It appears that we now know the name of the next Alan Wake title a little bit before Remedy would have liked us to learn about it. Rather than being revealed at this weekend’s VGA on Spike TV, it seems that the German USK rating board has decided to get the jump on the announcement by rating the title. A rating popped up earlier today on the ratings board’s website which has listed a rating for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.
Now we previously were led to believe that the next Alan Wake title title that would be on the XBLA would potentially be called Alan Wake’s Night Springs, but that may have changed. Either that or the German release of the title is going to be named differently or this could be a potentially new Alan Wake title all together. We’ll know more this weekend during the official announcement on Spike’s Video Game Awards.
Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! Each week I will be diving into some of the biggest anime related topic of the week and having my say on anything that matters in the anime world. To top it off each episode will conclude with a recommendation from your’s truly of an anime or manga that you should check out.
This week I discuss the nature of the anime and manga industry, focusing in on the Shonen genre in particular. You can check out this week’s Anime Say! below.
Got any questions for Anime Say? Send all your queries to [email protected] and I will do my best to answer anything you can throw at me.
What do you think of the second episode of Anime Say? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
The “EA Daily Deals” program continues with all new sales today on some of EA’s offering on iOS and Android platforms.
The biggest deal today being 50% off of Dead Space for iPad through December the 10th. The critically acclaimed game was recently named by Apple as the iPad Game of the Year, and usually runs up a bill of $6.99.
Today’s other Daily Deal involves the EA published Tetris, with 30% discounts on in-game T-Coins, which allow players to use power-ups and open up new galaxies in which to play. Players can also earn 15% more T-Coins and lines to improve their Tetris ranking when they join the T-Club. The T-Club is the fastest way for Tetris enthusiasts to get into the fun.
EA Mobile is promising more deals to come, including some on the popular iOS titles Mirror’s Edge and Flight Control.
Well, at least partially explained. More like assumed actually unless you can understand the Japanese that is being written in the video. Still, in the video below you can watch Patroklos learn how to use the Soul Calibur V Critical Edge system as he is taught by the director of the title, Daishi Odashima.
From what the video below shows, we are able to see that the Critical Edge system will be something similar to a special attack that can be used whenever the fighter deals enough damage to raise the meter that is next to their HP bar. Once the meter is filled the player can then use one Critical Edge attack which will deal a large amount of damage to an enemy through a spectacular attack unique to each character.
Despite peoples assumptions that the Dead or Alive 5 cast would be similar to past entries in the series, Tecmo Koei and TEam Ninja have actually only revealed two characters until now. Those two characters were Ryu and Hayate, but now they are being joined by two female fighters; Ayane and my favorite, Hitomi. To go along with this reveal the company has released a handful of screenshots showing the two fighting with one another.
Ayane is a female ninja and half-sister/cousin to Hayate and Kasumi and has been around since the very first Dead or Alive title and has even appeared in the Ninja Gaiden series while Hitomi is a German karate user who made her appearance in Dead or Alive 3. As you can see in these screenshots the amount of detail in not only the environments but the characters as well are stunning. Dead or Alive 5 is currently aiming for a release sometime in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and if these screenshots are any indication of quality, it looks like it will be the most visually stunning fighting game ever.
Now see, why can’t we have nice video game advertisements like that outside of Japan? But in all seriousness it seems that Dynasty Warriors Next and Pepsi Nex (Japanese name for Pepsi Next) are forming a little marketing campaign in Japan since they both have the word Next in their titles… or something like that.
Tecmo Koei and Suntory International have teamed up to provide this little collaboration between the PlayStation Vita’s launch title Dynasty Warriors Next and Pepsi Next by releasing the above image which can be downloaded in high-res as a wallpaper. Plus the Japanese Pepsi website will be giving away 50 copies of the title but it doesn’t seem to be open to outside of Japan entrants.
It seems that Pepsi Nex has taken quite a unique marketing approach lately, now they are advertising with one of the memorable characters from Dynasty Warriors Lu Bu but earlier this year they had a bit different advertisement using anime as their sales driver.
It is starting to be that time of the year when companies are either bolstering or lowering their earning forecasts of the fiscal year and it seems that THQ is actually lowering their forecast despite having two large titles released in the holiday season. It appears this is due to the fact that the multiplatform uDraw tablet has sold quite badly.
To be more specific, THQ CEO Brian Farrell explained the situation, saying that “Despite uDraw’s strong success on the Wii in fiscal 2011 and market research indicating strong demand for uDraw on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, initial sales of our uDraw tablet and software on these high-definition platforms have been weaker than expected.”
As such the company is now lowering its aim of $510-$550 million by “approximately 25 percent,” which is a large hit for the company. Still, Farrell had good news for investors saying that “WWE ’12 and Saints Row: The Third are expected to perform at or better than the levels we discussed on our fiscal 2012 second quarter earnings call.” Least there is that.
Last night Nintendo headman Miyamoto was quoted in an interview saying that he was going to be working on smaller roles within the company and essentially “retiring” from his current position. It appears however that this isn’t going to be the case or at least won’t be anymore. After hearing news about his potential “retirement” investors did what they do best and began worrying about the Nintendo stock causing it to drop 2% in half a day.
Nintendo was quick to deny these reports and a Nintendo spokesperson spoke with Reuters saying “This is absolutely not true. There seems to have been a misunderstanding. He has said all along that he wants to train the younger generation. He has no intention of stepping down. Please do not be concerned.” This is still some cause for concern, mostly due to the fact that a lot of wires must be crossed internally with Nintendo as they are flat out denying Miyamoto’s intentions to work on smaller projects instead of massive ones despite Nintendo’s insistence he never changes.
Naked Sheep Developer: althi, Inc. Publisher: althi, Inc. Platform: iPhone (reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: December 2, 2011 Price: Free (HERE)
Overview
It’s hard to review games that are free. After all, how can you judge something that cost you absolutely nothing?
Naked Sheep is one such free game. Developed by althi, Inc. it gives players the chance to finally achieve their wild dreams of being sheep shearers via some wild, screen-swiping action. Does the game succeed in creating fun gameplay or is it just baa-d?
Gameplay
Frantically, you swipe the screen, shearing wool off sheep as they come towards you, hoping that the timer doesn’t run down. Sounds fun, yeah?
Naked Sheep operates much like an assembly line. You face a 2-D plane through which sheep slide from right to left, and a running timer. As the timer runs down and the sheep zoom into the screen, you have to swipe your finger as fast as possible all across the screen in order to shear the entire sheep. Succesful shearing results in bonus time and points, as well as a voice (that sounds as strange as the one in the Bejeweled series) saying “Nice!” and “Awesome!”.
As time passes, power ups and traps appear on screen in the form of little circles. You have to take a break from swiping to tap these circles, trying to avoid the traps that send you larger sheep or slower transitions between them, and aiming for the power-ups that will give you more effective shears and smaller sheep. It all becomes quite frantic, and it’s quite fun in your first few forays into mad swiping and tapping.
But that’s it. That’s the game.
It becomes even more ridiculous when you realize that there really is no strategy to the shearing. You literally just swipe madly any which way, tapping the screen for power-ups as they come. Your finger starts burning from the friction, the screen becomes so hot that it stops picking up your finger taps, and the game just ceases to be fun.
Naked Sheep gives you the option to upload your highscores to Games Center, but really, who cares? There’s really very little skill involved, and the gimmick of frantically swiping the screen becomes both annoying and droll.
The gameplay sends sheep at you as if they were on an assembly line, and it’s about as much fun as working in one.
Audio & Visual
The game’s sounds and aesthetics are what we’re all used to from casual iOS games. Two dimensional, cartoonish, and with plenty of attempts at cutesy animals, Naked Sheep does nothing new and nothing horrible in the visual department. The up-beat, and up-tempo sounds and music also complement the distinctly unoriginal nature of the game’s presentation.
Overall
In the end, Naked Sheep is a free game, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be judged harshly. A free game still costs another type of currency, and that’s time. Naked Sheep certainly will give you about five minutes of enjoyment but you’ll then look upon it in disgust, deleting it not only from your iOS device, but from your computer’s download history as well.
The gameplay is a stupid swipe-fest that never challenges you beyond whether you can stand the burning of your finger or the touch-screen’s sudden failure to sense touch due to its overheating. This game is not worth money, that’s for sure.
Epic Games are known for their Unreal Engine and the Gears of War series. Recently, they had released Infinity Blade II, which is looking like the most well-received title on iOS, even more well-received than Angry Birds. It impresses with its visuals, its depth and quality for an iOS game. Now, I wonder if they were to put it on a handheld console? Well, if they did, it wouldn’t be the Playstation Vita.
It has been revealed by Mike Capps, President of Epic Games, in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that the Playstation Vita won’t be added to their portfolio sometime soon, despite having development kits sent to them. Why? Well, this is their reasoning:
We’re not currently making a Vita game, I’m not sure how well it’s going to be accepted in our Western market which is primarily where our games sell.
It’s a really cool platform, but I have a phone, and it’s really hard to compete with that.
There are two arguments that he makes and they come off quite distasteful to anyone who appreciates dedicated handheld gaming and who is excited for the Playstation Vita. I think I shall address them with something I like to call common sense.
Now, let’s look at the first argument, which is, “I’m not sure how well it’s going to be accepted in our Western market which is primarily where our games sell.” Now, let’s actually look at Playstation Portable sales in North America. I am using PSP sales because this theory may have stemmed from the popular belief that the Playstation Portable wasn’t a success in the West. Actually, if I am not mistaken, the PSP has sold over 10 million units in North America alone and has a worldwide total of over 70 million. What about the Nintendo 3DS? Western developers cried doomsday on that, yet it has surpassed first year DS sales and it has set its sights for three million units sold within its first year. Hmmm, according to Epic’s though tank, that may not be success to them.
Let’s further add some more common sense. Continuing on his first point, in order to move hardware, it needs to have a strong lineup of software. So, if Epic wanted to debunk their own dedicated handheld fears, they would have gazed upon the dedicated handhelds and try to make a game that is fun, engaging and takes advantage of their portability. Maybe then they would have not only gained a considerable amount of money in sales but also have some experience and confidence in developing with dedicated handhelds.
What about that second point? Apparently, they believe that “It’s a really cool platform, but I have a phone, and it’s really hard to compete with that.” Alright, I’m going back to that state where I need to indulge him, and anyone else for that matter, in a lesson of Basic Portable Gaming 101. Firstly, why he is comparing a phone to the Playstation Vita? I know I am going to slightly corrupt my opinion with a cliche, but it is like comparing apples to oranges. They are in two different markets. Yet, Western developers like Epic Games can not seem to get their head around that.
This leads me to my second point in terms of that second statement. Do Epic Games know the audience of both markets? I would argue that the gamers that might look at purchasing the Playstation Vita are the ones that made Gears of War a success, pending on how much they do side with the other major hardware manufacturers. They may be the type of gamers that enjoy Call of Duty (sorry!), Elder Scrolls, Assassin’s Creed and much more. Then there is the niche crowd, equally important in my view. Their dedication to a series overseas has no bounds, which is recognised (sometimes) by the developer and enters in a partnership to localise the title. The smartphone market? Yes, there may be some “hardcore” gamers there, but most of them only want the “next best thing.” It is a bubble jungle, the smartphone scene. I believe their audience is more fiendish than the core crowd of gamers. They are also the mothers who Facebook all day and blame video games for violence on the streets. Maybe you are just a bad parent? (gasp, he is using logic!)
If Epic Games, or indeed any Western developers, do not heed my words, then they might want to heed the words of American journalist Herb Caen, “A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.” This is where the Western gaming industry is going with portable gaming. Smartphones may the yellow brick road right now, but soon enough, the road may lead you to the centre of the darkest forest with no escape. Epic Games, just remember who you are and what you develop. I shall leave it at that.
