CyberConnect2 Talk .hack's Connection With Guilty Dragon And More

CyberConnect2 recently held a talk and sign event at their Tokyo studio to celebrate the release of the .hack “Light Edition” art books. During this event, CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama and series director Hiroto Niizato discussed .hack and its current status along with some info on a related social game, Guilty Dragon.

Regarding Guilty Dragon, Matsuyama says that the mobile platform’s current specs and ease of connecting to the internet is a convenience that allows players from around the world to enjoy it. In addition, Matsuyama stated that Guilty Dragon is being developed to be shaped as the newest addition to the .hack series.

The concept they have for Guilty Dragon’s future is for it to be something that can be enjoyed all the way through, and for free—with the force, world view and drama that we’ve grown accustomed to from the .hack universe.

Unfortunately, Matsuyama didn’t go into too much detail on how the two games will be connected, but to commemorate Guilty Dragon’s 500,000 total downloads earlier this month, they showed a trailer for what’s ahead.

After concluding his talk, Matsuyama addressed demands from .hack fans.

“We often hear demands about a .hack game to be remade on Vita or an HD remake for PS3 or PS4, but at the moment, it’s quite difficult for us to work on an original series on console,' Matsuyama said. 'However, it’s not like we’re not preparing anything.'

He continued: “At the moment, the .hack series is in fact Guilty Dragon. To be frank, Guilty Dragon’s sales have been doing well. When I hear, ‘Hey, it’s about time you do another .hack!’ I’m preparing to be able to respond with ‘That might just happen!’”

“By all means, please enjoy Guilty Dragon for now and kindly look after the future development of the .hack series.”

Matsuyama recently shared with Siliconera that Guilty Dragon will be released in North America and Europe too.

Read more stories about .hack Versus & Guilty Dragon & PlayStation 3 on Siliconera.

NIS Wanted To Make The Witch and the Hundred Knights An Open World Game

This week’s Dengeki brings news of Nippon Ichi’s The Witch and the Hundred Knights, which was originally slated for release in June 2012 but was delayed for further development.

The Witch and the Hundred Knights is an action RPG. You use “Giga Calories” in the game to perform special attacks, and you can replenish Giga Calories by eating enemies. The game also has a Tactical Conversion System by which you can equip up to five weapons and choose what order they attack in. The weapons you have at the end are more powerful.

Other tools available to you in combat are the Mystical Dodge—where time slows down and you evade at the last second—and the Extra Chain, where defeating an enemy with one crushing blow will teleport you to the nearest enemy to continue your attack. You also have a power called Chaos Liberation that temporarily buffs your character.

Nippon Ichi also address the topic of the game’s delay. Development on The Witch and the Hundred Knights began three years ago, while it was expected to be complete in one or one-and-a-half years, the game had piles of issues.

NIS say they didn't want the graphics or visuals of The Witch and the Hundred Knights to look inferior to other titles. There was talk about making it an open world game, but instead NIS chose to focus on the 3D graphics technology. The development studio has been working on the action part of the game and reducing load times. It sounds like the open-world elements are gone.

Since this is a game from the makers of Rhapsody and Disgaea, it is a story-based game. The Witch and the Hundred Knights is like an adult fairy tale. The story has a 'harsh' taste and the drama centres on fellow characters.

The Witch and the Hundred Knights is slated for release on July 25th on the PlayStation 3.

Read more stories about PlayStation 3 & The Witch and the Hundred Knight on Siliconera.

The First Made In Japan Wii U eShop Game Is From Arc System Works

Japan's Wii U eShop is pretty empty with just seven download-only pieces of software: Nico Nico, Hulu, YouTube, Wii Street U, a Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate packet relay tool, a freemium version of Tank! Tank! Tank!, and Nano Assault Neo.

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Nano Assault Neo is the only game on that list and Arc System Works licensed the twin stick shooter from Shin'en Multimedia. Arc System Works is also working on an original Wii U game, Othello aka Reversi in the West. You can play Othello on the TV screen or the Wii U GamePad.

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Othello is slated for release on April 17 for 500 yen ($5).

Read more stories about Othello & Wii U on Siliconera.

Injustice Gods Among Us Demo Coming Next Week

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A demo for Injustice: Gods Among Us is headed to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network next week, Warner Bros. have announced.

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The demo will be made available on April 2nd on PSN in North America and on April 3rd on PSN in Europe. Xbox Live Arcade will see the demo on April 3rd as well.

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The Injustice: Gods Among Us demo will let you play as three different characters—Batman, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor. The demo will be set in the game’s Gotham City arena. Warner Bros. have not announced a Wii U demo.

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Additionally, Warner Bros. have also released a new trailer featuring the recently revealed Black Adam character, who will be playable in the game. You can watch this above.

Read more stories about Injustice: Gods Among Us & PlayStation 3 & Videos & Wii U & Xbox 360 on Siliconera.

Multiple Steamboxes Coming To Market; Valve Will Make Their Own

Xi3 and Valve’s “Computer Game System” won’t be the only Steambox on the market. Valve are partnering with multiple companies to allow them to put Steam-optimized devices out into the market, but are also planning to release an official Steambox of their own, which will run on Linux.

“That’ll be a Linux box, [and] if you want to install Windows you can,” Valve boss, Gabe Newell, shared in an interview with Polygon.

“We’re not going to make it hard. This is not some locked box by any stretch of the imagination. We also think that a controller that has higher precision and lower latency is another interesting thing to have.”

When asked about Netflix on Valve’s own Steambox, Newell replies: “Oh absolutely. You can fire up a web browser, you can do whatever you want.”

That “do whatever you want” comment is important because, previously, Newell stated in an interview with Kotaku: “Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC.”

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So, just what “do whatever you want” means remains to be seen, with regard to Valve’s own Steambox project.

Newell also touches upon the future of the Steam service itself, indicating an intent to make it more open to user-generated content, and the idea of multiple stores, created by users themselves. “Some people will create team stores, some people will creates Sony stores, some people will create stores with only games that they think meet their quality bar,” Newell envisions.

“Somebody is going to create a store that says ‘these are the worst games on Steam.’ So that’s an example of where our thinking is leading us right now.”

Read more stories about PC & Steam & Steambox on Siliconera.

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Online Game Coming From Nexon

MapleStory developer, Nexon, have acquired the rights to develop an online PC game based on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the publisher announced today.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is an anime series that's loosely based on the Ghost in the Shell manga by Masamune Shirow. While Stand Alone Complex takes place in a different universe from the original manga series, it uses many of the same characters.

The agreement, signed with publisher, Kodansha, gives Nexon the rights to Stand Alone Complex, Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG and the Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society movie. No further details have been announced yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled.

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Read more stories about Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex MMO & PC on Siliconera.

The Witch and the Hundred Knights Limited Edition Comes With Art Book, Figurine

As previously reported, Nippon Ichi will be releasing a limited edition for The Witch and the Hundred Knights in Japan. Now they’ve provided a list of what it will contain.

The limited edition will come with a 44-page hardcover visual book, a Metallica Nendoroid Petit figurine, and the game’s soundtrack on two discs. The limited edition set will cost 10,290 yen.

The Witch and the Hundred Knights will be available in Japan on July 25th. The regular version of the game will cost 7,140 yen.

Read more stories about PlayStation 3 & The Witch and the Hundred Knight on Siliconera.

The Witch And The Hundred Knight Conjures More Than 90,000 Units Shipped

Disgaea has always been a strong seller for Nippon Ichi Software, but some of the other new IPs from the Disgaea team like The Guided Fate Paradox didn't launch as well. The good news is The Witch and the Hundred Knight is doing well with over 90,000 units shipped.

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As a thank you for fans, Nippon Ichi released two wallpapers featuring Metallica, the swamp witch. The Witch and the Hundred Knight is slated for release in early 2014 in the West.

Read more stories about PlayStation 3 & The Witch and the Hundred Knight on Siliconera.

Persona Director Teases Atlus 25th Anniversary Titles And More

The Persona series has grown quite a bit from its beginnings as a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series. Since then, we’ve seen it become a pillar of support for Atlus, not just with games but with anime adaptations, a fighting game spin-off and live stage plays. In a recent blog post, Persona team director and producer Katsura Hashino shared a little message of appreciation for fans on the series’ official blog.

Hello, this is the Persona team’s Hashino.

The live music event is finally going to be held at the Nippon Budokan (one of Japan’s most iconic venues,) so please allow me to share a brief message of gratitude on behalf of the developers, for the fans who’ve been supporting us.

Before we realized it, it (Persona) had become a series that is the topic of many people out there. From television anime adaptations, live-action stage plays, and now a musical live event on the big stage. We are very blessed. Again, looking at it from the development side, it’s been almost 10 years (!) since the same team that was in charge of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga began work on Persona 3 in 2004. We’ve been able to make it this far because of the encouragement fans have given us. And we truly appreciate it.

Due to certain circumstances as of late, we really regret to have caused you to worry. Next year is the 25th anniversary of the Atlus brand, and there is some news we’d like to share; however, we ask if you can be patient just a little longer. The new titles we’ve yet to announce are all currently being developed zealously. The only issue at the moment is simply how we can further better these titles. While we have been spending our busy days tackling various issues as usual, we’re still doing our best to not lose focus.

Lately, it appears that the way games are valued has greatly diversified, but with the sentiments of those who love video games, and our feelings that go into the making of the games along with our accumulated know-how, as long as there are continued challenges and expectations, I believe that the future of gaming will be something great that is full of fun and stimulation. As part of a creator, it would bring me great pleasure to know that we are contributing to said value. And to those of you who are already part of the “pleasure” in our work, nothing brings me greater joy than that.

Atlus Persona Team,

Directer & Producer

Katsura Hashino

Read more stories about Atlus & Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4: Golden & Shin Megami Tensei IV & Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem on Siliconera.

jojo's bizarre adventure all star battle videos how to stop time and death itself

If you're a fan of the manga or anime series, chances are you'd be absolutely blown away by the attention to detail in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle.  Joseph Joestar's 'run away' command is just one of many character quirks that I found to be a nice additional touch when I recently went hands-on with a demo build of the game. Here are a few more examples ' with video, to boot!

Jonathan Joestar

One of his special moves is 'This is my final Ripple.' You can execute this attack by entering down, down+square+triangle+O, will allow Jonathan to be revived with a wee bit of health remaining after he's KO'ed. This requires one meter to perform and you can only use this attack once in an entire match.

After Jonathan is revived from KO state, Ripple-infused special moves will not require energy from the Heart Heat Gauge to perform. This is a reference to the ending in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 and you can see this in the middle of this video.

Jotaro Kujo and Part 3's Dio

Both characters have the ability to stop time, once per match by entering down, down+R1. When this is activated, time will stop while your Heart Heat Gauge starts to drain. With a full 3-level stock, I was able to do as much as 40% damage to my opponent through random combos. Watch close to the end of the video to see this.

Giorno Giovanni

Giorno's GHA activates Gold Experience Requiem. This grants him an additional few special moves, as well as the ability to fly by dashing forwards or backwards ' similar to the way Morrigan's dash works from Capcom's Darkstalkers series.

Gold Experience Requiem is said to be one of the most powerful defensive Stands in the JoJo universe, due to its ability to reset his opponent's actions back to point zero. This is an actual move you can perform in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle. When Gold Experience Requiem is activated enter down+any attack button this will create a gigantic black sphere that resets your opponent back to a neutral state (at this point I'm not sure if this is an attack your opponent can block) ' which is useful for extending combos.

Johnny Joestar

I do not actually remember any of Johnny Joestar's special moves, simply because this guy has like two full pages of commands listed.Johnny Joestar's stand, Tusk, evolves from Act 1 to 4 as you use HHAs and GHAs, and this completely changes his moveset depending on which Act he is in.

What I did find when I went hands-on with Johnny Joestar, however, was this fairly easy to perform corner juggle combo: Light, Medium, Heavy, Charge Attack (hold back for 2 seconds, forward+attack), Light Medium Heavy, Charge Attack. Only works when your opponent is up against the edge of the arena.

Read more stories about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle & PlayStation 3 on Siliconera.

Wow, Hudson's Star Soldier Isn't Entirely Dead

If you had a TurboGrafx-16 and liked shoot 'em ups you probably remember the name Star Solider. Super Star Soldier and later Soldier Blade were some of the best shooters for Hudson's console. Fast forward to 2008 and Star Solider remerged with Star Soldier R, a WiiWare game with a two minute and five minute score attack modes.

Then Hudson got completely absorbed by Konami and most of Hudson's projects including the completed Bonk: Brink of Extinction were put on ice. But, there is a new Star Soldier game… thanks to GREE. Star Soldier for GREE is a port of the 1986 console game redesigned for mobile phones.

The game has a vertical layout and an option to turn auto fire on or off. Star Ocean for GREE also has the two and five minute score attack modes, Caravan mode, achievements, and additional ships to pilot.

You can get Star Soldier for GREE on iTunes as a free download.

 

Read more stories about iPhone & Star Soldier for GREE on Siliconera.

PS4 Will Launch In Hong Kong, Singapore, And Other Asia Regions In December (2)

While Japan won't get PlayStation 4 until February 2014, Sony will release the console in other Asia territories this December. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan will get the system this year.

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The news was announced during a Sony Computer Entertainment Asia press conference going on right now, that Siliconera is at. Watch Dogs, Assassins Creed IV, and Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends (Chinese version) will be PlayStation 4 launch titles.

Read more stories about Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends & PlayStation 4 on Siliconera.

The Wonderful 101 Will Have Both English And Japanese Voice Tracks

The Wonderful 101 will be the first game directed by Hideki Kamiya that features Japanese voice-acting in addition to an English voice-over track, PlatinumGames have revealed on their development blog.

Thus, Platinum have gone ahead and included both the Japanese and English voice-tracks for the game, so you can choose the one you want to use. If you opt to go with Japanese voices instead of English ones, you’ll be able to enable English subtitles to go along with them.

Finally, the game also has Japanese subtitles, so players can choose to go the opposite route as well. You can opt to have English audio with Japanese subtitles, and when you do this, not only will you see English text in the speech bubbles, but you’ll also get Japanese subtitles displayed vertically at the top-right of the screen that condense the essence of the original text into something easy to read at a glance.

Here’s a breakdown of the languages supported in the game:

Japanese version & North American version:

Audio: Japanese, English

Subtitles: Japanese, English

European version:

Audio: Japanese, English

Subtitles: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish

The Wonderful 101 will be released in Europe on August 23rd and in North America on September 15th.

Read more stories about The Wonderful 101 & Wii U on Siliconera.

Pac-Man Dash, Pac-Man Monsters Look Like Namco Bandai's Next Pac-Man Games

With the upcoming Pac-Man animated series, Namco Bandai is rolling out more Pac-Man games like Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. Siliconera actually heard about the game a year ago through our usual trademark digging.

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Just yesterday, Namco Bandai registered Pac-Man Dash! and Pac-Man Monsters. Both games have been unannounced so far. Since Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is slated for release this fall on most consoles, Pac-Man Dash! and/or Pac-Man Monsters are probably mobile or downloadable games.

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Read more stories about Pac-Man Dash! & Pac-Man Monsters & Trademark on Siliconera.

Devil Survivor 2 Needs 1,800 Pre-Orders To Be Released In Europe

Devil Survivor 2 will be released in Europe if publisher Ghostlight see enough pre-orders for the game. Pre-orders were supposed to go live this week, but didn’t due to a pending final approval of the package that Ghostlight hope to release.

While you wait for that to happen, Ghostlight have provided details on what their plans for the game are. They hope to release Devil Survivor 2 in the following packages:

Option 1: Standalone Release

Devil Survivor 2 (DS)This factory sealed edition will be available to all PAL territories and anyone pre-ordering from us will have the option to include their name in the DS2 manual.Pre-Order price £24.99/€29.99

Option 2: Devil Survivor Bundle

Devil Survivor 2 (DS) & Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS) with £10.00 discount!Both games will be factory sealed and as with Option 1, anyone pre-ordering the bundle will have the option to include their name in the DS2 manual. Regrettably, we will not be able to ship this bundle to Germany due to an existing distribution agreement.Pre-Order price £49.98/€59.98 (usual price £59.98/€69.98)

Here’s the important part, though: In order to break even on Devil Survivor 2’s manufacturing costs, Ghostlight will need to reach a total 1,800 paid pre-orders between the two above packages, and these pre-orders will only remain open for one month. If they don’t reach their quota, everyone that pre-ordered Option 1 will receive a refund. If you pre-ordered Option 2, you’ll receive a £24.99 refund—and get Devil Survivor: Overclocked at a £10.00 discount.

Ghostlight aim to have Devil Survivor 2 out in Europe by the end of September.

Read more stories about Devil Survivor 2 & Nintendo DS on Siliconera.

Shantae Half-Genie Hero Now Coming To PS Vita As Well

In addition to PC, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is now also headed to the PlayStation Vita. Developer WayForward write on the game’s Kickstarter page:

As it happens, the landscape of gaming has shifted somewhat today with Sony’s VITA TV announcement. In response, we’ve decided to port wfEngine to Vita as part of our “work-for-hire” business.

What does this mean for Half-Genie Hero? Well, it means that we can include both VITA and VITA TV as part of our $400K funding goal. It’s not a Stretch Goal, just part of the package.

Shantae Half-Genie Hero is one of two Shantae games in development at the moment. While this game is headed to PC and consoles, the other title, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, is in development for Nintendo 3DS. Neither game has a release date yet.

Read more stories about PC & PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4 & PlayStation Vita & Shantae: Half-Genie Hero & Wii U & Xbox 360 & Xbox One on Siliconera.