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Ace Combat Infinity barrel rolls into open beta next week
Next week sees PS3 owners get their first taste of free-to-play Ace Combat when Infinity enters a week-long open beta, starting on February 4. Common sense (perhaps misguided) would suggest there won't be any microtransactions in the beta, and Namco does say it's "completely free." But the beta may yet clear up any cloudiness over that particular issue - we'll find out either way next week. Namco's billing the online co-op as the main mode in Ace Combat Infinity, but the beta does feature solo missions from the game's story campaign. There's also a mode for two teams of up to four pilots in total, and Gordon Freeman's long-lost twin brother, Commander Glenn "Goodfellow" Freeman is looking forward to seeing you try it. As for the game proper, it's still circling the release date runway with a 2014 window.
Ace Combat: Infinity pushed back to 2014
It's no surprise Ace Combat: Infinity won't land this year, making it the second of Namco's free-to-play PS3 games to barrel roll into 2014. Both it and Soulcalibur: Lost Swords were due in 2013, but with the year rapidly drawing to a close, Namco Bandai made their delays official. As Gematsu reports, the official vagary from Namco is the delay was made to provide a "better" end product. Both games underwent beta testing in recent months, with a closed Ace Combat: Infinity beta ending yesterday in Japan. Namco hasn't provided official word on what to expect from either game's microtransactions. In October, Ace Combat Brand Manager Kazutoki Kono told Joystiq going down the F2P route was "maybe a difficult call" given some apprehension from fans, but that he believed it would prove worthwhile and wouldn't affect Infinity's quality.
Ace Combat Infinity is free-to-play
Namco Bandai Europe confirmed Ace Combat Infinity is the first free-to-play entry in the long-running flight sim series. The PS3 game was announced last month with little detail, and today Namco filled in a few of the gaps, revealing Infinity features both a single-player story campaign and an online mode, the latter for two teams of up to four players. According to Namco Europe's press release, Infinity wings its way to PSN later this year. When approached last month, a Namco Europe spokesperson told us the game was set to be available on September 25. Either way, expect it to loom overhead in the near future.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon trailer gets to the choppa!
This ten-minute Ace Combat: Assault Horizon sees a barrel-rolling whirlybird destroying everything that has a motor or gun. Ace Combat assaults retail on October 11.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon represents 'rebirth' for the series, coming 'later this year'
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is not Ace Combat 7. In a lot of ways, it isn't an Ace Combat game -- outside of the branding and the fact that it's got planes, it's unrecognizable from its predecessors. AC: Assault Horizon is a more visceral game, doing away with the open-air, long-distance dogfighting of the series' roots and exchanging them for closer encounters and more environmental interaction. Executive director and producer Kazutoki Kono describes the game as "a complete rebirth of the franchise" and it's immediately evident in the brief bit of gameplay Kono showed off at Namco's Ignite 2011 event in San Francisco. Dogfights are a lot closer now, with the camera zooming in over the shoulder of the player's plane to give them a better look at their target. Because of this new system (aptly titled the "Close Range Assault System"), the game's combat has shifted away from an emphasis on missile locking in exchange for a more machine gun-heavy scheme, making for some jarring combat -- planes erode and explode under fire in a fantastic display of shrapnel fireworks. Flying around a metropolis, Kuno was not only destroying planes, but flying between buildings and a massive crane at the center of this seaside city. The game takes place in 2015 in Africa, where a new type of WMD threatens the world. Players will assume the role of William Bishop, whose job it is to stop the impending mass destruction -- though Kuno promised players will also see events unfold through the perspectives of other characters. AC: Assault Horizon will feature real-world locales and is set to launch on the Xbox 360 and PS3 "later this year." Hit the jump for a teaser trailer. %Gallery-115711%
Ace Combat returns to consoles with the plane-wrecking Assault Horizon
Namco Bandai's latest Ace Combat game, headed to PS3 and Xbox 360 next year, adds something new to the formula that's sure to please people who really hate airplanes. According to the press release, Ace Combat Assault Horizon "intensifies the franchise, escalating combat to the next level with aircraft that are literally torn apart, spewing oil and debris across the sky." This game represents a "rebirth of our premiere franchise," said Project Aces producer Kazutoki Kono. What better way to bring it back than with airplane mutilation? The trailer (after the break) also makes references to real-world locations like Miami, and cites GeoEye map data, suggesting that this game is following the flight path set forth by the PSP's Joint Assault. Also, there's a shoutout to Namco Bandai's Twitter account for some reason.
Ace Combat: Joint Assault trailer shows off four-player co-op
It seems almost every PSP game franchise wants to take a page from Monster Hunter Portable (for obvious reasons). Project Ace's upcoming Ace Combat: Joint Assault unsurprisingly adds four player co-op -- but with its aerial combat, it should prove a refreshing change from hunting monsters, eating gods, and peace walking. While the graphics of Joint Assault have taken an obvious hit from its transition down to PSP, we're impressed by the locales shown by the trailer. It seems dogfights will blaze through the skies of Tokyo, San Francisco, London and Egypt. Hopefully, we'll see more of the game before it releases later this year.
Sky Crawlers landing in Europe this February
Namco Bandai declined to publish The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces in North America, licensing the game out to XSEED instead. However, the company is handling the game itself for the European release, due in February. The game is a flight action game developed by Ace Combat dev Project Aces, and based on both the novel and the Mamoru Ishii-directed anime film of the same name. In addition to the game, the movie is planned for a DVD and Blu-Ray release in PAL territories at an unspecified future date ("coming soon"). That seems like a good idea -- licensed games probably work better when people know what the source material is. %Gallery-67448%
Hands-on: The Sky Crawlers
Finally! XSEED is bringing the long-awaited Sky Crawlers to American shores. We've been eying this game for quite some time, and having gotten some hands-on time, we'd have to say it was (almost) worth the wait. Sky Crawlers expands upon the thought-provoking Mamoru Oshii film, exploring a world that perpetuates war for the entertainment (and comfort) of its docile citizens. With Namco's esteemed Ace Combat team at the helm, quality seems assured.The controls are both the game's strongest and weakest aspect. Project Aces takes advantage of the Wii Remote to simulate the feel of having cockpit controls. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are meant to represent the throttle and the thrust -- to some success. The idea is certainly innovative, but for those unaccustomed to plane simulators, the learning curve can be quite high. There are, however, some concessions made to make the experience a bit more accommodating for newcomers.%Gallery-18921%
XSEED bringing The Sky Crawlers to North American Wiis
If you have a comprehensive knowledge of Japanese literature or flight combat games that never saw an American release, you probably already know about The Sky Crawlers. We fell in love with Namco-Bandai's book-to-game adaptation when we were teased with tons of gameplay footage last year -- sadly, the game was never visited by the localization fairy, and never made it to the States. Since then, we've been sad all over.Fortunately, a recent XSEED press release has turned our melancholy into melan-jolly (ugh) -- the capitalized company has purchased the North American publishing rights for The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, due out this holiday season on the Wii. The game, which was developed by Ace Combat veterans Project Aces, will have players using the Wiimote and Nunchuck to simulate actual flight controls. It's a bit overdue, but we're thrilled about the Americanization of this aeronautical gem nonetheless.%Gallery-67448%
The Sky Crawlers come creeping back
It's been some time since we've seen anything from The Sky Crawlers, but guess what? It's still drop-dead gorgeous, though that's not particularly surprising, considering the source. There may be hope for the film -- and thus the game -- for Western audiences, too, as the film of the same name is being screened at the Venice Film Festival this week, and is sharing the spotlight (and a lot of fanfare) with Hayao Miyazaki's latest. So cross those fingers, and in the meantime, check out the lush new screens. You'll be glad you did.%Gallery-18921%
