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War of Angels open beta begins
Just in time for the holidays, Neowiz Games has started its early gift-giving by announcing the open beta period for War of Angels. The free-to-play title featuring four classes and ongoing PvP conflict is now available for public consumption, and has a few Thanksgiving surprises in store for beta participants. If you're able to push away from the dinner table long enough to retrieve stolen turkeys for an NPC named Catherine, she'll reward you with a gigantic bird mount called a Pajareu. In addition to the holiday content, War of Angels now boasts new gear and weapons for players of all levels, new quests, and website leaderboards to assist you in your post-holiday bragging. Closed beta veterans may also be gifted with a Halo of the Pioneer item which will temporarily boost their leveling speed. Check out all the details, and sign up for beta, at the official website.
Catherine trailer is concerned with your well-being
"You've been weird lately." Katherine (with a K) notices that much about protagonist Vincent, at least, in this Catherine trailer (after the break). Whether she understands the context -- that he's being pursued by a mysterious woman (Catherine with a C) and also dreaming of turning into a sheep monster every night -- is unclear. Afterward, it is revealed that men are dying in their beds, and these men all tended to cheat on their partners in life. Which, again, probably contributes to Vincent's mood. We're really looking forward to the inevitable localization announcement so we can pick out more than every fifth word of this bizarre drama.
Catherine's trio of gameplay systems revealed (but not explained)
If you've been keeping up with the media released for Atlus' super stylish, utterly bizarre mystery-adventure, Catherine, you're probably wondering exactly how one will go about ... interacting with all the craziness. An update to the game's official site (via Siliconera) shed some light on the proceedings. The game will be split into three different gameplay systems, each with its own unique style and method of interaction. Appropriately, these gameplay segments are oddly titled: Nightmare, Drama and Stray Sheep. "Drama" will be straightforward enough, leading players through beautiful interactive and non-interactive cutscenes, which will develop the tangled web of passion between protagonist Vincent and his two homonymous girlfriends, Catherine and Katherine. "Nightmare" and "Stray Sheep" are still up in the air -- though one of the aforementioned cutscenes recently made it online (and after the jump), showing off Vincent and pals enjoying the night life in a bar named "Stray Sheep." Perhaps this system focuses on Shenmue-style bar games? We'd be just fine with that.
Catherine delayed until February in Japan
Though it was originally announced as a Winter 2010 release, Catherine, the surreal action-adventure game from Atlus's Persona team, will be released in Japan on February 17. We'd be more concerned about the delay, but Atlus hasn't even announced a Western release for the PS3/Xbox 360 game yet -- so this is just more time for Atlus USA to draft that press release. It's also more time for us to figure out exactly how the game works. We know protagonist Vincent spends much of his time trapped in a dream-world, attempting to climb a tower as a sheep-man. In his waking life, he appears to be surrounded by women who make him nervous.
Atlus dreams up Catherine intro
Though Catherine's intro movie consists mostly of credits, there's still enough dreamlike, surreal imagery, stylish Japanese hip-hop, and doddering bipedal sheep men for it to be worth your attention. For extra fun, you can look up all the names of the voice actors to determine how impressed to be.
These Catherine trailers aren't getting any less bizarre
If we had our druthers, every trailer for every game would be structured like the promo for Atlus' Catherine, posted below. There's character introductions, romantic intrigue, and then a metaphorical examination of the nature of OH NO IT'S A DEMON BABY WITH CHAINSAW HANDS.
Atlus USA president reassures fans
Following Atlus's announcement of a merger into its parent company Index Holdings, you may have been concerned about the state of the developer and publisher. "But what of our RPGs about super-stylish high school students?," you may have asked. "Any news about my beloved sci-fi surgery simulators?" "Will I still have dungeons in which to crawl?" Atlus USA president Shinichi Suzuki issued a statement today to allay our fears. " We want to assure our fans and affiliates that Atlus remains in operation and will continue, as always, to support our beloved community with the finest quality game experiences possible," Suzuki said. You can read the full statement after the break, then take a sigh of relief and get back to your everyday life of wondering when Atlus USA is going to announce a localization of Catherine.
Surprise! Atlus's 'Catherine' is really bizarre [update: now with trailer]
If you thought you knew what to expect from Catherine, the HD debut from Atlus's Persona team, you were probably wrong. The first screenshots of the action-adventure game for grown-ups are equal parts cheesecake and nightmare. Main character Vincent is first seen dining with the beautiful Catherine, and then, um, walking around some kind of labyrinth in his underwear, gradually turning into a sheep. He is told he has to endlessly climb the stairs of this nightmare world in order to avoid death. Famitsu indicates that the "action" in this action-adventure takes place in this nightmare world. We expect to see those sheep creatures in our own nightmares soon enough. Update: Famitsu posted a trailer for the game, which you can see after the break. It's NSFW-ish! And, again, strange.
Persona director introduces us to Catherine, on Xbox 360 and PS3
Who is Catherine? She appears to be the subject of a newly announced game from Atlus. Revealed in this week's Famitsu, Catherine is the first HD project from the Persona team, and it's going to both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The tale follows Vincent, a troubled insomniac plagued by nightmares involving a never-ending staircase. According to Siliconera, this action/adventure horror tale is "intended for adults." Katsura Hashino, the director of Persona 4, is helming the project, which is currently scheduled for a Winter 2010 release in Japan. [Thanks, thepapercut!]
