Rhythm
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Ouendan 2 release date, partial song list revealed
Japan's Famitsu magazine (as translated by NeoGAFer JonnyRam) has leaked word of a May 17 Japanese release date for the next game in the Ouendan series. The magazine also features a partial song list for the game, full of a bunch of Japanese bands and tracks you've likely never heard of. Not to worry -- the intrepid hunters over at Platformers.net have gathered up some handy YouTube links for listening to ten of the 19 revealed songs. Sure, we're looking forward to the recently announced Elite Beat Agents sequel too, but there's something about Ouendan's catchy J-Pop tunes that get our stylus fingers tapping that much faster. Maybe it's because, in Japanese, we can't understand the cloying, saccharine lyrics behind the catchy beats. Hooray for the language barrier! Previously: New Ouendan 2 images appear in Famitsu Read - Release date and partial song list Watch - YouTube videos of ten songs
Rumor: Every Extend Extra Extreme Extricated in August for $10
In concluding a rather positive preview of rhythmically exploding retina melter, Every Extend Extra Extreme, IGN seems to casually pin down the game's release window and pricing. Article author, Douglass C. Perry, writes that Q? Entertainment's next Xbox Live Arcade game will be in one piece "and cost about $10, or 800 Microsoft points" when it arrives this summer, "probably August." When queried about this information, a Microsoft spokesperson couldn't determine its exact origin, offering that "Microsoft hasn't announced anything about the title at all, other than it exists." Though it seems possible that Q? Entertainment simply informed IGN directly, prefacing the information with words like "about" and "probably" seems to indicate that nobody really knows for sure. Mizuguchi fans looking forward to the more Extreme version of Every Extend Extra will have to extend their patience just a bit more.
Man still beats machine at Guitar Hero
It's a scary time to be a human. What with computers matching or improving on human performance in such diverse pursuits as chess and Wii Sports Bowling, the coming robot apocalypse may seem inevitable. But fear not, there is still one power that humans can lord over machines. I speak, of course, of the power to rock! It's not for lack of trying on the machines' part, either. GarageGeeks' GuitarHeronoid makes a passable attempt at playing the game with its image-processing brain, human-like fingers, and shapely mannequin body. As you can see in the video below, though, the results are as of yet not terror-inspiring. More like pity-inspiring. Hey, robot, let us know when you can do better than this kid at PsychoBilly Freakout and we'll stage some sort of rock off. Until then, we'll be stockpiling E-bombs, just in case.
Metareview: Honeycomb Beat
We gamers are hard on puzzlers, but we can't help it -- we've seen so many great ones, particularly on handhelds. Thus, it takes something really phenomenal (or at least really addicting) to rack up notable scores. Unfortunately for Konami's Honeycomb Beat, it looks like a mixed reception. Fortunately, the low price -- Honeycomb Beat weighs in at just $20 -- may make it a safe bet for puzzle addicts. Game Informer (70/100) found the game fun, but awfully slim on features. "I liked puzzle mode the best, but wanted a little more. There is nothing else to this game. I guess you get what you pay for, but even at $20 it would have been nice to see a two-player mode."Games Radar (70/100) thinks HB is engaging, but could do more: "Honeycomb Beat's pretty damn fun for what it is, but can also be maddening mostly because the difficulty spikes about halfway through the Puzzle Mode. Still, it'll give your brain one hell of a workout without having to shout "Blue" repeatedly into the DS' mic."GameSpy (40/100) thinks it feels half-finished: "Although these two modes are very different and require different strategies, there's not a whole lot to them. The gameplay also isn't engaging enough for extended play sessions. As soon as you start growing tired with the two available modes, the lack of variety really starts to become apparent. A few extra modes would have gone a long way in extending the life of this one."We're sensing a theme here.
Osu! Tatakae! Nodame Cantabile!
We've already helped a student pass his exams in Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, and then we reunited a little girl with her dead father in Elite Beat Agents, so what's the next challenge on our rhythm-gaming plate? Turning our eyes towards Namco Bandai Games' Nodame Cantabile, it looks like we'll be conducting music with a ragtag class of students. The Nintendo DS has been home to many manga/anime licenses, so it's no surprise seeing the shoujo series appear on the handheld. Judging by what we've seen so far, the game plays like a simplified version of Ouendan. Players tap a series of floating notes in time with the music, filling up a "life" gauge with each successful hit. Missing a beat depletes the gauge, ending the level when the gauge is emptied. A flash demo of the game has been put up to promote Nodame Cantabile DS, and you don't even need to know any Japanese to play! Check it out after the post break. [Via NeoGAF]
Everlasting Love is worth the effort
Why haven't we seen more rhythm platformers since Donkey Kong Jungle Beat? And while we're at it, how come there aren't more games that feature primates? We were on the verge of sending out subpoenas and demanding answers from the video game industry's "top people," but then we stumbled upon Everlasting Love, a charming, monochrome game from homebrew developer Mia (Ninja & Zarbi, Oil Panic DS).Following the single-song soundtrack (from We Love Katamari) and the monkey protagonist's head movements, players tap the A button to the beat. Just hitting the A button at all makes the simian character bounce around, but he jumps higher depending on how rhythmically accurate you are. You can use the directional pad to face which direction you want to pounce, but all movement is limited to hopping around.While there's a lot of emphasis on staying with the rhythm, jumping as high as possible isn't the goal of the game -- you're actually meant to complete the levels with as few measured hops as possible. Some of the portions actually require you to jump off-beat, keeping your head down to avoid low-hanging spikes.Everlasting Love can get pretty frustrating at times, but we're not sure if it's the fault of the game's or our own lacking abilities. Clearing the first pit took us a few tries before we could put it behind us, and the obstacles get exponentially harder after that. At version 0.1 though, Everlasting Love has a lot of potential to be the rhythm platformer we've been waiting for all these years.[Via DCEmu]
Cheer up! More Ouendan 2 scans are here!
Every day we get to see even one more frame of Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 is a good day. Just getting an excuse to type the awesomely overblown title out makes us smile. And today we have two nice, big magazine scans to stare at. The scans show two of the new levels, and we have descriptions of the objectives thanks to the language wizards at NeoGAF, who can instantly make small amounts of Japanese become English. The first level involves Tsuyoshi Hanada, the student from the first level of the first Ouendan, and his job search. The second involves a salesman who wants to peddle sneakers in space. The screenshots from this level indicate that the rival Ouendan team will be playable! The full scans are available after the post break. Click them (rhythmically, of course) for larger versions. [Via NeoGAF]
Rockstar and Timbaland present: Beaterator
Two years ago, Rockstar Games had a version of Beaterator on its website. Today, Rockstar and famed R&B producer Timbaland have announced they would be teaming up to bring a full-fledged version of the music title exclusively to the PSP handheld system. Beaterator will feature a music mixer, and a collection of original music and rhythm games. "Music has always been a hugely important part of everything we do here," said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games in today's press release. "I've always been a huge fan of Rockstar and love playing their games," said Timbaland. "I'm thrilled to be partnering with them and making music for Beaterator. I cannot wait to get this in the hands of our fans!" Beaterator will be available on PSP this summer. Play the original Beaterator by visiting Rockstar.
Audio interview with Keiichi Yano is a gas, gas, gas
Nintendo World Report's reporters are the envy of Elite Beat Agents-loving, homebound bloggers everywhere, because they got to chat with EBA, Ouendan, and (best PS2 game ever) Gitaroo-Man creator Keiichi Yano at GDC. They've provided the audio from the interview with a promise to transcribe it later, but why wait when you can hear it all from Yano himself? Some of the topics covered include: Ouendan sales (not as bad as we heard!), why Gitaroo-Man is so awesome, choosing music for iNiS games, and hangin' with Mr. Mizuguchi. The ambient GDC din is noticeable, but the audio quality is more than good enough to make for a pleasant listen. And if you make it to the end, you get an EBA gameplay tip!
Osu! Tatakae! Ouenden sequel information trickles out
Keiichi Yano, VP of development for iNiS Corporation showed off some concept art, a few screenshots, and offered morsels of information about Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashi. Prospects of the Japanese sequel to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan had recently trickled out of Nintendo. Yano said that the title, due this year, will include new features and characters, including rival Ouendan. He also confirmed that those characters will be playable, saying, "From the screenshots, you can gather that you will be playing them. You're not only playing them. That's all I can tell you." Yano also said, "I can't tell you," when asked about plans to use the DS microphone and WiFi in the new version. Yano didn't confirm an American version of the new game, saying, "I know it's going to be an import for most of you. If you do get a chance, please try to check it out." Making no Wii announcements, Yano confirmed that that platform is an interest. "Yes, we are talking to Nintendo [about the Wii], and hopefully we'll have something to talk about soon." %Gallery-1975%
Creating Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and its recreation as Elite Beat Agents
Keiichi Yano, VP of development for iNiS Corporation created Gitaroo-man and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. Americans know him most recently for the conversion of the latter title to Elite Beat Agents. But since the original Japanese rhythm game centered on the rousing Ouendan, at his GDC seminar, Yano explained the process of rebuilding the title for a more American approach with "The Agents." With two Ouendan helpers occasionally chiming in, but mostly standing at attention during the presentation, Yano described the history of his company's titles. He was the game designer and also lead programmer for the company's first game, Gitaroo-man -- "[my ambitious role] was the stupidest thing ever." He hadn't created a game before, saying, "[I] studied pretty hard, read all the books, [and] came to GDC. At the end of the development cycle, we thought we had a really good game. ... We gained a fair amount of confidence." But Gitaroo-man was a retail disappointment. "It sold, like, nothing," Yano continued. "Any confidence that we had built was completely crushed like a fly. At this point, we had kind of lost all confidence in the music genre. ... We really did a lot of soul-searching back then." iNiS went on to prototype a new game and show it off to Nintendo. Yano said, "To make a long story short, they thought our idea sucked. ... We went on and we kept pitching this game [elsewhere]." %Gallery-1974%
GDC 07: The making of Ouendan & Elite Beat Agents
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_making_of_Ouendan_and_Elite_Beat_agents_Keiichi_Yano_speaks_at_GDC'; The gaming community has embraced iNiS' incredible DS music games, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and Elite Beat Agents, much to the surprise of game designer Keiichi Yano. His panel at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco featured an incredible large audience that filled the presentation room. All kinds of people, from gamers, to developers, to prominent members of the gaming press, all attended the session to show their support of this small development team. Yano-san went into incredible detail about the inspirations behind the game, the process of working with Nintendo, and gave us some delicious images from the upcoming sequel.
Mizuguchi's Every Extend Extra Extreme announced for XBLA
It was never going to be Rez, and we knew it -- not unless Q has surprises for us -- but Tetsuya Mizuguchi's next bound-for-XBLA opus does have sufficient neon-on-black to make us very happy Marketplace campers. Every Extend Extra Extreme, or E4 for short, is a new take on E3 (which Q developed for the PSP last year). The original Every Extend game was developed by Omega for the PC (the freeware version is here). Described as a "trippy visual journey of self destruction," E4 will enable you to play with your own tunes -- or, according to the peoplespeak of Q's press release, "wiz ur muzik" -- and against others in an online versus mode. If you're hooked on the PSP version (and if not, do get hooked), you'll know that the gameplay is all about chain reactions. Pretty chain reactions. But this XBLA version also offers Leaderboards and Achievements to keep the chain junkies flying. When, you ask? "Later this year." %Gallery-1918%
Friday Video: The Elite Beat Agents and Mel Gibson
So how 'bout that Mel Gibson? Drinking and driving, ranting about, well, everyone... the actor/director doesn't seem to be in the best place these days. It sounds like he might need some help! So what can we do? Why, send in the Elite Beat Agents, of course! They'll fix everything! Well, if the player has the skills to get the job done, that is. In this week's video spotlight, a parody from Game Almighty sends the agents in to help the star on a certain notorious evening. How does it end? Watch the video! All we're gonna say is that it's hilarious.
Elite Beat Agents sequel is on (oh yes)
Dengeki Online has today posted Nintendo of Japan's latest release schedule, which includes mention of the long-awaited sequel to -- drum-roll for nervous anticipation -- Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (which was rejigged for the West as Elite Beat Agents). There's no release date mentioned other than a non-specific "during 2007." Four-player action is confirmed, though, as is the new sensation's snappy title: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Tamashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. Got all that? Quick translation: Burn! Hot-Blooded Rhythm Spirit, Yo! Fight! Cheerleading. Need we say more?
Today's ?????????????????????-iest video: The Idolmaster
Today's video featuring in-game footage from The Idolmaster is completely wacky and strange ... even somewhat bizarre. That is, unless you speak Japanese or have a universal translator handy. We've talked about this game for the Xbox 360 before, and this footage seems to confirm just how strange this thing really is.In fact, if you're anything like us, you might feel a bit brainwashed after seeing this video. It's enough to put you into a trance, while your brain says WTF over and over. Hopefully someone can translate this for us before we decide to worship these strange Japanese girls and form a cult.
Eight-year-old is better than you at Guitar Hero
We here at Joystiq have posted a lot of insane videos of people playing Guitar Hero and other rhythm games, even going so far as to declare one pizza-fueled shredfest as the best GH vid ever. Well we were wrong. This video of an eight-year old getting five stars on Guitar Hero II's Psychobilly Freakout on expert difficulty is, in fact, the best Guitar Hero video we've ever seen. While we can't confirm for sure that this performance isn't faked somehow, the video's frequent close-ups on the frets and consistent, unbroken point-of-view make it seem unlikely. The best part of the video is the way this kid disdainfully turns away from the screen during some of the hardest sections, essentially playing blind just because he can. Now that's rock and roll. So, to the anonymous little guitar god in this video, we salute you with the new title of best Guitar Hero video ever. Until the next one comes along, that is.
Happy crazy rhythm game music day
Here at video game music day, we try to bring you examples of great video game music performed on real life instruments. This week we're turning things upside-down and bringing you some great real life music performed on video games. Why? Because we're just that crazy. Also we couldn't think of anything else to do. Please enjoy these seemingly superhuman performances on Taiko Drum Master, BeatMania and Pop N Music.
What if... you could learn real guitar through games?
When the New York Times wrote about the PC Recording Studio Guitar (a guitar that plugs in to a Mac or PC via USB), we wondered immediately whether the device could be used for a more authentic guitar-hero experience. Instead of mindless entertainment that does little to advance skills that are appreciated by the non-gaming public, game technology could be used to teach us skills that might help us climb the Maslovian pyramid to self actualization. If a capable game developer were to write a strong rhythm game that used a real guitar as a controller, we'd gladly slap down the 200 bones required to learn guitar. It'd be a steal, and an investment in the future.
Are you an Elite Beat Agent? Prove it.
Buzznet.com is hosting an Elite Beat Agents video contest sure to produce some laughs over the next few weeks, as it calls on Agent wannabes to serve it up in front of the camera. Various colored DS systems and copies of Elite Beat Agents are at stake (and some promo swag too). Here's a tip: Lose the "secert agent" camp for Ouendan's military-cheerleader routine. Osu! Tatakae! ...
