Japan Gaming Guide

We found a ton of new screens for Devil May Cry 4 on this Japanese website. The latest game in the Devil May Cry series features Dante’s brother Nero taking over as the lead character, although Dante will still be playable at some point in the game. They look pretty similar at first glance, although they seem to be enemies. Follow the link to view all 12 shots.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi, designer of the forthcoming Lost Odyssey for Xbox 360, gave an interview to GameLife’s Chris Kohler. They talk about the differences between this gen and last, and about the differences between Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. It sounds like Lost Odyssey is going to be the deeper of the two games, thanks to the differing styles of the character artists – Akira Toriyama for Blue Dragon, and Takahiko Inoue for Lost Odyssey.

He also lets slip that character designer Yoshitako Amano, who worked on the Final Fantasy series, may be headed to Mistwalker in the future.

Hit the link to read the full interview.

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The Xbox 360 Elite is on its way to Japan. The console will retail for a cool Y47,800. The Elite has a bigger hard drive and HDMI support. We wouldn’t be suprised if Microsoft hadn’t sorted out all that ring of death stuff as well.

So, who thinks this will be a hit? Anyone? Sales in the region are still very low. We’d like to see what kind of marketing the Elite will get. It’s coming out on October 11th.

[Read, via Gamesindustry.biz]

Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil games has come out in support of the Xbox 360. Famitsu magazine asked a number of people which game console they would work on, if given a free choice. Mikami put the 360 first, ahead of the Wii, stating: “from the stance of a game maker, if you’re looking for visual expression and reality, it’s Xbox 360. Otherwise, Wii.”

We’re still waiting to hear about the first game from Mikami’s new development team, ‘Seeds’. The team was set up after Capcom dissolved his former team, Clover Studio, which produced a string of critical hits that didn’t sell very well. Seeds will need to produce original IP since Capcom still hold the rights to Clover Studio’s games. We’ll let you know as soon as we find out what he’s up to!

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Tomb Raider Anniversary will be released on Xbox Live in episodic form, according to Eurogamer. The top-heavy heroine will hit the marketplace in September. The game will be split into 4 episodes, going for a total of 2400 Microsoft points.

The game is a remake of the original Tomb Raider and goes back to the series’ roots of exploration and puzzling, punctuated by combat. Later games in the series played up the gunplay, which in our opinion is the series’ weakest element. We’re big fans of the original, and doubt we will be able to resist buying it again if it comes in teeny tiny bite sized form.

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Xbox 360 owners are getting another treat in October. Beautiful Katamari will be coming onto the console as an arcade title – meaning you can get it without having to trudge to the shops, and play it without fumbling around with discs.

Gamespot took the game for a spin. The game sounds pretty good, with new levels and music, new characters, online play and high definition visuals. Gameplay is more of the same, but that’s no bad thing in our book.

We can’t wait to get our hands on Katamari. It’s gone straight up there with Space Giraffe as our most wanted arcade title. We’ll let you know more details as we get them.

[Gamespot, via Joystiq]

The all-singing, all-dancing Project Sylpheed demo hit the Xbox live marketplace today. The space-shooter, set in the 27th century, has been out for a while in Japan, but will be released in other territories soon. We took the demo for a quick spin, here’s what we thought:

The first thing to note is the characterisation. All through the demo level other pilots are chattering away, usually providing useful information, rather than the ‘I shot someone’ messages that you often get in this type of game. Those messages are in there too, but a demo is too little time to see how repetitive they will become in the full game. Characters seem pretty well designed, and we’re prepared to bet the plot will end up being a complex web of intrigue and deceit, quite possibly becoming more complex than War and Peace by level 3.

It’s a pretty attractive game, largely due to the amount going on screen. There are all sorts of engine trails and missile vapours floating around the place, and enough ships to create a suitably epic space battle feel. The ship designs themselves are a bit underwhelming however. Nothing evocative or memorable on show, although the Space station design seemed pretty good.

Shooting down the enemy fighters seemed pretty easy, but things changed when we went after the capital ships. Our tactical approach of charging directly towards them firing our weapons as quickly as possible resulted in a swift death, and a lot of swearing. We’re going to take that as a sign of depth.

To sum up then, well it was pretty fun, but nothing to set it apart from any other competent space shooter you can think of. Of course, it’s the only space shooter on Xbox 360 at present, and there aren’t many others on the horizon (unless you count the live arcade Wing Commander game), so if this is the kind of game you want to play, this is the one to buy. A seven out of ten, but the best available at the moment.

Everyone knows the 360 hasn’t made much of an impact in Japan. While the Wii and DS continue to fly off the shelves, 360 sales continue to disappoint. Why is this? What do Japanese gamers think of the 360? The latest Famitsu magazine carries a large feature on the console, with a run-down of the major titles, and endorsements from a selection of celebrities. The consensus seems to be that the 360 is very good, but people just don’t know enough about it. Here’s what they had to say:

Comedian Yoshiyuki Hiraii compares Xbox 360 to American cars – a mixture of European and Asian tastes. He enjoys the fact that you can see what your friends are doing. He currently spends his evenings playing Rainbow 6 Vegas with his wife – they apparently enjoy listening to each others machine gun fire over voice chat. He really likes the hardware. Hooray 360!

TV celebrity Yamamoto Mona is a Blue Dragon fan. She likes the lack of stress in modern RPGs, and believes that the 360 has many games like this – something we’re not 100% sure we agree with.

The Xbox 360 is wonderful, according to pro wrestler Kiku Taro. The online connectivity means you can expand your world, and the large number of online users is a big plus. He enjoys the voice chat and the many interesting games on the system. He likes to wind down after a hard days wrestling with multiplayer Ghost Recon.

Import shop owner Teruki Tsuchiya enjoys a bit of zombie carnage – the Dead Rising video trailer was a big hit with his customers. He enjoys playing the kind of high quality online games that used to be the sole preserve of the PC.

It seems no-one who’s actually tried the 360 has a bad word to say about it, so how come the sales figures are so bad? It’s notable that Famitsu only interviewed the machines converts – we’d like to hear from the people that aren’t buying it – they seem to be in the majority after all. Still, interest in the machine does seem to be slowly increasing, but given the effort Microsoft has already put into promotion and marketing we’d have to question whether it will ever be able to compete with Sony and Nintendo. Perhaps the fundamental issue is one that Famitsu doesn’t mention – the willingness of the Japanese to purchase an American product, when there are two Japanese alternatives on the shelves.

Bioshock, the spiritual sequel to the System Shock games is getting ever closer. Every glimpse we get of Rapture’s brooding streets makes us a little bit more excited about playing it – and we only have a little longer to wait until its August release.

Eurogamer recently interviewed Irrational Games’ Ken Levine for the latest details on the game. Levine talks about his background as a writer, and what effect that had on the game. He is also keen to emphasise that every player will create their own experience when playing, due to the freedom of choice and open ended gameplay.

He also touches on the morality of the game. To tell the truth, we’re pretty worried about how the wider world is going to see this – some of the subject matter looks pretty controversial. Harvesting genetic material from small children? Um… we’re betting Jack Thompson can’t wait to get his grubby little hands on it.

Click the link for the full interview, and make up your own minds.

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A few demos have gone up on the Japanese marketplace recently.  Be sure to check out Armoured Core 4, GRAW 2, Star Trek Legacy and UEFA Champions League 2006/07.

Also, Lumines Live has at last found its way over here – it retains the controversial pricing structure – 1200 points for a pretty sparse main game – featuring 2 or 3 demo levels of each game type – with further level packs being available for 300 – 600 points.  Bear in mind when purchasing this that the main package doesn’t give you much more than the demo – you’ll probably need at least one add on pack to get the most out of it.  That said, this is still a fantastic puzzler and probably worth the points if you like that kind of thing.

Alien Hominid and Worms are also up – for 400 points each.