18th

Haunt (Kinect XBLA)
Some kind of haunted house game from Nana-On Sha, the makers of Parappa the Rapper that uses the Kinect. Admittedly I have not yet tried it.

31st

Soul Calibur V (360, PS3)
With the same gorgrous visuals as SC4 but now with actual content and an even better character creation system, SC5 promises to be…umm…more Soul Calibur. That said, this game ditches half the cast to make way for a new generation of heroes for better or for worse.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (360, PS3)
It’s FFXIII…NOW WITH TOWNS! But minus the one good thing about the original: the characters. With only 2 playable characters and some jaw droppingly stupid writing…umm…I’m just gonna rent this one.

Alternately, view it on YouTube here:

12/01    Nano Assault (3DS)

It’s a shooter for 3DS from the makers of Nanostray. Only this time it actually does involve becoming small.
12/04    Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

New Mario Kart for 3DS! Now with Kart customization! …yeah that’s about it. I don’t think I need to say anything else.
12/05   Fortune Street (Wii)

This is an interesting one. A long running Monopoly-esque video boardgame series in Japan, this is the first one to come to America. This time being a cross-over between Dragon Quest and Mario characters. Yeah…it’s strange.
12/09    Oregon Trail (3DS, Wii)

Oregon Trail now on your 3DS and Wii! …yup, that’s about it.

…and that’s just the PS3! The 360 and the Wii also have plenty coming out that day too! So let’s get crackin’ and please excuse the more rough layout. Me and WordPress have been fighting over how we want these titles arranged every month.

11/1
Sonic Generations (360, PS3)

The Sonic Cycle is broken and Sonic is back in action. Sonic Generations features both classic 2D Sonic and Unleashed/Colors-style 2D/3D blended modern gameplay as well coupled with brilliant level design and intense speed. It’s short, but sweet.
Otomedius Excellent (360)

Holy crap it actually came out! Oh it had some shipping issues. Despite preordering I didn’t get my copy until a week later and I had to buy it from a different store but it is finally here. Let me make one thing clear though: this game is NOT the next Parodius. It is a middleground between Gradius and Parodius and does it’s own thing. The game is fun and the localization was incredibly well done with a nicely subtitled opening and ending sequence and running subtitles through the game. Considering the crap Konami had to go through to get this released on top of the fact that it’s selling for a budgeted $30? I highly recommend a purchase just on principal if you like shooters or anime. It’s good stuff.
11/13
Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)

New Mario, now in weird angled 3D! I’ve heard mixed things about this one but I’ll give it a look.
11/14
Fossil Fighters Champions (DS)

Never played the original but the screenshots for this Pokesaurus battling game look promising.
Kung Fu High Impact (Kinect)

Hey! Remember last year when the best Kinect game was on PS3 and was called Kung-Fu Live? Well now they’ve made a sequel that’s actually for the Kinect! This is a good thing as while Kung-Fu Live was fun when it worked, the Playstation Eye alone is not good at blue-screening your body out. Meanwhile that’s one of the few things the Kinect is good at! Unfortunately, it’s a full priced boxed release now rather than a $10 download.
11/15
Shinobi (3DS)

Hey! New Shinobi for the 3DS…although it does look a touch questionable!
Medival Moves: Deadmund’s Quest (PS3)

From the makers of Sports Champions comes a rail slasher/shooter starring the Tech Demo Skeleton fighting secret characters from Sports Champions! You know what? I’ll take it just because the controls are freaking amazing. Also, is that Brian Blessed as the king?!
Rayman Origins (PS3, 360, Wii)

4-Player Rayman jumps on the 2D revival bandwagon! You’ll hear no complaints from me!
Saints Row: The Third (360, PS3)

Saints Row may not look like the kind of game I’d enjoy at first. I mean it’s a thug gangsta wanna-be simulation, right? Wrong. Beneath it’s thuggish exterior lies a game for everyone that truly understand how a sandbox should work. The second game was already everything I always wanted GTA to be and this third entry looks to be kicking everything up to eleven! …except the clothing customization.
Mario & Sonic at the London Olympics (Wii)

Hey! The Winter Olympics turned out pretty good! I’ll definitely give this a look.
11/20
Zelda: Skywards Sword (Wii)

Finally! A Zelda with motion based sword controls! Or, in short, what the Wii should have launched with! I mean has anyone else noticed that up until this point Nintendo had yet to release a full game that utilizes motion control? In fact, Skyward Sword was originally going to be button based! That makes me worry about the quality of the motion control.
11/22
Sonic Generations (3DS)

Even more Sonic Generations for you! No it’s not a port, the 3DS release is an entirely different game with the same concept but different stages. In Japan they even have different names: Sonic Generations White Void and Black Void! Considering how amazing the console one is, I can’t wait to get my hands on this!
Tekken Hybrid (PS3)

If you thought the live action Tekken movie was bad, brace yourselves! Tekken Hybrid is a double pack of Tekken Tag Tournament HD and the CG Movie Tekken Bloodline Rebellion…which is actually worse than the live action film! No, seriously, I’ve seen it. Nearly the entire movie is Xiaoyu and Alisa stalking a living Mac Guffin with lesbian overtones and very little actual fighting  only to end on a completely absurd DBZ-esque battle that involves 3 characters who have done nothing the entire rest of the movie. That’s not even getting into the fact that the film went from making some vague degree of sense to suddenly having a million plotholes just in that last battle! It’s…some bizarre kind of So Bad It’s Good that I absolutely must own.
The King of Fighters XIII (PS3, 360)

Speaking of fighting games with So Bad It’s Good movies made about them (seriously, the KOF movie is amazing!), the latest KOF finally comes out with amazing 2D graphics! Color me interested!

Until then, here’s the no frills no comments list of crap I was interested in for October:

10/11    Aliens: Infestation (DS)
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (PS3, Wii)
Hulk Hogan’s Main Event (360 Kinect)
10/12 Guardian Heroes (XBLA)
Real Steel (XBLA, PSN)
10/16    Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure (EVERYTHING)
10/18    Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotte… (3DS)
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3)
10/19 Dungeon Defenders (XBLA, PSN)
10/24     Kirby’s Return to Dreamland (Wii)
10/25     Centipede: Infestation (Wii, 3DS later)

It’s here that the truth became obvious: the only people that really hated Bloody Roar were the “hardcore” fighting gamers. You tell someone who just plays fighter for fun about Bloody Roar and chances are they already love it. It’s flashy, fun, easy to play, and has an interesting gimmick. As such the series really could use a revival as it may have more mainstream appeal that one would first realize.

Unfortunately, the gaming press responded differently. Most of them continued to make snarky comments like “LOL THEY SHOULD BRING BACK BALLZ 3D NEXT!” and generally groaned at the concept of a new Bloody Roar. It has been so deeply ingrained that Bloody Roar is a bad game that few people are willing to pull their heads out of their asses and see the truth. But alas, if anything would cloud Hudson’s judgement on calling up Eighting and having them bring back Bloody Roar, that would be it.

What I said earlier still stands. Bloody Roar is a fantastic fighting series that merges elements of 2D fighters into a 3D fighter in such a way that fans of both styles of games can enjoy it. It has a great cast of characters, fun and flashy combat, and an interesting gimmick in it’s transformable characters. The series deserves another chance.

I’ve dreamed of a Bloody Roar 5 for years now and I will continue to dream. Some things just need to happen. Until then, I’m going back to Primal Fury because you know what? I still prefer it to any other 3D fighter on the market.

…honestly, Hudson, you could just port that to XBox Live Arcade and add online play (and movelists! PLEASE add movelists!). The character models still look great and the fighting is still rock solid. It’s a good way to test the waters on if people would really buy a new Bloody Roar. But more importantly, it may finally make people realize the potential of the series. Few have actually had a chance to play Bloody Roar against skilled opponents or have any reason to learn to get better beyond button mashing. Adding online play would open up a world of opponents and the drive to be the best may cause people to finally realize the true depth of the game.

Seriously, Bloody Roar needs to come back.

Unfortunately over the years it gained a reputation for being an “unbalanced button masher”. While this wasn’t untrue, it was no more of an “unbalanced button masher” than nearly any other 3D fighter out there. You cannot tell me Soul Calibur 2 is a better fighter than Bloody Roar: Primal Fury. They are, at the very least, equals.

The real issue with the series was it’s lack of an in-game movelist. Few people know how massive the moveset for any given Bloody Roar is (the first game had 200 moves per character and they’ve added more since then) and without proper instruction people tend to button mash. This, like in many 3D fighters, is more effective than it should be. However, a skilled player who really knows their character will always beat a button masher. But, without a movelist it is incredibly difficult to get good enough to be out of scrub territory.

Couple all of that with it’s lack of a competitive scene and Bloody Roar ended up gaining an incredibly bad reputation. I’ve even had people tell me that it was The Worst Fighting Game of All Time! That’s just insane!

You would think this would cause Bloody Roar’s developer, Eighting, to vanish. However, nothing could be further from the truth. You see, Eighting was asked to develop a Naruto fighting game for Gamecube, which they did using bits and pieces from Bloody Roar: Primal Fury. It became a smash-hit in both Japan and America through imports. Heck, the fighting community even declared it a legitimately good fighter despite being a dumbed down and even less balanced Bloody Roar! This alone speaks volumes. However, Eighting’s reign did not stop there. After making numerous sequels that further expanded upon the Naruto fighter, they went on to make many other licensed figters. Their repitouir included Zoids Struggle (Gamecube/PS2), Bleach: Heat the Soul (PSP), Full Metal Alchemist: Dream Carnival (PS2), Battle Stadium D.O.N. (PS2/Gamecube), Castlevania: Judgement (Wii), Kamen Rider Climax Heroes (PSP/Wii), Kenichi (PS2), Fate: Unlimited Blade Works (PS2/PSP), Tatsunoko vs Capcom (Wii), and yes even Marvel vs Capcom 3 (360/PS3). Eighting was one of the go-to companies for solid licensed fighters. Many of these games recieved good reviews* and some were even played competitively in major tournaments like Super Battle Opera and Evo.

With this in mind, it’s a bit of a shame that the game that started their fighting career in the first place had vanished off the face of the planet…or so we though. Hudson just announced on Twitter today that Bloody Roar 5 is in the works! While details thus far are scarce (including if Eighting is even involved or not, though I don’t see why they wouldn’t be). What we do know is that this is going to be a disc release on XBox 360 and PS3 and will supposedly feature the entire original cast. Presumably they mean the Bloody Roar 2 crew that comprises the “core” cast, so no clue if Fox, Nagi, or Chronos will appear though I definately have my fingers crossed.

Now, serious Bloody Roar fans might recall that a new Bloody Roar was announced and cancelled about a year ago. However, that was a PSN/XBLA release, presumably an HD re-release of Primal Fury. This, on the other hand, will be a disc release.

Regardless, I am filled to the brim with excitement. Perhaps now, after a long hiatus, Bloody Roar will finally get it’s much deserved second chance.

Week 1

The first week is only 3 days so nothin’ here but…

Week 2

Rise of Nightmares (360 Kinect)

A full fledged game on the Kinect? And it works?! Yeah by the time of this writing I’ve already picked this one up and shockingly it…works. Mind you much of that is due to clever design choices and work arounds for the Kinect’s many shortcomings, but it’s still amazing.
Dead Island (360, PS3)

Free roaming co-op action FPS RPG with zombies. I’m hearing Left 4 Dead meets Oblivion. Sounds nice so far!
Disgaea 4 (PS3)

The grind-tacular lighthearted strategy series returns once again, now with high-res sprites! Tempting.

Blood Rayne: Betrayal (PSN, XBLA)

WayForward, makers of Shantae and Contra 4, give BloodRayne a high-res 2D treatment. The resulting game is a lot like their takes on Batman: The Brave and The Bold (Wii and DS) and Thor (DS), but with plenty of it’s own tweaks. This game focuses on challenge and score-attacking specifically. Although whoever decided on the horrible cover art needs a face punch.
Crimson Alliance (XBLA)

A Diablo/Gauntlet-style game sold in an unusual way: You buy it by the character. While each individual character is way overpriced ($10 per character or $15 for all 3. They should have just made each character $5), it’s an interesting concept I’d be on board with if they continue to support it.

Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)

One of the greatest rail shooters of all time gets remade…again. I mean you do realize this is a remake of a remake of the original Star Fox, right? Still, this is why I bought a 3DS so I’m sold.

Week 3

Nothing this week, oddly enough.

Week 4

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (DS)

Well this is peculiar. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 came out in Japan eons ago. I figured we weren’t getting it at all! But…somehow it’s coming to America. Huh.
Kirby Mass Attack (DS)

New Kirby, this time with the theme of many many Kirbys running around. Looks interesting.
Otomedius: Excellent (360)

Please don’t get delayed again! I really wanna sink my teeth into this game! Supposedly it’s completely finished and is just awaiting Microsoft’s approval. Guys, approve this. You approved Record of Agarest War so I don’t wanna hear it. I need this game yesterday!

Week 5

Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (Wii, PS3 (Move Supported))

New Rune Factory for the Wii…and PS3. With optional Move support. Dunno how useful the Move is gonna be here but I am interested. I mean, it’s an RPG for the Wii and that system is kinda desperate don’t you think? *cough cough*
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure (EVERYTHING)

An unusual actiony reboot of Spyro that scans in toys to give you the appropriate characters. Reminds me of a HyperScan minus the suck…hopefully. I don’t know how they’re going to scan the toys on 3DS though.
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS)

What do you mean Solatorobo is getting a US release?! I just imported it! For those of you unaware, Solatorobo is the spiritual successor to the PS1′s Tail Concerto and even features guest apperances by those characters. Pretty neat and definately a quality DS title.
Atelier Totori (PS3)

Yet another Atelier game. Interests me because it’s a JRPG this generation and I tend to buy those.

DANCE! It’s Your Stage (PSN?, Wii)

Brace for hilarity, people! This game was originally for Wii and PC in Germany many years ago. Last year it hit XBox Live Arcade and now it’s finally hitting the US Wii and PS3 (presumably as a download). At it’s core it’s a generic dancing game that uses two analog sticks to hit two sets of arrows. What makes it “special” though is it’s all original soundtrack made exclusively for the game. Allow me to repeat that: Music made exclusively for a low budget German Wii dancing game. Oh yeah, it’s amazing. Just look up “I Am The Guard” on YouTube and you’ll see why this is a must-own game for connoisseurs of the awful. (Expect an episode on it)

Now, it’s no secret that “hardcore” games don’t sell on the Wii. That’s not some made up belief, it’s a fact. Nintendo even tried to actively combat this by commissioning Sin & Punishment: Star Successor from Treasure based purely on the amazing sales figures of the original on Virtual Console. Unfortunately, despite being one of the greatest games this console generation, it did not sell very well.

So, at first glance, it seems to make sense that Nintendo wouldn’t release Xenoblade in America. It’s a sad but true fact. That is, until I saw this episode of The Jimquisition.

Now, I’ve made fun of Jim Sterling before. However, while he’s a questionable reviewer, he is great at calling everyone an idiot and actually brings up some good points!

Now, first of all, Xenoblade is already translated and released in Europe. This I was already aware of. However, the interesting part is the sales chart. Despite the fact that “hardcore” games don’t sell on the Wii, they do sell better in America than in Europe or Japan based purely on population alone. Considering the game is already translated, releasing it in America just because seems to just plain make sense.

Mentioning Demon’s Souls is especially interesting. That game was actually published by Sony in Japan and was indeed already in English. However, Sony didn’t think it would sell in America so they weren’t going to release it here. Atlus took the initiative, got Sony to give them US release rights, and produced it in highly limited quantities as they normally do. Couple the difficulty of finding a copy with internet buzz and pretty soon it became one of the top selling games on PS3. Sony would later admit that not releasing the game in America themselves was a mistake and they shouldn’t make those kind of assumptions.

Nintendo, however, is a different beast and I have not yet heard of a third party publisher getting the rights to any of the games they publish. This is unfortunate because, in retrospect, nearly all of the good games on Wii that don’t come to America are the ones published by Nintendo themselves: Fatal Frame 4, Zangeki no Reginlev, Captain Rainbow, and now Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower. Rest assured, if Nintendo didn’t have a firm grip on the publishing rights to these games then Atlus, XSEED, NIS America, Ignition Entertainment, or D3 Publishing would have released these games here. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind about that.

What makes this whole debacle even more idiotic though is that there is literally nothing coming out on the Wii this year. We’re getting The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and the new Kirby and that’s it. I know there are people who insist they’ll boycott Nintendo products if they don’t release these games but what is there to boycott?! Not to mention gamers often forget that boycotting doesn’t work with Japanese companies as the message a boycot sends is very vague. If Kirby didn’t sell, Nintendo wouldn’t think “This is because we didn’t release Xenoblade!” they would think “America doesn’t like Kirby!” and stop selling Kirby games in the U.S. Keep that in mind.

Now, of course, Europeans are laughing it up over this and in a way I can’t blame them. Europe has traditionally been screwed over when it comes to videogames. This generation though, Nintendo seems to have been making an active effort to court European gamers, with them getting nearly every Nintendo published game months before America. If they want to see this as an odd sort of “payback” against American gamers (who have absolutely no control over what games get released in Europe and which ones don’t) then that’s fine.

However, this is just an embarrassment. Every E3, Nintendo has tooted it’s horn about how they’re catering to experienced hardcore gamers too. But now they just turn around and snub them in this way? Nintendo is already on nearly every hardcore gamer’s shit list for a plethora of reasons and to many this is fast becoming the last straw. At this point it’s not even about the games themselves but about the principal of the whole thing! This is a massive “fuck you” that Nintendo is giving to every single dedicated gamer.

That could actually become a problem for them too. Nintendo has become one of the more vocal companies about the fear that things like iPhone apps will ruin gaming. The reality is that for most of us, they won’t. An iPhone app will never compare to a big meaty full fledged game played on your big screen high definition TV. However, it’s a problem for Nintendo. The iPhone caters to casuals and non-gamers far better than Nintendo ever could! People don’t buy the iPhone to play games, they buy it to have an iPhone and then get cheap games for it because they’re bored. Nintendo, on the other hand, is a game company and they make dedicated game systems. In fact, the Wii can’t even play music CDs! The fact that Nintendo has been able to sell the Wii to non-gamers at all is a testament to their marketing department. They have literally been selling ice to Eskimos. However, once someone starts selling fire to Eskimos it puts the iceman out of business no matter how good their marketing is. My point is that people have claimed that non-gamers aren’t a good source of income to Nintendo and that they would eventually move on to the next big fad and that appears to have been proven true.

Also, let us not forget that a large part of what caused the Wii to sell was the buzz it generated amongst hardcore gamers for being something new and different. Once the casuals had been assured by their more game savvy friends and acquaintances that the Wii was a good system, then they bought it. The hardcore gamers had to get the ball rolling. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that this will be true of the WiiU. If the WiiU doesn’t garner hardcore interest, it will never get the mainstream recognition it needs to succeed.

I could keep going for hours about the potential cascade effects of the intense bad PR that this situation is generating, but you get the point. I can only hope that this is an intentional marketing move. It’s true that if Nintendo had released these games normally and without a struggle, no one would have taken notice of them. There’s a huge backlash against both the Wii and JRPGs in America so had these come out they wouldn’t have been noticed by anyone. Now that they’re being denied to us, however, it’s starting to raise eyebrows and get the games more publicity than they would normally recieve. If Nintendo were to publicly state that they have “listened to the fans” and release the games, it would bolster both their profits and reputation.

However, they’ve snubbed bigger and more dedicated fan demands in the past (i.e. Mother 3)  so I make no guarantees.

…can we start calling this one YarFox?