Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
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Well, just PM them to me and Nivek when you've got them ready and one of us will let you know if they're okay to post.
Mmm, in situations like these I don't really like explicitly specifying. I just like to convey that voiceover enthuasiasts would recognize a few of the actors in the game, without naming specific ones, that way I can avoid overusing specific names and can leave things up to the imagination.
Hey Ry, there were a few questions people asked on the previous page (after the Summer 2009 Part 15 timeline post) that weren't answered, are you still able to respond to those questions?
What's what? Message them?
I ask because I just posted my first part of my ideas. My bad.
What's what? Message them?
I ask because I just posted my first part of my ideas. My bad.
YEah, you'd message them to us ^_^
I'll try to get to those today or tomorrow.
Does Waluigi exist at all? I ask because I want to see him in a Wario title.
Sorry I forgot to PM about my first part of the Thomas idea.
I'll remember to do so when the first season of my idea is made. Though could you please put the preview in? If so thanks.
I'll remember to do so when the first season of my idea is made. Though could you please put the preview in? If so thanks.
BONUS: Thomas The Tank Engine Animated Series Announcement
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends To Be Rebooted in 2010
In the 1970s, Andrew Lloyd Webber had made an attempt to adapt The Railway Series as a stage musical. However, when the Revered W. Awdry denied him the amount of creative freedom he desired, Webber went on to instead compose Starlight Express. Now, however, Webber has confirmed his new project will be a collaboration with HiT Entertainment to reboot the TV series in CGI Animation.
So far, it has been confirmed that Webber will be working with long-time partner Tim Rice to compose a series of new pieces for the show. In addition, Robert Hasthorne, who composed the music of the original model show's last 4 seasons, will be remaining with his son Peter. According to them, they intend to use some original themes, but also heavily use recompositions from the first Seven Seasons which were composed by Mike O'Donnel and Junior Campbell.
In addition, the music team will be working heavily with a writing team lead by Andrew Brenner, who had written a series of stories for the original show's tie in magazines. These stories, despite being a musical form now, are intended to be truer to the Rev. Awdry's books than what the original series permitted. This will include such details as the engines looking more like actual British steam engines as opposed to model trains, and even several liveries being bought back from the books like James' original black livery from before the events of Thomas and the Breakdown Train. In a recent interview by the Sodor Island Fansite, Brenner has stated that his team has decided on setting Sodor in a deliberately anachronistic Britain similar to what was done in Batman: The Animated Series. While there are references to such things as The Beatles, Walt Disney, and numerous classes of British Steam Engines, there are also many references to the original show's heyday in the 1980s and 1990s such as the pop culture and even some technology like video games.
While the characters now have individual voices, the Narrator (voiced by Mark Moraghan) is still present to provide exposition at various points in the episode. The confirmed voice cast, which consists of those for the characters in the first two Railway Series books, is not an exceptionally remarkable one. Out of them, only four actors have notable international recognition. Those being Telletubbies narrator Tim Whitnall (Henry the Green Engine), Angela Lansbury (Annie and Clarabel the coaches), Beatles Drummer and former series Narrator Ringo Starr (The Fat Controller), and Monty Python veteran Eric Idle (Edward the Blue Engine). However, the remaining voice does consist of some seasoned talent from previous British animated shows; such as Canadian-born Kerry Shale (Gordon the Big Engine), and Bob the Builder alumnus Rob Rackstraw (James the Red Engine). Thomas himself has been confirmed to be voice by former child actor John Hasler (T-Bag, The UK Tour of The Lion King). Last but not least, several engines seen in the background of the original books will be given some recognition, namely the antagonistic 98462 and 87546, who will be having bigger roles than they did before under the names "Alfred" and "Cecil".
Currently, HiT is eyeing the possibility of the show leaving PBS. With the creative staff's current hope being that they could secure a good slot on Cartoon Network.
In the 1970s, Andrew Lloyd Webber had made an attempt to adapt The Railway Series as a stage musical. However, when the Revered W. Awdry denied him the amount of creative freedom he desired, Webber went on to instead compose Starlight Express. Now, however, Webber has confirmed his new project will be a collaboration with HiT Entertainment to reboot the TV series in CGI Animation.
So far, it has been confirmed that Webber will be working with long-time partner Tim Rice to compose a series of new pieces for the show. In addition, Robert Hasthorne, who composed the music of the original model show's last 4 seasons, will be remaining with his son Peter. According to them, they intend to use some original themes, but also heavily use recompositions from the first Seven Seasons which were composed by Mike O'Donnel and Junior Campbell.
In addition, the music team will be working heavily with a writing team lead by Andrew Brenner, who had written a series of stories for the original show's tie in magazines. These stories, despite being a musical form now, are intended to be truer to the Rev. Awdry's books than what the original series permitted. This will include such details as the engines looking more like actual British steam engines as opposed to model trains, and even several liveries being bought back from the books like James' original black livery from before the events of Thomas and the Breakdown Train. In a recent interview by the Sodor Island Fansite, Brenner has stated that his team has decided on setting Sodor in a deliberately anachronistic Britain similar to what was done in Batman: The Animated Series. While there are references to such things as The Beatles, Walt Disney, and numerous classes of British Steam Engines, there are also many references to the original show's heyday in the 1980s and 1990s such as the pop culture and even some technology like video games.
While the characters now have individual voices, the Narrator (voiced by Mark Moraghan) is still present to provide exposition at various points in the episode. The confirmed voice cast, which consists of those for the characters in the first two Railway Series books, is not an exceptionally remarkable one. Out of them, only four actors have notable international recognition. Those being Telletubbies narrator Tim Whitnall (Henry the Green Engine), Angela Lansbury (Annie and Clarabel the coaches), Beatles Drummer and former series Narrator Ringo Starr (The Fat Controller), and Monty Python veteran Eric Idle (Edward the Blue Engine). However, the remaining voice does consist of some seasoned talent from previous British animated shows; such as Canadian-born Kerry Shale (Gordon the Big Engine), and Bob the Builder alumnus Rob Rackstraw (James the Red Engine). Thomas himself has been confirmed to be voice by former child actor John Hasler (T-Bag, The UK Tour of The Lion King). Last but not least, several engines seen in the background of the original books will be given some recognition, namely the antagonistic 98462 and 87546, who will be having bigger roles than they did before under the names "Alfred" and "Cecil".
Currently, HiT is eyeing the possibility of the show leaving PBS. With the creative staff's current hope being that they could secure a good slot on Cartoon Network.
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Fall 2009 (Part 3) - A Study In Duality
Duality
Duality is a third person shooter exclusively for the Apple iTwin, in which one player or two controls a pair of young space heroes who must do battle against an evil intergalactic empire. Unlike other modern third person shooters such as The Covenant and Squad Four, Duality has more of an arcade-style of gameplay, with a top-down view that shifts at certain points to a full third-person cinematic view, during close-quarters combat or when the player is taking cover in certain areas or looking around corners. Combined with the game's somewhat cartoonish look, and it gives the game both a cinematic aesthetic and a pick up and play type of vibe that makes it extremely visually pleasing and also easy for players of any skill level to get into quite quickly. The gameplay itself can best be described as OTL's Hotline Miami, but a lot more forgiving and a lot less violent. The protagonists, Nate and his sister Lexi, are members of the Galactic Hero Force, an organization dedicated to defeating the Hyperion Empire that is spreading rapidly throughout the galaxy, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Nate and Lexi are standout members of the GHF, and fight quite well together, though they often bicker even as they are battling the enemy. Missions consist of a series of rooms with different configurations of items, enemies, and hazards, and Nate and Lexi can either stick together or go to different sections of the room depending on the preferences of the player(s). The two can each equip their own separate weapons and items, and work best when their weapon selections compliment each other. Weapons are rapidly picked up and swapped out, with each able to wield three weapons at a time: a light weapon, a medium weapon, and a heavy weapon. Each weapon has its own type of projectile, its own rate of fire, its own power, and its own weapon spread, and each of these factors should be considered when determining the effectiveness of a weapon. A smart player will position Nate and Lexi and equip them in such a way that the enemies in the room won't be able to avoid taking damage and won't be able to damage Nate and Lexi in return. Players can also collect items which have a variety of effects, ranging from healing or protecting Nate and Lexi to being used as weapons in their own right (such as grenades and flash bangs). Weapons and items don't carry over from mission to mission, similarly to the Squad Four games, though they tend to get more powerful as the player progresses through the game. During missions, Nate and Lexi will frequently converse with one another, and there are lots of different voiced lines in the game, pertaining to both the current story and the player's playstyle. There are other characters in the game as well who will interact with the two during missions, giving the two a chance to show their personalities independent from one another. However, Nate and Lexi remain the only playable characters in the game, and the player will always have control of the two of them during every part of every mission. When Nate or Lexi's health is depleted, the other one can revive that person, but must find a safe spot in which to do so, and their combat effectiveness will gradually be reduced until they are able to revive their partner. If both of their health gets depleted, the player must restart from a checkpoint, which is usually only one or two rooms back to reduce frustration. The game plays much like a classic arcade title, with the player scoring points as they kill enemies and collect items. If two players are playing, one as Nate and one as Lexi, both of them will score points separately based on the actions they take with the character they control. The game can be played one of four ways: By one player, utilizing traditional controls for one character while the AI controls the other, by one player, using the iTwin controllers to control both Nate and Lexi at the same time, by two players, utilizing traditional controls for one character each, or by two players, using the iTwin controllers for a more simplified traditional control scheme for one character each. The game's graphics are quite polished and detailed considering its cartoony aesthetic, with action taking place in both animated cutscenes and utilizing stylized motion comic panels. The game's soundtrack is considered good, a solid mix of adventurous compositions, while the game also utilizes a talented cast of voice actors which includes Danny Cooksey as the voice of Nate and Mae Whitman as the voice of Lexi. Though the game is a third person sci fi shooter, it's aimed at family audiences and is quite nonviolent for its genre. It gets a Teen rating, but straddles the line between E10+ and Teen.
The game begins by introducing the Galactic Hero Force and briefly discussing the war that's embroiled the galaxy, about how the Hyperion Empire arose from a small, nondescript planet that discovered a forbidden technology that allowed it to become a conquering force that threatened everything, and the GHF was the last line of defense in taking it down. We're introduced to Nate, Lexi, and their friends, including Nate's love interest Marisol (voiced by Andrea Navedo) and Lexi's love interest, the somewhat cocky Daxson (voiced by Seth Green). Marisol and Daxson appear in numerous missions throughout the game, playing major supporting roles as frequent allies to the two main heroes, along with numerous other members of the GHF and several people outside of it. The game spends a lot of time building up relationships between characters and making the player really care about them, intertwining a lot of the character building with gameplay segments rather than dumping a lot of it into the cutscenes to pad the game. The game itself is divided into 21 missions, which range from fairly short (spanning just a few rooms and clearable in a few minutes) to long and epic, taking 30-60 minutes to play through. Early missions include a raid on a Hyperion battleship, a rescue mission on a besieged planet, and a trip to steal an important item from an enemy laboratory. We're introduced to several Hyperion commanders and lieutenants, with some of them more sympathetic than others, though the game's arch-villain, Emperor Bloodthorn (voiced brilliantly by Leonard Nimoy) is unambiguously evil. The emperor makes his presence felt early and often, showing up in the third mission of the game to taunt the heroes, and frequently issuing orders to his armies and communicating with the heroes as well. After the first few introductory missions, things get a bit more serious: Nate and Lexi have to respond to a failed raid in which numerous GHF members were captured, a Hyperion commander defects and must be extracted by the heroes, and finally, in mission 12, there's an attack directly on GHF headquarters that is only just barely repelled and leads to the death of a respected mentor to Nate and Lexi. The third segment of the game mostly centers on the GHF defending various strongholds and trying to limit the damage caused by the Hyperion raid, with Nate (who blames himself for what happened) feeling somewhat down and having to be pulled out of it by his friends, mostly Lexi and Marisol. The Hyperion commander who defected earlier in the game turns out to be a mole and must be stopped, leading to trust issues for another couple of Hyperion soldiers who genuinely do want to defect, with tragic results for one of them. This section culminates in Mission 17, which sees Marisol captured and Lexi leading the charge to save her while Nate continues to blame himself for what happened. Ultimately, Nate rescues Marisol and gets his confidence back, and the GHF finally scores a major victory, leading to the game's final four missions: a raid on the Imperial HQ itself. These four missions are some of the toughest in the game, featuring multiple boss fights in each of them and the culmination of numerous storylines, with big moments for each of the game's major characters. The missions are considered to be among the most fun in the game as well, with plenty of opportunities for acquiring great weapons and racking up huge point combos while using strategy in fights against difficult enemies and bosses. The final mission is a raid on the imperial palace and contains some of the game's toughest challenges, including a two-stage fight against the Emperor himself. After the Emperor is defeated, the GHF are hailed as heroes, and Nate, Lexi, and their friends enjoy a much needed vacation. Unlike some of the bittersweet endings that have crept into some games as of late, the ending of Duality is quite happy and certainly well deserved. There's not much in the way of bonus content in Duality, the replay value of the game comes from maximizing one's high scores and trying out different tactics in battle, though there is a New Game+ mode of sorts that allows players who achieve a certain score in every mission to start off any mission with any weapon loudout they choose.
Duality is released on October 27, 2009, to a great deal of pre-release hype after enthusiastic previews and excellent review scores. This might be the most hyped iTwin game of the year thus far, though Apple doesn't market it quite as much as some of their established franchises, they still know what they have and market it reasonably well. The result is a game that sells excellently upon its release, with over 500,000 sales in its first week and continuing strong sales throughout November and December. It's considered perhaps the best use of the iTwin's dual control setup since Sonic Duo, and the best co-operative multiplayer title since that game as well. The game's characters also garner a strong fandom upon the game's release, with fanart and fanfiction sprouting up fairly quickly due to the popularity of the game. It drives iTwin sales during the holiday season as well, and though it doesn't sell quite as well as Nintendo's Beyond Good And Evil 3 at first, it would ultimately sell significantly better during the holiday season, also outselling Sonic: Elemental Friends in North America and Europe during the calendar year of 2009. It's considered to be the strongest new Apple IP since Pixelworld, and its characters would become available in Pixelworld via downloadable content shortly after Duality's release. Duality would get a line of merchandise and other spin-off content starting in 2010, and work would also begin on a sequel to the game.
Duality is a third person shooter exclusively for the Apple iTwin, in which one player or two controls a pair of young space heroes who must do battle against an evil intergalactic empire. Unlike other modern third person shooters such as The Covenant and Squad Four, Duality has more of an arcade-style of gameplay, with a top-down view that shifts at certain points to a full third-person cinematic view, during close-quarters combat or when the player is taking cover in certain areas or looking around corners. Combined with the game's somewhat cartoonish look, and it gives the game both a cinematic aesthetic and a pick up and play type of vibe that makes it extremely visually pleasing and also easy for players of any skill level to get into quite quickly. The gameplay itself can best be described as OTL's Hotline Miami, but a lot more forgiving and a lot less violent. The protagonists, Nate and his sister Lexi, are members of the Galactic Hero Force, an organization dedicated to defeating the Hyperion Empire that is spreading rapidly throughout the galaxy, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Nate and Lexi are standout members of the GHF, and fight quite well together, though they often bicker even as they are battling the enemy. Missions consist of a series of rooms with different configurations of items, enemies, and hazards, and Nate and Lexi can either stick together or go to different sections of the room depending on the preferences of the player(s). The two can each equip their own separate weapons and items, and work best when their weapon selections compliment each other. Weapons are rapidly picked up and swapped out, with each able to wield three weapons at a time: a light weapon, a medium weapon, and a heavy weapon. Each weapon has its own type of projectile, its own rate of fire, its own power, and its own weapon spread, and each of these factors should be considered when determining the effectiveness of a weapon. A smart player will position Nate and Lexi and equip them in such a way that the enemies in the room won't be able to avoid taking damage and won't be able to damage Nate and Lexi in return. Players can also collect items which have a variety of effects, ranging from healing or protecting Nate and Lexi to being used as weapons in their own right (such as grenades and flash bangs). Weapons and items don't carry over from mission to mission, similarly to the Squad Four games, though they tend to get more powerful as the player progresses through the game. During missions, Nate and Lexi will frequently converse with one another, and there are lots of different voiced lines in the game, pertaining to both the current story and the player's playstyle. There are other characters in the game as well who will interact with the two during missions, giving the two a chance to show their personalities independent from one another. However, Nate and Lexi remain the only playable characters in the game, and the player will always have control of the two of them during every part of every mission. When Nate or Lexi's health is depleted, the other one can revive that person, but must find a safe spot in which to do so, and their combat effectiveness will gradually be reduced until they are able to revive their partner. If both of their health gets depleted, the player must restart from a checkpoint, which is usually only one or two rooms back to reduce frustration. The game plays much like a classic arcade title, with the player scoring points as they kill enemies and collect items. If two players are playing, one as Nate and one as Lexi, both of them will score points separately based on the actions they take with the character they control. The game can be played one of four ways: By one player, utilizing traditional controls for one character while the AI controls the other, by one player, using the iTwin controllers to control both Nate and Lexi at the same time, by two players, utilizing traditional controls for one character each, or by two players, using the iTwin controllers for a more simplified traditional control scheme for one character each. The game's graphics are quite polished and detailed considering its cartoony aesthetic, with action taking place in both animated cutscenes and utilizing stylized motion comic panels. The game's soundtrack is considered good, a solid mix of adventurous compositions, while the game also utilizes a talented cast of voice actors which includes Danny Cooksey as the voice of Nate and Mae Whitman as the voice of Lexi. Though the game is a third person sci fi shooter, it's aimed at family audiences and is quite nonviolent for its genre. It gets a Teen rating, but straddles the line between E10+ and Teen.
The game begins by introducing the Galactic Hero Force and briefly discussing the war that's embroiled the galaxy, about how the Hyperion Empire arose from a small, nondescript planet that discovered a forbidden technology that allowed it to become a conquering force that threatened everything, and the GHF was the last line of defense in taking it down. We're introduced to Nate, Lexi, and their friends, including Nate's love interest Marisol (voiced by Andrea Navedo) and Lexi's love interest, the somewhat cocky Daxson (voiced by Seth Green). Marisol and Daxson appear in numerous missions throughout the game, playing major supporting roles as frequent allies to the two main heroes, along with numerous other members of the GHF and several people outside of it. The game spends a lot of time building up relationships between characters and making the player really care about them, intertwining a lot of the character building with gameplay segments rather than dumping a lot of it into the cutscenes to pad the game. The game itself is divided into 21 missions, which range from fairly short (spanning just a few rooms and clearable in a few minutes) to long and epic, taking 30-60 minutes to play through. Early missions include a raid on a Hyperion battleship, a rescue mission on a besieged planet, and a trip to steal an important item from an enemy laboratory. We're introduced to several Hyperion commanders and lieutenants, with some of them more sympathetic than others, though the game's arch-villain, Emperor Bloodthorn (voiced brilliantly by Leonard Nimoy) is unambiguously evil. The emperor makes his presence felt early and often, showing up in the third mission of the game to taunt the heroes, and frequently issuing orders to his armies and communicating with the heroes as well. After the first few introductory missions, things get a bit more serious: Nate and Lexi have to respond to a failed raid in which numerous GHF members were captured, a Hyperion commander defects and must be extracted by the heroes, and finally, in mission 12, there's an attack directly on GHF headquarters that is only just barely repelled and leads to the death of a respected mentor to Nate and Lexi. The third segment of the game mostly centers on the GHF defending various strongholds and trying to limit the damage caused by the Hyperion raid, with Nate (who blames himself for what happened) feeling somewhat down and having to be pulled out of it by his friends, mostly Lexi and Marisol. The Hyperion commander who defected earlier in the game turns out to be a mole and must be stopped, leading to trust issues for another couple of Hyperion soldiers who genuinely do want to defect, with tragic results for one of them. This section culminates in Mission 17, which sees Marisol captured and Lexi leading the charge to save her while Nate continues to blame himself for what happened. Ultimately, Nate rescues Marisol and gets his confidence back, and the GHF finally scores a major victory, leading to the game's final four missions: a raid on the Imperial HQ itself. These four missions are some of the toughest in the game, featuring multiple boss fights in each of them and the culmination of numerous storylines, with big moments for each of the game's major characters. The missions are considered to be among the most fun in the game as well, with plenty of opportunities for acquiring great weapons and racking up huge point combos while using strategy in fights against difficult enemies and bosses. The final mission is a raid on the imperial palace and contains some of the game's toughest challenges, including a two-stage fight against the Emperor himself. After the Emperor is defeated, the GHF are hailed as heroes, and Nate, Lexi, and their friends enjoy a much needed vacation. Unlike some of the bittersweet endings that have crept into some games as of late, the ending of Duality is quite happy and certainly well deserved. There's not much in the way of bonus content in Duality, the replay value of the game comes from maximizing one's high scores and trying out different tactics in battle, though there is a New Game+ mode of sorts that allows players who achieve a certain score in every mission to start off any mission with any weapon loudout they choose.
Duality is released on October 27, 2009, to a great deal of pre-release hype after enthusiastic previews and excellent review scores. This might be the most hyped iTwin game of the year thus far, though Apple doesn't market it quite as much as some of their established franchises, they still know what they have and market it reasonably well. The result is a game that sells excellently upon its release, with over 500,000 sales in its first week and continuing strong sales throughout November and December. It's considered perhaps the best use of the iTwin's dual control setup since Sonic Duo, and the best co-operative multiplayer title since that game as well. The game's characters also garner a strong fandom upon the game's release, with fanart and fanfiction sprouting up fairly quickly due to the popularity of the game. It drives iTwin sales during the holiday season as well, and though it doesn't sell quite as well as Nintendo's Beyond Good And Evil 3 at first, it would ultimately sell significantly better during the holiday season, also outselling Sonic: Elemental Friends in North America and Europe during the calendar year of 2009. It's considered to be the strongest new Apple IP since Pixelworld, and its characters would become available in Pixelworld via downloadable content shortly after Duality's release. Duality would get a line of merchandise and other spin-off content starting in 2010, and work would also begin on a sequel to the game.
Does TTL have an analogue to the Fire Temple Theme controversy of OTL's Ocarina of Time.
I'm sure a few of them have changed from OTL to TTL, but I don't think I'll be able to go into detail at this time. Maybe I'll think of some new characters later, but yes there have been changes.
A tiny bit more, owing to the similarities between the early Quixsters games and Q*Bert drumming up some interest in the old game.
We'll see, I'm not sure yet whether we'll have him go down earlier on or around the same time as IOTL.
Yes, he does exist, he was in Mario Tennis on the Ultra Nintendo just like IOTL.
Nope, TTL's Summer Temple theme doesn't have many similarities with OTL's Fire Temple theme, so no controversy there.
Fall 2009 (Part 4) - Capcom, Apple, And The Future Of Exclusivity
XR: Battle Ready
XR: Battle Ready is the sequel to 2004's hit Capcom game XR: Human Weapon. It continues the story of the previous game, in which specialized fighters are trained to be shot out of giant cannons deep into enemy territory, at which point they emerge from their bullet-like casings and attack. The gameplay, while similar to the previous game's (a sort of light-hearted, cartoony hack and slash type of combat), has evolved somewhat, with the involvement of projectile weapons and the ability to stay much longer in the air after being shot out of the cannon, firing from enemies at above, hovering, and even focusing and zooming in on targets. The game also has a somewhat faster pace to it, with more projectiles flying and enemies able to attack while in the air, even shooting their own human weapons at you while you're coming down on a target. Despite these changes, the core gameplay remains the same: start by aiming at an enemy position and then fire yourself at them, attacking fiercely once you land and accomplishing your mission. The storyline picks up where the previous game's left off, featuring XR as the game's primary protagonist and Dr. Vector as the villain, though many of the side characters are new, and the presentation itself has significantly improved, with better animation and more background detail. The improved graphics of the iTwin also allow for larger bosses and much larger combat areas, increasing the importance of a player's first landing. The game features motion controls heavily, giving the player the option to use the iTwin controllers to both aim and fire during the cannon phase of a battle and also using the motion controls to attack enemies. As an iTwin exclusive, much of the game is designed around the motion controls, though the traditional control scheme works just fine. The game has slightly more cutscenes than the original, with the plot being a bit more complicated due to an expanded cast of characters and the larger nature of Dr. Vector's schemes, as well as the game somewhat questioning the morality of the Human Weapon Project, implying that some of XR's own teammates were forced into the program. XR will meet a character named Julius who claims to be a former member of the program and now doesn't fight for anyone, either XR's group or Vector, instead serving as a hired mercenary and also working to sabotage the Human Weapon Project whenever he can. He becomes a foil to XR, is fought frequently throughout the game, and ultimately becomes a reluctant ally after Vector takes advantage of other outcasts of the Human Weapon Project to serve as his own unwilling weapons in his campaign to destroy several cities under the protection of XR's group. XR must go back and forth between the cities to defend them and to relieve his besieged allies, and comes to question his own superiors in the process, putting the safety of the world in jeopardy. In the end, XR resolves to fight, but not for his organization, only for himself and for the innocent. He heroically defends his city against Vector's final furious assault, and the ending of the game shows XR with Julius, but doesn't conclusively say whether or not he remains in his organization.
As another hot Capcom exclusive on the iTwin, XR: Battle Ready is considered one of their better games of the year, scoring excellent reviews and selling better than The Containers 3. It's released in December 2009, and though it's somewhat overshadowed by a few of the bigger titles released at the time, it's considered one of the iTwin's best exclusives of the year. The lack of a multiplayer mode is the biggest criticism against the game (the campaign's also somewhat short, but it's quite fun, so most people accept the shortness of the campaign). The game is also jampacked with some other fun side modes such as target practice and aerial combat, but all of these modes are single-player as well, including the aerial combat mode, which, as a fighting-game like mode with the game's battle mechanics, is a bit baffling. The game is released more than five years after the original, but most fans think it's worth the wait, and hope Capcom makes another game in the series soon.
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Slowly but surely, Capcom is gravitating to Apple, with most of its major series, including Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Star Siren now confirmed to be getting at least one Apple exclusive installment in the next three years. Other Capcom franchises such as Mega Man have already gone fully-Apple exclusive, and the Marvel vs. Capcom series will also be exclusive to Apple, giving fighting game fans on that system a third exclusive franchise to salivate over, after Virtua Fighter and Virtue And Vice. However, Capcom continues to insist that it's not going to be developing all of its future games exclusively for Apple systems, and indeed still has a few games coming to Nintendo systems over the same period of time. In particular, the next mainline Resident Evil game, Resident Evil 6, is all but confirmed to be coming to both the Sapphire and the iTwin, and Capcom says it also plans to release another Star Siren game for a Nintendo system as well, along with a new IP the company has announced but not yet named.
Capcom's arrangement with Apple is mostly a cost-sharing one, with Apple agreeing to share production costs with Capcom for certain major games, including the upcoming Resident Evil: Dual Descent, which will feature Jill Valentine and an unnamed new character partnering up to face down a growing horde of dangerous zombies. The game is said to utilize the iTwin's dual controllers in "a brand new and completely innovative way", and Capcom says that they're developing the game in conjunction with a new studio owned by Apple. Apple and Capcom are also sharing production costs for the new Mega Man Next games, and that another Mega Man game is in the early stages of development and that Apple is playing a heavy role in the game's design. This cost-sharing arrangement is what makes it more profitable for Capcom to release many major games exclusively on the iTwin and iPod Play, even when said games would otherwise sell millions on the Sapphire and Supernova. It was forged in an agreement between the two companies more than half a decade ago, and which has proved quite profitable, especially in Japan: Capcom's sales in Japan have spiked 46% in the last three years on the strength of the newest Mega Man titles, while Street Fighter V has been the best selling iPhone game in Japan this year.
Nintendo fans have expressed anger in recent years toward Capcom, which used to produce some of the biggest hits on the NES and Super Nintendo, including the classic Mega Man and Mega Man X games. For years, Mega Man was a major selling point of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and even though the character also appeared on the Genesis, he's been considered by many to be a Nintendo icon. Games like Breath Of Fire were also exclusive to the Super Nintendo and its CD peripheral, and Street Fighter II: Arcade Edition was the biggest launch title on the Super Nintendo CD, selling far more copies on that system than the Genesis versions of the game. Of course, for a time the Resident Evil series was a Sega exclusive, though that owed more to technological differences between the Saturn and the SNES-CD, and the game was swiftly ported to the Ultra Nintendo upon its release. Star Siren, one of Capcom's biggest recent franchises about a magical schoolgirl superheroine and her friends, was a major launch title for the Nintendo Wave, and the sting of seeing an exclusive Star Siren game for the iTwin drew particular ire from that franchise's long time fans, with one fansite even hosting an interactive fanfiction roleplay session about Star Siren and her friends battling a supervillain version of Steve Jobs. Most of the anger over Capcom's "betrayal" stems from North American fans, as Japanese fans have, for the most part, been either neutral toward or excited about Capcom's Apple games. Apple's popularity has been increasing in Japan for the past several years, and the prevalence of games from companies like Capcom on the system is a major reason why.
Capcom fans should expect to see their favorite franchises featured on the iTwin for quite some time, as Capcom and Apple's deal is likely to continue well in the next decade due to continued strong sales for both companies. Perhaps the winds of change will blow with the next generation of gaming consoles, but Capcom and Apple seem like a match made in heaven, and it may not be long until we see a series like Street Fighter or Resident Evil go the Mega Man route of total exclusivity.
-from a November 1, 2009 article on Games Over Matter
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"The iTwin is leading the current generation game console market and doesn't look to be going away anytime soon, but we may in fact have the first confirmed game for the iTwin's successor console, whatever or whenever that may be. According to a leaked Capcom memo, the company is in the early stages of development for a massively multiplayer RPG title as a potential launch game for Apple's next generation console. The game was originally supposed to be released for the iTwin, probably sometime in 2011 or 2012, but it's proving to be too ambitious an undertaking for the current technology, and now looks like it's going to be released on whatever Apple's next home console is going to be. The fact that Capcom is already planning a game for the next Apple console shows just how deep the relationship these two companies has become, and also shows that the company is evolving majorly since their close relationship with Apple began. We don't have any more details on this upcoming game, but it's something to look forward to in a few years once the next console generation hits."
-from a Kotaku article posted on November 18, 2009
XR: Battle Ready is the sequel to 2004's hit Capcom game XR: Human Weapon. It continues the story of the previous game, in which specialized fighters are trained to be shot out of giant cannons deep into enemy territory, at which point they emerge from their bullet-like casings and attack. The gameplay, while similar to the previous game's (a sort of light-hearted, cartoony hack and slash type of combat), has evolved somewhat, with the involvement of projectile weapons and the ability to stay much longer in the air after being shot out of the cannon, firing from enemies at above, hovering, and even focusing and zooming in on targets. The game also has a somewhat faster pace to it, with more projectiles flying and enemies able to attack while in the air, even shooting their own human weapons at you while you're coming down on a target. Despite these changes, the core gameplay remains the same: start by aiming at an enemy position and then fire yourself at them, attacking fiercely once you land and accomplishing your mission. The storyline picks up where the previous game's left off, featuring XR as the game's primary protagonist and Dr. Vector as the villain, though many of the side characters are new, and the presentation itself has significantly improved, with better animation and more background detail. The improved graphics of the iTwin also allow for larger bosses and much larger combat areas, increasing the importance of a player's first landing. The game features motion controls heavily, giving the player the option to use the iTwin controllers to both aim and fire during the cannon phase of a battle and also using the motion controls to attack enemies. As an iTwin exclusive, much of the game is designed around the motion controls, though the traditional control scheme works just fine. The game has slightly more cutscenes than the original, with the plot being a bit more complicated due to an expanded cast of characters and the larger nature of Dr. Vector's schemes, as well as the game somewhat questioning the morality of the Human Weapon Project, implying that some of XR's own teammates were forced into the program. XR will meet a character named Julius who claims to be a former member of the program and now doesn't fight for anyone, either XR's group or Vector, instead serving as a hired mercenary and also working to sabotage the Human Weapon Project whenever he can. He becomes a foil to XR, is fought frequently throughout the game, and ultimately becomes a reluctant ally after Vector takes advantage of other outcasts of the Human Weapon Project to serve as his own unwilling weapons in his campaign to destroy several cities under the protection of XR's group. XR must go back and forth between the cities to defend them and to relieve his besieged allies, and comes to question his own superiors in the process, putting the safety of the world in jeopardy. In the end, XR resolves to fight, but not for his organization, only for himself and for the innocent. He heroically defends his city against Vector's final furious assault, and the ending of the game shows XR with Julius, but doesn't conclusively say whether or not he remains in his organization.
As another hot Capcom exclusive on the iTwin, XR: Battle Ready is considered one of their better games of the year, scoring excellent reviews and selling better than The Containers 3. It's released in December 2009, and though it's somewhat overshadowed by a few of the bigger titles released at the time, it's considered one of the iTwin's best exclusives of the year. The lack of a multiplayer mode is the biggest criticism against the game (the campaign's also somewhat short, but it's quite fun, so most people accept the shortness of the campaign). The game is also jampacked with some other fun side modes such as target practice and aerial combat, but all of these modes are single-player as well, including the aerial combat mode, which, as a fighting-game like mode with the game's battle mechanics, is a bit baffling. The game is released more than five years after the original, but most fans think it's worth the wait, and hope Capcom makes another game in the series soon.
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Slowly but surely, Capcom is gravitating to Apple, with most of its major series, including Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Star Siren now confirmed to be getting at least one Apple exclusive installment in the next three years. Other Capcom franchises such as Mega Man have already gone fully-Apple exclusive, and the Marvel vs. Capcom series will also be exclusive to Apple, giving fighting game fans on that system a third exclusive franchise to salivate over, after Virtua Fighter and Virtue And Vice. However, Capcom continues to insist that it's not going to be developing all of its future games exclusively for Apple systems, and indeed still has a few games coming to Nintendo systems over the same period of time. In particular, the next mainline Resident Evil game, Resident Evil 6, is all but confirmed to be coming to both the Sapphire and the iTwin, and Capcom says it also plans to release another Star Siren game for a Nintendo system as well, along with a new IP the company has announced but not yet named.
Capcom's arrangement with Apple is mostly a cost-sharing one, with Apple agreeing to share production costs with Capcom for certain major games, including the upcoming Resident Evil: Dual Descent, which will feature Jill Valentine and an unnamed new character partnering up to face down a growing horde of dangerous zombies. The game is said to utilize the iTwin's dual controllers in "a brand new and completely innovative way", and Capcom says that they're developing the game in conjunction with a new studio owned by Apple. Apple and Capcom are also sharing production costs for the new Mega Man Next games, and that another Mega Man game is in the early stages of development and that Apple is playing a heavy role in the game's design. This cost-sharing arrangement is what makes it more profitable for Capcom to release many major games exclusively on the iTwin and iPod Play, even when said games would otherwise sell millions on the Sapphire and Supernova. It was forged in an agreement between the two companies more than half a decade ago, and which has proved quite profitable, especially in Japan: Capcom's sales in Japan have spiked 46% in the last three years on the strength of the newest Mega Man titles, while Street Fighter V has been the best selling iPhone game in Japan this year.
Nintendo fans have expressed anger in recent years toward Capcom, which used to produce some of the biggest hits on the NES and Super Nintendo, including the classic Mega Man and Mega Man X games. For years, Mega Man was a major selling point of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and even though the character also appeared on the Genesis, he's been considered by many to be a Nintendo icon. Games like Breath Of Fire were also exclusive to the Super Nintendo and its CD peripheral, and Street Fighter II: Arcade Edition was the biggest launch title on the Super Nintendo CD, selling far more copies on that system than the Genesis versions of the game. Of course, for a time the Resident Evil series was a Sega exclusive, though that owed more to technological differences between the Saturn and the SNES-CD, and the game was swiftly ported to the Ultra Nintendo upon its release. Star Siren, one of Capcom's biggest recent franchises about a magical schoolgirl superheroine and her friends, was a major launch title for the Nintendo Wave, and the sting of seeing an exclusive Star Siren game for the iTwin drew particular ire from that franchise's long time fans, with one fansite even hosting an interactive fanfiction roleplay session about Star Siren and her friends battling a supervillain version of Steve Jobs. Most of the anger over Capcom's "betrayal" stems from North American fans, as Japanese fans have, for the most part, been either neutral toward or excited about Capcom's Apple games. Apple's popularity has been increasing in Japan for the past several years, and the prevalence of games from companies like Capcom on the system is a major reason why.
Capcom fans should expect to see their favorite franchises featured on the iTwin for quite some time, as Capcom and Apple's deal is likely to continue well in the next decade due to continued strong sales for both companies. Perhaps the winds of change will blow with the next generation of gaming consoles, but Capcom and Apple seem like a match made in heaven, and it may not be long until we see a series like Street Fighter or Resident Evil go the Mega Man route of total exclusivity.
-from a November 1, 2009 article on Games Over Matter
-
"The iTwin is leading the current generation game console market and doesn't look to be going away anytime soon, but we may in fact have the first confirmed game for the iTwin's successor console, whatever or whenever that may be. According to a leaked Capcom memo, the company is in the early stages of development for a massively multiplayer RPG title as a potential launch game for Apple's next generation console. The game was originally supposed to be released for the iTwin, probably sometime in 2011 or 2012, but it's proving to be too ambitious an undertaking for the current technology, and now looks like it's going to be released on whatever Apple's next home console is going to be. The fact that Capcom is already planning a game for the next Apple console shows just how deep the relationship these two companies has become, and also shows that the company is evolving majorly since their close relationship with Apple began. We don't have any more details on this upcoming game, but it's something to look forward to in a few years once the next console generation hits."
-from a Kotaku article posted on November 18, 2009
LET THE SPECULATION BEGIN FOR WHAT MIGHT BE TTL'S MONSTER HUNTER, DRAGON'S DOGMA, OR ASURA'S WRATH!!!!
The Billboard #1 Hits Of 2009
January 3: “Cross The Blue Ocean” by Katy Perry ft. Ayumi Hamasaki
January 10: “Cross The Blue Ocean” by Katy Perry ft. Ayumi Hamasaki
January 17: "Start Again" by Ne-Yo
January 24: "Start Again" by Ne-Yo
January 31: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 7: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 14: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 21: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 28: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 7: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 14: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 21: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 28: "You Can't Fool Me" by Hikaru Utada
April 4: "You Can't Fool Me" by Hikaru Utada
April 11: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
April 18: "Toast" by Stefon
April 25: "Toast" by Stefon
May 2: "Toast" by Stefon
May 9: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
May 16: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
May 23: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
May 30: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
June 6: "In An Hour" by Taylor Swift
June 13: "In An Hour" by Taylor Swift
June 20: "In An Hour" by Taylor Swift
June 27: "My Forever" by Ayumi Hamasaki
July 4: "My Forever" by Ayumi Hamasaki
July 11: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
July 18: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
July 25: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 1: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 8: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 15: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 22: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 29: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
September 5: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
September 12: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
September 19: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
September 26: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 3: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 10: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 17: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 24: "Fireflies" by Owl City
October 31: "Fireflies" by Owl City
November 7: "Run This Town" by Jay-Z and Rihanna
November 14: "Use Somebody" by Kings Of Leon
November 21: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
November 28: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
December 5: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
December 12: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
December 19: "You Won't Believe" by 2NE1
December 26: "You Won't Believe" by 2NE1
January 10: “Cross The Blue Ocean” by Katy Perry ft. Ayumi Hamasaki
January 17: "Start Again" by Ne-Yo
January 24: "Start Again" by Ne-Yo
January 31: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 7: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 14: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 21: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
February 28: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 7: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 14: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 21: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
March 28: "You Can't Fool Me" by Hikaru Utada
April 4: "You Can't Fool Me" by Hikaru Utada
April 11: "Rock Out (With Your Sock Out)" by P!nk
April 18: "Toast" by Stefon
April 25: "Toast" by Stefon
May 2: "Toast" by Stefon
May 9: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
May 16: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
May 23: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
May 30: "I Know U Called Me" by BoA
June 6: "In An Hour" by Taylor Swift
June 13: "In An Hour" by Taylor Swift
June 20: "In An Hour" by Taylor Swift
June 27: "My Forever" by Ayumi Hamasaki
July 4: "My Forever" by Ayumi Hamasaki
July 11: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
July 18: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
July 25: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 1: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 8: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 15: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 22: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
August 29: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
September 5: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
September 12: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
September 19: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
September 26: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 3: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 10: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 17: "Cross My Heart" by Chloe Wang
October 24: "Fireflies" by Owl City
October 31: "Fireflies" by Owl City
November 7: "Run This Town" by Jay-Z and Rihanna
November 14: "Use Somebody" by Kings Of Leon
November 21: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
November 28: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
December 5: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
December 12: "ZYX" by DJ Hoogland ft. Ke$ha
December 19: "You Won't Believe" by 2NE1
December 26: "You Won't Believe" by 2NE1
I'll do better than that. I'll wager that the new console's name will be the iMove, and that potential Capcom game will be a launch title. As a bonus, if that game is successful, expect the Blue Bomber to be Sonic's half-brother by 2014-2015.
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