Wii Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll Updated Impressions

By Laura Parker, GameSpot AU

Since its early arcade days, Super Monkey Ball has gradually grown in popularity in Japan, North America and Europe, spawning several ports and sequels throughout the years for the Nintendo GameCube, PS2, Xbox, GameBoy Advance, DS, and most recently, the Wii.

Although its concept is simple--rolling a monkey around in a giant transparent ball--its platforming elements are increasingly complex, giving the series longevity and popularity across different age groups. While in Japan, we sat down with producer Yasuhito Baba, whose first-time involvement with the Super Monkey Ball series led to the upcoming Wii title Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll.

According to Baba, the new title’s biggest improvement over the last Super Monkey Ball on the Wii, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, is the use of the Wii Balance Board in gameplay. The reason for this was to give players a new way to play the game and increase the “party feel” of the title.

“Super Monkey Ball has always been a very simple game with very simple gameplay,” Baba said. “We didn’t want to change this. We just wanted to come up with a new experience. The Wii Balance Board has been around for a long time, and we wanted to take advantage of it. The simple game mechanics of Super Monkey Ball made this a possibility, and we hope fans of the game enjoy it more with this new addition.”

In order to play the game, you must think of the Wii Balance Board as the floor--tilting forward will make the ball roll to the front, tilting back will make the ball stop, and so on. Players can also choose to play the game using the Wii Mote, which has the same control scheme (i.e. tilting it in different directions to make the ball roll).

Of course, the core experience has not changed. The heart of the Super Monkey Ball franchise is in its level design, and Baba is confident that the new title will live up to players’ expectations in this aspect.

“We’ve designed each level in accordance with the colours of the rainbow,” Baba said. “This means each stage will feel very different and, as usual, will increase with difficulty.”

At first Baba wasn’t convinced he could use the Wii Balance Board in the game’s control scheme and still keep the complex platforming elements that make up a Super Monkey Ball experience. But he was re-assured after a few hours of testing the new control scheme.

“When playing with the Wii Mote you find yourself gradually improving. But with the Wii Balance Board, you go from being unsure to suddenly being great. You actually feel the game becoming harder and you can keep up. We also concentrated on giving players hints throughout the game.”

There are also 21 new mini-games in Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll, which was created so that players can play with one Wii Balance Board and three Wii Motes. According to Baba, the mini-games have been designed to get players to battle amongst each other, with some designed to be especially difficult to play. There is also a new monkey character named Jam, which will make an appearance in this part of the game.

According to Baba, Super Monkey Ball’s popularity comes from the game’s simplistic control scheme and variation in level design. While it might be viewed as a casual game, Super Monkey Ball attracts a lot of hardcore fans and this is something the developers kept in mind when creating Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll.

“We didn’t want to ignore our loyal fans so we kept both markets in mind [hardcore and casual] when designing this game. It’s a huge franchise, but it has a lot of depth.”

In the future, Baba believes that even with the advent of new technologies like Project Natal, games like Super Monkey Ball should always stay simple and fun. While the pressure to increasingly innovate is always there, Baba says his aim will always be to make a solid game.

“Looking forward, we’d like to consider online functionality with the next Super Monkey Ball title, but we haven’t decided if we will. We still don’t know what platform the next game will be on, or when it will be released. However, we feel online functionality would mean people can enjoy playing the game for a longer period of time, and that’s something we want to do.”

PSP Valkyria Chronicles 2 First Impressions

By Laura Parker, GameSpot AU

Valkyria Chronicles 2 has a lot to live up to. The first title in the series was a hit with gamers and critics alike, praised for its gameplay design, active combat, and engaging story that set it apart from other tactical RPGs. So how do you improve on a game like that? While in Japan this week we had a chat with Sega producer Shinji Motoyama and director Takeshi Ozawa from the Valkyria Chronicles 2 development team, who took us through an exclusive hands-off demo.

Valkyria 2’s story will pick up two years after the conclusion of the first game. Players will be students at a military academy, a setting that will bring with it a much younger feel to the game. This time around the war is not an international one but a civil one, set within the small Europan nation of Gallia. The depletion of the country’s resources caused by events in the first game means the government has no choice but to call on the military academy cadets to combat the rising insurgency.

While the five character classes offered in the first game appear in the sequel, the class system has been upgraded to allow more specialization of skills. In Valkyria 2 you will be able to specialize the skills of your character with class branches--for example, a scout can specialize in having an anti-armour rifle or being a sniper. There are also two new types of soldiers--support soldier and armoured soldier. The former will assist other units by re-supplying ammunition and carrying healing items; the latter will only carry a shield for deflecting fire and a hammer to engage in melee attacks. The story and missions will proceed monthly, with new missions added for each new month in the game. The mission types include infiltrating enemy camps, defending home base for a certain amount of time, or carrying supplies to other bases.

According to Ozawa, the development team paid close attention to player feedback from Valkyria Chronicles when designing and developing the sequel.

“We think and hope this will prove more of a success than the first title,” Ozawa said. “We really listened to what players wanted and we expanded the world. Players said they wanted more variation so we added customization options; they said they wanted more background for the supporting characters in the game, so we added more missions.”

One of the repeated requests was to bring the Valkyria Chronicles sequel to the PSP rather than the PS3, which is exactly what the development team did.

“A lot of people told us they wanted to play the game with friends over the PSP, and that’s what we aimed for. We wanted to bring the game out as soon as possible and focus more on multiplayer and co-operative play, so that’s why we chose the PSP as a platform. The PSP has both ad-hoc mode and wireless play so it was a perfect choice.”

Because of the difference in screen size from the PS3 to the PSP, Ozawa and Motoyama chose to focus less on story and more on the game’s missions and separate “events” that explore the minor characters in the game. The story elements, while not as prevalent as in the first game, are manifested through short cut-scenes inspired by the artistic style of Japanese filmmaker and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, as well as war films like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.

Fans of the first Valkyria Chronicles will be pleased to know that the game’s Blitz battle system has remained largely unchanged. While Ozawa and Motoyama admit it was hard to port the system over to the PSP and make it work the same way, they are confident that those who played the first game will have no trouble navigating their way around the system.

“It was really hard to port this battle system over but we think we brought the same experience to the PSP, after a lot of work. We’ve also included a few new features and maps which we hope players will be pleased with.”

These new features include customization options for weapons (of which there are now more than 600) as well as the addition of a tank, which players can take control of and move around during missions. As in the first game, the combat will be split between an overhead mode and a third-person action mode using turn-based play. The multiple area maps will be connected by enemy camps, which players must capture to reveal new areas.

Of course, the game’s biggest new feature will be versus and co-operative play. Players will be able to choose from a large variety of customized units based on the existing classes, as well as different maps with objectives that include destroying an opponent’s unit and capturing enemy bases. There is also a co-op mode that will allow players to work and attack together.

“A lot of people said they loved the originality of the first game,” Motoyama said. “We hope we’ve given them more of that, and we hope we improved on the first game by giving players some of the features they wanted.”

Xbox360 Resonance of Fate Updated Impressions

By Laura Parker, GameSpot AU

Inside the realm of Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) the pressure to create something innovative and ultimately successful is ever-present. While tri-Ace Studio’s upcoming title Resonance of Fate for the Xbox 360 and PS3 has yet to tick the successful box, the mix of real-time and turn-based gameplay and absence of magic and swords in this JRPG is helping to keep things interesting. We sat down with a hands-off demo from tri-Ace director Takayuki Suguro and Sega producer Mitsuhiro Shimano to get a better insight into what makes Resonance of Fate stand out from the rest.

Resonance of Fate’s story is about a futuristic Earth, where poisonous gases have permeated the atmosphere, forcing people to build a giant air purifier tower known as Basel. A city develops around the Basel tower, with a strong class hierarchy taking charge of society--the upper classes live in luxury apartments at the top of Basel while the lower classes reside in camps and districts built around the base of the tower. Unbeknownst to its residents, Basel has a mind of its own and soon enough the giant machine begins to rule lives and control destinies. The game’s three main characters are part of the middle class, working as mercenaries and completing missions and tasks for the ruling class. Players will take control of the three characters in mission-based gameplay that will involve unlocking more and more areas of the Basel tower to reach the top, battling a mix of enemies and bosses along the way.

According to Suguro and Shimano, Resonance of Fate stands out from other JRPGs because of the decision to use guns rather than traditional magic and swords, something that the developers were unsure of at first.

“We wanted to step away from traditional RPGs and go with something that will make sense given the game’s gritty context and setting in a world ruled by machines,” Suguro said. “Traditional swords and magic in RPGs is becoming very banal. We wanted something different with acrobatic actions and camera angles.

“The other main difference between our game and other RPGs is the tempo. We know that Western gamers don’t really like the slow nature of the command and turn-based battle systems so we tried to create something different with the incorporation of real-time elements. We wanted to make a hybrid between an RPG and an action game.”

The real-time elements are so prominent that Resonance of Fate is in fact being marketed as a real-time game. The tri-Attack-Battle system in the game incorporates a mixture of real-time and turn-based elements in the gameplay--players will control each of the three characters in turn in order to defeat an enemy. Each character must traverse a fixed course (denoted by a blue line on-screen), which is set by the player. The objective is to make this trajectory as long as possible within the limitations of the screen in order to give the character enough time to hit the enemy as many times as possible before reaching the end of the trajectory. It is also necessary to interject character trajectories to build up something called “Resonance attacks”, which will see all three characters attacking the enemy at the same time. Once a character’s turn is over, the enemy will make its move, followed by the player’s second character, and so on.

During attacks, characters can continually switch weapons and use a charging system by pressing the attack button at the right time in correspondence to an on-screen meter, which will increase damage. Once an enemy is defeated, new areas of the map will be unlocked and players will gain access to in-game currency and new parts to be used in the game’s extensive weapon customization menu.

“We think the battle system in Resonance of Fate is a lot easier than traditional RPGs,“ Suguro said. “We wanted to give players more room for exploration and strategic thinking in battles by giving them an easy system to master, which will allow for more creativity if the game is played through a second or third time.”

To keep the tempo of the battles quick, the developers severely reduced the length of the battle animations, which means players will not have to wait a long time before jumping back into it.

The game’s real-time element also comes through in the animated cut-scenes, which all play out in real time. This means things like the time of day and the characters’ clothes and appearance (which can all be customized) are reflected in the visually stunning mini movies.

The game also includes three features designed to heighten its replay value: a battle retry option that lets users restart any battle if they are defeated, a quick-save feature that lets players save the game at any point, and a new game plus feature that allows players to re-play the game from start to finish using the same items as the last play-through.

“These features are there because we wanted players to think about the combat strategy they employ in battles and try out different things,” Suguro said. “We also wanted to give hardcore gamers the option of replaying through the game without the need to go back and acquire everything they need all over again. That way it’s more fun and challenging, and gives players more time for exploration.”

While the game is still in its final stages of development, Suguro and Shimano are confident that Resonance of Fate will appeal to the Western market as much as it does to the Japanese market.

“We were careful to remove some of the things in the game that we know Western players don’t like, like the lack of tempo during battles. We hope and believe that everyone will like it. It’s very different, from its battle system down to the visuals. It was a leap of faith for us and we hope it pays off.”

PS3 Nagoshi talks Yakuza 3

Review by www.gamespot.com

The Yakuza series was not intended for mass-market popularity. At the time of its conception, the objective behind the series was very narrow: a Sony-exclusive action-adventure with a strong Japanese focus aimed at Japanese adult males. But as it turns out, the inner workings of Japan’s crime underworld is of interest to a lot of people, both in Japan and outside. Since its debut in 2005, the Yakuza series has been critically acclaimed worldwide for its innovative gameplay and strong sense of visual style, increasing its popularity in Japan and creating a growing fanbase around the world.

However, Yakuza fans outside Japan have had to be patient. Traditionally, Yakuza games have been slow to come to the Western market, released one or even two years after their Japanese debuts. Yakuza Kenzan, the Yakuza spin-off title set in Edo-period Kyoto, has still not been released in the West despite its March 2008 release date in Japan. Those holding their breath for the Western release of Yakuza 3 were set at ease last week following the announcement that the game will finally be making its way West, arriving in North America, Europe and Australia in March 2010.

While in Japan this month, we sat down with Sega producer and designer Toshihiro Nagoshi, whose work includes producing the Yakuza games and the Super Monkey Ball series. Nagoshi believes Yakuza’s popularity stems from the fact that the concept of the series was new at the time of its release.

“By focusing on Japan, adults and males, I created a condensed attraction,” Nagoshi said. “This turned out to be popular to a lot of people, not just its target market. I realized how much people liked the games and it grew from there.”

Yakuza 3’s biggest improvement over its predecessors, according to Nagoshi, is in the way the game looks. The development team worked to utilize the full technical capabilities of the PS3, creating stylish cut-scenes, in-depth side missions, and realistic weather effects.

“I wanted to focus on making the city look as realistic as possible,” Nagoshi said.

Nagoshi says more Japanese developers need to focus on breaking the Western market and creating games that appeal both to Japanese and Western gamers. However, the way to do this is not by copying Western formulas in game development, but by coming up with new and innovative concepts that work.

“Japanese gamers and Western gamers don’t like the same things,” Nagoshi said. “But we need to concentrate on working with Western developers to come up with games that appeal to both markets. This is what I would like to do one day.”

Nagoshi also believes that while Japanese-developed games often don’t make a lasting impression in the Western market right now, ten years ago things were different.

“I predicted this would happen. Japanese games used to be very popular in the West, and we need to return to that stage. Even the Japanese market is suffering and game sales have been going down. The only thing to do is to keep making interesting games,” Nagoshi said.

Without speculating on whether Yakuza Kenzan will ever get a Western release, Nagoshi said he was interested in creating another game in the future that would give gamers new experiences in the Yakuza setting.

“The biggest objective with Yakuza Kenzan was to make big changes to the Yakuza setting and give people a new experience when what they were expecting was Yakuza 3. I want to keep doing this," Nagoshi said.

While Nagoshi could not answer questions regarding timing and release of Yakuza games in the West, we spoke to managing director of Sega Australia, Darren Macbeth, who said the publisher needs to be comfortable enough that there is a strong market in the West before giving the go-ahead to local Japanese releases like the Yakuza series.

"Feedback from our fans online has suggested that there are more than a few gamers out there that are looking forward to a local Yakuza 3 release," Macbeth said. "We are listening to this feedback. However, releasing Japanese titles in the West is a tricky beast. In a lot of cases we have a very strong vocal group of fans, who demand the opportunity to play these games in their local markets, and are very outspoken in their support. However when the time comes, they are reluctant to stay committed and actually make the purchase. For this reason, although taking consumer feedback into consideration is important, we really need to analyse the market and competitive landscape to determine for ourselves if localization of Japanese games is indeed warranted."

Macbeth is positive that Yakuza 3 will do better than its predecessors in the West, given the market for the games has grown. However, he says there are no plans to release Yakuza Kenzan in the West.

"There is nothing in the plan at this stage for Yakuza Kenzan. Right now we are focusing on the release of Yakuza 3. The feedback we get from this release will help us in making future decisions," Macbeth said.

Dark Void Zero: First Look and Hands-On

review by www.gamespot.com

By now, everyone should be familiar with Capcom's upcoming Dark Void for the PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360. The action game is being developed by Seattle-based Airtight Games and casts you in the role of the unluckiest cargo pilot in recent memory by the name of William Grey. Grey is going about his business flying around the Bermuda Triangle--admittedly not the smartest thing to be doing--when he's pulled into a parallel universe ruled by a race called the Watchers. When Grey shows up, he finds that he's not the only human to get pulled into the world as there's a sizable population of folk on hand. Unfortunately, the Watchers aren't very good hosts and have made a practice of enslaving newly arrived humans to do their bidding. Obviously, this doesn't sit well with Grey who opts to fight his way back home.

Check out the trailer for the retro-themed Dark Void Zero!

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As laid out in the game's backstory, humans arriving and even rebelling aren't necessarily a new thing in Dark Void's universe; case in point, the upcoming Dark Void Zero. The original game is being developed by Emeryville-based Other Ocean exclusively for the DSi as a downloadable DSiWare game and tells a tale set before the upcoming Dark Void for consoles. Now, given the hardware disparity between consoles and Nintendo's handheld, Other Ocean and Capcom have made a smart move into left field with Dark Void Zero's presentation by going retro to make the game an 8-bit NES-style 2D action game. We got the chance to play around with the bite-sized game, and we have to say, it's charming and tough.

So when we say Dark Void Zero has a retro look to it, we need to point out this is consistent across the board. Capcom has crafted an authentic and old-school experience that will make veteran gamers smile. The moment you fire up the game, you're asked to "blow" on your virtual cartridge in order to get it to work. Once the microphone detects some air, you'll get an animation of an onscreen cartridge plugging in to the bottom screen of your DS, which launches the game. When you launch the game, you'll be filled in on the story by an awesomely dramatic cinema, and by "cinema," we mean a series of blocky still images. You're cast in the role of Rusty, a character actually seen in the upcoming console game--one of the first freedom fighters in the parallel world. Famed scientist and electricity enthusiast Nikola Tesla is on hand to offer support and guidance as you set out to fight for humankind.

The game's story follows Rusty's attempts to fight the Watcher overlords and liberate the humans from their rule. The action will take place over three good-sized levels that will be set in different environments. Each locale will have its own boss, as well as primary and secondary missions to complete. Gameplay will be displayed on the DS touch screen with a map of the area you're in showing up on the top screen. Your revolutionary journey will play out in side-scrolling run-and-gun style with some platforming tossed in for good measure. You'll take on assorted enemies, which reappear after a set amount of time, and many of them are based on the foes in the console game. While you're obviously outnumbered, you'll find six different weapons and various pickups, such as fire-rate boosts and force fields that will offer a bonus for a short period of time. In addition, you'll find keys and other items you'll need for your various quests. But, most importantly, you'll find jetpack pickups that will let you fly around.

The game's control scheme is a solid two-button scheme that is pretty perfect for the running, jumping, shooting, and flying you'll be doing. Shooting is pretty straightforward: You'll just hit the button to fire and aim with the D pad. You'll be able to shoot around you, even below you on certain platforms, which is handy for dealing with foes that will come at you from different directions. Jumping has some depth to it once you factor in the jetpack. When you start the game, you won't have a jetpack and just jump. However, once you pick it up, you'll be able to mix up your button presses to take advantage of the jetpack. Holding the jump button will let you boost upward while a double-tapping jump will let you hover indefinitely. Obviously, the D pad will let you steer around and access new areas while flying.

Dark Void Zero in action.

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Now, while we mentioned Dark Void's excellent old-school sprite look earlier, we also need to call out the game's audio. You can expect to hear an oddly comforting array of simple sound effects that represent the magic of 8-bit sound hardware. We're also pleased to hear that Bear McCreary has also gotten into the act as the veteran composer, who is doing the score for the console game and has done the music for Dark Void Zero. McCreary apparently got his hands on some old sound equipment to ensure the material would sound authentic and went to town for the DS game's music, which surely sounds of the era.

Based on what we played, Dark Void Zero is shaping up to be a funky little homage to the 8-bit era. The visuals and gameplay are almost pitch-perfect for an old-school NES game. And, the difficulty is about right in the "beat you up and take your lunch money" vein of many of Capcom's old-school classics. Look for Dark Void Zero to hit the Nintendo DSi Shop for 500 points in January.

DS Hifumi Kouno and Atsushi Inaba talk Infinite Space

review by www.gamespot.com

When Platinum Games first signed a four-game deal with Sega in May 2008 no one knew quite what to expect from this bunch of talented developers that once made up a large part of Capcom's successful Clover Studio.

With MadWorld and Bayonetta successfully out of the way, the team's next project will be a DS-exclusive sci-fi role-playing game with a focus on customizable spaceships. Inspired by the science fiction authors Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Egan, Infinite Space will throw players into the middle of a quest to save the universe with the help of over 200 ship designs and a wide variety of ship parts and crew members. The title was created by Platinum Games in collaboration with development studio Nude Maker.

To find out a bit more about the game and the team behind it, we spoke with Nude Maker's Hifumi Kouno and former Clover Studio CEO and producer at Platinum Games, Atsushi Inaba.

GameSpot: What is the concept behind Infinite Space?

Hifumi Kouno: This game is all about venturing into the vast universe by captaining your own fleet of customized spaceships. There are a variety of ships to choose from which you can then build on with a huge selection of available ship parts. As captain, you will also be responsible for assigning roles to your crewmen and keeping them content! As the game progresses, you’ll be able to add up to four additional ships to your fleet and create your own battle formations and strategies.

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GS: Where did the inspiration come from?

HK: I am inspired by the work of the science fiction authors Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Egan. There is a theme running through their literature, and that is how human beings face with universe. I have always wanted to explore that concept within a game. I also love science fiction series like Star Trek and the Japanese anime Space Pirate Captain Herlock.

GS: Tell us a little more about the game's story and its main themes.

HK: The major theme of the story is the human quest to understand their reason for existence within the universe. As well as this, with the setting of space, adventure and exploration are also important themes. Within the game, the player will take on the role of Yuri, the son of a famous space adventurer, and search of the mystical Epitaph, which is believed to be the key to saving the universe. The adventure is full of surprises and productive for young Yuri through various conflicts and hurdles, but glorious young days do not last long. The last half of the story mainly shows Yuri’s suffering and struggles.

GS: How is the game played and what are the player's objectives?

HK: The story proceeds by players visiting taverns and specific places on various planets. In each chapter, there will be separate objectives, and players will proceed by accomplishing each objective. There will also be small sub-events and selections that concern the main storyline, and each player can choose and decide for themselves which ones to take on. Of course, players will need to prepare their fleet for attack during their journey.

GS: Run us through the customization options in the game. How complex are these? Can you customize individual crew members as well as ship parts?

HK: Players will be able to choose their ship and customize interior modules and weapons. Regarding the crew members, players will decide where to assign the crew and what abilities to extend to them. There aren’t many customization options in the very beginning, so it should not be difficult to start with. However, the battle system has original rules. We are planning a battle tutorial movie and it should be very helpful for understanding the battle system.

GS: How big a part does customization play? Will players have to pay careful attention to how they design their ship?

HK: The specs of the ship are very different between the initial setting and the well-customized setting, even if it’s the same ship. However, it is not difficult to customize once you have learned what to do. Players will be able to cope without the need to pay careful attention. However, my advice is that players should strengthen the living conditions of their ship (i.e mess halls, crew cabins) rather than its physical strength, at least in the beginning.

Apart from the obvious elements such as the fire power and speed of the spaceship, the customization ties into the gameplay in deeper and more subtle ways. For example, how quickly your crew can respond to orders depends on how well their suitable ability is developed. It can take days or weeks for the ships to travel from one place to another, and during this time your crew can become lethargic or dejected. By implementing relaxation or entertainment rooms in your ship, you can affect crew moral which will then change the way they respond in battle.

The reason I designed the game like this and weighed heavily on customization is because I wanted each and every player to be able to complete the game with their favorite and ideal fleet. If the player is a big fan of Galactica, he/she may want to complete the game with a "Carrier" based fleet. If the player is a big fan of Star Wars, he/she may want to complete the game with big "Battleships". The player is able to complete the game any way they want, and with any ship they choose as long as they customize it well.

GS: At first glance the game appears very complex. How steep is the learning curve? Is it targeted only at experienced RPG players?

HK: As I mentioned previously, the battle system of the game is unique and original. It is up to the player how fast they understand and get used to the system. As long as they understand this and customize their ship to cover their fleets’ weak points, the game itself is not so complex. The tutorial movie that we are planning to release should help players better understand the system. You do not need to be an experienced RPG player to play. I have designed some tricks in the game, but to overcome these tricks you'll need wisdom, not experience!

GS: How slow-paced is the gameplay? Does it require patience and a keen eye for detail?

HK: There is no time limit in the game, so players can take as much time as they like. By doing this, and taking the time to explore even the places that might appear to be worthless, players will encounter various sub-events or unexpected characters. Patience is not strongly required, but wisdom is, as I mentioned previously.

GS: You mentioned a "unique and original battle system"--can you tell us a little bit more about this?

HK: Just like other RPGs, players can earn experiences and credits by defeating enemies in random encounter battles. You will then be able to build/customize your ship with the credit you earn. In some of the event battles, the crew members that join your ship may change depending on how you defeat your enemies.

GameSpot: Platinum Games has quite a pedigree. Was the idea for Infinite Space floating around before the deal with Sega or did it come as a result of it?

Atsushi Inaba: The idea initially occurred when I talked with Mr. Kouno from Nude Maker. The deal with Sega began to progress at the same time.

GS: A lot of previous titles developed by members of the Platinum Games team were more of a critical rather than commercial hit. What was your aim with Infinite Space?

AI: We did initially aim to acquire not only positive critical feedback but also commercial success. Needless to say this will also be the case for Infinite Space. However, what I am most interested in is what kind of evaluation this type of game receives overseas.

GS: What is the significance of the platform in the development of this title? Why is the DS the best platform for this game?

AI: We estimated that developing this game on other consoles would involve a huge risk, because of the amount of large-scale customization and story we hoped to achieve. I concluded that no matter how we put it together, we could not accomplish the initial plan because of the development cost and the time constraints, and as such there would be no way of making it. I made the final decision as a producer of the game of develop for the DS.

GS: Infinite Space has been on the Japanese market for a few months now. How well did the game do?

AI: I think we did a good job building the hype just before launching. However, we lost big opportunities due to the stock-out in the first week of its release, and the length of the time it takes to make more ROM cartridges. We do feel relieved to hear the users’ reactions that they are satisfied with the game.

GS: Do you think the title will do well in the West?

AI: As mentioned earlier, I am eagerly waiting on the feedback from the Western audience. I believe that their evaluation of this kind of genre/gaming may affect the future direction of producing.

GS: Is there scope for an Infinite Space sequel or perhaps a series?

AI: If we had a chance we would love to make a sequel. There is no meaning to making original titles if we don’t make sequels/series from what we learned in developing the new IP. However, this is only after we receive good feedback from the market. Above all, Sega is the IP holder so it’s up to them.

GS: Finally, what is the Platinum Games team working on next?

AI: We're working to provide titles full of originality, and to bring the market a pleasant surprise. These two themes are our eternal concept at Platinum Games. We will keep working towards these objectives and develop titles accordingly.

GS: Thanks for your time, Hifumi Kouno and Atsushi Inaba.

PC Fallen Earth: Welcome to the Apocalypse Review

Review by www.gamespot.com

Fallen Earth's vision of the future is a bleak one. Horrific mutants roam the desolate plains, violent splinter groups worship computer AIs, and you must rummage through bags and scavenge junkyards if you intend to survive. Unfortunately, the postapocalyptic setting isn't this ambitious massively multiplayer online game's only harsh attribute: An array of troubling bugs, a steep learning curve, and dated visuals make playing occasionally seem more of a chore than a pleasure. Technical flaws and missing MMOG-standard features are as much a part of Fallen Earth as its warring factions and mutated chickens, so if you're not the patient and forgiving type, you shouldn't make this your next virtual home. It's unfortunate that Fallen Earth's exterior is so troubled because underneath it dwells a complex economy and oft-brilliant quest writing that draw you in despite the blemishes. These diamonds are invaluable, but the laborious task of mining for them can be exhausting.

You can ride off into the sunset, but in the postapocalypse, there are no happy endings.

The game's setting is intriguing and unlike any other MMOG on the market. The American Southwest is the last known cradle of civilization after natural disasters and nuclear war devastate the planet, and it's here that you'll struggle against the mutated beasts and lawless brigands that threaten what's left of humanity. You and other players are clones--able to regenerate in a LifeNet pod after each death. After a brief tutorial that introduces you to combat and interface basics, you find yourself in the middle of a meager desert town with only the barest essentials to help you scrape by. And it will take you a long time before you feel like you're doing anything but scraping by. Fallen Earth is a harsh mistress. You spend your first hours trying to get your bearings, seeking help from your fellow players, and slowly determining how you are going to earn enough gambling chips (that is, money) to endure. It might take hours before you as much gain your first level or even find a way to buy a weapon or armor effective enough to protect you should you venture away from the cold comfort of your starting village.

You won't ever tame the dusty brown Arizona wastelands, but you will eventually become part of its ecology. Scavenging is important and inescapable, so as you make your way further into the desert, you'll find more and more resource nodes waiting to be plundered. You collect such minerals as coal, lead, and copper; forage for mushrooms, grain, and varied edibles; and stockpile scrap iron, glass, and rubber found in decrepit vehicles and mounds of rubbish. You can purchase necessary items as well, but it's more cost effective--and often necessary--to find it yourself. In turn, you can use these resources to craft essentially any usable object found in Fallen Earth. Depending on your proclivities, you can fashion shivs and lawnmower blades to use in melee combat; pistols and crossbows if you prefer to keep your enemies at a distance; armor of all sorts, from jackets to boots; and all kinds of auxiliary items, from ammo and acid to ATV engines and horse feed.

In time you'll long for more storage space.

If you enjoy the complicated economies of games like EVE and Pirates of the Burning Sea, Fallen Earth will scratch that same itch. Crafting is simple and painless: As long as you have the knowledge and items necessary, you can craft items anywhere (though the process is quicker in specific crafting labs). It takes some items minutes, hours, even days to complete, though like in EVE, crafting continues without further input once started--even if you are offline. Nor are you stuck with a particular discipline. As long as you obtain the book that teaches you the knowledge and level the crafting discipline high enough, you can make anything or everything. What you don't use, you can sell to a merchant or put up for auction, though because armor and weapons degrade over time, you may want to keep backups handy (though you can also mend those items with the right repair kit).

Like with crafting, you aren't forced into a single combat class. You can activate a template to help guide you toward a specific role, but there are no actual classes. You can mix and match to your heart's content, spending the advancements points you earn in any way you like. But whether you stick with pistols, rifles, or melee, you won't find Fallen Earth's combat very compelling. At least it strives for something different, eschewing the enemy auto-locking of other MMOGs and going for a pseudo real-time system that simulates a first- or third-person shooter. But whether you go for ranged combat or keep your foes close, combat is clumsy and lacks a sense of impact. When using melee weapons, battles are a mess of odd, jittery animations (particularly if you dual-wield) and flailing limbs made more awkward by weak sound effects. The imprecise targeting reticles of early ranged weapons like crossbows and zipguns make shooting equally inelegant. Better weapons lead to better combat later on, but even then, skirmishes are messy and unrewarding. Not even special abilities and mutations (Fallen Earth's version of magic) can energize the action; they don't look dramatic and, therefore, aren't that fun to use.

A rare glimpse of vivid color.

Combat isn't the source of all of Fallen Earth's shortcomings, though it does showcase some of the game's more bizarre behaviors. Enemies run toward you and position themselves in odd ways once combat is initiated rather than just run at you straight on, and they follow you for unusually long distances if giving you chase, even if they are many levels below you. If you defeat a human enemy, its rag doll might fly 20 feet into the air and flip cartwheels before landing. And these are among the less egregious technical and design flaws. At one point, we fell through the floor at a mission waypoint, which initiated an inescapable loop of falling and respawning; extricating ourselves required the assistance of a game master. (Similar requests are common in the in-game help channel.) Missions don't always update right away or may not update at all, and your active mission display will reset to another mission if you die or log out. Game performance takes a huge dive in populated areas; you'll see enemies and other players teleport around due to occasional but annoying lag spikes; and crashes, while less frequent than they were at the game's launch, are still common enough to be frustrating. There's just an unfortunate amount of technical clutter standing between you and your enjoyment.

Yet while the clutter hinders the fun, it doesn't demolish it. Quests are extremely well written, so while most of them are kill-this, collect-that tropes, they give superb context to your actions. You'll meet a grieving husband who has created a family of pitiable human shells in trying to clone his dead wife. Rival gangs play off each other as they vie for regional dominance. Fungal blights threaten the precious few crops sustaining the nearby town. Mission dialogue is mature but not gratuitously so, and the circumstances they describe seem authentic given the cruelties of the postapocalypse. Quest-giver Carrie Pennington sends you on a simple mission to kill humpbacked monstrosities, but when she tells you the town has taken up a collection to pay for your services, her desperation rings true. With each mission you take, this horrific vision of the future takes on added poignancy, and once you reach a high enough level to choose a faction (and reap faction-specific mission rewards), the tension mounts as you discover the ideological differences that divide them.

Well-written dialogue makes killing this boss extra-sweet.

Of course, you won't always be alone when you tackle these missions. You'll need to grab a few buddies for the team-oriented missions like infiltrating a decrepit prison or exterminating a giant scorpion, though you can spend most of your time as a lone ranger. Unfortunately, Fallen Earth doesn't offer any of the helpful grouping tools you might take for granted in other recent MMOGs. You can't search for open groups or sort through different clans that might be recruiting. Instead, you'll need to do things the old-fashioned way: By seeking help in the regional chat channel and hoping for the best. You'll definitely want to be in a supportive clan or have the help of friends if you want to hazard the game's free-for-all player-versus-player areas: The resources you'll find there are valuable, but even in these hushed badlands, you can't always play the solitary hero.

But alone or with a friend, Fallen Earth's missions do a good job of sending you across the entire map to take on new quests and learn new crafting disciplines. You'll spend a lot of time traveling, so you should obtain a horse or ATV at your earliest opportunity. Travel can take you across lands fertile with resources, from cacti to lead nodes, which is a good thing considering your reliance on crafting supplies. Other times, the landscape is striking in its emptiness, barren of both creatures to fight and trash reserves to search. The stark environs add a lot to the atmosphere, but boredom can set in when you spend 10 minutes galloping to your destination. The occasional tedium is compounded once you've collected large numbers of raw materials and your crafting plans are in full swing. Inventory space is limited and cannot be expanded. Thus, you either make too-frequent (and often lengthy) trips back to the city to stuff excess necessities in a vault and sell the chaff or sort out the loot to salvage what is most helpful and leave the rest behind.

This prison has really gone to the dogs.

The lonely treks would be easier to embrace if the world were easier to look at, but Fallen Earth is not an attractive game. There are notable sights: hovering overpasses, a small village dotted with multicolored umbrellas, and an abandoned amusement park. But the technology doesn't do these visual touches justice. Textures are bland, lighting is weak, and graphical glitches (such as limbs disappearing from character models) are common. Without textural detail or slick animations to compensate, the fascinating world eventually turns into a humdrum sea of brown and bronze. One aspect of the production stands out, however: the excellent soundtrack. The strums of a guitar give one town a decidedly Wild West feel, while discordant strings raise tension levels in another. The music is both atmospheric and unobtrusive, sometimes enhancing the bleakness while at other times easing the solitude.

Fallen Earth has its pleasures, particularly once you reach its second major region and discover the wealth of content factional missions provide. Taking long trips across the wastes, scavenging for valuable resources, and enduring the slow pace of early leveling, however, makes it so that it will take a while before you see Fallen Earth at its most enjoyable. Even then, it's hard to escape the clumsy combat, notable bugs, and general user unfriendliness. Obviously, this is not a virtual world for everyone. But if you're willing to endure the flaws and occasional heartaches, you might become attached to Fallen Earth in spite of it all. There is a bright gem in here, but all the debris makes it tough to see the glow.

PC Heir to the Throne Review

Review by www.gamespot.com

The "complete edition" of 2007's historical grand strategy epic Europa Universalis 3--bundled with its first two expansions--was released over a year ago. At that time, EU3 felt complete, with its hundreds of playable countries, diverse options for intrigue and diplomacy, and a plethora of religious and colonial conflicts appropriate for its 1399 to 1820 timeline. However, the complete edition proved premature because the third expansion Heir to the Throne has just been released. Despite its deceptively small size--barely more than 15 megabytes--Heir to the Throne greatly improves upon EU3 by adding a new casus belli system, making combat more fun, occupying monarchs with dynastic dramas, and revising the internal politics of the Holy Roman Empire.

Step aside France, there's a new unseemly giant blob on the political map: the Holy Roman Empire.

Diplomacy receives the biggest overhaul in Heir to the Throne, with war justifications and peace treaties getting the bulk of the attention. In EU3, your regime's stability would suffer if you launched an unprovoked war, so concocting a just cause--or casus belli--for your ruthless wars of conquest was advisable. Unfortunately, each casus belli had the same effect on stability, and no distinction existed between, for instance, waging a holy war or reclaiming stolen land. Thankfully, Heir to the Throne features a dozen different casus belli each of which now has a significant effect on how you wage war and make peace. This lowers the war score needed to force your enemy to yield to your legitimate demands in a peace treaty, and it also determines the international respect or hostility you gain by victory. For example, the Reconquest casus belli lets you annex your claimed territories without accruing any infamy; Canceled Loan makes demanding monetary reparations easier; and Religious Unity doubles the prestige you get for forcing your enemy to convert. Just as in the original EU3, you can still devise your own peace treaty regardless of your casus belli, but unjustified demands can seriously alienate your neighbors.

Warmongers will be pleased to hear that combat has been significantly improved in Heir to the Throne. Previously, in EU3, you were forced to play extended games of whack-a-mole with retreating enemy armies as they bounced from province to province like a ping-pong ball--always routed by your army, but never, ever dying. In contrast, armies in Heir to the Throne immediately surrender when they run out of morale, and they must stand and fight for several days before retreating, which means that you'll have time to get in some good licks. Also improved are the battles against pirates, who are no longer able to retreat from battle. Additionally, pirates tend not to spawn in sea zones near your fleets, which makes combating piracy much more manageable and allows you to concentrate on more important things like ridding the world of heathen religions. The elimination of cartoonishly resilient armies and pirates was sorely needed, making warmongering more fruitful and enjoyable. Why wasn't EU3 always like this?

Another improvement to an existing game mechanic is the reenvisioning of the Holy Roman Empire. As the leader of this loose confederation of central European states, the holy roman emperor can now gain imperial authority, a type of political capital that he can use to improve relations with member states or to modernize the empire's institutions. You can now turn the empire into a hereditary monarchy or even unify it as a single state, which makes being the emperor fun and engrossing, unlike in the previous system, in which the title of emperor merely conveyed a few statistical modifiers rather than a sense of purpose.

Also gaining a new sense of purpose is the College of Cardinals, whose members have given up their lust for worldly things and are now incorruptible. This means that you can no longer bribe them to elect your puppet as pope. The pontiff may still become your toady, which gives you stat boosts and the ability to have your rivals excommunicated, but you can only accomplish this by amassing enough papal influence. This is granted based on your policies, and if your government is sufficiently intolerant of heretics and heathens, then you will be quite popular with the Holy See. Overall, the influence system is a welcome change from the laborious micromanagement of cardinal bribing, but cynics with a sizable disposable income may prefer the old ways.

The new dynastic mechanics plague you with all manner of civil wars and foreign interventions.

While foreign intrigues are an amusing diversion, monarchies must never forget their most important goal: the continuation of the dynasty. Monarchs now belong to dynasties that often rule over several countries at once, so if your monarch dies without an heir, you can be certain that a foreign cousin will pop up with a claim to the throne and an army ready to enforce it. However, having an heir does not guarantee peace and tranquility either, particularly if the heir is a bastard child from an unsanctioned union with a maid. For instance, a bastard king will likely see pretenders launch rebellions in an attempt to seize power, forcing you to divert your attention from bribing the holy roman emperor to suppress the insurgents. While monarchical dynasties are a great addition to EU3, they pale in comparison to the great dynastic dramas and family trees of Crusader Kings, an earlier Paradox game. Whereas in Crusader Kings, you could discreetly dispose of your barren, aging queen and marry a fertile young maiden to increase your chances of producing an heir, in Heir to the Throne, you don't get much of a say in the matter.

Also missing is the ability to influence your heir's characteristics through either genetics or upbringing, which would have been useful and fun. The worst part of dynastic gameplay occurs when the monarch dies but the heir is too young to rule. When that happens, your country will be run by a regency council until the heir comes of age, which could be up to 20 years away. Regency councils cannot start wars, so you may be unable to capitalize on all sorts of casus belli opportunities while patiently waiting for the heir to grow up.

Like monarchies, merchant republics have also been revitalized in Heir to the Throne, with the addition of the ability to create monopolistic trade leagues in which the members cooperate rather than compete and sell their goods exclusively in centers of trade owned by the league. Additionally, merchant republics can negotiate with other countries to obtain exclusive rights to a trade good, such as iron, slaves, or cloth. This means, for instance, that all of the iron produced in Austria would be sold in the merchant republic's trade centers. By utilizing these opportunities, merchants can get very wealthy in Heir to the Throne, but other countries can also improve their economies by designating a single province as their national focus, which grants substantial economic bonuses, as well as the ability to create a new center of trade in the region.

The French are dishonorable scum! Let's have a war with them, shall we?

The revisions to diplomacy, warfare, and economics are complemented by an improved map and interface. Gone are the unsightly permanent terra incognita provinces--the enigmatic and untraversable white blobs that sullied vast tracts of Africa and the Americas. In Heir to the Throne, they have been replaced by wastelands, which you can explore but not colonize. This eliminates any ire you may have harbored for that menacing white blob perched eternally atop northern Siberia. Other changes to the map include giving the London province sea access, as well as the addition of a number of new map modes. These include an invaluable revolt risk view, which highlights the provinces most likely to revolt. In addition to the revised map, the interface has been greatly improved by new tool tips and icons that notify you when certain actions are available, such as when you can build better units or interfere in a neighboring country's dynastic crisis. The best interface addition of all is the new modifiers screen, which shows all of your country's currents modifiers and their effects.

The modifiers to your country's stats are still largely determined by the decisions that you implement, but this mechanic has been reworked. Decisions now require magistrates, a human resource like EU3's colonists, spies, and merchants. Your country generates magistrates at a rate determined by factors like the number of universities that you've built or the decisions that you've implemented. Regardless of how you get them, they tend to be scarce, which means that you'll often face tough choices like whether to spend all of your magistrates to build a single canal or to build roads in multiple provinces. Don't give too much power to your magistrates, however, or they may try to stage a coup--turning the government into a bureaucratic despotism.

Another addition to the decision mechanic is a whole new class known as the cultural decision. These can increase your country's cultural tradition, which is used to train special advisers to the monarch. Previously, you had to wait for providence to bestow your court with suitable adviser candidates, but now, you get the satisfaction of training only the adviser types that you actually need. Finally, you won't have to pray for a sheriff or ambassador to show up at your castle's door; instead, you can educate him at one of your country's universities.

Never trust those shifty magistrates!

The problems with Heir to the Throne are pretty minimal. The biggest problem is that the game requires EU3 and its first two expansions, which could dissuade people who don't already own the so-called complete edition. Additionally, one could interpret Heir's tiny download size as proof that it could or should have been a patch. However, Heir improves nearly every aspect of EU3 and offers more content than Napoleon's Ambition, the first expansion to EU3, so its small size belies the fact that it packs in a lot of improvements per megabyte. Heir is a much more significant upgrade than a mere patch. Whether these improvements are worth the $20 asking price is subjective, of course, but they do make EU3 significantly more enjoyable.

The plethora of improvements introduced in Heir to the Throne have made Europa Universalis 3 a more engaging and user-friendly experience. Particularly immersive are the new casus belli system, the revisions to combat, and the internal politics of the Holy Roman Empire. These features will give fans ample reason to spend countless additional hours kicking the Turks out of Byzantium, unifying the Holy Roman Empire, and taking Napoleon's Grande Armee out for a spin. Newcomers interested in Heir to the Throne should watch for the inevitable "Europa Universalis 3 Complete: We really mean it this time" edition. Whether or not this title sticks, strategy fans will find that the latest iteration of Europa Universalis 3 is a bona fide classic.

Like monarchies, merchant republics have also been revitalized in Heir to the Throne, with the addition of the ability to create monopolistic trade leagues in which the members cooperate rather than compete and sell their goods exclusively in centers of trade owned by the league. Additionally, merchant republics can negotiate with other countries to obtain exclusive rights to a trade good, such as iron, slaves, or cloth. This means, for instance, that all of the iron produced in Austria would be sold in the merchant republic's trade centers. By utilizing these opportunities, merchants can get very wealthy in Heir to the Throne, but other countries can also improve their economies by designating a single province as their national focus, which grants substantial economic bonuses, as well as the ability to create a new center of trade in the region.

The French are dishonorable scum! Let's have a war with them, shall we?

The revisions to diplomacy, warfare, and economics are complemented by an improved map and interface. Gone are the unsightly permanent terra incognita provinces--the enigmatic and untraversable white blobs that sullied vast tracts of Africa and the Americas. In Heir to the Throne, they have been replaced by wastelands, which you can explore but not colonize. This eliminates any ire you may have harbored for that menacing white blob perched eternally atop northern Siberia. Other changes to the map include giving the London province sea access, as well as the addition of a number of new map modes. These include an invaluable revolt risk view, which highlights the provinces most likely to revolt. In addition to the revised map, the interface has been greatly improved by new tool tips and icons that notify you when certain actions are available, such as when you can build better units or interfere in a neighboring country's dynastic crisis. The best interface addition of all is the new modifiers screen, which shows all of your country's currents modifiers and their effects.

The modifiers to your country's stats are still largely determined by the decisions that you implement, but this mechanic has been reworked. Decisions now require magistrates, a human resource like EU3's colonists, spies, and merchants. Your country generates magistrates at a rate determined by factors like the number of universities that you've built or the decisions that you've implemented. Regardless of how you get them, they tend to be scarce, which means that you'll often face tough choices like whether to spend all of your magistrates to build a single canal or to build roads in multiple provinces. Don't give too much power to your magistrates, however, or they may try to stage a coup--turning the government into a bureaucratic despotism.

Another addition to the decision mechanic is a whole new class known as the cultural decision. These can increase your country's cultural tradition, which is used to train special advisers to the monarch. Previously, you had to wait for providence to bestow your court with suitable adviser candidates, but now, you get the satisfaction of training only the adviser types that you actually need. Finally, you won't have to pray for a sheriff or ambassador to show up at your castle's door; instead, you can educate him at one of your country's universities.

Never trust those shifty magistrates!

The problems with Heir to the Throne are pretty minimal. The biggest problem is that the game requires EU3 and its first two expansions, which could dissuade people who don't already own the so-called complete edition. Additionally, one could interpret Heir's tiny download size as proof that it could or should have been a patch. However, Heir improves nearly every aspect of EU3 and offers more content than Napoleon's Ambition, the first expansion to EU3, so its small size belies the fact that it packs in a lot of improvements per megabyte. Heir is a much more significant upgrade than a mere patch. Whether these improvements are worth the $20 asking price is subjective, of course, but they do make EU3 significantly more enjoyable.

The plethora of improvements introduced in Heir to the Throne have made Europa Universalis 3 a more engaging and user-friendly experience. Particularly immersive are the new casus belli system, the revisions to combat, and the internal politics of the Holy Roman Empire. These features will give fans ample reason to spend countless additional hours kicking the Turks out of Byzantium, unifying the Holy Roman Empire, and taking Napoleon's Grande Armee out for a spin. Newcomers interested in Heir to the Throne should watch for the inevitable "Europa Universalis 3 Complete: We really mean it this time" edition. Whether or not this title sticks, strategy fans will find that the latest iteration of Europa Universalis 3 is a bona fide classic.