What a delight it is to play a game of such sublime simplicity, focus, maturity and production...the calibre of the writing is truly up there with the finest released; the translation effort is sterling and the choice of language and structure is, while deeply traditional, very readable and crackling with personality...every element, from tight translation to polished and considered gameplay, point towards a masterpiece-in-waiting.
To set the record straight, from Brian Bell’s account on VII the head translator had only a month to do it.
Konami has announced an 8 disc box of music titled Silent Hill Sounds Box. The box comprises os music from the Silent Hill series composed by Akira Yamaoka which consists of Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Silent Hill Zero, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories as well as music from arcade and demo releases. Also announced is a bonus DVD that (subject to confirmation) will include trailers from the series. The box will go on sale in Japan on the 16th of March 2011, and will retail at ¥14,700 (tax included).
Secret of Mana released for iPhone December 21, 2010.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World might be the greatest videogame movie of all time in part because it's inspired less by any specific game than by the infinite possibilities and cartoonish conflicts of the entire medium.
He'd be saying things like, "His feet should move like this here, and the focal point is right around here..." This was around 2 or 3 in the morning, and pretty much all the development staff had already gone home. So it was just Miyamoto-san and me in the office, and he starts showing me how Mario is supposed to swim while saying, "It's not really a breast stroke, and not a crawl, but something like this maybe...?" And he was completely sprawled out on the desk doing these swimming motions. (laughs)... But when I looked at him there and noticed he wasn't a bit embarrassed, I thought, "This is the work of a true director."
This one's for you, Kanji.
Over the weekend Gawker Media servers were hacked by 'Gnosis'. Nearly 1.25 million accounts including more than 500,000 user e-mails and 185,000 passwords were posted on The Pirate Bay1. This resulted in security breaches for a number of sites; Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Gawker, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin and Fleshbot account leaks have all occurred2. Gawker boss Nick Denton is expected to meet with FBI investigators and urges users to change their passwords3. Read on
ReviewArguably the best Mario game in a decade, Super Mario Galaxy was followed up with an easy, lame, boring, if polished sequel in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
It's been noted that this sequel's existence is owed to the large quantity of leftovers from the original, leaving a bunch of galaxies on the cutting room floor. Super Mario Galaxy 2 feels like these throwaway levels were picked up, dusted off, polished off, and packed away.
Read onAs seen at the 2010 VGA Awards on Spike television network.
For more information see the official website. Read on
Square Enix have issued another communication in order to lessen the damage being done by a variety of issues in their MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.
Producer Hiromichi Tanaka is resigning as producer:
Read onFirst of all, I would like to apologise for our inability to fully satisfy our users with the initial release of Final Fantasy XIV. I take full responsibility for the game's current situation, and have therefore made the decision to step down from my role as producer.1
BlogThe federal and state Attorneys-General met in Canberra and on the agenda was an R18+ rating to be introduced for video games. They failed to come to a decision however have not rejected the idea just yet.
Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said:
Read onGamers have grown up. Games have grown up. We need to make sure we have a classification scheme that's grown up as well.1
Donkey Kong Country Returns was released on the Nintendo Wii yesterday in Australia. Nintendo pulled a marketing stunt in Sydney by placing a huge pile of bananas labelled "Kong's Banana Hoard" in the middle of Circular Quay. The bananas were offered to the public for free and the company also organised a giant bite mark to be added to The Big Banana at Coffs Harbour. Read on
We need a classification system that protects young minds from any possible adverse affect, while also ensuring that adults are free to make their own decisions about what they play, within the bounds of the law.
The latest from Tim Schafer and the fine folks at Double Fine is Stacking, the world's first third-person matryoshka stacking doll action puzzler set against a 1930's era backdrop. Expect to start stacking aplenty in Spring, 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.
Final Fantasy Hacktics is a community/website dedicated to the hacking of Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX) & Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP).
BlogThe more I think about it, the more it bothers. That is, the more people say "graphics don't matter" the more I think they're full of it. Actually, the more I think about it, I find the graphics are incredibly important to me. But maybe I'm being too loose with my definitions. Because whenever I think, "graphics," I automatically lump in art direction. Talking about how good the graphics are is pointless if what is being animated is boring to begin with.
Read onThe Mario series is ripe for comic ideas due to all the strangeness that occurs on a regular basis. One such example is the fact that characters who are enemies in one game might very well end up saving Mario’s bacon in another (such as in the Paper Mario series). Inevitably, worlds are going to collide.