Keep your fingers crossed, ’cause we might be traversing Filgaia once again. Maybe. According to Game Jouhou, via Siliconera, SCE’s Kentaro Motomura, producer, recently spoke with Famitsu about fan demand and what games they would like to see revisited. Among the games requested is Wild ARMs, which hasn’t seen a new entry since the SRPG entry Wild ARMs XF on the PSP, and Wild ARMs 5 on the PS2. Until the issue of Famitsu is released, we won’t know for sure if a new entry will be made or not.
For once can we get some kind of good news regarding Legend of Dragoon? PlayStation All-Stars, Sony’s answer to Super Smash Bros., had the advantage of having more characters added to the roster post-release, something that was never done for Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros Brawl. Unfortunately, that advantage seems to have been cut short as rumors began circulating that all future DLC plans have been cancelled. Shuhei Yoshida stated this, citing poor sales of the previous DLC characters Zeus and Isaac Clark (Not sure about Kat and Emmett since they were free at first).
System: Ps2,PS3/Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment/Developer: Team ICO/Players: 1/Initial Release Date: 10-18-05Over 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?
Of the many titles Kevin Butler has donned during his tenure at Sony, VP of Lawsuit Defendant would probably be the last thing on his mind. The lawsuit was sparked after Jerry Lambert, who plays Kevin Butler in Sony’s Playstation 3 ads, appeared in a Bridgestone commercial as one of the scientists testing out tires. The ad was part of Bridgestone’s GameOn campaign where a tire purchase could net you a free Nintendo Wii. In the commercial itself, the scientists, including Lambert, are seen playing Mario Kart Wii. Sony wasn’t too fond of the man playing and advertising a competitor’s game and console, and on September 11th they filed a lawsuit against him citing IP violation. Bridgestone proceeded to remove Lambert’s image from all of their ads for the remainder of their campaign. This begs the question though: are they suing him for portraying a very similar character, or are they suing him for that plus associating himself with a competitor. I have a feeling that they would’ve let him be if he was doing something else as the character. But since he was playing a Wii, that probably wasn’t flying with Sony.
Either way, it looks like both parties might be coming to an out-of-court settlement. In a filing, the lawyer representing Sony called the courtroom deputy and said that they were coming to an agreement. The court then ordered Sony, “by October 12, 2012, to either: (1) withdraw the ex parte motion; or (2) file a status update describing the current status of the dispute and whether a ruling on the motion will be necessary.” So currently the case is still ongoing, but it looks like it’ll all come to an end soon. I guess we can rule out Kevin Butler being in Playstation All-Stars then huh?
SCEA sues Bridgestone and Jerry Lambert (Kevin Butler actor) over Game On promotion [NeoGAF, via VentureBeat]
Two trademarks, from two companies, for two hard to grasp games got renewed. First was The Last Guardian from Sony. The ever-tardy game from Team ICO had its trademark expire, making everyone fearful that the game was going to be cancelled. The fear was made worse when reports arose that Kenji Kaido, a Producer at Team ICO, had left Sony and the team. It the midst of all the fear and speculation, Sony reports that they had actually renewed their trademark the same day it expired. So there’s still hope yet for the game’s release.
The other trademark that got renewed was Skies of Arcadia. NeoGAF user Jcgamer60 unearthed a trademark renewal form from Trademarkia. The trademark was renewed on July 11, 2012. One would think that this would mark a Summer release. But today’s Labor Day, and nothing’s come out of it. Fall release perhaps? This high-flying sky-pirate RPG was first released on the Dreamcast to rave reviews and gamer praise. When the Dreamcast fell, it was was ported to the Gamecube as Skies of Arcadia Legends. Both times the game had a limited release (former because of the console’s abrupt end, latter because… well who knows). So many never really had a chance to play this game the two times it was released. I almost had a chance myself back then. The closest anyone had to play the game was in Valkyria Chronicles where Vyse and Aika were available to recruit into Squad 7. This might become the best chance for many (including me) for finally play this game and see what all the hubbub was about.
Panic Not, SCEA Filed Another “The Last Guardian” Trademark [TheSixthAxis]
Skies of Arcadia Trademark Renewed. Sega’s next HD release? [NeoGAF, via RPGSite]
Okay, now we can do this a little more properly. Sir Daniel Fortesque from MediEvil and Nariko from Heavenly Sword have been formally revealed as the next new characters in Playstation All-Stars. To see how they play, you can go to the previous reveal article to get an idea (the video is live again). That’s Sir Daniel up there. Nariko is after the jump.
In a gameplay video by Gamespot, they show off two new characters for Sony’s upcoming mascot fighter Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. First is Nariko from Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword. Nariko’s moveset looks similar to Kratos, which makes sense considering the weapons are what originally inspired her game’s creation. Her level 1 Super is pretty effective when everyone’s crowded around. With her is Sir Daniel Fortesque from the PS1 classic MediEvil. He looks to be the heavy hitter in the bunch and prefers close combat. His charge can really close the gap between him and his opponents.
I’ll let the guys in the video explain how they play. Nevermind that. They made the video private. So instead, I’ll show some screenshots from the video in question. It’s live again now that Sony has introduced them. But I’ll keep the pictures up. Hit the jump to see them.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale: Nariko, Sir Daniel [Youtube, via Gamespot]
The Wired Fish Network 