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Game Arts founder Takeshi Miyaji passes away at 45
G-Mode announced today that its CEO and founder Takeshi Miyaji died on July 29 at the age of 45. Cause of death was not released as part of the statement. Miyaji co-founded Game Arts at the age of 19, and is best known for creating the Grandia series, as well as his involvement in other classics like Silpheed, GunGriffon, and Lunar: The Silver Star. In 2000, Miyaji founded G-Mode, a development studio focused on the then-emerging mobile-phone gaming market. He will be succeeded as CEO by Ryu Okoriyama, CEO of Gaia Holdings.
Magical Drop V preview: The ghost of Data East
Few things in the game industry make me happier than over-the-top dedication to a random classic franchise. Another thing that makes me happy: Magical Drop games. So when I rolled up to Ignition Entertainment and saw a new Magical Drop game, I was pleased. And then I played it, and that "pleased" status was upgraded to "delighted." Magical Drop, for the uninitiated, is a color-matching puzzle game series by Data East in which players grab gems from the top of the screen, and then shoot them into different locations to match three or more. All the while, more gems come in from the top and drop the whole arrangement toward the bottom of the screen. Of course, there are several selectable characters (named after tarot cards), and different patterns of blocks can be sent to the opponent's side in multiplayer matches.%Gallery-125736%
Golgoth forced to find Toki HD publisher for XBLA
French developer Golgoth Studio captured our attention this October when it announced it was working on a complete high-def remake of the classic arcade game, Toki. However, today Joystiq learned that Microsoft has decided against publishing the remake itself and has invited the indie dev to find another publisher willing to put the game on its platform. According to Toki HD producer Anthony De Sa Ferreira, the Xbox Live Arcade approval process only allows titles published by Microsoft or an approved third-party company. Following its submission, Microsoft told Golgoth Studio that Toki HD "did not fit with the current needs of Microsoft Game Studio," and suggested the developer contact another publisher. Golgoth tells Joystiq that it is in active conversations with multiple publishers and is confident the game will see life on the Xbox Live Arcade, saying an agreement may be only weeks away. Ferreira believes Microsoft's approval process may have become more stringent in light of the recent high-profile success of original games on the platform, such as Shadow Complex. "I think it's too bad, because it's the independent studios who helped the XBLA to [meet] the success it knows today," he said, adding that not many indie devs can achieve such an impressive result as the Chair-developed title. %Gallery-80535%
FMV game 'Cobra Command' fully moving to iPhone
If you had asked us which modern gaming platform would become the home of laserdisc arcade games ... we wouldn't have guessed any mobile platform, much less a phone. But somehow, thanks to Space Ace and the upcoming Mad Dog McCree, the iPhone is the go-to platform for FMV. The latest game to be revived for iPhone is Cobra Command, a 1984 FMV shooter by Data East that puts you in the cockpit of a helicopter. Developer Revolutionary Concepts is revamping the interface (including tilt-based steering) and cockpit graphics, and is projecting an October release date. Rights holder G-mode seems to be working hard to get its Data East games out, including recent releases, like Magical Drop on multiple platforms, and the (still unofficial) Wii collection. We appreciate that.
Popple and the Magically Cheap-looking WiiWare Game
Disclaimer: no, this game does not appear to have anything to do with Popples, the beloved, collapsible stuffed toys. Yes, we are also a bit disappointed. Popple and the Magical Crayon is actually an original WiiWare adventure game about drawing and painting elements of a pop-up picture book from within the world of said book. You can also interact with objects, and search for hidden items, by pointing and clicking.The 800 Wii Point adventure game was clearly produced on a shoestring budget, as it looks fairly N-sixty-farcical. But, like Shootanto and Sorcery Blade, there's a certain ironic appeal to such an obviously cheap game, and an actual appeal to a game produced by a developer whose work probably doesn't show up on consoles that often. Even the publisher, G-mode, hasn't done much (or anything) on consoles except for Data East Virtual Console games.You can see Popple in "action" at the official site. The game comes out in Japan on January 27.[Via Famitsu]
More picross comes to the Wii
Assuming you have the Opera Channel and an internet-capable Wii, there are sites that let you play picross with Wiimote compatibility for free. We wouldn't mind paying for a picross game, though, as long as it offered fun gameplay and came at a budget price. That's why we're once again jealous of Japanese gamers, who are getting not one but two picross-esque games for us to envy.The first comes from Hudson, and is a part of the company's puzzle series. This disc-based game (called Puzzle Series Vol.2: Illustlogic + Colorful Logic) offers 600 picross puzzles, only some of them are doubly hard since they involve multiple colors.The second title is a WiiWare game that we already told you about, called Oekaki Logic. Is there a likelihood of either of these games getting localized? Probably not, unfortunately, but we really hope that Hudson comes through on this one.[Via Siliconera]
Oekaki Logic puzzles Japanese WiiWare tomorrow
As part of tomorrow's WiiWare update, publisher G-mode is releasing a puzzle game called Oekaki Logic. It's basically a nice-looking, colorful picross game for 500 Wii Points, which sounds like a winner to us. Should you exhaust the puzzle selection found in the base game, G-mode will be offering monthly content packs, from June through October, for 300 points. Normally we get all huffy about DLC, but adding new puzzles like that seems like a good idea, and 300 points is a pretty minor charge for the convenience.Other convenient features include an "Easy Focus" system that dynamically tabulates row and column numbers, and a selection of color schemes designed to go with the player's mood. Or, rather, to change the player's mood from "frustrated."[Via GAME Watch]
