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Q? Entertainment reveals Ninety-Nine Nights Online
It's been a busy year for games, but something is missing. Batman, Assasssin's Creed, Skyrim, sure, those are all great, but what about Ninety-Nine Nights? Q? Entertainment has got you covered, unveiling the 2D PC action MMO we've all been dying to play. Ninety-Nine Nights Online is being developed by UserJoy Technology, and the trailer reveals that it contains both hacking and slashing. We'd say this one probably won't see a release outside Asia. If you feel like braving lots of Japanese text, however, Siliconera reports that you can sign up for a preview version over at the official site.
Q Entertainment announces Ninety-Nine Nights Online
Ninety-Nine Nights was already a game featuring a great many dudes on-screen at any one time -- however, developer Q Entertainment has announced a move for the franchise that should exponentially bump up that number. The studio recently revealed Ninety-Nine Nights Online, an Action-MMO for the PC, which adds a number of persistent RPG elements (such as multiple job classes, parties and PvP) to the series' familiar strategy-hack-and-slash formula. The game, which will follow the increasingly popular free-to-play, microtransaction-supported MMO business model, has yet to receive any firm release schedule details, nor has Q announced whether it would also drop in North America. Given the poor critical reception and even poorer sales garnered by the last installment in the series, we wouldn't be surprised if it passed us by.
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 assaults Xbox 360 on June 29
Konami has announced that Ninety-Nine Nights 2, sequel to Q Entertainment's lackluster 2006 title, is set to launch on June 29. And because the first game was met with such lukewarm reception, Konami has prepared a media onslaught documenting the story, improvements and multiplayer of the sequel. Above, you can find a brisk video highlighting the events of the second game. For the remainder of the videos, you'll have to head past the break. One provides a quick rundown of the sequel's improvements, while the other gives us an overview of the multiplayer functionality. And if all of that hacking and slashing gives you a touch of the Lucille Twos, then maybe you should just check out the motionless stills in our gallery below. %Gallery-94289%
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 demo hacks, slashes XBLM
A quick note for all the "Games that are like Dynasty Warriors" fans: a demo for Ninety-Nine Nights 2 is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo offers up two missions from the game. One sees players hacking and slashing their way through massive hordes of enemies. The other mission also sees players hacking and slashing through massive hordes of enemies, only said horde of enemies is led by a gigantic beastie (as seen above). Two further notes: Check the equipment available to you -- particularly the fire resistance accessory, which helps a lot with the aforementioned beastie. Don't get too invested in the demo, because it doesn't let you actually kill the beastie. Xbox.com: Add the Ninety-Nine Nights 2 demo to your Xbox 360 download queue
Konami publishing Ninety-Nine Nights II this spring in North America
Konami, which picked up the publishing rights for the Xbox 360-exclusive N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights in Japan, has announced that it'll also publish the feelplus-developed sequel in North America. In fact, the North American release is slated for the same spring 2010 window as the Japanese version. N3II features five different storylines telling the three sides -- humans, elves and goblins -- of a "free for all" battle. Prepare your thumbs, because that sounds like a lot of button-mashing! But you know, if all those storylines can maintain the kind of epic narration featured in this new trailer, N3II is guaranteed to be a multi-million seller. Wouldn't you agree? %Gallery-85843%
Blueside's 'Project T' MMO also in development for Xbox 360
We'd heard before that Korean developer Blueside (of Ninety-Nine Nights and Kingdom Under Fire) was working on a sekrit massively multiplayer game called Project T for the PC, but now we've learned that it's also planning to release the game on the Xbox 360. A Korean job listing for the company says that the MMORPG is in development for both platforms, and asks for game programming skills of all kinds, including experience working on commercial MMOs. The game is supposed to be an "action RPG," so it actually sounds like a pretty good fit to try for the more action-friendly console world. The job listing specifies a contract time of one year (though that seems pretty boilerplate in these situations), and the MMO was last scheduled for a release sometime in 2011. The company's also working on some MMO-style gameplay for its upcoming Kingdom Under Fire II.
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]
Target mixes up Crackdown and N3
Crackdown and Ninety-Nine Nights, while sharing a few fundamental mechanics -- i.e. leveling and combat -- are practically opposites. N3 is a linear action game set in a fantasy world. Crackdown is an open sandbox game set in a futuristic urban landscape. Ninety-Nine Nights received loads of hype, ranging from its epic Kurosawa inspired story, to its association with Lumines creator, Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Upon its release, the game fell flat. Crackdown didn't receive much hype until late in its development cycle, although it too has a well known creator behind it (Dave Jones, creator of GTA). Crackdown's early reviews, so far, have been great. To sum up, Crackdown and Ninety-Nine Nights are, in fact, different games. It looks like someone forgot to inform Target, as their product page for Crackdown proudly displays the box art for Ninety-Nine Nights. Oops. We know it was an honest mistake, but this is actually the kind of thing that might make someone wary of pre-ordering from Target. Who knows, maybe they'll stick the box art for Grand Theft Auto IV on the product page for Halo 3. [Thanks, DjDATZ]
Metareview - Ninety-Nine Nights
Born of a union between Kingdom Under Fire developer Phantagram and Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment, Ninety-Nine Nights promised to combine the grand scale of Dynasty Warriors with dramatic storytelling and strategic gameplay. Despite its impressive pedigree, however, N3 appears to have delivered only an average button mash experience with a next-gen coat of paint. Perhaps the game's lofty ambitions will be better served in a sequel. TeamXbox (67/100) enjoyed the battle effects and character animations, but it didn't hold the reviewer's attention: "Once the 'wow' factor wears off (the number of enemies per frame is crazy at times), Ninety-Nine Nights starts to get pretty mundane...it was more of the same, over and over again. It feels like more could have been done without losing the button mashing appeal." GameSpot (59/100) feels the mindless action orientation only wears thinner as N3 progresses: "None of the seven playable characters have particularly compelling stories to tell, and the game's annoying English voice acting doesn't do a good job of conveying what little story there is." IGN (56/100) notes a critical flaw in one of the game's only redeeming features: "N3 has a tendency to skip straight to a cutscene once you complete an objective, even if you just killed a rather large enemy that dropped something you might want. Too bad for you. If you didn't scoop it up in the half of a second you had after defeating the enemy, then you're out of luck."
NNN demo dons armor, attacks XBLM
The combined superpowers of Lumines' Q Entertainment and Kingdom Under Fire's Phantagram weren't enough to save the Microsoft-published Ninety-Nine Nights from a middling reception in Japan, the title's target audience. So, instead of taking their word for it, hit the Xbox Live Marketplace and download the all region, 587MB demo for yourself, no matter what country you're in (that means you too, Ludwig).Of interest, this is the second demo that Microsoft has released on the day whose name shall not be spoken (pssst, that's Friday). The rationale was that if something goes wrong (we're looking at you Kong demo), there wouldn't be any Xbox Live minions on hand to yank the demo. So make sure you don't break anything while they're gone, k?
N3 demo is up, sample the mediocrity
Already victim to unimpressive reviews and sales in its homeland, Ninety-Nine Nights is about to hit American shores. Soon we will finally have a mindless slasher to compare with Dynasty Warriors 5 -- and Kurosawa fans may shudder when they learn that the game's "story" was inspired by Rashomon. But why wait for the full release when there's a demo up right now? Go forth loyal X360F readers and partake of this demo (available in all regions). Upon its completion return here and tell us what you think. Was it mindless fun, or just mindless?[Thanks, Julian Weisser]
Game box pr0n (or: Scary Pinatas)
Xboxic has posted a few box art shots for upcoming titles. The titles include Ninety-Nine Nights, Gears of War, Viva Piñata, and Crackdown. I know Gears of War is supposed to be filled to the brim with scary action, but somehow the Viva Piñata box frightens me more. Could piñatas be the new clowns?
Ninety-Nine Nights to require Hard Drive? [update 2]
The wisdom of releasing two Xbox 360 SKUs -- one with a hard drive and one without -- will be debated for years to come. Adding fuel to that constant flame will be things like this: highly anticipated games that require the Hard Drive. The Canadian Xbox.com page for Ninety-Nine Nights lists the Q Entertainment/Phantagram brawler as "Hard Drive Required." There's a couple potential explanations: It's the first one; see Update 2 below: Some overzealous, click-happy Xbox.com worker bee got caught up in the moment and clicked one too many boxes. Oopsie. The game actually does require a hard drive! The HDD-less Core system isn't even available in Japan so this requirement wouldn't have proven to be a burden for that audience ... that and the fact that not many folks are picking up 360s over there. Seeing as how Microsoft obviously has a "Hard Drive Required" tag, we can logically deduce that some games are going to, in fact, require a hard drive. Problem is, why NNN? When the expansive Oblivion managed to get the deed done Core-style, why couldn't they?We imagine Microsoft is reasonably sure that even those who did get stuck with a Core system due to holiday shortages have since outfitted it with the optional hard drive. But what about the gamers rocking 360s sans HDDs. Tough luck then?[Via Gamer Andy][Update 1: The US Xbox.com page lists the vague requirement of "Storage Device" while the Canadian Xbox.com page still lists "Hard Drive Required."][Update 2: Microsoft blogger Cesar Menendez over at Gamerscore checked in with the Xbox.com production team and reports back, "It's true, you'll be able to play this game and hack down hordes of enemies, with or without a hard drive. As for the confusion: I checked with the Xbox.com production team on this one, and the site was listed with "hard drive required" incorrectly - now it's fixed." He's right, it's all better. Looks like potential explanation number one was the winner! Congratulations!]
99 Nights, 1 hard drive
If you don't have an HDD and you were looking forward to Ninety-Nine Nights, you'd better start saving. QJ reports that Ninety-Nine Nights, releasing this August in the US, will require a hard drive to play. At least that's the story according to Xbox.com. Personally, I find this a little suspect. Surely something like this would have been covered when the game released in Japan. Assuming it's true, without an HDD it's going to cost you at least $160 to play this. Ouch. Of course, you could just skip Ninety-Nine Nights entirely, because it's not supposed to be very good anyway. See an image of the Xbox.com product info after the break. [Via QJ]
Ninety-Nine Nights arrives in August
Microsoft has announced that the Xbox 360 exclusive Ninety-Nine Nights will hit store shelves in August (EB Games is listing 8/15). A collaboration between Q Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Lumines, Meteos) and Phantagram's Sang Youn Lee (Kingdom Under Fire), Nights puts you in control of seven playable warriors on massive battle fields, reminiscent of both the Dynasty Warriors and KUF series.Read our E3 impressions of Ninety-Nine Nights.
Ninety-Nine Nights North American release confirmed
Microsoft wants us to know they really do care about American gamers. After all the Redmond rhetoric about capturing the Asian market and then teasing us with a Japanese-exclusive demo, they have confirmed at the GDC that Ninety-Nine Nights will be landing on western shores later this year. How much later is unknown at this point, but TeamXbox had a look at the latest demo of the action-strategy title from Phantagram and Q Entertainment. If Microsoft has any doubts this game will move 360s, they can always invoke the "hot dark elf chick on the box" rule. It worked for Dark Alliance II and Champions of Norrath.
Ninety-Nine Nights demo March 1st... in Japan
Microsoft Japan announced last week they would be distributing demos of Tetsuya Mizuguchi's anticipated Ninety-Nine Nights with 50,000 demo discs and over the Xbox Live Marketplace. Unfortunately, this will be for Japan only. Fortunately, we know how to circumvent the region lockout to download demos for foreign countries! The title is set for an April 20th release in Japan, so the demo should be available around then as well. [Via Joystiq]
