Hey, let’s talk about games!
- Yesterday Eidos was in town to show of a pair of upcoming holiday releases, and I swung on by. And I was delighted to see was a familiar face from Sega who recently jumped ship! Sup Jennie Sue.
Anyway, I got to check out Tomb Raider Anniversary for the Wii. I’ve never been a big fan of Tomb Raider, due to the crappy tank controls from day one, but Crystal Dynamics did a pretty amazing job of resuscitating the franchise with Legends, so I was interested in giving Laura Croft a spin via the Wii-mote and Wii-chuck. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because the PR department couldn’t get their couldn’t get their hands on a dev unit for their press thing, which meant just watched a video. Oh well. Aside from getting a glimpse of the graphics, which resembles the PS2 version that came out a short while go, though appropriately updated, examples of the Wii-centric gameplay, as well as the how the controllers themselves will be held, were also demonstrated. When Laura has both guns a blazin’, so will the player, with each component acting as a firearm, which means John Woo style action, and that’s nice (did Red Steel do the same? I never played that game due to hearing to sucking so bad). Though I have no idea if both weapons can be utilized independently (btw, yes, I was one of those guys who played Virtua Cop with both player 1 and 2 guns), or how things transition from exploration to combat. Furthermore, Laura identity as an archaeologist has been “tapped” into, which translates to many minigames involving moving stuff around, or breaking away at rocks to uncover clues and items, or other physical puzzle-oriented activities that constitute the Wii-exclusive content. At first I thought it was cheesy as hell, but you know, it does makes sense in the context of the game and Laura’s character. Other stuff has been updated to, such as how one of the generic gangsters from before now looks like Kevin Federline.
On the way out, ran into Steve, whom I’m always running into at press events as of late, and he had some good news for me: fort90.com is finally getting added to his MTV blog-roll. Nice! I also got a plug on the Figure 4 Podcast this past Tuesday, which was also quite nice!
- Dave also passed this along at the forums yesterday: 1UP’s Panzer Dragoon retrospective…
It’s an absolutely outstanding look at one of the best video game series of all time, and that’s no bullshit. It’s filled with a information, insightful interviews, and dead-on analysis (all orchestrated by the always awesome James Mielke… and I’m not just saying that because he was the dude that got me on the Ziff Davis gravy train!), especially the section on Panzer Dragoon Saga. Just a taste:
“… While much has been made of Sega’s decision to print an excruciatingly limited number of copes in the U.S. — a necessity created by retail reluctance to stock any new Saturn titles in light of the PlayStation’s dominance — far too little attention has been paid to the sacrifices and losses the development team took in creating this game. While fans attempt to score near-mint copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga on eBay and RPG lovers bicker over the relevance of Saga in the harsh light of hindsight, few people know the trials Team Andromeda went through in bringing Saga to market. Resting comfortably in the top five most anticipated games list in Japan’s Sega Saturn Weekly for what must have been approximately two years, it was understandable that Sega would have high expectations for the title. Of course, all things being relative, the Saturn’s rapidly dwindling market share and comparatively miniscule (compared to that of the PlayStation) installed base should have tempered the excitement stirred up by the hardcore Saturn users who voted weekly. Still, despite the glowing reviews and high hopes, sales of Panzer Dragoon Saga (called Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG in Japan) in its home country and North America were underwhelming at best. The fallout, as urban legend would have it, was that one of the lead designers of Saga, who had poured absolutely everything he could into making it the best game possible, took his own life as a result. So distraught were the surviving members of the development team that they apparently all visited a Buddhist temple to help cleanse themselves of the sorrowful vibrations caused by the suicide.
In speaking with original Saga member and Team Andromeda leader Yukio Futatsugi, we discovered that the events, while tragic, were slightly different. In actuality, two members of the development team died during Saga’s gestation period, one from an actual suicide that occurred during development (and not afterward, as rumor had it), and another from an automotive accident, also during the release of the game. It’s worth pointing out that, for all the analysis we put on games and for all the petty, callous personal demands we make of game developers and their efforts, there are real people with real-life problems going to work every day on the games we play. Not enough focus is applied to the long hours and sleepless nights, for weeks and months at a time, that Japanese developers often endure to meet a game’s ship date. Of course, working conditions being what they are there (they’re downright inhumane in many cases) this is probably a bigger-picture issue, but we thought it should be noted that the somber overtones of Panzer Dragoon Saga’s four-disc epic and the tragic events that befell the development team are probably not unrelated.
But, as anyone who played (and finished) the game knows, things don’t all turn out badly. Panzer Dragoon Saga was, and is, one of the most unique and memorable role-playing games ever devised — original, fresh, and never duplicated. It would be hard to suggest that the tragedies the development team suffered were worth it, but the end result of this exceptional game is certainly beautiful. As we mentioned earlier, outside of Sega re-creating the game from scratch or emulating it from existing North American code, we’re unlikely to ever see a port of Saga, as the original code (which would allow programmers to go in and adjust text files and the like) is apparently no more…”
- Last night, I had dinner with friends Job and George. After some quality burritos, we walked around the East Village and stopped by VideoGamesNewYork; Job was looking for a flash cart to play the new Tingle game, Tingle’s Rosey Rupeeland, which has just been dumped online (the European version that is). Alas, they did not have what Job was searching for… George then pulled out his DS and flash card, and loaded up the DS port of Cave Story for me, which looks quite nice (its similar to the PSP version, except its a bit zoomed in), though its more of a tech demo at this point, with no collision detection, nor the ability to shoot. And because Job absolutely had to have a DS flash cart by the end of the evening, to play Tingle, George lent him his (in exchange, Job passed along his copy of Elite Beat Agents, which was in his machine). Funny stuff.
Though one good look at the game’s cast of characters alone is enough to make anyone understand where Job was coming from. The dog is just so cute!
- In the forum thread about Rez coming out for the 360 yesterday, Dave also mentioned that both Ikaruga and Trigger Heart Exelica are both coming out for Live Arcade as well. That’s great news! Especially about THE, which the more I play the more I like it’s wacky mechanics. Though I would have loved to see Karous also get included, since I still have no f’n idea how to play that game.
And another Sega title from the past that’s making a return is Bangai-O; called Bangai-O Spirits, its a port of the N64/DC game and will apparently come with a level editor! Given how there will also be wireless multiplayer, one can only hope that it’ll also support custom maps.
- Also from house that Sonic the Hedgehog and Virtua Fighter built is Miburi-&Teburi- for the Wii, which is a game that combines crossword puzzles, charades, and cosplay….
- Not sure if everyone knows by now, but there might be a Tron 2 after-all!
- Time to check out some stuff found over at Kotaku (yeah, I know, but they occasionally point out some interesting things). First up is a mock-up of what Guitar Hero for the DS might look like.
Next, be sure to check out Bloxorz, which they point out this past Monday I think, and which I haven’t been able to stop playing ever since.
And here’s concept art for The Rose Princess, which the creator describes as a “Glam Action RPG”…
It stars a cursed cellist and a “failed” entertainment robot (I guess, a la the Country Bear Jamboree, that type of robot) that turned to cross dressing and prostitution to support his alcoholism and addiction to drugs. What a concept! You can find out more here.
- Sticking with indie developers, check out the trailer for World of Goo, by 2D Boy, which I believe is comprised by folks that used to be at Maxis (perhaps they got sick and tired of working on Spore?). It kinda reminds me of Loco Roco, with a tinge of Time Burton/Henry Selick and Jhonen Vasquez thrown in.
Speaking of, I finally picked up a copy of Loco Roco the other day for the cheap and have been playing that mostly (I finally had to give up Cave Story for the system because the ghosting was starting to give me a headache), and I guess when I eventually get a PS3, I’ll get the version for as well, despite IGN’s constant claims that its nothing more than an interactive screensaver, which no else really understands at this point still.
- Gotta quick question: is Poison a girl or a dude? I forget, and since it’s Japan… you know…
… And hey, that same site also has a Trigger Heart Exelica figure too, for those who are into such things.
- Haven’t been to Insert Credit in a while, and after a quick visit, it would seem that I’ve missed out on quite a bit. For example, they have the head’s up on a freeware adventure game in which you walk around in people’s dreams (which btw, was an idea I came up with while at Ubi Soft, and I recently came across the original game design document the other night while going through some old files on my Mac… and before you ask, sorry, still haven’t found the concept doc for the Charles in Charge RPG, sorry… oh, and I also know that traveling in other people’s dreams is hardly an original concept… see: Psychonauts).
And here’s info on a DS port of that slapping game that was linked to at the forums a while ago. And for those who might have missed it, here ya go.
- Let?s talk about shumps some more; Insert Credit recently revealed that the Play Asia backed shooter finally has a platform, and it’s going to be the PlayStation Network. Kind of a shame really… I was hoping it would appear on Live Arcade (actually, the Dreamcast, even though that was a total pipe dream).
Meanwhile, Castle Shikigami 3 is coming soon, for the 360, and Cave’s new game is based on… wait for it… gothic lolitas! Awesome.
Comiket recently took place last month, which means a whole slew of fresh homebrew shmups from Japan to check out.
Plus, there?s that one hailing from Mexico, OmegaFenix.
Also with Rez HD coming out, how about… “Rez Low Fi”? That’s how The Brews Brothers describes Lead, a Italian homebrew 2600 title that tries to do the whole synesthesia thing, and apparently does it quite well. The vid definitely makes me want to give the game a spin, despite the needless Rez-bashing.
- As silly as it sounds, I actually feel somewhat dumb for not remembering the Dreamcast’s 8 year anniversary (which was this past Sunday… I totally missed my chance to post that Ewok graphic like I do every year).
Anyhow, this just popped up: the Dreamcast ZIP drive which never came out is now up for sale, or at least the prototype. Urge to blow money on something totally useless at a time when I need to save all the money I can, yet it’s so fucking cool, rising.
- The guy behind Pirate Babies Cabana Battle has a new pixel short coming out soon, called Kings of Power 4 Billion %…
Be sure to check out the trailer
- And finally, this has got to be the most insane Tetris related video you will EVER see. It starts out “slow”, and by the half-way point it becomes totally insane. But wait till you see the ending, when the blocks become INVISIBLE… trust me, EVERYONE needs to see this one.
- Actually one more: with Halo 3 on the way and all, most have probably already seen the original. Well, here’s the real story. Again, thanks Dave!
