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    Rising Star taking Little King's Story on the road

    March 5, 2009 - 12:20pm

    Rising Star Games, Marvelous's European publishing partner, has high expectations for Little King's Story. The company plans a large marketing campaign in Europe for the adorable sim/RTS -- the region in which LKS will debut. Rising Star's Yen Hau sees the game as appealing to "'potentially anyone who owns a Wii."In addition to print and online advertising, Rising Star plans a "road show," about which few details are known other than that it will continue through May, when it will finish at the London MCM Expo. After the break, Rising Star's Tyrone Walcott provides the most detailed rundown of the gameplay we've seen yet, with plenty of accompanying video.

    Continue reading Rising Star taking Little King's Story on the road

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    The Beatles: Rock Band launching worldwide on 9/9/09

    March 5, 2009 - 11:22am


    Okay, so it will be a Rock Band game. Apple Corps LTD., Harmonix and MTV Games have announced that rock music's dream cast, The Beatles, will be reduced to multicolored note charts on 9/9/09, when the "The Beatles: Rock Band" launches worldwide on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. The "unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles" will allow players to tackle a cavalcade of culturally monumental songs via mic, drums and guitars, all included in a Limited Edition Premium bundle for $250 (all platforms) and "modeled after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr throughout their career." Standalone guitars will also be available ($100), as will separate game discs ($60, all platforms) for those already surrounded by Instrument Protagonist equipment. According to the press release, The Beatles: Rock Band will be compatible with all prior Rock Band instruments and "other current music-based game peripherals." And now we wait until September. God, we hope the person behind the store counter is named Jude. It's going to be SO funny when we ask for a copy.Update: Speaking to an MTV representative, we confirmed that despite the "collaborative decision" to append the Rock Band brand, The Beatles will remain a "custom, standalone, dedicated game experience." MTV and Harmonix are not willing to discuss matters regarding DLC or song importation yet.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Kingdom Hearts DSi bundle launching May 30 in Japan

    March 5, 2009 - 10:32am

    Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days finally has a release date in Japan: May 30. Not only will Goofy fans be able to pick up the new action-RPG then (for 5,980 yen, or $60!), they will have the option of dropping even more money on the Kingdom Hearts Edition DSi bundle, which contains this specially decorated black DSi and the game, for 24480 yen ($246). Even as people not particularly into Goth Disney, we happen to think it's rather fetching!The existence of this bundle sort of validates a rumor we received a while back: while there is a 358/2 Days DSi bundle as predicted, there has been no mention of an included Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories game nor of this special DSi having a Game Boy Advance slot. We expect that the Japanese sites would have mentioned that if it had been the case.[Image via Inside-Games]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Nintendo tattoos show questionable judgment

    March 5, 2009 - 9:30am


    The person above is just one of several in a collection of folks who, like others we've seen, found a place in their hearts, and skin, for Nintendo and its venerable icons. Pouring over the gallery, some of the ink is tasteful, or at least easily hidden, good advice for anyone mulling over branding their body in the name of their hobby, or company of choice. Still, while tattooing invincibility stars on your neck may seem like a good idea at the time, the sprites are equally good at keeping you untouchable by gainful employment as they are from shells and animated fungus. [Via GoNintendo]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits details sound familiar

    March 4, 2009 - 10:30pm


    IGN has an interview with Paul Gadbois, producer on Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, the franchise-milking upcoming compilation of what Activision has determined are the most popular songs from every console GH title to date. Canadian development studio and port-expert, Beenox, is putting together the disc, which hits 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii in June. (It's confirmed at $60 for the 360/PS3 release, $40 on Wii and $30 on PS2.)According to Gadbois, this mash-up of previous Guitar Hero games will offer full band play on all 48 of its included (master) tracks, while also including the music studio, character creation, and online features introduced in Guitar Hero World Tour. Eight tracks-from-the-past have been revealed so far:

    • "Barracuda" by Heart
    • "I Love Rock N Roll" by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
    • "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister
    • "Killer Queen" by Queen
    • "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against The Machine
    • "Nothin' But A Good Time" by Poison
    • "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains
    • "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce

    What was it The Smiths once sang? "Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!"
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    Video: A Boy and His Blob in action

    March 4, 2009 - 9:15pm


    Another gush of a boy and his blob assets has been released, this time in the form of gameplay footage. After serving up a few screenshots that had us swooning for more, two direct-feed videos are available from IGN. If the style and polish of the screenshots blew your top off, tape down a shirt and check out this impressive (and beautiful) gameplay footage. You can check out a boy (and his blob) navigating through the world -- using tactics we still recall from our childhood -- after the break.[via NintendoEverything]

    Continue reading Video: A Boy and His Blob in action

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    Namco Bandai serving The Munchables on Wii

    March 4, 2009 - 7:52pm

    Do you dare sit by while the home planet of the Munchables is invaded by Don Onion and his space pirates? NEVER! Join the fight against the evil Onion in Namco Bandai's The Munchables, a new Wii game coming to North America this May.The Munchables' story and gameplay are both gluttony-based. As a Munchable, players must defeat the space pirates -- such deliciously wicked creatures as the Eggplanter and the Space Shroom -- by devouring them. As they eat, the Munchables grow. It's clearly a kid-friendly game, but the graphics are fairly impressive (if overly colorful) and the eating-based combat (which is vaguely reminiscent of Prey the Stars) sounds entertaining, at the very least. Besides, Don Onion! Eggplanter! The quirkiness is compelling. And we're total suckers for games with onion characters.
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    A Boy and His Blob: surprisingly sharp graphics for an amorphous character

    March 4, 2009 - 5:00pm

    We knew from the Nintendo Power preview that WayForward's new version of A Boy and His Blob (officially called a boy and his blob -- lower case -- for some reason) was pretty. But after looking at these direct-feed shots in full resolution, we are upgrading our estimation from "pretty" to "an absolute dream." Nobody can say anything bad about the Wii's graphical capabilities ever again. Well, they can and will, but they will be even more wrong than before. This game looks amazing. Even more screens at IGN show that a boy and his blob will feature widescreen capabilities.We'd be quite thrilled with the new game even in ugly polygons, though of course we prefer these incredibly beautiful sprites!
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    Compare the two styles of the Dark Spire

    March 4, 2009 - 4:00pm

    Atlus's first-person dungeon RPG The Dark Spire is playable in two "flavors": a modern mode with colorful, hand-drawn 2D graphics, and a classic mode that provides an authentic early-80s wireframe dungeon experience, complete with simplistic enemy sprites. The company sent out a set of screens today that allows us to compare the two modes directly:our gallery contains six scenes from the game in Modern Mode, paired with the identical scene as presented in Retrovision. Looking at these Classic Mode shots, we are struck by the unique terror that comes with realizing that we are lost in an RPG dungeon -- even without having played the game.
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    Codemasters wants 'gamer's games' on Wii, finds other publisher strategies 'bewildering'

    March 4, 2009 - 2:58pm


    Codemasters has a couple new execs talking about the publisher's "cautious strategy" on the Wii -- and, by "cautious," they mean making titles that appeal to core gamers. UK General Manager Jeremy Wigmore and Marketing VP Alex Bertie tell MCV that Codemasters "can't ignore Wii," despite the publisher's emphasis on next-gen titles. Bertie finds it "bewildering" to see what other companies are doing with Nintendo's juggernaut. He expresses that Codies isn't going to make "cheap, crappy ports" and expects the company to produce "gamer's games." Wigmore believes that other publishers constantly going to retail with a "mass-market product" only makes those games become "white noise." It'll be interesting to see if Codemasters retains its thinking about Wii after Overlord: Dark Legend releases in a few months and the publisher starts seeing sales figures.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments