NiGHTS
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IGN ponders NiGHTS' place in gaming
IGN's Levi Buchanan has written a feature questioning the significance of Sega's NiGHTS, both on the Saturn in 1997 and on the Wii now. The feature suggests that NiGHTS may not be as important as Sega fans think it is (but what could be?) because it wasn't really 3D and, more importantly, not that many people played it compared to the hits on the Saturn's contemporaries. Both of these points are unfortunately true. With the exception of the included analog controller, NiGHTS didn't really influence future games that much (we went full-3D). And if Sega's hoping to sell this game on its nostalgia value alone, they will be disappointed. The kinds of numbers that made for a hit Saturn game probably wouldn't translate into a hit Wii game. Neither of these points necessarily mean that NiGHTS doesn't matter. It does, because it was a really great game. And that's what we expect from the sequel as well. We're content for NiGHTS just to be a really great game while the Marios and such get lauded as watershed gaming events. We'd all be happier, of course, if it was a real hit rather than a niche game.The problem outlined in the article is that Sonic Team needs to satisfy the people who have been waiting eleven years for a sequel, while also delivering something that will intrigue new players. Where our opinions differ is that Buchanan seems to think that the classic NiGHTS gameplay is insufficient for a game in 2007, while we think it's great and could go far with enough visual sprucing up and advertising help.
More NiGHTS stuff we can't have
Apparently the adorable NiGHTS figure wasn't enough. Now, in addition to that preorder bonus, Sega has announced a "DX Pack" for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams that includes this too-nice-for-our-keys keychain that spins around in a very NiGHTS-like fashion.The DX Pack also includes a set of three transparent file folders with NiGHTS art, so you can print out and distribute your NiGHTS fanfic in a classy manner. (Note: please do not write, print, store, or distribute NiGHTS fanfic.) The whole package will retail from Sega Direct for 7,140 yen ($61), and will resell for significantly more on eBay one day later.. [Via Famitsu]
We dream of preorder bonus figurines
We so wish we could get one of these NiGHTS figurines. The game may be about jumping through hoops, but there are just too many non-game-related hoops to go through before we could get this. We can't exactly go preorder a copy from a Japanese store, and we wouldn't be able to play it if we did, but ... look at the thing! It's so adorable.This is apparently the first item in Pepper Shop's PaPETCH line of figurines, which means that we may see more game characters released in this simplistic, rounded style. And then we can report on not being able to get those as well!Well, somehow the miracle of a NiGHTS sequel has happened; maybe if we bug Sega enough, we can get this or a bonus like it in the U.S.
NiGHTS coming December 18 for US, January 2008 for Europe
Good news for Americans: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is confirmed for a December 18 release in North America, meaning that Wii owners can get their dream on in time for the holiday season.Unfortunately for European Wii owners, NiGHTS will miss the holiday 2007 release in Europe, instead coming out sometime in January 2008. On the plus side, European readers, you might not really be missing much.Read - Dream big with NiGHTS for the Wii [press release]Read - No NiGHTS this year [Eurogamer]
NiGHTS flies in just in time for Christmas
With Super Smash Bros. Brawl delayed, third-party games are now free to emerge from hiding and, even, boldly be released in December. One game that is very likely to benefit is one that was, itself, presumed delayed, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.Sega just announced that they'll be releasing their new flying-around-and-wearing-a-floppy-hat game on December 18th, just in time to make it into Sega fans' Christmas lists or other non-religious-themed lists of stuff they want. And, who knows, maybe other people will just be so excited about the genre of flying action-adventures that they'll be eager for more.
NiGHTS is looking better and better all the time
At this point, we can only assume that the earliest shots of Sega's NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams were maybe a little too early. The game looked rough and flat, but these days? NiGHTS is looking better than ever. But that wasn't the only issue with the revival of the classic; after recent reports from TGS, reviewers complained of slow framerate and a lack of motion controls. Well, folks, we've got what may be good news: it looks like there's a chance for everything to go our way with this latest NiGHTS.Retailers stealthily changed the date on the title, and it looks to have been pushed back to just before Christmas. We can only hope that will give Sega a chance to work on the framerate issue. As for the motion controls, Graham at Sega Nerds demanded the right to test the motion controls at TGS and reported that they really weren't anything special. In fact, he says the other mode -- which more closely resembles the original Saturn controls -- was better. So maybe those will be fixed as well ... and if not, well, that's okay. We can do our androgynous fly-bys retro-style.We've updated the gallery below with some of the new screens, and we'll tell you that they are definitely worth a peek. If this is how much NiGHTS has improved recently, we can't wait to see it at release!%Gallery-4673%
TGS07: Joystiq finds the NiGHTS demo lacks motion control, validation
A man who is equally loved and feared around these parts, Joystiq's own Ludwig Kietzmann, got his grubby little mitts on the floor demo for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. What came as a shock was his reporting that the title lacked any kind of motion controls whatsoever in its TGS07 demo form. This very well could be changed (and, honestly, probably will) come the title's time for release into the wild.Ludwig's major concern is the validation for the title on the console. If the groundbreaking motion-based controls of the Wii aren't utilized, what makes Journey of Dreams any better or appealing than its Saturn parent NiGHTS: Into Dreams?%Gallery-4673%
TGS07: NiGHTS gameplay video swoops in to save the day
It's no secret that Wii games (heck, insert your Nintendo system of choice there, really) often look better in motion than they do in screenshots. Even Metroid Prime 3 had its jagged moments in stills pre-release, but once we saw it in our living rooms, all doubts and questions disappeared forever. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that NiGHTS looks absolutely amazing in this latest gameplay footage. Sure, we've seen some real inconsistencies in screenshots, but this footage is not only lush and beautiful, but it serves as a lovely send-up of the original. We've read a lot of impressions from various sources this morning as well, and people seem universally pleased with the title, except for one issue -- the framerate seems a little slow. Otherwise, the game seems to move and control like a dream. One of our Joystiq operatives on the spot reports that reps on hand stated that there are no motion controls in the game, but we're also being told that there may be multiple control schemes. We hope to clarify just exactly what's going on here soon.[Via NeoGAF]
TGS hands-on: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
After clamoring for a NiGHTS: Into Dreams sequel for years and clinging to creator Yuji Naka's legs even as he propelled himself through the doors of his own studio, many fans of the acrobatic airborne harlequin were delighted to see their dreams come true in the form of a new Wii title. Journey of Dreams had found the perfect platform, where boundless motion controls would exquisitely express the freedom of flight. Right?Bizarrely, tellingly and somewhat amusingly, the Tokyo Game Show demo of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams makes no use of motion controls whatsoever. The analog stick on the nunchuck controls movement, the A-button speeds you up and.... well, that's pretty much it. While several control schemes are likely to be in the works for the completed game, the lack of Wii-specific abilities seems to worsen the lack of differentiation between NiGHTS and its sequel.%Gallery-7638%
NiGHTS: Journey of Scans
These latest pages of V-Jump on NiGHTS are really gorgeous ... but that's easy to pull off when most of the screens are captures from the opening video. But even the gameplay shots in these scans are lush and attractive. The game is getting closer all the time, and we can't help but wonder if opinions are still as split as they were back in April.
Plenty of Sega screens to go around
Sega is releasing a lot of potentially awesome stuff in the near future (in Japan), including NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Ghost Squad, and Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 3. They showed these products (and some stuff for other systems or whatever) to some lucky Japanese gamers at a consumer conference, and sent some new screens out to the rest of us poor folks.We're happy just to stare at some screens, however, as they are all filled with excellence! Except for this one from NiGHTS. The screens from Shiren the Wanderer are old, but still nice-looking. NiGHTS is actually looking good, and Ghost Squad's got ninjas and bikini girls in it. The only thing that could have made this bounty of screens any more exciting would have been new Mibri & Tebri content. Next time, maybe.
Fresh NiGHTS trailer focuses on flying
IGN has uploaded a fresh new trailer for Sega's upcoming NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, providing us with some new content on the title. We've been dying to see some stuff on the game, to tell the truth, as the last time we were able to catch a glimpse of the game was in a Japanese trailer back on the 3rd. Asking someone to wait that long for fresh content is just ... inhuman.
NiGHTS trailer brings back memories
Despite the fact that the game is (sadly) almost guaranteed to sell only to longtime Sega fanboys, Sega's promotion for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams hasn't really focused much on the fact that a lot of us have been waiting a long time for this game. In fact, this trailer is the first time we've really seen any acknowledgment of the Saturn game at all.And this one really pours on the nostalgia. It kicks off with footage from the original NiGHTS into Dreams, and features the extraordinarily silly "Dreams Dreams" from (WARNING: CIRCA 1996 SPOILERS FOLLOW) the game's ending. It worked, too. Combined with the video of the new game (which looks fantastic in motion and in a little window), we're so ready to fly and spin and do loops through some rings.Before you get excited about the "2007 Winter" release date, keep in mind that this is a Japanese trailer.Why not pass the time until early 2008 by getting really good at singing "Dreams Dreams?"
Japanese NiGHTS trailer sort of a nightmare
Throw another Pokémon dipped in gasoline on the hate-fire of the Wii as a casual system. The trailers for NiGHTS on the Wii have been very Disney-esque so far, and this latest one above is no exception. Now they've even added some ear-bleeding Disney channel afternoon music to go with it, like the type of music you can't imagine ever got past marketing ... sort of like the Blue Dragon boss music. Yes, the song is from the original, but 10 years have gone by -- they are supposed to be marketing to a new generation, not just appeal to our nostalgia like Atari Classics Evolved. This is a new game.Granted this is a Japanese trailer, so maybe when the marketing starts up over here they'll drop the bad vocals, go full (midi) orchestral and tone down the Disney. The real question is if those who were excited about this game before still are? It's pretty hard to drop the ball on marketing the return of NiGHTS, but boy is Sega doing its best to pull it off.
Today's squintiest video: NiGHTS phonecam clip
This one goes out to the NiGHTS fanboys, and probably only them. A phonecam video has surfaced, showing the upcoming Wii title, but the weak compression makes it look like we're watching through a rainstorm. We'll let our wild minds fill in the amazing gameplay we can't quite see -- this is about dreams and imagination, right?And for those of you who play games to avoid being creative, check out the better-quality trailer and a pre-E3 gameplay clip after the break.
Rumor: More days before NiGHTS?
Fansite NightsIntoDreams.com is reporting that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams has been delayed until the first quarter of next year. Apparently the news came from a Sega PR representative this morning, but just because someone says that someone said it, doesn't make something true. In fact, that's pretty much the textbook definition of a rumor.However, given that this fansite apparently has someone at Leipzig who's been capturing teensy, blurry cellphone videos of the game in action (watch the one above at your own risk), we're inclined to believe their news. We'd be pleased to let Sega take some extra time with the game, and possibly sell it at a less content-heavy time of the year. Maybe in early 2008 it'll be able to get the attention of the horrible people who would ignore NiGHTS for Mario in November.[Via NeoGAF]
NiGHTS in white plastic
The official NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams boxart has been released, and it's pretty. Eye-catchingly, shelf-jumpingly pretty. We'd think it could actually sell some copies, if we had any reason to believe that the American gaming public had anything other than aversion for foppish, androgynous flying dream-elves.The general appearance of the box confirms what the game, so far, hasn't: that someone working at Sega has a modicum of artistic talent. The little blue logo in the corner confirms something else: that the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection will be used in some way-- we have yet to find out whether it's weather synchronization and item trading, as described before, or something more substantial. Hint: it's probably not something more substantial.
TGS exhibition list light on Wii
This year's Tokyo Game Show doesn't look like it'll be as Wii-oriented as we would like. CESA, the organization that holds the show, has published a list of games to be exhibited at TGS, only eight of which are waggly. We're fairly sure that publishers wouldn't put previously unannounced games on a list before the show like this, so we assume that they're all holding back the new stuff. This looks like a list of show-floor playable games anyway, which usually doesn't include brand new games.We're happy despite the relatively small list, because it contains stuff like No More Heroes that we're dying to hear gameplay impressions of. Here are all the Wii games on the list: Nights: Journey of Dreams Ghost Squad Doraemon: Himitsu Doguo Kettei Sen Simple Wii Vol. 1 THE Everybody's Kart Race Simple Wii Vol. 2 THE Everybody's Bass Fishing Tournament Dragon Ball Z Sparking! METEOR No More Heroes Project O [Link goes to a Japanese .PDF file containing the full exhibition list for all systems.]
Wii Warm Up: The second tier
Let's put aside the big three for a bit. We all know everyone wants Metroid, Smash Bros. and Super Mario Galaxy. Oh, and Wii Fit. There are a lot of lower-profile games coming out this year that are every bit as compelling. We're thinking about stuff like NiGHTS, the Nintendo-published Endless Ocean, and-- why not?-- even Namco Museum Remix. Someone out there must be more interested in Dewy's Adventure, for example, than Metroid Prime 3. What about you? Which one of the "smaller" upcoming games has done the best job of capturing your attention?
NiGHTS promises a beautiful opening sequence
The jury may still be split on how the final game will actually look (though we'll play it regardless), these latest images from NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams confirm what we already guessed from the trailer: we'll be watching the opening movie over and over again, goggling at the beauty all the while. We've updated the gallery with a few new gameplay shots, as well as several cinematic captures that can only be described as eye candy.%Gallery-4673%
