Periodically I run a live stream called 6:00 Inferno. It hardly ever starts at 6:00 and things don’t always burn, but I play games both new and old, and I’m always in for the long haul. Stream details on top of page!
Last time on Inferno :
I obtained my second party member and the ability to summon familiars. After an hour of fighting or so I also managed to capture the elusive Bananaman pictured above on the left for a quest.
Tonight begins with a volcano and preventing certain disaster. See you on Inferno!
Have you seen Coyote Ugly or Showgirls? How about the music video for LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It? If you answered YES to any of them, then you’ve already seen Magic Mike.
Well thanks for reading. Until next time…
Totally not buying it? Want me to elaborate? Fair enough. I saw Magic Mike…willingly. As a matter of fact, I was the one who rented this movie for my girlfriend and I to see. Did I want to see it for the black hole of charisma known as Channing Tatum? HELL NO. I just know a bunch of people who watched it and wanted to see what they were touting as “the best movie EVER”.
Periodically I run a live stream called 6:00 Inferno. It hardly ever starts at 6:00 and things don’t always burn, but I play games both new and old, and I’m always in for the long haul.
Previous games include Pikmin 2, ZombiU, the bulk of The Legend of Zelda : Majora’s Mask (an ongoing project), and the online games I play with friends. My current game is none other than the recently released
The party at Ding Dong Dell is over, and I’m up to date both in sidequests and bounties killed. Tonight we head south for the desert! Hope you’re ready for the heat, cause 6:00 Inferno starts in about 5 minutes!
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!
This morning’s Nintendo Direct was full of surprises for Wii U owners. The Wii U-centric presentation revealed several new releases for the console that I’m sure will have owners and would-be owners foaming at the mouth, but one in particular just blew me and many other Xenoblade fans away.
Monolith Soft’s new unnamed Wii U title was revealed during Nintendo Direct with a trailer that gives us a small taste of what to expect. The gameplay and environment look extremely similar to Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade Chronicles, which was released on the Wii last year. Steven and I sung its praises during last week’s podcast, both dubbing it our game of the year. The red X that appears at the end of the trailer also resembles the Xenogears logo, which gives even more reason to believe this game is related to the Xeno series. Tetsuya Takahashi, who directed both Xenogears and Xenoblade, returns as director for this title, as well as character designer Kunihiko Tanako. I’m a little disappointed that Yoko Shimomura isn’t doing the soundtrack but, if the song from the trailer is anything to go by, Hiroyuki Sawano’s music sounds like it’s going to be amazing.
What really has me excited though is that Monolith Soft seems to be bringing back one of the best features of Xenogears, the ability to fight both inside and outside of a mech. This game seems to take it even further with being able to hover and transform into vehicles as well. And if the world is as vast and fun to explore as Xenoblade’s was, then I can only imagine what they have in store for players this time around now.
I’ve already re-watched that trailer more times than I care to admit, and it gives me chills each and every time. I have to say, this is the game that may convince me to get a Wii U. And even if it weren’t, there are plenty of other reasons for gamers to purchase one after today’s Nintendo Direct. For Nintendo, it looks like the gloves are coming off.
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?
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.
New cutscene and gameplay footage has been released for Platinum Games’s hack n’ slash title Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The trailer showcases protagonist Raiden under control of his “Jack The Ripper” persona during a corporate raid in Colorado. This persona has been hinted at in previous Metal Gear Solid titles as Jack was a child soldier made to fight during the Liberian Civil War under the wing of Solidus Snake. The former was injected with nanomachines by the Patriots but repressed his memories of his horrific childhood. Once Raiden remembers he starts to suffer with self pity but finds redemption in his wife and child during Guns of The Patriots. His “other self,” lying dormant, surfaces during Rising and is a critical factor of his actions and mindset later in the game.
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.
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.
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.
The new year is year and we’re still alive. While we’re at it, it’s time to look back at the games we view as our Games of the Year. On top of that, we also talk about our disappointing games of the year.
As you know it, time table of contents after the break.
On January 10, the official Cyberpunk 2077 trailer was revealed. Cyberpunk 2077 is a RPG based on Mike Pondsmith’s pen and paper role playing games Cyberpunk 2013/2020. Developed CD Projeckt Red, the same developer responsible for The Witcher and the sequel Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, the trailer showcases a CG cutscene set in a dystopian, futuristic city. The Police, outfitted by high-end assault rifles and vehicles are seen firing at a cybernetically enhanced women who has seemingly massacred a group of people. The rounds break due to high durability of her “skin.” All of this is done in slo-mo as an officer behind her pulls a pistol trigger aimed at the back of her head. After the title screen the scene then changes to the inside of a vehicle where the same officer looks on as the apprehended cyborg is seen putting on a device of unknown function.
Given that this is a teaser trailer, there’s little to go on until more content is revealed. We get the basic premise of the game dealing with futuristic technology and cybernetic enhancements. The game has an atmosphere similar to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and the Police’s attire reminded me of Judge Dredd. The concept of enhanced humans is similar to that of the Deus Ex series, particularly Human Revolution. CD Projeckt Red says that the title won’t be released until 2015 at the earliest but more information will be revealed on February 5. Below is the teaser trailer for the game.
Ahoy Fellow Fishes! We’ve returned once again with a new batch of podcasts in the coldest month of Winter! In this season premier, we introduce a new format for the podcast, bringing it closer to a radio-like show full of jabs, lots and lots of tangents, and more natural conversations. In other words, we pick one topic and run from there. In this episode, we talk about what we got for Christmas.
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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