It’s a little tough keeping up with some of the news for Project X Zone since it pops up randomly at times. I’ve missed out on certain character reveals due to working on other parts of the site. But to make up for it, I’ll be recapping all the characters revealed so far for Project X Zone. It might be a little tough to remember who’s in the game, which company they represent, and what game they originally came from. So you can use this article to reference some basic info on each character. Remember that this is not the final character roster and is certain to grow as time move along. And there might not be anymore characters revealed until after the game is played.
This week on Night-Time Listenings, we listened to licensed music in videogame. Wee did this in chronological order, from the earliest to the most recent. First up, we raged on the road with Road Rash and Soundgarden. Then we drove for our lives in Twisted Metal with Pitchshifter. Then we reminisced with Etro Anime and Digital Devil Saga. We then flew with Ragriz with Ace Combat 5 and Puddle of Mudd. And finally, we beat up some punks with MadWorld and Ox.
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
Those wanting to try out the aptly named The Last Story will be pleased to hear that XSEED has announced August 14 as the game’s official release date. Before, the game was suspected to release on June 19th according to retails like Gamestop and Amazon. Then retailers announced that the game would release on a later date. While many called this a delay, XSEED didn’t see it as one since they themselves never announced a release date and that the June 19th date was speculation from retailers. But here the legit, 100%, straight from the horse’s mouth date. Tuesday, August 14th, is the day to get The Last Story.
XSEED has also announced that those who preorder get a special soundtrack CD. Though they don’t say it on the Tweet, you also get an artbook if you buy it in the first print run (regardless if you pre-order or not). They haven’t clarified if you’ll get the bonuses regardless of store.
So now that you know the date, have you finished Xenoblade yet?
Archie Comics has revealed that they’ll be doing a 12-comic crossover between Sonic The Hedgehog and Megaman. Kaminski was approached with the concept last year just before New York Comic Con, to which he contacted the two series’ writer Ian Flynn. “His response was, ‘I have been writing that story since we began the Mega Man title,’ ” Kaminski says. “Of course, I thought he was joking, but not an hour later my inbox was flooded with Sonic/Mega Man story synopses.”
I’ve only read just a handful of Mega Man comics, and I got them at New York Comic Con for very dirt cheap. I always wondered about the Megaman series as told by Archie comics, and I came away very impressed with the art and writing. And this crossover isn’t as weird as some would think. Both universes have evil scientists, both create robots to do their bidding, and both have blue heroes that kick their asses. Oh yeah, this’ll definitely be on my radar to look for.
The Sonic/Mega Man 12-part crossover is scheduled for release in 2013.
Now if only we can get something like this going in Project X Zone…
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!
Okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush here. This is about Metroid: Other M, the one game many consider the only bad game in the Metroid canon. When it was released, it set the entire Nintendo, and gaming, world on fire, and for all the wrong reasons. Many did not like the submissive portrayal of Nintendo’s intergalactic bounty hunter, Samus Aran, in this this game. From the trailers and gamplay footage preceding the release, this looked to be Nintendo biggest game yet, and they would be teaming up with Tecmo’s Team Ninja (from Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden fame) to make this happen. A lot of gamers were anticipating this game. But once it was released, the flame wars ensued. You had people defending the game, berating it, wanting Team Ninja and Tecmo to burn in hell, etc. Much of the derision came from how poorly written the story of the game was and how much of a black eye it gave the Metroid franchise. Gamers had their reasons to dislike the story, and I’m not here to defend Metroid Other M. However if there’s one thing that was wrong with the story, it’s that this was, in no way, Team Ninja’s fault.
Back when videogame music was still bleeps and bloops, it was hard to really make a song that sounded, well, like a familiar genre. Some managed to attempt certain genres (like what we’ll cover today), but overall many just focused on making memorable melodies with the tools they had available. Then as the generations progress and improved, so too did the sound capabilities. Familiar genres could be heard as early as the SNES (and some NES). With Nintendo themselves, they stuck with what they did best: memorable melodies and happy tunes. Of course, they would venture off into some Space Opera-like themes with Star Fox. But a majority of the music made by Nintendo consisted of Jazz arrangements (PilotWings), easy listening (Sim City), or pop-y (most Mario games). With this light-hearted reputation, it’s sometimes a surprise to hear Nintendo come out of nowhere with a rock song in a game, and it freakin’ awesome every time. So sit back and get ready to bang your head, it’s Top 10 Hard Rockin’ Nintendo Themes.
Ain’t no rest for Arc System Works. After Persona 4 Arena, they’ve got a new game planned and they’re already teasing it. But what is this game. Judging by the kanji characters, it alludes to ghosts, houses, and one more thing I got. There appears to be no other hints to what this game is. Nothing in the URL, the page source… nothing. If anyone knows some Japanese out there, I’ve pulled the writing out for you to decipher.
This week on Night-Time Listening, we explored the days when the CD format was new for games and resulted in better quality music for those games. We started with the Interplay and Shiny classic Earthworm Jim. We were back with The Terminator. We roared across skies in Gate of Thunder. Went fast with Sonic CD. And finally we blew up some Mavericks with Mega Man X3.
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 new Tumblr page and follow it. Music for Night-Time Listenings goes up every weekday at 10PM
Remember that countdown Namco teased earlier this week? Well after counting 0 Days, the curtains have finally lifted on a new Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure game, entitled Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle. I’m not very familiar with the series, but I do know of the mechanics of the fighting games. To those looking at Persona 4 Arena, that game’s Persona mechanics are very much inspired by the Jojo games. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure started as a manga, but gained exposure in the west from its fighting games on the Playstation and Dreamcast, which Capcom published. After that, not many Jojo games were made, not did they come to the West. Bandai managed to release a new game in 2006, but that too never made it stateside. And now Namco Bandai’s making a new game in the series.
From the looks of it, it’ll be taking some cues from the previous game, Phantom Blood, but sticking much closer to traditional fighting mechanics. If you’re looking at the trailer on the website and thinking, “Man, that looks like Street Fighter IV,” Well, that’s because CyberConnect2 is handling development. The characters have those visible brushstroke lines on them, similar to the characters in SFIV and STxT. I’m skeptical on this game’s Western release. But hey, the series’ got a cult following, and the gamplay looks pretty wacky and just up my alley for me.
So far the game is slated to release exclusively on the PS3. No release date is set.
In an interview with Siliconera, Executive VP of XSEED, Ken Berry, said that they were not going to consider localizing PSP vampire pantsing game Akiba’s Trip. However when questioned about Senran Kagura on the 3DS, he stated that they’ll “have to see. It’s not a flat out no…” Japan has had the bouncy 3D-beat-’em-up for a year now with, and they’ll be getting the sequel, Senran Kagura: Crimson Girls, this year. The cart will also come with the first game as well. However Berry chimed in “…but it’s a title that would be hard to bring over as a packaged title.” Not sure if he meant the first game or the second game since the second one is already a package. He did mention that the company does get requests from fans to localize the game. I’m guessing those voices might be a little louder since the 3DS is region locked.
As we learned when they cancelled localization of Grand Knights History, XSEED does not any programmers in the team. So they depend on the original developer to input their translations (rather than do it all in-house). So feasibility of script translation and input must be considered. Since this is a beat-’em-up, I’m assuming the script isn’t too extensive. Even though I’ve yet to get a 3DS, I’d like to see this game come out. How ’bout you?
Persona 4 got a lot of love from Atlus. It got an anime, a Vita remaster, and even a fighting game. But Persona 3… well, there are four characters from it in that fighting game. Not much love… until now. Atlus launched a website teasing Persona 3: The Movie. It’s shows the protagonist of Persona 3 and a countdown timer with “Coming Soon” sandwiched between the time and title. The countdown timer is weird though as it seems to count upward. Maybe it’s not a countdown, but just a visual asset. In the original Persona 3, time was a crucial element as everyday at midnight, the Dark Hour would begin. Those with the ability to summon Personas experienced the Dark Hour, and everyone else were placed in coffins and remained safe. When it was over, those in coffins came out of it and resumed their lives (or kept sleeping since it was midnight). Think of it as time freezing for everyone except hose with the gift and the occasional regular person wandering into the Dark Hour.
I wonder what this movie will cover. Like its sequel, Persona 3 is a hefty game. Not sure if a movie would be enough to tell this story. Maybe it’s planned OVAs. Or might serve to bridge the gap between P3 and P4 (since P3 characters are in the canon P4A). Only thing we can say is that, according to the info at the bottom, it’ll be done by Aniplex. Lots of questions, little answers. Stay tuned.
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!
Time to stand on this box again, I got another rant coming up. If you’ve been living under rock for the past life time, don’t worry you still have another life time ahead of you. But many-a-gamer remembers the rather public exchange of hands between Nintendo, Microsoft, and the company Rare. Rare started off as third party, became a second party company under Nintendo during the 90s, and then in 2002 became a first party company for Microsoft. Today they make Avatars for the Xbox 360 and Kinect Games. Back on Nintendo’s side, the company recently had Retro Studios revive Donkey Kong Country, a game originally made by Rare. However the game, Donkey Kong Country Returns, would be done without the Kremlings. Despite Retro stating that the omission of the Kremlings was simply a matter of choice, gamers went ahead and assumed otherwise.
Hoooooooly crap. Dave Cox of MercurySteam, the Developers of Caslevania Lords of Shadow and the upcoming sequels, stated in an interview with VG247 that he and his team want to do a Contra game. He stresses that even though his team have done very well with the Castlevania reboot, he doesn’t want to be known as Mr. Castlevania. “… I don’t want to be in charge of a series that perhaps over a certain time is going to decline,” he states, which probably rings true for some franchises that have seen some major drops over time. As he feels his team has told the story of this Castlevania, he’d want his tem to “…go out with a bang and leave that as our legacy in the Castlevania universe.” Hey, no shame in that. Some of the best artists stepped out while the iron’s hot.
“I’d love to do Contra. At Mercury Steam we’ve got an original idea that I think is really awesome. We’d love to bring that idea to market and I’m hoping that the success of Lords of Shadow 2 will allow us to do that,” says Cox later on. The last Contra games to come out were Contra Rebirth on WiiWare and WayForward’s own Contra 4 on the DS. As long as it doesn’t become another FPS or TPS, I welcome this venture. Maybe something along the lines of Devil May Cry‘s and Metroid Other M‘s tight gameplay might suffice.
Oh WayForward how I love thee! Nintendo Power has revealed that 3DS download game Mighty Switch Force will be headed to the Wii U under the title Mighty Switch Force HD. Like its predecessor, it will be released as an eShop download on the system. And when they say HD, they mean it as the sprites will redrawn to look a lot cleaner. And boy, what they’ve shown is beautifully clean. Like, Earthworm Jim clean.
Let me fill you in quick on what the game is. Mighty Switch Force is a Puzzle Platformer where you’re a future cop trying to capture prisoners that have escaped. The cop lady has the ability to make platforms solidify and de-solidify to create platforms to jump on or knock enemies off the stage. I don’t had a 3DS, but I tried it out for a bit on James’, and I came this close to getting one on that game alone (and this was when the 3DS was still $250).
Mighty Switch Force HD is slated to launch on the Wii U eShop at the same time as the system.
Before Street Fighter IV and fighting back Mega Man fans, Seth Killian was a fighting gamer, making waves in tournaments and an being an all-’round cool guy. Last week Sunday, Seth Killian announced that he would be leaving Capcom. And now it’s been announced that Seth has been hired by Sony as their Lead Designer and will be working with Sony Santa Monica, and by extension Superbot. In an interview with Kotaku, Seth mentions that his role as Lead Designer means working with multiple, “External” developers. When questioned if that would be counter-intuitive with what he’s known for, he clarified that it was the he was “Happy to say it’s just the opposite…” and that Superbot, the developer of Playstation All-Stars, fits the bill of External developer. He says that he’s more interested in the mechanics of game design and will be bringing his expertise to the projects assigned to.
So when Sony said they were bring in fighting game experts to develop PSAS, they weren’t kidding.
The Wired Fish Network 