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Atlus lovers, head to Amazon
We've already established that having the Atlus name on the front of a box is usually A Very Good Thing, and look! Somebody at Amazon must clearly have been listening to us, as the uber-retailer has the following Atlus-published titles up for sale: Rondo of Swords -- $19.99 Draglade -- $13.39 Ontamarama -- $10.04 Contact -- $23.44 Touch Detective 2 1/2 -- $9.99 That's not all -- while we were scrounging though Amazon's bargain basement section, we found a couple of other potentially worthy additions to your DS library: Children of Mana -- $20.09 Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble -- $10.04 You can also get Ping Pals for $4.29. But like that deserves a functioning link. %Gallery-14108%
Rondo of Sales: SRPG, Crosswords bargains
Like the purple-haired sword dudette above, Amazon has slashed away at its pricing for Atlus's quirky SRPG, Rondo of Swords. Until midnight tonight (or however long the retailer's stock lasts), you should be able to get the game and its innovative combat system for only $17.99. Of course, if you can bring the total of your order to $25, you can also receive free shipping. If you haven't picked it up yet from the dozens of other sales we've featured, Amazon also has a New York Times Crosswords "lightning deal" planned for 1:00 PM EST today, though the product page hasn't revealed yet how much the game will be discounted.You could always add that to your SRPG cart if you need some filler! Presumably, the New York Times Crosswords sale will be up for four hours (or while stock lasts).%Gallery-14108%[Via CAG]Read - Amazon product page for Rondo of SwordsRead - Amazon product page for New York Times Crosswords
DS Fanboy Review: Rondo of Swords
Strategy RPGs aren't exactly rare on the DS -- some people might even argue that the genre is too plentiful on Nintendo's handheld (though this writer would beg to differ). Regardless, it's always nice to see something refreshing in an SRPG, which is why I was looking forward to playing Rondo of Swords. Having heard of its unique gameplay system, I wanted to see if this title would force me to think differently and not rely on strategies I was used to.At the same time, though, I was a bit apprehensive. While change can be a good thing if it's implemented correctly, it can often feel forced if it's not. Moreover, one reason that strategy games don't differ at their core is because the formula works. Can throwing away such tried-and-true methods really lead to an enjoyable game? Just mosey on past the break to find out!%Gallery-14108%
Round Table of Swords
If you haven't picked up Rondo of Swords, you might not have noticed the heavy Arthurian influence on many of the character names. As we were preparing one last set of screens for the Atlus SRPG, we started to notice a few names in the character pictures. Kay, Serdic, Uther, Igraine, Galahad ... there's no ignoring Galahad, even if you're not familiar with the intricacies of the legend and its different versions. So if you're looking for something to do while the battle scenes play again and again and again, keep a copy of The Once and Future King nearby, or maybe something a little lighter, like Gillian Bradshaw's Hawk of May. After playing Rondo of Swords, the characters will seem like old friends.%Gallery-14108%
WRUP: This or that edition
Well now, considering that in recent weeks we haven't had much in the way of new releases, it's nice to see that this week has a plethora of games on tap. Consider our hiatus from playing games at an official end. Do we pick up Rondo of Swords? Should we nab Teenage Zombies?Wait, we know. Let's ask you what you plan on picking up and playing. So, how about it? What are you going to play this weekend?%Gallery-14108%
DS releases for the week of April 14th
This week sees a return to U.S. gamers getting actual games (huzzah!), and the disturbing trend of games being released in Europe continues. Games released before they hit the U.S., even. Clearly, the end of the world is upon us. We expect a rash of heart attacks in the EU gamer contingent any time now. If you're still alive by the end of the week, let us know how you feel about The World Ends With You. AMF Bowling Pinbusters! Cory in the House High School Musical 2: Work This Out! Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All Stars Rondo of Swords Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys!
DS Daily: Tough choices
The next few months will be filled with a lot a great releases -- perhaps too many. Super Dodgeball Brawlers, Bangai-O Spirits, Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Etrian Odyssey II, Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid DS, Rondo of Swords, Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, and The World Ends With You are just a few that we can name on the spot, and all of these will be out before July starts. Unless you have abundant amounts of currency, though, you probably can't afford to buy that many games in such a short period of time. Also, money isn't the only problem. Supposing that you could afford everything you wanted, you wouldn't even have the time to play them all. Narrowing down the field is tough, but necessary. What games that are coming out in the next three months do you consider must gets? And they don't have to be chosen from the games listed above, so go nuts.
Rondo of Skippable Cutscenes
When, as this video displays, one of your characters in Rondo of Swords attacks an enemy, the view zooms in and the perspective switches into side view, as a fast-paced scene of the attack plays out. We happen to think the attack sequences look pretty dang cool, and at first we're sure we'd enjoy a bit of (simulated) action in our strategy game.But how long do you think it would take the average Rondo player to get so sick of the interruption (and so used to the attack animations) that he or she would begin skipping every single attack scene? Three, four minutes?%Gallery-14108%
Mystifying new screens from Rondo of Swords
Sometimes, the expressions on character models just don't quite match up with the conversations they're having on screen, and this is clearly one of those times. Owl and Marie are way too cheerful for the dialogue we're seeing here, but it's cool. We'll go with it. Maybe this "rondo" isn't so much about swords as it is about maintaining an empty and mindless state of good cheer in the face of a crisis.Hmm, on second thought, probably not. That wouldn't make for a very interesting RPG of any sort, but perhaps it's a valid strategy for facing danger. Or maybe we're just reaching for some sort of explanation here. We should put all those extra Sword Dudes on the case. Check out other, less-mystifying new screens from Rondo of Swords in the gallery below.%Gallery-14108%[Via press release]
Buy two games, save ten bucks at Toys R Us
We'll take almost any encouragement to buy a bunch of games, and there's little better incentive than a package deal, through which we "save" money by buying more stuff. Retailer Toys R Us knows this, and has dangled the carrot of reduced-price DS games at us with a "buy one, get $10 off" sale. The ad says "all DS games," but the sale is actually restricted to a selection of TRU's offerings.That's fine, though, because there's enough here for just about anyone to be driven into an impulse purchase! Standouts include Flash Focus, Professor Layton, WordJong, Cooking Mama 2, and even some pre-release stuff like Rondo of Swords! Or you could finally pick up the whole Imagine collection.
Rondo of Swords strategizes more screens
Time flies when you're having fun, so you may not have realized that Rondo of Swords, the upcoming Success SRPG (published by Atlus), is coming out next month. We've been keeping you up to date with a lot of the gameplay elements, but if you wanted to see more of how the game is looking, you can check out these fresh screens.While these screens aren't much different than the ones in our gallery, they do introduce some new characters and locales. Many of you may be tired of SRPGs on the DS, but we're actually looking forward to this title. It seems relatively innovative for the genre, even if the plot is based on a generic, epic feudal struggle.At any rate, the screens are posted after the break.
Rondo of Swords puts your entire team to work
Another Rondo of Swords preview has hit the scene, and it's given us another reason to look forward to the SRPG and its unorthodox combat system. Playing through these 40+ hour epics, you tend to accumulate more teammates than you can effectively manage. Who has the time or patience to level up all the Sword Dudes that join your band, especially when you're still trying to train Archer Girl? More often than not, those Sword Dudes spend the game just hanging around, making cynical remarks about your primary fighters. Rondo of Swords has a creative solution to that dilemma -- send those ne'er-do-wells to run some errands. Instead of loafing around and eating Funyuns while your elite crew does all the work, your Sword Dudes can pick up essentials at local shops, level up at training workshops, and tag your MP3s complete simple quests. Way to go, Sword Dudes!%Gallery-14108%
Rondo of Swords: Not your everyday SRPG
We were content to simply give Rondo of Swords the same obligatory coverage we reserve for most other generic SRPGs, but 1UP's Jeremy Parish, the scoundrel that he is, had to ruin it all with a glowing preview of the Atlus-published game, painting it as a "sleeper in the making [that] just might reinvent strategy RPGs."Rondo of Swords takes an innovative approach to combat, tossing aside the usual move-next-to-your-enemy-and-select-attack conventions. Instead, players draw paths for characters that go through their opponent (or opponents!). As simple a change as it might sound, this system allows for a range of new stratagems -- scattering your team to limit the amount of vulnerable characters, carrying out "drive-bys" to attack units before moving out of their range, etc.Throw in an interesting story about royal deception and some pleasing-looking combat cutscenes, and this suddenly becomes a game we can get behind. %Gallery-14108%
DS RPG Rondo of Swords coming stateside in April
We'd wager that most of the gaming world has no idea what a Rondo is (aside from those who study classical music, or those who have enjoyed the tasty beverage of the same name), and that even fewer people have heard of a strategy/RPG called Ituwari no Rondo, which was released for the DS in Japan last year. No matter, Atlus will be educating us uninitiated Western heathens when a localization of the game (retitled Rondo of Swords) hits American shores (and invades our dust-caked DSs) on April 15.We're hoping that this seemingly immersive RPG will serve as a beacon of hope in the middle of a a less than impressive 2008 release schedule for the DS, which includes highlights like Aquarium, Fantasy Aquarium, Petz Bunniez, and of course, Garfield Fun Fest. Regardless, you can bet that we'll be holding our breath between the year's Arbuckle-free titles.[Update: Yeah, we told you about this a couple days ago, but can you really blame us? The word Rondo is just so infectious, we just can't stop saying it! Rondo. Rondo. Rondo Calrissian.]
Atlus announces Rondo of Swords
Yesterday we found out from Nintendo that Rondo of Swords would be released for the DS in April, leaving us intrigued. Some of us at DS Fanboy (correctly) guessed that it was a localization of Success Corp's Ituwari no Rondo, but that's about it.Atlus cured our curiosity today, though, by providing a press release about the game. Besides copying and pasting the Wikipedia definition of "rondo" for us (gee, thanks, Atlus!), the publisher announced that the SRPG would be coming to the DS on April 15th. The press release also mentioned quite a few times that the game is "epic," making us wonder if we should have read it out loud with epic voices. Other than that, most of the information about the game can be found at the game's official website here.For all our snark, we're really looking forward to this game. The combat mechanic makes use of the touch screen, and the idea of a long, challenging game is especially compelling. Unfortunately, we won't find out until April if the game can deliver on its epic promises.%Gallery-14108%[Via press release]
Atlus USA reveals 'Rondo of Swords' for DS
Though Nintendo let the cat out of the bag yesterday with its extensive first-half 2008 release schedule, not much was known about the scampering feline save for its name, "Rondo of Swords." Admittedly not a great name for a cat, but it seems fitting for an "epic strategy fantasy RPG" from the capturers of quirk, Atlus USA. Judging by the trailer (embedded after the break), the Success-developed DS title is rife with saucer-eyed heroes, stylized attacks and touch-screen tactics -- just the way we like it.The Atlus folks promise multiple storylines, a "unique" combat system and the ability to send some of those annoying party members far, far away on level-raising errands. They also promise never to capture cats in bags again, because it's mean. If you can forgive them, look for Rondo of Swords on April 15, 2008.
Nintendo dates Wii & DS games for first half of '08
Nintendo dumped a load of dates on us today – 148 to be exact. These dates (some specific, some general) correspond to 65 Wii and 83 DS titles that are scheduled to be released in the first half of 2008. While its obvious that many third-party publishers will continue to shovel their filth onto the systems this year, we've been able to excavate a decent collection of potential gems from an otherwise smoldering pile of manure: Okami (Wii) dated March 25 Wii Fit scheduled for Q2 Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sequels scheduled for Q2 Crosswords DS dated May 5 Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword dated March 25 Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) dated Feb. 10 LEGO: Indiana Jones (Wii/DS) scheduled for Spring Super Dodgeball Brawlers (DS) scheduled for April Bangai-O Spirits (DS) scheduled for Q2 Rondo of Swords (DS) scheduled for April and thus far unannounced by Atlus USA [Note: we haven't listed titles with previously confirmed dates (e.g., Mario Kart, Advance Wars, No More Heroes, etc.).] The full list of releases is posted after the break. [Via DS Fanboy]
Nintendo lays out 2008's releases, we totally freak
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Nintendo_s_upcoming_releases_to_flood_shelves'; Nintendo sent out a press release detailing the 2008 release schedule, and along with all the yay-awesome stuff we knew about, there's a ton of new stuff! We were just casually looking down the list, expecting familiar titles and release dates, and we almost spit out our Diet Cherry Coke when we saw previously-unknown release dates, and even a few new titles! For the safety of your computer, DS Fanboy recommends that you put down your Diet Cherry Coke before proceeding.For the first time, the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sequels have been announced for U.S. release. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness are tentatively slated for a "Q2" release. More personally exciting is the revelation that Bangai-O Spirits was picked up by D3 of America, also Q2. And by "personally exciting" we mean "OH YES AWESOME. AWESOME."Other surprises include Ubisoft's Quick Yoga Training (April), Nintendo's Crosswords DS (May 5th!), Rondo of Swords (which we Eric surmised is Success Corp.'s Ituwari no Rondo) and complete unknowns like Organize It (May 8th).We've reproduced the whole list for you after the break, so you can freak out. We think we're over the initial shoOH DUDE SUPER DODGEBALL IN APRIL. If you can handle the intensity, check out the Wii schedule as well!
