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Riiiiiidge Raaaaacer 7 has news speeding its way!
The Sony execs really, really love this game! Ridge Racer 7 is probably going to get a large influx of news in the coming weeks, according to the Japanese website, according to IGN, according to us. There's a fun flash animation on the official Namco-Bandai site at least and those are always exciting (since most of us can't read anything else on the site). Even though the game was building up some steam near E3, only some conceptual footage was found. Now with this announcement, will we see a new or updated (or playable?) build at the Tokyo Game Show? Would be cool. This brings up a fun question to be answered by you all: which racing game really matters? Are you a Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, or other big racing title fan? Which one has you most excited for the next-gen console?
Tales of the World screens look radiant
Tales fans in the US just don't get enough love. Tales of Phantasia never left Japanese shores, and Tales of Eternia was fully localized... for Europe only. Hopefully, the upcoming original PSP Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology won't meet the same fate. Like previous Tales of the World games, the game will feature characters from other Tales games, like fan-favorite Tales of Symphonia. The battle system is ripped from Tales of the Abyss, and lets you control up to four characters per team.Look at the screenshots, and try to tell me this game doesn't warrant a US release. C'mon, Bandai Namco: get your act together. I want to get Tales of the World (and Tales of the Tempest) ASAP![Thanks daniel-kun!]
Blazing hot Ace Combat trailer & screens [Update 1]
Famitsu has beautiful new screens of Ace Combat X, an all-new continuation of the Ace Combat series. Famitsu also grabbed a trailer, which is voiced in English so you can fully appreciate the cheese. The graphics are sharp, and features some potentially awesome multiplayer. Makes me want to watch Top Gun again. Wait... I never want to watch that movie ever again. The game comes out September 17th.[Via PSP-Vault][Update 1: Trailer is now embedded after the cut, for your viewing pleasure.]
Release date for Tales of the Tempest
October 26 boys and girls. That is when you might want to consider importing Tales of the Tempest, Bandai-Namco's newest installment in the Tales series. A good opportunity to flex those Japanese speaking muscles right? No doubt all the time spent on the game will make it well worth the years of waiting. Since Japan already has a release date, maybe we could get one for the rest of us?
Interview with Toshinore Sone
Cubed 3 got to chat with Bandai Namco's Toshinore Sone. The Assistant Producer for Dig Dug: Digging Strike (which is set to release in Europe August 25) discussed Nintendo, Dig Dug and how he got his start in video games. When asked why he decided to "resurrect" Dig Dug on the DS, he replied: "With the dual screens of the Nintendo DS, I thought it would be an interesting way to combine Dig Dug 1 and Dig Dug 2. This idea led me to come up with the proposal for Dig Dug : Digging Strike. Since I grew up in a generation playing Dig Dug, I wanted those in my generation who also enjoyed the game to relive and rediscover the game all over again." It was interesting to find out that the team responsible for Dig Dug did not work to create DD:DS.
PS3 gets big robots and drama known as Gundam
If you like big robots, explosions, exploding robots, or big explosions, you may have played a mech game. One such game, which also has a Japanese animation series (multiple, actually), is known as Gundam. Mobile Suit Gundam has been slated for a US release sometime within the next year, which could actually mean (and is rumored to mean) by the end of 2006. This game, hailing from Namco Bandai, has been several years in production and boasts, among other things, "ultra realistic destruction physics." Well there you have it. They're ultra. Nothing beats ultra.This game takes place after the XBox360 Gundam title, One Year War. So if you're a huge anime buff and need to get the whole story, timeline, whatever, then you may need to check that one out too. The basic premise is you take control of your big robot and destroy other big robots (strategically, of course) or other objects, complete objectives, unlock more robots, and wreak havoc in a robot war. Which can be surprisingly fun. In the article at IGN, there's a link at the end which goes into more detail for those interested. Some of the stuff about the PS3 hardware itself in the interview is interesting as well. It has to be said... it's Gun-dam great!
Bandai's Gundam robot gets human-sized
Japan's largest toy manufacturer is about to get life sized with the unveiling of a 5-foot tall Gundam. Bandai feels the worldwide recognition of the hit show Mobile Suit Gundam will garner big interest from "20- to 40- year old men," i.e. fanboys, otaku, whatever you wanna call 'em. The 77 pound robot has 14 movable body parts right down to its finger joints, and emits a plethora of sound effects (yes, the Vulcan fires too) while you remotely control his fear-inducing flashing eyes. Marketed as a "sophisticated plastic model" (kind of like its companion to the left), Bandai hopes to ship over 1,000 of these behemoths to living rooms and anime stores everywhere when they drop this December. If this has instantly skyrocketed atop your holiday wish list, you may want to reconsider -- the ¥350,000 ($3,000) pricetag and the giant hassle of self-assembling over 250 parts might just deter all but the most hardcore fans who won't even get the pleasure of mounting up and wearing it around the house, shooting at imaginary Gundam Wings.
Square-Enix and Namco-Bandai are on the patch
At a press meeting in Tokyo yesterday, president of Square-Enix Yoichi Wada and vice-president of Namco-Bandai Shin Unozawa talked about the next generation of gaming and the importance of online features. They stressed this was not limited to MMO's but all future titles. A lot of the talk seemed to beat around the bush for lower development costs, citing ad placements in games (ramping it up for the online world ... ads are in a ton of games already, so possibly a randomized billboard or something? You know?) and software updates rather than gratuitous amounts of bug testing. Which is a patch, more or less.So, is releasing software updates better than actually going through bug testing? Sure, it costs less, but those who've played games like Oblivion know that these updates can come too late -- eternally trapped as a vampire since the quest to cure was bugged, unable to enter this guild or that, effectively losing many hours of work on the game. But would such a thing have been caught by bug-testers anyway? If nothing else, the release of next-gen games would be pushed back a lot farther without patches as an option.Hopefully the PS3 will smartly incorporate software testing but not allow unfinished or unpolished games to reach the market (although it does happen...). Oh, about the Playstation 3, Unozawa tossed in: "The Playstation 3 will definately sell." That's nice of him to say! That's "definately" reassuring.
More support from Namco-Bandai
Namco-Bandai's Japanese press site has unveiled that the company plans to bring two new games to the Wii platform. Though only Final Furlong was playable at E3, the company is showing strong, strong support for the fledgling console.Many are speculating on the possibility of Time Crisis 4; while the Wii is obviously capable of doing a full FPS, a lightgun game would certainly be a welcome addition. How about another Tales game, or a Baten Kaitos sequel? Oh, those crafty Japanese corporations, always keeping us in the dark. Any ideas as to what Namco's rolling out?
PC World says Apple's Pippin is the "worst"
PC World magazine listed Apple's ill-fated game console, the Pippin, 22nd on their list of the "25 Worst Tech Products of All Time," writing:"Apple had an Internet-capable game console that connected to your TV. But it ran on a weak PowerPC processor and came with a puny 14.4-kbps modem, so it was stupendously slow offline and online. Then, too, it was based on the Mac OS, so almost no games were available for it. And it cost nearly $600--nearly twice as much as other, far more powerful game consoles."Of course, we recognize the Pippin not only for its contribution to the annals of also-ran consoles, but also as fodder for years of subsequent rumors of another Apple game console. Of course, it also lets Mac zealots everywhere point and stomp, claiming gaming consoles as yet another area where Apple beat their arch-nemesis Microsoft to the proverbial punch. Might want to let this one die fellas, it's just better that way. [Via TUAW]
Dragon Ball Z coming to Revolution
Shonen Jump magazine recently ran news of Bandai's first Revolution offering being none other than a Dragon Ball Z title. Not much else is said about the game, but we're fairly certain there'll be a significant number of individuals with over-grown, over-bleached, over-radioactive hair. There is also surely going to be a lot of grunting, powerful auras of concentrated energy, and a fight or two.[via Go Nintendo]
