Amazon’s next gaming deal as the site counts down to Black Friday is all about the music. If you’ve been waiting for prices to drop on some of Activision’s music rhythm games including Band Hero, Guitar Hero 5 or DJ Hero, Amazon is the place you want to go.

Starting November 21, 2009, until 11:59 p.m. Pacific time next Thursday (November 27, 2009) Amazon is offering a $40 store credit when you purchase either DJ Hero, Band Hero, Band Hero Super Bundle or Guitar Hero 5 at regular price.

Two business days after your order ships you will receive an e-mail confirming the $40 credit has been applied to your Amazon account.

Note that you must purchase the bundles from Amazon and not an Amazon Marketplace store in order to qualify for this offer.

Each game is available for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles.

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What’s almost as good as a Black Friday sale ad? A Thanksgiving sale ad! Kmart’s Thanksgiving 2009 sale ad has been leaked onto the internet, and is now available for your viewing pleasure. Many Kmart stores are going to be open from 7am to 9pm on November 26, 2009, in case you feel like getting your shopping done early after a meal with loved ones. If you live in Massachusetts, Maine or Rhode Island, don’t bother heading to your local stores - they’ll be closed.

There are no doorbusters, so no need to worry about waiting in line or getting to the store obscenely early. Well, if there’s something you really want, you may want to stop by early just to make sure it is still in stock. You never know, those $9.99 Snuggies could fly off store shelves.

Let’s check out the video game and electronic deals in the ad. Be advised, there will be also be $14.99 and under value games on sale in addition to the deals below, but the selection will vary depending on the store so no specific games are mentioned.

DS

• 2-packs of DS games will be $14.99. The ad says the assortment will vary by store. The bundle pictured shows Tornado and Indianapolis 500 Legends.

PS2

• Guitar Hero Metallica - $39.99
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits - $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour - $29.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour guitar bundle with game and guitar peripheral - $49.99
• 3-packs of PS2 games will be $9.99. The ad says the assortment will vary by store. The bundle pictured shows Superman Returns, NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and DT Carnage.

PS3

• Guitar Hero Metallica - $39.99
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits - $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour - $29.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour guitar bundle with game and guitar peripheral - $49.99
• 2-packs of PS3 games will be $24.99. The ad says the assortment will vary by store. The bundle pictured shows Stormrise and Bionic Commando.

PSP

• Buy a $169.99 PSP 3000 system, get a $25 Sony Gaming Coupon.
• Buy a $199.99 Limited Edition Gran Turismo PSP Bundle, get a $25 Sony Gaming Coupon.

Wii

• A Boy and his Blob - $29.99
• EA Active - $39.99
• Guitar Hero Metallica - $39.99
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits - $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour - $29.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour guitar bundle with game and guitar peripheral - $49.99
• Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010 - $29.99
• 2-packs of Wii games will be $14.99. The ad says the assortment will vary by store. The bundle pictured shows King of Clubs and Ultimate Board Game Collection.
• Buy a $199.99 Wii, get a $25 Nintendo Gaming Coupon.
• Kmart is also advertising Wii Fit Plusfor $99.99, but that’s the standard price for the bundle and not a sale price.

Xbox 360

• Forza Motorsport 3 - $39.99
• Guitar Hero Metallica - $39.99
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits - $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour - $29.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour guitar bundle with game and guitar peripheral - $49.99
• Halo 3 ODST - $39.99
• 2-packs of Xbox 360 games will be $24.99. The ad says the assortment will vary by store. The bundle pictured shows Crash Time and Battle Fantasia.

Image Source: Black Friday 2009.

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Video games can often be used to build essential life skills, or to educate players. You can learn new languages, improve hand-eye coordination, find new recipes, study for exams, prepare for stressful situations or build your vocabulary.

So, this year, train for the Black Friday shopping rush by picking up a few games.

Gamertell’s ready to offer up five video game suggestions that may help you prepare for the busiest shopping weekend of the year. You’ll not only help improve your shopping skills but also become more patient, learn avoidance techniques and stress management techniques.

• Barbie: Game Girl (Game Boy): This incredibly frustrating game, set in a shopping mall, will help you learn to be patient. The controls are horrible, the levels are frustrating and Barbie doesn’t seem to ever jump or move as accurately as you want. If you can make it through this game, you can quietly, and perhaps even happily, endure anything Black Friday throws at you.
• Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop (DS): The Shop Mode is what you’ll want to focus on for your training. It’s a good way to train agility and strategic skills. The other shoppers don’t care about you, only their own paths and goals, a mindset that will be shared by Black Friday shoppers. It’ll help you learn to focus on number one.
• Dead Rising (Xbox 360, Wii): Think of the zombies as the endless and agitated crowds you’ll be fighting through at your local big box store or shopping mall and use it to practice surviving without being trampled or assaulted. Note: Refrain from using violence when dealing with the human crowds you’ll encounter on Black Friday.
• Style Savvy (DS): Catering to the needs of occasionally demanding and fussy customers will help hone your gift selection skills, ensuring that the items you bestow on others don’t find their way to the return counter of the stores you purchased them from.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox): Finding your local Old Navy or Walmart should be simple after having to scour Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas for the stores so CJ can get the latest clothes.

If think of any additional games that could help people prepare and get in the proper mindset for Black Friday, please let us know in the comments below.

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When people think of the Shin Megami Tensei series started by Atlus, they probably first think of the PlayStation versions of Revelations: Persona or Persona 2 as the start of the series. It isn’t their fault, really. After all, for people in North America, that was probably their first encounter with Shin Megami Tensei.

However, the series has been along for much longer than that. It all began with Megami Tensei, which eventually underwent a slight title change and became Shin Megami Tensei. There are entries in the series going back as far as the Famicom, and in Japan the series considered as mainstream as Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, people outside of Japan will never get the opportunity to play through the older entries, unless there’s some sort of port or remake, which is unlikely due to the age of some of the older entries.

Today in Important Importables, we’ll look back at the surprisingly long history of the Shin Megami Tensei games, taking a brief overview of all of the entries in the series. Please bear in mind though, that more recent entries will probably have more detailed descriptions than the older ones.

Megami Tensei / Shin Megami Tensei

While all of the Shin Megami Tensei series and its offshoots tend to get tagged with the Shin Megami Tensei moniker in North America, in Japan only the main series and the miscellaneous offshoots are branded with it.

The earliest games were first person dungeon crawlers and, of course, had the trademark demon partnering system that has appeared in some shape or form in all Shin Megami Tensei games. They also tend to take into account player’s choices to shape the course of the game, take place in either modern times or the future and often have a plot that involves saving the world.

The first Megami Tensei games were made by Namco, and not Atlus. Atlus took over the series with Shin Megami Tensei. Also Shin Megami Tensei: If… is the predecessor to the Persona spinoff series.

These are the main Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei games that have been released:

• Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (Famicom)
• Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II (Famicom)
• Shin Megami Tensei (Super Famicom, Sega CD, PlayStation, GBA)
• Shin Megami Tensei II (Super Famicom, PlayStation, GBA)
• Shin Megami Tensei: If… (Super Famicom, PlayStation) Note: It is the predecessor to the Persona series.
• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (PS2) Note: It was the first entry in the Shin Megami Tensei line released in North America and had Devil May Cry‘s Dante cameo appearance.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS) Note: A US release has just been confirmed.

Persona

The Persona is probably the Shin Megami Tensei branch best known outside of Japan. There have been five entries in this series, and while they the originals featured the first person dungeon crawling and demon negotiation, the series has progressed to focus on high schoolers who suddenly develop the ability to use Personas, who resemble many of the demons from the other games, to save the world.

North America has actually seen releases of all the Persona games so far, with the exception of one, Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Given the popularity of the franchise, perhaps we’ll one day see that game in English as well.

These are the Persona games that have been released:

• Revelations: Persona/Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (PlayStation, PSP)
• Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PlayStation) Note: This is the only Persona game to never receive an English release.
• Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PlayStation)
• Persona 3 (PS2, PSP)
• Persona 4 (PS2)

Devil Summoner

The Devil Summoner Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series has seen a North American release as well, but hasn’t achieved the same level of fame. It technically began life as an official part of the main Shin Megami Tensei series, but then developed into its own spin-off series.

The Devil Summoner games all share some common themes - they’re set in modern, or close to modern, Japan and typically follow the adventures of a main detective protagonist with the ability to summon and talk to demons, who’s investigating some kind of dire misuse of demons. The first two games didn’t get released outside of Japan, and the second two games did.

These are the Devil Summoner games that have been released:

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (Sega Saturn, PSP)
• Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (Sega Saturn, PlayStation)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army (PS2) Note: This was the first Devil Summoner game to be released in English.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (PS2)

Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible

The Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible series are the most distantly related to the other games in the Shin Megami Tensei family. They are RPGs, but typically take place in a fantasy setting, have players recruiting and fusing monsters instead of demons and are created for a wider audience that includes children. Basically, they’re toned down versions of the main series of games.

Here’s a list of all the Last Bible games released.

• Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible/Revelations: The Demon Slayer (Game Boy, GBC, Game Gear) Note: It is the only Last Bible game that was released in English.
• Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible II (Game Boy, GBC)
• Another Bible (Game Boy)
• Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible III (Super Famicom)
• Last Bible Special (Game Gear)

Majin Tensei

This Japan-only Shin Megami Tensei series spin-off is basically a look at what would happen if Fire Emblem combined with Shin Megami Tensei. It’s a strategic RPG that involves the player hiring, fusing and battling with demons instead of typical strategic RPG units. None of the games ever received an English-language release, but both recently had PC versions released.

There are the Majin Tensei games available:

• Majin Tensei (Super Famicom, Windows PC)
• Majin Tensei: Spiral Nemesis (Super Famicom, Windows PC)

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children

Similar to the Last Bible series, Devil Children is another all ages spin-off of Shin Megami Tensei. The main entries in the series are very similar to Pokemon and Digimon, revolving around heroes and heroines who are half human, half demon and recruit, raise and battle monsters. Also, like Digimon and Pokemon, there are multiple variations of the same game.

The series is so popular in Japan that inspired two anime and two manga series.

Here are the Devil Children games you can find:

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Black Book, White Book and Red Book (GBC, PlayStation)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Light Book and Dark Book/DemiKids: Light and Dark (GBA) Note: This is the only entry in the Devil Children series to be released in English.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children: Puzzle de Call! (GBA) Note: Unlike the other Devil Children games, this is a puzzle game.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Fire Book and Ice Book (GBA)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children: Messiah Riser (GBA) Note: This entry is a strategic RPG.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

The Digital Devil Saga games are RPGs like the majority of Shin Megami Tensei games, but this spin-off series has some unique hallmarks. Characters transform into a demon form, rather than being able to have demons fight at their side and be fused. The game also takes place far in the future, after the apocolyse, and focuses on the battle among tribes fighting to try and reach Nirvana.

There are two Digital Devil Saga games available, and both received US releases:

• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (PS2)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 (PS2)

Miscellaneous spin-offs

There have been many Shin Megami Tensei spin-offs, but most of them have ended up as one-shot deals and didn’t spawn a series like Persona or Devil Summoner. Since they don’t really fit into the other three categories all that well, it’s easier to just place them here. Most are RPGs of some sort, like the Shin Megami Tensei staples, but occasionally there will be one that slips into another genre, like strategic RPG or action.

These are the rest of the Shin Megami Tensei games that have been released:

• Jack Bros. no Meiro de Hiho/Jack Bros. (Virtual Boy)
• Shin Megami Tensei: NINE (Xbox)
• Megami Tensei Online Imagine/Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine (Windows PC)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables reviews the DC-IE Import Enabler for the Dreamcast.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last weekImportant Importables listed 100 interesting games you can only play if you import in honor of its 100th column.

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Video games are often berated for the lack of educational content found in them. They’re often considered a waste of time. But, if you look closely, even games that aren’t slapped with the edutainment label or feature educational material can be teaching valuable skills to the people playing them.

Gamertell’s put together a brief list of some video games that weren’t created with the developers aiming to educate the masses, but can end up helping players build some valuable skills. With some, the educational value is pretty obvious, but with others you probably could spend hours playing without even realizing you’ve learned something from it.

1. Bookworm Adventures & Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 (PC): You have to create words from letter tiles in your possession to defeat opponents. As you get further into the game, more difficult letters tend to pop up. It boosts you vocabulary, and helps better your spelling skills, without you even knowing it.
2. Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village & Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS): Both Professor Layton games get players thinking critically. They help boost math and reasoning skills, and also encourage creativity. Unless, of course, you visit a blog like Professor Layton and the Curious Village Walkthrough.
3. Scribblenauts (DS): Here’s another vocabulary booster. When you know the game is capable of recognizing, and creating, objects for over 20,000 words, it makes you want to plug in as many as you can to see if the game will recognize it and what kind of items the words will spawn.
4. Pokemon (DS): An unusual series you probably didn’t expect to see here. However, Pokemon is a great way to get kids reading without them realizing it, and also is a good way to help develop patience and reasoning skills. After all, players have to know the weaknesses and strengths of each kind of pokemon.
5. Wii Sports (Wii): Its a great way of developing good hand-eye coordination.
6. Line Rider (PC, DS, Wii): While many people probably just tinker around with Line Rider for fun, or to see the little sledder crash, it also can teach some physics lessons along the way.
7. Final Fantasy (NES, SNES, GBA, PC, PS1, PS2, DS, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360): Like Pokemon, it gets players reading. Plus, the language typically isn’t dumbed down in the games, so players could be building their vocabulary as well. Critical thinking and reasoning skills can also come into play when players need to figure out how to defeat tricky bosses or overcome the occasional challenging mission.
8. Half-Minute Hero (PSP): It’s a surprisingly good way to teach players about proper time management. While you can usually pay an in-game character to extend the 30 second deadline in each mission, you also have to figure in how to raise money to extend the deadline or reach that character in time.
9. Space Channel 5 & Space Channel 5 Part 2 (Dreamcast, PS2): It’s a great way to learn to accurately follow directions and boost memory skills. After all, you have to repeat the motions back exactly the way you heard them if you want to succeed.
10. Patapon & Patapon 2 (PSP): Both games help players learn to stick to and follow a rhythmic pattern and memorize patterns. If you don’t memorize the correct patterns and follow the beat, your Patapon warriors won’t do anything.

If you can think of any other games that could be unintentionally educational, let us know in the comments!

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Anyone who’s stepped into a Half Price Books store knows that you can find used video games, half-price PC games and even used video game strategy guides on sale at reasonable prices.

While the store never offers traditional Black Friday sales, it does offer special promotions to customers who stop by and make a purchase during the busiest shopping days of the year. The Half Price Book special offers for Black Friday 2009 have already been leaked.

First, if you can get there early then do. The first 100 customers in every Half Price Books store will get a tote bag and $5 Half Price Books gift card. Even if you aren’t among the first 100, try and get there before 10 a.m. on Friday, November 27, 2009. There’ll be a 20% discount taken off all purchases made at the store before that time.

There are two all-day promotions as well but you need to make sure you buy at least $25 worth of merchandise. Every $25 in general purchases gets you a free 2010 calendar and every $25 gift card purchase will get you a $5 coupon.

I suggest you make a list of what games, strategy guides or game novels you’re looking for beforehand. Half Price Books stores have a massive selection and, if you go in without specific titles in mind, you can get lost in all the books, CDs, movies and games available.

I also recommend checking out the bargain section in back. All books, movies and games back there are typically $1 or $2. I’ve seen DS, GBA, Game Cube, PC, PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360 at the two Half Price Books locations near my house, so you could end up discovering a nice selection of classic used games.

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The first two Black Friday 2009 ad scans to emerge on the scene are Kmart and Sears. It makes sense, when you think about it, since they’re both owned by the same company. Anyways, the Sears ad has been leaked as well, so let’s take a look and see what’s being offered. Not surprisingly, there are some similar deals being offered at both stores.

Sears is having a one day doorbuster sale that will be held from 4am-12pm on Friday, November 27. The way the ad is set up, you can see it at right, it’s difficult to tell if the video games on the page are also part of the doorbuster deal, or if it just applies to the other electronics. I’m going to say it only applies to the other electronics, since they have DOORBUSTER written above their descriptions. That being said, there are three HDTV doorbuster sales that would go great with your console. You can get a Samsung 46” LCD HDTV for $899.99, a Toshiba 40” LCD HDTV for $589.99 or a Sylvania 37” LCD HDTV for $399.99.

There are number of video game bundles being shown off as well. However, the ad’s too small to make out the titles of most of the 2-pack and 3 pack games. To simplify, you can get a two pack of Xbox 360 or PS3 games for $24.99, a two pack of DS or Wii games for $14.99 or a three pack of PS2 games for $9.99.

Also, there will be a selection of games that will be under $14.99. The ad shows DS, PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 next to that notification, but also states that the titles available will vary from store to store.

Also, if you have or plan to get a Wii, keep in mind that a 2gb SanDisk SD card will be $14.99 and a 8gb SanDisk SDHC card will be $29.99. Trust me, you’ll want/need the extra memory.

Now that all that’s settled, let’s look at the specific game deals.

DS

• Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter - $19.99
• World of Zoo - $19.99

PS2

• Guitar Hero World Tour with guitar - $49.99

PS3

• Brutal Legend - $39.99
• Dragon Age: Origins - $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour with guitar - $49.99
• Need for Speed: Shift - $39.99
• PS3 120gb system with free blu-ray remote - $299.99

Wii

• A Boy and his Blob - $29.99
• Biggest Loser - $29.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour with guitar - $49.99
• Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum - $29.99
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up - $29.99
• Wii console with free Nerf racing wheel peripheral - $199.99

Xbox 360

• Brutal Legend - $39.99
• Dragon Age: Origins - $39.99
• Forza 3 Motorsport - $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour with guitar - $49.99
• Halo 3 ODST - $39.99
• Left 4 Dead - $39.99
• Need for Speed: Shift - $
• Xbox 360 Elite bundle with Lego Batman: The Video Game, Pure and a 12 month Xbox Live Gold card - $299.99

Image Source: TheBlackFriday.com

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Wow, Black Friday ad leaks come out sooner each year. This year Kmart’s ad was one of the first to leak its way out. So, since it did, we may as well take advantage of the opportunity to look through and see what kind of video game deals the store is going to be offering.

Let’s take a look at the doorbuster items separately, since those are going to be limited promotion items. First let’s see what Kmart is offering on November 27, 2009, “Blue” Friday, from 6-11am. If you need a computer, there’ll be a Delstar 7” Netbook 05 with Windows CE for $119.99. If you need a new HDTV to play games on, for $379.99 you can get a 32” Sony Bravia L series 720p LCD TV there as well. As far as video games are concerned, there’s only one doorbuster - a $169.99 DSi which comes with five pre-loaded games and a $25 Nintendo gaming coupon.

When it comes to Saturday, November 28, 2009 doorbusters, there are fewer available options. You can get a DS lite that comes with a $25 Nintendo gaming coupon for $129.99. You can also get the PS3 and Xbox 360 games Dragon Age Origins and Brutal Legend for $39.99 each. Finally, for younger kids, all Leap Frog software will be buy one get one free.

Now that that’s covered, let’s take a look at the general Kmart Black Friday sales.

DS

• Petz Rescue: Ocean Friends - $14.99
• Lego Batman: The Videogame - $14.99

PS2

• High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance Bundle with two dance mats - $9.99

PS3

• Batman Arkham Asylum - $39.99
• Dirt 2 - $39.99
• Need for Speed: Shift - $39.99
• Rock Band 2 Special Edition - $99.99
• TNA Impact! - $14.99
• WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 - $39.99

PSP

• Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines PSP entertainment pack with Assassin’s Creed II (PS3) - $199.99

Wii

• Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks - $19.99
• Cars Race-O-Rama - $29.99
• Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter - $39.99
• Game Party - $9.99
• Game Party 2 - $9.99
• Lego Star Wars: Complete Saga - $14.99
• My Sims Kingdom - $14.99
• Sponge Bob’s Truth or Square - $29.99
• World of Zoo - $29.99

Xbox 360

• Batman Arkham Asylum - $39.99
• Dirt 2 - $39.99
• Forza III - $39.99
• Halo 3 ODST - $39.99
• Left4Dead 2 - $39.99
• Need for Speed: Shift - $39.99
• Rock Band 2 special edition - $99.99
• Xbox 360 Elite bundle with Lego Batman: The Videogame, Pure and Halo 3 ODST - $299.99

General Electronics

• Element 26” LCD HDTV - $249.99
• Panasonic 42” plasma HDTV - $549.99

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**Fair Warning: This will be VERY SPOILER HEAVY. Read of your volition!!!**

The Human mind is very interesting piece of biological equipment. The way we think, interpret, and create. How our brains use electrical impulses to make it all happen. And yet, the Human mind is also one of the most terrifying things in existence. The way our mental psyche can succumb to an emotion, creating fantastic and frightening events, manipulated by memories and nightmares, an inescapable fear.

Silent Hill 2 isn’t a horror game in the classic sense of the genre; sure it has demons and plays our fears of the dark, but it goes beyond that by becoming truly scary through its playing with the mind. It’s a haunting video game twist on the plot device used in many works such as the short story, An Occurrence at Owl Bridge Creek , and the Adrian Lyne film, Jacob’s Ladder.

The inescapable fear described in the beginning paragraph has pulled in a widower named James Sunderland (who looks an awful lot like Keifer Sutherland’s character from the movie, The Vanishing, which I might is also about a man relentlessly looking for his wife). His wife, Mary, succumbed to unknown disease or so he thought. He received a letter from her telling him to meet her in their “special place”.

Silent Hill.

It was there that the two shared the last special moments together before Mary became hospitalized and pass on. It now is the place where James will confront Mary… and himself.

Silent Hill 2 isn’t a particularly good “game”, it instead is carried fully by its story, one that, to myself, remains good enough to go back through over and over again despite the horrible design choices the game’s designers made. Having to open the menu whenever you wanted to use items or view the map and notes was the most notable pain, though if you imagine Resident Evil controls plastered on a PlayStation 2 game that gives you a better idea of what your dealing with. The graphics weren’t anything spectacular either, even though the rough, grey and grainy visuals helped with the game’s atmosphere. Still, I love every bit of it. If Team Silent would ever get off their behinds to remake this game, I would only demand better sound quality.

Akria Yamaoka was at the top of his game when creating the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack. It’s something that any lover of video game music needs to experience. Promise’s guitar work is haunting and the piano work on it’s reprise is equally matching. Laura’s Theme is the standout track with its heavy rhythmical use of electric guitar.  Even its reprise does a fantastic job with a fusion of a piano and violin dancing a duet. Laura’s Theme is the track that just sucks you into the entire story. Too bad the original version never got released. For our protagonist James however, too bad a lot of things never got released.

After washing his face in a public bathroom that confirms why I’ll never use one, James sets off down a long pathway into a fog-covered, seemingly deserted Silent Hill. He meets his first encounter, Angela, in the graveyard just before the entrance to town.

Angela is mentally ill and is searching for her mother. She was abused by her father and has a fear of men. Further along James finds Eddie, a obese man who also is mentally ill but only wants to have a friend. Eddie killed someone and is on the run from the law. There’s also the little girl Laura, who was in the same hospital as James’ wife Mary. Finally there’s Maria who looks exactly like Mary but doesn’t share the same attitude.

If you play the prelude story on the Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams re-release, Born From a Wish, you find out that James is a “bad man”.

You see; James Sunderland did something terrible. His visit to Silent Hill isn’t to find his wife, but to confront what he has done. His journey through the town is merely a creation of his own guilt, the people he meets are figments of his own desires and misdeeds. His sins. The monsters are his aggressions and his own fear fighting back, trying to keep him from realizing what he did. The legendary Pyramid Head, James’ personal punisher.

As James puts the pieces together the town and its inhabitants go mad, falling apart, crushed under the power of realization.

Angela representing the way James treated Mary, with disdain over her illness, walks up through a burning staircase after James comes to terms with his hatred of Mary for burdening his life. Eddie is killed by James in a shootout, confirming James to be a murderer and a glutton. In contrast, Laura is James’ remaining innocence. She has committed no sin and therefore isn’t haunted by the demons. She is the little girl that Mary asks James to adopt, his only unselfish link to Mary. Maria, much like Angela and Eddie, is a representation of everything James wanted from Mary. James wanted to be with another woman, someone more outgoing, sexual, and not burdened by an illness.

That’s why James Sunderland killed his wife. James killed Mary. His guilt blocked the horrific event from his mind for years. He smothered her with a hospital pillow to free himself from her burden.

How it all ends after the final realization is a mystery. Future Silent Hill games would only make reference to James going into town and disappearing, his fate unknown to the outside world. Did he kill himself by driving into Tuluca Lake? Did he come to terms with what he did only to repeat the cycle with his imaginary girlfriend Maria? Did he adopt Laura? Does he ever get Mary’s forgiveness? Was it a dog all along? Or did James get abducted by aliens like Henry Mason (the protagonist from the first Silent Hill) before him? We will never know for sure. But what we do know is that no matter the official outcome, Silent Hill 2 remains the best in the series and a game that should definitely be our your Halloween gaming list.

Purchase [Gamestop / Amazon]

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Hey everyone! This is a momentous day for Important Importables. Today marks the 100th column. Who’d have thought, right?

Anyways, to celebrate today, I’m listing my 100 all time favorite games that you can only get by importing. These are titles that aren’t available in North America, and you have to import from either Japan or Europe if you want to play them.

Remember, this isn’t a comprehensive list and is based on my personal picks. It’s a general guide to some great games you should be aware of. It’s also a bit biased in terms of systems, because it was formed based on games that I’ve either played or taken an interest in over the years. So, since I’ve imported quite a few DS games and that’s one of my favorite systems, there’ll naturally be more DS games represented.

If there’s a great import game you know that isn’t on the list and should be, tell the world in the comments. Also remember, many consoles have region protection! If you have a Game Boy, Game Boy Color, DS, PSP or PS3 you should be region-free, and if you have a Dreamcast you can buy or make a special boot-disk which makes your console region-free.

Dreamcast

• Bomber HehHe: It’s a puzzle game with some action elements. The goal is to place bombs to take down buildings.
• Capcom vs SNK 2: A fighting game, of course. The first one did get a US release, but this one didn’t.
• Cosmic Smash: It’s sort of like Arkanoid/Alleyway, in that you have to destroy blocks. Except you’re playing as a human trying to smash them with a ball, and racing against the clock.
• DUX: A side scrolling shoot-em-up (the Dreamcast was known for them) that has the distinction of being one of the most recent DC releases. It came out in 2009.
• Last Hope: Pink Bullets: Again, one of the more recent DC releases and shoot-em-up. It’s an updated and adjusted version of the Neo Geo game Last Hope.
• Napple Tale: Arisia in Daydream: A platformer where a girl named Arisia is tasked with returning the lost seasons to Napple Town.
• Pop’n Music: A fun, bright and colorful music game.
• Princess Maker Collection: You get Princess Maker 2 and Princess Maker 3 in one game.
• Rainbow Cotton: A shoot-em-up (cute-em-up) that’s the first 3D entry in the Cotton series.
• Puyo Pop Fever: It was the last Sonic Team DC game, but was never released outside of Japan.
• Any Sakura Taisen game: They’re all fun blends of visual novel, strategic rpg and dating sim games.
• Shenmue II: Only Europe and Japan got the sequel to Shenmue. I recommend importing the European version, since it’ll be in English.
• Shinseiki Evangelion: Ayanami Rei Ikusei Keikaku: Think Princess Maker, only with Rei Ayanami from Evangelion as the potential princess. Its also available on the DS, PC and PS2.
• Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles: A recent Dreamcast puzzle release.

DS

• 100 Classic Book Collection: Basically an e-reader program with 100 classic books built in and an additional 10 that can be downloaded. It’s available in Europe, but not North America.
• Arabian’s Lost: An otome/RPG where the main character is an Arabian princess of a land filled with thieves, gamblers, assassins and crooks who must earn 10 million in 30 days to keep from being trapped in an arranged marriage. Its also available for the PS2.
• A.S.H.: Archaic Sealed Heat: A strategic RPG from Nintendo that was supposed to come to North America, but never did.
• Daigasso Band Brothers / Daigasso Band Bros. DX: A music game where you play songs using the DS face buttons. You can also create your own songs in both games and download songs in the sequel.
• Dokidoki Majo Shinpan!: A somewhat-perverted game which has gained fame and notoriety for the fact that players touch girls on the touch screen to determine if they’re witches.
• Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland: An RPG starring Tingle from the Legend of Zelda series and revolves around his quest to get money and get to Rupeeland. It received a Japanese and European release, but never appeared in North America.
• Game & Watch Collection 2: A Japanese Club Nintendo promotion that includes the Game & Watch titles Parachute and Octopus.
• Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2: The sequel to Retro Game Challenge. Since the first game wasn’t a huge seller in North America, we probably will never see an English version of the sequel.
• Hirameki Action: Chibikko Wagyan no Daiki na Bouken: This is a side-scrolling action game where players guide a little dinosaur with a mighty roar through levels.
• Idolm@ster: Dearly Stars: The first Idolm@ster game where players act as the idols instead of a faceless producer. It’s also the first game in the series with a male idol (though he’s in disguise as a girl).
• Itadaki Street DS: A monopoly-esque board game from Square Enix starring characters from Super Mario and Dragon Quest. It also has Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support so you can play online.
• Jump Ultimate Stars: A Smash Bros style fighting game with 300 characters from 41 Shonen Jump mangas. Unfortunately, it’ll never get a worldwide release due to licensing issues.
• Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten: A Japanese-English dictionary that’s perfect for people studying Japanese. A few Game&Watch games are also hidden in it.
• Katekyoo Hitman Reborn DS Flame Rumble X: Mirai Chou-Bakuhatsu!!: A 2D fighting game starring the characters from the manga/anime Katekyoo Hitman Reborn.
• Ketsui Death Label: An impressive shoot-em-up from Cave.
• Love Plus: A Japanese dating sim that’s gained a massive following in a short period of time. It takes place in real time and players are actually able to date, then marry, one of three girls they choose.
• Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken: A Taiko no Tatsujin drum game that even has an adventure/story mode.
• NANA: Live Staff Daiboshuu! Shoshinsha Kangei: A life sim based on the Nana manga/anime/movie where the player can make a life in Tokyo and try to get a job with one of the two bands from the series.
• Ochaken no Daibouken: An adorable and enjoyable platformer starring the Ochaken dog and Ochaneko cat characters.
• Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo DS!!: A hilarious and occasionally touching otome simulation where the main character is a fat girl trying to lose weight so she can get a boyfriend.
• Any Ouendan game: They’re like the Elite Beat Agents game, only better.
• Sigma Harmonics: A Square Enix adventure RPG where players must time travel to prevent murders and preserve the present.
• Slide Adventure: Mag Kid: An action/puzzle game where players attach a peripheral and slide the DS around to make the main character, Mag Kid, move.
• Soma Bringer: A gorgeous action RPG from Nintendo that may never get a worldwide release.
• Tales of Innocence: A good DS entry in the Tales of series that Namco Bandai never released outside of Japan.
• Tales of Hearts: Again, another good DS Tales of entry. It’s available in two versions - one with CG cutscenes and one with animated ones.
• Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 1st Love and 2nd Season: These two DS games are otome life sims where players guide a girl through high school and hopefully help her find a boyfriend.
• Vampire Knight DS: A DS otome simulation with visual novel elements that is based on the Vampire Knight manga/anime.
• Xenosaga I + II: A DS adaptation of the first two Xenosaga games.

GameCube

• Doshin the Giant: a god/life simulation where players determine how Doshin interacts with island natives. It was available in Japan and Europe.
• Kururin Squash: An action/puzzle game where players must navigate through mazes.

GBA

• Any bit Generations game: They’re a nice variety of stylish, simple puzzle and action games.
• Densetsu no Starfy: The first game in the Legendary Starfy series.
• Densetsu no Starfy 3: The last Starfy GBA game and the first where Starpy is a major character.
• Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi: The only GBA Fire Emblem game not released in English. It’s the first GBA Fire Emblem, but the sequel to the Fire Emblem GBA game released in North America.
• Genso Suikoden: Card Stories: Suikoden II with card battles.
• Mother + Mother 2: The original Mother and Mother 2/Earthbound in one cartridge.
• Mother 3: The RPG Earthbound sequel. It’s main character, Lucas, appeared in Smash Bros Brawl.
• Rhythm Tengoku: A music game and the prequel to Rhythm Heaven.
• Super Mario Ball: A Super Mario pinball game.
• Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2: A Tales of mash-up action-RPG. It’s mainly about fetch quests and quick missions.
• Tomato Adventure: An adorable Nintendo RPG designed for beginners. It has some elements found in the Mario & Luigi RPGs.

PC

• Any and every Touhou game ever released: They’re fantastic shoot-em-up (cute-em-up) games.

PS2

• beatmania IIDX 16 Empress: A fantastic music and rhythm game.
• Bleach: Blade Battles 2nd: A fighting game with the Bleach characters.
• Espgaluda: A Cave shooter that’s a prequel to ESP Ra.De..
• Fate/stay Night: Realta Nua: An all ages version of the popular visual novel Fate/stay night.
• GuitarFreaks & DrumMania Masterpiece Gold: The original guitar and drum music video game. This is one of the best entries in the series.
• Melty Blood: Actress Again: A fighting game starring characters from the visual novel Tsukihime.
• Namco x Capcom: An RPG with action and strategic elements that has characters Namco and Capcom games making cameos as either allies or opponents.
• Nana: A life simulation game based on the Nana anime/manga where the player moves to Tokyo and gets to interact with characters from the series.
• Tales of Destiny Director’s Cut: A PS2 remake of the PS1 classic Tales of Destiny, with additional content.
• Tales of Symphonia: A PS2 port of the GameCube game with additional content.
• Tian Xing: Sword of Destiny: A hack-and-slash game Devil May Cry fans would love.

PSP

• Audition Portable: A portable version of the PC MMO. The gameplay is similar to the Bust-a-Groove games.
• Any Bleach Heat the Soul game: Great PSP fighters starring Bleach characters.
• Breath of Fire III: A PSP port. It was released in Europe, so you can import it and play it in English.
• Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable: A PSP port of a PS2 game with extra characters. It’s a monopoly-esque board game with characters from Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
• Hatsune Miku Project Diva: A Sega music game starring the Vocaloid Miku Hatsune that lets you import your own .mp3s and create your own songs and music videos.
• Idolmaster SP: Available in three versions, Perfect Sun, Missing Moon and Wandering Star, it was the first portable version of Idolm@ster.
• La Corda d’Oro: A PSP port of the PS2 and PC otome/simulation where players attempt to become a great violin player and win competitions while also making friends or possibly finding a boyfriend.
• Macross Ultimate Frontier: An action game that lets players fight pretty much every battle in the Macross anime series.
• Maplus: Portable Navi and GPS Receiver: turns your PSP into a GPS.
• Parodius Portable: A port of the side-scrolling shooter.
• Persona 3 Portable: A port of the PS2 game Persona 3 with a second storyline where the main character is a girl. It’ll probably get a US release, but for now it’s Japan-only.
• Princess Crown: A port of the VanillaWare Saturn game that’s the spiritual successor and prequel to Odin Sphere.
• Princess Maker 4 Portable: A port of a Princess Maker game that’s very similar to the cult classic Princess Maker 2.
• Suikoden I + II: The PS1 games on one UMD.
• Tales of Eternia: A port of Tales of Eternia/Tales of Destiny II. It’s available in English in Europe.
• Tales of Rebirth: A port of the PS2 Tales of game that never made it outside of Japan. It isn’t available in English.
• Tales of VS.: A fighting game featuring characters from the Tales of games.
• Twinbee Portable: A port of the classic shoot-em-up.
• Ys VII: The latest entry in the Ys action-RPG series. It may see a US release, but for now it’s Japan-only.

SNES

• Der Langrisser: A strategic RPG with multiple endings based on decisions the player makes.
• Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu: The fourth Fire Emblem game and regarded as one of the best. It introduced the romance/relationship element into the series and is multigenerational - if two characters get together in the first part, their child will appear in the second.
• Live a Live: A Square Enix RPG with seven storylines that unexpectedly all end up being connected.
• Sailor Moon: Another Story: An RPG inspired by Sailor Moon with an original storyline that has become a cult classic and is unexpectedly spectacular.
• Seiken Densetsu 3: An entry in the Square Enix Mana series that was never released outside of Japan.

Wii

• 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de / 428: In a Blockaded Shibuya: A highly acclaimed visual novel. It’s been ported to the PS3 and PSP.
• Captain Rainbow: It’s an action/adventure game from Nintendo where a character named Nick, aka Captain Rainbow, goes around helping people on Mimin Island trying to either grant his wish or the wishes of islanders. It features many little known or forgotten Nintendo characters.
• Disaster: Day of Crisis: An action/adventure game released only in Australia, Europe and Japan. Players help Raymond Bryce, who works for the government, survive and save people during natural disasters and stop a terrorist group called SURGE. It will likely never receive a US release.
• Sukeban Shachou Rena: A mini-game collection featuring cats working at Cat Queen, Inc. Your goal is to start out as an entry level cat. You work your way up to the head of the company and earn respect of the CEO, Nekopunch mascot Rena.
• Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: The Taiko drum game series comes to the Wii.
• Zero:Tsukihami no Kamen / Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse: The fourth entry in the Fatal Frame series.

Xbox 360

• Idolm@ster: The original Idolm@ster game, where players help an idol, or group of idols, become a success.
• Death Smiles: A new Cave shoot-em-up with a gothic theme.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables takes a one-week break, but will return November 13, 2009 to talk about Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei series.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last weekImportant Importables looked at six Japanese gadgets that exist only to be adorable.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

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Sony’s PlayStation 2 console may have just turned nine but for fans in the know that may seem to mean there’s only one year left to the system’s life.

Sony has often mentioned a 10-year life cycle for its hardware including a comment made by President of Sony Computer Entertainment Jack Tretton to Fast Company earlier this year about the PS3.

So when Sony sent out a press release earlier today touting the PS2’s ninth birthday, I contacted Sony to find out whether or not this is the system’s final year.

Well, never fear Soniatics.

According to Abby Reyes, Sony’s Senior Public Relations Specialist:

“There’s no set date for when the life cycle of PlayStation 2 will end. As long as people keep playing, and publishers keep putting out great new titles, the console’s life cycle will continue. The longevity of the PlayStation 2 can be directly attributed to its versatility. Because it’s not only a game console, but a home entertainment hub, it has found its place in one out of every three U.S. households. That huge install base has resulted in consistent developer support and a huge library of titles along with strong retail presence, all of which allows PlayStation 2 to remain the console of choice for years to come.”

Of course no one at Sony indicated exactly how long they will continue to support the hardware or license development but that certainly reads like a positive commitment. I’m not exactly certain how the PS2 - now selling for $99 -  is an “entertainment hub” but there certainly is a lot of life left in the system.

Here’s hoping for a few more good years, PS2.

Read [Gamertell] Site [PlayStation 2]

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While watching horror movies on Halloween is a perfectly acceptable way to celebrate the holiday, it’s also a hands off approach. You’re a spectator, not an active participant in the action. You could always go out to a good haunted house, but those can be far away and quite expensive. Perhaps the best approach would be to gather a handful of your closest friends and have a horrific video game marathon. The beauty with the horror game marathon is that it has the thrills and occasional scares of a horror movie marathon, but also the excitement and personal involvement of a haunted house.

Here’s how to set it up right. Invite only a handful of people over. A number between three and five is perfect, but anymore than seven and it may not be as frightening. Where ever you’ll all be playing the games will have to be dark, save for the light of the television screen. A few candles wouldn’t hurt as well, but make sure they’re set up so they don’t drip, cause a mess or perhaps burn your place down. If anyone has to leave the room, set it up where there are no other lights on, and they have to take a flickering, ready to burn out flashlight, to light their way.

If you have enough time, you can also set up some optional decorations. I’m not talking about the stuff you can find at Walmart or your local dollar store. Try to purposely arrange things in your home or room that look otherworldly or out of the ordinary. Make sure a coat rank has a sufficient number of coats so it looks like a menacing individual in the moonlight. If there’s a scary tree outside your window, leave the shades open. If you ever had a furby or incredibly creepy American Girl doll, now’s the time to leave it in a shadowy corner, watching. Another tip - if there are creepy household noises that you can amplify, do so. Or, claim that you’ve never heard that sound before.

Now, for the games. I’d recommend going with a five hour, five game marathon. From 9pm to 2am works well. You can adjust the schedule as you like though. Also, if you don’t have five games, perhaps just one or two really good, scary ones, then focus on the games you do have and use the marathon to try and complete them in a single night. In case you’re wondering how to proceed, here’s four schedules PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii owners could use.

PS2 owners

9pm - 10pm: Clock Tower 3
10pm - 11pm: Silent Hill 3
11pm - 12am: Rule of Rose
12am - 1am: Fatal Frame
1am - 2am: Fatal Frame 2

Note: The PS2 had a wide selection of horror games. If you don’t think the schedule above would work for you, some good games you can substitute in are Haunting Ground, one of the other Silent Hill games, Siren, Fatal Frame 3 or a Resident Evil game.

PS3 owners

9pm - 10pm: F.E.A.R.
10pm - 11pm: Resident Evil 5
11pm - 12am: Siren: Blood Curse
12am - 1am: Silent Hill: Homecoming
1am - 2am: Dead Space

Xbox 360 owners

9pm - 10pm: Left 4 Dead
10pm - 11pm: Clive Barker’s Jericho
11pm - 12am: Silent Hill: Homecoming
12am - 1am: Condemned: Criminal Origins
1am - 2am: Dead Space

Wii owners

9pm - 10pm: LIT
10pm - 11pm: House of the Dead: Overkill
11pm - 12am: Resident Evil 4
12am - 1am: Dead Space: Extraction
1am - 2am: Ju-on: The Grudge

One final note, should you make your own schedule, try to arrange the games in order of scariness. Leave the most unnerving and frightening game for last. And also, bear in mind, that the schedules above are just suggestions, and don’t cover all horror games available for those systems.

Also Read [Gamertell]

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One of the most popular icons and characters in Japan is a brown haired girl with yellow ribbons in her hair named Haruhi Suzumiya. People mimic the opening dance from her anime, dress up like her, collect toys that look like her character, read about her and even play video games where she is the star.

Thanks to companies like Bandai Entertainment, Little Brown Books and Yen Press, people in North America can start to read and watch Haruhi Suzumiya’s adventures. However, no video game publisher has taken a chance on her eclectic games.

Before we look at five video game adventures, lets take a brief look at what Haruhism is all about.

Who’s Haruhi Suzumiya?

Haruhi Suzumiya’s the star of a series of light novels, manga volumes, anime, movie and video games. The series began in June, 2003 with the light novel The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Pay close attention to the title, because it’s the start of a trend. All the Haruhi Suzumiya media are titled in a similar manner. Two manga series followed shortly after in the spring of 2004 and winter of 2005. The anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ran in 2006, and was expanded and rerun in 2009.  Another manga series began in 2007.

Right now, the new run of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is going on with additional episodes, there’s a new spin-off manga called The Vanishing of Yuki-chan Nagato and a movie, The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya is being prepared for a 2010 release.

Haruhi Suzumiya is an etcentric high school girl with an interest in the extraordinary. In order to find these strange phenomena, like espers, aliens, robots and the like, she creates a school club called the Spreading Excitement All Over the World with the Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade, or SOS Brigade. She convinces/badgers/drags her classmate Kyon, the only person she talks to, into joining. Three other people, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina and Itsuki Koizumi, also end up joining as well. It turns out that the three other people didn’t join because they’re interested in the supernatural.

Instead, Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki join because they are supernatural. Apparently, Haruhi somehow holds, or developed, the ability to change reality at her will, and the three of them have been sent by different organizations to monitor her and sort-of keep her in check. So, out of everyone, Kyon’s the only normal person. He also tends to be narrator for the events.

So, each form of media deals with a new adventure that Haruhi and the SOS Brigade gets into. Currently, the following Haruhi Suzumiya media is available in English in the U.S.:

• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Complete Collection DVDs of the anime series.
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya manga volumes 1-4 by Nagaru Tanigawa.
• Haruhi Suzumiya Yearkbook: A Guide to the Many Moods of Haruhi Suzumiya fanbook by Kazuhisa Fujie
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, the first two volumes in the original light novel series by Nagaru Tanigawa.

The video games of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Not surprisingly, the success of the Haruhi Suzumiya series has spawned a number of video games. Here’s a brief overview of what’s available, in chronological order. Keep in mind, the games all contain quite a bit of fanservice.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku aka The Promise of Haruhi Suzumiya (PSP)
This is essentially a visual novel/adventure game with occasional mini-games thrown in. This game follows the part of the light novel/manga/anime where the SOS Brigade is creating The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina. It’s the only Haruhi Suzumiya video game to not have an original storyline. Mainly it’s a visual novel, but there are some mini-games. Warning to importers: Text heavy!

Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi aka The Perplexity of Haruhi Suzumiya (PS2)
This is essentially a visual novel/adventure game with occasional mini-games thrown in. Haruhi wants to make a video game, and gets the SOS Brigade involved. There are quite a few different games you can make, like an RPG, card game or Princess Maker clone. Warning to importers: Text heavy! Also, the PS2 isn’t region-free, so this only works on Japanese PS2s.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidou aka The Excitement of Haruhi Suzumiya (Wii)
Dance along with Haruhi Suzumiya and the SOS Brigade. Haruhi’s found a flier for the dance competition, and has decided that she and the SOS Brigade are entering. There are Story and Free Play Modes. Remember, the Wii isn’t region-free so don’t buy it unless you have a Japanese Wii.

Suzumiya no Heiretsu aka The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya (Wii)
Yet another visual novel adventure game. Haruhi’s won a cruise trip, and she’s bringing the SOS Brigade with her. Once they set sail, a number of improbable and unusual adventures take place. Warning to importers: Text heavy! Also, like I mentioned before, the Wii isn’t region-free.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu aka The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya (DS)
This is an adventure game, along the lines of Lux Pain or Phoenix Wright. Haruhi, Kyou and the SOS Brigade use the summer to investigate the school’s seven, unexplained mysteries. Warning to importers: Text heavy!

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables looks at five Japanese gadgets which exist for no other reason than to be absurdly adorable.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables suggested 35 video games you could play on Hello Kitty’s 35th anniversary.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

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The Square Enix Tokyo Game Show 2009 website is now online and all set for viewing! So even if you can’t make it to Japan, you can kind of get the same sort of experience. Well, if you can read Japanese you can.

The site is primarily a guide to the show. You can see where Square Enix’s booth is, tell what games are playable at the event, see which games will have footage and videos displayed, see the Square Enix booth layout, read a blog and tell what you thought about Square Enix’s displays. Little icons under each game on the game listing page tell you if it is playable at the event or if game footage is going to be shown.

Let’s look at all the games appearing at TGS 2009 that are listed on the site:

• Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden (DS)
• Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning (PSP)
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii)
• Cross Treasures (DS)
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Twilight Maiden (Wii)

• Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• Star Ocean 4 - The Last Hope - International (PS3)
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Front Mission Evolved (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
• Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (DS)
• Nier Gestalt (Xbox 360)
• Nier Replicant (PS3)
• Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito (DS)
• Thexder Neo (PSP)
• Crystal Defenders (PSP)
• Death By Cube (Xbox 360)
• Gyromancer (PC, Xbox 360)
• 0 day Attack on Earth (Xbox 360)

• Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes - Encore (iPhone/iPod Touch)
• Hills and Rivers Remain (iPhone/iPod Touch)
• Sliding Heroes (iPhone/iPod Touch)
• Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (Wii)
• Final Fantasy XIV (PC, PS3)
• Final Fantasy XI: Vanadiel Collection 2 (PC, PS2, Xbox 360)
• Lord of Vermilion II (Arcade)
• Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road II (Arcade)
• Seiken Densetsu 2 (Mobile)
• Final Fantasy IV (Mobile)
• Guin Saga Mobile (Mobile)
• Dragon Quest III (Mobile)
• Dragon Quest Fushigi no Dungeon Mobile (Mobile)
• Kingdom Hearts Coded (Mobile)

Wow! Quite a lineup. Many of the games will have playable demos too, which is awesome. I’m especially impressed by the cell phone games Square Enix has in store for Japan. It’s a shame that those don’t often receive overseas releases. There’s some consolation though - the iPhone and iPod Touch games will likely receive an English release.

If you go to the site, you can see a quick one or two sentence blurb about each game and three or four screenshots. I’d recommend stopping by the blog section as well, to see some neat pictures from TGS 2009.

Read [Examiner.com] Site [Tokyo Game Show 2009 l Square Enix (Japanese)]

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The 2009 Tokyo Game Show is in full swing now, which means announcements concerning new games are slowly starting to trickle out of Japan. This year Kaz Hirai, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. was keynote speaker at the event. On September 23, 2009, he presented “Sony Computer Entertainment 2009 Strategy” in front of a room of anxious journalists. Pretty appropriate since, as Hirai pointed out, it’s the 15th anniversary of the original PlayStation and Sony’s first foray into video games.

Hirai’s keynote wasn’t all that eventful. There weren’t many major announcements made, aside from a 2010 release window for the PS3 motion controller. Instead, it was more of a summary of the latest PS3 and PSP related numbers. Hirai did also briefly mention at the end of the speech that he felt 3D gaming was the next big step that Sony should take and footage was shown from a number of key releases (FFXIII, The Last Guardian, LBP PSP), but mainly it was all about the numbers.

Let’s take a brief peek at the numbers he mentioned:

• 1 million PS3 Slims have been sold in the three weeks its been available.
• 300 PS3 games will be out by Christmas.
• 8 million people use Home.
• 1.28 million LittleBigPlanet stages have been created by players.
• The US PSN video delivery service has over 33,000 movies on it.
• 130 million PS2s have been sold.

Looks like Hirai decided to go with a, “look how good we’re doing” approach as opposed to a, “look what we’re going to be doing for you” one. I’d have preferred the latter, but the former was kind of interesting too.

Read [GameSpot] Also Read [Gpara (Japanese)] Via [Kotaku]

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Japan is a country that specializes in niches and otome (games directed at female gamers) games are no exception. Since otome games are such a common commodity among the female population of gamers, there’s even a magazine wholly dedicated to it called Dengeki Girl’s Style.

Dengeki Girl’s Style finds it roots with Dengeki PlayStation, a monthly Japanese gaming magazine published by ASCII Media Works. Initially introduced as Dengeki PlayStation Girl’s Style on December 4, 2003, the title was later changed to its current form in the early part of 2007. While this magazine is chock full of everything and anything an avid otome-gamer might want, it unfortunately sees only a bimonthly release.

Sold at 740 to 830 yen (approx. US$8 to $9), certain issues of Girl’s Style even include exclusive packaged goodies of the current flavor of the month game in the form of such paraphernalia including phone straps, card files, calendars, and bookmarks. This month’s issue (September 21, 2009) made females weak in the knees with art from Idea Factory’s Hakuouki Portable for the Sony PSP lavishing the cover and included an exclusive Hakuouki long strap featuring one of the game’s forlorn heroes in a vulnerable pose.

Dengeki Girl’s Style brings its readers information on otome games of all media including MS Windows, consoles, handhelds and even cell phones. The cell phone games, especially, will make American cell phone owners green with envy thanks to the sluggish pace when it comes to US cell phone technology. It’s also worth mentioning that this magazine includes comprehensive special reports on popular game specific merchandise available in Japan.

The September 2009 issue features a 2-page spread on Hakuouki goods, for example, that includes pictures of every single item as well as prices. The magazine almost always features exclusive interviews with the seiyuu (Japanese voice actors) who bring life to the handsome bishounen (Japanese term for handsome or pretty boy) characters of popular otome games as well as round-about information on otome conventions and events.

Each month, Dengeki Girl’s Style features an exclusive cover with art created specifically for the magazine by the original artist of the game that’s chosen. Not only that, the pick of the month also gets a whopping 10+ pages worth of coverage that includes anything from the character artist’s comments on his/her designs, walkthroughs, related events, and special side-stories just to name a few.

I highly suggest trying to nab a copy of Dengeki Girl’s Style because if you’re a die-hard otome fan, you will definitely not be disappointed with this magazine’s contents. It keeps you abreast on all the hot new dating simulation games amidst beautifully illustrated visuals.

Unfortunately, finding this magazine outside of Japan poses an extremely difficult challenge since most import sites (such as PlayAsia, NCSX, JBOX) don’t carry it. However, if you’re lucky enough to live near a Kinokuniya bookstore, then I’d suggest that is your best outlet for obtaining this elusive publication. Of course, curious cats and interested readers can always take the now savvy green approach and check out the official website.

Since the website is completely in Japanese, it may be a bit of a doozy for those who aren’t familiar with the language. Here’s a hint though: Most of the clickable links show English equivalents at the bottom of your internet browser if you merely roll your mouse over them, so it’s best to be attentive. Or, you could get creative and simply utilize one of the many free text translation sites like Yahoo’s Babel Fish to do all the hard work for you.

Site [Dengeki Girl’s Style] Read [Gamertell]

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Namco Bandai’s Tales of series hasn’t been developed in North America, Europe and other regions the way it has in Japan. We’ve never seen any of the DS entries (Tales of Tempest/Tales of Innocence/Tales of Hearts), didn’t catch the Game Boy Advance Narikiri Dungeon or Summoner’s Lineage spin-offs and weren’t priviledged enough to see Tales of Rebirth. We’ve also been neglected when it came to remakes, as we didn’t get the Tales of Destiny PS2 remake, the Tales of Symphonia PS2 port or the Tales of Eternia PSP port. And to us, Tales of Destiny 2 refers to Tales of Eternia, and not the direct PS2 sequel to Tales of Destiny.

This has given Tales of fans a greater appreciation for every entry in the series that does manage to make it out of Japan. To be honest, there really haven’t been all that many. And, while we do greatly appreciate the ones we haven’t gotten, Namco Bandai’s still chosen to leave some of the best entries in the series in Japan.

Today, Gamertell’s looking back at the five best Tales of games North America has been lucky enough to get.

5. Tales of Phantasia

The 1995 Super Famicom game Tales of Phantasia is where the series began. It is a wonderful game which introduced the linear motion battle system, included voice acting, had a voiced theme song and an epic storyline that, in the end, made players wonder about the nature of good and evil and how perspective and personal feelings can effect how one feels about a situation or person. It was a revolutionary SNES game trapped in Japan.

While Tales of Phantasia is an incredible adventure and a notable entry in the Tales of series, the only official English language release is the atrocious Game Boy Advance port. While the Game Boy Advance port does have some of the revised graphics and additional content from the PlayStation remake and some original sidequests, the translation is sloppy, the graphics look don’t look good despite the supposed polish, the sound quality is awful and there’s noticeable lag during battles and other parts of the adventure. It’s commendable that Nintendo stepped up to bring this game to North America since Namco Bandai didn’t, but the quality is atrocious and makes the port difficult to play and appreciate.

4. Tales of Destiny

For people outside of Japan, Tales of Destiny was their first exposure to the budding Tales of series, despite being the second game in the series. It’s also one of the most popular games in the series in Japan as well, earning a PlayStation 2 remake and having the distinction of being the first game in the series to receive a true sequel (Tales of Destiny 2.)

It’s memorable and deserves to be considered one of the best Tales of games because it is a pioneer and memorable first. It allowed Namco to test the waters for the Tales of franchise overseas, and the first Tales of experience for many players. The nostalgia factor alone earns Tales of Destiny a spot among the best Tales of games.

3. Tales of Symphonia

If there’s one genre woefully under-represented on the GameCube, it was the RPG. Thankfully, Namco stepped up with Tales of Symphonia, a two disc RPG for the system. This prequel to Tales of Symphonia was very well received around the world, and marked the first time the Tales of series appeared in Europe. It was so beloved that Namco Bandai created a Wii sequel to it, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.

The storyline is very identifiable, a traditional world saving situation where a childhood friend’s life is on the line, which may have had some effect on its success. It also featured an interesting system where players could influence the story and course of the game based on choices. Choices could affect the plot, as well as the character with whom the main character Lloyd would have a relationship with. The fact that it’s one of the few GameCube RPGs and it’s success worldwide make it a natural choice for one of the best Tales of games.

2. Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss is among the most loved and hardest to find entries in the Tales of series. This PlayStation 2 game was beloved by many, and even inspired an anime and manga. It is often mentioned as one of the most interesting RPGs for the console, due to the interesting storyline and character development.

Other interesting points worth mentioning is that Tales of the Abyss is unique in that the economy of the game can change based on how you choose to play, costumes and titles are available for all of the playable characters and the US version had additional skills for characters to learn.

1. Tales of Vesperia

Tales of Versperia for the Xbox 360 is one of the most successful entries in the Tales of series to be released in recent years. It merited a limited edition release in the US, inspired an animated movie and has lead to a PS3 port with additional content. It had downloadable content, trophies for players to earn, allows characters to learn skills and abilities through equipment and skits with English voice acting.

Out of all the Tales of games, Tales of Vesperia is being hailed as the best entry in the series. It is critically acclaimed by media outlets around the world. As the first next-gen entry in the series, and one of the most popular, it definitely deserves to be considered one of the finest Tales of games.

Site [Tales of Vesperia] Site [Tales of Phantasia]

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Today is one of those special days. It’s September 9, 2009. Seems ordinary enough, unless you look at it like this: 9/9/09. People are throwing special parties, the movie 9 opens in theaters today, Apple’s releasing the Beatles’ music catalog digitally today, Beatles Rock Band debuts and a select number of people believed that the world could possibly end today. (Since you’re reading this, that last one probably didn’t happen.)

To help you get in the nine mood today, Gamertell’s put together a list of some “nine” games that you can pick up and play today. After all, something like this doesn’t happen every day, and it’s a great way to commemorate the date!

Here are some games with the number 9 in them that you can pick up (or download) and play:

1. Garfield and His Nine Lives (GBA): A platformer starring the popular cartoon cat.
2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: There are quite a few DS9 related video games out there you could play to celebrate. Dust off your Genesis or SNES and get out Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Crossroads of Time. (Its really good!) Mac owners could play Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Harbinger or The Fallen. PC owners could also pick up those games, or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars.
3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine (PC, Xbox 360): Speaking of possibilities for PC owners, you can pick up Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion RPG expansion. Xbox 360 owners could use today to catch up with this game as well.

4. Armored Core: Nine Breaker (PS2): Perhaps today would be a good day to have some fun building and battling mechs.
5. X-Plane 9 (iPhone/iPod Touch): You could spend the day, or your lunch break, enjoying a nice imaginary flight.
6. Nine Inch Nails Revenge (iPhone/iPod Touch): Or, iPhone owners who are music lovers could go for the Nine Inch Nails special version of the msic game Tap Tap Revenge.
7. NineGaps (iPhone/iPod Touch): Or, go educational. Put your brain to the test and play a number puzzle game on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
8. Mega Man 9 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii): 9/9/09 seems like a good day to help Mega Man restore Dr. Light’s good name and face off against rogue robots.
9. Ninety-Nine Nights (Xbox 360): If all else fails, a solid beat ‘em up game and hack-and-slash game like Ninety-Nine Nights would be a perfect way to commemorate the day.

Of course, this is only scratching the surface of available “9” games. You could also pick up Final Fantasy IX (PS1), Department 42: Mystery of the Nine (PC), 9th Company: Roots of Terror (PC), Kengo: Legend of the 9 (Xbox 360), 9: The Last Resort (PC), Ultima IX: Ascension (PC) or Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (PC, PS2). Or, you could always kick back and listen to some Nine Inch Nails or something off of Damien Rice’s 9 album while reading Andrzej Stasiuk’s 9.

Read [Associated Content] Also Read [Telegraph]

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I may not be a Twilight fan, but one doesn’t have to be to know it’s coming. The resulting wake from the movie and book releases guarantees that a video game adaptation isn’t far behind. It’s coming. There’s already one Twilight The Video Game entry in the works, a project by BrainJunk Studios. But there’s sure to be more, as many developers and publishers are going to want to cash in on the series’ success.

That being said, there are still options. This Twilight game doesn’t have to be shovelware. It could even end up being the kind of game people who normally wouldn’t even look at Twilight related material would play. If handled properly, it may not turn out all that bad.

And, so, Gamertell has put together a list of some Twilight game suggestions. Hopefully, they’re the sort of game that would appeal to all gamers, and not just fans of the series.

1. Localize D3 Publisher’s Vampire Knight DS as Twilight DS.
Since companies are hesitant to publish visual novel games, it’d give otome and Vampire Knight fans a way to own a version of the original game in English. Just do some name changing and it’ll be fine. Yuki becomes Bella, Kaname becomes Edward, Zero becomes Jacob. It could probably work. There’d probably be quite a bit of backlash from Vampire Knight fans though.

2. The Sims 3: Twilight Expansion.
Way back in the day when The Sims was all the rage, an expansion called Making Magic was released just when Harry Potter started to get popular. The Sims 3 doesn’t have vampire sims yet or gothic furniture, so a Twilight expansion would give normal players those options. For fans of the series, there could be Twilight character sims or the new neighborhood could be Forks. It’d be a PC game, of course.

3. Twilight: Edward’s Adventures.
Okay, so the title needs work. Anyways, this could be sort of a 3D platformer. In each level, Bella has gotten herself into some sort of trouble. Edward has to get to the end of a level in a certain amount of time to keep her from becoming vampire chow, or something like that. I’m thinking the key could be in the difficulty levels. Depending on which mode you choose, you’ll have more or less time to save Bella. To placate the actual fans of the series, perhaps toss in an image of Robert Pattinson with freshly fluffed hair every few levels. I’m thinking this could be a PS2 or Wii game. It could be a good candidate for WiiWare.

4. My Life in Forks
Instead of following the books’ storyline, how about an entirely new adventure? I’m thinking a simulation game with an original storyline and all new character. Players get to be a new person who moves to Forks. Like Bella, this new character, who can be male or female, is also impossibly perfect and alluring. The goal of the game is to then build relationships with the Twilight characters. For example, female characters can become the star, stealing away Bella’s numerous suitors. To be realistic, the Bella character would then probably become your main opponent. Male characters could try and steal away Bella or the other female characters in the series. Perhaps the goal could be to get turned into a vampire. Since this kind of game has done well on the DS in Japan, let’s make it a DS game.

5. Twilight: Vampire Hunter
I’m thinking this would be the perfect game for Twilight haters. It could either be a Monster Hunter style game, where you take missions at a guild, then head out into Forks at night hunting down evil vampires. Or, it could be a stealthy FPS sort of game. Either way, it’d need to be on the Xbox 360 or PS3 to do it justice.

6. Breaking Dawn: Saving Renesmee
This is a delicate subject, since even some Twilight fans weren’t pleased with the final novel Breaking Dawn. But if you think about it, Breaking Down, if handled properly, could be reworked into a pretty decent strategic RPG. (PSP or DS, either works.) Players would follow Edward and Bella as they journeyed around the world, fighting battles against the Volturi and recruiting additional vampires to their army, so that their daughter Renesmee’s life could be saved. It wouldn’t be a direct adaptation of the actual book, more of an “inspired by” situation. To make things even more interesting, add in multiple endings, based on what actions players take to try and save Renesmee’s life.

7. Imagine: Twilight
Okay, I lied. This game could have the potential to totally suck. But, it could also end up being so laughably bad, that it somehow could be considered good. It could be a visual novel/point-and-click adventure style game that follows the storyline of the first book. Players follow Bella’s adventures, and the choices they make determine whether she wins Edward’s heart, survives her new life in Forks, doesn’t fail out of school and so on. If bad endings are included, as opposed to the canon ending, it could end up being a winner.

8. Peggle: Twilight Edition
This could end up being a hit among Peggle addicts and Twilight fans. We’ve already seen Peggle: World of Warcraft Edition, a free version of Peggle with 10 levels with World of Warcraft images. And there was Peggle Extreme, inspired by The Orange Box. Why not do the same thing with Twilight? Take 10 images from the movie, make them into Peggle puzzles, dress up Bjorn the unicorn as Edward and we’re good to go. It could be a free download, but I get the feeling PopCap would benefit greatly if they charged a small fee for it.

Read [Twilight Source] Also Read [Twilight Examiner] Site [The Twilight Saga] Site [Twilight The Video Game]

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Facebook has already become a viable gaming platform, filled with all sorts of casual, browser-based games players can add to their profile and account and play as they wish. But what happens when Facebook users become bored of the casual games they’re playing? The casual games on Facebook are quite entertaining and all, but after a while their simplicity can cause their users to become tired of following the same routine to succeed.

That’s where console, handheld and computer games can step up. Many of the Facebook casual games, like YoVille, Mafia Wars or FarmTown, are incredibly similar to existing major releases. Facebook users can easily transition to the game that corresponds to their favorite Facebook applications, and hopefully find something that will hold their interest and perhaps even help them find other games they may enjoy.

Gamertell is taking look at some of the most popular game applications on Facebook today, and pairing them up with comparable major releases, in the hopes of expanding the horizons of casual, Facebook gamers.

FarmTown —> Harvest Moon

Players of FarmTown, or one of the multiple clones like FarmVille, should find a lot to love about Harvest Moon. Granted, Harvest Moon is more complicated, but has all of the elements Facebook users love about FarmTown and more. You can grow crops, buy and upgrade houses and buildings and raise animals. Elements not present in FarmTown, that I’m sure FarmTown players would enjoy, include the ability to make friends with people in the village, raise a family and control the flow of time. (No worrying about whether you can get online in time to harvest your crops!) I’d recommend Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS) or Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii).

Pet Society —> Animal Crossing

Pet Society is somewhat like YoVille, but due to the more cutesy atmosphere I think Pet Society users would enjoy Animal Crossing more than a Sims game. Pet Society is about enjoying mini-games and activity, decorating a home and visiting friends. Animal Crossing may not have the mini-games (unless you go with Animal Crossing: City Folk, which does have hide and seek), but it has activities like fishing and gardening, homes to decorate, clothing to design and a town filled with animal neighbors to make friends with. Plus, if you have other friends who own the game, you can visit them over the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) and Animal Crossing: City Folk are immediately available.

YoVille —> The Sims

In YoVille the ultimate goal of most users is to create the most incredible homes filled with all kinds of unique and expensive furniture. The Sims 2 (PC, Mac) or The Sims 3 (PC, Mac) would allow YoVille fans to channel that desire and take even more control of the living situation and their characters’ lives. In YoVille there’s a limited amount of furniture, even more limited if you don’t pay real cash for tickets. Pets even cost real money. There’s also only one place to work, the Widget Factory. If they transfer over to The Sims 2, they can have access to a wider variety of furniture, more jobs, more interaction options for their characters and a nice selection of pets. (The Sims 3 currently has no pets, unless you count fish or captured bugs.) The limit on how often one can work is also abolished, since in-game time doesn’t correspond to real-world time.

(fluff)Friends —> Nintendogs

(fluff)Friends is more of a stationary game, where players update a page for their pet, take part in occasional contests or events and go around petting or racing other pets for munny so you can get new items and decorations for your pet’s habitat. Nintendogs (DS) is the next logical step for (fluff)Friends users. You get the pet simulation, plus you can still customize the animal’s environment, take part in contests and even train your dog. You can also keep multiple dogs as pets, in case you’re having trouble deciding on a breed. The only downside is Nintendogs only offers dogs as optional pets, while (fluff)Friends has a wider assortment of animals to choose from and adopt.

Restaurant City —> Order Up

Restaurant City is another Facebook game where it was initially difficult to think of a corresponding game. Most of the cooking or restaurant related games out there are either similar to Cooking Mama, Diner Dash or Cake Mania. Then, I remembered Order Up! (Wii). It doesn’t have as much of a focus on restaurant customization like Restaurant City, but does offer the ability to customize dishes with spices, unlocking new recipes, hiring cooks and trying to gte high ratings from customers. It also has the cooking game elements found in Cooking Mama, so players can use it to determine if that game would interest them as well.

Mafia Wars —> Godfather the Game

Mafia Wars is one of the most popular Facebook games. Due to the nature of the game, as it’s largely a text-based RPG, finding a console or handheld counterpart is somewhat difficult since there aren’t many major releases that are executed in the same manner. The best thing to do is go with the spirit of the game, and suggest The Godfather. The Godfather game, based on the movie, is available for nearly all major systems (PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii) and while it isn’t exactly like Mafia Wars or it’s clones, it allows players freedom to join a major mafia family, take what jobs and missions they like and eventually wind up at the top.

Minigolf Party—> Pangya: Fantasy Golf

Minigolf Party is basically a toned down golf game that’s had some fantasy elements and silly content added in to make it a more enjoyable and lighthearted experience. A comparable game is Pangya: Fantasy Golf, which is available as a free PC MMO or a PSP game. Pangya: Fantasy Golf is a golf game set in a fantasy world where you can update and change your character’s clothing or equipment. The PC version lets you play online with friends and even join clans. The PSP version has you playing brief golf challenges to save Panya Island from evil forces.

My City —> SimCity

My City is quite similar to the SimCity line of games. You create a city and help manage it and it’s citizens so it will be successful. My City has the game change and evolve based on what kinds of citizens live their and choices the player makes. While SimCity doesn’t have as big a focus on the citizens living in the city, the funding, building and zoning choices made by the player can change how your city grows. SimCity also factors in natural (and unnatural) disasters, to add an extra strategic element. SimCity (DS), SimCity Creator (DS, Wii) and SimCity Societies (PC) are all immediately available.

Knighthood —> Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Knighthood is another Facebook adventure/RPG that is primarily text based, which can make recommending a similar game a little difficult. The closest you can probably get is Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a strategic simulation game set in ancient China. You manage an area of China, and the goal is to successfully run your area while possibly taking over the whole country. Like Knighthood, there are recruiting aspects, as well as building up your country, handling natural disasters and managing foreign relations. Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire (Wii) and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (PS2) are the most recent entries available.

Site [FarmTown] Site [Pet Society] Site [YoVille] Site [(fluff)Friends] Site [Mafia Wars] Site [Minigolf Party] Site [Restaurant City] Site [My City] Site [Knighthood]

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Kiddies, you may want to sit down for this one. I have some bad news.

During a chat with ArsTechnica, Sony Computer Entertainment of America’s marketing director, John Koller, the longtime question of what Sony plans to do about PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility on PlayStation 3 was asked and met with a disturbing answer:

“It’s not coming back, so let me put that on the table,” Koller says…

“It’s not as big as a purchase intent driver as you may be hearing,” he claimed. “We’ve got such a substantial lineup of titles on the PS3; most people are buying the PS3 for PS3 games. They’re buying it for PS3 games and Blu-ray movies.

“That won’t be returning.”

Sadly, I’m inclined to think Sony is meaning it this time around. The newly introduced PS3 Slim is apparently going to be the future of the PlayStation 3 according to Mr. Koller in the same interview, this means all the features the Slim has and doesn’t have are all we will be getting, probably until Sony introduces the PlayStation 4. A major bummer considering that PS2 backwards compatibility is one of the things that pushed me into purchasing the once $600 console, especially since the patch released upscaling PS2 games.

This news doesn’t mean that Sony couldn’t bring PS2 games to the PlayStation Store ala the PSOne games it currently provides but then you have to wonder, what are they waiting for?

According to the July 2009 NPD numbers, the PlayStation 2 was the lowest selling of the three Sony systems, the second time in two consecutive months the system has fallen behind (it was also last in June). If Sony was waiting for consumers sales of the PlayStation 2 to slow down before they bring back PS2 and PS3 integration, now would seem to be the time to make their move.

As for the quote about consumers buying the PS3 for PS3 games, has Sony really given said consumers a choice in the last couple of years (60GB models were discontinued in 2007)?

Alright readers, sound off in the comment section below.

Read [ArsTechnica] Also Read [1UP] Also Read [Shacknews] Also Read [JoystickRadio]

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Konami was among the many major game developers/publishers that decided Cologne, Germany was the place to be this week. The company showed up with multiple games in tow, in a display that quite possibly rivaled their presense at E3 2009. The bulk of the games were titles the public had already heard about at the prior convention, though now new information was available, as were playable demos.

The wide selection of games seems to know no genre or platform limitations. Konami is showing off console, handheld, cell phone, iPhone and PC games. There are games for families, casual players and hardcore gamers represented in the batch.

Let’s take a look at the new game information and appearances, in tidy bulleted list form:

• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3, Xbox 360): A new trailer was released, which reveals that the Belmont family is going to have a crucial role in the latest Castlevania, even if they aren’t the stars.
• DanceDanceRevolution (PS3, Xbox 360): Naoki Maeda, producer of the game, was there to present the game to the press. Also the fact that DanceDanceRevolution implements an Octo-Move Mode, where you use eight directional arrows, was highlighted.
• GTI Club Supermini Festa! (Wii): The GTI Club racing series is making its first appearance on the Wii. The focus of the game is racing compact cars around the world, and the Wii version will contain all of the aspects players loved from the arcade iterations. There will be 16 cars to choose from, which players can customize. There are two single player modes, Arcade Mode, which is strikingly similar to the arcade version, and GTI Quest, which is a sort-of story mode concerning a world-wide tour. Multiplayer is, of course, included, in the form of four-player mode if you’re all playing on one Wii and a Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection multiplayer mode with standard races and mini-games.
• Karaoke Revolution (PS3, Wii): It’s headed not only to the US, but to Europe as well. Songs from the Jackson 5 will appear in the game.
• Krazy Kart Racing (iPhone): Sort of a combination mash-up and racing game. There will be 10 characters from Konami games included as racers, and there will be 16 tracks to traverse. You can play against the computer in five single player modes, or against fellow Krazy Kart Racing owners. There will be nitro boosts available to characters, as well as extra items racers can pick up and use against opponents.
• Let’s Party (Wii): Konami announced Groove Box Japan’s newest game, a mini-game compilation with 40 activities that all use the DDR mat peripheral and the Wii Remote. It will test the obligatory physical or music skulls, based on rhythm and accuracy, as well as mental skills. It is for one to four players, and Miis are used as character avatars. The Miis can be decorated by earning and unlocking new accessories and outfits from the Party Shop.
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP): Hideo Kojima is attending GamesCom 2009 specifically to discuss Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which he wrote the story for. It is a sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, is set in 1974 and will allow players to control two characters at once. A new trailer is going to debut at the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker event Kojima is attending. The event will also mark the first time the multiplayer co-op feature for the game is discussed in depth.
• pop’n rhythm (Wii): The first worldwide entry of the popular Pop’n Music division of Bemani is at GamesCom 2009, and happens to be playable.
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (cell phone, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360): A series of European release dates have been announced. The cell phone, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will be out October 22, 2009. The PS2 and PSP versions will be out November 5, 2009. The Wii version will be out last, on November 19, 2009.
• The Tower of Shadow (Wii): Konami’s going to work with Hudson Soft to release this WiiWare game outside Japan. In The Tower of Shadow, you control a shadow boy who can only interact with shadows on his journey to the top of Shadow Tower. What the boy does in the shadows influences what happens in the real world, and thus creates more shadows for him to interact with and traverse. The boy also has a sylph companion called Spangle who can effect physical aspects of the environment that shadows can’t reach.
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (PS2, PSP, Wii): We learn more about two important new aspects of the reimagining, the psychological profiling and cell phone. After the initial Q&A introduction in the game at a psychiatrist’s office, player’s responses and actions are monitored. This means that, based on how you play, the NPCs in the game will treat Harry Mason differently and the game will progress in a different manner. The cell phone will be used as a GPS, will have a text message/email function for Cheryl updates and can be used to talk to NPCs.
• Winx Club: Your Magic Universe (DS): Another application is on it’s way to turn the DS into an organizer. This time, it’s Winx Club themed, featuring the Enchantix characters. There’s a diary, mini-games, contact information, important dates, personality tests, a Closet where users can create clothing for the Winx characters and a means of trading information with other Winx Club: Your Magic Universe game owners.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 (PSP): Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s is getting a game on the other major portable handheld, the PSP. The story mode is based on the Dark Signers’ anime plot arc, has 14 duelists from the series and takes place all around Neo Domino City. There will also be multiple multiplayer modes, allowing for up to four players to play. Players can also use trading card passwords to unlock new, downloadable cards. Each game will also come with three Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

That about covers Konami’s contribution to GamesCom 2009. See anything that interested you? I think I’m most excited about Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and The Tower of Shadow.

Read [GamersHell] Also Read [Classy Gamer] Site [Kojima Productions GamesCom 2009 Special Site]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

There has been a serious information explosion from Sony at GamesCom 2009 today, which rivals, and perhaps even puts to shame, the E3 2009 Sony press conference. After comparing the announcements, I’m definitely feeling more excited now.

The main announcement was the confirmation of a $299 slimmer PS3 that comes packaged with a 120 GB hard drive. The new version of the system will debut September, 2009. All existing PS3 models will experience a $100 price drop and will also cost $299 starting August 19, 2009. The new PS3 slim is 2/3 the size of the original PS3, and also uses 2/3 the power of the original PS3. It also comes with system software 3.00, has the Bravia Sync feature which lets you use a remote control, comes with a vertical stand and doesn’t allow other operating systems to be installed on it.

There’s also a big expansion coming to the PlayStation Store that PS3 and PSP owners have been waiting and begging for, TV shows and movies. Content for each region’s video section will be different and specifically tailored for that region, but it’s still great to know that it’s coming in November, 2009 for both the PS3 and PSP.

Europe will also be getting some new PSP colors soon. There will be Blossom Pink and Turquoise Green PSP-3000s released. The green PSP will also be available in a LittleBigPlanet bundle, in case you’re interested.

Some other major PSP announcements concern two new additions to the PlayStation Store. The first are minis, which are games that will be under 100mb. Minis will first be made available in North America and Europe on October 1, 2009. So there’ll be more downloadable goodness for PSPgo owners, especially since Sony is promising around 50 minis by the end of 2009 and EA is commiting to Sudoku and Tetris minis. The other big announcement is that digital reader is finally on the way, and will be in the North American and European PlayStation Stores in December, 2009. Marvel Comics, iVerse Media, Image Comics and IDW Publishing are among the comic companies who have commited to making content available via the service.

Sont also released a cavalcade of information about the following forthcoming games:

• Heavy Rain (PS3)
• ModNation Racers (PS3)
• Invizimals (PS3, PSP)
• Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (PS3)
• Eye of Judgement (PSP)
• echoshift (PS3, PSP)
• Buzz! Quiz World (PS3, PSP)
• Fat Princess (PSP)
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
• SingStar Take That (PS2, PS3)
• White Knight Chronicles (PS3)
• MAG (PS3)
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (PSP)
• EyePet (PS3)
• LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
• DC Universe Online (PC, PS3)
• MotorStorm Arctic Edge (PS2, PSP)
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo 3 (PSP)
• God of War III (PS3)
• The Last Guardian (PS3)
• LocoRoco Midnight Carnival (PSP)
• PixelJunk Shooter (PS3)

And last, but not least, a bit of good news for Home fans. A version 1.3 upgrade is on its way, which will allow avatars to carry more stuff and also mark the debut of SingStar‘s community space.

Read [PlayStation.Blog Europe] Also Read [Stuff.tv] Also Read [Joystiq]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

This week’s PlayStation Store update features the game Marvel vs Capcom 2 for $14.99 for the PlayStation 3, fans of the original Marvel vs Capcom bringing more legendary characters from both games and featuring a 56-character roster and new HD support and online game play. Check it out:

Also available for download is the PlayStation One classic Tomb Raider for $9.99 for the PS3/PSP. Players control Lara Croft as they play through various levels, solve puzzles and battle prehistoric dinosaurs and savage wild life to nab the loot before rival treasure hunters can get their hands on it.

Here’s a list of everything else that’s new:

Downloadable Games - PSOne Classics

• Dead In The Water (PS3/PSP/$5.99)
• Ten Pin Alley (PS3/PSP/$5.99)

Game Demos:

• Marvel Vs Capcom 2 Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• PAIN Smooth Jarvis Character (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Additional Dungeon 5 (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Arabian Armor Set (women) (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Wa Armor Set (women) (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Mystic Armor Set (men) (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Shinobi Armor Set (men) (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Big Strong Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Stew Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Unspoken Fear Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• LittleBigPlanet Historical Costume Pack (PS3/$2.99)
Individual costumes:
• LittleBigPlanet: Ada Lovelace Costume (PS3/99 cents)
• LittleBigPlanet: Boudicca Costume (PS3/99 cents)
• LittleBigPlanet: Ghengis Khan Costume (PS3/99 cents)
• LittleBigPlanet: Mozart Costume (PS3/99 cents)
• PAIN: Knockin’ Bloks Mode (PS3/$1.99)
• LittleBigPlanet MM Originals Pack 2 Historical (PS3/$3.99)
• PAIN Museum Environment (PS3/$5.99)
• Madden NFL 10 27 Packs and Upgrades (PS3/various items ranging 50 cents to $9.99)
• Red Faction Guerrilla Demons of the Badlands Pack 1 (PS3/$9.99)
• Disgaea 3 DLC Complete Set (PS3/$49.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Packs:

• Activision Music Track Pack (PS3/Free)
Individual Tracks:
• “Nothing All The Time” by H is Orange (PS3/Free)
• “The Silence is Deafening” by Awaken (PS3/Free)
• “I’ll Never Know” by Hundred Reasons (PS3/Free)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Gorillaz Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Songs:
• “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz (PS3/$1.99)
• “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz (PS3/$1.99)
• “Re-Hash” by Gorillaz (PS3/$1.99)

Single Songs:

• “Piece of My Heart” by Janis Joplin (PS3/$1.99)
• “Chest Fever (Live)” by The Band (PS3/$1.99)
• “Magic Bus (Live at Leeds)” by The Who (PS3/$1.99)
• “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “The Number of the Beast” by Iron Maiden (PSP/$1.99)
• “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• PULSE 8/13 Edition (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Unbound Saga Between The Panels Issue 3 (PS3/PSP/Free
• Alpha Protocol Gameplay Walkthrough #2 (PS3/Free)
• Darksiders Comic Con Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Tora Vignette (PS3/Free)
• Battle Tanks Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Astro Tripper Trailer (PS3/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• 17 Again. Rated PG-13 (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• 17 Again. Rated PG-13 (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• 17 Again. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• G4: 2 Months, $2 Million. Rated TV-14 (Rent/SD Format/$1.99)
• Warehouse 13: Season 1. Rated TV-14 (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Warehouse 13: Season 1. Rated TV-14 (Own/HD Format/$2.99)
• Ghost Hunters International: Season 2. Rated TV-14 (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Eureka: Season 3. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Eureka: Season 3. Rated PG (Own/HD Format/$2.99)
• Bakugan: Season 6. Rated TV-Y7 (Own/SD Format/$1.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Fat Princess Wallpaper (PS3/Free)
• Azmodeus Dark Angels Theme 7 (PSP/99 cents)
• Azmodeus Dark Angels Theme 8 (PSP/99 cents)
• Disgaea 3 All Star Theme (PS3/99 cents)
• Azmodeus Dark Angels Theme 4 (PS3/$1.49)
• Amplified Theme (PS3/PSP/$1.49)
• Metal Battalion Maidens Theme 3 (PS3/$1.49)
• World’s Apart Theme (PS3/PSP/$1.49)
• Lingerie Football League (PS3/PSP/$1.99)
• Fear 2: Reborn Theme (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

EA is also among the major companies ready to step up and support GamesCom 2009. And the company’s going to be putting on quite a show. It is bringing 42 games across all platforms to display, including the iPhone.

There are a number of highlights to check out, from the extraordinary amount of games being displayed, to a special press conference (which you can watch online via live stream), an exclusive closed door area with special games being shown, a booth set up just for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and the demo debut of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Let’s look at the list of games EA is bringing along, in some shape or form, in alphabetical order:

1. All Points Bulletin (PC)
2. Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3, PSP)
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
4. Brütal Legend (PS3, Xbox 360)
5. Bubble Bobble Evolution (cell phone)
6. Command & Conquer 4 (PC)
7. Command & Conquer: Red Alert (cell phone)
8. Dante’s Inferno (PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360)
9. Dead Space Extraction (Wii)
10. Dragon Age: Origins (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
11. EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer (Wii)
12. FIFA 10 (cell phone, DS, PS2, PSP, Wii)
13. FIFA Manager 10 (PC)
14. Fight Night Round 4 (PS3, Xbox 360)
15. Game of Life (iPhone)
16. GI Joe (cell phone)
17. GI Joe: The Rise of the Cobra (DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360)
18. Hasbro Family Game Night 2 (Wii)
19. Littlest Pet Shop: Beach Friends (DS)
20. Littlest Pet Shop: City Friends (DS)
21. Littlest Pet Shop: Country Friends (DS)
22. Mass Effect 2 (PC, Xbox 360)
23. Monopoly Classic (iPhone)
24. My Sims Agents (DS, Wii)
25. NBA Live 10 (TBA)
26. Need for Speed: Nitro (DS, Wii)
27. Need for Speed Shift (cell phone, PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360)
28. NHL 10 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
29. Rage (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
30. RockBand: The Beatles (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
31. The Saboteur (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
32. SimAnimals: Africa (Wii)
33. The Sims 3 (iPhone, PC, Mac)
34. The Sims 3 World Adventures (PC, Mac)
35. Spore Hero (Wii)
36. Spore Hero Arena (DS)
37. Star Wars: The Old Republic ()
38. Tetris (iPhone)
39. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360)
40. Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online (PC)
41. Trivial Pursuit (iPhone)
42. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)

Now, bear in mind, not all of these games will be on display to the public. EA is going to have a press only business lounge set up in Hall 5.1, where special sessions will show off games not scheduled to appear at EA’s booth in Hall 6.1, like All Points Bulletin, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Command & Conquer 4, EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer, Rage, Rockband: The Beatles, The Sims 3 World Adventures, The Sabateur and Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. The exclusive demonstrations will also show off information on some games that are appearing at the main booth, like Brütal Legend, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space Extraction, Mass Effect 2 and The Sims 3.

If you’re attending and want to see, here are key EA locations to visit:

• General EA Booth: Hall 6.1, A-71, C-70 from August 19-23, 2009.
• EA Press Conference: Palladium, Schanzenstraße 36, Gebäude 197, 51063 Cologne at 4:30pm on August 18, 2009.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic demo debut: Hall 6.1 theater, B-066, A-061.
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning booth: Hall 9.1, Aisle A#041 and Aisle B#040.

Read [GamesIndustry.biz] Site [EA @ GamesCom]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

The Harvest Moon games are something special. They’ve developed a devoted cult following, which people who have never experienced the games may not understand. Especially since, on the surface, each game seems to be pretty much the same. Natsume obviously gets it, as the series is probably it’s best known property. Games in the series have appeared on practically every system, including the Wii, GameCube, PS2, PS1, PSP, DS, GBA, Game Boy Color, Game Boy and SNES.

It’s only when you take a closer look at the Harvest Moon series that you appreciate what the games allow players to achieve. I recently had the opportunity to rent the Wii entry, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, and fell in love with the series again because of it.

So if you’ve never played the games and are wondering why people are drawn to them, here’s a brief overview of Harvest Moon‘s many charms.

There’s more to the world than what you can see.

There’s a strong fantasy element present in the Harvest Moon world, in the form of the Harvest Goddess, Harvest Sprites, and occasionally the Harvest God, Witch Princess and Wizard Prince. These fantasy characters won’t do mystical and magical things every day, but sometimes Harvest Sprites will help you at your farm or the Harvest Goddess will bestow some kind of blessing. It’s really more about the element of fantasy being there, but the whole point of the game is to focus on hard work and real, daily life.

Hard work is rewarded.

In Harvest Moon the overall goal is to be a successful farmer. And, thankfully, there’s really no way to fail. If you want to focus on crops to build your wealth, go for it. Or if you’d prefer to raise animals, that’s fine too. There’s really no way to totally waste or lose money, especially in the Wii entry, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, where you can take a part time job during the day at one of the island’s establishments to earn some extra cash. As long as you’re making some sort of effort, you’ll gradually earn money that you can put toward expanding your place.

There’s no need to rush.

There are no deadlines in the majority of the Harvest Moon games. You can work at your own pace to achieve your goals, and you can spend as much or as little time a day/week/month playing the game to reach those goals. Once you’ve developed a basic farming routine for essential work and your character has built up some stamina, it’s easy to complete many tasks. There is an in-game clock, but unless it’s a festival day, you need to attend to a potential spouse event or you need to get to one of the stores before it closes, you can pretty much ignore that.

Small actions can make a difference in the lives of others.

Harvest Moon also has elements of a communication game. Players can develop relationships with all of the townspeople, and sometimes even the supernatural characters like the Harvest Goddess, Harvest Sprites, Witch Princess, Wizard or Harvest God. If you become good friends with people, you could unlock special events, earn the right to enter their homes, get special items, learn new recipes or perhaps even get one of the bachelor or bachelorette characters to marry your character. Building a relationship could be somewhat trying in earlier games, where you’d have to talk and give gifts to townspeople, but in more recent games relationships can be built by talking on a regular basis or working at the same job together.

No two games are ever really the same.

There are two basic plot elements to every Harvest Moon game - the Harvest Goddess is in some kind of trouble and there’s a dilapidated farm your character is going to restore to prosperity. Plus there’s the whole animal/crop raising and townspeople to make friends with. Aside from the fundamentals, Harvest Moon is sort of a sandbox game. Since there are no requirements that must be met to have a successful farm, you can achieve it any way you want. So you could mine, ranch, harvest, fish or work part time jobs until you get enough money to expand your little empire. Plus, there can be different villagers, crops or farm animals in each entry. Occasionally the tasks to assist the Harvest Goddess do require players to perform certain tasks, but again, assisting her isn’t mandatory. Each time you play, you can use different strategies to succeed.

Site [Natsume]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

When manga or anime series become popular, they’re almost guaranteed a video game release. When a series is incredibly popular, they’ll spawn multiple games. Since many of these series don’t achieve the same level of recognition outside of Japan, this means that people in other regions of the world will likely never hear about them.

This week, Important Importables is going to look at one of these lesser known series, Sugar Sugar Rune. While Del Rey released all eight volumes of Moyoco Anno’s series in North America, it never reached the same heights of popularity that it achieved in Japan. In Japan though, it managed to inspire three video games on three different platforms.

What’s Sugar Sugar Rune?

Sugar Sugar Rune was a first for mangaka Moyoco Anno. She is best known for mangas written for women, like Happy Mania, Flowers & Bees and Hataraki Man. Sugar Sugar Rune was the first series she created for a younger female audience.

Long ago, witches and wizards separated from the human world and moved to the Magical World. Once there, a rift developed between two factions, ones who followed the Ice Prince Glacé and others who followed Le Royaume. Glacé and his followers were sent into exile and dubbed Ogres.

Le Royaume and the Magical World is led by a queen. At the moment, it’s Queen Candy. However, a contest is being held to determine the next queen. The two candidates are Chocolat Meilleure, daughter of previous queen candidate Cinnamon Meilleure, and Vanilla Mieux, Queen Candy’s daughter. The two young witches are best friends, despite their contrary personalities, and they are sent together to the human world.

Their goal? Collect humans hearts, which are called ecuré in the Magical World and used as both currency and energy. Witches can’t regenerate their own hearts, but humans can. The girl who collects the most hearts will be the next queen.

In the Magical World, outspoken, crude and tomboyish Chocolat was most popular, but in the human world shy, quiet and demure Vanilla gathers the most attention. Chocolat has to challenge her best friend to become the best. To make matters worse, a young Ogre representative named Pierre is attending the same school and trying to influence both girls.

At it’s very core, Sugar Sugar Rune is your typical magical girl series. Especially if you only look at the anime, which follows a “monster of the week” sort of story, focuses mainly on the collecting of hearts and has more of a traditional art style. The manga series is darker and slightly edgier, with a gothic-punk art style and more background on the war between the witches and ogres. The 51 episode anime is geared towards a younger audience, while the eight volume manga seems oriented towards slightly older readers.

Sugar Sugar Rune: Heart Gaippai! Moegi Gakuen

Sugar Sugar Rune: Heart Gaippai! Moegi Gakuen was the first Sugar Sugar Rune game released, and debuted on the Game Boy Advance. It also begins a trend. All of the Sugar Sugar Rune games focus on the heart collecting aspect of the original.

The GBA Sugar Sugar Rune game focuses on Chocolat’s gathering of hearts from classmates at the elementary school Moegi Gakuen. It’s primarily a text based adventure where Chocolat visits various locations from the series, perhaps runs into familiar characters and, if she’s lucky and conversations go well, she earns hearts. There are also a few unrelated mini-games tossed in.

Sugar Sugar Rune: Koimo Osharemo Pick-Up

The second Sugar Sugar Rune game was a PlayStation 2 adventure called Sugar Sugar Rune: Koimo Osharemo Pick-Up, and it is quite similar to the previous GBA release. One of the main differences is you can choose to play as either Chocolat or Vanilla.

When it comes to gameplay, it’s similar to the previous game and otome games like Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side. You dress and prepare Chocolat or Vanilla, using clothes and magical accessories. Then, you attend school to to try and befriend the male students so you can take their hearts and (hopefully) become queen. There’s more of an active element here, since the clothing and accessory choices you make help determine whether certain guys will like you more or less.

Sugar Sugar Rune: Queen Shiken wa Dai Panic

Sugar Sugar Rune: Queen Shiken wa Dai Panic was the last Sugar Sugar Rune game, released in 2006. Unlike the previous games, which were more text based adventures, the DS game was an action/platformer title. Remember the Sega Genesis game Flicky? It’s slightly reminiscent of that. It’s also the only Sugar Sugar Rune game I’ve had the opportunity to play.

In the beginning of the game, players choose whether they want to be Chocolat or Vanilla. Aside from some cosmetic differences, both characters play the same. You must go through a variety of levels, based on locations seen in the anime and manga, to gather hearts. When Chocolat or Vanilla see a boy, they press a button to lure him in. He then will follow her around. The goal is to get a few guys following you around for a decent period of time so their hearts turn pink. Then, you execute a special move that plucks their hearts and gives Chocolat or Vanilla points. The boys then leave. The goal is to get a certain number of points and make it to the end of a level before time runs out.

It isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are dogs roaming the levels that will attack/scare the girls, causing the boys to leave. Also there are other female classmates wandering around, and if you walk past them, they’ll lure one of your admirers away. Plus, Chocolat and Vanilla can only have a certain number of boys follow them.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables reviews Nanashi no Game for the DS.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables reviewed Vitamin Y.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

It’s been way too long since I posted an update of the game-related and generally interesting items being offered at Japanese import site J-List and under-18 site J-Box.

To help bring everyone back up to speed, here’s a big bullet-point list of notable items currently offered on the site. Most are DS and PSP games as well as many figures based on various Japanese dating-sim games, so expect some professionally sculpted skin when you click through

• The Tower of Druaga Dots - Remember that Dig Dug dot art toy? Same idea, this time its a set for the classic game, Tower of Druaga . You can make Gilgamesh, Ki and Druaga. ($9.50)
• Cosmode USA - A magazine dedicated to cosplay complete with instruction? Hellz yeah.($18.95)
• Mayonaise Potato Pringles - Oh yeah, for that yummy mayo aftertaste. ($2 each)
• Niko Niko Punch 2 (Face Bento Decoration) - It may sound like an awesome video game but really it stamps nori smiley faces to put on your little wads of sticky rice. I love when food smiles at me as I eat it. ($19.50)
• Kasumi Dead or Alive EX Figure - This is the blue version by Shunya Yamashita which also comes in white. And yes, it is sexy sexy. ($22)
• Marvel Bishoujo Black Widow 1/8 Figure - Another figure by Shunya Yamashita, this one features a Marvel Comics bishouju character. Skin tight leather outfit, red hair and a lot of nooks and crannies.

• Legend of Zelda Hour Glass of Phantom Soundrop - Now when someone says, “Is there something in your pocket or are your pants making noise at me?” You can simply say, “Yes.” This set of six key kchains features Legend of Zelda sound effects. One press and you get a second or two of sound. Simple yet effective.
• Mao 1/7 PVC Figure - *purrrrr* This statue features Mao, the Ninja Quarterbeast from the PS2 role-playing game Shining Tears complete with ears.
• Super Mario Brothers Coin Bank ~ Green 1up - More trippy mushroom goodness, this time to help you store your stash, er, coinage.
• Aya Red Bikini version 1/7 Figure ~ Onei Chanbara vorteX by Alter - Yipieki-yahoo! The site says it all: “This little treasure created by Tamsoft, is the wildly popular “Oneechanbara” (Swordfighting Sisters), that was formerly released on the PS2 as part of the simple 2000 series, features a sexy bikini clad babe trying to hack her way out of a zombie infested locales using her katana (sword). So popular, the game has gone on to spawn five other sequels, all featuring the bikini baring babes using their swords to get them out of tight situations. This delicious figure features Aya, from Onechanbara Vortex complete with her trademark red floral patterned bikini with sword in hand and a sweet cowboy hat perched on top her head.” ($72)
Dragon Quest IX Nintendo DSi Pouch - This is a preorder item and will certainly be worth it for fans ($18).
• Kureha Figure Sit Down - From Sega’s PS2 Shining Wind game, this figure shows Kureha laying on the floor exposing her ginormous, er, sleeves.
• Tamaki Kousaka Seducing Figure - Another proeorder, this one is really just for adults. It’ comes from the ToHeart2 PS2 game that started as a PC visual novel and, as the site describes, it is a “full-on excitement generator.”
• Hanyu Figure by Wave - Another preorder item, this one is based on a mystery PC and PS2 game series, When the Cicadas Cry. Very adorable ($80).
• School Days Parody T-Shirt - “Nice Boat!” - If you are looking for something oscure, get this shirt. People will think you are either bragging, weird or into signage. It’s a parody from an actual event that took place on the last day of an anime based on a dating-sim game. ($17.95) So obscure, even those who get it might not even get it.

• Maryan 1/7 Figure White School Swimsuits ~ Another figure based on the ToHeart2 game series, this time with a skippy, frolicky girl in a swimsuit.
• Japanese T-Shirt - “Tower of Druaga” - Namco’s Tower of Druaga gets the T-shirt treatment. It’s abasic T with a basic logo for a game that may have even been programmed in BASIC.
• Sasara Kusugawa 1/7 Figure School Swimsuits - Oh, those naughty ToHeart2 ladies. Not as much a popular up-skirt view as a down-skirt view. Preorder this one as well ($95).
• Black Aries 1/8 Figure  - Another preorder, this is from the hentai game Makai Tenshi Jiburiru (Jiburiru the Devil Angel). This one has a lot of flow-y costume action and claws of death. ($80)
• When They Cry for DS (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) - A DS dating-sim game in Japanese. Bone up on your kanji, kids. ($55). Look for others in the series as well (eg When They Cry: Kizuna 3)
• Kirarin Revolution for DS- Just the box art for this DS game will make your eye turn into cotton candy. It bleeds pink. ($62)
• Link Plush ~ Phantom Hourglass - To go with those sound keychains is the Zelda plush. It’s Link, with sword and shield. ‘Nuff said. ($16)
• Code Geass: Lost Colors for PSP - Forty voice actors from the anime are featured in this game you’ve never heard of. ($72)
• Memories Off: Sorekara for PSP - A “super new dating sim” for the PSP that “explores both the joys and bitter sides of love.” Also check out Memories Off 6: T-wave. ($68)
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Steel Girl Friend for PSP - A dating-sim game by Gainax based on an anime. ($55)

• To Love-Ru Doki Doki! - Whoa! Super close bikini crotch shot box art, Batman! Another dating-sim PSP game based on an anime and manga. ($70)
• Evangelion: Jo for PSP - To mix things up a bit, this dating-sim game has a bunch of combat in it, too. ($75)
• Let’s Play in Japanese (Nihongo de Asobo) for DS - Time to learn some kanji using card games, DS style (or is that DS stylus style?). ($62)
• Macross Ace Frontier for PSP - Now I know it’s been years since you’ve played a Macross game. This one takes you through the entire series. ($70)
• Arcade Mania! - The Turbo-Charged World of Japan’s Game Centers - Holy crap, something to read! From the site: “Arcade Mania! takes you on a turbo-charged tour through a typical Japanese arcade, from the crazy crane games, sticker picture machines, and rhythm games that beckon from the entrance, then on to the fighting games, shooting games, retro games, games of chance, and card-based games you’ll find inside.” ($18.50)
• Dissidia Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Potion Cosmos - I know, the name makes it sound so great, eh? A potion. And it’s grapefruit flavored! OK, so I love grapefruit but in a potion? Probably not eye-of-newt-y enough for my taste. ($5.50 per can)

Read [Gamertell] Site [J-Box]

EDITOR’S NOTE: J-List feature items not suitable for gamers under the age of 18. As such, we provide links to J-Box, which is suitable for gamers of all ages.

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As I began playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as a Darklord, I was faced with an overwhelming sense of deja-vu. Not from the gameplay. No, the way the tower defense title is executed is quite original and refreshing. It was the characters.

The bratty, teenage girl with delusions of grandeur and the cute, unassuming monster minions seemed familiar somehow. After I finished the tutorial, it hit me. Mira and her tonberry servants seemed eerily similar to Etna and her prinny servants, from NIS’ Disgaea and Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? games.

Mira & Etna

First of all, Mira and Etna both have a similar mindset. Etna wants to be an overlord, doing pretty much anything to accomplish that goal, and Mira wants to be a darklord, again, doing whatever’s necessary. They’re both selfish, bratty, with entitlement issues and a killer temper.

They even share some of the same physical features. Or at the very least, a similar sense of fashion. Both girls favor black goth-style outfits. (Well, half of Mira does.) Both characters also look like teenage girls, despite Etna’s true age. The similarities are really quite striking.

Tonberries & Prinnies

It’s Mira and Etna’s servants that have the most in common. First of all, both tonberries and prinnies have unassuming appearances. You’d never expect that tonberries would be one of the deadliest monsters in the Final Fantasy series, and no one’d think Prinnies would explode when thrown. Both species also have unparalleled experience with daggers, and a strange, vacant sort of stare.

Tonberries and prinnies personalities are also quite similar, well, in regards to My Life as a Darklord when it comes to tonberries. The tonberries take all of Mira’s abuse and gladly do anything she asks, doting on her endlessly. The instruction manual suggests that they’re doing so to build up their “Everybody’s Grudge” attack. The prinnies are the same way, doing everything they can to serve and please Etna, though they’re doing it because they’re in a purgatory-state, serving her as penance for past actions.

In closing, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as a Darklord is a wonderful game. Yes, the characters are quite similar to ones appearing in NIS series, but it’s still worth buying, playing and enjoying.

Site [Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as Darklord] Site [Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?]

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At E3 2009, Konami announced the release of a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a pretty good idea, because the development team of the original was pretty limited by the technology at the time. This re-imagining of the original game is coming out for the Wii, PS2 and PSP.

The PS2 choice might be a questionable one, at least.

The choice of the Wii is fine because it offers entirely new possibilities with the motion sensitivity. PSP is an interesting choice because they’re starting to utilize all of the possibilities that the handheld allows for. In terms of controls, regardless of what they port to, they’re jumping from motion controls to a situation where more is actually less. Where most of the control scheme for the Wii would be motion sensitive, they’d have to program entirely new controls for everything from looking around to shaking enemies off. This is the Jumping to the PS2 also puts it in that position since there’s less motion capabilities and more buttons that would lead to the standard gameplay we’ve all grown accustomed to. It would make it harder to make it a more original spin on the world. They would also cause a scaling back graphically to a certain extent.

Putting it out for all of the current generation consoles, rather than one last generation console, with the development of motion sensitivity across the board would’ve been wiser. It would allow for graphics to be further built up to draw the player into the world. For the other current generation consoles that don’t have motion sensitivity (at least not yet), they would just have to program it so that it can be played with the typical gamepad or with motion sensitivity when those components are ready for the public to purchase. At least that way, when the motion sensitivity is released for the 360 and the PS3 you can have a gameplay experience that’s closer to the Wii’s. They’ve just got to think about how to maximize their options with the game.

Sure, they can still scale it back a bit even after they released it for the current gen-consoles, so the PS2 option isn’t closed entirely. They should’ve held off on developing for the PS2 until the big three consoles have their port.

Yes, quite a few people still have a PS2. However, for most of original games in the series other than Silent Hill Origins for the PSP and PS2, there were also a lot of PC and Xbox sales for the franchise. So releasing SHSM for the Wii, PS2 and PSP might end up cutting out part of the franchise’s fan base. This is not to say that the Wii or PSP are bad choices. The Wii gets the audience more involved, which makes it terrifying, and the PSP allows for playing on the go.

Putting it out for the current generations consoles and then the PS2 would be more effective. It’s getting more exposure for the game. It would call all the hardcore gamers and fans of the series, which are spread across almost every console, to get the game. It would also be able to call newer players and attract them into the series if they weren’t already pulled in by past visits to the town.

Site [Konami] Read [GoGamingGiant]

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September 9, 2009, can’t come soon enough for fans dying to get their hands on The Beatles: Rock Band. The appearance of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Microsoft’s E3 2009 press conference went a long way in getting the game’s name out in the mainstream along the the news that “Abbey Road” would be released as a full album download shortly after the games release.

Those who choose to preorder The Beatles: Rock Band from GameStop will be getting a special bonus in the form of three free downloadable songs and a code that will unlock an in-game photo album. You’ll also get a code that will access The Beatles: Rock Band Content Club website. You’ll get the song and album codes either via e-mail or on a rave card that will be given out on the day of release. The press release didn’t confirm which three songs would be downloadable or how soon after the release will the songs be available.

The Beatles Rock Band Limited Edition Bundle is for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii for $249 or you can use the other Rock Band or Guitar Hero instruments and pick up just the game disc for $60.

Preorder [Gamestop]

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There seems to be an unusually high number of “vs” games being released this year: Stalin vs Martians, Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper, Monsters vs Aliens, Plants vs Zombies and even Kids vs Zombies.

I guess the best way to generate conflict is to simply put two forces together and let them battle it out. Many games do end up being a versus battle of sorts with your avatar taking on ogres, other player-controlled characters or maybe even just you versus the logic of a puzzle. But putting a name to the combatants gives it that sense of an ultimate death match or of a confrontation where someone must be declared a winner (and a loser).

With that in mind, here are a few of the great “vs” game titles. These might not all be amazing games but they sure have enticing and interesting names when you consider them at face value.

Stalin vs Martians - (PC, 2009, Paradox Interactive) One of the newest games featured on this list, there’s simply no escaping the intrigue of playing as Communist leader Joseph Stalin and battling 1950s-style martians. A simple yet genius idea for a confrontation.

Aliens vs Predator - (PC, 1993, Fox Interactive) Although the name was really started in comics as a story in Dark Horse Presents #36 (February 1990) this was the game title that carried the Aliens. vs Predator phenomena to the rest of the world. I’d love to see the trend continue with a 2000 comic book titled Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator.  Even if you have no idea what any of those are, the names sound pretty badass.

Monsters vs Aliens - (PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, 2009, Activision Blizzard) So what if it’s based on an animated movie. Just the idea of taking either side and battling the other is almost too promising to pass up. I wouldn’t even be able to decide which side to be.

Angels vs Devils - (PC, 2003, Enigma Software) - Now that is the ultimate conflict. You really don’t get a better “vs” name than that. OK, except maybe Good vs Evil or God vs Satan. A close second to this one for base oppositions is North vs South (PC, 1997, Interactive Magic) because abstracts such as directions fighting is just weird. Then there is always…

Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death - (PS2, GameCube, Xbox, PC, 2003, Activision Blizzard) Judge Dredd is just a great name and, face it, the ultimate one-on-one fight would be against Death. Losing would really, really suck. And you can only lose once. Probably.

Plants vs Zombies - (PC, 2009, PopCap) Another new game, the idea of plants forming any type of collective and defeating any bipedal opponent, even as slow moving as zombies, seems unlikely enough to be interesting. Besides, Kids vs Zombies just sounds cruel. Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball (Xbox 360, 2008, GameCock) comes in a close second only because of the word “dodgeball.” If you put Ninjas and Pirates in a room together, red rubber balls are not the weapon of choice.

Spy vs Spy - (PS2, Xbox, 2005, TakeTwo/Gatehring of Developers) - Sure, it’s based on a MAD Magazine comic strip but the idea is still pretty sound: Two spies duking it out and otherwise strategically plotting the other’s demise. It’s the plot summary for almost every James Bond novel and/or movie.

Ford vs Chevy - (2005, PS2, Eutechnyx) This one is really only on the list because of the recent economic downturn. Of course, I’d love to see two automakers at actual war with each other. Why? Flaming car projectiles.

Chess vs The Axis of Evil - (2008, PC, dtp AG/Anaconda) I have no idea how two board games can fight but, sure, let them go at with. Then maybe we can have Monopoly and Othello throw down as well. Wait, am I thinking of Axis & Allies?  In either case, it looks like this one was a foreign game that was mistranslated but, still, it’s a great name.

Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich - (2005, PC, Digital Jesters) If you are going to fight The 3rd Reich, you might as well bring in the Freedom Force. I mean, you probably don’t want the OK With Partial Captivity Crusaders on your side and the Lay Down and Die Guys just are not helpful at all.

Maximo vs Army of Zin - (PS2, 2004, Capcom) I have no idea who either of those are but they both sound cool and/or formidable. Maximo must be maxi-tough, especially if he is taking on the entire army of Zin. He must be quite the ass kicker.

Site [Game Encyclopedia]

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E3 2009 allowed Konami to continue to contribute to the active game genre with the anouncement of more DanceDanceRevolution games. There will be four, count them four, DDR games on the way, for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. It will also mark the release of the first PS3 DDR.

All of the DanceDanceRevolution games are being mentioned as Fall 2009 releases, and each game will have 30 popular, master artist tracks and 20 original Bemani songs. So 50 songs will be available right away. Konami’s also going to be emphasizing the healthy side of the game, with Workout Modes that include calorie counters.

The Wii version will, of course, have features that utilize the console’s unique controls. The Workout Mode of the game will support the Wii Balance Board to allow more exercise options. There will also be Wii Remote support in the actual game, a Lesson Mode, the ability to use Miis as dancers and the ability to customize in-game dancers with new outfits. Think of it as the more family friendly of all the upcoming versions of DanceDanceRevolution.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will also have some extra special features. There seem more geared towards DDR veterans though. For example, 150 classic DDR songs will be available to download, in addition to new songs. Avatars can be uoloaded into the game, and players can change what’s happening in the background. On top of all that, Street Master Mode will be included and the Octo-Move Mode with eight arrows will only be available in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

I can already tell that the Octo-Move Mode is going to be way to complicated for me. I have problems keeping track of, and up with, four arrows. Six arrows I could probably manage. But eight?

Read [Scrawl] Site [DanceDanceRevolution]

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In case you (gaming gods forbid) missed our Live Blogging of any of the five press conferences that kicked off E3 2009, here’s your chance to get back in the action.

For your convenience we offer the complete Live Blogs as well as easy-to-digest bullet-point recaps of each Live Blog, by the Live Bloggers. Read. Soak in the E3 game goodness. Enjoy.

• Microsoft press conference [Live Blog] [Recap]
• EA press conference [Live Blog] [Recap]
• Ubisoft press conference [Live Blog] [Recap]
• Nintendo press conference [Live Blog] [Recap]
• Sony press conference [Live Blog] [Recap]

Don’t forget to check out all of our great E3 2009 coverage as well at E3.Gamertell.com. We also have a mobile version at m.Gamertell.com that has recently been re-optimized for the Nintendo DSi web browser.

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Sony’s massive two hour E3 presentation has just ended. We were given a lot of information to digest. At times, it seemed like we were receiving more facts about how well Sony is doing, as opposed to what new games and technology was on the way. Gamertell was live blogging the whole event.

In order to help make things a bit clearer and easier to digest, we’re wrapping up the most essential information from Sony’s press conference. It’s presented in bullet-point form, going from what we saw first to what we saw last.

• 100 new PS2 games will be out this year.
• We saw what looked like demo footage of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
• Then, we watched a a brief portion of a 256 person battle in the massive multiplayer online shooter/war game MAG. It’s playable at E3.
• PSP Go was announced. It won’t replace the PSP-3000. It’ll be out October 1, 2009 in North America and Europe, November 1, 2009 in Japan. It’ll cost $249 in the US, and 249 Euros.
• Media Go is replacing the Media Manager
• Sense Me music player playlist creator is headed to the PSP.
• The PSP toolkit price is dropping 80%.
• Video delivery service is coming to the PSP, along with tons of new shows.
• Grand Turismo PSP, with 800 cars, 35 tracks and ad-hoc multiplayer, will be out October 1, 2009.
• The new Metal Gear Solid PSP game is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Maker. It’s set 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3, is part of the main storyline and will be out in 2010.
• Resident Evil Portable, a PSP exclusive game, is coming in 2010.
• Lots of PSP and PS3 game snippet montages.
• Home’s getting new content.
• Rockstar North is working on another new PS3 exclusive game, Agent. It’s set in the 70’s and focuses on assassins.
• Assassin’s Creed 2‘s demo was shown off. Ezio’s the star, a novice assassin working in Italy during the Renaissance. Leonardo Da Vinci designs his gadgets/weapons. It can connect with Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (PSP) to unlock new weapons.
• Both Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines will be out for the 2009 holiday season.
• A nice, long Final Fantasy XIII video, complete with English voice acting, was shown.
• The new massive multiplayer online game Final Fantasy XIV was announced. It’s a PS3 exclusive and will be out in 2010, just like FFXIII.
• Sony’s developing the PlayStation Motion Controller for the PS3, a device that looks like a black wii remote with an orb on top. It’ll be out in 2010, and works with the PlayStation Eye camera.
• Disney Little Big Planet character costumes will be out Fall, 2009.
• Mod Nation Racers, a PS3 exclusive racing game where players can totally customize the characters, carts and tracks, will be out in 2010.
• The Last Guardian, the last game in the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus trilogy appeared in a beautiful trailer. Also a PS3 exclusive.
• Gran Turismo 5 is on the way for the PS3.
• Last was a demo of God of War 3, the last game in that trilogy. It’ll be out in 2010, and the demo with over 20 minutes of gameplay is at E3.

Read [Gamertell]

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We don’t exactly know what tracks will be appearing in Guitar Hero 5, but we do know who’ll be performing them. Activision has just announced all of the artists appearing in the game. Based on the initial information, which can also be viewed at the Guitar Hero 5 website, it will be the most diverse Guitar Hero game so far.

We also now know the release date for the Guitar Hero 5. It will be out September 1, 2009 for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 30 and Wii. A prospective price hasn’t yet been revealed.

Here’s the full list of artists that will have songs in Guitar Hero 5:

1. 3 Doors Down
2. A Perfect Circle
3. AFI
4. Attack! Attack!
5. Band Of Horses
6. Beastie Boys
7. Beck
8. Billy Idol
9. Billy Squier
10. Blink-182
11. Blur
12. Bob Dylan
13. Bon Jovi
14. Brand New
15. Bush
16. Children of Bodom
17. Coldplay
18. Darker My Love
19. Darkest Hour
20. David Bowie
21. Deep Purple
22. Dire Straits
23. Duran Duran
24. Eagles Of Death Metal
25. Elliott Smith
26. Elton John
27. Face to Face
28. Garbage
29. Gorillaz
30. Gov’t Mule
31. Grand Funk Railroad
32. Iggy Pop
33. Iron Maiden
34. Jeff Beck
35. Jimmy Eat World
36. John Mellencamp
37. Johnny Cash
38. Kaiser Chiefs
39. King Crimson
40. Kings Of Leon
41. Kiss
42. Love and Rockets
43. Megadeth
44. Mötley Crüe
45. Muse
46. My Morning Jacket
47. Nirvana
48. No Doubt
49. Peter Frampton
50. Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde
51. Queen & David Bowie
52. Queens Of The Stone Age
53. Rammstein
54. Rose Hill Drive
55. Rush
56. Santana
57. Scars On Broadway
58. Screaming Trees
59. Smashing Pumpkins
60. Sonic Youth
61. Spacehog
62. Stevie Wonder
63. Sublime
64. Sunny Day Real Estate
65. T. Rex
66. The Bronx
67. The Derek Trucks Band
68. The Duke Spirit
69. The Killers
70. The Police
71. The Raconteurs
72. The Rolling Stones
73. The Sword
74. The White Stripes
75. Thin Lizzy
76. Thrice
77. Tom Petty
78. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
79. TV On The Radio
80. Vampire Weekend
81. Weezer
82. Wild Cherry
83. Wolfmother

I’d like to make a guess at one of the songs! Since the list specifically says Queen & David Bowie, I’m going to guess that “Under Pressure” will be one of the Guitar Hero 5 tracks.

Read [Max Console] Also Read [Game Focus] Site [Guitar Hero 5]

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E3 2009 is less than one week away and publishers are starting to give us the heads up on what games they will be showing off on the floor. Activision is looking to have a major presence at the show as it’s bringing ten games to E3 2009. These games cover many different genres such as racing, adventure, FPS and music. We are looking to learn a ton of information about DJ Hero and Guitar Hero 5. Hopefully we’ll also get a clearer picture of what else Tony Hawk Ride has to offer besides the skateboard peripheral.

Check out the list of confirmed Activision games at E3 2009 along with a little summary of what each game is about.

Blur is a new game from Bizarre Creations that is like a cross between Need for Speed and Burnout. In this racing game players will be able to acquire power ups such as energy blasts and speed boosts. Blur will have more than 60 licensed cars as well as competitive and cooperative multiplayers modes that can be played online or offline. Blur is coming out for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

DJ Hero is the newest music rhythm franchise from Activison. We don’t know too much about this game other than it will ship with a turntable controller that fully rotates and has an effects dial and cross fader. DJ Hero will be released for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Guitar Hero 5 is looking to expand its influence even further by bringing over 85 master tracks from the biggest bands to lesser known favorites. It will also feature different music genres from more than 25 other artists. The music studio option has been streamlined to be more user friendly and any combination of instruments can be used at any time. There’s nothing to stop you from rocking out to The Rolling Stones using four drum sets. Guitar Hero 5 will be released for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is sure to be a favorite at E3 2009. Ever since it was announced we haven’t heard too much more about the game other than a few announcements regarding playable characters. This time we’ll play through the Civil War storyline from the comics that pitted hero vs. hero. We’ll be able to choose from a wide number of characters including Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man, Venom and Green Goblin. Ultimate Alliance 2 is coming out for the PS2, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS.

Modern Warfare 2 is a game that’s probably going to steal the show. Infinity Ward just may change the way we look at FPS combat once again. If you’ve been on Earth for the past couple years you’ll know Modern Warfare 2 is a pretty big deal. It’s coming out on November 11, 2009 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

PROTOTYPE is a new open world game that stars Alex Mercer, a man with a freaky mutation that goes around New York City slicing people in half. He can take on other forms and absorb people’s memories to gain an advantage. It has been compared to inFAMOUS in the past but hopefully it’ll turn out to be a different beast altogether. PROTOTYPE will be released for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Singularity is probably the game we’ve heard the least about. This Sci-Fi shooter uses time as weapon. Apparently we’ll be fighting against Russian soldiers and monsters while jumping between the 1950’s and present day. PS3, Xbox 360 and PC owners can get their hands on this one when it releases.

Tony Hawk: Ride is the revitalization of the long lived franchise. This time the game is shipping with a skateboard peripheral that will be used to move about the world and pull off tricks. It’s rumored to cost $120 and we really don’t know if there is a story of any kind in the game. That’s what E3 is for. This one is coming out for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is based on the upcoming movie. While we hope it doesn’t fall into the abyss of other movie turned game projects, it does contain a multiplayer mode and we can choose to be Autobots or Decepticons. Everyone will be able to play this game because it’s coming out for PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PC.

Wolfenstein is making a comeback this year by sticking us in the shoes of a man who is going to take down Nazi’s single handedly. The Nazi’s have a mysterious new power and BJ Blazkowicz is going to use it against them. This is another FPS we can add to our growing library. Look out for this one on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Site [Activision]

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Sony has to come out swinging at E3 2009. It still lags behind the Xbox 360 and Wii even after having two and a half years to catch up. As the excitement for E3 started to build we started to see a renewed dedication to the PSP from Sony. Big titles including LittleBigPlanet, Rock Band Unplugged and Assassin’s Creed were announced for the handheld. We expect some big PSP announcements from Sony as well as some others that will guarantee Sony steals the show.

Let’s take a look at some of our most anticipated announcements from Sony at E3 2009.

PSP Go!

For several weeks rumors have been swirling constantly about a redesigned PSP. This new PSP would have more than just a brighter screen and a thinner frame - it would take the PSP in a whole new direction. The rumors say the PSP Go! will ditch the UMD drive in favor of internal storage in 8GB and 16GB flavors. Patapon 2 was recently released and it can only be downloaded online. Sony said it was a test to see how the public would respond. Shortly afterwards Unbound Saga was revealed to be released digitally as well. We expect Sony to finally use the full potential of the PSP to send it into direct competition with the DS(i) and iPhone. We also are anticipating a lot of original PSP Go! games that will take advantage of the new hardware. Maybe that game rental service will be mentioned as well.

PS3 Price Drop

It’s no secret that the PS3’s biggest disadvantage is its price. The Wii and Xbox 360 sit at price points below $300 but Sony continues to carry the $400 price tag. It can no longer hide behind the idea that it’s the cheapest Blu-ray player anymore because it isn’t. We expect Sony to announce a price drop between $50 and $100. Hopefully some new bundles will also accompany the price drop to make it more appealing to consumers that haven’t taken the plunge.

New Firmware Update

What’s a big Sony announcement without firmware? Every now and then Sony gives us a few neat features but they have never been as groundbreaking as the New Xbox Experience. In fact there are still some things the Xbox 360 can do that the PS3 can’t such as chatting across games. It’ll be great if during Sony’s press conference we’re told of exciting new firmware features and that it’s available to download at that very moment.

PS3 Slim

This just may be wishful thinking but we like to dream big. A little while ago images of what looked to be a slim version of the PS3 was leaked on the internet. Shortly after we all picked up on it cease - and - desist letters were sent out demanding the images be taken down. The PS2 didn’t see a redesign until its fourth year of existence and the PS3 has only been out for two and a half years. Again this is probably the least possible announcement we’ll hear but E3 always makes us expect the unexpected.

Unannounced Exclusive Games

A console is only as good as the games that are on it. This year Sony has some big guns with God of War 3 and Uncharted 2. These are games that can only be played on PS3 and Sony needs more of these. We’re expecting some big unannounced games to get their debut. Most notably Team ICO’s new game. If the leaked video of Project TRICO is true we just may hear more about what is has to offer at E3. Sony fans are also holding on to hope that Hideo Kojima’s next game is exclusive to the PS3.

E3 is a pretty big deal at Sony Headquarters this year and it desperately needs to gain sturdy ground moving into the holiday season. We’ll see how close we were when E3 kicks off next week (June 2-4, 2009).

Read [Gamertell]

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Title: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Price: $39.99
System(s): PS2
Release Date: May 12, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Atlus (Atlus)
ESRB Rating: “Mature” for blood, sexual themes and violence
Pros: 3D character models, environments and cutscenes. Lots of demons to collect and fuse. Side-quest cases can be taken in addition to the main story. Demons can aid in investigation. Raidou’s weapons can be customized. Fighting in the Dark Realm can be quite addictive. Unlimited ammunition for Raidou’s gun.
Cons: No manual targeting for Raidou. The camera doesn’t always provide an optimal view. No voice acting.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 97/100, A, * * * * 1/2 out of 5

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon is a bit of a surprise. While the prequel, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army was also released in North America, it wasn’t a huge, blockbuster title and the PS2 is nearing the end of its lifespan. However, Atlus decided that its fans deserved to see the rest of Raidou’s story, and decided to do a limited release of Devil Summoner 2.

While Devil Summoner 2 is a direct sequel, it does a great job of introducing newcomers to the characters that appeared in the original Devil Summoner. Also, the way the story is presented, the events of the original game aren’t mentioned all that often and an option to learn essential information from the first game is often offered. A nice touch for returning Devil Summoner players is that the original’s save data can be loaded into Devil Summoner 2.

Film noir meets the spiritual underworld

Devil Summoner 2 transports players to 1930’s Japan. Raidou Kuzunohoha the 14th, the 14th devil summoner from Kuzunoha village to earn the Raidou Kuzunoha title, has once again been summoned by Yatagarasu to protect Japan’s Capital from an otherworldly influence. Once again, he’ll be working with Gouto the cat and Shouhei Narumi at the Narumi Detective Agency as he protects the area.

A strange thing is happening in the Capital when Raidou and Gouto arrive, all people seem to be able to talk about is luck. Some people have been blessed with outrageously good fortune lately, while others have had the worst days and weeks of their lives. Raidou has to investigate not only the luck situation, but also a man named Dahn at the request of Akane Narita, daughter of an influential member of the Japanese government. Oddly enough, the two seem to be connected.

Swords, demons, guns - anything goes.

Devil Summoner 2 is split up into two realms. There’s the normal Capital area, where Raidou and Gouto conduct most of their investigation. Then, there’s the Dark Realm, which is populated by demons and is where the majority of the battles take place and demons are recruited.

Even though the two games couldn’t be more different, the battles remined me a bit of those in Kingdom Hearts or Mana series. Players directly control Raidou and his actions, and the two demons he’s summoned largely act on their own. You can set spells for them to use before battle or through the menu. Targeting is automatic for Raidou, he’ll hit whatever’s closest, but you can tell the demons what to attack.

The demons play a big part in making Devil Summoner 2 memorable, and not just because collecting and fusing them is quite addicting. Unlike the personas of the Persona series, these have personalities. They all offer quips during battle, and occasionally you’ll even see glimpses into their backstories. Try taking a Tam Lin into a battle with a Pixie, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

They’re also quite useful when it comes to investigating. You can use them to travel, read minds, find things, transform into other people and have them perform lots of other useful actions.

Which brings me to the writing. It’s often quite clever and funny. If you’re the kind of person who sometimes skims text without really reading it, you could miss. I’d recommend paying attention and reading everything. I only wish there’d been voice acting to accompany the text.

Another amazing PS2 game.

It somehow seems fitting that Atlus’ last few games for the PS2 are of such high caliber and quality. It’s a good way to reward fans who’ve stuck with the system and company for so long, and leave them with fond memories of the console. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon is an absolute joy to play, and it makes me wish I had played Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army.

Site [Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Frys is known for discounted electronic merchandise and appliances, so no one should be surprised that the 24th anniversary sale deals are even better than their normal weekly sale prices. From May 15 to 21, 2009, Frys stores and Frys.com has some great deals on all sorts of electronic goodies. There isn’t a huge selection of sale games in the online ad, but there are a few great deals available. 

Gamertell decided to look at the various video game sale items. We’re not only looking at the discounted prices are, but also noting the normal retail prices for the each product. In most instances, the games are only $10 off, but that’s still something. Keep in mind, there’s a limit of one copy of each game per household.

• Battlestations Pacific for PC: $39.99. Normal price: $49.99
• Battlestations Pacific for Xbox 360: $48.99. Normal Price: $59.99
• Left 4 Dead: Game of the Year Edition for Xbox 360: $48.99. Normal Price: $59.99
• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for PS3: $49.74. Normal Price: $59.99
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon for PS2: $32.99. Normal Price: $39.99

The print ad, however, has many more deals gamers would love. The ad I read was from the May 15, 2009 issue of the Chicago Tribune, and the deals may not apply to all stores.

• Xbox 360 60gb Pro console with three games is $299. The ad quality is poor, making identifying the games difficult, but one is Dark Sector and another appears to be Crackdown.
• Wii with Samba de Amigo, Rubik’s World and M&M’s Racing for $249
• A DS lite bundle with Ferrari Challenge and N+ is $139
• Ratchet & Clank PSP Entertainment Pack with SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo is $199
• Game Party 2 for Wii: $13.99. Normal Price: $29.99
• Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles for Wii: $13.99. Normal Price: $29.99
• Prince of Persia: The Fallen King for DS: $8.99. Normal Price: $29.99
• Elite Beat Agents for DS: $8.99. Normal Price: $19.99 - 29.99
• Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition for PC: $32.99. Normal Price: $69.99
• Left 4 Dead: Game of the Year Edition for PC: $32.99. Normal Price: $39.99
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe for PS3 or Xbox 360: $34.99. Normal Price: $59.99
• Warcraft III Battle Chest for Mac or PC: $19.99. Normal Price: $39.99
• Diablo Battle Chest for Mac or PC: $19.99. Normal Price: $39.99
• Guitar Hero World Tour for PS3 or Xbox 360: $34.99. Normal Price: $59.99
• Guitar Hero Metallica for PS3 or Xbox 360: $34.99. Normal Price: $59.99

There are also two good virus protection program deals, if you want to be sure you’re safe while downloading PC games. The three user version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 is free after the rebate and has free shipping. Normally, it can cost up to $69.99 at other stores. The Frys Norton Internet Security bundle, with a three user version of Norton Internet Security 2009, three user version of Norton Systemworks Basic 12.0 and Norton Ghost 14 is also free after the rebate and has free shipping.

So, Frys has you covered this week if you’re looking for a slightly discounted game or an antivirus program.

(Editor’s Note: This ad was updated at 7:01pm CST on May 15, 2009 with information from the Fry’s Electronics newspaper ad that was included with the May 15, 2009 Chicago Tribune.)

Site [Frys.com]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »