Monthly Archives: February 2012

Paradox Interactive: One Does Not Simply Release A Game In Japan…

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…You change the cover to something more marketable. Real-Time Strategy game Pirates of Black Cove, developed by Paradox Interactive, was release back on August 2nd, 2011. Recently they’ve decided to release the game in Japan. However, they might be aware of how different Japanese geeks and otaku consume games than we do. So, instead of Japan seeing the short, stumpy pirate with a scowl on his face, they get an attractive anime girl with long black hair, a decent pair of knockers, and a rather ornate gun. Normally, we see this happening the other way around, but this is one of the few times that a cover to a Western game is changed for Japan. So far, the cover art seems to be the only change to the game. Everything else is presumed untouched (outside of maybe changing text to Japanese).

So what do you think? Is the change good or should they have left it alone?

Paradox Takes “Marketing to Japanese 101″ [Sankaku Complex]

Nintendo Ad Campaigns Retrospective

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[This retrospective has been updated to include new info, broken videos restored, and the addition of the Wii U campaign. If you wish to see it, click here.]

You have an idea for a product. You make the product. And now it’s time to sell the product. So what’s the one thing you’ll do to sell your product? Advertise it of course. This is pretty much the pattern that most product makers follow. In the game industry it’s no different. With catchy slogans, flashy graphics, and some off-the-wall shenanigans, an ad is supposed to convince you to buy the product they are selling. But ignoring all of the attempts to sell and actually looking at the ad, they always seem to be a product of the era that they were released in. So for this retrospective, we’re going to look at one of the longest living game companies, Nintendo, from when we played with power to two guys asking us if Wii would like to play.

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UK Retailer GAME In Big Trouble, Not Stocking The Last Story

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Just as news breaks that The Last Story was being released in North America, UK retailer GAME had downgraded everyone’s preorders of the Limited Edition version to the standard one. Now comes word that they won’t be stocking that version either and have cancelled all preorders for The Last Story. So far there’s no word yet if those preorders were getting refunded. As Metro point out, this is just another black eye in what seems to be a flurry of punches aimed at GAME as they try to survive losing credit insurance from banks. Ever since the credit downgrade and losing that insurance, it’s been difficult for GAME to stock games as companies are fearful that they won’t see those sales. GAME couldn’t stock Tekken 3D Prime Edition, Metal Gear Solid HD, and NeverDead. And now they’re having trouble stocking not only The Last Story, but practically all of Ubisoft’s Vita titles. That five games in one shot!

Hopefully this won’t spark a downward spiral for the videogame retail industry. Many have been citing the death of brick & mortar game stores as being close by. With the problems occurring at GAME and publishers’ efforts to curtail the used game market through practices like online passes and DRM, those analysts might have something to boast about. Though as a person from the outside looking in, it looks like the UK gaming public saw this coming (if the comments are anything to go by).

GAME won’t sell The Last Story or Ubisoft’s Vita games [Metro]

The Last Story Coming To America Courtesy of XSEED Games [UPDATE]

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In a Nintendo Direct video posted this morning, Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that The Last Story would be coming to North America sometime this year. Interestingly, XSEED Games will be publishing this title (after reports said that Nintendo didn’t want another publisher handling it). No word yet if XSEED will be using the build created for Europe or if they’ll be using American voice actors. [Update] According to Operation Rainfall (via the XSEED Forums), The NA localization will be based on the European version. So I guess this is another score for the Rainfall guys. There’s still one title left, but I think it’s safe to say that we’re good for now.

Reggie also revealed the winning art that will be used in the inlay of Xenoblade Chronicles if anyone’s interested. Maybe there will be one for The Last Story as well.

The Wired Fish Podcast Season 2 – Episode 4

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Ahoy! After a long, long bout of bad luck with health (damn you flu!), Episode 4 of the Podcast has finally set sail. On this episode, we talk about AMY, how bad the reviews of it are, and reminisce about what makes survival horror scary. Then, we look back on the history of Hudson and other companies that have fallen since the start of this generation. And finally, we cover the resurgance of so-called “Game of the Year/Complete” editions of games and why this might be bad for the industry.

Timestamp table of contents after the break.

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Persona 4: The Ultimate Confirmed For U.S. Release With Shortented Name

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Atlus has just confirmed that Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena will be released in the U.S. for Xbox 360 and PS3 this summer. With this release comes a new, shorter name for those that thought it was a mouthful (or just felt uncomfortable using the P4U abbreviation). It’ll be known as Persona 4: Arena in the U.S. No word yet if the English voice cast will come back reprise their rolls, or what that one card is hiding on the Japanese website’s character screen. Pre-orders are currently being taken though Gamestop, Amazon, and VGP. The U.S. site is up, but so far there’s only the pre-order information shown.

Retro Weekends – Killer Instinct

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Welcome to Fighting February! This month, we’ll be covering four retro fighting games. As they say, what’s love without pain. So sit back, relax, grab a loved one, and promptly break up because you’re being a cheap-ass with the hadoukens. Trust us, it’ll make us feel less lonely :)

The year is 1994. The fighting game craze is in full swing with Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, and many others are duking it out for the most quarters and carts at home. While the more niche enthusiasts of fighting games had a plethora to choose from, the mainstream crowd sided with either Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat. Nintendo, and by extension Rareware, saw this as an opportunity to jump into the fray. With a new console on the horizon and some sick-ass hardware to work with now, Rare was ready to level the playing field and offer a viable third option for players looking for that Killer Instinct.

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New Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 info surfaces, will feature online multiplayer

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A listing for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 has cropped up on the Xbox Live Marketplace with new info and screens of the game, which can be seen after the jump. The game, according to the listing, will feature four new zones, a new special stage, an updated physics engine, and both offline and online multiplayer with Tails.

This may have been an oversight, as Sega may have had other plans on how to reveal more info on the game, but my attention shifted elsewhere the moment I heard “multiplayer” and “Tails”.  I have fond memories of playing the genesis era Sonic games with my cousin.  Of course, he’d be stuck as Tails, but that’s another story. I’m pretty sure that many Sonic fans have nostalgic memories of Sonic 2 and 3‘s multiplayer, so what I’m really excited about is the online component. Allowing both players to have their own screens gives Sega the potential to really improve on the original formula. Rather than having Tails go on autopilot whenever he’s left behind or runs too far ahead, the person controlling Tails may be able to split up from Sonic and explore different parts of the level. Or if the two players want to focus on working together, it should be easier now since one wouldn’t have to worry about keeping the exact same pace as the other. All in all, if Sega takes advantage of that, I think it would be an update many Sonic fans could appreciate. That, and I think a lot more people would be volunteering to play as Tails.

Via: Joystiq
Souce: Xbox Live Marketplace

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Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution – Play As More Than Just The Unicorn

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About two weeks ago, Robotpencil alerted his watchers on DeviantART that Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution was released. You’ll probably recognize his work from several months back , which is the splash screen for the game’s title screen. Now about the game. It sports clean, updated graphics and the ability to play as a Panda, a Wolf, a Gorilla, and a Dragon. You unlock them as you destroy stars. So now the game feels like it has a goal (which is to get to the Dragon). You can also unlock abilities like an extra jump, gliding, and a steadier pace. For now you can only play Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution on Facebook. No word yet if Adult Swim will have it playable on their site.

Retro Weekends – Mortal Kombat

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Welcome to Fighting February! This month, we’ll be covering four retro fighting games. As they say, what’s love without pain. So sit back, relax, grab a loved one, and promptly break up because you’re being a cheap-ass with the hadoukens. Trust us, it’ll make us feel less lonely :)

Since the beginning, videogames have been a relatively bloodless affair. There were some excursions in shameless debauchery, one major unchecked headshot, and a journey through a pulsating heart. But overall even the most down to earth games saw no blood spilling on the pavement. Even Street Fighter II, a game about beating the living shit outta your opponent, relegated the blood to the losing fighter’s portraits. But then one company thought that maybe that blood should come to the forefront of battle. And before you knew it, everyone’s hands were soaked in digital blood. After the break, Fighting February continues with the original Mortal Kombat.

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It’s February, Where’s Grand Knights History?

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Late last year, XSEED Games said that they would be bringing over PSP game Grand Knights History and planned to release it some time around Winter. Normally, as the season draws closer, we’d get a more precise date and, in this case (niche game and all), a small marketing push. Well it’s February, and absolutely noting has come out from XSEED about Grand Knights History, a title developed by the Vanillaware. Siliconera did some investigating on XSEED’s Facebook page and saw that fans were also wondering about the game. They came to the conclusion that XSEED themselves have no idea when they’ll be releasing the game.

Grand Knights History has already been released in Japan to good reviews and sales. Vanillaware is still developing Dragon’s Crown, but even the fate of that game’s Western release is in question. And now that the world’s looking toward the future with the Playstation Vita, interest in this game will plummet, and XSEED might either have to bring the game to Vita, keep it on PSP and expect very low sales, or drop the game altogether.

Xseed Games’ Release of “Grand Knights History” is Stuck in Limbo [Crunchyroll, via Siliconera]

A Brief History of the Playstation’s Confirm And Cancel Buttons

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Editor’s Note: Since Kotaku’s Richard Eisenbeis published an article relating to this topic, I figured I’d go ahead and finish this one off. I wrote this back in September, with the last revision being on Sep. 29. It was all written, but I lost interest in wanting to publish it. But now the topic’s flared up again, and I got back the motivation to publish it. Consider this an expansion of that article.

Some of you may already be aware of the fact that Japan and The West press different buttons to confirm or cancel when using a Playstation controller. So to those people, you probably don’t need to read this, but stick around for the end. As for everyone else, I’ll provide you with an explanation as to why the X and Circle buttons serve different purposes in Japan and The West. For the purpose of this article, X is “X“, and Circle is “O“. Now I know there are many gamers out there that play import games from Japan. Some of them are new to it and are still having trouble adapting to pressing circle for nearly everything menu based. Some of you probably don’t play import games, but encountered the Japanese Button Configuration in games that forgot to change it (like Xenosaga). Some could probably just brush it off as just something weird that Japan does (which is nothing new). But there is a deeper explanation as to why the X and O buttons are configured that way in Japan and why it’s different The West, and we may have Nintendo to thank for that.

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Video Game Music w/ the James Episode 9 : Simple NES Music

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This article came out a little over a week ago (probably two by the time of publication), and I both loved and hated it so much, I knew I wanted to use it as the inspiration for some of my musical discussion.

The author tells a familiar tale of how video game music just isn’t what it used to be and takes a stab at explaining one reason why : limitation.  The underlying principle, one that I somewhat agree with is that some of the greatest game music came out of composers doing the best that they could do with the sound resources they had available; in the early days of gaming, this amount was very little.

While I agree with the principle, it’s no excuse for the direction game music is taking.  Gregory admits that there are exceptions to the rule especially in the realm of Japanese gaming, but why is that?  The soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy 2 uses an orchestra as big as many other modern games for instance, and yet its music falls far from the “disposable” category.

I started thinking a lot about the state of game music, what happened to change the nature of such music, and what we can do as composers and/or listeners to keep video game music relevant even today.

And thus I decided to go on a journey exploring different generations of game music.  Who knows, maybe there’s something to learn from all of this.

Part 1 : Simple NES/Gameboy Music

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Megaman X Confirmed for UMvC3! …As A Costume

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Imagine the look on my face when I saw none other than Megaman X in a thumbnail on Facebook, linking to Capcom’s Unity page. It was of joy and glee… which soon turned to pessimism. It’s no secret that much of us on TWF haven’t been liking Capcom lately, what with UMvC3, Megaman Legends 3 getting cancelled, RE: The Mercenaries 3D having that stupid DRM, and putting that… thing on Street Fighter X Tekken. But this, this takes the whole damn cake son!  Many have clamored, emailed, and begged for some kind of Megaman to be put in this game. We would get over the fact that we’d be ripped off anyway. But make no mistake: This is not Megaman X. It is a costume for Zero! So you mean to tell me that Capcom was able to put the damn model in the game but notmake him en entirely new character? *woosa*

Well, al least we know they still have some form of care for the blue bomber. And there’s some other costumes for Trish, Hawkeye, and Taskmaster if you’re interested in those. But come the hell on!?

Ultimate MvC3 costume blog: Weapon Expert pack [Capcom Unity]

The Breakdown – Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

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System: GBA/Publisher: Konami/Developer: Konami/Players: 1/Released/Sep. 16, 2002

While the world enjoys the new Harmony that descended on the downloadable game scene, I took the time to go out and buy an old Harmony on the GBA. Released after Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance released during a sort of renaissance period for the series as Castlevania was once again a force to be reckoned with in the gaming scene after the release of SoTN. However, this entry was seen as a bit lackluster, and to this day is seen as the black sheep of the post-SoTN games. Were the initial critiques spot on? Has the game aged better as time went on. Or should it have been a forgotten note? After the break, I breakdown Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.

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