Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Isn’t The First “Musical Comedy” Game On A Console…

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

As much as I respect Warren Spector, I noticed he made a slight error in a recent interview when he noted that Junction Point’s upcoming Epic Mickey sequel would be the first musical comedy video game. Wellll, I bet Nippon Ichi Software may have a tiny issue with that. Their insanely cute, insanely easy and on a few occasions, insanely hilarious PlayStation One strategy/RPG, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure gets to wear that crown. I was working in an indie game shop when it hit the US back in 2000 and it was one of those titles that we couldn’t keep in stock because a wide range of customers found something to love about the game.

Parents with young kids liked the total lack of violent content, kids liked the songs and jokes and JRPG fans of a few ages found the game easy, but funny enough to dive into just to hear every one of the songs in the game. I did have to explain why there were a few too many panty jokes in the game to one concerned parental unit, but overall, I remember it as a lighthearted romp that was also one of the simplest JRPGs I’d ever played. A wee bit too easy, but then again, it WAS a kid’s game. Anyway, there were a couple of sequels released (in Japan only, of course) and the game got a nice reworking on the Nintendo DS that changed up the combat somewhat and can be found pretty cheap online if you know where to look.

Anyway, I’m not her to raise a “gotcha” game ruckus about this at all – just pointing out a fact or two in case you’re wondering about this sort of stuff. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Mickey looks in HD and plays with the Move setup here, that’s for sure…

Double Fine Adventure Episode One: They Still Want Your Money. And They’re Going To Get It, Too…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by geelw

Now with PayPal! Yup, even though about 3.3 million dollars was raised so for, a LOT of people who wanted to get in on the Kickstarter thing couldn’t because the wanted to go the PayPal route. Now, you can indeed not only get a copy of the game if you have an account there, you’re also getting access to the dev diaries as they’re released and you can start posting your thoughts and such in the game’s contributors forums. Nice!

Sorcery Developer Diary Update: The Sound Of Music (And Sound, Too)…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by geelw

It should be an interesting E3 this year for SCEA and Sorcery, now that the little game that most impressed me when the Move was first announced (even though it was a SUPER early demo version) is finally getting ready for its retail close up. Here’s a look at the music and sound design this time, both of which are coming along just fine, if this clip is any indication. My Move wand and Navigation controller are hopping from the anticipation, is all I’ll say…

Gravity Daze Japanese Commercials: The Vita’s Soon To Hit Must-Have Hit, No Matter Where You Are…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by geelw

Every time I see one of these ads or more images in a magazine or website, I start wishing that the Vita had launched with this game and a few others not here just yet. Then, perhaps some of this angst and negativity I’m seeing on certain other sites just wouldn’t be there about the platform. For those who have short attention spans (about 90% on the Internet), we went through this SAME nonsense with the 3DS last year and look what happened with that handheld (huge sales and faster than expected, at that according to Nintendo). Well, E3 is next month, so hopefully SCEA has a big fat (and well-thought out) plan to squash the dopes spitting out silly opinions that have no basis in reality. Me, I like my reality altered all the time I’m gaming, but that’s about it.

Two more ads below the jump…

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Is Game of Thrones Another Euro-Sleeper RPG Hit? I Think So…

Posted on May 12, 2012 by geelw

Oops. Until today, I had no idea that Cyanide Studios had been working on their upcoming RPG, Game of Thrones on and off for about seven years (yes, even before the mega-hit TV show was around, this one was in the pot cooking away). As you’ll can see from the video link, the dev team members are not only huge fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, they’ve done the smart thing and not based their story on the books or HBO series. Crafting an original tale and spending quality time tinkering away on things for so lone, THEN going in to add in some familiar faces plus a multi-path dialog system takes some dedicated work that deserves a play through or two (or more). Well, I guess we’ll see how the game is next week -I’m looking forward to seeing how well it fits into what’s already in place…

Dragon’s Dogma Developer Diary #3: Now, With A Launch Trailer For Dessert!

Posted on May 11, 2012 by geelw

Here’s one more dev diary from Capcom, and with the game’s launch rolling up pretty soon, I may as well post the launch trailer as well:

Now, I’ll need to figure out when I’ll get to actually play this one, as I just started The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition on the 360 yesterday and I definitely don’t want to rush that. Granted, the two games are light years apart in tone and tale, so I’m not even going to compare the two side by side. Or mention Skyrim when talking about DD. For me, every RPG is a different beast and some do things better than others. At the end of the day, if Capcom has created a game I can lose a few too many hours in and NOT find comparisons because what the team has done is so impressive that I’m not counting off influences, then I’m a happier gamer for it. As are you.

Assassin’s Creed III Gameplay Trailer: Er, Its Not Historically Accurate (But You Don’t Care, Right?)

Posted on May 11, 2012 by geelw

Ah ha ha. I made the mistake of reading a few too many message board posts elsewhere about this trailer (well, I got caught up in cracking up at some pretty lousy arguments that make no sense because this IS just a game at the end of the day), but no matter what’s been said about it, one thing is crystal clear: Ubisoft knows what they’re doing. I haven’t enjoyed the series all that much, but I do like the new setting and time period. Still, I can’t help but imagine some school teaching a course in history as seen through video games like this and others that take actual fact and twist them into a rich game world along with a few historical figures along for the ride. Eh, whatever – as long as this one’s better than the last and well-cooked enough to rate a few replays, I’m all aboard for this ride…

BioShock Infinite’s Delay Of Game Is Actually GREAT News…

Posted on May 10, 2012 by geelw

…Especially IF you’re Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks, that is. Dishonored, the absolutely gorgeous and innovative upcoming first-person stealth action game (which some are unfairly over-comparing to Irrational’s game), is coming later this year, and as it’s equally well-crafted and also shares a few MINOR similarities with BI (both games take place in fictional worlds based loosely on 19th Century America or a Victorian-themed pseudo London setting, both have a steampunk aesthetic to them, and both look amazing), it SHOULD be on your old-timey radarscope thingamajig too, I say.

The big deals about Dishonored are its stellar art direction and is its more flexible gameplay that allows players to possess people or certain animals or play the entire story without killing a single person, plus a lot more that has to be seen to be believed. Yeah, yeah – my preview is late, but that’s because I’ve been occupied with some other stuff. Still, stick around, as I’m going through my notes now and should have something up soon….

Sorcery Developer Diary: Our Hero Gets Moving And Motivation – Silence The Skeptics!

Posted on May 9, 2012 by geelw

For me, Sorcery represents an important game for the Move, even though it’s not packing the most original of plots. The selling point will be how well the game controls, particularly given the skeptics out there who still think motion control doesn’t equal good gameplay. I’d gather most if not all of those folks haven’t even given these types of games a try, as I can rattle off a bunch that work extremely well on the Wii and PS3 including some key hardcore games (Resident Evil 4 on the Wii being a stellar example of taking an older game a really showing how great the addition of motion controls actually make for an even better game experience). It’s clear to me that developer The Workshop is doing some good things with the Move. However, convincing those who keep their biases going through their lack of willingness to try something new will always be a bane to even the best of intentions…

Dragon’s Dogma Developer Diary #2: Pawn Stars (Wait, Did I Use That Pun Already?)

Posted on May 9, 2012 by geelw

OK, I’ve been a bit scattered lately, so forgive me if there’s a sense of deja vu going on here. Anyway, here’s the latest DD dev diary, this time tackling the interesting Pawn system and how it works in the game. Capcom is definitely generating a great deal of interest in this game as it heads for gold status and eventually retail release, so pay attention and get your money (and a decent controller) ready, I say.