The choice between console and PC has never been so clear.
It all starts with a box. It’s shiny, and it’s white, and it’s metal. It’s also empty, but it won’t always be this way.
Everyone's favorite Arian Ninja Returns.
As a fan of anime, I’ve played more than my fair share of iterative fighting games based off of my favorites, particularly the Dragon Ball Series. A common issue with those games is that they would often retell the same stories over and over, hoping that the changes in gameplay would warrant re-exploring the universe. Thankfully, the Naruto games haven’t suffered as much as the DBZ series since the story is still currently running. Though the games have largely been similar, the draw for me has been seeing my favorite moments from the anime and manga recreated in the beautiful engine used by CyberConnect2. Strangely though, upon getting my hands on the demo for the next title, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, I was pleased to see that there might be more than I bargained for in this package.
A look at the production of the single player mode from Ascension.
Namco Bandai's commercial failure was Ninja Theory's creative success.
While history always remembers the games with the perfect reviews and the record sales, sometimes the best examples of the industry’s work have neither and become forgotten to all but the few who recognized them for being something special.
Will Kratos' latest tale grow stale?
Upon learning about the direction of God of War: Ascension, I was hesitant to fully back this game. Instead of re-inventing the series, or continuing from the somewhat ambiguous ending of the third installment, Ascension was to be yet another prequel that would tell I was already familiar with. While the plot of the game still screams “useless filler” to me, my time with the game reminded me why God of War was so good to begin with. The absurdly high production values, a simple and stylish combat system, and larger than life set pieces in this thirty minute demo roused my interest in the series once again.
Henshin-a-go-go, baby!
It’s been a while, but you knew this feature couldn’t stay away forever. That’s right, it’s about time that we had ourselves another installment of Missing in Action!
A great party never just happens.
If there’s one thing the Etrian Odyssey series requires, it’s time. Even though the games eschew the game clocks we’ve become accustomed to, most people who play through to the end (and beyond) estimate that they spend more than a hundred hours exploring the unforgiving dungeons. If you plow into a game of this scope with only the most basic of parties and expect to stay engaged for that amount of time, you’ll likely give up and walk away. Creating a party with unique tactics and strategies is pivotal to be successful and to have fun with these games since the story is minimal to the point of being a secondary concern.
Jonathan Morin (Creative Director) guides us through some of the gameplay interactions to be had in the city of Chicago.
This issue of PB & Jason was spoken in real time!
The key phrase at the PlayStation 4 announcement event was "...in real time." A point this PB & Jason tries to make is that real-time, scripted footage produces visuals that are often of higher quality than actual gameplay footage, and unfortunately, developers and publishers take advantage of that fact. Regardless, this week's PB & Jason covers last week's Nintendo Direct in brief, and then tackles the announcements of the PlayStation2013 event. Impressions of the reveals are mixed: Most of the actual features included in the PS4, like trying games instantly and streaming your game feed from the console, sound very interesting. The game announcements and trailers, however, seemed disappointing at the same time. PB & Jason is recorded in front of a live studio audience every Wednesday, weather permitting. Click through for listening and download links!
