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New screenz of Homie Rollerz
The version of Homie Rollerz I played at PAX was extremely early; the graphics were rough, and at one point I actually found a shortcut that shouldn't have existed (I'm pretty sure I drove through a mountain). I've never had any particular attachment to the Homies franchise, but I liked the basic concept of a kart-racing game with tricks. These screens of Homie Rollerz look better than the version I played. The burrito car looks exactly like it did in the PAX version, but the environments look more complete. And, to be fair, only one car is a burrito.
PAX 07 hands-on: Indy 500 Legends (Wii, DS), Homie Rollerz, WordJong (DS)
Destineer had a bunch of new stuff on display for the Wii and DS. Indianapolis 500 Legends (Wii) was a racing game with an impressive historical bent. The game starts you in 1961, with each subsequent year to 1971 representing a new difficulty level, and presents (in addition to the full Indy 500) mission objectives based on actual races, organized by driver. Each year has three drivers, and each driver has at least three missions, for about 100 different missions, involving tasks like passing a rival or surviving a crash scenario. The track was modeled on the real Indianapolis Speedway and changes by year to match the authentic appearance at the time; almost every car's engine noise is recorded from that actual model. It's an incredible effort for what turns out to be a not-spectacular-looking Wii racing game with extremely touchy motion-based steering. I kind of got used to it, but we still felt like I was fighting the controls most of the time. The tire-changing pit-stop minigame was fun, though! The game fared quite a bit better on the DS, though-- graphics that were disappointing on the Wii looked much better on the DS, and the game contains the same drivers, missions, and structure. The stylus-based steering works much better in my opinion than waggle. I don't know how interested in historical racing games on the DS you are (I'm usually not very) but I enjoyed my five minutes with it, at least.
Taito Legends coming to US
Fans of classics collections, Taito, or alien invaders better sit down for this. Destineer Studios (Full Metal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy) has announced they'll be releasing Taito Legends Power-Up in Q2 of this year. Surprisingly, this collection doesn't include Bubble Bobble or Puzzle Bobble (Bust-A-Move in the US). This upsets me because when I think Taito, I think of bubble belching dinosaurs. If not those, what classic games does it include? Full list after the jump ...
Not-so-secret projects probed
FiringSquad has done its best to out 18 high-profile "black ops" projects currently in development. While the site's sleuthing skills might not be up to par with Mr. Holmes', the report does a good job of rounding up under-the-radar titles that are begging for some attention.We'd like to direct the spotlight on two studios in particular: Tim Schafer's DoubleFine and Bungie expats Wideload, which are responsible for Psychonauts and Stubbs the Zombie, respectively (both titles landed in our top 10 'gems' of last generation). The two developers are hard at work on new projects; and with DoubleFine striking a publishing deal with Vivendi, its next game is sure to stir up more buzz (when it's time) than Majesco managed to generate for Psychonauts. Also, we can't wait to see what Warren Spector and Junction Point have under lock and key. Keep those ears (and eyes) glued to the street!
