Keeping in BioWare tradition, Dragon Age 2 preorders made before January 11 will carry bonus content. Specifically, the preorder versions will automatically be upgraded to the Signature Edition, which includes a unique digital armory, the soundtrack, exclusive weapons, a new playable character, and extra missions; roughly $20 of content according to BioWare, who apparently believe that a game’s soundtrack doesn’t cost more than the game it comes from. I envy them in this belief.
Anyway, further details are available via the official website. Dragon Age 2 is scheduled for a March 11 launch next year.
Two people could look at this game and come to entirely different conclusions. One could say that it’s the fifth verse, same as the first, another 160some pokémon and a whole lot worse. Another could say that the differences, though subtle, mix things up in ways that haven’t been seen in the series’ 15-year history. It’s a matter of how closely you’re looking.
Continue reading ‘Pokémon Black Version – Staff Import Review’ »
Let’s get violent for vegetables.
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 10/12/10’ »
NISA is releasing a followup to the button-mashing Disgaea spinoff Prinny: Can I really be the Hero?! In Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, 1000 Prinnies are tasked with finding Demon Lord Etna’s missing panties. The Prinny Squad has 24 hours to complete the job lest they themselves be turned into Etna’s underwear.
The game is slated for release on PSP and PSN this winter. For more information, check out the game’s official website.
BioWare’s Mike Laidlaw, lead developer for Dragon Age II, gave an interview this week with NowGamer. As one might hope, several interesting pieces of information were revealed about the player-character Hawke, gameplay changes from Origins, and the ever-malleable world of Dragon Age. Bullet points behind the cut:
Continue reading ‘Dragon Age II Interview: Load DA1 Saves and Tell Off Your Companions’ »
Square Enix announced this week that Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded, the latest entry in the series and second to see a DS release, is scheduled for a January 11 launch date. Re: Coded‘s plot has strong ties to Birth By Sleep, which was recently released for the PSP. Dueling portables erryday.
Source: 1UP
It has been said – by me, using that phrase to mask that it was me saying it – that the gaming industry is where good dreams go to die horrible deaths. Less hyperbolic (and more true) is that sometimes a developer’s pet idea just had to go if the game was to see the light of day; at times, the game had to become something else entirely. Come on in and let us discuss some rather noteworthy examples, and see what they say about our hobby-slash-industry. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll find out someone was in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky that you were not expecting. I bet you can’t guess!
Continue reading ‘NPCast 17: Cut Content – Keeping the Dream Alive’ »
Tags:
Alpha Protocol,
Arcanum,
Deus Ex,
Deus Ex (series),
Deus Ex: Invisible War,
Podcasts,
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat,
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky,
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl,
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (series),
Vampire: the Masquerade (series),
Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines,
Xeno (series),
Xenogears,
Xenosaga (series)
Valkyria Chronicles is the only game around where a woman gives birth in a tank.
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 10/01/10’ »
Tags:
Artwork,
Class of Heroes (series),
Class of Heroes 3DS,
Ogre Battle (series),
SaGa (series),
SaGa 3: Ruler of Space-Time – Shadow or Light,
Screenshots,
Shiren the Wanderer (series),
Shiren the Wanderer 5,
Students of the Round,
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together,
The Legend of Zelda (series),
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS
Courtesy of NIS America’s Nao Zook – and the official website – is the announcement that Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland ships to retailers worldwide today. Share your love of funny hats and Gold Standard-breaking sorcery on a PS3 near you!
DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue‘s Snowy Mountain Dungeon DLC adds, as one might expect, a dungeon with a snowy mountain theme.
Continue reading ‘DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue – Snowy Mountain Dungeon DLC Review’ »
Having moved from a fantasy to a more modern era, DeathSpank will find a number of new challenges in DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue as he tracks down and battles with the other corrupt Thong bearers.
Continue reading ‘DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue – Staff Review’ »
Roku: Like a Ground type with Limber.
Continue reading ‘Mass Media 09/22/10’ »
If you had told me ten years ago that one of my most anticipated games of the year would be a Kingdom Hearts game, I’d say you were crazy. This world is full of many ridiculous things, but a collaboration between Squaresoft and Disney?! That was possibly the silliest thing I’d ever heard of. And my wife wanted it. After watching her play for a bit, I saw that the game had an intriguing story, and I quickly became immersed in the world of keyblades and Heartless. Like so many other people, I was amazed at the complexity of the story, and I have eagerly waited for each subsequent game to mete out a little bit more of the lore that gets expanded upon with each new game. Birth by Sleep takes us ten years before the original Kingdom Hearts, and it might just be the best game in the series yet.
Continue reading ‘Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep – Staff Review’ »
Cladun: This is an RPG is a game with very clear goals. An action RPG dungeon crawler with an old-school aesthetic, Cladun is designed to be played in short bursts, and very little else. The game’s largest issues arise from the inconsistent application of these old-school elements and a certain lack of a consistent overarching theme to the game. Though Cladun’s combat system is a fairly basic, some might say rigid affair, its sub-systems are surprisingly complex, a fact which does cause some problems in a game meant to be played in small servings. Overall, Cladun is a solid game, but it never quite reaches the point at which it transcends the conventions and cliches that the story makes fun of.
Continue reading ‘Cladun: This is an RPG – Staff Review’ »
Nerdboy, Slayer, and CactuarJoe weigh in on the 156 new Pokémon available in the newly-released Black and White versions!
Continue reading ‘Pokémon Black/White: The Pokédex: The Podcast’ »
NISA announced Disgaea 4 for the PS3 today. The game is the fourth numbered installment in the popular TRPG series, and it will feature a new graphical engine that focuses more on anime-style graphics. As of this time, few details other than the slated release window of Summer 2011.
In a recent panel, members of the Final Fantasy XIV development team revealed more information about the upcoming MMO, and how some facets have changed since beta testing began. Of particular note are the following:
Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy XIV Details Revealed: World Design, Gameplay Adjustments, Etc.’ »
Following an earlier teaser site and accidental leak by Sega, Valkyria Chronicles 3 is now officially a go. The teaser has been replaced by an actual site, which has, among other things, the first official trailer for the game. Although the site is in Japanese, the key bullet points are easy to pick out: the title is bound for the PSP with a Japanese release date of January 27 next year.
CactuarJoe has gone on the record as saying that he did the character design for this lovely lady. He enjoys something unusual encasing a woman’s breasts.
Continue reading ‘Super Mega Mass Media 09/14/10’ »
Back in November I reviewed Atelier Annie, a strange game that purported to be an RPG but was in fact a commerce simulation with some monsters popping up from time to time. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but felt there were a couple aspects missing… aspects which would’ve made the game even better. Chief among these were a more robust RPG element (as the stripped-down turn-based system felt chalky and unfulfilling) and the ability to actually micromanage this storefront attached to your workshop.
Recettear is an indie game about micromanaging an item shop combined with a healthy dose of dungeon-crawling. Does it fill the void in my soul left by Annie and her handwaving economics? Before this game, I’d never even heard of the word “Affirmifications.” But it seems so fitting.
Continue reading ‘Recettear – Staff Review’ »
