Three Shmups, An Action RPG, And A Platform Hell Game Coming From Nyu Media This Fall

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Doujin publisher Nyu Media has sent out a newsletter to media outlets confirming that five new games will be coming this fall. Three of them are vertical shmup games from the Siter Skain series. Like The eXceed Collection, this series features different mechanics with each game when dealing with incoming enemies and bullets. Croixleur is an arena styled Action RPG where you control a girl donned in a maid outfit and use different weapons to take out enemies. Finally… Eryi’s Action. This game… Clearly this is inspired by the likes of Kaizo Mario, I Wanna Be The Guy, and Syobon Action (maybe this is where Eryi’s Action got its title from). You got hidden spikes, surprise enemies, and windmills out to kill you! I think Eryi’s Action and I are going to be juuuuuust fine. These five are set to release this fall on Steam (along with other distribution platforms) and from the publisher itself.

Product Descriptions after the break.

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I Stand On My Soapbox: The Summer Gaming Drought

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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!

Why is this? Why the hell does this always happen? Why do game companies decide to keep all of their big releases for the holiday season? Hm? Why are all of these games pushed back to a very crowded time of the year for videogames, where it’s harder for most games to get noticed? Time and again I’ve seen companies release their game on November and December, get back their results, see their games flop, and wonder to hell and back why their games failed to sell. And yet, here we are in the middle of Summer just sitting back and twiddling out fingers wondering what game is coming out this Summer. Well guess what? There’s barely any, and it boggles my mind! You’d think Summer would be a perfect time to release these games. And yet, not a lot of companies see this. Well, I’m going to show why Summer is the best time to release videogames.

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Scott Pilgrim vs the World getting online multiplayer dlc this month

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Now imagine this craziness online…

A look at the upcoming XBLA release schedule revealed some pretty interesting news today. Appearing quite randomly, Scott Pilgrim vs the World is listed as getting new DLC later this month. The DLC will add online multiplayer to the title and will also include Wallace Wells as a new playable character.

I have to admit, after the Knives Chau add-on, I didn’t expect to see any more support of the title. But hey, having online multiplayer added to one of my favorite downloadable titles of this generation isn’t a bad surprise at all. The DLC is only confirmed for XBLA at the moment and will be available to download for 400 MS points on August 19th. Hopefully news of a PSN release will soon follow.

Source: Major Nelson via Joystiq

Gonna Play Dragon Quest X? Better Keep Playing, Or Else…

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Wii MMO Dragon Quest X was just released in Japan last week with much acclaim. Not only is it the first MMO for the Dragon Quest series, it’s also the first (and only) MMO for the Wii. One aspect that wasn’t quite touched upon was that you have to keep playing the game, otherwise your character data would be deleted. In other words, it you don’t sign in to Dragon Quest X for 3 months, your character’s data will be kaput. This most likely is a measure to make sure that data keeping is fresh for the server to save and not have orphaned and dormant accounts clogging the server. But at the same time this could have severe repercussions for those that want to come back and play for a while after being gone for so long. Who’s to say someone won’t be able to play the game because of school or work (more on this later today) and finally find the time to play, only to be greeted with a deletion message. Oi vey…

So far this only applies to Japanese gamers as the game has yet to come out in the States. Only time will tell if this measure will carry over to the worldwide release.

Use It Or Lose It, “Dragon Quest X” Will Delete Online Data If Not Being Used [Complex]

Tron Bonne, Lady, And More Join The Fray In Project X Zone

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Confirming the scans that popped up some weeks ago, Tron Bonne has joined the Project X Zone cast of characters. Alongside her is a Servbot (a separate character). She’ll be without her fighting game staple Gustaff and fight on-foot (but will bring her MvC moves with her). Still on the Capcom side there’s Lady from Devil May Cry 3. On the Sega side is Bahn from the cage bashing fighting game Fighting Vipers. Finally on the Namco side, Lindow bumps up the Gods Eater crew to three. And the main characters from prequel Namco X Capcom, Reiji and Xiaomu, will represent Namco.

Character art after the break.

Project X Zone website

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A New Wheel Of Fate Is Turning: BlazBlue Chronophantasma Revealed

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As the U.S. starts their journey on Persona 4 Arena this week, Arc System Works has revealed the next chapter in the BlazBlue storyline, BlazBlue Chronophantasma. With this new bitch-to-type entry comes three new characters. The ultra feminine kimono-wearing Amane Nishiki, the ballistics packer Bullet, and the diesel as hell Azrael. Everyone else, save for Nu and Lambda, makes a return in this entry with new portraits and new moves at their disposal. Now keep in mind, this is definitely another sequel to BlazBlue, not an update like some of these poor chaps are thinking. Calamity Trigger was the first. Continuum Shift was the sequel. Continuum Shift II and Extend were updates. Chronophantasma is an new entry, not an update. One observant fan also noticed some new changes that will be introduced in this game, like removal of guard primers, a new Overdrive mechanic, and redrawn neutral sprites.

See the reveal of this game only reminds me that I still have… Calamity Trigger to finish. Dear lord do I still have a long way to go. Welp, time to get crackin’! Chronophantasma is set to release this Winter in Japan. U.S. release is TBA, but it’s highly likely it’ll come here too in the future.

『ブレイブルー クロノファンタズマ』PV [YouTube, via Kotaku]

Rise of the Triad Making its Triumphant Return

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How the fuck did I miss this?  A reboot of Rise of the Triad?  Dog mode and weird floating platforms making a return?  Graphic killing of Nazi soldiers as they beg for their lives using modern visuals?  Consider me pumped!

Originally intended to be an expansion to Id’s hit, Wolfenstein 3-D, RotT was designed for that particular engine.  When Id dropped that plan, possibly because Doom would be looming around the corner, it was instead developed as a whole new game running on a more modern engine.

That’s good, because Wolfenstein 3-D’s engine wasn’t really suited for outdoor environments which is a big part of this game’s atmosphere.  What resulted is a pretty gory game for its time where people would regularly blow up.  Because height was no longer an issue like it would have been as an expansion, we see a whole bunch of trampolines that take advantage of taller rooms.

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Review : Rock of Ages; PSN (Played), XBLA, PC

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I remember once in composition class, my professor mentioned something about Rock of Ages while telling one of his old stories (the guy’s at least in his 70’s), tipping me off that there might be some other, probably more popular work that shares the same name. Sure enough, a Google search is more likely to direct you to a musical or movie. I never was into theatre, so don’t be too surprised when I say that it was the game I first heard about before the production.

While titles are shared, thematic content is not. Our game does not revolve around a timeless musical genre (there isn’t even rock in the soundtrack). Instead, the title is to be taken more literally; it’s about one man and his giant boulder traveling through different time periods and doing battle with various historical figures throughout Europe.

Any of you guys remember those old JibJab political cartoons which while slightly funny, started a trend of manipulating still pictures of people so that they appear to be talking or performing various actions? Imagine that treatment with authentic historical art styles and you have just about every cutscene in the game. While in play, units, buildings and the overall scenery on the playing field are three dimensional models. On the other hand, all human characters including the ones controlling the boulders from behind castle walls and the giant human hand that places the boulder back on track if it falls off are presented as paper cutouts.

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Night-Time Listenings Wrap-Up: Week of 7/30/12

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This week was dedicated to Hitoshi Sakimoto and his team at Basiscape. The games we covered from his amazing repertoire were Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Advance, Valkyria Chronicles, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

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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Matsumoto: Wii U Controller Could Be Beneficial To JRPGs

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I know it’s more a Strategy Game than an SRPG, but think about it.

Marvelous AQL and The Last Story Lead Designer Takuya Matsumoto said in a Siliconera interview that the Wii U Gamepad could be beneficial for JRPG strategizing. “I feel that the Wii U’s interface… works best for browsing and arranging information,” said the Lead Designer, alluding to how menu heavy JRPGs can be at times. “This special feature will likely bring about opportunities for deep research into JRPG strategy.” He went on to say that other info, like bios, story synopsis, enemy bestiaries, etc. could also be handled by the Wii U Gamepad.

This could bring about a much more streamlined experience for JRPGs. Now by streamlined I don’t mean “dumbing-down,” but more that it’ll make the actual selecting of menu items a lot faster than on a standard controller layout. Think of how quickly you might’ve selected things on Wii games using the IR Pointer. It was pretty damn quick. Also, while Matsumoto says JRPG strategizing, this could apply to Strategy RPGs. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles, and Front Mission could benefit from this approach. These games are rife important information on terrain, units, and other miscellaneous info that the gamepad could provide without having to take you to a separate screen on the TV, or clogging up the screen with info (think Final Fantasy Tactics Advance). Heck, it could even work for RTS games like Starcraft. Some might see the Gamepad being used for just menu based stuff like maps and menu items in the future, rather than playing a more pivotal role. It happened on the DS with one of the screens being used as such, and it was fine by me.

Wii U Controller Will Push JRPG Strategizing, Says The Last Story Lead Designer [Siliconera]

The Wired Fish Podcast S3 – Episode 3

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Ahoy one and all to Episode 3 of The Wired Fish Podcast. Today, we talk about the reveal of Battlefield 4 and wonder if companies will ever learn their lesson. Next, we take a look back at the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 one year later. Finally, we talk in-full about DRM and why this is a bad thing for the industry.

Time-Table of Contents breakdown after the… er, break.

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This Week In Confirmed News 5

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Ready for Confirmed News buddy?

Confirmed news is back after its week break and we got a whole bunch of stuff to quench your news appetite with.

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Hideki Kamiya Wants To Return To The Viewtiful Universe

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I’m ready to Henshin A Go Go for a sequel!

In an interview between Viewtiful Joe creator Hideki Kamiya and Famitsu, Kamiya admitted he would like to make a sequel to the famed hero of Movieland’s games. The Viewtiful Joe series is made up of four installments: the original, part deux, Double Trouble on the DS, and their Super Smash Bros. clone Red Hot Rumble. This writer is glad to support this idea all the way. Unfortunately when Kamiya made Viewtiful Joe he was still working under Capcom, so they have all the rights to the franchise. One can only hope that he will be able to one day get the rights to his creation again and make that sequel.

[Source]

2K Boss Says Photorealism Is The Way To Go

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F**k your realism

2K Games boss Christoph Hartmann stated in an in-depth interview with Gamesindustry International that games should inspire to capture a type of photo-realistic emotion that movies tend to display much easier than games do. He feels it’s the only way to open new genres in the gaming industry.

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Last Minute Guild Wars 2 Screenshots!

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Not wearing armor? Do you SEE these six-packs?

I’m sure your presence must lack purpose, to be here must have been a mistake. I mean, reading this article puts you smack dab in the middle of PaJamieez country. Did the sign not radiate with the light of a supernova, begging for warning’s acknowledgement? Turn back now, as the usual journalistic sovereignty you’ve grown accustomed to has been put away… temporarily. Left behind are fragments of sanity, and the boiled down essence of obsession. These are my Guild Wars 2 screenshots.

Viewer discretion is advised.

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