As the release of Pokemon Black and White draws ever nearer, we pause to take a look at some of the new defensive options it brings to the competitive table. Though offensive teams undoubtedly got a big boost with this generation, defensive teams have gotten some significant increases as well, ranging from new Pokemon with useful defensive type combinations and excellent base stats, to new moves and abilities which make stalling a bit easier. Though, as usual, stall lags a bit behind offense in the metagame, Pokemon Black and White adds more than enough to stave off the endlessly repeated “Stall is Dead!” cliche.
Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Pokemon Black/White, Part II’ »
People of the internet, how’s it going today? Got plenty going on this week:
- Hyperdimension Neptunia looks less weird than advertised.
- Dragon Age 2‘s demo will hit the million downloads, not that it matters for the bonuses.
- Social network gaming versus traditional development: who will inspire more premature conclusions?
- China steals Japan’s spot as the #2 economy in the world, but on closer inspection there’s far more to the story.
- Sony “not deliberating” a PS4, a man gets stabbed over a text message typo, knock-offs, torrents, and reboots.
Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – China Declines Japan’s Friend Request’ »
Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment and Snowblind Studios have just released some behind-the-scenes footage of Lord of the Rings: War in the North. The upcoming action-RPG focuses on the titular conflict, which was mentioned as part of Middle-earth’s lore but not used as a setting until now. Check out the trailer over on YouTube.
Lots and lots of arms, as it turns out. BioWare announced today that Dragon Age 2‘s demo will be launched for all platforms on February 22. Not content with simply letting people know it’s there, BioWare further announced that two special items will be unlocked in the game if the demo reaches one million downloads by March 1. The two items, books titled “Lothering’s Lament” and “The Far Cliffs of Kirkwall,” grant respective XP and money bonuses when read.
You must log into your EA account while playing the demo for your download to count towards the total, and further information can be found through the official site. The full version of Dragon Age 2 goes live on March 8 in the US, and March 11 in Europe.
By way of press release, NIS America announced that Hyperdimension Neptunia is available at US retailers today. You may recall that Neptunia, a PS3 RPG, focuses on game companies and consoles embodied as robots and cute girls that do battle in the world of Gamindustri, presumably letting players relive their fondest memories of console rivalry.
Neptunia‘s Premium Edition comes with a hardcover art book, and those in the mood for further mind-bending moe mashups can check out the official site this-a-way.
Let he who has not tried to dress is Fallout 3 entourage as a barbershop quartet and then pacify the DC ruins with lasers cast the first stone. With that in mind, on with the media: Everyday Messiah, Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, Red Stone, Rune Factory Oceans, and Shining Hearts.
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 02/15/11’ »
Tags:
Artwork,
Everyday Messiah,
Phantasy Star (series),
Phantasy Star Portable (series),
Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity,
Red Stone,
Rune Factory (series),
Rune Factory Oceans,
Screenshots,
Shining (Series),
Shining Force (series),
Shining Hearts
Among many things discussed in an interview with the Quietus, musician Clint Mansell revealed that he’s working on the score for Mass Effect 3. Although the game wasn’t the primary topic of the interview, Mansell did talk about how a game’s score can be used to match the proceedings on-screen. He also mentioned how a key composer he admires is John Carpenter, in that Mr. Carpenter’s movies have a distinct feel to them.
The interview in its entirety can be read here.
By way of Famitsu, details have been revealed about the next installment in the Rune Factory series. Titled Rune Factory Oceans, the game features the expected mechanics – dating, managing a farm, and traditional adventuring – but with a noticeable uptick in scale. Specifically, the game apparently starts with a giant uprooting your entire island and carrying it somewhere, and said giant is a recurring feature for retrieving things from the bottom of the ocean: ships, sunken islands, and so on.
As for romance, players can marry their love interest of choice and potentially raise kids. Seasonal events will also take place during the game, such as fishing challenges and swimsuit contests during summer. An official site has been launched, although the game is currently set only for a Japanese release of Feburary 24 on the Wii and PS3.
Translation: Adrienne “Sicondera” Beck
With the release of Pokemon Black and White in North America drawing closer and closer, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at what this new generation will be bringing to the table, competitively speaking. Though the pace and structure of battle hasn’t changed all that much, Black and White brings a huge number of new ‘mons to the table, and with them, a wide variety of new competitive tactics.
Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Pokemon Black/White, Part I’ »
Howdy-ho everybody, and welcome back to What Happened This Week! Our topics this time include:
- Fallout New Vegas DLC finally leaves the 360, begging the question of the whole point of timed exclusives.
- The Writer’s Guild of America picks Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for best videogame writing. You’ll be surprised who was (and wasn’t) on the list.
- Fox News picks a fight with Bulletstorm and cherry-picks responses to blame it for moral decay in our youth. The sky is also still blue.
- The future editor of the Washington Post will need a stern talking-to from the Space Pope.
- DICE conference rumors abound, Dragon Age 2 goes gold, and Guitar Hero goes bye-bye.
Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – BioWare Should Have Bribed the Bouncer’ »
Who’s talking about a slow news week now? BioWare announced today that Dragon Age 2 has officially gone gold for PC, Mac, 360, and PS3. As if that wasn’t enough, lead designer Mike Laidlaw hosted a live demo and Q&A session covering various gameplay elements: the updated dialogue system, character controls in combat, inventory management, and so on. Get all the blood splatter you like over yonder.
Dragon Age 2 will release on schedule starting March 8 in North America, and March 11 in Europe.
Slow news week as far as RPGs go, although there are a quite a few juicy rumors floating around elsewhere. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at an Activision Blizzard meeting down at the DICE conference in Vegas… but I digress. Got some media for you to chew on in the meantime: Dark Souls, Dissidia 012 Duodecim, Everyday Messiah, Shining Hearts, Tales of the Abyss 3DS, and Voice Fantasy.
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 02/11/11’ »
Tags:
Artwork,
Dark Souls,
Dissidia (series),
Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy,
Everyday Messiah,
Final Fantasy (series),
Screenshots,
Shining (Series),
Shining Force (series),
Shining Hearts,
Tales (Series),
Tales of the Abyss,
Tales of the Abyss 3DS,
Voice Fantasy
How’s everybody doing tonight? No fancy warm-up message this time, just some media for you guys to snack on: 3rd Birthday, Cladun 2, Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, and Shining Hearts. Get it over here!
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 02/07/11’ »
Tags:
Artwork,
Cladun (series),
Cladun x2,
Parasite Eve (series),
Phantasy Star (series),
Phantasy Star Portable (series),
Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity,
Screenshots,
Shining (Series),
Shining Force (series),
Shining Hearts,
The 3rd Birthday
Hiya, folks! Welcome to the debut of our new podcast series, What Happened This Week. Join us every Saturday as we take on, well, I’m sure you can guess from the title. If it’s gaming, if it’s tech, or if it’s big, we’ll break it down for you. Today’s topics:
- What’s that behind your back, PSP2?
- Skyrim: I hope they were paying attention to Fallout 3/New Vegas.
- Tales of Graces F: Namco-Bandai is very, very bad at marketing.
- Twitter and Facebook are not sparking revolution in Egypt.
- Canadian ISPs pave the road to much darker things.
Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – The Debut’ »
Via its official blog, Bethesda has announced that PC and PS3 players will finally be able to grab Dead Money, the first DLC for Fallout New Vegas, on February 22. The company also revealed that they will release three more DLC packs. These packs “will launch simultaneously” on all three platforms.
The end-of-year “Best of” awards are a widespread tradition amongst gaming sites, a nice way to close the year out by looking back. We have toyed occasionally with the idea of doing our own awards, but the sheer scope of RPGs released during each year has to give one pause. How do you go about settling on one title to call the best RPG of 2010? Certainly no one can claim to have played them all, and there’s always the nagging suspicion that something has been forgotten. So instead of a straight up and down awards, this year we’re taking a short look back the games we’re glad we played in 2010. Not all of them were released last year, and many of them would never have appeared in an awards feature, but in the end, the important thing about playing video games is simply that you enjoyed them.
Continue reading ‘2010: The Games We’re Glad to Have Played’ »
On the eve of its release in Japan – well, it’s evening over here, at least – a few more tidbits about White Knight Chronicles Episode Portable: Dogma Wars have been revealed. The titular Dogma Wars are the game’s setting, taking place 10,000 years prior to the original game. Up to four players can join up to clear quests via the PSP’s wireless connection, and players can import their avatars from both the original Chronicles and the sequel, Awakening of Light and Darkness.
Source: Dengeki
Translation: Adrienne “Sicondera” Beck
How you North American kids handling post-snowpocalyptia today? Got a bit more Disgaea 4 and Tales of Xillia for you. And after this is up, I’m going to take some aspirin and lie down, because helping to move three tons of snow seriously takes the fight out of a person. But I digress.
Continue reading ‘Slightly Less Mass Media 02/02/11’ »
NISA has announced that Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel will be released in North America on March 15. There will be a premium edition that includes a soundtrack CD and a hard cover art book. In addition, pre-ordering one of the first 1000 units from NISA’s store will get you a special limited edition Cosmosphere Calendar. Those who are not as fanatical about Reyvateils can opt for the standard version, which includes only the game and none of the swag.
A teaser site has revealed that Tales of Graces F will be coming to North America. The site has almost no information right now, but more should be announced in the near future.
