PixlBit

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.

Read more »

The controversial Japanese game developer leaves a legacy of genre bending titles.

Last week was kind of a crazy week of news for video game fans of all walks of life. Naturally the PS4 announcement took up the lion’s share of the attention, and with good reason considering how long the current console generation has lasted. Obviously big and sad news hit a lot of people close to this website with the announcement that 1up would be closing, and some excellent writers getting laid off. With all of that commotion it’s easy to forgive if you didn’t realize that Kenji Eno died last week, as well. You can also be forgiven for asking who that is, because although Eno was a legendary game designer to a lot of people, he was also an enigma that hadn’t been in the gaming news for over a decade.

Read more »

Fire up the blogs, forums, and comments, people--the Console Wars are back!

On February 20^th, Sony unleashed the opening volley in what could very well be the next generation of the fabled Console Wars with the introduction of the PlayStation 4. The message was clear: “We messed up with the PS3 and let our ego get the better of us. But we’re learning from our mistakes, and we’re taking the fight to our competitors.” From the opening song “Monster Hospital” by Metric to the strategic use of classic PlayStation cues for speakers at the conference, it seems like Sony is embracing the now storied history of the PlayStation brand and is ready for a hell of a battle with Microsoft and Nintendo.

Read more »

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!

Read more »