Phantasy Star Zero announced!

Finally Sega has announced another Phantasy Star for my favourite console, Nintendo DS after they have just released the PSP version of Phantasy Star Portable. I have been looking forward to playing this series after seeing how successful this series was on Dreamcast as it was the first online console RPG.

Seriously I have never expected the news to surface as the psp version has just been released and looking at its brisk sale and currently still staying in the top 10 softwares in Japan, it is shocking to see that Sega has made the announcement so fast.

This game seems to be more interesting than Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Rings Of Fate(ok, it maybe a tad earlier to make such judgement but I can always hope for it, right?) and I really hope that it can make it to USA.

According to this, this game seems to be based heavily on the Phantasy Star Online series, which is a good thing and the sweetest deal of all is it will support multiplayer online via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and local multiplayer as well(both support up to 4 players). I can just pray that the online experience isnt ruined by the possible lag problems. This inclusion alone beats FFCCROF in its face as multiplayer has always been the important part of this genre, so online multiplayer will just glorify and amplify the whole gaming experience. I really hope they wont screw the online multiplayer part or else this may end up hitting bargain bins not long after.

Have a look at the images above and you will realize that there are some pictures and handwritten words. How is it even possible to include them? Yeah, you are right. Finally, the superfluous Pictochat has been put into a good use. It is a brilliant move that Sega manages to utilize it and incorporate it into this game. With this feature, chatting and conveying message is a piece of cake and it is no longer limited to typing words or just some included emoticons. Who doesnt like to scribble and write their own words?(although I admit that I suck in drawing and I am pretty sure most of you wont understand what I draw)

So are you excited for this title after reading what I have written? With the installed base of Nintendo DS larger than PSP, I am sure this title is gonna be hot as well when it is released. Corez, forget Gauntlet DS and wait for this!

GC 2008 Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood Official Trailer

Finally an official Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood trailer brought to you by Gamespot. Based on the trailer alone, it seems like this game is shaping well. I guess it could be attributed to its developer company which is famous for developing rpg games like Star Wars Knight of The Old Republic and Mass Effect, Bioware.

After watching the trailer, the first thought dawned upon me was this game definitely looks a lot like Mario and Luigi Partners in Time as both games battles scenes are very interactive. In Mario and Luigi Partners in Time, you would have to concentrate when there is a battle going on as you have to press the appropriate buttons when your characters are trying to attacks the enemies to inflict more damanges. While in this Sonic game(Oh men, it seems like both games have another similarity, where both titles are so freaking long!), I can see that its battle scenes feature some Ouendan-esque tapping actions to execute combos and also maybe to inflict more damages! Good thing about this kind of system is battles will never get stale and leveling up would be much more interesting and not a chore. And it seems like this game will feature a roaster of different characters where we could control, sweet indeed. Even though Sonic game series have been lambasted for its too-many-characters, I am still glad if I can try out different characters as long as they have distinctive abilities and controls. And not to forget, the graphics are quite pretty too( Mario and Luigi graphics pales in comparison)

I never like Sonic games before even I owned Sonic Advance 1, 2 and 3 that are highly praised before. I guess I dont really like fast pacing platformer games as my eyes cant keep up with the screens if Sonic moves too fast and so the latest Rpg entry is something I have been looking forward to. Hopefully this title will manage to garner the attention that Sonic series deserves doesnt let gamers down. The release date is September 2008. I am not sure of the exact date as it is not mentioned in the trailer but I guess we wont have to wait long as September is just a few days away and we will find out soon.