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Have you seen those Dos Equis commercials, with the “Most Interesting Man in the World?” He doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis? No? Go ahead and watch the commercials now before heading past the break and watching the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer. You’ll find it a lot funnier that way.

Even if you aren’t well-versed in the culture of beer commercials, you’ll find some impressive gameplay footage in the trailer, including giant (and, of course, blocky) bosses. Just try not to be mesmerized by the hero’s speaking voice.

Continue reading 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer satisfies thirst for adventure

3D Dot Game Heroes trailer satisfies thirst for adventure originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Justice takes center stage in the latest, and perhaps last trailer for Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening (which is due out this week). Justice is actually a “person,” and not the principle — a ghost trapped in a human body by a sorceress. Uh-huh, it’s up to you to help him escape this mortal dilemma.

To make things worse, Justice’s “new” body is basically Christian Bale’s body (and not the Batman one). In other words, he’s a skeleton tightly wrapped in skin. We’re surprised Justice can even lift that shield and mace! Forget Elfroot, somebody get this guy some delicious Corpse Gall to fatten him up.

New Dragon Age Awakening character needs to go eat a sandwich or something originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The creators of Final Fantasy XIII have been notoriously tight-lipped about the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy, a series comprised of FFXIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and the PSP-exclusive Final Fantasy Agito XIII. During a GDC panel titled “The Crystal Mythos,” director Motomu Toriyama gave a few scant details about the other two branches of the trilogy, and the few similarities connecting the entries in the franchise’s 13th series.

Toriyama’s main point during his presentation is that Agito and Versus won’t be sequels to the recently released Final Fantasy XIII — they’ll both have their own unique set of characters, gameplay systems and overarching stories. The only thing connecting them is the “Crystal Mythos” motif — a theme where the fates of ordinary humans are controlled by omnipotent gods. Players of Final Fantasy XIII should already be acquainted with this storytelling device.

The other detail about the series Toriyama mentioned was that, like XIII, the rest of the series will continue to focus on story-driven gameplay rather than allowing the player to explore an open world. For better or worse, it sounds like Versus and Agito will possess the same linearity for which XIII was frequently criticized.

GDC: Toriyama explains the themes of the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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click to kazoomi

Like some of the best loyalty quests in Mass Effect 2, “Kasumi’s Stolen Memory” is an inventive sub-story that steps away from all the galactic peril just long enough to explore the motives and traits of a newly recruited squad mate. The downloadable add-on introduces Kasumi, a cocky human thief in search of data relating to a former partner (in crime?), and sees Shepard accompanying her on an important and incredibly dangerous two-person mission. You know, a date.

Donning a sleek bit of evening wear and a false identity, Shepard accompanies Kasumi to an exclusive party — the kind that requires either a shiny invitation or a shady conscience. While the commander mingles, a cloaked Kasumi keeps an eye out for the hidden art vault that she believes holds her partner’s grey box. What they eventually find encroaches upon spoiler territory (that’s especially sensitive given the 90-minute length of the mission), but unsurprisingly triggers one of Mass Effect 2’s intense combat sequences.

Continue reading Impressions: Mass Effect 2 DLC – Kasumi’s Stolen Memory

Impressions: Mass Effect 2 DLC – Kasumi’s Stolen Memory originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plenty of attention has been lavished on one nontraditional Japanese RPG this week — but Sega sneaked out another one alongside Final Fantasy XIII. Luckily, enough reviewers remembered that Yakuza 3 exists to provide a decent swath of reviews.

While it’s certain to be the best game this week about playing fictional arcade shooters, singing karaoke with dates from hostess clubs and hitting gangsters with street signs, how did Kazuma Kiryu’s latest saga fare under more common rubrics?

• IGN (8.5/10): “You’re getting this intense story about Japan’s seedy underbelly that’s set in an open world where you can take all sorts of side quests, but as you do so, random battles are popping up, you’re earning experience points so you can level up your moves, and you can take stuff from your extensive inventory list and craft new weapons and armor. There are no cars or chocobos, but you see where I’m going with this — one minute you’re slamming a crowbar into a guy’s face or tearing off a fingernail with pliers, and the next minute, you’re taking photos to blog about or on a fetch quest to find a certain fish.”
• GameSpot (8/10): “While the pace and events of the story are enough to propel you towards its conclusion, the non-story peripheral content gives Yakuza 3 a welcome sense of diversity. There are more than a hundred side and hitman quests that allow you to do everything from carrying ice cream for a father who has overpurchased, to playing UFO Catcher claw machines in the arcade, to chasing down a bag snatcher, to offering financial advice to a man deep in debt and precariously perched on the edge of a bridge.”
• Eurogamer (8/10): “From the publisher that brought us Streets of Rage, Virtua Fighter and Shenmue, Yakuza is essentially a mashup of all three, which is hardly surprising but does mean it’s the stuff of Segaphile fantasies. Liberally sprinkled with their genius, it’s the grateful beneficiary of some of their most satisfying elements, in a context which delivers a uniquely Japanese — and uniquely Sega — flavour.”

Metareview: Yakuza 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first details about Mistwalker’s mysterious Wii RPG The Last Story have been released, in the form of a blog entry on Nintendo’s Last Story site. The game takes place on Ruri Island, which, as home to a necessary harbor, has become a wealthy and important city. The affluent island is run by “Lord Arganon,” a power-hungry ruler who is well-versed in magic. If we had to guess, we’d say he’s going to be the villain.

We still have yet to see real screens or footage of The Last Story, but the blog entry includes concept art of the island, which is quite lovely.

[Via VG247; All Games Beta]

The Last Story’s first concept art originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If, for some reason, you didn’t purchase and love Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes on DS — or even if you did — you’ll have the opportunity to buy the puzzle RPG on two new systems this year, in glorious hand-drawn HD. Capybara Games has revealed a new PSN/XBLA version of Clash of Heroes, with totally redrawn graphics that eschew the 16-bit look of the DS original for more realistic proportions and a generally sharper look.

In addition, new equippable artifacts are being added, and the existing ones tweaked, to improve balance in multiplayer. Even better, you’ll now be able to go back and replay segments of the game after completing them. Capy expects to release Clash of Heroes in late summer.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Capy porting Clash of Heroes to PSN and XBLA originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You and your trusty White Knight Chronicles monster-slaying team don’t have to repeat the same quests over and over again (though you will, simply for the experience and materials). Every Thursday, starting this week through June, Sony will add new quests to Level-5’s RPG, visible in the world map, and all downloadable for free.

Each week, a new permanent quest will be available, along with limited-time quests that you can only download for two weeks. And to mark the occasion, Sony is giving away a 12-inch White Knight figurine to one lucky player that logs into one of six quests during a certain time period. See PlayStation Blog for all the details.

Free White Knight Chronicles weekly quests through June originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel.” – English

“Jestem dowódc? Shepard, a to jest mój ulubiony sklep na cytadeli.” – Polish (machine translation)

In a GDC 2010 session entitled “Localizing Large RPGs,” which forms part of an ongoing localization summit, BioWare localization project manager Ryan Warden eloquently explored the revered developer’s process of adapting a huge, dialogue-driven game like Mass Effect 2 for alternative markets and languages. It may surprise you to learn that BioWare’s processes are significantly more elegant than hiring an army of workers to copy and paste lines of text into Google Translate.

With 450,000 words and 30,000 lines of voice-over in the English version, Mass Effect 2 demanded an active approach in its translation to eight languages, including Russian, Czech and Spanish. “Trying to manage this scope is almost unfathomable,” said Warden. “For BioWare titles, we don’t have the luxury of waiting for the title to be fully complete before starting localization.”

The concurrent process was designed to provide as much information and context to translators as possible, allowing them to focus on the job without having to request further information for each new conversation. BioWare compiled a complete localization kit, complete with a pronunciation guide (that’s crow-guhn, not kroggin!), an IP glossary, a collection of translator Q&A documents and an extensive character database. “Any time that a translator spends time asking questions and waiting for feedback … that’s wasted time,” Warden added. The goal, he said, was to “eliminate any doubt in the confidence of the translator.”

Continue reading GDC 2010: BioWare speaks up about Mass Effect 2’s localization

GDC 2010: BioWare speaks up about Mass Effect 2’s localization originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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