Rumor: Namco Bandai hard at work on three... games? [update 1]
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Mar 26th 2007 at 2:20PM }
[Update 1: The caution was justified, it seems. Our Japanese translation slave brings up the following points:
- These likely aren't scans at all -- they're either mock-ups or leaked page template files.
- There is no confirmation that these are PS3 games or even games at all! Team Aces is behind the wheel, however, and they recently made Ace Combat 6 an Xbox 360 exclusive...
- If Cellius is involved, it is not evidenced here.
Though the stunning screenshots of Brave Arms, Chain Lim!t and Second Season 01 could represent target renders or similar technical tomfoolery, the abundance of guns, explosions and atmospheric lighting conveys quite a bit of excitement nonetheless. Take in the full
Brave Arms is probably...
Set in a pre-apocalyptic world of oppression and impractical fashion, telling the tale of a cybernetic ninja hailing from a post-apocalyptic future. In order to prevent said apocalypse from occurring, he must reach a worldwide television broadcasting station and spread the message of human acceptance and peace -- but not before decapitating the army of inept security guards standing in his way. At his side is the Brave Arm, a futuristic sword capable of experiencing a wide variety of emotions. Keeping the sword from becoming depressed, limp and otherwise useless is a key gameplay element that requires vigorous shaking of the Sixaxis and the constant collection of "Prozac orbs."
Chain Lim!t is probably...
A stuntman simulation game. Your character, Arkleton Leapman, is at the top of his field -- the field being the finely honed practice of leaping away from cinematic balls of fire. After selecting a starting position and reactionary scream, an explosion sends Arkleton flying. A series of button presses and Sixaxis motions will determine your landing position, with more awkward results netting you fewer points. The ultimate goal is to appear in a film with Minoko Kaplowe and, apparently, stick your face up her skirt. Par for the course in the movie biz.
Second Season 01 is probably...
A sequel to First Season 03, which itself was, confusingly, a prequel to Third Season 02. Second Season 01 picks up where the previous game left off: As Lord Stockington III, a disgraced ex-Buckingham Palace guard, it is your goal to be as rude as humanly possible. Part of this hinges on your ability to shove your way through crowds and wave a gun in every face you encounter (despite your gun never being loaded). Eventually, you build up your own band of ruffians and equip them with the ultimate goal -- booking an international plane trip and causing a flight attendant to experience a complete existential breakdown.
[Via PS3 Fanboy]]
Set in a pre-apocalyptic world of oppression and impractical fashion, telling the tale of a cybernetic ninja hailing from a post-apocalyptic future. In order to prevent said apocalypse from occurring, he must reach a worldwide television broadcasting station and spread the message of human acceptance and peace -- but not before decapitating the army of inept security guards standing in his way. At his side is the Brave Arm, a futuristic sword capable of experiencing a wide variety of emotions. Keeping the sword from becoming depressed, limp and otherwise useless is a key gameplay element that requires vigorous shaking of the Sixaxis and the constant collection of "Prozac orbs."
Chain Lim!t is probably...
A stuntman simulation game. Your character, Arkleton Leapman, is at the top of his field -- the field being the finely honed practice of leaping away from cinematic balls of fire. After selecting a starting position and reactionary scream, an explosion sends Arkleton flying. A series of button presses and Sixaxis motions will determine your landing position, with more awkward results netting you fewer points. The ultimate goal is to appear in a film with Minoko Kaplowe and, apparently, stick your face up her skirt. Par for the course in the movie biz.
Second Season 01 is probably...
A sequel to First Season 03, which itself was, confusingly, a prequel to Third Season 02. Second Season 01 picks up where the previous game left off: As Lord Stockington III, a disgraced ex-Buckingham Palace guard, it is your goal to be as rude as humanly possible. Part of this hinges on your ability to shove your way through crowds and wave a gun in every face you encounter (despite your gun never being loaded). Eventually, you build up your own band of ruffians and equip them with the ultimate goal -- booking an international plane trip and causing a flight attendant to experience a complete existential breakdown.
[Via PS3 Fanboy]]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Grog @ Mar 26th 2007 2:24PM
But April 1st is still 6 days away...
Jeff @ Mar 26th 2007 2:25PM
Well, I'll say this: those are some pretty authentic looking fakes, if that's what they are. Does look like Famitsu.
Of course, I can't read Japanese, so the text could be a litany of "April fools!" for all I know.
Jason Awsome @ Mar 26th 2007 3:58PM
I remember when Capcom made five Gamecube exclusives.
sheppy @ Mar 26th 2007 2:30PM
And to think, I announced these in the Dead Rising thread.... I should have waited.
mushiking @ Mar 26th 2007 2:32PM
it's not on a april fools joke... HOWEVER, it hasn't ben confirmed yet if these are ps3 exclusives. the games are being done by Project Aces, the team making Ace Combat 6.
also the pictures are clearly concept art, and should not be taken seriously.
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Mar 26th 2007 2:34PM
Well, considering Cellius is working on these, I doubt Kutaragi would sign off on 360 versions.
Is anyone else reminded of Breakdown by Second Season 01? I always thought Breakdown was a gem, albeit a flawed one.
Jon @ Mar 26th 2007 2:37PM
The concepts are interesting particularly Brave Arms. I thought the second scan was funny.
Mark Felps @ Mar 26th 2007 4:14PM
Where are you getting PS3 exclusivity out of those scans? The box which would normally hold the console is blanked out, and Namco-Bandai haven't publicly announced anything. Again, these are Namco-Bandai, not Cellius documents, so I'm not sure where the PS3 exclusivity is coming from.
Slaziman @ Mar 26th 2007 2:48PM
Oh boy, now PS3 fanboys will put these in their "exclusives that pwn 360" lists, while there is little known about them. They used to do that with Warhawk and DMC4, look what happened to those :D
MrSparkle @ Mar 26th 2007 3:54PM
The caption under the third pic made me LMAO. An ex-Buckingham Palace guard trying to make a flight attendant have a complete existential breakdown? That would be the best plotline ever, even if it would be a very short game.
The True Gamer @ Mar 26th 2007 3:32PM
Man, doesn't the PS3 have anything besides shooters on it?
hvnlysoldr @ Mar 26th 2007 2:55PM
Those concepts are funny. If the head of Krazy Ken is behind this, where's his body? Is it hidden somewhere in the This is Living commercials? If you watch them seven days later headless Krazy Ken will come to kill you.
Grog @ Mar 26th 2007 2:56PM
I offer these gems:
"Keeping the sword from becoming depressed, limp and otherwise useless... requires vigorous shaking of the Sixaxis and... "Prozac orbs."
"it is your goal to be as rude as humanly possible."
I didn't even bother taking a quote from the second. If these are not fakes, they are clearly the result of some very imaginative thinking.
Chang3 @ Mar 26th 2007 3:00PM
If you guys look close at the Brave Arms screens, you will notice theres a map and a life bar at the bottom, so I doubt those are concept art.
Rask @ Mar 26th 2007 3:20PM
Cellius was formed when? A month ago?
Frankly, this whole thing reeks of concept art and CGI stills to build hype (aka what Kutaragi does best).
WizarDru @ Mar 27th 2007 9:20AM
I'm seeing complicated environments and settings, but not much in the way of interface or controls. Some of these look like cutscene material and not actual gameplay.
It has become problematic these days to pick fakes from the real thing...especially when Sony has poisoned the water hole with 'target renders'.
Killer @ Mar 26th 2007 3:23PM
Everyone just wait for it! rfom will be here any second! To tell us, why the ps3 is better. Just wait for it...it's coming...
Muu @ Mar 26th 2007 3:23PM
Good choice of the first SS at the top of the post, had a chuckle there (reads: "You're our only hope. You got that?"). And I assume you made up the BS translation of the other scans to see how many fanboys actually believe them.
All that aside, is it just me or do all of these seem like games that would work much better played on a Wii...
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Mar 26th 2007 3:27PM
Muu: It's just you. You probably think EVERYTHING would play better on a Wii, though, so don't feel bad. But, at least now you know, right?
Anyway, these 3 games kind of look like they're 3 levels from the SAME game.
And what kind of a name is "Second Season 01"? I can't even fathom where, even if you ran something in Japanese through Babelfish, and it would spit that out.
sheppy @ Mar 26th 2007 3:49PM
"Man, doesn't the PS3 have anything besides shooters on it?"
Ironic since in only one of the three games, shooting is a major focus.
Brave Arms, you get as close as possible to take out the people through Melee combat. Chain Limit, you select the item and focus of your actions so, take for example, pulling the tap off the girls mouth or from that screenshot, biting the tape on the girls leg. Only Second Season can be considered a shooter.
m ike @ Mar 26th 2007 3:51PM
1. where does it say cellius at all in those scans?
2. where does ti say any platform in thsoe scans?
it doesnlt and as ben debated on neogaf for days right now we don't even know i these are real or for what platform. my best guess would be multiplat befor i proclaim it s a ps3 exclussive.
Demaar @ Mar 26th 2007 3:52PM
WTF, descriptions must be someone having a joke. Someone translated the text over at Neogaf and it sounds nothing like that.
slacker164 @ Mar 26th 2007 3:53PM
Where exactly does it say what system these games are (potentially) for? I saw this yesterday on a different site and could not find any evidence of a platform (PS3 or otherwise) anywhere. I’m not trying to be negative or anything, but as far as I can tell someone just somehow jumped to the conclusion that these were for PS3. Does anyone have a source for naming PS3 as the platform?
The True Gamer @ Mar 26th 2007 3:55PM
Sheppy, you failed to see my sarcasm.
Sathan @ Mar 26th 2007 5:07PM
According to the other article Cellius opened on March 6th, there are no plans for Cellius to work directly on PS3 games, the new outfit will be producing "interactive entertainment" and "business contents".(I guess things change)
I doubt in two weeks they pulled out fully functional games out of their a**. I'll bet those are nothing more than cg concept target vid footage(Kuturagi's favorite).
Either way 3 new exclusive PS3 games is just the kind of news Sony needs to appease the fans.
Rob @ Mar 26th 2007 3:57PM
personally, like i said before, i'm not too excited about these games. There's a good chance that they won't even make it to North America (Look at all the great PSP games they haven't released here). I'd rather see Ace Combat 6 on PS3 instead. (Common Sony, I know you can pull through)
sheppy @ Mar 26th 2007 3:59PM
Nah, didn't fail to see it, just shot it down before it became a rallying cry for xbox fan or jack of no trades.
Flit @ Mar 26th 2007 4:05PM
Memo
To: Ken K. and Sony, and it's third party developers.
Please, learn to use punctuation and grammar.
Capitalization comes at the beginning of a word (flOw).
Punctuation goes at the end of a phrase or sentance (Chain Lim!t, Kill.Switch).
Yelling on the internet is rude (PLAYSTATION 3, SIXAXIS).
Please stop abusing language, or else we'll get a game called "1337ROFL,O'rLY?!111"
Thank You.
The Management
Xanto @ Mar 26th 2007 4:10PM
Wow, looks like they'll actually use the PS3's graphics to the fullest, should prove interesting.
Nick Huang @ Mar 26th 2007 4:14PM
i dont see why these can't be actual screens, these games don't look much more advanced than House of the Dead 4 + some added HDR effects.
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 26th 2007 4:14PM
A Xbox Elite and a PS3 would look great on my shelf. Kick it in to gear Sony. Im slowly turning cold.
Joe @ Mar 26th 2007 4:44PM
He's been called "Crazy Ken." Ken Kutaragi might've created the PS1 and the PS2, but it was the PS3 that made him seem out of touch. Or was it? It's no secret that Kutaragi is not a numbers guy (Kaz Hirai, he's your pencil pusher). No, Kutaragi's an engineer by trade. He likes to make stuff. And according to numerous insiders, Kutaragi has been itching to make games for months now. The Bandai Namco move isn't necessarily Sony shoving him in the corner. It could be something else entirely — A strengthening between the two entities, an opportunity for Sony to create more exclusive titles. (Kutaragi's son apparently is a manager at Bandai Namco, so this marriage more than makes sense.) Moreover, unlike Hirai, Kutaragi is a gamer. He's a big FPS and RPG fan, so don't be shocked if you see him churn out a mis-mash of both. Does Sony shuffling Kutaragi around in the organize mean he's made mistakes? Definitely. But is he now irrelevant? Hardly.
yup its true..these games is ps3 exclusive
rfom @ Mar 26th 2007 4:43PM
Well this could be Ken's chance to gain revenge ...
"three great new Cellius games to be 360 exclusives"
"In a related move, Cellius changes name to 360ius"
Noshino @ Mar 26th 2007 6:54PM
@ Joe
The problem here is that you will only see bashing when it hsa to do with Sony, now if you say something about Nintendo (I love Nintendo, but its true) or Microsoft, then its all cool, no matter how high your failure rate is...
"Frankly, this whole thing reeks of concept art and CGI stills to build hype (aka what Kutaragi does best)."
And so does Microsoft....Halo anyone?
Meh, they could be true, if they are awesome, but as for now, no reason to get your hopes up...(at lesat til april's fool is over, heh)
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Mar 26th 2007 5:14PM
To Flit:
Learn which "its" to use when speaking on the Internet.
Sincerely,
The Internet
Questworld @ Mar 27th 2007 2:45AM
No Muu, I doubt it's only just you, however those who prefer the PS3 or 360 would have you believe otherwise. I guess that's how people are when they see cool looking games (in concept form no less) and automatically attach themselves to it (rather ravenously I might add) and insisting that it can no way be a concept for a Wii game (or PC even). If it was a concept only look of Opoona, I doubt many would be jumping out of the woodwork like starved animals (first one to get there gets the big meaty pieces).
If I were to guess, I think what we see here is a game for each system. Hey, it's as good a guess as any. No one's automatically wrong for thinking any which way. So, I think Brave Arms is PS3 (reminds me of MGS4's Raiden or Ninja Gaiden Sigma), Chain Limit is Wii (looks like a combination of point and click puzzle solving and action shooter), and Second Season is 360 (well, it looks like a first-person view game, like the Xbox game Breakdown, combined with crime solving elements).