MMO Clerks

TOKYO — Never underestimate the power of fashion in Japan.
The Nintendo-published
Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode– “wagamama” translates as “selfish” — for the Nintendo DS tops this week’s top 10 best-selling games.
Girls Modeputs you in the role of a clothing boutique manager, as you coordinate your customers to success, using the more than 10,000 items of clothing and accessories included in the game.
I expect it has turned into
thechoice game for DS-toting Harajuku girls throughout Japan.
Note that if you take into account the two versions of Atlus’
Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raido tai Abaddon O
for the PS2, it would have in fact ranked #1 with combined sales of 88,000.

The regular edition of the RPG title comes with a soundtrack CD, while the
Plusedition includes an updated version of
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, with the main character of Dante replaced by
Summoner’s Raido.

What about last week’s #1?
Wii Musicis already down to fifth place in its second week of […]

Original post by Jean Snow

Atlus is teasing a new Nintendo DS title in
Famitsu, with a two-page ad that promises more details in next week’s issue, out November 7.
All we know for now is that the game is called
Megami Ibunroku Devil Survivor, which could link it to the 1996 PlayStation title
Revelations: Persona– known as
Megami Ibunroku Personain Japan — the first title in the
Personaseries. Could we be getting a DS remake of the classic (pictured right)?
With
Persona 4’s
North American releasejust over a month away, it’s certainly a good time to be a fan of the series right now.

Image: Atlus

Atlus Brings
Devil Survivorto DS[IGN]

See also:

Review:
Persona 3 FESAmazes With Style And Value

Videos:
Persona 4’s Webisodes

Dress Up in
Persona 4’s Love

Original post by Jean Snow

Namco Bandai is readying a new action RPG title for the Nintendo DS called
Destiny Links, set to come out in Japan this winter.

Destiny Linksincludes the new de facto standard of all portable RPG titles in Japan: four-player cooperative. It will do
Monster Hunterone better though by offering Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support, on top of local network play.
The title was first revealed by
Famitsuearlier this month but was not playable at the Tokyo Game Show, only shown in the form of a trailer. The storyline involves a group of adventurers — you play as one of eight characters — who face encounters on an island called Ameijia.
Siliconera reports that the publisher has also registered trademarks for the titles
Lasting Linksand
Endless Links, so we may have a new Namco Bandai RPG franchise on our hands.

Destiny Links: The Start of an Action RPG Franchise?[Siliconera]

Original post by Jean Snow

The next entry in the
Elder ScrollsRPG series should come out in 2010, according to Bethesda’s Paul Oughton.
“At the moment we’ve got
Fallout 3for this year and potentially there’s a new
Elder Scrollstitle in 2010,” Oughton told GamesIndustry.biz.
He also reveals in the same interview that the publisher plans to release “three or four [big] titles a year,” and that those plans do not include any titles for the Wii or Nintendo DS.

Image courtesy Bethesda

Bethesda pencils in new
Elder Scrollstitle for 2010[GamesIndustry.biz]

See also:

Review: Engrossing
Fallout 3Mutates a Classic Series

Bethesda Expects New
Falloutin 3 Years

‘Cultural Sensitivities’ Bar
Fallout 3From India

Original post by Jean Snow

Atari is slated to publish
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athenaon the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in Spring 2009.

Dark Athenais a follow-up to
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game that is widely heralded as the finest film-to-game translation ever created. The original, despite the low expectations that always accompany such cash-in titles, proved not only a quality entry in the
Chronicles of Riddick/Pitch Blackmythos, it also was one of the best action titles on the original Xbox.
Little information exists on the sequel, aside from the gorgeously rendered shot of series protagonist Riddick seen above.

Dark Athenais being developed by Starbreeze Studios (best known for 2007’s
The Darkness) and Vin Diesel’s own Tigon Studios.

Image courtesy Atari

Original post by Earnest Cavalli

The PC iteration of Grand Theft Auto IV has been delayed. The game will now see retail shelves on December 2, reports IGN.
Alongside this sad news, Rockstar Games also revealed the minimum and recommended system requirements for the game. If you were planning on buying it, pay attention:
Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz
Memory: 1.5GB, 16GB Free Hard Drive Space
Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

That’s actually pretty reasonable based on the screenshots and demos of the game I’ve seen. For the more realistic Recommended Requirements, have a look below.
Recommended System Requirements

OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz
Memory:  2 GB (Windows XP) 2.5 GB (Windows Vista)
18 GB Free Hard Drive Space
Video […]

Original post by Earnest Cavalli

Dead Space: Downfall, the animated film tie-in for Electronic Arts’ new survival horror series is coming to television on Sunday, November 2.
The film premieres on premium channel Starz Action at 10 PM Eastern and Pacific time. It also saw release on DVD, courtesy Anchor Bay Entertainment, on October 28.
“We are
thrilled to have the world television premiere of
Dead Space: Downfallon Encore Action,” said Starz Entertainment’s vice president of program acquisitions Nancy Silverstone.
“The feature sets a new standard
for animated horror that our audience will love. It provides the story thread
from the comic books to the newly released game, using the background and sound
design from the game and the same artistic spirit of the comic book
series,” Silverstone added.

Image courtesy Starz Entertainment

See Also:

Review:
Dead SpaceShooter Will Shock You

Dead SpaceConsole-Specific Suits as DLC

Warren Ellis Gives
Dead SpaceIts Creepy Narrative

Original post by Earnest Cavalli

Time to get your parkour on: a demo for first-person jumper
Mirror’s Edgeshows up today on the PlayStation Network, and tomorrow on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
The demo will include a story intro, a tutorial stage, and section of gameplay from the main story mode. Although not stated in the announcement, chances are it’ll be the rooftop sequence that has been playable at gaming conventions, ending with a jump to a helicopter.
If you pre-order the game, you get a bonus in the form of an exclusive unlock code for
the time trial mode. The mode allows you to do speed runs through levels, with the option of chasing down ghost data. Times are posted to an online leaderboard.

Mirror’s Edgecomes out in stores November 11.

Image courtesy DICE

See also:

Mirror’s EdgeTrilogy Planned

Free
Mirror’s EdgeRemix Album Coming in November

Videos:
Mirror’s EdgeGameplay

Original post by Jean Snow

A few days ago we told you about
Guitar Hero World Tour’sflawed drums, and Activision’s plan to fix them. Only a day later, the publisher released the official Drum Tuning Kit for
GHWTwhich they hope will fix any issues players might be having.
Essentially, the Drum Tuning Kit is an additional layer of options in which players can fine tune the sensitivity of the faux drum set Activision included with their copy of
GHWT.
The instructions on how to operate the Tuning Kit are a bit too complex to reiterate here, but those of you having problems with your drums would
do well to visit the Kit’s official web site.
My personal copy of
GHWTdoesn’t seem to have any flaws, so I can’t confirm nor deny the utility of the Tuning Kit myself. If any of you are having issues with your drums and attempt to fix it with the Tuning Kit, let us know how it goes.

Image […]

Original post by Earnest Cavalli

Between Richard Garriott’s recent extraterrestrial flight and the work going on at Armadillo Aerospace (a firm founded by id Software master coder John Carmack, it seems that space tourism is the hyper-rich geek’s version of rebuilding a ‘67 Impala in the garage.
The latest fruit of Carmack’s firm is the pictured-at-right “Fishbowl Spaceship.” The craft is designed to offer space tourists a comfortable trek, as well as a full, 360 degree panoramic view of the cosmos.
The picture is a conceptual mock-up, though Armadillo plans to create a working prototype by the end of 2009. Manned suborbital flights are planned by the end of 2010.
To recoup the no doubt immense research and development costs that went into crafting such an unorthodox vehicle, Carmack’s firm will be offering flights to the (extremely wealthy) general public.
This ship can carry two people simultaneously, and tickets for each flight are estimated at $100,000. It’s a huge […]

Original post by Earnest Cavalli