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Crazy Taxi is now available for iOS, crashing soon onto Android
Hey hey hey, Crazy Taxi has come on over to iPad and iPhone, and is now available on the App Store for $4.99. Sega announced the crazy early release date, although apparently it's available everywhere except Asia for now. Which is a little bit crazy, really. Sega also announced an Android port is due shortly.As suggested by the tiny trailer earlier in the week, and confirmed by the above one, the game features the original's memorable mix of The Offspring and Bad Religion. The only right way to play Crazy Taxi is with the same four punk rock songs yah-yahing through your ears for hours on end.%Gallery-168128%
A Witch's Tale casts a spell on us
NIS America's workload for the rest of 2008 is greater than we initially thought. Not only are there localizations of Disgaea and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure to take care of, but the company is developing an entirely new ARPG, A Witch's Tale.Due in October, the game tells the story of a tribe of witches who lived beneath the world's surface, practicing rune magic. One day, they set out to invade the surface world, but are stopped by a mysterious figure by the name of Alice, who seals the witches underground again with their own magic. The trailer above is the only media of the title released thus far, and features no gameplay sections (though Siliconera reveals that players must draw runes on the touchscreen to attack enemies), but we like what we're seeing so far: there's a fairly charming gothic fairytale vibe to proceedings.
Virtually Overlooked: Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative. Yeah, there aren't any Game Boy Advance games on the Virtual Console, and there probably won't be any time soon, but that's not important! This column is about games that should be on the Virtual Console, and this game should be everywhere.Treasure is known for producing super-hardcore action games, from frantic run-and-guns like Alien Soldier and Gunstar Heroes to clever shooters like Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. Between original releases, they sometimes take on licensed works, seemingly to pay the bills. One of their best games -- and possibly the best game on the GBA -- combines all of these aspects of Treasure's style. It might be slightly strange to say that a licensed game based on a kids' show is one of Treasure's best, but it absolutely is.%Gallery-20301%
The House Containing Some Dead 2 & 3
I didn't see The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return at GDC -- and I looked -- but Gamespot got a hands-on preview of the new release of Sega's light gun classics. Had I been there, I would have asked about the captioning. "Suffer the same way G did?" The audio's the same (from what can be heard on the video) so why the change in captioning? And why just that line?In addition to rewriting Zeal's big line, Sega has added six different crosshair options and online rankings. What hasn't been added, unfortunately, is The Typing of the Dead. How could anyone do this?%Gallery-10506%[Via NeoGAF]
Dragoneer's Aria character designer speaks out
HitMaker's character designer, Juno Jeong, sat down for the latest interview with GameSpot who have had an ongoing set of reactions from the staff of the upcoming game Dragoneer's Aria. Being from Korea, Jeong talks about the difficulty in becoming a console game developer and how this is game has become such an honor for him to work on (which we can also assume means he's put a lot of work into these characters). It has been three years since he's gotten to work as an illustrator, after all.Jeong is very interested in classic RPG's like Dragoneer's Aria. He said that "the scenario and game system are loyal to the basics, but they bring out the depth of the game itself. I think that's the biggest anticipation I have for the game." He didn't get to work directly alongside the rest of the development team, so he does wish he had that experience to fall back on, but he seems excited enough about the game to merit our interest as well! GameSpot will have an updated interview, featuring HitMaker's director, in the coming days.
First screenshots of Dragoneer's Aria
Last month, we unveiled NIS and Hitmaker's newest RPG, Dragoneer's Aria. The concept art looked a bit edgier and darker than usual PSP RPG fare. While we were excited to see a RPG on our handheld take a slightly more mature approach to the genre, we're admittedly disappointed by these new screenshots of the game, provided by Degenki Online. The graphics look primitive, with blocky character models and barren environments. The game is due out soon, so it doesn't look like this game will have the chance to improve much before its release.[Thanks, Saigon!]
NIS & Hitmaker team up to make Dragoneer's Aria
More Nippon Ichi news this morning. NIS and Hitmaker are working together on a new RPG called Dragoneer's Aria. In the game you take the role of Valen who is a novice dragoneer. He is tasked with protecting the elemental dragons from a dreaded evil monster. The game focuses on friendship and has a good chance of having a dragon or two in it. NIS and Hitmaker first got their relationship started when NIS released Blade Dancer for PSP. The mutual respect has resulted in this project. Dragoneer's Aria will satisfy PSP RPG fans in July.
