News Roundup: 5/11/2012

Some things I’ve accumulated while I was busy studying/sicking:

Like Cultural Anxiety? I hope so. Well, in between my writings check out this Tumblr Box Vs. Box, which does a box art comparison much like I do, but without the in-depth textiness. I’ve gotten some ideas for future posts from there. Worth a look!

Curious about the Street Fighter manga by Masahiko Nakahira? Be curious no more, for Jason Thompson at ANN thoroughly details them out here. Now I want to read them!

If you want to wander through your days to the themes of the Gamecube Animal Crossing, now you can.

1UP’s The Grind digs into the latest Fire Emblem quite nicely here.

Okay, I think that’s all for now. I’ve got other things to do, so I’ll see you tomorrow!

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Announced; VYSE IS INCLUDED

IGN drops the word that Sega will announce a sequel to their Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, subtitled Transformed. Skies of Arcadia hero Vyse will be making his presence felt on the race track alongside Golden Axe’s Gilius Thunderhead (and Dr. Eggman and AiAi). It’s amazing what one character can do to spike interest in something. :p I’ll keep you informed on how much Skies of Arcadia love the game will feature once I know more. More info on gameplay at the link.

Update – Press Release from Sega doubly confirms Vyse’s appearance:

SONIC & ALL-STARS RACING TRANSFORMED™ CHANGES THE RULES OF RACING

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO – 30th April 2012 – SEGA® Europe and SEGA® of America Inc. are excited to announce Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed™, a thrilling new racing experience featuring Sonic the Hedgehog and a fantastic cast of SEGA All-Stars competing across land, air and water in vehicles that fully transform from cars, to planes to boats. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will speed on to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation® Vita, Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system and PC Digital Download late in 2012.

Following on from the huge success of Sonic & SEGA All-Star’s Racing™, the characters now have their own unique transforming vehicles designed to take advantage of the varying terrain. The line up on the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed grid sees SEGA favourites – including Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr Eggman and AiAi – return to battle against newcomers that include Gilius Thunderhead of Golden Axe and Vyse of Skies of Arcadia. The brand new dynamic environments and tracks in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed are once again inspired by SEGA’s illustrious gaming history. When the road falls away beneath you in Super Monkey Ball’s Temple Trouble track your car transforms into a boat and speeds down the rivers and rapids, whilst the Panzer Dragoon inspired track, Dragon Canyon, takes you into the sky in complete control of your plane, barrel rolling to out-manoeuvre rivals and obstacles before transforming back in to a car and racing to the finish line.

“Given the fantastic feedback we received from critics and consumers alike for the first game we really wanted to push the boundaries on our follow up game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed” commented David Corless, Global Sonic Brand Director. “Transforming vehicles allow us to do this – as well as drifting your car around the corners of a track, you get to fly your plane and pilot your boat against others all within one race. Add to this a grid full of star characters, retro IP, fun, fast race modes and cool tracks and racing fans of all ages are sure to love this one!”

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed also sees the popular All-Star moves return with a brand new mechanic allowing your All-Star bar to power up faster if you race daringly and stylishly. An all new fair weapon system ensures that weapons fired at your vehicle can either be blocked or evaded once you have gained the skills to do so, making each race a unique and exhilarating experience whether it’s on water, in the air or on land. Old rivalries can be settled and new track records set in the enhanced online multiplayer mode, whilst the Grand Prix mode and competitive Battle Arenas will prove that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is certainly set to change the rules of the race.

Dreamrift working on Epic Mickey 2′s 3DS Version

Nintendo Power confirms a 3DS version of the latest Epic Mickey game, and Monster Tale developers Dreamrift are going to be handling it.  That is excellent, excellent news.  I was a little concerned about the company following Monster Tale, but it seems that they are doing quite a bit of all right landing the 3DS version of a huge game.   I wonder if it’ll be 2D…I’ll keep you informed.

News Roundup – 3/21/2012

Hey-o, I’ve conquered most of my school demons, so I’m able to do a little bit of reporting today.

Fire Emblem: Awakening has a new trailer highlighting the mysterious masked character calling himself Marth.  Is this the same Marth as the prince hero of lore?

Some other details can be seen here.

Another new character for Persona 4 Arena’s console versions – Elizabeth, Igor’s assistant in Persona 3, will be joining the fray with Thanatos serving her.  Labrys is also confirmed to be playable for consoles.

Some combat details for Assassin’s Creed III: Conner will be able to be dual-armed, and can use a tomahawk and a knife in battle, for example.  He also has a bow and a chain dart weapon, and will be capable of riding horses in the game.

Frogger will be seeing yet another comeback, this time for WiiWare, PSN and Xbox Live in a Hyper Arcade Edition.  It even features Contra and Castlevania skins (hey, how about new games in those franchises, Konami?).

News Roundup – 2/22/2012

With all the Last Story/RPG/music brouhaha today, you’d think there’s nothing else going on.  YOU’D BE WRONG.  So, a quick and dirty smattering of other gaming news.

Fire Emblem: Awakening trailer.  Confirmed for Europe, but not yet for America.

Xenoblade Chronicles has a confirmed April 6th release day.

Sega, Namco Bandai and Capcom are working together on some 3DS game.  What it is exactly nobody knows yet, but it is something!

Persona 4: The Ultimate in Slapyhecky Arena is coming to America this summer under the shorter, less fun-making title Persona 4: Arena.  Also, more news on The Golden here and here.

Long, long ago I mentioned a new Strider was in the works.  Let’s see…here it is.  Well, I wasn’t lying – GRIN, who developed the Bionic Commando Rearmed/revival, were on the job, but it was canned when GRIN closed up shop.  Here’s what it was panning out like.

The PS Vita version of Street Fighter x Tekken is being delayed some, but it will feature 12 new characters. XD  Likely these will be DLC for the console versions.  The Street Fighter additions will be Sakura, Blanka, Cody, Guy, Dudley and Street Fighter 3′s Elena, with Jack, Lei, Christy, Lars, Bryan and Alisa.

News Roundup – 2/15/2012

Apparently the one day I decide to leave LVLs. alone is the day a bunch of news bursts forth.  Go figure. XD

Pandora’s Tower has a confirmed release date for Europe, arriving in that continent on April 13th.  Siliconera has some of the localization details here, as well as many clever Valentine’s Day cards produced to help promote the game.  I especially like the one below:

Another The Last Story trailer to watch, this one focusing on battling, customization and wandering about:

New Fire Emblem: Awakening details – the difficulty in particular is discussed, with a confirmation of Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem’s two different paths of handling death making it over into Awakening.  You can play the traditional Classic course, where slain characters stay down for good, or through the Casual mode, where they will revive after a map is completed.  More here.  I repeat – this would swing my interest towards purchasing a 3DS, Nintendo of America.

Oodles of Resident Evil 6 details have flown out this morning – first of all, the game’s been in development for over 2 years, and the team is gearing the horror aspect back into the gameplay, but it won’t go as far back as the game’s origins.  Second, the president shown in the trailer is not Ashley Graham’s father – this takes placve after his term has concluded.  There’s been fervent speculation that Ashley was accompanying the third, unknown hero (designed to “be someone today’s young people can empathize with”, as Siliconera puts it), but maybe that’s an incorrect assumption.  Some new mechanics were confirmed to be controllable by the player, namely taking cover and a sliding quick evade move.  The zombies are NOT T-Virus zombies – may explain their sudden ability to move so quickly.  A second post from Siliconera confirms more – Chris’ segment of the game takes place in a fictional city in China called Lanshiang.  There’s a lot of meat to this second post, so I’ll quote them:

Leon S. Kennedy was recruited as an agent for the US government by Adam Benford, the President of the United States, after the Raccoon City incident. Helena Harper is one of the President’s personal bodyguards and admits to Leon she is responsible for the incident in Resident Evil 6. Ingrid Hunnigan is a field operations support specialist who has worked with Leon before.

Chris Redfield, leader of the BSAA, faced personal trauma six months before the events in Resident Evil 6. He meets his team in China to investigate a bioterrorist attack. Chris, Leon, and a mysterious third protagonist are playable characters. The man with the shaven head is a mercenary engaged in a conflict in Eastern Europe where B.O.W.s are being used. Someone tells him he’s the man to save the world and instead of heroically stepping up to the plate he thinks about how much the job will pad his wallet.

Zombies return in Resident Evil 6 and this time they’re smart enough to use weapons. Instead of staggering towards players they will run and jump at you. J’avo are a new B.O.W. found in Eastern Europe six months before the events in Resident Evil 6. These creatures still understand human speech and will work together with other J’avos as a group. J’avo can regenerate and if heavily damaged mutate body parts into different forms.

There’s a lot there to discuss, but I don’t have the time to now.  Expect an editorial!

Remember that whole “Darkstalkers are not dead!” claim Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono made last year?  Well, Capcom just filed a new trademark in Japan for Darkstalkers!

And to cap off, Street Fighter x Tekken’s (supposed) final roster additions have been announced.  Jin Kazama, Ogre, and Pac Man will join Tekken’s side, with M. Bison, Akuma and (Bad Box Art) Mega Man uniting with Street Fighter’s (note that Pac Man and Mega Man are Sony exclusives!).  Here’s the trailers:

It seemed “final”, but there’s a bunch of Capcom folks saying “no, we’re not done yet!”, so we’ll see.

Update – Ni no Kuni has a North American release window!  It will arrive sometime in Winter 2012.  I expected it a bit sooner than that, but at least it’s a long ways off so I can save up some money for it. XD  It will feature English and Japanese voice work, and Level-5 is planning on making their localization worthy of the Studio Ghibli/Level-5 names.

News Roundup: 2/10/2012

Hey, it’s been a while. :p

Anyway, let’s focus in on a few things that have happened the last week.  First off, Atlus is making me happy by re-releasing Radiant Historia in late March for $35 – the game was getting pretty bonkers on the resale market and I had just about given up hope on it.  With any luck I’ll be able to snag it thanks to the reprint.  Thanks, Atlus, for listening!

As a pre-order bonus for Tales of Graces f (which is also coming this March, on the 13th to be exact), Gamestop is offering some of the bonuses Namco featured for its Japanese release – Tales of Destiny inspired costumes for three of the protags, plus a XMB skin.  Further details and a clip here.

Want 15 minutes of Gravity Rush footage?  Why not?

Fire Emblem: Awakening, the latest chapter in the excellent Strat-RPG series for the 3DS, is combining various bits and pieces from prior games, like Sacred Stones’ world map, and the My Unit feature from New Mystery of the Emblem (Japan-only DS) allows you to customize a main protagonist for the game’s plot.  It also is allowing more gameplay strategies by featuring multi-unit attacks and stat boosts, evolving the series’ character bonus perk.  Sounds wonderful – it may be a system seller if you localize it, Nintendo!

I enjoyed Portal 2 immensely.  I may have to get my hands on Thinkgeek’s latest product – PotatOS:

And since we’re marveling over cool stuff, let’s cap this with an insane Skyrim mod that depicts an epic battle:

Mad, mad kudos, Tyrannicon.

Nintendo 3DS on Sale for $150: 02/07/12 – 02/12/12

Welcome, stranger!  What’re ya buyin’?  Would it happen to be a 3DS?  Well you’re in luck, because Gamestop is currently slashing the already-slashed price of the Nintendo handheld to an unbelievable $150.

Deals like this are usually reserved for people with names like “Crazy Ed”, who brag about their deep discounts and possible residency at a mental institution in the near future.  This time, though, the reason is far more mundane: the PS Vita launches on the 22nd.

Even so, I’d say this is still a bad idea.  The 3DS library is growing stronger (Resident Evil: Revelaitons, I’m looking at you), but I still wouldn’t say it’s worthy of a hardware purchase just yet.  Even worse, you just KNOW that Nintendo is going to release a revised version of the system within the near future, one that includes the circle pad.  The reduced price is a good deal here, but not quite good enough to earn Jason X’s official seal of approval.

This is where you kindly ignore the fact that I entered into the raffle for the Japanese limited edition of the MGS3-branded 3DS.

Virtual Console No-Shows: Hyperzone (SNES), Kabuki: Quantum Fighter (NES), Revenge of the ‘Gator (Game Boy)

91. Hyperzone (SNES, HAL Labs)

Brief Synopsis – A rail shooter that plays very heavily with the Mode 7 technology of the Super NES to create a 3D-esque world.  Flying Omelette has a lovely little shrine for the game for those curious.

Why is it Missing? – HAL Labs as a developer are horribly underrepresented on the Virtual Console in terms of their own content (which is why I’m doing three of their titles today).  There’s no shortage of Kirby games, and the Lolo series is well covered, but that’s not all HAL did (There’s Metal Slader Glory, too, but that’s Japan-only)!  There’s a lot of experimentation with HAL that would be great to see on the Virtual Console, like with Hyperzone’s unique spin on the shooter predating Nintendo’s Starfox.  Alas, much like Arcana and the two others on this list, it may not be possible due to either Nintendo’s reluctance towards their second party’s independent titles seeing daylight or HAL’s own indifference.

Other (Legal) Options – Super NES cartridges are the only medium it appeared on.

92. Kabuki: Quantum Fighter (NES, HAL Labs/Human Ent.)

Brief Synopsis – One of the more interesting (i.e. bizarre) games on the NES, your hero is Scott O’Connor, descendant of a proud line of Kabuki actors, who digitally enters a rampaging defense computer, takes on the guise of a Kabuki, and spends the majority of his game flinging his long hair and chip-based artillery to take on the CPU.  A little kooky, that it is.  Human Entertainment developed this one, and it’s a bit like Sunsoft’s Batman.  HG101 has a full article if interested.

Why is it Missing? – This one may not be in HAL’s court to re-release.  Pack-In Video (which sounds more like a VHS rental chain than a game publisher to me) had the Japanese rights to the game, and it’s likely that Human Entertainment retained their license for their own work.  Alas, that’s all speculation, but this would be a great game to re-release if everyone could get together.

Other (Legal) Options – NES only!

93. Revenge of the ‘Gator (Game Boy, HAL Labs)

Brief Synopsis – A pinball game with a lot of alligators.  And it’s really good, from what I understand.

Why is it Missing? – With the Game Boy Virtual Console still in its infancy, it’s too early to predict this game’s fate.  With any luck, it’ll be popping up in the near future.

Other (Legal) Options – The Game Boy alone will serve you here.

Spirit Camera confirmed for North America

Although Tecmo Koei’s Fatal Frame series seems to have been left for dead in North America, according to Destructoid, the 3DS spin-off, Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir for Nintendo 3DS, will actually see release on our shores on April, Friday the 13th. The game makes clever use of the system’s camera for some ghostly augmented reality.

And who knows? If it’s successful, perhaps the main Fatal Frame series will materialize in North America again in the future.

Source: Destructoid