I'm Off to the UFC 2010 Event

I'll be out for the next few days at the UFC 2010 event in Vegas.  I'll going hands on with the new single player career mode and enhanced multiplayer mode.  I'll have the report up on Gaming Age when I get back, and I'll hopefully have some video to put here as well.

New Screens and Trailer from EA's MMA

EA has released some new media in conjunction with the Strikeforce event on CBS this past weekend.  You can see the newest screens on Gaming Age, and I've linked the trailer below.  EA is showing off the fighters from the show.  The graphics aren't too bad, but the animation doesn't look all that great.  Of course it remains to be seen how it will play (a lot like UFC I would imagine).  It'll be nice to have two companies making a sports game again, which seems to be more and more rare.

Might and Magic Go MMO, Beta May 2010

Heroes of Might and Magic is a series of RPGs on the PC that blend strategy of world building with turn-based combat.  I've had a passing interest in the series and have played a bit of III, IV, and V.  Looks like the online (MMO) version of the game will be based on HOMM III with the updated graphics of V.  It sounds like it's going to be more than just an online game though, as they promise a persistent world with guilds and the rest of the trimming you'd expect from an MMO.  I'm intrigued at the thought of an MMO with a turn-based rule set.  We'll see how it turns out soon as the beta is coming early May 2010.

Mythos Pyromancer Class Announced, Release This Year

I've been following Mythos off and on since its inception.  It's an interesting history.  I first heard about the game around 2007 and remember it being developed by ex-Blizzard/Diablo team members.  At the time, that was an offshoot of Flagship Studios.  The game, also very much like Diablo from what I saw, went into closed beta soon after, but before open beta could ever occur, the company folded.  That team went on to form Runic Games and put out the excellent title Torchlight last year.  The rights to the game were picked up by Korean dev Hanbitsoft, and they've been working on resurrecting Mythos.

So, here we are now.  Mythos, published by Redbana in the US, has an expected release data in the US later this year, and the closed beta should be starting soon.  It looks like Hanbitsoft has taken the focus of the game to be more online (MMO) oriented.  From looking at the trailer though (below), it seems the core Diablo-like gameplay is completely intact.  Looks like another great entry into the genre, and one more thing that will help ease the wait for Diablo III.



Update: Screenshots

Yu-Gi-Oh TCG Finally Coming to XBLA

I can never figure myself out sometimes.  I rail on kiddie games like Pokemon, but I love a kid/teen trading card game like Yu-Gi-Oh.  I have a serious weak spot for card games, but there aren't that many that really last.  Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Marvel Vs. DC are certainly three long standing games.  Yu-Gi-Oh has really been the only one that's put any effort into bringing the card game to digital format though.

The Vs. game was awesome (PSP/DS/PC), but it was only Marvel cards and there's no sign of there ever being another one made, too sad.  Magic tried early on the PC and then went AWOL (minus a bad spin-off on the original Xbox) until Magic the Gathering showed up on Xbox Live Arcade.  The Magic XBLA game was a nice representation of the card game, but it was severely held back by having a very small card pool and lack of acquiring and editing decks.  The cards were also very basic, using mostly entry level rules and reactions.

Yu-Gi-Oh on the other hand has been putting out full-fledged games for years.  The games, mainly on PSP and DS have kept the series up to date with newly released expansions and rules.  They generally come packed with thousands of cards, which you earn buying in-game packs with in-game money (thankfully).  This is why I'm so excited about the announcement.  It'll be great to get these handheld games with the full rules and high resolution graphics on a current console.  I wish I had more details about the number of cards and how current the set list will be, but I'll be sure to keep my eyes and ears open.

N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights Screens

I was in the vast minority when it came to the first Ninety-Nine Nights.  You can find my review here on Gaming Age.  It came out in the infancy on the 360 and it struck a chord with me at the time.  The Dynasty Warriors port was crummy, and N3 looked like it really belonged on the system.  I'll have to check, but I think I got 1000 achievement points for it or at least close to it.  So, I'm really looking forward to the second one, and it looks like they've included online co-op this time around.  Here's some screens just released from Konami's Gamer's Night;

Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes of the Ring Screens

I have a few updates today from Konami's Gamer's Night.

I was once a huge wrestling fan (late 80's/early 90's), and certainly a big fan of the games as well.  Both the live action and the games have fallen out of my favor.  I feel like I still want to like wrestling, but the shows are lacking in content and the games are too arcade-y and have gotten extremely stale.  Chalk that one up to THQ having the WWE license wrapped up (Madden syndrome).

TNA was pretty weak as far as game mechanics go, so that leaves me with playing old Japanese Puroresu games like King of Colosseum 2 and Square's All-Star Pro Wrestling 3, which are still very excellent but now pretty dated.  Firepro Wrestling Returns on PS2 was also pretty good, but it's hard to play a 2D wrestler nowadays.

Back to the subject at hand.  I know very little about the gameplay in Lucha Libre AAA, but here's a batch of screen shots.  I love the Lucha style of wrestling.  The character models look decent enough in stills.  If the animation is top notch and the gameplay is solid, I'm on board.

Nintendo Doesn't Fear Apple Gaming (Pot/Kettle/Black)

Kotaku talked with Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America.  The subject, iPhone and iPad gaming treading on Nintendo territory.  Reggie says,

Apple "is not having an impact on Nintendo when you look at our business, our volume, our hardware, our software," Fils-Aime said. "I've seen data that suggestions that while consumers are constantly downloading Apps, they play with them for a few times and then they are moving on to the next thing.

The funny thing is we've heard this before.  It came from the mouths of Microsoft and Sony executives when talking about Nintendo.  You could replace Apple with Nintendo and Nintendo with Sony/Microsoft, and I've heard this quote before.  Also,

"If our games represent a range between snacks of entertainment and full meals depending on the type of game, (Apple's) aren't even a mouthful, in terms of the gaming experience you get."

That's really worth a laugh, because that is truly the knock that Microsoft and Sony have on Wii games.  It's amusing to see how defensive the companies can get when it involves someone else's success.  The best part is, they're all right in a way.  Nintendo was hugely successful with the Wii, but it didn't really affect the success of the 360 or the PS3.  The core gamers still supported the new systems, while the Wii captured a new audience.  I think the same thing is happening here.  Apple has gained yet another new audience, but I don't think it's by sacrifice.  I don't believe people are standing in a store holding an iPhone in one hand and a DS in the other trying to make a choice.

LTTP: Tales of Vesperia Playthrough

Finishing Final Fantasy XIII has left me wanting more RPG gaming.  After a few days respite, I was ready to dive into another game.  With nothing pressing, I had anything new plus my entire, scary backlog to choose from.  I'd like to play through Assassin's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2, but I was really still in the mood for an RPG.  Mass Effect 2 is a decent candidate, but I have yet to finish ME1, and I've lost my save.  So, even though I haven't been a fan of past games and have only played them briefly, I chose Tales of Vesperia.  A game many proclaim one of the best RPGs of the generation.

I'm but a mere 5 or so hours into the game.  I absolutely love the artwork and presentation.  I'm not a huge anime fan by any stretch, but I love the art style.  Voice acting is good so far.  I really dig Yuri as a character and his voice actor.  Not a whole lot going on in the story yet, and I haven't expected much.  The systems are also still unfolding.  I can cook now, but not much else.

For all the reasons listed above, I'll be continuing with the game, but it's more in spite of the combat system, certainly not because of it.  I've never like the action oriented, button-mashy feel of the battles from past Tales games, and this is no exception.  Your party's actions are totally out of your control as everything occurs in real time.  There's some rudimentary party AI settings you can mess with, but ultimately when a fight starts both sides run at each other and a blur of swords and skills erupt.

I know there are still some of the extra pieces of the combat system are yet to be opened, but I can't see right now how it's going to make much of a difference.  It just feels like a poor man's fighting game inserted in the middle of a cool JRPG.  And it's a mix of the battle systems and character development systems that attract me to the genre in the first place.  Looks like I'm headed towards some skill upgrades, equipment crafting, and of course the cooking.  So, there are other things to keep me involved.  It just remains to be seen if I can tolerate the combat for 40 hours.

Fist of the North Star Dominates God of War III (Japan Sales)

Media Create Sales are out for last week in Japan, and it's very interesting to say the least.  Fist of the North Star from Koei sits in the #1 position with 385,000 copies sold on the PS3.  God of War III enters the charts at #6 at 43,000 sold.  I guess the Japanese gamers are bigger fans of anime history than Greek mythology.

That said, I'm very much looking forward to Fist of the North Star coming here to the US.  I have a soft spot for the Warriors series of games from Koei, and I remember the animated movie fondly.  I'm also pretty sure one of the first games I owned on the Genesis was a side scrolling Fist of the North Star game (what was that called?).  The clips I've seen of this new one look very appealing.