When Akira Yamaoka announced that he was no longer going to work with Konami and create music for the Silent Hill series, fans of the series understandably became worried about what they should be expecting when the next title is released. Despite their worries however, it seems Silent Hill Downpour is still going strong and moving forward with their new composer.
In an interview with Joystiq at the Silent Hill panel during GDC Europe, Downpour’s design director Brian Gomez told Joystiq that initially he “was worried when we lost him, we lost him really early on in Downpour” but despite that he is very glad that they managed to work with Daniel Licht, saying that he “was the closest to Akira but also brought something new to it.” It seems that fans worries were for naught if things are still going as well as Brian says.
Ahh ESRB… what would we do without you. Besides the obvious lack of content information for parents, we’d also miss out on their often hilarious ratings for games that stray outside the norm. Now although the ESRB‘s rating for From Software’s Dark Souls doesn’t go too crazy, it does help raise the hype for the game as much as describe the content.
Dark Souls has been given an M rating for plenty of gore as well as some partial nudity. Before you get too excited however, the nudity only consists of some bird monster butts. Something to get excited for however, is the description of the multiple decapitations of a dragon. Sounds like there is going to be some great boss fights when the game is released later this year on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Check out the full rating below:
This is an adventure role-playing game in which players must battle monsters and collect souls to lift an undead curse across the land. Players use swords, axes, and magic arrows to kill zombies, demons, giant spiders, and other fantasy creatures in both ranged attacks and melee-style combat. Players can also use stealth attacks (e.g., stabbing) to dispatch enemies at close range.
Battles are accompanied by slashing sounds, cries of pain, and large splashes of blood. Blood pools may also appear on the ground, and some environments depict flaming bodies impaled on spikes. Boss battles include instances of dismemberment and decapitation (e.g., cutting off a gargoyle’s tail, slicing multiple heads off a dragon). During the course of the game, one female enemy’s breasts are barely obscured by strands of hair; some bird-like humanoids are also depicted with exposed buttocks.
Zombies? Check. Chainsaw? Check. Cheerleader? Check. Happy-go-lucky Music? Double check. If any of those things peak your interest then you may want to take a look below as Suda 51’s upcoming game, Lollipop Chainsaw has received its first trailer from Gamespot. The trailer itself shows off plenty of gameplay and a little bit of cutscene as it introduces us to our heroine.
Being a cheerleader in high school may seem like one of the best places to be, but not when you have a secret that involves having to fight the undead. Of course when all of this is shown off with the peppy song “Lollipop” in the background, it just makes it all the better. Lollipop chainsaw is going to be released sometime in 2012 and it will be brought over to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by none other than Warner Bros.
Fans definitely know that the games are coming, and Sony wants to bring together some of these fans for a special event that is being held by none other than Team Ico themselves. Sony will be bringing 40 fans as part of their Sony’s Great Scene Sharing campaign to the event in Tokyo on September 3rd. To enter fans are being asked to describe their favorite scene from either ICO or Shadow of the Colossus along a number of Japanese social networking sites reports Andriasanghttps://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/wp-admin/post-new.php.
Those who participate will receive a free special wallpaper simply for entering as well as being entered into a raffle for tickets to the event among other, less important prizes. If they win the tickets, they will be able to play the two games early as well as hear from Fumito Ueda talk about is work on both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus HD. You can find the webpage for the campaign here, though if entries from international residents outside of Japan will be accepted is unknown.
For those living in the UK and Europe, Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t just a hope and a dream, but a reality that will be available on their store shelves soon. To help push the game even more, Nintendo has officially opened up a new website for the game which contains detailed explanations of the characters and battle system and even some videos to teach players on what they will be doing throughout the game.
While European gamers will have the game released onto their store shelves this Friday, there still has been no news of a North American release which continues to haunt fans of the JRPG genre and those who simply don’t want to watch their Wii die without a whimper. Of course importation is always another step they could take and may end up being the only way they could play Xenoblade Chronicles.
Brink may have been a unique mixture of parkour and first person shooter combat but not everything was perfect with the game when it was released, and who better to admit it than the lead designer at Splash Damage, Brink’s developer. Neil Alphonso admitted to Joystiq that the game’s launch “was rough, but in the end the game’s done alright.” He went on to say that the best thing they can do right now is to “keep supporting the game and tuning it more and more.”
He also admitted that a large number of complaints that reviewers and gamers had about the title “were entirely valid.” Despite this, the sales numbers for the title weren’t terrible and with the recent release of free DLC and a free playable weekend on Steam, the market is really buzzing for the few month old title.
If you were hoping to purchase Konami’s PlayStation3 release of No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise then you should probably take a look at Amazon.com because the online retailer has decided that the best way to push the game’s sales is to drop the price of the game down to $29.99 despite the game not coming out until tomorrow. This is different from the usual offering that Amazon makes with pre-orders, which usually gives pre-orderers Amazon Credit.
Amazon also posted up their exclusive pre-order DLC items which come with both a new weapon and a new motorcycle for your traveling convenience. As you can see above, players will receive a “Cross Saver” katana and the “Moto Magazine 2” motorcycle. The game itself is released tomorrow and you can pre-order from Amazon here.
Heroes of Ruin, made by n-space and published by Square-Enix, has a new trailer released. The game is a dungeon crawler featuring online multiplayer with a drop in and out playing mcechanic.
The title is coming out for the 3DS in 2012, as evidenced by the quote below (taken from the youtube video).
In a land of danger, an alliance is born to protect the land from a rising tide of evil and deception. Coming 2012 from n-space and Square Enix London Studios.
Be sure to check out the trailer, embedded below, as well as our interview with Square-Enix on ourpodcast (releasing later this week).
The team over at TrionWorlds have released the latest installment of lore for their MMORPG Rift. This piece of lore talks of the Ruins of Aelfwar and is quite an interesting piece of lore and history in the world of Telara.
The lore has been reproduced below.
The House rules
There has always been a cult of Greenscale, though it was not always called House Aelfwar. Once, the name Aelfwar stood for the eternal devotion and untarnished honor of the High Elven royal house. But when Shyla Starhearth led the Elven people to fight in the Mathosian Civil War, Prince Hylas of Aelfwar stayed behind with his court, refusing to meddle in the affairs of men.
Shyla died in Mathosia and returned as an Ascended to find House Aelfwar… changed. Their devotion to the wild had grown fanatical, making enemies of the Mathosians and Dwarves. That the Ascended were blessed by Tavril meant nothing to the Aelfwar, whose new god represented Life at its fiercest and most uncompromising— Greenscale.
Today, House Aelfwar is an army of radical thugs and terrorists who hate civilization where once they loved nature. They embrace unbridled strength and savagery, and with every move they work to spread the primeval forest and free their overlord.
The Prince venomous
Shyla will never understand how Hylas could betray the High Elves. She more than anyone knew his heart, and the Hylas she knew would never have thought to serve Greenscale. And she is right. Hylas never did think it. The Fae Lord Twyl planted the idea in his head, whispering to the brave prince as he rode alone through the wood.
In time, Hylas became Twyl’s protegé, mastering Life magic and following the commandments of Greenscale. In the deadly and charismatic prince, Twyl saw a perfect pawn. In the capricious Twyl, Hylas saw an unworthy leader. He played to the Faerie’s arrogance, and quickly rose above Twyl in Greenscale’s eye with superior aggression and cunning. Now, no one much remembers what the cult of Greenscale was called before. House Aelfwar has swallowed it whole, the strong devouring the weak, as is proper.
Hylas is indeed a more capable leader than Twyl, and at his command, House Aelfwar has spread out of Silverwood like the roots of a crooked tree. They unleash forest trolls and savage raptors upon helpless villagers. They drive the wilderness before them like a ravenous tide. Prince Hylas will see Greenscale set loose, and will hunt with his true Elves like the horned kings of old.
Crawling vines
A bean sprout peeks through the cobbles in a village square one morning. By afternoon, it has grown taller than a hillock and wider than an oak, and sprouted thorny vines. The vines choke the roads, strangle the livestock. Dying beasts cough up spores that take root in the flesh of men. The spores blossom into burning nettle. The next day, the beanstalk stands tall as any granitewood. The cottages have sunk into fissures around its roots.
A week goes by, and there may as well have never been a village. There is only a patch of hideous forest, the vines tangled with bits of wood and bone. And a hooded Elf makes his way to the next village, counting the Life Seeds in his pouch.
Be sure to check out the the Official Site for more info.
SEGA and Sports Interactive have announced today that Football Manager 2012 will be released before Christmas this year, in addition to exposing the features of this year’s title.
The highly successful series has topped UK and other European PC charts and the new edition is set to have expanded to even greater heights with over 800 new features promised.
“It’s another year of evolution, with some revolution thrown in for good measure so we’re pretty sure our dedicated communities, and hopefully lots of new people too, get to play and enjoy the game when it’s released later in the year.” said the studio manager of Sports Interactive, Miles Jacobson.
If we were to list every new feature, you’d probably have missed the release date before you finish reading them so we’ll just highlight some of the key improvements:
Transfers and Contracts: Significant improvements in both the transfer and contracting system including a greater level of detail in negotiations such as loyalty bonuses.
Scouting improvements: using several real life scouting reports and squad analysis.
3D Match Improvements: new animations, a whole new crowd system, improved weather system, more stadiums and new camera options.
Tone: a whole new level has been added to team talks and conversations, with the new tone system, which allows you to specify the way you want to say things – whether you want to give your players a good verbal beating or subject them to silent tripping, it’s up to you.
Other main areas which have seen improvement are the interface, press conferences, tutorials, the youth system and social networking options.
