LittleBigPlanet: little or big?
The PS3-exclusive innovative platformer from Media Molecule seems to be getting glowing reviews.
Although we haven’t been able to try it yet, it seems that it fares surprisingly well as a standalone game (Kotaku), but the level editor is a bit too complex to make it to the masses, and jumps are a bit approximate (Gamekult).
Most importantly according to Gamekult, the game is perfect when played with one friend only, the 3 and 4 player modes being a bit messy because of camera issues among others. So you better tell your least favorite brothers/sisters to beat it and keep only the most worthy of them, or just be happy that mom and dad stopped whatever-they-do-to-have-babies when it was still time.
If you’re looking for a serious review go to Kotaku.
Too little, too late ?
We’re big Street Fighter fans at LVLP and we had been loooking forward to the gorgeously looking SF II Turbo HD remix for a while now, especially with the folks at Udon in charge of the graphic makeover. I say we had been because it’s now been a painfully long wait (about 1.5 years) and to be honest with Street Fighter IV coming up somewhere in late February I can’t say that our excitement is exactly at its peak anymore.
Still, Seth Killian from Capcom tries to reassure us in an interview with über-blog Kotaku by stating that the game will shine through its rock-solid online component (read: opposite of the original SF II released on XBLA). And all of sudden, we’re excited again.
Aren’t we easy ?
ITC to "probe" Nintendo
News agency Reuters published the second episode in the Hillcrest vs. Nintendo saga. Basically, the International Trade Commission has agreed to investigate further if the Wii Remote constitutes an infringement on Hillcrest’s useless motion-sensing remote made in the 80’s.
Let’s hope Episode 3 will end this whole masquerade.
Full article here.
Infinity Ward making COD 6
Huge surprise to all of us I’m sure, the next Call of Duty game (the sixth one in the series) will be developed by Infinity Ward (Play.tm). Now we clearly see that the strategy of alterning brilliant and not-so-brilliant each year is actually a pattern at Activision for the COD series.
Here’s the extremely complex loop (for math geeks only): COD2=Infinity Ward=Brilliant, COD3=Treyarch=ahem, weeeeellll…, COD4=Infinity Ward=Brilliant, COD:World at War=Treyarch=…you see where we’re getting at.
Now some people may get annoyed by the fact that they lure the lambda gamer each following year by releasing a lesser sequel made by Treyarch, after they got to taste the sweet stuff from Infinity Ward the year before (COD3 buyers, we feel your pain). But we’ll be the devil’s advocate on this one, because at least we know that every two years, they will give us a sequel that not only doesn’t suck, but redefines the genre . Some other publishers on the other hand like to serve us with a crappy sequel every Christmas period. And no no we won’t tell you who: you know that already. No it has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Hum well okay maybe it has.
White Knight Chronicles is finally dated
That’s right, the Level 5 PS3 only (if they don’t pull a Square Enix on us) super-production is slated for a December 25th, 2008 release (on Christmas day, isn’t that wonderful?).
And according to game producer Akihiro Hino in the latest issue of Famitsu, this is the biggest game Level 5 has ever developed.
I wouldn’t start writing to Santa just yet though, it’s currently dated for Japan only…but hey don’t worry if you live in Europe we might probably get it in 2015 (sigh). And if we behave, we might even get it botched dubbed in English! (double sigh).
Source: Kotaku
Game of the Year: Braid
Picture courtesy of official website braid-game.com
Beautiful, smart, sad, dreamy, compelling, captivating: Braid is all that. Never have we seen such an optimal mix of smart gameplay, innovation, beautiful art and exceptional music atmosphere.
For those of you who haven’t heard about it yet, Braid is a puzzle-platformer where you can manipulate time by rewinding at any moment. This allows you to revive of course, but more importantly it is the key to solving most of the puzzles of the game. And believe us when we say some of them are really tough, but the satisfaction of solving them has rarely been so intense. No offense, but this is no Brain Training or Sudoku. It is actually alive and breathing. The emotionally charged storyline, the pastel artwork and the wonderfully appropriate classical musical score make it a totally unique experience.
And you know what? It will only cost you 1200 Microsoft Points ($15, €14.4). Okay, it’s the most expensive XLA game, but we totally disagree with the whole “it’s a 3-hour game” thing. Quality is what we really want to pay for, not quantity.
Not convinced yet? Check out the Metacritic page for raving critics.
Street Fighter IV Producer x Level Up Wear
Yoshinori Ono x LUW
Yoshinori Ono (SF IV producer) was spotted at this year’s Games Convention in Leipzig wearing an exclusive, and as always totally cool Level Up Wear design made for Capcom Europe. Sorry for the low-res picture, it’s the only one we could get that shows the tee properly!
Stay tuned for a chance to win this exclusive, extremely limited tee that will never go on sale!
Source : MobyGames
MadWorld on the Wii not so "Wiird"
Game producer Atsushi Inaba (Viewtiful Joe, Okami, God Hand) gave an interview to CVG to explain how he thinks the black-white-blood MadWorld is a perfect match for Nintendo’s money machine mommy friendly console, despite its clearly violent orientation.
Inaba says that the Wii-mote is basically perfect for this kind of game, and we totally believe him now that we have played the exceptional No More Heroes on the same platform. By the way, for those of you who have missed Suda 51’s latest masterpiece, we urge you to get out there and buy a Wii. It’s that good.
Something tells us that with Inaba’s credits, we won’t be disappointed by MadWorld, and it should be as awesome and brutal as it looks. Game comes out in 1Q2008 (if it doesn’t get banned by then – we seriously hope it doesn’t).
One we love to admire: Capcom
In this era of Wii’s and music games dominating and ultimately reshaping the industry, few publishers still dare to stay dedicated to the core gamer crowd. Don’t get us wrong, we love the Wii (at least some of its better games, not these) and Guitar Hero, we just think they tend to deviate from our concept of epic action/adventure games.
One of them that managed to stay exciting to us as well as to more casual players is Osaka-based Capcom.
They excel in retro remakes or follow ups (Bionic Commando Rearmed, Mega Man 9, Street Fighter II HD which contains excellent art by UDON), strong sequels to established IP’s (Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry 4, Street Fighter IV) and even completely original games such as the grandiose Okami, the extremely fun Dead Rising or the old-school Lost Planet.
Not only are their games really excellent, but they have also managed to sell a lot of them. Success and originality can still coexist and Capcom understood that very well.
And with titles like Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV and Dark Void in the horizon, we’re pretty sure that Capcom will stay at the top of our list.
[Shameless advertising mode: ON] Almost forgot: some people made very cool tees based on DMC4 and LP. Don’t forget to check them out here !
Yakuza 3 First Screens
First screens from upcoming (and hotly anticipated here at LUW) Yakuza 3 from Sega, scanned from the ultra-mega famous magazine Famitsu. As poor little Europeans, we’re still waiting for the second installment of the series to launch here (it’s coming in two weeks), but there’s no harm in already having a quick look at its prettier upcoming sibling, is there?
Not much to mention here except that the screens look gorgeous and we are even more eager (if possible) to get our dirty hands on the shiny HD-version of Kazuma Kiryu. Facial expressions seem to attain never seen before realism, and it confirms that Sega really is at the avant-garde for this (Shenmue everyone?). For more screens, please visit this link while it lasts: http://kotaku.com/photogallery/famitsuyakuza/, and also http://seganerdsforums.com/index.php?topic=652.0
Source: Kotaku
Xbox 199
You’ve seen the news by now, the 360 is going under the 200$ bar in the US, making it cheaper than the Wii.
Microsoft seems to be relying heavily on price cuts to lift sales. It’s always good in the short term, but we think it is a bit depreciating, and also not really creative. What about going for a redesign instead? Or including a bluray player? Or both? We see how redesigns help the handhelds, and the PS2 as well.
The Xbox was already a terrible system design-wise, and the 360 is not much better. Noisy, PC-like, and most of all often faulty.
Microsoft, we beg you: no more ugly stuff in our living room!