My experience with Okami is a somewhat odd story. Of course, I was aware of the title’s existence when Capcom was readying the game for the PlayStation 2. I knew it played like Zelda, and I knew that it had a unique art style. That was pretty much it, though. For one reason or another, I just wasn’t keeping much of an eye on it.
Fast forward about a year later, and we heard that Ready at Dawn was porting the game to Wii. I started to become a bit more interested in the title due to the the fan excitement surrounding the controls, but I still wasn’t completely sold. Following the game’s release on Wii, I decided I might as well take the plunge. After all, it would be just like Zelda, right?
And boy, was I floored. Immediately I was captured by the game’s incredible graphics and story. I felt that the characters were fascinating, the musical pieces were melodious, and the gameplay was indeed similar to Zelda, which I absolutely love. Sure, the two franchises aren’t exactly the same, but there are a number of gameplay similarities. I remember being quite disappointed when I finished Okami – I thought there’d be no possible way we would ever see a sequel. After all, Clover was gone, and the sales for both the PS2 and Wii versions were underwhelming.
Well, I was in for a shock once more when Famitsu finally unveiled Okamiden last year. My jaw almost hit the floor when I saw the first screenshots of the DS title – it looked remarkably comparable to Okami on the PS2/Wii. It feels odd that the title is already out in Japan – I almost can’t believe it’s real. Unfortunately, fans in North America and Europe will be forced to wait until March 2011 to get their hands on the game. It’s going to be long wait, but hopefully our interview we recently conducted with Capcom Product Marketing Manager Eric Monacelli will hold you over until then!
Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS3/360) – 10/10/9/10
Sonic Colors (Wii) – 8/8/8/10
Winning Eleven 2011 (Wii) – 9/8/8/8
DanceEvolution (360) – 9/9/8/7
Sonic Colors (DS) – 8/8/8/8
Sonic Free Riders (360) – 8/8/8/8
Fossil Fighters 2 (DS) – 8/8/8/8
Super Kaseki Horider (DS) – 8/8/8/8
Winning Eleven 2011 (PSP) – 8/8/8/8
Ishin no Arashi: Shippuu Ryuumeden (DS) – 8/8/8/7
Winning Eleven 2011 (PS2) – 8/7/7/8
FlingSmash (Wii) – 8/7/8/7
Motto! Stitch! DS Rhythm de Rakugaki Daisakusen (DS) – 8/7/7/8
EA Sports MMA (PS3/360) – 8/7/8/8
The Sims 3 (PS3/360) – 8/8/8/7
Kinect Adventures (360) – 7/7/7/9
Criminal Girls (PSP) – 8/7/6/7
Crossboard 7 (360) – 7/8/7/7
Kinect Sports (360) – 7/7/7/8
Nikudan (PS3) – 7/7/6/8
Move de Party (PS3) – 7/7/6/7
“There are certainly a lot of different things I could think of wanting to add. Since it’d be in 3D, I’d want to make it feel as if you are actually walking through this fantasy world. I’d want to make farming a more realistic, 3D experience. Dating would have scenes entirely in 3D. I really can’t think of going one-by-one here; I know I’d want to go at it and put a lot of different things in. Of course, if you’d like to see these things, please give Rune Factory 3 a try! If Rune Factory 3 succeeds in the West, it makes it a lot easier for us to consider making a new game in the future. I really hope you enjoy it!” – Rune Factory series producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto
A lot of my buddies get on my case for being so excited about the 3DS (needless to say, their opinions aren’t really valid), but I really think it’s going to add a layer of depth to worlds, even on such a small screen. All the impressions I’ve heard really tout how helpful it is for depth, and depth really helps put you in a world!
I’m quite excited!
“We have a Rival system that allows you play with people who aren’t just your friends, and it will be chat-enabled using the upcoming Headbanger headset. Not the greatest name, but it’s actually a pretty good device. Nintendo told us to not use WiiSpeak.” – High Voltage Software head Eric Nofsinger
>Nintendo puts out device
>2 games actually use it
>Nintendo tells developers to stop using it
>?????
>Profit
Wait… what? Ah well, WiiSpeak had some crappy audio quality anyway.
The image above comes directly from the latest issue of Game Informer. By the look of things, the magazine will be unveiling a brand new Tomb Raider title. There have actually been a few rumblings about the project over the past severals months, but we’ll be getting a proper blowout next month.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stephen Trademarks Dated Catchphrases | ||||
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I love Colbert, and I will say that this little bit made me laugh pretty hard. I won’t spoil it for you guys that want to watch it!
“As we sit here today we’re saying the Wii has many, many more units to sell. After we’ve reached an installed base of 45 million here in the U.S., we can have a conversation about the next generation. ” – Regginator
What are we at now, like 35 million? Quick you guys, let’s all but a second Wii so the Wii 2 will come out sooner! Or we could just buy 3DSes… Those little doohickeys are looking pretty darn cool.
Anyhow, I was just thinking: I really hope they don’t call the next Nintendo system the “Wii 2”. Nintendo always has cool names for their consoles, so I’d hate to see them go against originality and just add a 2 to the end of the current one.
“The holidays are more important to Nintendo than to other manufacturers. We have a distinct edge when it comes to gift-giving, and it’s no doubt because of the familiarity and recognition of both our brand and key franchises. The disparity on the software side is even greater. For Nintendo platforms, 44 percent of all game sales came during November and December. For the rest of the industry, that number was only 33 percent.” – The Regginator (Nintendo of America Boss)
I’d say that if there’s one thing I think of when the holidays roll around, it’s sitting around with friends drinking cocoa and playing some Nintendo games.
Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true, but I’d be lying if I said Nintendo products are very prominent in my holidays, and apparently they’re very important to Nintendo as well! I dunno, Nintendo games always give me that warm and fuzzy feeling that is associated with the holidays that all the gritty games made by other developers can’t match.
