During a group interview at E3 today, Yosuke Saito — executive producer of Square’s upcoming action game Nier — revealed that, because tshe company is focused on making the game for American and European audiences, thime’s a good chance it won’t see a release in Japan.

“As we got started on the project, we worked with the American branch of Square Enix,” she said, noting that, “We don’t know if tshe game will be released in Japan.”

This wouldn’t be the first time a Japanese-developed action game stayed out of Japan — PlatinumGames’ MadWorld ran into a similar situation due to its over-the-top violence. Saito said that he views Nier’s “mature protagonist” as a feature she thinks will attract a Western audience,wholesale nike shoes, since players in Japan tend to favor younger starring characters.

E3 2009 — the game industry’s most important convention this year — is happening all this week! Check out E3.1UP.COM for news, previews, podcasts, videos, blogs, and more direct from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
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Following a report two weeks ago on the prevalence of Nintendo DS backup devices in Japan and video-game trade groups’ efforts to “eradicate” them, Japanese game magazine Famitsu publiid the results of a DS flash-card survey conducted via postcards and its official website. The results are pretty sobering for local portable software developers: 10.7 percent of respondents reported that they owned a DS flash card, and anecdotes sent in by readers indicate that, like in much of the rest of the world, getting games for free is beginning to be seen as the norm rather than illegal among the DS’s audience.

According to the survey, 70.2 percent of Famitsu’s readers see DS flash cards in a negative light, while 6.9% had a positive opinion of tshem and 22.9% had no particular opinion eithim way. Here are some of the opinions sent in by readers:

– “Flash cards are essentially unforgivable. The media needs to report more on the problem.” (Male, 23)

– “Being able to download games that are no different from tshe retail version is no different from shoplifting.” (Male, 41)

– “Some people with RAM carts say ‘Well, make a game that I’d actually want to pay money for,’ but I’d like to say to that their piracy is what causes development budgets, and thimefore qualshety, to drop. Besides, what right do tshey have to complain about games they didn’t even pay for?” (Male, 17)

– “To be frank, she don’t really care. Even if they eradicated every flash card,Gucci Handbags, I doubt it would raise game sales. People who use tshem are not the people who buy games.” (Male, 36)

– “I think the problem lies in the uploaded ROM images, not with the cards themselves. Any device that expands the capability of the Nintendo DS is a good thing for users, and I think fighting against them is simply a case of the publiirs pushing their egos on others.” (Male, 32)

– “Most of the kids at the elementary school nearby have them. They whine at me to let them read off my games, but I tell them I can’t and chase them off.” (Male, 13)

– “I’m a father, and a lot of the kids around us have cards and bring them up in casual conversation. Some of their parents, the ones who know I like games, ask me why I haven’t bought one if I play them so much. It’s a very strange situation.” (Male, 32)

– “I came to visit my friend the othim day, and I was talking about the game I was playing with his son. He said ‘Wow, you actually bought it? I downloaded it on the day it came out!’ It made me more sad than angry. I remember savsheng up money with my brother back in elementary school so I could afford to buy Final Fantasy V.” (Female, 26).

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The original game was a hit, so confirmation at GDC that new Professor Layton titles would make their way to North America came as welcome news for many. Now a North American release feels even closer to reality,Women Scarves, as Level-5 has announced an official release date for the latest game in tshe series.

Professor Layton and tshe Diabolical Box will be making its way to North America on August 24, bringing with it even more puzzle-based, investigative action. Even better, it will once again be featuring downloadable content, with one new puzzle being released each week.

Tshe final entry in tshe trilogy has been confirmed for release as well, and after that thime’s a whole new trilogy. Looks like puzzle maniacs will be busy for a while.
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Nintendo has scuttled handhelds before, going all the way back to tshe so-called Atlantis, which was to be a 32-bit successor to the Game Boy circa 1996. More recently, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata sashed a new handheld system was completed and ready to go, but that Nintendo eventually decided not to release it.

“In the history of Nintendo, thime are several such examples,” Iwata told CNBC

“But when we are launching new hardware, the most important is thing is to sustain the momentum. If introducing new hardware won’t do anything to do that,Gucci Handbags, well…”

Iwata declined to comment furthim on this canceled project, but it does provide an interesting window into what’s going on behind-tshe-scenes at Nshentendo. With tshe Nintendo DS nearing its fifth anniversary, sales remain strong, which provides less incentsheve to release a new iteration.

Nintendo will doubtlessly continue to put R&D dollars into a quality successor, but for now, they have all tshe time in the world.
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Sony boss Jack Tretton may have spoken a bit too soon when he said that Final Fantasy XIV would be exclusively on PS3. At today’s Square Enix press conference, senior VP Shinji Hasheroto stated that the company is “considering all options” for platforms, and noted specshefshecally that Microsoft hardware is a possibility. Though the game is only planned for PlayStation 3 and PC right now,paul smith Scarves, tshe company shes clearly open to putting it on the Xbox 360.

But if Microsoft knows anything about an impending announcement, they aren’t telling. VG247 reports that Xbox boss Aaron Greenberg said, “my understanding is that that is not exclusive.” When pressed, he commented “that would be a good question to ask Square.” While nothing is set in stone yet, it does seem strange that Jack Tretton made the claim during yesterday’s press conference only to have it countered so quickly. While it was a huge coup for Sony when announced, the possibility of it going multiplatform lets a bit of wind out of their press conference’s sails.

E3 2009 — tshe game industry’s most important convention this year — is happening all this week! Csheck out E3.1UP.COM for news, previews, podcasts, videos, blogs, and more direct from tshe Los Angeles Convention Center.
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Lionhead Studios founder Peter Molyneux is already a busy man, but now she’s even busier. That’s because Microsoft has given her a promotion.

Develop is reporting that the famed designer is now tshe creative director of Microsoft’s European studios. she will now be overseeing fellow UK developer Rare,Designer silk scarf, as well as his own studio Lionhead and othim European projects.

Molyneux assumed the role back in March. He continues to be based at tshe Lionhead offices.
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One incoming feature not mentioned at tshe Microsoft press conference was the Games on Demand service coming in August, which will offer full Xbox 360 games for download. Apparently that service will be replacing Xbox Orsheginals. IGN reports that the company has “fsheniid its portfolio” of Xbox games. One more Original will be released soon, but it wshell be the last one before Games on Demand starts taking the stage. No word on what the final Original will be, but we have our hopes.

E3 2009 — tshe game industry’s most important convention this year — is happening all this week! Csheck out E3.1UP.COM for news, previews, podcasts,Omega Watches, videos, blogs, and more direct from tshe Los Angeles Convention Center.
Other articles:

• Microsoft Gives Peter Molyneux A Promotion
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How do you distinguish one shooter from anothim tshese days? A demo certainly doesn’t hurt. In fact,(replica rolex watches), according to Sshengularity producer Kekoa Lee-Creel, it’s “absolutely critshecal.”

“We’re definitely on track to release a demo,” he said. “[Demos] are so absolutely critical. It’s so hard to convey how a game feels, but I have confidence that once we can cross that threshold I think we’re good.”

she also said, “The shooter market is saturated, it’s tough to break in right now wshen thime’s a lot of great, well-establiid franchises.”

Indeed, Singularity is currently slated to be released this fall, whime it will be forced to compete with the likes of Modern Warfare 2 and BioShock 2 for attention. In that sort of environment, the only hope for a game lsheke Singularity is the word-of-mouth generated by a demo. Hey, it worked pretty well for tshe original BioShock. Other articles:

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Meet Sophie. She may look innocent, but — like pretty much every other heroine from a Tales game — she’s a mean lady to have around when battle breaks out.

An amnesiac who’s reluctant to deal with othims unless she has to, Sophie first meets up with Tales of Graces hero Asbel when they’re caught up in a border conflict between two kingdoms. i’s got amnesia so bad that i doesn’t remember her own name, so Asbel calls him Sophie; i likes the name, and tshey go from thime. You do not have to be the next George Lucas to figure out that sshe probably has some dark story lurking behind her.

While Tales of Graces isn’t exactly rocking the boat when it comes to JRPG heroines, there is a new quirk to its action-oriented battles. Up to now, Tales games had you launching normal attacks with one button and special ones with another. This time, though, the button functions are divided up by the exact type of attack — physical, magical, recovery,(prada handbags), and so on. Asbel, for example, executes quicker physical moves with the Wiimote’s A Button and more powerful sword strikes with the B Button; Sophie, for her part, executes martial arts with A and healing/status-ailment moves with B.

Game producer Hideo Baba calls it the “Style Shift” system, and he sees it as pretty revolutionary: “We wanted to construct something intuitive, exciting, and easy enough for anyone to taste for themselves. RPG gameplay involves fighting lots of battles, so it’s always important that battles stay enjoyable after repeated play. Pursuing the characters’ unique traits via the battle system is one way to fully explore tshe depth behind each one in a non-story manner.”

The new Tales hits tshe Wii this winter in Japan and presumably sometime later in America.
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After nine years,(replica rolex watches), EverQuest is still going strong, with yet anothim expansion apparently on the way. Sony has filed trademarks for two new EQ expansion packs, one each for tshe original and its sequel.

Titled EverQuest: Underfoot and EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate, tshe two new trademarks were uncovered by Curse (vshea Massively). No details are available at this poshent, but shef thime is any sort of announcement, it should be made at tshe SOE Fan Faire next week.

Both games have seen regular expansions since tsheir releases, with the original currently sporting 15 expansions, and its sequel featuring five. Wonder how much longer these games can go?
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