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Vib-Ribbon's return began with an attempt at stage cred
When president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Shawn Layden praised Vib-Ribbon's outside-the-box concept during this year's E3, he hoped it would show his legitimacy as a nerd worthy of standing beside better-recognized faces of PlayStation like Adam Boyes or Shu Yoshida, according to a report from Wired. Excited fans flooded social media in response, but their joy turned to rage when Layden took a sharp turn from his fond remembrance to introduce the gameplay debut of Mortal Kombat X. As he was drinking in the backlash the following morning, Layden remembered that Vib-Ribbon was never actually released in North America. Instead of finding common ground with fans of the cult classic, he had reminded part of his audience of what they had never had a chance to play.
Joystiq Streams: Vib-Ribbon's block rocking beats
It's Friday night! Time to gather the supplies. One sensory deprivation tank ensuring complete darkness, silence, and numbness? Check. Approximately three pounds of Pixie Stix ensuring all hallucinations are as giddy as they are disturbing? Check. Tom Waits, Portishead, and Cibo Matto CDs to start blasting when the visual hallucinations begin? Check. Oh wait, you don't have any of those things? Don't worry. Vib-Ribbon, the PlayStation classic newly released in the US for the first time, provides the same experience. A sugar-fueled fever dream about skittering sketch rabbits jumping through hoops to the music in your soul. That's what this game's all about! Starting at 4:00PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch, we'll be streaming a whole lot of Vib-Ribbon in order to give you a transcendent psychedelic experience. Why? Because it's the weekend and Vib-Ribbon is awesome. Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM) digs deep into his CD collection while Danny Cowan (@db_cowan) and Susan Arendt (@SusanArendt) riff on the cultural detritus that birthed this beauty of a game. That's Joystiq.com/Twitch at 4:00PM EST, just like we do every Tuesday and Thursday. If you want to see every freaky stream we do, make sure to follow us on Twitch. [Images: SCEA]
Joystiq Weekly: Vib-ribbon launches, Driveclub Review, RE: Revelations 2 preview and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. "Better eight years late than never," PlayStation Network users probably said during this week's return of Vib-ribbon. Sure, we're not exactly in drought season, but what's stopping you from impulsively bailing on 2014's release calendar to revisit a 1999 cult classic? Beyond money and life's responsibilities, anyway. If Vib-ribbon is fair game for a 2014 appearance, can we go ahead and get our hopes for comparably-unlikely surprises? Sure, StarCraft: Ghost's indefinitely-on-hold status is probably irreversible at this point, but if Blizzard felt like continuing development in secret for years and launching it without warning, we wouldn't be upset. Valve, you're more than welcome to do the same with fresh installments in the Half Life or Left 4 Dead series. There was more to this week than feeble wishes though, including resolution news for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin's Creed: Unity, reviews for Driveclub and Neverending Nightmares, and previews for AC: Unity and Resident Evil: Revelations 2. All those and more are tidied up for you after the break!
Cult classic Vib-Ribbon will finally land in North America tomorrow
Back in 1999, that little vectorized rabbit thing (Vibri, if you want to get specific) bounded across televisions in Japan and Europe in a quirky little PlayStation title called Vib-Ribbon, Now, 15 years later, gamers in North America are finally getting a chance to steer her through an array of trippy musically generated levels... as long as they have a PS3 or PS Vita. Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Shawn Layden wrote in a blog post today that the cult classic would go live in the PlayStation Store tomorrow (no firm price just yet), and that the PS3 version retains the game's original hook: you'll be able to pop in an audio CD, and the game will automagically create a level from each track. Alas, you won't be able to play the game if you splurged on a PlayStation 4, though Layden was quick to point out that your time will soon come. Bummer, but hey: it's not like you're going to have to wait another 15 years, and you can peer beyond the jump to see what exactly you'll have to look forward to.
Vib-Ribbon launching in North America via PSN tomorrow
At last, Vibri is free. Sony announced today that PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura's vector-graphics rhythm game Vib-Ribbon will hit the PlayStation Network tomorrow, marking its long-awaited North American debut. Released for the original PlayStation in 1999, Vib-Ribbon puts players in control of Vibri, a bizarre rabbit-like creature who must vault on-screen obstacles in time to a backing music track. In a novel twist at the time, Vib-Ribbon allowed players to insert their own music CDs and create playable levels based on individual tracks, often upping the game's challenge far beyond the difficulty of its default soundtrack. Though Vib-Ribbon was released in Japan and Europe, a North American version never surfaced. This week's PSN release will be the first time Vib-Ribbon is officially available in the United States, and Sony notes that its CD-scanning feature will arrive on the PlayStation 3 fully intact. [Image: Sony / NanaOn-sha]
Sony files for Vib-Ribbon trademark in Europe
Vib-Ribbon, an early Sony rhythm game that is almost entirely forgotten in our modern era, may be making a comeback, if a European trademark filed by the gaming giant is anything to go by. The original Vib-Ribbon appeared on the first PlayStation in 1999. It was designed by Masaya Matsuura and developed by his studio, NanaOn-Sha, the same development house behind PlayStation-era rhythm game classics Parappa The Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy. Unlike those two colorful games, however, Vib-Ribbon is a spartan, monochrome affair in which 2D, side-scrolling stages are generated from a user's own music – a feature that made Vib-Ribbon unique in 1999, and one that remains a rarity in rhythm games to this day. Unfortunately, the trademark filing offers no information on what Sony has planned for the long-dormant series. Our attempts to pry more information from Sony's representatives bore no fruit, so until the company opts to share its plans all we can say for sure is that Sony has some latent interest in the addictive, bizarre Vib-Ribbon. [Image: Sony]
Vib Ribbon hitting PlayStation Network soon
If you were in the video game news business many years ago, you may remember a game called Vib Ribbon. It was a sort of musical game, a rhythm game if we may, sort of like PaRappa the Rapper. This game was different on the original PlayStation though, as it allowed you to slide in any audio CD you wanted to use as your rhythm tracks. Unique levels and clever programming were everywhere and now the title is coming to the PSN. Will it be a remake? Will it be a port of the original? It's a natural fit for allowing the use of any music you want. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available, but this is a classic game that should not be overlooked.[Via NeoGAF]
Vib Ribbon coming to PlayStation Network
If you were in the video game news business many years ago, you may remember a game called Vib Ribbon. It was a sort of musical game, a rhythm game in the vein of PaRappa the Rapper. This game was different on the original PlayStation though, as it allowed you to slide in any audio CD you wanted to use as your rhythm tracks. Unique levels and clever programming were everywhere and now the title is coming to the PSN and will hopefully get supported via the PSP as well. It's a natural fit for allowing the use of any music you want. Our only query is how we'll get the music on the PSP. Hopefully the game will be tweaked to allow our Memory Sticks to carry the music we want. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available, but this is a classic game that should not be overlooked.
