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Lunar: The Silver Star returns on PSP
Lunar: The Silver Star, the classic Sega CD/PlayStation role-playing game from Game Arts, will be re-released on the PSP. Rather than a full remake, Gungho Works' Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star appears to be an enhanced port of the PlayStation game -- the screens in the Famitsu scan retain the classic 2D look of the PlayStation version, but the article claims that the PSP version features "new scenarios."Siliconera cleverly speculated that this title would be the "enhanced remake of a classic PSOne RPG" that XSEED plans to announce in the near future. This game is well-known enough among PlayStation RPG lovers to be worth teasing.
Golf training tees off in Japan this October
Golf is big in Japan. Training games are big in Japan. Hence, somebody at GungHo Works finally did the math and worked out that a golf training game would be huge in Japan. This is the result: Golf Cut 100 DS, a training title focused entirely on improving your ability to accurately hit tiny balls with long sticks, and teaching you the difference between plus fours and putters in the process.Developed in conjunction with monthly golf magazine Golf Digest and out this October, Golf Cut 100 offers quizzes, lessons on course etiquette, and advice on 100 golfing techniques. Given some of the other stuff Japan has already been trained in, a golf trainer seems pretty normal to us at this stage. Drive your golf cart past the break for more shots.
Love Revo: Losing weight is hard even in video games
We've been immensely interested in Otometeki Koi Kakumei: Love Revo ever since we caught wind of the DS game, but we hadn't seen any in-depth impressions of the dating sim until now. While it's a port of a 2006 PS2 game with very little added content, it has a unique concept: you play as a 200-lb, doltish girl looking to shed some pounds and smarten herself up to meet the standards of seven possible bachelors. Interestingly, there's also, uh, a somewhat incestual possible ending.Gamer Tell's Jenni Lada has a few curious notes on those unattached boys from her Love Revo playthrough: Souta, a blue-haired buck in the grade below your character's, has the lowest weight-loss requirement, and he'll date you once you've worked yourself down to 165 lbs. Perhaps the developers are implying that his youth and romantic inexperience have kept his standards lower than matured gentlemen? Because of his relatively accepting nature, Jenni found herself thinking of him as "a better person than the other male bachelors." Take notes, guys!You would expect Toru, your character's childhood friend and a similarly overweight individual, to be more understanding of your obesity, but not so! You have to slim down to 143 lbs before he gazes at you with hearts floating around his head. Toru's willing to take you under his husky wing, however, if your reading stat is only at 60; Souta must place higher importance on brains than looks, as his reading stat requirement is 65.To lose weight and build up your stats, you have to efficiently balance your activities, food intake, work, money, and stress. Despite her best efforts, Jenni found that balance too challenging to achieve, and her game ended with a "mean, thin girl" mocking her character. Determined to win herself a man, she used an Action Replay cheat code to rake in unlimited cash. Pockets full, she had no trouble gaining kind-hearted Souta's affection.So, is it easier to lose weight when you're rich? And is it easier to shack up with someone when you have money?
A pair of dating games hit Japan on Valentine's Day
If you're anything like this blogger, you'll be spending Valentine's Day alone and bitter again this year. If you live in Japan (or enjoy importing), though, rest assured that the Land of the Rising Sun knows how to take care of its single girl gamers. Not one, but two dating games will be released in the country on Thursday, hoping to let young girls in the lonely hearts club live vicariously through their handhelds. The more popular of the two, Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 2nd Season is not only a sequel to a successful game, but also a remake of a PS2 title (with additional content involved to sweeten the deal). Making full use of the touch screen, the game lets you fondle your man on the way home from dates, which in turn increases his affection for you. The "touching" parts probably aren't as scandalous as they sound, but when it comes to Japanese dating games, you just never know. The second game is a bit more disheartening than the former. In Otometeki Koi Kakumei * Love Revo!!, you take control of a girl who's packed on a few pounds since her youth. Now that she's fat, she no longer has any gentlemen callers. In fact, all the hot guys in town are downright mean to her. Of course, it's up to you to get her back in shape so that she can get a boyfriend. The idea sounds a bit like the story in Yume Penguin Monogatari to us, only without the charm of having penguins involved.[Thanks, Mariye!]
