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BlazeBlue: 2D fighting lives on the PS3
One thing to mention before we continue -- this game is by Arc System Works, the genius designers behind the Guilty Gear franchise. Their new game, BlazeBlue, seems to take a lot of nods from that series. Both appear to be in amazing 2D, both have similar character designs, and both will probably drive you crazy with the amount of stuff happening at once. BlazeBlue, however, is apparently exclusive to the PS3.The person who uploaded the Famitsu scans, KingJ2002, claims the game actually follows Guilty Gear XX, taking place ten years after that title. We think that's hogwash. If anyone can read Japanese, let us know if this is accurate or not. We'll pretend it's a new game built with different mechanics in place so there's a new way to play 2D fighters. Check out the scans over at NeoGAF at tell us what you think!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Boot country'
If you're having trouble making out what it is exactly that Lorenzo is tossing across the field, it's a giant pizza, heavy on the green peppers. Aksys' most recent video update for Super Dodgeball Brawlers showcases the special throws of Team Italy, a smooth bunch that insists on walking into every match wearing leather jackets, open arms and thumbs up, introducing themselves with an "Aaay!"IGN also has a two-minute movie worth checking out, in which you can see the two teams actually trading shots with each other. We need more of this! As with the mini-clips, the video is soundless, but you'll get to see our paisanos throwing a vending machine at people's heads. Team Italy's celebratory pirouettes are worth watching, too!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Ich bin ein Dodgeballer'
Aksys' latest Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos take us to Germany, the land of Deutsches. Boasting a six-man squad of supermen, Team Germany has its own array of power throws to show off.Those of you who've been following Aksys' updates should already know what to expect from this new set -- clips without sound or any lasting entertaining value. Also, while each of the eight special attacks shown varies in its style of dodgeball delivery, the result is always the same -- dudes getting beaned in the face. Not very exciting, but it's Super Dodgeball Brawlers!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Cor blimey, guvna!'
Like the blinking dodgeball traveling two miles per hour in this short clip, Super Dodgeball Brawlers' release this coming spring continues its slow approach. Before you know it, the game will crash right into your face, leaving an imprint of your surprised expression on its box before sending you flying out of the arena.Aksys has eight new videos in its latest Super Dodgeball Brawlers update, this time demonstrating the "super throws" from the "super tossers" of Team England. Once again, the clips are soundless and, in our opinion, not too exciting, but we'll take what we can get; we're just happy that the game is being localized at all!
Hide behind a big kid: Super Dodgeball Brawlers official site
What better way to ring in the new year than with Super Dodgeball Brawlers? Japanese publisher Arc System Works has set up an official site for the Kunio-kun game for its release in Japan this February 21st, providing the requisite wallpapers and tiny screenshots.Other than that, you won't find much media that we haven't already foisted upon you, but there are some interesting remarks about its "Create a Dream Team" mode and using punch or kick attacks during a regular match. The site also mentions the burst gauge, a new feature with which your team can charge up and execute special moves capable of changing the tide of the game!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'USA! USA!'
"Pow! Right in the kisser!"Aksys Games has put out another round of Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos, this time showcasing the special throws available with Team USA's roster (last week's clips were from the Nekketsu Highschool team). Once again, the movies are extremely short and without sound, but you still get to see some dudes get their blocks knocked off, thrown off the screen and across town from the force of a connected power shot.Super Dodgeball Brawlers is scheduled to smack North America in the back of its head this Spring 2008 (without online support, unfortunately). The next set of videos Aksys plans to release will feature Team England and arrive on January 4th. Head past the break for the rest of this week's seconds-long clips -- you might want to take your glasses off first, though.
Rumor: Wii games face disappointing first day sales in Japan
This seems to be becoming a trend, but the handful of Wii games that were released this week in Japan are reported to have had poor first day sales. They were all third-party titles, which is also somewhat worrisome. Here's a look at the numbers: Chocobo's Dungeon (Square Enix) - 30,000 (30% sell through of initial amount shipped) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Sega) - 7,000 (10% sell through) Soul Calibur Legends (Bandai Namco) - 5,000 (10% sell through) We Love Golf (Capcom) - 4,000 (10% sell through) Shikigami no Shiro III (Arc System Works) - 500 Granted, these are only rumored first day sales, and we'll have to wait until later in the week to get a better grip on the situation, but as of now it doesn't look good.So, what do we make of these numbers? If they're correct, is it bad news for the Wii and third-party developers, or just more evidence that Japan is shying away from console gaming? While the latter is certainly a factor, third parties certainly can't be happy to see low numbers. However, it's way too early to ring a death knell for any of these games, even if these numbers are correct. We'll just have to wait and see how these games perform in the next few weeks.[Via Cubed3]
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!'
We ran here with a quickness unforeseen to deliver these Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos to you, jumping over the chalked line and spiking these clips with all our might right into your face. Sure, they're each only a few seconds long, demonstrating some of the special shots in place of an actual match, but beggars can't be choosers, and, like TLC, we ain't too proud to beg, especially when it's for our first look at one of 2008's most anticipated games in motion.If you haven't marked it on your calendar yet, Aksys Games plans to bring the Kunio-kun title to the states next spring, so go ahead and draw smiley faces across that entire season. Guard your grill and zig-zag past the post break for seven more of these short, soundless videos from Super Dodgeball Brawlers.
Aksys shooting Castle of Shikigami III at the U.S.
Aksys Games announced today that they will localize Alfa System's vertical shooter Shikigami no Shiro III as Castle of Shikigami III. The game, featuring 10 characters (who fly around and shoot magical bullet things) will be released in the spring of 2008. It seems that only the Wii version is being localized, and not the Xbox 360 version.We're a little surprised to see a 2D shooter being released in the U.S. outside of the Virtual Console (which is shmupland). But we shouldn't be -- it was published in Japan by Arc System Works, and Aksys seems to have swept up all of their Nintendo content for localization. Just to be clear, we are thrilled about that. Check out the press release after the break and enjoy our gallery of brightly-colored, confusing screens!
Aksys hopes to make visual novels big with Jake Hunter
Aksys, who has already earned a place at the top of our Christmas list for localizing Super Dodgeball Brawlers, is also taking on the heroic task of localizing, for the first time, a Detective Saburo Jinguuji game. Aksys's Gail Salamanca spoke to Siliconera about the decision.Unsurprisingly, when Jinguuji steps into his American persona, the world around him will be more Westernized, as well. Similarly to how Capcom has approached the Phoenix Wright series despite the whole Fey family being clearly Japanese and part of the game clearly taking place in Japan, Salamanca said that Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles will take place in America: "Yes, we took the Anywhere, USA approach when it came time to localize the game."If Jake Hunter does well, which it may in a post-Wright America, Aksys is hoping to bring over more visual novel games. "We're hoping Jake Hunter is the first in a long list of digital novel style games." Although, to be honest, we think their decision to localize this is based less on genuine interest in the game and more on taking whatever they could get from Arc System Works.
Passion Yara agrees: Super Dodge Ball is awesome
Passion Yara is some Japanese comedian we don't really know much about. He does sports-related humor and thumps his chest a lot, and seems to enjoy making faces for the camera. For awkward attempts at reference, here's a machine translation of his Wikipedia page. But really, the fact that he got dressed up in athletic gear to play Chou Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-kun Dodgeball Bu tells us everything we need to know: he accepts money for public appearances he loves the game.Look at him posing in front of a tiny poster, along with some guy from Arc System Works! Only people who genuinely love the game would pose in front of a tiny poster! Look at those other guys, slumped over the table in defeat! Thanks, Passion Yara, for reminding us that the world is worth living in.
Petit Copter flying over the Pacific
Aksys appears to be the default U.S. publisher for Arc System Works's Japanese releases. In addition to the wonderful DS games they're localizing, they have picked up Sonic Powered's mini-flight sim, Petit Copter. The American release will be titled MiniCopter: Adventure Flight. This is the first American release for a game in the Petit Copter series, which has entries on the PS2, Xbox and other systems.Now that we know we'll get to play it, we're somewhat more interested in the title than before. The graphics are pretty rough, yes, but flying around in an oversized world, manipulating objects and carrying out objectives with air missiles and suction cups at least sounds unique. Of course, we'll be a lot more "somewhat more interested" in a budget-priced MiniCopter.
Shikigami no Shiro III: a shooter with the human touch
The Shikigami no Shiro series is pretty weird, for a number of reasons: first, the truly off-putting budget US release with the generic Charlie's Angels boxart; second, that the latest iteration of a shooter series is being released in 2007 at all; but most importantly, and most pertinent to actual gameplay, that Shikigami no Shiro III includes a variety of characters, in the same vein as a fighting game. That the game is being released on the Wii seems fairly standard for a shooter, if anything could be "standard" about a modern entry in this classic genre.The latest screenshots show the basic projectiles fired by some of the characters. Yes, you play as a flying human in this game, and not a spaceship or multi-headed dragon. That's something. We can't wait to float around as the classy Munchausen and shoot crystals from our outstretched hands. We can only assume that he's fresh from washing single handkerchiefs in a cocktail shaker.
Hardboiled detective title coming to the US after all
Aksys Games is quickly becoming our favorite publisher of niche DS titles. Just last month, the small studio announced that it would localize Super Dodgeball Brawlers, blowing kisses in our direction. Then earlier today, Aksys revealed its plans to rebrand Tantei Jinguji Saburo (Detective Saburo Jinguji) as Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles and bring the adventure title to North America next spring. Despite having appeared on a variety of consoles since his debut on the Famicom Disk System 20 years ago, this will be the gumshoe's first visit to the states.Like with the Phoenix Wright series, you'll progress through the noir-ish plots with menu-based interrogations and clues you've found during your investigations. With Jake Hunter, however, you'll solve your cases with a Guile-styled haircut and a bebop jazz soundtrack. How wicked is that? We're not sure yet whether or not Aksys Games will leave in the Shinjuku setting and chain-smoking scenes, but we do know that Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles will be budget-priced at $19.99. Hit the gallery for five screenshots from the Japanese release.%Gallery-9685%
Super Dodge Ball DS uses NES-style control scheme
Spencer Yip played a little bit of Cho Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-Kun Dodge Ball Bu while waiting for a meeting with publisher Arc System Works in which they discussed things that are infinitely less important than Cho Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-Kun Dodge Ball Bu. For him, it was a few casual minutes of gaming to write up whenever he had time; for us, it would have been a screaming, all-caps, exclamation-point-peppered impressions post, complete with hyperbole about how we were ready to die or whatever. We like Super Dodge Ball is what we're saying. We've liked it since it was a flickery mess on the NES.Which is why we're just fine with the major revelation in his impressions post-- that the game uses the "classic" two-button control scheme found in the NES version. A passes, B throws and catches, and the two together jump. Most importantly, it sounds like super throws are activated in the correct run-then-throw-at-the-right-moment method, rather than some kind of touch screen nonsense. Not that we have anything against the touch screen-- we just like our Dodge Ball as is. It turns out that the bottom screen just displays every player's special attack arsenal. Which is a great feature!
Check out Hoshigami Remix
The English version of Hoshigami Remix is well on the way to completion, as these new screens show.The game's battle screens are looking very much like Final Fantasy Tactics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The three difficulty settings should help out players who are new to the whole tactical RPG scene, whilst keeping veteran players happy.We're promised around 50 hours of gameplay, with branching storylines and multiple endings to find. You'll also be able to trade items with your friends over wi-fi. Head past the break for the screens.
