ronde Rev.X (now being billed as Senko no Rondo). This being the 360 port of the eclectic arcade versus shmup. Apparently, Ubisoft is responsible for taking the publishing torch on this one but no official announcement has been made as yet to clarify that fact (the game isn't listed on their respective sites). I have my robot fingers crossed on this (despite already owning the Japanese limited edition release, which I have played rather obsessively anyway).
Spectral Force 3 ~Innocent Rage~ was Idea Factory's first next-gen SRPG, and it came out for the Xbox 360 back in June. Now the company is preparing two more releases for the 360, both of which are remakes of two of their most successful PS2 titles. Diario: Rebirth Moon Legend, a remake of Rebirth Moon Legend, is due out on the 8th of this month, and Absolute Blazing Infinity, a remake of Blazing Souls, set in the Neverland universe, is scheduled for the 29th of March.
Strange, isn't it? Spectral Force 3 sold a paltry number of copies, and yet the Idea's factory keeps churning them out[/cheap pun]. Of course they are merely remakes, and I doubt whether the slightly enhanced graphics or the extra content (some of which will be downloadable) will persuade anyone to replay these games, but will they manage to attract new players? It's all highly doubtful, and for a company as calculating as this I can only assume that MS is somehow making this worth their while. Meanwhile, Mist of Chaos is coming out on the PS3 about a month later than expected (so the street date is now the 22nd of March), and, as a brand-new title and the console's first SRPG, it will certainly attract most of the attention.
News: Worldwide Video blames death of coin op on 9-11
Worldwide Video is in the business of distributing arcade games, from medal redemption and UFO games, all the way to the proper games we (used to) expect in arcades. This press release on coinoptoday caught my eye, and upon reading, well. It's rather amazing. First of all, for a press release, it's got a lot of personal lamentations in it.
"Our industry is struggling as so many of you are, and I know I am as well. I share that burden with you and this email is solely intended to share and mourn together what was once though to be a relative down cycle / blip upon our industry that has proven to last far longer and deeper than I would have anticipated."
Those are the words of WorldWide Video's president Brad Brown, pictured to the right (I'm guessing he's the older one, but who can say). The 'email' he's referring to is something he sent around in christmas of 2002 to his employees, blaming the events of september 11th for the downfall of the coin op industry. Quite simply astounding, and certainly worth a read. I'll give you a choice quote:
"Because of the events of 9-11, a tremendous amount of people want to stay home and entertain themselves. The game systems of Sony's Play Station 2, Micro Soft X -Box, and Nintendo Game Cube, along with the other millions of existing "older" home game systems and with the ever cheaper computer systems (thanks to Dell Computer and Gateway) have conspired against the coin op industry."
Note that those quotes are as-is, not cleaned up. I think the ambiguous language which actually implicates consumers in a conspiracy against coin op is unintentional. At least I hope it is!
So I've interviewed D3 US for a second time, and you can see the results here. It's a little embarrassingly fanboyish at times, but what can you do, eh? Not my most 'professional' work, but has some quite decent bits to it. I asked specifically about why they're not bringing their Simple 2000 series games out here (though I know they've tried), and got pretty much the response I expected:
"I think some of it has to do with what I mentioned before we started this interview, which was shelf space. There is only so much shelf space at retail, and retailers are more likely to pass on titles.
So the question becomes how many units is the minimum to make this worth our while - to hit our contribution margin that we’re looking for. It’s just getting harder and harder.
The other part of the equation is Sony approvals. There have been a few titles that we have put forth, that we thought “Okay, these are good, these are fun titles, there is a place for them.” And Sony will say “no, we don't think its competitive, or you’re going to need make this change, and this change, and this change,” at which point it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint."
Well...I'll keep hoping. I tried to press the downloadable angle, so let's keep our fingers crossed!
News: Armored Core 4 - Regulation 1.20 and US 360 release
As of today, From Software have updated the Regulation file yet again on the PS3 version. Now at Version 1.20, thousands of player requests have been answered (courtesy of an online questionnaire that was hosted on AC.net). A lot of the changes are to do with parts balancing. From Software have also reset the server rankings again (something the top Japanese players are probably shaking their fists at).
Segueing, as if by magic, into the news of an earlier and simultaneous 360 release. Famitsu have reported the 360 version of AC4 going on sale on the 20th March (a whole two days earlier than expected) and that it will be released simultaneously with the American version. The latter, if true, will be interesting in terms of the game's online popularity.
After all, if some Japanese schoolgirl is whaling on your mechanical ass from day one, how long will American players stick with it? At least with Chrome Hounds the Japanese players didn't have a month head start and it was more a game based on strategy rather than raw ninja skills (something that Japanese players are exhibiting daily on the PS3 version of AC4). Anyway, it will be interesting to see what will finally happen when East meets West on the AC battlefield. For many of the more faithful Western AC brethren, such an opportunity to have their gaming heart ripped from their chest (via the sphincter most probably) is something that's been a decade in waiting.
Finally, the aforementioned Regulation file feature may also be unique to the PS3, unless the 360 guidelines are changed. Selectable patches aren't something Microsoft allow, as far as I am aware.
In line with my recent mention of the Hi-Nu Gundam I feel compelled to introduce you to MASKED BAKUC. He's a chap at Bandai who's now writing an Engrish blog about pretty much anything (though he's meant to be covering Gunpla). The blog itself is called "Blog of the Soul" and he, apparently, walks around in the mask you see to your left (he even surfs in it too).
He's even included a higher resolution image of the mask so, that's right, you can make your own. In his own words: "Everytime I go to overseas to spread GUNPLA culture all over the world. Please please this image download and wear this aaaaaand popularize supreme GUNPLA culture with me! Stand up, stand up, run fast as the same speed of LIGHTING and make a modelkits! Inspire your soul of GUNPLA!"
I can actually taste his enthusiasm. Bandai Games needs to take a leaf out of Bakuc's book (and wear masks). I am sure that would improve their creative output.
A port of Raiden IV for the Xbox 360 is apparently in alpha stage and is scheduled to be released in the US at some unspecified point in the distant future. This news comes from an interview with one of UFO Interactive's managers recently conducted by 
It's that time of the year again and otaku have descended upon 
As the title says, the Art of Fighting Anthology for PS2, which we've covered 
If you like old stuff, you may appreciate this three-part series on the making of Atlantis, by Imagic (they did some of the better graphics of the day, especially on Intellivision). Here are parts 
Remember when bits were everything? 32 bit versus 64 bit...the "24-bit" neo geo, the Jaguar "do the math" controversy - then the Dreamcast came along, the first 128 bit system, and pretty much everyone stopped talking about it. I even remember a time when I thought the intellivision and 2600 were 4 bit, because they came before the NES. You doubled the bits with the next system, that was just how it worked! But then it started to be about how emotional your engine was. Anyway, I decided to mail sony and ask how many bits the PS3 has. A gajillion? Six? Here's the official answer (bless them for indulging me, thanks to Sony PR boss dave karraker for getting a tech guy to respond to this - I can't think of anyone else that would do something this awesome):
Here's another thing that's gone MIA - 
Following on from a 
Here's a very nice 
The Saturn (#5,980 in amazon's sales ranking, sadly) was notoriously tough to crack, and even harder to emulate. Far more difficult than the Dreamcast on both counts. Initially, it seems, each developer was to be given specific boot discs so that they could run their dev burns on retail systems. But that ultimately never happened - what did happen is the 
An oldie but goodie, and a worthy addition to our previous music posts. And I realize, compared to some of the other stuff that's been posted, it's a bit newish! This 'cover' of Sega Bass Fishing is on the grindcore band's 
I remember the dark days of the 
Much like with almost every game in the Armored Core series, 
Yep, Atsushi Inaba and crew have set up shop in Osaka with a new development studio called 
Our friends on 
The 
Toshiaki Fujino is back with two new shooters, both of which will be shown for the first time at the upcoming AOU show. Exzeal, the sequel to Trizeal, is of course the one we are most interested in, but the mobile game titled Shooting: Technical Skills Test sounds cool too. 
I've been playing a lot of japan-only Xbox 360 games lately, most of which have received little to no coverage in the western press. So, in order to get more information on these games, I often have to break out the 
The guys at Junker HQ have relaunched their 
According to an article on 
Hold onto your pants, kids! Check out the latest 
So it begins, though a little belatedly. The long-suffering US Armored Core community has been approached by 
After being unveiled at E3, and then suddenly not allowed to talk about, Odin Sphere has had the veil truly lifted in Famitsu (through early leaked copies). For those who don't know, this is the spiritual successor to the gorgeous 
Not wishing to miss a trick, ![[ Aleste Thumbnail ]](http://nfggames.com/games/AlesteHistory/iclogo.png)
It's not often that we can learn historical facts from video games. When Sega's MegaCD was released most developers were coming from computers to Sega's new console. Many games, and in fact it could be argued too many were simulations and games that would suit the system's developing audience: hardcore geeks with a taste for the intellectual. Mahjong sims and wargames and hex strategies were very popular, and many managed to educate while entertaining the few sad loners who bought into the platform. 
As of today, 
So, Games Radar again. christian nutt put up 
It's certainly 
No I don't mean 
Regardless of the fact I'm not precisely sure what a co-CEO is, mark long seems to be one, and for Zombie studios specifically. They made that ZPC game which we mentioned 
No, it's not a joke! After all these training games, it was inevitable (perhaps you don't know but, roughly ten training games get released by companies other than Nintendo for every one that is endorsed by dr. kawashima). 
Banpresto has put up a 
A few places are 
Those are the words of WorldWide Video's president Brad Brown, pictured to the right (I'm guessing he's the older one, but who can say). The 'email' he's referring to is something he sent around in christmas of 2002 to his employees, blaming the events of september 11th for the downfall of the coin op industry. Quite simply astounding, and certainly worth a read. I'll give you a choice quote:
So I've interviewed D3 US for a second time, and you can see the results 
As of today, 
In line with my recent mention of the Hi-Nu Gundam I feel compelled to introduce you to MASKED BAKUC. He's a chap at Bandai who's now writing an Engrish blog about pretty much anything (though he's meant to be covering 
