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BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend PS Vita free on PS Plus this week
This week's PlayStation Plus freebie is BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend. All PlayStation Plus members can download the PS Vita fighter gratis when the PlayStation Network updates later today – sorry, the PS3 version does not apply. Tomorrow, PS Plus also gets a free timed trial of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Insomniac Games' latest, Fuse. Finally, PS Plus-exclusive discounts on a few different games will be up for grabs tomorrow: Hamilton's Great Adventure is down to $2.50; Draw Slasher is $4.19; and Germinator can be snagged for $5.
Muramasa Rebirth finds new life on PS Vita 'early summer'
During a GDC demo of Muramasa Rebirth, the PS Vita port of Vanillaware's 2D action game Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Aksys PR coordinator Russell Iriye confirmed with Joystiq that the game is currently penciled in for "early summer.""We have not talked about a release date yet. Right now all we're saying is early summer. Within the next couple weeks we should be announcing that," Iriye said.Aksys will also offer a pre-order bonus for early Muramasa Rebirth commitment, plus a limited edition. The standard edition will run $39.99, while the limited edition will cost $59.99. Iriye couldn't reveal any of the contents in the limited edition yet.
Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi drops Feb. 19
Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi, the hack-and-slash PSP action game based on Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (itself a PSP otome visual novel about getting hunky samurai to fall in love with you), will be available on February 19 in North America, Aksys has announced. Folks that pre-order the game through Amazon will receive a bandanna featuring the game's eight playable samurai.Not so concerned with the heart's capacity to love as much as with its ability to be stabbed by swords, Warriors of the Shinsengumi follows young maiden Chizuru and her accompanying Shinsengumi on their quest to find her father. Players will be able to play through two versions of the game, one that follows Demon of the Fleeting Blossom's storyline and a second, alternate version.%Gallery-169695%
Virtue rewarded: Zero Escape demo out for Vita
A demo for Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward is now available for the PlayStation Vita. If you don't recall, Virtue's Last Reward is the sequel to 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, which was released on the DS in 2010. The game is a visual novel with some point-and-click puzzle elements, all revolving around a sinister game of death (is there any other kind?).You can grab the demo now on PSN.
BlazBlue hits 1.7 million copies sold worldwide
After four years and four iterations of Blazblue, Aksys announced recently that the Blazblue series sold 1.7 million copies worldwide. Of those copies, 800,000 were unloaded on US street fighters. In celebration of the series' third anniversary in the States, Aksys is holding several contests between now and October. Prizes include signed artwork from developer Arc System Works and an "exclusive" Blazblue wall banner. Details for the contests will be revealed "in the near future" at the official Blazblue site.Arc System Works recently announced Xblaze, which may tie into the Blazblue series. Xblaze is slated for this fall. Meanwhile, Arc System Works' next game, Persona 4 Arena, will be released next week.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend review: Accessible insanity
My experience with BlazBlue doesn't stretch beyond a few hours with the Xbox 360 version of the original, dramatically subtitled Calamity Trigger. Having pumped a few more hours into BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, I can at least confirm that it remains a beautiful and eminently playable fighter with lots to offer and plenty to keep players busy.%Gallery-136395%
Bit.Trip Saga UK launch pushed forward to March 16
Ah, the rare anti-delay, a happenstance so seldom seen in the gaming world that its occurrence should be marked by fireworks and a ticker-tape parade. Those things cost money, though, and our budget is still tapped out from smuggling our Editor in Chief out of South Africa, so this post will have to suffice.Bit.Trip Saga's UK release date has been changed from March 26 to March 16, according to Pocket Gamer, and while that's still 6 months after the North American release, it is earlier than we were all expecting.
Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend limited edition revealed
If you're looking to extend Blazblue: Contiuum Shift Extend just a bit more, you might want to pick up the limited edition. Aksys has revealed the contents of the package, which will only be available on Xbox 360 and PS3 -- i.e. the Vita version will not receive a limited edition. The package will feature a 40-page art book, a soundtrack CD and a calendar (so you can schedule your fights). The package is available for pre-order now from GameStop or Amazon, with the romantic release date of February 14.
Record of Agarest War 2 hitting North America, Europe summer 2012
Record of Agarest War 2 is coming to North America and Europe in summer 2012 for PS3, American publisher Aksys Games announced. Record of Agarest War 2 will be in HD and include a revamped grid battle system and a remastered world, as seen in the above video of the Japanese version. The title will also include bathtub, shiatsu and massage minigames compatible with PlayStation Move. We don't have a video for those ones, but we think you can imagine what playing a massage game on Move may look like.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend reaches out to North America
Back at E3, Aksys mentioned it was open to the possibility of offering BlazBlue as a PlayStation Vita launch title. Today, the company announced BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is coming to North America and will be available simultaneously on PlayStation Vita, PS3 and Xbox 360. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend will feature balance tweaks for the entire roster of characters -- which includes previous DLC-only fighters, a new character, and complete story modes for these guys -- plus some online tweaks. There are also some new single-player modes to indulge in, such as Abyss mode and Unlimited Mars mode. As for the latter, no, we don't think it just plays Total Recall on loop. Sorry. %Gallery-136395% %Gallery-136396%
Double Dragon iPhone update adds compatibility with older iOS versions
We know what you're thinking: "I sure do love Double Dragon on my iPhone, but I wish the lights in Stage 5 were slightly higher, and the hit-box on this whip a bit longer." A beautiful dream, right? Wrong. A beautiful reality. Brizo Interactive has peered into the minds of Dragons everywhere and released an update for its remake of yesteryear's classic beat-em-up, based on your wants and needs. In addition to moving the lights in Stage 5 "slightly higher," Brizo has also added support for iOS versions older than 4.0, "adjusted CPU and memory consumption," and added a transparency option for the game's touch controls, among other adjustments. Sometimes dreams really do come true.
Aksys bringing 'otome' genre stateside with Hakuoki: Demon Of The Fleeting Blossom
Since this is the internet, most of you are probably aware that Japan produces a lot of games for genres that don't necessarily exist in other parts of the world. These games can get a little ridiculous at times, sure, but Aksys believes that the "otome" sub-genre of JRPGs is worth bringing to the western hemisphere. Idea Factory's historical RPG Hakuoki: Demon Of The Fleeting Blossom will be North America's first widely available "otome." The game follows the story of Chizuru Yukimura, who encounters the Shinsengumi samurai clan while traveling through Edo-period Japan on a quest to find her missing father. As luck would have it, the Shinsengumi are also searching for her father, and together they to travel to the city of Hakuoki, which contains "supernatural secrets." (Read: ghosts or something.) So, sounds like a JRPG, right? Why does this game land in the otome sub-genre, while others don't? Put simply, the "otome" (or "maiden") game is a romance novel for you PSP. In order to be considered an otome, a game must A) have a female protagonist, and B) also make obtaining the affections of a love interest as important as other main story goals. Unlike male-targeted dating sims, otome games contain little to no sexuality, as they are generally intended for female gamers in the pre-teen/tween/teenage demographic. Aksys plans on bringing big-haired samurai lovin' to any PSP owner interested in that sort of thing sometime during the first quarter of 2012. Who knows, maybe this will finally pave the way for that When Harry Met Sally game we've always wanted from Telltale.
Double Dragon punches iOS in the gut
Beat-'em-ups are woefully under-represented on the App Store, but one of the genre's earliest classics has arrived to help fill the void. Enter the ... Double Dragon. Aksys Games has released Taito's seminal scrapper in updated form, compliments of developer Brizo Interactive, for an "introductory price" of $3.99 -- steep, yes, but set to increase to $7.99 at an unspecified point. App Store reviews of the game -- which is ported from the Zeebo platform -- are mixed so far, with most complaints focused on the unnecessarily large (and opaque) "control panel." Still, it's said to be faithful to the original's gameplay and features multiple unlockable characters. See Billy and Jimmy get their clobber on after the break.
BlazBlue Continuum Shift DLC discounted now on Xbox Live, Jan. 4 on PSN
'Tis the season for Valkenhayn R. Hellsing! It seems that way, at least, as Aksys has announced a sale on BlazBlue: Continuum Shift DLC, including Mr. Hellsing and other downloadable characters. Today through January 7 on Xbox Live, and from January 4 through January 25 on PSN, you'll be able to pick up all the Continuum Shift downloads at a discount. If you were ever going to pay money for a different color scheme for your characters, now would be the time, since those are half-off. As for more substantive downloads, the unlock for the character Mu-12 is just a dollar, with Makoto and Valkenhayn available for $4.50 each. See the full list after the break.
999 pre-order bonus timely, fitting, disturbing
The pre-order bonus for 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors is appropriately enough a watch version of the device worn by the nine persons in the game. Of course, unlike the gizmo in the sinister scenario, this thing won't blow up if you're a failure. The item will only be available online by pre-ordering from GameStop.com. Check it out over at GoNintendo.
'999' to ensnare North America this November
999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a graphical text adventure released in Japan last December, will challenge North American audiences this November. Aksys Games confirmed last month that the unusual DS title would ship across the ocean, but didn't offer a release window at the time. With a premise akin to Saw (the movie and game), 999 involves nine people who are locked behind nine doors on an old passenger ferry. They have only nine hours to solve various puzzles before they drown, and are unable to contact Professor Layton for help.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2 throws down in Japanese arcades this winter
Yo dawg, we made a sequel to your sequel so you could sequel while you sequeled -- ahem, sorry, we couldn't help ourselves. Andriasang reports that Aksys Games has announced the next entry in the BlazBlue series for Japanese arcades, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2. The new arcade game will debut at the Amusement Machine Show on September 9. The game will launch in Japanese arcades this winter and (so far) adds one new character, Valkenhayn R Hellsing. He was recently announced as the second DLC character for the home console versions of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and has been priced at ¥800 (560 Microsoft Points) in Japan. We suspect his price tag here will be the same, especially since Makoto, the first announced DLC character for CS, is priced accordingly.
Review: BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
It's hard to avoid comparing BlazBlue: Continuum Shift with Super Street Fighter IV. Both are budget-priced updates that add new characters and modes to existing fighting games. But where Capcom's offering improves on its predecessor by expanding the character roster and retooling the online experience, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift's biggest selling point is that it makes it surprisingly easy for newcomers to get in on the action. %Gallery-88603%
Gladiator Begins fighting for North American PSP audience
Acquire's Kentoushi Gladiator Begins, a PSP game more famous for its advertising than for its gameplay, is headed to North America, courtesy of Aksys Games. In Gladiator Begins, you'll get to master several fighting implements like the sword and shield, polearm, and even your own fists in your quest to defeat other gladiators, entertain bloodthirsty crowds, and attract the attention of one of five patrons. While Aksys didn't announce a release date for the game, a subsequent announcement lets us know exactly when we'll get to play part of the game. A demo for the arena combat game will be available on PSN July 13.
Review: Bit.Trip Runner
Bit.Trip Runner is profoundly difficult, as anyone who has played a previous Bit.Trip game would guess. It's probably one of the hardest games I've ever played, and in a way that most developers don't dare to make their games. Basically, if you already have high blood pressure or a short fuse, you should stay far away from Bit.Trip Runner. And if you don't, you should wear the Wii wrist strap while playing. Not because it uses motion controls, but because you'll occasionally get the impulse to throw something. If that doesn't scare you off -- if you welcome the challenge, or are a patient person in general, perhaps with access to the occasional cup of soothing tea -- then you'd do well to try out Gaijin Games' rhythmic, nostalgic version of the side-scrolling platformer.
