If you have a comprehensive knowledge of Japanese literature or flight combat games that never saw an American release, you probably already know about The Sky Crawlers. We fell in love with Namco-Bandai’s book-to-game adaptation when we were teased with tons of gameplay footage last year — sadly, the game was never visited by the localization fairy, and never made it to the States. Since then, we’ve been sad all over.
Fortunately, a recent XSEED press release has turned our melancholy into melan-jolly (ugh) — the capitalized company has purchased the North American publishing rights for The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, due out this holiday season on the Wii. The game, which was developed by Ace Combat veterans Project Aces, will have players using the Wiimote and Nunchuck to simulate actual flight controls. It’s a bit overdue, but we’re thrilled about the Americanization of this aeronautical gem nonetheless.
The tri-Crescendo-developed Namco Bandai RPG, Fragile, will eventually make its way to Europe, GameSpot reports. Sometime in early 2010, Europeans will be able to get their own taste of this post-apocalyptic title following Seto, who is believed to be the last living human being. It’s kind of like I Am Legend, but, like, bearable.
Made by the same team behind Eternal Sonata, Fragile is currently set to release in North America during the holidays courtesy of XSEED, and will arrive in Europe via Rising Star Games.
Last September, XSEED Games announced its intent to publish Vanillaware’s Wii side-scroller Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America, to the delight of hardcore action gamers and people who like to see pretty things. Then, in April, it announced that it wouldn’t be publishing the title, a duty that then fell to Ignition Entertainment.
At the time, we wondered why XSEED would decide not to publish such an eye-catching game. The short answer: it wouldn’t decide to do that. XSEED’s Jun Iwasaki and Jimmy Soga gave us details on the Muramasa situation, as well as the recent Fragile announcement, and the timing of Flower, Sun, and Rain. And, of course, they gamely accepted our pleas for Retro Game Challenge 2.
XSEED’s adorable (and highly successful) MMO Ragnarok Online has been wooing players since its Korean launch in 2001. It went on to expand its dominion with the release of Ragnarok Online DS last December in Japan, selling like solid-gold hotcakes. However, XSEED has no plans of ceasing the expansion of the game’s enormous empire — it recently announced in a press release that Ragnarok Online DS will be coming Stateside this winter.
The game will be an action-RPG in the style of its PC predecessor, placing you in the shoes of a young adventurer in search of treasure. The mechanics of the core game are all there — level progression, job and class selection, et cetera. Though the DS port will doff the massivelyness of its PC iteration, it will allow three other players to join you wirelessly or via Wi-Fi. We expect the game’s adorability factor to also be appropriately off the charts.
We must admit, we were curious about the state of the Marvelous/XSEED relationship when we found out that Ignition had grabbed the publishing rights for Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The two companies seem to be doing okay, though, because XSEED just announced that it will publish Valhalla Knights: Eldar Sagafor the Wii in North America this summer. Rising Star previously announced it will handle European publishing.
This will be the first console entry for the formerly PSP-exclusive series, and adds two-player online coop to the series’ action-RPG gameplay. Unlike the PSP games, this version lacks separate battle screens, with real-time battles taking place on the main world map.
You should probably sit down, we have some bad news. According to NintendoEverything, XSEED has decided it will not publish the Wii exclusive Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America. Muramasa: The Demon Blade — which recently landed on store shelves in Japan — is the new action role-playing title from Japanese developer Vanillaware, makers of the cult-hit Odin Sphere on PlayStation 2.
Muramasa was originally planned for release in North America as part of its US publishing agreement with Marvelous Entertainment US. According to NintendoEverything, XSEED states it still believes in the game and “will look forward to seeing it release in North America” — as long as it isn’t released by them, apparently. If you thought the wait was going to be long before… grab a Snickers bar, kids.
The Marvelous/XSEED publishing superteam has announced a release date for Matrix Software’s action RPG Avalon Code. Should you RPG fans finish Blue Dragon Plus and Legacy of Ys this week, you’ll still have Avalon Code to look forward to on March 10.
Avalon Code tasks players with filling a magical “Book of Prophecy” with monsters, people, and everything else found throughout the world. Once profiled, the pages from this book can then be used to alter the game world and “influence a myriad of parameters from monster attributes to weapon strength.” The book is also useful for identifying stats and elemental weaknesses about monsters you encounter.
We’re completely dying of charm here. The TGS trailer for Cing’s Little King’s Story has dialed the quirky adorableness to levels that are potentially hazardous to human sanity. Look at Howser the Bullknight and his faithful companion, Pancho! One of the job classes is “Carefree Adult!”
Seriously, every aspect of this game has been designed by Science to melt hearts and fill the air with joyous laughter. We’re going to have to do our very best to overcome our natural aversion to games about ordering a bunch of people to build stuff for you and try this. Speaking of which, we’re looking forward to finally reading more hands-on impressions from TGS!
The two companies have partnered to bring Little King’s Story — not to be confused with Square Enix’s somewhat similar strategy title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King — to the states this winter. Hopefully, the charming looking game won’t be lost amid all the other holiday releases.
Quick primer on the game: You play as Corobo, a shy boy who stumbles upon a crown in a nearby forest. Corobo discovers that with the crown, he can charm anyone in his village and give them orders. Howzer, a bull-knight, soon stops by and tells the kid that he’s now the king of the village and that it’s his responsibility to lead the hamlet into building a grand kingdom. Bring your scepter into the gallery below for some kingdom-building screenshots!
Hey, we bet you were getting worried there for a little bit? Maybe you thought we forgot about crowning the winner of our latest giveaway? Well, we didn't! We set out to make one person incredibly happy today and we will do just that. And, that person is:
Congratulations Lord Kuragari! We'll be sure to get this out to you as soon as possible.And, to everyone else that entered, try not to hate him too much. Thanks to everyone that entered and thanks for reading Wii Fanboy!Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
XSEED bringing The Sky Crawlers to North American Wiis originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
