Parasite-Eve
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Parasite Eve and the RPG road less traveled
In his weekly column, writer Bob Mackey will alternate between two of his passions: the Japanese RPG genre and classic games. As a lifelong follower of Square Enix – through both good times and bad – Parasite Eve stands as the first of its US-released games that left me feeling pangs of disappointment. Parasite Eve deviates wildly from the prescribed JRPG format, and even though its battle system introduced elements the developer would expand upon in the future, Square's take on Resident Evil features one playable character involved in a story that barely squeaks past the 10-hour mark. To some, Parasite Eve's focus on streamlining Square's expected RPG design can't be seen as anything but sacrilege, and you can count me in with those who initially felt burned after blowing through the game over the course of a weekend. But it should be noted that Square created this new brand of "cinematic RPG" (as they would call it) to draw in an audience larger than the hardcore JRPG stalwarts who had supported them up to that point. Final Fantasy VII might have sold based on its impressive CGI-laden advertisements, but it did so at the cost of alienating players unprepared for menu-driven gameplay.
Original Parasite Eve storyboards will blow your mind
The intro scene for Parasite Eve on PSOne didn't call for every audience member of a packed opera house to spontaneously combust on a whim -- every exploding pinkie finger was planned out by a twisted art director and put onto paper before it was recreated on-screen. Those very storyboards have now been shared with the just-as-twisted world by artist and former Squaresoft employee Marco Antonio Velasquez III. It may make us equally twisted to share them again with you, but we've never run this thing on a premise of morality, so enjoy these pencil sketches of flayed human flesh, straight from Velasquez's DeviantArt.
Parasite Eve 2 rated for PS3 and PSP by ESRB
The first Parasite Eve was released on PSN as a PSOne Classic on March 15, two weeks before The 3rd Birthday continued the series on PSP. Now, long after any hype for The 3rd Birthday has evaporated, Parasite Eve 2 is set to appear on PSN. The ESRB has rated Parasite Eve 2 for PSP and PS3, indicating an intent to re-release the game on those two platforms at some point in the future. Whoever did the new rating decided to alter the content warnings from "animated blood and gore" and "animated violence" to just "blood and gore" and "violence." Regardless of the wording, the "mature" rating holds.
ESRB rates Parasite Eve for PS3 and PSP
It looks like the North American PSOne Classics selection will get a little closer to catching up to the Japanese store soon -- and in the category that really counts: vintage Square RPGs. An ESRB rating has popped up for a PlayStation 3 and PSP release of Parasite Eve. Square Enix hasn't said when the action RPG will be available; however, the mitochondria in our brains are telling us that we can likely expect it around the March 29 release of The 3rd Birthday on PSP. It was released about a month in advance of that PSP game in Japan. [Thanks, Brian]
The 3rd Birthday will be observed March 29 in North America
We were expecting an evite or maybe one of those crazy JibJab animations, but instead Square Enix just issued a press release announcing that The 3rd Birthday, the PSP-exclusive installment of the Parasite Eve series, will hit North American store shelves on March 29. The title, which was originally under development for mobile phones, will retail for $30. This is a UMD-only release with no plans for a downloadable PSN version at present. We can only imagine that Square Enix is prepping a game card version for Sony's "NGP" platform. In announcing the release date, the publisher also confirmed the casting of two well-known TV names for the main characters' English voice overs. The game's star, Aya Brea, is voiced by Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah on Chuck) while Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester on Supernatural) plays Kyle Madigan. The cast of Jersey Shore was evidently too busy at the gym, doing laundry and tanning to participate.
The 3rd Birthday trailer is a bummer
No matter how much awesome J-rock this trailer for The 3rd Birthday has, there's no way we can see it as anything but super depressing. We don't know exactly what the problem is ... oh, maybe it's that opening shot of a bloody woman in a wedding dress asking who she is. Yeah, that's probably it.
Parasite Eves infecting Japanese PSN next month
Square Enix has been dancing around the prospect of bringing its supernatural survival horror RPG Parasite Eve to the PSN for a while now -- but at last, it seems the dance has concluded. The publisher recently announced that the series' debut outing will arrive on the PSOne Classics storefront on Nov. 4, while Parasite Eve 2 will arrive shortly thereafter on November 18. Both arrive before the December 22 launch of The 3rd Birthday -- but who cares about that one? You haven't played it before. Bo-ring. Feel free to get excited about this news, but keep in mind that Square Enix's titles have an awfully difficult time with making their way from the Japanese PSN to the American PSN. (Here's looking at you, Brave Fencer Musashi, Einhander, Vagrant Story and like, a billion others.)
The 3rd Birthday TGS trailer speaks our language
You may have a bit of trouble picking up on the particulars of this finally released TGS trailer for The 3rd Birthday, thanks to its Japanese voice dub. However, an equal portion of the video is also created using the universal language: Violence, inflicted onto and by gigantic, horrifying monsters.
Square Enix 'making adjustments' to prep Parasite Eve games for PSN
Last month, the Parasite Eve series' lead character designer Tetsuya Nomura stated that Square Enix would like to get the first two installments of the franchise on the PSOne Classics storefront before the arrival of The 3rd Birthday. Yesterday, director Hajime Tabata confirmed that Square was actively working to get the games on PSN, explaining that the publisher is "making adjustments" to bring Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 to the PlayStation Store. Tabata also added, "please wait until it has been finalized and formally announced." Please wait to do what, exactly? Get excited about playing Parasite Eve again? There's nothing you can do about that. You're not the boss of us!
Japan to celebrate The 3rd Birthday winter 2010, rest of the world will 'soon after'
If Square Enix is going to get Parasite Eve and its sequel onto PSN as PSOne Classics before the third game in the series ships, in only has a few months left to do so. The 3rd Birthday producer Yoshinori Kitase has confirmed that his game will release on PSP in Japan "winter this year." Speaking to VG247, Kitase remarked that "The Japanese version's going to come out in winter this year," adding, "And we've already started localising the game for overseas versions. So we're hoping to release it sometime rather soon after the Japanese release, but we can't specify an exact time." He did, however, confirm that an international release will happen within 2011. Also, Kitase's comment regarding localization having already begun is pretty much in line with the faster turn-around Square-Enix has been targeting for global availability of its games in recent years. We'll have a more specific -- hopefully international -- release date when it's announced, after which we fully expect GameStop to begin offering party hats and noisemakers as pre-order incentives.
Nomura wants Parasite Eve and its sequel on PSN before 3rd Birthday
Were you thinking that right about now would be a good time to make Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 available via PSN, given the upcoming release of the third game in the series on PSP? Then, dear Reader, you have something in common with series character designer Tetsuya Nomura. He recently tweeted that he wants just that: a digital re-release of the PSOne titles, before The 3rd Birthday -- the game whose success could lead to a PS3 title in the series -- hits Japan. "Archives versions of the 1st and 2nd [Parasite Eve] are in demand, so I'd like to do something about them before the 3rd is released," reads Nomura's tweet. He's referring to the Japanese PSN equivalent of PSOne Classics, the Game Archives, and we agree: we'd like Nomura to do something about them, too -- only globally, kudasai?
Kitase: 3rd Birthday success could extend franchise to PS3
"The team had a lot of experience and knew a lot about making a game for PSP which is why we chose PSP as the platform for this game," said Square Enix's Yoshinori Kitase during a presentation at Gamescom in regards to The 3rd Birthday. "But if this game turns out to be a success then we'd be looking at extending the franchise into PS3." Now, Kitase could mean one of two things by that statement: Square Enix could develop an entirely new Parasite Eve game for the PS3; or he could be talking about re-releasing the first two Parasite Eve games as PSOne Classics. Neither are currently available on PSN, so we're inclined to think that's what he's talking about -- especially considering Square Enix has already expressed interest in going down that road.
Direct-feed: FF Agito & 3rd Birthday trailers
It's a Square Enix media explosion! A few days ago, trailers for PS3's Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII made their way into the loving arms of the internet. Now, it's the PSP's turn. Check out trailers for these two upcoming PSP-exclusive games: Final Fantasy Agito XIII and The 3rd Birthday, after the break.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, The 3rd Birthday TGS trailers leaked
That gorgeous girl above is Aya Brea, the star of the Parasite Eve series of games, in a concept drawing for the latest game in the franchise, The 3rd Birthday . According to Siliconera, the upcoming PSP exclusive (mobile phone version has been scrapped) will be developed by Hexadrive, who was responsible for Rez HD. What's more, we've got the leaked TGS trailers for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and The 3rd Birthday. The Birth by Sleep one is quite the long one, and it begins at about the 2:00 mark -- it includes both cut scenes and gameplay -- most of us haven't seen the game in action, so this is quite a treat. The trailer for The 3rd Birthday, is considerably less exciting, with no gameplay, but keep in mind this is the first trailer. Check them out after the jump.Source -- SiliconeraSource -- Youtube[Thanks, dsvw56!]
PSP's Parasite Eve '3rd Birthday' a third-person shooter
In development for PSP and mobile phones, Square Enix's third Parasite Eve game has largely been – like many of the company's titles are wont to be – a mystery. A new Famitsu interview with director Hajime Tabata (who's also heading up Fantasy Agito XIII for PSP) reveals that the game is a third-person shooter. Square Enix ... third-person shooter ... Dirge of Cerberus ... yikes!Thankfully, Tabata says that while the game may share a genre with the reviled FFVII spin-off, it's different in that it's a "true" third-person shooter. Dirge was ... not-so-true, evidently. The game may also boast Wi-Fi play, something that Tabata says his team is "investigating." Hey, the game's lead, Aya Brea, is an investigator of sorts ... maybe she can help with that?(Fun fact: If the above image were to be used as the game's US box art, it would receive an automatic "M" rating from the ESRB ... because Aya is pointing her gun directly at the "viewer." Fun!)
Parasite Eve follow-up moves onto PSP
It's been eight long years since we've last seen our favorite Mitochondria-battling cop, Aya Brea, in Square's survival horror/RPG hybrid series Parasite Eve. Well, that's not exactly true, we did catch a glimpse of her contemplating eating a bullet sandwich following the announcement that the long awaited next installment in the series would be released exclusively on mobile phones. Luckily, it seems Aya and RPG fans alike have dodged said bullet -- during their DKΣ3713 Private Party event, Square Enix announced that this new chapter in the series will now be making its way to the PSP. It's unclear whether a mobile version of the title is still in development.Not much is known about the game, titled The 3rd Birthday. A trailer at Squeenix's exclusive shindig didn't have any gameplay or details about the game, though it did show Aya in a wedding dress, aiming a pistol at a shadowy figure standing in the doorway of what we assume is her wedding chapel. A gunfight on your wedding day? Isn't it ironic... don't you think?
Aya of Parasite Eve celebrates 3rd Birthday on PSP
We were all a little disappointed to hear that a title like Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday was being made for mobile phones way back when it was first announced. The third game in one of the best and most original series Squaresoft ever made (well okay Parasite Eve 2 was admittedly horrible) should not have been brought to such a non-traditional gaming machine. And even though it has taken Square Enix a very long time to finally realize this, the company is actually waking up and doing something about it. News coming from the Square Enix party unveiled that the game will be heading to the PSP. It is currently unknown if the game is still in development for mobile phones or whether that's been scrapped in place of full-on PSP development. What is known, however, is that the title is scheduled for a 2009 release in Japan. A stateside release is still up in the air, but the fact that it's a PSP game now makes chances much better.
Rumors ahoy: Parasite Eve and Konami and bears, oh my!
It's time to get back into the business of speculation and rumors that don't consist of different PlayStation SKU's. While everyone loves talking about the convoluted and outright confusing backwards compatibility issue with the new 40GB model, we think it's better to continue pushing forward and offering some rumors that have surfaced in the latest EGM.Konami and Hideo Kojima might be working on another PS3 exclusive, first off. We know what you're thinking, but no, supposedly the game is not the third Zone of the Enders title. We wish we had any more to say, but that's all we know. Secondly, long time fans of the amazing and amazingly under-appreciated Parasite Eve titles cried foul when it turned out a new game was being made exclusively for mobile phones. Square Enix is apparently listening to these cries and have begun work on a console version, though the consoles it will appear on is unknown. We don't see why they wouldn't continue shoving Aya onto Sony platforms -- exclusive or not. Thirdly, bears are frightening, unless qualified by a humorous story. That is all.[Thanks, Joe!]
DS Fanboy poll: Remakes of choice
Earlier this week, we asked you, our dear readers, to discuss games you'd like to see given a spit and a polish for the DS in this age of remakes, and as usual, you came through in a big way. In fact, you gave us so many fantastic suggestions that we've decided to split our selected list into two polls instead of just doing one. We can't include everything suggested, obviously, but we've prepared a selection of bigger releases and more obscure titles, and we're going to let you vote every day, just in case you want to throw your support behind more than one game. Once you've voted, we will profile the top two results from each poll and examine exactly why they would be well-suited to our favorite handheld. So try to vote for the titles you think are the most suitable, those that would most benefit from the kind of treatment we're seeing with the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles ... and hey, vote for the games you'd just like to see in portable form as well.And if you just can't decide ... well, that's why we're letting you vote more than once! You can vote your heart and your brain, and the cream will rise to the top.
