Namco Bandai's upcoming Fragile, is certainly a gorgeous example of a Wii role playing game. Certain elements, as my rough attempt at translating (read: guessing) the Japanese description shows, reveal the platform's weaker side, but the overall result is a heaven of sheer stylised beauty. The rest of the game doesn't fail to impress either. It [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Since our last fateful glimpse at the Hellgate: London forums, Namco Bandai's Diane "Tiggs" Migliaccio has made the message even clearer for those who stop on by via the creation of an official Hellgate: London Closing FAQ. Within, she asserts that: Hanbitsoft has the IP rights for Hellgate: London and has the rights to operate Hellgate: [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 4, 2008
When we heard word yesterday that work on Hellgate: London was once again underway at HanbitSoft's new San Francisco studio, we weren't entirely convinced that the news meant anything for Western gamers. In fact, everything we read led us to believe something far stranger. HanbitSoft, it seemed, had set up a U.S. studio simply to [...]
Continue reading...Friday, October 24, 2008
This Halloween, you can still go to London -- but on February 1st, 2009, Hellgate: London's servers will shut down for good. On the game's official forums, former community manager Tiggs today announced that Namco Bandai will cease support for Hellgate: London two months into the new year. Namco Bandai, she confirmed, had been funding the [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, October 9, 2008
Japan loves the Xbox 360. Just a short while after sales had been extremely sluggish in Nintendo and Sony's home turf, Microsoft is now claiming that sales are exceeding projections. "We've done better than we forecast. We are finding that we have a shortage of hardware," said Microsoft's John Schappert in a Reuters report this [...]
Continue reading...Monday, August 18, 2008
Looking at previous generations of video game hardware, there have regularly been big winners and big losers in what are dubbed the "console wars." PS1 trounced the Dreamcast and N64. PS2 continues to thrive even as Xbox and GameCube lie all-but-forgotten. Nintendo's Game Boys have historically driven all competitors out of business. But in this [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, August 14, 2008
After Flagship Studios became embroiled in a legal controversy regarding the fate of its intellectual properties, it seemed nothing -- not Hellgate, not promising action-RPG Mythos, and not an explanation of any kind -- would escape. But today, the heads of the newly-established Runic Studios give GameCyte a glimpse of Flagship Studio's wreckage, and explain how their group of survivors is planning for the future.
Continue reading...Friday, August 1, 2008
The games industry has finally realized what hardcore gamers have always wanted -- quality lightsaber dueling. And with Tuesday's release of Soulcalibur IV, it is Namco Bandai that is first fulfilling that wish. Xbox 360 owners can now pit Yoda against Darth Vader's not-so-Secret Apprentice, while PS3 players are able to settle domestic diabolical debates [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, July 30, 2008
One week after Namco Bandai shone its brilliant orange light on the remains of Hellgate: London -- via a decidedly cryptic message -- that light has pervaded the game's forums once more. Only this time, it comes in the form of a badge, worn proudly by three former Ping0 staffers. Sporting a new avatar, yellow-hyperlinked screen [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Though our last report from the company indicated that they were still afloat, there's no question that what's left of Flagship Studios is dangling precariously close to the water. As prognosticated in early June, most staff have been let go, further subscriptions for completed title Hellgate: London have been blocked, and work-in-progress Mythos has gone [...]
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Thursday, November 27, 2008
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