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Watch a few minutes of Record of Agarest War's '100 hour' adventure
Niche RPG Record of Agarest War is coming to the States (in English!) courtesy of Aksys Games this fall. Considering the limited appeal of oldschool 2D sprite-based RPGs, the publisher has opted to distribute the game exclusively through the PlayStation Network. While it may be a "mere" downloadable title, Aksys is promoting the game's supposed "100 hours" of gameplay, making it easily one of the lengthiest PSN titles ever.Record of Agarest War is known for its use of anime fanservice and this initial clip shows us why. Apparently, girls have trouble covering the entirety of their chests in the world of Agarest. While that may prove to be problematic in battle, the video (after the break) shows that real warriors have no need for appropriate attire.%Gallery-71232%
Battle Fantasia to attack PlayStation Network this year
Arc System Works' quirky 2D fighting game, Battle Fantasia, never found a PS3 release in the States. That's about to change later this year, as Aksys plans on releasing the cult title as a downloadable PlayStation Network game this fall. The publisher told Siliconera that players can expect "some surprises" for the digital release, but we're not sure if gamers will care. The lengthy delay and lackluster critical reviews may fend off the wary. Battle Fantasia will need some new content (and a low price point!) to offset the lengthy delay and low critical reviews of the original.
NintendoWare Weekly: NEVES Plus brings Art Style to SimEarth
This week's star of the show is undoubtedly WiiWare, which receives the very rare "three-title-update." Playing second and third fiddle are DSiWare and the Virtual Console, which both get the usual one new title. So, without further ado, let's check out what's available to download this week across Nintendo platforms in the latest NintendoWare Weekly. %Gallery-48138%
Bit.Trip: Beat makes a Bit.Eurotrip this week
Gaijin Games' ridiculously difficult music/Pong experience, Bit.Trip: Beat, just came out this week in Japan (where it is actually a gaijin game). Gaijin just announced that the game will be released on the PAL Wii Shop this Friday. "Sorry for the long wait, European gamers," the developer's blog states. "Start loadin' up those Wii Points and get ready for some BIT.TRIP BEAT insanity!"We can hardly think of a better use for your 600 Wii Points (if you already have Devil's Crush). Just be warned: you will not complete this game the first time you play it. You will not, in fact, complete the first stage.%Gallery-43105%[Via Cubed3]
Joyswag: Bit.Trip: Beat (WiiWare)
Update: Sorry, folks, entry is closed. Thank you all for entering and keep an eye on your email inbox!We have 3 copies of the super fun Bit.Trip: Beat to give away, thanks to the fine folks at Gaijin Games! You all know the drill: follow the rules below and you might just win! We'll be crossing our fingers just for you. Leave a comment telling us the toughest (but still fun) game you've ever played You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day This entry period ends at 2:59 pm ET on Friday, April 3. We'll randomly select 3 winners at that time to each receive a Bit.Trip: Beat for WiiWare (ARV: $6.00) For a list of complete rules, click here %Gallery-43105%
The new Jake Hunter game may not be terrible
We were ridiculously excited about the North American debut of Workjam's Tantei Jinguuji Saburo detective adventure series -- until Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles actually came out, and turned out to be a mess of poor localization and incomplete content. Whoops.North American publisher Aksys Games is taking the rare step of correcting its mistake in the followup, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past. In addition to three new cases (judging by the art, they are the cases from the DS game Tantei Jinguuji Saburo Detective Story: Kienai Kokoro) and six new adorably drawn "comedic" adventures, Memories of the Past also includes all three cases from the first game, with a new localization! "Like a Phoenix, Jake Hunter has been reborn as a game infused with personality and a brand new localization that will keep you coming back for seconds," Frank deWindt II, project lead for the game, said in the press release. We see what he did there and wonder if it signals an intentionally quirkier re-Wright for the cases.In other Aksys news, the company announced a very cute multi-instrument music game called Rockin' Pretty.%Gallery-46073%
Family Pirate Party brings pirates, oxymorons to WiiWare
By all rights, "pirate" and "family" should never be used in the same sentence, unless that sentence is "A pirate killed my entire family." Still, somewhere between Sid Meier's Pirates! and Johnny Depp it seems that pirates have gone from being the scourge of the Seven Seas to high-flying family entertainment. Sure, they might rape and pillage, but they also say "Arrrrrgh!" and keep hilarious monkeys as pets. We imagine it's the newer, friendlier brand of pirates that's present in Aksys Games upcoming Family Pirate Party for WiiWare.Actually, as it turns out, the game stars the same family seen in Family Glide Hockey, which released earlier this year and was pretty awful. Family Pirate Party is a board game that has players sailing to various islands, plundering treasure and participating in "hilariously exciting minigames." Hey, the Wii could always use more minigames, right?Fun fact: Family Pirate Party is made by Arc System Works, the same developer that brought us Guilty Gear. We're confused too.%Gallery-46058%
Watch this exclusive Bit.Trip: Beat trailer
No, we're serious. You don't know what unspeakable acts we had to perform to secure this exclusive trailer for the Gaijin-developed, Aksys-published Bit.Trip: Beat. If you don't watch it, we're going to throw out this BFF bracelet you made us and show up at your house demanding those mix tapes back. You know, the ones that had all of those Air Supply and Bryan Adams tracks on them. So, watch the 4-bit goodness in the video above and stock up on some Wii Points. You're going to want to check out this quirky rhythm game when it releases. Gallery: Bit.Trip: Beat
VC Friday: A new day for Samegame
This week on the PAL Wii Shop, it's WiiWare's time to ... uh ... "shine", with two new family-friendly multiplayer experiences -- one of which may be fun! Arc System Works' Family Glide Hockey is pretty much a non-starter, but Hudson's Pop Them, Drop Them SameGame might be of interest, should you be able to surmount the mental hurdle of oh come on another puzzle game. The core gameplay is, shall we say, proven (read: old), and the "Fame Game", "Shame Game", and "Blame Game" multiplayer modes are certainly named cutely enough to attract our attention. Family Glide Hockey -- WiiWare -- 500 Wii Points Pop Them Drop Them SAMEGAME -- WiiWare -- 500 Wii Points Glide past the post break for videos of both games.%Gallery-42363%
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus coming to PS2, PSP, Wii
Fans of 2D fighters and the Guilty Gear franchise, prepare for enjoyment. Aksys has revealed Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, which is set to grace the PS2, PSP, and Wii with its 2D splendor in Spring 2009. As big fans of 2D fighters, we were more than happy to receive the press release and pass the info along to you all. So, what should you expect?Well, there will be punching. There's also going to be some kicking. And, by all means, do not freak out when you see a character or two jump. Jokes aside, it's another Guilty Gear game. You pretty much know what you're getting into by now.%Gallery-43275%
Bit.Trip: Beat could bounce our way as soon as February
In an interview with Game Music 4 All, Gaijin Games' Alex Neuse offered a potential launch window for the ultra-retro music game Bit.Trip: Beat. "We are madly scrambling to finish the game up as I type this," Neuse said. "Our hopeful launch will be in mid-February, but I will not promise a date yet. :)" Of course, even if there were a specific date, WiiWare launch dates are unreliable and infinitely mutable based pretty much on Nintendo's whims. We're just glad to hear that he's thinking it could come out soon! When it does come out, in addition to three original tracks included (which will build based on the player's performance, like Rez), two tracks from chiptune superstar Bit Shifter will be included in the game, as the menu and credits music! It's like Bit.Trip: Beat is the official game of chiptunes!Neuse gave a couple of vague hints about upcoming Bit.Trip sequels, as well. "Episode 2 of the BIT.TRIP saga will continue the story of CommanderVideo's mission and will also introduce an entirely new gameplay mechanic-still rhythm based of course, and still chiptuney." We knew it was going to be a series, but we didn't know they were all going to be rhythm games. This is wonderful. %Gallery-43105%
Wii Fanboy Review: Family Glide Hockey
Family Glide Hockey had serious potential. A series of cheap, simple downloadable sports games in the Wii Sports tradition is a fantastic idea -- one that, if done right, would easily be one (or more) of the WiiWare service's killer apps. Glide Hockey's predecessor Family Table Tennis actually delivered on the promise of the cheapo family sports game, giving me hope for the series. Plus, air hockey, the arcade attraction on which the WiiWare game is based, is generally awesome and underrepresented in games. The combination of good family sports game series and air hockey seemed like a natural winner. "Natural" and "winner" are two appelations that fail to describe Family Glide Hockey in any way.%Gallery-36359%
Retail and download releases for the week of January 19th
Another week, another slew of new gaming content for the Wii. This week, we've got two new WiiWare titles that we've all been waiting for, as well as one new Virtual Console game and a handful of retail releases. Hop past the break for this week's full list. Planning on getting anything? Let us know in the comments!%Gallery-34273%
Wii Warm Up: Bit.Trip: Which Beats?
The debut footage of Gaijin Games' Bit.Trip: Beat received a mainly positive response from our (obviously very cultured) readers, but one comment in particular got us thinking. Reader Go1denchi1d suggested the game needed an editor, to allow us to compile our own chiptune ditties, and we could not agree more strongly.No such feature has been announced (yet), but if it were, which song would you want to recreate (and deflect colored blocks to) first?
Bit.Trip: Beat is 2600 kinds of awesome
We knew on an academic level that Gaijin Games' Bit.Trip: Beat was a retro-style game that combined Pong and rhythm, which sounds pretty great. But it wasn't until the minimalist site for the Aksys-published WiiWare title opened and we saw this trailer that we fully understood the glory of Bit.Trip. Gaijin Games and Aksys have fully been forgiven for the silly viral marketing business.It's the first game that comes to mind to attempt Atari 2600 nostalgia in a non-jokey way! And, in an incredibly risky and cool move, it actually uses authentic bleeps as the melodic elements at play in the game, albeit backed by full instrumentation. We are suddenly looking forward to this WiiWare release more than almost anything else.
Rez meets Pong? The game behind the 'Commander' viral campaign
Just as we were preparing to play along with the "Commander" viral campaign for months on end, Nintendo Power came along and saved us from a lot of tedious guessing by just revealing the damn game. And, hey, the once-mysterious title sounds way cooler than its viral marketing.The Gaijin-developed, Aksys-published Bit.Trip: Beat is a rhythm-based WiiWare game in which you rotate your Wii Remote to control an on-screen paddle and bat away colored blocks to music. As blocks hit your paddle, they create sound effects of their own that blend into the "pumping" tunes.According to the magazine, good timing is crucial, because you'll need to deflect blocks in sync with the soundtrack. Play well, and the visuals become "flashier." Play poorly, and the visuals lose their color, and the sounds dwindle down to mere, simple bleeps. Throughout the three levels (each of which has a boss battle), the block invasions become more complex. Finally, there'll be a four-player co-op mode, and five other releases in the series to look forward to.So there we go: mystery solved, and an awesome new WiiWare title to look forward to!
Family Glide Hockey whooshing to US WiiWare [update]
[Update: after the break, four videos of Family Glide Hockey in motion.]We love air hockey, and we're pretty friendly with Family Table Tennis, so we're pleased to see that Aksys has chosen to release the second Family sports title for WiiWare, Okiraku Air Hockey, in North America as Family Glide Hockey.Family Glide Hockey adds several twists to the delightful arcade attraction including ridiculous locations, weird tables, special shots, and extra minigames like Glide Hockey Drill, in which you ... solve math problems? As for when it's coming out, Aksys says "this holiday," and even if they had specified a release date, we wouldn't be able to trust it, because Nintendo doesn't seem to want people to know when downloadable games come out. %Gallery-36359%[Via press release]
Super Dodgeball Bargain
We were dismayed (but not surprised) when Aksys Games' Super Dodgeball Brawlers failed to ignite the sales chartz. In a DS Fanboy-run world, any new Kunio game would be the subject of massive in-store promotions, print, TV, and online advertising, and magazine covers galore. But in the inferior real world, it's just a cute DS game that reminds people of that one NES game they played on an emulator in college.In case you are among the group interested in Brawlers, but didn't have the cash together to pick it up, Gamestop has dropped the price to $20. This game for $20 is the best post-E3 news yet!%Gallery-14440%
Who needs E3? iPhone engraved with River City Ransom
When Sal Cangeloso of Geek.com had the chance to get his (no doubt super-expensive) iPhone engraved with a laser-etched design of his choice, he didn't opt for something as mundane as having his name on there (though "Sal Cangeloso" is one rad name). Instead, he chose possibly the most awesome, most BARF!-tastic design that has ever appeared on an iPhone -- this still of River City Ransom's Alex doling out the pain to some Generic Dude.Forget E3, people -- this has just trumped everything that could possibly appear in LA over the next few days.[Thanks, Sal!]
Theresia piles on the style
We remarked yesterday how Theresia isn't the first survival horror title on the DS, but it's definitely shaping up to be the most eye-catching. We find the occasional use of color (usually red, in Theresia's case) nicely accentuates the largely black-and-white surreal visuals, making for a striking combination. You can see more in our new gallery for the game.If you haven't already heard, this Arc System Works/Workjam collaboration is getting localized for North America this October by Aksys. Hopefully we'll be seeing some English screens soon, because we're looking forward to sinking our teeth into what sounds like a fairly highbrow plot!%Gallery-27060%[Via press release]
