I’m sure there are still a few of you that haven’t forgotten that Tekken 6 actually exists, especially if you’ve been lucky enough to have played the game already on a Japanese arcade machine. I’d just like to point out that they got the game a year and a half ago, and we have to wait until October 27th to actually see the game, but today Namco-Bandai put out some new art for Tekken 6 that makes that 6 months seem so much longer.

The art features the characters of Tekken 6 in all sorts of crazy poses, with the characters we know and love from past Tekken games, as well as some new ones that we haven’t seen before, such as Bob, Leo, Zafina, and a couple more. Hit the jump for the full gallery.

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My love affair with Klonoa is absolutely no secret- I played Lunatea’s Veil back in 2002, and have been looking forward to the series’s revival ever since. Of course, when Namco-Bandai announced the new Klonoa last October, I was at a crossroads. Sure, the game is a remake of  the Playstation’s Door to Phantomile, but remakes don’t always work out well. On one hand, Klonoa’s new design is kind of stupid. His new ears make his species even more questionable, and those of you that are fans of the old Klonoa will probably be distraught at his new, shiny look. On the other hand, the cel-shading is still great, and it’s still Klonoa!

Namco-Bandai recently announced that the game had gone gold, and with it, they released a new trailer for the game. Sure, it plays out more like a commercial, with an annoying voiceover and over-excited kids, but the best part is that Klonoa looks exactly the same. With any luck, this game will be absolutely fantastic, and my inevitable review will be positive, but I guess we won’t know until the game comes out. By the way, that happens May 5th, and the game’s a Wii exclusive. Hit the jump for the gallery of screenshots!

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Siliconera reports that Katamari will make a triumphant return to the Playstation later this year with Katamari Damacy Tribute. It will be the first in the series to feature full 1080p resolution, and is likely to feature a ‘best-of’ selection of levels and music from the series. The text from the magazine scan apparently mentions a “new visual presentation”, although this could just be referring to the HD shininess.

I just have two things to say- new Katamari is always something to look forward to, and also, Keep on rollin’.

Via Destructoid.

Namco Bandai are re-launching the Ace Combat 6 bundle for the Xbox 360, including the Hori Ace-Edge flightstick, a custom faceplate, and a copy of aerial combat documentary Speed & Angels. The whole package will retail for $149.99 and is being sold exclusively at Best Buy.

Hit the jump for the press release.

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES RE-LAUNCHES ACE COMBAT® 6 FLIGHTSTICK BUNDLE WITH EXCLUSIVE DVD

Exclusively at Best Buy Stores, “Speed & Angels” Documentary Included in Bundle with Leading Flight-Combat Video Game and Critically-Acclaimed Flightstick

Santa Clara, Calif., (October 21, 2008) – Leading video games developer and publisher NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that the Ace Combat® 6 Flightstick Bundle is once again available, exclusively at Best Buy retail stores nationwide. Including the critically acclaimed Ace Combat® 6: Fires of Liberation for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, HORI’s exclusive ACE-EDGE™ flightstick and a custom Xbox 360 faceplate, the newly released bundle also includes an exclusive DVD of the award-winning flight combat documentary Speed & Angels.

Speed & Angels follows two young aspiring fighter pilots as they follow their dreams of taking to the skies in F-14 Tomcat aircraft. Providing a behind the scenes look at the extraordinary people that pilot the world’s most advanced fighter planes, the film was the recipient of the Audience Award at the 2008 Newport Film Festival and an official selection at the 2008 Sedona International Film Festival.

Thrusting players into massive living battlefields, Ace Combat 6 lets players pilot cutting-edge real world aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor and A-10 Thunderbolt as they take on screaming enemy fighter jets, ground-based anti-air emplacements and hulking naval vessels. Up to 16 players can test their dogfighting skills online in a variety of multiplayer modes, including objective-based air raids and cooperative missions. Unanimously praised by critics and fans alike, Ace Combat 6 was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s top 10 games of 2007 and lauded as “bigger, better and even more photorealistic than its predecessors” by USA Today.

The Ace Combat 6 Flightstick Bundle with the Speed & Angels DVD is available exclusively at Best Buy locations nationwide and carries a suggested retail price of $149.99. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is available at retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $59.99 and is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, please visit www.acecombatsix.com and www.speedandangels.com.

No matter how much you love RPGs, grinding often turns into a majorly time consuming pain in the ass. Good old Namco Bandai knows how you feel – so it’s going to let you buy character levels for Tales of Vesperia as DLC.

While that seems rather handy if you’re regularly getting pasted, you can’t help but feel this rather defeats the point. Really, what you are doing is paying Namco Bandai once to buy the game, then paying them a bit more so you don’t have to play it so much.

How far can you go down this path? Chances are in a month you will be able to pay to simply watch the ending as DLC and decide right off the bat if you want to invest your time finding out how it happened.

Still, at least it’s more useful than Oblivion’s horse armour. Here’s the DLC list:

- LV Up +10 (1) 300 Microsoft Points
- LV Up +5 (1) 200 Microsoft Points
- 300,000 Gald (1) 300 Microsoft Points
- Skill sets 80 Microsoft Points
- HP Recovery Cuisine Recipe Set 100 Microsoft Points

Source: Kotaku

With Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 release dates announced, it’s already the year of 4s and Namco Bandai has clued us in on when Soul Calibur IV is dropping for North America. Now if only Capcom would give us that Street Fighter IV.

Come to think of it, if Street Fighter IV does indeed release before years end, I’ll consider it the year of the 4s and the year of fighters– they’re definitely making the presence felt.

Namco has confirmed that we can expect to see it around July 29, should everything go to plan. As usual, it will launch in regular and limited edition packages with an unusual $20 markup (as opposed to $10, a la MGS4).

Consumers who pick up the premium edition will get an art book/comic that serves as a prequel leading into the “story” of Soul Calibur IV, a tournament kit, and exclusive access to extra customization content. The exact type of content is still unknown, as is the content of the tournament kit. All we know is that it will provide fans “the opportunity to document the battle amongst friends.”

Oh, and the premium edition comes in metal packaging (basically, a tin can).

Source: GameSpot UK

Unfortunately, the launch of Hellgate: London in Asia didn’t start well and it has taken a turn for the worse. Crashing problems wreaked havoc on the servers early, and all attempts to patch the issues failed. This left the Hellgate team with only one option, a complete character wipe. Apparently some areas of the world have easier access to hell than others.

Official statement can be found below.

[Urgent News] Implementation of Patch0
10/11/2007

Gamers,
Thank you for your patience while we worked to upload Patch0 onto our local servers. For the past two weeks, IAHGames and our partners have worked overnight almost everyday as they attempted to implement Patch0 onto our existing servers.

In the end, it has been determined that there is no way to implement Patch0 onto our Hellgate: London servers without also discarding relevant player data.

Because of this, when Patch0 is installed on Tuesday, there will be a complete character wipe.

|We understand this event is frustrating for you, and we are sorry for the problems in implementing Patch0. As compensation, we are providing all gamers who purchased both the Standard and Collector’s Edition Box Sets 4 weeks of free subscription benefits. Each box already includes 30 days of free subscription benefits, meaning all of you will be entitled to 60 days of free subscription when the service becomes active around the end of the year.

IAHGames and our partners have taken this event very seriously, and yesterday our CEO and Deputy CEO flew to Seoul to discuss the issue with the CEO of HanbitSoft. As a result of the meeting, HanbitSoft has graciously agreed support IAH Games’ decision to provide free subscription time as compensation. HanbitSoft and Flagship Studios have also agreed to provide all further patches on par with US patching time lines, to ensure the SEA version of Hellgate: London stays up-to-date.

The implementation of Patch0 and subsequent character wipe will occur at 1200hrs(GMT+8) on Monday, November 12. After the Patch is implemented, a comprehensive test will be run to ensure there are no further problems. The process will take about 8 hours.

We would like to repeat we are sorry for the delay and the frustration it may have caused you. Please accept the game time as compensation, and thank you for your support until this point.

Sincerely,
Team HGL

Source: Kotaku

Hello, my name is Josh, and I’m an addict. The American Medical Association recently dismissed video game addiction by brushing it under the “further study needed” carpet. Had the proceedings gone the other way, gamers could have been diagnosed with a disease and treated accordingly.

Lucky thing the good doctors over at the AMA never got their hands on Hellgate, or I might be sitting in a shrink’s office instead of writing this review. Yeah, it’s that addicting.

Randomized dungeons were something that Hellgate’s developer Flagship was betting the farm on. The game would fail if it didn’t work, but I’m happy to report that they hit a home run.

When embarking on the admittedly mundane side quests, you are often required to go through instances more than once. While all that backtracking sounds like a flaw, it really isn’t when the area you just went through is completely different. There might be a blown-up tank in a snowy city street one time around, while the next may hold a different street with an epic boss staring you right in the face.

This variety is compounded by the fact that combat is visceral and fast-paced. You could be dual-wielding grenade launchers one minute, then with a flick of an F key, looking down the scope of a sniper rifle picking enemies off from a distance. After playing all the classes, I seriously recommend picking Marksman. This is where the game truly shines above the competition.

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The Neo Punk art style really lends itself well to the dark haunted streets of London. Think of Unreal Tournament’s neon lights mixed with Gears of War’s dark environments. While they’re unique and often contain some of those coveted “wow” moments, the aesthetics don’t always work.

For instance, putting Nvidia, Flagship, and Dark Horse advertisements in the centralized hub towns just doesn’t feel right. In-game advertisements have been a source of contention for many gamers over the past year. However, when handled tactfully (see Rainbow Six: Vegas) I think it can work.

I don’t care if I see an actual Pizza Hut ad instead of a generic Pizza billboard. If anything, I think it can add to the immersion. However, using the same four billboards across the game in almost all the hub towns doesn’t seem to do anything except increase developer royalties. They needed to treat this very tactfully. That said, it may be indicative of the fact that Flagship is partnered with EA on Hellgate’s ads.

Besides the product placement, Hellgate is a very loot-centric game. The loot scales from four different echelons – normal, uncommon, rare, and unique. Looting gear from each dungeon’s randomized bosses adds a whole new level of replayability rivaled only by Diablo. Also, after you complete the game you can replay the whole thing with an elite character, scaling monster difficulty and rewards much higher.

The downside of this is you have to subscribe to Flagship’s monthly service. The gist of the subscription plan is that players will gain access to larger storage compartments, guild creation privileges, and holiday-themed events and quests. If you’re at all interested in subscribing, make sure to check out the chart listed here.

The gameplay in Hellgate can sometimes change in a blink of an eye. For instance, a quest sends you out to rescue fallen soldiers, but when you get there, you assume command of them via a real time strategy interface.

You never know what tricks the lead developer at Flagship, Mr. Bill Roper, has up his sleeve. The man has one of the most coveted gaming pedigrees in the industry, having worked on such titles as Starcraft, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. It’s safe to say he’s learned a few things over the years, and his ideas have finally come to fruition with Hellgate.

A few launch bugs mar an otherwise amazing game. Crashing to desktop, disappearing characters, subscription service servers shutting down, and jumping monsters that like to rubber band, to name a few.

It’s important to note that I haven’t run into any of these problems except the rubber banding monsters. It didn’t take away from my overall gaming experience, as it happened about four times in a span of about twenty hours.

These kind of bugs seem to be a disconcerting reality with any game of this scale. Gamers who played during the WoW launch may remember what it was like trying to open the auction house, not to mention actually play the game with the servers constantly shutting down.

With top-down, hack-and-slash Diablo clones making a comeback (we’re looking at you, Titan Quest), it’s nice to see the minds behind the original put a different spin on things. Hellgate offers what precious few games these days do–replayability.

The state of the industry is such that developers don’t want you playing any one game for too long. They want to hook you on the next IP they are working on, or the sequel to the game you just played. For what it’s worth Flagship seems to be in this for the long haul. I know I am.

Is this review over now? I could have gotten, like, five Shulgoth runs in by now. Man, the things I do for you guys.

I would need at least three pages to list the all problems and shortcomings of Hellgate, however all that aside, I really liked this game! The aesthetics blew me away, and I can honestly say that I’ve never seen anything like it before on a PC. That said, I think the game may be slightly misrepresenting itself.

To start off with, Hellgate performs very poorly as a First Person Shooter, so I suggest that you mouse wheel out into third person right away, unless you want to experience the same boring gun animations and restricted view that I suffered through initially. Trust me, make the switch. After that, you will be faced with a sobering realization, this isn’t Gears of War. Hellgate is first and foremost an RPG, and if you look at it in the same vein as Neverwinter Nights and World of Warcraft, suddenly the combat seems far superior to anything you’ve ever experienced in a Roleplaying Game before.

Quests are pretty standard fare, slay X number of monsters, get this for me, give this to her, etc, etc. However, there is one noteworthy flaw in the quest design. Each time you want to advance the quest dialog, you have to click next. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just made the text scroll. You will find that it’s not only a nuisance, but it opens you up to a world of hurt. For example, a zombie can come running up behind you and start hacking away while you are caught up clicking through screen after screen of quest related dialogue. That being said, some of the dungeons in Hellgate London are unlike anything you have seen before in the RPG genre, as it’s quests send you sweeping through the snow covered streets of London, and into the dank mold ridden industrial complexes that surround.

In addition to the game’s epic environments, Flagship Studios really nailed the concept of twitch based combat. The actions feel very fluid, and random encounters will often ramp up to a chaotic fever pitch. Of course, none of this really comes as a surprise when you take into account that Bill Roper and the people who brought you Diablo 2 are on the job. Flagship was formed in 2003 after all the management from Blizzard North resigned due to a dispute with Blizzard Entertainment’s Parent company, Vivendi, and now it seems that the company’s future may ride almost solely on the success of Hellgate.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While Flagship did a great job handling the twitch combat, they did not fair so well in the enemy AI department. The monsters in Hellgate are stupid, if not broken, as they would miss their mark on more than one occasion, jumping right past me, getting caught in the environment, never to be seen again. This is particularly disconcerting due to the fact that Hellgate ships on October 31st. Speaking of stupid, the placement of in game advertising totally takes you out of the experience. Seeing Nvidia and Dark Horse posters right behind the main quest givers screams shameless promotion.

Problems loom ominously over Hellgate like storm clouds over London, however if technical difficulties are clouds, the addictive nature of collecting rare items and exploring randomized dungeons is this game’s sunlight. The replay value is virtually endless as every time you venture into an area it’s different than the time before. Bosses are also randomized throughout the dungeons, making it nearly impossible to know when you will encounter one, and when you do, it will likely scare the crap out.

Character progression is what you would expect from the makers of Diablo, not too complicated, with the ability to upgrade different skills via a grid like system similar to that of WoW. Hellgate also features a full scale weapon upgrade and modification mechanic. Players upgrade thier weapons with lootable mods strewn throughout the games vast landscape.

It will be interesting to see how the developers balance the new mods that will be distributed as subscription based content with the games built in lootable upgrades. Flagship has caught a lot of flack for splintering the market by charging a 9.95$ subscription fee for new content patches, however it seems that your characters progress won’t be hindered dramatically if you opt to play online without paying the additional fees.

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Subscriber Features

Elite Mode
This is for those players that always feel a game is too easy. The demons are tougher, deal out more damage, move faster, travel in larger groups, and have more champions at the ready. Numerous tweaks to the overall balance and progression of the game make this an extremely challenging mode.

Hardcore
Hardcore mode takes away the various resurrection options. For the gamer that wants the ultimate test, try playing an Elite Hardcore character!

Themed Events and Items
Halloween (October 31 – November 4)

* Zombot – A special pet just for All Hallows’, this amalgam of meat and metal is sure to frighten and delight those players that are willing to put in the time to find all the necessary pieces in order to construct him.
*
* All Hallow’s Visage – A Unique Helm that has not only very special properties, but as well a look unlike any other helm in the game. Ghost Rider would be jealous!
* All Hallow’s Treats – Delicious and devious, these different candies do everything from temporarily boosting stats to temporarily altering the appearance of the devourer.
* All Hallows’ Quests – There is a pair of special quests available, including one that is repeatable for continuous fun.
* Nemo ~ Master of Festivities – This special NPC can first be found in Covent Garden Station to greet players and send them on their way with quests specifically crafted for the season.

Guild Creation
Buy purchasing a Guild Herald, a character can form a new guild. Characters can only be part of one guild at a time and should a Guild leader decide to abandon their post, they can pass leadership of the Guild to another subscribing guild member.

Achievements
These are long-term goals for players. The player starts with a few new goals in an Achievement Log. These can be as simple as slaying a certain amount of specific demons to something as difficult as completing quests without the benefit of armor! Players uncover new goals as they start to meet the requirements of that achievement. For example, after 50 zombies have been slain, an “Achievement Unlocked” message displays on the screen. Checking the Achievement Log shows how many zombies must be eradicated to complete the achievement. Rewards for completing achievements can be anything from reputation to tags on the player to special particle effects to items to special skills to – well, anything is possible!

Extra Character Slots
While everyone gets 3 character slots, subscribers can have a maximum of 24 characters.

Larger Stashu

Each character’s storage locker is doubled in size with an extra 6×8 section, making the hoarding of all sorts of goodies that much easier. Packrats rejoice!

Founder’s Perks

Name Color

FoForum Icon

More to come… (this will be an on-going area, as well)

posted from hellgatelondon.com

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The real test will be when the new content patches come out. What kind of items will subscribers get? Will they be more powerful than those found in the retail game? Time will tell, however with what little time I had with the game, I can tell you that I’m already addicted despite it’s sometimes glaring flaws.

It is that time of year again, and developers are ready to hit store shelves hard with games perfectly suited for the Halloween holiday. The creators of Diablo are getting in on the action as well, as they prepare to pry open hells gates, unleashing the fury within upon us all.

EA, Namco Bandai, and Flagship Studios have announced today that “Hellgate: London” has officially gone gold, and is on schedule for its PC exclusive release on October 31st in North America and November 2nd in Europe.

“This has been an amazing journey for us and we couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished,” said Flagship Studios CEO, Bill Roper. “We’re anxious to get Hellgate: London into gamers’ hands and we can’t wait to play right along with them.”

In addition to the games official release, gamers interested in getting in on the devilish action ahead of time can do so by downloading a singleplayer demo available tomorrow, Thursday, October 18th, via AOL’s GameDaily website exclusively. Other websites will be allowed to distribute the demo the following day, on October 19th.

According to the official press release direct from EA, the demo will grant access to two of the games six character types, “Blademaster, a master of swordplay and action-packed melee combat”, and “Marksman, a cool, calculating, long-ranged specialist.” Of course only a small portion of the game will be available, but with the game just 15 days away, it should be enough to hold you over till Halloween.

For more information about the game, visit the official website at www.hellgatelondon.com.

DragonBall Online is said to release sometime in June 2008. If you haven’t heard of the manga, or anime, or toy line, or video games you might want to crawl out of that rock you’ve been hiding under for the past two decades.

It was announced that a Korean developer, NTL inc. was in the works of developing the DragonBall Online MMORPG and the Beta is to be opened in late 2007. Akria Toryiama (the creator of DragonBall) has his hands in the DBO design and because of his input some of the original content from the manga will withheld from the game. It’s said that the DragonBall MMORPG and will include features such as a Marriage system and the World Martial Arts Tournament.

The user’s character will be customizable from hair, clothes to race. The marriage system is a system characterized by alternation of generations, where players can get married. And when they have children their offspring will be expected to continue their adventures in the game for the parents. Players can only acquire new abilities through alternation of generations.

DBO appears to be an interesting game and I can’t wait to perform my own KameHameHa wave!