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3D Dot Game Heroes dev adds Vita support to its Orochi engine
If you're a fan of 3D Dot Game Heroes, then you're likely familiar with Silicon Studio. Perhaps a lesser known part of Silicon's business is the studio's middelware work in Japan with its Orochi engine. Now the engine supports the PlayStation Vita, Andriasang reports. The PlayStation Vita is due to launch in Japan next month. Orochi is a native Japanese language game engine originally conceived as a means to port Windows-based games to the Xbox 360 and PS3 -- 3D Dot Game Heroes was originally conceived as a means to showcase Orochi. It also handles a multitude of development tools including graphics, AI and physics.
Best of the Rest: JC's picks of 2010
Dragon Quest IX DQIX is secretly two games: when you're playing through the main quest, it's a traditional JRPG with a light but interesting story populated by unexpectedly engaging characters and perfectly brisk pacing; then as you approach the end, it becomes a dungeon crawler driven by a dungeon map trading mechanic using the passive communication of the DS. How compelling is that "tag mode" mechanic? I can't think of any other game for which I would go hang out at a GameStop and then a Best Buy, but that's exactly what I did when Nintendo held DQIX events this summer. I needed those maps. That's how I know this is my favorite game of 2010.
3D Dot Game Heroes update adds Sackboy, other new features
We all learned the tragic news that Sackboy wouldn't be appearing in a new video game for a few months longer than we thought. What this post presupposes is: Maybe he will? Not as a part of an officially sanctioned LittleBigPlanet adventure, mind you -- rather, he's been added to the roster of playable characters in Silicon Studio's 3D Dot Game Heroes in an update launched earlier today. The patch also adds 50 player-made heroes to everyone's lineup, allows players to carry weapons over into their New Game + files, and incorporates a handful of bug fixes, which can be read about in detail after the jump. Could the game's former lack of Sackboy actually be considered a bug? We'll have to think on this for a while.
Atlus to be merged into parent company Index Holdings
Index Holdings, the parent company of 3D Dot Game Heroes publisher and Shin Megami Tensei developer Atlus, has announced its intent to completely absorb Atlus to better manage the company's resources. The dissolution is expected to take place on October 1, provided Atlus, Index Holdings and subsidiary company Index agree to the terms of the merger during board meetings being held today. It's unclear how this deal could affect future releases from the prolific RPG developer and publisher. According to Game Watch, a representative from Index Holdings explained that upcoming titles would still be released under the Atlus brand. We've contacted Atlus for further clarification.
Meet your new 3D Dot Game Hero
Atlus searched far and wide its 3D Dot Game Heroes character hub for a new face for the game, in its "Make-a-Hero" contest. Finally, it found someone man enough, and cannon enough, for the job: Mannon. After the break, see some of the user-created heroes who almost got the job.
We can't rap our minds around the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer
Without the proper prior information, the 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer posted above would seem like a rare miss for Atlus' clever marketing machine. After all, it features a fairly horrific rap about some of the game's bonus modes, most of which have been shoehorned into an incredibly awkward rhyme scheme. However, once you realize the commercial is a parody of this 1986 Legend of Zelda ad, you realize -- well, it's still a trainwreck, but it's a parodical trainwreck. Better still, it's an appropriate parodical trainwreck, considering the rest of 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows inspiration from Nintendo's emerald-hatted adventurer. And by "borrows," of course, we mean "straight-up plunders."
3D Dot Game Heroes 'Hall of Heroes' character-sharing hub launched
Are you particularly proud of the homebrewed 3D Dot Game Heores character model you recently whipped up? You know, the one that looks like Link/Mario/Belmont/Your favorite Final Fantasy archetype? Great news -- you can now share your pixelated protagonists with other players, or simply borrow the fruits of their labors, using the recently launched "Hall of Heroes" web hub. There are only a handful of characters live on the hub right now, but they all look like they'd serve as worthy saviors of the land of Dotnia. Especially the one named "Rad Naner," which is a banana wearing sunglasses and riding a skateboard.
UK election campaign spills over into 3D Dot Game Heroes
If you're in the UK and are having a hard time getting a handle on the upcoming general election, perhaps seeing how the three party leaders perform as blocky, giant-sword-wielding heroes will help your decision-making. SouthPeak has added downloadable 3D Dot Game Heroes characters based on party leaders Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. (Perhaps Southpeak is semi-overtly referring to the UK's top politicians as blockheads?) The downloadable politicians are accessible from the "Vault" section of the 3D Dot Game Heroes EU website, which is also home to the web-based character editor. For those of you outside of the UK, there are three new "Guy in a Suit" characters on the site. 3D Dot Game Heroes will be released in Europe on May 14 and in North America on May 11.
Make a 3D Dot Game Heroes hero and win the coolest foam sword of all time
We work in a profession which has us coming into contact with an inexplicably large number of fake armaments, so we feel like we can speak with some authority when we say that the foam sword seen above is the coolest foam sword ever. How can you go about acquiring one of these ultra-rare, pixelated beauties? All you have to do is make something using this simplified, online version of 3D Dot Game Heroes' character creation engine, and you could win the non-lethal blade and a copy of the game. You have until May 11 to whip up a blocky hero and submit a picture of it to SouthPeak (the European publisher of the title) for consideration. Sadly, the contest is only open to our European allies, though the character creator is available to everyone. We demand equality on both sides of the Atlantic! Everyone should have a stab at winning these squishy sabers!
New 3D Dot Game Heroes video: 'The Hero Your Hero Could Be'
Dearest Atlus, These cute 3D Dot Game Heroes videos just have to stop. Your latest, a delightful parody of the equally delightful Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercial, is just too good (see attached video after the break). We realize you have to compete for attention by creating informative, entertaining videos, but how are other niche publishers supposed to compete? The boys downstairs have already ascertained the high quality of the game, and your continued insistence on marketing the product now borders on overkill. Honestly, it's really not fair to all the other American publishers of quirky Japanese games. Sincerely, J. J. Joystiq Sr.
Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Silicon Studio set out to make a game primarily as a means of showing off its graphical effect middleware -- and then chose a retro-style action RPG as that showcase. That shouldn't work at all. But somehow, the developer managed to pull it off; 3D Dot Game Heroes is a faithful, expertly crafted reproduction of NES-era gameplay that happens to highlight spectacular visual effects in a logical way. The studio pulled this impressive feat off by designing a world composed of giant cubes, essentially 3D versions of 8-bit sprites. This style is overlaid with insane visual effects, like an exaggerated depth of field that makes everything look miniature, and surreal, sparkling water. Even the spells are winkingly based on graphical effects like shaders and parallax maps. It's essentially the lost NES Zelda game. Or, rather, it's a parody of the Zelda series executed so perfectly that it is itself an excellent Zelda game. %Gallery-70578%
Game Informer puts Link in 3D Dot Game Heroes
It was almost too obvious: 3D Dot Game Heroes looks a lot like Zelda, it lets you make characters, boom: You put Link in it. Done. But like all innovations that were so natural as to be almost self-evident, someone had to be first. In our case, that someone is Game Informer's Tim Turi, whose achievement you can find after the break. Congratulations, Tim. It may have been obvious, but that's what they said about going to the moon and now who's on Dancing With The Stars, eh?
Latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer is Error
It's no secret that From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows -- and borrows heavily -- from the Zelda series. So, Atlus, cheeky publisher that it is, has released a new trailer for 3D Dot Game Heroes that outright exposes the game's aping of Zelda. Give it a watch and see if you can spot all the references.
Latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer is predictably awesome
It's kind of weird to say this, but the consistent awesomeness of 3D Dot Game Heroes trailers is starting to feel downright cruel. Seriously, how much cheeky, retro goodness are we expected to take? The latest trailer piles it on yet again, showing off anything and everything you ever loved about adventure RPGs. Adorable heroes, dungeons, massive bosses, boomerangs, it's all there. The trailer even offers a glimpse at the game's character editor. Which brings us to the cruel part: the May 11 3D Dot Game Hereos launch is still over a month away. Come on, Atlus, have a heart and stop with the trailers.
Atlus offers video walkthrough of 3D Dot Game Heroes, Twilight fanfic
Atlus has proven to be the distributor of some of the funniest press releases we regularly receive. The party responsible for a majority of that humor, PR manager Aram Jabbari, recently stopped by Playstation.Blog HQ to give a brief video demonstration of 3D Dot Game Heroes, which you'll find posted above. The video shows a walkthrough of one of the game's Zelda-esque dungeons and, appropriately, includes a number of irreverent jabs at 8-bit classics. Though legal reasons prevent Jabbari from naming specific games the title lampoons, he was more than happy to show off his homemade Vampire protagonist's massive sword, remarking, "I'm sure Bella will find that impressive." Oh, Aram. Don't ever change.
3D Dot Game Heroes trailer satisfies thirst for adventure
Have you seen those Dos Equis commercials, with the "Most Interesting Man in the World?" He doesn't always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis? No? Go ahead and watch the commercials now before heading past the break and watching the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer. You'll find it a lot funnier that way. Even if you aren't well-versed in the culture of beer commercials, you'll find some impressive gameplay footage in the trailer, including giant (and, of course, blocky) bosses. Just try not to be mesmerized by the hero's speaking voice.
Interview: Atlus on localizing 3D Dot Game Heroes
Atlus is following up the surprise PS3 hit Demon's Souls with another From Software title: The retro-inspired action RPG 3D Dot Game Heroes. While we wait for the game's May release to plunge North America into a new retrogaming renaissance (or just be fun), we spoke to Atlus's Manager of PR and Sales, Aram Jabbari, and editor Scott Strichart about the strategy for localizing the game, about its retro roots and about Spelunker. Joystiq: How did Atlus arrive at the budget pricing for this game? Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales, Atlus: We made a conscious decision early on to make the game as irresistible a value as possible. While the door isn't entirely closed on Atlus Spoils goodies, we are presently leaning towards passing on as much savings to our beloved fans as possible. Though we feel the game is far meatier in content than the 8- and 16-bit games it lampoons, we are also cognizant of how a simpler retro gaming experience compares to some of the epic current gen releases, at least in the minds of some gamers, and we want to do everything in our power to entice them to experience 3DDGH for themselves. %Gallery-83457%
3D Dot Game Heroes' character editor explained
We've been looking forward to getting our hands on 3D Dot Game Heroes since before we knew it would be localized; however, we've worried that our complete lack of artistic ability would limit our proficiency with the game's character creator. Oh, sure, we'd pretend to be really clever: "Look guys, I'm a Tetris brick!" Don't be fooled, friends. We're just terrible artists. Fortunately, a recent post on PlayStation.Blog provides a pretty helpful tutorial on how the character creator can be used to make (and animate) slightly more complicated creations. Like, for instance, two Tetris blocks, smushed together to form an uppercase "T." Look, we're hopeless, alright? Go check out the tutorial so you can whip up some neat characters for us to play with once the game hits store shelves May 11.
3D Dot Game Heroes coming to Europe May 14, playable at Midlands MCM Expo
It seems SouthPeak's taking its recently acquired role as European publisher for 3D Dot Game Heroes pretty seriously -- according to a recent press release, the company will release the PAL version of the bizarre action-RPG on May 14, just a few days after North America gets its hands on the game. In addtion, attendees of the Midlands MCM Expo, held February 20 in the heart of Shropshire, England, will be able to get their first hands-on time with the game. We'd book our flight to the event post-haste -- if we only knew how to speak Shropshirian.
3D Dot Game Heroes' long swords remind Atlus of something
We've seen plenty of retrogaming celebration in 3D Dot Game Heroes, but we just haven't seen enough ... juvenile humor. Atlus recognized this humiliating deficiency, and sent out this trailer featuring a series of innuendos that would put an even bigger smile on Smilin' Bob's face. The real gameplay info buried within all the embarrassing jokery is that the in-game blacksmith enables players to upgrade their swords to (admittedly) Freudian proportions, allowing them to mow down enemies from a comfortable distance. While chuckling to themselves like Butt-head, of course.
