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• Vandal Hearts Resurrected, Has Terrible Character Art

  You’d never suspect that, once upon a time, strategy RPGs were a rare and beautiful beast. Twelve years ago, you wouldn’t open a magazine and think, “Ah, yes, I see. This month there are thirteen different Game Boy games coming out from Namco, Square, Inis, Nippon Icchi, and Atlus that will allow me to train tiny warriors to walk across a colorful grid to slaughter evil beasts. Oh, look, there’s six more on Sony’s Playstation and nine more on Sega’s Saturn. Can’t wait to see next month’s haul. I’ll be moving across those grids and having fun until the sun goes out, by gum!” It just didn’t work like that. There were only a few of them. There was Tactic’s Ogre, which was made by Yasumi Matsuno. Then there was Final Fantasy Tactics which was, um, made by Yasumi Matsuno. But then there was Vandal Hearts, a dead ringer for Matsuno’s SRPGs that was, in fact, not made by Matsuno. Read More... Posted Apr 13 2009, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: playstation 3, game boy, xbox 360, konami, sony, sega, psn, Saturn, Suikoden, final fantasy tactics, tactics ogre, yasumi matsuno, vandal hearts II, monster madness, john constantinel xbox live arcade, vandal hearts, vandal hearts flames of judgment

• The 61FPS Review: Suikoden Tierkreis

  Let’s get something out of the way first, to avoid misunderstanding: I love Suikoden. I know that Suikoden II is the best game on the PlayStation, and that it is easily one of the two best games I’ve ever played. I left Suikoden III spinning in my PS2 for hours, and I’m not talking about playing it—I’m talking about letting the attract video repeat over and over just to listen to its score. I played Suikoden Tactics from beginning till end, and so help me, I didn’t hate it. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand the depth of my meaning when I tell you Suikoden Tierkreis isn’t for me. Read More... Posted Apr 08 2009, 09:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, konami, 61fps review, joe keiser, Suikoden ii, Suikoden Tierkreis, jrpgs

• Silent Hill, Killer 7 and Not Having Fun With Great Games

  I am less than taken with Bit.Trip Beat. Subsequent playings have not improved my opinion of the game. As I’ve gotten further into it, the fundamental flaws in its design I spotted at the beginning have been born out later in the game. Some people love it. I don’t. They think it’s fun. I don’t. C’est la vie. As I mentioned in my article about Bit.Trip, though, I don’t think that games need to be fun in order for them to be good. I was pretty vague in making my point though. 61FPS reader Kit wrote me an email last week to ask just what the hell I was talking about. How can a game be good if it isn’t fun to play? Isn’t fun implicit in the very act of playing? When’s a game good but not much fun? Read More... Posted Apr 06 2009, 10:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, super mario bros 3, silent hill, nes, konami, playstation 2, gamecube, super mario bros, wiiware, quantic dream, david cage, suda 51, silent hill 2, gaijin games, BIT.TRIP BEAT, silent hill shattered memories

• Gradius ReBirth and The Joy of Sisyphean Gaming

  Every few years, I get the itch. I’ll be reading a book or sitting in café, enjoying the air and taking in some company, when my conscious mind will simply shut off. My eyes glaze over, I drool a bit, and whoever I happen to be with at the time starts to worry. They wonder if they’ll regret not bringing a tranq gun by the end of the day. It’d probably be wise for me to start wearing a medical bracelet. It should read: “John Constantine. Irregular shmup addiction. Administer either space/terrestrial, horizontal/vertical shooter immediately. Contact Dr. Vic Viper at Up, Down, Left, Right, B, A, Select, Start.” At the very least, it would ensure that no one gets hurt. While Derrick’s been having a renaissance with the genre and Joe’s all but abandoned it, my predilection for shoot ‘em ups has been constant over the past two decades. As I said, it isn’t regular. It just comes out of nowhere. It starts with having to track one down, preferably horizontal, with a killer soundtrack, and bright color. Then I go for weeks without playing anything except for stray, half hour sessions with them, games like Einhander, Life Force, or R-Type Final. Thing of it is, I’ve never gotten good at any of them. I wouldn’t say that I’m terrible. I can usually get through the first level of a shooter without dying or, in extreme cases, continuing on the first try. But I’ve never beaten one without cheating and I’m usually struggling to keep up just a few levels in. I love the ebb and flow of a great shmup, the movement from speed and escape to the sluggish crawl that almost always precedes some giant conflict against a screen filling boss. When I die, I smile, and start over. Bullet hell or Konami standard, I take immense satisfaction in pushing the rock uphill and letting it tumble back over me. Which, when you get down to it, flies in the face of what we expect to be a satisfying experience, right? When we judge games, the most damning thing you can say about it is that it’s frustrating, the highest praise that it challenges us in a way that makes us want to persevere, to master it. If you aren’t good at it and you don’t get better, what’s the point? Read More... Posted Mar 12 2009, 11:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, konami, shmup, gradius, einhander, squaresoft, square enix, shoot ‘em up, gradius rebirth, life force, r-type final, r-type

• Wii Brings Silent Hill to Climax

  No, wait. Rewind. Switch that. Climax is going to bring Silent Hill to the Wii! The rumor going ‘round the campfire is that those nutty Brits behind Silent Hill: Origins will be remaking the original Silent Hill for both Wii and PSP. 61FPS just spent this past Monday celebrating Silent Hill’s tenth birthday. What better way to celebrate the occasion than by taking a stroll down memory lane, waggling as you go? Read More... Posted Feb 26 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, psp, silent hill, konami, silent hill origins, Playstation, klonoa, namco, climax

• 10 Years Ago This Week: Silent Hill

  Silent Hill (released February 24th, 1999) did not mark a pivotal moment in the original Playstation’s lifecycle. Technologically speaking, Silent Hill was a solid effort, but nothing unusual for the time. Foregoing the pre-rendered backgrounds that were horror games’ stock-in-trade, Silent Hill’s full-3D environments weren’t as pristinely rendered as Konami’s own, year-old Metal Gear Solid. The CGI cutscenes, another requisite of the era, were competent but by no means up to the Squaresoft gold standard. Its control was wonky, its camera unwieldy, and the voice-acting was stiff even for a Playstation game. Of course, none of that matters. Silent Hill was a pivotal moment in game’s maturation as an affecting, expressive medium. Forget technology; its technical failings made it a stronger work. Forget genre; Silent Hill is not survival horror. It’s just horror. Read More... Posted Feb 23 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, capcom, metal gear solid, silent hill, konami, sony, rule of rose, Playstation, tecmo, fatal frame, team silent, silent hill 2, sunsoft, 10 years ago, akira yamioka, shuji ishikawa, punchline, david lynch, jacob’s ladder, Adrian lyne, siren, clock tower

• Suikoden Tierkreis: The 108 Stars of Destiny Go Portable and They’re Looking Good

  Suikoden games are an odd lot. Role-playing games are long enough without having to track down and manage 108 different, predominantly optional characters. You have to do this in every single one of the little blighters! Of course, the effort’s rewarded with lovely music, lively anime art, and, in the franchise’s best entries, really excellent war stories. That’s what JRPG fans lust after, isn’t it? Sure it is. Suikoden Tierkreis is a nice change of pace for the series; now you can track down 108 characters on the bog. Beat that for convenience. I sat down with a near complete English build of Tierkreis today and based on just that small chunk, I find myself looking forward to a new Suikoden for the first time since Suikoden III. For the non-Suikoden diehards out there, here’s the formula. In Suikoden, you play as a plucky youth embroiled in some sort of military conflict that usually starts small and gets gigantic. You inevitably become integral in amassing an army whose core is 108 colorful individuals marked by destiny and some sacred runes. You all live in a massive castle that expands as you gather these Stars of Destiny together. You fight turn-based battles and many of your characters can do snazzy attacks together based on their personalities. Tierkreis adds its own special blend of spices to this classic concoction. Read More... Posted Feb 19 2009, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, konami, Suikoden, Suikoden Tierkreis, final fantasy tactics advance, final fantasy tactics

• Whatcha Playing: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Again)

  I have a small stable of games I love returning to once in a while, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is among them. I own the original Playstation version (the actual original: it lacks the flu-snot green bar that labels it a best-selling re-release) and the emulation that was packed with the PSP's Dracula X Chronicles. I've finished both multiple times, but I decided that wasn't enough, so I downloaded the game once more on XBLA. Having lost my original Playstation at the bottom our sock drawer something like five years ago, it's nice to play Symphony of the Night on a large screen once more. It'd be nice if the Achievements weren't lame, but eh, if wishes were horses, and all that. Symphony of the Night is still firmly in the top quality tier of the Castlevania hierarchy, but aging gamers draw in vital nutrients through message board fights about whether or not an esteemed game still deserves its lofty status. Over the past handful of years, Symphony of the Night has ignited similar arguments. Is the game as brilliant as we remember it? Was the Inverted Castle a stroke of game design genius or a cheap trick to extend gameplay? Read More... Posted Jan 30 2009, 11:06 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: xbox 360, psp, konami, castlevania, Playstation, retro, symphony of the night, 2d, xbla, nadia oxford, 32-bit, dracula x chronicles, sprites

• True Tales of Multiplayer: Fights, Tricks, and Fights!

  Lately I've found myself chilling with my homeboys Dan and Ryan, playing old video games that most of our friends don't remember or never heard of at all hours of day and night. It started when Dan found an old cartridge of the Jaleco's SNES beat-em-up The Peace Keepers. I was impressed by the ability to recolor any of the game's sprites however you wanted, but otherwise the game was an all-around stunningly frustrating experience. Things picked up for the next round, however, when I popped in my favorite SNES "sports" game, DMA Designs' Uniracers... Read More... Posted Jan 26 2009, 06:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: derrick sanskrit, snes, konami, super smash bros, Playstation, tony hawk, grand theft auto, uniracers, power stone, multiplayer, jaleco, the peace keepers, poy poy, dma design

• A Silver Lining to The Dark Knight

  While Batman may have grappled his way back into the hearts of movie-goers with 2005's Batman Begins and last year's The Dark Knight, he hasn't really had a notable video game in quite some time--and no, Lego Batman doesn't really count. At some point in time, a Dark Knight game was actually in the works, but after becoming a complete development disaster, what should have been a sure thing was taken behind the barn and shot in the back of the head. Like any Batman fan, I was a bit disappointed by the death of The Dark Knight; after all, I grew up in a time when good Batman games actually existed. Sure, there've been quite a few stinkers with the Batman name attached, but when developers like Sunsoft and Konami had the license, they made games worth playing--especially The Adventures of Batman and Robin for the SNES, which was a damn-near perfect interpretation of the mid-90s cartoon. It seems that YouTube user elmacbee shares the same sentiment towards the Batman games of old; he's produced a pretty convincing mockup video of what could be an NES version of The Dark Knight if we somehow existed in a universe where technology is about two decades behind. I'd love to see this fictional game in action, but for now, the introductory video has me salivating for what could have been. Read More... Posted Jan 19 2009, 09:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: fan project, konami, the dark knight, bob mackey, fan art, fan games, sunsoft, batman

• Castlevania III: Dracula's Reign Ends, Sypha's Baby Factory Opens

  When I was a kid, I ate crayons while I was supposed to be tested for giftedness, I lost interest in achieving the honour roll when I found out it wasn't covered with sticky frosting, and I could never understand why grown-ups got so uppity if I was wearing my shirt backwards (still can't). But I finished Castlevania III all by myself, without cheating, and I'm still damn proud of that. It remains one of about two games both my husband and I played as kids, but only I've completed. I've only finished the game with Grant as my aide, mind you. Even my childlike stupidity and gullibility had its limits. “Ha ha,” I said as I watched the credits scroll, “I am never doing this again!” Ah, but it looks like I will with the help of the Virtual Console. Once I get my platforming legs back, I'd like to try and finish the game with Sypha. I've seen her ending already thanks to the modern magic of YouTube, but it still fascinates me. The second Dracula dies, the schmatte covering Sypha's head falls off on cue and Trevor's like, “Holy shit, Imma touch this bitch.” And he does. Read More... Posted Jan 12 2009, 09:45 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nes, konami, castlevania, 8-bit, retro, castlevania iii, nadia oxford, virtual console, trevor belmont, sypha

• New Year’s Resolutions For a Few Of Our Favorite Publishers

  Now, to close out the first full week of 2009, we will do for videogame publishers what we did for console makers: we will tell them how to live their sordid, godforsaken lives! You’d think developers would make the list, but no. No, I tend to trust them, so they will be left to their own devices, free from the crushing logic of advice from 61 Frames Per Second. Read More... Posted Jan 09 2009, 07:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, capcom, konami, ubisoft, Ghostbusters, dark void, sega, atari, activision, retro game master, atlus, koei, tecmo, namco, neversoft, xseed, midway, bioshock 2, square enix, street fighter iii, take two, beyond good & evil 2, the world end with you

• The 61FPS Review: Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2

  Given to me 'fore the holiday break, A white microphone and a challenge to take: American Idol Encore 2 for Wii, to play and review whilst home with family. Karaoke with pop songs of past and of present: The Bee Gees, Depeche Mode, Beyoncé, John Lennon, Rod Stewart, the Spice Girls, Bon Jovi, the Fray, The White Stripes, Survivor, R.E.M., and Coldplay. To sing the melody, or hum, coo, or howl, You'd be praised by Paula, chided by Simon Cowell. Read More... Posted Jan 05 2009, 11:00 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: derrick sanskrit, konami, 61fps review, lips, singstar, american idol, karaoke, joysound

• PSOne on PSN: Somehow, it’s Suikoden

  Just in time for me to tell you about it before our holiday break, Sony has updated the PlayStation Network Store with another PSOne game. I’m not telling you this because this marks the second week in a row we’ve gotten a new PSOne on PSN game, although that probably at least ties the service’s previous record streak. No, you have to know this because the game is Suikoden, the excellent 1996 RPG that set the stage for its even more excellent sequel. So that’s the best part. The second best part is it’s selling for the PSN standard $5.99. That sound you hear is hundreds of Ebay sellers having simultaneous aneurysms. Between this and last week’s Castlevania Chronicles, it almost seems like Sony and Konami have figured out how to use this service properly. Both these titles are uncommon and in demand from franchise fans. Neither game has aged particularly badly, if you keep in mind that Chronicles was a port of a port and already felt pretty old school upon its original launch. And finally, they’re both from extent franchises that each could use a bit of a boost right now. Read More... Posted Dec 23 2008, 07:47 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: konami, playstation network, psone, song, Suikoden, joe keiser, castlevania chronicles, Suikoden ii

• Beating the Dead Horse Who Has It Coming: Playstation Releases on PSN

  Castlevania Chronicles, the peculiar Playstation remake of a peculiar X68000 remake of the original Castlevania, was released as a downloadable title on Playstation Network today. It ain’t the best Castlevania out there, but it’s still a swell action title. The disc release was never widely distributed either, so this will be the very first time most interested players will even get the chance to try it out. Of course, the same could be said of a lot of Playstation games. The halcyon days of 2003 when you could walk into any Blockbuster or Gamestop in the country and pick up five classic PS1 games, often times still shrinkwrapped, for ten or twenty bucks are long over, and the collector’s market is making many great games prohibitively expensive. Want to play Silent Hill? Hope you’ve got an extra sixty-five dollars lying around. How about Suikoden II, considered to be the series’ definitive installment? That’ll be $150. And what about cult classics like CyberConnect2’s Silent Bomber? Yeah, seventy smackers. You shouldn’t have to pay top dollar for these games, though, considering they could very easily be released on the Playstation Network. Read More... Posted Dec 18 2008, 06:45 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, psp, silent hill, konami, castlevania, Playstation, psn, scea, Suikoden, cyberconnect2, castlevania chronicles, silent bomber, Suikoden ii

• Yahtzee's Homecoming

  I love the Silent Hill series, but I've never really been able to play any of the games; the music, characters, mythology, and storylines are all fantastic, but the actual playing process scares the crap out of me. Well, maybe "scare" isn't the right word. My last attempt to work through a Silent Hill game happened in 2002, when I tried as hard as I could to overcome my wimpyness--only to find Silent Hill 2's unique atmosphere of loneliness and dread leaving me feeling physically ill and mentally dirty.  But my near-nervous breakdown is a credit to how effective Silent Hill 2 is; and this title's spectacular atmosphere is also one of the reasons why SH2 is a favorite of gaming curmudgeon Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation fame). But since development house Team Silent has been disbanded (or since they broke up, it's never really been clear), the future of the Silent Hill series has been hijacked, first for the PSP's Silent Hill: Origins, and now with the new PS3 release, Silent Hill: Homecoming. While the latest Silent Hill doesn't have the hubris to slap a "5" onto the title, the aforementioned Yahtzee finds quite a few problems with Homecoming's lack of authenticity: Will there ever be another Silent Hill game as good as the second one? It seems unlikely, but I'd certainly be happy if it happened. Of course, I'd be appreciating it from afar. Read More... Posted Oct 23 2008, 09:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: silent hill, silent hill homecoming, konami, silent hill origins, bob mackey, team silent, silent hill 2

• It's Official (And Officially Sad): Castlevania Judgement Is Ghoulis

  I guess some tiny corner of my heart was holding on to the hope that Castlevania Judgment might be worth playing--or, at the very least, not in need of a holy water/acid bath. Alas... "So what, exactly, doesn’t work? Like I said, everything. It’s like a daisy-chain of failures. Let’s kick things off with the arena. The arena doesn’t work. It’s too large. So instead of fighting for 90 seconds, you end up chasing each other around for 90 seconds. Which is bad enough, but then, the camera doesn’t work. Because it’s fixed, one player will often end up running at the camera, losing all sight of where it is they’re going." You know what, this might work out after all. I've always had this fantasy about staging a Castlevania-style Benny Hill chase. See, Maria will run around the arena and Richter will chase her. Simon will chase them both and Death will chase after them all-- Then the camera will drift off and I'll promptly forget what I'm supposed to be laughing at. Really, this news heartily sucks. I know nobody expected grand things from Castlevania Judgment; from the very start we treated it like the fat kid in gym class; maybe it wasn't our first choice this holiday season, but deep in our souls we hoped it would surprise us with some hidden potential. Read More... Posted Oct 15 2008, 04:36 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: wii, konami, fighting games, nadia oxford, castelvania, castlevania judgment

• Castlevania Symphony of the Night 2: What is a Screenshot? A Miserable Little Pile of Secrets!

  Can you dig it, everyone? Tokyo Game Show is off to a running start and while it appears that some games that everyone expected to appear, like Team Ico’s Playstation 3 debut, are nowhere to be found, plenty of other exciting games are rearing their glorious digital heads. Who in their right minds expected No More Heroes 2 to be announced? That is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Of course, Tokyo Game Show isn’t without a little mystery here in 2008. For example, take this screenshot Koji Igarashi showed off during a chat about Castlevania: Why, that appears to be Alucard, star of the ubiquitous Symphony of the Night and apple of ten billion goth girls’ eyes. Read More... Posted Oct 09 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, konami, castlevania, koji igarashi, rumor

• Question of the Day: How Do You Make a Horror Game Horrifying?

  Don’t be afraid. There are no ghouls here. Just nerds. ‘Tis the season for delighting in frights, is it not? That time of year when Halloween is just around the corner, the days get darker, and the things that go bump in the night start getting goosebumps, because, hey, it’s cold out there. As I mentioned last week, it’s also the beginning of game season. Horror, as a genre, doesn’t have quite the presence it did in gaming a few years back, but autumn 2008’s seeing a number of high-profile scary games hitting consoles across the land. Silent Hill’s back after a four year absence, EA is releasing their brand new IP Dead Space in just over a week, and Atari is re-launching their ill-fated Alone in the Dark on PS3. Horror games are an absolute favorite of mine. There’s a visceral thrill they provide that is distinct to the medium, mixing the tension-and-release dynamic essential to horror in any medium with the deep satisfaction of accomplishment that comes from successfully playing a game. Read More... Posted Oct 06 2008, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, silent hill, konami, atari, alone in the dark, dead space, question of the day

• Alternate Soundtrack: Castlevania III vs Bush

  So there's this election around the corner, right? All about choosing a new President for the United States or whatever, and I keep hearing people complain about how after this election they won't be able to rant about how much they hate Bush anymore. Personally I don't understand where they're coming from. I, for one, love Bush. Those guys rocked so hard throughout the 1990's and early 00's and anyone who hates on them just can't be my friend anymore. I've always been particularly smitten with their 1996 sophomore record Razorblade Suitcase, an emotionally dense powerhouse of crunched guitars, squealing feedback and ominous negative space. This album cries out for monsters, as demonstrated in the music videos for singles "Greedy Fly" and "Mouth", and monsters it shall receive in the form of Konami's 1990 classic Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Read More... Posted Sep 30 2008, 11:30 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: alternate soundtrack, derrick sanskrit, nes, konami, castlevania, castlevania iii, bush

• Silent Hill: Homecoming is, Thankfully, Both Silent and Hilly

  Horror, in any medium, relies heavily on the unknown to be effective. For any fans of Silent Hill out there, I recommend not reading the following impressions. They aren’t spoiler heavy, but knowing anything about the game prior to experiencing it first hand may dilute it. You should, however, know that if you’re one of those fans, you should play Homecoming on day one, and don’t be embarrassed if you have to turn on the lights when you do. It speaks volumes of Double Helix Games’ new Silent Hill for Xbox 360 and PS3 that, provided you have a pair of slick headphones, the game can manage to be terrifying, ominous, and discomfiting even when played in a room bustling with journalists, PR agents, and noisy Dance Dance Revolution kiosks. Silent Hill: Homecoming does what Silent Hill should, in principal, do: it makes you profoundly uncomfortable. Not just scared, but itchy and nervous. If you can’t tell, my playthrough of the game’s first half-hour not only left me impressed, but helped to allay my fears that a full-bore Silent Hill game not crafted by Team Silent’s careful eye would not live up to the series’ past accomplishments. Read More... Posted Sep 17 2008, 06:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, silent hill, konami, double helix

• Suikoden: Tierkreis is Coming, But Is It Everything Fans Hope For?

  Konami had a pleasant surprise at their NYC fall preview today in an early build of Suikoden: Tierkreis, the recently announced seventh game in the twelve year-old RPG franchise, and first original handheld entry in the series. Tiekreis, weird name aside, looks like a solid 3D role-playing game on the DS, easily the technical equal (and possibly even superior) to Matrix Software’s Final Fantasy III and IV remakes. While the brief demo on display couldn’t show if Tierkreis lives up to Suikoden’s grand tradition of great storytelling, it did make me wonder if the handheld entry isn’t something of a missed opportunity. Read More... Posted Sep 16 2008, 08:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, final fantasy, konami, Suikoden, matrix

• Castlevania Judgment(s): Iga Continues to Show a Keen Understanding of His Franchise on DS, But His First Wii Title Misses the Point

  I tried to keep an open mind when Castlevania Judgment was announced back at the beginning of July. Yeah, it seemed that making a Castlevania themed fighting game – oh, forgive me, Mister Igarashi. A 3D versus action game. Right. – was about as good an idea as a Sonic the Hedgehog fighting game, but it might be good! Stranger things have, after all, happened, and Castlevania has twenty years worth of memorable characters, weapons, and environments to pull from. The open arena play, borrowing heavily from Capcom’s fondly remembered Power Stone brawlers on Dreamcast, also seemed like the ideal foundation for the franchise’s transition into the world of fighters. Maybe it would be good fun. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be as bad as Soul Calibur Legends. Well, it’s better than Soul Calibur Legends, but, after going a few rounds with at Konami’s fall preview event in New York today, I wouldn’t call Castlevania Judgment a must play Wii game. I also wouldn’t call it a good game. Read More... Posted Sep 16 2008, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, wii, konami, castlevania, koji igrashi

• Trailer Review: Golden Axe

  In the grand pantheon of beat-em-ups, brawlers, hack-and-slashers, kiss-your-mother-with-that-mouth-ya-jerk, dick-punching games, Golden Axe is a middleweight. Hell, it started as a welterweight in 1989. The fantasy setting, magic powers, and ride-able dragons and chicken-salamanders were novel, certainly, but how could it compete with Final Fight, a game that let you be a pro-wrestling mayor who compulsively took off his clothing? How could its triumphant trio of sword-guy-in-underpants, little person, and Red Sonja-cosplayer compete with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Golden Axe was plain outclassed for its first couple of games. That is, until arcade-only sequel Death Adder’s Revenge came out, a game so gorgeous, strange, and playable that it stands as the best beat ‘em up ever made outside of Capcom and Konami (yeah, that’s right. It’s better than Streets of Rage. All of them.) Right when the series started showing its mettle, it all but disappeared. Death Adder’s Revenge’s legacy lived on in a cruddy Genesis sequel, a Saturn fighting game, and a bizarro PS2 remake of the series debut. Until now! Read More... Posted Sep 04 2008, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, trailer review, up all night, devil may cry, capcom, konami, sega, god of war, heavenly sword, golden axe, conan, teenage mutant ninja turtles

• Everyone Will be Able to Rock

  At the end of June, my concerns for the future of videogames' burgeoning rock star genre were growing by the hour. Activision was waving their new drum kit in EA’s face while Konami tried to get people to like their music games outside of Japan. The big problem? None of those companies appeared to give a damn that they were flooding a market and audience already drowning under a torrent of plastic instruments. Not to mention that none of those instruments were guaranteed to be compatible with games that didn’t come packaged with alongside them. Yeah, Guitar Hero 3 and its electronic axe might be one of the ten best selling games in the history of games but that doesn’t mean the genre bubble can’t burst. Today, another faceless company has helped to allay my fears. And, would you believe it, it’s Sony doing the allaying. The once haughty Japanese giant stated on their Playstation blog that they have reached an agreement with Activision, EA/MTV, and Konami to allow every single publisher’s rock & roll instruments will work with every publisher’s games on the Playstation 3. Bought Rock Revolution but want to get in on Rock Band 2’s killer track list? Go for it. Feel like using that gorgeous new Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit with Konami’s new opus? Fine, have fun. Not only that, but SCEA also said that, though it isn’t happening just yet, they’re working on a fix for the original Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 as well. This is the first step on the road to peripheral-based music games finally coming into their own. Guitar Hero made them an institution but this agreement will help cement the instrument set as an expandable platform that doesn’t necessitate annual hardware revisions. What else needs to happen to guarantee this glorious, melodious future? Read More... Posted Aug 18 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, ea, microsoft, xbox 360, wii, konami, sony, guitar hero, rock band, activision, rock revolution, harmonix, itunes, mtv, apple, scea, neversoft

• What Is a Man? More Than a 4Chan Meme

  Konami will never live down the original translation afflicted upon Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It tried to atone for past sins by re-doing the voicework for SOTN in Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP. It was a fine attempt, but a worthless gesture overall; you can't erase the past. I can't deny the fact I'm descended from sheep thieves and Konami can't deny Dracula's infamous riddle to Richter Belmont. "What is a man?" (I don't know Dracula, what is a man?) "A miserable little pile of secrets!" I hang out and make trouble at Gamespite because sometimes I learn something new. Today, for example, I learned through a fellow forum comrade named eirikr that Dracula's riddle is not his own. It was, in fact, lifted from a French author named Andre Malraux. Interestingly, Malraux was born in 1901, meaning he picked up the quote from Dracula during a time jaunt through the Carpathian Mountains. Damn, I need to manipulate some kids into writing this down for a history project. These are TRUFAX being doled out here, people. Remember them, and pass them onto your children. If you're interested in the source material, check out The Big Curmudgeon: 2,500 Outrageously Irreverent Quotations from World-Class Grumps and Cantankerous Commentators. If you can recite the book's title to the store clerk before running out of breath and dying, that is. Read More... Posted Jul 28 2008, 11:17 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: konami, castlevania, dracula x, koji igarashi, castlevana: symphony of the night, what is a man, dracula, bad quotes, angry french dudes

• Screen Test: Fragile

  I’m as bad as every other slavering fanboy on the internet when it comes to Wii software, ranting about the garbage publishers have vomited onto the system, games that would have been visual embarrassments on the Dreamcast with gameplay that makes Tamagotchis seem like the most sophisticated machines on earth. Instead of a new 2D adventure, Konami makes a Castlevania fighting game. Instead of a brand new Rygar game, Tecmo ports over a six year-old PS2 title. Instead of a fresh Resident Evil, Capcom makes a glorified light gun game. The worst part is that some people are making very promising titles for the Wii, yet no one knows about them. Case in point: Namco’s Fragile. Read More... Posted Jul 22 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, capcom, screen test, konami, castlevania, resident evil 2, tri-crescendo, fragile, tecmo, namco

• E3 Day 3: No Alarms and No Surprises

  With the Big Three’s press conferences out of the way, E3 has settled into immersion mode, the vast majority of the press and publishers getting into a groove of demoing games, showing off videos, and hosting meeting after meeting after meeting. Publishers Take-Two, Konami, Ubisoft, and Capcom have all held press conferences and the extent of big news was the Capcom’s making a movie out of their sci-fi shooter Lost Planet and Ubisoft is making a game called I Am Alive, in which the player tries to survive natural disasters. Exciting stuff, eh? Not to beat a dead horse — 61 Frames Per Second prides itself on beating only a select number of dead horses — but what, exactly, is the point of this year’s E3? It certainly seems to be running more smoothly than 2007’s air-hangar-showroom debacle, but it’s become clear that everyone in the business of making games is not using the event as a venue for announcing new titles. The obvious implication is that, with the expansion of the gaming audience and the broadening of mass market releases throughout the year, publishers no longer need a centralized event to show North America what’s on the horizon. There is, however, a more subtle implication. Read More... Posted Jul 16 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, capcom, konami, ubisoft, take-two, e3, i am alive, lost planet

• Why Dontcha Cry About It, Saddle Bags: Konami Sues Viacom Over Rock Band

  It seems that Rock Revolution isn’t the only way Konami is responding to Harmonix’s meteoric rise to music-videogame power. The house of Castlevania announced that they are suing Viacom, MTV Games’ parent company, and Harmonix specifically because Rock Band and its instrument peripherals violate Konami patents. According to Bloomberg.com, the patents in question detail, “simulated musical instruments, a music-game system and a ‘musical-rhythm matching game.’” They are not, however, suing Activision or Red Octane, makers of the current incarnation of Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero and its original guitar peripheral were themselves designed by Harmonix, so it seems peculiar that Konami wouldn’t direct their hissy-fit at them as well. Read More... Posted Jul 10 2008, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, konami, guitar hero, rock band, mtv games, activision, rock revolution, harmonix, red octane

• Everyone Should Be Able to Rock

  When Konami announced Rock Revolution back in May, their re-entry into the rock and roll videogame arena, you could practically hear the gaming world’s exasperation, eyes rolling, sighs exhaled in unison. No one wants stagnation, obviously. Guitar Hero’s fresh approach to music games revolutionized the industry three years ago, a feat Konami’s GuitarFreaks hadn’t managed in the better part of a decade. But no one wants clutter. Yet another band game hitting the public means yet another set of proprietary instrument controllers. Problematic, considering the precedent set by Activision last fall. They made it abundantly clear that they’re not interested in having their instruments completely compatible with another publisher’s software, a point they’ve reiterated by developing brand new drum, guitar, and microphone peripherals (with different functions than those made by MTV Games for Rock Band) for the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour. It seems that Konami’s chosen a more reasonable approach. Konami associate producer Keith Matejka told MTV News’ Patrick Klepek, "Compatibility is a big issue for music games. Peripherals are expensive for the user and they are expensive to produce. The existing peripherals all deliver only a slightly different gameplay experience. Different teams have varying perspectives on what should be compatible with each game. I think all guitar- and drum-based games need to be compatible with each other to some level." He’s absolutely right, and not just from a consumer friendliness perspective. Read More... Posted Jun 24 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, konami, guitar hero, rock band, mtv games, activision, rock revolution