Part 2 of my WatchMePlay Professor Layton and the Last Specter Let’s Play on the Nintendo DS!
Still in tutorial mode basically during the early-goings-on of this Level-5 Adventure game, we still get to experience some of the further story meat and potatoes as we arrive at the town of Misthallery and see a Tutorial on Hint Coins and The Trunk, which tells us all about those features and how they work. We also go through the first Journal Entries and watch the first “Episode”. Enjoy. :)
Part 3 of my WatchMePlay Kid Icarus: Uprising Let’s Play on the Nintendo 3DS!
In this video we finally dive into some ACTUAL gameplay of this action shooter and play through a good chunk of the tutorial and opening level of the game. IT is here that we see some real action though that is NOT necessarily tutorial based. Just keep in mind this is the first real level.
An amazing painting featuring the cover artwork of Professor Layton and the Last Specter for DS!
WatchMePlay Professor Layton & the Last Spector in Part 1 of my Let’s Play originally published for VideoGamesBlogger.
WatchMePlay Professor Layton and The Last Specter Part 1:
Professor Layton and the Last Specter was released on October 17th 2011 and is the fourth entry in the beloved Puzzle Adventure Game series from Nintendo and developer Level-5.
This game follows previous entries including: Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, & Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, yet The Last Specter is actually a prequel, set before the first game in the series and marks the start of an all-new prequel Trilogy that continues on 3DS with Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle (a game yet to be released in the West, we’ll likely see it at E3 2012 in English form).
In Professor Layton and the Last Specter, we get to experience the story of how our beloved renowned archaeologist (a well-mannered English gentleman) and his young assistant Luke Triton first met, while also delving into the mystery of a seemingly supernatural giant specter that has been haunting the town.
In part 2 of my Elite Beat Agents Let’s Play, we tackle a number of hilarious and awesome new levels on the easiest setting during the early portion of the game.
WatchMePlay Elite Beat Agents Part 2:
These include a Taxi stage in which a man is trying to successfully deliver his customers to where they want to go within the time limit… while also tackling a pregnant woman who is onboard!
A second story involves a love-struck painter and a seemingly emotionless women who has won his heart by having a passionate disinterest in all that he does, unmoved by his wondrous works of art, he seeks to win over her love…. All while the agents dance their way into YOUR HEART!
Finally we get to see a movie-studio in action as they film both an action and a romance piece, set to the music of the song “Makes No Difference”. ENJOY!
The awesome cover-artwork for Elite Beat Agents and the dancing MIB-style heroes.
WatchMePlay Elite Beat Agents for Nintendo DS!
These dancing agents will win your heart over in DS’ Elite Beat Agents!
Elite Beat Agents was a hit, award-winning rhythm music game released by Japanese developer INis, and is oft-considered one of if not THE best game ever released for the original DS. In fact the game topped the list of a Nintendo Power list of the best games of all time per system. Even beating out several of Nintendo’s own beloved titles.
WatchMePlay Elite Beat Agents Part 1
WatchMePlay Elite Beat Agents Part 0
The reason Elite Beat Agents (known as Ouendan in Japan) is so beloved is because of the awesome touchscreen-based gameplay, catchy music, funny characters, storyline and situations, and tons of extras to unlock that will keep you busy tapping those fingers for a good long time.
The game is also, quite simply, hilarious. Which is a rarity with a lot of videogames. Enjoy. :)
Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200 Dollars! Poor Nintendo, they’ll rebound though.
As Nintendo’s year-old 3DS portable sells more systems than the original DS during its first year, Nintendo has reported the companys first annual loss of ALL TIME.
It’s hard to believe, but Nintendo is one of the most financially secure company’s in the world, and has carefully manipulated and strategically played the market to maximize profits. In fact Nintendo is the only company that makes sure that it sells each system it releases for more than it cost the company to make the system, which has caused Nintendo to make bucketloads of cash (more like islands worth :P).
That trend was broken with the Nintendo 3DS however after it had an extremely rocky start, causing Nintendo to slash the price of the system from it’s high of $250 at launch to a mind-boggling $180 only months later.
However the 3DS has picked up substantially since the holiday of last year in terms of sales and interst, and the 3DS system is on track to have a MUCH better performance than it’s predecessor, the original DS… and that’s saying something as the DS is one of the best-selling systems of all time life-to-date.
The 3DS so far has sold over 5 million units (the original DS sold only 2.3 million) in its first year and has sold 9 million videogame copies with over 100 titles available (compared to 5 million with the DS from 58 titles). And that’s not even counting the over 500 games available for the digital Nintendo eShop… whereas the DS launched with no digital store available! The average 3DS consumer has downloaded at least 5 titles… Last but not least, the 3DS has generated over $1.2 billion dollars in revenue already, whereas the DS had generated only $540 million in the same amount of time! QUITE THE DIFFERENCE!
As for Nintendo’s first ever yearly loss, the company saw a 36% drop in hardware and software sales year-over-year, with a 36% drop in revenue. That equaled up to a loss of $458 million (¥37.3 billion in Yen, the Japanese currency) in sales…
Thankfully the Wii U will be launching this year to replace the Wii and usher in the next-generation! Nintendo will be the first manufacturer with two next-gen systems on the market (the 3DS and the Wii U) and that should help spur sales and interest in Nintendo products immensely, especially given that the next Xbox and next PlayStation systems are not likely to hit until 2013 at the earliest. As such, Nintendo expects that they will turn a profit by this September 2012, leading a return to profit for next year. And believe-you-me, this has been a harsh lesson for Nintendo who is unlikely to put themselves in the same position ever again, as having to announce their first ever annual loss must have been a very bitter pill to swallow for a very proud Japanese company who was on top of the world with sales at the height of the Wii’s success. Seeing the Wii fall so low will only improve how the company does business in the future.
Game-wise, Nintendo expects for sales to be improved thanks to the likes of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS this August, Animal Crossing 3DS this Fall, a new Brain Training game this Summer, strong and extended Nintendo Network programming and digital releases, upcoming DLC for their games and the release of their next console, the Wii U.
Here is a video analyzing what we know of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS.
April 25th (TUESDAY)
Deep Black: Episode 1 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Bloodforge (Xbox Lie Arcade)
April 26th (WEDNESDAY)
Max Payne Mobile (Android)
Chuck E. Cheese’s Arcade Room (DS)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (MAC)
Frenzy Pop (iPhone)
Operation CrossCounter (iPhone)
I will update this throughout the week if I learn of any additional releases not listed, or if something is listed in error. Any games you looking to pick up this week?
I never played the original Prototype, I really should do that… Prototype 2 looks freakin’ awesome.
Proof that Etrian Odyssey is creating legions of devil-children Satan worshippers.
Etrian Odyssey is a hardcore first-person RPG series that has been going strong ever since the first title was released for the original DS in 2007.
Developed by Atlus, the game’s are very complex and difficult dungeon crawlers, created for a certain breed of hardcore RPG gamer. The players who have played the series though absolutely LOVE it and live/or die by the Etrian Odyssey games. Loving the fact that they can take a hundred hours or more to finish (or so I’ve come to believe). Not that that’s a lot… I spent 170 hours on Final Fantasy X myself. :)
Here is a screenshot showing Etrian Odyssey IV’s first-person environments, which make up the dungeons you’ll be slowly plotting your way through (as seeing through the eyes of the character make it much harder to navigate your way through endless hallways).
Careful for what lurks around the next bend... or through that door.....
You know what’s crazy… I’m only now, in the midst of writing this story, finding out that the series is first person and that you make your own maps as you go (using in-game tools, THANK GOD… I can only imagine how rough the pen-and-paper days were! Actually I don’t have to imagine, I lasted about 5 minutes in the original Phantasy Star)… Holy crap. It all makes sense now….
Here is a screenshot showing off the complex mapping you’ll have to do to make it through the labryinthian dungeons alive.
Learning how to map your course through the dungeons is crucial to survival in Etrian Odyssey IV.
Even if you don’t survive the tough satan spawn (i.e. enemies) themselves, you gotta make sure you can get out of where you are and not get lost! Map skills are a must; thankfully, as you can see in this screenshot, you have all kind of tools at your disposal to help you plot your course and keep track of where you’ve been, and where you think you’re going. Watch the video below and you’ll get an easier grasp of how the game works. All of it is, of course, interwoven with a deep story to make all this trouble worth it, in typical Role-Playing Game fashion.
Not knowing much about the series, I can’t really say much more, but here is your introduction to Etrian Odyssey IV from Nintendo Direct, which heavily featured the game as one of Atlus’ big new titles for the ORIGINAL DS. Yup, the little punker just keeps on trucking…
Etrian Odyssey IV Trailer (DS) From Nintendo Direct. Gameplay footage shown.
Power Ranger-like Kamen Rider Generation 2 game for PS Vita & DS
Kamen Rider is the fan-loved, infinitely edgier Japanese-only version of Power Rangers… in Japan Power Rangers is known as “Super Sentai” and has been running since the 1970s (stuff that in your pipe and smoke it). It’s okay. You learn something new everyday!
And Power Rangers itself is simply a style of show that is known as “sentai”, a sentai or Super Sentai-style show is a show, like Power Rangers (the most familiar one to Westerners) where people dress up in elaborate costumes and perform superhero-like feats. You could think of Godzilla as an early example of what I mean. Power Rangers has been by far the most popular American sentai, although we have gotten others. Any kid of the 90s (or an 80s kid like me) will recall other Power Ranger style shows such as VR Troopers, Beetle Borgs, The Masked Rider, Ultraman, Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, etc.
Looks awesome doesn't it? :D
Anyway, because Kamen Rider is a Japanese series, the likelihood of us getting this new DS and PS Vita version is zilch, but the game actually looks quite awesome in screenshots. I’m a big Power Ranger fan, but I’ve never seen Kamen Rider (a show who’s following has grown exponentially since anime has grown in popularity and many a young American watches plenty of Japanese, Korean, etc. anime and live-action shows online)… blasphemous I know.
Feast your eyes on some screenshots of “Kamen Rider: Rider Generation 2″, the second Kamen Rider game. Definitely looks like it’s a beat-em up. I like beat-em ups. :D
Beat-em ups are nice. Me likes.
Here’s a video of the American version of Kamen Rider…. which I JUST FOUND OUT existed! :O LOOKS FREAKIN’ AWESOME! I gotta go cop that! :P The show airs on the CW in their 4Kids block on Saturdays at 9:30am or so.
Now here is a look at the Japanese Kamen Rider…. in a cheesy music video. Oh well.
The two shades of Kyurem as they appear in Pokemon Black and White 2's art.
Pokemon White Version 2 and Pokemon Black Version 2 have been officially announced for Nintendo DS (NOT 3DS), as Pokemon fans already well know. The games will be released this fall in America and Europe, and release in Japan on June 23rd 2012.
This makes the localization for the sure-to-be-hefty RPGs the shortest translation process (localizing the games from Japanese to English) in Pokemon history… since Pokemon games contain so much text, there is usually a wide gap between the Western and Eastern releases… looks like Nintendo and Game Freak are getting ever more efficient at translating them.
Although the games are technically for the regular DS, they can still be played on a 3DS (like with all DS games, as the 3DS is backwards compatible ensuring older DS games work on it) although they will remain in 2D. However Nintendo has promised that the games will have some kind of 3DS and DSi capability….
Here is the newest gameplay trailer from Nintendo Direct for Pokemon White and Black 2!
New forms of the Pokemon Kyurem will be the main Legendary Pokemon and mascots of Pokemon White 2 and Pokemon Black 2, and will be sported on the game’s cover. They are called “Black Kyurem” and “White Kyurem.” A sort of combination of Kyurem and Reshiram (Ice and Fire type?) and Kyurem and Zekrom (Ice and Electric type?) seems to be suggested… although it turns out that both of them will keep regular Kyurem’s Dragon/Ice typing… Bummer.
Both of the characters will tie into the upcoming Pokemon anime movie (called “Pokemon: Kyurem VS The Sacred Swordsman: Keldeo” in Japan) as you can see in this trailer for the film.
