New Games |
- Videogames are history, seriously
- Japanese get pretty Mega Man puzzle game for cell phones
- Ocarina of Time swag available on eBay, for a price
- Japanese market keeps NIS stuck on PSP Development
- Pandora's Tower rumored for European release
- Anime Expo: Rusty Hearts unveils new fighter and PvP
- Xbox Indies: Wizards, rainbows and certain doom
- Final Fantasy VII is not overrated
- Rhythm Heaven Wii makes Nintendo of America look good
- Anime Expo: Aksys Games bringing the hot guy action
- Forums, we have them: July 2011
- Sony's 'Welcome Back' promotion on PSN ends today!
- GameTrailers tackles the Triforce myth in Ocarina of Time
| Videogames are history, seriously Posted: 03 Jul 2011 04:00 PM PDT Videogames have come a long way since the days of the Odyssey and Atari, yet even decades later old titles like Pong and Duck Hunt continue to influence new generations of games. One group of men, responsible for the Classic Gaming Expo, want to ensure that gaming history is preserved for the future and have launched a project on Kickstarter in order to raise enough money to start a Video Game History Museum. The planned museum will house the combined collections of the same trio who started the CGE, John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli, all of whom have made a career out of preserving video game history. As well as serving to display the history of gaming and honor those who started it all, there will be displays for consoles and games (some of which never made it to release), hardware and software designs, along with press kits and magazines to name just a fraction of what they have amassed over the years. In addition there will be interactive exhibits (this is a video game museum after all) and special events with the hope to one day host the Classic Gaming Expo there. Anyone interested can donate as little as five dollars or as much as $10,000, with most donations earning some sort of reward, like your name on a plaque of founding donors. That little treat will only cost you $1,000 which is about as much as it would cost to buy fifteen brand new video games. The project will be running until September 1st, and even if you aren't interested in donating, you can always watch the video they have up, which may have been recorded on a camera from the Atari generation. The Videogame History Museum [Kickstarter - Thanks, Cataract] |
| Japanese get pretty Mega Man puzzle game for cell phones Posted: 03 Jul 2011 03:00 PM PDT Upside: there's a new Mega Man game! Downside: it's exclusive to the Japanese mobile market and unrelated to Legends 3. C'est la vie. For DoCoMo cell phones in Japan comes Rockman: The Puzzle Battle, a reworking of the Blue Bomber's freshman adventure as a gem-matching game in the vein of Puzzle Quest. You deal damage to Robot Masters by aligning three or more gems; by beating a boss, you acquire his special weapon that affects the board in some way (e.g. Elec Man's Thunder Beam will clear all like-colored gems instantly). The coolest part of this game is definitely the art, which stays true to the original NES sprite work while adding a touch of detail and shading. Maybe if Mega Man Universe sported this style, it wouldn't have been canceled! Just a thought. After the jump is a gameplay video. It's of very low quality, but it gets the point across. New Japanese Cell Phone Game: Rockman the Puzzle Battle [The Mega Man Network]
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| Ocarina of Time swag available on eBay, for a price Posted: 03 Jul 2011 02:00 PM PDT Sometimes publishers offer amazing incentives for pre-ordering a game. Depending on circumstances such as where you live, those bonuses may not always be available, no matter how much you might want them. Lucky for us there will always be the power of eBay. Right now, Zelda fans can either bid on a can of the Great Deku Tree seeds or, for a much larger sum, the entire bundle that Nintendo Greece was offering as part of their The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D pre-order deal. If you are only interested in owning the Great Deku Tree seeds, you still have a little over a day left to enter a bid for the sealed tin which, according to the auction page, contains seeds that can grow into actual trees. No promise on what type of trees will grow, though I doubt they will have bushy eyebrows and a mustache. For the entire bundle, be ready to drop at least $290 to get a Greek version of the game along with all of the extra goodies, which might be kind of nice to have if you are a diehard Zelda collector. Or speak Greek. Either way you do have about 18 days left to decide if $290 is a worthwhile investment for collectable Ocarina of Time 3D swag. Great Deku Tree seeds are sprouting up on eBay |
| Japanese market keeps NIS stuck on PSP Development Posted: 03 Jul 2011 01:00 PM PDT You want Disgaea 4 on the Xbox? So does Nippon Ichi's president, Haru Akenga. In an interview, Haru explained that Nippon Ichi asks Microsoft for the opportunity to develop for the system all the time, particularly when it comes to their Disgaea games. If only fan demand was seen as a convincing argument. Alas, it's not that simple: Nippon Ichi has only 80 employees, and to make matters worse, the Japanese market for the 360 is negligible. That last bit is crucial, as the Japanese market is their priority -- this is the reason that Nippon Ichi focuses so heavily on PSP development. Hence, even if they were able to develop for the 360, it's very unlikely that Nippon Ichi would act on it anyway. "If they have time to develop for Xbox 360, they would rather use the time to develop titles for PSP. That’s the situation," laments Haru. While it's obvious that this is a business decision, I'm not sure that the Japanese market should dictate what happens on western shores. The Xbox market is very healthy in the west, and if there's a property of Nippon Ichi's that can break the 50,000 target sales necessary to get the green light for development, it's definitely Disgaea. Our fan-powered interview with NIS America's president part 1 [Siliconera] |
| Pandora's Tower rumored for European release Posted: 03 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT Pandora's Tower is the most low profile of the three games that Operation Rainfall is pushing Nintendo to release in the United States. That's why I'm so pleasantly surprised to hear preliminary reports from Japan Expo 2011 that the game will be released in Europe in 2012. We already had the sense that Nintendo of Europe may pick up the game based on their decision to give it some space on the Expo's show floor (along with the other two Operation Rainfall titles, Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story), but we're still waiting from official word from Nintendo themselves. Until then, we can sit tight on the word that "the team at Livegen presented on the site some capital information: the release of the Ganbarion's title is indeed set for 2012 in Europe" (translated from French). I'm hoping that if all three of these games do well in Europe, that Nintendo of America will go back on its decision to pass on them. If not, I'll definitely import them all. That's easy for me to say, because I'm a filthy rich videogame blogger (and by that I mean, I'll eat ramen noodles and white bread for a month if it means saving the necessary funds to import these games). But what about you guys out there that are already scraping by on noodles and bread crumbs? Are you hard up for these games to the point that you'll import them, or are you more inclined to procure these titles by less scrupulous means? Pandora's Tower officiellement en Europe pour 2012 [Gamekyo, via GoNintendo] |
| Anime Expo: Rusty Hearts unveils new fighter and PvP Posted: 03 Jul 2011 11:00 AM PDT If you missed out on our E3 coverage of Rusty Hearts, Perfect World’s free-to-play, dungeon crawling, hack’n slash, action online RPG, don’t worry I did too. Hell I even walked past the eye-catching anime inspired cross between God of War and Castle Crashers numerous times at this year’s E3. After getting some hands-on with it at Anime Expo I’m not really sure why. While not too much has changed since the E3 build of Rusty Hearts in the gameplay department, the folks at Perfect World had a couple new features to show off. A new playable character Frantz — a mid-ranged melee specialist with some fancy magical abilities—and the unveiling of Rusty Hearts Player versus Player modes. Starting with the half vampire Frantz, a sort of Richter Belmont meets Dante, I felt instantly at home with a control pad in hand. Frantz is a good balance of speed, strength and awesome magical abilities that really allow for a lot of high level combos with a little practice. Quick double taps of the analog stick allow Frantz to teleport through enemies to easily get the upper hand and if you’ve played Devil May Cry you’ll be right at home with him, minus the guns.
Rusty Hearts is fully playable and customizable with a keyboard, but I couldn’t imagine pulling off some of the more complicated combos with it. Then again I’m all thumbs. My one complaint at the moment with the controller setup though is that currently there is no way to use healing items without the keyboard. Perfect World assured me that they are still tweaking controller optimization, so I’m pretty confident they will find a good solution for this. After completing my run through of a dark and dank wine cellar, time pressing, I took a brief look at the PvP aspect of Rusty Hearts. Solo and Team Survival and Deathmatch, Leader Match (where your goal is to take down… well the other teams leader) and Tag Team make up the multitude of ways to be involved in some heated multiplayer battles. Unfortunately with a limited AX setup, I was only able to engage in a one versus one Solo Survival Match where I was thoroughly spanked by a seasoned member of the Perfect World staff. While not the strongest showing of Rusty Hearts PvP, I could definitely see the potential in some heated four versus four battles. While Rusty Hearts can be enjoyed solo, four-player online co-op seems to be where it’s at. Closed Beta registration begins July 27 with a projected release date of September 2011 for the final product. I’ve tended to stay away from the free-to-play market for lack of polish, but after getting some hands-on with Perfect World’s Rusty Hearts that just may have to change. |
| Xbox Indies: Wizards, rainbows and certain doom Posted: 03 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT Every week, PC Editor Jordan Devore and I play through the demos of the latest Xbox Live Indie Games releases as part of our live streaming show, Saturday Morning Hangover. If you missed the show, not to worry. I mean, you should be worried because you're missing out on some of the very best entertainment available, provided that the only thing available is Destructoid's Justin.tv channel and you're only looking between the hours of ten and noon Pacific. You shouldn't feel too bad about missing the Xbox Live Indie Games demos, however. The vast majority are junk. Still, there are always a few gems hidden in there. Here are the titles we thought deserve a little bit of your attention from the past week.
If I looked like a garden gnome, I'd probably be pretty pissed off too. Angry Wizards is a twin-stick shooter that evokes memories of Gauntlet. You control a perturbed practitioner of the dark arts and explore dungeons filled with monsters and cash. It supports up to four players on the couch in local cooperative play and winds up a simple but enjoyable little shooter.
Bright neon and chunky pixels shine in Rainbow Runner, a forced-scrolling shooter. Running along the ground and using the right analog stick to aim, take out the bright and colorful enemies. At the same time, switch your character's color with the face buttons to match oncoming barriers and enemy fire to prevent damage. It's a bit tricky to manage both shooting and the colors but, once used to the controls, Rainbow Runner is a challenging and fun race with great music and fair variety in additional gameplay modes.
Guide your Xbox 360 Avatar past obstacles and through targets as it plummets through the sky to its inevitable, bone-cracking destination. While I would not normally recommend and Avatar-based game nor one which is effectively a clone of another rather good indie game (AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity), Avatar Without a Chute merits mention for two reasons: It's cheap and it's about as close as you can get to physically disfiguring your Avatar. Watching them fold up on themselves as they ragdoll off of objects they hit is pretty funny, truth be told, and the game plays well enough. But if you like the demo, I'd recommend you hop on Steam and grab AaAaAA!!! instead. [Make sure to tune in to Saturday Morning Hangover every Saturday at 10am Pacific on Destructoid's Justin.tv channel to see the full range of the week's Xbox Indies and join Jordan and I as we play them for your amusement.] |
| Final Fantasy VII is not overrated Posted: 03 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT Final Fantasy VII is, without a doubt, the most influential and well known game in the Final Fantasy series. It's hardly surprising, then, that there's an army of detractors who have set out to diminish it. After all, if something is popular, it must be terrible. Whenever something becomes too popular, the same old word is trotted out -- overrated. Whenever you bring up Final Fantasy VII, it is inevitable that the "O" word will rear its ugly head in due time. Is Final Fantasy VII overrated, or are people just lashing out at it due to its popularity? Personally, I think it deserves all the praise it gets. To say something is overrated is to say that it does not deserve its critical success and that those who remember it fondly are injecting their memories with a little too much fondness. Oftentimes, I find the term "overrated" an arrogant one, as you're implying somebody else should tone down their appreciation of something because you don't care for it. Much of the time, I think the term betrays intellectual cowardice, as some people just want to say that they dislike a game but use "overrated" to dress it up and artificially make their personal opinion look like part of an objective, factual statement. With Final Fantasy VII, I've seen many debates over the years regarding its status, but I've rarely -- if ever -- seen a convincing argument that it hasn't earned its place as one of the most influential videogames of all time. In fact, it's usually somebody just complaining that the game is "shit" without offering much in the way of valid debate. This argument is not about which Final Fantasy is the best. Most people who shit on Final Fantasy VII just seem to be bitter that history remembers it more readily than Final Fantasy VI. I happen to think Final Fantasy IX is the best in the series, but that doesn't mean I'm about to disregard what Final Fantasy VII did as a game and why it deserves its critical acclaim. Final Fantasy VII is, for many gamers, the first Final Fantasy they were introduced to. Like it or not, this game became an ambassador not just for Final Fantasy, but for the entire genre of Japanese role-playing games. I was one of those people for whom Final Fantasy VII represented a new style of gaming. Earlier or later games in the series might have ended up more highly regarded by players such as I, but for a first exposure, VII became an incredibly important game. If there's one thing not even the most ardent detractor can deny, it's Final Fantasy VII's impact and legacy. It was this game that made the Final Fantasy series overseas, and carved out a whole new international market for Japanese role-playing games. This is especially true in Europe, where VII was the first Final Fantasy game to ever be released. As a gamer who grew up in Europe, I cannot state enough just what an influence Final Fantasy VII had. This game caused me to look at videogames with a whole new respect -- it made me think of games not just as fun distractions, but as potentially superior ways of delivering a story. I was able to comprehend a sense of immersion and narrative ambition that I just hadn't seen in any form of entertainment before -- a journey across an entire world that the audience itself could get lost in. Such concepts are taken for granted now, and often shunned as gamers grow up and don't have enough spare time for a huge role-playing world. In 1997, however, as a teenager who until that point thought Eternal Champions boasted a deep story, Final Fantasy VII's concepts were a revelation. It's true that Final Fantasy VII's story isn't perfect, with a few ludicrous concepts and some silly dialog, but I will proudly say that I still enjoy it with no issue at all. It runs the gamut of emotions, with inspiring moments such as the big parachuting return to Midgar, tragic scenarios such as the story of Dyne, comedic elements provided by characters like Barret and Cait Sith, a number of mind-bending plot twists and even a few scenes that could be described as horror. Final Fantasy VII is made up of incredible "moments," those scenes that endure in the mind, where the mere mention of them will instantly evoke a mental picture without further description -- I can simply stay "Shinra Building motorcycle," and I am confident that many people will get the exact same image in their head, with the appropriate music. The range of characters are some of the most diverse in videogame history, and each one comes with its own unique history and important development. Cloud Strife, who goes from cocky jerkass to shattered personality and finally redeemed hero, is an engaging protagonist whose identity crisis is almost torturous to watch. Barret starts the game as comic relief, but as you learn more about what he went through, the emotional burden he carries on his shoulders, and his reasoning for rebelling against the Shinra corporation, he becomes one of the most endearing personalities in the game. Even Cait Sith, the silly robot cat, has his own story to tell, and comes to represent a man in a powerless position, attempting to change his own life as well as save others. Final Fantasy VII didn't just throw a bunch of one-dimensional stereotypes at the player -- very obvious care and attention went into crafting a memorable personality out of each cast member, and that is why they're so memorable today. I can't name half the characters in Final Fantasy XIII anymore, but I can rattle off Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, Aeris/Aerith Gainsborough, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie and Cid Highwind without much effort at all. Sure, stories have come along in games that I've found to be superior, but that doesn't mean VII hasn't earned its praise. For a game to present so many concepts and run the player through so many emotions isn't a small feat. I feel Final Fantasy VII hit a range of feelings and a variety of concepts that no other game has managed before or since -- it might not have hit all of them perfectly, but when you truly stand back and look at what the game accomplished narratively, from beginning to end, it's hard not to be impressed. As a game, VII is also to be credited with popularizing and refining turn-based combat. Many people have turned against the idea of random encounters and turn-based battles, with even Square Enix refusing to stick to the concept, but I feel the notion still has a place in videogames, and that Final Fantasy VII provided the best delivery. As well as superb Active Time Battle combat, VII also brought us the Materia system -- a compelling method of gaining new abilities by equipping and mastering them. This allowed for far greater player control over a party's combat prowess, and added in tons of gameplay as players would hunt for rare Materia and work on strengthening it. As well as the epic main story, Final Fantasy VII ought to be praised for some of the best secrets and sidequests to be found in a role-playing game. Chief among them, of course, is the Chocobo breeding that could end up just as engaging and time-consuming as the "real" game. Yes, I spent far more of my life than I should have done embarking on a quest to breed the Gold Chocobo, but I did it, and I had a blast the whole way. Don't get me started on the Gold Saucer -- a veritable time vampire whose wealth of minigames is so famous that casinos and fairgrounds in other role-playing games are often regarded as "Gold Saucer areas." One must also mention the Weapons, a series of optional boss encounters that still live on as some of the most infuriating bastards to ever be encountered in a game. Over the years, the tactics for facing these monstrosities have been refined and passed among the populace, but back in the day, the name of Emerald Weapon evoked fear and respect. As with the Chocobo rearing, these battles became games almost in and of themselves. Players would dedicate their time not to beating the main quest, but to becoming strong enough to take down these beasts and earn the precious, delicious bragging rights. Again, other games have had optional bosses, but few had their defeat become a life goal for so many gamers. Sidequests of such a lengthy and compelling nature have fallen by the wayside in modern times, as games grow shorter and budgets become too bloated for extra content. VII arrived at just the right time, and as such, still boasts far more to discover and enjoy than most role-playing games developed today. Not even its fellow PlayStation titles, VIII and IX, had a world map so bursting with as many secret areas, optional bosses and time-draining sub-games. I'm not saying you have to like any of this. Nobody has to like Final Fantasy VII for its achievements. What I'm saying is that those who do like the game and appreciate the many things it did -- both on a personal level and a cultural one -- are utterly, utterly right in doing so. This game means so much to so many people not because they're overrating it, but because it truly was a revelation at the time and boasts an experience that still holds up today. Final Fantasy VII was downloaded over 100,000 times within the first two weeks of its PlayStation Network launch -- there are just that many people out there who can still enjoy themselves with this game, over a decade since it first appeared. Games don't have that kind of lasting power just because a group of people got together and decided to love it too much. Final Fantasy VII has this kind of lasting power because it was just that damn good, and accomplished that damn much. That's why it is not overrated. It earned the right to be loved. |
| Rhythm Heaven Wii makes Nintendo of America look good Posted: 03 Jul 2011 08:00 AM PDT  Nintendo of America has been getting a a lot of bad press lately. Operation Rainfall, and their efforts to convince NoA to localize Pandora's Tower, The Last Story, and Xenoblade, continue to make headlines. More aggressive fans are pledging to boycott all of Nintendo's Wii titles until the company commits to publishing those three games. Club Nintendo went from giving out free games to commemorative pins. And don't even get me started on the 3DS eShop. So lets take a look at the bright side for a change. Nintendo of America has committed to publishing Rhythm Heaven on the Wii, and from the looks of this footage from the game's official Japanese site, things are looking good. There will be no use of motion controls (so you can expect spot on timing), the songs are as catchy as ever, the challenges are looking quirky and fun, and multi-player looks simple but effective. NoA's willingness to show this game at E3 proves that they aren't totally risk adverse. At least, that's what I hope this proves. Though they did announce the game for Western release at E3 2011, they are yet to show anything of the game translated into English. Even the E3 demo was completely in Japanese. Let's hope that NoA doesn't pull a bait and switch like they did with Monado/Xenoblade. More videos after the jump. Rhythm Heaven Wii site opens, brings tons of footage with it [Nintedaan's Youtube, via GoNintendo] |
| Anime Expo: Aksys Games bringing the hot guy action Posted: 03 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT So do you like hot guys? Well Aksys Games is hoping a few of you do. Not afraid to let the PSP die in North America Aksys Games announced two new titles for the ill-fated handheld at their “Publish Hard with a Vengeance” Anime Expo panel. Hakuoki Demon of the Fleeting Blossom is set to serve up a steaming batch of androgynous men for anyone looking for a little Otome (not to be confused with Yaoi) action sometime in early 2012. While no actual gameplay was shown of Hakuoki, Aksys described the game as a cross between their sleeper-hit of last year999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, and a dating-sim set in the late shogunate period of Japan. Fate/Extra, their other PSP title, looks to make both anime and JRPG fans happy later this year. Based off the popular anime Fate/Extra will allow players the choice of creating either a male or female protagonist when starting this dungeon crawl. Accompanying them on their journey, similar to the anime, one of three; Saber, Archer and Caster class servants (kind of like human Pokemon) offer up the usual RPG tropes during combat. Both titles will receive the premium upgrade when they launch respectively at retail. Unfortunately no details were provided on the contents of the package, but one thing is for sure – don’t count on a Saber pack in figure for Fate/Extra. |
| Forums, we have them: July 2011 Posted: 03 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT In this episode of Forums, we have them, E3 fever sweeps the forums, NARPs totally happen, a whole slew of new official game threads arrive and the Game Master is born. Also, check out the totally awesome van ivr56 created in APB. Stuff like this makes me wish I cared about that game at all. Of course it would have been irresponsible of us to update the list without sneaking something shiny and new in there to tempt our lovely bottom dwellers. Introducing the highly coveted Game Master Badge:
Needless to say we've got something for everyone so stop by and take a look. Oh yeah, a little thing called E3 also happened this month. You might have heard of it, if not hop over to the E3 Special Forum of Doom and get caught up on all the wacky antics of your favorite game developers. Have some strong feelings you need to get off your chest? We've got the E3 2011 reactions Thread where you can share your cheers and fears. |
| Sony's 'Welcome Back' promotion on PSN ends today! Posted: 03 Jul 2011 05:00 AM PDT Maybe you weren't sure yet which games to grab for free when Sony offered players their "Welcome Back" package some weeks ago. Well, I hope you're not stuck with Independence Day weekend celebrations far away from your PS3, because the offer is ending today, Sunday July 3rd. So if you haven't done it yet, go activate those 30 days of PlayStation Plus and grab your free games as soon as possible! Comment 5147 on the U.S. PlayStation Blog post about the Welcome Back package is saying the offer is already gone, so wherever you live: the sooner you check it, the better. Of course I'm writing this hours away from my PS3, having only grabbed inFAMOUS as my first free game last week and figuring I had time to decide between Dead Nation or Super Stardust HD next. You win this round, Murphy Ganondorf. |
| GameTrailers tackles the Triforce myth in Ocarina of Time Posted: 03 Jul 2011 04:00 AM PDT I bought The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D despite not yet owning a 3DS. I just wanted that soundtrack so badly. Does that make me a whore? I think that makes me a whore. Anyway, here's another video to satisfy your Zelda cravings. GameTrailers' Pop-Fiction series discusses some of the most popular gaming rumors and puts 'em to the test, MythBusters style. In the latest episode, they tackle the long-standing myth that the Triforce is obtainable in Ocarina of Time. The verdict may not come as a surprise, but these vids always uncover some enlightening nuggets. Pop Fiction Episode 13: The Triforce in Ocarina of Time [GameTrailers] |
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