Gamesugar

August 19, 2011

The View From X’11

X11 Toronto
Microsoft’s annual Toronto holiday showcase of all things 360 took place yesterday, and I was fortunate enough to make the event with other members of Team Sugar to check in on upcoming releases for the system.

This year’s showing was undoubtedly the largest one in recent memory, with a slew of publishers showing so many titles that the mind boggled at how to break down and digest so much content. It’s not often companies like Square-Enix, Bethesda, 2K Games, and Sega come to town, and the result was a never-ending sea of screens that left me feeling a bit dizzy by the end of the day.

With that said, I’m going to stay true to form and simply tell you what caught my eye.

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December 17, 2010

Treasure Hunting

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 1:52 pm

Treasure Hunting
Hori is fishing for interest in the ultimate accessory for Treasure fans. This proposed Radiant Silvergun arcade stick aims to replicate the arcade on Japanese 360’s when the game hits XBLA, assuming Hori gets enough pre-order interest to put it into production between now and January 4th. Keep in mind it will set you back 13,500 Yen, which I’m led to believe currently works out to just over $160 USD.

I suppose one could justify the purchase based on that being what a Saturn copy of the game could cost at times, but loving Treasure can often be an expensive affair any way you slice it. On the doubleplus good side of life, we get Radiant Silvergun next year too, I remain ridiculously happy about that.

If you’re tempted, you can pay Hori a visit for more info.

July 21, 2010

I <3 Hibaru Yaju

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , — Jamie Love @ 8:18 am

Hibaru Yaju
I’ve been a little put out hearing some pick on Hibaru Yaju’s role in Star Successor, mostly because despite providing plenty of frustrations the sequence has become one of my favorites within the game. If sword fighting inside a reactor core with an anime samurai dream girl who offers you a date is wrong, well I don’t want to be right ever again.

Granted the sequence is strangely placed and timed and one-of-a-kind in the delivery, but isn’t that what makes Treasure so much fun to love?

It really is plenty parts Treasure eccentricity, almost like a pause in the action proper that changes the pacing entirely – I felt more than a bit like the student learning to slow down, relax, and wait for the chance to grab the stone from her hand, or in this case evade at just the right moment and strike. Defeating her tosses you straight into another boss encounter in a game that seems to possess such an incredibly strange and unique rhythm that I might never quite find the right words for what Treasure has done this time around.

If you haven’t played Star Successor yet, shame on you, but I guess you can still check out the fight after the break.

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July 3, 2010

Review – Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 12:58 pm

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
Soldiers scramble through the ruins of a forgotten yet familiar city, finding footholds in crumbling buildings as swarms of genetic mutations fly across the skyline like scurrying schools of fish darting through deeper waters. In the foreground, futuristic helicopters and mobile infantry patrol broken stretches of freeway, filling the screen with missiles and bullets as Isa and Kachi make a desperate break for freedom.

Exactly why Isa and Kachi are on the run is unclear, along with the motives of the shadow organization pursuing them – staffed by ominous assassins who speak with the comfort of established relationships that forever remain a mystery to the player.

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June 21, 2010

Sin & Punishment 2 Has TV Spots…?!

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , — Jamie Love @ 3:33 pm

Sin & Punishment 2
Way back in the dark days when I wondered when Sin & Punishment 2 would release and how much of a push Nintendo would give it, there were a few people who said –

“What do you expect them to do for a niche title? Give it a television ad?”

That was fair game back then too, because there was zero chance of something like that happening. And yet, if you continue on after the break, you can catch the television spot reminding you that the game releases this Sunday.

Incredibly strange amazing days – if I actually see this on tv during the week my head might explode. Has there ever been an ad for a Treasure game on television before?

Also, touche Nintendo, touche – though you should have asked me for a quote for the spot too.

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June 19, 2010

Sin & Punishment 2 Draws Near

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , — Jamie Love @ 12:58 pm

Sin & Punishment 2
On the list of weekend surprises that go down in history, add Nintendo sending an email to remind me about the imminent arrival of Sin & Punishment 2 – Star Successor – June 27! Dig it!

The Big N even entitled the email “prepare to be punished,” but chances are many of you have the same email and I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Still, I’m elated to see the push for a long awaited Treasure title, including the game’s website, which you can check out here.

I’ve vehemently hated the wait for this release, but this is one hell of a sweet game to get just as the E3 buzz is calming down.

May 23, 2010

Treasure Talks Sin & Punishment 2

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:22 am

Sin & Punishment 2
North America might be getting Super Mario Galaxy 2 today, but my wait for Sin & Punishment 2 continues for one more month – sadly no European readers have invited me over for a grind session to date. Where’s the love guys?

We get the game on June 27, which convienantly falls the day after my birthday – so while I’m impatient I’m also touched Nintendo worked that out for me. What we can borrow from Europe in the meantime is a developer interview with Treasure, which offers up some more concept art via quick edits and some words from my hero, artist Yasushi Suzuki.

Treasure President Masato Maegawa also puts in an apperance, and we get the shocking story about Nintendo feeling that the first test version of the game was too easy.

Catch it after the break.

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