Jan 18, 2013

More Hope for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I Guess?

Kotaku

Back in 2006, Square Enix unveiled three games: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. All three were linked by mythos centered on crystals, and the series was dubbed "Fabula Nova Crystallis".

And somewhere along the way to 2013, Final Fantasy Agito XIII was renamed Final Fantasy Type-0, while Final Fantasy XIII launched two sequels, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

When asked about the end of this universe, longtime Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase told game site IGN, "When you say this universe, if you're talking about the universe that we have been seeing in XIII, XIII-2 and this game, that includes Cocoon, Gran Pulse and the islands in this installment; that is definitely coming to an end. But if you're on about Fabula Nova Crystallis and the mythology that these stories are based on, that may continue."

The "that may continue" line is causing some in Japan to speculate on the future of the long overdue Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Does this mean...? Could it mean...? Stuff like that.

Kitase did say that games based on the mythology "may continue". And maybe they will! Last summer, Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said developers were "diligently making Final Fantasy Versus XIII," but added, "When it gets to the stage that it makes one think, 'This is Final Fantasy,' we'd like to show it to everyone." However, at a recent event, Square Enix wouldn't even tell Kotaku anything about Versus.

Okay. Fine. But if Square Enix does release Versus, it would be somewhat surprising for the game to keep the Final Fantasy XIII moniker, no? Especially with universe of XIII, XIII-2, and Lightning Returns coming to an end.

With rumors swirling about Sony's inevitable PlayStation 4 reveal, Square Enix better get Versus out in a fairly timely fashion if it wants to make this generation. Or, with the way things have been going, next generation.

Lightning Returns Isn't The End of Fabula Nova Crystallis [IGN]

Jan 18, 2013

Don't Like How Your Game Looks In The Upcoming SimCity? Give It The Instagram Treatment.

Kotaku

One cool feature in Maxis' upcoming SimCity is the "filter" setting, which lets you view your city through all manner of lens. You can choose any of over a dozen filters, from soft-focus "warm" to a Sin City-like black and red, to "vintage," which will look familiar to most anyone who has ~~endured~~ used social media photo services over the last several years.

SimCity creative director Ocean Quigley is quite fond of the filters, and has posted a bunch of examples of them in action. Chris took those filters and put them into the video above, which shows you how they work. I could not approve of the soundtrack more. (Check out Chris' excellent SimCity Soundtrack Mixtape here.)

I spent a big chunk of time playing the game earlier this week, and will have a full preview next week. I did enjoy the filters, though I couldn't help but wish they were accompanied by a text-filter that put the game through Gizoogle.

Jan 18, 2013

The Week in Gaming Apps, Inaugural App Review Edition

Kotaku

Last week we bid a fond farewell to our regular Gaming App of the Day feature, swapping the aging and uncompromising system for something that gave us the flexibility to be more critical. How'd that work out? See for yourself!

Before you get to the six gaming app reviews we posted this week (five of which were my own), let's take a look at ten games we played this week that didn't get a stab at the spotlight. It was a lovely week for puzzles fans, but then every week is a great week for puzzle fans in mobile gaming. It was also a good week for fans of retro gaming and Shaquille O'Neal, folks that enjoy playing with their music, Japanese role-playing enthusiast and folks that enjoy paying three dollars for a golf game that's not really all that much of a golf game.

I suspect that last group is quite small.

iOS

Tin Man Can — $.99

A platforming puzzle game with a really distinctive style and even more distinctive online multiplayer.

Rise of the Blobs — Free (also on Android)

Just when you thought there are nothing new to be done with a drop puzzle game, Rise of the Blobs shows up and gets all cylindrical and explodey.

Beat Gather — Free

Konami's do-it-yourself rhythm game lets players create levels using their own music, and it's free, though purchasing new song slots can get pretty pricey.

SuperSight — Free

I love the style of this bizarre little arena battler.

Undead Soccer — Free

I was not expecting a game about kicking soccer balls at zombies to be this entertaining.

Android

Galactic — $.99

A really nifty little space-physics puzzle game that plays with propulsion and gravity. It's not much to look at, but it's plenty to excel at.

Kingdom Conquest II — Free (also on iOS)

And incredibly complex combination of strategy, simulation and action.

Symphony of the Origin — $3.99

Bless the folks at Kemco for bringing so many basic Japanese role-playing games to Android. This is their first game built from the ground-up for mobile. The overlands are still simple, but the battle graphics are quite lovely. I want to hug these people.

ShaqDown — $.99 (also on iOS)

Worth it if only for the novelty factor. It's Shaquille O'Neal against zombies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Why not?

RU Golf THD — $2.99

I'm including this one as a public service. The graphics on this game are lovely. There's almost no gameplay whatsoever, just hitting balls onto a green against another player. Beware this pretty poison.

App Reviews for the Week of January 14-18

Waking the Cat is Normally a Bad Idea. This is the Exception.

If three decades of cat ownership have taught me anything, it's that a cat at rest should be let stay at rest as long as feline-ly possible. Cats are at their cutest when unconscious. More »

The Week in Gaming Apps, Inaugural App Review Edition

Sweet Pixel Graphics Can't Save This Game from Collectible Card Banality

It takes something special to get me invested in one of the wave of mobile collectible card games seeking to ride on the overwhelming success of Rage of Bahamut-it took Transformers to get me to appreciate the appeal of the genre. More »

The World's Most Popular Endless Runner Returns to Show the Clones How It's Done

The success of Temple Run, a simple 3D endless runner created by the husband and wife team of Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova, has been nothing short of astounding. More »

Final Fantasy: All the Bravest is $46 of In-App Purchases Looking for a Game

If you're looking for a mildly interactive trip through the history of the Final Fantasy franchise and don't mind shelling out a little more than $50 for the complete experience, Final Fantasy: More »

Heroes, Castles, And One Janky Tower Defense Game

The iTunes description for Heroes & Castles, a new third-person tower defense game that hit iOS yesterday, says it has "incredible console quality graphics."
Really, they should've stuck with mobile-quality graphics. More »

Match-Three Plus Multi-Touch Makes My Brain Hurt (In a Good Way)

Swapping colorful objects to create rows of three or more is about as simple as a puzzle game can get. After years of playing titles like Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga, seeing the patterns that make the best matches is almost second nature to me. More »

Jan 18, 2013

Massive Layoffs Crush Gas Powered Games Just Days After Launch Of $1.1 Million Kickstarter [Update]

Kotaku

Massive Layoffs Crush Gas Powered Games Just Days After Launch Of $1.1 Million Kickstarter [Update]

We've heard from two sources that there have been big layoffs at Gas Powered Games, the company that just launched a Kickstarter for $1.1 million to make their next game, Wildman.

One source said these layoffs may be connected to the Kickstarter's current performance, which you could argue has been disappointing, based on their goal. Right now, it has been up for four days and earned around $173,000.

One source suggested that the company may be shutting down entirely.

UPDATE: We've heard from two more sources saying that almost everyone at the company has been laid off. According to one of these sources, the company has let go of everyone except CEO Chris Taylor and one or two people.

Located in Redmond, Washington, Gas Powered Games is the developer behind games like Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander. It's run by Chris Taylor, who created the popular real-time strategy game Total Annihilation.

We've reached out to both Taylor and a PR representative for the company's Kickstarter project. We'll update should we hear back.

UPDATE 2: Chris Taylor has confirmed the layoffs. He sent over the following e-mail:

Hey Jason,

We do have a layoff, and we'll be updating our Kickstarter as well with details as well very soon. I'm way behind, so many wonderful people to talk to and share stories with, so it just takes time. It's actually been a fairly positive experience, because I run a very open company and everyone knows what's going on.

Thanks!
Chris

UPDATE 3: Taylor has offered some further explanation to Gamasutra, saying, "The studio is still operating, but we had to slim WAY down to conserve cash reserves."

UPDATE 4: Taylor has offered a further bit of explanation to Joystiq, telling them that about 40 people have been "affected by layoffs" (Joystiq's language), that the decision wasn't as sudden as it appeared to be, and that it will allow the company to pay severance and remaining paid time-off.

UPDATE 5: Taylor has made a lengthy statement via a video update to the Wildman Kickstarter page. He explains the reasoning behind the timing of the layoffs: If the company ran through the entire Kickstarter campaign and it failed, he says he'd have to let everyone go, shut the company down, and not give any paid time-off or severance. "That," he says, "I decided was not worth it."

In the video, Taylor goes on to ask backers if he should continue the Kickstarter campaign. "Now that the team has been laid off," he says, "should I continue the campaign to see if the numbers do improve, and hire them back at the end of the campaign if they still want to come back and if they haven't found jobs? Or do I shut the campaign down tonight, or tomorrow, and call it done?" Taylor then asks people to vote with their comments, and says they will tabulate them. "Do we kill the campaign, or do we keep it going? It's up to you."

Jan 18, 2013

The Music In Fire Emblem: Awakening Is So. Hot.

Kotaku

I've been playing the upcoming 3DS game Fire Emblem: Awakening for the last week, and wanted to share some of the game's music.

We won't be posting a full review for a little while still, but I can already say that the soundtrack, most of which you can already listen to on YouTube, it something special.

I'll have something more in-depth about the game's soundtrack at some point soon, but for the time being, I wanted to share one of the standouts, the music that plays when you pick your party and prepare for battle.

The "prepare track" is an important one for a strategy-RPGs like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. It needs to be exciting without overselling it, thought-provoking while staying out of your way and letting you run through your stats and party members. This music achieves that, and it's hip, to boot.

I'm not 100% clear on who composed the Awakening soundtrack: It looks like it was some combination of longtime series composer Yuka Tsujiyoko and Okami and Bayonetta composer Rei Kondoh. I've reached out to Nintendo to find out.

Update: Nintendo got back to me to let me know that some of the Awakening music was indeed composed by Rei Kendoh, with Hiroki Morishita acting as music director and main composer.

At any rate, give it a listen, and choose your team. But be sure to choose… wisely.

Jan 18, 2013

The Sequel to a Game Played By Millions Dropped This Week, and No One Knew It Was Coming

Kotaku

Imagine Activision releasing the latest Call of Duty game without telling anyone it was coming. No developer diaries, no screenshot packages, no media events — just a quick heads up that it would be in stores tomorrow. Preposterous, right?

Yet on Thursday a game played by more people than the Call of Duty: Black Ops II arrived on iTunes with little more than that. Temple Run has been downloaded more than 170 million times. Christmas Day 2012 alone accounts for 2.5 million of those — 1 million on iTunes, 1 million on Google Play and 500K via the Amazon Marketplace.

What a delightful surprise.

This sort of thing rarely happens in the world of console gaming anymore. Back in the days before the internet a gamer could wander into Babbage's and discover a game he'd heard absolutely nothing about. That's how I discovered Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo — one of my favorite games of all time, and I had no idea it had been released.

These days console game publishers start the hype train early. Sometimes we know about games years in advance, teased with concept art at the earliest stages of development. When a game does manage to slip into stores under our radar, there's often a good reason — sometimes the games just aren't worth marketing.

That wasn't the case with Temple Run 2, a fine follow-up to the incredibly popular endless runner. It's not that there's anything wrong with the game. It's just that Imangi Studios' Keith Shepherd, Natalia Luckyanova and the rest of the extended development team (up to five people from the original three) had the luxury of working on the game until it was ready to release without worrying about setting up previews or launching a marketing campaign.

"It's one of the joys of being a small indie studio," Shepard said during a call days prior to the game's launch. "We love making games, and plan staying small making games. That's something you can do on this platform."

That's what's beautiful about mobile gaming and indie game development in general. While traditional console game developers are busy jumping through hoops, creating preview builds, capturing screenshots and coordinating with marketing, studios like Imangi can concentrate on doing what they love, keeping surprise alive in the process.

Jan 18, 2013

Beautiful Video Game World Maps

Kotaku

Beautiful Video Game World Maps World maps in video games are usually pretty great. We love world maps! You can use them to track the results of your progression through some grand adventure as new locations become accesible and your control over the world grows. A well-crafted world map in any game is always a sign of high quality.