Because I Don't Talk About KOEI Enough...

I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't -know- how I manage to come up with so many occasions to talk about KOEI games in general, in that I don't actively look for them.  I guess news just...sort of crops up and me being a whore mass consumer of KOEI things in general, I can just extrapolate enough words from what is very simple announcements and turn it into a post or two.  It happens, and I haven't heard any complaining directly, so I assume you folks don't mind all that much.  Which is good!  Because I'm just gonna...keep doing it, I assume, until KOEI milks out every last bit of goodwill that I have towards them which will likely take a while despite my constant bitching criticisms.  Anyway, this post will be chock-full of new and less-new KOEI goodies that I decided to talk on tonight because I can't think otherwise since my back hurts again.

The above is a trailer for Nobunaga's Ambition:  Creation for PS4, which in itself is just a port of the game of the same name for PS3 and PC that was released last year.  I'm sure I could get some information about the game from the internet, but the fact is, it's probably not going to get localized, so I'm not looking too much into it, even though it would be fucking perfect for Remote Play (if not an outright Vita version, but no, that makes too much sense) and that fact alone makes me all the more sad that I'll never play it.  Of course, I -have- reached out to TecmoKOEI USA's official Twitter about it, but I really doubt that I'm going to hear back from them because, well, you know.  KOEI.  The fact that the account went inactive for months and only resurfaced -yesterday- says more than enough for the prospects of it being used as more than a means to congratulate themselves for whatever small accomplishes they make and no, I'm not bitter at all.

I'm not sure why they chose to go with what appears to be the Honnō-ji Incident for the intro cinematic to a Nobunaga's Ambition game either, but....well, that's at least -one- way to show off your pretty graphics, and especially so on an updated piece of hardware.  Reports indicate that Creation will run at 1080p and 60fps on the PS4 which is hardly surprising (unless you don't trust KOEI's technical acuity) but impressive nonetheless.  You'll also be able to command up to 1,000 men at a time (I assume they're not using the traditional 'units' anymore) rather than only 300 which is certainly something that will add quite a bit to the gameplay.  Regardless of anything, it's going to be a smooth entry (re-entry?) into the Nobunaga's Ambition series and I -do- hold out a little hope of seeing it come out in the West, but that's just it - a little hope.  Still enough to speak on, however, as I did.

There's some good news about Samurai Warriors 4, beyond the (old) news that it might (probably will) come here in the Summer.  The news, specifically, is that Create-a-Samurai is making a return in the base game, and not waiting for one of the expansions to introduce it.  Create-a-Samurai (or Create-a-Warrior for a general application in the Warriors games in general) is fairly self-explanatory, but it's a mode that allows you to customize your own character in name, appearance and fighting style to take into battle.  In the original Samurai Warriors, they handled it in a rather cool way, where you went through 'courses' to train specific aspects of your character, shaping their base attributes to contribute to their overall growth.  I'm not sure if there'll be a similar sort of thing in 4, but it sounds like there's -something- beyond "make your character, okay cool, go kill stuff".

The post mentions that officers will pose questions to you, to which your answers will help mold an image of how they see your character, which I'm sure will have an affect on their build.  Unless it's a fame/infamy type deal in which it won't matter in the least and will be another one for the "waste of effort" pile.  There's also a mention of a map where you can pick missions and if that's true, then that's certainly a departure for Samurai Warriors at least, though it brings it a little more in-line with what the Dynasty Warriors games have been doing with Conquest Mode and the like.  Unless it's specifically for Create-a-Warrior mode, which would be really cool, and reminiscent of Destiny Mode from Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends.  Also known as "one of the reasons DW5 was fucking awesome".

Destiny Mode was a mode in which your character started out as a grunt in the personal army of an officer of your choice.  When I say a grunt, that's explicitly what I mean - your moveset was a three-hit combo, you had shit for health and were more of a liability than anything else, yet were still expected to power through and destroy officers.  With each victory, you gained skill points to bring your character up to par to an -actual- warrior of the ages (buying the ability to have longer combos, musou attacks, etc.) while also bringing glory to whoever you were pledged to, which you could change at certain points if you felt like it.  However, the person you ended up with at the end of the last mission was the person whose weapon set you took after (I believe), so you needed to make sure to stay the course if you wanted someone in particular.  Still, it was empowering, playing some podunk little soldier that moved up to the big leagues (even giving you jobs such as Base Captain and the like) and I'm amazed that KOEI hasn't used it again.  I doubt that Samurai Warriors 4 will use it, but goddamn, I can hope for that too.

Aside from the (probable) release of Samurai Warriors 4 to us, we still don't really know anything about anything else.  Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends is heading this way as we already know, but there's plenty of other games that could get an announcement for Stateside travel as well.  Samurai Warriors 2 HD+XL/Empires, Warriors Orochi 3 Special or whatever the name is, Nobunaga's Ambition, Shin Dynasty Warriors Gundam and I'm sure a few other things I'm forgetting right now.  Hopefully the revival of KOEI's North American Twitter means good things, but in situations where KOEI is concerned, Hope and two quarters'll just get you fifty cents.  Still, I never expected the Vita vesion of DW8+XL to be announced for us (because KOEI would be the ones to be dicks like that) and that's happening, so who knows anymore.  It's a strange, confusing and maybe not all-together terrible world we're living in now.

yes, I know I said hope a lot, I don't care

OKAY NEVERMIND BUYING TERRARIA DAY ONE

I'm a bit weak-willed sometimes.  This can be bad, but not always.  Personally, I'm chalking this one up to "not a bad thing" for this specific instance.

I wanted to be excited for Terraria on Vita, so I was!  And then it took forever to hear anything about it and other versions were announced and released so I sort of lost faith in it because it seemed like a lost cause.  Knowing that the release date was not only soon, but in fact next week shocked the hell out of me and inspired a bit of hope, but I wasn't about to let myself get too into it.  Maybe the port was shoddy.  Maybe it was lacking content.  Maybe -something-.  I didn't expect my opinion to sway back towards hopeful, really.  Though I could see ways that it -could- happen.  Seeing a Vita with a Terraria scene made -in- Terraria -on- a Vita was not one of those things, but goddamnit if it's not what pushed me back over the edge here.

Of course, seeing this Playstation (Europe) blog post for Terraria helps.  It mentions how the controls have been mapped and tweaked to make sense for the Vita's control scheme, re-iterates that it's cross-play with the PS3 version and notes that -some- of the 1.2 patch content is in the game along with -all- of the original game's content.  So I'm not expecting a slouch port.  I haven't heard any rumblings of problems of the technical side yet either.  What this means is that, well, I do believe I am allowing myself to hope again.  And I am going to be buying this ASAP on Tuesday, provided I'm able to do so.  And that....that's just awesome.

wanna build so many things and just shape the land and hnnnngg

Rainbow Moon Shines on Vita This December

It's been a while since I've talked about Rainbow Moon, and there's still a while yet before I'll be able to really talk about it again.  It was announced all the way back in September of 2012 that Rainbow Moon would be receiving a Vita port, since a lot of folks interested in the PS3 version asked about it.  A Vita port of the game just made sense, considering it's a Strategy RPG and a handheld device is perfect for that, and the developers agreed...but made it known that it wasn't going to be quick.  The game engine was built from the ground-up for the PS3 for best performance and would have to be completely re-tooled for the Vita.  It was a daunting thought, one that almost no studio would be willing to undertake, but Sidequest Studios did and we should all praise them for it, for the commitment if nothing else.

Still, that statement that it wasn't going to be a quick port could not have been more true as we will still not see the game until December 3rd of this year, a full year and change after the announcement was made.  The hope is that, with all the time they took in working it onto the Vita means that it'll retain its locked, smooth framerate and such, so the wait will hopefully be worth it.  There are also a bunch of updates to the game that will be baked into it at launch (and patched in to the PS3 version) to bring them up to complete parity, since Cross-Save is also going to be supported.  That way, anyone who has already bought and played the PS3 version will be able to bring their save on the go, as intended, which is an amazing boon.  It's also another incentive for owners of the PS3 to buy the Vita version as well, with the original incentive being a discount on the price for PS3 version owners.  The discount is hopefully going to be 50%, at least that's what Sidequest is shooting for, and I dare not even consider how the PS Store team will make that work, but I don't have to worry about it myself since I have not bought Rainbow Moon yet and am holding off on this Vita version.

As a result of not having played it yet, I don't really know a lot -about- it, and the above video does very little to elucidate on its merits and mechanics.  From what I can gather, it seems like a wonderfully deep Strategy RPG that looks gorgeous and runs smoothly in its PS3 incarnation, so I can only hope for the same with the version that you can hold in your hands.  All of that means, of course, is that this is the part where I shrug my shoulders and go "Well, I'm buying it" because, really, I was sold long, long ago on the PS3 version, I just never bit and patience has proven to be a virtue as my buying will go to the version that I actually really want.  I always like having a good strategy RPG around and while I do have that in spades...well, one more can't hurt, right?

it looks all sorts of flashy and such which is good, and I can't -not- support hard work I mean come on

Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD Announced, Nobody is Surprised

Ubisoft announced quite a few things yesterday, but the one bit that caught my eye was the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD, a port of the previously Vita-exclusive game for PS3, 360 and PC.  I guess it shouldn't be surprising, since it was actually a pretty good game and being solely on the Vita wasn't doing Ubisoft any favors, but I can't help feeling like I should be even the tiniest bit angry about this, being the staunch Vita supporter that I am.  I mean, here's one of the few 'mainstream' exclusives worth a damn and that exclusivity (plus being made retroactively the 'shitty' version by comparison) just went out the window.  One of the big things you could point at for just about anyone enticed by the idea of a Vita but needing a tipping point and make jazz hands over, and now not so much.  I -should- be bothered by it.

Clearly, I'm not, though.  I'm not quite sure what it is about Liberation on the whole, but it's effectively in the "Would not play again" portion of my brain and I just don't know why.  Shortly after I reviewed the game, I mentioned having a bit of fatigue over talking about it and it simply turns out that that never really went away.  Even bringing this post up last night as I intended to do it up (instead of finishing it tonight) brought about a strange weariness that, stacked on my everyday exhaustion simply proved to be too much.  That I'm managing tonight is nothing less than a miracle of sorts, or something a little less dramatic if you're into that sort of thing, I suppose.  Still, it's something weird to say the least - it's not often that you'll find a game that I don't want to talk about as with a good game, I can extol its virtues and with a bad game, I can loudly rant about its inadequacies.  Liberation is somewhere in the middle and I really only have one guess as to how it managed that.

I was....not a fan of Liberation's Multi-Player and that's putting it mildly.  To be entirely frank, I think it was an abomination unto common sense, and how it was ever presented as a good idea is foreign to me.  It seemed as if it was designed in the depths of the underbelly of some Zynga sweatshop, and brought before a Ubisoft exec by some mole-person scraping across the ground so as not to offend the sensibilities.  Shaped in a grotesque fashion, it was surely something to be rejected, to be shunned and mocked, but instead, the exec shrugged and presented it as something proper, allowing the caitiff to return to his duties with a rare sense of satisfaction, and undeserved at that.  A lot of pointless clicking and posturing that was all erased as soon as a faction the Assassins won a 'match' where everything was then reset so you could waste time with it yet again.  Somehow, someway, it managed to make its way into the final product that was Assassin's Creed: Liberation, and that is definitely a grievous injustice upon humanity that will hopefully be righted in the future somehow.  I should hope that it's simply stricken from the HD remake, but I highly doubt that it will be so, you know....enjoy that, whoever is going to buy that.

Of course, there are actual improvements being made to the game beyond the obvious of making it prettier to look at, even if it wasn't much of a slouch on the Vita.  Facial animations will be retouched, the frame-rate (that I didn't have much of a problem with, to be honest) will be locked at something proper, gameplay tweeks to combat and free-running and apparently each mission has been tweeked a bit as well.  Joystiq makes mention of new missions, but I don't see any information about it beyond that, though I do recall a few areas in the game where another mission for story-pacing would have been appreciated.  Likely that's the type of thing that will be done....or simply other missions along the Citizen E vein since those are cheap, easy and interesting.  I doubt I'm going to pay much attention to it, however - the chances of the new content coming to Liberation on the Vita, even as paid DLC, is slim and I doubt that I'd pick it up even if it were offered.  I simply have no intention on playing the game ever again.

That's not to say that you shouldn't either, of course.  I stand by my original assessment of "Just as good as any other Assassin's Creed game, for better or worse" because I would also never really go back and play those all over again either.  I tend to finish them off as best as I can (fuck you, Brotherhood and your online bullshit) and then wash my hands of them entirely which...doesn't say a whole lot of my opinion on the franchise as a whole, it would seem.  That's just my opinion and my way of playing it, of course, and seeing as I keep coming back, I must have -something- that I like about it all.  Perhaps some day I'll figure that out.  Maybe after I buy Assassin's Creed 3 for $20 somewhere and play through it despite likely not enjoying what it has to offer if my pattern recognition isn't off.  Or maybe somewhere else along the line!  I kind of mussed up the point - Liberation was pretty cool so I hope the people who can play it now without a Vita (also known as people who are missing out) will enjoy it despite its flaws that every AC game is requisite to have.

I think it's the drop-stab, because that never, ever gets old

KOEI, Seriously, Please Start Announcing Localizations

KOEI really, really, really likes the Vita...

....in Japan.

No less than four Warriors titles are in production for the device at the moment, and it borders on absurd at just how much attention the Vita's getting from KOEI, even if it -is- half ports.  Yet, when those ports are Samurai Warriors 2 (and Xtreme Legends -and- Empires) and Warriors Orochi 3 (as an enhanced version of the game, same as PS3's enhanced version) you will be surprised at just how fucking okay I am with this.  Those two games join the line-up alongside Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends (potentially 8 somewhere along the line too?) and the newly announced Shin Dynasty Warriors Gundam which are both being developed for PS3 -and- Vita.  And that's all of just what I know about, who the hell knows if there's other stuff that I've missed completely, because it's entirely possible.

The first reaction to this is supposed to be a level of cautious optimism, of course.  They're not exclusive games to the Vita, but they're being developed for it nonetheless, and that likely fosters a sort of side-by-side mentality about them.  Consumers will only buy one or the other by-and-large of course (KOEI ain't gonna touch Cross-buy with a ten foot pole) but it broadens the pool of potential buyers at the very least if you put both out, and there's no reason -not- to.  That they're coming to the Vita at all is a good sign no matter how you look at it.  I basically mention that side-by-side mentality for the localization aspect of the games, of course.  Speaking of...

The next reaction is the slow, creeping disdain and cynicism that one has naturally fostered for KOEI by this point when it comes to actually releasing games outside of Japan.  We did get the original Warriors Orochi 3 (as digital-only for PS3 which is something that I have ranted about enough), and we did get Samurai Warriors 2, Xtreme Legends and Empires way back in the day easy enough as well.  DW8:XL seems a given to come out over here, but I'm not pinning any hopes on disc-based, and Shin Dynasty Warriors Gundam....is the sticky one of the bunch.  We don't know anything about it really - is it just another DW: G game with a new name? - so it's hard to say one way or another, especially with Namco Bandai being involved on top of KOEI.  Warriors Orochi 3 coming out over here originally might even be a strike against its chances since WO3 Ultimate is a (highly) enhanced version of it.  But we'll just have to see on that, I suppose.

Now, as mentioned, the really sticky thing to wonder about if -any- of these games come out is format.  KOEI surprised the hell out of me by announcing DW8 on disc with a proper localization and such, but I expect that to be the exception rather than the rule moving forward.  I have zero problems throwing money at people at GameStop for a copy of a KOEI game on a disc.  Zero.  While I've raised a stink about digital-only in the past (and it's still an issue, though definitely something I've chilled out on some), I only have a few issues with throwing digital money at PSN for a copy of a KOEI game in digital form.  Those issues are primarily "How big is it" and "That's going to take fucking forever to download".  Which was a legitimate concern with my current PS3 - the fans kick on to 100% or seems like it, which means it's not long for this world.  It takes the better part of six hours to download one gig of data, I'd bet, so something like WO3 which was eleven gigs?  Ridiculous.  Cannot, will not ever happen unless I cart my system to someone else and it manages to not die after I delete 22 gigs of data to accommodate the strange way PSN downloads work with full games or something.

When I get a shiny new PS3 with 500 gigs of storage space this will....be far less of an issue.  It'll obviously still take fucking forever to download, but the great thing is that I might actually be able to let it.  In the end, it's all about just being able to buy and play a game that you want to play.  So when there's an unreasonable barrier, of course it's going to be frustrating, but I guess the option then just becomes "Make it work".  So maybe I will.  I can tell you with certainty that if the games come out in the West on Vita, I don't care what format, I will buy the ever-loving shit out of them.  I will make a KOEI page and it will have all the bubbles for Dynasty Warriors Next and Toukiden and whatever of the above titles actually come out, even if I have to buy them all digitally.  I will eschew whatever I have to in an effort to have multiple KOEI Warriors games at my fingertips.  And I will seriously consider a 32 gig stick if need-be.  You just have to make it happen, KOEI.

there is honestly nothing about the prospect of any of those four Warriors games on my Vita that I don't love

Gamescom Was a Nice Little Vita Show After All

A common worry going into Sony's Gamescome Event was that it was going to be an all-PS4 show.  That's not a far-fetched idea, given that the PS4 is the new hotness riding a wave of positive PR thanks to E3 and such, but everyone was hoping that the Vita would see some sort of acknowledgement, and we got that and then some.  We didn't get a sequel to Uncharted:  Golden Abyss announcement (unfortunately, this would've been the perfect time to announce it) or a Gravity Rush 2 announcement (which was always going to be TGS), but we got some good news nonetheless.  News that some people are prodding endlessly with a stick instead of just saying "Yeah, it's good" because we can't all agree on anything ever because why would we, but that's just the way of things.

Between the straight-up price-cut of the Vita itself and the lowered memory card prices, Sony managed to shave a very nice bit of the price off the lovely little portable.  A nice bit more than people actually realize, it seems, because they're not looking at the big picture.  The $50 price-cut of the Vita itself is steep and much nicer to think about, and each tier of the memory cards took a drop.  4 Gig dropped $5, 8 Gig dropped $10 and the 16 and 32 Gigs each dropped $20, meaning you're spending a right comparable amount of money picking up a Vita and a 16 Gig card versus a 3DSXL bundle.  My 3DS XL Bundle, the Animal Crossing one was ~$220 for the system, Animal Crossing (pre-loaded) and a 4 Gig stick (which was less than 4 gigs because Animal Crossing).  If you buy the shiny Walking Dead Vita Bundle for $200 (which comes with a 4 gig stick) and throw down $40 for a 16 gig stick, you have $240 invested in it, 4 times the storage for $20 extra.  Essentially, price parity is pretty nice and if when you throw in Playstation Plus for $50, you get a ridiculous amount of games for a year which makes the value shoot right up.  So yes, you spend a little more, but you get miles more than the money you spend unless you jump in the Wal-Mart deal, spend less and get a shitload of content.

People rail on and on that there's no reason for the proprietary cards and insane prices and, sorry, there is.  It's called the PSP.  Piracy was absolute bananas on the PSP and, unlike the DS, it actively squeezed out and over-shadowed actual purchases for the device, which is not something that Sony wanted a repeat of.  Games just didn't sell, but whenever they released, they were among the most pirated things on all the popular sites out there, so the age-old excuse of "if there were good games I -would- buy them" went right out the damn window.  Hell, Metal Gear Solid:  Peace Walker only sold 52,000 physical copies in America at launch which is ridiculous for a Metal Gear Solid game and especially as good of one as Peace Walker was.  Yet, there were far, far more people that played it than that - it's not like the DS was where a game got 23.34 Million sales (like Mario Kart DS, jesus) and got heavily pirated as well.  That's what I mean when I say that the actual buyers got squeezed out of the equation - the buyers just didn't compare at all to the people just straight-up downloading the games.  So that's why they went a more controlled route this go around.  Because you can't tell me that people would've bought games for a $250 Sony handheld if it was as easy to pirate as the PSP.

There was also the matter of games being announced for it, which is, you know, kind of important.  Borderlands 2 came out of nowhere to see a release on the Vita sometime in 2014, brought to us by Iron Galaxy Studios, the team who developed DiveKick which just released this week.  That...is certainly a get for Sony, and it was alongside several other announcements for the Vita that I will defer to Chance for because I don't want to mine in Joystiq posts and cobble together a bunch of links.  Let's take a look at the list, shall we?

• Age of Zombies (BlitWorks/Halfbrick)
• A-Men 2 (Bloober Team)
• Assault Android Cactus (Witch Beam)
• Avoid Droid (Infinite State Games)
• Broken Sword: the Serpent’s Curse (Revolution Software)
• Eufloria HD (Omni Systems)
• Fez (Polytron Corporation)
• Final Horizon (Eiconic Games)
• Flame Over (Laughing Jackal)
• Gravity Crash Ultra (Just Add Water)
• Gunslugs (Abstraction Games)
• Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (Dennaton Games and Devolver Digital)
• Joe Danger 1 (Hello Games)
• Joe Danger 2 (Hello Games)
• Kick & Fennick (Green Hill Studios)
• Minecraft (4J Studios)
• Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games)
• Samurai Gunn (Teknopants)
• Starbound (Chucklefish)
• Supermagical (Tama Games)
• Switch Galaxy Ultra (Atomicom)
• Table Top Racing (Ripstone)
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Nicalis)
• Volume (Mike Bithell)
• Wasteland Kings (Vlambeer)

I had to add Minecraft and Starbound, the last of which is almost more impressive than Minecraft, because it's essentially Terraria ins Spaaaaaaaaace (one-half of the original two Terraria developers is making it), it has a ton of content, and there's absolutely no Vita Terraria sales data just yet, meaning it's a blind leap of faith and that's so appreciated.  Granted, all of those are games that are classified as "Indie", but as we've come to learn, that doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot in the grand scheme of things.  The prime gradient here is content and Minecraft, Terraria and Starbound at the very least are going to have those in spades, not to mention Rogue Legacy and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.  Those are just the games that I know a little about.  As you can see, there are a hell of a lot of other games on that list, and that's probably not even a complete list.  And this is all before TGS.  And before the PS4 launches and does Remote Play like a champ.

Yeah.  The Vita's gonna be just fine.

Minecraft Vita is a Thing That is Happening

I...honestly never thought this was going to happen.  Truly.

A PS4 version of the game?  That was always in the cards.  It was inevitable.  A foregone conclusion.  Maybe a PS3 version.  That was definitely within the realm of possibility.  But a Vita version seemed so perfect, so good that it was not to be a reality.  A portable version of the game that wasn't the stripped-down Mobile version whose last big update was like, beds, which have been around for almost a year at that point?  It would be the stuff of legends.  And a PS4 version always meant that you -could- Minecraft on the go via Remote Play, but it would never be the same thing as, for one, you would have to have a reliable internet connection that wasn't 3G, which is sort of -not- something you can rely on.  It would have been better than nothing, but it never would have been a proper Vita version of Minecraft.

And to be fair, I may be jumping the gun here.  All that we know is that Minecraft in some iteration will be on the PS4, the PS3 and the Vita, but word of versions, builds or anything like that is just not present currently.  One could reason that the PS3 version will simply be the 360 version with the updates its received by now (and by the PS3 launch) baked in, and that the PS4 version will basically be the already announced XBox One Edition (which will basically just have bigger worlds, though likely not infinite, and just run smoother and such), but where does that leave the Vita version?  Given how similar architecture apparently is between the PS3 and Vita (though friendlier than the PS3 by a wide margin), it should be a simple enough matter to simply make the Vita version the PS3 one with the necessary tweaks and whatnot, or maybe even just cut down the PS4 version a bit since the PS4 and Vita are apparently a lot alike as well.  But I am ever the cynic here and this is something that I have yearned for, so I have to assume that there is a catch of some sort.

As we know there is a mobile version of the game for cellphones.  And as we know, there is that whole Playstation Mobile thing on the Vita (and other things) that a lot of people (rightly) care about because it's a very small barrier of entry.  What worries me here, clearly, is that the version of Minecraft that the Vita gets will be the heavily neglected Pocket Edition (as it's actually called) instead of...you know, a proper version.  Because that would still technically be Minecraft on the Vita and it would simultaneously be the biggest dickpunch and misdirection in recent memory for me at least.  Okay, maybe not the biggest, but a pretty big one.  On the one hand, I don't think it's possible because nobody really considers the Pocket Edition a proper version yet, but on the other hand, it's easy, and Playstation Mobile is right there and people -are- trying to push it at the same time as everything else.  This is clearly not the way you want to push it, and I'm fairly certain that the folks in charge understand that (because Shahid is awesome) but it's definitely not outside the realm of possibility.

Still, it's better to dream when you can, and I've been dreaming about Minecraft on my Vita forever since it just makes sense to have a giant sandbox building playground on something that you'll want to have on you all the time.  So it just makes sense to have it be a proper version that you'll want to sink your teeth into and build dramatic things, and especially because the Vita is a proper power machine in its own right.  It just makes -sense- to give it a version comparable to the ones on Consoles, but I just can't believe whole-heartedly.  Terraria was announced for the Vita to my surprise and wonderment and I haven't heard word one of that lately, yet not too long after that announcement was one for Terraria Mobile for Cellphones which I'm hoping is purely coincidental.  As stated, however, that's just the cynic in me speaking and I highly doubt that -both- building games that I wanted will end up being some incarnation that I won't want to touch with a ten foot pole.  I choose to believe it won't work out that way because that way just doesn't make sense.

oh yeah, a bunch of other stuff got announced too, but I will talk about that later

Hooray for Niche Game Announcements!

There were a few things that have been announced in recent times that I have at least a little bit of interest in, so I figured today was as good a day as any to bring them up and do a little speaking on them.  Mostly since it's a far more interesting topic of conversation than yard work, which is what a good portion of my day was spent doing.  Also because I haven't done a good ol' fashioned news dump in a while (which, I mean, format-wise is what this type of post is) or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself to ensure that it's a good time to go with it.  Just, you know, whatever works.

XSEED (Marvelous isn't changing XSEED's name, Joystiq) is releasing Ragnarok Odyssey Ace sometime this winter for not only the Vita, but the PS3 for this go around.  The game will be, unsurprisingly, a re-release of Ragnarok Odyssey for the Vita, but with all the included DLC that's since come out as well as Cross-Platform play between both versions of the game, as well as a host of other things.  New costume pieces, weapons and items are almost a given, but one of the more interesting things mentioned is that there will be a new "Tower of Yggdrasil" dungeon.  Perhaps because of the explanation of the dungeon, I cannot help but think of Tartarus in that the dungeon creates rooms in a randomized style as you traverse upwards for what I can only assume is a rather long time.  Because Yggdrasil was kind of a big tree, you know.

Most interestingly for me is the mention of an upgraded battle system, because I'm a little confused on what it's going to address.  On the one hand, Ragnarok Odyssey's battle system was rather fast-paced and enjoyable and I don't think it needs retooling, exactly.  For what it is, it works extremely well - you get around fast and you attack monsters with vigor - but there's a rather unfortunate disconnect in what you're actually doing and what the game is doing.  Really, it's not the battle system that poses the problem, but the mechanics themselves that drive it, that crunch the numbers for the uncrunchable exploits you're performing.  This is a hurdle every game must jump, of course, but I can't help but think of Ragnarok Odyssey as grazing that hurdle on the hop over, only barely skirting it.

As an Assassin character, my priority was movement.  Gotta go fast, gotta get up to things, gotta hit fast, gotta get back.  Having tested all the characters, this is the playstyle that fits -me- the best and even though I can technically replicate that with any other class because of the flexibility of the system, the Assassin was built around it, so play to its strength.  Only, I could dash around enemies and slice them in the back four times while they were swinging a paw or a weapon or what have you and dash away before they even started turning around, which you might think would be a lot of damage, all things considered.  But it wasn't.  It was functionally the same as running up to their face and hitting them like that.  And it's because it's not really about -your- character, but your gear and how far into the game you've gotten, since every chapter clear boosts your stats (which are almost superfluous given that's their only boosting time) that determines how 'good' you are at monster-slaying. 

Imagine any game where the gameplay relies on you picking up stronger weapons for stronger enemies.  Yes, I understand there are a lot, that's not the point.  Imagine that instead of being able to pick up those upgraded weapons (since they're all functionally the same), you only upgrade after every few chapters.  You start out with a pistol and your first upgrade is a magnum.  Something along those lines. You can go back to the first chapter after you've upgraded to your shotgun and everything's so much easier, or you can go back to that boss that gave you a hard time in chapter 4 once you unlock the RPG, but what's the point?  You already spent half an hour plinking away at it with a dodgy Assault Rifle because it was the only thing you could work with.  If the game is about forward progress and not getting better things, then there's no reason to go backwards when you're forward and going forward ultimately ends up becoming more and more of a challenge as you face scenarios that are inopportune for your current state.  It's why you can grind in RPGs (most of them) and why you can scavenge for ammo for any gun you can carry in most shooters.  Because there can't just be "This is what you are" at any given time, but rather "this is what you can be", and Odyssey missed that. 

Still, despite that, I'm a bit optimistic, as it can only really improve instead of dial back really.  Or even just sort of maintain, which isn't as -bad- of a thing as I may have made it out to be.  There are, of course, ways around the 'never upgrading until you do far far after you needed to' system that I simply didn't care to put much effort into since they are basically "Switch classes to something more fitting and/or play online and hope the increased difficulty is mitigated by seasoned players and with the game coming to Vita -and- PS3 with Cross-Play, you'll have that much larger of a pool of potential hunting partners to attempt missions with.  I'm not quite sure if I'll be picking up Ace as I still haven't finished Odyssey's base game and I might not anytime soon, but I would still recommend it as a game to watch, if nothing else.

The "Best of Playstation Network, Volume 1" is also something that I sorely overlooked and almost regret doing because of one very important element.  If it's not quite obvious, the Best of Playstation Network, Volume 1 is a disk-based (this is key) collection of some of Playstation's neatest, strangest and most talked about games, both in the recent past and reaching back a ways, though not in as balanced of a way as I would hope, unfortunately.  So if you're worried about a digital future, or you simply find it difficult to find space on your HDD for all of these little games that add up quite fast, then this is certainly an avenue of purchasing to investigate.

My own interest comes from the inclusion of Tokyo Jungle which is a game I have been enthused about in the past, but never got around to purchasing because of the prohibitive 2.4 gig file size the game carries.  Well, that and because I just inherently like bundles because they are amazing things, but really it's mostly the Tokyo Jungle portion of said bundle.  Especially since I already own the Fat Princess and Sound Shapes portion of it.  I mean, how can you just not want to at least -play- a game that lets you run around an area of ruined Tokyo as a baby chick who can actually grow up and fight other animals for dominance in this new, strange world for them?  How can you just not want to at least -play- a game that allows you to put construction hats on your dog character that you are playing as and then pit you against a crocodile in a fight that you can actually win?

Though I will say that I hope this yet-another-inclusion of Fat Princess in something means that they're actually going to revisit that series.  Say what you will about the "controversy" (making such big air quotes here) and what have you, the actual -game- was solid and I still say that if it had come out a year or two later when PSN was much more 'established' as a digital distribution platform as well as a multiplayer one, it would've done much, much better than it did.  It's a simple, fun, challenging multiplayer game that I actually -wanted- to play because of how much fun it was.  That is certainly saying something.  Being as simple as it is, there's really no reason why they couldn't do up a version for the Vita (there's a PSP version, even), which I would hope would be Fat Princess 2 and also on PS3 with Cross-Play.  It's Sony's IP to play with, clearly, but I do think they have to find a studio to make it as the studio that made Fat Princess has been restructured....twice now, I think?  Renamed one or both times, and I really don't know what they do anymore.  Still, it is honestly worth a shot after the PASBR inclusion and now this.

Okay, this last one isn't exactly a niche game, but taking everything into account, it just might as well be one really.  Epic Mickey 2 didn't exactly set the world on fire, nor did it even come close to stoking a modest blaze like the original, so the announcement that it's going to see a late port to the Vita is....a surprise.  We'll go with that.  Because a surprise sounds positive, right?  Right.  Let's....let's try to be positive about this because at least someone is porting a game to the Vita, even if it is a little after the fact.  More Vita games breed more Vita games, and that is the goal, of course.

Obviously, the game is based on the PS3 version of it and in lieu of using a Move ala the PS3 version, it's been tweaked to accept touchscreen (front and rear) inputs which makes so much damn sense it hurts.  (Seriously.  Capcom, pay fucking attention to this:  Okami for Vita.  Look how much fucking sense this makes.)  And really, the game is just going to be seeing all sorts of control tweaks and improvements to fit the unique offerings that the Vita has for that which is a good thing.  The game is being tailored for the system, which is precisely what developers should be doing when they port it to something.  This is something to be celebrated, if nothing else really.  Something else to be celebrated is that it's actually releasing fairly soon for just being announced recently.  June 18th is the date, and $34.99 will be the price, effectively giving that Digital Discount that only certain Vita games actually offer.  Though the game will be Digital-only for Vita which...well, I'm not complaining about five bucks off the expected MSRP.

It's always fun to hear about more games getting released, no matter the destination or the time-frame.  Even if they're re-releases, ports of games that didn't sell well, or a collection of games that seem....a little slapped together from an informed consumer's point of view.  They're all still worth your attention if you're looking at things from a certain point of view and might not get the attention of those people depending on what they get announced around.  Since this was the XBone week, well, perhaps a little extra visibility (I'm not going to pretend I offer much, if anything, really) can't hurt them.

REVENGEANCE is Officially Heading for PC

You know how sometimes there's news for a game that you -really- want to talk about because it's something that you're really excited for, but the news is essentially a single sentence?  Like, "Metal Gear Rising: REVENGEANCE is getting a PC Release" and that's really the whole of the news available for it?

Yeah.

This is one of those times.

Of course, me being me, I want to be able to say more than just that because of the reason why I bring it up in the first place.  That being:  REVENGEANCE is sweet-as-hell and you should all buy it because there's literally no excuse now.  Er, soon.  No excuse soon.  Ish.  Unless you're a weird person who solely games on Nintendo things. But, as stated, those people are weird. (I'm mostly kidding, clearly)  Really, with the game soon-to-be-available on all of the major platforms (Wii U notwithstanding) then there really is very little reason that you could not pick up the game, though whether or not you -should- is clearly where the question lies.  If you will allow me, I would like to make a very strong argument as to why you -should- buy it on PC if you truly do not have the means to have already purchased it on PS3 or 360.

Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE is probably my Game of the Year at this point.  That I haven't actually sat down and written about it in a manner that befits it is criminal and I don't really know -why- I haven't done that aside from creative barriers and the like that have suddenly cropped up.  However, I have meant to, and I have alluded to that fact several times by this point.  It doesn't make up for it, of course, nor does it excuse it, but it at least makes it less of a 'surprise' at this point.  In all reality, it might be that I simply have a hard time quantifying what I feel when I actually play REVENGEANCE and, hell, when I -remember- playing the game.

When I say it's probably my Game of the Year at this point, I say that with full knowledge that I've actually played quite a few new releases already this year with many more on the horizon.  I say it because there are few words that can effectively convey the fun and joy that I experience when I actually play it, though I suppose mentioning fun and joy is a good start.  Playing the game, actually playing it....is just a dream.  It's less about playing the game, about the mechanics, about anything than it is about using everything you have to just have as much fun as you can.  Every room full of enemies is a new chance to pull off some sort of amazing combo, if not in numbers, but in executions.  A chance to dismember every one of them in a different way if that's your thing, or a chance to find new and exciting ways to take them out as you get new weapons added to your armory.

The thing about REVENGEANCE is that, despite its fairly linear structure by nature, there's a staggering amount of freedom when it comes to the fights because of how freeform it can be.  Not only with weapons, with sub-weapons, but with little things like appearance and style as well as the Wigs that enhance your abilities in some fashion.  Throw on the Brown Wig and become a Grenadier.  Stun everyone with whatever's handy before you eviscerate them.  Stay back and pelt everyone with rockets because you have a rocket launcher in your pocket and you ain't even -care-.  Do whatever you want.  Do whatever makes the game fun for you because there is a way for that.  I cannot fathom someone playing REVENGEANCE and not, eventually, finding a way to play it that makes it an enjoyable experience for them.

Beyond actual confirmation from both Kojima and Platinum saying that REVENGEANCE will be on PC, there's...really nothing else that we know.  No release window, no price, no anything.  If it's towards the end of the year, we could probably hope for a Not-$60 pricetag or, if it has one that the Sam and BladeWolf DLC packs are included with the purchase.  Being that they're both already out -now-, it stands to reason that they are going to be part of the porting process and, one would hope, bundled with the game to make it a more enticing purchase.  But regardless of any of that, the game should be an enticing purchase because it is friggin' Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE.  Buy it when it comes out.  Enjoy it.  Because it's a hell of a ride.

I still recommend "The Frank Jaeger Experience" as a method of playing REVENGEANCE

Dragon Fantasy Book I Hits PS3, Vita Tomorrow

For like, the entire time since the Indie-Themed Spring Fever Sale was announced including Dragon Fantasy Book I, I was under the crazed impression that it was actually Dragon Fantasy Book II, which not only was announced first but also included in all of the big Indie Lists that I used to say "holy shit so many Indies" and has generally been a known quantity as coming out to the PS3 and Vita for a while now.  Obviously being called Book II insinuates that there's a Book I and with no real mention of it coming to the PS3/Vita as well, I more or less wrote Book I off as inconsequential.  Or at least hoped as much because I was going to buy the hell out of Book II no matter what.  Well, the only little thing holding me back from doing just that has officially been assuaged.

Dragon Fantasy Book I, as in the first book of what is possibly a series of games, being that there are at least two of them, is being released tomorrow as part of the already-mentioned Spring Fever Sale.  So when Dragon Fantasy Book II comes out sometime later on this year (calling it now, I'm saying the Summer Sale), we will have all already had the chance to be initiated in what type of game this is, had a chance to experience the world and the mechanics and story already so that the proper continuation of it will be able to do what it is meant to do - continuing on from where Book I leaves off.  Hopefully now that both games will be on the same platforms, there will be some way to tie data from one to the other if they did, in fact, do that in their original forms.  Because that is always really neat when games do that and not enough -really- do it anymore.

So what -is- Dragon Fantasy Book I, you're wondering?  Well, that's a pretty easy question to answer.  Dragon Fantasy Book I is a throwback to the classic RPGs of yore, your Final Fantasies before they got crazy convoluted, your Dragon Warriors before they were called Dragon Quest, these are the games to think of when you consider Dragon Fantasy Book I.  Which....makes sense.  Given that Dragon Fantasy could be seen as an amalgamation of Dragon Warrior/Quest and Final Fantasy in title alone.  I....hadn't actually noticed that until I started typing those sentences. Strange.  Anyway, the sprite style seems closer to Final Fantasy (basically FF1) and the combat style seems closer to Dragon Warrior 1 than anything which is an interesting combination if nothing else.  And since I played the hell out of Dragon Warrior 1 when I was a kid, I am all about this, suddenly.

I'm not prepared to say that it's a parody game, but the official trailer certainly paints the picture of a game that doesn't necessarily take itself super serious.  So at the very least, expect little bits of humor interspersed here and there, if not necessarily an outright humorous tale as you might expect from something out of Zeboyd Games.  Perhaps not a parallel I -should- be drawing, but, well, it's an easy one to make, really.  Zeboyd might not have revolutionized 'retro-humor' games or whatever, but they're certainly the biggest name of them at the moment, so it's inevitable that some allusions are going to be drawn if you focus on humor and retro-style graphics for your game for at least a little bit longer.  Personally, I don't see it as a bad thing, but I really can't speak for what the game has to offer until I have played it.  And I am going to play it.

Though, speaking on the graphics, there is something rather interesting on that to note.  Originally, Dragon Fantasy Book I sported a complete 8-Bit style 'Retro-throwback' look that I believe Dragon Fantasy Book II ended up updating to more of a 16-bit style.  Well, in porting the game over, the developers decided that it wasn't enough to do a straight-port and then decided to redo every single piece of art in the game to match a sort of almost-16-bit-but-not-quite style that they're calling "8-Bit as we remember it" because, honestly, I'm sure we do remember 8-bit games as looking a -little- better than they actually did.  The cool part about this is that it can be toggled at any time, so if you want to go -super- retro, you can flip it back to the original 'actual' 8-bit look.  Either the music shifts in type along with it (so, sounds more like a classic NES game on 'actual' 8-bit style) or you can shift the music independently of the graphics, but either way it means that the whole look and feel of the game is toggleable.  That is no small feat.

If nothing else, it's clear that there's been a lot of effort put into not only the game itself, but the porting and transitioning of the game to PS3 and Vita.  The improvements and changes I've already mentioned aren't the only ones, as Dragon Fantasy Book I will also include UI improvements already made to DFBII as well as adding an entire new section to the game.  If that's not enough incentive to urge a purchase, then that combined with the Indie Push and the sale price should be enough, hopefully.  If that's not enough, however, well....I dunno.  Maybe the posts I'll make -about- the game will do that.  Possibly.  Because I am going to talk about this game as well as buy and play it.  Which...is a novel concept lately.

basically my point is that I want you to buy this game

Well, This is Something - REVENGEANCE Trophy List Mentions "PS Vita"

Earlier today, after I got my Platinum Trophy for Guacamelee! I checked my trophies just for posterity and noticed something....strange.  Something new.  As you see above, the entry for Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE suddenly has PS Vita listed in its trophy section.  A quick Googling reveals that, no there isn't any news about this that I managed to miss, but I am not alone in noticing it either.  Obviously the idea is that this points to a possibility that REVENGEANCE will see a Vita port despite past suggestions that it would not, but it could just as easily be some kind of error.  And while I obviously would hope for the former, I'm not going to suggest that the latter is the more obvious of the two possibilities.  Even though the former would be really, really cool....in theory.

So let's play around with the theory for a bit.  Let's say that, despite all previous indication, Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE is indeed heading for the Vita in some form.  That right there is the first question - what form is it going to come in?  Physical and digital is almost a given, but more to the point, I meant what state of being.  Since the PS3 and 360 versions are already out and have DLC put out for them, is the Vita version going to come afterward and include all the DLC to justify a stand-alone price?  Or is there going to be some sort of Cross-Buy/Cross-DLC situation so people like myself who are already entrenched in REVENGEANCE financially don't have to shell out an extra $40-60 for that entire experience on the go as well?  Mortal Kombat and Disgaea 3 on the Vita have sort of set a precedent for the former, if nothing else.

Honestly, doing stand-alone would probably be the easier and smarter option for everyone.  Much as I would like to avoid making my entire Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE investment ~$210 by buying the Vita version (provided it bundled the JetStream Sam and BladeWolf DLC at the very least), I would do that in a heartbeat.  REVENGEANCE is just too good and the ability to play it whenever I want is a dangerous one indeed.  Oftentimes, while playing REVENGEANCE, I only stopped playing because I knew I -had- to because of other obligations, or because I beat it.  Again.  It quickly transcended from "Game I need to play because I want to and I just bought it" to "Game I need to play because oh my god" and all the way to "Game I want to play forever because oh my god".  While I was doing practical things like farming the arms that the game wanted me to pick up and S-Ranking whatever I could, I was -also- stuffing about with things like "The Frank Jaeger Experience" in which I just suited up in the Gray Fox suit with the Fox Blade and ran around cutting things with abandon, yelling "HURT ME MORE".  Also giggling.

The game is just fun.  I could be more specific and I will be some night after I have sat down and played it a bit more (since I have played Tomb Raider, Deus Ex:  Human Revolution, Disgaea 3 and Guacamelee! at least in the meantime since I have played it) and can elucidate my points a little easier, but the general gist is that REVENGEANCE is just a fun thing to play.  And I like fun things.  Fun things are, indeed, fun.  So while I am constantly struggling to keep at least two gigs of space on my Vita's paltry 16 Gig memory stick, I would certainly kick out some of the things I have tried to keep in the off-chance that I will want to play them to make space for REVENGEANCE, should it arrive in a form that would require a lot of space.  Like digitally.  Like in a delayed cross-buy scenario.  Which I doubt would happen, but I am open to the possibility.

In practice, it's a hard thing to imagine, though.  The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection also set a precedent for being a stand-alone, full-investment game that only offered Transfarring (also known as Cross-Save), which I would also expect in a case where REVENGEANCE got a Vita version.  It also set a precedent for being roughly the same price for less game than the console counter-parts (completely lacking Peace Walker in -any- capacity, including a download voucher) which is...less than inspiring in that it makes me think of a scenario where I can only play as Sam on Vita if I pay another six dollars.  I also worry on the technical slant of things because, while the PS3 and 360 versions ran quite smoothly (and needed to, being the type of game that REVENGEANCE is), I'm not sure I have faith in anyone's ability to port it faithfully, keep the framerate tight while -also- not muddying up the visuals a lot, as they did in Mortal Kombat.  The Vita is a powerful machine, make no mistake, and I think it definitely could be possible to do it...I just don't have a lot of faith in developers putting in the required effort to make -it- happen.

Of course, this is all basically just posturing here.  If Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE is announced for Vita, you could just find that gif of someone throwing money at a computer monitor over and over again and that would be me.  (that's a thing, right?  Someone make that a thing)  There is no way that I -wouldn't- buy REVENGEANCE on another platform that I could play it on because it is just that good of a game.  So while I hope for a lot of things, that it would be put out at a reasonable cost, that it would run smooth and look great and that it would justify a late port with more base content, I can't honestly say I would take a moral high ground or anything if it didn't.  I would just buy the hell out of it and play the hell out of it.

Forever.

or at least until Terraria comes out....then I will probably play that for a long time

Stealth Bastard Joins the List of Playstation Indies

It's almost getting ridiculous at this point that there are quite so many games being announced for the PS3 and Vita in such a short time span, with the near-bulk of them being Indie games.  As in, it's getting to the point where the only recently-released Indies I can think of that aren't currently planned for a Playstation anything release are Minecraft (which honestly could be a possibility after exclusivity times out), the host of Zeboyd games already out (all of which aren't planned for any more ports at all, which could still change, maybe) and the magnificent-looking Stardew Valley (which I would pay up to twenty of my US dollars for a Vita version for).  Are there other Indies that I'm over-looking?  Dear lord, yes, it's almost criminal how little knowledge I have on the subject, but the point is, there are a lot and Stealth Bastard sneaking (yeah, that just happened) onto that list couldn't be more welcome.

Stealth Bastard, if the title wasn't obvious enough, is a stealth-focused game, where the above image (and the game's own description) marks it as a sidescroller/platformer as well, placing it into that hybrid genre which is only occupied by one other game that I can think of.  Unlike Mark of the Ninja, however, the protagonist isn't a ninja, but just a clone.  A clone of...somebody that is good at stealth, presumably, in some sort of super-soldier project or something of the sort.  I dunno, there's not a whole lot of detail in the background.  "Following your birth in a cloning lab, you find yourself trapped in a vast and overwhelming network of dastardly chambers, replete with vicious, yet hilarious, booby traps and deranged robots! Your task is simple; stay out of sight and get to the exit."  To be fair, it's a solid premise in that it doesn't have to offer much aside from a starting point and a goal that is semi-reasonable.  Getting out of a danger-filled laboratory after you've just been 'born' (fully cognizant, apparently) is...pretty reasonable, really.

I really don't know anything about the game beyond what the linked Playstation Blog post tells me about it, which I have discovered makes it rather difficult to actually talk about.  Who knew, right?  All I know is that what I see of the game, what I hear about it, all sounds pretty nice.  Described as "a stealth game without the waiting" seems to imply that getting about and going unseen will be fairly easy to pick up at least, but likely difficult to master.  It also makes it seem like the perfect handheld game, what with some of the levels being 30 second affairs on the low-end.  Not to mention the visual style is something that will look quite crisp on the Vita's screen....though so would Mark of the Ninja.  (Hint, hint, even though nobody with the authority to make that happen is reading this)

Something that's interesting for this Indie transition, however, is that it won't be keeping its name.  The developers, Curve Studios, are being nice about it, but the fact seems to be Sony said "Hey, so, uh, we can't sell it with a name like 'Stealth Bastard' so you need to change it".  Which is clearly something that Curve Studios is okay with (and likely being compensated for) based on the reaction.  Not only that the game is still coming out on PS3 and Vita, but because they're making it a to-do in the form of a naming contest.  You see, when Stealth Bastard hits PS3 and Vita it won't be called Stealth Bastard, but rather a name that some lucky fan has submitted to their Contest Entry page.  The winner gets a place in the credits, a copy of the game (It's cross-buy, so it's technically -two- copies) and a Vita to play that version on (since it's assumed you have a PS3, I guess).  All in all, that's not bad!  I entered for funsies, but I don't think I'm going to win, nor do I think I need to.  Clearly, I'm pretty covered on the Vita front (though I could give it away to someone, I suppose) and I plan on buying the game when it comes out because it should be good fun.  Also supporting the Indie thing.

The release window at this point is simply "Summer" which doesn't say a whole lot really, but it also doesn't need to.  I imagine a lot of the Indie Deluge is going to release in the "Summer" which means maybe you should stock up on some PSN Funbux now if you're going to indulge as much as I plan to.  Between Hotline Miami, Terraria, This, Guacamelee! and Dragon Fantasy Book II (at least), there's going to be quite a bit to look into.  Still, having too many games hasn't been much of an actual, lamentable problem for the last two years (which is decidedly the time period in which I have had "too many games") so there's not much of a change here.  The actual new name of Stealth Bastard will probably be announced sometime shortly after the April 14th closing date of the naming contest, so if you're interested in giving that a shot, get to it!  You can forever be known as "the guy (or girl) who picked the other name for Stealth Bastard".  Also, free Vita.

I Have Never Been So Happy to Be So Wrong

Will [Terraria on Vita] happen?  Certainly not.  I'm amazed we're getting the PS3/360 versions and I worry for the amount of post-release support they'll see, so yet another version is inherently out of the question.  A man can dream, however, and we know that I dream big.  Or...well, in this case, little.

-Me from "In Which I Shamelessly Port-Whine" (February 7, 2013)

It is kind of a running theme that I am bad at predicting stuff.  It's so bad that it's kind of a running theme pointing out that it's a running theme that I am bad at predicting stuff.  If it ever gets to the point there it's a running theme pointing out that it's a running theme that it's a running them, it will be so meta that I will probably reach some sort of singularity and implode.  Because of all of that, I shouldn't have been surprised when I looked in my twitter feed earlier today and saw this tweet leading to this Playstation Blog Post, my natural reaction should have been some sort of smugness in successfully extorting reverse psychology or something like that.  Instead I just kind of went "Eeeeee!" and opened the link to check it out on the Vita browser.  There was some degree of excitement in my actions, but I will let you guess as to just how much.  We're getting interactive now.

You can check out the post if you like - in fact, I almost encourage it in some ways - but you're not really going to get a lot of information from it, since they didn't really give any.  It's basically around four paragraphs saying "It's coming to Vita because a lot of people asked for a Vita version and we like the Vita because of it's control options.  Terraria is also awesome, I hope you guys know that." and showing off a couple of fancy pictures, one of which I nicked for the above header image.  Since it is (likely) from the console version which, obviously, the Vita version will be based on, it was on a flickr account (Playstation Europe's) which I am a fan of using for picture hosting and I didn't want to load up IGN tonight.  This is a better picture than I would've gotten anyway.

All the information you would kind of want alongside an announcement, stuff like pricing, release date, improvements/changes to this version, as well as the Cross-stuff we might assume is there with the PS3 version (Cross-Buy/Play/Save) is missing, unfortunately.  It's not surprising, though, nor is it too much of a problem since we know, unequivocally, that it's coming to the Vita.  Personally, I'm going under the impression that it's going to release at the tail end of Summer for $9.99 and not support Cross-anything.  It will be unfortunate, but at the same time, I will be able to build a bunch of shit on my Vita which is kind of all I ever want to do, so I can't be too upset with that.  A little, perhaps.

I have already made suggestions as to alternate control methods that utilize some of the Vita's features in a way that isn't abhorrent (despite the insistence to some that it might be) so I'm not going to present them again and act like my idea has refined with time or become more attractive.  Still, I would be surprised if touch screen support wasn't implemented in some way, though I suspect it will only be useful in Inventory management, hotbar selection and navigating the crafting menu.  I would certainly hope that they wouldn't use the front touchscreen to try and aim the 'cursor', even optionally, because that...that would be abysmal with how small the Terraria blocks are and how much of the screen you block when you do that.  The backscreen is attractive because of that, not obscuring things, but I'm sure gripes with the expected accuracy might hinder its use as well, even if it's just used as, again the 'cursor' and nothing more.

I suppose when Terraria for Vita is announced to release sometime Mid-May at $14.99 with Cross-Buy, Play & Save support, you'll all have me to thank for that, but until then I will hold on to my cynicism that isn't actually all that cynical considering the circumstances.  Whatever the release date and in whatever form it comes out in, it's going to be a little late because I want it now.  Still, knowing that it's coming in reality and not just my fantasies is comforting to say the least and for as tempted as I was to buy the PS3 version, I'm glad I held off since I will likely never play it on PS3 even if the Vita version ends up being Cross-Buy, much as I have never played Retro City Rampage on my PS3.  Or Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  Or any other Cross-Buy game I've bought.

Fez Getting Ported to Things

Obviously, Fez is about the experience, man, and not the money.  No sir.  And when the timed exclusivity expires, I'm sure we won't see the game hit Steam because who cares if "the game would have been fixed two weeks after release, at no cost to us.", because money doesn't matter!  No amount of money, no tens of thousands of dollars, matters!  Because it's about the -game-, goddamnit, because this is Indie Gaming.  It's about the principle of it all, which means standing up for the little guy who gets ignored when it's not profitable to help them!  So, seriously that settles it.  You won't be seeing Fez on any other platform even after the exclusivity runs out, because it's purely about making sure everybody gets the full experience of the game and not like....most of the experience.  Minus the ending.  The whole experience.

 -Me from this post. (July 19, 2012)

oh no, that wasn't sarcasm and I've been proven wrong whatever shall I d-of course it was fucking sarcasm

Alright, while I'd love to just sort of post that and be smug and get off of here, I can't exactly do that.  At least, that's not what I want to do, except I kind of do and it's confusing so don't worry about it.  It would be fun and funny to me to do that, I guess, but it's not helping anything.  Not that sitting here and actually talking about it is actually helping anything, but, well....alright, let's try again.

Fez is hitting Steam on May 1st which is completely and totally a sealed deal barring last-minute delays or what have you.  It is, for the moment the only port that is scheduled.  It is not the only port that's in some sort of process of being a reality however.  In reality, Fez will likely be seeing a port to just everything without a Nintendo logo on it (though that can't be discounted either) in the window of 'eventually'.  Mentioned specifically are Mac and Ouya versions as 'definite', a Linux port as "part of vague plans, but plans nonetheless", ports to Sony's consoles hinge on him 'working something out' with Sony, and an iOS version is "highly probable".  None of which is surprising in the least.  Mac and Linux versions, specifically, are practically expected at this point, what with the whole Mac thing being a Mac and Steam going more towards Linux, where PS3/Vita versions (PS3 at least) should be highly considered because of the previous exclusivity to 360.  And iOS being what it is is certainly something that I doubt anyone can really resist as a possibility since that market promises so much profitability.  It....rarely delivers, but it is so tantalizing.

Something that's interesting is the already mentioned lack of Nintendo support.  Obviously, it's likely a bit late/difficult to throw this up on the WiiWare shop or whatever the Wii has, but the Wii U and the 3DS are things and both of them likely should be powerful enough for Fez if an iOS/Ouya version are seriously in consideration as well.  With the Wii U specifically, it's been said that Nintendo are doing their best at being Indie Friendly, yet we have barely seen anyone taking advantage of that.  Specifically with Fez, there could be a lot of neat things done with the Wii U Tablet (Not calling it the Gamepad, sorry, it is a tablet) should they choose to go that route (of course, they wouldn't put any effort beyond the porting, just saying they -could-) and, in general, they kind of seem to want to put the game everywhere.  While the Wii U's audience is currently fledgling, it is also a Nintendo console which means that it's just a matter of time before it gets somewhere between 'solid' and 'oh my god are you kidding me', so getting in now just seems like a smart play for the long-term.

What's reassuring is that the build of the game that'll go around should very likely be the build that includes the patch that cuts out that nasty game-ending bug that plagued the 360 version and was not patched out because 'money'.  So if, for some reason, you have any faith in them fixing this version should a problem arise, or you don't care about gaming politics or whatever, you can probably buy this free of worry.  Clearly I am not very enthused at the prospect of buying the game, but first and foremost, it's because I'm just not interested in Fez.  Obviously, being that I ranted about it and such, I think it's a shitty thing what Polytron did if moreso in the handling than the reasoning, but I've gone out there and stated times before that I don't really -get- boycotts or anything like that.  If you -want- something, just buy it and leave the bullshit at the door.  -Not- buying Fez has a more direct impact on Polytron than not buying the next Call of Duty from Activision, but in the end it's very likely that you're not going to send a message either way, especially with the shotgun strategy for Fez here.

That's not to say that I cannot enjoy my small victory here in pointing out how full of shit Fish is.  Since I very obviously am.  It's not even a personal thing, I just find it amusing.  If anything, it's just another reminder that there's not really as big of a gap between Indie and 'the man' when it comes to these types of attitudes that we don't like and attach to 'the man' to further demonize it.

Regardless of anything, that's pretty much all there is here - Fez hitting Steam on May 1st, everything else but Nintendo things at some point(s) thereafter.  So if you're looking for a (hopefully) bug-free version of the game, ready your purchasing methods at your buying point of choice!

In Which I Shamelessly Port-Whine

A post on Joystiq yesterday reminded me that Terraria is coming to PS3 and 360 which is something that I have forgotten at least three times since it was announced.  I -should- be fairly excited about this because I was always pretty interested in the game and, despite having a copy of it gifted to me, I couldn't play it because my computer is a total shithog with a ten-year-old graphics card.  That has no shaders on it.  You say "Graphics Card, what are shaders" and it responds "I HAVE NO IDEA, GET OFF OF MY LAWN" because it is that old, you see.  Being that I already have potentially $500 in video games lined up for this year (I wish I was kidding, but the 3DS is most likely getting bought by me in the very near future so I can play Rune Factory and Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing when it comes out) a new laptop is still far, far out of reach and I really should prioritize it, but come on, these are like the only games, out of the multitudes that are releasing this year, that I'm interested in just yet, so I'm going to get them.

Anyways, back to the original point, Terraria is still getting a PS3/360 version and the linked Joystiq article speaks on the technical hurdles that the porting studio had to get over to actually conform the game to a Twin-Stick setup rather than Keyboard/Mouse.  I hadn't really thought about it to this point because I was just thinking "Oh, it's a sidescroller, you jump, you attack things, can't be hard" but I completely neglected the fact that free-form aiming, because of the mouse, -is- a big part of Terraria and I realized that is quite the problem, actually.  Terraria, in a sense, is a very different game than most because of that layout and it becomes a rather tricky beast to take anywhere but the home it was built for.  Terraria relies on the mouse for the following purposes:  targeting specific blocks to mine/place (sometimes behind blocks that are directly between you and them, using sorcery), aiming projectile weapons, aiming a grappling hook and selecting/interacting with NPCs among other things.

Some of those things are easily replicated - aiming with a stick is practically child's play by this point, using  the full circle of analog to more or less guarantee you can aim just about anywhere, same with a grappling hook (since it's basically the same thing), and interacting with NPCs can have a less elegant scenario of, perhaps, having to be closer to them than in the PC version and navigating through their shops and conversations with the D-Pad and face buttons.  That's all simple.  The other things are quite a bit less intuitive and simple to do, specifically the mining and placing blocks since, as mentioned, you can use sorcery to place and mine blocks that are not directly in front of you.  This was used a lot of times by folks who would carve out large containers and manipulate physics to safely create and contain infinite sources of water and lava.  As well as having uses that -weren't- there to exploit the mechanics, obviously.  The solution of using the second stick to control cross-hairs for these targeted purposes isn't quite the most elegant one, but I'm sure it'll work in the long run.

Of course, you all know -how- I think and, more or less, -what- I think of all the time, day-in and day-out, so I imagine you know where I'm going with this.  I am thinking Vita Vita Vita, how can this be on the Vita because I want this on the Vita.  This specifically, actually, and not just this as in how I want -everything- on the Vita because I love it dearly.  Terraria, as a building game that can obviously be ported (to consoles, whether or not it -could- be on the Vita is in question, certainly and I don't dare state that I know one way or another) just sounds absolutely delightful as a title you can play on the go, doesn't it?  Have a few minutes on the train?  Pop into your world and continue working on building your castle.  Spot a particularly wonderful or inspiring piece of architecture while you're out?  Take a picture with your Vita, and use it as a basis for a different kind of build.  Just can't sleep and can't be assed to turn on your console or PC?  Mine down about two dozen layers and start looking for some lovely ores and bits that you need.  It is delicious-sounding to myself personally and while I jones for something a little more Minecraft-flavored, I will gladly take what I can get, and I have been warming to the idea of Terraria for a long time now.

Most importantly, there is a practical reason for this.  Stay with me, because I know what I'm going to suggest is going to seem appalling at first, but it makes sense.  Now, the problem with the control method on the Consoles basically stems from the lack of a proper pointer control for consoles and that's understandable.  As said, the solution isn't very elegant, but it certainly sounds serviceable.  But the advantage that the portables, both the 3DS and the Vita have is that they do have the next best thing from pointer controls in the touch screens.  Hey, hey, I said stay with me, don't make that face.  Yes, I saw it.  Just hear me out, alright?  Now, let's speak specifically of the Vita.  I know controlling things like cross-hairs for mining by covering up half of the screen with your hands is not a -more- elegant solution to using cross-hairs aimed with a stick.  I'm not suggesting that.  I'm not suggesting that at all.

I can hear you now, saying "No Mogs, no, I know where you are going and that way lies madness" and this is potentially true.  Yet, I cannot think of why it -wouldn't- work.  Were a game like Terraria (or, quite specifically Terraria) to be on the Vita, using the Back Touch Pad as a pointer for things like mining and the like might not be a bad idea as an option.  I certainly wouldn't suggest it being the only method available, which would have it fall back on the Consoles Auto/Manual switch as the other option, but with a little finangling, it's certainly a more elegant option.  Just think about it - using your middle finger (easiest to maneuver with the longest reach, though you could certainly use others) on the back of the Vita keeps it completely out of sight and with the cross-hairs actually appearing on-screen, you have an actual idea of where it is.  Combine that with using a 'function button', possibly Cross or Square and then blam, you are freely able to mine, place, do whatever the hell you want with a cursor that is quite a bit swifter and more responsive than the analog stick, in theory.

Will it happen?  Certainly not.  I'm amazed we're getting the PS3/360 versions and I worry for the amount of post-release support they'll see, so yet another version is inherently out of the question.  A man can dream, however, and we know that I dream big.  Or...well, in this case, little.

Two Nice Vita Game Announcements

Remember Earth Defense Force 3 Portable?  Announced sometime around E3 and was pretty much completely overlooked because the world is a terrible place full of terrible people?  Yeah, you probably don't.  It's okay.  I mean, I posted about it, but I really didn't, nor do I yet, know exactly what an Earth Defense (I keep spelling it as "Defence" and I don't know why) Force game is like.  I have a rough image and such, and I could probably get a better understanding through some videos and the like, which is probably what I will end up doing now that I have a reason to do so.  Because, as you might have read already, Earth Defense Force 3 Portable, known over here as Earth Defense Force 2017, is coming to North America.  This is a triumph, as they say, since it's just one more game to throw at the nay-sayers that are going to spout off the "has no gaems" thing until....I dunno.  I really don't, since the Vita -has- a really impressive library (more impressive first-party-wise than Nintendo at least, which is -saying something-) and doesn't really deserve the flak it gets, but that's neither here nor there.

If you'll recall (or if you re-read the post I initially linked) whether or the game would actually get localized was about as up in the air as any one game could be.  On one hand, it's apparently a beloved franchise, even if it's not A quality, on the other hand, it's....very, very niche, so it's not going to sell gangbusters no matter what it's on.  Still, what this means is a version that is in English and no matter what, that is a plus for most of the world that is not Japan.  For instance, the game has only been mentioned as heading for North America so, say, angry PAL folks will still be able to import it and play it on their Region-Free Vitas.  Because they are region-free.  Unlike certain other handhelds that people are always complaining about not being Region-Free, but buying the hell out of them anyway.  They will also be able to understand it, what with the whole English thing going on.  As to -when- they'll be able to do this is up in the air, as the game has a release window of "Winter 2013" which.....seems like a long, -long- way away if you take it literally.  As in, Q4 2013.  Some have speculated this means January or February of 2013 which makes a lot more sense, but there's really no information about that out there yet.

Still, I suspect that no matter the release date, I have a while to fully get a grasp on just what this series is.  If I had to put a rough estimate on it, I would suggest that it is Starship Troopers, but on Earth.  I would also say that I have not seen Starship Troopers in like a decade and I should really try to keep up on my references instead of throwing them out blindly but....effort.  Anyways, as a wholly expendable mook, you seem to be mowing down giant space bugs until....you can't.  I guess?  It does seem like the sort of thing that would be fun for short bursts and especially fun in a group of friends, so if the price and delivery is right, I might just go for it.  I don't know what to think of on that front, however, as I really don't see it making it onto a Cart for its release over here.  But I also don't see a Digital-only release for it going over $20, which I believe is what some Japanese Cart games that are DD-only over here are going for.  Like Sumioni and Dokuro (if its price was even announced) and of that ilk.  I'm sure that'll be seen as a pretty good bargain for fans of the series and the price-point might hook some who otherwise might not be interested.  Like me.  It'll be interesting to see, certainly!

Also worth noting as an announcement is the announcement that Rainbow Moon will be seeing a Vita port which pretty much makes all the sense in the world, really.  As it is apparently billed as an RPG that will take a lot of your time.  I think we've all sort of come to the realization that RPGs are fantastic for handhelds since you are likely in a position to put a lot more time into that than you are a console unless you....just have a lot of free time to spend with a console of your choice.  If we could all be so lucky, I suppose, but my point is that, especially for short sessions of pick-up-and-play, RPGs work really nicely provided they aren't text-heavy as all get-out.  But on the Vita, that's not so much an issue since you can Home Button out and put the machine to sleep if you just cannot get to a spot where you can save your progress.  Which is mostly for older games, since new ones seem to have embraced the theory of being able to save anywhere since if you're playing on a portable, you're pretty much likely to have to pick it up and put it down a lot.

I could probably find a couple posts where I stated it, but when Rainbow Moon came out, I said that I would be interested in it if it ever made its way to the Vita, since I'm really not going to do a whole lot of RPG-playing on my PS3 I doubt.  Aside from Final Fantasy XIII when I pick that up, but, well, according to who you listen to, it's not much of an RPG.  (Canned laughter goes here.)  I barely have the time to play the games I have, and I really don't need to compound that by throwing another game that'll require a 60-hour investment onto the pile.  That pile, I should say since I more or less have -two- piles now which is absolutely, utterly ridiculous.  On my PS3, I have the backlog that I have been oh-so-steadily working through, whereas on my Vita, I have a whole mess of PSP RPGs that I can go through at my leisure, I suppose, as well as Final Fantasy VII all by its lonesome while I await either Final Fantasy VIII or Xenogears to be up in the Playstation store proper since I believe I have purchased both and just need to download them.  And I'm gonna, I assure you of that.

Something specific to note is that, unlike a lot of games that are featured between the PS3 and the Vita, Rainbow Moon will not have a sort of "Buy one, get one" deal.  It's unfortunate for folks that have the PS3 version and would prefer it on the Vita, but to put it in perspective, the folks handling the port, their developing partner SideQuest Studios will have to literally port the entire game, as Rainbow Moon was built solely for PS3 and didn't use a sort of cross-platform engine which makes it so easy for other games to release on both services.  Not to fret, as the developer knows that things change and the fans who already supported them were the ones that requested the port, so they fully don't intend on charging the same price for those folks who have the game already or who decide they like the game so much, they want to buy it for both at once.  Exactly what the price-point is going to be in any scenario is up in the air, and how flexible they'll really be allowed to be is questionable, but at least their intent is there.  Let's hope that them coming out and saying that doesn't bite them in the end.