Wii Gaming News

It would be easy to dismiss Katamari Forever as yet another cash-in on a worn-out franchise. After all, the game’s creator, Keita Takahashi, stopped contributing to the game after the first Katamari. But the series’ charm lies in its simple premise, unique art style, and original music. While it’s not terribly innovative, the newest game seems to retain what makes Katamari so addictive, and presents it all in an attractive high-def package for the PS3.

This time around, the King has slipped into a coma, and the Prince and his cousins design a RoboKing to replace him, but the cybernetic doppelganger goes haywire and destroys the galaxy. So, once again, the Prince is tasked with restoring the cosmos (and the king’s consciousness) by rolling everyday objects, people, and animals into massive balls of jumbled stuff. The king’s lost memory provides an excuse to reuse levels from past Katamari games, making this less of a brand new adventure, and more of a best-of compilation (after all, in Japan, the game is called Katamari Damacy Tribute). That extends to the soundtrack as well, as it includes some original tracks while also employing remixes and re-recordings of the previous game’s songs. As the Katamari series consists of my favorite soundtracks, I fully approve.

But the entire game is not just a redux. Restoring the king’s memories introduces one new play mechanic: color restoration. Levels start out in monochrome, and only gain color as the Prince rolls up new objects. Rolling up items makes every duplicate item in the stage explode into color. As another visual treat, the level select screen eschews the series standard “flying through space” theme in favor of a pop-up storybook design — flipping through the pages takes the place of planet-hopping.

Namco Bandai announced Tuesday that their popular, weapon-based fighter, Soul Calibur, will appear on the PSP in Summer 2009 as Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. At a recent Namco Bandai press conference, 1UP interviewed Broken Destiny’s director, Noriyuki Hiyama, and asked him questions about the series’ transition to the handheld, new fighters, character balancing issues, the difference between the North American and Japanese market, and possible DLC.

1UP: Why call the game Broken Destiny?

Noriyuki Hiyama: We wanted every player to play the game — to forget about playing past Soul Caliburs. Just to start from scratch, and to enjoy the game.

Click the image above to check out all Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny screens.

We all know the Wii isn’t as graphically powerful as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and when it comes to multiplatform sports titles, that’s a fact that tends to stand out even more. And it’s a fact that seems to have spurred EA Sports to take a creative approach around with the Wii version of Madden NFL 10, as the publisher has revealed a surprising new art style that sets the game apart from it’s realistic-looking counterparts.

Seeming to take inspiration from such titles as Team Fortress 2 and the original NES Ice Hockey, the new art style for Madden NFL 10 on the Wii adds exaggerated, cartoony player models with physical features that are designed to visually define their position (you can see the new lineup above). As the press release defines them:

Wide Receiver/Defensive Back — his tall and lean frame is indicative of his speed, agility and ability to snatch any ball that comes his way.

Linebacker — his solid, muscular body warns that he plans to knock your block off.

Quarterback — his wide shoulders and small waist emphasize the “heroic leader” look.

Lineman — this hulking mass lets you know he is there to stop you in your tracks.

Strong Safety/Running Back — his compact body features muscular thighs that convey strength and speed.

After finishing Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Saga: Endless Frontier, one accessory item in particular stands out strongly in my memory: The “Cat Ear Unit.” The description reads, “An attempt to pander to all you freaks out there.” Atlus should’ve put that on the box instead. Endless Frontier dispenses with anything even resembling dignity from the get-go. It’s pretty obvious what the Atlus localization team thought of the story’s sexual insanity, because they don’t even bother trying to tone it down. Instead, they turn the volume up to eleven, then break off the knob.

The hurricane of undisguised innuendo starts early and never lets up. Endless Frontier’s main protagonist, Cowboy wannabe Haken Browning, and his gang of bunny warriors blunder across the countryside, encountering cat-girls, fox-girls and robot-girls, all of whom expose copious amounts of cleavage. Take Haken’s android companion Aschen; she has a special code that sends her into overdrive, making her armor “vent” by opening up in strategic locations. It goes on like that for the next 25 hours or so.

Most limited edition versions of games charge consumers a $10 premium to own, but Aksys is taking a different approach with the upcoming console version of Arc System Works’ 2D fighter, BlazBlue: Those who simply pre-order the game at a participating retailer will get upgraded to the LE version for free.

So what do you get for making a small monetary promise to buy their game? Well besides special “Limited Edition packaging,” it’ll also come packed with a two-disc soundtrack featuring 48 songs by Guilty Gear composer Daisuke Ishiwatari (which is 19 more songs than in the Japanese version).

More interesting, though, is the inclusion of a bonus video disc containing “basic tutorials, expert advice, and character-specific strategies.” The video was made in collaboration with experts from Dustloop.com and Shoryuken.com, and the press release promises it’ll provide “a full-scale tutorial detailing basic attacks, special moves,
distortion drives, proven basic and advance combos, and advanced strategies and tactics per character.” As far as usually useless Limited Edition bonus content tends to go, this actually sounds like a pretty nifty fit for newbies purchasing a hardcore 2D fighting game.

A slew of announcements have fallen out of Ubisoft’s latest financial report, with the publisher revealing the development of a new title in the Ghost Recon franchise. Additionally, the report also sets Red Steel 2 for release on the Wii by Christmas, and finally gives the oft-delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction a more definitive release window.

According to the financial documents (via MCV), the new Ghost Recon is currently only titled “Ghost Recon 4,” with no other information about the game provided. That information will probably have to come fairly soon, though, as the game is set to ship some time during the current fiscal year — meaning March, 2010 at the latest.

Also set for release before the end of the fiscal year is Splinter Cell: Conviction, the latest game in the series that was originally set for release in 2007 before running into several significant delays. And lastly, Red Steel 2, the sequel to Ubisoft’s Wii launch title, was confirmed for release by Christmas of this year. As has been previously revealed, the report also reconfirmed that the game would use the Wii MotionPlus add-on to enhance the katana-fighting gameplay.

Bethesda released a title update for the PC and Xbox 360 editions of Fallout 3 this morning, bringing the post-apocalyptic RPG to version 1.5. The developer detailed the full list of bug fixes and changes in this latest patch — mostly prep work for next week’s Broken Steel DLC — on their official blog:

New Features

• New achievements for Broken Steel

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issue with VATS calculations not appearing properly for perks (PC)
• Fixed crash related to altered references between master files
• LOD objects render properly when loaded from DLC worldspaces
• Fixed issue with companion NPCs not loading into cells immediately after player

Because of this update’s focus on the Xbox 360 and PC exclusive Broken Steel DLC, we don’t expect to see a similar patch for the PlayStation 3 game anytime soon. Still, we sent for word from Bethesda about a potential PS3 patch, and will be sure to update this story as soon as we’ve heard back.

Ever wish you could listen to the music from Dawn of War 2 while doing things totally unrelated to space orc genocide? Perhaps you’ve always felt that the Tyranid’s theme would make the perfect background music to your evening crocheting sessions. Fortunately for you, Relic is giving away the official Dawn of War 2 soundtrack in its entirety.

You’ll find the following 20 tracks — composed by Doyle W. Donahoo — on both Relic’s community site as well as on Steam:

• “There Is Only War (opening title)”
• “Angels Of Death (Space Marine Theme)”
• “Primarch’s Honour”
• “No Mercy No Respite”
• “March Of The Waaagh!”
• “Purge The Xeno Scum”
• “Forged In Battle”
• “Ancient Rites (Eldar Theme)”
• “The Green Horde Rises”
• “Khaine’s Wrath”
• “Attack Of The Heretics”
• “Xeno Presence (Tyranid Theme)”
• “For The Craftworld”
• “They Come In Waves And We Push Them Back”
• “The Great Devourer”
• “To Battle Brothers”
• “Hunting The Hive Tyrant”
• “The Emperor’s Victory”
• “Show Me What Passes For Music Among Your Misbegotten Kind (credits roll)”
• “Meridian Nights (Noobie’s Grim Dark Future Remix)”

Go ahead and give it a listen. Even if you find yourself completely unimpressed by the music of Dawn of War 2, one thing’s for certain: Next time you moonlight as a DJ at a local junior high dance, this thing demands a spin or two.

The Bionic Commando demo has hit the Xbox Live Marketplace exclusively, and Capcom is celebrating the release with some free goodies. A blog post explains the process for entering. Players have to download the Bionic Commando demo and change their Xbox Live motto to “Bionic Commando = RAD.” But sycophantic behavior isn’t enough; you also need to get seven of your friends to change their own mottos, and then e-mail Capcom the full list of Gamertags.

Everyone in the chosen group will get 8,000 Microsoft points and a download code for Bionic Commando: Rearmed, and the sender of the group’s e-mail will also get a lunch box. But, each person in a group can submit the same group of names, so anybody has a chance to claim the prize. The contest ends May 13, so start sucking up with your mottos now. More details can be found at the link above.

Originally released in Japan as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (recapped in all its glory here), Monster Hunter Freedom Unite carries on Capcom’s tradition of mind-bogglingly different names for their games in North America. But hey, at least it’s coming here. Nothing short of a phenomenon in Japan — where 2nd G, a mild upgrade to Monster Hunter Portable/Freedom 2, sold even more copies than its predecessor — the Monster Hunter franchise has yet to make a meaningful impression in the States, a fact not helped by Capcom leaving the first PS2 sequel, Monster Hunter Dos, back in Japan. They did bring over Monster Hunter Freedom 2, however, so if you’re one of the proud few who slogged through enough hours alone, or in close proximity to like-minded friends who also had their own copies, then you’ll be glad to know your characters can continue to live on in Freedom Unite.

Freedom Unite should, in theory, be playable online, as it was announced as a title that would take advantage of the PSP/PS3’s ability to speak to each other via the yet-to-be-launched-in-America-whassup-Sony “PlayStation Link” service. This would solve that nasty little problem of not having enough friends with the game around to play multiplayer, which is really the key to extracting Monster Hunter’s most rewarding assets. However, since PlayStation Link is still dormant in America for whatever reason, players may be forced to grind away solo when the game hits the streets this June. However! If you’re savvy enough, you can create a Japanese PSN account and freely download “Ad-Hoc Party“, which is the same concept as PlayStation Link, and will work with your American (or European) systems. It’s really just tunneling software that allows any Ad-Hoc game to be played via Infrastructure mode, without all the hassle of a third-party setup like Xlink Kai.