That "entire game's worth" of content that was reported to have been cut from Final Fantasy XIII? Well, don't expect it to return in the form of DLC for the game. Speaking with Joystiq, FFXIII producer Yoshihiro Kitase said of the trimmed elements, "There wasn't all this other stuff that we wanted to include but but had to cut. It was more of a selective process you'd find in any development process, where there were a lot of ideas but then we chose the best of those to include in the final game. The things that were cut either didn't make sense in the storyline, would slow down the pace of the game or were otherwise unnecessary."
Kitase wanted to stress his "final word" on topic, telling us, "There is no plan for these things that were cut -- because they weren't essential to the game -- to be revived as downloadable content," laughing as he remarked that he wouldn't want to add back in the stuff he didn't think should be in there in the first place. We're cool with that, as long as they didn't cut out a "Meanwhile ..." segment that just happened to be a remake of Final Fantasy VII in its entirety.
The crew behind Nintendo Week, the promotional video series produced by Nintendo, must have finally discovered the wonder of The Caruso. This week's episode on the Nintendo Channel parodies the drama in a way only a family friendly Nintendo program can. Basically, somebody broke a lamp and it's up to Gary and Allison to find out who. Gripping crime drama, we know.
Head past the break for the full list of this week's content.
Good news, The Tester -- you're off the hook for being the worst idea for a video game-themed game show. Look sharp, Spike TV's recently announced God of War 3 promotion/contest Last Titan Standing -- you're officially on notice.
According to a recent press release announcing the show's casting call, Last Titan Standing (which airs the night before GoW 3's March 16 release) pits players against one another for a chance to play the game "before the rest of the world." Kind of a lackluster prize -- what will they be doing to win it? Well, according to the casting call: "The story, puzzles, and straight-up action in God of War 3 will be recreated and YOU can be standing in the midst of the battles."
Thanks, but no thanks, Last Titan Standing -- all things considered, putting up with pre-order panhandling from our friendly neighborhood GameStop clerk is marginally more bearable than getting our arms ripped off by a minotaur.
There’s no doubt that the original Super Mario Bros. has stood the test of time. I can play that game today and still get an amazing amount of joy from it. I love seeing kids take a crack at this game for the first time, after having already been familiarized with New Super [...]
We couldn't be more excited for this week's XBLA release. No, it's not because we can't wait to try out the whimsical, time-bending platforming of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (800/$10) ... well, there's that too. But really, we're just excited that after Wednesday, we probably won't have to type The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom too many more times.
Scoff all you want, but have you tried typing it? It's exhausting! It's long, there's punctuation, there's capitalization, it's just a nightmare all around. We typed it twice in this post as a goof and we still regret it.
This week's Xbox Live deal is none other than DICE's downloadable destruction sim, Battlefield 1943. Major Nelson reports that, for this week only, you can snag the game for 5% off the usual asking price. For one lone Hamilton ($10), you can experience all of the mayhem of the Frostbite engine across several islands in the Pacific, where vicious World War II battles were waged. That is, unless you fancy yourself a pilot, in which case we hope you like standing around a whole bunch.
Are you interested in Endless Ocean: Blue World? If you weren’t interested in the original, don’t think there there’s nothing to entertain you in the sequel. Some things have certainly been changed up, and you might find a few reasons to take a dip into the deep blue unknown. Check out the [...]
Want to flex your LittleBigPlanet creative muscle? Want to a win a prize doing so? Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is giving away a PSP Go system to one ingenious inventor that is able to create a specific "contraption": a vehicle that can operate on both land and water.
To enter, log onto LittleBigPlanet (PS3 only) and find the level "CC10 - Template." Copy the level to your Moon, and create a contraption within it. Once you're done, publish your creation with the prefix CC10 in the level title. One winner be selected to win a PSP Go. You'll have to hurry, though: The competition ends on February 28th. Good luck!
A western release of Inazuma Eleven remains a distant and unclear goal, but Level-5 is already up to a third game in the popular soccer RPG in Japan. Having just announced Inazuma Eleven 3: Challenge of the World!!, Level-5 has yet to offer many details about the plot or gameplay changes.
What is known is that the game contains a "Super Link" feature that allows players to import characters from Inazuma Eleven 2. We hope, then, that Inazuma Eleven 2 comes out in the West before Inazuma Eleven 3 (which is out this summer in Japan), and we hope that all of these things happen in our lifetimes.
In the five-ish years since the Xbox 360 launched, ushering in the current console generation, we've heard a whole mess of talk about this console life cycle pushing past the usual five-ish years they tend to span. Given that we're approaching the mark as we speak, MCV talked to execs from the big three and got an update on where each stands in terms of new hardware in the coming year(s). "The benefit of hardware remaining relevant for longer is the fact that it gives more developers a chance to get the very best and most out of current generation systems, rather than the cycle changing just as people have become used to maximizing a console's performance and abilities," says senior product manager at Nintendo UK Rob Lowe. "We strongly believe that there is still huge potential for both Wii and DS to continue to bring in new gamers and change rejecters' perceptions." Watch your back, rejecters!
Perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, Sony and Microsoft corroborate Lowe's claims, with VP of Sony Worldwide Studios Michael Denny adding, "Of course new hardware causes a large spike in consumer interest, but so does the launch of new, exciting games ... Modern Warfare 2 didn't need new hardware to break all the records." And with two new motion ... things coming to Sony and Microsoft's consoles -- not to mention the worldwide economy still struggling to recover from a near-meltdown -- we have to imagine that we won't be seeing any new $400 to $600 hardware anytime soon.
But hey, there's always 3D to take our money, right?
Do you want to get more details on Heartbeat, Capybara’s upcoming music-based WiiWare game? Well, it looks like some lucky people at a Hand Eye Society event got those details. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that information is going to be made public just yet. Capybara gave a presentation on the game, [...]
Sega's Toshihiro Nagoshi isn't just known for his bright orange tan. He's produced a number of titles for Sega, including Shenmue and, most recently, the Yakuza franchise. Although Nagoshi is already working on Yakuza 4 for Japan, the producer talked about some of his influences for the game's first English-language dev diary.
Yakuza 3 is unabashedly Japanese, so much so that mainstream Western audiences may be unlikely to relate. Nagoshi explains in the video that as a fan of Japanese cinema, he intended on "using a Japanese style to express [human drama]" in the game. "It might feel new to the Western market, but to the Japanese market it's something we grew up on, so we're used to it."
No wonder the Yakuza franchise has earned its cult status in the West. While its use of Japanese camp may be confusing to many, that's precisely what English-speaking fans love about the franchise. Thankfully, it won't be too much longer until everyone will be able to play Yakuza 3 ... and understand what's going on.
Speaking to GI.biz, Ubisoft's European Managing Director Alain Corre made it clear that the company plans to begin releasing new iterations of its major franchise titles every 12 to 18 months. Corre noted that his company is working toward the strategy, but stressed that each title "needs to be different enough from the previous SKU to make sure you're not tiring the franchise or the consumers." Corre pointed to the Call of Duty series as the best example of consistent releases and consistent quality, saying, "They never compromise on quality, which is exactly what we're trying to do with our brands now."
His remarks strike a familiar chord, as Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot shared similar comments during a financial conference call earlier this month. Guillemot then stated the company's goal of releasing more games more often, though he was careful to say that it still plans to invest in creating better game engines and development tools in order to avoid the franchise fatigue that seems to pervade certain titles.
If any of that translates to more Beyond Good & Evil, we're all for it.
We talked about this aspect for the Japanese VC release of Sonic and Knuckles, but now we can remind you about the technology, since the title is now available in North America. Nintendo and SEGA have managed to keep the lock-on technology from Sonic and Knuckles for its VC release, and you can read [...]
