Gloom and doom time. Well, for Japanese game developers. While the country’s game makers seems to be down on themselves of late, it’s hard to separate that from stereotypical Japanese humility and plain old self-realisation. Here’s Genji developer Game Republic head and former Capcom producer Yoshiki Okamoto talking about whether Japan can catch up with the West:
It’s almost too late. During the Famicom (NES) era, Japanese video games comprised 70 percent of all video games. And currently, it’s like 15 or 20 percent, isn’t it? Now, Western games are more advanced. For games like GTAIV, those guys are spending something like 5 or 10 years to make them. Even if we thought about catching up with them now, they’d still be making progress. But, not necessarily giving up, it’s just not possible to catch up in a single lifetime.
Man, that Okamoto, talk about a downer. Chin up, Japan, chin up.
「日本はもうゲーム先進国ではない」 [IT Media via 痛いニュース][Pic]
Who loves you, PSP? Capcom does! While Monster Hunter already selling oodles of PSPs, the company continues to show its support with hack-and-slash title Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes for the Sony portable. The game features 2-on-2 battle and will also support up to 4-players via the ad hoc wireless mode. Game drops in Japan next spring.
Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes Announced [PSP Hyper]
And here we go. That’s 19 year-old Ryan Chinnery. He stands accused to committing two sex attacks, which were supposedly inspired by Grand Theft Auto. According to British tabloid The Sun, Chinnery drove the streets looking to attack women he thought were prostitutes. None of the women he attacked were. A DNA sample found on his latest victim matched his, but Chinnery apparently claimed he was at home playing video games until he broke down and confessed. Says the case’s prosecutor:
There may be some connection with the defendant admitting spending a lot of time playing that game.
A copy of GTA (not specified) was found at Chinnery’s residence by police. Before you jump to conclusions about this story, jump to conclusions about this “exclusive” being from The Sun.
Sex beast copied Grand Theft Auto [The Sun via VG247]
Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane has a new gig. Online animated shorts. Basically, the sketch comedy bits of Family Guy, without the Family Guy bits padding them out. One of the first is this Mario clip. It’s a little patchy, but that star power ditty’s gonna be ringing around my head all night.
Yup. Registrations are now open for the Resistance 2 beta test. You can go sign up on the game’s official site. Better get your hurry on, though; spaces are limited, and with Insomniac not disclosing how they’ll be selecting applicants, we’d suggest getting in now, in case there’s some kind of “first come, most likely to be first served” thing going on. If you get in, they’ll email you. If you don’t, life goes on, and you can get the game when it comes out, just like everybody else. Resistance 2 Beta Applications
Ever wonder why Japanese developers make Xbox 360 games? Sure, the console has had some stronger sales in the last month or so, but traditionally, Microsoft has faced an uphill battle in The Land of the Rising Sun. Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari, who I interviewed for the arcade book, explains to game site Siliconera why Arc System Works developed Guilty Gear 2: Overture with the Xbox 360 in mind:
It was easier for a small-and-mid-sized developer like us to develop a game for Xbox 360 than PS3. Also, since the main feature of the game is the network battle, XBOX 360 with organised network infrastructure was considered more suitable for the game.
This GG2 was the first title that we took the overseas development into consideration and since Xbox 360 had been widely used especially in the U.S., we wanted to challenge the system.
Keep in mind that developers are saying programming for the PS3 is getting easier as their know-how increases.
All about Guilty Gear 2: Overture [Siliconera][Pic]
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that they’d be shuttering renowned developer Ensemble Studios, as soon as they’re done developing Halo Wars. As one of the world’s premier PC and strategy developers, this was sad, sad news. While Microsoft have since issued a public statement outlining the reasons behind the closure, if you’d like, you can click through and read the internal e-mail sent to Microsoft games Studios employees, in which MGS boss Phil Spencer breaks the news to the company at large.
Sure, saucy games like 12 years-old and up rated PS3 title Tears to Tiara have saucy scenes. But more often than not, you gotta play through lots of boring stuff to get to the good stuff. The “adventure + simulation” fantasy sword-swinging RPG features 2D cutscenes, and the new Tears to Tiara guide has published to help get players get where they need to be: Yep, the tentacles, bondage, and the cow milking.
ティアーズ・トゥ・ティアラ-花冠の大地-攻略本 [Akiba Blog]
Today, Ubisoft helped launch Handigo, a game developed with Handicap International to help show the difficulties the disabled face in their daily lives. A noble effort, but realistically, it’s not why we’re here; we’re here because as part of the same initiative, the company announced they’d be launching all their major 2008 titles with subtitles. Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding, all will be fully subtitled. Good news for the deaf, and hopefully a move all developers start to follow. Especially if they’re able to give you the option of subtitles in multiple languages, ala Yakuza 2 with its Japanese language track and English subtitles.
Ubisoft Commits To Include Subtitles In Future Products [Game Informer]
Sure, that PS3 BioShock trailer looks nice and all, but here’s something that’s not as nice. The game features a 5GB mandatory install. It takes a little over ten minutes. Word of something like this first came back in July when the BBFC rated the title as having an install of “around 5 or 6 minutes”. Like ‘em or not, mandatory installs seem like they’re here to stay — much to the dismay of those owning the 20GB and 60GB launch model PS3s. Need more space!
