Even though Red Steel 2 is considerably different than its predecessor, the development team that created the first title is comprised of many members who worked on the original title. Creative director Jason Vandenberghe spoke about this with the press last week, in addition to the fact there was a goal in mind to make Red Steel 2 “really killer, really awesome.”
“The game has actually been worked on in one way or another pretty much since the end of Red Steel 1. The core team for Red Steel 2 is made up of largely the same people that did Red Steel 1. So there’s a lot of continuity there.
There was a lot of work being done in terms of research [and] about gameplay. What are we going to do? How can we make it great? The team wanted to make the next one really killer, really awesome. So we spent a lot of time really looking at the core mechanics, looking at the technologies, rebuilding that from the ground up. Making sure we can get the absolute most we could out of the Wii. There was a lot of questions amongst the team about can we really make this work with the basic Wiimote.
We tried a lot of things and certainly we got a long way. But when the Wii MotionPlus showed up, it was like “Oh okay. Well, [laughs] this is how this game should work!” was pretty much our response. When we plugged it in and tried that, wham! What happened is that [Red Steel 2] went from a shooter with a sword in it, to a sword game with guns in it. We really shifted the focus and that let us sort of go down and take our setting apart and look at it again. We created this new hero from the inside out based on that gameplay.”
While most would agree that The Conduit features one of the better online systems on the Wii, there have been reports of glitches popping up during multiplayer matches. In fact, Austin has told me that he’s encountered a number of “spawn under the map” glitches. Austin got in contact with the good folks over at High Voltage regarding his issues and it looks as though the company is working with Nintendo in an attempt to iron out multiplayer bugs.
“We have received a few emails from fans regarding multiplayer snags and I assure we’re working hard to fix those issues. It’s difficult to address “glitches” post-release, but we’re working closely with Nintendo to come up with potential solutions.”- Jaramiah Severns, Associate Producer
Game Inspired by the Upcoming Walt Disney Pictures Feature Film to Arrive for Nintendo DS This Holiday Season
BURBANK, Calif. — (July 7, 2009) – A new generation of fans will soon connect like never before with the illustrious story and characters of A Christmas Carol. Disney Interactive Studios today announced it will publish the video game inspired by “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” the Charles Dickens tale re-imagined by Robert Zemeckis as a major feature film starring Jim Carrey. Disney’s A Christmas Carol video game is scheduled for release exclusively for Nintendo DS™ in North America on November 3, 2009.
Disney’s A Christmas Carol video game is an innovative adventure puzzler for Nintendo DS that celebrates the spirit of the holidays with a Scrooge twist. It is the only video game inspired by the re-envisioned classic Dickens tale and gives Nintendo DS players a fantastical, super-sensory adventure with engaging activities for the yuletide season.
“We were really hoping to raise the quality bar of games on Wii. All the developers and publishers we’ve talked to, I think they’re playing sort of ‘wait and see’ just now. If it does well and the gamers support it, then I think we’ll see a lot more titles like this. Otherwise we’re going to see a lot more games with Fit and Sports in their name.”
I know we’ve said this probably one hundred times on the site before, but developers are definitely watching to see how The Conduit performs. NPD sales figures for June will be released next month, so we’ll get a chance to see how the game is doing in North America.
– NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe Completes Purchase of Worldwide PAL Distribution Operation from Atari –
LYON, FRANCE – 7 July 2009 – NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe S.A.S. today announced the completion of its purchase of Atari’s global PAL distribution operation, with the entity re-named NAMCO BANDAI Partners with immediate effect. The company distributes titles worldwide, excluding Japan and North America, from NAMCO BANDAI Games, Atari and other major international video game publishers, representing one of the industry’s strongest international retail distribution networks.
“We are very excited about working with all our valued partners in retail, media and publishing to grow what is already a successful distribution business even further as part of the NAMCO BANDAI Games family,” said Jackie Fromion, CEO of NAMCO BANDAI Partners. “With our committed and experienced teams of professionals around the world we provide a first class distribution solution, and we very much hope to see a growing number of publishers taking advantage of this. Our vision is to be a successful, attractive and profitable company as well as a great place to work.”
Famitsu has posted a listing of the top 10 best-selling games in Japan for the month of June. We have the translated results below.
1. Wii Sports Resort – 6/25 release (Wii) – 353,827 units
2. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – 5/30 release (DS) – 171,242 units
3. Friend Collection – 6/18 release (DS) – 170,490 units
4. Ace Attorney Investigations – 5/28 release (DS) – 65,863 units
5. Sloane and MacHale’s Mysteries – 5/21 release (DS): 57,359 units
6. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G PSP the Best – 10/30 release (PSP): 51,590 units
7. Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – 5/28 release (PS3) – 49,059 units
8. Infinite Space – 6/11 release (DS) – 48,397 units
9. Atelier Rorona – 6/25 release (PS3) – 47,456 units
10. Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono 2 – 6/25 release (PSP) – 45,282 units
With a title like Red Steel 2, one would think that there would be a good amount of blood in the game. However, that’s not actually the case. The decision not to make Red Steel 2 a bloody game was a conscious decision.
“We get asked this a lot. In fact, we asked ourselves this question at least a thousand times before we made the final call…Building our game with realistic violence in it would, for many players, interfere with just having a good time with a sword and gun. And, that’s sort of the whole point of all the work we’ve been doing. Blood and gore just isn’t what this game is about, and we want to be true to the game we are making. That won’t necessarily make everyone happy, but we believe that at the end of the day, if you like the idea of swordfighting, we’ll have a game that is worth your time.” – Jason Vandenberghe, Creative Director
Mr. Vandenberghe also discussed how the team is “trying to make something entertaining, something truly fun to play, a game where you play a real hero, a badass with a sword and a gun.” So, rather than creating a truly gruesome and violent game, the developers are focusing more on the aspect of creating an overall enjoyable experience.
Journey to the Heart of Africa Where You Control the Wild Kingdom!
REDWOOD CITY, Calif — July 7, 2009 — Pack your bags for an African adventure as EA Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced SimAnimals™ Africa for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™, the sequel to the highly enjoyable SimAnimals™ game. In SimAnimals Africa, gamers play with and tame all new exotic animals including lions, elephants and gorillas as they explore exotic landscapes from savannas to jungles. This must-have Wii game for the holidays is great for kids and features challenges and mini-games that players solve to unlock new items, animals and levels to explore!“SimAnimals Africa offers players a whole new, wild world to explore, take care of, and discover,” said Tim LeTourneau, General Manager of the SimAnimals Franchise. “Kids are in for hours of entertainment as they explore new terrain, and for the first time, play as wild animals where they can run, jump, kick and charge, adding another dimension to the fun.”
