From/De: Namco Bandai Games America

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES TO RELEASE SERIES OF FREE DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT FOR DRAGON BALL®: RAGING BLAST

 NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. will release a series of free DLC packs for Dragon Ball®: Raging Blast for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. The first pack in the series is now available on PlayStation®Network and will be ready for download from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for Xbox 360 on Nov. 26, 2009. The series includes customized character packs that will be released as free downloadable content every two weeks between now and April 2010. Each pack will include customized versions of popular characters, each with different powered-up abilities, which can be used in exciting versus battles in the game.

The following customized Dragon Ball character packs will be available for free download on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for Xbox 360 and PlayStation®Network biweekly (note: packs will be available on same days for both platforms, except holidays as noted):

• Nov. 24, 2009 (PlayStation Network): Warriors on Earth Pack – Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu
• Nov. 26, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace): Warriors on Earth Pack – Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu
• Dec. 10, 2009: Alien Warriors Pack – Vegeta (Scouter), Raditz, Nappa, Zarbon and Dodoria
• Dec. 22, 2009 (PlayStation Network): Ginyu Force Pack – Captain Ginyu, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Guldo
• Dec. 24, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace): Ginyu Force Pack – Captain Ginyu, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Guldo
• Jan. 7, 2010: Androids Pack – Android #16, Android #17, Android #18, Android #19 and Dr. Gero
• Jan. 21, 2010: Warriors of Justice Pack – Kid Gohan, Gohan, Kid Trunks, Goten and Videl
• Feb. 4, 2010: Revived Warriors Pack – Majin Buu, Kid Buu, Broly, Super Gogeta and Super Saiyan 3 Broly
• Feb. 18, 2010: Saiyans Pack – Majin Vegeta, Trunks (Fighting Teen), Vegito, Bardock and Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta
• March 4, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 1 – Goku, Teen Gohan, Piccolo, Bardock and Super Gogeta
• March 18, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 2 – Majin Vegeta, Frieza, Android #17, Android #18 and Cell
• April 1, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 3 – Vegeta (Scouter), Vegeta, Trunks (Sword), Vegito and Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta
• April 15, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 4 – Majin Buu, Super Buu, Kid Buu, Broly and Super Saiyan 3 Broly

Recreating the popular Dragon Ball Z series’ epic combat in all its glory, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast includes a host of exciting gameplay options including powerful and customizable attacks, stunning HD graphics, and a variety of gameplay modes including online or offline versus and tournament matches. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast features more than 70 characters, including transformations, facing off against each other in iconic battles throughout the Dragon Ball Z series’ sagas as their favorite heroes and villains.

New interactive and massively destructible environments lend an enhanced layer of intensity to the battle as characters can now take immense damage from being smashed into mountains, buildings and debris during heated battles. On top of classic signature moves, characters also benefit from a new “Super Rising” move which allows players to quickly fly upwards throughout large-scale battle stages, adding a new layer of strategy and tactics to the melee. As players progress through the game and win more battles, they receive items and Super Attacks as rewards. Players can then utilize these with the Ultimate Customize option to configure up to three customization profiles of each character, which can then be used in versus battles. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast is set to deliver more explosive fighting action than ever seen before!

Developed by acclaimed game studio SPIKE, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast is rated “T” for teen audiences by the ESRB and carries an MSRP of $59.99.

The King of Iron Fist Tournament returns with the latest installment, Tekken 6. The Tekken series has become a top contender in the fighting game industy, and this year has truly been a game for Fighting game fans with releases of major titles like Blazblue and Street Fighter IV. Does Tekken have what it takes to knockout the competition and go to the top?

Tekken 6 does not stray far from the formula that has kept the series going. The system uses four buttons to control the limbs of the characters, but its much simpler than it sounds. You use the buttons in combonation with directional pad inputs to create moves that can chain to combos, in true fighting game fashion. While not completly new, the gameplay has receieved refinements that change up gameplay styles. Added into is the Rage System that activates as a characters life dips to a low point. While not changing actually gameplay, it leads to quicker matchs and some tricky situations. Characters also now bounce much more when they hit the floor, which allows the other player to continue a combo after smacking a character down to the floor. This makes for some truly amazing combos. While characters themselves have seen moveset refinements and additions, the characters are mostly faithful to their previous counter-parts. The new characters are welcome additions to the tekken roster, adding even more variety to the mix. Characters like Bob and Lars add new and interesting fighting styles to the game.

While gameplay itself hasn’t changed much, the amount of different modes has increased. Added in is online multi-player that allows two players to battle it out in player matchs or ranked matchs with their customized characters or normal characters. While online is a great addition, it still has problems such as input lag that are present in both versions. Also added is a new campaign mode that is essentially the story mode of the game. The campagin mode revolves around the characters Lars and Alisa. The campagin is a throwback to previous tekken force modes, allowing players to play an arcade-style brawler campaign that uses moves for characters from the main game. While this sounds great, it lacks alot because it is repetative in gameplay and the control scheme is problamatic. While it is a nice addition, the reason to play the campaign mode is to gain more in-game money to customize your characters. Character customization is a feature from the previous tekken that has become even more defined in this installment, with more options of clothing for characters being made available for purchase as you progress through the campaign. The customization feature is vast and allows people to make very unique looking characters to use.

The style in Tekken 6 hasn’t changed much, with most character models staying relativly similar to their previous Tekken models. Tekken 6 keeps the intense, cinamatic vibe that previous installments had with detailed level structure and impressive effects. But, for Tekken fans what really matters is the gameplay, and as im sure you can tell at this point, the gameplay is good…very good. With the deepest combat out of the whole series and some of the most fun characters in the series, Tekken 6 truely stands out from the pack, and with the amount of fighting games this year it has alot of contenders. Tekken 6 is a must-buy for Tekken fans, and if your a fighting game fan or just slightly interested in Tekken, I think Tekken 6 may just suprise you.

]]> http://therater.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/katamari-damacy/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:24:47 +0000 xniperwolf http://therater.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/katamari-damacy/

Título: Katamari Damacy
Gênero: [Puzzle-Action] [TPS]
Lançamento: 18/03/2004
Desenvolvedores: Namco e NOW Production
Plataformas: Playstation 2

“It is not your fault. It is our fault for believing in you.” – King of All Cosmos

Katamari Damacy, é um jogo que de primeira vista a reação é unica: “WTF???”, mas ao pegar no controle e rolar a Katamari pela cidade, vc acaba descobrindo que não é exatamente aquilo que pensava. Essa foi a reação comum entre as pessoas que mostrei esse jogo, até eu mesmo tive essa reação.

O jogo é se baseia em uma bola chamada Katamari que tem propriedades super adesivas e que deve ser rolada e pegando o maximo de objetos possiveis para que ela tome proporções cada vez maiores . É impressionante como o jogo é divertido com algo tão simples.

Em katamari, no inicio soh tem obstaculos, depois são todos tomados pela katamari.

Outro fator que é interessante é que agrada tanto novatos como veteranos, a dificuldade é a mesma mas o desafio para pegar mais e mais objetos é por conta do jogador.

Os objetivos são sempre os mesmo, chegar até um determinad tamanho, ou apenas pegar um objeto especifico. Mesmo sendo simples, o desafio de conseguir mais e mais é tudo.

Os graficos são bem simpes, resumidos mas ao mesmo tempo competentes. Nada é esquisito, afinal… o jogador está rolando uma bola de um lado pro outro com um boneco uma cabeça bem…diferente.

Antes de ler as notas, esse jogo concerteza seria meu top1 para “jogos loucos que só japoneses podem ter criado”.

Gameplay: 9,0
Gráficos: 8,0
Sons: 9,0
Jogabilidade: 9,0
Enredo: 8,0
Total: 8,6

From/De: Namco Bandai Games America

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES RELEASES DETAILS FOR TEKKEN® 6 UPDATE

Santa Clara, Calif., (Nov. 24, 2009) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced details regarding the free TEKKEN® 6 downloadable update for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. To further enhance player’s online gameplay experience, the new update will be available on Nov. 26, 2009 and include:
 
·         Improve input response – Improve game’s responsiveness to button/command inputs.
·         Selectable search priorities for ranked matches – Players will be able to set search priorities for opponents in ranked matches based on comparable rank or connection speed quality as well as area.
·         Optimize data transmission between fighters and spectators – The fight data will be optimized in order to reduce the bandwidth load on the host’s console.  
·         Signal strength bars – The update will improve the signal strength bar to reflect connection quality more accurately.
·         Chance to cancel match – The update will allow players to cancel the match before it begins after displaying the opponents signal strength.
 
This update is separate from the online co-op Scenario Campaign mode download which is scheduled for this winter.
 
Released on Oct. 27, 2009, TEKKEN 6 is the latest installment to the blockbuster fighting franchise and is jam-packed with robust features as well as edge-of-your-seat action. New online and offline gameplay modes, stunning visuals, a rich customization feature, and the largest character roster in the series’ history, round out this stylish fighter.
 
TEKKEN 6 is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB and is now available nationwide for the PlayStation 3 system and Xbox 360 with an MSRP of $59.99. A premium wireless fight stick bundle is also available for $149.99, while supplies last. For more information on TEKKEN 6, please visit: www.namcobandaigames.com or www.tekken.com.
 
###
 
 About NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.
NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. is a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer based in Santa Clara, CA.  The company is a part of the NAMCO BANDAI group of companies known for creating and publishing many of the industry’s top video game franchises including the PAC-MAN®, SOULCALIBUR®, Naruto™ and Tekken® brands.  For more information about NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., and our products log onto http://www.namcobandaigames.com/. 
 
TEKKEN®6 & © 1994-2009 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. All rights reserved.
 
“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
 
Press Release © 2009 NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.

I have finally resolved the problem with Youtube not accepting the videos for Dead storm Pirates and the UNIS booth – convert them to AVI files. Unfortunately they become blocky and lose detail so I will be trying to find another way to get the better quality versions online soon. In the meantime…

Dead Storm Pirates (Namco) – I was surprised to see this game at IAAPA – we hadn’t heard anything about it possibly coming over to the US although it seemed like the style of gameplay would be a nice fit over here. The software was 60% complete so there were only a couple of levels to play but it was a lot of fun. There’s also more to it than being Let’s Go Jungle with a pirate theme, Namco is taking the time to help the game stand out on it’s own. The emphasis on shooting the targets at the same time is greater and if you both can keep your sights together long enough, the shots become more powerful. Another exciting part of the game I saw is when you man the cannons to blast another ship out of the water – hopefully there will be a few more scenes like that in the final release. Also the rudder wheel feature is pretty cool, with the game presenting you with so many seconds to turn the thing for a pass or fail event. In several wheel events the game goes into “bullet time”, slowing down just enough so you can attempt to turn. DSP is running on Namco’s System 357 hardware, which is PS3 based and is the same hardware used on Tekken 6 and Razing Storm. As such the game looks spectacular but unfortunately due to the uploading issues I have had with getting this on Youtube you won’t notice those details as nicely.

Universal Space booth – We broke the news about UNIS bringing Cooking Mama to arcades and I have noticed that a number of blogs have picked up on that news but unfortunately only one source gave us any credit for that (so we tip our hat to them GameSetWatch). Such is the nature of the blogging biz I suppose. Either way, one detail that needs to be emphasized about the game is that it is available in the US right now – and I already saw it’s appeal to younger kids. When I was posting the IAAPA pics at my arcade, a girl who was about 8 or 9 years old saw the picture of Cooking Mama and asked if we would get it saying she would play it all the time (right after my brother was saying that no one would play it).

Overall I was happy with the UNIS booth because there was a number of different and new ideas there that other companies don’t have.

One of those was Butterfly Garden – which is an interesting return to the tabletop game with four players. You control a net and you attempt to capture as many butterflies as possible. It’s another cutesy game that is something different. They had a couple of virtual bowling games which were fun and I was also impressed with Panda Family, a party game by IGS that uses a face avatar feature. There are a number of mini-games to pick from and movement is controlled by large buttons. The cabinet is really nice and this is one I wouldn’t mind getting for my arcade.

Of interest to Panic Park fans they also had a game called Ultimate. The control scheme works exactly like Panic Park does where you play tug-of-war on the controls in each mini-game. I was very impressed by the price on this one – only $4600 for a game with a 46″ screen. I couldn’t get a good feel for how the mini-games played in it however as you really need two people to get the full effect.

Apologies for the bad video and sound quality in this one, it’s another one I had to convert from MOV to AVI.

Big Buck Hunter Pro: Open Season – I got a chance to check this out but where I am more familiar with Big Buck Safari than I am Hunter, I couldn’t notice the differences in the update off the top of my head. I do know that there is more focus with online play via the Coin-Up network, like they do with Safari. I also found the mini bonus games to be a little more entertaining than what is in Safari (they even have an Asteroids bnous round, not sure if that is new or not)

Textminator – Strangely enough this game is attracting all sort of attention on various tech blogs all of the sudden, even though it has been out for a while. This was the first time I had a chance to play it myself and while I am not a texting person by any means, it was a decent game. Words fall from the top and you have to text out what it says before the word hits the bottom. One thing that could hurt the appeal to this is how many cell phones are converting over to full keyboards, making the old way of texting out-of-date but still, this is something unique and the cabinet catches your eye as well. The pads are interesting – it’s like using a payphone pad but it seems like they should hold up to the normal pounding found in your average arcade.

Yes, I still have a few more videos to go!

Zavvi.com have another bargain for gamers today with Tekken 6. It is being sold for the same price as Arkham Asylum at £17.95. I haven’t played Tekken 6 but I’ve heard good things about it. At this price I’m tempted to buy it but I have loads to play right now and Christmas is coming up soon. The deal is for both PS3 and X360 but the PS3 version is out of stock.

x360 – £17.95

PS3 – £17.95

Por fin tenemos en las tiendas la secuela del notable Tales of Symphonia de Game Cube. Mucho se ha hecho esperar, pero al fin podremos disfrutar de un juego de rol decente en la sobremesa de Nintendo. Namco ha tenido el detalle de traducir los textos y no se le puede negar el buen trabajo que ha realizado en este aspecto. TOS2 viene a llenar un vacío realmente importante dentro del catálogo de Wii, y lo hace realmente bien, siguiendo los patrones de la primera parte pero con novedades que lo convierten en un juego casi obligado para los roleros que tengan la consola.

En primer lugar, TOS2 ofrece un lavado de cara donde nos enseña unos gráficos más pulidos que los del primer juego. Salvando las secuencias de diálogo y demás, donde saltan a la vista algunos defectos como los dientacos de sierra o el pelo estilo playmobil de los personajes, el título está realmente trabajado a nivel artístico. Escenarios muy mimados y con muchos detalles, buen diseño de personajes y enemigos y un trabajo base en el que deberían fijarse las desarrolladoras en sus futuros lanzamientos dentro del género. A nivel musical TOS2 tampoco está nada mal y son bastantes las melodías que transmiten bastante bien la fantasía y belleza de algunos de los momentos.

Jugablemente es una extensión del primer TOS, con un sistema de combate tan dinámico y entretenido como caótico, al cuál hay que dedicar unos momentos obligados para trazar una buena estrategia y dar a los personajes los patrones de combate adecuados que nos sean de ayuda en los enfrentamientos. Al mismo tiempo tenemos el aliciente rollo pokemon de ir capturando -haciendo pactos- con los monstruos a los que nos enfrentemos, teniendo la posibilidad de reclutarlos y contar con ellos en los combates. Posibilidad de evolucionarlos, darles de comer para obtener mayor afinidad etc, aspecto que da un toque más de profundidad al juego.

Otro punto fuerte de TOS2 y de la saga en general es la riqueza que tienen la historia y los personajes, aunque lejos de la quintaesencia argumental, lo cierto es que la historia que gira en torno a los dos juegos no está mal, y lo mejor, desde mi punto de vista, es que realmente no hay dos grupos definidos como buenos y malos, sino que una vorágine de sucesos e intereses poco a poco van descubriendo los objetivos de cada bando, en los cuales hay buenas y malas personas. Los personajes por su parte tienen una personalidad bastante marcada. Pueden caernos mejor o peor, como el bipolar protagonista principal, pero de lo que no cabe duda es que todos mantienen un rol propio y sólido.

Estética anime y muchos momentos simpáticos y embarazosos serán la tónica de la aventura, donde a medida que avancemos iremos desvelando los misterios acerca de Lloyd y la Purga sangrienta de Palmacosta. Puede que que TOS2 esté un punto por debajo de su predecesor en cuestión de novedad y argumento, pero teniendo en cuenta que en Wii no tenemos otra cosa similar que llevarnos a la boca, el juego es recibido con los brazos abiertos. Ojo, que no digo que sea mediocre, todo lo contrario, el juego me está gustando muchísimo y me tiene realmente viciado, pero me parece ilógico el maltrato que está recibiendo este género en el catálogo de la consola.

Recomendado al 100% para todos los amantes de los jrpg que tengan Wii y compra casi obligada para los que disfrutaron del primero. Largo, entretenido, variado, muchas misiones secundarias, numeroso inventario y un apartado técnico muy acertado son todas las cosas que juegan a su favor. Y para los que nunca hayáis jugado al primero es una oportunidad de oro para adentrarse en el universo Tales of, aunque recomiendo fervientemente que si pueden, lo hagan con el grandioso Tales of Phantasia de GBA. Dicho lo dicho, a viciarse como una perra.

First Published Saturday 21 November 2009 here at Ace Gamez – Summarising the entire back story of the Tekken series is a massive task thanks to the fact that we never really know which character’s ending is considered canon. Plus, the whole ‘daddy issues’ chess game of power between the Mishima bloodline has more twists, turns and double entendres than an interview with Hideo Kojima. It is seriously convoluted and, at times, improbable. I mean how many times can geriatric megalomaniac Heihachi be thrown into a volcano or fired off a giant cliff and still return with not so much as a scratch? At least a fracture or a scraped knee would have been believable, but really? Originally a hallmark series for Sony consoles and a launch title for both PSOne and PS2, this sequel may have arrived late in the generation and lost its exclusivity to Xbox 360, but has this tardy re-emergence had a negative effect on the winning formula?

Well typically, a little extra development time works wonders for observing the competition, researching the wants and needs of the fan base and delivering all of these observations in a competent and well-crafted package. Tekken 6 delivers an exemplary arcade mode and painfully detailed visuals, but falls in to the trap that too many modern games seem to blindly stumble in to time and time again. The problem is that we are living in a generation that seems to demand online features, multiple modes and a gamut of customisation options. As a result, too many developers will tack on a lot of extras in the hope that the ‘less is more’ rule will kick in and that the game will be awarded a rake of top marks from critics. Granted, Namco does deserve brownie points for delivering a pretty exhaustive package, but it is a package that feels too lumbered with naff modes, questionable decisions and throwaway features to be designated as a pure Tekken experience.

For starters, almost every one of the 40+ character roster is unlocked from the moment you pop in the disc. Part of the allure of Tekken was that you were always keen to play through the story mode and unlock a new character every time you completed the game. Not only did this make the game longer, but it gave you incentive to play as every character and become accustomed to their fighting style and maybe, just maybe, you would find yourself a new favourite character in the process. Instead you are steamrollered by a tidal wave of characters from the word go and, if you are new to the series, you will probably feel a tad overwhelmed by the breadth of choice. For example, If you are a die-hard Law player and you really have no desire to play with anyone else, then chances are you won’t and you will skip straight to the versus modes.

It’s a baffling decision by Namco, but again it shows that the developer has pandered to this recently recurring notion that players don’t want to be forced to play through a game before unlocking all of the available multiplayer content. Yeah, thanks a lot Guitar Hero and Rock Band! The only alternative to the straight arcade mode is an incredibly dire story campaign that players of previous games will recognise as another sloppy re-hash of Tekken 3’s Force mode. So far, none of these side-scrolling, Streets of Rage wannabes have been any fun, verging on the realm of budget shovelware, rather than a competent and fully-fledged extension of the core game. It follows Lars, one of the leaders of Jin Kazama’s Tekken Force unit as he attempts to secure the scarily doll-like Alisa Bosconovitch from a testing lab. Oh and she’s also a robot with a detachable head and saw blades for arms.

Again, this incredibly ludicrous plot, coupled with the overall shoddiness of the game mode is proof that sometimes less is more. Had this game simply consisted of refined and painfully balanced arcade and multiplayer modes, this could have been the best entry to the series yet. Instead, Story mode gives us dodgy cameras, a barely functional lock-on mechanic and a stripped down move set complete with throw moves that only work when they feel like it. It’s certainly not a short mode, but this just highlights what a tedious slog the whole thing is. Where previous Tekken games let you play through each character’s story via arcade mode, here you must slog through this campaign and unlock each fighter before you can view their ending cinematic. It’s an odd choice to make players suffer through the slack campaign to view these scenes and while most of them are great to watch, the method is far from inspiring.

The only upside is that you will progressively unlock new customisation items throughout the campaign, ranging from simple items of clothing to special accessories that give your character stat boosts such as regenerative health and increased attack power. Perhaps the coolest feature is character-specific weapons such as a pair of assault rifles for Lars or Law’s Nunchucks . While these look impressive they remain balanced, keeping everything on a level playing field. For example, Brian Fury gets a mini-gun, which isn’t exactly fair game in what is supposed to be a hand-to-hand fighting tournament.

On the other hand, the actual core arcade mode is a fine-tuned piece of mastery. New characters are always a gamble, but here each of the six newcomers are superbly crafted, boasting unique move sets and a diverse range of fighting styles. The slinky Zafina is a strong addition for her double-jointed, almost boneless movement that smacks of Soul Calibur IV’s freakish gimp Voldo, but without the ugly. She almost mimics Lei thanks to her multiple stances and also bears elements of Xiaoyu, thanks to her low crouching stance that allows for a range of devastating follow-up attacks. Although the influences are clear, she is incredibly unpredictable and this odd movement makes her a formidable opponent.

In true Tekken fashion, the end boss Azazel is an absolute cheesemonger, battering you in seconds with a ludicrous barrage of laser blasts and literally earth-shattering magical attacks that are simply infuriating. Forget Street Fighter IV’s bald badass Seth, this demigod entity really takes the cheddar, with an unpredictable move set and AI that reacts with split second precision. At least Seth had predictable traits and once you got these ingrained in your memory, he was a piece of cake. Azazel on the other hand is a real sticking point that throws all sense of skill out the window in yet another disappointing final battle.

The insanely tough boss battle is a staple of the genre, but Tekken 6 isn’t entirely set in its ways. Instead of simply giving each of the classic characters a visual makeover, Namco has tweaked and re-balanced the move sets of all of the series mainstays to make sure every fighter exists on a level playing field. As such, you may need to spend some time with your favourite character to re-adjust to these changes, which range from subtle additions or omissions to parts of a combo chain, to the deletion or insertion of moves altogether. Another new fight mechanic is Rage, a last-minute attack boost that is granted whenever a player is dangerously close to being knocked out. This opens a last-ditch window that allows players to turn the tide of battle and in some cases this really does ramp up the tension. There is also a new Bound system that lets you smash opponents off the arena floor and launch them into the air to for juggle combo possibilities.

As the game has been in development since 2006, the visuals can show their age at points, failing to match the painstaking detail of Namco stable-mate Soul Calibur IV. But for the best part, this is as razor sharp as they come, with each character rendered in suitably chunky style and flourishes of motion blur thrown in to underline the frantic pace of every battle. The stages themselves are a treat for the eyes, throwing your fighters head to head on neon-lit rooftops that tower above a sprawling metropolis, to a sunny farm complete with animals that can be knocked about like bouncy balls. So quite far removed from the realistic settings of past Tekken games, but colourful nonetheless. Many stages are also multi-tiered with collapsible floors. If you smash your opponent off the ground enough times, the floor will give way, causing both players to fall to the next level. This looks great when it happens, but if either player happens to be sprawled out on the ground when the drop occurs they will lose a significant chunk of their health once they hit the lower floor, which can seem a tad unfair at times.

So while the offline modes are a mixed bag ranging from the mundane to the magnificent, it is the online element of Tekken 6 that stings the most. It has become vital for developers of fighting games to really nail online modes to push longevity, but some genuinely crippling lag sours the experience. Playing with people on your friends list seems to run much smoother then challenging random fighters but then again, the loading time for each match can often border on the unacceptable. The ranking system from Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection makes a welcome return, awarding you with GP points for each victory. If you lose a fight, you are given a chance to earn GP through a neat fruit machine system that softens the blow of a crippling defeat somewhat. Its functional, but is still far from the sprawling tournaments and deep levelling up systems that could have been.

It is difficult to bemoan such a generous package when it delivers so many modes, superb new characters and an intricately balanced fight mechanic. Offline multiplayer will always be a key draw for Tekken, but without a lag-free online mode to back it up, the entire experience suffers as a result. While a welcome online patch is currently in the works, it still doesn’t excuse the game shipping with such glaring issues. The meagre campaign mode is another thorn in the side of Tekken 6 and as such, the game simply fails to stack up against the slick perfection of Street Fighter IV. It will be interesting to see what patches and DLC will become available in time and whether or not they redeem the package.

74%

Youtube just didn’t want to upload my videos this afternoon but after some persistence, I am finally getting them put up there. In total I have 20 videos to put up so I won’t be finishing it tonight but rest assured that as long as Youtube doesn’t suck tomorrow then I should get them all up by then. I apologize for some of the cracking in a few videos, that’s not something I noticed until I had already filmed most of these and some of it was due to the loud ambient noise.

First off, Sega Racing Classic. What I like: The cabinet and the sound. If you still are fine playing the original Daytona in arcades then this shouldn’t disappoint. What I don’t like: I heard that this is just running modified Daytona code under emulation and while the higher resolution is nice, the game still looks very aged. I’m in the boat that a majority of 3D games don’t age well and next to some sleek racer it’s going to show. It also stinks that they couldn’t add more tracks to the game. Anything else: Price. Sega wasn’t revealing what the price is other than to say it would not be priced at the same level as a normal racer. After some thought I can see why they are taking this route as opposed to giving us a brand new Daytona – look at how incredibly well these re-releases do on services like XBLA. Also older games like Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga are sold new by Namco and you could put this into the same category. Still, I think that a new Daytona (or Sega Racing Classic 2 as it will have to be) would do really well, judging by the response that SRC first received. Overall: Unless they are $2000 a cab (I won’t keep my hopes up) I would pass on this for my arcade. But I do not have a Daytona sitting in my location already; there also are a lot of choices for racers and I can’t say that I’m wanting to just get all the racers I could, so take that for what it’s worth.

Terminator Salvation. What I like: There was little to nitpick about this one, I liked everything about it. Graphically it fits right into the post-apocalyptic theme with just enough shine to look nice but not too much to hurt your retinas. There are a lot of robots to shoot and the game keeps the pace moving along steadily. The clip reloading feature is a nice touch that you get the hang of quickly and the force feedback is balanced well. The levels take a little bit of time to get through, which is also good in my book because there a couple of light-gun games I can think of where it seems like the levels blow by too fast. The cabinet has many details to it and the Terminator topper is just plain awesome. It plays just as well in single player as it does with two players although competing for your rank and score at the end of a mission can be fun. What I didn’t like: Not much really, the only thing I can think of is the secondary weapon button which launches your grenades. As your hand is over the clip most of the time, the grenade button can seem far away when you need it fast but where you have a 60 bullet clip, it’s usually not an issue(I suppose you could say that it’s part of the challenge balance).  Anything else: Where this is not the final build of the game they are bound to change a few things. It would be nice if there was another weapon power-up or two to add but honestly this game is on the right track to be a big hit as it’s a ton of fun and you don’t have to care about the movie at all to enjoy this. Overall: I would get this for my arcade in a heartbeat. I played it multiple times and enjoyed it every time. People will gravitate towards it based on the license alone and beyond that it’s a solid game with replay value.

Tank! Tank! Tank! What I like: I could say that I like this simply because it’s not a racer but there’s much more to it than that. It was designed as a party battle game and it is simply fun, no matter which play mode you choose. A free-for-all or team battle is slightly more fun than the “quest” but I do wonder how it would hold up with just two units as opposed to four. The avatar feature can be hilarious if you play around with it; the force feedback is excellent and quite accurate as well. It’s being billed as having motion (there is even a motion shut off button) but it feels more like in-depth feedback since the motion base doesn’t move side to side (and I’m glad it doesn’t. These motion games where you are a car on a flat street and they tilt you sideways just don’t get it). Everything can be destroyed in the levels and as your enemies fall they will drop a number of power-ups to use. The only one I didn’t like after a while was the squirt gun as it’s more of a stun weapon to be used in team play than a frontal assault cannon. At the end of the day I suppose I’m more into the highly destructive stock than in the more strategic weapons.  What I didn’t like: Other than the squirt gun thing I can only think of something from a small operator perspective and that’s the price. Now I understand that this isn’t going to be a $5000 game or anything (especially since you get two units in one and you have the motion) and it’s actually a little cheaper than some of Namco’s other dual game offerings which in the past have come close to $20,000.  Anything else: I forgot to ask this question but I hope that this one stays arcade exclusive for a long, long time (or forever, like Tokyo Wars).    Overall: I would get this for my arcade in a heartbeat as well. I also played this several times and I think I hogged my unit once or twice so I could stay on longer. Players will enjoy the sheer destruction that you can wreak throughout the game and with co-op and competitive modes it has covered the important bases.

That is all I am able to get to tonight but as promised, I will start uploading more videos tomorrow as soon as I can.

[Discuss on the Forums]

VIDEO UPDATES WILL BE COMING LATER TODAY/TOMORROW

Well I’m back from IAAPA 2009 and it was an excellent show. I had always heard how large it was but you have to see it (and walk it) to believe it. I am going to start off with some picture updates here since that is a bit easier to get up and later I will be uploading videos to my Youtube channel. I took more video than any of the other shows I’ve been to which in part is due to the amount of content I found there.

Here we go – because this post is going to be quite large when I’m finished with it, I am going to put everything after the post break. Click on the images to see them full-size. Games to look for below: Cooking Mama, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Dead Storm Pirates, Terminator Salvation, Big Buck Hunter Open Season, Sega Racing Classic, Hummer and more.

Cooking Mama (Universal Space). I have video of this as well. It’s intended as a video redemption game for kids and it makes use of a touch screen interface that the player can use either their hands or a stylus to control. It has a very attractive cabinet that makes slick use of LEDs.

GameSetWatch found a video of this by Universal Space on youtube. I am uploading my own video of the same thing although in this video they play it properly

Tank! Tank! Tank! (Namco). This was certainly one of the best games of the show.  If you enjoyed Tokyo Wars even a little bit, this one is right up your alley as it’s Tokyo Wars with major upgrades. The force feedback in the wheel and the seat were done perfectly and it’s not a bad looking game either. I did ask the designers if there was any influence from Earth Defense Force 2017 but it appeared that they had never heard of the game before.Two of the designers are pictured here, they were grabbing people walking by to come and play.Tank!Tank! Tank! begins production for the US in three weeks. I did ask the designers about possible updates for this game int he future and they promised that there will be additional content released for the game at certain intervals via USB stick drives.

Dead Storm Pirates (Namco). This was unexpected and thus a pleasant surprise. While the software is only about 60% finished, what was available to play at the show felt complete and polished and overall it was a very enjoyable experience. Like Let’s Go Jungle it’s a much stronger co-op game than a single player one and the Wheel Action scenes (where you have to steer the ship around objects, etc.) were pretty cool. This game is powered by Namco’s System 357, which is based upon the PS3 and is also used in Tekken 6 and Razing Storm. The game has a heavy Pirates of the Carribean influence throughout, even the captain has a tinge of Johnny Depp to him. Probably one of the coolest sequences I played in DSP is the part where you man the cannons and you get to blast some ghost ships out of the water.

Terminator Salvation (Play Mechanix/Raw Thrills’). This is another one of my favorites from the show. I asked RT why they delay in the game between the arcade release and everything else Terminator Salvation related. They explained that they wanted to get it right (citing the terrible TS game that came out on the consoles) and was willing to take the time to do it. They also see the game attracting more attention due to the Terminator brand than the movie itself, which is a logical thought and honestly all of this pays off. The game is a lot of fun and while the build that was at the show was not complete (the game is scheduled to be finished and released in Februrary) it was excellent. They throw a lot of enemies at you and the theatrics that play out during the levels are well done. I was also pleased with how long each mission was so I expect that this will have a bit more to it by the time that it comes along in Februrary. The cabinet is very sleek and you have to see it up close to really appreciate it. TS will sell for about $9000 and it comes with a 42″ screen and large guns. The clip reloading feature is cool and it works better than I thought it would. And no, the full size Terminator robot does not come included with the cabinets.

Big Buck Hunter: Open Season (Play Mechanix/ Raw Thrills’). This is the new BBHPro update. It looks about the same but where this differs here is the content that they added to the game. It has some really cool bonus games  and uses online features similar to Big Buck Safari. I heard that some people from the LA Zoo were at the show and they were “horrified” by the Big Buck games, Safari in particular. There was a super deluxe BBS setup on the floor as well.

It’s worth mentioning that Guitar Hero Arcade isn’t done yet. There aren’t any details I can get into at the moment but the game will be seeing some updates in the near future, including the promised Coin-Up abilities and more. PUTT Championship Golf and H2Overdrive was also at the Betson booth.

Sega Racing Classic (Sega). The game that everyone’s been talking about was at the show, in a four cab setup. Sega is promising that this is going to cost less than a standard driver – they would be crazy to charge a full modern driver price, especially where this is just emulated code running on RingWide.  The Sega rep laughed when I mentioned the drive behind the RingEdge/RingWide as a console movement that’s going on the internet and denied that there are plans for Sega to do such a thing. While graphically SRC is a let down as well as the fact that they can’t add more tracks to the game, at the very least the cabinet is solid, attractive and the sound system is excellent. I even got a picture of the shifter, just for you guys.

Hummer standard (Sega). This one surprised me as it was actually a fun game with nice, shiny graphics. People were playing it every time I was at the Sega booth and it seemed to be well-liked. Production on this one starts in January. They also had the deluxe version of Hummer there with four units although for some reason only three can be linked at a time. On the other side of the Hummer Deluxe setup they had two SR3 deluxe, two Rambo deluxe, two Harley Davidson deluxe games and Tetris Giant (yes, that is what they are calling it, not Giant Tetris)

Misc stuff: – These are the last of my pictures – Part 2 will include much more from Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report

Galactix – This was a cool video redemption game where the token is essentially your controller. Put a token in and on the screen it fires a missile. Depending on the target you hit it will determine the number of points you earn. It can handle up to six players

Lobster Zone – not just for Japan!

Virtusphere was at the show. It appeared to work well although I didn’t give it a try myself.

While Stern’s booth was lackluster (they only brought one Shrek and one NBA pinball – I was hoping to see a LOTR special edition or a pre-production Big Buck Hunter) there was something notable for pinball at the show – Retro Pinball’s remake of Gottlieb’s King of Diamonds. This is going to appeal more to collectors than operators as pins from this era are something of an acquired taste but it’s cool in the respect that playing the game feels like you took a step back into the past to play one of these old games when they were brand spanking new. I do wonder if Retro Pinball will ever decide to create something original at one point but that probably depends upon how well King of Diamonds does. This game should be released in January.

Bob’s Space Racer’s midway booths – it has been a long time since I visited a big theme park and as such I tend to forget about midway style games like these. I’m also used to seeing rundown midway stuff so seeing this in new condition is impressive.

There were a lot of animatronic displays to see and this horror themed booth was one of the best. I’ll be uploading a video of this display later on

Stay tuned for much more as I begin getting the videos uploaded to youtube!

To celebrate Phil Day’s historic World Record, and the uploading of our exclusive article “Fighter Captured – The Phil Day story“… we imported one of Justin Whitlock’s fantastic baby Galaga cabs, and asked Phil to sign it.

(Tip: Click on the photo below to ZOOM IN)

YOU could win this one-of-a-kind SIGNED baby Galaga

How AWESOME would that look on top of your monitor?

Here’s how to enter….

1. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, grab one here. It’s free, it takes 5 minutes, and if you don’t like Twitter, well at least you could win a hot prize.
2. Using Twitter, Follow @justonemoregame. (Just click on the link & press “follow”)
3. Tweet the following message “RT & follow @justonemoregame & you could win a baby Galaga cabinet – signed by the world champ! http://tinyurl.com/babygalaga”. (without the quotes)

It’s that easy!

Phil Day and the signed baby Galaga cab

There are just 3 rules…

1. One entry/tweet per person only.
2. The draw will take place on the evening of Friday November 27th.
3. Entries will be printed out, thrown into an empty baby bath, and the first one drawn WINS.

Closeup: control panel & bezel (screen surround)

Good luck!
And thanks for supporting the world’s only Retro+Indie+Coinop blog, JustOneMoreGame.

PS: We’d love to get your feedback on our biggest story yet – our exclusive article “Fighter Captured – The Phil Day story“.

In part 2, we followed Phil’s climb up the score table for Galaga: Tournament in 2009. By late August, he’d claimed the world number 1, but was gutted, when the score was rejected. Eventually, he began training again, and now, as we start the thrilling conclusion…. his confidence had returned…

Friday October 2 was the last day of the school term. Phil was feeling pretty relaxed, so he decided to set up his new camera for a Friday night recording session. As always, he began by filming the inside of his cabinet, to show the dip switches were set to the correct ‘tournament’ settings. He waited for the machine to boot up, then put the camera on the tripod. He grabbed his next ‘lucky 20c coin’– marked ‘number IV’ and put it in the slot.

He hadn’t progressed far before two friends dropped in, asking if he’d like to drive to Canberra to catch a movie. He told them he’d be “up for it” – so they went home to get ready. As Phil approached the 1 million point mark, he asked his wife to call the friends, telling them that he was on a ‘good game’. Soon, at 1.1 million, he lost two of his five lives. He lost another spaceship at 1.7 million. Two lives remaining. “You reach a point of playfulness that is relaxing and no longer a struggle with the game.” he explains. “Then again, maybe I only get a good score when I’m in that mental state.” Phil’s friends returned, hoping the game was over. But the sound of digital warfare were still coming down the hallway. Phil had just entered another ‘challenging stage’. He felt bad for his friends, and promised that if he broke the World Record, he’d ‘shout’ them the night at the movies. It wasn’t long before the outcome was decided.

Phil Day & his lucky 20c number IV

For the 2nd time in six weeks, Phil passed Andrew Laidlaw’s high score of 2.7 million points. But this time, he knew his camera footage would support him. The record was his – the question was how far he could go. He had a feeling he might be able to surpass his earlier record – with 3.5 million… or even four? Phil kept playing. But the game ended sooner than he hoped. At 3.2m, Phil lost his last ‘double’ ship. Then he quickly lost his last life – at 3,275,720 points. “It was a bee that took me out in the end, he was on his swoop approach. But more importantly it was one of those darting squadrons of three that finished my last double ships, after that… I had little chance of doing much.” But that didn’t matter. Victory was his! A few days later, he sent his DVD via express post to Canada…

And so the wait began again. Phil tracked his parcel as it made its way to Kelly R Flewin. Two weeks later – he got the email. On November 1st 2009, Twin Galaxies listed a new World Record for Galaga – tournament settings. Phil updated his Facebook status, and received a flood of comments. One was from Walter Day of Twin Galaxies.. “My Cousin, Phil Day, is definitely becoming the most famous video game player in Australia. I’m so proud of him.” He also received a nice message of congratulations from another teacher who plays videogames. Steve Wiebe. You might have heard of him.

And what about Andrew Laidlaw, the man he’d just defeated? “I’m sure it will be just a matter of time before he breaks my record.” Phil predicts. “We’ve spoken quite a bit recently. I sent him a copy of my 3.2 million game.” If you’ve seen King of Kong, you’ll know some players are very guarded with their gameplay secrets. But no such secrecy exists between the top two Galaga champs. In fact, they seem to enjoy sharing information. “From the conversations we’ve had, I think he approaches Galaga differently to me. He starts the stages going hard left, whereas I start in a little right of the middle, which is varied slightly over the three levels between each challenging stage.”

It’s funny. Out of all the ‘golden age’ arcade games that might produce an Aussie champion – Galaga was the most likely candidate by far. It’s the only game of its era that could still be found in Aussie arcades 15 years after its debut. Unlike the USA or UK, we didn’t get so many Ms Pacman or Centipede cabinets. But Galaga games used to be everywhere. And even in 2009, with few arcades remaining, the game lives on in ‘48 in 1′ machines in pubs and cafes around the country.

Commemorative "Number 1" badges given out via Facebook

With the game brought to even more people’s attention, I wonder how many more people will start to take on those moths and cicadas, ride the tractor beam, and go for 100% in the challenging stage? Maybe you’re one of them. So I asked Phil for a few tips. Firstly for beginners: “Be prepared to get a lot of low scores.” Phil warns. And what about more experienced players? “Don’t be tempted by bonus points on the stage. Instead stay focused on clearing the stage, this is where the points are.”

Yet one mystery remained. Why Galaga? Why not Space Invaders, or one of Galaga’s “cousins” like Galaxian, Gaplus, or Galaga 88? “Galaga…. seemed to suit me.” explains the new world record holder. “Space Invaders is a great game, but I prefer the pace of Galaga. The sound of Galaxian would have been a problem. I’m convinced Ingeborg wouldn’t have put up with that high pitch squeal the enemies make! [As for] Gaplus and Galaga 88 and later variants…. didn’t offer better game play. They offered a lot more power ups, and worst of all, big bosses.” I asked Phil why he didn’t like more modern videogame bosses. “I think they often ruin a game. The Galaga bosses are quite manageable; you hit them once – they change colour, you hit them again – and they’re dead! Simple!”

Galaxian - Gaplus - Galaga '88

So, is it time to move onto another game? Or is there more Galaga gaming to be done? “I’d like to try and pit a score up in the top ten of Galaga Marathon scores, that’s probably what I’ll try and do next.” Phil replied. And what about his current record? Is he happy to leave it alone? “I’m tempted to go again on Galaga Tournament, but not just yet.” In the meantime, Phil has another package to send to Canada. This time, there’s won’t be a DVD inside. Just a coin, with the number “IV” written on it. The luckiest coin of all. “I’m going to mount it and send it Mr Flewin, the referee at Twin Galaxies who has watched my games from the start.”

Phil’s observed before that Galaga seems to have popped up in his life in seven year intervals. It was released when he was 7. He played it in the arcades at 14, and at Uni, age 21. He rediscovered it in Braidwood at age 28, bought his own machine at age 35, and captured the world record the same year. So Mr Day, what do you think might happen when you’re 42? “I haven’t thought of it. Don’t know, something tells me I probably won’t be playing Galaga when I’m 42. But then again, when I was 21… I didn’t imagine that by the time I was 28 I’d be living in Braidwood, blind in one eye, and playing Gallag with pupil of mine.”

So – the boy who was too young to play Space Invaders is now the man who beat the Galaga world record. Twice. The only thing left to do, is to ask the most controversial question of all. How does Braidwood’s most famous gamer pronounce his favourite game? Is it G’LAH-guh or Galla-guh? (Please say the first one, please say the first one….) Phil answered without hesitation…. “It’s G’LAH-guh. Viva G’LAH-guh!”

———————————————————–
To celebrate Phil’s world record achievement, JOMG has a very special prize to give away.
—> To enter, visit our Baby Galaga Giveaway page. <—
———————————————————–

In part 1, we traced Phil Day’s history with Galaga… through childhood, adolescence, his university years… Until a chance conversation led him to start competing for the world record. In part 2, he makes his claim for the number 1 spot, but things don’t go always to plan…

Once Phil had achieved world number 3 in Galaga, the word spread at Braidwood Central School. Some students thought playing such an ancient game was a bit dorky, but more & more started to think it was “pretty cool”. They’d leave messages on his Facebook page. Michael left this one: “Make me a Galaga shirt/badge, I don’t care what, just make it and I’ll wear it.” At this time, he’d taken Phil’s lead, and started some competitive retrogaming of his own. He was playing The Pit on MAME and soon managed world-class scores. The Pit is a pretty obscure title. It came out in 1981 – just like Galaga – and it’s the predecessor to games like Dig Dug, Mr Do and Boulder Dash. Phil calls it “The most difficult video game ever.”

The Pit - a very rare & difficult arcade game

Meanwhile, he kept playing Galaga, and by May 9th 2009, he triumphed again, beating Richard W Marsh’s score (1.8m vs. 1.58m pts). Phil posted his CD to Mr Flewin, in order to claim 2nd place. And his thoughts turned to retirement. “I was ready to give up – simply because I didn’t think I’d reach Laidlaw’s 2.7 million.” Phil recalls. But his friends were excited about his 2nd place achievement. They pressed Phil to keep going. Another piece of encouragement came via email – from a surprising source. Andrew Laidlaw himself. “He was really encouraging; he told me it was just a matter of time before I’d break his score.” Obviously this competition was going to be very different, from that portrayed in King of Kong. But being on friendly terms with the current record holder doesn’t make the challenge any easier.

Twin Galaxies Certifificate for 2nd place

Playing the game at Twin Galaxies’ tournament standard requires both physical and mental ability. For Day, he found that the 1 million point barrier loomed large as he played the game. “I played a lot of games that fell short of 1 million. My heart would race when I got near it.” Phil sought advice from another friend, a former long marathon runner. “He explained that his fitness carried him half way, his desire carried him the next quarter. By the last quarter he was ready to pass out, but it was the crowd that kept him going. He said he kind of finished the marathon ‘for’ them.”

Phi’s friends, family & students rose to the challenge. One friend suggested he set up a ‘Galaga Phil’ Facebook fan page. This he did, and he soon had an idea of how to grow his army of supporters & harness their enthusiasm. For the past few months, Michael had kept suggesting he make badges or t-shirts. So Phil designed some commemorative ‘2nd place’ badges and had fifty made. “I’d post them out for free, provided they asked for it on Facebook.” He explains. “This way their friends, who also might like one, would see.”

Phil's 2nd place commemorative badge design

Slowly, the badges & Facebook fans started to multiply. More and more students would meet the world number 2 in the playground, and ask “How’s Galaga going, Mr Day?” All the while, he kept up his regime of weeknight practice/weekend competition. Now that Phil had conquered his fear of the million point barrier, his new challenge was to score a million points using his first life. So he kept practicing. June, July, August… weeks and months went by. Early in August, Phil received his official ‘World Number 2’ notification, and it helped spur him on. A week later, Michael gave him further encouragement for his 35th birthday. “I thought I’d get Phil something unique..” he explains “and since he was getting closer and closer to the world record score, I exchanged $4 for a roll of twenty 20c coins. I wrote on them ‘for Galaga world record attempts ONLY’ and gave them to him as a gimmicky present.” From that point, each time Day used a coin for a ’serious’ attempt, he’d write a number on the back. He referred to them as his ‘lucky coins’.

The evening of Friday August 28 began uneventfully. Phil went out to dinner with some friends. At the completion of the meal, he did something he hadn’t done for 4 months. He had a short black coffee. Not surprisingly, when he drove home, he felt pretty awake! So, he started a game of Galaga at 10.30pm. He didn’t manage a million points on his first life – he lost it at 750k – but he battled on. Unlike some other arcade games of the era, Galaga doesn’t keep speeding up as you progress from stages 1-256. Phil explains the difficulty curve… “It seems to plateau at around Stage 13 or so. From there on it’s much the same. The truth is anyone can clear a stage on Galaga, but it is the endlessly clearing of each stage without losing your last life that is difficult. Everything is stacked in the computers advantage in Galaga – you will lose, it’s just a matter of time.” Soon, Day hit 2.2 million points. As he told Canberra’s ABC radio at the time, this was when he thought to himself – “I’m gonna break this.” At 2.7 million, he lost two more ships. But most importantly, he’d passed the old record of 2,729,350 points. Phil quickly glanced up at the camera, pointed at the screen, and kept going.

An original Galaga PCB - required under TG rules

Soon, Phil reached level 256. Now, in games like Donkey Kong & Pacman, this would result in a ‘kill screen’ where the game would end. But on Galaga’s tournament settings, it simply rolls over to level 1, and continues. Going from level 256 to 1, means a drastic slowing down of gameplay; this took Phil by surprise. But he battled on, until level 12, when a blue bee circled underneath him… and crashed into his final ship. But after two hours and five minutes, his score was over 700k ahead of Andrew Laidlaw’s. He had the unofficial world record score. But sadly, no-one was there to share the moment. His wife, Ingeborg wasn’t within earshot. She was at the other end of the house, doing some gaming of her own: playing Scrabble on Facebook. Phil told her of his score and she asked.. “So, are you going to send it in?” Ingeborg also said she thought he could do better – and maybe get four million! Phil then jumped onto Facebook to update his status: “Phil Day just scored 3,448,630 points on Galaga Tournament.” Then it was time to sleep.

Now that Phil had achieved his target, did it mean his wife could finally get a game herself? “Ingeborg has never played Galaga, so she doesn’t know how exhausting the game can be, but she does know that a score of 3 million gives her two hours of time to herself.” So besides Facebook Scrabble, what does Mrs Day do, while he was busy ‘defending the universe’? “Ingeborg loves cricket, so if that’s on… she’ll be glued to the tele.” Phil divulged. “Also she reads a lot. So much… she’s literally turned the front of our house into a book shop.”

Commemorative T-shirt transfer - modelled by Ingeborg

Details of Phil’s unofficial record hit the net two days later, and the media loved the story. He appeared on many websites, including Kotaku, the Sydney Morning Herald & Bigpond’s Bennie & Ritchie Show. He was even challenged to an onair Galaga duel on (Australian national youth station) Triple J. I asked Phil what the strangest experience was, during this period. “A German student came to the house wanting to play the Galaga machine. I let him play, then asked him to translate an article about my score on a German website. He was happy to do it. According to him, the article said ‘To reach a score of 3.44 million you would need supernatural powers’.”

As usual, Phil sent his DVD to Kelly R. Flewin for the official adjudication. Sure, his number 2 record had taken months to be authenticated, but a World Record claim gets ‘priority’ treatment. One week passed. Two weeks. Then – a bombshell.. Mr Flewin emailed to say there was a problem with his claim. Day’s video camera was set to ‘long play’ – so the footage was too grainy to be accepted. His record was likely to be rejected. Sure, he’d used the same camera, settings & Galaga board as his successful number 2 record, but the referee simply hadn’t noticed the long play problem earlier. Phil was bewildered, to say the least. He really didn’t know what to do. “It took quite a bit to get over the loss, especially since the media thought I was sure to get the World Record – *I* thought I was sure to get the World Record. In retrospect.. I’m glad I kept saying to people that it was yet to be verified.”

For the first time in 2009, Phil’s Galaga sat unplayed.

It remained that way for a week or two. Friends, family & students kept asking when the world record was going to be official. So Phil told them what happened. And most people had a three word answer for him. “Do it again.” Each day at school, he saw a visual reminder of his support base. “Many of the students wore those badges, which was a reminder to play for that world record.” Day recalls. “Often they’d ask how Galaga was going, while others, who I didn’t teach or even know, would ask on Facebook. If it wasn’t for that ‘crowd’ support, I’m pretty sure I would have given up.”

With renewed enthusiasm, Phil played his first complete game since the bombshell. 1.8 million. Not big on his usual scale, but a reasonable effort. He bought a new video camera which would satisfy Twin Galaxies requirements. And he started to play more regularly. One morning, Day noticed something during a practice game. A little gameplay fact that he’d never noticed in thirty years of Galaga gaming. There was a particular insect on the left, that usually caused him problems. If he could take it out early, his chances on that level improved. Three decades on, and Australia’s best Galaga player was still learning. He kept practicing. “I would aim to get a million points without losing a man. Once this became a regular occurrence I felt I was ready.”

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—>CLICK HERE TO READ Part 3<—
- Phil attempts the world record – again.
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Back in August, you may have heard about an Aussie getting the unofficial World Record for Galaga. His name is Phil Day, and there’s much, much more to the story. But first, we have to go right back to the very beginning in Goulburn… a city two hours southwest of Sydney…

One day in 1979… Anthony Day & his friends went to play at the local squash courts. Accompanying them was Anthony’s younger brother Phil, aged 5. Whomp, Whomp, Whomp. What was that new machine against the wall? Space Invaders. This was the era when pinball was king, and videogames had only been around a few years. But Space Invaders was far more detailed than anything they’d seen before. And – far more addictive. Five year old master Day happily watched the older boys, as they took turns obliterating the black & white aliens… Whomp, Whomp, Whomp…

As a new decade began, videogames became colourful, and much more popular. More arcades began to appear, such as the one that opened in 1981, in the Bradfordville Shopping Centre. There Phil discovered games like Moon Cresta (which he found really hard), Frogger (he didn’t like it), and Scramble (a game he rarely got to play, as the older boys hogged the machine). But Phil did get a chance to play another game; Galaga. He enjoyed it’s faster movement compared to that of Space Invaders. And even though the enemies had no official names, master Day made up some. “I called the blue and yellow aliens ‘bees’, the red ones ‘moths’ and the Galaga bosses ‘cicadas’”.

Frogger - Moon Cresta - Scramble

The shopping centre’s arcade soon closed its doors, so the Day boys had to find a new location to play the “Spacies”. A local bowling alley became the new haunt. Some of Phil’s favourite games there included Dig Dug, Moon Patrol & Dragon’s Lair. Ahh yes, Dragon’s Lair. Phil loved drawing – so Don Bluth’s interactive cartoon was quite a revelation. Another part of the attraction might have been the free games! Phil was given free credits on Dragon’s Lair by other players, so he could show them how to progress further. An added benefit was that more money could be spared for Galaga! And while it may not have competed with the visuals of Dragon Lair, it certainly kept Phil occupied in the early 80’s.

Dig Dug - Dragon's Lair - Moon Patrol

In those days, elder brothers could be relied upon for arcade adventures. Parents.. were less supportive. Phil’s father didn’t like videogames at all. He was a cobbler, who managed the shoe shop in the main street of town. His lack of gaming enthusiasm may have stemmed from the business next door – an arcade called Con’s. He told his son – “If I ever see you in there – I’ll kill you!” Mrs Day didn’t mind her son playing videogames, though she considered them a waste of money. Little did she know whose money was at risk! “I used to slide a butter knife into my mum’s moneybox which she kept by the phone.” Phil admits. “I would jiggle a coin onto the knife and gently slide it out. But I never took too much; otherwise it’d be a bit obvious.”

By the mid 80’s, scrolling platformers became popular in arcades, and some of Phil’s favourites included Ghosts ’n’ Goblins, Rygar and Green Beret. The other genre to explode at this time was racing games, but Mr Day had no time for them… “I never liked racing games, particularly those ones where you’re sitting in a car or on a bike that jolts and moves around.” Arcade titles were increasing in complexity, yet Phil could still find a Galaga game when he felt the need for some old school space insecticide. Of course, he had other interests in his teenage years.. with a blossoming interest in art, and a healthy participation in cricket.

Ghosts n Goblins - Green Beret - Rygar

After high school, Phil’s interest in art led to studies at the Canberra School of Art, at the Australian National University. It was during this time that he met his wife, Ingeborg. Outside of his classes, Phil enjoyed the other attractions a city of Canberra’s size has to offer. He started playing squash. He visited Canberra’s arcades, including Happy Days which still had a resident Galaga machine. And Namco’s classic game also featured at Heaven nightclub, where Phil’s friend Bruce was a DJ. The two students would play Galaga in between DJ sets.. and Bruce came up with a special rule. Whenever a Michael Jackson song came on, they both had to abandon the game, and head to the dancefloor. Well, at least it got Phil off the machine…

In 1997, our moonwalking gamer had completed his studies, and co-founded a private press, to print limited-run art books. At this time, Phil went blind in his left eye. Losing his depth of field meant that he could no longer play cricket or squash. “This maybe one of the reasons I turned my attention to Galaga…” Phil suggests. “This is where video games are a great equaliser. Doesn’t matter what age you are, or gender, or in my case, if you are blind in one eye, you can still be a serious contender.”

Galaga - Title & gameplay screens

Five years later, Day moved to Braidwood, and became the Art & Design teacher at a local school. And in 2007, his favourite game appeared in his life again. Braidwood’s Royal Cafe had a Gallag (Galaga clone) machine, and Phil introduced the game to one of his art students, Michael Ison. Michael had no experience of old-school games. He scored around 30,000 points. You can imagine his face as his teacher scored 750,000! Phil and Michael wondered what the Galaga world record for the game might be… Googling led to the Twin Galaxies scoreboard, where Richard W Marsh had the number 1 spot, with 1.5 million points. That seemed like a pretty difficult challenge. But Day continued playing the game regularly. It was a good way to unwind after a school day.

When people talk about a videogame world record, you might assume there’s one per game. But Twin Galaxies has two records for Galaga. One is the ‘marathon’ record, where the game is adjusted to give you 3 initial lives. More ships can be earnt at 20k points, 70k and every 70k after that. The marathon record is rather aptly named – it would take you at least 10 hours to beat the current champ! The other Galaga record is named ‘tournament’. The player starts with 5 lives, but no more can be earnt. So game times are much easier on the bladder – at around one to two hours. Tournament is the variation that Richard W Marsh played.

Onscreen "tournament" settings for Galaga

In 2007, Phil’s interest in art & classic gaming collided in a most unexpected way. He attended an art exhibition, and got talking to an older woman. She told him about a film she’d just seen; a documentary, about 2 Americans competing for a videogame world record. Yes – it was King of Kong. Soon, Phil saw the movie with a mate, and even before the credits had finished, he’d decided to buy a Galaga machine, and go for the record. It was time to get serious. But when Day revisited the Twin Galaxies scoreboard, he got a rude surprise. “I checked the high score and discovered Marsh’s score had been surpassed by Andrew Laidlaw, and surpassed by quite a bit.” (2,729,350 pts vs 1,557,50 pts)

Phil was undeterred. But he knew very little about buying an arcade cabinet. The one thing he did know – from King of Kong – was the necessity of using an original game board to compete on Twin Galaxies. This led to much frustration. Each time he tracked down a ‘Galaga’ machine, it actually had an ineligible 48-in-1 “bootleg” board. Eventually, Day found a man selling a Hankin upright cabinet in Melbourne, with an original Galaga PCB. The deal was done, and soon it arrived safely at Phil’s home. He began his ‘training’. Unfortunately, he had to end it – within a few weeks! The machine had begun to overheat and malfunction. He contacted a local arcade supplier, A Blast from the Past Amusements, and they kindly offered a free repair. Soon, he was back on track.

Phil Day & his Hankin upright cabinet with original Galaga

At the outset, Day was reasonably confident of reaching 3rd position. A score of 750k (which he’d achieved at The Royal Café) would be more than enough. His new retrogaming friend, Michael Ison was more than an arts student. He was also a target shooter, who had a useful tip for a would-be endurance champion “Go off the coffee – it’ll help you concentrate.” Another friend, who played for (Australian rugby union team) the Wallabies agreed. So that’s what Phil did. Coffee was out. Soon, he developed a routine.. one hour ‘Galaga practice’ each weeknight, then two or three games back to back on the weekend. Phil set up a camera tripod to film his weekend games, just in case.

From mid March, he’d regularly update his Facebook status… 577k… 734k… 770k… 845k… 899k.. Then on April 11, he made an unofficial claim on 3rd place, with a score of 1.06m. Phil sent his DVD of game footage to Twin Galaxies senior referee, Kelly R Flewin. Mr Flewin is one of a number of judges who verify the tapes/DVDs sent in by players from around the world. It’s only once this process is complete, that a score is validated. Soon, Phil got the news from Twin Galaxies – he was the official “World number 3” for Galaga tournament.

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—>CLICK HERE TO READ PART 2<—
Phil gets the world record – or does he?
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Hello everyone,

In recent years a new Christmas tradition has come about in my home; which is about locating on the web old Christmas TV episodes and movies, that time seemed to have forgotten.  YouTube has of course been the biggest provider of such Holiday entertainment with user provided videos from Bob Hope to Rudolph.  There is Christmas videos for just about every taste (even some for the more distasteful lot who would rather say Bah Humbug than Merry Christmas.)

I’d thought I share some of the shows I’ve come across over the past couple years on YouTube  in hopes it might brighten your Christmas sprit.  First off, we start with “Christmas Comes to Pac-Land.”  Yes thats right its a Pac-Man Christmas special.  As a kid this was one of my favorites.  Pac-Man + Santa teaming up?   Yes, in the 80’s this was a no brainer.  Back then Pac-Man was king and Santa well…what kid doesn’t love Santa.  In typical kiddy Christmas fashion the story is much like other specials. Something bad has happened on Christmas eve that causes Santa’ toy route to be jeopardized.  It is of course up to our hero, Pac-Man to come through for a distraught Santa, and save Christmas…as if Christmas is something that could ever be saved.  (God Bless Dr. Seuss for correcting that absurd notion in the “Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”)  Nonetheless, it is what it is and Santa’s the toy man/good will ambassador of the world and failure for the jolly elf is not an option.  Sure its silly, and somewhat retro…but hey the cartoon is just a nice piece of holiday nostalgia and if you’ve never seen it then its just a goofy, somewhat pretty, little animated Christmas card from Hannah-Barbara and Namco.

The following is the special separated in three parts.  Runs about 25 minutes.

Enjoy and if you haven’t already done so please visit my website (www.thompsonstshirts.com) for the coolest Christmas T-shirts on the net,  Thanks, Matt

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Thompson’s Original’s Jolly T-shirts Christmas Showcase!

For those who passed on the console version released earlier this month, or just bummed with the laggy online multiplayer, you just might find something different with the PSP version of the game.  Namco Bandai has so far built a strong reputation with their PSP fighting game ports with Tekken: Dark Ressurection and more recently Soul Calibur:Broken Destiny.  Providing exclusive content, improvement tweaks, and unbelievable graphics for the PSP, each port solidified itself as a legitmate and unique version of the original game.  With Tekken 6, all 40 characters will be present from the console version, 4 new stages will be included, and we also see the return of the ability to transfer ghost data.  With the recent announcement of adhocParty coming to North America, players will also be able to battle locally or online (via PS3) both via ad-hoc multiplayer.  Tekken 6 for the PSP is slated for release Nov/24/2009; now the question for me is whether I can justify buy two versions of the same game.  Tekken 6? Yes.   Sean C.

Official release below:}

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (Nov. 18, 2009) — Fighting during the holidays has never been this fun as NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. announced today that TEKKEN®6 has gone gold for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and will be available nationwide on Nov. 24, 2009. Just in time to help shake off the Thanksgiving tryptophan blues, TEKKEN 6 retains all the intensity of its console brethren while providing an extensive single player experience with challenging gameplay modes and robust features. The latest iteration in the TEKKEN series is ready to go. Are you?

With an illustrious 14 year legacy, TEKKEN 6 brings the blockbuster fighting franchise onto multiple platforms for the first time with uncompromising quality, a robust gameplay experience, and the largest roster ever seen in the series. Players can test their might in a variety of game modes such as Arcade, Story, Time Attack, Survival, and Gold Rush to collect in-game money, customization items and view character specific storylines. In addition to containing all 18 battle stages and 40 playable characters found in the home console version, TEKKEN 6 for the PSP system will also support ad-hoc multiplayer battles across an additional four stages. Furthermore, players will have the ability to transfer ghost data allowing fights against opponents’ characters even when not connected with them.

Os japoneses têm uma mania de achar que os coreanos os copiam em tudo. Talvez estejam exagerando. Bem, Pump it Up copiando Dance Dance Revolution? Ah, mas Pump tem 5 setas e na diagonal ainda… Aquele clipe da coreana Ivy, que copiou todas as cenas da luta de Tifa na igreja no Final Fantasy VII Advent Children? Ah, mas FF é em CG, o clipe tem atores reais… Certo, talvez não seja exagero.

Tales of Graces vai sair em breve para o Wii, e como sempre terá uma música cantada na abertura, dessa vez pela coreana BoA. A música se chama Mamoritai ~White Wishes~. Ouçam-na:

O que é que tem demais? Bom, vamos comparar os 10 segundos iniciais da música da BoA com os de Akai Sweet Pea, uma das músicas de maior sucesso de Seiko Matsuda, a mais famosa idol dos anos 80 no Japão:

Tirem suas próprias conclusões!

Before we get started, Splatterhouse is definitely not involved with the Friday the 13th series of movies. Even though some of the settings look familiar, and the main character is sort of similar to Jason Voorhess. We’ll just keep this hush hush and pretend we hadn’t noticed, Ok? Good.

If you never had the chance to play Splatterhouse then you may have missed your chance unfortunately. Copies are hard to come by, and recently one sold on eBay for just under £37! With a remake not too far away I wanted to write a short piece on the original, a game worthy of my blood, sweat and tears.

The game is set in a place called West Mansion, or to those on the inside “Splatterhouse”. Living there was feared parapsychologist (more than a mouthful) Dr West. He undertook several gruesome experiments in his research labs, and people who tried to investigate were never seen again. So, along come two parapsychology students, Rick and Jennifer. Who decide it’s a great idea for them to investigate the West Mansion to aid them in a school project (on a scale of stupidness, this ranks pretty high). In the house, Jennifer is abducted, Rick knocked unconcious and a whole can of whoop ass is about to take place. Rick wakes up drenched in blood and to his amazement he is wearing a mask, nicknamed the terror mask (sack the creative minds please). To cut a long story short, Rick must work with the terror mask and travel through the “Splatterhouse” to rescue Jennifer.

Splatterhouse bases itself on a very linear side scrolling format, punch, kick and special attack. Simples. Only moving left and right and not moving in and out of the screen offers the player a very limited experience. For it’s time the game is very detailed, with a variety of monsters and ghouls to hack your way through. Something about decapitating a giant worm is rather satisfying. Although after the 20th decap it gets pretty tedious. The only major improvement needed in the game is its longevity, hopefully something rectified in the remake. So come on Bandai Namco make it happen!

Oliver Hill

Asi es el nuevo DLC de Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 contendra nuevos trajes para los personajes de dicho titulos, asi que para aquellos que no tuvieron suficiente taco de ojos con los trajes por defecto de los personajes podran disfrutar de estos el 19 de noviembre por $3.99 dolares.

Al parecer Namco quiere aprovecharse de los atributos de las heroinas de este titulo para exprimirnos hasta el ultimo centavo.

¿y usted lector que opina?

fuente: kotaku

Like most things in life, there are leaders and there are followers and the gaming industry is no exception. There are games that try to push the genre forward (or aspects of the genre at least).  Then there are games that lazily follow behind. It’s not that these game are horrible, far from it in fact. If this game came out years ago it would have probably gotten a great reception. Sadly MagnaCarta2 came out in 2009 and it just doesn’t measure up.

token spikey-haired warrior...(check)

First off Magna Carta 2 is actually the third installment.  The first was a PC game in 2001, then came the 2005 Magna Carta: Tears of Blood For the PS2. The installment of the series follows a story set in the war-torn Lanzheim Continent and centers around a male character named Juto, who cannot remember his past (Like that’s never happened before… maybe his name should be Cloud and not Juto).

What anime game would be complete withough mech-like monsters to fight?

The game play mixes strategic turn-based and real-time elements and the player controls up to three party members. When you encounter an enemy the player has the option of switching from Movement Mode to Combat Mode and there is no loading screen when entering a fight (which is nice).  During a fight, players can switch control of party members and customize AI for those the player is not controlling.

You usual flame throwing warrior...

As I said, years ago this game might have been refreshing because, as you may remember, both the Xbox and the 360 had a severe lack in RPGs especially Japanese RPGs.  But since then we’ve had games like Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Fable 2;  even Japanese RPG’s like Tales of Vesperia and Eternal Sonata.  Each brought something refreshing to the genre or the system.  So now the bar has been raised pretty high and pretty graphics just don’t cut it anymore.  Once you take that away it’s really hard for a game like Magna Carta  2 to compete.

Pros

The graphics and sound, while nothing to write home about, still live up to the standard one would expect for a “this” gen system.  Other than that there isn’t much to write home about this game. Character designs are pretty anime-influenced so if you like that kinda thing this may get some extra points from you.

The battle system has the interesting element of having to chain through your characters during battle so that you don’t run out of stamina. This keeps the game from being a button masher and forces you to make use of everyone.  Each character has two styles of attack. It’s a system that this game swagger jacked from Star Ocean (surprise). The weapons also have an enhancement system that works like…you guessed it, Materia (surprise again ).  But hey, if your going to take ideas from games you might as well go with ideas that worked right?

Cons

Though the graphics are nice, can we get some original designs please?! This game is not a JRPG. It was created by a Korean game company. But everything about the visuals just screams mediocre fantasy based anime. The amnesia hero, the country swept up in war, the sassy princess, the spikey haired teammates, all of these just make the clichés too many to count.

Then there are the seemingly endless pages of text!  As I said years ago this wouldn’t have mattered so much. However, pesky developers like Bioware and others who insist on recording all dialogue for a more immersive experience, make games with this massive amount of text in this game feel like crime against gaming!

Here’s the Deal

Here is the deal: As far as games go…this is a Frankenstein …or rather a Godzilla of JRPG clichés. It’s not a total horror flick but the fact that it’s so boringly mediocre makes it in fact worse than a REALLY bad game.  RPG’s as a genre are constantly evolving. New systems of fighting, original stories, fresh and dimensional characters,  games that don’t try to improve on what’s come before will no doubt fall by the way side.  Magna Carta 2 recently released but because of lack of originality, it won’t be long before people will be saying Magna Carta who?

6/10

Nigel H.

Es ist Mittwoch, und auch heute wollen wir euch ein neues Minigame präsentieren. Und heute haben wir einen absoluten Klassiker im Angebot – Pac Man! Es dürfte wohl schwieriger sein jemanden zu finden der noch nie von der gefräßigen gelben Kugel gehört hat als umgekehrt. Schier endlos viele Portierungen für unzählige Konsolen, Gastspiele in komplett unterschiedlichen Genres – keine Frage, Pac Man hat in seinem 30 jährigen bestehen viel mitgemacht.

Angefangen hat nämlich alles 1979, als Namco den sogenannten “Puck Man” in Japan veröffentlichte, damals in Form eines Spielautomaten. Das Spiel erlangte schnelle Popularität, und wurde dann als Pac-Man in den USA veröffentlicht. Vater der Figur ist der Japaner Toru Iwatani, der noch bis 2007 in der Firmenleitung bei Namco tätig war und heute an der Osaka University of Arts als Professor arbeitet.

Für die wenigen die das Spielprinzip tatsächlich noch nicht kennen: Ihr steuert Pac-Man durch ein kleines Labyrinth, welches mit Punkten gefüllt ist. Der Haken an der Sache: Ihr werdet dabei konstant von 4 Geistern verfolgt. Eine Berührung mit selbigen führt zum sofortigen Verlust eines Spiellebens, es sei denn, ihr schnappt euch eine von vier Kraftpillen. Dadurch verlangsamen sich die Geister und sind für kurze Zeit für Bonuspunkte fressbar. Auch gibt es im Labyrinth hin und wieder Früchte zu finden, die ebenfalls euren Highscore erhöhen. Um das Level zu gewinnen müsst ihr folgerichtig natürlich alle Punkte im Labyrinth fressen.

Wenn ihr nun auf den Geschmack gekommen seid oder einfach nur mit einer Runde Pac-Man in Erinnerungen schwelgen möchtet könnt ihr das unter der untenstehenden URL tun.

http://www.pacmangame.net/

Anbei noch ein kleines Video um euch in die richtige Stimmung fürs Punktejagen zu versetzen.

(Thanks to reader ECM for the tip)

It has been a few months since we have heard anything about the collaborative efforts between Capcom, Namco and Nintendo on a new Mario Party redemption arcade title in Japan and now here is a video of the software in action. I don’t expect to see this outside of Asian markets but you never know – something like Mario Party carries a recognizable name with it for many players and party games in an arcade environment can be even more fun than at home.

[Via Cubed3.com] [Discuss on the Forums]