Video Game News Monthly Digest #11

A new Naruto video game announced, more Nintendo games being developed, and a new 3DS model introduced are some of the top news for this monthly digest!



The action adventure game, Hunter x Hunter: Wonder Adventure, now has a Japanese release date of Sept. 20th. In this game, you play as Gon, Killua, Kurapika, or Leorio as you explore gimmick-filled maps and battle enemies.

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CyberConnect2 has revealed the next Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm will be coming out on the PS3 and Xbox 360 next year. The game will have an extended story mode, which begins when the Nine Tails attacks Konoha, and promises an evolved battle system.

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The light novel and upcoming anime series, Sword Art Online, will have a PSP game. Sword Art Online: Infinity Memory is being developed by Banpresto and produced by Namco Bandai. Its genre is being described as "a live in the moment with you RPG."

Players will play in an offline virtual world where you will have NPCs as allies. You can also partner up with characters roaming around the fields or dungeons. Partner characters can join up during battles and learn your character's attack patterns. Another way for the them to join is if you talk to them and pick certain responses.

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Namco Bandai has launched a website teasing a new game for the anime/light novel, A Certain Magical Index. A Certain Magical and Scientific Ensemble (a mashup of A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun) will be made for the PSP.

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The company also released trailers for their anime-video game hybrid discs.



The anime, .hack//Beyond the World, takes place in the year 2024 while the fighting game, .hack//Versus takes place a year later.



The next trailer shows the Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne OVA and its mech game, Kamogawa Dream Match.

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The Eureka Seven AO hybrid disc will include the OVA, Eureka Seven AO: Flowers of Jungfrau, which takes place between episodes 8 and 9, and the shooting-action video game, Eureka Seven AO: Attack the Legend. In the game, you can control mechs from Eureka Seven, Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbows, and Eureka Seven AO. Ao and Renton are some of the playable characters.

The hybrid disc will be released on Sept. 20th.

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Nitroplus has posted the opening sequence for its PC game, Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas. The game will be out in Japan on July 26th.

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While there are rumors that Microsoft and Sony will be banning used games on their next-gen consoles, Nintendo has confirmed that they will not ban used games for the Wii U.

The release date and price of the game system will be revealed in a September press conference.

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Durings its Nintendo Direct live conference, the company revealed the newest upgrade for its handheld. The Nintendo 3DS LL (or XL in NA) increased the size of the 3DS by 46%. The 3DS LL's measurement is 93x156x22mm while the original is 74x134x21mm. The top screen is now 4.88 inches compared to 3.58 inches while the bottom screen's size is 4.18 inches compared to 3.02 inches, which means that the screens have increased by 90%. Likewise, its battery life has increased in spite of the bigger size (3.5-6.5 hours for 3DS software and 6-10 hours for DS software).

You an also transfer data from the original 3DS to the XL just like you can with a 3DS and another 3DS. The XL can also work with the stand that was included with Kid Icarus.

The system will come out in three colors: White, Silver x Black, and Red x Black. It will include a larger SD card but no AC adaptor, which you will need to buy or you can use one from a previous Nintendo system. In N. America, the 3DS XL will include a 4GB SD card.

It will also have a Circle Pad Pro, but there is no announcement of when it will be released though it will probably be next year.

Its release date is July 28th (Japan) for ¥18,900 and August 19th (N. America) for $200.

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Nintendo of America has announced that they are going to offer discount sales on Nintendo eShop every week. Each week, a 3DS game will be discounted.

Nintendo of Europe has its own discount sale and released its schedule:

From June 22nd – June 28th:

• Pullblox
  
• Zen Pinball 3D
  
• Let’s Golf! 3D
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
  
• Super Mario Land

From June 28th – July 5th:

• Dillon’s Rolling Western
  
• Freakyforms Your Creations, Alive!
  
• Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH!
  
• Mighty Switch Force!
  
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

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Nintendo has provided details on its Kirby: 20th Anniversary Special Collection, which will be released in Japan. The game will include these previous Kirby games:

• Kirby's Dream Land (Gameboy)
  
• Kirby's Adventure (Famicom/NES)
  
• Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Gameboy)
  
• Kirby Super Star (Super Famicom/SNES)
  
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super Famicom/SNES)
  
• Kirby 64 (Nintendo 64)

Besides these game, the special collection will also have new features. "Motto Challenge Stage" or ""More Challenge Stage" is a stage similar to the one for the Kirby Wii game. In this mode, players try to score by using certain copy ability; there are ten stages including "Sword Challenge". It will also include an on-disc calendar called "Kirby History", which details the history of the series and its products (e.g. games, manga, anime, etc.).

Other bonuses are a special booklet, and a special OST. Its release date is July 19th.

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A new Super Smash Bros. game is being developed by Sora Ltd. and Namco Bandai. The former will be heading the project while the latter is in charge of developing the game. On Sora Ltd.'s side, Masahiro Sakurai will still be in charge; on Namco Bandai's side, Masaya Kobayashi (Ridge Racer series) is the producer while Yoshito Higuchi (Soul Caliber and Tales series) is the director.

The game will be for the Wii U and 3DS.

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The latest information for New Super Mario Bros. 2 focused on gold coins and the "all-new" ways of collecting them. One way is to jump through a gold ring and transform the enemies into coins. Another way is the "Coin Block", which is attached to Mario's head; the faster he runs, the more coins he collects. Lastly Mario has a new form, “Gold Mario”, in which he throws gold fireballs that transform blocks into gold.

A new game play mode called “Coin Rush” was also introduced. In this mode, one or two players will try to collect the most coins in a randomly-selected course in a timely manner. The remaining time will be converted to coins. You can save your record and share it online via StreetPass. The game will also have paid DLCs, which will be available after the game's release. One of which will be extra courses for the "Coin Rush" mode.

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Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, the first 3DS game from that series, is coming to N. America this November. Nintendo has also revealed that they will release a free downloadable puzzle everyday for a year after the game is released.

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Nintendo has announced that Fire Emblem: Awakening will be released in North America next year.



Likewise, the 3DS game, Animal Crossing: Jump Start (Japanese title), will also be out overseas next year. In this game, you are the mayor of the town and you can determine how it will look like.

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A 56-page report has been supposedly leaked from Microsoft, which revealed information on its next-gen console. According to the document, the Xbox 720 and Kinect 2 will be released next year due to declining Xbox 360 sales, new systems from Nintendo and Sony, and "new threats" from Apple TV and Google TV. It also listed concerns on the Xbox 360's limitations and planned to fix them with the next-gen console, which specs are listed below:

• Core Architecture
  > Application
  >> CPU Cores – 6-8x ARM/X86 @ 2GHz
  >> GPU – 64ALU @ 1GHz
  
  >Back-Compat
  >> CPU Cores – 3x PPC @ 3.2GHz
  
  > EDRAM – >32MB
  > Memory - 4GB, 128bit DDR4QoS for App Pool
  > Mass FLASH Storage – MLC
  
  > System
  >> CPU Core - 2x ARM/X86 @ 2GHz
  >> GPU - 48ALU @ 500MHz
  
  > Security System
  > Video/Audio Accel - 2HD Dec, 1HD Enc, DSP, XMA
  > Video Output - Flexible Resize / Compositing / 3D
  > NUI Offloal - Skeletal Tracking Accel.
  > Base IO - USB3.0, HDMI, DisplayPort, GigE,PCI-E, SATA, 802.11n
  > Device Specific IO - HSDPA, WiMAX, W-HDMI, ATSC,DisplayPort, LVDS

Microsoft estimated the game system will cost around $225 and its goal is that the Xbox 720 will be “the ONLY box you need for premium living room entertainment.”

The Kinect 2 will also have improvements such as “improved voice recognition,” “better 3D play space recognition,” “four player concurrent tracking,” “dedicated HW processing,” “higher accuracy”, “stereo imaging vs mono", and “better HD RGB camera.” Four-person play will also be supported.

The document also mentioned about “Fortaleza," which is a pair of glasses that allows player to “interact with the world in a revolutionary way.” These include:

• Platform (Xbox 720) – breakthrough heads up and hands free device.
  
• Sensors (Kinect) – seamless integration of the digital world with the physical world.
  
• Content / Transitioning (Games and Movies) – contextual applications and experiences for your life.
  
• Services (Xbox LIVE) – real time information on people, places and objects.
  
• 3 Screen (Tablets and Phones) – largest and most immersive screen, in the living room and on the go.

The glasses is supposedly coming out in 2014.

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Namco Bandai has announced that they will released a collector edition of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch in N. America and Europe. Titled Wizard's Edition, it will include the game, a Drippy plushie, a Golden Mite and Golden Drongo DLC familiars, and a 300+ hardcover art book called "Wizard's Companion", which is a companion of the game. It can be used to help tame special monsters. Likewise it has spells, a beastiary, item descriptions, and a history of "spells, a beastiary, item descriptions, and a history of Ni no Kuni’s world."

This special edition is only available at Namco's online store and cost $100. The game will be out in N. America on Jan. 22, 2013 and in Q1 2013 in Europe.

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The 3DS port of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers will include the first trailer for Shin Megami Tensei IV. Atlus consumer software head Naoto Hiraoka told Famitsu that the fourth installment will have proper evolution/advancement of the elements that make up the previous Megaten series and the battle system will be inherit from the previous titles. The Maniac Team will be developing the game.

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Atlus has posted information detailing the next two characters' stories in the fighting game's Story Mode. Teddie is still working at Junes when he decided to look for Yosuke in the TV world. There he meets Labrys and awed by her beauty, vowed to be her knight. While he is there, he bumped into a suspicious stranger wearing a red cloack and a "celebrity beauty". Meanwhile, Naoto's story line will connect the characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4. She is investigating the Kirijo Group after a man who knows about Personas contacted her. She's following Mitsuru and both of them ends up in Inaba...

According to Atlus and Arc Works System, the story mode will take 30-40 hours to complete.

In other news, Atlus USA announced that an arranged soundtrack will be the preorder bonus.

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Capcom has announced that they are making a high-definition remaster of Okami for Playstation 3. Okami: Superb Version will have 1080p high-definition graphics, Playstation Move support, and trophies. The Move controller can be used to “naturally make brush strokes with the essential Celestial Brush to defeat enemies and solve puzzles.”

The game will be out in Japan on Nov. 1st (3,990 yen) and this fall in N. America as a download game ($20). In Japan, first-print copies will have a redeem code for a Playview digital version of an Okami-based book.

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During the Capcom Summer Jam event in Odaiba, it has been confirmed that the latest Monster Hunter game, which is being made for the 3DS, will be out in Spring 2013 in Japan. Some of the monsters such as Tigrex and Rathalos appeared in the trailers. Likewise new ones showed up as well.


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