Mar
Over in Japan this week, Namco Bandai Games took the veils off Masou Kishin: The Lord of Elemental, the latest game in their sprawling Super Robot Taisen series of anime-inspired robot sims. The game is due out for the Nintendo DS May 27 in Japan for the retail price of 6090 yen.
The Lord of Elemental is more than just another SRT Original Generation title — it’s the one that kicked off the whole series, sort of. Originally released in 1996 for the Super NES in Japan, the game marks the debut of hot-blooded robot pilot Masaki Ando and his elementally-powered craft Cybaster, popular enough that they starred in a 26-episode TV anime in 1999. Once a normal Japanese kid, Masaki gets his mecha career kick-started in this game when he’s summoned to La Gias, a world housed under the Earth’s crust, and asked to pilot one of the four elemental robots built by the kingdom of Languran to stave off a prophesied disaster.
“We’ve never dug into the backbone of Masaki and Cybaster, even though they both appear regularly in the SRTOG series,” producer Takanobu Terada told Famitsu magazine this week. “The Lord of Elemental answers the question of where those characters came from.”
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Mar
In addition to Sports Champions (which, let’s be honest, may as well be called “PS3 Sports,” but you can’t blame Sony for following the money), Sony also announced a slew of other games that’ll use the PlayStation Move motion controller, including Move Party, Little Big Planet, EyePet, Motion Fighters, and the recently revealed SOCOM 4.
First up was Move Party, which seems to be an amalgam of random mini-games with a bit of a WarioWare vibe, but also the “augmented reality” style of games the PlayStation Eye (and EyeToy on the PS2) often featured. It shows the player on the screen in each mini-game, but with the Move controller replaced by what each mini-game requires. The demonstration included mini-games where the Move controller was used to swat bugs with a tennis racket, color in shapes as though it was a paintbrush, or, uh, cut someone’s hair as though the controller was an electric clipper. Again, it was all very fast-paced in a WarioWare style.
Motion Fighter was about what the name implies. The player controlled the character with a behind-the-back view, and common-sense motions translated into the game — throwing punches, crouching, leaning side-to-side, etc. You can change the aim of your punches, throw special kinds like hooks and uppercuts, or even throw a spinning elbow strike. Unfortunately, the spinning elbow didn’t work the first time (precision!), but the player demoing the game got it to work on a second attempt.
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Mar
A recap of the best games due to hit Japanese shelves next week, courtesy of Famitsu magazine’s review pages:
- Yakuza 4 (9/10/10/9, 38 points): We haven’t gotten Yakuza 3 quite yet, but the sequel’s already out in Japan, and it’s apparently a scorcher.
Everybody loved the new game’s multi-viewpoint storyline to bits. “The heroes are packed with personality,” one wrote. “Each one has different moves, and it’s fun to try exercising all of them during the fights. The story has tons of exciting developments for all four characters, and the way they all tie in together in the final chapter is incredibly hot.” Another reviewer called it a shame that series hero Kazuma Kiryu “doesn’t get much face time,” but “getting the story from four perspectives is fresh and lets you experience the town of Kamurocho in a whole new way.”
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Mar
A recap of the best games due to hit Japanese shelves next week, courtesy of Famitsu magazine’s review pages:
- Yakuza 4 (9/10/10/9, 38 points): We haven’t gotten Yakuza 3 quite yet, but the sequel’s already out in Japan, and it’s apparently a scorcher.
Everybody loved the new game’s multi-viewpoint storyline to bits. “The heroes are packed with personality,” one wrote. “Each one has different moves, and it’s fun to try exercising all of them during the fights. The story has tons of exciting developments for all four characters, and the way they all tie in together in the final chapter is incredibly hot.” Another reviewer called it a shame that series hero Kazuma Kiryu “doesn’t get much face time,” but “getting the story from four perspectives is fresh and lets you experience the town of Kamurocho in a whole new way.”
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Mar
Square Enix has shipped over five million units of Final Fantasy XIII globally, according to a report from Adriasang. This includes three months of availability in Japan, during which the company apparently shipped about two million units. The other three million were sent out this week for the North American and European releases. Square also boasted that the Final Fantasy series as a whole has shipped over 96 million units.
Of course, we should note that this is units shipped, not sold. We won’t really know the sales numbers until next month’s NPD data comes in. But it’s fair to assume Square will be putting at least a few million units into the U.S. retail chains during the month of March, and the Final Fantasy name should have no problem selling most of them. Check out our review and details from the launch party for the anticipated RPG.
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Mar
Capcom recently dropped off their upcoming downloadable double-pack that includes updated versions of Final Fight and Magic Sword, so we went ahead and put up some gameplay clips for your viewing pleasure. The entire package is slated for an April release and a price point has yet to be announced.
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Mar
Among the many gameplay demos Sony just showed off for their newly christened PlayStation Move motion controller was Sports Champions, a compilation of athletic events very much along the lines of Wii Sports.
The first event from the game that Sony demonstrated today was Gladiator Duel, which used two Move controllers as a sword and shield in an arena-style, one-on-one fighting game. Vertical and horizontal swings of the right-hand remote appeared to trigger the same sword movements onscreen, while moving the left remote would adjust the position of the player’s shield. A quick uppercut allowed the user to pull a Devil May Cry and juggle his opponent in the air. There were also maneuvers that would prompt canned animations, such as hiding the remotes behind the back to perform a taunt.
A version of table tennis was also on display during Sony’s Sports Champions demo. It looked pretty much how you’d expect a modern, motion-controlled table tennis game to look, but the precision of the Move controller allowed for some impressive trick shots. The person demoing the game seemed to be able to pull off shots with all sorts of spin, and with varying degrees of power behind them.
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