Again I must start with apologies this week. This time I am not to blame for the late posting though, it is the poor Internet penetration in Japan that is at fault. A quick visit to my girlfriends isolated family home in Shirahama left me with the ability to write but no way to post until my return to Osaka.
Only a few things really leapt from Famitsu’s pages this week, one of which was the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV (not XIII for a change). The online MMOJRPG (if that is a genre) is starting to shape up fairly interestingly as Square-Enix try to embrace a style of play more appealing to a world audience. By trying to make the game easer to solo Final Fanstasy XIV is set to allow players to specialize in every class by means of a clothes/jobs system. Obviously people who guilds will continue to have the overall advantage, working together and leveling more quickly in a specific still set, but the ability to switch will make the game far more accessible than FFXI for players who cannot commits to a guild.
In the article a number of the combat and support classes are revealed. Combat classes included a Lancer (distanced melee class) specializing in spears, lances and halberds and the Archer who will provide long-range support. Support classes listed included Blacksmith, Culinarian (cook), Weaver, Tanner and Alchemist all suggesting there will be some complexity to the trade and bartering system. Also present was a list of some of the games wildlife, all of which will play in to the trading system, as hunting the relevant animal will supply raw materials to enable the support classes to ply their trade. For an MMO it looks good and if it allows cross platform play as XI did then it could well be one of the first successful console MMOs.
This week also sees some new information and screens from Treasures upcoming Wii exclusive Sin and Punishment 2. The original game was a Japan only release for N64, that recently made it to the west on Wiiware. It was a solid shooter and one that cried out for Wiimote support. Despite the graphics being considerable cleaner and better looking that the original, without the mess of explosions, huge character models and basic polygons of the original the next gen version looks relatively barren. It does look very stylish however and makes full use of the Wii’s hardware to provide a huge improvement on the originals distinctive look. It is set for release here at the end of the month and it has me cursing the fact my Wii is American.
A lot of handheld games were covered this week. With 8 pages each for Gran Turismo PSP and Strange Journey on DS (an Eye of the Beholder style RPG), plus a whopping 22 pages of previews for upcoming DS and PSP title from TGS. From the list I am personally eager to see Valkyria Chronicles make its way to PSP and for DS both Okami Den and Ghost Trap are looking great.
Console reviews this week all came in the form of western games, and mostly sports licenses. NBA 2K10 and NHL 2K10, both from 2K games for 360 and PS3, got in on the action with 25/40 (6,6,7,6) and 24/40 (6,6,6,6) respectively. UFC 2009 Undisputed also finally got its release here from THQ, weighing in with a score of 33/40 (9,8,8,8), netting it a gold award. Finally Uncharted: Among Thieves, Naughty Dogs second installment in this PS3 exclusive franchise gets itself a platinum award with a 37/40 (9,9,9,10).
Handhelds offered significantly more Japan centric offerings. Iron Master (well really Aianmasuta but I think that ‘Iron Master’ is what they meant) a fantasy RPG and the new Fullmetal Alchemist ‘anime action’ game both score 26/40 (6,7,6,7). Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine White Comic is a ‘comic RPG’ from the popular manga publishers Shonen and gets a 28/40 (7,7,7,7). Kiminitodoke is a game that offers very little clue as to its source but as it is listed as a comic adventure I suspect it is bases on a manga I am unaware of, 29/40 (7,8,7,7). Finally two slightly more westernized titles put in an appearance with NBA 2K10 fairing slightly worse than its big brother getting all sixes for a score of 24 and Undead Knights managing to grab the only award for the handheld section this week, getting a silver from its score of 31 (8,8,8,7).
Sales this week are for the most part the usual same name different positions fare. Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver remain at number one, breaking the 2 million-unit sold mark. This is followed by the DS phenomenon Tomodachi Collection that continues to sell steadily despite never really having any kind of push behind it. Tales of Vesperia and Konami’s Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 4 manages to stay in the top ten but both slip a single spot from 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 respectively. Wii Sports Resort jumps back up from number 10 to number 5 and still managing to sell 34,467 units even in its thirteenth week on the charts. Dragon Quest 9 remains in the charts, but with sales soon to reach four million it is hard to imagine it can maintain its position much longer based purely on the population of the country (right?). Amazing Halo 3: ODST manages to chart at 7 with 33,020 units sold in its first week of release, pretty good considering the install base of the 360 in Japan is only barely over a 1 million units. Saga 2: Goddess of Destiny slips from 4 to 8 and it is joined by Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 4 that slides from 6 to 9. Finally comes Call of Duty 4 Platinum that crawls its way back in to the top 10 having slipped to 15 last week.
Finally console sales continue on a pace. DSi remains dominant with 65693 sales this week pushing the total DS line still further past the 50% of all consoles sold in Japan this generation. PS3 remains an extremely strong second with 49,673 units sold and too further cements Sony’s place in the market this is followed by PSP no doubt from the PSP-3000 price drop last week as I am still yet to see the PSPGo! on shelves. Wii comes in fourth place depressingly followed by DS lite (10,464 units), which continues to shame the 360 (3,650 units) that just barely missing the bottom slot, which goes to the PS2 (3,464 units).
