Deadly Premonition FINALLY Hitting PS3 (At Some Point)…

Posted on March 10, 2012 by geelw

Awesome. Access Games’ outstandingly weird and polarizing horror adventure game will at some point, be headed to the PS3 in North America, according to comments made by Yasuhiro Wada at a GDC 2012 panel. In case you missed it, the US version of Red Seeds Profile (made for the PS3 and Xbox 360 overseas), was only released here as Deadly Premonition on the Xbox 360 back in 2010 to a mix of really positive or really negative reviews that marked some sort of odd tipping point to some in how games are judged.

While not the best-looking or controlling game of this generation, the offbeat characters and bizarre storyline with even weirder imagery made the game a favorite of many folks (including yours truly) that loved the off-kilter craziness on display. While Ignition Entertainment (now UTV Ignition) published the game as a budget release on the 360, no news of a US publisher has yet been announced, but you can bet that we’ll be keeping an eyeball on every publisher’s E3 lineups to see who will be bringing this one stateside. Hopefully, the low price point will be similar and the game won’t be yet another PSN-only release that those who don’t have, want or use the service will miss out on…

PANEKIT Update: A Buck? Sure, Why Not?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by geelw

Of course, I wasn’t actively looking for one, but you know how this one goes. Just by chance, I found a copy of this gem on eBay last week with a dollar starting bid from a seller in Japan. Given that it’s gone for a lot more previously but demand seems to have leveled off, I figured I’d take a chance while hoping not to get sniped on the last minute (like I did with the last copy I bid on last year).

Long story short: the auction ended where it started, so I scored the game for a dollar (plus eight more for airmail shipping). Another update to come (and maybe a photo or two) once it arrives and I play around with it a bit…

Xseed Games Bringing The Last Story To Wii (And You’d BETTER Buy It, Grrrr!)

Posted on February 22, 2012 by geelw

Fans of many Japanese games (in particular, JRPGs) can be a persistently prickly bunch often to the point of working themselves up into a frenzy if they feel slighted in the slightest bit by a publisher they feel isn’t working hard or fast enough at localizing certain Japanese games (no matter how niche). However, that’s actually a good thing when we all benefit from a publisher like Xseed that can make the magic happen. One example of this is today’s surprising news that Xseed has picked up the publishing rights to Hironubu Sakagushi’s The Last Story, one of the best current-gen games on the console that has a lot of people very excited. You can ogle some more video info on the Mistwalker-developed title over at the Nintendo Direct channel (just skip ahead to 10:11 in the video and prepare to be awed).

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Hey, Sony? Where The Heck is PANEKIT On The PS3 and Vita?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by geelw

(thanks, akiha777!)

I’ve been on the hunt for a reasonably priced copy of PANEKIT for ages and I’m still surprised that Sony has passed up on localizing this seriously awesome game for the U.S. of A. while also never updating it for a home or portable console since its release*. And you’re now asking me: “What’s a PANEKIT?” Basically, it’s a toy construction kit where you get to build whatever you want out of metal “parts” and set it in motion (if you like) in a 3D world. Sure, it’s visually “dated” by today’s standards and DEFINITELY a niche title, at that. Nevertheless, in this age of all sorts of junk games on phones and tablets, anything that allows you to create and share digital toys with others without losing pieces or worrying about dropping what you’ve built (and seeing it smash into a million pieces) deserves a new shot…

*Yes, the game was popular enough in Japan to get a PSN reissue not too long ago, but it STILL wasn’t even looked at for a more worldwide release (which is too bad)…

The Last Story English Dub Trailer: Hope, Indeed For UK Gamers, But…

Posted on February 3, 2012 by geelw

…Of course, there’s ZERO official word from Nintendo about a US release for what SHOULD be one of the best and final RPGs released for the Wii. Granted, Nintendo wants to rush the Wii U out at the end of this year, so they’d probably want to pretend this game doesn’t exist or even better, that the fans that have set up online petitions will quietly go away after achieving a bit of victory with Xenoblade making the trip stateside. It’s pretty obvious to me that money is the main issue at the end of the day, especially given Nintendo’s huge losses over the last year. They simply don’t want to spend too much on localizing and producing a game they see as a niche title that even at most, wouldn’t sell more than a few thousand copies to the most die-hard Wii RPG fan.

Of course, this just means that more folks will end up modding their Wiis and going the import route (thus making Nintendo’s UK branch some extra scratch in the process). But perhaps we’ll see a miracle of sorts and Nintendo will wise up and release TLS as a Wii U launch window game just to make RPG fans happier that they would be with a flashier-looking less RPG-like experience. We. Shall. See…

(thanks to YouTuber NintenDaanNC for the trailer)

Gallery: Nintendo DS/GBA Library (Plus)

Posted on January 31, 2012 by geelw

I’d say the Game Boy library has been the most reduced over time. I used to collect boxed original Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance titles for a few years, but when those got out of hand, the bulk of them were sold off and I got into DS titles. What’s left after even more chopping down is what’s here minus a few things lent out. Also pictured is my tiny WonderSwan collection minus the Wonder Borg and Wonder Witch I sold off a few years back because I wasn’t using them at all. Oops. – I forgot to take a photo of my Game Boy Color, Camera, e-Reader and cards. Ah well. Those will end up in a future update…

The Neo Geo Pocket Is BACK (Well, Almost)…

Posted on January 25, 2012 by geelw

I still own my Neo Geo Pocket Color, but I’d sold off all but one game I had for the handheld (Dark Arms, if you have to ask) due to the need for space in the library. Amusingly enough, I was talking to a friend last week who was asking me about the system because he was thinking about picking one up on eBay, but now, it looks as if he can do the retro thing in an even better way. The tentatively named “Neo Geo Pocket Device” is in the works at SNK Playmore and will come packed with twenty classic Neo Geo arcade games built in. As you can see, the slim style looks very slick indeed…

No official release date or price point has been announced nor has any word of the device being released outside Japan been made clear. However, thanks to Kotaku (and the Famicom-Plaza blog where these images are taken from), we do know what games are going to be on the device: World Heroes, Ultimate 11, Top Player’s Golf, Sengoku, NAM -1975, Mutation Nation, Last Resort, King of Monsters, Frenzy, Cyber-Lip, Fatal Fury Special, The Art of Fighting, Super Sidekicks, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Magician Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters ’94, and Fatal Fury.

That wonderful SD card slot on the side in the final photo means there’s the potential for other games to be downloaded from SNK’s site at some point. Given the current lineup of arcade games available over PSN as Arcade Classics minis, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of these show up as downloadable titles for the new portable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I’d say that SNK fans NEED to put their money where there mouths are and gently bug the company to sell the unit worldwide DIRECT through its website as opposed to dropping the thing into retail where it will get ignored by non-fans or those dopes who’ll complain the device isn’t also packing a phone, three cameras and touchscreen. Whatever happens with the upcoming unit, we’ll keep you posted…

Retro Exploration: Dreamcast (Part 10)

Posted on January 17, 2012 by geelw

Here’s a small and random mix of art this time plus some boring stuff from a game that SHOULD have gotten some omake love. To the left is the single image found on Rune Caster, a fairly terrible strategy/RPG not released outside Japan. Below are images from assorted DC discs starting from the left with the nice CG art piece from Dogu Senki Haoh, a pretty good import SPRG that also stayed in Japan. Next up is the Nightmare Creatures II logo from the US version of the game, which is on the disc along with a brief Kalisto logo movie clip (it’s the same clip you see when you start the game up). Next to that is the lone wallpaper image from Quantic Dream’s experimental open-world epic, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a game that could use an actual remake (and a multiplayer mode) one of these days.There’s also a bonus music track on the disc, but I’m working on a post about those for a bit later.

The final two images are what’s on both the US and Japanese Sword of the Berserk discs, and yes, it’s damn disappointing that a game that’s so much fun to play (and a pioneer of QTE’s in modern gaming) gets two lame images found on many DC discs. Ah, well…

Gallery: PlayStation 3 Library

Posted on January 13, 2012 by geelw

Just like my Xbox 360 library, the amount of stuff I have here has gone up and down as I play through games and trade or sell them off. I’d say I’ve owned at least triple what’s here more or less since the console’s launch. As i noted earlier, a good deal of this generation’s titles across every platform are less appealing to me than some older games for other consoles I own. Maybe it’s too much focus on visuals over gameplay in some areas or too much DLC combined with lesser out of box experiences that seem lacking. I’m still figuring that out, as I do love seeing what different developers can do with the PS3 (or any other) hardware…

Retro Exploration: Dreamcast (Part 5)

Posted on January 10, 2012 by geelw

Above: three simple but nice wallpapers from Sega’s hilarious and fun Action/RPG/Beat ’em up Rent-A-Hero #1, which WAS actually localized for the original Xbox and set to be released by AIA Games (who bought us Illbleed on the Dreamcast) here in the US. I even got to review the English version of the game for Digital Press before the game was set to ship. Alas, it got canned a few weeks before the release for some reason, but I still have my debug code here and a console to play it on, so there’s that. YOU, dear reader, unfortunately got chunks of the game presented in a more watered down form as Virtua Quest, a kid’s game for the PS2 and Game Cube… so there’s that. Hey, SEGA!!! Wake up and do RAH some justice with a proper remake!

More images below the jump…

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