OK, you’ve got a few short weeks to get in on some cool games for your PS3 and PSP (and you should be able to run these downloads on your Vita), so get to it. North American gamers only on this deal, so that’s another cool Independence Day deal, I suppose. Hmmm… I may have to get Hexyz Force and Crimson Gem Saga as both are insanely tough to find cheap as UMD releases. Speaking of… Hey, Atlus! Put Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner up on PSN as well at some point, as hell, someone stole my complete copy a few years back and it’s impossible to find another one (that’s not going to cost me an arm and a leg), grrrr!
How amusing that US ad agencies make stupid “patriotic” commercials with stuff like the founding fathers driving Detroit muscle cars into battle (Um…. oooookaaay?), while a non-US based company like Ubisoft does stirring stuff like this that manages to draw interest to both their product and a traditional American holiday in a more inspiring manner. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the holiday and please try not to blow anything off you’ll need for work (or play) later on.
Prequels are a risky undertaking for any developer, especially one that’s coming into a series that suffered from a bumpy second installment. While it looked absolutely incredible, Lost Planet 2 was a nightmare for solo players and even with up to four live players tackling the near completely plot-free campaign, the core gameplay had too many flaws to be fully enjoyable. Spark Unlimited (taking over from Capcom’s internal studio) has been working hard for the past 2 1/2 years on Lost Planet 3 and as a recent demo build proved, the developer is showing off their best, most polished work to date. While it’s usually impossible to gauge how the final retail code for any game will be based on a demo, after playing through it and watching others play, it’s clear that the team at Spark is cooking up a blend of excellently done cinematic storytelling and solid gameplay that so far, manages to be equal parts thrilling and extremely well paced.
OK, I don’t want to get beat up or anything, but I did laugh myself off the couch when I heard, then saw ol’ Snoop was going to be part of Namco Bandai’s upcoming fighter. It turns out that we actually have a lot in common as old-school TEKKEN fans, so I can’t knock him at all for being in the position he is where a game company can come a-callin’ and he then responded in a few ways to help promote the final product. The good news is he’s not sitting back and resting on a pile of money and high-grade weed with yet another game credit under his belt. The man actually went and made a video to promote the game and as usual, like him or not, you’ll be seeing the world through smoke-colored glasses for about four minutes as you get your groove on. And of course, here’s a behind the scenes peek featuring among others, Mr. Dogg, fighting game master Justin Wong, and everyone’s favorite actual gamer gal/model, Adrienne Curry. That’s kind of an in-joke around here, as for some reason, a few folks using the internet still think she’s not a gamer based on her looks (which is kind of stupid, as how you look as ZERO to do with whether or not you’re a gamer!)…
TEKKEN Tag Tournament 2 will hit retail in North America on September 11, 2012, Japan – September 13 and Europe on September 14. Expect the internet to keel over a few times from all the online play taking place shortly thereafter.
As much as I’m not so crazy about pricey collector’s editions these days, this one’s actually a nice buy for the sole reason it’s got an ACTUAL 300-page hardbound book as part of the deal. Namco Bandai’s Club Namco online shop is the first to offer up this $99.99 pre-order, so definitely book it on over there if you want one, as I expect these to sell out FAST. The other stuff in the package is pretty cool as well, but it’s absolutely awesome to see Namco Bandai doing a limited edition that has something players can actually use as they play the game that gives them a bit more of an attachment to the main character.
OK, it’s worth a hundred bucks, but it’s still not a PERFECT package for some people. If I had to complain about something, it would be the addition of DLC characters in a single player RPG (what if a gamer doesn’t have/want a PSN account or lives in an area where they can’t access broadband?) and the plain US package art which actually manages to make the import version’s lovely but dull cover look absolutely thrilling in comparison. Anyway, start saving up those pennies or if you have them saved, go grab yourself one of these sets ASAP.
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 Felghanaand 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!
As I predicted, here’s what’s coming in the retail version of Journey: Collector’s Edition, coming soon to the PS3. The only things missing are more PSN demos, but Sony is offering up a PlayStation Plus subscription for those of you who want to check out the service and see what’s what. Granted, this means not a thing to games without the means to go online at all, but hey, I guess SCEA will figure that out at some point. Still, this is a must purchase collection and heck, will make a great gift for any gamer out there who hasn’t tried these gems yet.
Boom. BioWare gets right to it, and of course, some folks STILL aren’t happy about this soon to be released DLC. Oh well. My only suggestion is for any and EVERY publisher out there to let a game this huge get more time to cook so it’s DONE and done right when it ships. Sure, even if the game had shipped with more closure, there would have been fans unhappy that everything they wanted to see wasn’t there. That said, I didn’t mind the ending so much as the oddball deal with the Normandy being in a weird place at a certain point. But all fiction needs its shortcutting, as does actual history in every retelling, it seems. Anyway, will this content show up on a disc at some point so folks who don’t have an Origin account or don’t care about online play actually be able to finish the story THEY started? That’s the more important question for me…
With the game about to roll into retail this coming Tuesday, 2K has released this developer diary about the making of this innovative squad-based shooter. It’s pretty clear that developer Yager wasn’t set on just copying other games or doing something that wasn’t going to be yet another multiplayer focused shooter with a to short single player campaign, so definitely check this one out if you’re looking for something unique and compelling on a few fronts…
So, Clan of Champions still isn’t getting a budget retail release? Boo. Still, it’ll be worth a buy or try if you’re a fan of the underappreciated Gladiator Returns on the PSP or Warriors of the Lost Empire, another PSP game that’s got visual similarities as well as some of the same game mechanics, menus, options and even typefaces as Gladiator Returns. Well, all three games are from the same developer, so I don’t mind this sort of recycling, although Warriors was one of those games that you had to get used to (and actually only really got great after you beat it once). Gladiator Returns was better in some respects, but had some of the same flaws as Warriors. That said, both games had more than enough going for them to keep me playing and CoC looks to hit that same spot.
Of course, I still have my fingers crossed that NISA gets back to doing more with retail as well as DLC so MORE people can play these games, as not EVERYONE has the ability to or hell, even likes to download ALL their game content. Getting this game and perhaps some of their other upcoming PSN-only content on a disc at some point (together in one package deal) would indeed be sweet… but I’m not holding my breath. It’s kind of hard to type when you’re blue in the face, you know…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 