Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Joystiq interviews Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagakihttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/03/joystiq-interviews-team-ninjas-tomonobu-itagaki/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/03/joystiq-interviews-team-ninjas-tomonobu-itagaki/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/03/joystiq-interviews-team-ninjas-tomonobu-itagaki/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

It's not too long into our interview with Tomonobu Itagaki before he issues us with an impromptu challenge. "If there's a game out there that is more beautiful, more interactive, faster and has better action than this game, please let me know." The Team Ninja boss has a train of thought that truly exemplifies the bluntest characteristics of that phrase. It's an unstoppable machine barreling down a track without diversion and without apologies -- because it's a train.

We conducted (oh dear) an interview with the outspoken developer at the Team Ninja offices shortly after the Tokyo Game Show, focusing on the aforementioned title, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. After the break, you'll find Itagaki's concise thoughts on Dragon Sequels, dual-screen slashing, how the competition stacks up and why multiplayer Ninja Gaiden might just piss you off.

The DS is known for being a casual system and Ninja Gaiden strikes me as a very hardcore series of games. How do you reconcile those two reputations?

Yes, the title is Ninja Gaiden and of course, it belongs to that franchise, but I don't consider this installment to be hardcore as much as games in the past. In fact, we want to really tailor it for the audience that's going to be playing it on the DS. The other thing I want to make clear to hardcore gamers of the world is that little kids tend to be a lot more open towards challenging games than people think, and they'll continue to play until they get better. I don't think they have anything to worry about with this title.

Related to that point, Team Ninja has a reputation for targeting powerful technology for its games. The DS is technically considered a weaker piece of hardware, so it seems like a departure for you. What sort of technical challenges were involved with switching that mindset from developing high-end, well presented titles to something on a smaller scale?

I've been at this a long time, and I remember the days of working on the Super Nintendo. Working on the DS, we can go in and look at it from a different approach than we would for a high-end console, using techniques that are both new and hearken back to the days of older game systems.

Does it run at 60 frames per second? It seems like it does.

Yes.

That's certainly not a common feature in portable games -- or even new-gen games, come to think of it.

There are a lot of games out there that call themselves "action games," but they don't necessarily put a premium on making the action look its best. People are almost hysterical about finding out what resolution a game runs at. "Oh, if it's not 1080p then it's not true next-gen." That's because they're breaking down the individual parts of the game and what's shown on the screen into those kind of numerical values, making sure it's 1080p or whatever. But people don't seem to mind as much breaking down time into numerical values. We're making a game where the screen is refreshed 60 times a second. We feel it's much more important than the numerical value of the screen resolution.

How does the development cycle compare between developing a DS game and a console game? Is it more compact?

The size of the team is completely different, but time wise it takes about the same amount of time.

Dragon Sword's less demanding controls and lower difficulty are things I wouldn't necessarily associate or expect from Ninja Gaiden. Clearly, Hayabusa is a central figure, but across different platforms and titles, what elements are required in a game before you can call it "Ninja Gaiden?"

That's a good question. The Ninja Gaiden franchise represents the best action game that can run on that piece of hardware. Since this is the best action game running on the DS, it's worthy of the Ninja Gaiden name.

If I imagine a stylus-based action game, I always picture people just scratching their screens wildly. What's to stop gamers from playing like that? How do you strike a balance between being simple and intuitive, but also being precise and having the game recognize specific inputs?

You're right, most people when they start the game, they just kind of scratch about wildly on the screen. The key is that showing the player that each time you scratch, you're having an effect on what the character is doing. I've shown this game to a lot of people, and within 2 or 3 minutes, everyone realizes the connection between what they do with the stylus and what the character does, and then they learn to defeat the enemies.

Was there ever any consideration of a control option that didn't use the touch screen and relied on the face buttons?

No, not at all.

There are a lot of DS games that come out that don't use the touch screen at all. Why do you think developers don't use one of the primary features available to them?

Well, they're free to do what they want. I'm very accepting.

Is there any possibility of a multiplayer mode in Dragon Sword? Was that ever considered?

Yes, every time we make a new Ninja Gaiden game, I think about the possibilities of multiplayer content. But when you really come down to it, Ninja Gaiden is a solitary game. You have a solitary ninja going around killing enemies -- it's really more geared to a single player. I mean, let's say you're playing the game and some other guy comes, he could even be an NPC and not necessarily a player controlled character, and they start fighting so much better than you. Wouldn't that piss you off?

I suppose it might.

Or, let's say you're playing and an NPC comes on screen and you're playing really well, but they're just really lousy and holding you back. You'd feel like you'd want to kill that NPC.

In that case, what about a competitive mode, or a versus mode?

I think that's a good idea, but that's a seperate game in and of itself.

I noticed that the character portraits and the art style seemed a little more comic-like compared to how Ryu is presented in the console games. Is the change in art meant to appeal to a wider audience?

It's my job to exploit the strengths of all the people on our team, so while we were developing the game I noticed all this great artwork coming from them. I thought it would be really good to feature in the game.

But would it be more beneficial to the acceptance of the game? For instance, the Castlevania DS games share a much lighter, more cartoonish art style compared to the gothic art styles used for the games on other platforms. They consider it to be more appealing.

Sorry, I haven't seen the Castlevania games that you're referring to, but I've heard they're pretty popular in the US.



What other DS games have you played? You say you've got the best action game on the DS, but you haven't played Castlevania? Granted, that's not a strict action game per se, but what other titles have you tried?

No, I haven't played other games, really.

You haven't played the competition yet...

Yeah, I don't really care.

Dragon Sword is going to be better, no matter what?

Yeah, of course. Who knows? If there's a game out there that is more beautiful, more interactive, faster and has better action than this game, please let me know.

But for now, there's nothing that's very interesting on the DS for you?

It's not that I don't have an interest, it's just the competitors I don't care about. I've been playing some DS games, like Chibi Robo. It's really good.

Casual games are extremely successful on the DS, and it's spurring a lot of developers and publishers on to make games like Brain Age and whatnot. I'm curious, do you ever see Team Ninja making a game like that?

I think it's best that people who are good at those kinds of games continue to make them. We're action fanatics, so for us to not make an action game is just a waste of everybody's time.

The DS is also very popular because it uses alternate input methods. Are those really intriguing for the action genre specifically? Does it make you want to move away from traditional controls once you get into them?

I think the interface is really attractive, and I believe that we are producing one of the best implementations of this interface and really utilizing the capabilities of that particular hardware, which is one of the hallmarks of a good action game. So, to rephrase my request from earlier -- if you know a game that is more beautiful, faster, more interactive, more fun and uses the hardware interface better than this game, please let me know. See, I'm so accepting.

Do Wii controls interest you? Is a Wii project something you'd consider?

Yes, I'm interested in the Wii, but I can only make one or two games at a time and I think all my fans know that by now. I don't want to start saying things here and then later on have the fans tell me, "No! Focus on what you were working on, don't try and broaden out things yet." Recently, my fans apparently don't want me to bring out my games on time. [laughs] If I say things like this, people will get upset, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

That's probably a smart decision.

Yes. Everyone should be more accepting like me. [laughs]

I noticed the magic in Dragon Sword has more uses besides attacking enemies. You use it to overcome obstacles now -- is that going to be a recurring task throughout the game?

For me, it's really about creating a battle engine and making sure that you have the great input system and that the animations and movements of the character reflect your input, that you're getting a great amount of feedback from the screen and that the action is satisfying and speedy. These are really the things I'm focusing on the most, and I leave the details to the other members of the team to work out. Of course, if it's just action action action and only action, it can get a little bit tiring, so we need a little change of pace here and there to mix things up. The Ninpo is one such idea.

Is there any consideration of bringing other Team Ninja franchises to the DS now that you've had the experience of working on it?

First of all, I think that if a lot of people end up playing and buying this game, I'll definitely consider continuing the Dragon Sword franchise on the DS. As for other existing franchises, I haven't really thought about that yet.

The DS is becoming this huge, unstoppable console all over the world and the PSP is doing pretty well too. That must weigh heavily on the Japanese developer's decision to choose between consoles. The Xbox 360 doesn't do well in Japan, the PS3 has a comparatively small install base and third parties don't do well on the Wii. So it's tough to choose a platform there... is a system like the DS a "win-win" situation?

I would disagree that a DS title is "win-win." We're making Dragon Sword because we want to, not because the DS is popular and selling well. To your comment that it's difficult to develop on consoles now because of the problems on each platform, you have to remember that most people developing for consoles are just ordinary guys. Do you think an ordinary guy is going to be able to succeed automatically when he makes a game?

It's a balance in the market like anything else. You've got good games and bad games, and people buy the good ones and don't buy the ones that are bad, so nothing's guaranteed. There is no guaranteed seller. It's just up to us to make the best game we can and have people buy that and play that game.

Do you see the Ninja Gaiden brand becoming more of a bankable and recognized phenomenon?

I'm not nearly as concerned with the brand value of the name as when I say that the Ninja Gaiden franchise signifies the best action game for that platform, it's my duty to fulfill that statement so that I'm not lying to people. That's much more important to me than building the name of a franchise.

You've gotten Ninja Gaiden on the DS now -- while developing it, was there anything you wanted to change about the DS? Anything that got in the way of making the game you envisioned?

I did think that if you could interact with the stylus on both screens, then it would truly be a piece of hardware that would have no fault whatsoever. I did talk to Nintendo and tell them my thoughts, and there were a lot of difficulties why they couldn't do it this time around. Hopefully, sometime in the future we'll see something like that.

It should be noted that my mom loves the DS. Do you think Ninja Gaiden is going to be something she'll want to play? Do you think moms and grandmothers who bought the DS are going to be interested in Ninja Gaiden?

I don't know... one thing I can say is that usually my games are for males. So, if we're talking about females and older people, even for me that's something I can't really calculate. [laughs] Give it a try and let me know, see how she reacts!

[Translation provided by Andrew Szymanski.]

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]]>Dragon-SwordItagakiNinja-GaidenNinjaGaidenTeam-NinjaTecmoTGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-10-03T15:28:00+00:00Joystiq interviews Jade Raymond of Assassin's Creedhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/02/joystiq-interviews-jade-raymond-of-assassins-creed/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/02/joystiq-interviews-jade-raymond-of-assassins-creed/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/02/joystiq-interviews-jade-raymond-of-assassins-creed/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Oh, Jade. You surely are Ubisoft's finest asset, with your playful and inquisitive eyes inviting us to relive the many adventures we had after our first and far too brief meeting. If only we could be reunited and take some more pictures of our escapades. If only mere images could capture your boldness, allure and glistening green lips! Where is Beyond Good & Evil 2?

Putting our reminiscing aside, we can talk about the other Jade at Ubisoft -- Jade Raymond, producer of big budget bump-off epic, Assassin's Creed. More specifically, we can talk about us talking to her about sandboxes, flower boxes, pushy crowds and Star Trek's Holodeck in a brief Tokyo Game Show chat. Find it after the break.

One of the key aspirations of Assassin's Creed is to create a huge, open and believable world. How do you rein in the player, allowing him to explore but still experience the story you're attempting to tell?

Our creative director, Patrice Desilets, talks about this game not as a sandbox game, but as a "flower box" game. [laughs] Which, to him, means it's got the sandbox elements of freedom and the ability to do your objectives how you want and in the order you want, but the strong story element that keeps everything tighter than usual. It's not as disparate as Grand Theft Auto where the story elements only come together a bit. The story here is super important -- every side mission that you have and every investigation brings you a little bit closer to the deep story and that's the thing that pulls you along and keeps you headed in the right direction.

Altair seems like a strong player character -- he's become immediately recognizable as the Assassin's Creed avatar. What do you do about keeping the character strong while still letting the player inject a little bit of himself and experience the world with his own eyes?

Yeah, that's a good question. One of the ways we've managed to do that is in the hood. It's kind of interesting, we were thinking he's an assassin, that he wants to stay hidden and keep his face covered, so that's one of the reasons he has the hood. The other thing it allows is for the players to project themselves a little bit more onto Altair. Since you don't necessarily see his face, he becomes you much more easily. I think some of the other things we've noticed is when a main character has a lot of flashy, idle moves -- you know, a main character might stand around doing stuff that you feel in that situation you wouldn't have done that. It takes away your ability to relate to the character, so we made sure that the idle moves were subtle.

The other thing is keeping control within cinematic events, so it's never like the character just goes into a cinematic and does a bunch of stuff. The character is still always being controlled by the player and moves to the place the player wants to go. You're never pulled apart, saying "Okay, now I'm watching my character and he's doing a scene and this is what he's doing and he's acting it out." You always have the same control over him.

On that topic of moving to where you want to go, another big aspect of Assassin's Creed is crowd-based gameplay. Ignoring the fact that it's become kind of a buzzword, what exactly is "crowd-based gameplay?" Surely, any game can manage a bunch of people walking up and down the street?

Well, that isn't crowd-based gameplay, right? I think the difference is that a lot of the games we've seen so far feature a crowd that walks around and up and down the street. Sometimes you can pass through them when you walk near them, but there's often very little interaction. You can kill them, or sometimes punch them, but there isn't a lot of stuff to do. We wanted to make a crowd that reacted to what you were doing, and we wanted those reactions to create gameplay. So for example, if you bump into people who are walking around carrying a crate, that will make the crate drop. That means the crowd all around will go "Ahh!" and if there's a guard around, the guard is going to say, "There's the assassin!" and recognize you. You have to be watch out for how the crowd might blow your cover.

Conversely, the crowd can also help you out. Some people in the crowd, if you decide to help them out, will be on your side and stop guards who are running after you and make it easier for you to escape that way. Scholars will let you blend in with them and go into hidden places if you've helped them out. Other examples in a crowd might be be drunk guys stumbling around. They react like a traditional level design ingredient -- think of mines that placed in levels. The drunk guys will push you over if you get close to them, and that's something that will also cause you to stumble and draw attention to yourself, especially if they push you into, for example, someone carrying a crate. There's all of this gameplay that comes out of it. We were inspired by how crowds really react and were thinking of game standards -- things like fire traps or bombs -- and trying to think, what would that be personified like? What would the archetype for that be?

Let's talk about another type of crowd. Assassin's Creed is going into a pretty tightly packed holiday season and it's a brand new IP. Is there any concern about that? Did you ever consider pushing the game back a bit to say, January?

Well, I think it's great for gamers, so as a gamer I'm excited for all the good games coming out! I think so far we've gotten a lot of attention for being a new IP, so we're just going to try and make the best game we can and hope that people are interested, and that it's different enough that they want to buy it. There's a lot of great titles but there aren't really any that resemble Assassin's Creed.

There are some parallels between Assassin's Creed and BioShock, in the sense that they're new IPs expected to do well, with production values that lend to the "games as art" debate. Did you want to weigh in on that and how you think Assassin's Creed might make a statement either way?

Well, I'm really excited about seeing games evolve into a diverse kind of entertainment medium and we see them going in a lot of different directions. We see games like Assassin's Creed or, like you said, BioShock, and we also see games like Katamari Damacy or Loco Roco, which are also an art form, but not strictly in the cinematic sense. They're more about taking gameplay mechanics and making a nice artistic work out of it. So, I definitely think the potential is there. I think that the more we get to know our medium, the more we get to know what's fun, the more we understand interactivity and the better the machines get, we'll keep on going in that direction. Maybe, eventually we'll have something like the Holodeck. [laughs] Right? Isn't that what we're working towards in some way? That would be awesome.

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]]>Assassins-CreedAssassinsCreedJade-RaymondTGS07UbisoftLudwig Kietzmann2007-10-02T14:55:00+00:00TGS07: Interview with Loco Roco's Tsutomu Kounohttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/01/tgs07-interview-with-loco-rocos-tsutomu-kouno/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/01/tgs07-interview-with-loco-rocos-tsutomu-kouno/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/01/tgs07-interview-with-loco-rocos-tsutomu-kouno/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

We had the opportunity to catch up with the father of Loco Roco, Tsutomu Kouno, and ask him a few questions about his newly released sequel, Loco Roco Cocoreccho. The interview was conducted along with Spencer Yip from Siliconera. We ask him what his inspirations were, why he decided to develop an "interactive screensaver" and whether there will be any downloadable content in the future. Find the full interview after the break.

What was your inspiration for the Loco Roco franchise?
I carry a PDA around with me wherever I go and I draw out any ideas that I have. Several years ago I found myself drawing Loco Rocos on the train in various forms. Around that time the PSP had first been announced so I started to think how I could turn my little characters into a game. I thought to myself: "there must be a way to have the shoulder buttons of the PSP control the movement."

How did the game's music come about?
Personally, I like reggae, soul and R&B music and always felt that not enough games utilised different genres. Because of this I put music that I like into the game. I burned a lot of my personal music collection to a disc and sent it to my composer. He did the rest.

As for the lyrics, I tried to get all the languages I could find and wrote down interesting words in katakana. Then I changed these into words that Japanese people would find cool, so that people could not recognise individual words of any particular language. I had invented my own language.

Is there any word on Loco Roco 2 for PSP?
Hmmm. Can I say anything? I don't know. All I can really say is that in the future "the Loco Rocos will be even more amazing". I have a lot of ideas that I really can't talk about.

What made you change the gameplay so much for the PS3 version?
I wanted to play to the console's strength - processing power. I wanted hundreds of Loco Rocos on screen at once. The new control scheme works better for that.

Why not release it on Blu-Ray?
Do you really want it on Blu-Ray? It's too small. Perfect as a downloadable.

How do you feel about it being called an interactive screensaver?
That was my idea. I wanted the game to be as fun to watch as it is to play. I didn't want the game to stop when you put down the controller for a while. There are no bad guys in the Loco Roco's main route because of this. There are also three mini games hidden around.

How do you find them?
You won't find them the first time. After you beat it once it will open more areas, where the games are hidden. There's a certain place in those areas which will take you to it, like a launch pad or giant bird.

Can you jump straight into the mini games from the main menu?
No, you can't.

Why?
The mini games are part of the full game. They are the only way of getting all 200 Loco Rocos in the level

Is there only one level available?
Yes.

Are there any plans to release more as downloadable content?
We currently have no plans to do that.

Will there be any Loco Roco trophies for Home?
I don't know at the moment - that will be announced as the functionality of Home is announced.

Will there be any user generated content availability in any future versions of the game?
That idea hasn't been abandoned yet.

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]]>loco-rocotgs07tsutomu-kounoJem Alexander2007-10-01T07:00:00+00:00Joystiq vs. the Square Enix storehttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/01/joystiq-vs-the-square-enix-store/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/01/joystiq-vs-the-square-enix-store/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/01/joystiq-vs-the-square-enix-store/#commentsFiled under: ,


One of the greatest pieces of advice ever imparted by a space-faring amphibian comes directly from the Rebel Alliance's lovable but frequently surprised Admiral Ackbar. Whenever questioned about what exactly Japan's official Square Enix store is and what it represents, we feel compelled to swivel dramatically in our chairs, face the camera and blurt out, "It's a trap!"

And it's a sneaky one too. Don't march into the modest Shinjuku building expecting alarms to sound and a metal trellis to drop behind you, as the incredibly polite and professional cashiers aren't the least bit interested in capturing your body (that happens in another part of Tokyo, we hear). No, these people are silently clawing at the contents of your wallet -- and you'll find that very often the "people" are nothing more than androgynous CG citizens. If the life-sized Sephiroth trapped beneath the glass floor is pondering anything, it's the unusual business of selling real things from a fake place.

Here you'll find merchandise mined from a plethora of planets in the Square Enix universe, with every cellphone strap, shirt, figurine, lighter and necklace accounted for. If your favorite Squalls and Clouds and Soras have worn or wielded it, it's probably in a display case here with an exorbitant price tag to keep it company. Oh, and there are spoons -- yet another item meant to stir up your strange emotional attachment to places and characters that are, in reality, nothing more than reams of code and purveyors of profit.

You'll never catch us falling for it.

Gallery: Square Enix Store -- Japan




Well... dammit. And this was before we bought the Chocobo mugs.

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]]>Final-FantasyjoystiqfeaturesSquare-EnixTGS07tokyo-game-showLudwig Kietzmann2007-10-01T01:00:00+00:00TGS Video Games Museum highlights Japan's tastehttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-video-games-museum-highlights-japans-taste/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-video-games-museum-highlights-japans-taste/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-video-games-museum-highlights-japans-taste/#commentsFiled under: ,


Hidden away at the very end of the second hall at Tokyo Game Show was a booth dedicated to, supposedly, showcasing top of the class video games from generations past. Several stations were set up, around 12 or so, which allowed gamers to step back in time and play those great games that perhaps they hadn't had the chance to play before.

All well and good you might think, until you notice that the majority of the games are RPGs and a large proportion of those are from the Final Fantasy series. This particular "museum" (which failed to showcase anything older than the PlayStation 1) was clearly tailored to the very specific tastes found in Japan. Still, why not just cut out the middle man and call it the "Final Fantasy Museum"?

We were a bit snap-happy and took a few photos of the booth - the gallery for which can be found below. Our favourite image shows two old rivals sitting side by side in perfect harmony. Seeing Final Fantasy VII and Zelda: Ocarina of Time together like that really tugged at our heartstrings. Other games shown at the booth included:
  • Phantasy Star Online
  • Dragon Quest VIII
  • Brain Training
  • Final Fantasy XII
  • Final Fantasy XI
  • Taiko Drum Master

Gallery: Museum @ TGS07


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]]>tgs07video-game-museumJem Alexander2007-09-30T23:00:00+00:00TGS hands-on: Final Fantasy Ring of Fates multiplayerhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-final-fantasy-ring-of-fates-multiplayer/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-final-fantasy-ring-of-fates-multiplayer/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-final-fantasy-ring-of-fates-multiplayer/#commentsFiled under: ,


Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Gamecube was a bit of a hit-and-miss title. Touted as a multiplayer roleplaying experience, the game required you to have access to four Gameboy Advances (and three friends) to fully enjoy. The lackluster single player mode meant many were put off before they even started calling through their little black books looking for GBA owning friends.

The franchise has survived, however, and has moved onto the Nintendo DS in the form of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. We took advantage of the strangely short line (the game being out in Japan might have something to do with it) and played a 4-player multiplayer game with the Square Enix booth attendants.

Multiplayer seems to consist of co-operative dungeon crawler, with no sign of story or non-battle gameplay. Players can choose their character class, which affects their base attack style. Magic can be used by all players by picking up giant materia orbs, just like in the original. The action all takes place on the top screen while the bottom screen contains your stats. The bottom screen also shows how many of each materia you have and allows you to change between the different magics by tapping the desired orb on the screen.

Graphics are cutesy and resemble Final Fantasy III and IV very closely. Black and White mages have a very strange look to them - they appear lanky and ill-proportioned compared to other classes. Movement is very free, with the ability to jump all over the terrain easily. If you can't reach a ledge, however, your friends can always pick you up and throw you (as one Square Enix booth attendant loved doing to us) to where you want to go. In fact, you will never have to wait for a friend again as, if they're being particularly tardy, you can always grab them and take them with you.

Sadly, the game felt very shallow. The size of the levels and the lack of variety in your actions makes it feel quite restrictive. Other than defeating wave after wave of enemies, there's little else to do. We're hoping that the single player mode will be a little bit more exciting but, judging from the Gamecube version, that's not likely going to be the case. If there is an online mode for multiplayer, that might lure us back.

Overall, the game has some single player potential, but what we played of multiplayer was sadly lackluster. We look forward to playing it more - and in English - at a later date.

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]]>final-fantasyfinal-fantasy-ring-of-fatesring-of-fatestgs07Jem Alexander2007-09-30T21:30:00+00:00TGS hands-on: No More Heroeshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-no-more-heroes/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-no-more-heroes/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-no-more-heroes/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Given the over-the-top action and exuberant style found in Grasshopper Manufacture's No More Heroes, it came as a great relief to learn that the game's control scheme wasn't similarly vigorous. There's nothing worse than an action game that translates fairly familiar tasks into manic swatting for the simple sake of justifying its existence on the Wii. That isn't to say the motion controls are so reserved as to become worthless, but No More Heroes does seem to share our support of No More Flailing -- sometimes it makes more sense to smack someone with a sword simply by pressing a button.

Here, the button in question is the one obviously marked "A" and the sword is a lightsaber. It's really more like a battery-powered katana, but we're confident that the Star Wars weapon is culturally ingrained enough to make the explanation that much simpler. Rather than get into electric sword specifics, know that protagonist and assassin Travis Touchdown uses one to hit and slice things repeatedly. Said things are targeted by holding the Z-button on the nunchuk, evaded by pressing on the directional pad and ultimately sent into a stunned state with enough battery. (A cheeky double reference there, as you also have to recharge your sword occasionally by giving it -- and the Wii remote -- a few jolts, just like you would an uncooperative flashlight.)

Since your main method of attack doesn't depend on imprecise gestures, there's opportunity for quite a few sword combos, interspersed with a kick or two from the Wii remote's trigger. The hallmarks of fairly simplistic 3rd-person combat, certainly, but the game's Killer 7-ish visual style and energetic animations give it and its lead character some pizazz. It gets a little more involving if an enemy becomes stunned, as Travis can grab his victim and perform one of several wrestling-style finishing moves. On-screen icons tell you which way to move the Wiimote and the nunchuck, with a swift upward motion resulting in a satisfying, spine-crushing suplex. This measured motion control finale to a fight works well, engaging you without tainting repetitive actions with unnecessary gimmickry.

If there is a concern, it's that the game could succumb to bouts of repetition. What prevents this concern from being elevated is that we didn't get a chance to sample any of the game's exploration elements outside of an ominously lit warehouse. Also, the demo ended with a battle against a caped lunatic calling himself "Destroyman" and firing laser beams from his crotch. If the game has legs which drunkenly walk the line between style and substance like that, No More Heroes should be worth saving... up for.

In other, less terrible words: We liked it.

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]]>Grasshopper-ManufactureNo-More-HeroesNoMoreHeroesSuda-51TGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-09-30T21:03:00+00:00TGS hands-on: Cooking Mama 2http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-cooking-mama-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-cooking-mama-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/30/tgs-hands-on-cooking-mama-2/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Scouring the show floor at TGS is hungry work, but when all the eateries are full of the Dreaded Public where can you get the sustenance you require? We tried our luck at the Cooking Mama 2 booth, just in case they had some tasty swag to give away. Sadly, there was none. While we were there, however, we did get embroiled (which kind of sounds like boiled) in the game.

The first thing we noticed about the game, once we'd finally worked our way through the main menu to some actual gameplay, was that the touch controls are much more responsive than in Cooking Mama 1. Whereas previously success in the game relied as much on the DS being your friend as it did on your skill, now the game plays with much less frustration.

The game itself is more of the same. More of an upgrade than a sequel, Cooking Mama 2 has extra recipes to produce as well as more diverse methods of cooking. During our play session we were challenged to scale a fish, open a sea urchin and empty an oyster. All without getting our hands covered in sea ming (that is, ming from the sea).
Cooking Mama 2 includes a new reward system with mini chefs that grade your meal. Performing well results in you obtaining pieces of clothing. We're not entirely sure what these are for, but no doubt it will be hilariously Japanese. And cute. Speaking of cute, Cooking Daughta (our name for her, not theirs) seems to be "playable". We're not entirely sure this impacts much on the gameplay, but choice is always nice, right?

The biggest new addition to the game is the multiplayer mode, which allows four people to play together with one copy of the game. This "cook off" mode will pit you against your friends in an attempt to produce the tastiest dish. Sadly there's no sign of any online mode.

Overall, it's pretty much the same game as before. If you enjoyed Cooking Mama 1 then the sequel will be as, if not more, enjoyable.

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]]>cooking-mama-2hands-ontgs07Jem Alexander2007-09-30T12:00:00+00:00Sayonara Tokyo: The TGS aftermathhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/28/sayonara-tokyo-the-tgs-aftermath/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/28/sayonara-tokyo-the-tgs-aftermath/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/28/sayonara-tokyo-the-tgs-aftermath/#commentsFiled under: , ,


As our fearless leader Christopher Grant flies out of Narita Airport and returns to his vile trans-dimensional lair, the last remaining blemishes of Joystiq are being scrubbed from the silky sheet of Japan. A sigh of relief now washes over Tokyo, a city content to be rid of the obnoxious bloggers who devoured cheeseburgers on its trains, hurled paper into the "plastics" recycling bin and remained insultingly ignorant of the current Haruhi Suzimiya craze.

Though this year's Tokyo Game Show wasn't quite filled with earth-shaking revelations, it did allow us to gain further insight into anticipated titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4, echochrome, Ninja Gaiden 2, Nights: Journey of Dreams and, err... Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon. But that's not all! This weekend will see our last batch of impressions materialize, along with a sordid account of Joystiq's run-in with the official Square Enix store. Following that, we'll share some interviews involving Gran Turismo 5, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Loco Roco and Assassin's Creed.

As they say in Japan, "Please look forward to it!"

Official Tokyo Game Show stats:

Number of worthless pamphlets accepted because we didn't want to be rude: 43
Number of podcasts recorded: 2
Time taken to reach show floor from hotel: 90 minutes
Time taken to reach show floor from hotel when Chris wasn't around: 3 hours
Number of times the word "Ninjician" was used in a sentence: 29
Tasty / terrible drink ratio from random vending machine purchases: 70 / 30
Times Sega PR explained that Nights 2 wasn't a sequel, but merely a new game set in the same universe with the same characters: 1
Number of show attendees on public days: 87 gazillion apparently
Time taken to reach front of Metal Gear Solid 4 line: Worth it
Number of innocent bystanders killed in Sega's Ghost Squad: 4
Number of innocent bystanders intentionally killed in Sega's Ghost Squad: 3
Total percentage of text understood in Konami's Time Hollow: 0%
Number of times Japanese people apologized for our mistakes: Incalculable
Number of obnoxious booth workers communicating via megaphone: 31
Total number of Cloud cosplayers roaming the floor: Tended to infinity


While Andrew and Ludwig pretentiously stand in line at Sega's Joypolis arcade, Chris cringes as his hand unexpectedly phases out of existence.


Bomberman is adorable! The man inside wishes he was dead, though.


A beautiful view of Shinjuku taken from our private helicopter.


Jem and Ludwig discover the joys of Guitar Freaks. Or the lack of them, rather.


Andrew tries desperately to walk a stubborn electronic dog.


Cooking Mama -- the arcade game?


This isn't really related to anything, is it?


Only later did we find our photographer dead, pecked to a bloody pulp.


Yes, there's a Lavender one.







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]]>TGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-09-28T18:34:00+00:00TGS hands-on: Pataponhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/26/tgs-hands-on-patapon/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/26/tgs-hands-on-patapon/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/26/tgs-hands-on-patapon/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Patapon, a PSP title which we've seen very little of so far, is proving a great hit at the Tokyo Game Show. With a line that was sometimes longer than Metal Gear Online we were curious to see what all the fuss was about. Finally we braved the Dreaded Public and got our hands on the goods.

Stepping into the Patapon enclosure a Sony booth attendee talked us through the gist of the game. We couldn't understand some of the Japanese, though we did enjoy it whenever she sang instructions to us. "Pon pon pata pon ... pata pata pata pon." Lovely.

Your tribe of one-eyed worshippers are required to go from one end of the level to the other (with two levels in the demo on the show floor). The only method of getting them there is to command them to act by performing different beats with the circle and square buttons, which correspond to the sounds "pata" and "pon", respectively. By stringing combinations of these two sounds together your minions will perform different actions.

For the demo two combinations are available. "Pon pon pata pon" will make your tribesmen attack anything that is in front of you whilst "pata pata pata pon" moves them further through the level. The buttons must be pressed in rhythm and, when linked together without error, add to your combo meter.

The demo suggests that the game gets much deeper, with more commands to enter, interactions with the environment and characters to join your tribe. Our team of three spear throwers was expanded with the addition of a sword-wielding cyclops which proved much stronger in battle. Additions such as these can potentially add so much to the tactical nature of the game.

We still have many questions about Patapon with regards to its expandability and feature list. Currently there's a danger of the game becoming a bit repetitive. Despite that, we're intrigued to see more and look forward to doing so in the near future.

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]]>patapontgs07Jem Alexander2007-09-26T17:30:00+00:00TGS07 bits: Darth Vader paparazzihttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/26/tgs07-bits-darth-vader-paparazzi/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/26/tgs07-bits-darth-vader-paparazzi/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/26/tgs07-bits-darth-vader-paparazzi/#commentsFiled under: ,


It seems the Tokyo Game Show's intense draw extends beyond international borders and well into intergalactic, fictional universes, a fact highlighted by Saturday's arrival of one Darth Vader. The force-choking, emperor-dunking Jedi was seen leading an imperial march through the show floor, glaring intensely at cosplayers and scolding his accompanying stormtroopers for being unable to complete the Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles demo.

When quizzed about his favorite games at the show, Mr. Vader blamed Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon for putting something resembling a smile on his horribly scarred face. He also noted disappointment in the response of Japanese gamers to Halo 3's "Believe" marketing campaign, describing their lack of faith as "disturbing."

Gallery: TGS07: Darth Vader paparazzi

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]]>Darth-VaderStar-WarsTGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-09-26T14:56:00+00:00Can you imagine? Katamari rolling to PS3http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/24/can-you-imagine-katamari-rolling-to-ps3/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/24/can-you-imagine-katamari-rolling-to-ps3/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/24/can-you-imagine-katamari-rolling-to-ps3/#commentsFiled under: ,


While at the Tokyo Game Show, 1UP was able to confirm with director Jun Morikawa that Beautiful Katamari would not be arriving on the PlayStation 3. But, fans of rolling take heart! Morikawa says that the series will "definitely be making its way to the console soon," just not in the Beautiful Katamari state.

So, will this be the Katamari that evolves the series at least a little bit past the roots established in the 2004 original? Well, what does your heart tell you? Because ours is walking away, shaking its head and laughing, which we can't imagine is a good sign.

[Via PS3F]

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]]>beautifulkatamarikatamaridamacytgs07Justin McElroy2007-09-24T17:45:00+00:00TGS hands-on: echochromehttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-echochrome/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-echochrome/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-echochrome/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


After its shocking E3 debut, we desperately wanted to play echochrome, the mind-bending Escher-inspired puzzle game that has players changing their perspective. Available on the PS3 as a downloadable title and as a PSP game, echochrome excited audiences with its truly innovative concept. But, how did the publicly playable PS3 demo play?

Well, it works exactly as you expect it to. The demonstration features an English-speaking monotone voice that seems a perfect match with the game's ultra-minimalist presentation. She'll explain the five rules of the game that control the way your perspective, the world, and your character, all interact with each other. Each sequence has players testing out a single new device, such as being able to block obstacles by hiding them from the player's vision. Through this brief tutorial, players will be gifted with the ability to start playing through the game's mind-destroying puzzles.

The single level available in the demonstration had us attempting to collect echoes, shadows situated in various points in the stage. As simple as that may sound, imagining the total destruction of object permanence is not something we're readily accustomed to. The on-screen avatar acts like a lemming, constantly going forward, even if it means certain doom for the character. This means players will have to act fast, and position the level correctly as the avatar makes its way forward. This is where we found that the camera rotates a bit too slowly for our tastes. We ended one of our lives trying to cover a hole, but couldn't rotate the level quickly enough to save our character. Thankfully, each echo that one walks into acts as a checkpoint, so that the level we played didn't become frustrating. However, we hope that Sony will make moving the camera a bit speedier.

echochrome is a simple, innovative, and more importantly, fun title that continues to deliver on the PlayStation Store's promise of offering gamers unique gameplay experiences. Although we didn't get to play much, it's clear that Sony has something truly special in their hands.

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]]>echochrometgs07Andrew Yoon2007-09-22T18:30:00+00:00TGS impressions: Ninja Gaiden 2http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-impressions-ninja-gaiden-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-impressions-ninja-gaiden-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-impressions-ninja-gaiden-2/#commentsFiled under: ,


"Violent content is a big feature," says Ninja Gaiden 2 project lead Yoshifuru Okamoto, well aware of the obvious nature of his statement. Subtlety isn't a concept that's welcome in this particular Tokyo hotel room, with even the faintest hint of it soundly beaten with an over-sized mallet before being strapped to the hood of a car barreling into an exploding train... falling out of an airplane. Which also happens to be exploding.

Team Ninja's long-awaited, not-a-remake sequel to Ninja Gaiden has already garnered attention for its gratuitous and unyielding violence, with early screenshots depicting massive arterial blood sprays, decapitations and all manner of lopped and lobbed limbs. It's further exacerbated when seen in motion, as enemies clutch bloody stumps and roll about in agony when separated from their legs. If you didn't consider series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa to be a murdering machine before, Ninja Gaiden 2 should provide enough visual evidence to convince you otherwise.

The key to creating thrilling combat in an action title, says Okamoto, is turning every encounter into a "life or death situation." When death happens to be so boldly portrayed, it becomes less of a shock tactic and more of a visual reward for dispatching foes efficiently. In many ways, it's a direct reinforcement of one of Ninja Gaiden's most important qualities -- the sense of empowerment. As the long-standing relationship between an enemy's head and his neck comes to an abrupt ending, you're reminded that you control the most agile and powerful being in the game. The choice between life and death is entirely in your hands.

Of course, your choice in this important matter is aided by an array of new and returning weapons, with the immensely useful Dragon Sword and Sigma's dual katanas falling under the latter category. Okamoto notes that Team Ninja doesn't "think in numerical values," pointing out that its goal wasn't simply to increase the number of available weapons. "We ask ourselves... what would be the most bad-ass?" New sharp (and decidedly bad-ass) implements granted to Ryu and equipped via a pace-preserving in-game menu include an intimidating scythe and a set of wolverine claws, neatly matched by a pair of bladed boots ideal for use in satisfying kick-capitations. The man wielding these weapons still boasts some remarkably fluid animation, accentuated by dramatic close-ups whenever an unrestrained killing blow is delivered.

Much like Rachel's throws in the PlayStation 3's Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ryu is now able to cut to the chase, often by cutting to a vital organ within the body of significantly weakened enemy. These fatal attacks greatly speed up the pace of the combat and allow you to better deal with large attacking groups, though letting your guard down is still not a viable option. Even when reduced to nothing but an angry torso and a pair of flailing arms, an enemy ninja is able to cling to Ryu's feet and commit an explosive suicide with an incendiary shuriken. These folks don't give up without a fight!

For those who did give up without a fight in the previous title, Team Ninja has implemented a limited health regeneration system in Ninja Gaiden 2. Ryu is now able to automatically recover a certain amount of health after receiving damage, with the condition that each major blow reduces the maximum amount of health that may be regained. Okamoto fully admits that this is a concession to gamers who had trouble assailing Ninja Gaiden's steep learning curve, pointing out that it would allow a wider range of gamers to play and appreciate the game without destroying their controllers in the process. Of course, widening the appeal in this manner risks disappointing those who appreciated Ninja Gaiden for its unforgiving (but not unfair) challenge. Though the exact effect on overall difficulty has yet to be seen, health regeneration is certainly the preferred alternative to weakening enemy AI or boosting Ryu's already considerable strength.

A weakness on Ninja Gaiden's part was the 3rd-person camera, which many insisted to be clumsy and ineffective within smaller environments. This too will see great improvement, promises Okamoto, both in terms of functionality and stylish presentation. We didn't spot any obstructive angles during Ryu's run through the somewhat static but beautifully lit canal city of Aqua, but further judgment on the camera will have to wait until we're closer to the game's 2008 release date.

In its current state, Ninja Gaiden 2 appears to be a focused and thrilling sequel to what many consider to be one of the action genre's defining moments. As you watch Ryu Hayabusa flicking the blood from his weapon amidst heaps of lost lives and limbs, you may just start believing that when it's time to take on the the world, you might actually win.

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]]>Ninja-GaidenNinja-Gaiden2NinjaGaidenNinjaGaiden2Team-NinjaTecmoTGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-09-22T17:30:00+00:00TGS07: Advent Children gets dirty on Blu-rayhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs07-advent-children-gets-dirty-on-blu-ray/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs07-advent-children-gets-dirty-on-blu-ray/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs07-advent-children-gets-dirty-on-blu-ray/#commentsFiled under: ,


Square's big budget fan service film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, is heading to Blu-ray and it's going to provide much more than an HD transfer. A new trailer showcased at TGS shows a few new scenes that expand upon the film's storyline. One scene took place in the alleys of Midgar as children afflicted with Geostigma appear to be melting goo. Another sequence shows Sephiroth stabbing Cloud through the chest, skewering him and swinging him like a piece of dead meat. Not only will the updated Blu-ray disc feature new scenes, but new special features that were cut from the original DVD will find their way into the collection, thanks to the spacious capacity of the HD movie format.

But that's not what has us most excited. The fight scenes from the film have been completely re-rendered with a feature we've long waited for: dirt. The always-fashionable Cloud and company will have perfect clothes no more! They'll have to invest in even stronger hair gel to survive the battles that they face. The press release explains it best: "Clothing that gradually dirties through intense combat, faces that darken with soot from explosions, and motorbikes pockmarked with gunshots - the Complete edition brings a grittier, dirtier look to the film's nonstop action."

The now-Incomplete edition will now be too clean for the Square Enix hardcore. The added sheen of the HD transfer will only accentuate the dirty details that Square has deemed necessary to include in this re-release. Of course, we can't wait for the next 2160p "Really Complete Edition" which will add even more wrinkles to the character's clothes and subtle acne on their backs.

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]]>advent-childrenadvent-children-completeblu-rayfinal-fantasy-viitgs07Andrew Yoon2007-09-22T14:10:00+00:00TGS hands-on: Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (Wii)http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-chocobos-mysterious-dungeon-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-chocobos-mysterious-dungeon-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-chocobos-mysterious-dungeon-wii/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Square Enix's upcoming cute-em-up dungeon crawler, Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu will be released in Japan on the 13th of December. We managed to drag ourselves away from the giant Chocobo guarding the entrance to Square Enix's booth long enough to check the game out.

Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon is, essentially, a sequel to Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 1 and 2 for the PlayStation. While those games didn't do as well as perhaps they should have (only Mysterious Dungeon 2 was released outside Japan) Square Enix seem to be giving the franchise one more chance on the Wii.

This latest iteration maintains much of the cuteness of the previous titles, keeping a consistant art style with all past Chocobo based games, whilst using a softer palette of colours throughout. The world of Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon is now full of pastel shades, as opposed to the bright primary colours used in games such as Chocobo Tales.

Gallery: Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu



Similarly the gameplay has remained largely the same, with some touch ups here and there. The game still consists of a central hub where you converse with the townsfolk, buy and sell items and embark on quests. From the hub you can enter the randomly generated dungeons (hence the name). Within these you will battle against monsters, find items, solve puzzles and defeat bosses. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In order to combat the repetitive gameplay inherent in the series Square Enix have implemented a job system (and why not? It worked with Final Fantasy 1,3 and 5) which promises to mix up the experience a touch. At the entrance to the dungeons is a large crystal where your Chocobo can have his job assigned. For the TGS demo there was a choice between Knight, White Mage and none. We're hoping that there will be a far larger selection in the full game. Preferably as unlockables.

Changing the class of your character affects your stats and abilities. They can be upgraded to improve stat boosts and, we presume, to unlock more abilities. We're not sure how exactly this is done, due to the relatively short time we had with the game. Having said this, most of the time we found ourselves ignoring our abilities in favour of a simple, but effective, melee attack.

Controls are very simple. The Wiimote is once again held on its side, like an NES controller. The A button opens your RPG-style micromanagement menu while the 1 and 2 buttons perform actions. The simple controls fit the simple gameplay. As far as we could see there was no utilisation of the motion controls whatsoever, which makes us wonder: wouldn't this be better on DS? Four player multiplayer dungeon crawling in the same room would be excellent fun.

There was nothing to indicate any multiplayer features, which would be a huge plus point for the game and, with the Japanese release date set for December 13th, we don't expect one to be implemented by then. With so little being said about the game outside of Japan we don't expect Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon to be released in the US or Europe, as the original PS1 title wasn't.

Despite the graphical improvements and the addition of the job system Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon is still a PS1 game at heart. Dungeon movement even takes place on an invisible grid. In fact, we would go so far as to say that the gameplay is scarily reminiscent of the ancient DOS game, Rogue. We would love the game to be localised for the English speaking world, if only to see if there are any other innovations that have been included. With the exception of the new job system, however, we can't help but feel that we can get the same level of gameplay by loading up our copy of Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2 for the original PlayStation.

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]]>chocobos-mysterious-dungeonhands-onsquare-enixtgs07Jem Alexander2007-09-22T03:33:00+00:00TGS cosplayers galleryhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-cosplayers-gallery/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-cosplayers-gallery/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-cosplayers-gallery/#commentsFiled under: , ,


You simply can't barge your way through the throbbing mass of people at the Tokyo Game Show without bumping into video game characters which have somehow manifested in reality. Actually, physically bumping into them isn't recommended, as the ornate headdresses, gargantuan shoulder pads and razor-sharp hair is very likely to cause unexpected injury. With all the Clouds marching about the hallways of the Makuhari Messe center, you're likely to become trapped in a cosplay iron maiden* if you're not careful.

*Due to creative cosplay, "maiden" may in truth be "man."

Gallery: TGS cosplayers

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]]>Ace-AttorneyCosplayDevil-May-CryFinal-FantasyKingdom-HeartsSpace-Channel-5TGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-09-22T02:00:00+00:00TGS hands-on: PSP 1seg TV tunerhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-psp-1seg-tv-tuner/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-psp-1seg-tv-tuner/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/tgs-hands-on-psp-1seg-tv-tuner/#commentsFiled under: , ,


The 1seg tuner for PSP makes us jealous of Japanese PSP owners. The tiny peripheral attaches to the top of the system, and allows users to tune into a variety of broadcast channels. The video quality at the Tokyo Game Show floor was stellar, with very minimal artifacting seen in the video. It's easy to change channels through a simple intuitive interface which overlays over the video quite nicely. A variety of video resize options can be readily accessed by bringing up the options menu with the Triangle button.

If there's a complaint we would have about the 1seg tuner, we'd say it has to be the delay that comes when switching channels. It takes a full second or so for the system to display video of the next channel. Certainly not a major hindrance, especially when considering the quality of video that's produced on such a small peripheral. Japanese Joystiq readers will want to check it out.

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]]>1segtgs07Andrew Yoon2007-09-22T01:11:00+00:00TGS hands-on: Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Swordhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/21/tgs-hands-on-ninja-gaiden-dragon-sword/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/21/tgs-hands-on-ninja-gaiden-dragon-sword/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/21/tgs-hands-on-ninja-gaiden-dragon-sword/#commentsFiled under: ,


Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword makes for quite the unusual spun-off spokesperson for Team Ninja's flip-out-and-kill-people sim. It exuberantly gushes about frenetic action and superhuman agility, but when you aren't looking, it lounges about in the kitchen sipping herbal tea and playing Sudoku. It's simultaneously an excellent and poor example of what Ninja Gaiden stands for, a strange mixture brought about by placing a decidedly hard-edged experience on a system widely known for its casual lures.

For the most part, it seems to work surprisingly well. Constructing a fast-paced action game entirely upon stylus strokes might lead you to think that victory hinges on furiously scratching your screen, but Dragon Sword's inputs are distinct and responsive enough to render battle a calm and intuitive affair. Well, as calm as you can be when being assailed by clawed freaks, disgruntled dragons and, in one instance, a steady stream of menacing boulders.

Movement is handled on the DS (which is held like a book, á la Brain Age) by simply pointing to your intended destination -- think of it as series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa chasing after a mysterious obelisk looming above the prerendered environment. Flicking the stylus upwards will initiate a jump and a downward stroke immediately afterwards performs a vertical slash. Horizontal strokes yield standard slashes, while a quick tap on an enemy sends a shuriken in its direction. A more complex move like the Izuna Drop translates to a combination of these primary motions, with a few horizontal slashes followed by an upward stroke and finalized by a downward smash. Blocking is the only function to be assigned to a button -- any one will do.

Obviously, the greatest loss suffered here is in terms of precision. Compared to the console equivalents, Ryu's move list has been considerably simplified and softened, almost to the point where it feels indirect. Accordingly, the enemies are much quicker to dispatch now and while that may imply a "dumbing down" of the gameplay as a whole, it's really the best match for stylus-driven controls. They feel simple, responsive, and despite the lack of relative complexity, exceedingly effective. As fans of the series will note, destroying fiends with deadly efficiency is one of the primary sources of satisfaction.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword doesn't disappoint in terms of visuals, though you might consider the use of prerendered backdrops as a form of cheating. Regardless, it does leave the DS with more room to render some fairly detailed character and enemy models, all brought to life with some of the most fluid animation we've yet seen on Nintendo's dual-screened device. The fixed camera angles seem to present a good, distant view of battles, though running further into the background occasionally results in one awfully tiny Ryu. Off-screen attacks are a concern too, but in the space of the entire demo, only an unexpected boulder managed to surprise us from beyond the field of view.

Though the appearance of oddly murderous rocks was confined to a single instance, the TGS demo does hint at the presence of "obstacles" throughout the game. They deserve the use of quotation marks largely because it seems these impediments are excuses to expand and use Ryo's repertoire of magic. When a giant spiderweb blocks your progress and becomes strangely immune to your sword attacks, you'll be reminded of the need to summon a rolling ball of flames (amongst other Nin-Po, no doubt), done by tapping an icon in the top right corner of the screen and tracing the displayed symbol -- successful strokes result in magical mayhem.

Thankfully, this attempt to alter the game's pace is likely to be the clumsiest aspect of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Its elegant implementation of stylus controls make it a highly accessible action title without dulling Ryu's blade.

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]]>Dragon-SwordItagakiNinja-GaidenNinja-Gaiden-DSNinjaGaidenTeam-NinjaTGS07Ludwig Kietzmann2007-09-21T17:00:00+00:00Joystiq Podcast TGS 07 Special (Part 2)http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/21/joystiq-podcast-tgs-07-special-part-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/21/joystiq-podcast-tgs-07-special-part-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/21/joystiq-podcast-tgs-07-special-part-2/#commentsFiled under:


The fun just doesn't stop in Tokyo. From 13 hours in the future, the Joystiq TGS crew brings you some delightful insights on Ninja Gaiden 2, No More Heroes, Dark Sector and so much else our hand cramps just thinking about typing it.

Listen and enjoy.

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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann, Jem Alexander and Andrew Yoon

Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "Red Eye" by Ben Kweller

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]]>podcaststgs07Justin McElroy2007-09-21T16:30:00+00:00