A few hours ago, Capcom held a Monster Hunter press conference in Japan and put an embargo on all of the news. However, a savvy Twitter user captured the big story – Monster Hunter Portable 3rd.
Andriasang: Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino revealed via Twitter earlier this week plans for a new title announcement to be held in April. "Once this is announced," he wrote, "it will become an extremely anticipated title."
Game publisher Zallag has announced a new game created specifically for the WiiWareTM : Gods vs Humans. A game developed by Artefacts Studio.
Gods vs Humans is a strategy game taking place in a universe mixing goofy characters and the greatest mythologies. Starting with the Norse mythology, the player will be able to embody Odin, Thor and many more Divinities later on. Humans were bold enough to challenge the Gods and it’s up to the player to teach them a lesson! Based on real mythologies, Gods vs Humans takes the player through over 50 levels. Presenting as an unlikely but effective mix of Lemmings, Populous and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle: My Life as a Darklord, this game also has a multiplayer mode for Homeric confrontations.
Gods vs Humans benefits from a really rich universe as well as endearing characters. It allowed Zallag to not only build a promising game around this particular universe, but a comic as well. The game allows players to explore the Gods themselves, whereas the comics will focus on the adventures surrounding the little characters encountered throughout Gods vs Humans.
Nintendo fanboys can discover more about the game by seeking out Zallag on Facebook and Twitter.
Sharing: It’s Win/Win
Well this is another sign that the third chapter of the successful Gears Of War franchise could be announced soon, Maybe sooner then we think.
Geoff Keighley on twitter in response to a user who praised the graphical beauty of God of War 3 and the cleverness of the first party Sony, said: "Wait until you see what they are doing next …. very soon on GTTV!
Japanese tweets, like English tweets, are limited to 140 characters. You can still get quite a bit through in those 140 characters, though, as evidenced at the Kojima Productions Twitter today.
Writes Kojima Productions’ Kenichiro Imaizumi:
"Recently in the news, it’s been written that MGS4’s development costs crossed 5 billion [yen], or 7 billion. It didn’t cost that much. If it did cost that much, it would have been multiplatform. But, of course, the data can’t fit."
Rob Enderle debates whether it was ever worth it for Microsoft to build the Xbox 360.
I’m having an ongoing debate with a number of folks on whether Microsoft should have ever made the Xbox. I’m arguing against it, and the best argument so far for the Xbox can be found here where there are links to all of the posts so far. What started all of this hullabaloo was a snarky comment I made on Twitter after seeing a chart that showcased that the vast majority of Microsoft’s profit came from Windows and that the Xbox wasn’t contributing much at all to the bottom line.
If you’ve been holding off on downloading certain Midway games from the Xbox Live Marketplace, you may be out of luck. RunDLC is reporting that a number of title have been pulled from the service due to “evolving rights and permissions.”
Major Nelson confirmed their removal via Twitter, “FYI: Some XBLA titles are no longer available for purchase from Xbox LIVE Arcade due to publisher evolving rights and permissions…”
Sony France blacklists the french webzine Gamekult after the zine released Heavy Rain test.
The redactor Poischich who gave a 6/10 to Heavy Rain commented the news on twitter : "Sony is taking distance with the webzine".
We also learn that Sony France asked to a redactor from JeuVideo.Com to modify his review for Heavy rain.
Following last year’s release of ‘The Ocarina Of Rhyme,’ a remix album featuring beats from Nintendo’s seminal game franchise, Team Teamwork has given Square’s long running role playing series the same treatment with this week’s release of ‘Vinyl Fantasy 7.’ Taking original musical compositions from Final Fantasy 7 and remixing them with a who’s who of hip hop (and even Tom Waits), Team Teamwork continues to impress with infectious takes on tunes which hold such nostalgia for many gamers. I recently was able to catch up with the man behind the curtain, Timothy Jacques, and ask a few questions about the new disc.
Eric: From your work on the Ocarina of Rhyme album, is there anything you learned and improved upon in the time between it’s release and that of Vinyl Fantasy 7?
Tim: I’ve learned a lot since last March about what makes for an interesting beat. More importantly, I’ve learned a substantial amount about what to listen for when mixing a track. As a result,VF7 sounds a lot more cohesive and consistent than Ocarina.
Eric: Is there any difference or difficulties that are associated with making remixes from game music as opposed to those on The Good-Ass Remixes (Team Teamwork’s ‘Traditional Remix’ Album)?
Tim: Working with a limited amount of tracks makes it easier to get stuff done because it’s more of a “make it work” mentality, but it’s also easier to get frustrated with the constraints of such a small set of sounds.
Eric: Was it harder narrowing down the specific musical choices from Final Fantasy 7’s expansive soundtrack or picking the songs featured from Ocarina of Time?
Tim: Holy crap, yes. With Ocarina, I only cut 2 demos from the final. With VF7, I ended up deleting more songs than I used. Something like 16 tracks that I put together didn’t make the album.
Eric: Being that I am one of your followers on Twitter (which has it’s advantages, such as an early copy of Vinyl Fantasy 7), I noticed that the tracks were re-ordered for the final release, can you tell me the reasoning behind this?
Tim: The tracks, in their final order, are almost entirely chronological to where they appear in the game. The exception is the last track, Save Me Dear. [SPOILER] Aeris dies (the sample in track 12) way before you fight Sephiroth (the sample in track 11). I wanted Save Me Dear to be the last track because it’s my favorite.
Eric: Seeing that Danger Mouse got his big break from remixing Jay-Z’s Black Album with the Beatles White Album, to form the Grey Album, do you have ambitions to become a full time musician?
Tim: It’s still just a fun hobby. But I don’t see myself quitting any time soon.
Eric: Follow up Question: If you could form a Duo, much like Danger Mouse has done with Ceelo (Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (Broken Bells), who would it be with, and what style of music would you make?
Tim: That’s a really hard question. I really like working solo because, unless I have a deadline, there is no stress at all. But If I had to think of one off the top of my head, I’d do a Madvillain/Soul Position-style team with Bun B or a Broken Bells-style team with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.
Eric: I know you have found recognition on the Internet from the success of Ocarina of Rhyme, but have any artists or other celebrities commented on the remixes (If it hasn’t the inclusion of self proclaimed video game enthusiast Murs on Vinyl Fantasy 7 may change that)?
Tim:Drug Rug and Mum, two great bands that I sampled on Good-ass Vol. 1, responded very positively to the remixes I made that sampled them, and one of my favorite comedians, Aziz Ansari, blogged about Ocarina. That was pretty astounding.
Eric: You’ve stated that your future musical ambitions include remixes from Capcom’s Megaman series, since up to this point you have been remixing synthesized orchestral music with Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy 7, do you think it’ll be a challenge to work with the chiptune melodies of the NES?
Tim: I don’t think it’ll be any more of a challenge. It still has a melody, bass-line and drum part. If anything, it might be easier, since there are MIDI files set up with the notes easily editable But if that ever comes to fruition, it’ll be a long time from now.
Eric: What are your thoughts on the nerd-core sub-genre of Hip Hop ie. MC Frontalot, MC Chris etc.
Tim: It’s okay. I like MC Chris. But as nerdy as I am, I’m not all that familiar with the genre.
Eric: Any game soundtracks or hip hop albums from the past year that you thought stood above the rest?
Tim: For hip hop albums: Freddie Gibbs’s Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik mixtape is really excellent; Edan’s Echo Party; Diplo and Benzi’s Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas mixtape; Oh No’s Ethiopium; and of course J Dilla’s Jay Stay Paid. As for video game soundtracks: the score for Borderlands set the mood of the game pretty well. But none really stood out to me.
Eric: Finally, If you could perform one track from either Ocarina of Rhyme or Vinyl Fantasy 7 live with the MC’s featured in the remix, which would you choose?
Tim: Knockin’ Doors Down (Hyrule Field) by Pimp C, Lil Keke and P.O.P. because in order for that to happen, Pimp C would have to be brought back to life.
Thanks to Tim aka Team Teamwork for taking the time to discuss his third full length album with me. The full album can be downloaded at Team Teamwork’s website (for free), but if you dig it, throw a couple bucks his way, because I really want that Megaman remix album…right now, seriously. I think vast sums of money could go a long way in speeding up the creative process — amirite?
