Level-5's Tokyo Game Show booth featured a Closed Theater presentation (much like their competitor, Square Enix). However, unlike the other JRPG overlord, Level-5 encouraged us to actually let you watch these trailers as well by endowing us with a DVD (courtesy of booth girl). Our favorite trailer of the three new games unveiled at TGS this year is for PSP: Ushiro, a horror-themed RPG that has you playing a ghost haunting his darling (in a not-so-Patrick Swazey way).
That's not all, of course. The busy RPG team is also hard at work on a new DS game in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, and a new PSP game that lets you customize some robots. Check out those videos, and more, after the break.
The latest issue of Japanese gaming supermag, Famitsu, had a welcome surprise for fans of Nintendo's three-DVD-wide home console -- the announcement of Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga for the Wii. Gamekyo originally posted scans of the article announcing the title, translating a few key features of the former PSP series' Wii-imagining -- chief among these being an online co-op mode using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. While the PSP version of Valhalla Knightsreceived middling reviews, we remain, as ever, cautiously optimistic about any RPG offerings for the Wii -- though considering the game is about 70 percent complete and not due out in Japan until next year, it may be a while before we get our hands on it.
And we're writing post now! A new, Japanese teaser website has surfaced in Sega's online realm, promising an unnamed RPG amidst some spinny flower things and what looks to be an angry, somewhat angular dragon. We haven't found much use for the page, other than sticking it in the background and listening to the wonderfully retro music.
A NeoGAF user has also pointed to a graphic allegedly leaked from Sega's Tokyo Game Show page, which seems to imply that the DS game will be called "7th Dragon" and feature a cavalcade of ultra-cute characters. We're certainly intrigued, but part of us would simply prefer to continue living the lie: it's Skies of Arcadia 2, and it's out tomorrow.
One of the best things about PAX is that it's not just all about video games. There are legions of people who still enjoy doing it old school, and that includes board games, tabletoppers, and RPGs. We witnessed people playing everything from the massive, sprawling, plastic-fest of Twilight Imperium to the simple wordplay of Apples to Apples. Heck, even the final elimination round of the Omegathon was a Jenga showdown.
Check out the gallery below that's filled with people who still love how a pair of dice feels in their hands. To those about to roll, we salute you.
Disney Interactive Studio VP Graham Hopper thinks Disney needs more role-playing games. Speaking with GameDaily, Hopper says the company has an RPG in the pipeline, but can't yet make an announcement. Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts series is probably the only RPG we can think of that uses Disney characters, but that was more of a dalliance on the house of Mickey's part.
Hopper goes on to say that RPGs fit with Disney because the company believes storytelling and character design are important. He notes the company isn't looking to make "the hardest core RPG," but a blend, which he believes the studio is fully capable of. May Diablo help us if Disney's answer to role-playing is something like High School Musical RPG.
Judging from this screenshot, you can see where some of the *ahem* enhancements are going. CD Projekt is pouring a lot of time and effort into The Witcher, which came out almost a year ago. They're adding new animations, new NPC models, fixing all of the dialogue translation problems, squashing bugs, and "increasing load times by 80%." The question is, will people pay attention to a game that came out last year?
GameCyte has a full interview with project lead Maciej Szczesnik who talks about the changes they've made. They caught a lot of flak over the poor translation of the game from the original Polish into English, and now they've re-recorded over 5,000 lines of dialogue along with all of the other upgrades and fixes. You can hear the difference between the old audio and the new audio pretty clearly by clicking on those links, but frankly... they just sound like different readings/voices to us. How does the plot change by hearing someone shout "Quick! To the laboratory!" any differently?
The new edition, which comes out September 16th, includes two audio CDs, a making-of DVD, an official game guide, a short story from the author of the book that the game is based on, and a map, and it retails for $49.99. However, if you're previously purchased the game, it's a free download. Hey, we're all for free stuff.
Tired of constantly clicking dwarfs and dragons to death in a cliché-ridden fantasy setting? Rejoice, for Gas Powered Games' Space Siege demo is now available for download! You -- yes, you! -- can now be plunged into a brave, hitherto unexplored world as you click aliens and robots to death in a cliché-ridden sci-fi setting!
Here's the lowdown on the download: This smattering of outer space adventure will lay siege to approximately 935MB of space on your hard drive and offer you a glimpse of the game's environments, combat and cybernetically enhanced space dudes. You can grab it from our pals at Big Download.
Hopefully we're not in danger of providing Fallout 3 overload, and if you haven't gotten the idea yet, we're really looking forward to this game. It's literally a cool science fiction series skin slapped on top of Oblivion, but we're not complaining about that. Blowing away mutants in the wasteland? Yes, please.
Here's the meat and bones from our time with Bethesda's Todd Howard, and you can listen to the full audio interview below. After the break, find out some tidbits like the size of the world, how many radio stations are in the game, and why you won't be dual-wielding or buying horse armor. Oh, and be sure to pay attention to the exploding pants achievement.
While, for the most part, Chrono Trigger on the DS looks just like Chrono Trigger on the SNES, some liberties have been taken to make the use of the new, screenier hardware. I snapped this control scheme diagram from the Chrono Trigger demo station, figuring there may be someone out there interested in how it would play on the DS.
Oh, and I played it. The big revelation here is the touchscreen movement. The touchscreen (which displays an automap of the room you're in) basically acts as a big analog stick: hold the stylus toward the right of the screen and Crono moves right; hold it farther toward the edge and Crono moves faster. Tap, or run into something, to make Crono interact.
It's awesome if you want to have a really hard time performing basic movement operations in Chrono Trigger. But the traditional button controls remain more than adequate. It doesn't really mar the fact that it's OMG CHRONO TRIGGER. And battling on the touchscreen is perfectly fine -- you just touch buttons on a menu.
In other Chrono news, an SE rep told me that the translation (yes, it was the English version!) was new! And according to a statement given to Spencer Yip, the single-screen version just as it appeared on the SNES will be added to the cart before release.
Arguably the coolest thing about the title is the integration of various web-based minigames set apart from the actual title. For instance, winning one minigame might unlock a monster for you to use in Twin Skies, while another might reward you with valuable lewts upon your next login. While subscription fees haven't been decided upon, the game will be free to download direct from the Twin Skies site. We'll definitely be looking forward to this title's first appearance at PAX, if only to see if "my Twin Skies pets, let me show you them" really has the same ring to it.
After much speculation and painful hours of sitting on pins and needles, Square-Enix confirmed that their chronometric teaser was, in fact, counting down to the big reveal of a Nintendo DS adaptation of Chrono Trigger. The countdown just ended, revealing the first pseudo-trailer for the game; following Squeenix's promise for a "newly revamped" version of what many consider to be the greatest RPG of all time, our hopes were high for a 3D remake, ala Final Fantasy III and IV -- though the trailer shows that the visuals will retain their charming 16-bit aesthetic.
The trailer doesn't show off the game's new features, like the new dungeon, wireless play and touch screen support -- though it does end by touting the Winter 2008 release window we'd previously heard. Hopefully, future media for the title will show us exactly why we'll need to purchase the game again (other than the fact that it's frakkin'Chrono Trigger) -- until then, we'll be anxiously awaiting Christmas morning, when we'll scurry to the foyer to discover that Ho-Ho has left us stockingfuls of heartwarming nostalgia.
Update: We've got the post-countdown trailer posted after the jump, courtesy of GameVideos.
After several days of conjecture, an evolving series of load screens, and more fanboy arguments than you can shake a mouse at, word has finally come down from on high that the newest Blizzard property will beDiablo III. With the announcement this morning, Blizzard has thrown open the floodgates with screen shots, concept art, video and more. If you're wondering about what this upcoming title has in store, check out coverage from around the network and beyond, or wander through the eye-candy goodness of the galleries!
As if Fallout 3's Collector's Edition wasn't enough to make you frantically type "DO WANT" in our comments section, Bethesda and Amazon have announced an even grander package, the Fallout 3 Survival Edition. In what's essentially the special edition of the collector's edition, Amazon's offer includes all of the latter item's goodies -- a Vault Boy Bobblehead doll, a hardcover book of art and a behind-the-scenes DVD in a Vault-Tec lunch box -- as well as a "life-size" replica of the Pip-Boy 3000, the wrist-mounted contraption worn by in-game apocalypse survivors.
Of course, being a replica, the Pip-Boy 3000 doesn't offer the full functionality enjoyed by those wandering Bethesda's wasteland. This one's just a cool digital clock, we're afraid. It's already available for pre-order on Amazon (but not to Europe, sorry!), with the console and PC versions listed at $129.99 and $119.99, respectively. DO WANT ... ?
