Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates |
- From R.O.B. to Rhythm Heaven: The Legacy of Nintendo’s Most Subversive Studio
- NCsoft buys over Pangya and Trickster developer
- Perfect World announces War of the Immortals
- Lumines Electronic Symphony Review: Still a Dazzling Mix of Sight And Sound
- Shank 2 Announced for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
| From R.O.B. to Rhythm Heaven: The Legacy of Nintendo’s Most Subversive Studio Posted: 16 Feb 2012 02:08 AM PST Take one look at the recently released Rhythm Heaven Fever, and you’ll wonder if it’s actually a Nintendo game. This waggle-free two-button experience serves as a major contradiction to Nintendo’s Skyward Sword, which perfected the one-to-one motion controls we all wanted from Twilight Princess back in 2006. But, as fans of the series know, Rhythm Heaven’s reductive approach isn’t an intentional attempt to undermine Nintendo’s evolving motion technology; rather, this colorful, candy-coated musical rollercoaster evokes a philosophy pioneered by Research and Development 1, an internal studio which eventually stood as the iconoclast to their parent company. And even after a major 2005 restructuring dismantled RD1′s 35-year history of bizarre and fascinating experiments, the team’s quirky design sense lives on today with Software Planning and Development Group No. 1, a Nintendo studio now responsible for offbeat series like Rhythm Heaven and Wario Ware.  Simplicity isn’t the sole factor that separates RD1 from other internal Nintendo studios; their perception of games as toys transformed the industry, giving us everything from the Game Watch to the Game Boy to an army of plucky, malfunctioning Robotic Operating Buddies. Even Donkey Kong — in retrospect, one of their more traditional productions — stood in firm opposition to game design at the time; it featured a beginning-to-end narrative instead of an endless loop, and originated from the mind of an art student, not a team of whimsy-challenged engineers. And, strangely enough, Donkey Kong planted the seed for Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD), an internal studio that would soon design some of Nintendo’s biggest, genre-defining hits, like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. RD1 paved the path for Nintendo’s console dominance, creating their early arcade hits and a majority of the “black box” NES titles; but after rewriting the grammar of gaming, this studio constantly innovated, leaving other teams to perfect the framework they established. Instead of iterating on the same ideas, RD1 focused on new ways to empower the player with simple (and often outdated) technology, leaving their mark on gaming history as a studio unafraid to marry fun and function. From Toys to Game BoysAfter nearly 70 years as a producer of playing cards, Nintendo tried out other ventures, eventually settling on toys. A young Gunpei Yokoi, later known as the father of the Game Boy, developed some of Nintendo’s earliest hits, including the Ultra Hand (later made the focus of its own WiiWare game), Ultra Machine, and Love Tester, each designed to utilize simple technology in fun, new ways. The Ultra Hand doesn’t differ much from the grip-and-grab devices designed to help our friends with disabilities, while the Ultra Machine and Love Tester use simple (and cheap) mechanisms for their own assigned tasks — namely, pitching balls and determining romantic compatibility (regardless of the questionable results). Using inexpensive and established technology allowed Nintendo to thrive in the toy industry, all while giving these products their own signature character.  This philosophy would later be seen in Nintendo’s Game Watch series, which built games around the LCD technology seen in digital watches, while providing a clock and alarm as well — form and function. The foldable, dual-screen design of later GW games provided more complex experiences, while retaining the important portability of the device — a concept seen decades down the road with Nintendo’s DS and 3DS. 1989′s revelatory Game Boy tapped into the thoroughly explored power of the Z80 processor (already seen in a number of arcade units and home consoles), rather than improve on the power of the NES; the system’s four shades of green couldn’t compare with the visual possibilities of Nintendo’s home console, so its games were designed with these limitations in mind. While the Genesis seemed poised to dethrone Nintendo, Tetris, the Game Boy’s original pack-in, proved that games didn’t necessarily have to be graphically or mechanically complex to draw in an audience — an important lesson during the first salvos of the console wars. Other launch titles like Baseball, Alleyway, and Super Mario Land paled in comparison to their console competitors, but the on-the-go functionality (and novelty) of the Game Boy made up for these games’ shortcomings. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| NCsoft buys over Pangya and Trickster developer Posted: 16 Feb 2012 02:08 AM PST
Well, casual gaming is one thing which NCsoft obvisouly failed terribly over the past few years (Dragonica Korea, Exteel etc), with the recent closure of Punch Monster (a MapleStory/ Grand Chase hybrid) as proof. Another core reason the takeover happened is due to Ntreev’s experience in developing Baseball Manager Online (below), which is a top earning game in Korea with sales hitting over USD 2.5 million on the record month.
All in all, a big year ahead for NCsoft with Blade Soul confirmed to begin commercial service before mid 2012 later this year, and Guild Wars 2 confirmed to launch before the year ends. Good times indeed for NCsoft, definitely. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| Perfect World announces War of the Immortals Posted: 16 Feb 2012 01:26 AM PST
Having troubles getting into the Closed Beta for Diablo III? War of the Immortals might not be the game which will permanently cure your fever, but it is still a good game to try out. Who knows, you might even fall for it.
Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| Lumines Electronic Symphony Review: Still a Dazzling Mix of Sight And Sound Posted: 15 Feb 2012 02:05 PM PST “Some say I’ve been lazy,” admits the King of All Cosmos in the opening sequence of Touch My Katamari. “Phoning it in.” This is meant to be hilarious — that crazy King, always so pompous, yet vain enough to be stung by criticism! — but the wittiness of the whole thing is badly undermined by the fact that Touch My Katamari is lazy. Namco is, in fact, phoning it in. Of course, the best parody is that which rings of the truth. In that sense, sure, this game is pretty parodic. Damningly so, I’d say. The problem is that I don’t think it was meant to be self-satire; certainly it’s not an exercise in self-reflection. All this talk of apathy and flabbiness are meant to be loving, tongue-in-cheek pokes at the character, not a frank assessment of the software itself. So, it’s either a joke that reflects a jarring lack of self-awareness by the developers, or else it’s a snide middle finger to the player: Yeah, this game is warmed-over, recycled content, but we’re gonna fix that! By… making you do the exact same things you did in the last five Katamari games. Thanks for the 30 bones, suckers.
Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
| Shank 2 Announced for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC Posted: 15 Feb 2012 01:26 PM PST Shank 2 is being built from the ground-up and features online co-op support in what’s described as an arcade-style survivor mode. Judging by the screens and the first, short trailer, it looks to be just as gorgeous as the first game. “Creatively, Shank still has a lot to give,” said developer Klei Entertainment’s founder, Jamie Cheng. “We took the feedback from the community and ran with it, putting our own flavor on every change. For Shank 2, we literally took apart the game and put it back together to push the envelope in combat mechanics, visuals, and 2D animation in games.” “We are honored to again partner with the visionary talent of Klei Entertainment,” added EA Partners business development director Jamil Moledina. “Shank 2 showcases their ability to blend emotionally resonant yet sardonically violent storytelling with pitch perfect controls and art design and confirms EA Partners’ strategy of bringing the best independent games simultaneously to all leading digital platforms.” Shank 2 is scheduled to release on the same three platforms as the first one — PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and PC — in “early 2012.” The first game was released in August of 2010 and was received quite highly. As luck would have it, Xbox 360 owners can pick it up for half price (600 points, $7.50) right now on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us. |
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