Thursday, March 01, 2007

Famitsu Wave DVD April 2007

Monster Hunter Portable 2 looms large on the cover of Famitsu Wave DVD April 2007. Print coverage and DVD footage of the following games are included:

» NDS Heroes of Mana
» NDS KuruKuru Princess: Figure de KiraKira Koori no Angel
» NDS Layton
Kyouju no Fushigi na Machi
» PS2 Odin Sphere
» PS3 Virtua Fighter 5
» PS3 Power Smash 3
» PSP Lumines II
» PSP Monster Hunter Portable 2

Other features include Famitsu crew's visit to Enterbrain, gaming challenges, Capcom's promotional event for Monster Hunter Portable 2, and assorted general interest spots.

The Jokouppichi Torimonochou Oanechan GoGOGO

The previous heroine of the Oanechan games has been getting a little long in the tooth. Maybe Aya's on vacation from the self-created killing fields after her impressive work in Vortex. Z. Or maybe D3 Publisher needed to expand their successful Oanechan franchise with a younger and more attractive killer. The new heroine shares one remarkable trait with Aya - the same bad taste in clothing and a lack of any fashion sense.
Set in an alternate reality version of Old Edo, Detective Oharu is a 19 year-old redheaded gal who walks with an extremely odd gait and chops up Edo-era miscreants with a stylized sai (釵). Her alternate weapon is an energy lasso, sort of like Wonder Woman's which is used to tie up enemies and smash them around. As the story goes, a criminal enterprise has infiltrated society with their nefarious operations and it's up to a bright-eyed and impressively endowed young woman to bust up the gang. The game is broken up into levels which are selected from a menu screen with each subsequent stage unlocked after a mission is completed. Furthermore, the levels feature completion percentages. Find all the special items and kill everyone to reach 100% but do a half-ass job and you might scrape by with 50%. Each level concludes by defeating a somewhat mighty boss. «more»

Gundam Musou [Japan Version]

Rocket onto dusty battlefields inside a sporty Gundam RX-78-2 and swing a laser blade to blow Zaku soldiers off their feet. Couple the sword slashes with gunfire to mix up the action and you're a veritable one man army capable of tackling entire legions. In our test play this morning, we noticed that the Zaku armies are fairly subdued and generally stood around waiting for death. Koei's W-Force had improved the AI of their recent Sengoku Musou games where warriors collectively charged in for the kill but in Gundam Musou, the mech enemies hang around at the periphery without offering much resistance. One or two enemy mechs might swing and shoot but the entire gang should all engage at once like a rabid pack of wolves. There were many times where our Gundam could have been shot or slashed but we plowed through the Zaku troops without much adversity. Perhaps later levels will prove to be more of a challenge. That said, the feeling of Gundam movement and booster flight is satisfying. There's a solid resistance to the Gundam as it moves around the battlefield. «more»

Densha de Go! Sanyou Shinkansen

Take control of a Shinkansen bullet train and ferry passengers between Shin Osaka Station located in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka and Hakata Station in Fukuoka. Eschewing the film footage used in the recent PS3 Railfan, Wii Densha hearkens back to the series' roots and features classic graphics that will be familiar to anyone who's played a PS or PS2 Densha game. Three primary modes may be played as follows:

» Driving Mode: Take the reins of a bullet train and play the part of a conductor who observes the rules and conventions of proper Shinkansen operation.

» Free Run: Control the Shinkansen without any of the restrictions imposed by the Driving Mode.

» Kids Mode: A fun and easy mode for young children to enjoy.

A Gallery Mode includes photos and footage of Shinkansen trains to view and examine. «more»

General Updates

Gundam Musou PS3 Bundle
All preorders will ship today. We're sold out this morning but we expect additional supplies by next week. While we'll honor original preorder prices at the US$679 level, we are forced to raise the price for new orders to US$759 due to higher than expected shipping costs. Each console ships in its own individual box which we didn't expect.
Trigger Heart Exelica Restock
The regular edition of Exelica was restocked yesterday. All backorders have shipped and new orders are welcome. Please note that the limited edition is now considered very unlikely to be restocked at normal prices.
Monster Hunter Portable 2 Hunter Pack
We received a few bundles today and preorders will ship this afternoon. If we have any surplus after today's shipments, we'll throw up a product listing by tomorrow morning.
Nintendo Wii Japan Restock
Our belated shipment of Japanese Wii consoles arrived today and all backorders will ship this afternoon. We have a small quantity of stock for new orders but we expect another batch by next week.
GPS Receiver Restocked
We're knee-deep in PSP GPS Receiver restock this morning and ALL BACKORDERS will ship today. New orders are welcome. Just an observation: Sales of the GPS receiver to thE Continent have been strong in the past couple of months possibly due to interesting homebrew software.