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The Daily Grind: Do you take advantage of recruit-a-friend offers?
MMOs are all about having a massive amount of people in one world, so you might as well drag a few of your real life friends along for the ride, right? Or are you more of the person who likes to leave his friends behind, so you can have all of those pretty treasures and super powerful abilities for yourself?Today's grind question wants to know if you enjoy taking advantage of those "bring your friends" offers and why you do it. Is it all about having a way to get your friends into your favorite game quickly and easily, with things like triple the experience for your buddy? Or is it more because you get that sweet mount and free game time? Whatever the reason is, let us know if why you've taken advantage of these programs, or perhaps why you may not be so keen on the whole idea down in the lovely white comment box below.
Microsoft wants Radiant Silvergun XBLA remake
Chatting with Gamasutra, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa revealed that Microsoft has been trying to win over their hearts, gifting them chocolates and giving massages all in an effort to bring the Saturn's Radiant Silvergun to the Xbox Live Arcade. Kidding about the chocolates and massages. Though, Maegawa makes it clear that even though Microsoft wants a remake that he and Treasure have yet to decide if they want to bring Radiant Silvergun love to the XBLA. Why wouldn't they? Well, Maegawa says that it'd take a lot of dev time to make it work on the 360 and he admits that "it's certainly aged in assorted ways, and I'm not sure they're all good." We were under the impression that aged Radiant Silvergun is like a fine wine. It only gets better years down the road.[Via Joystiq]
Microsoft requested 'Radiant Silvergun' XBLA remake, Treasure considering
There may soon be a way of picking up and playing Radiant Silvergun that doesn't involve second mortgages or selling plasma. Talking with Gamasutra, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa revealed that Microsoft has approached the developer about giving the cult classic arcade and Saturn shmup a makeover for Xbox Live Arcade.While you reattach your jaw, it's worth noting that Treasure has yet to say yes to the remake, with Maegawa expressing concern that unlike Ikaruga, which blasted its way onto XBLA in April 2008, much more work would have to be done to Radiant Silvergun before it was given the green light. "If you play Radiant Silvergun nowadays," noted the exec, "it's certainly aged in assorted ways, and I'm not sure they're all good." Honestly Treasure, you can have our Microsoft Points, spit polish or not. Anything to keep our precious bodily fluids to ourselves.
Bleach: Video Crusade
We're pretty sure people still like the Bleach manga and anime, and we like Treasure, and everyone likes a good online fighting game, so Bleach: Versus Crusade seems like a winner. Since Sega localized both previous Treasure Bleach games for the DS, we wouldn't be too surprised to see this one come along as well. Sega isn't making any hints in this trailer, though -- the Wi-Fi section overlays two gameplay videos over a map of Japan.The trailer looks totally great, if a bit hyperfast for our comprehension! We're anxious (and slightly worried) to see how Treasure fares at creating a 3D fighter.
Bleach: Some People Fighting
We think we're going to have to start reading or watching Bleach so we know what's going on in Bleach Versus Crusade and the DS fighting games. Our interest in the DS games has been motivated mostly by love of developer Treasure, and that is certainly driving our desire to play the Wii game as well. But we can't help but think that it would be nice to know who all these people are and why they're fighting.Even as a context-free fighting game, however, we think Versus Crusade looks pretty nice. You can see for yourself in the latest batch of screens, originally posted on the official site, but visible in a much less annoying Flash interface on Wiiz.
Wii Warm Up: Top title for 2009?
So, yesterday we had some talk about 2009 and how there are plenty of great games releasing on the Wii. What we want to know this morning is what is the top 2009 title for you? What are you looking forward to most next year? We know it's a lot to ask, what with everything that is due to release.Is it The Conduit? Is it MadWorld? Sin & Punishment 2? Well, out with it!
Six of our favorite Media Summit videos
You've already had the chance to examine scores of wonderful screens from new Wii games announced at the Nintendo Media Summit. This new post is dedicated to displaying thousands of more screens (squashed together to create videos) of some of the bigger titles that have been shown at the event.We settled on placing Nintendo's official Punch-Out!! trailer at the top of this post, but could have easily led with some truly fantastic Sin & Punishment 2 footage, an impressive tech demo of The Conduit, or Yuji Naka's wacky-looking Let's Tap. Instead, all of those (and more) are past the break, and need to be viewed right now. Before you go, though, one final note: if any game released this year has a funkier soundtrack than Let's Tap, we'll be gobsmacked.
Sin & Punishment 2 and other third-party gems confirmed [update]
Update: Screen grab from Nintendo's media page, which has video of all these new games! Check it out right here.Nintendo just unleashed a demo reel of upcoming third-party Wii games, including Taiko no Tatsujin Wii, a new Tsumi to Batsu/Sin & Punishment game from Treasure, a Wii version ofAnother Code (otherwise known as Trace Memory, the DS adventure game), Let's Tap (Yuji Naka's latest project, a.k.a. the game that even penguins can play), Sengoku Musou 3 (Samurai Warriors 3) and a new "mothership" title in the Tales Of series.Will the internet regard this as the press conference that E3 should have been? We suspect so!
Bleach: Versus Controls
If Treasure is going to continue making Bleach fighting games -- Bleach: Versus Crusade is the third, a very unusual occurrence for a developer that shuns sequels in general -- we're going to have to start learning things about the Bleach series. Right now it's "that one anime with the Treasure fighting games." Actually, now that we think about it, that's enough. We don't really care who all these people are; we're quite satisfied to know them only as cool-looking cel-shaded characters in this game, who often fight in tag teams. It's possible that this game will play much like the DS Bleach games. Versus Crusade, according to this Famitsu post, supports both the Classic Controller and the GameCube controller. That doesn't rule out a continuation of the existing Wii Bleach style, but the Treasure involvement suggests otherwise.
Monkey Island on EU Aggramar this Saturday
Here's a fun event for the EU folks (as opposed to all the action on Steamwheedle) -- this Saturday, September 13th, on EU Aggramar, a guild called Deeprun Pest Control (funny) is holding an event called Monkey Island. They're all meeting up in Stranglethorn, and holding an Arena battle, putting on a costume contest, doing a little treasure hunting, and just having what sounds like a good old time.We have to say -- the trailer is awesome. It makes Stranglethorn Vale look like a place we want to visit again, and that's saying something. Everything kicks off around 2:45 server time, and while most of the events will be for the Alliance, we're told that there will be Horde translaters available. Always awesome to see really well coordinated player events -- if you're able to jump on the Aggramar realm this Saturday, do check it out (and be sure to tell us how it went).
Bleach: Versus Crusade is hidden Treasure
We thought Bleach: Versus Crusade looked nice enough when we saw it yesterday, but it now looks completely awesome. What has changed? Nothing in terms of the look of the game. We've just learned that it's the work of Treasure, developer of the Bleach DS games, as well as -- lots of stuff. Most recently Bangai-O Spirits. This is no doubt one of the two Wii projects to which Treasure president Masato Maegawa has alluded.Treasure's somewhat problematic history with 3D may be less of a problem now that we know the new game is a 3D version of one of their established series. Perhaps it will be like the DS games with different graphics. Or perhaps this will be, like Sin and Punishment, a good 3D Treasure game![Via NeoGAF]
Fanswag: Bangai-O goes to ...
Our latest giveaway has come to a close and we've selected our two winners. If there's one thing that's hard to do, it's having to part with Bangai-O, let alone two copies. But, hey, it's our job! The winners are: thebagel, who is a big Ikaruga fan Noir, who enjoys Radiant Silvergun Congratulations to our winners and better luck next time to the rest of you. Thanks for reading!
Game professionals create Bangai-O levels in the spirit of charity
IGN, D3, and The Guildhall have teamed up to host an exclusive Bangai-O Spirits level contest between game industry professionals. The winner will have a $10,000 graduate fellowship donated to The Guildhall in his name -- which means that some graduate assistant is going to pay the rent with one of these Bangai-O levels. IGN has all nine levels, from designers at Infinity Ward, Infinite Interactive, and other such prestigious studios, available for download and voting. It's really interesting to see what people who think about levels for a living do with the Bangai-O rule set. Harvey Smith, lead designer of Deus Ex, made an arena for super-annoying FastBots; Infinite's Steve Fawkner replicated the Atari classic Warlords. All of the levels -- many of which tend toward the baroque -- are great, but our favorite is the simplest one: Shane Hensley's "Pinball Wizard," designed to imitate a pinball playfield. It looks stark, but explodes into bullets in a way that is startling even for Bangai-O. %Gallery-16997%
Fanswag: Bangai-O up for grabs
Hey folks, do you like free stuff? Do you like free stuff that just so happens to also be totally awesome? Then enter our latest giveaway, right here, which will be hooking up two lucky readers with their own copy of Bangai-O Spirits (retails for $30)! How do you enter? That's easy!Simply leave a comment telling us what your favorite Treasure shooter is. Need a refresher? Hit up our latest feature looking back at their wonderful shooters right here. Or, just hit up the gallery at the below of this post. You can leave one comment per day, between now and 11:59PM ET on Monday, September 1st, which is when the giveaway ends. There is a catch, though. This latest giveaway is only open to current and legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec). Also, entrants need to be at least 18 years of age. Read up on the official rules right here.Best of luck to you all and thanks for reading DS Fanboy!%Gallery-29298%
DS Fanboy Review: Bangai-O Spirits
If you've ever played a Treasure shooter, or almost any Treasure game outside of, say, Stretch Panic or Wario World, you know a bit about what to expect from Bangai-O Spirits. For years, Treasure has been creating incredibly strange games with overt humor and colorful graphics overlaid on top of complex mechanics and piles and piles of enemies. Each game has a "gimmick" that drives the gameplay and defines the player's abilities: swapping colors in Ikaruga, throwing in Gunstar Heroes, and so on. Bangai-O Spirits has all the hallmarks of a Treasure shooter. It doesn't take itself seriously, but provides more than enough of a challenge for any gamer. It features the same gimmick as the other Bangai-O games, and will be instantly familiar to fans of those. In fact, it seems to be the ideal Treasure game. At the same time, it completely subverts the usual Treasure dynamic, with brilliant results. %Gallery-16997%
See (hear?) Bangai-O Spirits' sound loading in action
We know that we we've already told you about Bangai-O Spirits' wonderfully ludicrous way of sharing custom level designs between friends, but we don't think you really get the full impact until your see it performed live. We witnessed a demo at E3 and, frankly, it changed our lives. Also, if you like to keep track of this sort of thing, you should know that "sound loading" has taken the lead on our list of "Things We Most Hope That A Time Traveler From The Past Sees and Has Their Mind Blown to Smithereens." Congrats, D3. You did it.
A brief history of Treasure's shooters
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/The_legacy_of_Treasure_Shooters'; Whether you're a fan of shmups or wish to throw a pile of dictionaries at us for using such an egregious portmanteau, you could learn a thing or two from DS Fanboy's tribute to the shoot-em-up kings at Treasure. From 1993's Gunstar Heroes (released last year as a Virtual Console title) to this year's Bangai-O Spirits, the piece covers all of the developers' projectile-favored games (sorry Dynamite Heddy fanatics). Click here and get edumucated.
Visualshock! Speedshock! Soundshock! A look at Treasure's shooters
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/The_legacy_of_Treasure_Shooters'; We knew immediately when we heard that a new Bangai-O game was coming out that it would be something special. How could we be so sure of an unknown game? The answer lies in the history of its developer, Treasure, an offshoot of Konami who has been making idiosyncratic action games for years (as well as the occasional McDonald's game to fund said action games, but that's a story for another time).They've made very memorable brawlers and platformers, but Bangai-O Spirits is part of a long tradition of innovative shooters with insane storylines and unique rulesets, which is why we've chosen to look at Treasure's body of work in that particular genre. If you don't consider run & guns like Gunstar Heroes shooters ... well, we debated that, a lot, and decided that since they're games primarily about firing projectiles at enemies, they belong in the same discussion as scrolling shooters. Of course, if you think enough about shooters to make that kind of distinction, you probably know all about Treasure already. Boss is approaching! %Gallery-16997%
E308: Not the right place to try Bangai-O Sound Load
I went to D3 Publisher along with Joystiq's Justin McElroy to look at Bangai-O Spirits. Justin brought his mysterious space phone along, and I saw an opportunity. After I looked at the new Treasure stages (which include detailed pixel images of the Bangai-O robot and other things made out of stage elements), I asked if we could try out the Sound Load feature -- live. Justin loaded up a level on YouTube, stuck an earphone up to the mic, and the D3 rep started the Sound Load, but to no avail. "Transfer failed," "Too quiet," "Too loud." That doesn't mean it's a finicky feature, necessarily, just that it's not the ideal feature for the loudest place ever. Owners of the Japanese version haven't really reported problems. I have full faith that it works great in regular noise situations. I asked the D3 rep if there would be downloadable stages on the US website, and he told me that they were planning a YouTube channel. Furthermore, I was told that Japanese stages would work in the U.S. build. %Gallery-16997%
E308: More Bangai-O shots fired off
For the past few months, we've bombarded you with regular updates on Bangai-O Spirits like so many missiles. You might even say that we have an obsession, and you'd be right: we adore -- nay, love -- Bangai-O. If we were in charge of this scummy joint, it wouldn't even be DS Fanboy, but Bangai-O Fanboy. All employees would have to work while dressed as Riki or Mami. All readers would have to provide photographic proof that they owned the original, Japan-only N64 game. But we're not in charge -- we're snivelly, subservient slaves to our paymasters. So the most we can do is upload these ten new screenshots and hope that you view them. %Gallery-16997% [Via press release]
