RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

In the future, all costumes will be DLC for everything, everywhere. Right now we’ll have to settle for this: Final Fantasy XIII-2‘s Noel and Serah will be getting downloadable N7 armor based on the Mass Effect series. This goes live starting March 27, priced at ¥300 and 240MSP for PS3 and 360 respectively. Given the pricing, we can assume this is not yet for the US release of XIII-2.

Source: Andriasang

Proving that Pokemon sells no matter what unusual property it’s attached to, Pokemon+Nobunaga’s Ambition sold about 172,000 units in its first week. This put it ahead of Shining Blade at 122,000, and the PSP entry into the Madoka Magika series at 62,000.

Source: Andriasang

I know, awful awful pun. I shall punish myself accordingly by eating this blueberry muffin. Anyway, we’ve got us some news!

• Wasteland 2‘s Kickstarter surpasses all expectations, especially mine.  Let the blood sausage festival commence!
• Obsidian is forced to lay people off and cancel a next-generation project.  I’d like to blame that Bethesda-New Vegas– Metacritic contract shenanigans, but the reality is slightly more complicated.
• Through a truly unexpected twist of fate, Giant Bomb winds up back inside the GameSpot offices from whence they came.  Awkwaaaard~
• Incidentally, GB’s Dave Snider wrote an excellent column about finding work in games media.  Well worth a read for even the most discouraged would-be content creator.
• Speaking of interesting columns, Joystiq’s Rowan Kaiser breaks down the year that Western RPGs… well, broke down.  Also a fascinating read, even if you disagree about when PC RPGs hit their Golden Age.
• Mass Effect 3‘s ending makes such a splash that it bypasses traditional spoiler alerts.  While I don’t spoil it myself, I do go over what it means for BioWare if they don’t address the criticism post-haste.
• Baldur’s Gate gets an enhanced edition, Microsoft gets a new Peter Moore, and more!

 
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As previously mentioned, there was a chance of What Happened This Week being pushed back a day due to standing up for my friend Craig’s wedding last night. I was just expecting it to be more hangover related and less IT’S EIGHTY DEGREES OUTSIDE IN THE MIDDLE OF MARCH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. In any case, the podcast will be up tomorrow.

RandomNPC apologizes for this taking-a-nap-in-sunshine-related delay.

(Seriously, take some “me” time once in a while. You don’t get many days like this.)

Responding to questions over layoffs and a project cancellation, Obsidian has revealed their agreement with Bethesda regarding the development of Fallout: New Vegas. Specifically, Chris Avellone tweeted that “FNV was a straight payment, no royalties, only a bonus if we got an 85+ on Metacritic, which we didn’t.” New Vegas scored 84, thus – in spite of over $300 million in sales – the bonus was not paid.

Source: Eurogamer

There are many things in life I don’t expect, but a new version of Baldur’s Gate is near the top of the list. Developer Beamdog has announced that they are working on an enhanced edition of the classic BioWare RPG. Few specifics have been given, though a representative has stated that Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will see new content and it is not simply a re-release.

No platforms were indicated in the announcement.

Source: Joystiq

More details have emerged regarding Shining Blade‘s battle system. Special attacks are split into two categories: Force and Link Attacks. The former are character specific, and usable once the Force Gauge has been built up. The latter, naturally, are joint attacks with party members, and dependent on favorability ratings with each character.

Source: Andriasang

Nippon Ichi has announced that The Witch and the Hundred Soldiers, the upcoming PS3 RPG by Team Prinny, has been delayed. Originally planned to release on June 28, it now has a loose timeframe of sometime in the back half of 2012.

Source: Andriasang

On the off chance you were concerned that Mass Effect 3 wouldn’t sell like hotcakes, rest assured that it is, in fact, selling like hotcakes. Electronic Arts announced that 3.5 million copies have been shipped worldwide, with about 890,000 copies sold in North America on launch day alone.

Source: Joystiq

Title says it all: Atlus has opened Persona 2 Eternal Punishment‘s official site, available hereabouts. Among other details, it is now known the retail version – priced at ¥6,279 and available starting May 17 – will include a bonus soundtrack CD.

Source: Andriasang

In a recent announcement, Capcom revealed their Onimusha series will see a new entry in the form of a strategy RPG, titled Onimusha Soul. Based on characters from the PS2 series, the game will feature an original story set in Japan’s Sengoku era; players can be grouped separately and join in co-op or competitive games.

Soul is expected to start on PC browsers starting June 28, with a smartphone version coming later in the Fall. The official site can be located here for further details. There has been no indication of any release outside of Japan.

Source: Andriasang

In a recent interview, Kazuhisa Wada, Atlus’s director of development for Persona 4 Arena, spoke about bringing the recently-released arcade game to consoles. (more…)

Hello and welcome, everybody! It’s that time again. GDC occupied a lot of the news this week, but among that we have the following:

• Valve’s marketing director clarifies that they are not working on a Steam box… for now.  Actually they left off the “for now” part, but let a man dream :3
• Peter Molyneux leaves Lionhead and Microsoft to start his own company once more.  Shine on, you awesome fibber.  Shine on… or go on to develop social/iOS games like other gaming legends.
• Blizzard offers a rather hefty bounty returning bonus for players who bring friends back to World of Warcraft…
• …which doesn’t quite distract from their announcement that Diablo III will not have PvP at launch.
• A quartet of big names – Will Wright, Sid Meier, John Romero, and Cliff Bleszinski – offer various insights on the state of the industry, ranging from concerns about self-referential development to homeless simulators.  It makes sense in context.
• Tim Cain gives a postmortem on Fallout, sharing the dirt on how the now famous post-apocalyptic RPG almost never saw the light of day.  Short answer: blame Windows NT.  Watch the whole thing if you can, it’s enlightening stuff.
• Two men make more or less the same complaints about Japanese games, with vastly different levels of tact (and authority), I suggest the big picture might be a bit more complicated, and more!

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Takayuki Hatano, lead developer for the iOS version of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, spoke about the project in a recent interview with Famitsu. Intending to go further than a simple port, Hatano explained the iOS version will feature a revised interface to make the game more playable via touchscreen. Graphical updates are also in progress, and the team is reportedly looking into social elements for gameplay: item bonuses or support for special attacks with nearby friends, for instance.

A release timeframe was not given, though Hatano did say that releasing the game this year may be challenging. He added that Falcom is “telling them to take their time to make a quality game.”

Source: Andriasang

2012 will mark the 25th anniversary for Final Fantasy. As part of commemmorating the series, Square Enix uploaded a teaser site – available here – which for now just has links to the numbered entries. Theatrhythm and Final Fantasy Brigade are included, and a separate link offers more information on an upcoming anniversary concert to be held in London on November 2.

With Fable: The Journey already on the way, Lionhead has revealed another entry in the series is in development. Fable Heroes, an Xbox Live Arcade title, is a multiplayer beat-em-up planned for release sometime before The Journey. Heroes will feed into the Kinect-exclusive title, sharing avatars and other unlockables.

No price point has been set so far.

Source: Eurogamer

In preparation for the Mass Effect prequel movie, Paragon Lost, an official site – currently a teaser only – has been set up here.

You know it’s true.

Sorry for the delay, folks! Man, ME3 and Super Tuesday tomorrow! The political junkie and the Mass Effect fanboy are having a fistfight for dominance in my brain stem. Gonna be busyyyyyy~

Anyway, to the news:

• Mass Effect 3 comes out tomorrow, or, if pirates are to be believed, today.  Guess somebody got ahold of one of those low-orbit packages.  And speaking of which…
• …one of them got stuck in a tree north of San Francisco, boldly resisting an intrepid IGN team’s attempt to dislodge it.  Well, at least bears weren’t involved.
• UK retailer GAME is in a bit of financial trouble, revealing they will be unable to stock Mass Effect 3 or Mario Party 9.  Hey, guys?  I know your parents probably told you honesty is the best policy and all, but, uh, you may have wanted to make something up this one time.
• The rumor mill is abuzz that Valve may be developing a Steam-centric PC-slash-console with baseline stats for modern games.  Hey Valve, Derek and I got this great idea for a mascot.  You ready for this?  He’s a scientist, see, and he’s fighting an alien invasion…
• Facebook gaming takes a sharp downturn from 2011, with the company having to work harder to draw in new users.
• By contrast, Zynga unveils their own content delivery platform to stand apart from Facebook, forgetting how they got so many people playing their games in the first place.
• Pokemon Black & White Version 2 makes like Daft Punk and goes around the world, Kinect gets a tinfoil hat accessory, and more!

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Due to circumstances entirely beyond my control, that were totally not related to making sure all my Mass Effect 2 saves were ready for Mass Effect 3, What Happened This Week will be uploaded tomorrow night instead. Apologies, folks! I know, I’m trying to be more punctual about this, but life and my attention deficiency have funny ways of mocking my attempts to plan things.

Well, more accurately, Atlus does the opening, but whatever. Etrian Odyssey IV‘s official site is now open and available here. Additionally, the developer’s blog (hereabouts) has explained the reasons for including casual mode. One reason was, naturally, for newcomers to the series. The other was so the team could increase the difficulty of normal mode. Oh, goody.

Source: Andriasang