Test Drive Unlimited for 360 will apparently be only forty bucks. Is Atari banking on Merketplace downloads? Was it just a cheap game developmentwise? Are they just trying to make everyone else look like jerks? Only time will tell.
I haven’t played a Test Drive game since the original nearly 20 years ago (Accolade, remember that?), but I had gotten the impression that the series was in decline. With Ridge Racer, Need For Speed, and so many others, it still manages to stick around, so maybe I should keep an eye out at that price.
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152341]Atari Prices Test Drive 360 at $39.99[/url]
1up has some news from Comic-con on a few new games. I know you DS folks will be excited about the new info for Phoenix Wright and the new Castlevania (Who wouldn’t?). For 360 owners, we find that the guys behind Alien Hominid are bringing not only that title, but a new one to Xbox Live Arcade. The new title looks like a swords & sorcery beat-em-up with Alien Hominid-style graphics and is called Castle Crashers.
Really all of these games are great because they push classic gameplay types that I don’t want to see left behind in the flood of fancy 3D FPS/RTS/ETC games that come out all the time. A good healthy balance keeps me from getting bored.
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3152340]Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All[/url]
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3152339]Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin[/url]
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3152338]Alien Hominid[/url]
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3152336]Castle Crashers[/url]
Yeah, I’ve been sitting this for a day, because, what?!
There is an Animal Crossing movie in the works. It will be animated, and there’s already a trailer. I’m no Animal Crossing person to begin with, but even if I was I don’t think I’d be able to guess what this will be about. It’s probably a detail film on the subject of being nice and sharing.
Is it so wrong that I’m curious about what Uwe Boll could make with this license?
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152277]Animal Crossing Movie Trailer Debuts[/url] (1up)
I am totally into the art style here.
If you have Steam, view the thing [url=http://storefront.steampowered.com/v2/index.php?area=game&AppId=923&]here[/url].
Otherwise you can see it in this article:
[url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/19/team-fortress-2-is-so-incredibles/]Team Fortress 2 is so ‘incredibles'[/url] (Joystiq)
So I just set up an Xbox Live account for Japan to see what I could see. I downloaded the demo for Zegapain XOR and several trailers. Here’s some feedback:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7yUWengqiA&search=zegapain%20xor]Zegapain XOR[/url] – A beautiful but generic mech game with poor control. I’ll give this one a pass. (7/27)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQCdWl1kZdA&search=bullet%20witch]Bullet Witch[/url] – Similar to stuff you can see in the US trailer, with some added scenes. The lighting and action on this look incredible, if the models are a little mediocre. (7/27, may miss the launch date)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlu4H3XtzLY&search=project%20slyph]Project Sylph[/url] – This was mostly cutscenes, but the gameplay looks like an arcade dogfighter. Gone is the 2d shmup Sylpheed of yesteryear. The cutscenes themselves have some incredible space battles. Haven’t seen anything like them since Star Blazers. (Not sure when this hits)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rlEnTQZCkk&search=ziria]Ziria[/url] – A whole lot of generic anime cutscenes surrounding a generic looking RPG set in fuedal Japan. The highlight of this was the crazy horde of horses and reindeer. I don’t know what that was about, and sadly I can find no video of that part of it. (Out now)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5HQDO23fBg&search=wrestle%20kingdom%20xbox]Wrestle Kingdom[/url] – A very decent looking wrestling game featuring Japanese Wrestlers. Don’t wait for a domestic release, if you are into this sort of thing. (Out now)
Sorry I couldn’t get the real trailers for the last two, but chances are that if those appeal to you, you know about them. I’ll just leave out the Japanese league baseball game trailer I downloaded by accident…
