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By Mike Gnade
Learn about the Games the Big Publishers don’t want you to know about— check out the Indie Game Magazine, the only magazine dedicated to independent games. Tap between game reviews, previews, and more right on your iPhone. With advanced search functions, back issues, bookmarking, and interactive content, there’s a whole new world of games to [...] Continue reading
    By Simon Carless
Though he's also busy designing a children's playground, Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi hasn't abandoned his game projects! Here, you can see the imaginative creative director demonstrating his team's progress on Noby Noby Boy's iPhone game at the Apple Store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. Takahashi's presentation is entirely in Japanese, but he shows bits of the game prove this mobile version will be just as weird as the PSN release and even stranger than initial screenshots indicated. He drops a variety of objects into space to bounce Boy off of (even shaking the handheld to rattle the on-screen objects), types messages on Boy's body, and superimposes Boy over some sort of map application. You can see more videos from Takahashi's demonstration on Youtube user Noby829's profile. [Via TUAW] 
  By Simon Carless
"We put this game on the App Store for free so the community can play it," explains Schwartz. "It's our gift, and something we wanted to do to commemorate the start of the decade. It was all for the fans, and we wanted to do this for fun, not profit." In case you managed to forget the game's unique concept, Super Ramen Brothers has you controlling a pack of instant noodles on a cashier's conveyor belt, avoiding and jumping over items from someone's grocery list while collecting soy sauce pockets. Also, a cat's head pops in from the bottom left corner occasionally to yell out "Ramelicious" and "Encore".
By Simon Carless
The latest issue of Japanese gaming magazine OK! Game! Score! lifted the lid on six new Raroo Fun System games that are currently in development and expected to release sometime in 2010. Intriguingly, the issue also provided a rare glimpse at three titles that have been cancelled. Preorders for the upcoming games began this morning, and as expected lengthy lines of fans gathered outside Awesome Onion game store locations. We sent GameSetWatch’s Japanese correspondent, Shiichi Okuma, to provide coverage on what has turned into one of the largest gaming-related events of the year. Okuma interviewed many of the individuals standing in line to hear their opinions and expectations of the upcoming Raroo Fun System game barrage. Spirits were high amongst the preorder lines, and a handful of fanatics even came dressed in Police Chicken, Roger, and Mister Raroo costumes. Angry Walter
Yes, the Walter of Hungry Walter fame is back--and he's ANGRY! The premise of this game is simple: make...Walter...ANGRY! Some possible mini stages: 1. Move Walter's burger. Kazushige Sasaki, better known as “RFS_Maniac” on popular gaming message board GEONEF, says Angry Walter is his most anticipated game of the coming year. “I was a little worried because Raroo Games isn’t directly handling the development, but since they are still publishing the game, I have high hopes. I’m glad Midodok appears to be doing something beyond a rehash of the first game.” Lalia Leapwell and the Lecherous Lemurs!
Laila's husband-to-be, Lucky, lands lad-napped by a gang of lecherous pirate-lemurs, leave it to Laila to save the day! While Laila can't use force (She's a firm believer in peaceful resolutions; also, Lemurs are endangered -- and cute!) it's lucky for lithe Laila that's she's a world renowned gymnast, acrobat and athlete! Pole-vault over pirate traps, backflip your way around guards, and do sweet tricks on Uneven Bars luckily and inexplicably scattered just about everywhere you go! Can you make it to Lucky before he finds himself lost in lemur-love-limbo!? Tom Dodgers, perhaps best known for his over-the-top game reviews on his site Frantic Knob, provided a shockingly positive response when asked what he expected of the game. “P.F. Studios has yet to disappoint, though naturally my expectations for Lalia Leapwell may be artificially inflated by the fact that their past titles have all pushed the envelope of platforming when compared to the mindless typhoon of tripe that clogs the shelves of retail outlets.” Okuma reports that Dodgers asked what site his quote would appear on then let out a snort when he heard the name “GameSetWatch.” Sword Dancer: Kill with Rhythm
A Rhythm fighting game based on attacks with swords and shield defenses. Every stage has a song that has beats that must be used by every character to perform attacks and defenses. During the span of the song, the players switch between attacking, defending and sword duels. Depending of which note a player hits to attack, it will result into a high, medium or low attack -the same for the defender-, making the game a delicate combination of timing and strategy, while fighting with the time limit imposed by the length of the song. Okuma caught up with Shawn Betterhowser, internationally known as being a long-time editor for now-defunct game magazine Popular Playing Weekly. Betterhowser, a self-proclaimed “Raroo Fun System Devotee,” seemed slightly skeptical of Sword Dancer, but his overall outlook was hopeful. “When I first read that the Raroo Fun System was going to be home to a mature fighting game I thought, ‘Really? Is the RFS the right platform for this game?’ But after hearing more about the unique rhythm-based gameplay, I think it might be a surprise hit in 2010.” DYNAMITE!!!
You are Joe Dynamite, a contractor whose job it is to demolish abandoned buildings. Unfortunately, your budget is very limited (Joe is a spendthrift, after all), and you only have the budget for one charge of dynamite per job. Place the dynamite in the spot on the building to do the most structural damage. Buildings become more and more complex as the game goes on, and each blast is rated on a scale of "Dynamite." to "DYNAMITE!!!!!" Its 255 levels of building-blasting mayhem! A decent programmer might even be able to insert procedurally generated bonus levels and a building builder for unlimited replay possibilities! So, something like Red Faction: Guerrilla, without all of the nasty combat or parallels to terrorism. With very limited ammo. In 2D. Yumi Masayuki, a hardcore BankQuest player who gained infamy by being one of Japan’s all-time top Happy Health Toilet Seat users, almost glowed when asked about DYNAMITE!!!. “I can’t wait to play this game!” was all she had to say before she excused herself and made her way to a nearby women’s restroom. But as she was walking away from the line she gave a thumbs-up gesture and yelled “DYNAMITE!!!” Roger Takes Science (R.T.S.)
The game takes place in a chemistry classroom, where students have to divide themselves into the strongest possible lab groups. You have to corral the smart kids to your ever-expanding lab area-of-influence in real time, all while making sure the stupid kids stay at their bunsen burners. You do this, of course, with a vast array of chemical compounds including: * Super-slippery juice: sends any student sliding along his current path AND MORE! It’s fitting that schoolteacher Masa Takahashi was in line to preorder the game. “Sometimes my students think it’s funny that their instructor is maybe more into games than they are, but it’s also a good way for me to break down some of the barriers that exist between students and teachers. I can’t wait to trade strategies with my students—after all of our coursework for the day is done, that is!” Gotcha Gacha Gato!
Join the Gachapon Bandito himself, Gotcha Gato, in his journey to collect every capsule toy ever! Spin your coins correctly and bounce them around obstacles to fit them in the Gachapon dispenser. You must, however, watch out for silly little kids looking to steal your beloved trinkets! Features include: Hundreds of unlockable characters--dozens in every stage! Each with unique characteristics to add hours of play. Stylish monochrome graphics! Travel to over twenty Awesome Onion stores in Gotcha Gato's quest to collect every capsule toy! Perfect to play for five minutes or five hundred! Gotcha Gacha Gato’s development was partially funded by Awesome Onion, where the game will be sold exclusively. However, this corporate tie-in doesn’t worry hardcore Raroo Fun System fans like Nina Yee. Yee, creator of the influential gaming fanzine Extra Lives, seems anything but worried about the involvement of Awesome Onion. “Awesome Onion was the first store to sell the Raroo Fun System and is still the number one source for the system and its games. Without Awesome Onion there would be no Raroo Fun System, so a pairing like this only makes sense.” Diaper Disaster!! (Cancelled title)
You're a parent who loves videogames, and your baby loves watching you play. You are playing a series of minigames. The better you play, the more excited your baby gets and the more his/her diaper starts filling up. Bank your points by taking a game break and changing a full diaper. Wait too long and you'll have an epic explosion all over your new sweatpants. With development so close to completion, it seems strange that the game should be cancelled instead of simply released. But a preview from GameHater’s Gregory Danish written earlier this year may help solve the mystery. “The gameplay is solid and the underlying experience is fun, but I can’t help but be disgusted by it all the same. Watching the baby’s diaper get larger and larger is repulsive in and of itself, but when the diaper explodes, the game crosses the line in acceptable taste. I think I’ve said enough for now. I’ll save my bile for the final review once the game is released.” Job Hunt 2009 (Cancelled title)
The economy is in the crapper and you just got laid off. You have been with the company for a long and don't have any experience for anything else. So the goal of the game is go and find a job. You will have to talk to different employers to try and get hired. You will have to choose the right things to say to the employer. If you say the right things then you have the job, if you don't back to searching again. When you get hired you actually get to play the job. From there you work yourself up to gain experience. The premise is promising and would make for some interesting scenarios, but it is believed the game hits too close to home for many unemployed gamers that are struggling during these difficult times. Kenny “HealthFoodHobo” Crenshaw from RockOnRaroo previewed the game earlier this year, and his impressions lead one to believe the game may just be too depressing to sell well. “The game design is solid, but boy, is it ever a downer to play. Maybe if Klein, Inc. were to make it more comical it would be easier to play, but let’s face it: Joblessness is no laughing matter.” JACK-A-THON (Cancelled title)
The premise is there are five friends in a neighborhood somewhere in America. They are all good friends,but jokers as well. So when one friend (we will call him Majid) comes from Saudi Arabia, the joker friends play a variety of jokes on him, from the "new deaf friend,” to the ultimate summer ending joke called "Jack-A-Thon." Bradley Shackford, editor-in-chief of Game Creator magazine, visited Levy Unlimited earlier this year to have a look at JACK-A-THON and his impressions provide some information as to why the game was canned. “In my opinion, JACK-A-THON is being developed for the wrong console. I don’t know what Raroo Fun System owners would be interested in this. There certainly exists a market for darker humor, but it’s not the same people who purchased Galaxy Intruders. It’s too bad, because the game could actually be entertaining if the content were toned down a little.” [Mister Raroo is a happy husband, proud father, full-time public library employee, and active gamer. He currently lives in El Cajon, CA with his family and many pets. In addition to writing for GameSetWatch, Mister Raroo thinks about writing new content for his neglected blog, Moments, yet rarely gets around to it. You may reach Mister Raroo at mister.raroo@gmail.com.]
By IndieGames.com - The Weblog
In other news, Wolfire is discounting Lugaru down to $4.95 on Direct2Drive and Mac Game Store (normally $19.95) until the 4th of November. The D2D version also comes with a HD texture pack that makes the game look slightly better on PCs with high resolution settings. Related:
By Simon Carless
[In a change of pace from his usual GameSetWatch column, Mister Raroo treats us to a Halloween tale of gaming gone horribly wrong. As an added bonus, the story features guest artwork by death metal vocalist and illustrator Sean McGrath. You should think twice before you head to your favorite game store around Halloween, or you might suffer the same bad fortune as Mister Raroo. But don't worry, Mister Raroo's tale is only fiction. Or at least, we think it is. Now that we think of it, we haven't heard from him in a while. You don't think this chilling tale could be real, do you?!] A Desperate Warning 
All my life I have had a fascination with the macabre, an attraction that has permeated into my interests and hobbies. My friends and colleagues did their best to warn me that too much attention to grim pursuits would come back to haunt me. I always sloughed off their words, but now it seems their ghastly predictions have come true. It's one thing to enjoy an occasional visit into the shadowy recesses of the world, but the horror that lurks in the darkness is nigh unbearable when there is no escape from it. An Unfortunate Encounter Something about the way the woman formed her words made me feel uncomfortable. She looked me up and down for a moment then finally asked, "What type of game are you interested in? I'm sure we can find something to suit... your fancy." She let out a hollow laugh that echoed into the void of darkness enveloping the store. Going on appearances, I figured there was little chance the woman knew much about video games. Howard knew my tastes well and was a walking encyclopedia of video game knowledge, always ready to offer up suggestions on what games I should try next. But as for the mysterious woman who sat before me, I had little faith that she would know the difference between Pac-Man and Mega Man. Still, I decided it couldn't hurt to inquire, so I said, "I'm looking for something to play this Halloween. Maybe something along the lines of Luigi's Mansion or Grabbed by the Ghoulies." The woman's expression suddenly became more serious, and she leaned over the counter toward me, whispering, "Oh, so you're looking for a little scare, are you?" She then let out a loud cackle and closed her eyes, quickly mumbling something to herself in a language that seemed impossible to form with the human tongue. I was so taken aback that I stood frozen for a moment. I finally snapped out of it and tried to respond to let her know that I wasn't necessarily looking for a game to frighten me, but her eyes opened wide and a chilling, deep voice bellowed from her chest. "Your choice has been made!" No matter how many times I tried to turn away from the madness that was enveloping me, I was powerless, as if some invisible force were holding me in place and forcing my eyes open. Perhaps it was for the best, for as the night wore on I felt an increasing dread as some presence crept up around me. There were eerie rustlings and shuffles coming from the darkest parts of the room, and I was certain I was not alone. As my eyes stared straight ahead, the doom that engulfed me increased, and I fear that had I turned to face what unimaginable entity was inching nearer to me, I would have gone mad on the spot! My body and mind were overcome with an exhaustion the likes of which I never knew was possible, but the night seemed to rage on endlessly and I couldn't escape it. At one point I loudly cursed the old woman, for I knew she was responsible for my torture, but this only worsened the intensity of the game's cruelty, as if in response to my desparation. Finally, at long last the night unexpectedly and mercifully began to melt into dawn, and with it my consciousness faded as well. I felt myself racing toward an infinite blackness. My sense of being was extinguished, and my world ceased to exist. But no, I now know that the hideous images I watched against my will were not merely the hallucinations of a crazy man. I picked up the paper and saw it was a receipt from The Game Haven. As I read the simple words that were scrawled upon it, I could hear the voice of the abhorrent woman: "Thank You For Your Business. Your Choice Has Been Made!" 
[Mister Raroo is a happy husband, proud father, full-time public library employee, and active gamer. He currently lives in El Cajon, CA with his family and many pets. If you happen to catch him when he's out trick-or-treating with his family this Halloween night, you'll most likely find him dressed as Sir Topham Hatt. You may reach Mister Raroo at mister.raroo@gmail.com.] [Sean McGrath is one of the founding members of gore afficionados Impaled and is rumored to have ties to the infamous Creepsylvanian group Ghoul, though any evidence to verify this fact remains inconclusive. He has generated artwork and logos for many bands, including Strung Up, Municipal Waste, and Voetsek. Omake time! You can view larger images of Sean's artwork for this story by clicking here, here, here, here, or here.] By Simon Carless
Getting an early gameplay demo of an upcoming game wasn't always as easy as turning on a gaming system and downloading it via an online service like Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. Today, console game demos are distributed and acquired in a considerably different manner from years past. We won’t be examining the history of PC demos here (that’s another article altogether), but we will take a look at how console demos were distributed prior to the advent of online services like XBL and PSN. Gamers from the 8-bit and 16-bit era can attest that the idea of a game demo was absolutely unheard of in the cartridge era. Unlike modern disc based mediums (CD, DVD, Blu-ray), cartridges were too expensive to produce for sake of a demo. The closest thing to a demo in back then was single game store kiosks that one might find on occasion at a toy or department store. Gamers who were wise enough to send in the registration cards that came along with their games, systems, and magazine subscriptions were sometimes treated to preview videos (via VHS tapes) of upcoming hot games from major developers. Some of the more widely distributed preview videos like the Donkey Kong Country and Street Fighter II Turbo promos are currently archived on YouTube for anyone looking to indulge in campy 90’s goofiness. Some publishers like Enix of America and Squaresoft (prior to their merger) sent newsletters out to fans and consumers of their products. While these newsletters were often PR material in disguise, they did provide early peeks and screenshots of upcoming games allowing great schoolyard bragging rights for anyone intent on staying on top of gaming news. At a time when monthly video game magazines were the only source of gaming info, newsletters were a real treat. It was also a nice way of reminding gamers that filling in those registration cards that came attached to game manuals actually paid off. It was the 32-bit era with the popularity of the Sony PlayStation that saw the mainstream rise of the console game demo. As CD’s are relatively inexpensive to produce, it was no longer a wasted investment to slap a single game demo onto a disc and the storage capacity of a CD meant that it could easily be stuffed with multiple demos and videos. While cartridge consoles often included a game right out of the box, Sony made a bold move by including a demo disc with preview demos and videos with every PlayStation. It was a brilliant marketing idea: instead of packing in a single full game with every PlayStation console, just include a demo disc packed with first party titles that consumers could play and then purchase full copies of at retail. Like the videos and newsletters that preceded them; demo discs were the new wave of PR for game companies. And consumers loved it. The PlayStation was a fresh new entry to the video game market and gamers were open to try out every new title they could get their hands on. These demos were not only great at showing off the PlayStation’s technical capabilities, they also introduced the gaming public to a number of unique IP’s like WipEout and Parappa the Rappa, games that otherwise might have been overlooked. Meanwhile, third party publishers like Squaresoft utilized a certain practice to great success during the original PlayStation era. Intent on using every opportunity possible to promote their library of games, Squaresoft included demo discs of highly anticipated games with releases of their new IP. Perhaps the most infamous example is the Final Fantasy VII demo that came alongside Tobal No. 1. That was shortly followed up by the PlayStation Collector’s CD Vol. 1, a disc chock-full of demos and videos of upcoming Squaresoft games that came with copies of Parasite Eve. Brave Fencer Musashi shipped with the PlayStation Collector’s CD Vol. 2, with many people scooping up the game just to experience the featured playable demo of Final Fantasy VIII. Even Vagrant Story contained a PlayStation Collector’s CD late in the console’s lifespan. The demo discs served as prime PR material for Squaresoft’s game library and were backed up by the fact that the retail games they came packed with were all quality games in their own right. This practice was so successful that it carried over to the following console generation when the newly merged Square-Enix shipped Dragon Quest VIII with a demo of highly anticipated Final Fantasy XII. But Square-Enix wasn’t alone. Other companies followed suit, the most famous example perhaps being the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo that graced the original Zone of the Enders. With Metal Gear Solid 2 due for release in the fall of 2001, publisher Konami knew the chance to play an hour long demo nearly six months ahead of time was too much for Solid Snake fans to pass up. Many attribute the high sales of Zone of the Enders to the demo, with critics and journalists upholding that the MGS2 demo was the real star of the package. There’s certainly some merit to this assertion considering that U.S. sales of the far superior sequel Zone of the Enders: Second Runner paled in comparison. Perhaps if Konami packed in a demo of Metal Gear Solid 3 things may have been different. Such was the power of the pack-in demo in those days.
It may be hard for some to believe, but the newsstand was once the center of video game news and information, particularly during the 32-bit era when games were beginning to reach a much broader mainstream audience and shed their identity as mere toys. The allure of demos was well established with the gaming public thanks to the Sony PlayStation. Gamers only wanted more and magazine publications were eager to fulfill this desire. The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (OPM) was one of the first to seize the opportunity. From the very beginning OPM included a demo disc with every issue. The demos that came packed in each issue were no pushover either. The OPM Issue 23 demo disc included a playable version of Macross VF-2, a game that mysteriously never saw release in the states. The demo discs were the biggest draw for most gamers and were undoubtedly a major incentive for subscribers. It was a similar case with the short lived Official Dreamcast Magazine in the U.S., which also included a demo disc in each issue. The Official Xbox Magazine followed suit with Microsoft’s entry in the video game market. Seeing this success, many other magazines began including demo and preview discs on a quarterly or seasonal basis. For good reason too; these issues often proved to be the most popular on newsstands. Dark days a comin’ Ever quick to take advantage of a situation, Sony thought it wise to charge players for specially released demo discs at retail stores. During the PlayStation 2 era, the notoriously overpriced and underwhelming PlayStation Underground Jampack series sold for $9.99 and was simply a compilation of past demos that PlayStation Underground members got for free in the mail (once again a reminder that filling in those registration cards actually pays off). Microsoft followed suit with their Exhibition: Xbox Demo Disc series. To their credit, Microsoft’s Exhibition series was cheaper at $7.99 and featured exclusive demos including the infamous Exhibition: Volume 2 demo disc that included the full Japanese version of Capcom vs. SNK 2. Whether this was done purposely or on accident is uncertain, but it was a major bonus to fighting game fans. These days most gamers would be appalled at the idea of paying to play a demo or watch a preview video and the idea was certainly no less absurd back then. Still, both Sony and Microsoft must have sold a fair number of these discs considering that each company produced multiple volumes of their respective demo series. As gaming magazines slowly became an endangered species it seemed the days of the demo disc were slowly coming to an end. PlayStation Underground members still reaped the benefits of free demo discs with their membership, but they too would soon lose faith after a glitch in the Holiday 2004 Demo Disc caused memory cards to be completely erased for anyone unfortunate enough to play the Viewtiful Joe 2 demo contained within. It was a holiday gift few would forget. Sony’s reputation with their loyal members took a major hit and the company’s nonexistent attempts to make up for the incident were utterly deplorable. How about a free demo with your preorder? While pay-to-play demo discs were proving to be a bust, another form of incentive based demo distribution was becoming prevalent around the same time. During the PlayStation 2 and Xbox era, it became common practice for video game retailers to offer demo discs with preorders of certain titles. It was a great pre-order incentive, especially for gamers who might have been on the fence about a game. Both Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank saw this treatment immediately after their initial E3 debut. It was a sure fire way to draw fans to a new IP; give them a solid gameplay demo and they’ll be hooked instantly. At the height of their popularity it was possible to find new pre-order demo discs on a weekly basis during the busy holiday season. Pre-order demos were available for a wide range of genres from numerous companies for everything from well established titles like The Sims 2 and Resident Evil 4 to more niche titles like Kinetica and the .hack series.
For years demo discs were how the gaming public got to preview games before they were released. Friends would swap and share demo discs that they acquired from a variety of sources. It was a decent system while it lasted but it wasn’t long before the physical medium of discs would be rendered obsolete. It was Microsoft and their Xbox Live service that really changed the way gamers got their hands on demos. This is especially true with the launch of the Xbox 360 where Xbox Live became a robust premium feature and free downloadable demos were just one of the major perks. Things are quite convenient now in the era of digital distribution thanks largely to services like Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network along with the widespread availability of high speed internet. In fact, demo releases over XBL and PSN are major events these days, going so far as becoming major announcements and headline news on major gaming blogs and websites. Microsoft and Sony even compete over timed exclusivity of multiplatform demos. The highly anticipated Resident Evil 5 demo stands as a perfect example. It’s also quite common for journalists to inquire on the possibility of a demo release when interviewing a developer of an upcoming game. While online gaming services have become standard on current generation consoles and traditional disc-based distribution methods are somewhat inefficient in this day and age, there are still a few remnants left over from the old days of the demo disc. The Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta invite that came with copies of Crackdown was a yet another example of a demo promoting a new IP. The difference in this case was that the Halo 3 beta didn’t even come on a disc; it was simply an invite code that players could use online to sign up for limited time multiplayer gaming goodness. It was a perfect blend of an enticing old strategy (a pack-in style demo) and a new distribution model (an online service). A more traditional throwback surfaced in Japan earlier this year when Square-Enix (yup, them again) packed a demo of the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII with special edition versions of the Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray feature film. In fact, the hype for the Final Fantasy XIII demo was so tremendous in the land of the rising sun that Sony released a special edition PlayStation 3 console bundle that included the FF:AC Blu-ray film and FFXIII demo for fans who were finally ready to take the plunge and purchase a PS3. It’s probably the first time a demo has been used as the main attraction to sell a console and it’s only fitting that Square-Enix, a company that’s been a core part of the demo scene, would up the ante of the pack-in demo to such a degree. Whether or not this stands as the swan song of the demo disc is something that remains to be seen. One thing is certain: game demos won’t be going away anytime soon. [Zoran Iovanovici is a freelance writer and commentator - you can contact him at kitschy@graffiti.net. Thanks to Game-Rave for the top picture.] |
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Super Ramen Brothers, the 
[Last month we 
It’s uncommon for Raroo Games to let a second party developer handle one of its top franchises, but that appears to be the case with Angry Walter, the direct sequel to this past year’s smash hit Hungry Walter. Unknown developer Midodok is credited with production, though at this point nobody seems to know anything of the company beyond their name. OK! Game! Score! describes Angry Walter as follows:
P.F. Studio’s latest title is certainly going to help fill a noticeable void of traditional platformers on the Raroo Fun System. Though introducing a new intellectual property can be risky in the current economic climate, OK! Game! Score! had a hands-on session with the game and complimented its creative level design and gameplay mechanics. The magazine’s description:
Much like traditional platformers, there has been a serious lack of fighting games on the Raroo Fun System, but the latest title from developer A.X.E.L. appears to be changing that. Sword Dancer: Kill with Rhythm looks to be the Raroo Fun System’s first possible Mature-rated game, something which fans of the system seem to be embracing. OK! Game! Score!’s preview of the game:
Indie developer Mike Schiller is bringing a revamped version of his popular Flash game DYNAMITE!!! to the Raroo Fun System, much to the delight of system owners. Being completely rebuilt from the ground up, DYNAMITE!!! is rumored to ship with a special modem adapter that will allow players to upload their scores for each stage to worldwide leaderboards, thus making it the first Raroo Fun System game to include an online component. Schiller declined to comment on the reality of the modem adapter of if it will affect the price of the game, but even if the online aspect doesn't make it into the end product, OK! Game! Score!’s description has put the game at the top of preorder lists:
Last year’s Roger Passes Geometry was a bigger-than-expected seller, much to the delight of developer and publisher Raroo Games. The second game in the Roger series, helmed by developer Absolutely Orland, sees everyone’s favorite nerdy student returning, this time in a strategy game. OK! Game! Score!’s rundown of the game makes it sound very promising:
In what may possibly be the Raroo Fun System’s answer to the addictiveness of a collection-based game like Pokémon, Gotcha Gacha Gato is every obsessive-compulsive gamer's dream game. The game’s developer, Griffin Games, has hired two (still secret) character designers from one of Japan’s top animation studios to create the game’s collectible characters. The description from OK! Game! Score! provides more insight into this highly-anticipated title:
Robo-Z Software’s newest title appeared to be pretty far along in development when the plug was pulled on the project. The developer describes the game as follows:
Developer Klein, Inc. licensed the Police Chicken: Interrogation Specialist engine to create Job Hunt 2009, leading some game journalists to speculate that the game would feature very similar menu-based gameplay. Insiders believe the game is actually complete, but OK! Game! Score! reports the project is officially cancelled all the same. The game is described as follows:
Given its premise, it’s not surprising that the breaks were put on JACK-A-THON early into its development. The game’s developer, Levy Unlimited, reportedly based the title upon the middle school experiences of one of the game’s lead designers, but having a true story as the basis for JACK-A-THON didn’t save it from controversy. When the game was first announced at E3 this past year, an Internet petition was started to boycott the game because of its premise of playing jokes a boy from Saudi Arabia, not to mention rumors that the game would include a masturbation minigame. Levy Unlimited’s initial press release describes the game as follows:
[In a new GameSetWatch-exclusive article, Zoran Iovanovici looks back with fondness on the era of the game console demo disc, examining the cultural and gaming biz trends that went along with on-disc game demos, and their gradual transitioning into digitally impelled obscurity.]
Extra, extra, get the hottest new game demos fresh off the newsstand
Inevitable Obsolescence