Dawn
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Breaking 'Dawn': Mortal Online announces expansion
It's the dawn of a new era -- and considering all of the bloodshed that goes on in Mortal Online, you may even call this a... Red Dawn? Wolverines? OK, sorry, but we had to get past the obvious puns. Mortal Online's been on the down-low ever since last year's launch, but that doesn't mean that the Star Vault devs were sipping piña coladas on a gore-soaked beach. On the contrary, as the team's been hard at work on a new expansion that was revealed in its full glory earlier this week: Mortal Online: Dawn. Instead of focusing on a new continent or a higher level cap, Dawn's adding several quality-of-life features to the game. These include an updated mount system that will eventually let you breed your ideal stud or mare, a cooking profession for the gourmet chefs out there, health reserves, a mail system, and a new player tutorial. Henrik Nyström was on hand for a forum interview about the expansion and the meaning behind the title: "Dawn feels like it's the 'beginning' of us being able to deliver content without struggling with the core mechanics due to the network solution. We can finally enjoy the development in full and start passing the benefits of that onto the community." [Thanks to everyone who sent in this tip!]
One Shots: Flash forward with LotRO
Today we figured we'd break up the old-school shots with a flash forward in time to give a comparison of just how far games have come from the blocky forms of yesteryear. This lovely screenshot comes to us from Massively's own Kyle Horner, who snapped this picture in Lord of the Rings Online. He says that is is taken in a location near the village of Staddle, "just as dawn begins to break in Middle-earth." It is a truly lovely spot to enjoy the quiet beauty of dawn, that's for certain!Do you have some great, interesting, or funny screenshots to show off of your MMO adventures? What are you waiting for! Drop those screens and a quick note about them into an email, and send it off to us at oneshots@massively.com. Your adventures could be the subject of an upcoming One Shots!%Gallery-9798%
Digimon: Day versus night
With this new pair of trailers for Digimon World Dawn and Dusk, we're sensing a strong pro-day, anti-night vibe. The Dawn trailer seems much more interesting and offers more information, while the Dusk video is rather perfunctory. "There's some Digimon! Stuff happens! You want it!" The monster above knows it, too. He senses the contempt for all things evening, and it displeases him. Don't believe us? See for yourself after the jump.
Digimon: From Dusk 'til Dawn
Looks like Digimon is getting into the double-your-gaming, double-your-profit market with its latest. Namco Bandai has announced Digimon Dusk and Dawn, two parallel stories, each with their own Digimon and Digifarms. Take on the role of a Sunshine trainer, or a trainer from the Dark Moon district, each with their own suspicions about the other side's role in a recent earthquake that is causing Digimon to devolve back into Digi-eggs.Digimon Dusk and Dawn will feature WiFi battles and scads of all new Digimon for you to collect. The games are currently set for a fall release -- just about the time you've decided that maybe you should put the Pokémans aside. How convenient!Hit the jump for screens and artwork from the upcoming games.
The top five "traditional" DS games
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/The_Top_Five_Traditional_DS_Games'; The DS is well-known for its unusual design features, the two-screen format and the touch screen. Many of the DS's most popular games make good use of these features, and there are many outstanding games, like Meteos, that make strong enough use of them that they could fairly be said to depend on these features. There wouldn't be too much to Brain Age without the handwriting input, and it is hard to imagine Elite Beat Agents existing at all without either the unique interface or the simultaneous cutscene/gameplay presentation. But for as much attention as the DS gets for its unique features, many of its best games use them in only the most cursory of ways. Some of the best-reviewed, most popular DS games have only optional touch-screen use, or some function that is nonessential to gameplay. Some games squander their second screen on inventories and maps. Many such games not only could have worked just as well on other systems, they are from long-standing series that worked just fine back in the dark ages when game systems only had a single screen and controls were mapped only to buttons. The games on this list are the highest-ranked games according to Metacritic that fall under the category of "traditional" games. In fact, the top four DS games according to Metacritic are all traditional. Each game on this list is an excellent DS game that is excellent independent of the DS' inherent advantages.
Mankind ill needs a boxart such as this
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Worst_box_art_branding_ever'; So, uh ... remember that Amazon Castlevania deal that we got all excited about, and encouraged you all to take advantage of? Yeah, about that. NeoGAFfer Reilly bought a copy of Dawn of Sorrow from Amazon, and what you see above is what arrived. Konami has started their own "Konami's Best" branding, and rebranded Castlevania with the lovely new label. If you don't know what the original boxart looked like, it's the one pictured on the new box. We knew nothing of this when we sent you all to Amazon. At least there's still a fantastic game in there.You want to know what's really sad? We kind of want one of these "Konami's Best" copies for our collection.
Castlevanias on sale at Amazon
If you live in the US, you have a DS and you don't have both Castlevania games, today is the day you will fix that problem. Amazon.com has Portrait of Ruin on sale for $20.99, and its predecessor Dawn of Sorrow for $19.99. Buy them together, and you get free shipping.That's two of the best games released in the last few years, for less than a copy of Pimp My Ride for the Xbox 360. It's a pretty excellent deal.[Via NeoGAF]
Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn rumors
Some nice folks over at GoNintendo have submitted some scans and a rough translation for the upcoming Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn for the Wii. Though we follow the FE story about as well as we can save a dying victim using pretend surgical skills (damn you, Trauma Center!), some details might interest those masochists among us: Sothe is Mikaya's younger brother, though they aren't blood-related. The nations of Gallia and Begnion are at war. Lots and lots of war. The game will be divided into discrete portions, and the first will focus on the "Dawn Group". An additional story synopsis can be found after the break. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was one of the unheralded masterpieces on the Cube (we didn't mention it, we know!), and we greatly look forward to the sequel.
