Since it first saw release in South Korea in August of 2001, Ragnarok Online (or RO for short) has built a huge following.  It has since been released all over the world – its player base growing exponentially in the process.  In fact, there are over three million registered users in North America.  In a post WoW world, that’s not too shabby.

While fans wait for the sequel to arrive, Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of the World (which has been in limbo since it was announced in 2005), they must tide themselves over with Ragnarok DS, from publisher XSEED and developer GungHo Works. Read more… »

A press release from The Pokemon Company has finally been translated by Bulbagarden, and points to another new Pokemon RPG title being planned for 2010.  This would be in addition to Pokemon: SoulSilver and Pokemon: HeartGold, the two remakes of the classic Gold and Silver entries in the series.

According to the press release, the Pokemon team is hard at work on what they are calling an “inventive rebirth” for the series. Accompanying the press release was a blog entry from Junichi Masuda, long time composer and recently appointed director of the Pokemon video games.  That blog entry is shown below, followed by the press release, both in their (now translated) entirety. Read more… »

Video game company MumboJumbo today revealed that they are victorious in a $4.6 million lawsuit against beloved publisher PopCap games, renowned for titles such as Plants Vs. Zombies and Peggle.  The reasons cited for said lawsuit?  Fraud and breach of contract, among other things.

“The law allows you to do plenty of things to be successful in business,” said MumboJumbo’s attorney, Marty Rose.  ”However, it does not allow you to commit fraud or interfere with a company’s business relationships. The jury’s verdict is a clear signal that this type of business conduct is not going to be tolerated.” Read more… »

Sands of Destruction certainly lives up to its name in certain respects: there are a few characters that seem to get off on being extremely violent, to the point where it’s disturbing. Just as well. If one plays their cards right, “destruction”  is the only adequate word to describe what happens when the heroes engage in combat.

However, the way in which the title suggests a story about the destruction of the planet is the one place where I’m left wanting. It’s a pity, because the premise of destroying the world to bring about its salvation had a lot of potential. Maybe some ideas are better left untouched?

Read more… »

Good ol’ Pokémon. For over a decade now, you have been to little boys and girls (and creepy, grown men) as cake is to us fatties. Easy, sweet, and delicious, and after it’s all gone, you’re hankerin’ for some more. With the release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver looming on the horizon, Nintendo and Game Freak have announced that each copy of the game will be bundled with the Pokéwalker.

A neat little device, the Pokéwalker will let players take their Pokémon everywhere they go, without the need of their trusty Nintendo DS or DSi. Hit the jump for more details about this great Poké-accessory! Read more… »

Dungeon Crawlers are like the cockroaches of the gaming world (in a good way): despite how archaic they are, they never seem to really die. Considering they were one of the first genres ever created, back when most games were just lines of text, perhaps old fans will never grow tired of them.

Fighting Fantasy is one of the few old-school crawlers released this year. So how did it turn out? Does the new franchise recruit some potential new fans, or does it just stick to the same alienating crawler mechanics that dedicated fans know and love? Read more… »

Admittedly, I haven’t been closely following Dark Void, the new Capcom IP due out in January. All I know is that it is coming to the 360, PS3, and PC and involves strapping on a jet pack and zipping around like the Rocketeer.

According to GameSpot, Capcom is also hoping to expand upon the fledgling franchise’s mythos by releasing a digital download prequel in the same month. Curiously, Dark Void Zero will not be arriving on the respective platforms’ download services but on DSiWare, and it’ll look like an NES game.

Seriously.

Read more… »

When one considers Dragon Ball Z, thoughts of excessive grunting, seizure-inducing special effects, and poor animation bogged down by countless filler episodes come to mind. In the gaming realm, this translates to numerous fighting games over a broad range of platforms with very little to show for itself.

Very rarely is the manga/anime adapted correctly to appease fans of the series and gamers alike, and even then the select few are merely above average and never truly remarkable.

To coincide with the recent Japanese revamping of the series that started a phenomenon (known as Dragon Ball Kai), Monolith Soft and Bandai have released Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, an RPG retelling of the Saiyan saga, beginning with the end of the original Dragon Ball and running through till the start of the Namek timeline.

Can the high flying action transgress genres and keep its appeal through a turn-based, role playing scope? Read more… »

Some of you may have seen this teaser for a new Transformers game during the Spike VGA’s. Today publisher Activision released a few new details pertaining to High Moon’s upcoming action/adventure game.

Sub-titled “War for Cybertron,” the new title will serve as a prequel. Like the previous Transformers game, players will be able to play as both Autobots and Decepticons through two unique campaigns. According to Activision “The AUTOBOT campaign tells a story of heroism to save their home planet against overwhelming odds. The DECEPTICON campaign tells a story of an unquenchable thirst for power to control the universe.” Read more… »

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich has not changed much over the years.  Connoisseurs have added gourmet peanut butter or fancy jelly (passion fruit jelly anyone?), but its purpose has remained the same.  Take three ingredients, and combine them into an inexpensive and delicious sandwich.

The Legend of Zelda is the PB&J of the video game world.  The consoles are fancier and tweaks have been made, but the core idea has seen little to no innovation since the jump into the 3D realm.  Even the first DS title, Phantom Hourglass, fell prey to the series’ excessive dedication to formula.  One would think that the growing concern for the series’ longevity would generate some form of creativity.

Enter Spirit Tracks. The second installment on the DS takes advantage of the handheld’s gadgets and gizmos, but it clings to aging gameplay like an old man bent over his walking cane. Read more… »

Remember when I posted that Ubisoft had announced a new Prince of Persia game? Well today the publisher sent out some more details pertaining to Forgotten Sands.

Arriving on the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP, the platformer will take place between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Warrior Within. Players will take control the prince as he tries to save his brothers kingdom from utter destruction. Read more… »

Modern Warfare took the world by storm, and it was only a matter of time until it invaded every gaming platform imaginable.

Is Mobilized worth the price of entry, or are you better off just sticking with the console and PC iterations? Read more… »