Whenever an extremely Japanese styled game is released in North America, there is always the concern that the title may not sell well enough to justify the localization. It seems however that Atlus’ and Index’s Catherine title has sold well both in its country of origin and in North America.
The company recently revealed sales figures for the title, which list Catherine selling 260,000 copies in Japan and 230,000 in North America for 490,000 total sold reports Andriasang. This is great news for localization efforts to bring games to the West, and especially good news for both Atlus and Catherine’s developer Index. Especially since Catherine’s story and puzzle mechanics created such a unique gameplay experience we haven’t seen often in the West.
Forget about raising a dog on your 3DS, as Majesco have now released Pet Zombies as of today! This sim of sorts lets players raise and customize their own zombie, manage its diet, and then play various mini-games with your undead pal in beautiful 3D.
Along with this release also comes a list of features:
Raise your very own zombie and manage and control its every need.
Play a variety of mini games: Zombie Launch, Luck of the Dead, Dumpster Dive and more!
Nurture your zombie with tasty treats and toys, or torment them with a torch, shock collar or cattle prod!
Customize everything about your zombies: facial deformations, variable decay, clothing, and un-lockable items.
Unlock themed backgrounds and decor to create the best environment for your pet zombie.
Trigger eye popping gory effects: throw food, drinks, toys or brains with the stereoscopic 3D screen.
Earn badges, Zombucks for use in the pet shop, and unlockables by completing games and gameplay challenges.
This title may be a bit odd, but being different certainly isn’t a bad thing and those with a love of the dead can finally have their own zombie to take with them wherever they go. You can now find Pet Zombies in stores where games are sold, so go out and grab your new brain eating friend today!
It seems that Sony has finally nailed down when they will be releasing the PlayStation Vita in the West, as SCEA head Jack Tretton announced the release date today at the Web 2.0 Summit. The new Sony hand held will be released on February 22nd next year in North America.
The Vita will still release in two separate models, the non-3G version will run $249.99 and the $299.99 model that will use AT&T’s amazingly horrible 3G service in North America. The release date for the Vita also marks the release date for all the different launch titles that we have heard about over the past few months as well.
While it may seem like a decent idea to have local only multiplayer in a country as crowded as Japan, releasing a local only game anywhere else in the world is just a pathetic move. And it seems that Capcom has stepped right up there with Nintendo with forgoing online multiplayer in titles that desperately ask for such a feature.
Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter 3G will only have local multiplayer through an Ad Hoc system. The only online feature the game will have is to download special events occasionally. The Japanese market may be relatively packed with 3DS handhelds, but here in North America you will be lucky to find another person in your entire city with one. This is Chicago I’m talking about.
Over the past few months there has been quite a big hullabaloo going on between Zenimax (Bethesda’s parent company) and Mojang over the name of Mojang’s game, Scrolls. Notch who owns Mojang has developed the wildly addictive Minecraft announced on his Twitter earlier today that he had won an interim injunction that allowed him to currently keep using the name Scrolls.
Zenimax can appeal this decision to continue moving forward with the lawsuit. This interim injunction victory simply allows Notch to continue using the Scrolls name for his upcoming game without having to change anything until the final ruling on the case is made. The lawsuit originated from Zenimax saying that the name Scrolls could be affiliated by some with The Elder Scrolls series and they had to take action to protect their trademark.
If there is one thing that Gran Turismo fans know, it is the fact that the series cannot nail down a release date to save its life. It seems that Polyphony Digital has decided to keep with tradition and have unfortunately delayed the first piece of DLC for Gran Turismo 5. Rather than hitting the original release date of October 18th, it has been delayed in October 25th in North America.
The DLC will be able to be bought in chunks if you don’t feel like dropping $11.99 on the whole bundle but Sony still has apologized on their Twitter account for the delay, despite not providing an exact reason for why this DLC was delayed. Still, they have promised that there will be a “special bonus” piece of content now placed in the content.
It seems that the newest way to assure fan loyalty is to offer a Season Pass of some sort that allows them to pay one lump sum to access all future DLC free of charge. L.A. Noire was the first game to use this type of pass while Gears of War 3 was the most recent. But it seems that the next game to be getting a Season Pass will be Uncharted 3 in the form of the Fortune Hunter’s Club.
Announced on the PlayStation Blog, players will spend $24.99 and will allow them to download four of the seven upcoming DLC packages, three skin packs as well as a Fortune Hunter’s Club theme free for your PlayStation 3. The savings are around 45% off if you purchase everything separately, so it is quite a decent deal, though it is a bit sad to know that all the DLC will only be multiplayer based.
I bought my Xbox 360 way back in 2007, when the largest hard drive available was 20 GB (Yeah I went the Pro option over Core and Arcade). So the 20 GB Hard drive now seems laughable by today’s standards with the vast amounts digital content booming out there on the market today. Well to sort out this problem Microsoft is launching a massive 320 GB Hard Drive for the Xbox 360 later this month.
This is the largest hard drive for the Xbox 360 to date and was only obtainable if you boughta special edition Xbox 360 console. This is no longer case thankfully and as an added bonus anyone that purchases a 320 GB Hard Drive will receive a download code for LucasArts’ LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.
The Xbox 360 320 GB Hard Drive is compatible with all Xbox 360 S models and will be available in late October for UD$129.99
A little known fact to non-Sims fans/players, The Sims games feature a wide range of real life songs re-recorded in Simlish – The Sims’ official language. In the past artists such as Paramore, Barenaked Ladies, Natasha Bedingfield, Lily Allen and Katy Perry have all had simlish versions of their songs featured in a Sims game.
And in the latest expansion pack for The Sims 3 and latest console spin-off ‘The Sims 3 Pets’ is no different. New Zealand singer-songwriter Kimbra has been announced as an ambassador for the game (You may know her from the hugely successful Gotye song “Somebody That I Used to Know”), and a simlish version of her song “Good Intent” will feature in the game.
The Sims 3 Pets is set to be released in Australia tomorrow and in New Zealand a day later on October 21st.
Here at Capsule Computers we were lucky enough to shoot off some questions to Sims 3 Pets Producer, Ryan Vaughan who took time out of his schedule of making awesome, addictive games to answer questions about horses, his opinion, and what we can expect in the very soon to be released Sims 3 Pets.
1. Were you one of those kids that wanted to have a horse?
I’ve always loved horses, but never really had space to have one of my own growing up. But, I do have family in Iowa and they owed horses. Every time we’d go back to see them I’d get a chance to go for a ride on a horse and that was always the highlight of my trip. My cousins would show me how to ride properly. It was a blast!
2. Speaking as one of those kids who wanted to have a horse, will you need to have a large lot size to own a horse? Or will those smaller family homes be able to own a horse as well?
Luckily for your Sims, the size of your lot will not prevent you from having a horse. It’s important to make sure you have enough room to place a Box Stall so you can properly care for them, but horses don’t need to be on your lot to fulfill their exercise motive. Running throughout the world or even practicing their racing or jumping skills at the new equestrian training venue will make them quite happy.
3. On the same note, will the horses be as expensive to upkeep as they are in reality?
Making sure your horses are well fed and taken care of is important, and it will come at a cost to you, but it certainly won’t prevent anyone from owning a horse that really wants one. Also, owning a horse can be very financially lucrative to you. It can even offset the cost of caring for a horse! Winning equestrian competitions or even using Box Stall fertilizer on your garden to grow high-quality produce can generate many Simoleons for your household.
4. Do you have your own horse prototype that you worked with in development that you’re attached to?
I worked a lot with a horse I created in-game that I named Firecracker. She was an Appaloosa that just loved to run and race. I was quite sad one day when we updated our development build and I lost my save games, but it was a great chance to start over and dive in to the really powerful tools in Create a Pet to try to rebuild her.
5. Do you think horses are the superior pet? Why or why not? (It’s okay, you can be honest)
The great thing about pets is that everyone has their favorite kind, and they always seem to really, really love that pet. Horses are a great addition to The Sims 3 and provide a lot of really cool new ways to play the game. I personally like to consider myself a dog person at heart and would have a hard time saying that horses are better! Cats, dogs and horses all provide really unique and fun new experiences for players, and it’s really up to your personal preference as to which you think is more fun to play with.
6. What was the thought behind bringing horses to The Sims? Was it simply the fans demand or was there another deciding factor?
We brought horses to The Sims 3 Pets for a few different reasons, and one of them was certainly because we knew players wanted them. They’ve been asking for them since The Sims! We also wanted to add a pet that would work well with The Sims 3’s huge open worlds, and what better animal than one which loves to run?
7. So, Unicorns. Awesome. Did you guys decide to add them in after having the design down for horses and decided to take it to the next step?
Horses in The Sims 3 Pets are a feature that has never been done before – in any Sims game ever – and we wanted to make sure players got the most out of them. When we started designing what the occult creature would be, we thought unicorns would be a great extension of horses, and it fit in well with the overall focus of the expansion pack. But make no mistake, unicorns are not horses! With a lot of really cool magical features – like the ability to spontaneously ignite random objects – they’re tons of fun to play with. That is, if you get lucky enough to catch one!
8. Is there a limit of unicorns per map? Or do they procreate somewhere over the rainbow and continue to appear at random?
There’s no limit to how many appear, and it will be different every time you play. But, if you get lucky enough to convince a unicorn to join your household, you can try and breed one with a horse with the chance of creating a baby unicorn!
9. Were there any points in development when you cursed the entire concept and wanted to scratch horses off the list of pets entirely?
Not really, but there were tons of times when they looked and behaved so funny that we wondered if we’d ever be able to get them working correctly! Luckily we did, and they’re really a lot of fun to play with.
10. Is there any possibility of horses falling in love and having families? Or are they mysteriously asexual with foals appearing when wanted?
As with cats and dogs, you can breed your horses to create foals. So yes, they can definitely fall in love and have families. Breeding can actually be quite fun too, as the game uses the same The Sims 3 genetics technology to pick specific traits from the mother and father to create a whole new breed.
11. Do the horses ever come down with an illness that will lead to a depressing visit to the vet and possible loss of a horse?
They’ll never get really sick, but make sure to keep their box stalls clean! They don’t appreciate stinky surroundings.
12. Are there any career paths related to horses?
There are no formal jobs or careers for horses, but there are the brand new racing and jumping skills for horses and the riding skill for Sims. The higher you build the three of these skills, the better you’ll do when competing in equestrian competitions at the brand new Equestrian Center which can earn you a lot of money!
13. Do you think that the horses will render cars useless in The Sims 3 Pets because you can’t create cars with personalities and they just aren’t as cute?
Horses are fun to ride and are indeed a great form of transportation, but cars are still useful when you need to transport toddlers or other small pets.
So there you have it folks. A day away from release and I feel like it’s still too far away. Thank you again to Ryan Vaughan, it was fun to pick your brain and fuel the fire to my own Sims mania. I mean, baby unicorns? Come on, how freaking awesome is that?
The Sims 3 Pets comes out on PC/Mac, Xbox 360, PS3 and 3DS on October 20. We’ll also have a review on the game after it comes out, so keep an eye out!
