So you can imagine that I was a bit incredulous when I got a copy of Muramasa: The Demon Blade to review. Sure, I knew the game had won all sorts of ‘Best of E3′ awards, but I was still not sure about it. I sat down and started playing, and I found myself really enjoying the game.

Muramasa is a classic, side-scrolling action RPG. This first thing that hits you when you start the game is the look and feel. If you played Odin Sphere on the PS2, you’ll recognize the style, and you’ll be impressed. The graphics aren’t 1080p, or high-def, but they are endearing and attractive. The graphics are more like living art than what you’d expect from a video game.

You can choose from two characters, Momohime and Kisuke. Each story has its own campaign, but the two do intersect. Momohime is being controlled by a demon that possesses her sword, and Kisuke has lost his memory and is on the run for something he’s not even sure that he did.

The actual combat is smooth and flowing, as you draw your sword to fight enemies that randomly appear. Combat also requires you to manage multiple combo attacks while also using health items and special attacks. One of the more interesting features is that the swords (you can have three of your choice equipped at any time) you use are taking damage as well. Parrying and repelling attacks causes your swords to take damage, and once a sword has taken too much damage, it will break. To combat this, you can switch between your equipped swords on the fly, or use potions that will heal the blade.

Collecting blades is a core mechanic of Muramasa. There are 108 swords in all, and you gain the ability to forge swords early on. The fact that each sword has its own special ability means that you can benefit from having certain swords equipped to take advantage of different weaknesses in your enemies.

Boss battles in Muramasa have a nice random element in them. While the bosses retain the same abilities each time you fight them, the same boss may use its abilities at different times in the same fight. Unfortunately, the difficulty of bass battles fluctuates wildly, especially between the two characters. I had little trouble with bosses when playing as Kisuke, but Momohime’s bosses are much more challenging.

Completionists among you will find a ton of gameplay here. Beating the game through with both characters takes about 15 hours, but you could eaily double that time if you want to finish collecting all the items, forging all the swords, and beating all the challenge caves. Not only that, but beating the game a second time can yield a different ending, making the effort worthwhile.

All in all, Muramasa presents an excellent game for Wii fans. If you own Nintendo’s console, you should definitely own this game. It’s arguably the best third party title yet published for the Wii, and worth a purchase. One word of warning: the game has retained its original Japanese voice tracks, so if you don’t like subtitles, that may be a turn off for you.

Gaming Today gives Muramasa an 8.5.

Regardless of what we may think, Activision isn’t content to sit back and count all the money they’ve made from Guitar Hero so far. No, they’re going to release yet another iteration of the title.

Guitar Hero 5 will add some new functionality to the title, and strangely enough, it’s actually functionality that makes it a better party game than before. Chief among these new additions is the ‘Pick up and Play’ mode. This will allow anyone to grab an instrument, jump in, play for a few minutes, and drop out without failing or causing the rest of the band to fail. It’s perfect for those unscheduled bathroom breaks in the middle of a song.

They’re also including a RockFest mode to let you face off against four players locally, or up to eight online. Heck, you can even throw down with four guitars at once if you so desire. But the question remains: Do we really need another full game for this? Wouldn’t these features be awesome DLC for the folks who spent nearly $200 on Guitar Hero: World Tour? You could probably even convince those folks to pay for them!

Ah well, maybe I’m just a spoilsport. After all, at least they’re including 83 songs in this version, and all the World Tour DLC will carry over as well. Maybe I’m just sick of having all these plastic instruments clogging up my living room.

At any rate, there’s a brand new trailer showing off these new features. You can grab it over at FileFront, or catch the embedded stream after the break.

You are going to be the person who dares to tempt fate. You will solve puzzles and use objects to uncover the truth behind the site and find your way out of the world of the Calling, or join the dead on the growing visitor counter. You’ll find your Calling exclusively for the Wii in 2010.

From the press release:

Hudson Entertainment will bring players face to face with death as they roam an alternate existence in an attempt to survive Calling. The adventure horror title is set to be published by Hudson Entertainment, the North and South American publishing arm of HUDSON SOFT, and will be exclusive to Wii in 2010.

“Players will be asked to use their wits and senses to survive the world of Calling,” said Mike Pepe, Director of Marketing of Hudson Entertainment. “It is a game that revolves around real people and real emotions – no chain saws or suits of armor. The game is traditional survival horror at its finest.”

In Calling, players begin by visiting a mysterious “Black Page” website with a simple number counter. Some say it is a bridge to something sinister; the counter indicating the number of people who have died after visiting the page. It is said that people who have visited the site and witness a certain event are drawn into a mysterious space compiled of the memories of the dead – the space between life and death. Someone or something is drawing the living there for a reason, and it is up to the player to discover the horrifying truth. In order to do so, players will use various equipment including flash lights, phones, and other items to navigate and escape the Calling.

Throughout the game players will visit various parts of the Calling world. Memories of houses, schools, hospitals and more bring players closer to either an escape or an untimely death. Players will solve puzzles, search and interact with objects, and ultimately try to avoid the inhabitance of this alternative existence.

The Mini Ninjas -
Where have the animals gone?
September comes soon…

Mini Ninjas will sneaking up on the PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 and the DS September 8, 2009.

Although I may not always agree with his opinion, I always enjoy it. Yahtzee isn’t afraid to cut anyone down to size including himself.

You can view the Zero punctuation videogame review archives on The Escapist.

Telltale is bringing a new generation of gamers fresh Tales of Monkey Island. The new episodic adventure games plays like Sam & Max or Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. That is to say it plays like the original classic point-and-click adventure game, the Secret of Monkey Island. For the maiden voyage of Tales of Monkey Island, Telltale presents the first of five monthly episodes, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal available today for the PC or as WiiWare..

I’m a veteran of the Monkey Island series. Although I’m really looking forward to the re-imagined Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition coming out later this summer, I was very excited about new stories featuring Guybrush Threepwood, and those mysterious monkeys. I can honestly tell you that Telltale has done an excellent job retaining the bumbling, yet witty and sarcastic Guybrush Threepwood and the ensemble of characters that keep this setting fresh almost 20 years after the first game launched.

The Monkey Island series is steeped in pirates, voodoo, mystical monkeys, insult sword fighting, jaunty Caribbean reggae and grog; lots of grog. The secret of Monkey Island’s popularity, as if you couldn’t tell by the title, is the wry sense of humor that runs rampant through the series. Launch of the Screaming Narwhal has a good mix of in jokes and running gags from previous games while subjecting a new generation of players to fresh forms of pop culture punishment. Telltale also makes use of describing a scene to you and letting your imagination run wild rather than showing you.

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal plunges you right into the thick of things as Guybrush. As you struggle on the high seas to save your lovely wife Elaine from the clutches of the dead pirate LeChuck, things go suddenly wrong and you’re forced to improvise. After disaster ala Army of Darkness strikes, your epic adventure begins with a whole new set of challenges. You’ll face the daunting task of halting the spread of a malignant evil, saving Elaine and defeating LeChuck, but first you have to find a way to get off Flotsam Island.

Your first challenge comes in getting the cooperation of a journalist for the island’s shady newspaper. You’ll have to drum up some excitement before he’ll give you his secret source. Gameplay moves forward as you keep a sharp eye out for objects to pick up or interact with. Guybrush will talk you through everything, giving you hints on whether you’re close to solving the puzzle or way off base. He also guides your hand as you solve puzzles by combining objects in your inventory and use them with others you find around you.

The local color marooned on Flotsam with you will patiently deal out advice for a small fee. You’ll have a list of snarky comments and questions to choose from although Guybrush tends to deliver your lines more diplomatically. At other times you’ll have to follow maps through Flotsam’s jungle that seem to make no obvious sense. This is where creative thinking and turning up environmental sounds come in. Fortunately, if you falter you can start over again, and again if necessary. It’s very easy to start back at the beginning and once you’ve discovered any important landmark or destination, it will appear on your map as a fast travel option.

Just a word of warning. The Tales of Monkey Island series will teach you about persistence and kleptomania. You will swipe everything that isn’t nailed down to be neatly deposited in the portable hole in your pocket. You’ll rarely find anything that you won’t need at some point. You should also make sure to back track when you’re stumped. Often you’ll find that things you’ve already done will turn out differently after you’ve changed something else in the game. People you’ve already interrogated will have new information for you too.

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is definitely a game I can recommend for purchase. It’s entertaining for both kids and adults with creativity, imagination and a sense of humor. I declare it mother tested and kid approved.  Experience it for yourself by taking on the Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Playable Demo. You can order the full Tales of Monkey Island series from the Telltale website. This week they’re sweetening the deal by throwing in an episode from one of their other games. Now I have to go pick that deal up before my kids force me to walk the plank.

John Harris, a writer over on the industry news site/blog Gamasutra,  writes a regular series of articles entitled Game Design Essentials. These long and exhaustively researched story discusses his position on many topics important to modern game design and the lessons learned along the way.

His latest installment discusses 20 RPGs that all designers should be familiar with and why. The feature article is interesting from the perspective of someone who has studied game design and as someone who has been using RPGs for storytelling and  enjoyment over the years. Aspiring designers could do far worse than to dig through this fairly dense statement of information covering RPGs from the classic pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons through the evolution of Wizardry, Ultima, Wasteland and more contemporary games like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy and the Elder Scrolls titles.

You can check out the entire article here.

You can find team roster ratings and over all team ratings for the Cowboys, Eagles, Giants and Redskins online at the Madden NFL 10 Season Preview website.

AFC North will be the next division rated leading up to the Madden NFL 10 predictions for the 2009 NFL division winners, season MVP, and more August 3rd. Madden NFL series has been uncannily accurate at predicting the Superbowl winners for 6 years running. It predicted Pittsburgh Steelers’ win over the Arizona Cardinals this years at Pitt 28, Cards 24. The actual score was Pitt 27, Cards 23. I wouldn’t bet against  Madden NFL 10’s prediction that’s for sure.

Look for Madden NFL 10 on the Xbox 360, PS2,PS3, PSP and the Wii.

MapleStory is wooing main stream American youth with videos to air on television networks and as previews for the latest Harry Potter movie this summer. This brings MapleStory into the American public eye, the realm only pierced by  Halo 3 and World of Warcraft so far. The 2D side-scrolling MMORPG is already pretty popular enjoying a 6 million strong player base in North America alone. It’s aimed at kids 10 and up, but has a very wide age range of players, most of whom seem to take their cute super-deformed characters pretty seriously.

MapleStory is a free to play MMO with a cash shop that allows players to purchase Nexon Cash to trade for premium items. MapleStory Nexon Cash cards have been available at local retailers like Target, CVS and Best Buy for a few years. The MMO has also spawned the MapleStory card game and videogames for the Wii and DS. Still MapleStory seems to be simmering just below the surface of casual gaming culture. Perhaps these new videos can tip MapleStory into the mainstream spotlight. Look for the video shorts to start appearing on tv and in theaters later this month. Until then, you can check it out for yourself at http://maplestory.nexon.net.

This Wii exclusive title has a little of everything to offer gamers. It’s an adventure RPG that incorporates life-simulation and real-time strategy into gameplay. Usually when I hear that, I think jack-of-all-trades master of none. After watching the gameplay videos, I’m prepared to be pleasantly surprised. It sort of reminds me of a cute Heroes of Might and Magic. At least younger gamers will get some exposure to the classical music that’s part of the soundtrack.

Tracks from Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown release will be coming to the Rock Band and Rock Band 2 Wii catalog. These three new tracks are a stark contrast with 8 choice original masters from artists participating in the RockStar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse, Marilyn Manson and Slayer are all on the list.

Tracks:

Behemoth                         “Conquer All”

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Tracks from festival artists Killswitch Engine and Bullet For My Valentine are already part of the extensive Rock Band DLC catlog. All these selections will be up for the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii the week of July 6th.

Check out more graphic goodness from Telltale or soon you’ll be wearing my sword like a shish kebab!

You can download Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal July 7th as WiiWare. It’s available for pre-order on the PC now at the Telltale Games website.

This week’s Rock Band 2 Music Store tracks update features Pearl Jam, Mission of Burma, Lacuna Coil and The Offspring. Wii owners can look forward to a wealth of tracks every week until the catalog catches up to the over 700 Rock Band tracks available for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Each original master recording is an even $2 or 200 points available for purchase at the Wii Shop.

(All tracks are original master recordings)

All the above tracks go online Tuesday, June 30th.

Virtual fishermen are called to face the Reel Fishing Challenge on WiiWare today. Grab your gear and meet challenge mode head on or kick back and just reel them in on free-play.

It’s amazing that Natsume known for it’s excellent Harvest Moon series has such a realistic fishing videogames including the Reel Fishing series and the classic Mark Davis series. Reel Fishing Angler’s Dream players haul in a winning catch with unlockable bonus missions and fish for Reel Fishing Challenge.

Reel Fishing Challenge offers a fun and challenging experience for novice fishers and master anglers alike. Put your skills to the test and discover new types of fish in the challenging mission mode, or relax and enjoy the game at your own pace in free play mode. No matter which mode you play, the game’s beautiful graphics and natural setting bring the fishing experience to life. Each fish looks and moves so much like the real thing, you might mistake your TV for an aquarium!

For those of you who want a play by play but can’t attend, keep tabs on the events on the THE BIGS 2 forums. The full details on how to get signed up for these THE BIGS 2 party events follow the jump.
Gamers can pre-order THE BIGS 2 for Xbox 360, Wii Ps2, PS3 and PSP. The game launches July 7th.

On June 30th and July 1st, from 6-8 PM local standard time, we’re giving you guys a chance to try the game for yourself, free of charge, before it’s released to the general public. Check out when and where you can see The BIGS 2 for yourself:

The BIGS 2 fans over the age of 18 (or over the age of 13 if they will be accompanied by a parent or guardian) can sign up to participate by doing one of the following:

1) Follow our Community Manager Ronnie on Twitter and send him a direct message about your interest in coming to an event:http://www.twitter.com/Ronnie2K

2) Respond to the thread about it on our online forums: http://2ksports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221305

3) Post a wall message on The BIGS 2 fan page letting us know you want to attend: http://www.facebook.com/BIGS2

4) E-mail us at contests@2ksports.com letting us know you are interested.

Please let us know which city you are planning on attending to see The BIGS 2 before it becomes the video game sensation of the year. We will get back to you immediately with follow-up steps . We are excited to meet our most loyal fans and hook you up with the total 2K Sports VIP experience. Do you have what it takes to step up to the plate and come check out
The BIGS 2? We accept any challengers!

For those of you who cannot attend, please check out our online forums for ongoing fan reports and see what your fellow gamer community is thinking about The BIGS 2: http://2ksports.com/forums/.

For more information on The BIGS 2, please visit the official website at http://2ksports.com/games/thebigs2.

- 2K Sports

Space may be limited, and will be made available to eligible participants on a first-come, first-serve basis.  2K Sports reserves the right to reschedule or cancel the above-referenced events at its sole discretion.

All information collected in connection with the above-referenced events is subject to, and will be handled in compliance with, 2K Sports Privacy (http://www.2ksports.com/info/privacy).

Gamers and Harry Potter fans should watch the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Quidditch Preview for four minutes of gameplay footage. The new motion capture setup for quidditch is really great. It’s more believable than ever before.

Check out the star studded Making of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer as well.

The Clone Trooper Blasters are made to work with the upcoming Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes game. It uses both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk for a duel trigger action, one the barrel and one on the nunchuck. You can customize each blaster with a nice variety of stickers that are included.

The Light-up Lightsabers aren’t designed for any specific game. They’re sculpted replicas of Yoda and Anakin Skywalker’s lightsabers. The Wii-mote fits right in the hilt. You can turn the light up feature on and off to conserve battery power.

Pictures of all three Power A Clone Trooper Blasters and both Light-up Lightsabers follow the break.

You’ll hear from EA developers Kevin Tuite, Art Director, and Chris Roberts, Lead Designer, of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game as well as Executive Producer Jonathan Bunney as they talk about the new virtual Hogwarts built from all the information from the books and films. Gamers will be able to fully explore the castle and the grounds for the first time. You also play seeker, mix potions, and duel other students in addition to completing the storyline.