Bayonetta was awesome, developer Platinum Games wanted to set a new bar for action games and I think they set it high. What does producer Yosuke Hayashi think?
“Bayonetta has some good stuff but Bayonetta is old, game design wise, already.”
For Ninja Gaiden 2 fans, he says that the game was also outdated. Is he correct? A bit. Hey Yosuke Hayashi, you know who used to talk crap about the competition? The old head of Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki. Have to say, it’s a pretty outdated tactic.
Today Sega has officially announced ‘Spiral Knights’ a free-to-play MMO action game heavily based on Co-Op dungeon crawling and puzzle solving and apparently has very little grinding. The game also has real time action and not the boring monotonous ‘target and watch’ game play of most MMORPGs. Graphically the game looks quite sharp, colourful and cartoony, right up my street!
I suspect the game will use in-game shops where players can buy new clothes, items and weapons for real money; this is what will pay for the up keep of the server and has become a very popular business model for MMORPGs in recent years.
You can also play the game before release by heading over to the games official website HERE!
Over to Sega community manager Edward for more details;
“Spiral Knights is a brand new, totally free-to-play online multiplayer game developed by the excellent craftsmen who brought you Puzzle Pirates. The game debuts soon — it’s available for download this April 4th. A constantly changing world with a deep story, Spiral Knights is heavy on teamwork and creativity, and short on typical MMO-style grinding.”
Looks quite cool and as it is free I’ll probably try it out!
Here is a new trailer for Super Monkey Ball 3DS, the trailer shows off the main game and its control scheme. In all honesty the game looks quite fun, bright, and has the same addictive Monkey Ball game play I’ve always loved.
But I really, really hope there is an option to take down those red safety bars that appear in the levels… There is nothing worse than this series being toned down and made too easy for us older fans that look for a bit of challenge in our Monkey Ball ventures.
I’m still a bit disappointed that Monkey Target didn’t make it into the party game selection, but looking at how they changed Monkey Fight and Monkey Race I’m not sure I’d want it after all…
[…Hm…yeah, I can understand why this might be an issue]
In a move that’s not all that surprising given the devastating earthquakes in Japan, SEGA has decided to move Yakuza: Of the End from its March 17th Japanese release date. No new date was given.
This is not a first for SEGA, who cancelled Propeller Arena’s release back on the Dreamcast due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. That game never saw release, a fate that hopefully won’t be shared by Yakuza: of the End.
Last year’s entry in the Yakuza series, Yakuza 4, a game which doesn’t involve a zombie apocalypse, will be releasing this week as planned in Western territories.
Are you a fan of Yu Suzuki? Of course you are! Well this video is for you.
This is the GDC career retrospective of Yu Suzuki and it’s translated into English. Full of great information regarding Suzuki’s long career with Sega and the ground breaking, revolutionary games he has created over the years including OutRun, Virtua Fighter and Shenmue amongst others.
Here is a fantastic trailer showing off the new multiplayer features of Shogun 2 in full detail. Learn how to play the new MMO-like persistent world game, join clans and customize your general. The game looks truly awesome.
The latest Game Informer (issue: 216) has a parody section called “Game Infarcer” that features great news like “Japanese Developers won’t shut up about how much Japanese development sucks” and how Activision shuts down every studio.
Yes, its not to be taken seriously. I thought some of you guys would enjoy the fake review of ‘Sonic Reborn’ which of course is a fake game.
It seems that poor Majima will be playing the ‘bitten hero’ in the latest Yakuza installment. After his eyes start to turn red, he starts to worry about himself becoming one of the undead. He tells Kazuma and Misuzu Asaki that he can no longer travel with the pair due to being bitten.
He then takes refuge with Daigo Dojima in a shopping mall in Kamuroco Hills. It’s a zombie game, of course there will be a mall somewhere! They then get rescued by homeless people (bum power) and run into the Florist of Sai. Where his journey takes him you will have to play the game to find out.
Also, this is how I also hold my shotgun for press renders.
Last week, SEGA Sequel Saturdays took a look at 5 of my favorite SEGA Sequels and why they managed to overcome my usual “sequel hatred” to become games that I really enjoyed. This week, it only seemed natural to look at the other side of that; to write about 5 of my least-favorite sequels and why I feel they failed to deliver. So, without further ado, let’s jump into episode 8!
(As always, feel free to throw in your own two cents via the comments section.)
Usually at Segabits we would stay clear of critic bashing but I really feel this needs to be said.
This is of course in regards to the review score Greg Miller of IGN has just given Yakuza 4 (6.5/10).
Just about everyone who has played the Japanese version of the game, be it the Japanese people I’ve spoken to about it or the Westerners who have imported the game, seem to all agree that Yakuza 4 is one of the best games in the series yet. On the other side of the coin, it’s generally agreed by most fans that Yakuza 3 was the weakest installment in the series so far with a very slow start with its baby sitting children and rather monotonous fetch quests making up the first quarter of the game.
However not Greg Miller it seems, who, throughout his review, speaks about how much he enjoyed Yakuza 3’s story and, even more jarring, how Yakuza 4 has a weak story which seems to contradict what every other Yakuza fan has said.
Before I kick off “The Weekly Five”, I want to say that my thoughts and support go out to our friends in Japan and other countries who were affected by the recent natural disasters. While they might be half a world away, there are still ways to help. Seek out charities or check out relief organizations like the Red Cross to donate. Every little bit helps.
When it came time for me to transition from the sixth to the seventh and current generation of consoles, I made up a list of pluses and minuses. PS3 offered blu-ray, 360 offered a strong achievement and avatar system. PS3 lacked PS2 backwards compatibility (with one exception), 360 lacked Yakuza. In the end, the 360 won out, mainly due to price but also due to the fact that the console could play a number of original XBOX games. I gained shelf space AND could still play JSRF and Panzer Dragoon Orta. Despite this, some XBOX exclusives were left in the dust when it came to 360 backwards compatibility, either due to technical reasons or lack of interest on Microsoft’s part. Today we’re looking at five of the SEGA games only found and only playable on the original XBOX. These cannot be played on a 360, thus excluding Panzer Dragoon Orta and JSRF. You dig?
Here is a crazy cross over I never saw happening! Sega have announced a Shogun 2 and Team Fortress 2 cross over to promote the release of Shogun 2 on steam.
This cross over comes in the form of eight in-game items for Valve’s online FPS, Team Fortress 2.
The items will be made available as an exclusive pre-purchase bonus for Steam gamers and also as a separate TF2 item pack. If you’ve already pre-purchased Total War: Shogun 2 on Steam or you do so before release and own TF2, you’ll automatically gain access to these unique items.
Hit the jump for the press release and screens of said items.
The new trailer above lets you check out some of the locations in the upcoming Yakuza 4. If you played the past 3 titles released in the West, you should know what to expect.
Of course SEGA can say yes or no on any future Yakuza games being brought over, what with Yakuza 4 coming out very soon. But the guys from Siliconera had a great interview about what it takes to bring Yakuza games to the West. When asked if SEGA would bring over a spin off like Kenzan:
“In terms of the older games, I can really speak to that at the moment. Because currently from the Yakuza franchise we have Black Panther, Kenzan, and now we have Of the End. Which all intents and purposes is a working title for the West, we don’t know what it’s going to be called. I think the possibility is there. We haven’t closed the door on any of those titles. We’re always looking at what might be the next title that will be appropriate for the Western market.” – Yas Noguchi, Senior Producer Yakuza 4
Sounds like ‘Yakuza of the End’ is leaning more towards a yes, since they are already saying it’s a code name in the West or is this just me wanting a game badly?
SEGA has revealed that you will be able to rent the first part (of two) of the Valkyria Chronicles OVA, called “Senjo no Valkyria 3 Tagatame no Juusou” on April 15th through May 12th via PSN & Sony’s Qriocity video on demand service. The first part clocks in at 30 minutes, will cost you ¥500 (about $6 USD) in HD and ¥400 (about $5 USD) in SD.
For those of you that do download the film via the services above, you will get a code to unlock “Innen no Taiketsu,” a free mission in Valkyria Chronicles 3. This mission is a what “if” mission, where Kurt and the Nameless have to work the Squad 7.
As for retail, there will be a Blu-Ray and DVD version of the first part of the OVA released on June 29. There will be a limited edition and standard.
