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Joystiq interview: Namco Bandai stacks the deck with Culdcept Saga
By all accounts Omiya Soft's Culdcept franchise has no business being as fun as it is. An admittedly bizarre meshing of board and collectible card game antics, the resulting gameplay potpourri comes across as one big happy accident, but one that has endured since well before the Saturn was pushing up daises. With iterations released in Japan for Sega's final console pair as well as the original PlayStation, North American gamers got their first taste of this unique hybrid in 2003 when NEC released Culdcept for the PlayStation 2 to modest critical acclaim. Since that time, however, the franchise has faded into obscurity, but will soon be given another chance, this time under the banner of Namco Bandai for the Xbox 360. Culdcept Saga, which has been available for some time in Japan, marks a decidedly different sort of experience for Xbox 360 owners, one usually associated with XBLA downloads rather than a full-on retail release, though even trepidatious players may find the $39.99 price difficult to pass up, especially those looking for something different to play during their FPS downtime. In advance of the game's early February release we managed to corner Namco Bandai's Nobu Taguchi, who is spearheading Culdcept Saga's localization here in North America. Taguchi was more than willing to set us straight on a number of topics, from the title's multiplayer gameplay to changes made regarding how DLC will be handled...and more. Check out the full interview after the jump. %Gallery-13956%
How to play Eye of Judgment without a PS3
Eye of Judgment has one major advantage over just about every other game ever made - you can play it anywhere you want, even without the console it was designed for. It's true, because at its core, Eye of Judgment is just like any other collectable card game. Of course, by doing this, you won't get all the fancy schmancy graphics, heavy metal tunes and you'll actually have to keep up with a lot of the goings-on either in your brain or using the dying technology of pencil and paper.However, Tyler Tinsley, a tabletop game designer, has made it all the more easy for those wanting to take EoJ into the furthest reaches of the world. He's constructed a printable tabletop kit that consists of everything you need to play. To make it even easier on the players, he printed health meters on the tiles to make to keep track of your monster's health.We're not sure how many EOJ veterans like ourselves would be interested in playing without their PS3s, but it could be a good way to convince your naysaying friends just how amazingly fun this game is. Big thanks to Tyler for creating this and having it available to gamers everywhere for free.
New fan art, wallpaper, and a call for screenshots
Blizzard has been updating the artwork on the official website again, and that means new wallpapers and shiny new fan art! The wallpaper features artwork from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, so if you play, or are simply a fan of WoW-themed depictions, it might be time to update your desktop background. As for the fan art, much of it is holiday and Winter's Veil-themed, which often makes for some humorous images. Aside from being ever on the lookout for new fan artwork, Blizzard is also asking for some top-notch screenshots of Auchindoun: Auchenai Crypts. They would like to see depictions of the architecture and the scenery, in addition to combat. If your screenshots are selected, as always, they will appear in the World of Warcraft Guide, along with your character's name. For a list of banned subject matter, screenshot-taking tips, and a drop-down menu featuring every area of which Blizz is needing screenshots, visit the Screenshot Submission Form. While you're in the mood to snap some great shots, don't forget to take some holiday-themed ones, and enter Blizzard's latest holiday contest, to win some decent prizes!
DS tapped for Magic: The Gathering card viewer
Before you get carried away with fantasies of playing Magic: The Gathering matches with your Nintendo DS, try to remind yourself that this is only a simple homebrew application for viewing the game's cards. As far as we know, Wizards of the Coast has no plans for turning the king of collectible card games into an online-supported release for the DS, further confirming our suspicion that life isn't really worth living. Even if you can't actually make a deck and play with the cards in this dressed-up GIF viewer, it's still a useful resource that allows you to look up artwork and information for over 1800 cards. Displaying everything book-style, the program fills the top screen with the selected card while icons on the touchscreen sort everything by color, type, set, and rarity. Developer Sylus101 promises to add more cards and features, but, at the moment, the card library is limited to sets from the Ravnica, Time Spiral, and Lorwyn blocks. Core sets and older sets have yet to be added, so you might not be able to find some of your favorite cards, including the best Magic: The Gathering creature of all time, Phelddagrif.[Via Dev-fr]
Gifts for the City dwellers
Whatever you celebrate this time of year, December seems to be when the majority of gifts are exchanged among friends and family. Everyone has their own idea of what is and isn't appropriate in a gift-giving manner, and it's difficult to decide what's best to give, and what we most want to receive. Well, that's where we come in.We have the good fortune of having two of the fae here -- one from the Rogue Isles, and one from Paragon City -- to share with us their views of appropriate gifts for those of you who are playing in NCsoft's realms this holiday season. Their selections range from cost-free, in-game offerings up to something you can tuck under the tree ... or the computer desk, as the case may be.
Extra Legends of Norrath drops, new cards this weekend
SOE is promoting its new-ish Legends of Norrath online card game with the not-cleverly-named "Legends of Norrath Promo Weekend." The event begins at 2:00 PM PST this Friday (November 30th) and ends at 11:59 PM PST on Sunday (December 2nd).Players of the game both new and old will "enjoy an increased rate of card pack drops." Additionally, two nice new cards called "Laricel the Gatekeeper" and "Skyshield Maiden" will be obtainable only this weekend. So if you're a hardcore collector in the game, you'd better get to playin'! If you're not already familiar with Legends of Norrath, it's a trading card game playable inside EverQuest and EverQuest II as well as on its own through the Station portal. Players can receive special drops in both games that add cool new cards to their decks. Think of the card game in Final Fantasy VIII, only, y'know ... less lame.
Famitsu deals out Culdcept scans and info
Almost a month since Sega announced it'll be publishing a Nintendo DS version of OmiyaSoft's Culdcept Expansion, Famitsu has revealed the first screenshots and details for the CCG/boardgame hybrid. Far from a straight port, all of Culdcept Expansion's cards have been reviewed for balance, and every returning character has been redrawn. Culdcept DS will also receive new cards (now over 370 in total), Cepter symbols, and an achievement system. Since this will be the first portable version of the game, more focus will be placed on its versus options, nixing out any hopes for a new story mode.The big question now is, "Will there be any support for online matches?" It would be a terrible decision to ship this sort of title without it, in our opinion. Roll the dice and hop past the post break for the scanned magazine pages and to see how this Monopoly-meets-Magic-the-Gathering title plays out.
"Feast of Winter Veil" collector's set available now
The holiday-themed collector's edition TCG set that we've been anticipating since our August meeting with some folks from Upper Deck is now available for purchase, and will be shipped as early as November 14th. Modeled after the in-game holiday of Winter's Veil, each set will include the following exclusive content: Ten cards, usable in any deck, all featuring new content. Two pet mini-cards for further customization. A holiday deck box featuring Feast of Winter Veil artwork. Three booster packs! One Heroes of Azeroth, one Dark Portal, and one Fires of Outland pack. Although there are no online loot cards to be had, this collector's set will still make an excellent Christmas gift, even if you're buying it for yourself! If you're still not convinced, head on over and check out a preview of some of the cards, as well as the original artwork.
Joystiq review: The Eye of Judgment (PS3)
It's not uncommon for video games to feature gameplay dependent upon gimmicks and peripherals, from early 8-bit examples like Gyromite to more modern releases such as Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, each of which changed the gaming experience by altering how we interact with the games we play. In this way, Sony and SCE Studios Japan's The Eye of Judgment is one of the most ambitious experiments with game design to date, and in leveraging off of the considerable card game experience of Hasbro and its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary, best known for the Magic: The Gathering and Star Wars collectible card games, The Eye of Judgment's pedigree is certainly not one to be taken lightly. Marrying a tabletop card game with the PlayStation 3 has created an experience that is if nothing else unique; unfortunately the lynchpin in this union, the newly launched PlayStation Eye camera, is also the game's Achilles' heel, oftentimes bringing an unwelcome sense of frustration to players gaming in anything but the most ideal settings, something which we covered in much greater detail previously.%Gallery-3181%
Winter's Veil CCG cards previewed
A little while back, we heard from Upper Deck that there would be a new set of holiday cards coming out for the Feast of Winter Veil ingame holiday, and now reader Dave C has spotted a preview for the cards in the aptly named Previews magazine. If I recall correctly from my comic collecting days, Previews is a magazine for retailers published by a distributor so they can know what's coming in the next few months and how many of each product to order.At any rate, what's important is that they have a short preview of the upcoming holiday set, and while specifics are still unclear, we're told that each set will have ten exclusive game cards, two Pet mini-cards, three booster packs, and a special "Feast of Winter's Veil" box in it. Unfortunately for the MMO players, none of these cards will be ingame loot cards, but as we said when we first heard about this set, it might be a nice gift for someone who plays the card game itself.Dave also says the Previews issue has a three page preview of the WoW comic book, and obviously WoW shows up on the cover as well. So expect a lot of WoW-related goodies hitting your local comic book store this holiday season.
Three new loot cards for the WoW TCG
We actually heard from Upper Deck last month that there would be new loot cards coming in the "Fires of Outland" booster release from the WoW collectible card game, but now PHD Games has announced exactly what they'll be. Strangely enough, PHD is a distributor, and there's no word on Upper Deck's site about this, so this may actually be an unapproved leak-- wonder if PHD might face consequences for apparently telling us all of this early.At any rate, here's the random cards that will be showing up in Fires of Outland: Goblin Gumbo, which will make you "burp outlandish gas" A Fishing Chair, for relaxing while angling And the best one: A Spectral Tiger mount (!). MMO Champion has actual pics, which you can see above. Pretty! Also, all the loot cards will now be foil cards (which is a first for the WoW TCG), and they'll have a different design as well. Fires of Outland, says PHD, is coming in late August.Update: Commenter boulee points out there were foil cards in the Onyxia raid deck. Thanks!
Eye of Judgment's creatures and card types
PlayFrance recently sat down with Aurélien Poma, the Community Manager from SCEE and got him to spill the beans on the upcoming PS Eye title, the Eye of Judgment. Since the interview was in French, we had to rely on our friends at Gamers-Creed to do the translation and luckily they've done a great write-up on it. Utilizing the PlayStation Eye, the game is played using a pack of collectible cards (with varying rarities and upcoming expansion packs) and an included 'game mat' which you lay out in front of the PS Eye. Players draw five cards for use in taking over the playing field. By placing a card on the field, the camera will scan it and create the monster in full 3D on the TV screen. Additional information about your monster (strength, special powers, type of attack) can be found on the card itself, a nice touch which keeps the on-screen game from getting too cluttered.They've also confirmed that there will be online play, a fantastic addition for lonely hermits with no local friends to play with. It will be interesting to see how they deal with cheating though, seems like that would be a pretty bad risk in this sort of game. In another cool little tidbit, Sony mentioned that the game can be played entirely without the Sixaxis, meaning you won't be swapping back and forth from the gameboard to the controller in the course of a match.A ton of additional information about gameplay and card types was given in the interview, so check it out! Also ThreeSpeech has their own write-up of Eye of Judgment with even more info, so if you're a CCG fan -- you're in luck. It's information overload![via PS3Forums]
More items for cards from TCG expansion
One of the most interesting aspects of the WoW TCG (trading card game) has been the in-game tie-ins. The best-known example is probably the ever-popular turtle mount, which is only attainable via a scratch-off-to-reveal code that can be found on rare cards. There is also apparently a hippogryph pet and a couple of tabards (flame, frost), though I haven't personally seen either. So it comes as no surprise that the expansion to the TCG, Through the Dark Portal, will feature more of these loot-for-cards promotions. As announced on Upper Deck's page, here's what you can get: Picnic Blanket. When used, summons a nice picnic setup, complete with umbrella and grill. Anyone around can right-click the grill to get "Grilled Picnic Treat," a BoP food that gives a buff reading "Does nothing. Tastes great!" Hopefully this blanket is reusable, since it looks pretty neat when used (see pic). A pet monkey named Bananas. Come on, it's a pet monkey! Like Upper Deck says, who doesn't want a pet monkey? Very cute. Finally, there will be a "fortune-telling device." Click it and an imp appears and whispers an answer to you (allegedly to the entire party, in a future patch, though I think that would get old fast). Upperdeck says it's similar to "a certain toy you may have had as a child." This would definitely help make some decisions a bit easier. Neat stuff. Do any of you play the TCG? How is it? Like everyone else I know, I played a lot of Magic: the Gathering when I was younger, but I haven't really touched those kinds of games in a while.[thanks, Dave!]
CMs Caught at GenCon
Behold, Blizzard CMs Tseric and Drysc! (left and right) Linsha from Muradin (looking happy in the middle-- the one without the pink hair) caught the two at GenCon showing off the new WoW CCG (she also caught Eyonix and Caydiem last year). Drysc looks like he'd be a fun guy to hang out with on an MC run, but Tseric, as many players point out, looks like he's a little too twitchy on the "BANNED!" button. Unfortunately Linsha didn't get a shot of Nethaera-- apparently he she* got left back at Blizzard HQ to fend off greedy requests for loot.As far as I know, we don't have any internal operatives currently at GenCon playing the game, but if you're there and checking it out, feel free to send a few tips our way on what you thought of it (use the "Send us news tips" link over on the sidebar). I am working on contacting one source who's there right now, but I'm not sure I can get this darned gnomish communicator working right-- it keeps connecting me to something that sounds like a robot chicken..*Update: Whoops. Sorry Neth. That's what happens when we don't get pics of you!
