Archive for September, 2008:
Level-5 in Ghibli collaboration
Japanese developer Level-5 is big news at the moment. The Professor Layton developer is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and now it’s self-publishing, it’s announcing titles left, right and centre. There are a few on other consoles, of course, but it hasn’t abandoned the console on which its breakout hit appeared, with the DS getting a new Inazuma Eleven RPG, and - perhaps more interestingly - forthcoming adventure Ninokuni.
It will be the first 10th Anniversary product from the studio, and Level-5 has big plans. Not only will a book be bundled with the game - named “The Magic Master” and containing magical crests and spell recipes to assist players - but all the animated story sequences will be produced by the legendary Studio Ghibli, world renowned Japanese animators.
Famitsu news special - Infinite Space, 7th Dragon & more
Platinum Games’ please-let-it-be-amazing operatic space RPG is featured in this week’s Famitsu, with screens showing off its anime-inspired characters, and a few shots from what appear to be story cutscenes.
The game reportedly focuses on ship combat - you won’t be fighting individual enemies, but instead captaining battleships in the depths of space. I’m sure this would seem a little strange if there are too many skirmishes, so I’m hoping for a low encounter rate and lengthier, more tactical scraps. Though it seems you’ll be controlling more than one craft - modules can be collected to upgrade your fleet, while crew members can be recruited, whose skills and abilities affect the stats of your ships.
Elsewhere in Famitsu, there’s news on another forthcoming role-player from Sega, 7th Dragon. Its mechanics seem very similar to Etrian Odyssey save for the lack of cartography, and the loss of the first-person perspective. But there are seven different classes, each with four different looks, skill trees for each class, and four characters per party. There’s just one main objective - kill all the dragons. Knowing Etrian Odyssey, this will be far more difficult than it sounds.
GTA DS courting controversy already
This month’s edition of UK gaming bible Edge is hitting subscriber doormats today, and there’s a cover feature on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Aside from some pretty damn positive hands-on impressions of the portable title (with praise even for the touchscreen minigames) there’s a section dedicated to one facet of the game which is bound to send tabloid editors into apoplectic fury.
Because Chinatown Wars contains a drug-dealing minigame. Drug dealing on the DS. Won’t somebody think of the children, and all that.
Disaster - officially (maybe) not a disaster after all
Proper’ Famitsu has reviewed Disaster: Day of Crisis, with the score coming in at a healthy 31/40. Which makes me very optimistic about the game, which should be in my possession by this time on Friday at the very latest. Early impressions will be forthcoming. I’m expecting a fairly arcadey experience with a decent story and hopefully pretty good replay value with the score-attack feature.
In other Famitsu news, the Cube remake of the original Resident Evil is next up for a bare-bones ‘Wii-make’. Which might not ordinarily seem like good news, but then it could well hint that we might just see that remake of Resident Evil 2 that we’re all clamouring for. After all, what other possible reason could there be to re-release both Resi Zero and REMake on the Wii with nothing added?
Mega Man 9 is Fantastically Difficult
The long wait came to an end for me yesterday afternoon when I traded 1,000 Wii Points and 66 memory blocks for Mega Man 9. Once the stage select screen appeared I felt as if I’d stepped back in time. After all these years I found myself looking at the new batch of Robot Masters with absolutely no idea where I should begin. It was disconcerting to step into a Mega Man game after all this time and not know the magic order needed to efficiently destroy the bosses. I decided to start with Galaxy Man which was a fitting warm-up. I destroyed him easily enough and decided to move on to Tornado Man, and it was here that I began to see just how my 8-bit Mega Man skills have deteriorated after years of neglect.
I spent the next hour sampling every other Robot Master stage. Out of the remaining seven bosses I only managed to reach Splash Woman and Magma Man (but was unable to defeat them). Mega Man 9 is kicking my ass, old-school style. Like its predecessors, however, whenever I fail, I see what I need to do differently the next time to avoid extra damage and death. Practice makes perfect. There’s a level of frustration associated with the original Mega Man games, and over the years memories of that aspect of the experience has sort of dropped away. We remember the awesome music, the creative characters, and the beloved sprite art. The disappearing blocks, deadly spikes, and poorly timed jumps are as much a part of Mega Man as the positive elements. Mega Man games would not be as enjoyable without elements both good and grueling.
Mega Man 9 Brings in 60,000 Downloads on Its First Day
The first day of Mega Man 9’s much-anticipated arrival on Nintendo’s WiiWare has come and gone, leaving but one question: How did it do?
Using Wii Shop Channel rankings from the top American Wii markets — US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia — along with historical sales data calculated from Nintendo Channel usage data, we can exclusively reveal to you today the sales for the first day for the hottest WiiWare title to date:
Day 1 sales for the Americas:
Disaster: Day of Crisis Reviewed, Scored by Famitsu
As though the TV commercials and other evidence weren’t enough of the game finally reaching completion, we now have word that famed Japanese gaming publication Famitsu has finally reviewed and scored Disaster: Day of Crisis:
It’s not typically an encouraging sign when a company hides their game from the press. Disaster: Day of Crisis has fallen down that path, but in this case, it doesn’t necessarily mean the game is terrible. Actually, based on the first review from Famitsu, Day of Crisis might be much better than the average game. The Disaster review, which can be read in the upcoming edition of Famitsu, includes a superb score of 34/40. — Nintendo Everything
Skepticism shines through the NE writer’s words, however, when they note that Famitsu also gave a perfect score to Nintendogs.
Now, if only Nintendo would tell us when we’re getting it. Hell, we’d better be getting it… after E3, it just seems so wrong to hold such a thing back from us. Captain Rainbow is bad enough, Nintendo, don’t deprive us of this, too!
Amazing Wario Land Ad
This is the most creative advertisement for a game in a long while. If you watch it right here, it won’t be as amazing, sadly. To truly appreciate the madness of the this, you must watch the video on the Youtube site itself. Only then can you witness the awesome power of Wario.
Tags: Amazing Wario Land Ad
EA Bloggers’ Day - hands-on with SimCity Creator
Chris writes: Last week, friend and Telegraph games writer Tom Hoggins attended a Bloggers’ Day for WiiWii.tv at EA’s Redwood Shores studio in San Francisco. While there he got hands-on time with a few games from EA’s Sims label, and he’ll be posting his impressions over the next few days. Today’s game is SimCity Creator.
Last Friday, we visited EA’s Redwood Shores campus to check out its upcoming Sims label releases on their annual ‘Bloggers’ Day’. Stumbling jet-lagged and bleary-eyed through the front door of the gaming behemoth’s offices, any malaise of the gathered bloggers was washed away by the sight of a gigantic screen showing off Crysis Warhead. Game pods and huge posters lined the walls, while we were doused in blue spotlights from the giant rig that loomed above us: “a leftover from E3” says our guide. And that was just reception; further exploration of the 23-acre campus gives a glimpse of a company that makes more money than God - and loves it. A giant fully-equipped gym here, an NBA-sized basketball court there. American glitz and excess resides in every corner- this is a company at the top of the biggest entertainment sector in the world and it’s not afraid to show it.
Animal Copying
IncGamers has an interesting piece up on a new Konami game for the DS, which bears more than a passing resemblance to one of Nintendo’s own handheld smash hits.
Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nishi even apparently employs the same nifty scrolling effect utilised in Animal Crossing Wild World. Tut tut, Konami. As the title refers to 365 days, it can even be assumed that it’s the sort of game intended to be played all year round. I wonder if Nintendo might be speaking to its lawyers some day soon.
Still, some Japanese gamers are bound to lap it up, even if certain gaming forums in the east are reportedly less than impressed.
Tags: Animal Copying