Xseed Games Has Been Busy, As You Can See Here…

In case you’ve missed them, here are some rather nice trailers for four new or incoming titles from the publisher. First up is Mistwalker’s epic JRPG, The Last Story, which is looking to be one of the last, great Wii RPGs (and another good reason to own the console). Given that it’s a summer release, it looks as if I won’t be getting much son when it drops into stores.

Next up is FuRyu’s Unchained Blades, another PSN download for the PSP that JRPG fans should be thrilled about. Featuring character art from a wide range of top Japanese illustrators such as Pako (Shining Force), Toshiyuki Kubooka (Lunar), Shinichiro Otsuka (Summon Night), Kazushi Hagiwara (Bastard!!) and more. I’m thrilled about this one because it’s an old-school dungeon crawler in the Wizardry vein, which usually means plenty of great fun and challenge. There’s a 3DS version coming as well, but I’m not sure if it’s a retail package or download-only title like the PSP game.

 

Finally, two games from Nihon Falcom’s long-running Y’s series: Ys: Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin, both coming to Valve’s Steam download service with some great visual updates and running at a lovely 60 frames per second. Buy them, I say. Still, I also have to ask if Xseed can make these available as direct downloads or set them up as DRM-free on gog.com or some other site. While I do have a Steam account, I can’t use it on my terminally slow connection at all because of the update process that slows everything to a crawl. My gog.com account, on the other hand, is pretty smooth going and I haven’t had any major issues with it. of course, I’d prefer these on a UMD or even better, a Vita card as part of an Ys Collection with an art book that happens to fit inside a Vita case and perhaps a soundtrack and wallpaper on that game card, but that’s just my wishful thinking that SOME publisher would maximize that over-sized case Vita games come in.

 

OK, enough reading – go play (or pre-order) some games!

Nintendo 3DS XL: It’s Definitely Much Larger (And New Users Need To Buy A Charger)…

Update: Well, oops: it looks as if the XL will indeed ship with that Adapter.Charger after all. Thanks to Destructoid for confirming this. Now, good night!

How very, very funny. I was going to buy my own 3DS a few weeks back (I’d been borrowing a friend’s system from time to time, as he doesn’t use it much), but something kept holding me back. It looks as if this was what I was waiting for, so good for me, I suppose. Those larger screens are a blessing my my ancient eyeballs and while the unit doesn’t have a second analog disc (there’s now room for it, but hell, you’d have to have EVERY game that could use a second stick be reprogrammed to take advantage of it), it’s not going to stop many core users from upgrading (after some complaints, especially if they recently bought a 3DS). That said, Nintendo gets a kick in the shins for keeping the price “below” $200 by dropping the AC Adapter/battery charger from the new handheld’s packaging, forcing new users to shell out for one. If you’re trading up, the old 3DS Adapter will work just fine, so at least they got THAT right (Apple, take notes, at least on this part).

As usual, you can’t make EVERYONE happy, but you can at least make sure they can see and play your games, so kudos to Nintendo on that front. Oh yeah, here’s the rest of the Nintendo Direct video so you can check out what else is coming for the platform from the house that Mario built…

E3 2012: Feeling Down? Rayman Legends Will Make You Smile In A Few Seconds Flat.

Seriously, if these two E3 videos from Ubisoft’s upcoming (up to FIVE player) Wii U exclusive don’t get you grinning, you’re one pretty mean person having a not so hot day. Don’t spread that frown around at all, I say. Rayman, Murphy, Globox and the rest of the crew want you to let your cares fall away as you race through some mighty pretty (and pretty insane) old-school platforming levels (with some neat and quick “3D” elements) , feeling like you’re years younger, pounds lighter and a bit hairier up top. No, on top of your head, silly (yeesh!). Ha! I saw you smile. Good – that’s just what the game is supposed to do. OK, my work here is done (again)… Thanks Ubisoft!

E3 2012: Nintendo Press Conference: Forging Ahead Toward Greatness, Blinders On (Like Everyone Else)…

 

While it’s easy for some writers to harshly criticize Nintendo for not showing certain core franchises to the press, the simple fact is, they were first and foremost, REALLY showing off the Wii U and new 3DS titles to what I call “pure” Nintendo fans, not jaded games journalists. As the company has been reaching outside standard media channels through their official site for a while now, it’s clear to me what’s happening. Quite simply, they want to show consumers who already (and only) have a Nintendo console in the household (or have interest in owning one) that they’re being looked out for in terms of getting them many of the most popular core third-party titles already on (or coming to) the competition. If you think about it, Sony and Microsoft do the same thing in catering solely to their fans in the exact same manner (as they do EVERY E3), touting their systems and services as the “best” for their respective target audiences.

If you know me (or read the title of this blog), you’ve probably figured out that I’m against this sort of system bias, so I’ve found this quite a dumb way to do things for ages. Still, business is business, so the “console wars” march onward…

 

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E3 2012: Nintendo Wii U: Still Skeptical? Some Perspective To Roll Around In Your Heads

Nintendo’s E3 Press conference was interesting, but a bit backward. They should have opened with the park theme and closed with Pikmin 3, but ah well. Still, a LOT was revealed, but even more questions were left unanswered, most importantly, a price point and actual release date. Also, some important franchises were nowhere to be seen, HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean they aren’t in the pipeline. Nintendo isn’t dumb enough to think they don’t need to work on these core fan experiences at all, folks. I know they’re coming, but I’m patient enough to wait until they’re ready to roll out what’s ready to show.

it’s actually a smart thing that third-party tiles, most of which have NEVER been played by those who ONLY own Nintendo systems (which is a lot of folks, by the way) will take up the slack while Nintendo gets to work on whatever Zelda, Metroid, Super Smash Bros. and whatever other key games we didn’t see this year. Sure, those jaded multi-console owning gamers and game journalists (who should all know better) are griping that they’ve played Arkham City or Mass Effect already, and sure that is a point of consideration for those folks. But I’m gathering that the Wii U content will end up being superior in a few ways thanks to the new controller, as it allows developers to go back and add things that can enhance the experiences enough to make them worth going through again whether you’ve played them on another console or not.

Just a thought…

Back later – I’ve got some games to see…

E3 2012: ZOMBIU: Ubisoft Gives Us Survival Horror As It Should Be.

 

Ubisoft is definitely the publisher to watch in terms of creating Wii U experiences that will draw in the core as well as casual crowd, and here’s one for the horror fans out there. The title reminds me of ZOMBI 2, Lucio Fulci’s classic gore-fest from 1979, released here as ZOMBIE (if it’s intentional, it’s a great touch), and after seeing some actual gameplay, I think this one is about as good as it gets for a launch or launch window release.  I absolutely love the idea of a one-life survive as long as you can experience with a real-time inventory as it adds an almost rogue-like feel to the experience.

I also love the fact that when your character dies (and he or she WILL die), you lose all your gained skills and your all important survival kit, which needs to be retrieved by the next person you play as. This makes the game a far more frightening experience as you’ll be constantly fighting to survive every single foot you travel and make it to whatever ending awaits. I’m also betting bragging rights about who made it through the game and lost the least amount of characters will be a big thing for a while. Color me thrilled…

E3 2012: Platinum Games’ “Project P100”: Classic And Current All In One Must-Buy

 

As soon as I saw this trailer and then the actual gameplay reveal on Spike TV, I got really excited and had to put my first thoughts down. The team at Platinum Games has basically created a modern day mash-up of the ancient Game Boy classic Mercenary Force and Lucasarts’ awesome Zombies Ate My Neighbors on the SNES, added their own stylistic brilliance with Wii U functionality and is setting this loose on Nintendo fans for their approval. I like this one a lot, so it’s a must-buy in my book. Go Platinum!

E3 2012: Nintendo Direct Pre-E3 Video: Wii U Gamepad Revealed

 

Nintendo is rolling out a redesigned (well, final design, actually) and renamed controller for its upcoming console (which is still called Wii U, by the way), the Wii U Gamepad.The video also reveals a new social network service, Miiverse, which seems to be set up as a cross between a social site, chat service and help center. It should be interesting to see how this operates for those potential Wii U buyers who have no need for the service or don’t want their kids using a network at all. That said, I’m certain Nintendo has security measures in place to keep things as safe as can be.

As their official press conference isn’t until Tuesday, a price point for the console and controller have yet to be announced. No doubt this will be leaked before the event but the gremlins, but expect the internet to collapse upon itself like a dying star system once the new games are rolled out one by one.  Oh, this is going to be quite an interesting week, that’s for sure…

Gallery: Wii Library (A Work Back In Progress!)

I’ve actually owned and played a LOT more than I’ve kept in this photo, but I’m in the process of adding a few more games through trades and tracking down some dirt cheap titles in a few clearance bins. I actually have a few more games on the way thanks to a small trade I made recently, but I wanted to post this picture up now. I guess, I’ll update a few months from now when I have more interesting games to show.

That said, sometimes, it makes me want to (gently) sling an untethered Wii Remote at the heads of those who say the system ONLY has “kiddie” or family games or worse, slam the console without having played a single game on it because they just don’t see how motion control would work on a favorite genre. While, yes, there are a lot of not so hot games on the system, you can absolutely say that about any console from any generation. As far as the Wii (or any other system) goes, when you have a developer who gets what can be done, it works – when you have one that doesn’t quite get it right, it doesn’t. Of course, even a “bad” game can be enjoyable if you’re in the right frame of mind…

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir Trailer: Ghosts-A-Poppin’ From Your 3DS!

 

Now that they own the Zero (Fatal Frame) series, Nintendo finally gets a new first-party fright-fest back onto one of their consoles. As fun and freaky as this looks, in a perfect world, I’d also want to see the Fatal Frame title(s) we missed on the Wii get fixed up and released at some point. Fat chance on that, it looks like, especially with the Wii U headed out the door later this year. Ah well, I guess I can always play Eternal Darkness for what, the 19th time, right? I think I’ve seen everything it had to offer and then some, but it’s still a fun slice of scare in a few spots. Anyway, this one looks pretty good (Teen rating aside), so it’s on my want list.