Dragon Quest V

– 3 save files
– Can only show specific areas
– Square Enix being very protective

Retro Game Challenge/XSEED/Fragile

– Review going up today
– Turned out really well
– XSEED publishing the game
– XSEED apparently told Matt that people should buy the game because it’ll help them in their cause to bring Fragile to the US
– Fragile a Namco game in Japan – Matt thinks it’s a game Namco might want to publish one day
– Biggest downside in Retro Game Challenge is the localization – Fake game magazines you can read, in the back there are fake letters – one of the letters written in by Homer Sexual
– Craig wants a bit more creativity in their localization next time
– Fragile is in heavy Japanese but you can get through it
– Control in Fragile is pretty good, beautiful, storyline seems dramatic – Matt can’t wait to get it in the US

LIT

– Developed by WayForward
– WiiWare title
– Craig digs the concept
– Puzzle game where you’re in rooms that are darkened
– Get through the room, don’t go into the darkness
– The way the concept is implemented frustrates Craig – Matt heard him growling
– Certain little things that bother him (ex: Idea of turning on lights is good, but meter prevents you from turning on too many lights)
– Should be able to see the solution without trying and resetting
– Craig still recommends playing it, just be prepared for wonkyness in the design – Craig says it’s worth it for the price
– 800 points
– Matt hates the control scheme
– Context sensitive
– Game went final to WiiWare pretty quickly

House of the Dead: Overkill

– Game ships tomorrow
– Turned out well
– Bozon would like to ask about the frame rate
– Some of the moves swaps models on the fly
– Model swap freezes the frame for a second
– Other than that it’s pretty cool
– A lot of swearing
– Some of the delivery over-the-top
– Matt likes how you don’t think you’d see something in the game, but then you do
– Bosses could be a bit tougher, could have used more balancing – but still already an awesome game
– Bozon assumes there will be a sequel
– Has a turn-off ridicule mode and calibrate IR
– Don’t unlock dual-weild mode until you beat story mode and the director’s cut mode
– Can buy guns, unlock them, multiplier system is neat

Deadly Creatures

– Matt gave it an 8.0
– Craig didn’t think the game shouldn’t have received the editor’s choice award – only scored 8.0
– Matt likes the theme, most of the execution except for the polish
– Kind of glitchy
– Play as tarantula/scorpion, run through environments
– Mix of combat + exploration
– One of those games that will make you feel squeamish
– Was over a bit too quickly
– Had some annoyances like loading pauses
– For the most part Matt had a good time with it
– Good choice if you’re looking for something darker on Wii
– Switch off between scorpion and tarantula in between levels
– Bozon loves the sound
– Matt wishes there was more exploration elements
– Hopes it sells well for a sequel
– EDGE apparently gave the game a 5/10 – Matt doesn’t understand that – Maybe 7s, but never below a 7

EA news

– Moving half to development to Wii
– Dead Space heading to Wii
– Daemon, Bozon, Matt big Dead Space fans
– Game is really good + atmospheric
– Want someone really competent to bring the game to Wii
– Matt has high hopes for the game – doesn’t think it’ll be exactly what everyone thinks it’ll be but it’ll still be pretty awesome
– Next week and a half to 2 weeks – more news will probably come
– Kind of knew it was coming
– Matt thinks it’ll be fun – doesn’t think people have to worry about it being a port

Sonic and the Black Knight

– Coming out next month
– An interesting game
– It’s fun – has a nice presentation
– Gimmick is that Sonic has travelled back to realm of King Arthur, has a sword
– Feels like Sonic Unleashed daytime levels in some ways because you control character with nunchuck + Wiimote
– Matt likes the sense of speed, graphics, interface
– Have leaderboards and not so hot multiplayer mode
– Matt not finding crazy level designs from Unleashed (day levels)
– Only played a few hours so hopefully it’ll ramp up
– Right now it hasn’t blown Matt away because control mechanics for sword not so hot – all waggle
– Racing towards enemies, waggle – Can shake controller like a monkey
– Matt never really feels a good sense of satisfaction fighting enemies unless he has the lock on
– A lot of the times you stop to attack, then momentum is gone
– Villagers in levels require you to stop, kills guys, have to talk to villagers
– Certain missions require you to strafe over to villagers clumsily, talk to them
– Daemon suggests doing what Capcom did with Mega Man 9
– Matt wanted to note that they’ve only played a few hours – game might get better

Klonoa

– Really good
– Daemon has spent a lot of time with it
– Remake of Playstation game
– 2.5D platformer
– Stuck on a 2D plane but levels spiral around – interact with foreground/background
– No pointer control in the game – can use classic controller, just Wiimote, Wii remote + nunchuck
– Coming out later this year
– Craig loves Klonoa – it’s not just a platformer, but you have to figure things out

Onslaught

– Bozon thinks it looks like a N64 game
– Screenshots put up next to Turok, Turok looked better
– Technically impressive – 4 players online, it’s a WiiWare game
– Reminds Matt of War
– Craig says Japanese still haven’t gotten the FPS genre down, he’s a little nervous
– If it controls really well and runs in 60 FPS, Matt won’t care

Real 3D game

– Data Design publishing the game
– Put out a press release stating they’re putting out the first console game in 3D
– Need to wear 3D glasses to get the effect
– Finally have a game that doesn’t make you want to vomit
– Apparently a port of a PC from another developer
– Not actually being developed by Data Design
– Bozon tried emailing Data Design, didn’t get a reply
– Called Battle Rage: The Robot Wars

Reader questions

– Frontier working on Lost Winds 2 (already announced it) – Matt thinks it’ll come out this year
– Fire Emblem for DS is a lot of the same Fire Emblem stuff – remake of the original – game will get a good score – if this sells well they’ll look into remaking other entries in the series – director wants to make a new Fire Emblem game that is super casual
– Craig/Bozon would like to see World of Goo on the DS – 2D Boy doesn’t have any plans to do so – Matt wants Smash Bros. on DS
– Craig doesn’t think DS software gets the credit it deserves – most owners don’t buy many games
– Nintendo hired a company to figure out how to sell more games to Wii owners – Nintendo saying that Wii owners not buying many games, just playing Wii Sports
– Don’t really know, but Matt figures the Metroid Side Story on the Japanese website refers to something about more information on space pirates (website related) – Matt surprised there hasn’t been a Hunters sequel – NST hasn’t been up to much lately – Matt heard they took a beating on some of their projects
– Should wait until NPC! Metroid Prime to start the series if you haven’t already – will be in widescreen
– Possible future releases for NPC!/wishlist – Luigi’s Mansion, Mario Sunshine, Killer 7
– Matt thought the RE5 demo was good, but feels like RE4 – he’s a little disappointed – he’ll buy it anyway
– There’ll definitely be more RE on Wii – could be Umbrella Chronicles sequel, etc. – Matt wants something original
– MadWorld month starts off today – positive impressions – really great game – very violent
– Nintendo won’t patch games such as Brawl and Mario Kart
– Dragon Quest V, Sonic coverage, MadWorld direct feed coming soon

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