My TGS show wrapup for Gamasutra can be found here. It's in a slightly different style, of course, and it's also edited by someone other than me, so if it looks different to you, that'd be the reason.
In site news, very sorry for the lack of updates recently. Not only is my personal and professional life getting in the way of updates, there is a technical issue. Namely, we need PHP scripting to make this site work quickly without my constant input. We have tried several people, nothing has worked, as nobody has been able to finish it quickly. If you are extremely good at PHP, and would be willing to complete this rather large project within a week or two, in addition to a smaller peripheral project, we will give you $300. Please contact me, and CC vincent if you are interested in this. Serious offers only, you've gotta be damn good, damn fast, and damn ready!! Thanks!
Mathew has done more reportage of the things that happened in that london place. His thoughts on the N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac and Gizmondo can be found here.
News: TGS reports
September 28, 2004 10:36 PM PST
insert credit / various
Tim and I (brandon) have written very (very) small TGS reports. His is on his blog, and mine is here.
Konami has announced a new rhythmic action game by the name of OZ. There's a trailer on there for you to check out. The main team is composed of a Castlevania musician and producer (Castlevania akio no enbukyoku) a character designer from Suikoden 3, and a planner from Suikoden 4.
News: Craft&Mister's first game
September 28, 2004 10:20 PM PST
Craft&Mister / IGGY
Craft&Mister, the new company started by Funamizu of (ex)Capcom, will release their first game this summer. Check the japanese interview here.
Atlus has announced via the PSP release list a game called 'Princess Crown', which could well be a remake/port of the classic/gorgeous Saturn ARPG. Thanks to recap for the link.
News: Sengoku Canon
September 28, 2004 10:15 PM PST
Psikyo / IGGY
Psikyo has apparently been reborn. There will be a new shooter for the PSP with the tentative name Sengoku Canon.
SNKP has announced that every game after KOF 94 Rebout will have online play for PS2. This list includes:
The King of Fighters '95-'97 (3 in 1)
The King of Fighters '98-'00 (3 in 1)
Garou Mark of the Wolves
Bakumatsu Roman Gekka no Kenshi (2 in 1)
Twinkle Star Sprites
Mathew Kumar is alive and well after reprising his role, covering London Game Week. Double the acronyms, half the cell phones, and even more perfectly translated Korean to English phrases make this year's coverage a great read. After all: "Once upon a time in Eurasia, human beings faced the historical moment..."
I, brandon am heading out of the country on business in a few hours. What business, you may ask? I now work for Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra. It's a good time for you to pick up that magazine - and though there won't be a whole lot of my writing in it, I'll be...there. Regardless, the trip means sporadic-if-at-all updates for the site (moreso!) which will be done by Vince when he has the time. See you all when I get back on the 27th/28th.
Matthew Hawkins of fort90 went to the Alien Hominid press event last week, and came away with some impressions of the game in its current state. And...here they are.
Zun of Shanghai Alice (popular doujin game maker of Perfect Cherry Blossom, etc) will be speaking about shooting games and the doujin scene at Meiji University on october 30th. Anyone who can go/transcribe the event should mail me.
Chaos Field, the new arcade shooter from Milestone will be coming to consoles, according to namae. Taito will be publishing the game for DC and GC, with the DC version planned for december of this year, and the GC version in february of 2005.
Doujin group Rapid Fire has announced that they are developing a new 2D fighter by the name of Fate/Sword Dance. The release is planned for next Comic Revolution. Thanks to Zepy for the news. It's based on Fate/Stay Night characters, of course, and it will be fully voiced.
Square Enix had announced that they will be remaking Romancing Saga 1 (Minstrel's Song) for the PS2. The game will be released in 2005, and will be redone in 'realistic' 3D. A lot of other things are changing as well, events, scenario, characters, etc.
Entdepot has a contest up. All you gots to do is email our good pal Ryan, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win one of two VJ PS2 combos - both of which are the same, incidentally - Viewtiful Joe Game, T-Shirt & Strategy Guide. So hop to it.
I would die for you (kimi no tame nara shineru) is a new game from Sonic Team. It's planned for the DS, and basically chronicles your attempts to keep up with your high maintenance girlfriend. You must keep her from harm, such as when the scorpion truck rolls by and some boxes of scorpions fall out. Yes, really! It's developed by Takumi Yoshinaga, the director of Space Channel 5, and a female planner named Emiko Suenaga. There are apparently quite a few female developers working on this project. Check out the sega page with a few screens, and the official site.
More info was revealed about Genji from a mainichi article. It's an action game taking place after the Heiji disturbance in the Heian era. You control the historical figures Yoshitsune and literary figure Benkei to fight the Taira. And if you've not heard by now, it'd developed by Game Republic, the new company from Okamoto, the director of Street Fighter II who recently left Capcom.
Check out some pics and info for the PS2 version of Harvest Moon Oh Wonderful Life. Seems as though you will only be able to play as the guy, the girl from the GC version is removed. In pretend compensation, you can marry one more girl than before. There will also be some new events.
King of Fighters slot machine! The art is done by Falcoon, and there's a lot of it to be found here. Check a photo gallery from the location test here. Thanks to Rid for this news.
The Chrono Resurrection project has come to an end. If you didn't know what it was to begin with, take a look, there are images and trailers. It was to be a complete remake of Chrono Trigger in 3D for the PC by an amateur game group. They did some phenomenal graphical and sound work, but just got the cease and desist from Square-Enix. It was inevitable, really, and one wonders how they held on so long. Still a shame it won't see the light of day.
Nippon Ichi Software America has just announced that Atelier Iris ~Eternal Mana~ has been approved for US release. No further details, but this is good news regardless.
Definitely an odd one - fan-made mascots for various cigarette brands. Some of them are disturbingly cute. Others, just disturbing. Thanks to Gen's mmcafe bbs post for the link.
The dates for Mushihime and Trizeal's arcade releases (or at least board sales) have been revealed by Mak Japan via nikaiten. The dates are november 12 for Mushihimesama, and september 17th for Trizeal.
Kawano nushi tsuri (fishing the river master) Wonderful Journey is a new fishing RPG from Marvelous and Natsume, part of the 'river king' (US title) series. This is the first 3D installment, and the first to hit a console since the SNES days. It's planned for a december release on PS2 for 7140 yen with tax. See the famitsu article for more.
The Neo Geo Battle Coliseum site has now opened, with clear screens and some character info. Anyone who knows the name of the illustrator, send me a mail.
Arika has put up a 168 meg replay (direct link) of the top player in their Espgaluda score attack. It's a full replay, which explains the bloated file size.
Mathew wrote this report on the Edinburgh International Games Festival round about two weeks ago. But I put it up now. And so! Go read it! It's full of games, movies, other things, and Scotland-ese.
Kobayan has event coverage too. Lots of images of the free stuf given out at the show by various booths. Nightmare of Druaga cookie to the left, Mushihimesama towels within the link.
Bokujo monogatari Oh ! wonderful life (harvest moon girls side, essentially) will be arriving on the PS2 on november 11th. The game will be identical to the GC release. In related news, cute furry things (left) were unveiled on the 31st.
Spikes Nintendo DS launch title Tendo-Doctor now has an official site as well. It's a surgery adventure game. Quite something. Here's a flash animation of the gameplay.
Project Altered Beast now has an official site. Not much there, but it does mention that the game falls into the 'violence action' genre, and that it will be released (on PS2) this winter.
Forum member Professor Scissors has made an excellent Phoenix clone...more of a sequel, really. It's one of the better US based homebrew shooter efforts I have seen. 3D graphics, nice effects, several weapons, no music, but it doesn't really need it. Download the game here from our server - only 500k.
The Minibosses had a segment on an NPR affiliate. You can check out the interview/report in audio form here. Thanks to Shin Ramberk's mmcafe bbs post for the news.
Lawrence is supposed to be putting up live coverage of the AM show right now...but he appears to be slacking. He complains about Taito's no pics policy. Check it a few times just in case. Also, be sure to check yesterday's news for updates, several things were changed/modified.
Doujin game group French Bread has put the demo up for Ragnarok Battle Online, their anticipated action game based on the Ragnarok properties. Get the game on the 'demo' link, by searching for 'EXE' in the text. The download is about 68 megs. Thanks to Zepy for the news.
Yes, let's start with the new releases first. A couple of highlights: the Mobile Suit Valken remake is out now (soundtrack here), and so is Falcom's ARPG (PS2 version) Zwei!!.
Some Dreamcast re-releases have come about as well - KOF 2k2, Interlude (recommended visual novek), Ever17: The Out of Infinity Premium Edition and Renai Chu! Happy Perfect.
Don't forget the latest classic games list. They had a copy of the PCE Sapphire, but it's gone by now. Lots of limiteds, hard to find NGPC stuff, Saturn titles and pre-owned DC stuff.
Last but not least, if you ever wanted to try Capcom's 2D japan-only Dreamcast RPG El Dorado, now's the time. The weekly special is El Dorado Gate Vol. 2 for $5.
Boulette is a home-made 'tv' show about old shareware, forgotten games, things like this. It's entirely in french. Check it out here specifically, grabbing the .rars at the bottom. About a 100 meg download, all told. Thanks to Chaz for the news.
GP32 News has got their ADIC 2004 competition site up, so it may be time to start getting games together. It will begin rather soon. They're also looking for an italian translator.
In other news, development on Wanna Be Wizard must be almost complete, since Gamepark is actually giving the game a release date on their site. The game should come out in october of this year, if it doesn't get pushed back. Crazy! Thanks to GP32 Notebook for noticing this.
Noiz2sa is really getting around! It's been ported to the GP32 now, though it runs a bit slowly. Check GP32X or GP32 Spain for the downloads. Thanks to Manu for pointing this out.
Taito has announced (via Famitsu - link down?) a few nifty items. First off, Shikigami III will be on the Type-X hardware, and the first shot is to the left. Click-Stick borrowed a shot of the back of the board (very PC-ish, as is to be expected), and some specs from shooting girls, whose images go down every 5 seconds. Check the ic archives (via google search, it's the only way at the moment) for more Type-X info.
Taito has announced their partners list as well - a very shooty bunch, this one: Arc System Works, Success, Treasure, X Nauts, Skonoc, Cave, Psikyo, Warashi, Seibu Kaihatsu, Eolith, Takumi, Alfa System and MOSS.
Here's why that list is so interesting (all speculation, so beware): This is the first mention of Arc System Works going solo from Sammy in quite some time. All of their previous arcade work is on Sammy or Naomi boards. Presumably then, whatever they do here will be unrelated to Guilty Gear. Success and Skonoc are both listed. Skonoc developed Psyvariar, but Success published. They're both listed separately...and Success's only real shooter on their own is Cotton, so the door is open there. Of course, it doesn't have to be a shooter, but with the cast of characters... X-Nauts and Psikyo are both listed. X-Nauts absorbed what was left of Psikyo when they went under...but now they've resurfaced as a partner here. Interesting. Cave, Treasure and Warashi (Usagi, Shienryu both likely) - no mysteries there.
This brings us to the upcoming titles list: Gigawing Generations, RAIDEN III (2005), Shikigami no Shiro III (2005), Chaos Breaker (Eolith's 2D fighter), and Harikiri (ritual suicide) Online Pro Baseball. Check Game Watch's report on the Taito booth for more, including a shot of Trizeal. It's not on Type-X, but it's still a shooter. Taito will save us all.
Update: partners liste updated - see this click-stick mirrored image for a graphical representation.
Lots of info has been released on NGBC - looks like they're trying hard with this one. At least 22 characters, two of which are new (Yuki and Ai), more characters to be revealed at TGS (not necessarily a greater number, just that there are 8 blanks at the current time), 2 on 2 tag battle, lots of new chara (at least for 2D, such as Asura), some characters from World Heroes, some from Metal Slug. Lots of redrawn sprites, or at least altered. Check the MMCafe for more detailed info.
Eight One has put up a host of images from the AM show, including NGBC images, mushihimesama, CFJ, Chaos Field, KOF NeoWave, cosplay and some pachislot.
The distro for Raiden 3 is being done by Moss, who did a good job with Azumanga Puzzle Daioh. Check the site for the full flier image. There's a gameplay image right here - it'll be 3D models/2D bullets, from the look of things. And great news - it is indeed developed by the original Seibu Kaihatsu team! Type-X is the board, as mentioned above.
Melty Blood ACT Candenza is at the AM show as well - here's a report from a bunch of people I am not familiar with, so view it as rumor if you so choose. They claim: - Newly added storyline by Kinoko
- At least 20 characters in all. New characters only in Act Cadenza
- New game graphics by Takeuchi
- Game system seems to be just like Re-ACT. 4 button, weak, middle, strong, shield. Arc Drives and Last Arcs.
- Release date is this winter.
- Watanabe is working with Ecole for the final product after all
- Two new characters coming from Fate/Stay Night
SNKP has revealed that there will be a new opening for KOF '94 RE: Bout PS2. Also a render of the sexually stimulating Neo Geo CD PS2 pad has been released. See it to the left. Thanks to Beto for some of this.
Sony Japan has put up an announcement of two 'sugoi' (amazing) titles that will be revealed (detail-wise) in a week. Someone has hacked the source of the flash to see that these two titles are called Genji and Nico. Nico is of course the sequel to Ico. Genji...we don't know about yet. But one hopes that it's a game adaptation of the Murasaki Shikibu novel.
Capcom has made the disappointing announcement that they've already revealed all of the CFJ characters. There will be no additional characters in Capcom Fighting Jam, and the game will be relegated to the 16 already announced. Find the full character list on the mmcafe front page.
Edit: Capcom changed their minds - 21 characters now, with more to announce.
tri Ace (insanely old english site here), makers of the Star Ocean series, have got a new RPG in the works. This one's for PS2, to be released in Spring 2005. They're trying for a watercolor 3D look, with a 2D detail flare. So far looks a bit FF-ish. The game is called Radiata Stories - scans are around if you look for them.
Apparently Cyberstep will be
entering the American market. Working out of California, they will be making available their online multiplayer content through a new American portal. They already boast some of the most popular action games in Korea, with titles such as getamped.
Namco has announced a game called Cobra Arcade at the AM show. There's a report and some images at the Game Watch site. Cobra, for those who don't recall, was a beloved anime/manga from the very old days. Aside from one PSOne entry, the Cobra series of games have by and large been either AVG, visual novels, or text adventures. This one's pure arcade. Thanks to Rid for the link.
GP32 of insani ("We always keep insanity spirit.") lets me know that their fully hacked and English translated version of the Haru no Ashioto demo is now available as a torrent. If you've been interested in playing some of these ero-ge, but have been put off by the language barrier, give this one a shot.
Note: if you didn't pick up on this, the game is hentai-based. The link is work-safe though.
