Unless you're a diehard fan of Omega Force, its upcoming titles Bladestorm Nightmare and Toukiden: Kiwami probably don't mean a thing to you whatsoever. That's how I felt when I heard those two games would be a few of the main headliners for a recent showcase event for Tecmo Koei, alongside Dead or Alive 5: Last Round and Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires.
Janelle and I recently talked about games we want, which don't exist. Some were vaporware, some were desirable sequels, and a couple of remakes made their way in, too. What got us started was musing as to whether or not the once-anticipated (though never announced) PS3 remake of Final Fantasy VII would still be relevant if it were released later this year. What would that be like? Would you buy it? How much would you pay?
Point-and-click adventure games have come a long way since their inception. While modern versions still retain the same basic structure, these games have become much more elaborate in terms of puzzles, locations, and number of playable characters. Developers KING Art introduced The Book of Unwritten Tales to universal accolades in 2012, and thankfully, the sequel is more of the same. That might not be enough for most sequels to be successful, but in this case, fans want to follow the characters they grew to love on another wacky adventure filled with irreverent humor and challenging puzzles.
Developer Darkside Games was working on the reboot of Phantom Dust for Xbox One, but a report from Kotaku reveals that its version of the game has been canceled and the studio shut down.
Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me? Usually, the answer is obvious: M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E. Since Mickey's debut in 1928's Steamboat Willie, Disney has been not only a powerhouse, but an innovator and pioneer in animation, be it shorts like The Band Concert, syndicated television such as DuckTales and Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers, or any of the multitude of Disney classic animated films like 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and last year's blockbuster Big Hero 6. From ABC to ESPN, the original Disneyland in Anaheim to the upcoming Disneyland Shanghai, the power of the magic can be felt far and wide.
In the realm of video games, however, Mickey Mouse is not the leader of the club. In fact, he's barely in the club. Disney Interactive Studios, the arm of Disney Consumer Products dedicated to gaming on console, computer, social, and mobile platforms, has seen far better days. Disney Interactive has posted losses in annual reports five out of six of the past years, and has seen the willing departure of co-president and former Playdom CEO John Pleasants and the unwilling departure of three development studios under the DI banner and 700 employees under its own roof.
Some Nintendo fans expressed disappointment and anger at the lack of a regular size model for the New 3DS in North America. Now the company has responded to those concerns.
Damon Baker, Senior Manager in Marketing and Licensing at Nintendo of America, recently spoke with Nintendo Life about the New 3DS. More specifically, he addressed the decision to only introduce the New 3DS XL to North America:
Look, the face plates are super cool, but we're a different market. And now we have clear differentiation between those three systems. Before, there was a very limited difference between the 3DS and 3DS XL: other than size. It was the same resolution, same functionality... now, there's the 2DS, 3DS, and New 3DS XL, all of which have their own functionality and features. The different price points give it a clear message for consumers. The core audience... we weren't going to win with them on that decision. But we had to think about expanding the user base, we had to be able to market it and make it easy to pick up for consumers.
It appears Nintendo's decision boiled down to marketing, though the name of the New 3DS still produces plenty of confusion. Nevertheless, the New 3DS had a solid launch week in western territories.
Last year Square Enix launched a curation program called Collective in which game creators post ideas and allow fans to vote on those ideas. Now Square Enix plans to open up the process to old Eidos IPs.
Did you miss Marth? Wistfully wanting Wii Fit Trainer? If vying for Villager or racing for Rosalina didn't go your way, you may not be out of the game just yet. Satoru Iwata, CEO and President of Nintendo, announced that some amiibo may see re-releases due to popularity and scarcity in a financial results briefing yesterday.
The video is en the el Espanish, but I think you can get the idea.
If you have any preguntas, remember that we do have a strange Spanish translator who shows up from time to time. I get the feeling he might just show up to comment here. I have no idea though, and can't make promises!
The Order: 1886 launches later this week on PlayStation 4 and reports of its length have caused quite a stir amongst the gaming community. Apparently, the entire experience can be completed in under six hours, leading many to wonder whether or not it's worth shelling out the full $60 price of entry to play it on day one.
During its latest financial briefing, Nintendo revealed some interesting stats on its NFC-based toy platform amiibo.
The company broke down the sales of each figure by region and compiled a list revealing which characters were the most popular. Check out the handy chart below to see how Nintendo's iconic mascots currently stack up against one another.
[Update] Sony has confirmed that, despite the trademark being abandoned, The Last Guardian has not been canceled. The company told GameSpot that it "can confirm that The Last Guardian is still in development."
The first major batch of screenshots of Rise of the Tomb Raider have made their way onto the web.
The images appear to show in-engine footage of the game, where Lara Croft must brave the harsh Siberian terrain. Both the environmental design and the character models look absolutely stunning.
New 3DS has sold quite well in western territories, moving approximately 335,000 units during its launch week in North America and Europe.
Nintendo announced the sales stats during its latest financial meeting, noting that 170,000 of those units were sold in the United States, while about 160,000 were shifted in Europe.
During last night's financial meeting, Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata announced a new feature for amiibo that retro gamers will no doubt enjoy.
Tapping the plastic figurines on the Wii U GamePad will unlock time-limited trials of original Nintendo and Super Nintendo Virtual Console games. Doing so in quick succession will allow players to cycle through various scenes of particular games. Iwata likened this maneuver to swapping out cartridges.
The Devil makes work for playersÄ‚ËĂ˘â€šÂ¬Ă˘â€žË hands to do.
I watched The Omen for the first time in my life last year, and I didnÄ‚Ë€â„Ët care for it. It is a story about a child, who is supposed to be The Antichrist, and he is the least interesting character in the movie. Everybody dies around him, and heÄ‚Ë€â„Ës barely an active player. Fast forward to 2012Ä‚Ë€â„Ës Lucius, which very clearly is an homage to The Omen, and the titular boy is literally controlled by an active player. Though IÄ‚Ë€â„Ëve never had the joy/misfortune of playing the previous entry, I can definitively say Lucius II is as empty as its source material and annoyingly buggier.
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is a little confusing as a release. On the one hand, it's the name of the patch that FromSoftware recently released for the game; on the other hand, it's the new Special Edition release for current and prior gen consoles that includes the DLC and a number of upgrades.
A recent Amazon listing detailed a PlayStation 4 version of Darksiders II before it was pulled, and now publisher Nordic Games has confirmed the rumor to GameSpot. Darksiders II: Definitive Edition is in development for the PS4.
Sony has abandoned the trademark for The Last Guardian.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the trademark was abandoned today, February 16, because "no Statement of Use or Extension Request timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued."
Nintendo has confirmed that its TVii service for Wii U will not be coming to Europe.
The company released the following statement explaining why gamers in the region won't be getting support for the multimedia app that has already been available in North America and Japan for a couple of years now:
At Nintendo of Europe, we continue to challenge ourselves to develop a range of entertaining experiences for all to enjoy. Due to the extremely complex nature of localising multiple television services across a diverse range of countries with varied licensing systems, regrettably we have taken the decision not to launch the Nintendo TVii service within the European region.
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Quality vs. Quantity
During its latest financial briefing, Nintendo revealed some interesting stats on its NFC-based toy platform amiibo.
The Devil makes work for playersÄ‚ËĂ˘â€šÂ¬Ă˘â€žË hands to do.
