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‘Ni No Kuni’ mobile MMO looks utterly gorgeous
'Ni No Kuni' games have a history of being heartbreakingly beautiful, and in that regard, the upcoming MMO for mobile won’t disappoint.
Bandai-Namco E3 2019 leak reveals 'Tales,' George R.R. Martin games
E3 2019 is almost about to get rolling, but there's time for at least one more pre-show leak. Several games from publisher Bandai-Namco have apparently leaked out due to a flaw on the company's website. Those include a From Software (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro) collaboration with George R.R. Martin, titled Elden Ring, coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC. There isn't much confirmed beyond the name and the logo at this time other than that it's an action-RPG, although Martin discussed a game he'd consulted on in a blog post after the Game of Thrones series finale aired. Screenshots revealed more of another game, Tales of Arise, an Unreal Engine 4-powered entry in the Tales series of RPGs. Meanwhile, Gematsu mentions information on a re-release of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for Switch (above), with a remastered version packing improved graphics coming to PS4 and Switch. We'll find out what's really coming out, and where it's headed, over the next few days as things get rolling in LA. The show floor doesn't officially open until Tuesday, but our first event of the show begins with EA Play at around noon ET Saturday.
Ni No Kuni shipments pass 1.1 million, series clears 1.7 million
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Level-5's monster-training RPG, has surpassed 1.1 million shipped copies to retailers. Combined with the original version for the DS that was never released in North America, that puts the series at 1.7 million shipped copies. Sounds like protagonist Oliver has found plenty of help in his multidimensional quest to save his mother! Spike's VGX 2013 Awards acknowledged Ni No Kuni as its best RPG of last year, beating out Fire Emblem: Awakening and Pokemon X/Y. Sadly, VGX 2013 did not include a "Best Attempt To Derail An Awards Show" category, which Joel McHale surely would have won. [Image: Level-5]
Best of the Rest: Sinan's picks of 2013
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon It's still hard to believe that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon exists, and perhaps that's why this standalone expansion is so great. Who'd have thought Ubisoft had it in them to greenlight a Far Cry 3 reskin that traded the 2012 game's colorful jungle and wicked undertones for 1980s neon, Michael Biehn, and dinosaurs shooting lasers out of their eyes? Not only does it provide a wonderfully excessive version of Far Cry 3's open-island action, but with its dumb humor and loving pastiches Blood Dragon crams an impressive number of standout moments into one bite-sized package; this passage of play (spoiler warning!) is without doubt one of my favorite moments from any game in 2013.
Huge PlayStation EU sale on PSN
The EU PlayStation Store sales for all of January have been posted on the PS Blog. There are plenty of deals, but we'd point you toward the charming Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for €9.89, with an additional 10 percent off for PS Plus subscribers.
Hoping to honor composer, fan crafts new Ni no Kuni score
Sam Joseph Delves adores the score composed for Ni no Kuni by Joe Hisaishi. So much so that he's enlisted professional musicians to help him recreate the entire thing. Initially, Delves' thought to capture the attention of Hisaishi by simply re-creating his Ni no Kuni score as a hobby. Delves set up a Tumblr (aptly title "SamScoresNiNoKuni") to document his efforts, but once word spread, he received an unexpected outpouring of support for his work. The video you see above is Delves performing alongside an orchestra enlisted by BBC documentary composer Howard Davidson. The SamScoresNiNoKuni Tumblr features an additional 15 songs drawn from the game, and those of you who particularly enjoy Delves' take on Hisaishi's music can download a free, three-song EP directly from the site. Despite Delves' impressive work, he has yet to have any contact with Joe Hisaishi.
Weekend deals include Ni No Kuni, Dead Space 3, XCOM: Declassified
The school season is just starting for some, but GamerDeals has round up evidence that Best Buy and Amazon have no intentions of encouraging good study habits. Best Buy's sale has Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Halo 4, Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 for $19.99 apiece. Company of Heroes 2 has its sights aimed at $40, while Tales of Xilia can be had for $50. Amazon's offerings include The Bureau: XCOM Declassified for $40 on PS3, 360 or via Steam key. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist can be snatched away in the night for $50 on PS3, 360, PC or Wii U. There's also a slew of Sims 3 expansions priced from $13.99 to $29.99, in case you need more content for the addictive virtual life simulator.
Level-5: Layton series sells 15 million, Ni No Kuni 1.4 million
Level-5 sales numbers suggest there's a big pile of cashola sitting beneath that big top hat of Layton's. The Japanese studio shifted 15 million units of the prof's puzzler series alone, along with 1.4 million PS3 and Japan-only DS copies of the glorious Ghibli RPG Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. As Siliconera reports, company CEO Akihiro Hino revealed the figures at a press conference yesterday, and that the company's success is not limited to those franchises. Soccer RPG series Inazuma Eleven scores 6.5 million sales, while the dream-team-developed Guild games on 3DS, including Crimson Shroud, Liberation Maiden, and Attack of the Friday Monsters, are up to 400,000 downloads combined. At the same conference Level-5 announced Layton 7, a new spinoff for the prof's series that's coming to iOS Android, and 3DS. Layton 7 is the series' second game on mobiles, the first being whodunit Layton Brothers: Mystery Room, unearthing a million downloads.
gdgt's best deals for July 31: 46-inch Samsung HDTV, PNY Compact Flash Drive
Ready to save some cash on your tech buys? Then you've come to the right place. Our sister site gdgt tracks price drops on thousands of products every day, and twice a week they feature some of the best deals they've found right here. But act fast! Many of these are limited-time offers, and won't last long. Today's hottest deals include a 46-inch 1080p 120Hz Samsung HDTV that may not be "smart," but the saving it offers sure is. There's also a cheap deal on an 8GB PNY Compact Flash Drive. Join gdgt and add the gadgets you're shopping for to your "Want" list. Every time there's a price cut, you'll get an email alert!
Best Buy's Back to School sale continues with The Walking Dead, Ni No Kuni and more
Best Buy kicked off its Back to School deals last week, and is entering a new round of sales today with a slew of games discounted until Saturday, August 3. Among this week's deals include Skylanders: Giants starter packs, which are down to $40. Project X Zone is on sale for $30 and Company of Heroes 2 is discounted to $50. God of War: Ascension, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops with the First Strike content pack, Telltale's The Walking Dead, Ni No Kuni, Rocksmith and Lego Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey are all on sale for $20 each.
Nab Ni No Kuni for $40
A couple of retailers are offering Ni No Kuni at a hefty discount. Amazon has the wonderful RPG down to a mere $40. If you like your shopping a bit more up close and personal, Target has it available for the same price in-store. That's like ... 80 cents an hour.
Namco brings more Ni no Kuni stock to the UK following sellouts
Namco Bandai assured us it's making available more, limited stock of Ni no Kuni to the UK's leading retailers this week following widespread reports of it selling out across the country.The Level-5 and Studio Ghibli PS3 game was the surprise leader of this week's UK charts, becoming the first JRPG outside of Final Fantasy or Pokémon entries to grab top spot in the last ten years.
Ni no Kuni casts a spell on the UK charts
Hang on, is that a Japanese role-playing game at the top of the UK charts that doesn't have the words 'Final,' 'Fantasy,' or 'Pokémon' in its name? No, that doesn't sound right...Well, pierce me a lantern and call me Mr Drippy, because the PS3-exclusive Ni no Kuni is indeed this week's best-selling game in the UK. To give you an idea of just how surprising this is, you have to go back almost exactly a year for the last JRPG to take top spot in Her Majesty's kingdom, and that was Final Fantasy 13-2. And here's an even more staggering stat for you: by Chart-Track's data there isn't another clear-cut example of a chart-topping JRPG that's not a Final Fantasy or Pokémon game in the last decade. Bam! Have a new trailer to commemorate the feat.Ni no Kuni's impressive ascent pushed Black Ops 2 down to third, while DmC: Devil May Cry fell out of the top ten altogether after just two weeks, down now in 11th. The other new entry in the top ten is the Hitman: HD Trilogy, which debuted at fifth.
Free Ni No Kuni familiar Draggle makes eyes at North America Feb. 12
In Europe, a free Ni No Kuni familiar – they're essentially monsters you defeat, recruit and then train to fight for you – has been available for download. On February 12, Namco Bandai will extend the gesture to North America and offer the same critter, named Draggle, as a free download.Draggle is a plump little domesticated dragon said to have "downright adorable eyes" that families looking for a pet seem to favor – at least, so says the little guy's PSN page. In Europe, Draggle was offered gratis alongside Golden Hurly, though it would appear Namco Bandai has no intention of giving us the latter.
Ni no Kuni PSN EU download not working, being republished
European PS3 owners who pre-ordered Ni no Kuni on PSN are still waiting for the game following download issues. Although the game, out today in Europe and Australasia, can be downloaded, when you try to play it a message appears saying it isn't installed properly. PlayStation Europe says it's republishing the game onto PSN now, and hopes to complete the process by afternoon time over there.The PSN issues in Europe follow the debacle on the US side with pre-orders of the Wizard's Edition, which left many customers with cancellations. The issues threaten to overshadow what's generally been a very well received game, one which we doled out four and a half stars to in our review. We felt the Studio Ghilbi and Level-5 collaboration is what made the game tick, saying that "one without the other might have been good, but together they've created a superb role-playing game for this generation to savor."
Namco Bandai denies collusion with eBay reseller amid Ni no Kuni Wizard's Edition shortage
After some orders for the Wizard's Edition of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch started being mysteriously cancelled, Namco Bandai stepped forward to clarify that the special edition had been oversold, that the issue was caused by an error in its e-commerce provider's software and that said provider would be in touch to work things out.Shortly thereafter, Wizard's Editions were found on PlayCanada's eBay store, marked up to an astronomical $400 each. The Internet, being the Internet, quickly jumped to the conclusion that Namco Bandai and/or Digital River had entered into a clandestine agreement with PlayCanada, removing inventory from its official site in order to maximize profits through an eBay scalper."NAMCO BANDAI Games America is not, nor has it ever, worked with or in conjunction with the EBay seller known as 'PlayCanada' to sell units of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – Wizard's Edition at a price premium on EBay," Namco Bandai has told us."According to our records, this individual or group of individuals purchased Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – Wizard's Edition during the NinoStarter promotion period (August 2012); at which time, no limits were placed on how many units an individual could order. PlayCanada's claims that they officially worked with NAMCO BANDAI Games America to obtain their stock is entirely false."Namco Bandai is still attempting to make it up to fans who pre-ordered the Wizard's Edition and aren't going to receive one; every affected person will receive a 400-page hardbound strategy guide that includes a code for an in-game "Gold Hurly Familiar," as well as a $20 clubNamco voucher.
Ni no Kuni Wizard's Edition oversold, some orders being canceled
The special "Wizard's Edition" of Level 5's Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, available exclusively through Namco Bandai's online shop, has been oversold, resulting in a multitude of issues for those that placed orders while the package was supposedly still in stock.Digital River, the e-commerce middleware provider that powers Namco Bandai's shop, experienced an error in its ordering system that resulted in the Wizard's Edition's erroneous post-sellout availability. As a result, some orders have simply seen shipping delays, while others have seemingly failed to process at all or have been cancelled entirely. The number of non-existent packages sold is unknown."If your order(s) has been cancelled, we will be reaching out to you by email with additional information as soon as possible," an official update reads. Affected customers that feel proactive about resolving their issue can also contact Digital River directly by emailing namcobandai.en.cs@digitalriver.com, or by calling 952-392-2057.It's also worth mentioning that while Digital River says it will be addressing the issues of everyone affected, the update does not go into detail about what that resolution may look like. To be on the safe side, we recommend tempering your expectations towards a refund and an apology.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Metareview: Ni no Kuni
Level-5's Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch delivers that Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) animation charm like it's tapped into a fascination factory. Reviewers were pulled into the game by its engrossing world, but the gameplay they found there is where things begin to vary. IGN (94/100): "I wanted it to keep going. That's because Ni No Kuni is just that special, and every RPG fan owes it to him or herself to pick it up and see why." Gamespot (90/100): "Ni no Kuni proudly joins that elite group of games providing such an enticing world that you can't imagine never having visited it. The only problem, of course, is that you may never want to leave." Eurogamer (90/100): "Ni no Kuni is rich yet breezy, classic yet modern, exquisitely made and completely sure of itself. Best of all, Level-5 and Ghibli's artists have worked together to create a gorgeous adventure that feels like it belongs to both of them." Game Informer (70/100): "Despite the adrenaline-pumping intensity, the battle system has its frustrations. Sometimes the window to defend passes far too quickly. Not only must you select defend for your character, you must also order the sub-par AI companions to protect themselves as well." Polygon (65/100): "I was charmed, but always by stuff surrounding the gameplay - never by the gameplay itself. Level-5 hasn't created a bad game but an inconsistent one that doesn't seem to understand its own strengths and weaknesses. The flashy look and cheerful tone will pull some people through, but at its core, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is missing a chunk of its heart that's hard to ignore. "
Ni No Kuni review: Fairy tale wedding
You know the phrase "You should never judge a JRPG by its authentic adaptation of a cherished animation studio's art style?" Well, that happens to apply to Level-5 and Studio Ghibli's Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, in a good way. It's like a computer made entirely out of triple chocolate; the sweet Ghibli coating is as inviting as it is generous, but it distracts from the magnitude of something that works when it probably shouldn't.Ni No Kuni's combat, its all-important core, is an ambitious fusion of elements from many different walks of Japanese role-playing games, and in particular Pokémon. On paper it's a muddle of methods, but on screen it is the game's enduring component, and frankly a bit of a triumph. It is also what best exemplifies Ni No Kuni: a marriage of styles with a very happy ending.%Gallery-176871%
PSN Tuesday: Ni No Kuni, The Cave, Dust 514 open beta
This week's PSN content dump is live, headlined by Studio Ghibli and Level-5's joint JRPG, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The other big new game is Double Fine Production's The Cave, the adventure game helmed by none other than iconic video game designer Ron Gilbert.Today also kicks off the open beta for Dust 514, the massively-multiplayer online shooter from CCP Games. PS Plus subscribers have a slew of discounts to consider, like NiGHTS into Dreams, The Unfinished Swan, Psychonauts and more. The full list of this week's content can be found over on the PlayStation Blog.
