Few reviewed Frogger 2, and it's not hard to see why. This XBLA title, which essentially 'popped up' one day, looks and feels like a cheap flash game. With frustrating controls and a poor general style, it's no wonder the game didn't make it to the top 10 of it's release.
One of the most frustrating bits about the game is that you're required to change the direction Frogger faces separately from the steps Frogger will make, but it's done with the Xbox bumper buttons. You know what would have really helped the game? Allowing the player to control the current direction with the second analog stick instead. It would have worked! Why didn't they do this? Too late now, I suppose.
Makes me worry about the unannounced Beat'n Groovy which is also being made by Voltex and looks to be going down the same PR slide that Frogger 2 did, aka nothing nada zip.
WiiWare, XBLA: ESRB Update - 'Galaga Legions' makes Another Appearance!
It's shown up on the USK, it's shown up on the OFLC, and now it's made its way to the ESRB! Galaga Legions looks like it's getting closer - I hope Namco at least announce the accursed thing at E3 this year. It also specifies that it's Xbox Live Arcade only.
Along with Galaga Legions, Telltale's Strong Bad: Homestar Ruiner was also rated for WiiWare, just in time for the release next month.
PSN: PlayStation Trophies, And How It Will Affect Your PSN Games
Sony have finally shown off the new trophy system which will be added into the next PlayStation Network update! You can watch the latest about it by clicking the video above.
Trophies work in a similar way to achievements, however instead there are only 4 kinds of trophies - bronze, silver and gold and platinum. Think of it to be like the Xbox only allowing Achievements in 50 (Gold), 30 (Silver) and 10 (Bronze) points per achievement. It's a much simpler system, and clearly will be the 'Soccer' to your 'NFL' in terms of overall 'points' with Xbox Live users, but unless you're REALLY into a stupidly large Gamerscore-esque number it shouldn't worry you. In fact it will make those gold trophies far more valuable. Platinum trophies you earn once you get every other trophy in the game.
Trophies are also used in a new RPG-esque boosting system, where getting more trophies will extend your 'rank'. It can be assumed that higher ranks require more trophies as well. This will be the "virtual urination contest" tool that I'm sure PlayStation users have been dying to use since the Xbox 360 Gamerscore.
Some interesting notes - much like the Xbox and the Xbox Live Arcade, there will be a 'limit' as to how many trophies a game can have - so a PSN title will have less than a retail game. However, it seems to allow many more than the '12' limit used with XBLA titles as shown by the PixelJunk Eden list, which has at least 18 trophies to get.
Update: According to the GameVideos Network Update Walkthrough, smaller PSN games can NOT get platinum trophies. That's a little unfair in my opinion. Hopefully they'll have plenty of gold trophies then, because I'm sure some people would want a reward for getting all the accursed rainbows in PixelJunk Monsters.
PlayStation Network games are mentioned throughout the chat - PAIN, Super Stardust HD, Warhawk and PixelJunk Eden (when released) will all have trophies patched into their games. Whether Warhawk is considered a retail or downloadable game is up in the air. It has also been said that SOCOM Confrontation will also include Trophies.
Super Stardust HD will be the first game to include it, right with the update patch. How the many expansions of SSHD will deal with extra trophies isn't quite known yet. Hopefully more games will go back and include them - Uncharted had its own 'achievement' like system built in, but I don't know if how they did it will gel exactly with how Sony intend it to be used. Same with Grand Theft Auto IV and the original Resistance.
Trophies will be added into your PlayStation 3, along with in-game XMB, in the PS3 2.40 patch coming on July 2nd - just two days away!
WiiWare: NA Wii Shop Channel Update - Magnetica aka ActionLoop!
This week North America has gotten Magnetica Twist for WiiWare! The game was released back at the beginning of June in Europe as ActionLoop Twist, so it's good to see getting finally released in North America!
Along with Magnetica Twist, NA is getting one Virtual Console title - Fatal Fury 2 for the Neo Geo. Magnetica Twist will cost you 1,000 Wii Points, and Fatal Fury 2 will cost 900 Wii Points.
Sierra's Sea Life Safari for Xbox Live Arcade has gotten plenty of reviews - both up and down, but it's not too difficult to see why - Sea life Safari is about as 'casual' as you can get. Hell, it's essentially made for young children.
It's main problem is that it's not 100% Pokemon Snap, the only other equivalent game. Options like speeding up your vehicle so you could go back and get that one shot you want a lot easier would have been nice, and something actually educational about the fish you were taking pictures of would have been a great addition too. Since it's not Pokemon it doesn't have that same kind of draw, but it's certainly a unique title for the platform.
Paul Curthoys for the OXM review got his 4 year old daughter to have a go at Sea Life Safari, and she had a blast. That's probably the best way to view something like this.
WiiWare: New Preview of 'Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People' at IGN
The team over at IGN have been given another look at the upcoming Homestar Runner game for WiiWare. It's turning out to be quite the fun title, and works quite well with the Wii:
Players use the remote to aim a context-sensitive icon. Objects and people Strongbad can interact with are indicated by the reticule. Even though Strongbad is also coming out on PC, developer Telltale is building the game with the Wii in mind. While it plays similarly to Sam & Max, Telltale's other graphic adventure, certain features have been tweaked to be more console friendly. Instead of dialogue trees, a word bubble will appear above Strongbad's head with images representing possible choices. So instead of text reading "Tell me about the park," you'll see a picture of the park. It doesn't dumb the game down and, visually, it fits well with the world Telltale has created. Sometimes you'll have the choice of giving a "nice" or "mean" response, represented by an angel or devil.
It's meant to be coming out next month, I'm certainly interested in this title.
XBLA: 'Soulcalibur' Is Your Xbox Live Arcade Game This Week!
No Schizoid this week - must be NEXT week! This time it's just Soulcalibur - the Dreamcast port of a fantastic game.
Soulcalibur, the highest-rated console fighting game, has returned to the next generation! Sharpen your blades as you relive old grudges against classic adversaries in new high definition graphics. Prove your mettle against the world with a variety of leaderboards spanning every character and mode, or challenge a friend in local-play Versus mode.
* Nineteen playable characters: All of your favorite fighters are back including Kilik, Ivy, Siegfried, Edge Master, Nightmare, and many more! * Eight modes of play: Try the different game modes including Story, Versus, and even Museum Mode that allows players to view artwork, character models, and animations. * Leaderboards galore: Compare stats in sixty leaderboards spanning across each character and mode. * High definition support: Soulcalibur has been given a whole new coat of beautiful paint to support HD resolutions up to 1080p.
Soulcalibur will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points.
North America and the UK will also get the chance to expand their question list for Wits & Wagers this week with the first expansion pack!
Energize your “Wits & Wagers” trivia experience with 280 new questions and fun facts, providing up to 10 additional hours of unique gameplay. The new questions are for local and select online games, and are used automatically for everyone on the same local console, or when everyone in an online game owns the same question packs. The new downloadable content will be available Wednesday, July 2 in the US, Canada and the UK for 320 Microsoft points.
WiiWare: New Downloadable Content for 'My Life As A King'
Along with the release of Magnetica Twist on WiiWare this week, Square Enix have released 5 pieces of brand new downloadable content for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King.
Infinity Spire - 300 Wii Points
Adds two new dungeons, one which is the spire, which will gain a level each time its completed.
Castle Renovation - 100 Wii Points
Adds a single dungeon, and adds the ability to rename your adventurers.
Library - 200 Wii Points
Adds a dungeons which will give you more libraries once completed, giving players new race specific abilities.
Fresh King - 100 Wii Points
A costume for the king during 'warmer' seasons.
Summer Chime - 100 Wii Points
A costume for the king during tropical climates.
All is available now, so go download it. It's 800 Points total, but you might want to skip those costumes.
PSN, WiiWare, XBLA: Capcom Backpedal - 'Megaman 9' currently for WiiWare only?
Well, now we're just confused. While website Ars Technica initially found that Megaman 9 was on all 3 lists for XBLA, PSN and WiiWare on Capcom's E3 list leak - it's apparently a "mistake" on Capcom's part, now only a WiiWare release.
However, there may still be something coming to those other platforms. VP of Marketing at Capcom suggested that Nintendo Power "only has part of the story. More to be learned later.".
With the success of Street Fighter, Puzzle Fighter and Wolf of the Battlefield, there is little doubt in my mind that the XBLA and PSN will see something this E3.
Some time ago we broke that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 would be coming to the Xbox Live Arcade. Now X360A.org has gotten its hands on the achievement list of this unannounced, unseen title.
From the achievement list, we can determine a few things:
- Game Type 1 - 'Waves', which was the game in Project Gotham Racing 4. We can assume this is either the same, or a tweaked version of it. The achievements also mention 'zones', which were a kind of enemy in Waves
- The game will contain Geoms - much like Geometry Wars Galaxies for the Nintendo Wii and DS and Geometry Wars Waves in PGR4. An achievement is to collect 500 of them in a single game. They were used as currency in Galaxies, and multipliers in Waves.
- Game Type 2 - 'King', new to Geometry Wars, appears to use the 'gate' enemies quite a bit.
- Game Type 3 - 'Deadline', which also uses gates. Little else is known.
If the achievement list is now out there... maybe this will be Microsoft's "secret" release like last years Golden Axe / Sonic duo?
The game also seems to contain.. well, a lot of animals? The graphic style on the achievements are completely different to those in the first Retro Evolved. Maybe they're taking the whole 'Waves' concept a little seriously, making the game a blue beach like scenario? Certainly would be a huge change from the... well, geometry the game has been known for. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Tuesday's OFLC Update brings us a... bizarre addition - something that could possibly be a WiiWare title - Maboshi: The Three Shape Arcade.
The reason for possibly being a WiiWare title is that... well, I can't find anything about it! Nothing of the sort comes up on Google, and the company behind it - "Mindware Corp.", has little information about it. The only Japanese source for the name I could find was http://pinball.co.jp/, which is copyrighted by the company.
The name Mikito Ichikawa also shows up, and all I can find is that he was a little involved with some early 90's SEGA games, like being the 'planner' for Streets Of Rage 2. Possibly another Japanese game to add to the 'Hanabi Festival' but I can't see anything about this anywhere. Not even a ROM! Nothing similar seems to be coming out on the Japanese Virtual Console either.
The second addition was... Sonic The Hedgehog? While already on the OFLC due to the Virtual Console version, it's been added again, completely separate from the original, and separate again from the Xbox 360 / PS3 abomination.
There is only one explanation I can think of - It's the Master System version of Sonic 1! Hopefully that's true, as then we can get the MS version of Sonic 2 and Sonic Chaos as well!
Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is the latest title by Stainless Games, who have previously been behind the not so good Atari classic 'remakes' on Xbox Live Arcade.
Happy Tree Friends hasn't been getting very good reviews.. but I actually enjoyed it! There are plenty of problems in the game - one being the occasional HTF deciding to go the wrong way where I don't want them to go, but for what it was, it was... fun!
As Lumpy the Moose, you push your cursor around the screen and lay explosives, fire and ice around the environment to allow your friends to get to the end without dying.
Much like the reviews mention - there isn't much of a learning curve. In fact you'll find yourself having a hard time even getting the "Get Bronze" achievement. Usually this requires roughly two characters to finish, but you'll get getting golds very easily. When I played through the game I was able to get all but about 4 of the 30 levels with gold ranks.
Still, it might be easy, but it is pretty fun to lay fire behind a character to make them run faster, or watch them get decapitated with a samurai sword. That's down pat, I think some just expected a bit more out of this than what's given.
I'd definitely suggest checking out the demo at least. The demo has one of the later levels used so give it a couple of tries at getting a good score before leaving it.
PSN, XBLA: What Needs To Be A Downloadable Game? #9 - Tony Hawk Classic (1 & 2)
Back in 1999, Activision had a huge hit on its hands. That was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - a skating game, sure enough, which came essentially out of nowhere and created a franchise to which has made Activision a gargantuan amount of money.
Now, after 10 different iterations of Tony Hawk from the original PlayStation to the Xbox 360, the newer games have gotten bigger and bigger, expanding with new moves, a more free roaming world, and have changed the game so much that it's become overly complicated.
After after beating so many rivals, from Thrasher: Skate and Destroy and Evolution Skating, now EA have brought 'Skate' to the table, and the Tony Hawk franchise is in a bit of trouble. The iteration last year sold poorly in comparison to previous games, and now they're taking the year off to re imagine the franchise.
What better time to make people remember why the Tony Hawk franchise was so great in the first place with an new downloadable version for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN?
PSN: PlayStation 3 V2.40 Is Out! Super Stardust HD Trophies Are Out!
Go get your PlayStation Trophies! Unfortunately they're not retroactive, but it gives you a good excuse to go and play Super Stardust HD again.
Supposedly the game has a total of 17 trophies. It seems that they're set up based around a specific amount of points, rather than a specific amount of 'achievements' like the Xbox 360 (which 12 are the maximum for XBLA titles).
Mega Man 9 has been rated by the German rating board - and it's shown up as an Xbox 360 title! What do you have to say to that, Mr. Capcom?
Now the rating for the Wii has not shown up, and neither has PSN. we KNOW it's coming to Wii, but what sometimes happens is one version gets rated earlier than the others. It has happened before. The other ratings would probably show up on their next update.
PSN: In Other USK News - More Booty To Quest, Sirens To Curse
Besides the addition of Mega Man 9 being rated as an Xbox 360 title, two new additions have popped up on the USK for the PlayStation Network. Ratchet & Clank - Quest For Booty has made its first official appearance on a rating board. First showing up in a leaked Sony list, then the Spanish logo for the game popped up suddenly, and now the game has been officially rated!
It should definitely be something to see at E3 - assuming it is a PSN title. It could be downloadable content for last years R&C: Tools of Destruction, but considering it has its own logo and rating, I'm doubting it.
Secondly, Siren: Blood Curse has also made its German appearance. Good to know, since usually this kind of game is a little difficult to get through German rating systems.
PSN: PSN European Store Update - 'Commando 3' released, no 'Echocrome'?
This week Europe finally sees the release of Wolf Of The Battlefield: Commando 3 on the PlayStation Network, after a whole month of waiting. Go download it!
It also says Elefunk should be out the week after, but who should we trust? Bionic Commando Rearmed should be out soon too, not to mention that Elefunk would be released the week of E3 - you'd think they'd be holding onto something special for the occasion.
Though Europe won't get Echocrome or Elefunk this week - they do get some new themes and wallpaper for both games.
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions) 1 Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (--) 2 Ticket to Ride™ (NEW) 3 Happy Tree Friends (NEW) 4 UNO (--) 5 Worms (+2) 6 DOOM (-1) 7 Elements Of Destruction (-5) 8 N+ (-2) 9 Sealife Safari (-6) 10 Marble Blast Ultra (V)
For the third week in a row, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 reigns supreme, followed by the weeks releases of Ticket To Ride and Happy Tree Friends.
And again, UNO, Worms, DOOM, N+ and Marble Blast make up the rest, along with last weeks releases.
This week I did a bit of a test.. I checked the leaderboards for the latest games. Happy Tree Friends has a Leaderboard stating the total score for every single person that has played, even if they've only played the first level and badly. It's single player as well, so there would be limited double-
Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm - ~5,905 on the Leaderboard as of 8pm Thursday, GMT+9:30
I then tried Ticket To Ride. Now despite this being a fairly 'online' title there were few people on either ranked or player boards. The highest was actually single player, assuming everyone wanted to at least have a go at figuring it all out.
Ticket To Ride - ~6,968 on the Leaderboard as of 8pm Thursday, GMT+9:30
Finally, Commando 3. It's been out for several weeks now. For this I simply went with the two-star difficulty, which is considered 'normal' and I assume most people would start there.
Wolf Of The Battlefield: Commando 3 - ~26,816 on the Leaderboard as of 8pm Thursday, GMT+9:30
These are not stellar sales at all. Is nobody interested, or does nobody know? It's certainly something we'll continue to look at over the coming weeks, because this isn't the kind of money small developers would like to be making. Everything else on there is shuffling around quite small sales and yet are on the Top 10 list. What about the other 100+ games on the service?
Unfortunately I don't have much to say about Ticket to Ride - it's just not my kind of game. From what I hear though it's incredibly enjoyable and up there with the best of what XBLA has to offer for board games.
What I've found is that most of these reviews knock it back a bit because of what it is - a board game. It's not inherently something that everyone can get into easily. If you are into board games and don't have many mates who are also into it, definitely check it out.
Games Radar have gotten the internet exclusive first look at Mega Man 9 for WiiWare! Complete with a ton of screenshots and descriptions of each of the levels!
As before, you have to defeat each robot master, steal their unique weapons and use them on the remaining bosses. Each is weak and resistant to specific weapons, so you'll have to experiment to see which plan of attack works best. And by experiment, we mean "die a thousand deaths," as Mega Man 9 is easily on par or above the hardest games in the series. Hell, we played for two hours and only made it to three bosses, and even then only beat two. Not too surprising considering we don't yet know which boss is weak against the other, but damn, these guys are hard.
Check it out here. As well as this, Famitsu also had a preview of the game, with a full name of "Rockman 9: Revival of the Wild Ambition" and also slated for release in September! Check out that here!
WiiWare: EU Store Update: 'Pop', 'My Pokemon Ranch' and 'My Life As A King' DLC!
A big week for WiiWare fans in Europe - two new titles have been added to WiiWare - the bizarre bubble popping game Pop and the giant Pokemon holding program Pokemon Ranch. You can pick up Pop for 700 Wii Points, and Pokemon Ranch for 1,000 Wii Points.
Along with the new releases is the downloadable content for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King which was release in the US earlier this week.
Now this might just be a German or European thing and not all around. Seems strange though since we've been rumoring the Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty for some time, and the new name is eerily similar.
In other Capcom USK news, that rating for Mega Man 9 that showed up for the Xbox 360? Gone from the USK website! Interesting...
On this weeks 1UP Show, the crew show off the upcoming PixelJunk Eden from Q-Games. They show off a whole bunch of gardens as well as 2 and 3 player cooperative levels.
PSN, XBLA: 'Shotest Shogi' Passes The XBLA Certification Process
Paul Johnson over at Rubicon Development have claimed that after an apparent 7 months sitting in Microsoft's certification process, Shotest Shogi has finally been passed and ready for release.
Shotest Shogi is a game based on the "harder and more subtle" style of chess generally used in Japan. While most screenshots have been based off of the classic "Kanji" style tiles, they are also added several other styles to the game so to not "scare" away Western players.
Rubicon's previously dealt with Novadrome on the XBLA at the end of 2006, though that's a little confusing, as Stainless Games also claim to have created it. Most likely a joint project.
Shotest Shogi has been fully funded by Rubicon and AI Factory and are publishing the title themselves - but have admitted that Microsoft did help with getting the game out there in a variety of languages. Good to know, at least this game will certainly have Japanese - usually they're left out in the cold.
While the game did take 7 months to get through certification, it certainly was not because of Microsoft, stating that it was "partly our fault and partly some specifics I can't mention".
In other Rubicon news, their other XBLA title, Basement Pool, appears to be on hold for the time being. It will get a PC release, however it "won't be on 360 until Bankshot [Billiards 2] gets retired", referring to the delisting process Microsoft has discussed.
While that's certainly the best way to make money - I'm not too sure if that's going to happen anytime soon. While I'm sure many people weren't buying Bankshot Billiards due to the 1,200 Point original asking price (now 800), the game is included in many Xbox Live 12 month starter kits. Basement Pool is already a hard sell. At the same time though, we do have Chessmaster and Spyglass Board Games...
Paul does mention that they were thinking of releasing it as a PSN title, but they would need a commercial project (aka hired to do another PSN project) to make the cost of PlayStation 3 development kits worth their while.
The team over at IGN have been given another look at the upcoming Homestar Runner game for WiiWare. It's turning out to be quite the fun title, and works quite well with the Wii:
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
