tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53694715818021721102023-06-20T06:19:17.742-07:00Hero of Legend's blog of needing a decent name XD.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-72411920681543214822009-10-29T23:16:00.000-07:002009-11-01T13:18:05.061-08:00Hero of Legend's Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga Initial Impressions. Not too bad!<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3436/3966886653_0d0db0b276.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 356px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3436/3966886653_0d0db0b276.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Platform: Wii<br />Publisher JP: MMV<br />Publisher NA: MMV USA/XSEED<br />Publisher PAL: Rising Star Games<br />Developer: MMV, K2 and Kurogane (Helping with NA localization)<br />Players: 1-2<br />Rating NA: T<br />Rating JP: B<br />Release Date NA: September 29th, 2009<br />Release Date PAL: ???<br />Release Date Japan: October 8th, 2009<br />Price USA: $39.99<br />Price Canada: $44.99<br />Price PAL: ???<br />Price JP: 7,140円<br /><br />So I've only played about an hour of the game thus far, I finally found a brand-new, NON-gutted (opened) copy at my local Walmart. Only it and EBGames in Canada seem to sell it. :/ :(<br /><br />So I popped it in, and noticed at first the audio got quieter than it seemed at first, I found out why. Turns out, there's an option in the Options section of the Title Screen where you can change the balance and volume with it between the music and the sound effects. Guess what? You can make it so that the sound effects are mute, thus, NO FOOTSTEP SOUNDS, CHECK MORE CAREFULLY REVIEWERS!!! :/<br /><br />So, the game begins with a CG opening, a usual thing for the series.<br /><br />Then you begin by selecting between:<br /><br />Game Start<br />Options<br />Gallery<br /><br />Options include:<br /><br />Blood Display - Decide if you want the Blood Display on or off.<br />Screen Adjust - Shows a picture of the different shades of black, grey, and white so you can change your TV's picture so that you can see all the gradations.<br />Sound Balance - The one reviewers just happened to miss, as mentioned above, you can move the dial to the left for make the music louder and the SFX quieter, or to the right for vice-versa.<br /><br />Gallery allows you to look at actual characters up close, this includes monsters! You have to actual encounter them to unlock them in here of course. ;)<br /><br />So onto Game Start you begin by choosing a save file, and there are three in total, the middle one is the default. :P<br /><br />Then you choose an episode, 1 or 2, yes you can do that from the beginning, strange I know.<br /><br />Then you proceed to choosing how your character looks, you choose the character's Face, Hair (and Hair Color), and Voice. Strangely I heard a female sounding voice for one of the choices even though you're a Male, oooookay? You can only choose your gender in Episode 2.<br /><br />Then you begin in the town of Vestlia and you can do things first like check out the item shop, the forge to repair swords and such, the Wi-Fi area, another place to change your hair and hair color and change Wi-Fi speech settings (not sure what this is yet), but to save, you have to find this drunken old man near the church area, and after saving you have the option of returning to the title screen, took me a bit of time before I found him. XD<br /><br />Before heading out into the North Mór Plains (first major outdoor area), you're greeted by Sebastian (not the Crab XD) and he asks you to meet him at the Mansion to do a favor for his master. When you first enter the plains, it's empty of monsters even though you can fight.<br /><br />About the fighting, you do a weak attack with A and a strong one with B, run and ascend and descend ledges with C, and Lock-on to enemies with Z. As Spencer of Siliconera noted, A and B attacks are quite slow, even the A ones, and you can do small combos by hitting the button multiple times and of course you press the button quickly, but if you miss, you have to do the whole combo (just up to 3 at the moment I think) before you can actually move. So it definitely needs getting used to.<br /><br />As you fight, your Burst Meter gets full, and you get reminded of that by your hand twinkling and a ding-ding sound effect, took me a bit to figure what that meant. lol You activate it by WAGGLING!!! XD<br /><br />So far you fight Vicious Killer Rabbits (Hares), Capybaras, Wild Birds, Wood Leeches, and... and...<br /><br />FISH THAT KNOW KARATE!!! (Amphis) LOL XD<br /><br />Seriously, they jump out of the water and slap you around with their tails, and can jump EXTREMELY high DBZ-style, AND can flop back into the water if they end up on land! LOL<br /><br />I'll stop here as I don't want to say anything about the story. :)<br /><br />Now to the technical parts, this game supports 480p, 16:9 with very minor black bars, no Dolby Pro Logic II, and runs in 30 frames but can drop when it rains and just for a split second during fights, it also drops when using items.<br /><br />My opinion on the graphics? Not that bad, it's nothing to complain about as I'm not one to bitch about them when I know that the developer (K2) was never a hardware pusher and this game was low-budget anyway! :) I was impressed by how much land there was to explore with zero load times, and the draw distance seemed really far, as I remember seeing the Knights who were blocking a crossing to the other side of the plains were viewable from all the way at the entrance to the plains, it was pretty far. Also I'm pretty sure the water's bump-mapped with some kind of reflecting going on. Animations are nice as well, and the characters do have good facial animations, there's no voice acting other than someone who narrates the beginning of the story, kinda like in Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire.<br /><br />So it's been worth the searching for a new copy and paying the $45 price tag, as I am a big MMV fan, I have Rune Factory Frontier, Little King's Story, and now Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, and next I'll get Muramasa: The Demon Blade and then of course, Arc Rise Fantasia! :D<br /><br />And one last note, I noticed a teensy typo, the aforementioned master of Sebastian ask you to get "An Herb" :P Look, you've obtained "An Herb"! XD<br /><br />That's it for now! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-2596432252736898312009-07-29T15:31:00.000-07:002012-06-20T21:07:33.637-07:00I've been banned from GAF YET AGAIN, this time the reason is just fucking rediculous.This post:<br /><br /><a href="http://i.minus.com/ibndmJxmxzcxvm.jpg">http://i.minus.com/ibndmJxmxzcxvm.jpg</a><br /><br /><a href="http://i.minus.com/ibkKd19EMSVKYY.jpg">http://i.minus.com/ibkKd19EMSVKYY.jpg</a><br /><br />Why was I banned for this?<br /><br />Because:<br /><br />"Even if Epic Mickey IS on the Wii, it doesn't need your fanboyism "helping" it."<br /><br />What the flying fuck? Just because I support the move and explain why (because of the demographic)? I find it EXTREAMELY strange that the user I was responding to, who was obviously flaming the decision of it being on the Wii, is not banned.<br /><br />Well, if I actually decide to go back when I am able to, I'll see you on September 29th at 9:00PM. Good luck to fellow Wii and Nintendo fans over there, watch your back.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-69138271362351903692009-05-28T05:19:00.000-07:002012-09-24T17:37:46.390-07:00Pass this on to Dabookerman at NeoGAF!<a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363087">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363087</a><br /><br />I experienced that VERY issue for the past couple of days!<br /><br />It's your milk, it's gone bad, try making another cup of tea with that same milk, you should see this again, then AGAIN with a fresh carton, it shouldn't happen!<br /><br />The possible problem, may be that your milk hasn't been in a cold enough fridge. My fridge had that thing that makes it cold got blown, thus my food spoiled quite quickly.<br /><br />Happened to two or three large and small cartons.<br /><br />It's now fixed, and my milk's just fine! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-11975860164965070082009-05-21T13:31:00.000-07:002009-05-21T13:40:23.506-07:00May Boxart Post of can't XSEED decide on a box for Little King's Story?!Click on the link beside(?) the image for the high-res version!<br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3548722473_c35a90dffa.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 354px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3548722473_c35a90dffa.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3548722473_6805450b97_o.png">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3548722473_6805450b97_o.png</a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/3552507022_f36da7ccea.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 352px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/3552507022_f36da7ccea.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/3552507022_fdd6e61777_o.png">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/3552507022_fdd6e61777_o.png</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-37362635583893458862009-05-16T10:55:00.000-07:002009-05-16T11:08:15.715-07:00About this Shane feller. Addressing thr GAF thread.He works at Ignition, how many more pages are you guys going to make before realizing that?! LOL<br /><br /><a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361875">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361875</a><br /><br />Geez! :P<br /><br />Edit: OH, okay, it only took until the <strong>93rd Post</strong>:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15873664&postcount=93">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15873664&postcount=93</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-91692790074307115882009-05-05T22:22:00.001-07:002009-05-05T22:24:52.607-07:00Another XSEED update.Looks like we finally have a proper clarification on the XSEED branding sitauation:<br /><br /><strong>Flower, Sun, and Rain in June will be the last game published under the Marvelous Entertainment USA label for a while, and we had a chance to become the sole publisher on other titles that were originally supposed to be under the co-publishing agreement with Marvelous Entertainment USA. Of course we wanted all titles that we were already working together on under the XSEED Games banner moving forward, but unfortunately that didn't happen and we have to respect the decision that was made.<br /> <br />Sure, we may have lost one title, but we'll be announcing tons more titles between now and E3 so stay tuned.</strong><br /><br />I just wish they just kept the MMV USA branding for consistency.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-9894531380108154202009-04-21T20:25:00.001-07:002009-04-21T20:51:45.406-07:00An update about XSEED.After e-mailing them about the current situation with Muramasa and such, I asked them to do some damage control, and Ken said:<br /><br /><strong>No damage control needed, things with us and Marvelous are fine as they are still a very important partner of ours. A business decision had to be made regarding the future of Muramasa: The Demon Blade and we respect their decision.<br /> <br />And I'm sure you've heard by now that Ignition Entertainment is the new publisher, so the title is in good hands.</strong><br /><br />I then asked for a more detailed explaination about what happened, I'm still waiting for a reply.<br /><br />More as it happens!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-80137752352788085152009-04-20T21:48:00.000-07:002009-04-24T15:16:30.178-07:00April 2008 Boxart Post.This post will be updated with the full-sized boxes found at Amazon. :)<br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3461140129_d24de9aab6_o.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 726px; height: 1024px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3461140129_d24de9aab6_o.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/3463089011_538ccb6435_o.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 726px; height: 1024px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/3463089011_538ccb6435_o.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3472069066_bda89136f7_o.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 720px; height: 1024px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3472069066_bda89136f7_o.png" border="0" alt="" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-56054396516683206892009-04-19T11:39:00.000-07:002009-04-19T11:46:01.987-07:00Remember the Sonic DS E3 2004 Demo? See the best video of it here!<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bCefT3uKHs&fmt=18">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bCefT3uKHs&fmt=18</a><br /><br />So far you've all must've seen those two videos of the game, one that shows like a five second trailer, the other is a poorly recorded off-screen video of a play session.<br /><br />Finally, you can see <strong>direct-feed</strong> gameplay complete with direct audio so that we can finally hear the music (which is a remix of Escape from the City!) and the announcer going "Ready... GO!", is that the same guy from the Super Monkey Ball games?<br /><br />While we'll probably never even get a leaked rom of the game (the one you may have heard of is fake), you can at least finally get a true look at this game that could've been. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-88854912624998993202009-04-16T20:12:00.000-07:002009-04-17T07:48:28.912-07:00XSEED is now branding their games with MMV, the answer as to why will become clear "very soon".I'm sure a few of you have seen the confirmed final box of Little King's Story:<br /><br /><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wrGz-40fL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wrGz-40fL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />As a MMV fan and I'm sure others have thought the same, was WHY does the box now sport XSEED's logo instead of MMV USA's?<br /><br />I got on the case ASAP, first by asking XSEED if the box was even final, and mentioned the logo change, Ken said:<br /><br /><strong>That's correct, that's the final boxfront image for Little King's Story.</strong><br /><br />Dodged the logo bit, so I replied back asking about the logo specifically, he then said:<br /><br /><strong>Ah, good question - very impressive attention to detail. It will all become clear very soon...</strong><br /><br />What could possibly be afoot? Sadly I have no clue, if I HAD to assume, it could be a change in agreements between XSEED and MMV USA, but it's probably no more than say XSEED getting to have the spotlight on the boxes now.<br /><br />Just an FYI, AQ Interactive owns XSEED, so I think people can avoid speculation of "ZOMG MMV BUYS XSEED!1!1" and such. :P<br /><br />I currently am waiting on a reply about the question of if this is permanent, will they be reshipping their previous MMV games like Rune Factory Frontier (awesome game BTW) and Avalon Code (haven't played this yet).<br /><br />Here's RFF's box just for reference:<br /><br /><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Yiawz2WIL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Yiawz2WIL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I hope this whole thing isn't just some strange rebranding decision just for the hell of it, why do this NOW after releasing three games under the MMV name (Valhalla Knights 2 PSP, Avalon Code DS, Rune Factory Frontier Wii)?<br /><br />Besides, wouldn't MMV USA want to keep this up so that they can become a better known name?<br /><br />Actually, my new guess is this:<br /><br />It's possible that MMV USA is closing (it only has like ONE person IIRC who's name I forget), perhaps this person is moving to XSEED (which FYI is in the <strong>exact same building</strong> as MMV USA, I'm not kidding), to make things more efficient?<br /><br />Obviously XSEED's the larger of the two companies, so obviously if one goes, it's MMV USA.<br /><br />But still, couldn't they just keep the MMV USA brand name? Like how Disney uses the Touchstone label for more mature films even though Touchstone isn't even a physical company from what I recall reading.<br /><br />Oh well, MMV Japan's the boss. :P<br /><br />Hopefully we'll find out soon, this should have ZERO effect on any future projects.<br /><br />Hang on, could this branding change have been the cause of Little King's Story's constant delays by any chance at all? I'll ask about that after this is all been cleared up, because obviously XSEED won't talk about this yet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-48788308412753838302009-04-16T05:48:00.000-07:002009-04-16T05:57:55.442-07:00Valhalla Monster Hunters? Monster Knights? Take your pick!So new scans of MMV and K2's Wii entry of their once PSP-exclusive series showed up earlier today, showing the first look at the game after 6 months since the game's TGS trailer!<br /><br />But I could not help notice something VEEEEERY familar, and it wasn't just the whole ARPG similarity...<br /><br />Exibit A, Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga:<br /><br /><a href="http://i41.tinypic.com/352qb9d.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1239px; height: 1599px;" src="http://i41.tinypic.com/352qb9d.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://i41.tinypic.com/33bl1j8.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1233px; height: 1599px;" src="http://i41.tinypic.com/33bl1j8.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Exibit B, Monster Hunter 3:<br /><br /><a href="http://i42.tinypic.com/egsexl.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1100px; height: 1375px;" src="http://i42.tinypic.com/egsexl.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />See the two dragons, one in each game?<br /><br />WOW, they're going all out to make Valhalla Kngihts into a Monster Hunter clone! :O<br /><br />Their recently unveiled PSP entry, Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance also changed the core game of VK2 into a MH clone, where as before it was a turn-based game.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-33620918496864572722009-04-14T16:09:00.000-07:002009-04-15T06:45:24.964-07:00SuperVillain Studios developing a Wii-exclusive RPG?Apparently, yes they are!<br /><br />The findings all began while going through <a href="http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/">superannuation</a>.<br /><br />First, I saw <a href="http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/post/89293691/at-supervillain-studios-i-did-several-props-for">this post</a> about Tom Swogger, who said:<br /><br /><strong>At SuperVillain Studios I did several props for the Wii title Order Up! then began work on environments and effects for an unannounced rpg, also on the Wii.</strong><br /><br />Obviously he's specifically at SuperVillain working on that Wii RPG.<br /><br />This originated from <a href="http://tom.swogger.net/resume.html">this resume</a>.<br /><br />Second, the website of the résumé contains something very inexpected yet very interesting; four in-game screenshots of the Wii RPG!:<br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3443244796_1ab6e72e6b_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 994px; height: 595px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3443244796_1ab6e72e6b_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3442428119_7e7ff311f5_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 994px; height: 595px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3442428119_7e7ff311f5_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3442428237_290c69354b_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 443px; height: 392px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3442428237_290c69354b_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3442428373_2063e94b6f_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 603px; height: 595px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3442428373_2063e94b6f_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />All of these were found at the <a href="http://tom.swogger.net/artwork.html">website's artwork page</a>.<br /><br />Finally, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/teamchicken">the Co-Founder / CCO of SuperVillain Studios, Chris Rausch's résumé</a> was found by <a href="http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/post/95249143/co-founder-chief-creative-officer-supervillain">superannuation</a> which had the following:<br /><br /><strong>Co-Founder / Chief Creative Officer<br />SuperVillain Studios<br />(Privately Held; Computer Games industry)<br />January 2004 — Present (5 years 4 months)<br />Unannounced - Wii 2010<br />Unannounced - PSP 2009</strong><br /><br />So SuperVillain will be releasing their second Wii game (after Order Up!) in 2010, and that is no doubt the above RPG!<br /><br />This is quite the "leak", but I guess it could be allowed as SuperVillain's independant, but wouldn't the publisher (if the game has one at the moment?) might not be so amused. Hopefully this won't cause any trouble. Well it's the guy's fault for leaking it, don't shoot the messenger! >_<<br /><br />But can they please not use such a generic and boring character design? But maybe I'll warm up to it, I kind of am already. :P The environments look really good! Reminds me of Crash of the Titans, <a href="http://www.svsgames.com/secret_weapons/">I wonder why...</a><br /><br />Good luck to the people at SuperVillain at working on the game! Thanks for the sneak peek! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-70329319916915277342009-04-14T11:07:00.000-07:002009-10-29T23:20:22.202-07:00I've been banned from NeoGAF, why is that?<strong>Make sure to read the update below.</strong><br /><br />Hi!<br /><br />So it's sadly apparent that I've been banned from NeoGAF. What's the story you ask?<br /><br />That's what this post is for!<br /><br />The main reason is in here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=358522">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=358522</a><br /><br />And the very second post.<br /><br />That's the cause, but the reason and I quote is:<br /><br />"I warned you before to stop going into threads that have nothing to do with the Wii just to stir that shit up. Too bad you didn't listen."<br /><br />That warning is from this post:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15249063&postcount=38">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15249063&postcount=38</a><br /><br />The good news is, this is only a two month ban!<br /><br />As you GAFers and some outside folk know, I run a thread at GAF about questions about localizations to XSEED Games.<br /><br />Fret not, all that will temporaily take place in this humble little blog until my ban is lifted. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-72034454008336201972008-03-20T12:44:00.000-07:002008-03-20T13:13:29.773-07:00More stuff, this time about two things!Alright, I've got some info about Blast Works, and about what's happening at Smart Bomb Interactive!<br /><br />1. The many boxes of Blast Works were done by Majesco's Marketing Team, not Budcat.<br /><br />2. Even pseudo 16:9 is a no-go for Blast Works.<br /><br />3. Asking why and about any sort of difficulty regarding any additions, as well as dates and delays, I got this very detailed response:<br /><br /><em>In the case of the pseudo 16:9 mode, it probably won’t take too long to get in there. The problem is that there are dozens of ideas that we can say the same thing about. In order to get a game done, you have to lock the features and get it out the door. Every game developer has to do it.<br /><br />Would it be costly to slip by 1 week? Yes. No one working on the project works for free, in most cases we can’t (you know problems like rent, and food). There are collateral costs that are harder to measure. Since people don’t work for free, work on a new project has to be lined up and ready to go. If those people are busy because the date has slipped, the new project gets behind schedule before it’s even started.<br /><br />It’s important to hit the release date for numerous reasons. There’s a huge amount of coordination that goes into the marketing and advertising. Magazine ads have to be placed months in advance. Weekly flyers that places like Best Buy put out have to mocked up weeks in advance. To know that there is some good shelf space reserved for your product in the stores on the date you promised the retailers that they would have it is very important. If you’re off by a week, that shelf space will go to another product, one that actually shipped out to the retailer when it was promised. Majesco (in this case) is a publicly traded company. If they don’t deliver the number of titles they’ve promised per quarter then their stock goes down, and this effects thousands of people who own the stock.<br /><br />If the product doesn’t get into manufacturing when it’s been scheduled, the equipment might be busy manufacturing another product that did get in when it was supposed to, this can further delay your ship date.<br /><br />How were the original dates chosen?<br /><br />Usually ship date targets can be determined by budget. A fixed budget is set aside to do a project, so it’s development can’t go beyond a fixed date (because that’s when you’ve run out of money and most people on the project can’t work for free). If we go over budget on a project is that publisher going to work with us again? There are a lot of developers out there. I know if I was the publisher I would be more inclined to work with the ones who can make their dates, and stay within their budget. It’s important for us to make our dates, so that we can keep our doors open.<br /><br />I suppose I could have just said, that it’s very important to us to make our dates, but I want you to understand. It’s very important to make our dates.</em><br /><br />So there you have it! Delays don't happen unless it's VERY necessary!<br /><br />4. regardless of the ever changing box and logos, Budcat is trying to keep the logo as similar to the current one as possible. A change would take mere minutes, so that shouldn't be a problem for them. So Blast Works won't pull a Crash of the Titans and Endless Ocean. XD<br /><br />As Jason said:<br /><br /><em>The lettering for the words Blast Works is the same. The other things, like the Build, Trade, Destroy aren’t the same as the box. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t say that on the title page, which is the main menu. There really won’t be room to add that other stuff to the screen.<br /><br />As you cursor hovers over the different menu options, different ships appear in the center of the menu. The menu is kind of circular.<br /><br />You’re right though, changing out a bitmap only takes a couple minutes, and as long as it’s the same size and bit depth as the previous one, there’s very little chance that one might introduce new bugs.</em><br /><br />5. On to Smart Bomb. They are currently developing a Wii and Xbox 360 game (WTF, no PS2 version hidden somewhere? Is this the apocalypse?! O_o).<br /><br />6. Both versions are being developed side-by-side, so no version is being shoehorned into the other.<br /><br />7. 480p, 16:9, Dolby Pro Logic II, and 60 Frames Per Second ARE A GO in the Wii version! :D<br /><br />8. Both versions are releasing in early 2009.<br /><br />9. Judging by the attention and careful timing of the game, I'd assume it's an original IP (Smart Bomb had to keep their mouth shut as far as Bee Movie goes as they were forced by Activision, so Activision were the ones to ask about anything regarding the game). But Clark Stacey didn't say anything about my assumption.<br /><br />And dat's da end!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-62556331792386923812008-03-03T12:49:00.000-08:002008-03-03T12:56:50.268-08:00That was quick! A tiny bit of new info... but it's not good info.Okay.<br /><br />I've got a confirmation that the developer Big Red Button Entertainment, currently has no plans to develop for the Wii, which most likely means that all 6 of their planned new IPs are not heading to our favourite little white console.<br /><br />Sad day, I was looking forward to a potential Crash/Jak & Daxter style platformer. :(<br /><br />Well Ready at Dawn is bringing Okami to the Wii. Hope Steel Penny Games delivers, regardless of their casual puzzle game direction.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-66879740632994612802008-02-27T15:27:00.000-08:002009-04-16T17:25:04.356-07:00What's that? A new post?! It's about Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy for the Wii!I finally have something new to report!<br /><br />Okay, this is going to be long.<br /><br />First of all, unlike what IGN said in their preview of the game back at E3 2007, the game only supports 480p and runs in 60 frames per second, but it does NOT support 16:9, it also does NOT support Dolby Pro Logic II.<br /><br />Laziness? Most certainly not!<br /><br />I've had a conversation with Jason Anderson, a Senior Partner at Budcat Creations, who spends most of his time coding. The messages are in Italics.<br /><br />My 1st message:<br /><br /><em>Dear Budcat,<br /><br />I'm just wondering if Blast Works for the Wii supports Dolby Pro Logic II?<br /><br />And I want to say how thrilled I am that you included 480p, 16:9, and made the game run at 60 frames per second, that's what I love to see in games, and I'm very grateful that Budcat included those in the game! I read this in IGN's preview awhile back.<br /><br />Thanks, and I wish Budcat the best of luck with all of their projects!</em><br /><br />Reply:<br /><br /><em>Thanks for the nice words. Sometimes magazines don’t quite get things right, so to clarify.<br /><br />BlastWorks does support 480p, but doesn’t specifically support 16:9. If you select Dolby Pro Logic II in the Wii System menu, BlastWorks will output regular stereo.</em><br /><em><br />Best Regards,</em><br /><em>Jason Andersen</em><br /><br />I then asked:<br /><br /><em>Thanks for the correction.<br /><br />Is there ANY chance of 16:9 and DPLII being added by the time the game is complete? The game isn't coming out until May, so I'm sure there's enough time to include those features.<br /><br />Please disclose why it may not be possible if it isn't.<br /><br />Thanks again.</em><br /><br />His reply:<br /><br /><em>Pretty much there’s no chance of either of those options making it into the game.</em><br /><em><br />DPL2 doesn’t make much sense for this game, since it’s not 3D. Positioning of objects relative to your ship is always either left or right … not in front of or back. For the in-game music, it would have to had been created with a 3d specialization built into it. The music was licensed, and that’s not how musicians tend to create things.<br /><br />On the 16:9 front, in a normal 3D game, 16:9 support is normally done by expanding your field of view, so that you can see more information on the left and to the right. If we tried to do this to BlastWorks, then we would have to have 2 sets of levels, because spawn points would become exposed, the current levels would become unbalanced, and or look weird. Most enemies are spawned just outside of viewable space. This may not sound like a lot of work, but it really is a _lot_ of work.<br /><br />Hopefully what I’m saying makes sense,<br /><br />Jason</em><br /><br />It makes sense!<br /><br />I then asked:<br /><br /><em>I understand now, and thanks for the detailed explanation!<br /><br />It does make sense.<br /><br />Out of curiosity, would it make sense to go the Mario Party 8 route and just make the menus and such 16:9, and just add a border on each side of the in-game screen to make it 16:9? Maybe animate the borders so that it won't cause burn-in.<br /><br />Just an idea as you'd probably be forced to do this if this was an XBLA game, but I guess that's why it's on Wii, more freedom for the developer! ;)</em><br /><br />Makes sense, as it's better than nothing right?<br /><br />The reply:<br /><br /><em>I’ll make sure your suggestions get passed on to the project lead.<br /><br />If it were designed for XBLA it would have been 16:9 only, and high def. :)<br /><br />Thanks,Jason</em><br /><em></em><br />I then said:<br /><br /><em>So basically, if the game was for XBLA, then the game would've been designed to be 16:9 only, as in the screen would've been optimized for the wider screen so enemies would've appeared from even further away and such. But as this game was designed for the Wii and it was decided to be 4:3 standard, and most likely due to keeping the game as faithful to Tumiki Fighters as possible (am I right? ;) ), the screen was made so that the enemies would appear closer and such, and adding 16:9 to the game which uses 4:3 as the standard, would be very difficult as it would force the team to basically start from scratch.<br /><br />I'm getting this correctly right?<br /><br />Thanks again!</em><br /><em></em><br />I think it's a great idea if they did it the Mario Party 8 way if they can't put in 100% true 16:9 at all. Though Hudson not doing that for MP8 is inexcusable, I mean it's full 3D, so what was keeping the game from being in true 16:9?!<br /><br />His reply:<br /><br /><em>In the case of BlastWorks, all the levels are currently tuned for play on 4:3 aspect ratio. If we widened the area of view, the current levels would need to be re-tuned. All the enemy spawn points re-adjusted, then everything re-tested for play balancing. It wouldn’t be a matter of starting over, but it would be a couple of months of work for the team.<br /><br />The extra content was originally all 4:3 as well, you’re correct.<br /><br />If we’re fortunate enough to have BW do well in the market, we might get a chance to do a sequel. I personally would push for 16:9 if we get the opportunity.</em><br /><em></em><br />That'd be great!<br /><br />I then said:<br /><br /><em>That'd be great! Hope BW does do well!<br /><br />BTW, to put my suggestion into greater detail:<br /><br />Have the menus and such be in proper 16:9, no borders, widen the viewing space and such.<br /><br />But in the portions of the game that you can't do this so easily, add the borders on the sides of the screen!<br /><br />That's what I meant in case you misunderstood even a little bit. ;)<br /><br />I have some other questions.<br /><br />1. By any chance, does the game allow you to use the Wii's MP3 upload function like in Excite Truck and in Endless Ocean? If it doesn't currently, how long would it take for the team to add that?<br /><br />2. On to Budcat's second Wii game, Our House. Does that game support 480p, 16:9, and Dolby Pro Logic II? And when can we expect to see the first screenshots and such?<br /><br />3. Finally, does Majesco or Budcat own the Our House and Blast Works IP? Was the rights to Cho's games bought, or just licensed to make on the Wii?<br /><br />Thanks again!</em><br /><br />His reply (in red):<br /><br /><em>That'd be great! Hope BW does do well!</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>BTW, to put my suggestion into greater detail:</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>Have the menus and such be in proper 16:9, no borders, widen the viewing space and such.</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>But in the portions of the game that you can't do this so easily, add the borders on the sides of the screen!</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>That's what I meant in case you misunderstood even a little bit. ;)</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>I have some other questions.</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>1. By any chance, does the game allow you to use the Wii's MP3 upload function like in Excite Truck and in Endless Ocean? If it doesn't currently, how long would it take for the team to add that?</em><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>Unfortunately, it doesn’t have support for this. We can’t implement this due to licensing reasons. It would be really cool feature though.</em></span><br /><em></em><br /><em>2. On to Budcat's second Wii game, Our House. Does that game support 480p, 16:9, and Dolby Pro Logic II? And when can we expect to see the first screenshots and such?</em><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>It’s up to Majesco to decide when the project is ready to release screens. It’s really not far enough along for me to be able to say with a lot of certainty, but I do know the game engine supports 480p, 16:9, and DP2. Designs tend to change during development.</em></span><br /><em></em><br /><em>3. Finally, does Majesco or Budcat own the Our House and Blast Works IP? Was the rights to Cho's games bought, or just licensed to make on the Wii?</em><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>Our House, and BlastWorks a properties of Majesco. The Kenta Cho games were appropriately licensed, and have his blessing.</em></span><br /><em></em><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>:)</em></span><br /><br />I then said:<br /><br /><em>Thanks for that again!<br /><br />Two more questions.<br /><br />1. Does Blast Works indeed run in 60 frames per second? And does it dip at all?<br /><br />2. Finally, what do you do at Budcat? Are you a producer, CEO perhaps?<br /><br />Thanks!</em><br /><br />He then said:<br /><br /><em>BW does run 60 frames per second, and all the levels that we’ve packaged have be designed to run at 60. I believe it is possible to get it to dip, but you have to get an insane amount of crap on the screen. Sine the editors are included, if you work at it (ie make really complicated objects, with complex bullet patterns, and pack them into the screen), you can over load the system.<br /><br />I’m one of the partners here at Budcat, but I spend most of my time coding. My business card says Senior Partner.<br /><br />I also like to make sure that web site emails get answered. I know in the past some email inquiries have fallen through the cracks. We get an incredible amount of spam. I suppose, since the email links are on the web site.<br /><br />Take care,<br />Jason</em><br /><br />And I finished with:<br /><br /><em>Thanks a lot for the chat, I truly appreciate it!<br /> <br />You take care as well!<br /> <br />And I wish you and everyone else the best of luck at Budcat, regardless on what you are working on!<br /> <br />That'll be all for today, thanks again!</em><br /><br />No reply after that, but all conversations must end, and that was a fine ending anyway. :P<br /><br />That's it for now! Thanks for reading!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369471581802172110.post-70151939589429485122008-02-01T13:45:00.000-08:002009-10-29T23:44:42.790-07:00Test.Test Post.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0