If the name Fumito Ueda is not familiar to you, then you must have missed out on two of the most artistic, creative and original Playstation 2 games of all time. He is the main man behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and he is working hard on The Last Guardian. But, according to a report on Eurogamer, The Last Guardian may be Ueda’s last game with Sony, as rumours have circulated that he will be leaving Team Ico, an internal development studio of Sony Computer Entertainment.
Eurogamer also believes that the rumoured departure is the reason behind the delay of The Last Guardian. The Last Guardian’s original release was meant to be roughly at this time (late 2011). However, the title has been pushed into 2012. It was also a no-show at the major game shows of 2011. Ueda, if he has departed, is still working on The Last Guardian, albeit in a freelance position. Then he would pursue personal projects.
However, as Sony’s polices on rumours is not to comment about then, one can only treat it as such until one hears official confirmation.
Who says that dedicated handheld gaming is dying? In what is considered a victory in the dedicated handheld camp (and Nintendo as well), the Nintendo 3DS has surpassed the number of DS units sold within a twelve month period in its first eight months. The Nintendo DS, predecessor to the 3DS, sold 2.37 million units back in 2004/2005, which is quite impressive.
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimes told Time the news. Fils-Aimes also talked a little about Super Mario 3D Land, noting that it is bringing a new type of consumer to the portable gaming machine, which may have contributed the push over the line. Here is what he has to say about this milestone for the 3DS,
“In sales through this past Saturday – 8 months – [the 3DS] has outsold the full 12 months of the original DS. During that 12 months time, the original DS sold 2.37 million and we just surpassed that this past Saturday, so we’ve got real good momentum going into the holidays.”
This is further proof that the dedicated handheld market is not in dying state, let alone on life support. There is a market for Mario, Zelda and other Nintendo mascots. Now it is up to Nintendo to push this momentum through the holiday period. If they do, then the Playstation Vita has an uphill battle on its hands.
Do you remember when I brought the news that an update to make the Playstation Vita play games on the Playstation 3 via Remote Play could be on its way? Well, if you want to refresh your memory, read it here. Now, what did Sony have to say about it? Well, a representative in Japan has outright deny that such an update is coming, according to Andriasang.
This was raised during an interview with Sony Computer Entertainment Senior VP Yoshio Matsumoto and Division 2 Software Development Head Muneki Shimada, conducted by Munechika Nishida, a freelance journalist, working for the latest installment of his “Random Tracking” series at Impress Watch. Matsumoto was very direct with his denial, as you can read below,
“That information is mistaken. The compatibility is achieved on the side of the PS3 game, just like normal.”
Shimada further added that Remote Play on the Vita will act as the same as Remote Play on the Playstation Portable, which didn’t support all Playstation 3 games. In order for the game to work, according to Shimada, the games themselves would need API support, which has to be added by the developers.
I am a little disappointed about this. I mean, if I wanted to continue a session on gaming but someone else wanted to watch TV, switching to Remote Play via the Vita would allow me to continue. Wouldn’t you like to continue a session of Skyrim or Battlefield? But it may still be in the plans later on in the Vita lifecycle.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is another entry in the BlazBlue series, building upon the original Continnum Shift and the first update Continnum Shift II. That makes it the second update to the game. In Japan, it will be released on December 17 on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. A Playstation Vita version will also be available, making it a launch game. Now, Arc System Works Europe can confirm that Europe will be receiving the game in the first quarter of 2012 for all platforms.
So, what makes this update different? The game will include all of the features from the previous versions, all updated of course, with the DLC characters (Makoto, Valkenhayn and Platinum the Trinity) and Relius Clover all available on the disk/flash card. The game will also include a new opening animation produced by Production I.G as well as new theme: “Azure Light” (Sōkyū no Hikari?) by Faylan.
In terms of additional modes, Arc System Works have included Abyss mode, team battles (2v2, 3v3, and 2v4), Unlimited Mars mode for that great, tough challenge. The story has been expanded as well with an additional 23 scenarios added. This looks like a great pickup for those who haven’t played the BlazBlue series.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss will debut alongside a plethora of Playstation Vita games and the Playstation Vita itself on December 17, which is the Japanese launch date. In order to hype the Land of the Rising Sun, Sony has released a new trailer with Japanese voice overs. So, if you want to hear Nathan Drake speak in Japanese, you can watch the trailer below.
In this new trailer, there are some scenes that were in the Gamescom trailer. What wasn’t in that trailer happens to be Drake’s new female friend. No Elana or Chloe in this adventure through what seems to be a jungle. Instead a new female companion. She doesn’t have a name (or I couldn’t pick it out due to the language barrier). Interestingly, there is no Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan either.
The game will also be part of the North American, European and PAL launches of the Playstation Vita in February 2012.
The Glowing Void 2 Developer: Assyria Studios Publisher: Daily App Dream Platforms: iPhone, iTouch, iPad (reviewed) Release Date: November 24, 2011 Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
The Glowing Void 2 is the sequel to the popular casual game Glowing Void (yes, surprising title, I know). With a visual makeover making it as sparkly as your standard Asian sticker photo, the glowing is really pronounced in the game. So does this game have more to it than just good looks? Or is it as uninteresting as a sparkly vampire?
Gameplay
Glowing Void 2 is based around the idea of creating bubbles to fill a glowing void while avoiding the evil red dots while forming the bubbles. After you’ve finished forming them the red dots bounce off them harmlessly, which can be a tactical advantage for those who are smart enough to use it.
You can drag the bubbles around to dodge the balls although often it’ll just be better to do it in short bursts, especially as you get further on in the levels and have more red balls to deal with.
Logically, the amount of balls increase with each level increase, so as the levels go on you’ll find it getting more and more hectic, although your skill will also increase so the learning curve is fairly sensical.
You also get three lives for each level, so you do get some extra chances when it comes to having balls hit your bubbles, obviously you’ll lose the bubble once it gets touched by a red ball, but just be happy that you survive! Ungrateful much?
On top of the classic mode, there is also survival mode where you play as long as possible. You also get three lives, except the bubbles that you grow do not stay there the points are just added to the score. And then all the red balls come. Oh, all the red balls. Plus, with no established balls there to protect you from those evil red balls, it can get a bit hectic. I don’t think I’ve ever said the word ‘balls’ that much in a paragraph before…
The game itself is inherently repetitive, there aren’t any bonuses or new things that are brought to it. However, that is with the standard purchase, there are also in-app purchase modes of Dodger, Gamer and Speed which are $0.99 each. So if you’re willing to spend as much as the app itself for three different modes then that’s fine for you, however if you’re expecting to get the entire game for the 99c then you aren’t going to be very happy. But, just a quick rundown of the modes for people who are interested in the extra purchases: Gamer mode has power-ups that you can pick up, Dodger mode involves achieving your highest score by surviving as long as possible by dragging around a pre-made void with your finger, and Speed mode where you must do your job as quickly as possible while being able to take 3 hits.
Still, I think that the modes that it comes with are fairly fun anyway, although you may get over them after a while. I have yet to get sick of them, and I think that in short bursts it is definitely a game that will get you through some boring transport rides or family holiday get-togethers.
Visuals
The Glowing Void 2 is very pretty to look at. It’s all sparkly and though the game itself isn’t super high def or realistic, that’s not what you’d be looking for. It’s casual and fun and shiny enough to embody what the casual genre is all about.
Audio
The audio for Glowing Void 2 is quite subtle, it’s a soothing little track that sits in the background. In terms of sound effects there are little bubble sounds that pop up every so often but they aren’t in any terms annoying. If anything, the soundtrack will be good to send you off to sleep because it’s just that soothing.
Overall
Glowing Void 2 can go either way depending on your personal preference. Either you’ll think its that awesome app that you’ll keep around for times when you need a quick game to occupy yourself, or you’ll get bored by the repetitiveness of the levels. Personally, I’m leaning towards the first option but that may change over time.
The in-app purchases for the modes are a bit of a bummer, especially since they do bring extra aspects to it that those who are unimpressed by the repetitiveness of it. But if you’re willing to spend the extra three dollars to pick up all the modes I’m sure the app will have a longer shelf-life for you.
While Final Fantasy XIII-2 may not be coming out for a couple of months… January 31st to be exact, we’ve heard a few things about the game’s combat system which has seen a few tweaks as well as one brand new mechanic. As you can see in the video below Square Enix has provided a full focus video on the various combat mechanics in the Active Time Battle system that was used in FFXIII which allows for Paradigm Shifts to change character roles.
Plus in this video we see the brand new Cinematic Action sequence which is more or less a quick time event in battle which will pull off an amazing looking move or action during the battle. Plus, if you pay close attention you can even see Snow fighting alongside Serah and Noel temporarily, though he won’t be a playable character.
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine Developer: Relic Entertainment Publisher: THQ Platforms: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3 and PC Release Date: September 9th, 2011 Price: $59.99 Available Here
Overview:
Several months back, I reviewed Warhammer 40k: Kill Teamfor the Xbox Live Arcade. That game was a great arcade style shoot ’em up that honestly felt at home within the Warhammer 40k franchise.
Unfortunately that brings me to the very sad news, that when put besides the game that was brought into existence to promote it, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, is an absolute disappointment in every bleeding sense of the word. It stands amongst the great titles under the Warhammer 40k franchise as a point of utter shame.
If only Relic Entertainment had aimed more for the spirit of Dawn of War instead of Gears of War, Space Marine may have been something more than an utterly mediorce shot in the dark.
Story: Space Marine has a story like Pokemon has a story. It’s kind of there but doesn’t really matter at all. I mean both games are about fighting monsters. At least Pokemon has variety in enemies and more diverse gameplay. Space Marine instead lets you take control of… yes you guessed it; a Space Marine. That is literally the entire story in a nut shell.
The characters are as bland as you could possibly imagine. They are blank faced zombies with no other facets of their personalities besides being ‘noble’. It’s such a poor attempt at crafting characters that when there was something that was supposed to be a plot twist turns out being a moment where you gaze at your screen confused and say “And I care why?”
This lack of any real story causes the campaign to be nothing but a completely boring experience. There is never any feeling that you are working towards something. It just feels like you keep killing orcs until it’s over, any cutscene that does appear either makes no sense or doesn’t progress anything forward. More time was definitely needed in crafting this story, there is no doubt about it.
Gameplay:
If you thought the gameplay could atleast make up for the lack of a coherent story, then you thought wrong. Like the plot, the gameplay is just one big shot in the dark. It is almost as if Relic pulled a genre from a hat and then slapped the Warhammer name on it.
From the first few moments of the campaign you will instantly get the feeling that you are playing a watered down version of Gears of War. There is no two ways about it. Space Marine is a Gears of War clone that doesn’t even succeed in at least being as good as the game it clones.
The game is sluggish and extremely repetitive, without enough variation in gameplay to keep it interesting. Things quickly disolve into a bore, which is always a bad thing. But that is the very core of the problem with Space Marine. It is just straight up Gear of War minus a cover system but plus the Warhammer name. They may as well have called the game Gears of Warhammer 40k: Space Marcus Fenix, it certainly would’ve been a more accurate title.
Even the multiplayer lacks even the smallest bit of entertainment. Part of the fun of Gears of War is strategically using the cover system to your advantage in intense fire fights. Since Space Marine doesn’t bother to completely clone Gears of War, it’s combat is so disappointingly scattershot in composition.
There is no way to cover in Space Marine, thus giving you no other option but to try and run in and melee attack an enemy. Which in online multiplayer is always a matter of whoever strikes first wins. After playing for a couple hours I do not see myself venturing back in to the online mode as not only was the combat a mess but the power between high and low levels is so unbalanced that it is virtually impossible to even stand a chance against higher level players if you are just starting out.
This brings me back to the combat difficulty of the multiplayer. It is essentially futile to even bother with using firearms as more often than not the enemy will just run up and impale you on his chainsaw before you have even made a dent in his health. It’s a broken system that gears play towards a melee fest that destroys any semblance of hope this game had to be that ‘killer online shooter’ this year.
All in all, Space Marine is a poorly constructed mess that can’t even pride itself on being a half way decent clone. Everything about the title is so painfully average that there is very little fun to be had here.
Visuals and Audio:
Space Marine’s art direction seems to be quite clear: to put Warhammer characters in Gears of War. That is the product we are given in the end, a haphazardly splashed together baron wasteland that it constucted so deliberately that it doesn’t even come close to replicating the unique environment design of Gears of War, no matter how hard it tries. If it achieves anything that Gears did, it’s that it manages to show off just about every shade of Brown known to man. Which for fans of the colour Brown is certainly some great news, right?
Put simply the game aesthetically does not stack up. So how does the audio fare? Well not much better. It features the expected ‘epic-scale’ orchestrated soundtrack which proves to be nothing more than forced and unnatural. What’s worse is the horrible stiff voice acting. It appears that Relic used American voice actors to do British accents, which in the end comes across offensive more than anything. The voice acting is pretty much a complete mockery of the accent to the point that I’d consider the accent to be ‘slaughtered’ more than the Orcs in this game.
Overall:
In conclusion, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine is an uneven shameful attempt at a Gears of War clone. If you want to play Gears of War, go buy Gears of War. If you want to play a Warhammer game, this is probably not the right place to be looking. Which is honestly truly sad, especially when considering that the game made to promote this game was just so much better.
If anything Space Marine proves that Relic should be making RTS games, it’s what they are good at and it’s what Warhammer is suited to. Space Marine fails as both an attempt for Relic to branch out as well as being a decent Warhammer title, it even fails at being a half way decent game.
We’ve heard that the Chocobos will be playing a larger role in Final Fantasy XIII-2 than they have in past games, but we have yet to see a whole lot about them, until now that is. Square Enix has released a bushel of new screenshots which you can see below and especially the one you can see above. It seems that a certain shopkeeper may love the Chocobos a bit too much, and her name is Chocolina.
She will be a traveling merchant throughout the game so expect to see her quite often as she sells a wide variety of things including weapons, accessories, normal items and monster training items. You can see plenty of the Chocobos themselves below as well as a new area that is called Archylte Steppe and even a Live Trigger event in the middle of a conversation.
GAMEVIL launched the Sale Online developed World War II strategy-RPG game on the app store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch earlier today.
In Last War, players take on the role of either an Allied or Axis general and must train and command troops for land, sea, and air to achieve the best strategic advantage. Players can unlock special items and abilities to help in their conquests by recruiting key historical figures and generals, and, of course, better weapons and troops can be researched and upgrades are readily available to players with the resources.
As players play through the game, they’ll have the chance to relive some of the great battles of the WWII campaign, or, if they so choose, change the course of history. A global network also allows players to battle each others troops, trade with friends, and even form alliances.
“Last War has a place for casual text-based RPG fans and history buffs alike,” said Kyu Lee, VP and Head of GAMEVIL USA, Inc. “We hope to give players the thrill of command and military warfare as a WWII general.”
Last War is available for free on the app store, right now.
