SDCC 2014: Little Orbit’s Got A Pair Of Nice Surprises For Gamers Soon…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by geelw

As a fan of last year’s Adventure Time game (released by D3Publisher of America), I’m happy to see that this year’s installment, Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom is going to be closer in spirit to a Legend of Zelda game as opposed to a Gauntlet and Diablo-inspired chase & chop. Sure, I’ll miss playing as Marilese and some of the other characters, but as long as this new game delivers the goods, I’m not complaining at all. This one’s coming sometime in the fall for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC (via Steam) and Nintendo 3DS.

As for Falling Skies: The Game? Color me surprised and impressed. Sure, it’s basically a reworked version of the XCOM reboot from a few years back, but this is actually a good thing because I’d imagine the only other options were a boring run & gun game or some type of MMO that only a tiny percentage of people would actually play. While this one’s only coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360, I’m betting that it gets bought and played by gamers who like turn-based strategy who don’t mind maybe discovering a show they haven’t seen yet as well. This one’s out PS3, Xbox 360 and PC (via Steam) on September 24, 2014.

Nintendo Wises Up, Wii-Uses The Fatal Frame License (Finally!)

Posted on July 18, 2014 by geelw

I tell you, folks… I wish game companies would ring me up and pick my brain when they announce new hardware. As soon as I saw the Wii U GamePad revealed at that E3 a few years back, one of the FIRST games I thought NEEDED to be made was a new Fatal Frame. For the uninitiated, it’s a horror-themed series that started life on the PlayStation 2 and later got installments on the Xbox, Nintendo Wii and 3DS. Japanese Nintendo Wii U owners are getting an all-new installment in the series on September 27,2014 called Zero: Nuregarasu no Miko, which seems to be related to the upcoming movie, set to be released in theaters there the day before. While zero news of an English localization for either the game or film have been announced, for my money, it’s a no-brainer that at least the game get a proper English translation and release outside of Japan.

As for the film, it’s hard to gauge how it’s going to be from this way too short teaser trailer. But if it’s in the vein of other popular Japanese horror films, I’d imagine we may see a US-centric remake or at least a film set in Japan with some popular American actress(es) playing some of the roles. I’d prefer the original film get a US subtitle job and a limited release here over any remake, but I guess Hollywood calls the shots on that front.

Anyway, Nintendo? Get on that localization and get this game out here sooner than later – the Wii U NEEDS some more quality titles in different genres and horror is very under-represented on the system.

Hyrule Warriors Trailers: Four Times The “You Need To Buy This Game!” Courtesy of Nintendo…

Posted on July 1, 2014 by geelw

As a longtime fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise and its odd and always interesting offshoots, Hyrule Warriors is going to not only be a must buy game for me, I predict it may move a few Wii U’s if it’s got the same sort of longevity the other games based on the Musou engine have. One thing the DW franchise has done perfectly over the years is give players way too many characters and so much action that every entry is an exercise in joyous overkill some love. Granted, the repetition tends to set in after a while and yes, can get to be tedious is you’re sucked in for too many hours. On the other hand, the land of Hyrule in the hands of veteran developers Omega Force and Team Ninja will no doubt make for such a brilliant teaming that this one will be nearly impossible to dislike.

On the other hand, I may have a slight gripe with the game if it’s just a series of battles and very little plot. I’m sure we’ll get cut scenes and a general plot working away here, but I’m hoping for something that does a good job of showing why Princess Zelda finally gets to kick a bunch of butt after all these years of needing Link to get her out of harm’s way. Actually, I hope that the game does well so we can see some sort of follow up that’s less a Dynasty Warriors re-skin, but something more akin to the highly underrated PS3 exclusive Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll. Take that game, add the ability for local co-op play (and perhaps online if the frame rate can be kept stable) and you have an even more excellent game that bridges a few genres and franchises… Continue reading →

E3 2014: Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley – Not The Only Thing Natsume Showed This Year, But…

Posted on June 17, 2014 by geelw

You wouldn’t know this by looking at their North American YouTube page. Now, I’m not singling Natsume out for anything mean here at all, folks. They’re a solid but much smaller publisher than some of the bigger and busier ones who show stuff at E3 and to me, that’s precisely why they NEED more updates on their main video page. Granted, they DO have a nice social presence on facebook with a page that’s updated fairly frequently. however, not everyone has or wants a facebook account and YouTube works quite well as far as letting potential customers see what’s coming (despite the pain in the butt that is Google+ hampering some basic functionality there).

Anyway, as I’ve been trumpeting, Alphadia Genesis is also coming (a port of an iOS and Android JRPG) and I posted about the rest of their lineup before the big show. Hey, I just want to see the little guys succeed, so if I can generate some thrills and hits for Natsume and their cool lineup of upcoming and already available games, I’m doing my job here.

E3 2014: Two More Nintendo eShop Future Hits, Indie Style!

Posted on June 11, 2014 by geelw

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is a game I’m looking forward to because I can play it on the Wii U at home on a big screen and not have to worry about missing my stop on the bus or subway, someone clubbing me over the head to steal a handheld or some kid with better skills than me yelling at me from my left or right to jump faster. I hate it when that happens. Darn kids. Anyway, Wayforward Technologies is doing this 2D action/platformer up right as rain and it’s making me grin to see it all coming together so well.

Shovel Knight is another eShop soon to be classic I’m REALLY looking forward to playing. That “retro” aesthetic is in full effect as you can see – the game looks like it’s straight from the late 80’s (and that’s a good thing). The game is still in development and available to pre-order for PC already, but I’m holding out for the Wii U version as again, I’d like to save my eyeballs a bit longer and prefer playing on a TV and not a tiny 3DS screen or too close to a computer monitor. Then again, as rusty as I am at these old-school platformers, I just may as well hire some kid to play them for me, ha and ha-ha…

E3 2014: Devil’s Third: Now A Wii U Exclusive (And Not for The Kids at All!), But Needs Some Polishing Up…

Posted on June 11, 2014 by geelw

Well, this was a surprise in a day filled with surprises. The last time I’d heard anything about Devil’s Third was about two or so years back when it disappeared off PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 lists, somehow got picked up as a mobile game, but now here it is… as a Wii U exclusive. Tomonobu Itagaki and his team at Valhalla Game Studios have whipped up a SUPER violent throwback to those late 80’s and 90’s action flicks, cranked things up to 11 and added a few packs of cigarettes and a case of booze to the mix. Granted, the build shown at E3 seems a bit unpolished and definitely needs work in some areas. That said, no game shown at E3 as a demo should ever be judged as final code, so I’m willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt as work continues on the game.

There’s no release date at all for this, so I’d gather that means Valhalla will be ironing out the kinks over the next few months to whenever it’s ready to go gold. During a live demo for IGN.com, Itagaki noted to the hosts that any issues with the frame rate or other bits would be fixed, and I definitely noted some things that required tweaking. as the game progresses, I’ll be keeping an eye peeled for updates, as while rough now, this could be one of those oddball sleepers that Wii U owners treasure because only they can play it (much like Bayonetta 2 will be this September). back with more on this M-rated blast of nostalgia in a bit…

E3 2014: Nintedo Direct – Surprises Galore With Some Wait Times Involved (But Well Worth It)…

Posted on June 10, 2014 by geelw

Of all the three big game company media events, Nintendo had the most to prove, mostly to non-fans and journalists who believe the Wii U is “dead” when the console has yet to show off all it can do. Well, Nintendo’s showing was pretty impressive on a few fronts as you’ll see above, below and later on when I run individual videos. The new (and untitled) installment in the classic Legend of Zelda with its open world and lush visuals was the biggest surprise to me, but Bayonetta 2 packing the full version of the first game enhanced with Nintendo-themed outfits for the character (and coming in September on a single disc). Hyrule Warriors looks spectacular, Yoshi’s Wooly World activated my “D’awwwww” gene (dormant for a while) and will be the first stupidly cute game I’ll pick up in quite some time.

The big JRPG X, now officially known as Xenoblade Chronicles X has slipped into 2015, but this is a good thing at the end of the day because it gives Wii U owners time to get through a few other big releases. I’m not normally a Smash Bros. fan, but the newly announced ability to use custom Miis in the game makes my eyebrow tingle (which means I’ll at least TRY this one out). A few new IPs like Mario Maker, Splatoon and others kept me grinning and overall, it was a successful show, closing with Miyamoto teasing his Star Fox game without actually showing it up close. Anyway, enjoy the show – back in a bit…

E3 2014: Alphadia Genesis: So It’s A Mobile Port. For Now, It’s The Sole JRPG on the Wii U…

Posted on June 9, 2014 by geelw

Well, until Monolith Soft’s “X”(or whatever it will be called once it’s completed) gets an actual release date (which should hopefully be announced at the Nintendo Direct broadcast later today), that is. Somehow, Nintendo’s home consoles have slipped a bit on the JRPG front since the Super Nintendo days, although there have been a few outright classic (and not so classic) titles released for every home system from the N64 up to the Wii. Natsume is publishing this former iOS/Android game later this summer as a digital-only eShop release and I’d say it’ll do well among those gamers who have a Wii U sitting at home and miss playing these games on a big screen. Sure, the 3DS family has PLENTY of JRPGs and more on the way and yes, is the preferred handheld for millions of users. Nevertheless, old farts like me who prefer playing games we can actually see that won’t have our backs going out from being hunched over a screen and our poor eyeballs swelling in our skulls will be welcoming Alphadia Genesis with open arms. Thanks, Natsume!

Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom Mini Gallery: Another Top Down Treasure?

Posted on June 8, 2014 by geelw

I certainly hope so. While the last Adventure Time game got beat up a bit critically, I really liked its retro toughness a lot and felt veteran developer Wayforward Technologies did a fine job with the game overall. sure, it was a bit on the hard side if you tried to rush through it, but it had a certain charm that made it fun to play while retaining enough cool stuff from the show.

With the next game, The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom coming from new publisher Little Orbit, based on these in progress screens it seems as if Wayforward is keeping the neat top down viewpoint but tweaking other aspects of the game.

If it makes the experience even better than the last game, it’s all good in the end. This one’s not coming until the fall, so I’ve got high hopes it’s even more fun that the previous entry while not too easy just to hook in non-gaming fans of the show. Hey, they need to learn some skills after all, as the game is kind of partially inspired by role-playing games anyway, grrrr!

More on this one after the show – hopefully in gameplay trailer form and more screens. I’ll see what I can do for you guys and gals…

E3 2014: Natsume’s Lineup Currently Has More Games Than Capcom’s. This Could Get Interesting…

Posted on June 6, 2014 by geelw

Let’s see now. Here’s Natsume’s E3 lineup:

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (Nintendo 3DS)
A-Train: City Simulator (Nintendo 3DS)
Alphadia Genesis (Wii U)
Reel Fishing: Master’s Challenge (PlayStation Vita)
End of Serenity (Sony PSP)
Reel Fishing Pocket 2: Ocean (iOS)
Gabrielle’s Monstrous Duel (iOS)
Hometown Story: Pocket (iOS)
Ninja Strike (iOS)

And here’s what Capcom is packing:

Dead Rising 3 (PC)
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (iOS)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (Nintendo 3DS)
Ultra Street Fighter IV (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC)
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS)

Ready? FIGHT!

Or not really. For that matter, new-ish publisher Little Orbit also will have more games at E3 than Capcom does. Granted this isn’t really astonishing news, as both small and large publishers have been condensing or expanding their lineups over the past few years in order to maximize profits and it seems that we’re at that stage where small and large games make the cut at these companies. Granted, Ultra Street Fighter IV or Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will easily sell more copies than Reel Fishing and End of Serenity combined. But for a guy like me who just wants to play good games no matter who publishes them, these leaner, meaner lineups are almost a godsend because I don’t need to wade through junk to get to the treasure.

Naturally, not all of these games I’ll get to will be great, but fun is a more important factor than anything else for me at the end of the day, as is enough QA (quality assurance) that’s occurred pre-release that keeps what I play playable from beginning to end without a patch in sight (or at least one that fixes anything that’s busted). Anyway, I’ll have a more complete list of E3 games from more publishers shortly.My inbox is filling up with official lists and I want to do them all in one post as opposed to dropping in multiples.

Back in a bit.