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Drakengard 3 rolls out story DLC starring Zero's sisters
Square Enix has deployed a collection of story mode DLC for its PlayStation 3 hack-and-slash action game, Drakengard 3, giving players new insight regarding the game's bizarre world and outlandish supporting characters. Each DLC chapter in Drakengard 3 stars one of protagonist Zero's sisters – the ones players are meant to defeat in the game's core campaign. Purchasing an add-on chapter also gives players access to an exclusive in-game weapon set and a new batch of unlockable trophies. Drakengard 3's DLC chapters are available individually for $5.99 each, or together in the Sisters Prologue Bundle for $29.99. [Image: Square Enix]
Bullet Witch resurrected for Xbox 360 Games on Demand release
As many studios eye the new console generation, publisher Xseed turns its attention to an early standout for the Xbox 360, releasing a digital version of 2007's Bullet Witch for the Xbox 360's Games on Demand service this week. Developed by Nier and Drakengard creator Cavia, Bullet Witch equips players with an arsenal of high-caliber weaponry and explosive magic attacks within a series of third-person shooter levels. Its fans will attest that Bullet Witch has a style and charm that rises above its awkward and frequently frustrating gameplay, and its twisting narrative leaves a lasting impression. The Games on Demand version of Bullet Witch is priced at $19.99. [Image: Xseed / Cavia]
Catacombs: a canned shooter from Square Enix and Nier dev Cavia
Nier developer Cavia was working on a team-based shooter RPG, entitled Catacombs, for Square Enix before the studio was dissolved a couple years ago. Siliconera has a wealth of information about the canceled game from an inside source, who was working on the project before its reported demise.Catacombs sounds like it was a mix of team-based shooters like Left 4 Dead, mixed with the loot-whoring of Borderlands, and Diablo's randomly generated maps. Players would have guns, spells and magic rings to level up as they attempted to reach the elevator on each floor and escape to the surface.According to the source, Square Enix planned to reveal the game at last year's E3, but that clearly never happened. The source claims Catacombs was far along and playable, but is unsure whether Square Enix will complete the title.
Report: Nier developer Cavia dissolved into parent company
Cavia – developer of games like Nier, Drakengard, and the Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles series – used to be a subsidiary of parent company AQ Interactive. Now, according to Siliconera's translation of a 4Gamer interview with director Trao Yokoo, the company has been dissolved, with its staff absorbed into AQ Interactive. Current plans for the team are as yet unannounced, so we don't know if the former Cavia will continue making games for third parties. Officially, however, its last game was Nier, which is kind of an unfortunate note on which to leave.
Play as the 'other' Nier in this week's DLC, 'The World of Recycled Vessel'
New DLC for Nier, expected to be available tomorrow, adds 15 new stages, new costumes for Kaine, Emil, and Nier, and new Shades, as part of a new time-traveling scenario. Perhaps more importantly, it also enables players to control the young version of Nier from the Japan-only, PS3-only Nier Replicant, effectively removing the single difference between the two versions. The character model change is included as a bonus in the "World of Recycled Vessel" pack, whose main component is a world unlocked by a hidden diary, in which Nier and his companions find themselves in a "dreamscape" that combines the past and present of the game. Square Enix didn't announce pricing for North America, but the price in Europe, where the release date is May 12, is €6.99 or 560. %Gallery-92692%
Hook, Line and Stinker: My failed Nier review
I played four long hours of Nier with the full intention of completing a review of the game. But after reaching the point you see in the video above, I, in my capacity as reviews editor, decided that it was inadvisable to continue with that plan. I have a beloved wife and cat that depend on my continued sanity and a TV that I can't currently afford to replace, should I be prompted to put it through my living room window. What I played of Nier up to this point had some nice touches, like solid music and voice acting, but the game felt a generation or two behind what I'd hope for in an open-world action-RPG, specifically in terms of graphics and mission design. Also, the design team was seemingly in dire need of staff members in possession of human souls. You know, so, just something to remember for Nier 2: Souls. Protip: There's another beach that's not the beach right next to the old dude that gives you the fishing pole. I ended up trying that spot and catching the fish. But by then, the damage was done, and my spirit had been broken, sadly.
Nier sold far more than anything else in Japan last week
Japan may be as confused by Square Enix's Nier as we are -- but it would appear that PS3 owners are answering their questions about the action RPG title firsthand, by purchasing it. The PS3 version, Nier Replicant, is the best-selling title for the week of April 19.25, with 60,000 units sold, according to Gpara's early estimate of Media Create sales rankings. Nier Gestalt, the version released for Xbox 360 (and also the version released on both consoles in North America) didn't perform quite as well, coming in at number 11 -- possibly due to the older, more gruff main character, but probably due to the fact that it's on Xbox 360. There's no mention of how many copies were sold, but it's fewer than the 12,000 with which Pokemon Ranger: Path of Light achieved the number ten position. To see how games that aren't Nier performed, check the list after the break. [Via Kotaku]
Nier makes everyone feel better
Ostensibly, this trailer is intended to introduce the traveling companions accompanying the title character of Square Enix's Nier. But, to us, it reveals just how sensitive Nier himself is. He isn't just good for glowering, yelling about his daughter, and fighting, as this trailer reveals. He is also willing to provide words of encouragement to his ally, Kaine -- who returns the favor elsewhere in the trailer by totally kicking Nier in the face to save him from a giant creature. Nier even offers sympathy to a weird-looking monster guy who is having a crisis of conscience after a battle. And he'll be able to help you feel better about what's going on in your life on April 27.
Nier DLC already in the works
By the time you've seen every slime creature, creepy blank-faced monster and human-vs-book argument Nier has to offer, developer Cavia will have more ready for you. Square Enix executive producer Yosuke Saito told Xbox.com (translated by Andriasang) that the team began work on DLC immediately after completing the Famitsu-approved action RPG. Saito also relayed an alarmingly obscure connection between Nier and a previous Cavia game. Evidently, Nier is set after the events of one of Drakengard's optional endings, in which Japan's landmark Tokyo Tower is visible (impaling a dragon!). That's right -- as if Nier wasn't baffling enough, now it's loosely connected to a possible ending from a relatively obscure game.
One more Nier trailer to stare at
We've grown accustomed to not knowing what's going on in Nier trailers -- at least, as accustomed as one can become to incomprehensible imagery. So there are two floating, sentient books now? And ... one of them kills Nier? We guess? At least this trailer's got some visuals. According to early reports about this week's Famitsu, the magazine's "Cross Review" awarded Nier a score of 10/8/8/8. As translated by 1UP, one reviewer said that " the story is a lot less twisted than you'd expect." Of course, that leaves plenty of room for twistedness. Nier arrives April 27.
Maybe Nier comics will help us understand Nier
Want to understand what Nier's all about, you know, besides yelling at books? Square Enix is giving us all a chance to study the backstory of Cavia's action RPG, with a Nier comic series produced by DC's Wildstorm Studios. The three-part series will tell three separate, but overlapping, stories in the Nier universe before the game's April 27 release date. In addition to introducing the main characters -- including Nier himself, his "disease-stricken" daughter, Yonah, a "conflicted" companion in Kaine, and the talking book "with an attitude," Grimoire Weiss -- the comics will reveal what caused the "Black Scrawl" disease and the cataclysmic event that led to the condition of the world (as it is in the game). The Nier comics will be available on the Nier website, and through the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store. See the cover of the first issue after the break.
Nier approaches North America in April
Did you read the news of Japan's Nier release date with abject jealousy, wishing you had such a clear idea when you'd get to play Cavia's cursing-at-a-book simulation? Seethe no more -- Square Enix announced the North American release date, and it's April 27, only five days after the game arrives in Japan! Of course, real Nier fans are going to have to import Nier Replicant to get the full story, and that means learning Japanese is also a requirement. But it's a small price to pay to learn more about some shirtless guy who fights giant sinewy oil-monsters to rescue his daughter.
Latest Nier trailer takes a page out of Bayonetta's book
And here we thought Bayonetta had cornered the giant black cannibalistic things summoned from the ether market, but the tail-end of this Nier trailer suggests there's some incoming competition in that department. There are other parts of the trailer worth pointing out (or, perhaps, worth pointing at ... and laughing about), too, like how Square Enix proclaims Nier to be "THE NEXT GREAT STORY FROM SQUARE ENIX" or how it begins with another one of those rants. Is every character in Nier going to be so darn self-absorbed?
Resident Evil: The Discount Chronicles
We're beyond last-minute gift recommendations at this point, so we'll just assume selfish motivations behind any desire to purchase Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles today. The good news is that if you'd like to indulge that selfish desire, it'll only run you $29.77 today. Amazon knocked about $20 off the price of the Wii rail shooter, which features settings and characters from Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica, as its Deal of the Day. The game just came out in November! We're tempted to call it a Christmas miracle -- though maybe we'll save that declaration for when something is discounted to $20. %Gallery-47570%
Nier video is Nier-ly video-free
We were really hoping this Nier trailer would help answer some of the questions we had about the title. For example, what's up with the two different games? We're getting just one game on PS3 and 360 -- but that game is a 360 exclusive in Japan, with a different Nier game being released on PS3. Why not release both games in the larger North American market? And how will the gameplay be evolved since the E3 demo? Because if there's not some improvement, the number of Nier games may not matter. It does not answer any of those questions. In fact, we have several more questions after this trailer, which features the voice (but not much else) of the AI partner, Kaine. Questions like "what?"
Resident Evil 2's soy boy returns for Darkside Chronicles
We should have seen this coming, given that Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles recounts events from Resident Evil 2, but it never oc-curd to us: Tofu, the character from the hidden "Tofu Survivor" stage in RE2, will return for the Wii-exclusive rail shooter, as confirmed (or con-extra-firmed) in this trailer. But not as a protagonist: in Darkside Chronicles' Tofu Mode, many of the zombies are swapped out for gelatinous, crumbly, flavor-absorbing tofu. After the break, enjoy a trailer featuring some alternate costumes for the playable characters, all of whom are made of meat, as far as we know. %Gallery-73897%
E3 2009: Nier trailer hits the web, official website launches
Square Enix has seemingly jumped the gun on at least some of its E3 news, with the trailer for Nier finding its way online, not to mention the game getting an official website. Hey, there's even gameplay!The art style looks like a pretty dramatic departure from the Japanese company's usual androgynix, not to mention the vast swathes of blood. Maybe that has something to do with Square's recent fascination with the Western market? That remains to be seen. We'll assuredly see more as the week progresses, though feel free to peruse our gallery of screens below in the meantime.%Gallery-64593%
Kawata: Darkside Chronicles a 'very dark' Resident Evil
Speaking to attendee's of last night's Resident Evil 5 launch party, Masachika Kawata, producer of the newly announced Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, shed more light on Capcom's Umbrella Chronicles sequel. Kawata addressed the crowd after screening the first trailer for the game."What we're looking to do is go back to a 'very dark' style of Resident Evil," Kawata said. "'Dark' is really a key word for this game. It will be shown in horror, in the storyline, in the emotions that the characters go through." We saw examples of this as Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield fought side-by-side through a zombie ravaged Racoon City, circa Resident Evil 2.He also explained that the development team at Cavia is "putting a lot of care, a lot of attention into [improving] how the camera system works in a rail-based shooter." This was evident in what was shown of the game's strong cinematic presentation, which included dramatic point-of-view shots of zombies feasting and the player narrowly escaping death with their partner's help. Kawata wrapped up his stint on stage saying that more information on the game would be revealed later this year, as everyone involved with the franchise is (rightly) focused on today's launch of RE5.
Grab a hanky, 'Cry On' canceled
The Xbox 360 has no shortage of role-playing games these days but the Western console has just lost a promised Japanese release. On Christmas Day, AQ Interactive revealed Cry On, the action role-playing game from character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka, has been canceled due to, "the current market environment and forecasts for the future."A joint venture between Cavia and Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker, Cry On would have been the third title from the famed Japanese creator; Mistwalker previously worked on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. A representative for AQ Interactive told 1UP that the studio "deeply apologize[s] for troubling those who were awaiting its release." No screen shots of the game had ever been released since the game had first been announced in 2005. Down and out for now, but something tells us Sakaguchi isn't hanging up the gloves anytime soon.
AQ Interactive cans Xbox 360 RPG 'Cry On'
Fans of Blue Dragon's Mistwalker / Artoon dream team may have to hold back some bitter tears following the news that AQ Interactive will hold back the release of Cry On. According to 1UP, the action RPG, meant to be the third of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Xbox efforts, has been canceled due to "the current market environment and forecasts for the future." The company added, "We deeply apologize for troubling those who were awaiting its release."Whether you consider it a cryin' shame or prefer fans to cry in shame, you can expect Sakaguchi and Friends to unveil more titles in the future. Old habits die hard.
