Nintendo DS

Order of Ecclesia gets a press release, first screenshots.

It’s me and Castlevania, really. You know how it is. My two favorite franchises in gaming are Castlevania and Metroid, probably in that order. A Castlevania game comes out and I play it in all my free time until I’ve achieved 100% completion. I feel guilt for the fact that I’ve touched every corner of a game that took years to develop in less than a week’s time, and then I get depressed that it will likely be more than a year before I see another. There’s your background, and now you get to watch me flip out because Order of Ecclesia, which already bears an ESRB rating, has been officially announced and they even have screenshots over at N-Philes.

Interestingly, the screens match the leaked DS Castlevania screens from several months ago. Have a look at the woman named Shanoa speaking in one of the screenshots. It’s definitely the woman from those earlier screens. I had assumed that leak was a fake, as most people had.

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Platinum, formerly Clover, resurfaces with new games for just about everyone.

A few days ago, we finally heard some real noise from the talented folks who formerly comprised the inarguable core of Capcom’s Clover Studios team back until shortly after the release of Okami. Here’s a refresher in case you missed the last thirty or so I gave you: Clover underperformed at the cash register, so Capcom closed them in an attempt to reabsorb those Capcom legends who had created profitable franchises like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, but ended up losing them altogether when they walked out the door instead. It wasn’t long before we heard they had formed their own studio called Seeds, which later became Platinum Games. I was starting to wonder if they were actually doing anything, and eventually I stopped thinking about them. Not long ago there was a leak of some video that was allegedly of some gameplay of Platinum Games’ work, most notably a black-and-white gorefest called MadWorld. It turns out, it’s all real, and there’s a lot to share, thanks to… Sega? That’s weird.

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Why Go Outside This Summer?

EA has let us know that there’s a swarm of new titles releasing this summer that might pique your interest. Whether or not they keep you indoors on sunny days is a question of how excited you are for them. I know for sure that Battlefield: Bad Company and Spore will be on my list. I might even withhold from picking up Spore on a console, if officially announced, and go straight for the Mac version.

Battlefield: Bad Company - Xbox 360 and PS3
Ship Date – June 23, 2008

Burnout Paradise - PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
Downloadable Content in June.

Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath - Xbox 360
Ship Date – June 2008

Mass Effect - PC
Ship Date – May 28, 2008

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames -PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 2
Ship Date – August 31st 2008 in North America; September 5th 2008 in UK and Europe

Rock Band - Wii
Ship Date – June 22, 2008

Spore - PC, Macintosh, Nintendo DS and mobile phones.
Ship Date – September 7, 2008

Make your own rhythm game levels with this PC-based Ouendan clone.

One of the best DS games available now has a homebrew Windows counterpart… Meet osu!, the Web 2.0 version of Ouendan / Elite Beat Agents. Here’s a video of osu! in action, featuring the delightful Haruhi song…

With a bit of work, you can create your own levels using your favorite songs and videos. Naturally, you can exchange levels with other osu! players. Browsing the download section, I see user-submitted “beatmaps” for songs from John Mayer, James Taylor, Weird Al Yankovic, They Might Be Giants… even other game series like id@lmaster, Pokemon, Taiko Drum Master and Smash Brawl. So it’s not all j-pop, although the osu! creators clearly seem to favor the Ouendan half of the East/West equation. (Me too!)

Dear Nintendo: approve this project immediately. Make this WiiWare.

Top Spin 3 Developer Call

Yesterday, Ryan Jones of 2K Sports, was nice enough to invite Aeropause to a developer conference call with the lead producer of Top Spin 3, Anthony DeLuca.

Anthony let us know that the Top Spin franchise has become the number one rated tennis game among fans and that it was only natural to continue the series.

2K Sports took the franchise back to the drawing board looking at the changes that needed to be made to make Top Spin 3 stand out among its competitors.  This time around the development team would be focusing on the shot mechanics, service mechanics as well as the graphics for the game. 

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New Wii Channel now available

So as we all know, the Nintendo Channel was announced last month with US due-date of mid-May. Well, we must have hit mid-May because waiting for me when I got home from work tonight was a new update and the ability to download the Nintendo Channel. So far my experience has mixed reviews. Read the rest of this entry »

Quartermann dishes platform details on a trio of new Castlevanias.

It’s been a whirlwind of new data that we’ve seen on the upcoming Castlevania games, first with information on the third DS episode, Order of Ecclesia, and later on the not yet specified Castlevania Judgment. The newest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, which arrived in my inbox today, has another chunk of info in the micro-rumor sidebar “Q-Tips” in Quartermann’s rumor column as follows.

• Castlevania’s coming back in a big way, with at least three new games on tap: One for DS, a Wii version, and another stab at 3D on PS3 and XB360.

So that would imply two things: The Wii version of the game will be 2D, and either that or the PS3/360 version would be Judgment. It will be interesting to watch how this develops. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence sold me a PS2, this has the potential to sell me a PS3… at which point I could replace my lost copy of Lament of Innocence and finally pick up Curse of Darkness as well… hmm…

Source: EGM 229, Page 48

Blockbuster’s Got Game

Well it looks like Blockbuster, the movie rental giant shop, you know…the kind you have to walk to is focusing more on the sale of games and consoles in addition to merely renting them. Soon you will have an excuse to exercise by jogging there to purchase the latest games, as well as consoles and accessories, including Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Blockbuster will also have Nintendo DS game rentals and increase the variety of game rentals in general.

To top if off, if you think this is a good deal, then they are offering a PS3 and movie bundle for $499.99 at select locations:

* A 40 GB Sony PS3 Game Console
* PS3/Blu-Ray Remote
* HDMI Cable
* “Spiderman 3” on Blu-Ray disc
* “Transformers” PS3 Game
* BLOCKBUSTER 12-week PS3/Blu-Ray rental card (one free rental a week for 12 consecutive weeks)

Thanks, Romeo

New Ghostbusters Screens

We’ve got some new Ghostbusters screens from the folks at Vivendi Games to show you. I’m really looking forward to this one as the movie, cartoon and toys were a big part of my 80’s childhood. Heck, even my younger Brothers had the full Ghostbusters costumes and weapons - crazy. Look for this game on multiple platforms this October.

Favre Confirmed for Madden 09 Box Cover

After so many athletes have been on the cover of the Madden box, only to end up injured, EA has come up with a new way to avoid the so called “Madden Curse” - use an athlete that is no longer in football.

For those that are uninitiated, every year, there is a big process where EA goes through all the possible candidates to have on the cover. But as it is with Sports Illustrated, whoever ends up on the front of the Madden box has issues in the upcoming season. Read more here on the whole “Madden Curse”.

Brett Favre is a good selection for the box, considering it is the 20th anniversary of the Madden franchise. Favre is coming off one of the best year’s of his career, even while playing for a less than average team. He has also missed being on the box several times, due to another breakout star emerging at the time of the box selection process. Congrats Mr. Favre, you do deserve this honor.

While Brett is not playing football now, I do sit on the edge of my seat, waiting for the inevitable article on ESPN some day in the near future, “Favre blows out ACL tripping over John Deere lawnmower at his house”. And with that, the Curse will abide.