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SEGA offers advice, creates MadWorld must-do list
Platinum Games' well received MadWorld has been abusing and roughing up the Wii for few days and SEGA decided its the opportune time to give game advice. Only because the publisher wants to make sure everyone is getting the most brutal experience possible. The top ten MadWorld must-do list is what SEGA came up with and is (interestingly enough) penned by the company's own senior localization producer, Patrick Riley. The list includes a few gameplay tips, some Challenge tricks and various insightful nuggets of information, like the fact that Jack can impale foes with a total of five, yes five caution signs. Yes sir ... the more you know.
Touch Ruminations: It's a MadWorld out there
In Touch Ruminations, former DS and Wii Fanboy Lead David Hinkle talks about whatever he feels like. He's a jerk like that. This week, it's all about Jack and his crazy romp through Varrigan City's Death Watch in MadWorld. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.MadWorld has been the biggest game on my radar for awhile, both professionally and personally. As a big fan of God Hand, I immediately compared MadWorld to that and expected it to carry over a lot of the things that game did so well: memorably goofy characters, ridiculously over-the-top combat, and an inspired, memorable setting. I'm glad to say that MadWorld has all of these things so far (I've only gotten through the first 3 stages, so that could change; my copy only arrived yesterday morning).%Gallery-22964%
Metareview -- MadWorld
You may not realize this, but MadWorld is a scathing look into the future of reality television. On today's shows we have survivors attempting to avoid madness and starvation, people who think they can dance and survivors who must dance to avoid madness and starvation (maybe we mixed that one up). MadWorld ups the ante by throwing players into a game show called Death Watch -- where winning puts $150 million in your pocket and losing puts you in the morgue. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to warn us television would go this route ... now, it's Sega's turn. 1UP (A-): "The design constraints of Nintendo's system forced the developers at Platinum Games to be creative, and they followed through on their creativity by putting together a thoroughly enjoyable brawler with just the right amount of the ultra-violence." GamePro (90/100): "Dark, brutal and hilarious in just the right way, MadWorld is a title that has rocketed to the top of every staff member's must buy list. Don't let the fact that it's on a "kiddie console" fool you-this is one title every "hardcore" gamer needs to play, provided you're over eighteen years old, of course." GameTrailers (85/100): "One of the most eye-catching games to come along in a while, MadWorld is stylish, bloody, and a great fit for the Wii's controls. Though there's a surprising amount of incentive to replay it, it's barely seven hours long, so if you aren't persuaded by the novelty of extreme violence buy with caution." Eurogamer (70/100): "No matter how much the schoolboy-humour commentary grates, no matter how repetitive the bits in between the set-pieces start to feel and no matter how frustrating the later levels become, MadWorld provides a rush of blood to the head almost as often as it provides a rush of blood to the pavement." %Gallery-22964%
First Bayonetta gameplay shots are hair-raising
click for extra-super detail What's niftier than a female action hero with guns on her feet? How about a heroine whose costume is actually her own hair. In fact, you can see her lengthy locks do their thang in this first glimpse of actual gameplay from Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya's very DMC-esque Bayonetta.Specifically, we'd like to point your attention to the gallery image of the game's slinky starlet performing a magic-based attack. It seems that she needs most of her hair to pull this off, so she's left more or less naked during the process. We expected something even more over-the-top than DMC from Kamiya's new game; we just didn't think we'd be getting over-the-toplessness.%Gallery-22955%
MadWorld: Just Hot Enough for TV
Sega is taking a somewhat rare step (for a third-party Wii game) in its advertising campaign for MadWorld: a TV commercial. We hardly ever see ads for Wii games on TV, and Sega has been responsible for two lately: this one, and the previous House of the Dead: Overkill spot, which also mentioned MadWorld.Despite its graphic violence (which can only be hinted at on television), Platinum Games' brawler is an excellent candidate for a TV campaign: we believe that the amazing high-contrast graphical style alone can sell copies, and thus putting it in front of more people is a great thing. We also think that not all Wii owners are in the audience for game blogs, and as such may not have even known that they needed MadWorld. And now they will!%Gallery-22964%
Yasumi Matsuno resurfaces to discuss work on MadWorld
Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Vagrant Story creator Yasumi Matsuno left his position as director of Final Fantasy XII in the middle of development, and has been quiet ever since -- until last month, when the (weird) news came out that he had been contracted to write for ... MadWorld.On the IGN MadWorld blog, Matsuno posted about the narrative for the brawler. Under contradictory advice from the producer and the development team, Matsuno came up with the game show idea. The development team wanted a world where violence was accepted -- but the producer (not named, but probably Atsushi Inaba) wanted a world where "Violence should ultimately be denied in the end." To comply with both of those ideas, Matsuno devised DeathWatch. "In the extraordinary world of the DeathWatch games," Matsuno explains, "violence and brutality is not only required, but accepted. However, once you step out of the show, the world outside is ruled by normal conventions. In the conclusion of the post, Matsuno says that "it may be a little difficult to catch everything in the story by only playing the game once." We're happy to hear about some replay value!For more from the World: Over on the Platinum Games MadWorld site (which can now be viewed on the iPhone!), director Shigenori Nishikawa explains the motivation for adding the comedic narration to the game.%Gallery-22964%
Platinum Games discusses enemy AI in MadWorld
Bless the Platinum Games blog, as it's been a wonderful source of interesting stuff leading up to next week's release of MadWorld. Today, Hirono Sato takes over the driver's seat and talks about his role in the game: player interactions and the three different AIs governing enemies. He breaks the enemy units down to "grunt," "grunt leader," and "boss." Sato explains that the "grunts" are essentially pushovers and the challenge they present is not simply just to defeat them, but to defeat them in the most stylish way possible, for the most points possible. Sato says that in a game "where running around killing all the enemies is supposed to be fun, making them so hard that you can't kill them wouldn't be fun at all."However, for those that crave difficult combat, the "grunt leader" is always on hand to provide an ample spanking. This guy is a bit tougher to battle, so it's not as much about getting the most points possible as it is about just surviving his attacks. Then, there are the "bosses," which are pretty self-explanatory.Sato also tells us of a cool in-game item called the "Money Grubber," a briefcase stuffed with money that you throw at enemies. Once the "grunts" see it, they'll start clawing for it, and eventually fight each other over the money. While they're busy, Sato offers a few ideas, including tossing "a drum filled with gasoline their way" and even tossing the case "onto some busy train tracks." %Gallery-22964%
Platinum Games doesn't find MadWorld's violence so funny, actually
There's certainly something comedic about a guy with 13 road signs sticking out of his head. There's something even funnier about launching that guy into a wall of spikes. Such is the over-the-top violence of next week's release, MadWorld. The developers behind the title aren't laughing with us, though. Platinum Games' Shigenori Nishikawa explains that the goal for the development team in Japan was to make the game over-the-top, but not to "ever aim to get laughs." He points to the first showing of the signpost-in-head maneuver, which was seen as "mean-spirited" and "left a bad taste" in Japanese mouths. When foreigners caught a glimpse, however, they were laughing it up, so Platinum Games decided to keep it in.Nishikawa further explains the gap between the Japanese and us in the West, saying he's never "heard of a Japanese comedian think of some kind of gag that will get laughs overseas and have it actually work out." Well, whether it was intentional or not, Nishikawa did get one thing right about us: We love to laugh at fat people in weird outfits.%Gallery-22964%
Touch Ruminations: Progressive necessity
In the latest edition of Touch Ruminations, former DS and Wii Fanboy Lead David Hinkle talks about whatever he feels like. He's a jerk like that. This week, it's 480 lines of progressive scan, and whether or not it should be the standard on Wii. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.I've been so pumped for MadWorld, it's not even funny. Then Monday came around and we found out the game wasn't going to run in 480p and I knew it had to be this week's topic. Some people went bonkers, but, to tell you the truth, I don't think it's such a bad thing.
Here's the opening for MadWorld
After taxing our eyeballs for three minutes on the opening sequence of MadWorld, asking them to distinguish between different splotches of black and white, we can't say that we understand whatever is going on any better. Who's controlling the city? Who blew up those helicopters? Why is everyone so angry? We have absolutely no idea.That said, the opening did manage to send us frantically searching for our Wiimote and nunchuk, which we guess is the whole point. See if you don't have the same impulse as you watch the video right after the break.
MadWorld's controls designed by sane people
IGN posted this control diagram as part of their week of MadWorld coverage, allowing us to breathe a sigh of relief at the non-gimmick controls. We particularly enjoy the fact that, rather than "light" and "heavy" attacks, the buttons correspond to regular attacks and the chainsaw -- which can only be used for five seconds at a time before requiring a recharge. There is some waggle, but it's not the main method of attack, and its mapping to the "uppercut" move means it will probably finish combos, much like the control scheme in the sublime No More Heroes. Swinging the nunchuk initiates a, uh ... "buck flip."In addition to the basic controls, IGN posted a more detailed rundown of Jack's abilities, including a description of MadWorld's lock-on feature, and tweaking punches with the analog stick. We're happy to hear about some depth in the controls, because while the black-and-white look is stunning and the overdone violence is funny, what we really want out of MadWorld is solid, complex brawling.%Gallery-22964%
MadWorld $10 off with Amazon pre-order
Update: Deal is expired.Here's a deal you'd be absolutely mad to pass up. Amazon is offering Sega's upcoming gore-filled beat-'em-up, MadWorld, for $40 if you pre-order the game on the site. That's a $10 savings off the retail price, which should keep you out of the red financially and firmly in the black & white death sport of the game. Amazon is promising a March 10 ship date for MadWorld orders. You can also purchase an official MadWorld strategy guide, but we'll summarize its contents for added savings: "Kill, repeat." You're welcome.[Thanks, Christopher S.!]
Inaba: Western devs 'superior' to Japanese devs
Atsushi Inaba, creator of Okami and the upcoming Madworld, contends that western game developers are better than their Japanese counterparts in a new interview with Develop. According to Inaba, Japanese developers have to "work hard" to match the standards of western developers. He adds that game development will soon be "about individual developers and not about what country they are in" and that the games industry is being consumed by the ever-growing beast, Globalizilla -- the embodiment of globalization, of course. (Note: Inaba did not specifically utter the name "Globalizilla" -- probably because he's superstitious.)When asked about opportunities for Japanese developers, Inaba stated that there were many opportunities, but that such opportunities hinge on a developer's ability to sell products to a global audience. He further added that it's important to focus on new IP in order to keep innovation alive in the industry, stating, "Industries that innovate and produce something new will always survive in the global marketplace." So, we shouldn't expect a Madworld sequel then?
The black-and-white evolution of MadWorld's graphics
MadWorld Lead Character Designer & Art Director, Masaki Yamanaka, just posted an informative blog that talks about Platinum Games' decision to go with a black-and-white art style and its subsequent evolution -- one that progresses from a high contrast black-and-white look to the addition of desaturated yellow tones and plenty of comic book violence. Something similar to Sin City, but with no Jessica Alba and fewer metaphors. It's interesting to note that early concepts of Jack had him free of bladed weaponry. Thankfully, through the miracle of development, a chainsaw was attached to his arm, which definitely aids in the spilling of Organizer blood.
MadWorld screens show off new bad guys, same old buckets of blood
Click image for more carnage Sega sent us a shiny care package, completely full of new screens from next month's MadWorld. As one might expect, there are at least three awesome things about these images: lots of violence motorcycles looking badass fat guy in a turtle suit We're big fans of those three things, which, obviously, make us big fans of MadWorld. The fat guy reminds us of Dynamo, which is the best. Check out the new screens in our gallery below.%Gallery-22964%
Jack piles up the bodies in latest MadWorld trailer
If you wanted to see a trailer for MadWorld that pretty much just showed Jack kicking the crap out of people, then welcome to the blog post of your dreams. After the break, you'll find a trailer containing just that for Sega's game, due on store shelves in North America next month. Jack kills people on foot, on his motorcycle, and with his chainsaw, just the way we like it.See also: NYCC 09: MadWorld hands-on]Via Offworld]%Gallery-22964%
NYCC 09: MadWorld hands-on (Wii)
MadWorld seems to be made with the theme: if you can see it, you can kill someone with it. This game is all about gore and the sadistic glee one derives from spilling others' blood. We've kept our eye on this title for nearly a year now, and with a release looming so closely, Sega finally lets us try it out for the first time.So what does it feel like going through this ultra-violent Wii title? What does one feel while holding Jack's chainsaw and using the Wiimote to cut into enemies? It feels great – so natural and so good. Gallery: MadWorld
NYCC 09: You'll be happy to see this MadWorld trailer
We may not all get to go to New York Comic-Con and meet the Platinum Games crew, but we get to watch this MadWorld trailer in the comfort of our own homes, without the din of thousands of shuffling fanboys drowning out the crunching noises and rock. It's about one minute of all-new footage, full of punching, kicking, throwing, and wrist-mounted-chainsawing. Given that this is a MadWorld trailer and thus violence is happening in almost every frame, you'll find it safely tucked away after the break. Speaking of violence, pause on the ESRB rating and check out the content descriptors! Yeesh. They almost ran out of space.%Gallery-22964%
MadWorld mows down North America on March 10
A Sega America representative has confirmed that MadWorld is ready to begin its reign of bloody action on March 10th on the Wii in North America. Oddly enough, the title still does not have an anticipated M-rating from the ESRB, despite having already passed both Austrailian and British rating boards.Publisher Sega has been working with the review boards to eliminate possible delays to MadWorld's release -- now that the publisher has picked an official release date, it might be good if the ESRB gave an "all clear." Gallery: MadWorld
Platinum Games launches community site
Billed as a "grand experiment," Japanese developer Platinum Games just opened an English-language website for gamers outside of the land that birthed Chocobos. Rather than creating a corporate site de rigeur, Platinum's taking a more community-based approach, including forums (MadWorld will be teh awesome everyone!), social media interaction (Hideki Kamiya just ate a sandwich!) and even a video podcast. "It is part corporate homepage, part purpose built community portal," reads the site's front page. And between that fancy new logo and this community-based initiative, we'll remain hopeful going forward. After all, this isn't the first time a Japanese developer has tried to do this, right? What's the worst that could happen?
