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A frustratingly good deal on Demon's Souls
If you've got $30, a PlayStation 3 and an overabundance of supernatural, zen-like patience, you seem like a perfect candidate for a deal which recently cropped up on Amazon. Atlus's notoriously punishing action-RPG Demon's Souls is now only $29.99 through the retailer. If you prefer going to stores, or buying from a different website, you can get it for the same price from GameStop. That's a pretty wicked deal on a decidedly wicked game -- though we must insist you make a few other Amazon purchases to complement your Demon's Souls experience.
Swag Sunday: Armored Core: Last Raven (PSP) [update]
Update: Commenting has been closed and winners will receive their codes shortly. If you're not keeping an eye on that commenter-tied email address, now's a good time to start! What's that? One weekend giveaway isn't enough for you? And you're about to get on a long plane ride? Good thing then that we've got 10 download codes to give away in this week's Swag Sunday for Armored Core: Last Raven on the PSP. All you have to do to enter for a chance to win is tell us what material your Armored Core is made of in the comments below. Ours? Unobtainium (naturally). We'll select 10 lucky commenters on Monday, so keep an eye on those inboxes. Leave a comment telling us what material your Armored Core is made of. You must be 13 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Limit one entry per person. This entry period ends at 5:31PM ET on Monday, May 17. At that time, we'll randomly select 10 winners to receive one code each redeemable for Armored Core: Last Raven on PSP (ARV $14.99); check your emails! For a list of complete rules, click here. What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.
We can't rap our minds around the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer
Without the proper prior information, the 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer posted above would seem like a rare miss for Atlus' clever marketing machine. After all, it features a fairly horrific rap about some of the game's bonus modes, most of which have been shoehorned into an incredibly awkward rhyme scheme. However, once you realize the commercial is a parody of this 1986 Legend of Zelda ad, you realize -- well, it's still a trainwreck, but it's a parodical trainwreck. Better still, it's an appropriate parodical trainwreck, considering the rest of 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows inspiration from Nintendo's emerald-hatted adventurer. And by "borrows," of course, we mean "straight-up plunders."
3D Dot Game Heroes 'Hall of Heroes' character-sharing hub launched
Are you particularly proud of the homebrewed 3D Dot Game Heores character model you recently whipped up? You know, the one that looks like Link/Mario/Belmont/Your favorite Final Fantasy archetype? Great news -- you can now share your pixelated protagonists with other players, or simply borrow the fruits of their labors, using the recently launched "Hall of Heroes" web hub. There are only a handful of characters live on the hub right now, but they all look like they'd serve as worthy saviors of the land of Dotnia. Especially the one named "Rad Naner," which is a banana wearing sunglasses and riding a skateboard.
UK election campaign spills over into 3D Dot Game Heroes
If you're in the UK and are having a hard time getting a handle on the upcoming general election, perhaps seeing how the three party leaders perform as blocky, giant-sword-wielding heroes will help your decision-making. SouthPeak has added downloadable 3D Dot Game Heroes characters based on party leaders Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. (Perhaps Southpeak is semi-overtly referring to the UK's top politicians as blockheads?) The downloadable politicians are accessible from the "Vault" section of the 3D Dot Game Heroes EU website, which is also home to the web-based character editor. For those of you outside of the UK, there are three new "Guy in a Suit" characters on the site. 3D Dot Game Heroes will be released in Europe on May 14 and in North America on May 11.
Make a 3D Dot Game Heroes hero and win the coolest foam sword of all time
We work in a profession which has us coming into contact with an inexplicably large number of fake armaments, so we feel like we can speak with some authority when we say that the foam sword seen above is the coolest foam sword ever. How can you go about acquiring one of these ultra-rare, pixelated beauties? All you have to do is make something using this simplified, online version of 3D Dot Game Heroes' character creation engine, and you could win the non-lethal blade and a copy of the game. You have until May 11 to whip up a blocky hero and submit a picture of it to SouthPeak (the European publisher of the title) for consideration. Sadly, the contest is only open to our European allies, though the character creator is available to everyone. We demand equality on both sides of the Atlantic! Everyone should have a stab at winning these squishy sabers!
New 3D Dot Game Heroes video: 'The Hero Your Hero Could Be'
Dearest Atlus, These cute 3D Dot Game Heroes videos just have to stop. Your latest, a delightful parody of the equally delightful Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercial, is just too good (see attached video after the break). We realize you have to compete for attention by creating informative, entertaining videos, but how are other niche publishers supposed to compete? The boys downstairs have already ascertained the high quality of the game, and your continued insistence on marketing the product now borders on overkill. Honestly, it's really not fair to all the other American publishers of quirky Japanese games. Sincerely, J. J. Joystiq Sr.
Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Silicon Studio set out to make a game primarily as a means of showing off its graphical effect middleware -- and then chose a retro-style action RPG as that showcase. That shouldn't work at all. But somehow, the developer managed to pull it off; 3D Dot Game Heroes is a faithful, expertly crafted reproduction of NES-era gameplay that happens to highlight spectacular visual effects in a logical way. The studio pulled this impressive feat off by designing a world composed of giant cubes, essentially 3D versions of 8-bit sprites. This style is overlaid with insane visual effects, like an exaggerated depth of field that makes everything look miniature, and surreal, sparkling water. Even the spells are winkingly based on graphical effects like shaders and parallax maps. It's essentially the lost NES Zelda game. Or, rather, it's a parody of the Zelda series executed so perfectly that it is itself an excellent Zelda game. %Gallery-70578%
Demon's Souls hack-'n-slashing through Europe in June
Namco Bandai will unleash Demon's Souls upon European territories on June 25, ending the region's dearth of pleasurable pain, the publisher has announced. The PlayStation 3 exclusive will be released as a limited "Black Phantom Edition" retail package, featuring the game, a soundtrack CD, an artbook and a strategy guide (trust us, Europe, you'll need it!). Atlus, as you may recall, published the game in North America, following its debut in Japan under the Sony label. The game was co-developed by From Software and SCE Japan Studio. If you're a would-be demon slayer anxious to learn more about what's in store should you embark on this difficult quest, might we point you to our review?
Report: Demon's Souls has punished nearly 4 times as many players as expected
It was quite clear, once retailers began requesting re-ups of that dope Demon's Souls product, that publisher Atlus had unleashed a bigger hit than it had anticipated. But just how low had Atlus set its expectations? According to data from parent company Index Holdings (via Siliconera), Atlus had projected a mere 75,000 units in sales of Demon's Souls for North America. Lo and behold, beyond Atlus' wildest, demonic dreams, folks actually enjoyed the game's masochistic mission -- like, a lot of folks, in fact: sales totaled 280,000 units sold through the end of February. And with sales figures like that, Atlus must be pining for an opportunity to peddle a sequel -- of course, as our commenters point out, Sony, which owns the franchise, might want to get in on the North American push, should there be a sequel. Demon's Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki wouldn't mind cooking up another hit, after all.
Latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer is Error
It's no secret that From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows -- and borrows heavily -- from the Zelda series. So, Atlus, cheeky publisher that it is, has released a new trailer for 3D Dot Game Heroes that outright exposes the game's aping of Zelda. Give it a watch and see if you can spot all the references.
Latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer is predictably awesome
It's kind of weird to say this, but the consistent awesomeness of 3D Dot Game Heroes trailers is starting to feel downright cruel. Seriously, how much cheeky, retro goodness are we expected to take? The latest trailer piles it on yet again, showing off anything and everything you ever loved about adventure RPGs. Adorable heroes, dungeons, massive bosses, boomerangs, it's all there. The trailer even offers a glimpse at the game's character editor. Which brings us to the cruel part: the May 11 3D Dot Game Hereos launch is still over a month away. Come on, Atlus, have a heart and stop with the trailers.
Atlus offers video walkthrough of 3D Dot Game Heroes, Twilight fanfic
Atlus has proven to be the distributor of some of the funniest press releases we regularly receive. The party responsible for a majority of that humor, PR manager Aram Jabbari, recently stopped by Playstation.Blog HQ to give a brief video demonstration of 3D Dot Game Heroes, which you'll find posted above. The video shows a walkthrough of one of the game's Zelda-esque dungeons and, appropriately, includes a number of irreverent jabs at 8-bit classics. Though legal reasons prevent Jabbari from naming specific games the title lampoons, he was more than happy to show off his homemade Vampire protagonist's massive sword, remarking, "I'm sure Bella will find that impressive." Oh, Aram. Don't ever change.
3D Dot Game Heroes trailer satisfies thirst for adventure
Have you seen those Dos Equis commercials, with the "Most Interesting Man in the World?" He doesn't always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis? No? Go ahead and watch the commercials now before heading past the break and watching the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer. You'll find it a lot funnier that way. Even if you aren't well-versed in the culture of beer commercials, you'll find some impressive gameplay footage in the trailer, including giant (and, of course, blocky) bosses. Just try not to be mesmerized by the hero's speaking voice.
Interview: Atlus on localizing 3D Dot Game Heroes
Atlus is following up the surprise PS3 hit Demon's Souls with another From Software title: The retro-inspired action RPG 3D Dot Game Heroes. While we wait for the game's May release to plunge North America into a new retrogaming renaissance (or just be fun), we spoke to Atlus's Manager of PR and Sales, Aram Jabbari, and editor Scott Strichart about the strategy for localizing the game, about its retro roots and about Spelunker. Joystiq: How did Atlus arrive at the budget pricing for this game? Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales, Atlus: We made a conscious decision early on to make the game as irresistible a value as possible. While the door isn't entirely closed on Atlus Spoils goodies, we are presently leaning towards passing on as much savings to our beloved fans as possible. Though we feel the game is far meatier in content than the 8- and 16-bit games it lampoons, we are also cognizant of how a simpler retro gaming experience compares to some of the epic current gen releases, at least in the minds of some gamers, and we want to do everything in our power to entice them to experience 3DDGH for themselves. %Gallery-83457%
3D Dot Game Heroes' character editor explained
We've been looking forward to getting our hands on 3D Dot Game Heroes since before we knew it would be localized; however, we've worried that our complete lack of artistic ability would limit our proficiency with the game's character creator. Oh, sure, we'd pretend to be really clever: "Look guys, I'm a Tetris brick!" Don't be fooled, friends. We're just terrible artists. Fortunately, a recent post on PlayStation.Blog provides a pretty helpful tutorial on how the character creator can be used to make (and animate) slightly more complicated creations. Like, for instance, two Tetris blocks, smushed together to form an uppercase "T." Look, we're hopeless, alright? Go check out the tutorial so you can whip up some neat characters for us to play with once the game hits store shelves May 11.
Atlus lets you pick your special V-Day event in Demon's Souls
Atlus is an awfully empathetic company. It realizes that not everyone gets all sunshine and lollipops around the 14th of February -- in fact, some folks experience the opposite sensation: Darkness and ... salt-water taffy? We guess? With this dichotomy in mind, Atlus is allowing players to vote on the special event which will overtake its hard-as-hell RPG Demon's Souls on Valentine's Day -- will it be the easy-going White Tendency which appeared during the holiday season? Or the extra difficult Black Tendency which destroyed players on Halloween? Only you, and your either loving or jilted heart, can decide. %Gallery-34304%
Demon's Souls replacement guides ship next week
If you were among the unlucky number of gamers to suffer printing issues on the Demon's Souls strategy guide, we have some good news. Atlus has announced that the replacement guides will begin shipping this Monday, February 8. Late last year, after discovering that many Demon's Souls collector's edition guides had "unusual cover ink wear / fading" problems, Atlus opened a replacement program. Thankfully, the company didn't deprive gamers of their guides in the meantime, requiring that only the cover be sent as proof of the defect. It's a good thing too, because that game is effing hard. Seriously, look at that thing up there. You're supposed to kill that? With a sword? Hard!
3D Dot Game Heroes' long swords remind Atlus of something
We've seen plenty of retrogaming celebration in 3D Dot Game Heroes, but we just haven't seen enough ... juvenile humor. Atlus recognized this humiliating deficiency, and sent out this trailer featuring a series of innuendos that would put an even bigger smile on Smilin' Bob's face. The real gameplay info buried within all the embarrassing jokery is that the in-game blacksmith enables players to upgrade their swords to (admittedly) Freudian proportions, allowing them to mow down enemies from a comfortable distance. While chuckling to themselves like Butt-head, of course.
3D Dot Game Heroes' first English language screens
Click to Ys into the galleryAtlus has seen fit to bestow some new 3D Dot Game Heroes screenshots upon us, featuring a noteworthy addition to the game: the English language. These are the first screens of the localized version, which means that we can now make sense of the character editor for the first time! Some of these screens also feature something else that rarely makes it into 3D Dot screenshots: the UI. There's actually kind of a lot of stuff on the screen, which is a surprise given the otherwise retro presentation. Of course, being an Atlus game, some clever dialogue is also on display, like the reference to the classic Ys combat system in the screenshot featured above. %Gallery-83457%
