Video Game News Monthly Digest #9

Anime-based video games going overseas, Wii U games' packaging detailed, and more in this month's video game news digest!



During its “Global Gamers Day” press conference, Namco Bandai has announced that it will be bringing One Piece Musuo (or One Piece: Pirate Warriors) to N. America and Europe.

The game will be out in November exclusively on the PSN.

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During that same conference, Namco Bandai has confirmed the rumor that there will be Dragon Ball Z game for the Kinect. The game will have over 50 playable characters, 100+ moves and 30 minutes of new anime content.

The game will be out in October.

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A Rurouni Kenshin PSP conversion has been announced by Namco Bandai. It will be a sequel to last year's Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story Saisen.

The game will be out this summer in Japan.

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The Bakemonogatari PSP game will be coming out in Japan on August 23rd.

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The cast of the Guilty Crown prequel has been revealed; Takahiro Sakurai will play Scrooge, Kana Asumi will play Carol, Ayahi Takagaki will play Past, and Yu Kobayashi will play Present. The latest promo also showed that the game will use CG for the mechs.

The PC game will be out in Japan on July 26th.

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According to a Famitsu article, the video game adaption of Eureak Seven AO will be for the PS3. Namco Bandai has also announced that they will release the series as a hybrid pack, which will contain the anime and a video game.

No date has been announced yet.

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Nintendo announced that games for the Wii U will be released at both retail and through digital download. The pricing will be the same for both versions. Retail stores will also the digital downloads and can set their own prices, perform sales, etc. Nintendo's reasoning is that it will give consumers a choice without sacrificing the retailers. The company also stated that 3DS retail games will be available as downloads at the eShop.

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There are conflicting reports about how powerful the Wii U's graphics will be. According to some developers, Nintendo's next-gen console is not as powerful as the PS3 or Xbox 360. However a Darksiders developer stated that it is as powerful as those consoles while Gearbox's Brian Martel claimed that the Wii U is more powerful than the current-gen consoles. Another rumor is that the Wii U will cost $300 due to the fact that it has $180 worth of parts.

Nintendo will most likely dispel these rumors when they present its newest console at E3.

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Nintendo has patented a cradle system for its Wii U's tablet controller. It looks like it is a charger and a dock for the controller.

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Nintendo has confirmed that they will be showing Pikmin 3 and New Super Mario Bros. at E3.

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To celebrate 20 years of the Kirby series, Nintendo is going to release a compilation of older Kirby games. The collection will be released for the Wii.

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According to a report on VG247, Sony is confident that their next-gen console (Code name, Orbis) will be released before Microsoft's successor, which is rumored to be launch during Christmas 2013, and that gamers should pay attention to next year's E3 press briefings. However, another source stated that all next-gen consoles will be out on 2014.

As for the Orbis's specs, it will use DirectX coupled with AMD hardware, which will be similar to the development environment between the PC and Xbox. It will also use custom chips based on AMD's A8-3850 APU and Radeon HD 7670 GPU, which will have a combined performance of both integrated and discrete graphics processors. Sony plans to have the next-gen console and Vita be connected in a way similar to the Wii U and its tablet controller.

The Xbox 720 is rumored to have a Blu-ray player and an "always-on” internet connection to prevent piracy. Like the Orbis, it is powered by AMD hardware as well. The next-gen console will also have two GPUs and a “four or six” core CPU; two of the latter will be for reserves - one for the console; the other, the Kinect. Speaking of the Kinect, the next-gen version will be built into the system. Apparently, Flextronics is currently producing the next-gen console though it is most likely developmental kits for game studios.

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In the console version, there are several modes which are:

• Lesson Mode
  
• Story Mode
  
• Arcade mode
  
• Score Attack Mode
  
• Training Mode
  
• Challenge Mode
  
• Versus Mode
  
• Network Mode
  
• Contents Market
  
• Replay Theater
  
• Gallery Mode
  
• Option

In the Story Mode, you will start with four unlockable characters (Yu aka P4 MC, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko) with the rest being unlocked as you play. Yu's story begins when he arrived back in Inaba and reunited with his family and friends.

Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena will be out in Japan on August 2nd and in N. America on August 7th.

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The Persona 4 remake will have more in-game TV shows. One will show artworks from Shigenori Soejima, while another is a month long special with anime clips. A music program called Hey Hey Hoo! Music King features new songs, and a quiz show called "Midnight Quiz" will be hosted by Teddie.

The game will also give you profile card, which can be exchanged with other players when you use the rescue system feature. The card will have your handle name, the number of rescues you made, a personal message, and your icon (you can pick your favorite character).

Just like the others, Teddie and Naoto has new ultimate personas. The former has Yamato Sumera Mikoto while the latter has Kamuy-Mosir.

The game will be out in Japan on June 14th and this fall in N. America.

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Atlus is going to convert its PSOne and Sega Saturn game, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, to the Nintendo 3DS. The game will have some upgrades, which are full voice acting, shorter load time, battle animations, and opening animation by Satelite. Its Japanese release date is August 30th.

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From Software's challenging RPG, Dark Souls, is coming to the PC due to fans' feedback and an online petition. The game titled Dark Souls: Prepare to Die will have more content including new bosses (Chimera of the Tomb and Black Dragon), new enemies (e.g. Abyss Guard, Chained Prisoner, etc.), new NPCs, and new lands (e.g. Oolacile Tomb, Old Ruins, etc.). There will also be a new world called Lodran where you have to defeat the Dark Knight Artorias. From Software also revealed that there will be new armors and weapons for the players.

The worldwide release date will be August 24th.

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President and CEO of Level-5 Akihiro Hino revealed that N. America will have DLCs though he didn't say whether or not it will be free or priced. He also stated that there will be additional enhancements and contents (e.g. extra creatures) that was not available in the Japanese version.

The game has been delayed from this winter to Q1 2013.

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Namco Bandai, Capcom, and Sega are planning to develop a crossover game, which will be similar to the previous strategy RPG crossover, Namco x Capcom. Project x Zone is being produced by Namco Bandai though Capcom and Sega are also overseeing the project. All three companies are bringing their characters (in pairs) in the game. Here is the current roster so far:

Capcom:

• Ryu and Ken (Street Fighter)
  
• X and Zero (Mega Man X)
  
• Demitri (Darkstalkers) and Dante (Devil May Cry)
  
• Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)
  
• Frank West (Dead Rising) and Hsien-Ko (Darkstalkers)

Namco Bandai

• Sanger (Super Robot Taisen OG)
  
• Jin and Xiaoyu (Tekken)
  
• KOS-MOS and T-elos (Xenosaga)
  
• Yuri and Estelle (Tales of Vesperia)
  
• Kite and BlackRose (.hack)

Sega

• Sakura Shinguji and Ichigo Ogami (Sakura Wars)
  
• Akira Yuki and Pai Chan (Virtua Fighters)
  
• Kurt and Riela (Valkyria Chronicles 3)
  
• Cyrille and Toma (Shining Force EXA) and Ulala (Space Channel 5)
  
• Zephyr and Leanne (Resonance of Fate)

Each character has move sets which are easily recognized by fans (e.g. Ryu and Ken's Shoryuken) and fight in teams. More characters including hidden ones will be revealed at a later time.

The game will be out this year in Japan.

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In an interview with Nintendo Dreams, Tetsuya Nomura teased about a potential sequel to the smash hit, The World Ends with You. He mentioned that he gave one of the TWEWY characters lines in Kingdom Hearts 3D due to the future of The World Ends with You series. However he added that he can't say anymore, but there is something.

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