Hide and Geek

Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) are responsible for arguably some of the finest animated films ever created. Their rich worlds, surreal storylines and memorable characters have always begged for a conversion to the video game format. Thankfully, renowned RPG developer Level 5 (Dark Chronicle, Rogue Galaxy) have teamed up with the famous animation house to create a new DS title named ‘Ninokuni: THE ANOTHER WORLD’. The game is the first of the developers ‘10th anniversary products’.

For the huge Ghibli fanbase, this game is set to drum up huge amounts of excitement. Whether this is a one off, or the first of many - the Ghibli franchise is sure to convert to the game medium incredibly well. The combination of Ghibli’s fantastic artistic vision and Level 5’s incredible game design is sure to result in a DS classic.

/Jamin prays for a release outside of Japan

For the first time ever in online role playing history, death is now permanent.  Anakama Games Dofus, has today launched a new server, which will result in permanent death should a player lose in battle. The new heroic server, introduces new features to Dofus that hope to add new challenges to the game. Should you kill another player in the game, all their equipment and items are yours for the taking. The unlucky player to face death will be honoured in the Cemetry of Heroes, an online ranking that is updated every 24 hours, showing the achievements of a player before their untimely death.

In most MMOs, death is a common affair and Ankama are fully aware of this. They’ve increased the amount of experience points gained from battle resulting in a much quicker levelling up process. This creates a far quicker paced MMO experience. Of course death is only a mistake away, meaning that players must be careful in their choice of opponent and deploy all the right tactics to survive.

So if your bored of the standard MMO affair, why not try the new Heroic server of Dofus?

Jamin

What’s the one thing more exciting than an announcement? That’s right, it’s an announcement of an announcement. Nothing quite like hyping up the hype train before the hype has even left the station to build hype (Did you get all that? Good, because we sure as hell didn’t…)

On that note, Nintendo today put out a press release hinting at an upcoming U.S. event of some kind on September 18th.

WHAT:
Authorities at Nintendo are forecasting an extraordinary celestial event this season. Expected to be visible on Sept. 18, this eye-popping occurrence will be best viewed from a handful of specific U.S. locations (see below). Experts are still deliberating over the scientific significance of this rare phenomenon, but evidence points clearly to the reemergence of a luminous entity that citizens from all walks of life will appreciate.

WHO:
Fun-seeking families and anyone who loves a spectacular event

WHEN:
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008
Peak Viewing Hours:
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. C.D.T.
9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. E.D.T.

WHERE:
Optimum viewing locations are as follows and within a one-mile radius:

• Kirby Middle School - 1328 28th Street, Birmingham, AL 35234
• Kirby Historical Mill - 275 Church Road, Medford, NJ 08055
• Kirby Park - 301 Northampton Street, Kingston, PA 18704
• Kirby Gate Shopping Center - 6548 Quince, Memphis, TN 38119

Let’s see, references to stars, family fun, the re-emergence of an entity anyone can enjoy and events taking place at a variety of locations named Kirby? Nope, absolutely no idea what could be happening at this event at all…

/Grey receives a lecture about sarcasm being the lowest form of wit

Although we were already aware of the game, Konami today announced that Suikoden: Tierkreis will be released exclusively on the Nintendo DS. As with the other games in the classic franchise, Tierkreis will play host to large numbers of characters across many exotic locations and cultures, in the game’s universe of parallel worlds. The game is said to ‘expand the bounds of the handheld RPG’ , combining the series established gameplay with impressive cinematic animations that will carry the classic storyline of the 108 stars of destiny.

Forget all that though for one moment though. The most intriguing feature of the game so far, is it’s online functionality. Using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, players can involve themselves in a rich online community experience that will allow characters to be sent on from one DS, to another. Players can send their characters on quests that other members of the community will complete for them, eventually returning the character to the original player, complete with new abilities and treasures.

Sound good? You bet your magic rune it does.

Jamin out

The indie development scene is becoming increasingly important in terms of raw development talent and innovation. With no publishers to pull the strings, developers are often able to create far more interesting and quirky gaming experiences. Here at Hide and Geek, we feel it’s important to give these indie titles as much exposure as possible.

On September 14th, 2D MMORPG Golemizer was released by it’s creator David Toulouse. Golemizer is a free to play, web based MMO, with a distinct steam punk theme. Players assume the role of a mad scientist, given the opportunity to create ‘golems’ and other devices in order to obtain glory and fame. Removing swords and  spells, Golemizer offers a refreshing stance on the average MMORPG, instead choosing to put the emphasis on crafting. The games press release also highlights the following features;

-Persistent monsters created by players
- Skills system allowing full freedom over character development
- Crafting system allowing players to provide most items of the world
- Player housing
- Player cities
- Player merchants
- 2D avatar based chat between players
- Guild system
- RSS feeds of recent events while players are offline
- Quests and a badge reward system

Sound interesting? Check the game out here

/Jamin’s off to create Golems…

Digital distribution is without a doubt what our precious little industry is heading towards. With retail already beginning to show signs of slowing, digital distribution is a technology that will need continual improvement if it’s going to convert even more gamers to it’s cause.

Today at the Austin Game Developer Conference, BitRaider launched its new intelligent streaming technology. The new technology will allow  players to begin playing a game when it’s only 10% downloaded. This dramatically reduces the amount of time between downloading and playing, which will be music to the ears of gamers who regularly download their games. Equally important, the technology will enable the player experience to continue, without noticeable interruption of play or reduced computing performance of the PC by the streaming of the game content in the background.

Founder and CEO of BitRaider,  Royal O’Brien commented on the revolutionary new technology;

“As gamers ourselves we understand that just starting to play quickly isn’t the only challenge. We want the experience to be the same as if it were already pre-installed without any hit in performance. For gamers, they just want to play, they really do not want to be involved with how the download is being performed.” “Building a technology that is virtually invisible, yet delivers a quality play experience, is what changes the entire download distribution game.”

The BitRaider technology works without any integration and automatically performs all the installation steps by packaging the ready to play final game files. A small loader program is used that locates the required streaming assets, installs the package, and runs the BitRaider profiled file for the player.

The future of digital distribution is well on it’s way.

Jamin

I got into World of Warcraft in a big way a few months back. I only played for a week, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of time most WoW players have invested, but within that week I played non-stop. 90% of my active day was spent playing it. I soon came to the realisation however, that with the amount of time I’d need to spend playing WoW to get anywhere, I could instead be playing lots of games, experiencing many different gaming experiences instead of just one. So I quit. Annoyingly, I’ve recently been having uncontrollable urges to get back into it, and today’s news has only made that worse.

The news that has got WoW fans all giddy is the formal announcement that WoW: Wrath of the Lich King will be released on November 13th for $39.99 (expect a £19.99 price tag in the UK).

/Jamin resists the urges to return to Azeroth

Collectors editions; some are good and some are very bad. Unfortuantely I’m the type of person that has have the limited edition, regardless of it’s cost, it’s content or even how limited it actually is. Luckily I’ve never played Bethesda’s post nuclear RPG/Shooter series, but if I had, I’m sure this would interest me greatly.

Whereas most gaming outlets will be selling limited edtion versions of Fallout 3 in a lunchbox with a Vault Boy bobble head, GAME have announced they have exlcusive rights to a limited edition version of the game containing a figurine of a fully armoured Brotherhood of Steel member. Tough choice for fans of Fallout I’m sure.

The game launches on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC on October 31st. GAME are retailing the limited edition at £44.99. Bargain.

Pinched from British Gaming Blog

/Jamin strokes his limited edition versions of Ico, Bioshock, Assasins Creed and Halo…

After Ubisoft released it’s ‘Imagine’ games, we thought we’d seen it all. With games based on cooking, fashion designing and figure skating (seriously), we honestly thought nothing could phase us. Oh how we were wrong. Ubisoft today announced My Dog Coach: Understand Your Dog with Cesar Millan, for the Nintendo DS. Yup. That’s a game based on Cesar Millan’s “unique rehabilitation method to eliminate problem behavior in dogs“. The game hopes to pass on Cesar Millan’s world-renowned methodology and help owners gain a better understanding of their dog’s mind. You couldn’t make this up if you tried.

The game features 40 common dog issues for players to confront, with Cesar on hand to offer his guidance at any given point. Chritian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft, said;

“Ubisoft’s creative team has worked in close collaboration with Cesar Millan to create a game that successfully delivers his unique approach to dog behavior rehabilitation,”  “The player takes the role of Cesar Millan’s apprentice and learns all about dog psychology through imaginative and entertaining gameplay.”

My Dog Coach: Understand Your Dog with Cesar Millan is out this Autumn.

Jamin

Today Aeria Games Announced the acquisition of Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online, for North American and European Release. Originally released in Japan in early 2007, Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online was Cave’s first MMO PC title. The game was received very well and now has a huge fan base, Cave plan on bringing that success to a North American and European market.

The game is set in post appocalyptic Tokyo, where survivors must defeat enemies and slove puzzles in order to rebuild the city. Featuring the ‘Devil Buster’ system, players must decide whether forming alliances with enemies or slaying them, will be the most successful route.

The game will include the following unique features;

• Strategic Real-time Fighting System - Choose between attacking, parrying and defending in real time.
• Diverse Weaponry – Use a wide array of weapons from medieval swords to modern-day rifles and handguns.
• Devil Partnership – Players negotiate with devils to assist in battle and missions.
• Devil Fusing – Players can combine multiple devils to create new breeds.
• Private Dungeons – In addition to the public battle areas, players can access private dungeons to hunt and collect items with their friends.

Need more information? Check out http://www.aeriagames.com.

Jamin out