The news has been weak since E3; probably waiting
for TGS (Tokyo Gaming Show).
If you are going to the Anime Expo, which is held at the
Los Angeles Convention Center this Thursday, MangaGamer are offering
hard copies of Kira Kira (All Ages) and Higurashi
(chapters 1-4) at a cheap price.
More
A fan made sequel to King Quest was stalled
by Activision and it seemed that the game was dead an buried but, it
seems that Phoenix Online Studios has come to an agreement with
Activision and The Silver Lining will be released after all.
(Check out the trailer below)
More
Is it me or does this Chocobo look like a ninja?
Square Enix has announced that Chocobo and the Crystal Tower
will be released on mobile phones in Japan. No specific date has
been given.
More
Square Enix Japan are looking for writers
for future Dragon Quest games. If you know Japanese and
are interested, check out Square Enix's recruitment site.
More
Namco Bandai has trademarked The Labyrinth of
Druaga for release in Japan. They trademarked an English
and a Japanese name at the same time.
More
Nippon Ichi and Sony have created a mini game based
on 'Prinny' for PlayStation Home.
More
Sony is set to release White Knight Chronicles
on PSP. Famitsu listed the game as White Knight Chronicles –
New Project.
More
Falcom will be releasing titles like Lunar: Silver
Star Harmony soon on the European PSP Network.
More
Fan made King’s Quest sequel
Ys Vs. Sora No Kiseki trailer
PixelJunk Shooter 2 Developer Interview
Portal 2 E3 demo
28th of June 2010
Monday is a good day when things go right but is a
pain in the backside when they don't. I have to send a letter
stating that I am a decent person for my student finance. Sigh!
Capcom
will shortly be launching a mobile phone version of Monster Hunter.
MonHan Nikki Mobile Airu Mura will be a social game which makes
sense.
More
Final Fantasy XIV do not have summoners but will will have
monsters that can be summoned. Is that weird or is it just me?
More
Sony's
new service called PlayStation Move, will be launched in Japan a month
after the rest of the world.
More
Monster Hunter Frontier Online may be in a unique position.
It won't matter whether you play the game on an Xbox 360 or a PC, you
will be playing in the same world. I wonder how the makers of
the game will balance it so that PC user who can use hot-keys won't
have a distinct advantage.
More
Three
Sly Cooper games will be released on the Playstation 3.
The games come with a “Classics HD” label, so probably will be remixed
up to make use of the Playstation 3's high definition.
More
Browser Game Pick: Black and White (Justin Jaffray)
Black and White is a puzzle platformer in
which you control two onscreen characters at the same time, with one of
them performing the exact opposite of whatever you instruct the other to
do. The objective here is to get both of them to their respective
colour-coded exits, moving from stage to stage until you arrive at the end
sequence for the game.
Most of the puzzles can be figured out with a bit of thought, and if
you've played the Karoshi games or Enough Plumbers before then some of the
challenges here could even feel familiar at times. Black and White doesn't
save your progress though, meaning that when you close your browser window
and revisit the game page at a later time you'll have to play from the
first level again.
Cool looking ninjas
The Song of Storms
26th of June 2010
My head still hurts from the party I went to
yesterday and I have another one today. Nustn't complain, I could be
at home doing nothing I guess.
Aksys
have picked up two more game to be released in North America.
The first game is Gladiator Begins and in Japan, a slave girl
visited various magazines, allegedly. Blazing Souls: Accelate
is a Playstation2 to PSP port of a strategy game.
More
Siliconera talks to Ignition about the terrible localisation of Arc
Rise Fantasia. Shane Bettenhausen said that "the voice
acting, to put it lightly, has gotten less than favourable reactions.”
More
Siliconera has Atelier Totori: The Alchemist of Arland 2 Live
Stream back up for people to look at.
More
If
like me, you're desperate to see something about Deus Ex: Human
Revolution, you will be pleased to know that Siliconera has played
the first six hours of the game.
More
I have
always found 'Kirby' games to be weird and strange. I do like
the childish content of its games. It appeals to the inner child
within myself. Siliconera has a hands-on guide to Kirby’s
Epic Yarn And Kirby’s Epic Yarn Robot.
More
Hudson
displayed Lost in Shadow at this years E3 show. You
control a boy's shadow who seems to have become disconnected from his
physical body.
More
Browser Game Pick: 60s to Save the Queen (Ozzie
Mercado)
60s to Save the Queen is a single-screen
2D platformer with seventeen levels to play, in which you take on the role
of a monarch who must save his queen from a castle that is on the verge of
collapse. As the main title suggests, the sort of ending that you will get
upon completion is dependent on how long it took you to beat the entire
game.
It is quite unlikely that you can achieve that in under a minute on your
first playthrough, but thanks to a scene selection feature you won't have
to replay all of the challenges in sequence just to improve your best time
for a better ending.
Do you remember that Beyond Good and Evil 2
was meant to be in the pipeline? Apparently the game is being
developed by a small group of programmers. Thank god!
More
The bionic cat
"Your postulation of an alternative world is
flawed," said Blanker.
24th of June 2010
Italy are out of the World Cup in the first round
for the first time since 1974. Sigh!
The Fire Emblem remake is set it include
exclusive content that was not in the original game. Fire
Emblem: New Record of Akaneia Wars will include Fire Emblem:
New Mystery of the Emblem, Hero of Light and Shadow.
More
Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI were
announced last April but was delayed due to technical issues.
Shinji Hashimoto talks to Siliconera about the reason why they games
were delayed.
More
Kinect Adventures for the Xbox 360 and the
new Kinect device could be Microsoft's answer to Wii Fit.
More
Level has announced that Ni no Kuni: The Jet
Black Wizard will be released in North America in December.
More
Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square Enix, said to Forbes
that “In all of the games we will be releasing going forward, some
kind of multiplayer element will be incorporated one way or another”
More
Okamiden, which is a direct sequel to
Okami, will be released in Japan on September the 30th. Not
to long to wait then.
More
Based on information logged with the ESRB, it looks
like Irem will be directly publishing R-Type Tactics II: Operation
Bitter Chocolate themselves.
More
Atelier Rorona with English voices
Browser Game Pick: Easy Joe (Gamystar)
Easy Joe is charming little Flash game
where you solve puzzles by clicking on objects in the correct order,
progressing from one screen to the next until you reach the conclusion of
Joe's adventure. The neon-style colour scheme makes it extremely easy to
differentiate clickable objects on the screen, and most of the puzzles can
be figured out with just a bit of trial and error.
True to its name, the entire game can be completed in about fifteen
minutes or less
Korea gets a Jumbo Jet with StarCraft 2 on
it.
More
The Live Action Akira movie has been given a PG-13
rating in America.
More
23rd of June 2010
As
weird games goes, this is weird. Ah Babysitting Mama is a
game where you look after a baby. Why don't they just produce
their own child. Second thoughts; maybe this is a better option.
More
Square
Enix has twittered that you can now download the classic PSOne game,
Threads of Fate on the Japanese PSN network. The game has
been re-released for the Playstation 3.
More
Siliconera has some screenshots for Atlus's game called Etrian
Odyssey III: The Drowned City. It may be for the DS but it
does look good.
more
In an
interview with Tetsuya Nomura, it has been revealed that Final
Fantasy Versus XIII has an open world. So expect to do a lot
more exploring than in Final Fantasy XIII.
More
Square
Enix had a 3D stereoscopic version of Final Fantasy XIV on the
PC. The only thing that ticks me off is the fact that the Xbox
360 and the Playstation 3 can handle 3D but the PC requires a
ridiculous system to achieve the same feat.
More
Level
5 has delayed Ni no Kuni: The Another World again.
More
Siliconera talks about Patapon 3 Superhero. I wish I had
some money and a PSP.
More
Siliconera was able to get their hands on a demo of Rune Factory 3,
but is it worth the wait?
More
Freeware Game Pick: Hero, Defeat the Demon (R)
Hero! Defeat the Devil! is a puzzle game
that plays rather similarly to Hojamaka's
Mamono Sweeper, where the noble knight
has to defeat lower-level enemies first and gain enough battle experience
before taking on the stage boss. A chart on the right side of the screen
shows the amount of experience points that you can gain from defeating
different types of enemies, while the counter placed next to your hero
icon keeps track of your character's current level.
A tombstone will take over the place of an enemy which you slay in combat,
and when you step off this tile the grave will act as an obstacle that
prevents you from walking over it. The challenge here is to figure out a
way to defeat all enemies on the map without boxing yourself into an
inescapable route, but if that happens you can always reset the puzzle by
pressing the space key. Note that the reset feature will only work when
your hero is facing one of the graves on screen.
There are nine levels to play in total. To download the game, just click
on the animated red arrow icon (pointing downwards at a disk drive)
here, then click on the link underneath
the red text in Japanese on the next page. (Windows, 1.56MB)
Browser Game Pick: Norapoly (Nora Shishi)
Norapoly is an interesting take on the
classic Monopoly board game, in which two or more players upgrade their
onscreen characters by buying up the different types of houses on the map.
Each avatar has four attributes that they can level up, ranging from
health, attack, defence, and movement points. Combat ensues when you move
into a square that is occupied by another player, and damage is calculated
by counting the number of swords that you have minus your opponent's
shield count. A winner is declared for the current map when all other
players have been defeated in battle.
Every player starts out with a thousand points to spend on asset
purchases, and they can earn more credits by passing through the other
three squares with coloured suits on the map. Once all four suits in your
character stats section are lit up, returning to your starting point
rewards you with more credits to use.
If you have enough points to spend, you can even buy over your opponent's
property. Since upgrades are directly tied to the types of building that
you own, losing a property will cause one of your stats to fall as well.
The cost of each building will be shown in white if you have the means to
purchase it, and property transactions take place automatically even when
your intentions are just to pass through a part of the map.
E3 has come and gone already; I'm watching the World
Cup, so didn't really pay too much attention to this annual cerebration of
all that is gaming. I don't get the the clamour for 3D gaming, it
seems like a fad to me but I could always be wrong.
I an unusual twist of fate, Ys: The Oath in
Felghana for PSP, uses a fan translation of the game as its base.
Instead of translating the game in-house, Xseed used a PC translation
of the game instead. Why don't more companies make use of the
fans is anyone's guess.
more
Shane Bettenhausen (former editor of 1Up), New Bussiness Development
Director, was talking to Siliconera about El
Shaddai: Ascension Of The Metatron. It's an interesting
read.
More
Siliconera has the first hands-on guide to the
new Pilot Wings game.
More
Sega seems to be dismissing Sonic 4: Episode 1,
by saying that Sonic Colors will be the next action game in the
series. The game hasn't even been released and the company that
made it doesn't think much of it.
More
Nitroplus has delayed Steins;Gate for
Windows from July the 30th to August the 28th.
More
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Dreamy Theater
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded E3 2010 Trailer (cam)
E3 Video: Jenova Chen's Journey
Freeware Game Pick: Teppoman 2 (Ikiki)
Teppoman 2 is a 2D action platformer that
puts you in control of a caped assassin with a craving for bananas,
specifically the brown-coloured ones which can only be found inside a
heavily-fortified base under the command of a white-hooded man.
Our trained killer has a number of specialized skills that could be used
to navigate around traps and silence unsuspecting enemies, plus he can
also utilize all manner of ranged weapons when the situation calls for it.
Players have to learn how to execute dash, wall jumps, reverse jumps,
glide, body surf, and more if they plan to make it further into the
enemy's fortress.
There is a boss battle in every fifth stage, and you're only allowed to
continue playing after beating the boss challenge if you manage to meet
the banana collection requirements. For example, to pass the fifth level
you would need to have five bananas in your possession, and playing level
eleven and onwards require a minimum of fifteen bananas.
A beta build of Teppoman 2 (previously called Teppomanto) was released in
late 2008. This new release (version 1.0) contains more content, levels,
and cutscenes not included in the previous build. To download the game,
just click on the second link inside the green table on
this page. (Windows, 1.57MB)
Preview: Limbo (Playdead)
Microsoft had recently announced at E3 that
Playdead's upcoming puzzle platformer
Limbo will be released as part of their
XBLA Summer of Arcade promotion, which has helped push games like
Braid and Castle Crashers to the forefront in previous years. Limbo will
be priced at 1200 MS Points when the Summer of Arcade 2010 begins sometime
next month.
The game picked up two awards at IGF 2010 back in March (in both Technical
Excellence and Excellence in Visual Art categories), and was showcased at
the E3 exhibition event earlier this week. IGN has a couple of short clips
of it posted online, and we've also included a video that previews the
first area of the game and the montage that was used to reveal Summer of
Arcade 2010 after the break.
Homefront trailer
Yakuza 4 features hostesses. The Japanese drooling
over women; never!
This looks like one game I will keep an eye out for.
The game is called Tansformice. It's a multiplayer
Flash-based game, in which you control a mouse and try to get cheese
faster than any other mouse. And it's total, hilarious chaos.
More
A new version of UFO: Alien Invasion has been
released and is available for
Mac and
PC. It
is a complete game and is 525 MB approximately.
19th of June 2010
Saturdays are usually my favourite day but after
going to University to chat to my new tutor and taking my dad to hospital,
I feel knackered.
A new
script writer has been chosen for Akira: the live action movie.
I hope that they also realise that turning a classic into a crap movie
will not please anyone.
More
Hikaru
Sasahara, president of Digital Manga Publishing, has revealed to Anime
News Network that they will be publishing 1,000 anime titles
digitally. I can't wait. More
Sony
will be releasing a gun type device for 3D shooters.
More
Siliconera has a hands-on guide for Star Fox 64 3D, on the 3DS.
More
PlatinumGames and Sega's new game called Vanquish, allows you
to use cigarettes to toss at decoy robots. Will be as insane as
Bayonetta?
More
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron gameplay
Preview: Tom's Crown Affair (Tom Sennett)
Here's a video of
Tom Sennett,
developer of
Runman: Race Around the World, explaining
how to play his new multiplayer Flash game (currently in public beta). In
Tom's Crown Affair, one player will be
chosen as the king and given a crown to wear, which is used to fire laser
beams at any other player who tries to steal his or her head gear away.
All other players start from a different side near the edge of the screen,
and must mash their keyboard to make their avatars move slowly to the
centre. You need to be careful though, because if the king manages to
shoot you with the laser beam, you'll be sent back to the starting point
for another try at the crown heist.
There are also a couple of extra things to take note of. When you play as
the king, you'll only be able to see where you're aiming at. Crown thief's
are also invulnerable to laser beams when they don't move. The player who
manages to snatch the crown successfully will start the next round as the
king. And that's all there is to it. I've included a couple of recorded
gameplay sessions after the break, but unlike the video above none of them
feature the reactions of players frantically attempting to win a round in
this madcap keyboard-breaking game.
Browser Game Pick: Crush the Castle 2 (Joey Betz and
Chris Condon)
I was up 'til four in the morning playing the
original Crush the Castle, and I have my suspicions that I will again be
seeing the sun rise as
Crush the Castle 2 hits the net.
It's pretty much the same as the prequel, but with more stuff to lob and
new castles to demolish. The idea is simple - click once to start the
launch, then click again to let your ammo fly. Hit the castle in just the
right places and watch the little people inside go splat. Take all the
royalty out with a set number of moves and you're awarded a gold medal -
earn lots of gold medals to feel good about yourself.
There's also a level editor for creating your own castles, and the ability
to download other players' castles and demolish those too.
Armor Games