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Why 'Lords of Shadow' wasn't 'Castlevania: Lords of Shadow' at first

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 27th 2009 at 1:30PM }

Being Dave Cox, head of European development for Konami, can't be an easy job. For one, he's not Hideo Kojima, so he's already got that going against him. Worse yet, he's had to tow the company line and let his upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow languish out of the spotlight while Castlevania Judgment got all the attention. It seems Konami didn't even have the confidence to allow Lords of Shadow the Castlevania license -- nor did fans. "It was quite a radical departure from what had gone before with Castlevania, and there was a little bit of nervousness that perhaps it wouldn't be accepted as a Castlevania game," Cox told GameReactor.

Though he claims the project was approved originally as a Castlevania game and was built from the get-go with the vampire-hunting series in mind, the folks in charge at Konami had cold feet going into the big reveal at Games Convention 2008. "Senior management took the decision that we were going to announce it as Lords of Shadow, see what the reaction is, and if it's a good one then this would become a fully-fledged Castlevania." It was definitely a good one.

Gallery: Castlevania: Lords of Shadows

[Via VG247]

Fanswag: Castlevania Judgment goes to ...

by Joystiq Staff { Jan 23rd 2009 at 9:30AM }

It's about time we crowned the winner of our latest giveaway involving Castlevania Judgment. Our copy of the game shall be awarded to this lucky reader:

Kevin Lehnert, who enjoyed Portrait of Ruin for the DS

Congratulations to our winner and better luck next time to the rest of you. Thanks for reading!

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

Reminder: Castlevania Judgment still up for grabs

by David Hinkle { Jan 20th 2009 at 3:00PM }

Time is running out. Through the mist, Dracula's castle begins to emerge. You have precious little time if you're to arm yourself against the forces of darkness with our copy of Castlevania Judgment. Before you take on the castle, see our original contest post to arm up with whips and stakes and hearts and maybe, just maybe, a free game.

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

Koji Igarashi and Simon Belmont team up to sell Castlevania Judgment

by JC Fletcher { Jan 15th 2009 at 5:19PM }

Rest assured: when we reviewed Konami's Castlevania Judgment, we did so completely free of influence from external factors like whip-wielding producers in cowboy hats or vampire hunter cosplayers. Had there been somebody in our office whipping at us and cosplaying at us, we'd like to think the score would have remained firm, but we have yet to be tested in such a way to find out. Mostly we'd have been happy to suddenly have an office!

That's right, the time-altering ability of Aeon brought Simon Belmont into the modern age, specifically the day of Castlevania Judgment's Japanese release. The legendary vampire hunter joined forces with Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi to bother Dengeki staffers, with a truly amusing set of photos as a result. Will it sell Castlevania? No idea.

We thought there was no way to make the outfits Takeshi Obata designed for the characters look any more ridiculous, but Konami found a way: putting them on real people.

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

Fanswag: Castlevania Judgment

by David Hinkle { Jan 15th 2009 at 9:00AM }

Another fanswag giveaway is upon us and this time we're unloading one copy of Castlevania Judgment ($50). Want it? Simply leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite Castlevania game of all time is. You should have plenty to choose from!

Of course, we've got a couple of rules. For one, you have to be at least 18 years of age and a current and legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). Also, you may only enter once per day. Entries must be in before Wednesday, January 21 at 11:59PM ET. Before entering, make sure you read the official rules right here, too!

Best of luck to you all and thanks for reading!

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

Rumor: Tenchu 4, Broken Sword, Onechanbara, more dated for Europe

by JC Fletcher { Jan 12th 2009 at 4:26PM }

A list of 'retailer info' containing release dates for upcoming games popped up on NeoGAF. Judging by the use of the German title for Broken Sword, we decided to try Amazon.de to check these dates against their database, and they match. These dates might be placeholders, and they might be subject to change, or our PALs might have an awesome March to look forward to!

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins might actually come out in Europe in the same month as North Americans get to play it: Amazon says it'll be out February 26, alongside Castlevania Judgment. Broken Sword: Director's Cut is listed for March 26, while Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (retitled, as is the Xbox game, Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Killers) is expected March 18 -- a slight delay from the official date.

[Via NeoGAF]

Top 5: Worst. Cutscenes. Ever.

by Kaes Delgrego { Jan 12th 2009 at 12:42PM }

According to Activision (and after all, they made Pitfall!), video games will "eclipse" all other forms of media. Head honcho Mike Griffith went on to say that "Movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors."

I'm not sure how much I agree with that statement. Strictly in terms of cash flow, it's already happening. Gaming is a fairly pricey hobby, and it's been outpacing the other forms of media for several years (in terms of growth). Yet I have a difficult time imagining a time where video games are everyone's preferred form of escapism. Although their respective industries may see drastic changes with direct, indirect, or unrelated connections to gaming, music and film will always have a place. As much as I love gaming, it's not rare that I find myself preferring to zone out with TV or just listen to music and read instead of playing a video game.

What I do see is a further merging of the three into ubiquitous, all-purpose media devices. Microsoft and Sony currently do this, and it's only a matter of time before Nintendo catches up. While most households currently don't rely on gaming consoles as their sole provider of film / TV and music, I imagine that this will change. Perhaps the mediums will start to bleed into one another. With Metal Gear Solid blurring the lines between game and film and Audiosurf doing the same for games and music, perhaps media will merge and propagate a completely new and unique form of entertainment. Interesting stuff.

What was this Top 5 about, again? Oh, right: cut scenes. A lot of them stink. Here's the 5 worst ones.

NEXT >>

The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.

Wii Fanboy Review: Castlevania Judgment

by JC Fletcher { Dec 17th 2008 at 12:40PM }

It's hard to place Castlevania Judgment in terms of an ideal audience. The wild deviation from pretty much anything characterizing Castlevania means that the series' fans are unlikely to be well-served by the game, and people who don't care about the series probably would never give it a second look. Furthermore, fighting game lovers would find Judgment too simplistic for their tastes.

That said, having given the game a chance, I slowly found myself warming to it. It took me a while to shed my expectations of what it should be, however. It's not much of a Castlevania game, and it's not much of a fighting game, but it is a decent third-person, one-on-one brawler. Like Power Stone mixed with Lament of Innocence.

I must confess that I was slightly disappointed to find the game not-terrible, because I expected to completely savage it in this review. Oh, well.

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

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Nintendo dates Play on Wii, other 2009 releases for Europe

by David Hinkle { Dec 15th 2008 at 12:00PM }

Supposedly, a list for what's coming next year in Europe was issued by NoE and it's been found on a few sites. The problem is that none of these sites source anything entirely credible, so we're remaining a bit skeptical on this one. What are you waiting for? Dive past the break for this rather extensive list of what's apparently going to release in Europe, including some Play on Wii titles, next year.

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Metareview -- Castlevania Judgment (Wii)

by Randy Nelson { Nov 24th 2008 at 3:50PM }

Nobody seems to have been whipped into a frenzy by Konami's recent stab at a Castlevania fighting game. A small group of reviewers has finally passed judgment on the Wii-only release, and, by-and-large, the consensus is a resounding groan – and it's not coming from Frankenstein's monster.

IGN (75/100): "In the list of games I'm dying to play in the Castlevania series, a 3D fighter was about as far from the top as possible, but Judgment was a pleasant surprise."
G4 X-Play (20/100): "The soundtrack is the only thing in Castlevania Judgment that does proper homage to the series."
1UP (D-): "As a fighter, Castlevania Judgment employs too many design ideas that are neither well planned nor well executed. It's a strange misstep for the beloved series, one that Konami hopefully learns from."

Metareview: Castlevania Judgment

by Alisha Karabinus { Nov 20th 2008 at 10:00AM }

We've said a lot about Castlevania Judgment -- some good, some bad, some after giving it a go. But the time has come to see what's really going on with it, now that it's in circulation. And so, with bated breath, we present ... other people playing Castlevania Judgment, and then talking about it.

Nintendo Power (70/100) says not to expect Castlevania from this Castlevania: "If you forgo your expectations of what a Castlevania game should be--or are simply looking for a respectable 3-D fighting game--you should have a good time with Judgment."

1UP (16/100) kind of, well, hated it: "Beyond the strange art direction, Judgment suffers from jarring mechanics that disregard established fighting conventions. The uncompromising camera displays the action in a bizarre, disconcerting manner that tracks players in a 3D area filled with environmental hazards. And in combat, the camera's way too difficult to control. "

IGN (75/100), however, did not: "The combat is deep and entertaining, the characters are well balanced and very unique as a full-on roster, and everything from sub-weapons to specials, combo attacks, in-level traps and monsters, and epic super attack animations are well done and true to the source material."

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

Castlevania Judgment launch trailer is too effective

by JC Fletcher { Nov 18th 2008 at 12:52PM }

Warning: this trailer for Castlevania Judgment, out this week, may have the unexpected side effect of making you want to play Castlevania Judgment. Until now, we've been insulated by our Castlevania fandom -- we love Castlevania so much that it's painful to see it as an anime-style 3D brawler/fighter with silly character designs (Eric Lecarde doesn't just look like a little boy -- he is a little boy for some reason).

But between the top-notch CG and the surprisingly exciting gameplay, we fear that Konami has us under a spell. Oh, look, there's the castle. There's Alucard doing something badass. Oh, they're playing "Vampire Killer." There is officially no hope for us.

Gallery: Castlevania Judgment

Retail and download releases for the week of November 17th

by David Hinkle { Nov 17th 2008 at 9:00AM }

Just as we all found out last week, today marks the release of the fourth episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Oh, and we're also getting a bunch of other games. This week, seriously, has a lot of games. Head on past the break for the full list.

Also, our apologies. There likely won't be a VC Monday Madness video today, but we'll try to get it up as soon as we can. Sorry!

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

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Nintendo reveals early 2009 lineup, Mario & Luigi 3 in Feb.

by Ross Miller { Nov 13th 2008 at 6:00AM }

Nintendo has revealed its Japanese lineup for the onset of 2009 (via IGN). Unsurprisingly, the list consists largely of games that will likely never see an official release overseas, but a few titles stand out. Mario & Luigi RPG 3 is coming February 11 to DS (no release date yet for other regions), while Castlevania Judgment and Play for Wii Mario Tennis are coming January 15. As previously revealed, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time will be coming to both DS and Wii on January 29.

Not listed are the recently unveiled Sin and Punishment 2 and Punch-Out!! for Wii. Looks like we'll be waiting a while before getting our hands on them.

Castlevania Judgment lineup suffers from Dracula's Curse

by Jason Dobson { Nov 4th 2008 at 9:00PM }

Konami's questionable tandem of arm flailing and vampire hunting will be afflicted by Dracula's Curse when Castlevania Judgment ships for the Wii later this month. The company revealed the final three characters set to duke it out in the upcoming fighter, including Castlevania III's diminutive thief, Grant Danasty, and Trevor Belmont's main squeeze, Sypha.

The pair will be joined by Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness' Cornell, who in addition to having to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of being a Nintendo 64-era werewolf, also shoulders the dubious distinction of being perhaps the only fighter to see his in-game appearance actually improve.