Posts By Nick DiMola
Could Operation Rainfall Revive the west's dormant love for the JRPG?
Today Xenoblade Chronicles is available for purchase in the US thanks, in part, to Operation Rainfall. To mark the occasion, a few members of the PixlBit staff began a dialogue concerning the future of the movement and if it’s at all possible that Operation Rainfall could revive the west’s love for the Japanese RPG.
Killer is Dead will grace the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013.
With the upcoming release of Lollipop Chainsaw, and the recent release of Sine Mora and Diabolical Pitch, Grasshopper Manufacture has been a busy studio. Their unique blend of camp and the bizarre has been turning heads for years now and their newest title appears to be no exception. Killer is Dead is Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture's latest work, and though the name seems to imply it, the title bears no relation to their past work, Killer 7.
I'd rather go Tower Defense play.
Creating a South Park game is tricky business, no doubt. It requires equal parts great gameplay, fan service, and humor. What makes Tenorman’s Revenge especially interesting is that it manages to fail on all three fronts. Stiff controls, a lame story, and poor level design make this one of the few South Park stories that you’re better off skipping.
Forgoing the traditional peripheral-based input, the upcoming downloadable title channels Amplitude and Frequency.
Today, Harmonix officially announced Rock Band Blitz for both Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. Rather than utilize the peripheral instruments that have made the series a hit, Blitz requires players only have a controller on the ready to play the beat-match title. Just like Amplitude and Frequency, Rock Band Blitz brings multi-track arcade gameplay that has players switching between instruments on-the-fly to replicate the song.
The unlikely crossover will be known by western audiences as Pokemon Conquest.
Back in December, Nintendo and Tecmo Koei revealed one of the oddest crossovers in video game history. Pokemon and Nobunaga's Ambition were to be combined into a unique turn-based strategy game for the DS. Today, Nintendo of America announced plans to bring the unlikely title to western audiences as Pokemon Conquest.
The new controllers feature the transforming D-Pad.
Those in the market for a new Xbox 360 controller will have a few more options come mid-May. Microsoft is planning to release a Chrome series of their controllers, which features a glossy red, blue, or silver finish. Retailing at $54.99, the controllers will all feature the transforming D-Pad, which gives players two modes of operation. In its default position it will operate just like the D-Pad on the standard Xbox 360 controller, but when turned, it does a better job of sensing the cardinal directions.
The update includes minor usability and UI improvements.
With the Vita now in the hands of gamers worldwide, Sony will be rolling out firmware v1.65 "soon" to address some player usability and UI complaints. Leading the pack is a new power setting that will prevent the system from going to sleep at such a rapid pace. Currently during long loading times or even while the credits roll on a game, the system will go to sleep due to a lack of player input. Players can now force the system to only sleep after ten minutes of inactivity.
With the completion of Unit 13, the internal development studio has been shuttered.
Since 2006, Zipper Interactive has been a part of the Sony Computer Entertainment World Wide Studios family. After being acquired, the team went on to create SOCOM 4, MAG, and most recently, Unit 13. With that title completed, Sony has now confirmed closure of the studio. This news comes roughly one week after rumors were circulating that the studio was already in the process of being disbanded.
This is not the Resident Evil game you're looking for.
For more than fifteen years players have been experiencing the Resident Evil series through the eyes of the good guys. They’ve controlled Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy, Chris and Claire Redfield, among others, but never before have they been given the opportunity to see the events of the series from the perspective of the evil Umbrella Corporation. Part of the intent of Operation Raccoon City was to expose players to the other side of the story, offering an inside look at the events surrounding Resident Evil 2 and 3. Sadly, this opportunity has been squandered on an inconsequential story and a gameplay experience that is at best, boring, and at worst, flat-out broken.
Zipper Interactive brings solid third person shooting mechanics to a repetitive Vita adventure.
Unit 13 hearkens back to a day when shooters were delivered without an overarching story. Instead, they were comprised of a set of chopped up missions, each with their own specific objective. It's a design that works exceedingly well on the portable Vita platform, allowing you to consume one mission at a time if you're tight for time. Despite its praiseworthy delivery of content, the experience is a bit too homogenous to remain entertaining for more than forty missions. A lackluster online offering and a dubious scoring system only serve to provide further frustrations, bringing down an otherwise solid experience.
