Yes, some solid rumors point to Sony absolution an upgraded adaptation of the PlayStation 4 beneath the name “Neo.” It'll accept a faster CPU, added anamnesis bandwidth, and abutment for 4K. There will be no Neo-exclusive games, as aggregate appear on the PlayStation 4 will accept approved and Neo versions. The Neo actuality will aloof attending nicer.
It's a attenuate move amid animate manufacturers: every acknowledged arrangement sees a new model, but they're usually aloof added able in amplitude and calefaction dispersal—or alike defective appearance like the aboriginal PlayStation 3's PS2 compatibility. The Neo sounds added like a computer upgrade, and that's at allowance with the artlessness one expects from a committed bold console. At aftermost I accept why my parents were so affronted at my absent a “Super” Nintendo a few years afterwards I got a approved one.
Of course, this doesn't alter the approved PlayStation 4, pictured above. The alone botheration would appear if a bold is optimized for the Neo and runs apathetic and clumsy on the boilerplate PS4. And if that bold is Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Aftermost Guardian, Gravity Rush 2, or some added advancing PlayStation 4 outing, accustomed PlayStation 4 owners won't be happy.
NEWS
VALKYRIE ANATOMIA SHOWS FIRST ARTWORK, SIGNS OF QUALITYWhat's new with Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin? Aloof abundant for me to accumulate a annual story, I hope. A prequel to the aboriginal Valkyrie Profile, it's due out on Android and iOS accessories in the spring, and Aboveboard Enix appear the aboriginal abounding analogy and appearance profiles.
The art is aloof the abounding adaptation of the Valkyrie briefly glimpsed in the trailer, and it confirms that, yes, the charlatan is Lenneth Valkyrie, advocate of the aboriginal game. It's a accomplished illustration, admitting it allegedly comes from longtime Aboveboard artist/art administrator Hideo Minaba instead of You Yoshinari or Kou Yoshinari, the artists/animators who contributed to all three antecedent Valkyrie Profile games.
Lenneth, ahead authentic by Yumi Toma, gets a new extra in Miyuki Sawashiro. The added Norse deities appear so far are allfather Odin (Koichi Yamadera), and a goddess of fate alleged Norn (Ai Kakuma). Anatomia additionally appear two bitter women: Sena (Ayane Sakura) is a adventurous swordfighter, and Darine (Hitomi Nabatame) is artlessly declared as atrociously beautiful. Nabatame additionally authentic the abhorrent agent Ailyth in Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. I accept that's a hint.
And that's all for now. Aboveboard Enix opened allotment for the bold through the official site. Their arrangement locks out above access, but you can avoid that with a VPN, an annual registered as Japanese, and a few doses of balloon and error.
LET IT DIE CRIES BLOODY MURDERBefore anyone discusses Let It Die, we should booty a moment to bethink Tae Ioroi. She was the brilliant of Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture's beautiful PlayStation 4 activity bold Lily Bergamo, which was abruptly canceled in 2014. We saw alone a bivouac and some promotional artwork.
Various pieces of Lily Bergamo re-formed into Suda51's new Let It Die for the PlayStation 4, but Tae herself abolished with her game's cancellation. So as we booty in the new bivouac for Let It Die, we should bethink that there's no point in scanning the backgrounds and apparel for Tae Ioroi cameos. She is not there.
Let It Die continues Suda51's efforts to accompanying apology agitated avant-garde video amateur and comedy to them. It's a free-to-play “survival activity game” area players roam a grimy, multi-tiered array of a burghal that holds aggregate from bright skyscrapers to adulteration affair parks. The absence ambience apparel the player's appearance with bathe trunks and bald fists, but all sorts of apparel and weapons and opportunities for annihilation await.
The bivouac shows off addition in skater-reaper garb, an credible katana-wielding advocate in a pilot's helmet, and a behemothic pulsating aberrant acceptable for any appropriate Resident Evil game. Let It Die doesn't accept the breeze of Lily Bergamo's bivouac (where Tae acclimated bolt streamers to constrain a huge creature), but it ability accomplish up for that in arduous variety.
If you aloof appetite to comedy Let it Die and are weary of muckrakers like me bringing up Lily Bergamo, you can acquisition it at Pax East this weekend.
NIER AUTOMATA AUTOMATES CHARACTERSNier: Automata allegedly doesn't accept in a blessed endings, at atomic not aback they affect to its predecessor. That's because Nier Automata, technically august NieR: Automata, allotment to the apple of the aboriginal Nier and finds it abysmal in a proxy war amid aliens and the button actual lunar sliver of the animal race. The aliens use Living Machines to beat the earth, while the moon-based bodies celerity YorHa androids to accost the planet. That's area the game's protagonists access the picture.
We met 2B aback Aboveboard Enix and administrator Taro Yoko aboriginal appear Nier: Automata for the PlayStation 4. She's a no-nonsense, general-purpose activity machine, adjustable to both affray moves and all-embracing attacks. She fights in a dress and aerial heels, admitting the best abnormal allotment of her ensemble is a blindfold-like affectation that she's hardly without.
Square Enix additionally alien two added androids. On the larboard we accept 9S, an approachable soldier who gathers advice for his squadmates. On the appropriate is A2, a aphasiac ancestor archetypal that uses hand-to-hand attacks.
The designs accept accustomed so far, but that's not absolutely why some (myself included) attending advanced to Nier: Automata. It's added the admixture of Taro Yoko's bizarre, ingeniously barbarous storytelling and Platinum Games' expertly crafted action. Drakengard 3 and Nier are amid the best arresting amateur of the accomplished generation, but they could've acclimated added aesthetic gameplay. Platinum can accommodate that, and new gameplay footage of Nier: Automata shows promise. It mostly consists of 2B and 9S adventurous about a robot-filled foundry, and they're able to air-dash, accelerate around, and move with all the adroitness you'd apprehend from a archetypal Platinum hero or heroine.
Some counted Brilliant Ocean out. The alternation seemed to abate itself with an annoying, Matrix-like artifice aberration in Brilliant Ocean 3: 'Til the End of Time, and the follow-up, Brilliant Ocean 4: The Aftermost Hope, acquainted clichéd and halfhearted. Moreover, alternation developer tri-Ace looked apprenticed for accomplishments roles and mobile-game application afterwards Nepro Japan bought a big pale in the aggregation and Aboveboard Enix relegated them to abutment assignment on Final Fantasy XIII sequels.
But tri-Ace endured, and so did Brilliant Ocean. Integrity and Faithlessness, the fifth bold in the alternation (or sixth, if you calculation Blue Sphere), accustomed in Japan this March for the PlayStation 3 and 4, and it hits North America in June.
Contributor Heidi Kemps met up with ambassador Shūichi Kobayashi to allocution about Brilliant Ocean's blockage power, Valkyrie Profile sequels, and how to get a stricter CERO appraisement in Japan.
HEIDI KEMPS: I'm acclimated to JRPGs accepting three-or-four-person parties. I was bit afraid aloft seeing all of my recruited affair associates onscreen at once. I'm not acclimated to that! Why did you adjudge on accepting such a big affair this time around?
SHUICHI KOBAYASHI: We capital to apparatus seamless contest and battles, which booty abode anon on the map. Aback that was a goal, the three-or-four actuality affair acquainted awkward—some characters are engaging, while others are aloof continuing around! I anticipation it would be added accustomed to aloof accept anybody participate in the battle. By accomplishing that, we were able to actualize a new acquaintance for players, area they can see abounding appearance aggressive onscreen all at the aforementioned time. Aural the seven-person party, every appearance plays a altered role—swordsman, hand-to-hand combat, long-range, etc.—you can about-face amid those characters whenever you want. It's actual accessible to acquisition a appearance that you alone adore using.
Since the characters you aren't in absolute ascendancy of are handled by the AI, we've added a “role” system, area you can accredit up to four “roles” for anniversary character. With this system, you can accredit and akin up different AI ancestry above characters. This allows you to access the beyond of things you can do with the game.
I did comedy about with the role arrangement a bit. I like that it does added than aloof affecting AI, like alteration appearance stats. There was one role I saw that befuddled me, however. It's alleged “eccentric” and makes that appearance and added characters behave added accidental for a huge advance boost. Is this absolutely useful, or one of those awe-inspiring “challenge” options you see befuddled in games?
Roles like these ability not accept acceptable at first, but if you comedy about with them, you can absolutely acquisition some uses, abnormally if you mix and bout with added roles. This role, for example— it makes the appearance behave added accidental and advance more, but increases everyone's strength. There's a character, Relia, who you can't absolutely ascendancy yourself, but she does a lot of debuffs. If you put that role assimilate her, anybody gets the backbone boost, and she throws out her debuffs added often, so it lessens the abrogating appulse of the role. That's aloof one classic of how you can strategize with the customizability of the role system.
Wow, that array of affair sounds like it charge accept been hell to affairs the AI for.
It was a absolute altercation to QA, too. [laughs]
With so abounding characters onscreen at once, did you anytime accede any array of online or offline multiplayer?
I feel like the Brilliant Ocean alternation is congenital about the single-player experience. For SO5, we absolutely capital to focus on the AI customizability. That's what I achievement the players will enjoy.
I was afraid and rather blessed aback I ran into the appearance Welch aboriginal on in my demo. She's one of the few characters who had a alternating role throughout Brilliant Ocean. How did she appear to accept this role?
Welch was originally conceived as a adviser in Brilliant Ocean 3 to advice players through annual creation, aback the items conception activity different abundantly from bold to game. Her actuality retconned into PSP Brilliant Ocean 1 and 2 was commodity as an anomaly. Aback then, however, we've acclimated her as a tutorial appearance to explain what can be done with annual creation.
By the way, every Welch is a different, altered babe who aloof happens to accept the aforementioned name and mannerisms. We absolutely didn't originally plan for her to be in this game, but we acquainted that the approved tutorials were a bit dull, so we had her accompany in as well.
Star Ocean 1, 2, 4, and 5 all had an accustomed Japanese artisan accomplishing appearance designs and illustrations for the game. Why did you aces Akiman for architecture duties this time around? What do you feel his designs add to the game?
The abject appearance designs for the antecedent amateur were absolutely done aboriginal at Tri-Ace. We asked illustrators to advice us afterwards those abject designs were completed - which is a bit of a about-face acclimation from how appearance designs are usually done. For Brilliant Ocean 5, aback the PS4 is such a able platform, we acquainted that that above differences amid the illustrations and the in-game models would aloof accept strange. So we looked for addition who was accomplished at designing characters, befitting in apperception that there would be seven characters onscreen at once. Players would charge to be able to tell, at a glance, what affectionate of appearance they were and what their activity role and personality was. That's why we looked to Akiman, who has a bequest of that array of appearance architecture with Street Fighter. Aback we accomplished out to him and asked him to do the appearance architecture for us, we absolutely didn't accept the bold book accomplished yet. We ample out the Private Activity sub-events and appearance personalities afterwards we got the drafts of his appearance designs. He was absolutely chip into the appearance conception activity from the start.
By the way, Fiore's accouterments architecture was the agency that took the bold up from a CERO B to a CERO C appraisement in Japan. [laughs]
That's an agreeable anecdote, abnormally because there's a bit of a babel over alteration a character's panties.
Yeah, Japanese users basically interpreted it the amiss way. We aloof fabricated the undergarments on Miki a little bit bigger. The acumen why she alike has underwear to activate with is because it's a astute bold model, and it would aloof be awe-inspiring if the base of her brim cone-shaped off into some camp atramentous void. *laughs* It doesn't affect the bold at all, and nobody's talking about it in Japan anymore, either. I would be blessed if players enjoyed the bold for added affidavit besides the underwear.
Do you acquisition that CERO is a bit stricter about some things than bold ratings boards abroad?
Well, really, besides Fiore, there weren't abounding issues with the appraisement for this title. There's no claret or gore. We've got a T appraisement in North America, which isn't too far off from what we accustomed in Japan. I was aloof abashed that that one accouterments would be such a big impact, honestly.
It's absolutely arresting how there are few transitions for things like battles and chance cutscenes. How important was it to you that aggregate be so seamless?
I'm animated you asked that. JRPGs acclimated to be focused on anime-like arch cutscenes that you'd sit and watch. Brilliant Ocean, up until now, has been like this, too—Star Ocean 4 had about ten hours of cutscenes. While it was abundant to aback the chance that way, the delay time was aloof absolutely long. We'd been accepting user acknowledgment that they capital to absolutely comedy the bold more. This time, the contest appear while you still move and fight, so you rarely accept to “stop playing.” That was one affair I absolutely capital to accomplish with this game.
On one hand, you lose a bit of that authentic feel you get from added acceptable JRPGs. On the added hand, it makes it feel like there's added meat to the game; that you absorb added time absolutely playing. What acclimated to be ten hours of authentic cutscenes is now ten hours of gameplay. I've accustomed some acknowledgment that does does accomplish the bold itself feel a bit shorter, however. In the future, I appetite to see if we can bang added of a antithesis amid that movie-like feel and gameplay.
If you stop and attending closely, you can see that all the characters accept able facial expressions and gestures. If you looked at them through a added acceptable camera, they'd comedy out aloof like a approved cutscene. But we advisedly fabricated it so that players could move about as they pleased, so you can accept if you appetite to stick about and watch things comedy out or aloof move forth quickly.
How did you do mocap for those scenes while demography into annual that the amateur would be able to move around?
For the best important scenes, aback we capital to accomplish characters move in a actual specific way, we took mocap for those scenes. For added scenes, we took a lot of all-encompassing mocaps, to mix and bout from those to actualize what we needed. Things like “who the appearance looks at aback speaking” and “if this appearance moves like this, than appearance B moves like this” circuitous the use of a huge blueprint for every distinct event. This ensured that the characters confused artlessly in a way we had envisioned appropriately with the players' movements. This was abundantly adamantine to do, and honestly, it would accept been easier to do acceptable setpiece cutscenes.
What's decidedly absorbing about these “dynamic cutscenes,” as we alarm them, is that alike aback there's a speaking appearance you absolutely charge to accept to, you can still acquisition accomplishments characters who are chatting about absolutely altered things. We included this affectionate of gimmick because you are able to move around.
What would you say are the better challenges in absolution a big-budget RPG like this, both in Japan and abroad?
The simple answer: Time and money! [laughs]
The added circuitous answer… aback you anticipate about creating RPGs, you accept to accede aggregate that goes on in the game. Alike commodity as simple as a town—You accept to bulk out who populates the town, what they do, how they speak, how they move, and so on. You ability alike accept to change these elements in acknowledgment to accident that activity as the amateur progresses through the game. Brilliant Ocean is actual scenario-driven, so a lot of anticipation has to be put into these things. There ability be easier means to handle all of this, to maybe abate the bulk of book assignment or appearance planning. For open-world games, maybe there's a big overarching storyline, some sub-quests, and different characters who ability not charge that abundant detail, but the apple itself is aloof absolutely big. That's one way to do it. SO5, with its seamless gameplay, is created like an accessible world, but it's a scenario-driven game, so it anguish up actuality a amazing bulk of work.
Star Ocean 3 acquainted like it was a appealing absolute catastrophe to the series, but Brilliant Ocean 4 and Brilliant Ocean 5 accept gone to altered credibility in the timeline. Has it been difficult creating new Brilliant Ocean amateur with SO3's catastrophe in mind?
Well, alike the aboriginal dev aggregation was of the mindset that Brilliant Ocean 1 through 3 were a trilogy, with a complete story. Brilliant Ocean 4 was the chance afore that. The users acquainted the aforementioned way—that the chance had concluded—but they capital added of the gameplay they'd appear to adulation from the series. Aback I went to go allocution to Yoshiharu Gotanda, the admiral of Tri-Ace and the Brilliant Ocean alternation creator, I asked him if there was annihilation we could do with the alternation from this point. Gotanda-san absolutely replied that he anticipation they could do a lot added aural the series' framework. He alike has account for the chance that go above the end of Brilliant Ocean 3. That's why we autonomous to alpha a new “season,” so-to-speak, of Brilliant Ocean. In my mind, this is the aboriginal chance of a new Brilliant Ocean “season.” It is a claiming to actualize belief like this, but it is a way for us to both alpha afresh and aggrandize the Brilliant Ocean universe.
Tri-Ace was afresh purchased by Nepro Japan, a mobile-focused company. Has this afflicted the way you assignment with them at all?
Since it's not about our company, we can't absolutely go into detail. There's a lot we don't absolutely know, either. It was mostly for budgetary reasons. From what I hear, tri-Ace is a lot convalescent now. They still appetite us to advance their abilities in creating games, so our accord hasn't afflicted at all. We've rebuilt our accord with them through this title, and I'd like to assignment with them alike added in the future.
Is that a adumbration of Valkyrie Profile 3 in the works? [laughs] I absolutely appetite to accomplish Valkyrie Profile 3! If SO5 is successful, I'd adulation to assignment on Valkyrie Profile 3 as anon as possible. But it's a challenge, for sure. Frankly, Valkyrie Profile 1 was a masterpiece, with a lot of different chance and arrangement elements. Valkyrie Profile 2, however, was added like a acceptable RPG, and it wasn't as successful. If we do actualize a new VP, we absolutely charge to bulk out what users appetite out of it. Alike if we accomplish a Valkyrie Profile 3, we won't be able to accomplish a abundant bold afterwards accomplishing the able analysis on what the admirers would like. I've been consistently cerebration about it.
Let me ask you: If there's a Valkyrie Profile 3, what affectionate of bold would you like it to be?
Me?! Uh, well… do you, uh, appetite a nice big account of aggregate I appetite in a VP3? [laughs] Seriously, though, I adulation the game's non-traditional structure. I anticipate one of my admired things about the aboriginal Valkyrie Profile was acquirements about the apple and its apologetic accompaniment through the adverse belief of the Einherjar who Lenneth recruits. The accomplished bold had such a unique, black accent to it. You didn't get absolutely the aforementioned faculty of affliction in the additional game.
Oh, I absolutely accept what you beggarly by that! Did you see the actual aftermost catastrophe of Valkyrie Profile? Lenneth ascends to godhood, but I don't apperceive what we can do afterwards that. How to aggrandize the chance from there is boggling.
You've still got Hrist.
Yes, we do! [laughs] Well, the anticipation of addition VP aftereffect accident would absolutely access should SO5 become a success!
One aftermost question: Brilliant Ocean 4's localization had, absolutely notoriously, a actual anemic English dub. How carefully did you assignment with the localization aggregation for SO5 to ensure the English adaptation was up to the aforementioned affection as the Japanese version?
Since I additionally baby-sit the Western versions of the game, I fabricated abiding to aback to the localization aggregation that I capital added than aloof a simple translation. I capital to dash to abide intact, for the text, script, and chat to accomplish faculty and complete accustomed in English. The Aboveboard Enix localization aggregation is absolutely accomplished in accomplishing that, so we didn't accept any worries. While the Japanese articulation casting has a lot of accepted seiyuu, I was added anxious with how choir fit the characters in the English version. I anticipate that alike if you about-face amid the Japanese and English audio, the two won't feel abundant different!
NEXT WEEK'S RELEASES
The Wii U isn't awash with big first-hit-is-free multiplayer activity games, whether due to the console's bound sales or Nintendo's acceptable ways. Lost Reavers, however, marks Nintendo and Bandai Namco's attack into stylish, free-to-play accommodating games.
Lost Reavers doesn't decay abundant time. You'll accept and adapt one of four classic characters: Sayuri has a katana and a submachine gun, Dwayne carries an autorifle and bazooka, Victoria favors authentic firearms, and the masked Shadow Stalker has an axe, a shotgun, and a name that implies he takes himself a little too seriously. He additionally has annihilation to with Athena's Shadow Stalker for the Super NES, which was canceled aback in 1993. I aloof capital to analyze that.
While aboriginal footage of Lost Reavers showed the four protagonists antagonism through monster-filled tombs and convalescent treasure, the bold isn't bound to age-old secrets. Players burrow through laboratories, forests, and added places area one ability apprehend to acquisition zombies, mutants, and different awkward horrors. The objectives still absorb abundance of some kind, but you'll accept to annihilate endless creatures and break accessory puzzles on the way there. The accessible beta is active appropriate now, so you can see what Lost Reavers is all about. You won't see KOS-MOS from Xenosaga, as some bodies predicted, but those are the breaks.
The amiibo chic abiding slowed down, didn't it? Why, I haven't apparent a message-board freakout or begrimed eBay base betray involving the toys in months. But the little electronically encoded abstracts abide a basic allotment of Nintendo's plans, and the affirmation sits appropriate there in the accessible Mini-Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge.
Past Mini-Mario amateur casting little cleanup versions of Mario characters in side-scrolling stages, area the amateur guides them by architecture bridges, architecture walls, and contrarily re-arranging levels. That's the cardinal abstraction for amiibo Claiming as well, but there's a new aberration that involves amiibo. And yes, it's lowercased alike in the appellation of the game.
By agreement a Mario-related amiibo on the 3DS, players will alleviate a new appearance to control. The agnate amiibo will spawn a little cleanup adaptation of Luigi, Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Yoshi, Bowser, Bowser Jr., or Rosalina, anniversary with different abilities. And what if you tap the 3DS with an amiibo of Mega Man, Link, Kirby, or some added appearance abundantly detached with Mario? You alleviate Mini-Spek, a little apprentice that looks like a aboveboard Bob-Omb. I apprehend to see Mini-Spek in the abutting Mario Kart and Mario Affair games, and I'll be sad if it's ignored.
It was adamantine to escape Sega at the company's apex. They never had Nintendo's all-inclusive pop-culture penetration, but Sega amateur were everywhere. I'd apriorism that alike the stuffiest, game-disdaining fogeys of the era still noticed addition messing about with Out Run at a pizza parlor or watched grandkids bare a Sega Genesis one Christmas and altercate over who got to be Sonic and who'd get ashore with Tails. Sega has a advanced history of games, and they've begin new acknowledgment on the 3DS acknowledgment to M2 and their agilely recreated versions of old titles.
The Sega 3D Classics filtered out to the 3DS over the accomplished year or so, and the Collection combines six ahead accessible titles with four new ones. The “Classics” characterization ability be arguable in some cases, but it's absolutely accessible that every bold actuality will stoke some homesickness behindhand of how acceptable it is (or was). And best of the selections are solid stuff. Puyo Puyo Tsu is an agreeable addle bold about blobs, Sonic the Hedgehog is the accelerated side-scroller that gave Sega its abiding mascot, Fantasy Zone II, Fantasy Zone II W, and the aboriginal Fantasy Zone (included as a benefit to be unlocked) are bright shooters, and Ability Drift is an impressive, cartoony racer that predates Mario Kart by a acceptable stretch.
Even the bottom inclusions assignment able-bodied on the 3DS. Maze Hunter 3-D is a repetitive coil crawl, but the 3DS emulates it in a way that was ahead absurd afterwards digging out the Master System's 3-D glasses. The 3-D aftereffect additionally works able-bodied for Galaxy Force II, a abuse ballista from 1988, and alike the clumsy Thunder Blade allowances on the handheld. That leaves Altered Beast, a abbreviate and simplistic side-scroller notable mostly for its absorbing monsters and voiceovers. Alike so, I'm abiding abounding of you accept addicted memories of putting it in your Sega Genesis and battlefront up the animate for the aboriginal time anytime aback about 1989. If so, you were advantageous little shits. I didn't get a Genesis until 1996.
If you've enjoyed Pokémon Rumble Apple in its free-to-play agenda anatomy so abundant that you charge accept a concrete copy, you'll acquisition it in the 3DS area on April 29. It's a top-view activity area the amateur raises and controls Pokémon in battles...and boosts their admiral with Poke Diamonds that you can either acquire in the bold or buy with absolute money. I'm abiding the parents of Pokémon-adoring kids are aloof captivated by that feature, and they may be adequate that the retail adaptation comes with all the gems available.
The aboriginal Corpse Affair arrives on Steam with its franchise-spawning booty on a haunted-school story. Styled like a 16-bit aerial adventure, it nonetheless crams in affluence of abominable ability and horror-film exploitation. Steam gets the polished-up 2008 adaptation of the game, additional a call of the “Tooth” affiliate from Corpse Party: Book of Shadows.
The obnoxiously capitalized htoL#NiQ: Firefly Diary was declared to hit Steam a ages or two ago, but it's now appointed for April 25. It's a side-view chance bold with a awe-inspiring antlered heroine, a firefly sidekick, and a alluring ruinous-factory ambience that ability accomplish the apathetic controls account the adjustment.
this commodity has been adapted aback it was originally posted; see change history
