An unexpected 3DS title has been discovered at MCM Comic Con this weekend. Over at Rising Star Games’ booth, the unannounced DJMax Encore is playable.
The DJMax series, which features rhythm gameplay, kicked off over a decade ago. Players need to press buttons at the right moment as music plays.
As for DJMax Encore, Parallax Play speculates that it could be based on DJMax Portable 2 / DJMax Portable Hot Tunes given its menu and interface design. The site notes that the gameplay is similar to that of DJMax Portable 2, as you play songs in 4 Button, 5 Button, or 6 Button modes with the d-pad and A/B/X/Y buttons. The background animations for the various tracks play on the top screen, and the notes scroll on the touchscreen.
Update: The Splatoon Tumblr confirms Sheldon’s Picks Vol. 2 for the evening of June 7 in North America:
The long-awaited release of Sheldon’s Picks Vol. 2 is finally confirmed! Coming the evening of June 7th, we heard that the new weapon combinations may allow you to discover even more new battle strategies. We’ll let you know more details on the upcoming weapons once Sheldon gives us more info!
Splatoon will be adding a new batch of weapons in a couple of weeks. Nintendo has announced that Sheldon’s Picks Vol. 2 will be releasing on June 8 in Japan (likely June 7 in North America, but we’ll see). Specifics have not yet been posted, but we should be hearing more soon!
Thanks to LOLametro for the tip.
Capcom held a press conference for Monster Hunter Stories earlier this week. The publisher revealed a Japanese release date, announced amiibo in conjunction with the game, and more.
V Jump has now put up a recording of the entire event, which includes new off-screen footage. You can watch it in full below.
The Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary Countdown Special was hosted a couple of days ago. There wasn’t too much on Dragon Quest XI, but series creator Yuji Horii did share something quite interesting about the RPG.
Horii mentioned that he wants to bring back the “Spell of Restoration” in Dragon Quest XI. This refers to the password system in the original games which allowed players to continue their progress. Since then, the save data system has taken its place, but Horii surprisingly said that he’d like to see it return. How it will be used in modern times is unknown, but Horii gave a cryptic remark which seemed to hint at utilizing both systems.
Update: We now have confirmation that the two new songs are Tokimeki * Bomb Rush from Callie and Sumisoae no Yoru from Marie.
The Splatoon news continues, as we’re now hearing that a new CD is making its way to Japan. “Splatoon Live in Makuhari” is slated for July 13 with a 2,500 yen price point.
Back in January, the Squid Sisters performed a concert at Makuhari Messe in celebration of Game Party Japan 2016. This is what’s featured on the CD, along with two new songs not included in the “Splatune” soundtrack and voice files from the Squid Sisters. The CD jacket is newly drawn by Seita Inoue, the art director for Splatoon.
EDGE has a lengthy feature on Yooka-Laylee this month. There’s talk about developer Playtonic, and plenty on the game itself.
One point brought up early on is that Yooka-Laylee felt “almost unrecognizable from the footage that convinced so many to part with their money.” The two main characters are essentially the same. However, EDGE says that “their world is a very pleasant surprise – significantly more substantial than we’d anticipated, with a scale and a level of detail belying the size of the team making it.”
Yooka-Laylee takes plenty of cues from the 3D platformers of old on the N64. Just like with Rare’s classic games, this one will feature spoken gibberish for the characters. It took director Chris Sutherland and composer Grant Kirkhope some time to remember how to come up with these sounds, with Sutherland noting that the team “spent a lot of time trying to figure out the timing and iterating regularly until it sounded just right.”
Several new games out came out this week on the Wii U and 3DS eShops. If you’re interested in checking out what’s new in screenshot form, take a peak at the gallery below.
Splatoon debuted on Wii U one year ago. The game shipped on May 28 in Japan, followed by a day later in North America and Europe. Nintendo is celebrating the occasion with some special art that we’ve included above.
I don’t think anyone could have imagined Splatoon doing this well – even Nintendo. It’s crazy to think that the IP’s first entry has amassed over four million copies to sold. It’s even crazier when you factor in the Wii U’s install base and think about the attach ratio!
Nintendo is planning on launching a new Splatoon Wii U bundle in Japan soon. Consumers will be able to pick up a package containing a white 32GB system, pre-installed copy of Splatoon, and the Squid Sisters amiibo on July 7. Pricing is set at 39,960 yen.
Here’s another look at the box:
Capcom has published the first of what will surely be numerous localization blogs for Monster Hunter Generations. You can read it right here.
There is one excerpt from the blog that is worth highlighting on the site directly. Below, we learn that localization planning began in December 2014. Capcom also discusses why it changed the “Monster Hunter X” name and settled on “Monster Hunter Generations”. It’s rather interesting!
We started planning the localization for Monster Hunter Generations back in December 2014, as development on MH4U was winding down. We began having meetings with the development team to get an idea of the overall scope of the game, how much text there would be, what kind of time frame we had to work with, etc., so we could start mapping out our schedule. In the midst of all that, our first official request came from the producer. Our mission: localize the game’s title! We were given the following conditions for coming up with the international title:
