The Magna Carta is a pretty important historical document.  It’s also a Japanese RPG.  A sequel is being released for the Xbox 360 and still has me asking the question.  What does this game have to do with the Magna Carta?

Magna Carta, from what I understand, is an RPG based in a fantasy world that has nothing to do with the real English Magna Carta of 1215.   I have never played the game, but it has a rhythm based combat system, which will return in this sequel.  The graphics for the new game will be updated from the original and from what screenshots over at Famitsu, it should at least be pretty to look at.

The basic rundown of the story is that society is slowly rebuilding itself to its former glory one-thousand years after a huge war. However, new wars are popping up after the assassination of a queen. The game also seems to feature a wolf man of sorts, and of course as is standard in Japanese RPGs, there’s lots of pretty girl characters who’s armor rating is inverse to the amount of armor they’re actually wearing.

Apparently the first game did really well in Korea, and they are probably trying to market to that demographic again.  Magna Carta is scheduled to release around August 2009, so keep your eyes open in Korea…

Source: Famitsu

Famitsu reports that on April 10th (today) you can enjoy Final Fantasy VII on the PS3 for a small download fee.

It will run you about $15 US, but it is the Final Fantasy VII International edition and is downloadable through the PlayStation Store, which is pretty cool. So for those of you that haven’t played it yet, you might need to get a Playstation Network Japan account. At least you won’t need to change discs.

Source:  Famitsu

To coincide with the newly released anime for Queen’s Blade, a slightly erotic fantasy manga, the company is releasing a fighter RPG game to give fans what they want – more service!

Coming out on April 3rd for the PSP, Queen’s Blade is a unit based game with a 2d side fighter to keep the action more interesting.  There isn’t much info on the battle system other than what is listed simply as “damage.”  As you fight you apparently have choice opportunities to destroy the “armor” of your opponent, but sometimes the “armor” is a maid outfit or some such.

If you do succeed in causing such damage to your enemy, you get a wonderful little fan service screen shot of the character you are fighting.  The RPG element sees your units get stronger as they win matches and don’t get their clothes stripped off.

Famitsu doesn’t show us much, but I am somewhat familiar with this anime and I am willing to bet it gets a lot more risqué than the screenshots at the source.

Don’t expect this one to come state side, so if you’re interested I highly suggest you import it.

Source:  Famitsu

I am a little late getting to this since I have turned off the Internet at my house, but looks like Square Enix has released some new (a month ago, but if you haven’t seen them yet…) shots to get you all excited or upset at the latest Final Fantasy installment.

No real information comes with the screenshots, just names of characters and that is about it.  Hope you like looking at pictures, cause that is about all the info there is.  That gun the girl is carrying is pretty cool looking though.

Check them out over at Famitsu.

I decided after getting my Japanese stimulus check that I should use it for something good, like video games.  I chose to pick up another new PSP and the games Final Fantasy: Dissidia, and another secret game that I will review at another time.  Dissidia turned out to be more than I thought it was, which was great.  The game looks beautiful, plays pretty well, has a mediocre story, and lots of extras to keep the player interested.

The Basics

Dissidia lets you control one of ten characters from the first ten Final Fantasy games.  Some are main characters and some are not.  There are a couple secret characters as well but I won’t be dropping any hints and ruining it, so if you wanna know who they are, sorry!  As you complete the game you can unlock the ability to play the bad guys that are also a big part of the game.  All in all, though, there are 22 characters to choose from, so it’s a pretty decent selection.

The story is a pretty standard affair.  Good, evil, crystals, and fighting.  There really isn’t too much to say about it, it’s really just there to keep the game rolling instead of moving constantly from fight to fight for no reason.

The Fighting

The battle system in Dissidia is very action orientated.  This is very different from the RPG games that the characters involved in the game are used to, but if you have played Kingdom Hearts or Crisis Core you will pick up on the combat really quick.  Combat can become repetitive if you just feel like winning as opposed to trying different things with your character. 

As you level up you unlock and master abilities.  You can completely change the play style of each character from how they act when you start with them, but it takes so long to get into the interesting abilities, you have already programmed you’re muscle memory to a certain play style so it may make you feel weaker to change it up a lot.

Each character has two modes in battle. One is your regular look which you will see most often.  As you beat on your opponent, though, they lose small crystal flashes or something which you collect to fill your EX gauge.  When that gauge fills, you can go into “EX mode” which is a buffed version of your character with a different outfit (which is usually a lot flashier).  Also, your special attacks get much more interesting in this mode. 

Square really thought about its fans with the EX attack.  Each character has their own cut scene-style special attack — you participate in this attack which reminds me of the limit break attacks.  You either do a combination button press, or a button mash, etc. to try and get a perfect attack.  Those of us that aren’t very good at these sorts of situations, have no fear — there is an ability the characters learn at later levels that does this automatically for you, but as another neat little thing thrown in by Square, until you master the ability, the character can screw up the limit break.

You also get the ability to equip armor and weapons on the characters along with rings that make the character stronger throughout the game.  Something I didn’t like about this was nothing changes on the character when you equip new stuff.  Something I really liked in FF7 and beyond was seeing a new weapon in the characters hands when I upgraded, not a big deal but it would have been nice to see.

The characters to me are very unbalanced.  This is honestly not a con to me.  It just means that I will have an unfair advantage against some characters and others will have an unfair advantage against me.  This may ruin the multiplayer mode for a lot of people, but really that mode isn’t the point of the game or even really focused.  It does make the story mode annoying sometimes when you get stuck on a character that you aren’t good against and they just mash you into the ground for hours at at time.

Some characters are able to easily tear through the game.  Onion Knight, for instance, has moves that really don’t require you to get near the enemy if you don’t feel like it, thus winning every match for you easily.  Characters like Squall and Cloud seem really weakened and are expected to get in rather close to fight their opponents.  Their specials are nice, but working up the combo takes a lot of work.  The characters can level up to 99 which I thought would take a very very long time. Luckily, as you level the stuff the character can do scales up so you are always gaining large amounts of experience for them.  I took Warrior of Light from level 45 to 89 in about two hours on a lazy Saturday.

Graphics, Music, and Other

The graphics are superb in this game.  Models look a little sharp and jagged but as this is a PSP game, this is to be expected.  Otherwise the game has very well done cut-scenes and character design in general is rather pretty.  The music is all songs taken from the games and some wonderful vocal tracks for important boss battles.  Honestly, though, if I have to hear that choir sing about Sephiroth one more time I’ll probably smash the game.

The main point of the game, it seems, is to play until you unlock everything.  One of the first things you do when you start the game is tell it what day you will play the most often and how often in general you will play.  This will help you get through the game faster and help you unlock more items in the catalog.

The PP catalog is where you unlock all of the goodies that come with the game after you finish the story mode.  You can unlock all the “evil” characters to play with them in quick battles, unlock items for the calendar, unlock icons to decorate your multiplayer card, etc.  There is a ton of things to unlock, and of course after you unlock a bunch of different things, you unlock the ability to unlock more stuff, so you need to play the game more to pay for the rest of the stuff.

All in all this is a really good game.  It is a bit repetitive, though.  You fight the same battles over and over for ten stories with five chapters each.  I think the average amount of fights per “chapter” is around five so that is 25 fights a story, at 10 basic stories that is 250 fights.  Those ten stories, though, aren’t the end of the game, and you have a few more modes to go through to clear all the fights.  To even begin to unlock everything, you better be ready to play well more than 1000 matches.

On the Ripten scale I give this an 8.  It’s easy to pick up and play whenever, and you get a lot of fan appreciation.  It can get boring, but it is just a fighting game, the only reason there is a story seems only to force you into taking a break every few minutes.

The very popular lawyer series for Nintendo DS, Phoenix Wright, will release a special design DSi to go along with the new software. 

Hitting the streets on May 28th for around 240 US dollars, you can get the white DSi with Taihokun logo.  Nintendo and the companies releasing games with these special edition DSi’s really need to get on the ball and release these in places other than Japan.

Source:  Famitsu

Today marks the start of the annual quest in Monster Hunter Frontier, the MMORPG released by Capcom of the very popular action game.  Japan eats up everything Monster Hunter, whereas the die hard fans in America and other parts of the world have to do without for some reason.

The quest which starts today and ends on March 4th is specific to one monster’s “breeding season” as they say and will probably lead to many new and old hunters coming in to cause this beast as much trouble as possible.

There are annual quests related to the monster for all Hunter Ranks, but those in the 100’s and up will probably get the most out of the whole thing.  Readers in Japan: get your hunt on.  You might even see me out there.

Source:  Famitsu

The newest bit of info to be listed over at Famitsu says that with the Wi-fi connection you can go shopping for items online. This is an interesting idea and allows for a lot of modification on the server side.  The game may not be coming out for another five months almost but the info keeps on a flowin’.

Every piece of news that comes out for this game makes waiting for July that much harder.  When the news came out that you could interact with other people over Wi-fi I was happy that they were using the abilities of the DS but upset that there really wasn’t a reason to do it other than to say hi to people on your DS, and show off what you have done.

Now that you can go shopping this adds another level to even connecting with people.  The news states that you should probably access the online shop each day because items will be on rotations and new items will appear in the shop.  You should also connect with friends and shop at their store because they might not have the same set of items that you do, causing massive amounts of people to be bouncing between all their friends stores.

If that isn’t enough to get you excited there are still two more little tidbits.  The first being that there will more than likely be holiday related items in the stores to buy for your character.  Christmas and probably New Year’s being the big ones at first.  The second bit is that they are also adding downloadable quests like the Monster Hunter series has had for a while.  This should really boost replayability of this title.

Source:  Famitsu

Star Ocean 4 released on the Xbox 360 in Japan has hit the list of one of the best selling games for the system in Japan.  Sitting high with Blue Dragon and Tales of Vespia.  It seems as though Japanese RPG’s are the way to 360 sales in Japan.

The Square Enix game went on sale on February 19th and has been selling nonstop ever since.  The numbers listed so far put it at around 166,000 copies sold since that date.  Blue Dragon selling 203,000 and Tales at around 170,000.

Those are some really decent sales numbers, and even though some skeptics say the 360 will never do well in Asia, it seems they really just need to make sure to release games that are popular for that area.  Someone should tell Microsoft that not everyone likes Halo.

Source:  Famitsu

Square Enix’s latest in the Dragon Quest series (coming to the DS on March 28th in Japan), is all the talk.  Pre-orders are rampant at local 7-11’s and you see more and more people with slime toys every day.  A new feature that is being added uses the Nintendo WiFi technology to let you discuss the game with other people and gloat through your DS.

The article over at Famitsu really doesn’t go too deep into the information, but basically you meet other players that are playing Dragon Quest at a certain Inn, kind of like you would bump into new and interesting people at a hostel while traveling around.  These people have all setup a profile (hopefully) that shares a bit of info about themselves and maybe what they like about the game.  You can also see all the neat things they have done in-game and compare your advancement.

There seems to be a small chat function and the ability to possibly add friends.  So basically this is just like MySpace for your Dragon Quest character.  I guess that’s pretty neat.  Hopefully some more info about what else this game can do with Nintendo WiFi will surface, but maybe I am being optimistic.

Source:  Famitsu

Any Dragon Quest fan knows exactly what I am talking about when I say the word slime.  The blob from the famous game series has been released as a plush toy many times over, now it’s getting a tech upgrade.
Famitsu reports that these new stereo speakers will go on sale on March 28th and retail for around 48 USD.  The speaker is rather large and also includes a stand to hold your DS while you play.  It seems a bit big though and might just get in the way more than anything.

I assume this is for the really die hard Dragon Quest fans, which I know plenty of.  I’ll stick with headphones myself, but if you are so inclined to have a speaker that doubles as a stand for your DS, try and find yourself one of these.

Source:  Famitsu

I wrote up information on Dragon Quest XI just this morning, only to come home from work and find out it’s been delayed.

That March 28th release date has been moved back about four months to July 11th.  I, along with most of the Square Enix fan base aren’t surprised.  The company is usually known for missing their release dates or just in general taking much longer than most other companies to release their games.

Rumors on the reason for the delay abound on the net, ranging from flaws in the game to accounting issues.  No matter what the reason, we still have to wait till July.

You have to admit though that after the title is released it’ll still look pretty.  I still expect this to be another great game.  I just don’t like waiting so long.
Source:  Famitsu

One of Capcom’s best selling games of all time, Monster Hunter, is having its fifth anniversary party this May, and Capcom knows how to show respect for a game tha’s sold millions of copies on the PSP alone.

Set the date people!  May 6th, Tokyo; be there or be square.  That is the date for the 5th anniversary party of the Monster Hunter series.  After recently releasing the number of copies sold, Capcom wishes to show it’s respect to the title, and its fans.  The venue looks to be big just like last year.  There will be a music, wining, and dining.

I presume the music will comprise of the Monster Hunter soundtrack performed by a local orchestra: you can see pictures of their previous concert at Famitsu.

The food is the selling point for me.  Almost all dishes and drinks at the event are styled after food and drink found in game.  From Hot Meat to those wonderful health potions that keep your hunter alive.

Tickets for the event go on sale tomorrow at 10am and range in price from around 78 US dollars to 58.  Time is going be a factor, as I wouldn’t expect tickets to last much longer than the 14th.  I would love to go but I don’t see myself making it.  If you are going to be in Tokyo and have a way to get a ticket tomorrow.  I suggest you do so.

It also seems they are going to be showing off some Monster Hunter Tri(3) stuff as well, but the food people the food!

Source:  Famitsu

Report from Famitsu that the sequel to Dynasty Warriors Gundam, cleverly titled Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 or Gundam Musou 2 in Japan is getting five new scenarios to download on February 12th.  One is even themed!

Four of these new scenarios seem pretty standard, save the world type stuff but therei s one that really stands out.  Apparently the evil forces have stolen chocolate, yeah chocolate.  In a real war time Chocolate is a big deal, and this is a war during Valentines so you know chocolate is important on a whole other level.

Being the big hero you are, you have to go out and get the chocolate back from those bad guys.  According to the screenshot posted above apparently they are carrying most the chocolate inside their own mobile suits.  I know when I steal something as important as chocolate I don’t put it on freight ships to be taken far away from battle.  I keep it right in the fray were it is most needed….

I am not completetly sure but I don’t think this is out stateside yet, but I do hope you guys get these missions if/when it does release because there is no thrill like that of getting chocolate back for that mobile suit loved one.

The content will be available on the PS3 and Xbox360 but not PS2 (sorry guys).

Source:  Famitsu

Some companies release special edition DS’s when their software hits the market.  Square-Enix decided that with Dragon Quest IX, a case will do just fine — and I agree.

The case, which is coming out on March 28th (same day as the slime speaker), will retail for about $12 and really is quite nice to look at.

I have seen other cases on DSs that seem gaudy or are just eye sores, but this one displays a picture of a couple of slime without overbearing colors.  This should be relatively easy to get outside of Japan and I may even try to get this case even though I have never played a Dragon Quest game (don’t kill me!).

Source:  Famitsu

Take part God of War, part Shinobi, and part Ninja Gaiden and you get the soon to be released game in Japan Ninja Blade.

The 360 title is being released on Janurary 29th and looks to please many a ninja fan.  The main character Ken is doing what ninjas do best — fighting bad guys around Japan.  The Famitsu news explains a lot of the story, but honestly that part is rather hum drum.  You are the good guy ninja fighting the bad guy ninjas.  You know, same ole thing.  The best part is the action involved in the game.  From screenshots alone, there is high-flying fighting, ninja magic, and yeah — missile riding, because all ninja learn how to do that in mystic ninja school.

If you are familiar with OTOGI, this is the same team.  I can’t say I have ever played the game myself so I am not really sure what to expect out of this new ninja title, but it’s nice to have some martial arts action on the 360.  These guys seemed to go all out with getting city styles from Japan in game along with making the main character look very deadly — maybe not too powerful, but he does indeed seem to be quite the fighter.

One thing that makes me really want to get this game is the sheer amount of different weapons he seems to carry and be able to use.  The standard ninja style katana is there, but you can also dual wield smaller swords, carry a giant sword for whatever reason you may see fit, and even a whip weapon of sorts.  You are going to get a lot of different playstyle abilities with all the different weapons.

Did I mention you can upgrade them?  The game includes a system to, of course, make those awesome weapons even more awesome to eliminate the bad guys faster and faster as the game progresses.  You aren’t just limited to melee weapons, though — there are of course ninja stars or “kunai” for those of you up on your Japanese, and let’s not forget the ninja magic.  The descriptions of the magic seem fairly light, though, so I think they are really wanting you to focus on weapon play over all other styles of combat.  The outfit our ninja friend Ken wears can also be changed giving better stats to help get past the trials at hand.

This game has something for everyone, and some people tire of constant battle so for those of you there are small mini game style parts where you may have to press button combos to do specific attacks to bosses, or just mash a button to keep hanging on.

All in all I think for a straight action title, it looks to be a solid game with some decent replayability.  You will also notice that in the picture I chose to show off this title to you all he is riding a sword. That’s right, a sword.

Source:  Famitsu

Some people love the Monster Hunter series, me being one of those people.  I am always looking for info on the new Wii title Monster Hunter Tri and luckily Capcom delivers.

The new monster is called Boruboros.  He looks a bit like the rock styled dragon, but not as grey and boring.  With the style of his head, he may act a lot like a Rhino charging that big skull down on the non-attentive hunter.  He is massive, of course, and his skin looks like it will require quite the weapon to break on through.

Famitsu has a lot of pictures of the new field as well.  It seems to be an African plains-style look, with dry areas and sparse vegetation, to small ponds of water and some wonderful greenery around that.  Sadly, it reminds me a lot of the other desert field, so other than updated graphics it isn’t really all that much to get excited about.

I really wish the guys at Monster Hunter would do something funny like throw Godzilla or the Cloverfield monster in just for comical measure and to take out some anger from time to time, though they do release some rather well designed beasts of their own.

Source:  Famitsu

All you readers mark your calendars because this is the PS3 you will more than likely want to import. The “Cloud Black”, as they are calling it, is being released to the world (okay, just Japan). Even with a just a small amount of design change, it is beautiful.

The system will be released at the same time as the Blu-Ray version of Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children Complete, both coming to stores April 16th. This is a smart marketing move by Square-Enix promoting both a PS3 model to play that wonderful new Blu-Ray disc, and not only that but something called the Final Fantasy XIII Trial Set.

Famitsu doesn’t seem to have much info on the FFXIII stuff, but the Blu-Ray will sell for about 5000 yen or $50 U.S., and the PS3 (which is a 160gb version) will go for around 50,000 yen or $500 U.S.

All they seemed to do was slap an image of the ring that Cloud wears which is also on his chest. The only problem I have with these decoration PS3’s is that all the images are on the top of the machine, and you never really get to see them but I guess it’s nice to have the bragging rights.

Source:  Famitsu

I have never played any of the Yakuza series, but from what I gather they sound a lot like the GTA games, which makes sense.  They both deal with mobs, violence, and sex.  New screens and info about Yakuza 3 let us move into the somewhat seedy and dangerous world of the hostess bar.

These kind of clubs are very popular in Japan.  Men that are getting off of work will swing by for a drink and have a chat with a pretty lady, or what they feel is a pretty lady, and just enjoy her company for a certain amount of time.  Depending on the club, these fees change.  I have heard that most of these places charge a flat fee of around 25 to 60 dollars an hour and you get to drink as much as you can in the time limit.  I’ll discuss all that a bit more later first I should talk about what the game offers.

According to Famitsu, first thing’s first — you have to scout girls.  This is done in Japan by standing outside of train stations and asking pretty girls if they would like a job.  I can’t say I have seen this work really well, but at least the guys look respectable and talk politely.  The next part in the game is to fancy up your girl with hair, make-up, and an outfit.  If you have ever been to one of these places in real life you know the screenshots are pretty accurate to what is really out there, most of the time.  Some of these clubs also exist out in the country and usually the ladies are a little less than “dreamgirls” but are still very sweet, I’ve heard.

The last part of the side game is to train the girl in how to make the customer come back.  This is done by teaching them how to sweet talk the old men, telling them how nice they look, and asking them about their day.  Really it is usually standard conversation, but with emphasis on making every part of the man’s life feel a bit more important than it really is.  This gives him a sense of pride and from what I understand usually ends up in bigger tips.

Now, you may be telling yourself that this all sounds really good, there’s no downside.  A pretty girl making you feel good about yourself for a couple hours — no harm done.  There are some wonderful tricks to the trade that really help these places bring in money.  One of the first is the lady’s drink.  This is the special menu for the female companions that sit and talk with you.  Most people would feel bad if they are drinking and the girl isn’t so they buy them a drink to coin a phrase from T-pain.

These drinks are not part of the all-you-can-drink program and usually range from at least 15 dollars to 50 dollars a glass.  And of course, one of the most popular things to do in Japan is sing karaoke.  The girls love to hear their client sing, so for an extra 5 dollars a song they will try and convince you to get up there and bellow out some drunken tunes.  Now, compound all of this with becoming drunk and you can quickly get yourself into a dangerous situation.

You’ve had a couple drinks and are feeling a lot more free with your money, maybe you buy her a couple drinks not thinking about the price, and sing a few songs of karaoke.  A couple of hours go buy and you have spent well over a hundred dollars, just to have a few drinks and talk to a girl.  This is probably money in the bank for any Yakuza that can scout well, so this could be your big money maker in the game.

There are stories of things going further, but that is neither here nor there. I highly doubt it’s in the game, but I can’t say for sure.  If you are interested, hope for an English translation like the previous games, and enjoy playing dress up with some girl that may be down on her luck, or just doesn’t think she can do any better than to get paid to sweet talk old men for hours.  Now don’t get me wrong — many of these girls make a lot of money if they are good at what they do, but I would think there are more rewarding jobs in this world.

Source:  Famitsu

Famitsu has some news on the re-release of FFVII:AC in March.  Square has decided to release three versions of what is called the Complete Works of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. So, what’s that mean exactly?

New stuff will include hi-res pictures of the upcoming Final Fantasy games (XIII, Agito, and Versus), a trailer, and deleted scenes from the movies.  One of the more important scene modifications that I am interested in is apparently a much longer bike chase than what we saw in the original.  I thought it was a really interesting fight, and hopefully adding extra to it won’t make it boring.

The three versions being released are regular DVD, Blu-Ray, and PlayStation 3 (which will supposedly have a demo of FFXIII on it, though I don’t know why that’s not just on the Blu-Ray).  All three should look wonderful, but I wouldn’t mind getting my hand on that sweet-looking Blu-Ray version (I don’t own a PS3).

Source: Famitsu

Square Enix’s much anticipated game for 2009, Final Fantasy XIII, is finally leaking a bit more information, and I can help pass that info on to you.

Basically, what is being reported is that the main female character’s full name is Dia Walruva. Some of the other characters from a recently released video include names such as Snow and Lightning. This seems to be a big deal in Japan — I was unaware how important it was to get the right names for characters in RPG games since I always change them anyway.

The other and maybe more important information for the readers is about the battle system. According to Famitsu, the battle system is near seamless to just wandering in the world. When you see mobs on screen, those are the mobs that are there, and when you decide to attack or what have you, you go straight into the battle screen with no notice of transition.

The captions under other photos describe combo moves such as fighting and then directly doing magic back to back for more damage. Also, there appears to be what people feel is an “amount” or some word for the number of uses of magic you have until you either have to recharge them or what have you, as opposes to a mana or MP value. Lastly, they seem to be intrigued by the words “Chain” and “Bonus” appearing in the last screen shot. Chain is pretty straight forward, but it is unsure what you need to do to acquire the bonus.

Look for this game on PS3 (and supposedly Xbox 360) in 2009.

Source:  Famitsu

One of the greatest arcade games of all time (at least in my mind) is being ported to the PSP.  For some reason, I don’t think it’s going to be quite the same game.

That’s right, the arcade Gundam game that costs about five dollars a play but really gives a great immersion factor is being made portable for the PSP in Japan on March 26th.  With really no way to redo the cockpit design or control scheme for a portable device, the game takes a big hit. Halving team play from 8v8 to 4v4 probably won’t be a deal breaker for probably anyone, though.

Last time I checked, you can’t sit inside a PSP.

I used to play this game a bit too much.  Every Friday I would spend about 20 or 30 bucks just hopping in the cockpit for around 10 to 15 minutes a go and really just getting my tail handed to me by much, much better pilots.  The crazy part is that I wasn’t alone.  There was a line at my arcade to even play it — it was a real classy setup of put your card down behind everyone else and wait for their cards to disappear.  The reason I really got into this game probably has something to do with my love of MMORPG’s.  Your pilot grows the more you play the game and is allowed access to better gundam’s and parts, your stats are also stored so you can compare with people all over Japan.  That in itself kept me coming back.

The friend I played with on those Friday nights when I should have been out socializing loved the feeling of really flying a gundam.  There are two foot pedals and two joysticks that you have to use to pilot the gundam.  The seat isn’t made for an adult really but those are the only people I ever saw playing.  It didn’t matter how tight the fit is, having that giant screen display like I’m inside the Gundam is an experience in itself.  Sitting in a room with a PSP is nowhere near the same thing.

Who knows — the game may still sell like hot cakes because it’s Gundam, but it just won’t be the same in my eyes.

Source:  Famitsu

Famitsu has some pictures of the special PS3 pack you can purchase with the latest in the Yakuza game series.  I think it’s rather stylish — I wonder what real Yakuza think.

The white 80GB model has a classic eastern dragon design on it.   It is rather fancy, but unless you turn your PS3 sideways to show it off, nobody will really see it.   The set will release on February 26th and retail for around 450 bucks.

I doubt they make it stateside though, but it would be a nice model to have.

Source: Famitsu

Famitsu is reporting that on January 29th there will be a special edition DSi to go along with the release of the new game titled Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

This nicely designed DSi will come with the game in which it’s themed. There isn’t a price listed yet, but I’m sure it won’t be cheap. The new DS game will link with the Wii title of the same name. The selling point for me on this game is the online playability. You can link up to four players either locally or online over the world. The game itself is coming with a system similar to the translator found in Final Fantasy XI that can help with simple phrases, but just like in FFXI I’m sure people will create new phrases that everyone understands.

I like the look of this special edition DSi, but I really don’t go in for things like this nor do I have the money, but if someone would like to buy me one I would be more than willing to use it.

Source: Famitsu

So there have been a few releases of Square Enix’s “potion” drink to celebrate the release of games or movies, etc. The most current is for the release of the PSP title Dissida. These drinks have new flavors compared to previous releases, which is good because most people really disliked the former flavors. With two separate flavors to chose from, you may be able to find something you like for two dollars a can.

I love theme drinks — there’s just something about getting to try something new for a limited time that drives me to a purchase. Maybe it’s the idea that not everyone will get to try it, therefore I have been a part of something not everyone will be a part of, or maybe it’s just that I like shiny objects and new — as you all know — equals shiny. These new drinks released for Dissidia are both new and since they are in cans do have a level of shine to them. What about the flavor, you ask?

Well, some of you may remember the former “potion” drinks released were not met with a positive response from fans. I remember them as tasting sort of bland and having no appealing value. There was also just the one flavor. These new Dissidia drinks come in two wonderful flavors, and they seem to have matched the idea behind the drink names to their taste. You can choose either the white can which is Cosmos or the black can which is Chaos.

The Cosmos flavor is a mellow citron flavor. Think semi flat orange soda. Not bad, but not exactly something you feel like drinking everyday especially for two dollars. The Chaos flavor has a bit more bite to it, as its name suggests, obviously bad guys have a harsher taste than good guys. If you try to drink a large amount of Chaos at once it sort of hurts, and not regular soda carbonation burn hurt, but almost sheer pain so I guess it works out great for the character it is named after.

The cans are also decorative items, each one having character art from one of the many games that Dissidia is drawing from. I, of course, had to purchase the FF7 can because I can’t get enough of angsty Cloud, and somewhat effeminate Seph. I didn’t see them in the black style, only white, so I grabbed FF2 just because I couldn’t think of any other FF game that would be important to me. I was really hoping for a Shantotto, but maybe they aren’t doing special characters.

To wrap this up, this is the best release of potion to date, at least for me. The downside is that its two dollars a can, you can get a liter of any other drink for about the same price so it’s hard to justify going out and buying a bunch of these, but if you’re into Final Fantasy that much and really want to support Square-Enix, check these out if you’re in Japan. Sorry America.

I love MMORPG’s.  Everything about them is great.  They are massive, which gives me a lot of world to explore and learn about.  They are multiplayer which let’s me meet people from all over the world.  They are online which allows to me easier connect with those people all over the world.  They are lastly role playing games, which let me be someone I am not and allow me to escape the real world for a little while, or a long while depending on how much free time I have that day.  Ragnarok Online or RO, as fans of the game refer to it is a very time consuming but sometimes enjoyable game.  It’s DS counterpart however is just time consuming.

Ragnarok Online DS has many of the things you expect from Ragnarok.  Clicking on mobs, fighting mobs, cute character graphics, spells, items, fantasy… stuff.  The one part it really seems lacking is the ONLINE!  Basically they took and MMO and cut it down to a single player game, maybe I’m missing the point but when I think of MMO I think about playing with other people and you know playing the game with them.  This DS port of the popular game allows some multiplayer aspect but really only three people.  Maybe that is massive enough for some people but not me.  Right off the bat this lowers this game’s ability to be good in my eyes.

My second gripe with this game is the introduction.  I know games like to give story and get the player ready to be a part of the world, but the intro to this game took way too long, and that was with me skipping every speech bubble it would let me skip.  I think I clicked the screen with the stylus for a good twenty minutes before I actually got to play.  Again I didn’t read anything but from just watching the little animations I got that there was an army after a guy with a really cool sword, and two people got seperated and the main character’s parents were dead.  How long did it take you to read that?  Double it by ten and you get the length of boring dialog they put in this game.

But what about gameplay you ask?  Well, it’s standard MMO style click and attack which is great, a bonus to this being on the DS is the use of the stylus which moves your character.  They also added interesting ways to do special moves which all require drawing a specific symbol on the screen to do them.  This seemed fun at first but I got tired of doing it about an hour into the game and just let normal attacks do all the work.  You also get NPC’s which as I understand can be controlled by your friends through the DS Wifi, which begs to ask, why couldn’t they just have used the DS Wifi to actually make this an MMO?  Too much for the DS to handle perhaps?  Anyway, the npc’s do a pretty good job on their own so unless you have some friends who like RO and don’t feel like playing the bigger, better, more online version you can just stick with having fewer people involved.

I understand what they were trying to do with this game, but I think it could have been so much more.  Many people don’t like Ragnarok Online because it is known as a very long “grind” game where you are killing mobs forever.  This DS port I assume would be cutting a lot of that out, but if you play an MMORPG as opposed to a regular RPG you play somewhat to show off the character you have made.  To let people see you as a player in the world.  In this DS adaptation unless you walk around with your DS showing it off to everyone, it doesn’t matter what you do in the game other than beat it.  I do hope that soon they decide to actually release a real MMO for a portable device, though that could cause the end of the world.

I’ve been a fan of boxing ever since I saw the “Rocky” movies.  There is something about watching two guys try to beat each other to a pulp for the chance to get a belt around their waist.  I think maybe I’m just drawn to organized violence.  I’m also a fan of anime and had heard of boxing anime and manga before but never thought they would really be interesting until my friend showed me Hajime No Ippo:  The Fighting.  There is a great story here and some wonderful characters that are easy to connect with on some level.  The anime was cancelled early in it’s run but the manga is still going strong, and the anime will be making a comeback in January.  I assume to help promote the upcoming release of the new show this been game has been released on the DS to help tell the story of our main character Ippo. 

I think the DS is a good choice for a boxing game on portable systems because you get that wonderful stylus to tap the screen and somewhat simulate boxing.  There is a PSP version of Ippo which is also very good, but this new DS game makes you feel somewhat more in control I think.  There are two main game modes in the Ippo game, fighting matches of course, and minigames to help boost your abilities somewhat similar to the Fight Night games.

The boxing matches follow many of the main story arcs from the manga and allow you to control all your favorites like Ippo, and Takamura, and so on to try to win the big fights from the manga.  I don’t want to ruin any of the story in case you are interested in seeing the anime or read the manga, but you can change the outcome of how events unfold which is somewhat nice.

The matches are done from a behind the fighter perspective and the touch screen is split into two sections.  The top section allows for you to control the punches the fighter can do such as jabs, straights, hooks, uppercuts, etc. and the bottom half is for guarding and dodging punches that come from the opponent.  Something I really like about this system is depending on which side of the fighters head you tap that side’s punch gets thrown.  I really wasn’t expecting to have this much control over the boxer but it is a really nice touch.  Special punches are done by doing special motions with the stylus when you’ve got enough “special” power saved up.  These don’t really make or break a fight but do come in handy.

The A.I. in the boxing matches on normal starts out rather sluggish and stupid in the first few matches, but then jumps up in a steep learning curve.  This could be a turn off to some gamers because there really isn’t any way you know its going to happen other than going into a fight and getting creamed in the first round as opposed to the last fight you were in where you hardly had to throw punches to knock the guy out.  The last fight in the game is also the hardest, which is understandable, but everything is stacked against you from the get go and you almost have to go the whole match without getting touched which I think is a bit much, but if you do win you feel like you earned it.

The one thing I didn’t like so much about the fighting portion is that I was constantly afraid I was going to break the touch screen because I got so into the matches that I was slamming that stylus rather hard from time to time to try and knock out the computer.  You can change to just using the buttons if you don’t feel comfortable using the stylus which is also a really nice touch for those of us with heavy tapping.

The mini game mode brings a lot of neat exercises you see Ippo do as he is training for fights in the manga.  There is leaf catching, chopping wood, dodging tennis balls, and lots of other mini games to choose from to keep you interested in them for a while.  The difficulty of the mini games at first ranges from hard to impossible, but once you ge the hang of them they become no problem.

Lastly they were nice enough to include a vs. mode so you can fight your friends that have the game and maybe have some match up’s you thought should have happened or could never happen.  I haven’t gotten to try this mode yet so I can’t say if it is laggy or well done or anything to that amount, but it does seem like it would be rather fun to go head to head with friends tapping a screen.

All in all, this is a great game that I really didn’t expect so much detail to be put into.  Ippo right now isn’t really a popular manga with titles like Naruto and Bleach taking in the majority of fans these days, but hopefully the comeback of the show will really bring some fans back to a very good long running series.  If you get a chance check out the old anime and force yourself to watch at least the first 10 or 15 episodes before you make a judgement about it.  If the DS game comes stateside it will probably be one of, if not the only boxing game to buy for DS.

Every morning I go over to Famitsu to see if there is anything in Japanese that you guys may or may not be interested in. Today I found out more information for you guys about the upcoming Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom game. Inside is video and information on one of the “bigger” characters going to fisticuffs in game.

Far be it for me to be the one to judge what characters get put into fighting games.  I enjoyed playing Juggernaut in the Marvel fighting game.  I like playing Rogue in the X-men Vs. Street Fighter game.  This guy in Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, though, it just doesn’t seem fair.

Gold Lightan was the main robot character in a popular children’s anime in Japan from 1981 to 1982.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t that popular, but there are a lot of cartoons in Japan — not all of them can be a big hit.  I had no idea about the story of this Gold Lightan character so I dug up some info on Wikipedia about him.

The story is about a little boy named Hiro who accidentally found a gold lighter which turned out to be the giant Golden Warrior Gold Lightan with the mission to save the earth from every invasion of King Ibalda. Gold Lightan joined forces with his robot teammates to ruin the plots of King Ibalda and destroyed invading alien robots by using his surpassing hands and leg strikes. Hiro, the boy, also founded a group called the “One Pack Rangers” with his friends.

Yeah the kid fights a lighter and hes a magical giant robot that helps save the day.  Oh and this is my favorite part.  “Usually the robot ends a battle with a trademark golden hand stab move which drives a hand strike cutting the enemy robots body, pulling out and smashing the heartbox energy device.” – Wikipedia

Yep, he rips the heartbox from the chest of the evil robots. It doesn’t say if he eats it or shows it to them while it still mechanically beats before they die or explode, but he’s brutal to say the least.  Now, Gold Lightan can be seen giving a beat down to Morrigan and Chun-li.  For balance issues he isn’t allowed to have a teammate, but when you watch the video it still doesn’t seem fair.

Also, the Wii release is getting a lot of extra mini games to enjoy when you are tired of being beat up by a giant golden lighter.  One of the new mini games you can see at Famitsu stars Gold Lightan himself as you make his body shiny and gold, the more you clean him the more points you get.  The next one involves Morrigan carrying off a poor soul higher and higher for more points before she, I assume, drops him.  The last one looks like a button mashing mini game.  You have to get Chun-li to kick as fast as she can to carve Ryu in a giant stone — what talent!

This comes out on Wii in Japan December 11th and I may have to buy a Wii just for this.

Source: Famitsu Wikipedia

Street Fighter 4, from what I understand, is not getting a legal arcade release in America (correct me if I’m wrong), but never fear!  The US is getting the console version on both PS3 and Xbox 360, and a character that you may or may not have known was coming was Ryu and Ken’s teacher, referred to as Gouken.

In the arcades here in Japan, he is not a playable character but does show up from time to time if you’re playing right.  I haven’t seen him or Akuma (Gouki) at all in the arcade game because I don’t play it all that much.  He will, however, be playable on the home consoles, and his moves seem to be somewhat of a mix between Ryu, Ken, Akuma (Gouki), and a dash of something all his own.

From what I was told by buddies in school during the heyday of Street Fighter, Gouken had been killed by Akuma over some dispute between them — apparently that was false and he was just in hiding.  Now he is back and ready to take out the other Street Fighters in the new incarnation.

I also remember back in high school, there was an April Fool’s joke where if you beat Street Fighter a certain way you got to fight this guy.  Yeah, my friends and I worked on that a whole weekend once only to later realize it was a hoax.  Those evil, evil men…  Anyhow, this time it’s real and here are some screen shots to prove it.

If he is worth playing or not is yet to be seen.  He is a very imposing man to say the least.  I wouldn’t wanna fight him.

The console version releases around February 12th in Japan, followed shortly thereafter by the U.S. and UK releases on the 17th and 20th, respectively.

Source:  Famitsu

On December 17th, Monster Hunter Frontier will be releasing what’s known as season 4.0.  This update includes some famous monsters from 2nd G and a new map to fight on. 

The monsters known as Espinas, Tiger-X, and Rajan in Japan will be joining the already large variety of beasts capable of being hunted, my least favorite being Tiger-X (he’s a pain) which is listed as a variant of the regular one which I assume is in the game.  I haven’t gotten too far on my Frontier character so I can’t say for sure what all is already in there.

The new map that will be released takes place in high peaks.  According to the article on Famitsu, the map will feature winds that will effect the hunters but can also be used to their advantage if they work right.

If this game is released in the States, there will be a ton of content to start hunters off with.  I think it would go over real well if people are willing to get over a small learning curve.

As a side note, it was revealed a couple of weeks ago that there will be a new version of the software released in stores for season 4.0.  This box will include special codes for some in-game items, a free sixty-day hunter pass, and an up-to-date version of the software.  I may pick this up just for the extra sixty days play time and the items.

Source:  Famitsu