Potentially Useful Information For Your Many Adventures
Steadily working through their back catalog, Square Enix announced today that their 2000 action-RPG Legend of Mana will be available via PSN in Japan, starting July 28. Price is set at 600 yen, requiring 365mb of hard drive space. No word has been given about whether it will be available in North America.
Source: 1UP
At a recent NIS America press event, Souhei Niikawa – best known as the producer of the Disgaea series – announced that the company will from now on limit the number of releases per year. Niikawa stated the move is intended to allow developers to focus on game quality and customer satisfaction, though the exact limit was not specified. Three upcoming titles were announced as part of this new policy:
Niikawa also made mention of the next Disgaea title, bound for the PS3 in Japan. Few details were given, but he affirmed that more information would available “by the time
Tokyo Game Show comes around.”
A man of enduring mystery and glowing robot eyes, Mass Effect 2‘s Illusive Man is largely a question mark voiced by Martin Sheen. Come this January, however, Dark Horse plans to flesh out his origins in a four-part miniseries dubbed Mass Effect: Evolution, courtesy of the team behind the popular Mass Effect: Redemption.
Continue reading ‘New Mass Effect Comic Details the Illusive Man’s Backstory’ »
NIS America has just launched the official English website for Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. Available here, the site is paired with the announcement that this latest entry in the Atelier series will be available in Fall of this year.
A recent promotional pamphlet for the upcoming Pokemon Black and White revealed some interesting features. First is the “Pass By” mode, activated when players with dormant DSs get close enough, allowing the handhelds to connect. This will provide bonuses for both players, though exactly what bonuses are not yet known. Second is a video chat option, unlocked by progressing through the campaign; a “Live Caster” tool will allow two players to connect over WiFi, or four over a local wireless connection.
The third feature, not actually mentioned in the pamphlet, is an eerie glowing red eye that wonders if it will dream when it shuts down. Expect Skynet Facebook compatibility in short order.
Black/White is due out in Japan September 18, with a US release date penciled in for Spring of 2011.
Source: Joystiq
Publisher Del Ray announced today that a book based on the Deus Ex universe is in the works, to be written by sci-fi/steampunk author and scriptwriter James Swallow. Dubbed The Icarus Effect, the novel aims to bridge the plot of previous games with the upcoming Human Revolution. Little is known about what grand conspiracy lead characters Anna Kelso and Ben Saxon will have to foil, but there’s an outside chance of it involving Space Illuminati trying to reverse-engineer a weaponized form of tapioca pudding developed by space aliens cloned from the drunk guy ranting about needles in Hong Kong.
Deus Ex: The Icarus Effect is set for a 2011 release.
Source: Gaming Angels
*I know some of you got that.
See the subject? Yeah, pretty much that; a shiny new trailer from Atlus for the upcoming Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City. Feature teasers and gameplay footage abound, along with the first recorded usage of “tempestuous” by anyone on the internet in the last thirteen months. The trailer is available in the media section of the official website, or you can just saunter by the YouTubes and check it out.
Etrian Odyssey III will be available starting September 21 of this year.
More information has come to light since the not-at-all-shocking announcement of Dragon Age 2, some of it from the press release issued today. Of particular note is that the game will focus on the story of Hawke, a blight survivor and “penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age.” The release states that the story will span ten years, and that choices made throughout the game will affect the story as you go. While players can select either a male or female character, BioWare’s Chris Priestly confirmed on the official forums that Hawke is human; players will not have the option of dwarven or elven characters.
Dragon Age 2 is currently scheduled for a March 2011 release, though an exact date has not been set.
Nintendo and Mistwalker have just launched a trailer for the upcoming The Last Story, available on the official website. Apart from the usual fare of people running around cutting each other with comically large swords, the trailer shows a substantial amount of gameplay and in-engine cutscenes.
Currently set to release later this year in Japan, The Last Story has not been announced for a US release.
Interplay has launched the official Fallout Online website, located here, which opens with the option to register for the game’s official newsletter. Those who register are fast-tracked for access to the open beta, whose date has not yet been announced.
In a move that surprised no one, Bioware announced today that Dragon Age 2 is in the works. So far, the developer has only posted a teaser site with some concept art and a few vague game details, but a teaser trailer will be posted on August 17.
Choice is a popular gaming buzzword, typically code for “you can save the village or burn it down.” Rare is the game that gets a handle on the important part of choice, that being consequences; your actions mattering in the long run. Enter Alpha Protocol, Obsidian’s espionage-themed action RPG that boldly declares choice to be your weapon in the murky depths of modern geopolitics. Let’s make one thing very clear at the onset: there is something genuinely compelling about how the story here unfolds, and in that Obsidian has definitely succeeded where so many others failed. However, the cost appears to be a sense of identity, as if the game got so wrapped up in varying sources of spy fiction that it never really decided what it wanted to be.
Continue reading ‘Alpha Protocol – Staff Review’ »
Square Enix announced today that the PC version of Final Fantasy XIV will be available September 30 in both standard and Collector’s Edition bundles. Standard will retail at $49.99, Collector’s at $74.99; the CE bundle includes various goodies – a unique in-game Onion Helm, behind-the-scenes DVD, security token, a friend invitation (Buddy Pass), and a notebook featuring concept art from the game, among other items – but most notably an eight-day early access over the standard version. Standard subscription rates apply at $12.99/month following the free 30-day trial period. The PS3 release is scheduled for early March, 2011, but no exact date has been set.
Additionally, the system requirements were listed alongside the release date:
Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy XIV PC Release Date, Details Revealed’ »
By way of the official website, Nippon Ichi have announced a new strategy RPG for the PSP. Dubbed Blue Roses: Yousei to Aoi Hitomi no Senshitachi, the game has a stated release date of September 16 in Japan according to the website, available here. No US release has been announced.
In an interview with Famitsu, four developers of The 3rd Birthday – Yoshinori Kitase, Hajime Tabata, Motomu Toriyama, and Iasmu Kamikokuryo – broke down a few of the more interesting features of the upcoming PSP action RPG. Creative producer Tetsuya Nomura had a few things to say as well, in a separate interview that was otherwise centered around Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Of particular interest are the following bullet points:
Continue reading ‘3rd Birthday Developers Interview: Overdive into Clothing Health Meters’ »
The official website for Pokemon Black/White has been updated to announce the Japanese launch date: September 18. No word has been given of a specific US release date, with nothing more than “Spring 2011” to go on for now.
Those of you who know your Japanese, or are good at figuring out pictures, can find more information on the website over yonder.
One of the understated bits of E3 news was the announcement of an iPhone port for Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, the PSP re-release of the original Tactics. Square Enix has just announced that the title will be available via the App Store on September 15, though no price has been set.
Source: 1UP
Final Fantasy XIV‘s director, Hiromichi Tanaka, has stated that the upcoming MMORPG will not be released on the 360. He singled out the Xbox Live service, claiming the “closed” nature of Live limited multiplatform development in sync with the PC and PS3 versions. Although it’s unclear whether talks are ongoing, Tanaka did say that they “couldn’t come to an agreement on Xbox Live.”
Considering Final Fantasy XI eventually shipped to the 360, and that XIV is still in beta testing, it’s impossible to say whether this will remain the case.
Source: Eurogamer
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