High Dynamic Range Lying

After news got out that Street Fighter IV was going to be once again playable in Osaka this month, most gamers living in the area knew where they were going to be spending their weekend, regardless of prior engagements.

The location test, which ends today, took place both in Osaka and in Tokyo. The Osaka venue was the Sega Avion (ハイテクランドセガアビオン) in Osaka’s Namba (なんば) district. The test was four cabinets linked up back to back, with a fifth cabinet on its own for others to test out the arcade and event modes.

Continue reading ‘Arcade Impressions: Street Fighter IV Location Test’

I have always been a fan of both city building simulation games, and I of course have a soft corner for the Final Fantasy franchise. It seems odd, though, to see the two finally come together.

While Nintendo’s Wii console has had their retro catalogue available on the Virtual Console service since the console’s launch, but it was not until they revealed their WiiWare service that they offered the chance for gamers to download new, specially designed titles. Among the first batch of titles available to Wii owners with an internet connection are titles like Lost Wind, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - My Life as a King.

Continue reading ‘Impressions: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - My Life as a King’

Metal Gear is one of the highest quality franchises Konami has under its belt, but the game has always been a largely single player series. Starting on the MSX, the game has followed the adventures of grizzled war veteran Solid Snake through deception, espionage, and love triangles.

Back after the release of Metal Gear Solid 2, creator Hideo Kojima expressed his interest in an online Metal Gear title, but said that it would not see the light of day for some time. When the re-issued special edition of Metal Gear Solid 3 shipped (dubbed Subsistence), it came with a free online mode, which Kojima and team called a mere test of the “real” Metal Gear online.

Continue reading ‘Impressions: Metal Gear Online β’

It has not been all that long since Nintendo announced and finalized its acquisition of Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos developer, Monolith Soft (also known as MLSI). It also has not been that long since they announced their first title under new management: Soma Bringer.

Continue reading ‘Impressions: Soma Bringer’

This weekend was full of reunions and celebration. I spent sunday evening in Osaka with old coworkers, enjoying a few drinks and memories. After waking up this morning in a capsule hotel, I realized I had left my satchel at the bar the previous night; a mistake that I suppose was bound to happen at some point.

Hoping to waste some time while I waited for the bar to reopen, I dropped by my favorite arcade in Umeda to see what was around. Not only did I finally get a chance to play Cave’s new shmup Deathsmiles, but I also got my hands on Konami’s touch screen shooter Otomedius.

Continue reading ‘Arcade Impressions Double Feature: Deathsmiles and Otomedius’

The weather in Osaka this afternoon was great. A bit on the hot side, the weather was complimented by a slight breeze, and the hustle and bustle of people enjoying a long weekend. My friend Josh was in town this weekend to visit his girlfriend, so we thought it would be a great time to get together, and head to the arcades in Umeda to see what new games were on display.

Continue reading ‘Arcade Impressions: Raiden IV’

We`re going to try something. When we first started HDRL, the impressions offered were usually pretty cursory, and usually only covered impressions from the first few hours of the game. As the site began to mature, we started to expand the size of both editorials and impressions to the point where they practically became proper reviews. This left little space for those first-day impressions that some importers need, as these expanded impressions took far longer to write.

Welcome the triumphant return of Impressions, which will cover the first hour or two of the title.

Continue reading ‘Impressions: すばらしきこのせかい (It`s a Wonderful World)’

Arc System Works is well known in arcade gaming circles as a premier fighting game developer. After numerous iterations of Guilty Gear, each one tweaking balance and adding characters, ASW moved on to its second sprite based fighting game: Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳). While Hokuto no Ken lacked the balance and roster of Guilty Gear, it was well received, and even received a port very recently on the Playstation 2.

When ASW announced that they were making a new fighting game in its own universe, everyone expected a game true to its roots: a brutal and fast fighting game with a dark palette and post apocalyptic locales, akin to its first two series. What they got was something entirely different when the game began location testing earlier this year. The game they got, was Battle Fantasia.

Continue reading ‘Arcade Impressions: Battle Fantasia’

Once again quickly grappling with Immigration over paperwork this weekend, I was forced to make a trip to Kobe. With some time to kill until the Immigration office sprung to life after its mandatory lunch break, I decided to make a pit stop at Namco Land in Sannomiya (三ノ宮), right next to the Hankyu (阪急) train station. The arcade was mostly empty, save for those sitting and smoking, pumping quarters into the new horse racing betting game. Off in the corner of the arcade, next to the perpetually full Gundam mech simulators, was a game I had not heard about since it was announced late last year: 2 Spicy.

Continue reading ‘Arcade Impressions: 2 Spicy’

Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman and CEO, Ken Kutaragi stands on stage beaming, huge corsage blooming from his lapel. Beside him, well dressed and smiling just as greatly, is Koei co-founder Keiko Erikawa. They stand on stage at the inaugural launch of Gundam Musou (ガンダム無双), proclaimed as potentially the first million seller for the Playstation 3.

“We’ve made a fantastic game,” Erikawa said, at the event. “Gundam Musou is the most ordered PlayStation 3 game, but it’s just one tenth of the sales we’re thinking of. For us, Bandai’s Gundam is one million, and the Musou series is one million. We’d like to sell a total of two million copies.”

Continue reading ‘The Essential Worldwide Success: Packaging the East for the West’