Aeropodcast #30: Now With More ED Mail

Just a friendly post to let everyone know tha the podcast is now up and available for download. It is just Stephen and myself this week, but we hit on several topics as well as some great news. As for the title, just wait til you get to the community corner to figure it all out.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below:

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Revised Okami Box Art: Suitable for Framing

In a strange example of “I can’t believe their graphic designers did this,” Okami for Wii shipped with an IGN watermark on the cover! If you squint, you can even see it on our post announcing the game’s imminent release. The IGN circle-dpad-planet logo is right by Ammy’s mouth. Whoever composited the cover art must have Googled “Okami artwork” and grabbed one of IGN’s art files. Rather than, you know, walking down the hall and asking Capcom’s artists for the original files. Weird.

But Capcom is not ignoring this teeny little embarrassment; they’re giving away free stuff!

Visit their Cover Artwork Redemption page and you can request a new printing of the box art. Capcom doesn’t say why they redesigned the cover, just that they did and would like to send it to you. Ahem.

And it gets better… you can alternately choose from two other pieces of art, both sized to fit a DVD case.
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Aeropodcast #29: Alvin, Simon, Theodore

We are back for another week of views, mayhem and all around chaos as Stephen, Paul, Joe and newcomer Levi tackle the week’s topics, news and our only and latest review on iTunes.

After a discussion about what we are playing, including a digg on Paul about his love of Elite (it was a great game Paul, I am behind you on this one), we started off the show discussing the hype that Grand Theft Auto IV is getting and if a game can be subject to overhype.  While Joe was experiencing burnout with the constant news story that were posted on every site (including ours, oh sweet irony), Paul looked at the fact that it was the media hyping the game, not Rockstar.  We also moved to the butchering of the Japanese language by US gamers, with the rise of Japanese translated titles, like Okami, which is really pronounced O - kami.

We went over the March NPD numbers, which still show Nintendo printing gobs of money with a total of 1.3 million units between the Wii and the DS.  From there, the rest of the consoles showed parity, with the 360 inching ever so slightly in front of the PS3.  Nintendo also took the top spot in video game sales as well, with Super Smash Brothers Brawl selling a cool 2.7 million units.  It was also surprising to still see Call of Duty 4, pulling in big sales five months after release.

We announced our first review on iTunes which had JBIR giving us a one star review, stating that we deleted his first review.  Guess he thinks we work for Apple, because apparently he thinks we had his review deleted, which we do not have the power to do.  We appreciate all reviews, good and bad, because it tells us what is good about the show and what needs improvement.

Finally we looked at a few notable news stories for the week, including a Wii Stripping game coming for te WiiFit board, Kojima is disappointed with the way that Metal Gear Solid turned out, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe minus the fatalities and blood, and finally Paul gets excited for an announced sequel to Majesty.

As always, make sure to review us on iTunes, and then head over and Digg the podcast.  Also, if you have any tips, questions, trivia, suggestons on good coffee blends, or maybe just to tell us we suck or rule, email us at tips@aeropause.com.  Also, if you want to hear our new act, Levi the Chipmunk, just listen all the way through the podcast.  It is a great way to finish your debut on a podcast.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below:

iTunes | RSS | Odeo | Digg | Zune

Okami ships; look for it tomorrow.

Critically acclaimed PS2 adventure, and perhaps the system’s own “Zelda killer,” Okami has now come home to Wii. For all the noise I’ve made in the lead-up to this title’s production and release, I still have the fullest confidence that the game will be worth the wait.

Epic adventures like this don’t come along too often for Wii, so make sure you support the game by buying it new if you want to play it. Capcom is always quick to point out that games that sell well get company, and this is exactly the kind of company that core gamers like us crave on all platforms. You can trust I’ll be talking about this game as soon as I can get my hands on it (which might not be until Friday, surprisingly enough) so if you’re still on the fence, just hold out for my impressions.

Read on for the press release.

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Okamiday Final Edition: Just a few more days.

By now if you haven’t heard that Okami’s coming to the Wii, you at least know how badly I’ve wanted this to happen. In that light, here we have Okamiday, Final Edition. Okamiday is me posting assets and articles periodically about Okami, the PS2 game that’s widely considered Clover Studios’ swan song, a game whose sales at launch were so weak as to likely be a major factor in the developer’s dissolution.

Here were are just a couple of days before the release of Okami on Wii, and there are already a handful of opinions and impressions on the transition. The original PS2 game got some very strong reviews, and Wii reviews so far have not been quite as favorable. While the consensus seems to be that the mechanic is suited to IR control, impressions from IGN’s Matt Casamassina state that some of the controls are hard to execute until you understand exactly how they were designed to work. The example given is a vertical gesture that makes water spout from the ground, which works better with a quick short stroke than a long one. Something they mentioned a few podcasts ago was that the dodge motion, which uses the nunchuk, really doesn’t work at all, but is not necessary for the game anyway. They also complain about the uneven framerate in the game in recent podcasts, something that was apparently an issue in the original game as well.

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Okamiday Volume 10: Of Delays and Sleeper Hits.

By now if you haven’t heard that Okami’s coming to the Wii, you at least know how badly I’ve wanted this to happen. In that light, here we have Okamiday, Volume 10. Okamiday is me posting assets and articles periodically about Okami, the PS2 game that’s widely considered Clover Studios’ swan song, a game whose sales were so weak as to likely be a major factor in the developer’s dissolution.

Okami has been delayed from March to April 15th. I didn’t bat an eyelash… take your time, guys, I’ve been waiting years for this and I’ll wait as long as it takes. Beyond that, now I’ll be picking up Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword this month instead of waiting. End of commentary on Okami delay.

There were some exciting surprises in a new IGN article called “Okami’s Second Chance” by Nintendo Editor-in-Chief Matt Casamassina. One of the biggest was that Okami has not been a failure after all. Despite some weak initial sales, the game has shown to have surprising legs, racking up about 270,000 units in sales so far. While this is nothing spectacular, as serious hits will score millions of units sold, it goes a ways to vindicate the game’s quality, as it’s clearly selling even today on word of mouth.

Call it a cult hit then. But why didn’t Okami for PS2 sell even better? “New IP is always hard,” says Svensson. “I think that the mainstream doesn’t see cel-shaded titles as super appealing. If you look across the slew of all cel-shaded games, developers sort of have an inside joke, saying, ‘Okay, it’s cel-shaded — it’s going to be sent to die.’ Believe it or not, unfortunately the mainstream doesn’t react well to the ‘games as art’ pitch and to do big numbers sometimes you have to tap the mainstream.”

Of further interest is mention that of course, if the game were to be an exceptional seller on Wii, continuation of the franchise would most certainly be considered. Hmm, not sure about that one. I’ll let you know once I finish the game if the story feels unfinished. Of course, there’s always other ways they can spin mythology to tell a story using that art style.

Source: IGN

Ones to Watch on DS and Wii in March 2008.

Holy smokes, this is going to be one heck of a month on Nintendo’s platforms. Not only is the Wii’s most anticipated title to date, Super Smash Bros Brawl, releasing in about a week, but it’s going to be a full month across both platforms. Mind you, this will be a big month for Sony’s platforms too, so make sure you watch for those lists as well, particularly if you’re down with the god slaying scene. And, frankly, who isn’t?

On with the releases.

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Okamiday Volume 9: Glorious 480p Widescreen.

By now if you haven’t heard that Okami’s coming to the Wii, you at least know how badly I’ve wanted this to happen. In that light, here we have Okamiday, Volume 9. I will be posting assets and an article periodically about Okami, the PS2 game that’s widely considered Clover Studios’ swan song, a game whose sales were so weak as to likely be a major factor in the developer’s dissolution.

And here it is, the first footage of Okami running on Wii in 480p and widescreen. The interview that accompanies this and some other videos over at IGN is enlightening. I enjoyed hearing about the challenges in the port process, and just how good this game is going to be.

IGN: Does the game run in 480p and 16:9 widescreen modes on Wii?

Ready at Dawn: Absolutely. This was two of the things that were at the top of our list when we started the port. The game looks awesome as it runs at a higher resolution than the original PS2 game.

IGN: Has anything been sacrificed in the port to Wii? Audio quality, framerate fluidity, texture quality, etc.?

Ready at Dawn: There were a couple of effects that we simply couldn’t reproduce exactly on the Wii because the rendering pipelines of both platforms are completely different. We adapted those to look as closely as possible like their PS2 counterparts but they’re not exactly the same per say.

IGN: In your opinion, does the game play better or worse on Wii?

Ready at Dawn: I can’t go back to playing with the PS2 pad now that I’m used to the Wiimote/nunchuk combination. It’s just so much more fluid and intuitive on the Wii. Being able to skip the cutscenes on the Wii is a big plus for me personally too.

Okamiday Volume 8: Going to the Dogs.

By now if you haven’t heard that Okami’s coming to the Wii, you at least know how badly I’ve wanted this to happen. In that light, here we have Okamiday, Volume 8. I will be posting assets and an article every weekend about Okami, the PS2 game that’s widely considered Clover Studios’ swan song, a game whose sales were so weak as to likely be a major factor in the developer’s dissolution.

Okami is, as we saw last week, not the only game to ever have a canine as the protagonist. Okamiday Volume 7 covered Twilight Princess, so we’ll start there and work our way back through three other games with man’s best friend, or something not far from it, as the star. I’m excluding games where you play with dogs rather than as them, such as Nintendogs and Dogz.

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Okamiday Volume 7: The Zelda Connection.

By now if you haven’t heard that Okami’s coming to the Wii, you at least know how badly I’ve wanted this to happen. In that light, here we have Okamiday, Volume 7. I will be posting assets and an article every Saturday weekend about Okami, the PS2 game that’s widely considered Clover Studios’ swan song, a game whose sales were so weak as to likely be a major factor in the developer’s dissolution.

Most people noticed that there was a certain parallel between Okami and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and its predecessors. You have a protagonist who takes the form of a wolf. You have a helper who rides around on you in the tiny fairy Issun that follows Amaterasu around and of course, the Twilight Princess herself, Midna, who rides Link around and helps him from the shadows when he’s in man-form. Even the gameplay has some strong similarities, in a world that has been made dark and colorless by a powerful enemy that you need to restore to its prior self.

Even taking into account that a franchise as successful as Zelda is going to have some templates it’s created and follows (in fact, Twilight Princess is a lot like Link to the Past in a number of ways) this seems like it could be pretty significant coincidence. Well, no, it’s not.

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