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Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded for DS revealed in Square Enix E3 lineup
Square Enix has announced its lineup of games to be shown at E3, and, while there may be surprises yet to be revealed, the company has already unveiled a rather big one. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, a new DS game by 358/2 Days developer h.a.n.d., will be on display at the show. The game sounds like an action-RPG remake of the Japan-only mobile game Kingdom Hearts: Coded, in which a virtual Sora retraces his steps through the original Kingdom Hearts. "Jiminy Cricket is looking over the journal he used to document his first adventure with Sora when he discovers a mysterious message," according to the description of Re:Coded included in Square's E3 press release. "He didn't write it – so how on earth did it get there? King Mickey is determined to find out, so he and his friends decide to digitize the journal and delve into its deepest secrets. Inside this "datascape" dwells a second Sora who is about to embark on a grand adventure of his very own." The game currently has a "TBD" release date. Square Enix didn't specify how much of the game would be shown, but considering it's just been announced, we expect little more than a trailer.
Monster Hunter Tri guide introduces a monster of questionable huntability
Monster Hunter Tri is dangerous business. So dangerous, in fact, that Capcom felt the need to warn us about some of the harder-to-hunt monsters. In the last entry in its "Dangerous Guide to Monster Hunting," the publisher introduces the "Alatreon," which sounds like something that should only be taken on by the craziest, death-wishingest of hunters. After the break, you can see footage of the dragon tearing around a lava pit, where it apparently lives. At Capcom-Unity, you can read all about how these things " mercilessly tear apart whoever touches their sharp scales," and are so powerful that "their actions can affect the very weather." Okay, now who's ready to go swing a sword at one of these? The post also features links to the other entries in the "Dangerous Guide," so you can read up on the other creatures you'd have to be a reckless idiot to fight.
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.
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.
GDC10: Dragon Nest hands-on
Ever since the Diablo franchise hit it big with gamers across the world, competing companies have attempted to replicate Blizzard's addictive click-and-loot gameplay with varying degrees of success. There's just something satisfying on a primal level when you wipe out entire armies of monsters with a mere 2,142 mouse clicks. Mega-MMO publisher Nexon (Mabinogi, Dungeon Fighter Online) is bringing over another contender in Dragon Nest, a fast and furious dungeon crawler (minus the Vin Diesel, unfortunately). At GDC 2010, we were fortunate enough to nab a hands-on with Dragon Nest, a title could almost be considered a sibling of Nexon's Vindictus. Both games are action-oriented, twitch-based and include cutting through swaths of enemies for the glory of your inventory. However, while Vindictus is serious in tone and looks, Dragon Nest goes for a "cuter" feel. In markets where Dragon Nest and Vindictus exist simultaneously, such as Korea, each can co-exist peacefully while not undercutting one another. Of course, Dragon Nest is more than a cute face and a mouse waiting to be worn out -- hit the jump after the gallery to chew through this colorful game with us. %Gallery-118909%
Runic Games 'putting serious effort' into console Torchlight
Speaking to The Rumble Pack, Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer declared that his company is actively pursuing a console port of its PC action RPG, Torchlight. "We're going to put some serious effort into it -- pretty quick -- getting Torchlight onto consoles," said Schaefer. "There's a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game," he added, "So, we are definitely going to be going in that direction." He offered no specifics on the project, saying only that the company is "talking to a million people" and that it's "something we definitely want to do. We were quite taken with Torchlight when it released on PC last year -- the game landed more than a few of our staff's best of 2009 lists -- so here's hoping we'll get some more details soon.
Amazon offering $10 credit with Monster Hunter 3
If you're absolutely certain that you want to do the following two things: Buy Monster Hunter Tri Buy $10 worth of other things from Amazon in the near future Good news! The retailer is now offering a free $10 credit with purchases of both the standard edition and Classic Controller Pro bundle of Monster Hunter Tri. For some reason, it's not listed on Amazon's $10 Bonus Offers page, but the game's page mentions the deal. In addition to that bonus, the standard edition is currently priced at $44.99, so you'd effectively be getting Monster Hunter for $34.99. [Via GoNintendo]
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%
D3 serving God Eater to North America in Q3 2010
Namco Bandai's God Eater debuted to strong sales in Japan upon its release on February 4. Namco Bandai -- or rather, its subsidiary, D3 Publisher -- has wasted no time in announcing a localized version of the PSP action RPG. The Monster Hunter-like God Eater, targeted for a Q3 2010 release, puts players in control of "God Eaters," people fighting against the monsters that have overtaken the modern world. They do this with transforming magical weapons called Jinki -- giant weapons that become beast-like when powered up. While you wait for Q3 to arrive, why not try the game right now? You can download the Japanese demo from the game's website.
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.
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.
Nier nears release in April (if you're near Japan)
Square Enix's angriest game ever, Nier, recently received a firm Japanese release date: Both iterations of the game (Nier Gestalt and Nier Replicant) will be landing on Japan's store shelves on April 22. Considering the current U.S. release window of Spring 2010, we wouldn't be surprised if we got our hands on the game soon after. However, we've been wrong before! Like that time we saw Nier at E3 last year, and were all like "man, there's no way they're actually going to finish and release this."
Blueside's 'Project T' MMO also in development for Xbox 360
We'd heard before that Korean developer Blueside (of Ninety-Nine Nights and Kingdom Under Fire) was working on a sekrit massively multiplayer game called Project T for the PC, but now we've learned that it's also planning to release the game on the Xbox 360. A Korean job listing for the company says that the MMORPG is in development for both platforms, and asks for game programming skills of all kinds, including experience working on commercial MMOs. The game is supposed to be an "action RPG," so it actually sounds like a pretty good fit to try for the more action-friendly console world. The job listing specifies a contract time of one year (though that seems pretty boilerplate in these situations), and the MMO was last scheduled for a release sometime in 2011. The company's also working on some MMO-style gameplay for its upcoming Kingdom Under Fire II.
Torchlight gets big Steam update, half-price weekend
Valve knows you, conservative Steam user. You've been holding out for a discount on the already low-priced Torchlight from Runic Games, using the game's lack of Achievements and Steam Cloud support as an excuse to do so, haven't you? Haven't you?! It's alright (and we're sorry for yelling)! But we had to get your attention to tell you that Steam's benevolent overlords are already thinking a few steps ahead, adding the aforementioned Cheevos and Cloud support in an update last night as well as dropping the game's price by 50% for the duration of the weekend. For $9.99, you can venture into the land of Torchlight and click to your heart's content -- there's even a demo if you're so inclined. The deal last's until Monday, so let's hope you're an expedient Steam user as well as a conservative one. %Gallery-72098%
Zelda: Spirit Tracks trailer, now with more Zelda
Nintendo's new The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks trailer (after the break) reveals a more exciting innovation than the whole train thing: You're not exactly rescuing Zelda in this game. In fact, she travels with you the whole time ... in spirit! In one of the craziest Zelda trailers we've ever seen, some wizard shows up and turns Zelda into a ghost, and then she sort of mopes around as an apparition until some guy with wheels suggests that she go on a road trip with Link. If you were wondering how Link could gain control of the Phantoms in this upcoming DS game, it's not through a musical instrument he finds in a treasure chest (the usual Zelda route), but rather it's because Princess Zelda possesses them. %Gallery-48535%
Torchlight to explore retail shelves in January
Torchlight, the action-RPG from Runic Games, is available right now via the game's official site or Steam. However, early next year, the game will also be available at brick-and-mortar shops, Joystiq sister site Big Download confirms. The news comes from Runic Games' head of PR, who says that a boxed version will hack and slash its way to retail shelves sometime in early January. Currently, Torchlight is only compatible with Windows, but the team is hard at work getting it ready for Macs and is also preparing the game's first patch and mod tools. If you fancy yourself a fan of the Diablo series and have Steam, then give the demo a chance -- Torchlight was created in part by Diablo and Diablo II co-designers Max and Erich Schaefer, after all. %Gallery-72098%
3D Dot Game Heroes being localized by unknown 3D game publishing heroes
"No need to import," the 'SonyPlayStation' Twitter account reports. "3D Dot Game Heroes for PS3 is DEFINITELY coming to NA! Spread the word, more to come." And here we are, spreading the word.From Software's gorgeous, retro-inspired action-RPG will be released in Japan in November, but until now, we've heard nothing about localization. And as Zelda fans and (shameful) Spelunker fans ... and fans of the retro-but-high-def aesthetic that From has assembled out of blocks, we've been listening intently. Sony's Jeff Rubenstein told Joystiq that SCEA will not be the publisher, but the actual publisher allowed the news to be "leaked" on Twitter. He couldn't say who the publisher was or when we could expect the game, though he told us that more info will appear on the PlayStation Blog. We would speculate that it's the company who published the last (surprisingly successful) From Software PS3 game, Demon's Souls, and who deals almost exclusively in this kind of niche Japanese product: Atlus, whom we're contacting right away. [Image credit] [Thanks, HeavyToka]
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks pulling into retail station Dec. 7
A Nintendo press release promoting the company's holiday lineup has confirmed a December 7 release date for Link's next Nintendo DS-based outing, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. That's just in time for the cold, harsh winter -- but it's still quite a ways off. We suggest playing through Phantom Hourglass while watching reruns of Thomas the Tank Engine in order to tide yourself over until then. If you're not familiar with the Spirit-ed, Hylian adventure, check out our hands-on impressions of the game from E3 earlier this year, or watch the debut GDC trailer! %Gallery-48535%
Hunt monsters in Namco Bandai's 'God Eater'
Famitsu scans have revealed the God Eater project whose title was trademarked by Namco Bandai a couple of months ago. It's a multiplayer action game for PSP that appears aimed at the Monster Hunter market (which, let's be honest, every Japanese developer probably should be trying to do on the PSP). God Eater trades out the fantasy setting of Monster Hunter for a more futuristic, industrial venue. It features a mix of mythical creatures and big, robotic monsters. According to Siliconera, God Eater will be out this fall in Japan. The existence of that US trademark suggests that the company will be releasing it here as well.
