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Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios knocks this one out of the park.

It’s hard not be struck by deja vu while playing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, as it’s an amalgamation of every major Western RPG of the last five years. The art style and vibrant color palette are heavily inspired by World of Warcraft, the loot system rivals that of Borderlands, and the character development is an interesting Dragon Age: Origins/Fable hybrid. While Reckoning is quite liberal in its search for muses, it expands beyond many of them to forge a unique identity. Reckoning is to the games it borrows from, as baseball is to itself from 40 years ago; the concepts are basically the same, but everything is on steroids, making it far more enjoyable.

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The company had strong sales in Japan to make up for poor international numbers.

Namco Bandai has announced that its quarterly profits have increased by 48%. This is due to a 17% increase in Japan and despite a 27% decrease in the US and a 5% decrease in Europe. The period in question is from the beginning of October to the end of December 2011.

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Before there was Star Fox 64, Fox and company went on a second quest to save Corneria... but chances are, you didn't get to play it.

Shigeru Miyamoto has become quite well known for his outstanding games and their absolutely unique designs. He has led countless projects and played a major role in the runaway success of Nintendo since the introduction of the NES. However, he's also the reason Star Fox 2, a fully completed game, has never seen the light of day.

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Final Fantasy takes a journey into the future of the franchise, but hits some potholes on the way.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 had a lot to make up for, being the follow-up to one of the most divisive games in the beloved RPG series. For a franchise that was built on every iteration being wildly different from the last, Final Fantasy XIII perhaps changed a little bit too much in removing many of the core elements that the series—and JRPGs in general—are known for. While that game took over 5 years to develop and was met with confusion and in some cases rage, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a game that went from announcement to release in about a year. Is it possible that a game so rushed could hope to right the perceived wrongs of its predecessor? The short answer is “yes”, but there’s a pretty big “but…” to go along with it.

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