Video Games Daily News Digest

I find myself conflicted with hypocrisy in writing that Japan will make its mark on 2012.

You see, I want to tell you that the year will be spearheaded by fresh, innovative experiences and new IPs from the land of the rising sun, but that’s a sentence filled with half-truths and self-doubt.

For me, 2012 is very much a year where I’m far more looking forward to eastern releases than western ones. My most anticipated games of the year reads something like Binary Domain, Gravity Rush, Asura’s Wrath, Yakuza: Dead Souls, Dragon’s Dogma, Metal Gear Rising and Resident Evil 6.

Now, I want to beat my chest about those games and say that they’re doing things that no western developer has done before – and I even tried to do so in an earlier draft – but it’s just not true. Binary Domain, despite its fascinating premise, looks just like any other TPS at its core and Dragon’s Dogma holds my interest because I’m so in love with Dark Souls.

Then there’s Resident Evil 6, which doesn’t make much a case for originality with the number it bears in its title, paired with the fact that it’s the third RE game out this year and is trying to take a page from Call of Duty’s book. Metal Gear Rising is trying something new within its own series, but it’s still firmly rooted in the 20+ year old franchise.

Yakuza, one of my favourite gaming franchises, will be seeing its third release in as many years with Dead Souls, which, somewhat humiliatingly, adds the now-tired western cliché of zombies to the gameplay. Asura’s Wrath and Gravity Daze are in truth the only titles that seem to carry any originality, and it’s well-known that Wrath’s demo split gamers down the middle (I personally was a big fan).

Coming out of 2011 I carry some incredible experiences with me. I absolutely adored both Uncharted 3 and Dead Space 2 but it was Dark Souls that shined brightest. I’ve written countless times about my undying love for From Software’s RPG, and I thought that it would prove to be a bit of a turning point in my gaming career. I thought I was through with the ‘cinematic’, linear experiences that a lot of western developers have offered us in the past year and would instead refocus on original experiences that only games could deliver once again.

Not that I consider western development to be below me; I’m still very much looking forward to Halo 4, Mass Effect 3, BioShock and the rest, but I want to recapture the magic that only Dark Souls gave me last year, and I thought Japan was the place to do it. But as I look at that list I realise I might have been fooling myself a little.

And you know what? I’m okay with that.

I was fully aware while playing Yakuza 4 (let alone 3) that I was essentially playing a reskinned version of the original two games seen on PS2, and that didn’t stop it being one of my favourite games of the year.

Yes, it’s the sixth bloomin’ Resident Evil game, but I’ve really enjoyed everyone up until now, why stop here? And Metal Gear? Heck, if I loved the cut-scene-ridden, borderline movie that is Metal Gear Solid 4, I doubt there’ll ever come a day when I tire of that series.

I’ve come to realise that, in my love for Japanese-developed titles, I don’t separate myself from the mainstream gaming scene as much as I originally thought I did. Sure, I’m tired of post-apocalyptic wastelands and edge-of-your-seat-shooters, but instead I favour tried and true mechanics found in Japanese development.

And, to be fair, there’s still an element of the unconventional and spectacular surrounding Japanese releases that draw me to them. Yakuza can weave a thrilling mafia yarn and yet still include a pants-wearing, free-running pervert in every one of its titles. And the Resident Evil series, for all its explosions and cover-systems seen in recent games, still boasts that loveable silliness to it that was apparent in the first game. You could even argue that that same charm is absent from the western-developed Operation Raccoon City.

Another confession of an earlier draft; this article was originally about Japan’s westernisation. And while that’s very much a relevant topic to talk about, I quickly found it unfair to label the issues I see here of constant franchise reiteration and lack of innovation as western traits. After all, how many Final Fantasy games have been released since the original? The same question for Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest. And that’s without even mentioning Nintendo, who have largely stuck to the very same characters and creations that debuted with the NES in the 80s.

Perhaps the current state of Japanese and western development really isn’t as different as it first seems. I’ve always found their fondness of the supernatural, silly and over exaggerated dramatics more appealing than the Hollywood approach many of today’s conventional western games capture. But moving in 2012 it doesn’t seem like there will be as much to separate Japanese and western gaming anymore.

If that’s good or bad, I may not have an answer to until this time next year. It won’t stop me looking forward to the sixth Resident Evil game, though.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has announced that the Wii U will feature NFC, or Near Field Communication, tech. That means the company’s next-gen console will have the capability to read and scan physical object and incorporate them into the digital world.

You’d think Nintendo is slightly losing its focus on what should be a gaming console, but the implementation of such a technology could very well work for games too. Just think Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. In addition, it could be a viable way to purchase content off of the newly announced Nintendo Network, by simply having the tablet scan in credit card information, which it will be able to do.

The Wii U can “read and write data via noncontact NFC and to expand the new play format in the videogame world,” said Iwata, adding that the technology “will enable various other possibilities such as using it as a means of making micropayments.”

The delightful PixelJunk Eden from Q-Games is to make the transition from PSN to Steam.

Eden first saw release on PS3 back in 2009, and quickly became one of PSN’s most unique games. It comes to Valve’s digital service complete with the Encore DLC for $9.99. The soundtrack will also be released for $4.99.

Refinements include being able to warp back to the last place the player rested at and being able to save progress in-level. No release date just yet, but make sure to keep an eye out for this one.

When I was in junior high school (centuries ago), I always found the metalhead clique at my school intimidating. Rangy boys with long, oily hair and a collective uniform consisting of boots, black-washed jeans, and black T-shirts imprinted with art from album covers by bands whose names bore gratuitous double consonants and lent themselves to harsh, angular logo designs, the metalheads always hung out together at the side of gym class, discussing their heroes’ latest wailing guitar concoctions and glowering at the rest of the world. They sported the shifty desperation unique to 14-year-olds jonesing for a drag on a stolen cigarette.

It was all kind of alarming for us clean-cut students whose main ambition for gym class was to avoid notice by the jocks and dropouts while hanging out on the sidelines discussing the latest Zelda strategies with each other (dude, if you just keep going up when you get to that one spot in the mountains, there’s a dungeon there!). In hindsight, though, I realize that the metalhead kids were harmless. They never picked on anyone; they never caused trouble outside of skipping class to hang out and listen to noisy music. They were as geeky as the video-game-fixated A-students; the only difference between us was that their obsessions were wrapped up in an affected antisocial style. Their music may have been about volume and screaming and satanic posturing, but it was just that: Posturing. Underneath it all, those guys just wanted to do their own thing, and they wore their ragged Dokken shirts with pride because they sincerely thought that airbrushed zombie warriors chained to naked, guitar-wielding sex slaves was, like, so awesome.

PlayStation Vita’s 3G model may not be for everyone, but thanks to a limited-time bundle Sony announced today it may have just become the best available option for those purchasing the system at launch.

Vita comes in two flavors: Wi-Fi-only and 3G. Priced at $250 and $300 respectively, there isn’t much sense in paying an extra $50 for the 3G system unless you have some intention of also paying for 3G service at some point in time. The one exception to this before now was the First Edition bundle which includes the 3G system, some extra goodies, and most importantly, a week’s head start for $350.

Sometimes…we get bored. And, you know, fun-loving developers happen to be in our office. And, well…things happen.

When Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono stopped by to demo Street Fighter X Tekken last week, we handed him a piece of paper with lines from the Street Fighter movie on it, crossed our fingers, turned a camera on, and hoped for the best. You can see the result above.

As reported earlier, Nintendo is developing a service compatible with the 3DS and upcoming Wii U much like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, called Nintendo Network, in which users will have individual and personal accounts with the possibility to download DLC and even full games, eventually. However, when this service will launch has yet to be determined, according to Nintendo head Satoru Iwata.

“We have not decided the concrete timing of when we will start it,” said Iwata. “The decision must be made by taking into consideration such factors as the relationship with the wholesalers and retailers, and the best way to be embraced by consumers.”

He added, “however, as an option for the future, the significance of this business field will increase.”

Suddenly, the possibility of the service not launching alongside the Wii U later this year becomes a very real scenario. Whenever Nintendo decides to launch it, however, it won’t be a moment too soon, that’s for sure.

The ability to control a Windows desktop with a simple hand gesture could become reality sooner than we once thought. The Daily got a sneak peek at two Microsoft-developed Windows 8 notebook prototypes with built-in Kinect sensors. The system would allow for gesture recognition in portable devices for the first time.

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