Blizzard may keep hemming and hawing on whether or not Diablo III will leave its snuggly PC home, but Runic Games will make sure loot-hungry console gamers get their dungeon crawling fix. The team is making “serious efforts” to bring Torchlight to the non-PC crowd, and that’s just super.
“We’re going to put some serious effort into it — pretty quick– getting Torchlight onto consoles,” confirms Runic CEO Max Schaefer. “There’s a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game. So, we are definitely going to be going in that direction.”
Whatever helps that game sell more copies is fine by me. If you’ve never played it and you like Diablo clones with a hefty bit of charm, then you really need to get hold of this thing. It amazes me that you’d even be reading this right now.
Runic Games ‘putting serious effort’ into console Torchlight [Joystiq]
If you like obscure Japanese strategy RPGs, then you best dust off your PSP. Atlus is publishing a new SRPG that acts as a prequel to Yggdra Union called Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future. Yes, that sounds like the kind of name a Japanese SRPG would have.
Blaze Union will have players step into the boots of female warrior Garlot, a red-haired lady who leads the Blaze Knights against the evil forces of the Bronquian Empire. The game works in pretty much the same way as Yggdra Union, with tactics cards returning, along with classes and “unions” with allied characters.
Blaze Union will have brand new tactics cards, as well as a tutorial so people can, for once, penetrate one of these games without feeling like their brain got molested.
Atlus and Sting Bring Yggdra Union Prequel to PSP [Andria Sang]
Did you know that Final Fantasy XIII is kind of a big deal? Apparently it is, because Square Enix has revealed that five million copies of the thing has shipped worldwide. Three million of those games have infiltrated North America and Europe. Yeah, this game is rather large.
XIII is still selling really well in Japan, having launched for the PS3 only on December 17. Also, the entire Final Fantasy franchise has reached a cumulative 96 million shipments worldwide. That’s more than your brain can actually conceive.
So yes. Final Fantasy is quite popular.
Final Fantasy XIII has shipped 5 million worldwide [Videogamer]
With Final Fantasy XIII finally releasing in North America, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has touched upon the always controversial decision to port the game to Xbox 360. According to Wada, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. His team wanted to do it, and the install base was such that it was essentially a no-brainer.
“The Xbox team has been asking us to have a [Final Fantasy] game developed on our platform,” explains Wada. “Also, the Xbox 360 console is available in many homes in US and European markets so that was not really a hard decision to make.”
Many zealots accused Square Enix of treachery after the fateful 2008 E3 conference when XIII was revealed to be multiplatform, and the subject has been a sore point between opposing gamers ever since. Comparison videos, technical specs, the number of discs, and all sorts of other squabbles have been had over the past months. Now that the games are out, we can all just sit back and be glad that we’re actually playing the thing, right?
Square Enix CEO Explains How Final Fantasy XIII Got On The Xbox 360 [Siliconera]
Okay, this is a game I have not seen before. It’s a game many people have not seen before. This makes no sense whatsoever, as it looks exactly like the kind of game that should be slapping Wii owners in the face and demanding their attention.
Flip’s Twisted World has an open platforming design and visual style that draws out memories of Super Mario Galaxy, but adds in an awesome gravity-flipping mechanic just to keep things spicy. This is the kind of classic cute platformer that appeals to all ages and demographics, so why is nobody talking about it?
Fortunately, it’s now caught my eye. Flip’s Twisted World is on my famous “things other blogs won’t talk about that I will cover incessantly and to the point of nausea” list. I will do this, even though one member of the game’s developer, Frozen North, seems to hate my guts and regularly Tweets about what a scumbag I am. He seriously does that!
The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 details just keep pouring in, and it all seems to be good news, too. Some fresh details have surfaced from that hub of information known as NeoGAF, providing more insight into what keeps promising to be a terrific title.
Here’s the latest gossip:
- The game will be a platformer only: No mini games and extra crap (although classic bonus stages are on the cards).
- The level design is said to be inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
- Episode one will have four zones with three acts each.
- Jun Senoue is the sound director/composer.
- The classic “wrecking ball” boss fight at the end of Splash Hill will involve new attacks, such as a ground smash and 360 degree swing.
- Future episodes may have new skills for Sonic.
I’m not saying Sonic 4 will definitely be great, but as a lifelong fan of classic platformers, I’m saying it definitely can’t hurt to have a little faith. Even if this didn’t star Sonic, it looks like the exact kind of game that I’d want to play and I can’t wait to finally get my hands on it.
[Via NeoGAF]
Eccentric game designer and Lucha Libra aficionado Suda Goichi has been chatting about the past, stating that he’d be interested in revisiting some of his old classics like Michigan: Report From Hell and Killer 7. Please, please, don’t let us stop you, Suda!
“… I think that it would be very interesting to create something like Michigan again in the future — it could be really good,” says Suda. “I still talk to Sakurai-san, who is the president of Spike Games which was the publisher of Michigan. They’re also interested in making a game like that again in the future.”
As far as Killer 7 goes, simply had this to say: “If I had the chance, that would be great too!”
I dare say it would be. Killer 7, for all its foibles, was one of my favorite games of the last generation. There has often been talk of a Wii version coming eventually, but I’d relish any chance to return to the twisted world of the Smiths and their many foes. Maybe if we ever got a sequel, we’d find out what the whole bloody thing was about!
SUDA51 on Revisiting Killer 7: ‘If I had the chance, that would be great.’ [Electronic Theater via GoNintendo]
What happens when half the Podtoid cast f*cks off and leaves Samit, Topher, myself and special guest Joseph Leray to our own devices? You get the most slanderous, scandalous, Samit-insultingous Podtoid ever recorded. There’s also some pretty decent discussion buried under all the filth and abuse, but you’re going to have to work for it.
Surprisingly, a good episode. In fact, one of the most fun times I’ve spent in front of a microphone, barring anything involving my genitals. Anyway, get it from your iTunes if it’s there. I don’t know how that crap works. There’s a direct link right here too.
Online retailers Amazon and GameFly have both listed a release date for Singularity, the Gravity Gun-flavored FPS published by Activision. According to these sources, Raven Software’s latest title will be out on June 29.
This is the first sniff of a solid release date we’ve had for Singularity. The game was originally slated for early 2010, then got pushed back to March, and was again pushed back to June. Activision said it didn’t want the game competing in already congested release periods, so one would assume that a Summer release will see the game gain some attention.
The title looks like it’ll be pretty decent, if not outstanding. Anybody interested in picking this up?
Amazon and GameFly agree: Singularity out June 29 [GameDaily]
So, Medal of Honor is going modern, and here’s what it looks like. A modest collection of new screens for EA’s series reboot has hit the Internet today, featuring tanks, beards, guns, and all the shades of brown that a current-gen game needs.
Medal of Honor has never really been able to stand up to Call of Duty, but Electronic Arts is definitely hoping to give the series an edge with this new title. Whether it succeeds remains to be seen, though we can tell you it’s going to have to do a lot more than wear Modern Warfare’s clothes in order to beat Modern Warfare. I hope it does well, because now that Activision has seized total control over Infinity Ward and looks set to whore out the Call of Duty franchise, we could very much do with a worthy challenger to the FPS throne.
[Via Videogamer]
