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No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise delayed in Japan
Japan is currently in the midst of a No More Heroes drought. Not only has Marvelous yet to give a release date to No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (which is out this week in North America!), the publisher has also announced a delay for the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 port of the original game, called No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise. Originally set for release on February 25, Heroes' Paradise won't be delivering upgraded graphics and inappropriate new costumes for the female characters until April. Siliconera postulated that Marvelous is moving things into its next quarter in an attempt to boost profits in that period. %Gallery-78530% [Via Siliconera]
Japan gets Ninety-Nine Nights 2 in Spring 2010
Konami has updated the Japanese website for Ninety-Nine Nights II -- or N3II if you insist on confusing people all the time -- with a release window of Spring 2010. There isn't much more info to be gleaned from the site, although it does note two-player support. One other tidbit that should help us all sleep through at least one night: The game will apparently ship on a single DVD, so you won't have to worry about swapping discs before mowing down the next horde of baddies. There's still no confirmation of a release outside of Japan, though the game was rated by Australia's OFLC in December. [Via Siliconera] %Gallery-71570%
OFLC suggests Western release for Ninety-Nine Nights 2
Konami appears to be daring enough to localize Ninety-Nine Nights 2 -- which, we suppose, isn't too much of a surprise since it showed the courage to publish the sequel to the mediocre action title in the first place. While Konami hasn't said anything official, an OFLC rating has appeared for N32, outing at least a tentative plan to publish the game in Australia. Speculation: Konami's not going to localize the game just for Australia. Whether the announcement is good news or not depends on your faith in Feelplus (for whom this is the first action game) to deliver a better Dynasty Warriors-type game than Phantagram did. %Gallery-71570%
Konami publishing Ninety-Nine Nights 2, new screens
Click for monster-size. An official website for feelplus' Ninety-Nine Nights 2 is now live, and it looks like Microsoft won't be taking up publishing duties for the sequel. It appears that Konami will be publishing the game instead, at least in Japan -- the website notes that Ninety-Nine Nights is still a Microsoft trademark, though. Much more interesting than all of that, the site reveals some of the first screens for the game. It certainly looks pretty but, then again, so did the first game -- and that didn't help much. Giving us somewhat more hope for the sequel is the screen above, which depicts a gigantic monster. And of course, there are seemingly dozens of enemies on the same screen. Let's hope dispatching them is a little more entertaining this time. Check out the new screens in the gallery below: %Gallery-71570%[Via IGN]
XSEED shocks us with Ju-On localization announcement
We were minding our own business, not really paying attention, when an XSEED press release JUMPED into our email inbox and scared us half to death. Feel Fear: Ju-On, a teaser for which was just released in Europe, is coming to North America to scare our North American pants off (and imported pants as well) in October of this year.The press release announcing Ju-On: The Grudge offers a few new details about the gameplay. To the dismay of those expecting a third- or first-person survival horror game, XSEED bills Ju-On as a "haunted house simulator," in which players explore scary environments with a pointer-controlled flashlight, driven to "proceed forward even after being frightened and running away from the initial threat." The game includes the ability for a second player to trigger scares using a second Wiimote, causing the other player to "jump and hate you forever."So if you want your friends to hate you forever, check out Ju-On: The Grudge this October!%Gallery-63975%
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 details arrive in short supply
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 (N3-2 from now on, dig?) is on the way, though we're certain few were asking for it, and the latest issue of Famitsu has revealed the first details. Siliconera says the feelplus-developed title now contains support for two players, and a photo of the article reveals a couple new characters in "Guren" and "Sefia" (at least, we think -- it's all in Japanese!). The title remains exclusive to the Xbox 360 and is expected to arrive later this year. These are the folks who worked on Lost Odyssey and Infinite Undiscovery after all -- what could possibly go wrong?
Joystiq hands-on: Blue Dragon Plus (DS)
After departing from Square Enix, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi started his own studio, Mistwalker. The small company relies on contracted developers to collaborate on projects, while Mistwalker itself remains lean and back-to-basics. Its first project was Blue Dragon, which, despite being released on the Xbox 360, is also back to basics -- a linear, turn-based RPG with (admittedly high-end) Akira Toriyama character designs that recall the Dragon Quest tradition. Blue Dragon topped Japanese Xbox 360 sales charts, but still didn't necessarily achieve Dragon Quest-like success. So, along with a merchandising blitz that includes manga, anime, a card game, and toys, Mistwalker has taken Blue Dragon to a system that is much more popular in Japan, and much better suited to both the JRPG and Toriyama's cute designs: the Nintendo DS. Surprisingly, despite the move to less powerful hardware, Blue Dragon Plus is a more progressive role-playing experience than its predecessor, and offers elements of post-Dragon Quest presentation.%Gallery-15148%
Blue Dragon Plus: epic battles, small screens
Mistwalker's Blue Dragon Plus bears the distinctive stamp of Akira Toriyama, and at every moment, the game is colorful, even a little cartoony, with bright colors and rubbery characters. Don't mistake that for a lack of epic badassery, however, because these last two trailers for the RPG have been full of one of our favorite things: fighting. Also fire and explosions. Good stuff. Let's just hope we see a better box.
Lost Odyssey: Seeker of the Deep dungeon DLC
Releasing this Friday, May 23rd to the Xbox Live Marketplace is a new chunk of dungeon DLC for Lost Odyssey called "Seeker of the Deep". And for the 400 Microsoft point price of admission, the Seeker of the Deep DLC will add a new dungeon to the mix where (we expect) lots of dungeon shenanigans will take place. Lots of dungeon shenanigans and dungeon moistness ... uhh, yeah. Also, if you don't own a copy of Lost Odyssey, we oh so humbly remind you that there's a copy up for grabs as part of this week's Fanswag Weekly. Enter today! [Via Joystiq]
Blue Dragon Plus in Japan this September with uninspiring box
This comes as little surprise, since AQ Interactive announced that Blue Dragon Plus would release in the U.S. by the end of the fiscal year, but we're still glad to see a firm Japanese release date for Mistwalker/feelplus's strategy-RPG sequel. It's scheduled to be out September 4, for 5,229 yen ($50).We're slightly less enthused by what AQ Interactive decided to do with the box. It's less "grand adventure" (which is the feeling that most Blue Dragon artwork evokes for us) and more "horrific See 'N Say." The giant, blue, snake-tailed, winged horse says "Neigh! See you in your nightmares!"%Gallery-15148%
Blue Dragon Plus touch screen equals new battle system!
Blue Dragon Plus's combat interface has been revealed in the latest set of screens. It involves a set of three icons that appear on the right side of the touch screen. The top icon allows you to set one particular character's movement, and the bottom icon moves everybody. The middle icon allows you (we believe) to highlight multiple characters by drawing a circle around them.Each character has a selection of "killer techniques" accessible via the bottom left of the touch screen. Players cycle through them with the shoulder buttons and then must wait for a countdown before they are activated. We're encouraged by the presence of a new battle system in the DS game. It shows evidence of thought toward the platform, at least.%Gallery-15148%
Totilo: Lost Odyssey is a slow-paced, well-written game
MTV's Stephen Totilo describes himself as a guy "who played Fire Emblem with the battle animations turned off." This is just so we're clear on his impressions of a pre-release build of 360 epic RPG Lost Odyssey. According to Totilo, it's a slow-moving game which suffers from long load-times, but benefits from its "Thousand-Year Dream" sequences, well-written short stories which appear as on-screen text throughout the game. That's right. Like the recent Harvey Birdman game, you'll definitely need the ability to read to play through Mistwalker's epic tale (gamers read, right?). For Totilo, it's these text sequences that set Lost Odyssey apart from the Final Fantasy series, to which he draws many comparisons. Ultimately, however, it seems Lost Odyssey will require a lot of patience, with the first non-tutorial fighting sequence not occurring until two hours in to the game. We'll have to see come February 12 whether gamers have the attention span for the four-disc, 50-hour adventure. [Via X3F]
Lost Odyssey gets found in North America Feb. 12; free DLC with pre-order
Microsoft has officially confirmed the North American release date of Lost Odyssey -- Mistwalker's Xbox 360-exclusive RPG -- as February 12, Shacknews reports today. The massive, 4-disc, 50-hour RPG follows the amnesiac immortal Kaim, and tells the thousand-year story of his life, all penned by award-winning novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu. Pre-orders for Lost Odyssey from participating retailers will include a special download code, giving players access to a new mission and unlockable weapon. The downloadable content will eventually be made available to everyone, but will remain exclusive to pre-orders for a short while.
Lost Odyssey's wordy little secret
Looking forward to Lost Odyssey, the next big thing from Mistwalker? Hope you enjoy reading then, because you'll be doing a lot of it according to IGN. Kaim, the game's protagonist, often has flashbacks to moments in his past. Considering he can't die, he's been alive for a very long time, which means he has a long history to look back upon. However, instead of letting the players journey back and actually experience these flashbacks through gameplay, they are played out entirely through text. The flashbacks are actually short stories penned by famed Japanese author Kiyoshi Shigematsu, and Lost Odyssey director Hironobu Sakaguchi decided to let players experience them in their "purest" form. All in all, there are 34 of these flashbacks, each taking 5-10 minutes to read. We have to wonder if these flashbacks are considered gameplay, because Sakaguchi has noted that fully half of Lost Odyssey's 40 hours of gameplay will be taken up by cutscenes. Japanese gamers will find out when the game is released on December 6th, while the rest of us will have to wait until February of next year. [Via Joystiq]
Lost Odyssey will require patience, reading glasses
The Xbox 360 exclusive Lost Odyssey may be a beacon of hope for the console's anemic Japanese user base, but that success will come at a price -- your eyes. According to Lost Odyssey architect Hironobu Sakaguchi, the upcoming plot-heavy RPG will feature several "1000 Year Dream" sequences, 34 to be precise, each designed to flesh out the narrative penned by Japanese author Kiyoshi Shigematsu; and each told not through cut scenes, but rather with pop-up text, taking upwards of 5 to 10 minutes to read. Sakaguchi admits that he once entertained the idea of using voice overs for the sequences, but opted instead to make the player experience Shigematsu's work in its 'purest form', namely written word. You mean, we have to read?! The idea of spending 4 or more hours scrolling through text on the screen is not our idea of fun, and we immediately feel sympathy for those players without bionic vision, or just those playing on smaller than average sets. We'd like to think that there's a method to Sakaguchi's madness, though his admission that Lost Odyssey will clock in at 40 hours, with 20 of these devoted to non-interactive story sequences, seems to stretch the boundaries of what can be considered a game, rather than just an interactive storybook. Nevertheless, Japanese Xbox 360 owners can pick up Lost Odyssey on December 6, while those in North America and Europe will have to wait until February to go blind.
TGS07: Lost Odyssey is crazy big: 4 DVDs, 50 hours
Japanese developer Mistwalker apparently looks at larger storage capacities as some sort of challenge. Unsatisfied by the three discs of DVD content filled with their previous RPG Blue Dragon, Mistwalker has announced that the upcoming epic Lost Odyssey will span four DVDs, reminding us that razor blades aren't the only medium that benefits from a steady increase in quantity. The four discs are stuffed with a 40-to-50-hour RPG adventure, told using a mixture of CG and real-time cutscenes. Also contributing to the bloating are separate audio tracks for Japanese and English voices, allowing us to switch to the Japanese languages when we inevitably grow tired of the awful anglicized voice-acting (see also: Soul Calibur). Lost Odyssey is due out in Japan in early December, with the North American and European releases pushed to February 2008. [Via AMN]
Lost Odyssey journeys through 4 DVDs
Speaking to IGN in behind-closed-doors meeting at TGS, Hironobu Sakaguchi, head of Mistwalker, intimated that the upcoming RPG Lost Odyssey will span 4 DVDs. Considering Mistwalker's previous title, Blue DragonMass Effect managed to hit retail on 3 DVDs, this isn't exactly surprising. Still, in the dark circles of the internet, the announcement is still likely to spark up the Blu-Ray / DVD debate yet again. Note to 360 defenders: the galaxy-trekking Mass Effect fits quite nicely on one DVD. In less flame-worthy news, Sakaguchi also announced that Lost Odyssey will ship with multiple language options including English and Japanese, though facial animations will be synced to the English dialogue. Sakaguchi explains that many western movies are shown in Japan and that English lip sync is more or less a sign of gratitude to the support of Mistwalker's western audience. [Via Evil Avatar]
Lost Odyssey delayed to 2008 in US
Lorne Lanning! If you're reading this, be sure to note our continued frustration at typing "Oddysee" instead of "Odyssey" every single time we discuss Hironobu Sakaguchi's upcoming Xbox 360 RPG. The cumulative seconds wasted in correcting every article must surely extend beyond 2008 by now -- much like the English version of Lost Oddysee Odyssey. Confound it! In Microsoft's pre-TGS conference held in Japan, Mr. Final Fantasy announced that his Unreal-powered tale of turn-based timelessness would be radically altering the meaning of "simultaneous worldwide release" to be more along the lines of "out in Japan on December 6th, then in North America in February 2008." Judging by the release schedule adopted by Mist Walker's most recent RPG, Blue Dragon, a European date for this Odyssey should be found on the same calendar page.
Sakaguchi gives tiny Lost Odyssey update
Details on the progress of Lost Odyssey are few and far between these days, so we'll take what we can get. According to IGN, Hironobu Sakaguchi, head of Mistwalker, has given a small update on Lost Odyssey to Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu. According to Sakaguchi, the game's background music and packaging are complete. Also, an outside development team known as Feel Plus is currently tweaking the wall system and other gameplay systems. Readers will recall that Lost Odyssey uses a system in which soldiers in the front lines must protect the vulnerable but powerful magic users in the rear. Sakaguchi notes that there will be new details revealed in the near future. IGN speculates we may hear more at E3. Considering this is one of Microsoft's biggest projects, we're inclined to agree.
Sakaguchi reveals new Lost Odyssey details
Speaking to Famitsu (translated by IGN), Hironobu Sakaguchi reveals new details of Mistwalker's current Xbox 360 project Lost Odyssey. The game is now 70% complete, and the development team has reached the "balancing and tuning" phase of production. The music (composed by RPG legend Nobuo Uematsu) is nearly done. Sakaguchi notes that the game's theme focuses on "humanity" and that the music conveys inner emotions. The camera will remain fixed in the game, though there will be cinematic rumbling and focus effects used. Finally, Sakaguchi reveals more information about Lost Odyssey's combat. Lost Odyssey will use a wall system that requires the front lines to defend those in the rear. This is crucial, as magic users cause the most damage and must be protected (this is in line with what Sakaguchi told us at GDC) Also revealed, certain items will require skills to equip and the game features a crafting system that binds magical items to weapons. More Lost Odyssey details are expected soon.
