Oh, Japan! is a new weekly feature I am starting which will chronicle the wierd, wacky and just plain crazy goings on in Japan. Because we all know, Japan is prone to doing things that make us Westerners say “Oh, Japan!”.
This week for the first edition of Oh, Japan! we will be taking a look at a crazy video game from Japan known as JRA Japan World Tour. The game tasks you with placing a bet on a horse-race, you then watch the match and see if you bet right. Normal enough, right? Well let’s just say what lies within JRA Japan World Tour is far from normal.
Check it out in the video below and lets all simultaneously laugh, sigh and then exclaim “Oh, Japan!”.
Microsoft releases a ton of new content onto the Xbox Live Marketplace every week. If you want to stay ahead of the pack and plan your budget accordingly though, the Xbox team has released some interesting info onwhat we can expect in the coming weeks. What games or DLC will you be getting?
All prices are in Microsoft Points.
XBLA Releases
Fruit Ninja Kinect (Halfbrick/Microsoft Studios) Read our review here!
Release: August 10
Price: 800
Toy Soldiers: Cold War (Signal Studios/Microsoft Studios)
Release: August 17
Price: 1200
Game Add-ons
Mortal Kombat Freddy Krueger character (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Release: August 9
Price: 400
Dance Central songs (Harmonix):
James Brown, Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine, Pt 1
Release: August 16
Price: 240
Lloyd, Get It Shawty
Release: August 16
Price: 240
Sean Paul, Get Busy
Release: August 16
Price: 240
Deals of the Week
Festive Fiesta with Rock Band
Dates: August 9- August 15
Fable (Microsoft Studios)
800 (33% off)
Black (Electronic Arts)
800 (33% off)
Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex (Activision)
800 (33% off)
Legend of Spyro: The New Beginning (Activision)
800 (33% off)
Games on Demand For the week of August 9
YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (THQ)
World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars (THQ)
Avatar Marketplace
MTV Ugly Americans
August 9
Dumbo (Disney)
August 11
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (THQ)
August 16
Toy Soldiers: Cold War (Microsoft Studios)
August 17
Kinect Disneyland Adventures (Microsoft Studios)
August 18
Game Demos
Release Date
Madden NFL 12 (Electronic Arts)
August 9
Driver San Francisco Single-Player (Ubisoft)
August 9
Driver San Francisco Multi-Player (Ubisoft)
August 16
Additional Content
Season Ticket (EA SPORTS)
Release: August 2
Price: 2000
1, 2, Freddy’s Koming for you! Since the announcement at Comic-Con that the legendary horror Icon Freddy Krueger would become a playable fighter for Mortal Kombat, players have been dying to get their hands on him! Well now your nightmares can go to rest, as. NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have announced that Xbox 360 owners will be available soon and PlayStation 3 owners would be able to play as him as of today! Outstanding!
Furthermore, a vignette trailer explaining his reason for being in the Mortal Kombat tournament has been released, which you can see below! Warner Bros Interactive and NetherRealm Studios have done the best they could to give reasoning behind this as well as why he has two gloves instead of one, and its fair to say they’ve done a good job and blending the two universes together. While trying to steal Earth Relm’s souls, Shao Khan was actually cutting Krueger grass, as he prays on the youth’s souls whilst they sleep. To save these souls so he could terrorize them, Freddy challenged Khan to Mortal Kombat, where Shao Khan ripped Freddy from the dream realm into reality, making him mortal. Now if Freddy wants to return to the dream realm so he can breathe horror into Elm Street, he must find and kill Shao Khan.
Along with this announcement, a TV commercial has been released to hype it up, which you can see here! Furthermore, Freddy coming with compatibility pack #4 for free, where two new klassic costumes are available for download. With all this kontent available, I suppose you’ll never have to go to sleep!
Our friends at Apple are in court so much these days one would be forgiven for thinking they had changed their business strategy and were moving into the field of law. From patent lawsuits on Iphones with Samsung through to worker suicides in their suppliers factories and now price fixing. Apple and a group of very well known book publishers have been accused of “illegally fixing e-book prices to “boost profits and force rivals Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing”. From a brief reading of the lawsuit filed, it focuses around Apple entering the kindle market with the Ipad with the intention of colluding with major publishers to increase e-book prices listed.
Within the lawsuit filed, aside from Apple are big name publishers such as Harper Collins, Hatchette books, Macmillan, Penguin publishing and Simon and Schuster. The companies are being accused of employing what us known as an “agency model” in the industry. What this involves is prices set at a publisher level rather than being decided upon by each individual retailer. If this doesn’t sound familiar think Ipod. I was working in electronic retail when the IPod phenomena first started and clearly remember being told the prices were fixed by Apple and not negotiable.
Interestingly, the lawsuits are not being instigated by Amazon but rather 2 disgruntled customers, sick and tired of paying premium prices due to greedy corporation’s anti-competitive laws. They are seeking a class action suit for restitution and damages as well as admittance on defendants behalf.
Amazon has been serving book lovers worldwide for years now with cheaper prices and reasonable shipping rates being blamed for the closure of many bricks and mortar stores. With their acquisition of the mighty bookdepository their potential stronghold on the online book market is undeniable. What the publishers had in their favour was an ally with as much to lose as them, someone who was as “terrified of Amazons popularity as themselves; Apple,” says Steve Berman. Representing the plaintiffs, Berman knows what to do. “We intend to prove that Apple needed a way to neutralize Amazons kindle before its popularity could challenge the upcoming introduction of the Ipad.”
The pricing model first materialised in 2010 when publishers asked Amazon to raise its online prices, with Amazon denying the request, stating that any price over $9.99 was too expensive. Eventually they gave in after Macmillan started pulling popular titles from its catalogues.
Immoral, unethical and just downright greedy, Apple continue their Nazi like stance on their market position, further emphasising why I will never touch another of their products.
Over the past year, Madman Entertainment has been slowly yet steadily providing more ways for you to get your anime fix. Whether it be through their Madman Screening Room or through physical media. A much more subtle digital media release platform has been building up over the course of this year by Madman through the iTunes store. I think it would be of good use to provide a complete list of currently available series, episodes and at what cost for those who want to purchase their anime digitally and most importantly, legally.
Here is the list of what is currently available through the iTunes store from Madman:
XAM’D: Lost Memories Season 1 (13 episodes, $38.87 – Season, $2.99 – Episode)
XAM’D: Lost Memories Season 2 (13 episodes, $38.87 – Season, $2.99 – Episode)
Also listed as coming soon to the iTunes store are Dance in the Vampire Bund and High School of the Dead. Be sure to search for your favourite series in the iTunes store and purchase your favourite anime series and watch it straight from your iOS device or even your computer!
A few months ago, Nintendo started their “Nintendo Selects” budget releases, which brought The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sluggers, Wii Sports and Animal Crossing: City Folk down to the low price of $19.99. Today, Kotaku have posted a very interesting rumor up that we may be seeing some new additions to the discounted line in just a few weeks time.
Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Punch-Out!!, and Mario Strikers Charged have apparently been leaked by retailers as the next four Nintendo Selects for the Wii, which will all see a reprint a price-drop on August 28th. Remember, this is just a rumor for now, but those four titles sound like some awesome additions to the Selects line to me and hopefully will boost Nintendo’s sagging Wii sales a bit in the process.
Once we hear something a bit more substantial regarding these new additions, we will be sure to bring an update so stay tuned to this developing story.
If you have little gamers in the family or are just a fan of platformers, you will be happy to know that Spy Kids: All The Time in the World is now available on the Nintendo DS. Based on the movie of the same name (that hits theaters on August 19th), Spy Kids: All the Time in the World places players in the role of Rebecca and Cecil as they try to take out the evil Time Keeper and save the world using high tech gadgets and weaponry.
Other features include:
Eight levels full of baddies and traps, including: Downtown, OSS Base, OSS Vault, Big Time Watch Repair Shop, and Time Keeper’s Lair
Play as either Rebecca or Cecil, each with special skills
Master state-of-the-art gadgets to fend off enemies and find hidden goodies
Navigate environmental puzzles like quicksand, conveyer belts, air vents, slick surfaces, and more
Earn special attacks, such as Double Speed Attack, Attack Power-up, Mega Super Power Boom, Blue Cheese Bomb, and more
Alongside this release, Majesco have also brought out some new screenshots that you can view below, showing off the varied levels and enemies that players will encounter.
With so much news surrounding the price drop of the 3DS, annoying early adopters and pleasing those who waited, UK users have something to cheer about as Nintendo join The Cloud. The alliance will provide those within the UK who own a 3DS access to over 5000 various hotspots.
“Cloud partnership represents another exciting step that will continue to expand its appeal and encourage owners to take their Nintendo 3DS systems with them wherever they go, offering different and unique experiences every day,” said Nintendo UK marketing director Dawn Paine. Active at the time this was written the hotspots allow gamers to access content via the Nintendo Spotpass service, eShop or simply browse the net.
“Nintendo is a fantastic addition to our list of strategic partners and site owners who are making the most of Wi-Fi’s potential to give other customers a better entertainment experience,” adds Steve Nicholson, The Clouds managing directors told Gamesindustry.
“If gamers are going to play outside their home, it’s essential they have a fast and reliable internet connection. This is what Wi-Fi offers compared to a technology such as 3G, which struggle to handle really rich data hungry video content.”
Suffering from allergies is never a pleasant experience to endure. However, Gesundheit proves that being highly prone to allergic reactions can have its upside. Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc has teamed up with independent games studio Revolution Concepts to produce Gesundheit, a beautifully animated and designed game based on the concept work of film and television animator Matt Hammill. Available for both iPhone and iPad, Gesundheit spans across forty levels, offering a huge amount of gameplay from such a seemingly simple title.
Gameplay
Gesundheit is at heart a point and tap puzzle based game. Featuring four worlds, each with ten levels, the game has enough to keep you busy for a long time. Each world needs to be entered through a gate, which in turn requires stars to open. Star fruits are collected in each level, with each world having three possible fruits for your little piggy to collect, and hopefully not eat. The only problem is, monsters plague the worlds the little pig must get through. As if his allergies weren’t enough of a burden! There are traps that you must lure the monsters into in order to complete the level. Thankfully your allergies come in handy and can be utilised as a kind of weapon. For some reason these monsters love to eat snot, and will gladly wander into traps for a free meal. As you progress, there are new abilities you utilise in your quest, like shooting giant snot balls, or sling shotting yourself across wide gaps with a sticky string of shot. While it sounds all too simple to point and tap, Gesundheit is a fairly difficult game to pick up. Many of the levels involve strategically hiding around corners and bouncing boogers off walls in order to outsmart enemies. Luckily you can skip levels if they become too taxing, but you will eventually run into problems getting through gates to the next world if you consistently do this.
Graphics and Audio
In all honesty, the gameplay isn’t all too innovative. While the level design makes for great fun I really think the game is driven by the graphics, which are nothing short of breathtaking. The art is based on concepts by film and television animator Matt Hammill, featuring some incredible hand drawn style characters and levels. The construction of the world is completely captivating: from roughly drawn world maps to complete and complex maze like levels featuring spectacular artwork. I can’t help but feel somewhat reminiscent of educational animations from when I was a child, only of a much higher quality. Quirky colour choices, hand drawn style sceneries that are slightly off model add a layer of charm to Gesundheit that is very rare to find in games, especially for iOS titles. It’s the artwork, and I stress artwork, not merely graphics, that really push this game forward for me. I can’t help but become completely engrossed by this pocket sized world and its lovable, yet often evil, characters.
Given my love for the visual side of Gesundheit; it may be no surprise that I find the audio not only fitting but also completely amazing in its own right. The sound effects fit with the charming visual style of the game like a glove. Large exhales that continue until your character runs out of breath, little ‘boings’ when the boogers bounce from the walls, and not to mention angry growls when your enemies catch you in their sights, give so much life to the already beautifully designed characters. The sound effects are also used really well to create an extra dimension to the game. When characters walk around, little footsteps that sound like they are walking across a pebbled path come from the speakers. Furthermore, in the world maps chirping birds and ocean sounds (depending on the world) add a much-appreciated extra element to the game world. Gesundheit also features an upbeat, well-composed soundtrack that is a delight to listen to throughout each level.
Conclusion
Playing Gesundheit has been nothing sort of a treat. The simplistic gameplay allows you to sit back and appreciate the design of the game, which I must reiterate, is spectacular. However, if you’re not so much into games with this unique visual or audio style, then I still think the gameplay is enough to carry you through. The levels increase in complexity, as more monsters appear the further in you get, and with forty levels to make your way through you won’t feel the sting of repetition any time soon. Konami have done well to hitch their wagon to Revolution Concepts and animator Matt Hammill to produce such a fantastic title for iOS devices.
If you’re a fan of tactical RPGs, a wacky cast of characters and throwing plenty of Prinnies, then you may want to look into the Playstation Vita. Nippon Ichi has confirmed that their Playstation 3 game, Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, is heading to Sony’s newest handheld as Disgaea 3 Returns.
Nothing much has been announced but Nippon Ichi has revealed that, in addition to the downloadable content that is already available for the Playstation 3 version, the game will include two new characters and four new scenarios exclusive to the Vita version. They have also revealed that the character portraits will have a similar look to those of Disgaea 4. Alongside this confirmation was some teasers about their upcoming projects, including a Studio Plasma collaboration and a 3D action RPG made by the Prinny team.
