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NintendoWare Weekly: Bit.Trip Runner, Looksley's Line Up, Kirby Super Star
It's quite the week for the DSi and Wii as far as downloadables go -- Bit.Trip Runner arrives on WiiWare today and EA, Tecmo Koei and Konami all offer solid titles for DSiWare. Oh, and you can finally get your hands on Looksley's Line Up, the interesting 3D DSiWare game from Nintendo. There's even a new Virtual Console game starring a certain hungry pink blob to check out!
Bit. Trip Runner crosses the finish line in Europe first
Bit.Trip Beat hit Europe a month after it arrived in North America, as did Core. Void was almost three months behind. However, European Wii owners won't have to wait in agony while the western hemisphere enjoys Bit.Trip Runner. In a brief announcement, Gaijin Games revealed that the chiptune-filled rhythm platformer will be released in Europe in Australia on May 14, three days before it arrives in North America. To help you decide whether or not this is welcome news, we've embedded the trailer. You'll find this out when you watch, but spoiler alert: yes, this is probably great news if you're a PAL gamer.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift FightStick is blazing, blue
click to enter our Tournament Edition Gallery Do you want a Mad Catz Tournament Edition FightStick, but ... bluer? Mad Catz and Aksys have just announced a BlazBlue: Continuum Shift FightStick, featuring imagery from the upcoming BlazBlue sequel. Like the latest revision of the Super Street Fighter IV stick, this controller features genuine Sanwa parts and internal storage for the 13-foot cable. Only 3,000 sticks will be produced: 1,500 each for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The only place you'll be able to get one is through Aksys's online store. Pre-orders will ship in June for $199.99. With those limited quantities, if you want one, you should probably look into that soon. We're holding out for a BlayzBloo DS arcade stick. %Gallery-92122%
Record of Agarest War on PSN this week, requires 18GB of free space
Aksys' not-actually-very-erotic-but-being-marketed-that-way SRPG Record of Agarest War is finally coming to the North American PlayStation Store this week. Available this Thursday for $44.99, the only way you'll be able to play this game on PS3 is to download the game via PSN. However, don't expect to play the game right away. As promised, it's a hefty download: 10GB. However, while the download is 10GB, you'll need 18GB of free space on your hard drive in order to complete the installation. To see how much free space you have, go to System Settings -> System Information on the XMB. If you plan on having the game download and install overnight, go to Users -> Turn Off System once you queue up the download, so that your PS3 can automatically shut down after installing the game.
ESRB: Cute BlazBlue spinoff bound for North American DSiWare
If you prefer your fighting games adorable, you've probably been keeping an eye on BlazBlue: Battle x Battle, a four-player DSiWare fighter starring chibi versions of the characters from BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. The ESRB just telegraphed plans by Aksys to localize the downloadable fighter -- under the strange title Blayzbloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale. Why "Blayzbloo"? Arc System Works differentiated the DSiWare game from the original title by spelling "BlazBlue" in Japanese hiragana, rather than the English alphabet used for the main series. To preserve the change without using a different writing system, Aksys spelled it differently. It's pretty whimsical. Speaking of whimsy, the ESRB description of the arena fighting game describes the following modes: " last-man standing, hitting opponents to collect soba noodles, and capture-the-flag." We're contacting Aksys to find out when you'll be able to fight for noodles.
Aksys resurrects 'River City' name for DS sports games
The latest announcement from Aksys games includes two surprises. It doesn't come as a shock that the company would choose to localize Kunio-kun no Chou Nekketsu Daiundokai (Kunio's Extreme Hot-Blooded Athletic Meet) for DS -- Aksys is fairly reliable about picking up everything Arc System Works releases in Japan, and it published the last new Kunio game for DS, Super Dodgeball Brawlers, in 2008. However, in addition to the multi-sporting event game (a sort of sequel to the NES game Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge), it also announced a new Kunio soccer game that hasn't even been announced in Japan. You may be familiar with Nintendo World Cup for the NES -- that was originally a Kunio game too. Much like Super Dodgeball Brawlers, you can expect both of these to be revivals of NES sport classics. The other big surprise is the naming scheme Aksys has adopted. Building on the popularity of the best-known Kunio game -- River City Ransom -- these games are being localized as River City Super Sports Challenge and River City Soccer Hooligans. That's basically enough for us to pretend they're really odd River City Ransom sequels. Aksys hasn't dated either game yet.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift gaining a character in console port
As we heard from Famitsu leaks, Arc System Works' arcade Blazblue followup is coming home to consoles. Blazblue: Continuum Shift will feature the three new characters added to the arcade release -- Tsubaki Yayoi, Hazama, and λ-11, as well as one new console-exclusive character, the cyborg μ-12. According to Siliconera, the new home release will also include a beginner mode, and the strategic Legion Mode introduced in BlazBlue Portable. So you'll be able to randomly mash buttons as usual, but you'll win territory by doing so. No time frame or consoles are known at the moment, but the original BlazBlue was released on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
BlazBlue: Battle x Battle out this week on Japan's DSiWare store
Like many fighting game fans, you really enjoyed BlazBlue last year, but you had this irking feeling that the game would be just perfect if the characters were only a little more ... kawaii. Good news! Your wish has come true. Arc System Works says that its DSiWare version of the acclaimed fighter is ready to go. BlazBlue: Battle x Battle, which features big-headed cutesie versions of the full game's fighters battling it out Power Stone-style, will be available on the DSi's downloadable store this Wednesday. It looks, erm, interesting. Unfortunately, even if you were waiting to see a 2D franchise go 3D with hideously deformed versions of its characters, Battle x Battle is only available in Japan for now, so you'll either have to have a DSi from that region, or you'll have to wait until Aksys decides to release it here. If it keeps that 500 DSi point price, it might be worth a try.
Cave's Deathsmiles bringing bullet hell to North America via Aksys
click to horizontally scroll through our gallery Japanese developer CAVE is famous for its hardcore "bullet hell" shooters -- at least among importers, because the console versions of those shooters have never been localized. Nobody's been crazy enough to put the time and money into one of the super-hard niche shoot-em-ups, until today, when Aksys Games (the company crazy enough to localize Cho Aniki Zero) announced that it will publish Deathsmiles on the Xbox 360. While this is going to be incredible news to shmup devotees, Deathsmiles may be a hard sell to general audiences, with its "gothic lolita" aesthetic and punishing difficulty. Those who do check out Deathsmiles for whatever reason will find a horizontal shooter with branching paths, online co-op play, and, in the words of Aksys's Cherie Baker, "little girls flying through a gothic otherworld to destroy the horrific, necrotic Imperator Tyrannosatan." Aksys has yet to announce a release date for Deathsmiles. %Gallery-83388%
BlazBlue Portable confirmed for US retail, PlayStation Store
Confirming an earlier GameFly listing, Askys Games has announced that BlazBlue Portable will be hitting, juggling and then pulverizing the US in a succession of 673 extra-dimensional laser punches this March. The PSP version of the frenetic fighter will be available via UMD at first, and then the PlayStation Store approximately two weeks later. Thankfully, fans of the console game's bold, 2D artwork need not worry about a calamity being triggered (hnngggghhh) in the miniaturization process. According to Aksys project lead Michael Manzanares, "Every frame of animation and hit box is painstakingly replicated from the original game, so all of your combos work without a hitch. And new Unlimited versions of your favorite characters don't hurt, either." BlazBlue Portable will also support multiplayer battles via Ad-Hoc mode, so you can punch all your friends -- right in their foolishly unprotected hit boxes.
Aksys: Battle Fantasia on PSN 'next week'
Publisher Aksys tells Siliconera that Battle Fantasia will release on PSN "next week." It's yet to be confirmed whether the PSN update will occur on Tuesday or Thursday next week (considering the holiday), but our money's on Tuesday. There's currently no details on pricing for the fighter, however.
Record of Agarest War is largest PSN game ever
If you managed to get into the MAG beta and thought that was a lot of downloading, Aksys' Record of Agarest War is going to blow your mind. The PSN title will weigh in "somewhere around 8 - 10 gigs," an Aksys employee posted on the game's forums. Obviously, eight to ten gigabytes isn't going to be much space for your PS3's big and burly hard drive and it's definitely understandable considering the game was originally a disc-based release in Europe; however, the time it'll take to download all of those gigglebytes is another story. We suggest starting the download before you go to bed or -- considering the "100 hour" adventure isn't actually out yet -- taking the Delorean up to 88MPH. [Via Siliconera] %Gallery-71232%
Aksys localizing Mimana Iyar Chronicles for UMD, PSN
It's a surprising that a game with the pedigree of the Lunar series hasn't found its way stateside yet. Aksys is showing even more love for PlayStation fans by announcing plans to localize the JRPG for both a UMD and PSN release.Mimana Iyar Chronicles is a traditional 2D JRPG from Kogado Studios and Premium Agency, featuring anime cutscenes and a real-time battle system. It's currently scheduled for a Spring 2010 release, meaning we're bound to find out more about the game closer to release.%Gallery-76407%
Cho Aniki Zero making PSP more manly in Spring 2010
Our somewhat boring day took a turn for the legendary when we received an Aksys press release informing us that the beefcake-infused side-scrolling shooter, Cho Aniki Zero, would appear on the PSP as a PSN download (exclusively) next Spring. The legendary-ness arose not as a result of our excitement for the game (which is immeasurable in its own right), but due to the content of the press release itself. The entire release can be found after the jump, but we've culled our favorite phrases, forming the following poignant, beautiful found poem: Exaltation. Oiled up and ready to thrust. Epic struggle. Muscle-bounded forces. Manliness. Another dimension of sights and sounds. Heightened experiences of rhythmic action. Man-rageous. Brotherly love. Muscle-on-muscle madness. Man-tastic voyage. Man Protein. The greatest bromances of all time. (Snaps.) %Gallery-76401%
NintendoWare Weekly: You, Last Ninja 2, Family Tennis and the Cubes
Studies show that American consumers are most receptive to downloadable content at the beginning of the week. It's true! Why do you think Nintendo dumps its releases out on Mondays? It's not rocket science, people. But, we digress. Hop past the break to check out what's new this week for download on Wii and DSi.
Austin GDC 2009: Gaijin Games hints at Bit.Trip: Void release date, next game
Following his panel about Gaijin Games' design process, we approached art director Mike Roush to try to get some more information about Bit.Trip: Void -- specifically, when we'll be able to download and play it. He wasn't entirely sure, because nobody is when it comes to downloadable Nintendo releases, but he told us, "If I were to guess, it would be mid-October. We wanted to push that release date back." Roush said that Gaijin is shooting for a simultaneous worldwide release for the Ikaruga-ish dot-absorbing game, after receiving some "flak" from impatient European fans. While we were chatting, we tried our wiliest interview techniques to try to extract some hints about the next Bit.Trip title -- which is to say we asked for hints about the next Bit. Trip title. "I will not give you a hint," Roush said. "However, it is the game we all wanted to make when we started Gaijin Games. It's the game we've been waiting for... I will give you a hint: it will be based off of an Atari game." And no, it isn't Warlords. We asked.
VC in Brief: Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge (NES)
Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge (NES, 1 - 2 players, 500 Wii Points)We say: Fun, but tiringCrash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge is pretty awesome, don't get me wrong, but it can be a bit much during extended play sessions. For the 400m Hurdles, my left arm would become quite strained because your speed is dictated by how well you can spam the d-pad (admittedly, it also has to do with how well you can navigate the hurdles). Despite this and some of the more tedious activities within, Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge is still a great time. Check it out! Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks.
NintendoWare Weekly: Spaceball, Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge
It's been a longer-than-usual wait, but Nintendo has finally gone ahead and updated with this week's downloadable content. In addition to new WiiWare games, a new Virtual Console game and some fresh DSiWare content, there's a renovated Nintendo Channel to check out. Head past the break and see what's in store this week.
WiiWare fills its Bit.Trip Void
Ever felt like something was missing from the WiiWare lineup? Ever feel like the Bit.Trip series needed to be a trilogy? Good, because Aksys has just announced Bit.Trip Void for WiiWare. Like Bit.Trip Beat and Bit.Trip Core before it, Void takes retro visuals and gameplay and fuses it with a psychadelic chiptune soundtrack to create a synesthetic experience that would make Mizuguchi proud.Bit.Trip Void will feature four player local co-op when it debuts on WiiWare later this year. However, players will be able to get an early hands-on at PAX this weekend.
Explore the Void with Aksys and Gaijin Games
Gaijin Games is up to its old tricks again, offering inscrutable teasers for an upcoming game, though the new "Explore the Void" site is much more quietly lovely than the Commander Video mysteries we're used to. Over the last week or so, the developer has posted images to the site that have now been revealed as extreme closeups of satellite dishes in silhouette. What does it mean for the next game? Bit. Trip: Dish? Bit. Trip: Transmit?Bit. Trip: Zoomed In Images of Everyday Objects? At least we have pretty pictures to look at while we contemplate this puzzle.
