Articles by Game-Boy
Some trailers dazzle people with incredible graphics, sound, and the number of polygons seen on screen. This is not one of them.
The Tempura of the Dead, is an Xbox 360 Live Indie Game coming our way "soon" from 8Bits Fanatics. Only a few seconds into this trailer and it's clear just how much the team lives up to its name with references to Bad Dudes, Ninja Gaiden, and countless other 8 Bit era action classics. Telling the simple story of an impending zombie infestation in the year 201X, The President of the United States and a nameless samurai are all that stand between hordes of the undead and great justice. The game itself promises to combine action and shooting elements with players swapping between the President and Samurai as they deep fry the spirits of the undead that roam the earth. All in all, a great teaser for an interesting little game. Those interested in this title should keep 240 MS game points saved up for their purchase in the new future.
Side Note: Am I the only person that thinks the President character looks like hybrid of the real Barack Obama and Monkey Punch's Lupin The Third?
While Sony's online offerings have been fairly solid, one area that this gamer feels they've fallen behind in is releasing PS1 classics. Sure, the Japanese store has an incredible selection of massive hits and more obscure titles (like The Adventures of Little Ralph) but over here things are much more sparse. So when I hear good things on North American front of the PlayStation network, I take notice.
Today has two good things in store for gamers as RPG classics Alundra and the first Arc The Lad title will be making their way on to the PS3's digital distribution hub. Announced by Victor Ireland,president of Giajinworks and formerly of Working Designs, on the infamous neoGAF forums both of these multidisc PS1 titles will available starting October 12th and will run you $5.99 a pop. Considering the cost of a physical copy of these titles, players are in for a steal when they pick up either title.
While I'm not too sure that I'll be grinding through Arc The Lad again, I recall having many fond memories of Alundra and a not so fond memories of my lending it out to a friend and never seeing it again. For those unfamiliar with the title, take your basic Link To The Past-styled Zelda game (top-down perspective and all) and combine it with more traditional anime motifs and darker storyline. Hopefully a few of you guys and gals will check out these influential titles next week when they go up on the store.
[Alundra and Arc the Lad on PSN 10.12.2010, $5.99 apiece] neoGAF
The search for sailors continues, but not in a way that many will expect or like for that matter.
That's right, Sega famous (and infamous?) Shenmue series that's had players collecting toys, playing vintage arcade titles and racing forklifts is back! In a surprising move, Sega is bringing Ryo's next adventure, Shenmue Cities, from consoles and onto Yahoo's social media platform, Yahoo! Mobage. With Yahoo! Mobage just ramping up in Japan, this marks as one of the first big exclusive titles that players can expect from the service. Cities is expected to go live sometime this winter.
Yeah, it's not the sequel that most fans have been dying for since the cliffhanger ending seen in the series' second installment, but for some the transition into a social space makes a lot of sense. To me, the Shenmue series has always been about pushing the envelope of game production and how audiences define and interact with games. Another epic RPG-like console quest would feel like familiar territory for the series, so I'm happy that Sega is still willing to take a few chances with the brand. However, I am kind of miffed that fans outside of Japan will be largely excluded from experiencing the next chapter in the story.
[Shenmue Goes Social on Yahoo's New PC Service] andriasang.com
I don't think there is better way to get into the Halloween spirit than a party with a few hundred zombies and no game provides hundreds of zombies like Left 4 Dead 2. If you've been waiting for a deal on Valve's incredible co-op first person adventure, you better act quick and hop onto steam right now. With a 66% discount, the game can be yours for only $6.79, or if you have want to share the trick and treats with others you can pick a four player pack for only $20.39.
This comes just in time for the release of Valve's latest DLC pack for the title, The Sacrifice. While I won't spoil anything for those who have yet to see the shocking conclusion from The Passing coming, let me just say that I'm just excited that we'll get to see a different side of the story with this update.
[Left 4 Dead 2] Steam
Castlevania is many things to many people. An adventure title, a side-scrolling action game, a genre unto itself. With over 35 unique titles to its credit, some of the most amazing music ever heard in video games, and an untold number of ports across every major platform since the original title's debut in 1986 it can be a little difficult to keep your Belmonts straight. Thankfully the folks over at GameTrailers put together a multi-part retrospective covering the series' lengthly history in honor of the release for Castlevania: The Lords of Shadow.
Looking back, it's really incredible to see how this one series has changed over the years. Just looking at the first three NES titles, you have a variety of linear and nonlinear experiences with varying levels of difficulty and unique interactions. Viewing the series as a whole and trying to pick a favorite out of so many incredible titles is nearly impossible! In preparation for this article I tried to think about what my favorite is and couldn't decide between Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Order of Ecclesia, and Aria of Sorrow (sorry people, but Symphony of the Night is not even close to the top of my list). No matter what your favorite title is, the best thing about the series seems to be that creative forces at Konami aren't going just stick with one style of gameplay as evidenced by the most recent re-visioningg with Hideo Kojima's Lords of Shadow.
Ah, autumn.
That time of year when the when kids go back to school, leafs turn into a collage of hue, you have to start thinking about a halloween costume, and things finally cool down. As a kid born and raised in New England, this time of year holds a special place in my heart, but living in the south for countless years has meant missing "real" seasons more and more with each passing year. With this in mind, I went looking for a game to remind me of the seasons I've been missing so much. It's easy to point to the snow or ice levels from any SNES/Genesis-era platformer or the chilly emotions of Indigo Prophecy, but I was in the mood for something new, something fresh, something with spine-tingling humor!
So I made my way onto the iTunes app store and was delighted to find something that not only reminded me of cooler times but also could be purchased for 99 measly cents for this week only! Taking place in the winter wonderland of Scoggins, Minnesota, Puzzle Agent combines the quirky animation stylings of Graham Annable with Telltale Game's signature silly slant on puzzles. Sure, it may be a little similar to the adventures of a certain top-hatted instructor, but his games cost about thirty times more than Nelson Tether's first iDevice adventure. Potential agents better move quick, because this special promotional price only lasts till October 7th.
[Puzzle Agent] iTunes App Store
See the video above? Do yourself a favor and watch it with the sound off. I mean no disrespect to the audio designers over at Housemarque, the makers of Super Stardust HD, but this trailer for their upcoming title Outland features atrocious narration that I think actually hurts the presentation of the game.
Appearing like the awkward lovechild of color swapping bullet hell classic Ikaruga and minimalist platforming adventure legend Out of This World, Outland offers a lot of the visual and design departments as you can see in this trailer. This appealing combination certainly makes the game stick out and a few live demos have been impressing quite a number of players. *sigh* Who am I kidding? I'm trying to find something nice to say about this game's otherwise incredible presentation without thinking about the awful narrator. Seriously, Ubisoft... who thought that this was a good idea? The dead pan and indifferent voiced used to describe the game's epic battle between balance and chaos couldn't possibly sound more boring! Since the game doesn't come out until sometime next year, we've got at least one more trailer to look forward to that will probably show off even more fun platforming, interesting battle mechanics, a boss or two, and just maybe give people a reason to be excited about this title's story.
So Nintendo had a really big press conference yesterday and talked about a whole bunch of new stuff. We had some of our guys make a few tweets about it last night, but here's a summary...
-We got word that the 3DS will ship to stores in Japan on February 26th 2011 for tune of 25000 yen (that's about $300 US dollars). While no North American or European dates or prices were officially announced, it was mentioned that both territories will see a March release.
-Nintendo plans to ship the hardware with a 2 gig SD card which is kind of thoughtful of them.
-The 3DS will have its own Virtual Console. The only systems announced for the platform so far are the original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. I wouldn't expect to see your NES/SNES VC games on your Wii migrate over to the 3DS, but hey, you never know...
-The Wii Remote Plus was officially announced and is exactly what it sounds like, your standard Wii Remote with a Motion Plus unit build inside. All five Wii owners that were holding out for this announcement should be excited.
-On a software front, it appears as though Rhythm Heaven will be making its quirky way onto the Wii in the future.
-Capcom was there to talk about two games for the upcoming handheld: Resident Evil: Mercenaries, Street Fighter 4, and a little something called Mega Man Legends 3.
-A remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS will be released early next year. The updated visuals are stunning, controls remapped, and some new cameras show off the world much better than the original release.
-We also got a look at other titles headed to the 3DS with the montage trailer seen above with Metal Gear, Pilotwings, Kid Icarus and more. If there isn't something in this trailer that excites you, it may be time to reconsider how much this whole "gaming" thing means to you.
Have you been waiting years for the next "real" installment to the Kingdom Hearts series? Get ready to wait a few more years! Speaking with Dengeki PlayStation, Tetsuya Nomura was quoted saying...
"2012 is the 10th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, so we'd like to do something to celebrate. However, I'll say this up front, just because it's the 10th anniversary, we still won't have KH3 out (laughs)."
Obviously cool with making "side projects" that confuse the main storyline on gaming platforms that don't exactly serve the widest audience possible, it doesn't sound like creating a third installment is that high of a priority for the renown game director.
A few not-as-depressing tidbits of information about Birth By Sleep Final Mix were dropped in the interview as well. Nomura is being up front that this Final Mix wouldn't have as much additional content that Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix +, but players can expect some additional bosses and a small bonus for folks that still have their original Birth By Sleep save file. Read more over at andrisang.
[No Kingdom Hearts 3 By 2012] Andriasang.com
Over the weekend, a friend of mine pointed me to this write on Game Industry.biz that brings us details on an investor conference with THQ's president and chief executive, Brian Farrell. While the article offers plenty of interesting facts and opinions to pour over, such as what it's like to develop for Kinect and Move, the most interesting tidbit for me is how the publisher is looking to explore new pricing structures with some of their console offerings. Speaking specifically about their ATV racing series MX, Farrell stated that the next title will be a "hybrid" title that bridges traditional package software, DLC, and other micro-transaction pricing models. So what exactly does that mean? Maybe it's best if I let Farrell explain...
"So what we're doing this time is coming out initially with a smaller game at a lower price point, at the $29-$39 range, and then doing a download model for different modes, different tracks, different vehicles. We call it hybrid because it's a take on the microtransaction and DLC models.
"I'm a big believer in monetizing everything under the curve so we capture that $29-$39 user no matter what," he added. "But if a person wants to spend a $100 on a game then they can do that as well. I think that's the future of gaming. Whether it's a take on this model or the free-to-play model, this is where our industry is going."
I'll be completely honest, I really hope that this works out for THQ. The idea of pricing games in a wallet friendly, a la carte style would definitely get me to try out more games that I might not otherwise try out priced at $60. While MX isn't exactly my cup of tea, I would definitely welcome this approach coming over to titles like Red Faction, Saint's Row or WWE SmackDown. Of course, this is assuming that any additional DLC content is still well within the "additional" terrain. I think paying for alternate costumes, extra levels, or side quests would be fair. What says you, dear reader? Does this sound like something you'd be up for or do you want everything on the disc at regular price?
[THQ: "Costs are much lower" for Kinect, Move development] GameIndustry.biz
Shh! You hear that?
That's the sound of Electronic Arts releasing codes for a multiplayer Dead Space 2 beta test. How do you know if you got in the beta? Well, if you responded to developer Louis Gascoigne's twitter call for testers, you might have gotten an email today giving you a code that will try out Issac's new adventure.
Consider me insanely jealous of all the people that got in. While I didn't get picked for this, I'm sure that a lot of people just got a really nice thing to kick off their weekend. Some twitter people have already taken to their keyboards talking about how awesome the beta content is, which isn't a terrible, awful, or mean spirited tease for a Dead Space fan like myself at all. I guess waiting just a little bit longer to experience it for myself will make it all the more sweeter, right?
Well, at least Gascoigne is trying to get a few more codes to pass out so anyone interested should keep an eye on their emails and his twitter page.
[Louis Gascoigne (codecow) on Twitter] Twitter
It's been years since people were first introduced to the sublime metroidvania staple Cave Story on PCs, but the game still aims to meet new players today. Earlier this year Studio Pixel and Nicalis brought the quirky title on to WiiWare with a new soundtrack, gameplay modes, and improved graphics. Now, the atmospheric exploration platformer has been spotted on a list of upcoming DSiWare titles in a recent Nintendo Power. I wonder what considerations the game will receive on Nintendo's portable platform... New graphics? New soundtrack? Dare I dream, multiplayer? We'll just have to wait a little bit longer. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long as Nicalis has confirmed to 1up that the game is "complete and now in final testing."
Seeing this freeware title come to more platforms and find commercial success in addition to the heaps of critic acclaim the game has earned warms my little gamer heart. For a project that started as one person's hobby to create a game they wanted to play, Cave Story has done some incredible things for the indie gaming scene and inspired others to start their own projects.
[Cave Story Confirmed for DSiWare]
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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