The newest issue of Famitsu reveals that Disgaea for the DS is in the works. There are no images or really any further information, they just say it exists and that’s all. Hopefully we’ll hear more sometime soon. Honestly, just knowing it’s coming is fine by me, more Disgaea is always a good thing.
Normally, I’m not really into puzzle games, they just aren’t my thing. Ever since Tetris and Dr. Mario I just haven’t been able to get into them. So, when I picked up Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew it had RPG elements, I just wasn’t sure how it would all come together. Well, it all came together awesomely. In fact, so many people liked it that a sequel is now headed our way. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is set in the future. Instead of round pieces like in the previous game, Galactrix uses hexagonally shaped pieces which play differently then in the original. Also, gravity plays a large role in this game, affecting how pieces move.
IGN has an interesting interview up with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood’s producer, Mark Darrah and some new screenshots from the game. I’ve been interested in this Sonic RPG for awhile now, the idea of Bioware making a Sonic RPG on a handheld system just seemed like something completely different for the company. I expected awesome and radical things, basically.
The interview talks about some details about the game, but a great deal isn’t revealed. The plot is summed up as:
Eggman was defeated some time ago and Sonic has gone out to explore the rest of his world. He has been gone for a while and then gets a call from Tails - Knuckles has been kidnapped! Not only that, the chaos emeralds are disappearing!
The games battles are described as turn-based with real-time elements. Also, the game is divided into two acts. The first act takes place in Sonic’s world, with areas like the Green Hill Zone and Mystic Ruins. The second act, however, takes place in another dimension new galaxy intergalactic planetary. Nothing was revealed about this other dimension, but it sounds scary.
I picked up Advance Wars: Days of Ruin yesterday at the Nintendo World Store launch party (I arrived to the party late, but it didn’t look like I missed much…the only thing I saw there was Advance Wars: Days of Ruin banner hanging up, and everyone working was wearing Advance Wars shirts). After playing through a good number of the missions already I wanted to give some initial impressions of the game.
This is the big banner
The game itself is set in a world where meteors have recently crashed, kicking up huge amounts of dust that blot out the sun and pretty much everyone is dead. The few people that are still alive are killing each other (in turn based combat) for various reasons. Days of Ruin is a lot darker then Dual Strike, and the overall the game feels a little more mature then it’s predecessor. The units, however, still have a sort of “cute” look to them that sort of makes you feel bad when you have to sacrifice one for the betterment of the whole.
Days of Ruin introduces some new units into the mix, such as a motorcycle unit that can capture bases, and a flare unit that can shoot a flare to an area and remove the fog of war around it. Also, units can now level up. Each time a unit kills another unit, it gains a level up to a maximum level of three. Higher level units have increased attacks and defense. You can also put a commander unit in another unit, which levels up the unit automatically to level three. Units around the commander unit receive bonuses. Commander special attacks are still there, just not as powerful as in Dual Strike.
Other then that, the game plays very similar to Dual Strike. It’s just another Advance Wars game, and that’s never a bad thing. I’ve only played up the campaign up to level 12, and done a few of the bonus missions, but overall, at least so far, the A.I. hasn’t destroyed me…yet. I’m sure things get much worse, but so far I’ve been able to get an S rank on all the campaign missions.
Overall I’m really enjoying the game and can’t wait to beat Robert over Wi-Fi.
New Castlevania DS screenshots have surfaced, possibly showing a follow-up to Iga’s most recent Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. It looks like this newest Castlevania might have a female protagonist. What’s even more interesting is on the title screen there is a Wii menu item, indicating some sort of Wii connectivity. Does this mean their is a Wii Castlevania game in the works and that this DS game somehow connects with it? Or does it have something to do with WiiWare?
Also, it seems from the screen shots, that the anime style art from the previous two DS games is gone, something I couldn’t be happier with. Those last two games just didn’t seem right with the change in graphics. I still played them, sure, I just like the older style much more. All the pictures are shown below (click for larger image):
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Still unsure about buying Apollo Justice? Well Capcom has provided a free flash trial version of the game. I would embed it here…but it’s too big to fit properly. I played it, it’s totally awesome. I think it even convinced me to pick up the game (it’s release date is set for February 19). I’m thinking more DS games should have Flash demos…I know a few DS games I would have never bought if I had played a demo beforehand.
This Sunday, January 20th, Nintendo will be holding a launch party for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin at the Nintendo World Store in New York. It starts at 1 PM and ends around 3 PM. I’m sure they’ll be all kinds of Advance Wars craziness going on. They’ll also be giving the game away for free to the first 25 people in line so…I’m totally going.
Visit the Nintendo WORLD store for a special sneak-peek celebration a day before the game’s launch. From 1-3 p.m., fans will have the chance to win cool prizes by participating in Nintendo trivia challenges. Come early - the first 25 people in line for this awesome event will receive a free copy of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin!
Poor Nintendo…selling out of Wii’s has been causing huge problems for them. Constant shortages of Nintendo’s Wii console and a huge demand for its DS Lite are causing all sorts of planning issues for the company, Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime said recently in an interview.
The level of demand we are facing complicates all of our future business planning,” Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, told Reuters in an interview. “All of that becomes a much tougher exercise until we have supply and demand curves that intersect.”
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Unable to accurately forecast how many Wiis will be sold in the coming months, Nintendo is finding it difficult to plan for new games, such as “Wii Fit,” an upcoming physical exercise game that uses a pressure-sensitive board.
I don’t really understand why that would be a problem…if you ship x number of units, you will sell that many units…use that to calculate how many Wii’s will be sold. Once you stop selling out of them start using those numbers.
He also had this to say about retailers bundling Wii’s:
“Retailers have already been given feedback that we are not big fans of that. We think it masks some of the price advantage we have versus our competition and, frankly, the consumer should decide what they want,” Fils-Aime said. He added, “We don’t have to remind retailers of the strength we have right now. We are simply making an observation and that reinforces our point quite nicely with retailers.”
Take that, retailers.
I have a hard time caring, really. I understand you can’t instantly snap your fingers and produce more Wii’s but it’s been over a year, cry me a river.
Robot bugs, hundreds of weapons, and over 50 maps…what more could you want in a strategy RPG? March 25th, 2008 can’t come soon enough. Giant robot bugs are always super awesome. The whole press release is below:
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Honestly, this might be one of the worst “trailers” ever, but it’s Etrian Odyssey 2 so it’s OK. I don’t know why the first Etrian Odyssey wasn’t more popular, it’s a really great RPG. It’s tough at first, but once you get into it it’s great. Regardless, Etrian Odyssey 2 is going to be awesome. The trailer looks exactly like the start of the first one, where the soldier asks you to map out the first floor…I imagine the Japanese is saying something like “Suddenly you see a soldier wearing a crazy mask with no apparent eye holes appear out of the forest.” There’s another trailer after the link, but if you can’t read Japanese I wouldn’t bother.
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