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Shining Blade – Animated Opening

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It’s a sorry state of affairs when a new Shining title is announced and I’m not excited in the slightest, but that has been the case for almost every announcement since the series was rebooted back in the early 00’s.

Shining Blade may not be the Shining Force 4 I’ve been waiting for but it has certainly gained my interest. It has been said that Shining Blade will take many cues from Sega’s other big SRPG series Valkyria Chronicles. It’ll use the same canvas style graphics engine and similar game play mechanics. This is already a huge step up from the horrible D-list Action-RPGs from a few years back.

This animated intro is quite nice too but I’m still having one big problem and that is the sheer number of half dressed woman clogging up the roster. Where are the quirky dwarves, centaurs, birdmen and the rest made the series stand out in the first place? Personally I don’t care if they add a bunch of skanky girls but don’t get rid of the characters I like to do it…

Oh well, I’m cautiously optimistic this could be the game changer in terms of game play, it’s coming to the PSP and probably wont leave Japan. Stay tuned kids!

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Japanese Virtual On Force commercial

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Microsoft has a new series of commercials rolling out in Japan. They are all based around this X character which has an Xbox symbol for his head… Yeah I don’t get it either but there you go.

It seems there is already one for Virtual-On Force. You gotta admit Temjin looks pretty cool in CGI!

Translation:
Co-Worker1: This thing sure got delivered beautifully!
Co-Worker2: Is this shoe Italian?

Co-Worker1: Hey you! I told you not to use oil on it!
Xboxman: X! (subtitled: I am sorry)

Co-Worker1: How about you big-project-fella?
Co-Worker1: No answer huh? haha!

Narrator: Virtual On is in its way for Xbox.
Co-Worker2: That thing is great!

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Virtual-On 4 Force for XBLA?

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Someone, somewhere has discovered something awesome, Sega have recently registered a new websites.

http://vo-force360.sega.jp

Currently the site isn’t ‘working’ there is nothing on it, but the URL already gives away some interesting clues as to what’s going down.

Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram sold well on XBLA and it was recently revealed that the game is indeed profitable. So it only makes sense to bring more Virtual-On too the service.

Roll on Virtual-On 4 Force! This is actually the 3rd game in the series not the 4th as you may think from the title. The 4 in the title actually stands for something far, far cooler! Because in VO 4 Force you can play 4 player! As far as I can remember this is a 2vs2 affair.

At the moment we are going to file this under rumour, but even at this point it seems fairly likely.

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Retro Review: Shining Force III Trilogy

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Shining Force III is a game that had many Saturn owners wishing that they could speak fluent Japanese. Considered to be one of, if not the best game on Sega Saturn, only one third of the full story ever saw an English translation. While most fans will already know this, the Shining Force III that most westerners are familiar with is only a fraction of an intricate trilogy of games, a true epic in every sense of the word. Three different scenarios, three different stories, all intertwining and combining to form an intricate, sprawling story and game. Recently however, thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated and skilled fans, almost every part of every game has been translated finally allowing the game’s English speaking fan base to enjoy the game as it was intended. So, how does it hold up over a decade later?

Continue Reading ➜

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