A little too old school?

Apparently some game called Tir-Na-Nog is getting released on the PS2 and PSP on April 29th. Never heard of it, the box art looks horribly fugly, and rest of the game ain't much better either. Elves, fairies, and wizards, that the hell is this? At least that dragon looks cool, there aren't enough dragons in games nowadays. Now I'm all about the "old school," but this nonsense looks like a damn MSX game or something, with a shitty filter over it. But who knows, with gaming in such a sorry state today, this game may be fucking brilliant by comparison, or not. I guess I have to keep an eye on it from now on to find out.

Not quite as sexy

But still cool. When you pre-order Oboro Muramasa you're gonna get a big ass scroll with character art and descriptions. The thing is 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) long. It's like an artbook printed one one big page. The fans get something cool to have, and the publisher doesn't have to pay for book binding, everybody wins.

Knowing is half the battle

Good ole' Gpara has a collection of the various pre-order bonus phone cards you can get when buying Trigger Heart Exelica Enhanced at select shops, as per norm. I guess now we know what they wear under their armor when not shooting and grappling alien dudes.

Back on the band wagon again

I don't think I've ever mentioned the official scheduled release date of the Asia, English Language version of Star Ocean The Last Hope. I'm not too sure what that date was anymore either, since the game has already shipped from Play-Asia. With it comes a shinny new Xbox 360 Arcade unit with 256 MB's of on-board memory and a 65nm chipset. That, combined with the NXE's ability to rip games to the hard drive, should make for a much quieter gaming experience. Good thing too, since because of the idiotic design of the system, I can't use the HDMI and TosLink optical audio cables at the same time, therefore I won't be able to use my 5.1 headphones with it until I get a $50 adapter. I missed the 360. The PS3 may be nice and shiny, but it still has no games. I can't wait to catch up on The Last Remnant, Otomedius G, Ninja Blade, and DoDonPachi DOJ BLEX.

Way of the bee

Last time my Play-Asia package was late, so this time it gets delivered early. Thanks USPS? Doesn't do me much good, since I still don't have a working Xbox 360, but come next week, I'll have a healthy backlog to get through, in addition to Star Ocean 4. On top of that I decided to pick up Yakuza 2 because it was on sale at Amazon.com, for $15 instead of the usual $20, and to reward subtitles instead of a shitty dub job. Also, I hope the success of Yakuza 2 helps Kenzan's chances of getting localized. Frankly, that's the only Ryu Ga Gotoku game I care about.

Preemptive strike

Team-e jumped the gun and released the OST for The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match today. I have no idea if that's good or not, 'cause I haven't played the damn game yet, and don't know what the music sounds like. I'd make some sort of sense at least if there were sample tracks on the website. Still, it's better then releasing the OST six months later. *cough*CastevaniaJudgement*cough*

Plugged the server back into the wall

After a few days of downtime, go-sato.com is back online. Nothing new there though. Just FYI.

I was actually just wondering about this

After putting up all the AOU stuff, I went back to the AM Show coverage from last year, where I found that I called Harley Davidson "Game Of Show" for dubious reasons. Well the game actually just shipped to arcade centers this week. Took 'em long enough. On the bright side, it does look more graphically polished then last time, so maybe they did do something since then to warrant the delay.

Swords, guns, & space ships

Another one of those entertaining weeks. The US gets Star Ocean The Horrible Cover Art. HK gets Demon's Souls, which is not $20 cheaper then the Japanese version, fail. Then the main event on Thursday with Ryu Ga Gotoku 3, bustin' heads on the PS3, The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match bustin' heads on PS2, and Samurai Do 3 bust... er, slashin' dudes on the 360. Sadly, in today's economic climate, I can only afford the bare essentials, KOF it is. Street Fighter IV last week, KOF this week, this is video games motherfucker!

AOU 2009 Top 10

1. Gundam VS Gundam Next (NBGI)
2. Border Break (Sega)
3. Daemon Bride (Examu)
   

KOF XII ;_;

Faith in humanity fading.

That's better

lol wut

This too was unexpected

But not in a good way. I've been a fan of Korea's Skonec Corporation ever since they helped Success put out Psyvariar 2. Since then they've done Shikigami no Shiro III for Alfa System, and Homura, and not much else. Well here they are at AOU 2009 showing off a new arcade board co-developed with Success, and AMI. This is getting a little ridiculous now, especially since it's just a PC-in-a-box. I admit I'd be singing a different tune is one of the games announced for the platform was Psyvariar 3, do it Success!

Ninja battle action game for the world

This is why I like From Software. Not only is Ninja Blade a multi-lingual game, even the Japanese retail disc, the OST album liner notes are in both English and Japanese. I hope the game is a success, they deserve to do well for this level of dedication, and for putting Michael Wilson in the game. The album is very nice, very orchestral/jazzy/with Japanese flutes. Typical Norihiko Hibino, I suppose. It reminds me of the 80's. As we learned from the liner notes, the music was done before the game, and a lot of the game design was influenced by it, instead of the other way around. From Software, Nippon ichi.

You could steal city hall

I should have expected this to happen. Things get delayed, and everything shows up at the same time, right when it's least convenient. At this rate, I don't think I'll even have time to listen to the damn audio CD until next Tuesday.

PS: I am now accepting donations towards the get-a-real-camera fund. I take cash, personal checks, and Paypal.

KOF XII AOU vids

The dude also grabbed some KOF XII footage, featuring an updated HUD, and new hit sparks.

Part 1

Part 2

He was also responsible for a lot of the AM Show footage last time. I think subscribing to his channel would be a good idea.

Gouketsuji Ichizoku ~Senzo Kuyou~ AOU vid

Here's some shaky-cam footage of the playable build of the new Gouketsuji Ichizoku/Power Instinct from the AOU 2009 show. The only available new character this time is an anime girly with invisible fireballs, no thanks. The game looks like it was inspired by the Marvel VS Capcom 2 school of visual design, with nice high-res backgrounds, and shitty pixelated character sprites, which look like they were ripped straight from whichever game they last appeared in, Matrimelee, or 2. The backgrounds have destructible walls though, which kicks ass, and the game is supposed to feature remixes of classic GI tunes, which were sorely missed in Matrimelee. The hardware is rumored to be the Type-X, and Noise Factory is the alleged developer. Also, salt tastes pretty good with that.

Drinking game

D3 is bringing something called Dream Club to the 360. At first glance it appears to be a game where you drink and interact with 3D anime girls in a hostess bar. Upon further inspection, that's exactly what this game is. *preorders*

Like a stone

Milestone looks like it's keeping busy these days. They've partnered up with a company called Hobibox on a 2D fighter called Project Cerberus, and a Radirgy sequel, subtitled Noah, co-developed with Lucky Co. The latter looks like it will ditch the vertical orientation for the display, going for a Giga Wing-styled yoko/tate setup, where the game scrolls vertically on a 4:3 oriented display. Wii port confirmed I guess.

Update: Upon further inspection, Project Cerberus looks really lame. I guess Milestone can chalk up "boring fighters" along side "boring shooters" in their repertoire.

The ring

AOU 2009 is hours old, and already we have a ton of new stuff. Sega decided it was high time to reemphasize their official leadership position in the arcade scene, and unveiled a "new" hardware platform. The Ring line of boards is the successor to the Lindbergh system, and is simply an upgrade of the Wintel specs most arcade hardware is built around these days. Newer Intel x86 processors, nVidia and ATI GPU's, more RAM, Windows Embedded OS, etc. The platform has two configurations, a high-end (Ringedge) and low-end spec (Ringwide). It's nice to see the big hardware guys taking notice of the undying popularity of low performance/cheap hardware in the arcade space. Sega's own Border Break will be the first to run on the high-end Ringedge board.

Screenshot wars

And just for good measure, here's a SNK update. Nothing groundbreaking, but just for laughs you can compare sexy new KOF XII screenshots, and the horrible KOF 2002 UM screens. KOF XII will of course be at the AOU, and 2002 UM is coming out next week on the 26th. I almost feel spoiled by all this good news around.

And on a lighter note

Here comes Castlevania The Arcade. Featuring authentic whipping action, and a privacy screen so passers by can't see you making an ass of yourself. My question is, why couldn't we have gotten this instead of the crap-fest that was Judgment?

But wait, there's more

If the the announcement of new arcade hardware didn't knock your socks off, hold on to them for this one. Atlus will be showing off a new Goketsuji Ichizoku/Power Instinct game at AOU 2009. Holy FUCKING crap! This is even more out-of-the-blue. Especially since it's Atlus themselves, and not some upstart that picked up the license from the dumpster behind Atlus HQ. (The developer hasn't been confirmed yet, though.) The pics show at least one new character (most likely a sprite swap, but hey) and the rest of the graphics look like they recycle a lot of Matrimelee. Still, a 2D sprite-based fighter in 2009, arcades are back confirmed.

Here comes a new challanger

Holy crap, I never expected this to happen in this day and age. A generic electronics maker is getting into the arcade hardware business. They're not just making cabinets, or buttons or something asinine like that, but they've actually planned out, engineered, and built a low-cost, low-maintenance, multi-purpose arcade board. The company is SI Electronics, and the board has the creative moniker of System Board Y2. The specs are low-end, but perfect for 2D stuff like shooters. One catch is that the video output is not HD, maxing out at 800x600 (SVGA), which limits the sort of games the system can handle, since most big arcade guys have jumped onto the HD bandwagon already. The system specs are as follows:

• CPU: Custom 32-bit RISC architecture clocked at 266MHz (PSX-class)
• GPU: 2.5 million sprites or 100 million polygons per second
• Audio: 32 channels
• Media: ROM's (fuck yeah!), 1.7GB maximum capacity, 256MB for audio
• I/O: Video: 15-pin D-sub; Audio: RCA L&R, Interface: JAMMA

SIE will be showing off the system in the AQ Interactive booth at the upcoming AOU 2009 show this weekend. The first game running on the system will be AQI's own 2D mahjong game. Between this, IGS' PGM2, and Examu's mystery board, there's hope for a NAOMI successor, and a home for all the little guys who can't, or don't want to put their stuff on something like the Type-X2.

Beyond WHAT now?

Oh you silly marketing goons, 1080p IS high definition. In the end, I'm afraid your hard efforts are wasted though, since most of the peons who bought a PS3 still use the composite video cables that came bundled in the box to hook the thing up, even if they have a $1K+ HDTV. Anyway, I'm very curious to see how Ryuhei Kitamura's Hollywood debut turned out. I'll be rocking this one in 720p tonight, take that Lion's Gate.

Update: Very impressed with the movie technically. Great looking shots, effects, acting. Story-wise, a little underwhelming. Good, but not mind blowing.

Bees boss page is finally published

DoDonPachi DOJ BLEX is finally being released this Thursday (Play-Asia and a few retailers are already selling it early), and 5pb finally decided to update the media page on the website. Methinks they could use a good marketing guy over there. Anyway, the updates include gameplay movies of the arcade and X mode's, and sample images of the early purchase awards at select retailers. Again, this is the sort of stuff that needed to be known a month or two in advance. If anything, Fujino can help you guys with publicity, he's good at that at least.

A temporal annomaly

Now this is unprecedented, mainly because fighting games have been in a rut for the past few years. This week I get to pick and choose from a whole bunch of games which don't just interest me in a marginal way, but are in fact core components of my game tastes. Fighters are still under-represented, but the sole entry is a pretty big one, Street Fighter IV finally hits US home consoles this Tuesday. The last SF came out 10 fucking years ago, so this one is getting picked up without a second thought.

RPG's are next, and are represented by a classic remake, Dragon Quest V, for the first time available in America, on the DS, and the latest from Tri-Ace, Star Ocean The Last Hope, coming to Japan's favorite home console, the 360. I'm still in the middle (beginning) of DQIV, so I'm not exactly thrilled about a new one, and I'd rather not spend $90 on a game that will get replaced in a few weeks time, so SO4 gets a pass too.

Then, by some bizarre twist of fate, and bad marketing, we finally get the 360 port of Cave's DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Black Label Extra, and Triangle Service's Shooting Love 200X. DDP DOJ BLEX is a port of a five-year-old game, but I've never played it, so it's new to me, and SL200X is from Triangle Service, so it automatically gets the lowest priority. I've been waiting for a new DDP since the original on Saturn for crying out loud, this port is mine. Fujino can suck it, although it wouldn't surprise me if he was involved with this production of DDP. That's just how the shooting guys roll.

Next week ain't no joke either. SO4 hits the US, Demon's Souls hits HK, and Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 hits Japan. Something for everyone (except Europe, but what else is new).

OOhh, Illusion got in trou~ble

Or more specifically, some dude selling Illusion Soft games through Amazon Marketplace. The title in question was Rapelay, which is in fact a rape simulator. Illusion never made any claims otherwise, in fact that was the point of the game all along. The game came and went in Japan without raising any eyebrows. Chalk that one up to cultural differences. Well in the UK/US/EU that shit won't fly, especially when a windbag politician hears of it. This opens an interesting can of worms though. Are retailers responsible for drawing the line? I never bought Rapelay, because I found the content objectionable. But is it in Amazon's, or any other retailer's, obligation to block the sale of the game? It's offensive to me, but the guy sitting next to me on the subway might love that shit, so why shouldn't he be able to buy it?

Trigger Heart Exelica Enhanced PV

I think they're trying to out do Cave in the alphabet soup department. Anyway, Gpara had this trailer yesterday, but their servers suck, so it wasn't watchabale. I still can't download it, but at least Famitsu can let you stream it at a decent clip. It doesn't show anything new, but you get to see Faintear in action, as well as a few clips from the animated intro. Hotness all around. But a few key question remain, like why is Exelica holding a kitten? And who the hell is that guy standing behind them? Hopefully we'll find out on March 26th.

Next ninja ready

Looks like From Software misses Tenchu. They can't make ninja stealth action games anymore, so they're trying for something else. At first Oreike looks like Tenchu Tactics, but it's described as a puzzle action game, which makes me think it's some sort of brain training non-game, with ninjas. It looks nice and stylish, and sounds cool, at least the music that plays when you visit the official site. I guess they kept the music guys from Tenchu Senran/Samurai Spirits Sen (K2 LLC). I wonder if this one will come over to the States. If it does, it will surely be a budget-priced release, and therefore bought on sight.

Demo cho-aniki

This came out of left field. I was pretty sure I checked the PSP store on the 8th, the day the demo for Zero Cho Aniki went up, but maybe I overlooked it (the user interface leaves a lot to be desired in there). In any case, I tried it out last night, and you know what? It's not god awful. It's actually pretty good, for a Cho Aniki game. One of the best improvements made is the ability to switch the direction your guy is facing with the L and R buttons, so you can actually shoot the jerks that come up from behind you now, without trying to pull off Street Fighter moves. The game starts off with a character select screen, where you pick either Idaten or Benten (and Shoten in the final version), then it lets you pick a "helper" that flies along side you, either Samson or Adon. There are also two new shitty cherub-like characters in the intro, but I don't know what they do. (Now I do, see below.) The game has three buttons, the regular pea shot, which can be powered up, a screen clearing bomb, and the ever popular Men's Beam attack. (Only Idaten+Samson/Adon have this attack, Benten+shitty cherubs has some sort of ugly energy wave thing.) The music mostly sounds like remixes of the old classics, and maybe a few new, though less stellar, tunes. Overall, I'm surprised at how playable this version is, and I just might pick it up when it finally hits stores on March 9th, and not just for the lolz. Shock and awe.

Edited for half-assed-ness: The shitty cherubs are Benten's helper characters. Idaten flies with either Samson or Adon. Bite me for not giving a Cho Aniki game a thorough evaluation.

One of these things is not like the others

No, wait. They're all the same actually. You could make the argument that Chocolate is good, while the other two are not, but that's all subjective. One is a movie, so technically it is different then the two games though. Either way, all three are best enjoyed while under the influence of alcohol. Although be warned, Onechanbara 360 did make me nauseous while playing, and it wasn't from the quality of the content. The non-HD games are a little easier on the inner ear, so if you puke, it was cause your booze was lousy.

The wisp is advancing

Atlus sent out a press release announcing the official US release date for Sting's Knights In the Nightmare. The game is officially official on June 2nd, which is unfortunately a week later then the leaked date. I hope it comes with an art book instead of a music CD this time. The art on the pre-order bonus telephone cards in Japan was great, and the shitty 64x48 DS resolution can't do it justice. Sting needs to make a Dept. Heaven game on a real console, it doesn't have to be HD, at least the Wii. (I get the feeling I said this already. It bears repeating though, so I'll leave it here.)

More like minus

This is news to me. Apparently some shitty company I never heard of, Wiznet, is bringing the late, great Psykio's disappointingly crummy MVS Strikers mash-up, Strikers 1945 Plus, to the PSP this Thursday in Asian territories (Hint: cheap Neo Geo emulation). X-Nauts sure loves the PSP, between this, Sengoku Cannon, and Zero Cho Aniki they've pretty much covered all their areas of "expertise." Now all we need is an Assault Suits Valken rush-job and we're good. All this effort, and still no Strikers 1999 home port. Maybe we should petition Arc System Works.

Arcsy has some explaining to do

Gamasutra did a nice follow-up interview with some Arc System Works guys where they explain their business model some more. It's nice to see an indy developer making it in today's shitty game biz. They're lucky to have reasonable management. All it takes is a single MBA who can't tell a joystick from his ass to fuck things up.

Bikini cowgirl VS ninja

What an entertaining week we have. Tuesday the US gets both, Onechanbara R for the Wii, and Onechanbara Vortex for the 360, localized with silly titles and bargain prices. You can get both for less then I paid for the J-360 version at release. Bikini Zombie Slayers (R) retails for $27.99, and Bikini Samurai Squad (Vortex) for $36.99. It's nice to see D3 giving their own franchises a chance, instead of peddling other people's crap. I may pick both up just to give 'em support for doing silly things. Thursday is time to get serious* though, with the release of the $30-cheaper version of From Software's Ninja Blade. I better hope for region-free-ness on this one, or I'm stuck looking at the boxart until March. Either way, it's a bad time to be a mutant bug and/or zombie.

*game is not actually serious

Oboro Muramasa Youtouden DS

The game is getting released this April 9th for the Nintendo DS. Wait, wat? Other then the silly typo, the game is finally nearing completion and will be bought day one. Hopefully currency rates will have rebalanced themselves, and ¥7,140 will be a more reasonable sum by then.

Super Robot Wars OST Saga

Atlus is bringing Super Robot Taisen OG Saga to the US. The game is boring, mind-numbingly dumb, and filled with juvenile humor. It sold millions* in Japan. That said, the portable SRW games all have had very interesting soundtracks, including OG Saga. They always reminded me of Mega Man X, with their 16-bit electro-rock stylings. Therefore, it is fortunate that OG Saga will get the same treatment as Luminous Arc 2 when it hits the States, and get bundled with the soundtrack CD. That will be the only reason why I pick up this trash on April 28th.

*It actually didn't, but for the sake of the joke the number stays.

Investor Musou

Koei just released their latest quarterly earnings report, and it shows record profits. Them Musou games cost a premium, and sell a lot. Maybe that Tecmo merger doesn't seem so out of place anymore. Somehow, I don't see Square Enix's report looking quite as rosy (or black, as the financial analogy goes). This was the quarter before the merger, so obviously the picture will look much different next time, but this just gives a good explanation as to why Tecmo went with Koei over SE.

It prays for the good fight

The Claymore DS page finally got a meaningful update. There's a new Flash opening, which uses original artwork (from the trading cards), instead of close up shots of the Hobby Japan PVC figure. The little text below the header image now says "May 2009," so that's something to keep in mind. Lastly, there is a new PV movie in the Special section, which shows a few scenes of the game in action, and explains a little about how to play. I like how the little screens show a lot of that repetitive jump-slash-retreat action found in most 16-bit action games. I hope this D-Works Entertainment can capture the same feeling when playing the game. That is, after all, the style that made Castlevania fun. If not that, at least make it as close to Valis as possible. I don't ask for much.

I miss the old school

You know you're getting old when you look at screenshots like this, and this, and think to yourself that the 2D midget sprites look better. I actually really dig the way that game looks, it has a very blatant Final Fantasy VI "inspired" look, which is a big reason why I want to check it out. Too fucking bad it's on J-cellphones, and likely won't jump over to the iPhone any time soon. Old school all the way, getting denied access to games that I actually want to play. You kids get off my lawn, I'm tired, I'm going to bed.

About damn time

Finally, my calendar has more then three entries for the entire month. January was especially slow, but February is already looking very busy. This week alone has three entries. First, the US gets Rygar The Battle Of Argus. $39.99 is not enough to get me to pull out my credit card, but if it's ever getting cleared out during a gold box sale, I'm there. Then, for some reason, Wednesday sees the Ninja Blade Original Soundtrack released. This one is worth the $40. Then more From Software "goodness" follows on Thursday with the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls. I'll wait and see how things play out with this one. I try to limit myself to only one From Software game at a time, too much isn't good for you. That and I don't have $100 to burn of From Software games, too much of that ain't good for you either.

Next week we also get some fun stuff. The long awaited American debut of the Oneechanbara series, and the From Software game I'll be voting for with my dollars, Ninja Blade (the cheap Asia version).

From edit: If that wasn't enough From Software for you, Tuesday is also the release date for Tenchu 4 in North America. Not interested, but it fits, so I put it here.