Silent Hill: Shattered Memories developer Climax Studios once created a couple of DS prototypes based on the Harry Potter franchise. Neither one saw a lengthy period of development.
Climax’s first pitch was for a Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire game. The demo was simple, with players being able to control Harry, Ron, or Hermione while drawing spells on the touch screen. Development ended after just a few weeks.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Dumbledore’s Army also didn’t last long, as work on the project was scrapped after just four days. It sounded like Climax had some ambitious plans here, as the team would have liked to include a fully-explorable Hogwarts, online versus modes, a co-op action mode, and the ability to take care of familiars similar to that of Pokemon.
Here’s a look at both prototypes shown by PtoPOnline:
Pokemon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Junichi Masuda is one of the main developers responsible for its success, as he’s been working on the series since the very beginning. He started out as a programmer and composer before eventually becoming a director.
Speaking about Pokemon’s long-lasting success and continued relevance in the latest issue of EDGE, Masuda has this to say:
“There are so many variables in the games market that it’s not easy to define why Pokemon has had sustained success. There’s no doubt that the core elements of collecting, battling and trading have a lasting appeal when it comes to kids. But the thing that all our games really have in common is that we start by designing them with the younger audience in mind, and then add elements for our other core players. This means that even people who have never played the game before can easily buy it and get stuck in.”
Masuda also commented on how the competitive nature of Pokemon has helped the franchise gain appeal outside of its traditional demographic:
We recently posted a commercial for Jakks Pacific World of Nintendo figures. Now we have a commercial for the Mario Kart Tape Racers as well. Find it below.
Early next year, Banpresto will be bringing out three new plushies for Pokemon Sun/Moon. The Alolan forms of Raichu, Vulpix, and Meowth will all be out in February. Each one measures in at 12cm in height.
Konami showed off a bunch of footage of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Heroes during a tournament event in Japan earlier today. Continue on below for the full archive.
Level-5 shared another round of details about the newly-announced Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki over on the game’s official website. We’ve collected the information below, courtesy of Gematsu’s translation.
New Mode: Yo-kai Watch Blasters Treasure
– 4-player multiplayer action
– Can also play alone
– Control a Yo-kai and clear dungeons while cooperating with other players
– You’ll encounter various traps such as land mines, spear beds, and metal basins
– Many powerful boss yo-kai such as Galactalian, Bishagatsuku, Super Tenchou, and more
– “New Parts”: ancient treasures hidden in dungeons
– Those who obtain it can raise their ranks from E-rank yo-kai to S-rank yo-kai
– Various special items
– The mode will also be added to Yo-kai Watch 3: Sushi and Yo-kai Watch 3: Tempura via a free major update (“Treasue Update”) on December 15
ntower is giving us another look at Skylanders Imaginators with 35 minutes of footage specifically from the Wii U version. Watch the gameplay below.
Now that Level-5 has officially announced Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki, the game’s boxart is available. Take a look at it above.
This month’s EDGE review scores are as follows:
Forza Horizon 3 – 9
Virginia – 8
Destiny: The Rise of Iron – 7
ReCore – 6
The Tomorrow Children – 7
World of Warcraft: Legion – 7
Paper Mario: Color Splash – 7
Wheels of Aurelia – 5
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
September 2016 NPD: Debut Yo-kai Watch 2 and Dragon Quest VII sales, Wii U and 3DS performance, more
NPD’s preliminary report for September 2016 sales in the United States is starting to make the rounds. AstronautClaire, who has access to the data, was kind enough to share some early information.
Yo-kai Watch 2 was one of Nintendo’s big releases last month. It launched in two versions at the very end of September: Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls. Between September 30 and October 1, the game sold about 35,000 copies. It’s somewhat tough to comment on Yo-kai Watch 2’s performance thus far given that we have just a couple of days worth of data. However, it is worth noting that Leo Burnett’s Yo-kai Watch 2 commercials have aired 803 times across Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, so quite a bit of money is being spent on advertising.
