Japan Gaming Guide

Here’s a great piece of Super Mario Japanese black theatre:

[Geekologie, via Xorsyst]

Outrun Online Arcade – 360, PS3

Outrun is one of the few arcade games that can still turn our heads. The latest home version will be distributed over PSN and Live Arcade so we’ll be able to launch ourselves round the feelgood, super-high-speed tracks with nary a disc swap to get in our way.

Street Fighter 4 – 360, PS3

In our opinion the only fighting game where it’s actually worth learning dozens of characters and hundreds of moves is the best fighting game. Here it comes.

Wii Sports Plus – Wii

With an all new upgraded motion sensor on the Wiimote our dreams of semi-realistic swordplay could at last be realized. We’re also looking forward to the jet-skiing, heck even the frisbee flinging might work out alright, it is a Miyamoto game after all.

Heavy Rain – PS3

No-one seems to have any idea what this is about, but that’s half the fun if you ask us. Artistic, French and likely to be highly original.

Bionic Commando

Swinging about and shooting stuff. That’s about all we know. It looks great to us.

The Another World

Anime powerhouse Studio Ghibli makes it’s first foray into the world of videogames. That they’ve waited this long is surely a testament to their unwillingness to do anything unless they’re ready to do it absolutely perfectly. With Level 5 coming off the back of the awesome Professor Layton series, could The Another World finally put JRPGs back at the top of the gaming agenda?

Overlord II

Overlord was a very promising game, and the sequel will hopefully iron out it’s little flaws as well as being a lot more evil than last time. We actually enjoyed the irony of the first game – you were actually a lot less evil than the ‘heroes’ you faced. Irony, unfortunately, doesn’t often translate into those oh so critical U.S. sales, let’s hope the game’s vicious wit isn’t also lost in the quest for dollars.

Ghostbusters

The Spook busting foursome have been away from our screens for a very long time. This game takes place a couple of years after the second movie, and is so far looking very good indeed.

Formula 1 2009 – 360, PS3, Windows

It’s been a while since we saw a truly great F1 game. With Codemasters recent track record (Dirt, Grid), this could change that. The sport itself is going through a fair amount of upheaval. The teams are being forced to standardise the technology – that might translate into tighter races more suited to armchair play than before.

The online potential for an F1 game is obviously huge – playing a full grand prix will be a fantastic experience if all goes well. A decent matchmaking system to separate budding Schumachers from the kiddies driving the wrong way round the track will of course be required.

Here are our 5 favourite games of the year:

5. Mass Effect – PC

Bioware are on top form with this – a fantastic space adventure that gives you a galaxy to explore. An epic game with an epic scope, this does have its flaws but makes up for them in terms of scale, storyline and a sense of being there that few games capture this well.

4. Braid – 360

Short, sweet and full of surprises. Braid innovates and entertains while constantly challenging the player with new mechanics and ideas. The ability to manipulate the flow of time has been used in games before but the level of invention here surpasses all other efforts.

3. Bioshock – PS3

Exploring Rapture is just as good the second time round. Like all the best horror, Bioshock is able to petrify you while absolutely nothing is happening – such is the potential in every shadow and distant sound.

2. Burnout Paradise – 360, PS3

Burnout Paradise allows you to explore an open city at speeds far higher than realism would permit. It turns it’s nose up at technical racing, and revels in speed and carnage, but does so while filling its world with challenges and rich detail. The online play is masterful, allowing co-operation to take as big a role as competition and producing some fine gaming moments as a result.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV – Various

So much to do, and so little time. Rockstar’s opus is so many things in one package. A full on criminal underworld simulator with car chases, shootouts, helicopter rides, romance – not to mention a fantastic amount of detail and things to discover. Morally bankrupt? Perhaps, but has anyone with a soul ever managed to play it without enjoying themselves? We don’t think so.

The JGG consoles are off, the presents are under the tree and there’s a little tot of whiskey out for Santa.

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful day. Merry Christmas everyone!

Have a look at this wonderful Katamari Bento. It’s enough to make us hungry.

[Read, via 4 color rebellion]

Not quite there yet!

We like to feature the occasional flash game here at JGG, and Hoshi Saga is worth half an hour of anyone’s time. Like a more considered Wario Ware, players flick between single screen mini-games, each with the same purpose – find the hidden star. The method of doing so is different each time and it’s in the variety and wit of the many solutions that the game really shines.

Some of the puzzles will have you scratching your head, but not for too long, and you’ll almost always forgive the game when you work out the solution.

Gamasutra published a very interesting interview with one of the designers of Sonic the Hedgehog. Hirokazu Yasuhara, who also worked on Jak & Daxter and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune has a lot to say on the subjects of game design psychology and the differences between audiences in different parts of the world.

[Read]

Just when you thought Portal was hogging the cake limelight, along come these tastly looking things. Getting hungry?

[Read]

Treasure are responsible for some of the finest shooters in gaming. DS-Fanboy produced a round up of their games from Gunstar Heroes through to Bangai-O Spirits. Follow the link for a little piece of blasting history.

[Read]

Here’s a great free RPG parody:

Hikkimori Quest, via Kotaku