Author Archives: Steven

About Steven

Editor-In-Chief of The Wired Fish since 2010. Suggestions, praise, and hate mail can be sent to steven@thewiredfishnetwork.com

GameStop To Close Around 500 Of Its Stores Nationwide

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Ah GameStop, a store with a storied history with many of us here at The Wired Fish. Gamestop’s annual sales report came in for 2012, and it’s not pretty. Gamestop sales took a hit last year with more people getting their games either online via Amazon or Wal-Mart, downloading digital versions of games, or getting their used game fix from Target and Best Buy. There’s also Gamefly and its slow, but useful, rental service for checking one’s doubts about a game. And in the wake of rumors of Anti-Used game features in the upcoming PS4 and Xbox Durango, the bread and butter of Gamestop’s business, the heat is on for the used game giant.

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Grasshopper Manufacture Bought By GungHo, Killer Is Dead To Be Published By XSEED

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Last week came news that Grasshopper Manufacture, the developer known for housing the batshit insane Suda 51, was bought up by GungHo Entertainment. GungHo is known for hosting the servers for Ragnarok Online and acquiring Gravity Co. Ltd., the developers of the game. GungHo also hosted the servers for MMORPG Shin Megami Tensei Imagine (which is now run by Atlus Online). Given the track record of this company, it seems like a strange choice for them to acquire Grasshopper Manufacture since GM has no experience with online games. However GungHo has faith in this new venture, stating in a press release, “We believe the strength of a publisher lies in its creative talent so with the addition of GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE and SUDA51 we are adding some of the most innovative talent in today’s gaming world.” The press release also touts GungHo’s access to AAA resources that Grasshopper can use in its development of future titles.

The other news regarding this acquisition is the announcement of Killer Is Dead‘s U.S. release. Grasshopper’s latest game will be published by rising niche publisher and fan favorite XSEED. Interestingly, GungHo already has a U.S. publishing branch with GungHo Online Entertainment America, and is run by XSEED’s former president, Jun Iwasaki. XSEED themselves have published several GungHo games, so it seems like these two publishers have a good relationship going. So why bother with a U.S. publishing branch for GungHo?

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Night-Time Listenings Wrap-Up: Week of 1/28/13

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Happy Late New Year! Well, I got a good month off from doing this segment, but it’s time Night-Time Listenings returned. And since this is a new year, let’s head to the future, all the way to the year of the futuristic racers. So all this week we payed homage to the Futuristic racer, which was filled with crunchy guitars, thumping basses, and speaker busting noises. Featured this week was F-ZERO, Extreme G, Kinetica, F-ZERO GX, and Wipeout HD Fury.

If you want to see the music as it goes up (and not wait every Saturday for these wrap-ups), remember to go to our Tumblr page and follow it. Music for Night-Time Listenings goes up every weekday at 10PM.

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Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams Heading To PSN Later This Year

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Developer Black Forest Games has confirmed via their stream that their game, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams will be console bound this around the Spring/Summer. Released on PC late last year after a successful Kickstarter campaign, this latest game gave players the ability to switch between both Cute and Punk variants of Giana, both having abilities exclusive to each type. Changing between the two also changed the world around Giana, with the dream side for Punk Giana and the nightmare side for Cute Giana. This mechanic as a big departure for the once clone game, nixing its more traditional Mario-like platforming to a more puzzle-platforming approach similar to other indie games in the market.

Black Forest has also enlisted the aid of original Giana Sisters composer Chris Hulsbeck and Swedish sid-metal band Machinae Supremacy. Giana Sisters DS composer Fabian Del Priore also returns. These three at the helm help to make the music match the changing mechanic, with Cute getting a more standard composition and Punk getting Machinae’s metal music.

So far there’s no word yet if the game will also be released on XBLA. It is however currently available on Steam, Origin, and Amazon.

[via Giana Sisters Facebook Page]

Maker Of Smash Bros. Injured Due To Repetitive Strain

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In the middle of developing the next Smash Bros. game for Wii U and 3DS, Masahiro Sakurai is reported to be suffering from repetitive strain injury for a lot of hard work. According to Polygon, the Smash Bros. creator has to now use a trackball to work. Sakurai states that his inability to use his arm is getting to “the point where it’s starting to restrict my work and lifestyle.” Along with using a trackball, he’s trying to see if he can issue vocal commands for those he’s supervising. He’s also attempting to use his left arm to work, but it’s not going so well.

Working with mouse and keyboard for extended periods of time can become quite a strain on your arm/wrist. I should know. Twice my left wrist went out of whack, making me unable to do much on work The Wired Fish both late last year and in late 2011. Both times were the result of mice that didn’t conform well to my hand and as a result screwed up my wrist. This never happened to me before 2011, but my time on a computer (which is a lot) probably contributed to my wrist being unfriendly to certain kinds of mice. With a bad wrist (or a bad arm in Sakurai’s case), all you can do is either use your other arm, or just take a break to keep it steady until it’s more functional.

Take a break if you must Sakurai. Last thing we need is someone getting ill from overwork.

Kirby creator gets bad RSI, extols the virtues of trackballs [Polygon, via Siliconera]

Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem Announced

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Woah. Um, ….woah. Did not see this coming at all. During a Wii U centered Nintendo Direct this morning, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced that Nintendo and Atlus were collaborating on a game. The trailer commenced with Shin Megami Tensei characters appearing on-screen. Looked normal. And then BAM, Fire Emblem characters! Now I’m very curious as to what exactly these two sides will bring to the table. Both franchises had their roots in being once Japan-Only titles and being RPGs. What could be more different from the two is one being much darker than the other. The stories of Shin Megami Tensei tend to deal with existential dilemmas, religion, and cast God as one big douchebag. Fire Emblem‘s plot varies from game to game, sometimes deals with a power struggle between kingdoms and a search for the titular Fire Emblem. And there’s also the game’s perma-death feature. Wonder if that’ll make it into this game.

One aspect I’m really curious about is the juxtaposition of the music from both franchises. Fire Emblem‘s music is known to have beautiful, sweeping orchestral arrangements, sometimes delving into more pounding rock-like compositions. SMT‘s music on the other hand is really dark with hard guitar riffs, odd voices (sometimes), and some pretty unnerving arrangements. You can even hear the difference in the trailer itself with the SMT characters being shown, followed by the Fire Emblem characters with their theme.
Gotta say, I’m pretty hyped!

Wii U – Shin-Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem Trailer

Super Smash Bros. And Playstation All-Stars: What Can They Learn From Each Other?

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As soon as Playstation All-Stars was announced and shown, the world erupted into what could be called a fanboy clusterfuck. While other games using the Smash Bros. formula have popped-up, most notably Jump Superstars, They’ve not garnered the vitriolic fervor that PSAS has gained. Being the level-headed console/pc agnostic I am, I was curious what developer Superbot would pull off. Super Smash Bros. has been largely uncontested in this genre of fighter, so seeing Playstation All-Stars, at first party attempt, appear as a contender can only be seen as a good thing for both games. As they say, competition breeds quality that is passed on to the consumer. And now that we have the console giants duking it out, what can these two games learn from each other?

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Project X Zone Comfirmed For U.S. And European Release

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The localization wave is riding high as now comes word that Project X Zone will be coming to the U.S. Developed by Namco Bandai, Project X Zone sees the universes and characters of SEGA, Namco, and Capcom clashing, wondering what the hell is going on. We’ve covered this game quite a bit here on The Wired Fish, and the collective over at 100,000 Strong To Localize Project X Zone took to Twitter to ask Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada to pitch the game to the higher ups at Namco to localize the game. Then came word that if the game did well in Japan, it’d be localized. Looks like the efforts worked as now the game will be getting released in the U.S. after all.

Project X Zone is a SRPG in the same style of Super Robot Wars and prequel Namco X Capcom. You move units across a grid and engage other units. When the attacking phase begins, the action shifts to a 2D perspective and encourages to unleash all of the special attacks at your disposal. If you want to see which characters are in the game, you can check out a previous article written here (pretty outdated) or hit up the PXZ website.

Project X Zone Coming to North America and Europe [IGN]

Kat And Emmett Join Playstation All-Stars As Free DLC (For The First Two Weeks)

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If there’s one thing I can say about Playstation All-Stars, it’s one big sausage fest. Even Fat Princess notices how many dudes are in this games. So the ladies’ side will get a newcomer in the form of Kat from Gravity Rush. Released on the PSVita, Gravity Rush saw Kat manipulate gravity to lift up objects, run up walls, and hurl herself at enemies with devastating kicks. She’ll be bringing her gravitational expertise to the ring in Playstation All-Stars.

Joining her is Emmett Graves from StarHawk, the sequel to PS3 version of WarHawk, In StarHawk, on top of taking down enemies on-foot, you were able to pilot mechs that could both walk and fly. In Playstation All-Stars, Emmett brings a mech with him for his level 3 super. The kicker is when it ends. It’s not quite over as the mech will fly by one more time to drop three bombs on the whole battlefield.

Both characters will be available on February 12 and will be free for two weeks ($3 afterwards). So remember that date if you want to avoid paying. Trailer for Emmett after the break.

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Pandora’s Tower Confirmed For U.S. Release, Courtesy of XSEED

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Just when you thought all hope was lost for Pandora’s Tower after the release of the Wii U, XSEED comes in to save the day. Previously, XSEED brought over The Last Story. Pandora’s Tower is an action RPG with heavy puzzle elements. The story follows a woman named Elena who, during a festival, succumbs to a curse that slowly starts turning her into a monster. Aeron, Elena’s love interest, takes her away to avoid being killed by the town guards. Mavda, a witch, takes them to a place called The Scar, with contains different towers attached by large chains. It’s here where they are toled that Elena must eat the hearts of the monsters Aeron kills to keep the transformation at bay. And yes, you see her eat the hearts, which rest assured look none too appetizing.

Pandora’s Tower is the third and final game left in the Operation Rainfall campaign to bring Nintendo’s JRPGs stateside. Of the three titles (the other two being Xenoblade and The Last Story), Pandora’s Tower was the black sheep of the bunch, receiving Average reviews and selling the least worldwide. Not having the acclaim of the the other two, begging for a U.S. release of this one looked hopeless. Even OpRainfall was caught by surprise. With the release of the Wii U, Nintendo had pretty much stopped support of the original Wii, making a U.S. release of this game even less likely. And now? Well what can I say? XSEED gained a whole boatload of respect from JRPG fans. And OpRainfall? Mission Accomplished.

Pandora’s Tower is set for a Spring 2013 release.

XSEED bringing Pandora’s Tower to North America in Spring [Destuctoid]

Nyu Media’s Second Game In Its Second Wave Gets A Release Date

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Doujin Publisher Nyu Media’s second wave of games got a bit of a head start last year with Eryi’s Action. But the meat of this second wave kicks in with the release of Croixleur, scheduled to be released on January 24th.

Developed by Souvenir Circ, the game pits you in an arena style fight against multiple enemies, climbing higher in the tower, and picking which portals to go through as you ascend. This gameplay style sounds reminiscent of Fairy Bloom Freesia, except the action is in full 3D and borrows a few traits from hack n’ slashers like Devil May Cry and Dynasty Warriors. While it seems to stress that it’s not an Action RPG, you still collect XP and level up, so I have no idea what’s going on there. Different weapons can be equipped for dispatching enemies, and each have their own special attacks. The game also has multiple endings depending on which portals you choose upon defeating enemies. Croixleur will also have three modes to choose from: Story Mode, Score Attack, and Survival Mode.

For now the game will be released on January 24th on the game’s homepage, with Desura and GamersGate getting it afterwards. The game is currently looking to get a release on Steam through Greenlight.

[Croixleur Home Page]

The Breakdown – Shadow of the Colossus

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System: Ps2,PS3/Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment/Developer: Team ICO/Players: 1/Initial Release Date: 10-18-05

Over time, you see something in videogame development that turns the tide. Suddenly everyone wants to ride that wave. Then we get used to it, almost to the point of conditioning. Everyone expects a game to have a feature. Think two genres, the Hack n Slash, and the Platformer. In the hack n slash, you expect huge waves of enemies, crazy combos, and some riddles you might solve. Now think about platformers. You expect crazy level design, tricky jumps, and a spin attack. These have become essentials to their respective genres. And then Shadow of the Colossus comes in and dares us to change our perception of these genres. Defying the usual conventions of game design, it dared to do away with a few essentials to drive forth its minimalist approach and to engage the player in a way that hasn’t been since in a long time. How did it work out?

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Pokemon Finally Goes 3D With Pokemon X And Y

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Probably since Pokemon Stadium back on the N64, Pokemon fans have wanted to see a full-fledged 3D Pokemon game. Time and again however, they’ve only been teased by the allure of 3D Pokemon with games like Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon Battle Revolution, both of which were largely about battling and not catching and exploration. XD: Gale of Darkness was the closest the series would get to a 3D RPG of Pokemon. But that’s all about to change as now Pokemon has finally entered the 3D realm. With the tech finally up to snuff with the 3DS, a 3D Pokemon game looked possible now. And now we have Pokemon X and Y.

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I Got A Perfect In Rhythm Rally 2, Here’s How I Did It

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Okay so maybe I actually do have a tip. In between writing the Moai Doo-Wop article and getting a Perfect in Rhythm Rally 2, I’ve been trying to formulate some kind of plan as how to perfect Rhythm Rally 2, one of the hardest, if not the hardest, songs in Rhythm Heaven. It was my last song to Perfect too. Look all over the internet and it’s stumped many players eager for a perfect medal in this game for years. Some may have perfected it finally. Some are probably getting this game now after play the Wii sequel, Rhythm Heaven Fever. This fast-paced, wrist flicking, beat-anal game has claimed many a victim, but I may have a solution. It’s not perfect by any means, but with some practice you’ll get closer to the end than you’ll normally would, and eventually finish with a Perfect Medal. So hit the jump to see the tips.

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I Stand On My Soapbox: Pricing And Content

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I Stand On My Soapbox is a series of editorials that cover more specific topics in the games industry and community. These articles are a little more extreme than normal editorials published here, and could just degenerate to outright ranting. Have fun and enjoy the show!

Ever since this generation started, seeing games costing $60 was a tough pill to swallow. I’ve never seen prices this high since the days of the N64. In those days though, the Playstation was still around and new games were only $40. PS2/Xbox/Gamecube games evened out with $50. It was a sort of pricing sweet spot that had some opposition but was pretty much uncontested. PS2 games were $10 dollars more than PS1 games, but Gamecube games were $10 cheaper than N64 games. Xbox would begin its life with games at $50. So in comes the PS3/360/Wii era, and we see the Wii in the same position the PS1 was with its games being $50 while the other two consoles charging $60. While both of these pricepoints were still high, I much preferred paying just $50 instead of $60. But now that the Wii U is out, and all the players in this game are now charging $60.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it with this price point and it’s sad that we as gamers (I included) let this happen.

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