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Trauma Team walks you through Diagnosis

by Justin McElroy { Mar 18th 2010 at 2:15PM }

If you're hoping to live out your fantasy of being TV's Dr. Gregory House without the crippling addiction to painkillers and misanthropy, Atlus is here to give you a taste with the last of their Trauma Team previews, this time centering on diagnostician Gabriel Cunningham.

Of course, as you already know, the department of diagnostics isn't a real thing. But if you can pretend that an adult plumber with overalls, a bushy mustache and white gloves is not only a permissible human being but also a hero, we figure nothing's out of bounds.

Atlus offers video walkthrough of 3D Dot Game Heroes, Twilight fanfic

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 17th 2010 at 6:30PM }

Atlus has proven to be the distributor of some of the funniest press releases we regularly receive. The party responsible for a majority of that humor, PR manager Aram Jabbari, recently stopped by Playstation.Blog HQ to give a brief video demonstration of 3D Dot Game Heroes, which you'll find posted above.

The video shows a walkthrough of one of the game's Zelda-esque dungeons and, appropriately, includes a number of irreverent jabs at 8-bit classics. Though legal reasons prevent Jabbari from naming specific games the title lampoons, he was more than happy to show off his homemade Vampire protagonist's massive sword, remarking, "I'm sure Bella will find that impressive." Oh, Aram. Don't ever change.

3D Dot Game Heroes trailer satisfies thirst for adventure

by JC Fletcher { Mar 16th 2010 at 6:30PM }

Have you seen those Dos Equis commercials, with the "Most Interesting Man in the World?" He doesn't always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis? No? Go ahead and watch the commercials now before heading past the break and watching the latest 3D Dot Game Heroes trailer. You'll find it a lot funnier that way.

Even if you aren't well-versed in the culture of beer commercials, you'll find some impressive gameplay footage in the trailer, including giant (and, of course, blocky) bosses. Just try not to be mesmerized by the hero's speaking voice.

Continued →

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition gets full, confusing trailer

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 9th 2010 at 5:15PM }

Thus far, we've really learned only one thing from the trailers released for Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition: You can plan to spend a lot of time in the game pounding very strange looking people in the face. Whether you do so by yourself or with a friend is up to you. Now, thanks to the latest trailer from Atlus, we learn a little bit about the story of Zeno Clash. It seems that the main character kills someone or something known as Father-Mother. We're not sure what started the dispute -- perhaps a forgotten Father-Mother's Day present -- but the end result is a dead tribal leader, banishment and a quest for the truth. You know, that old chestnut.

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition hits XBLA on March 31.

Send humans to investigate this Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey trailer

by JC Fletcher { Mar 2nd 2010 at 6:45PM }

For some of us, Final Fantasy XIII over on those big systems will be little but a distraction -- because real role-playing games take place in dungeons. Or, for others, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey will be the perfect game to play during cutscenes. In any case, Atlus is dropping Shin Megami Tensei on an RPG-crowded market on March 23, and sent out the above trailer to remind us all of that fact.

If you're ready to launch an expedition into a game about an expedition into a mysterious demon-filled vortex in the Antarctic, bundle up and check out the trailer.

Trauma Team scenario writer on the trauma of writing its scenarios

by JC Fletcher { Feb 24th 2010 at 5:15PM }

All the story we need in Trauma Team is "some people get sick, and doctors make them better." But Atlus has generously included a story with the medical action game. In a new featurette on the Atlus site, scenario writer Teppei Kobayashi describes the process of writing for six different medical disciplines, including descriptions of required research, and the fact that the team happened to be working on a medical game when the swine flu epidemic gained notoriety.

A couple of videos of story sequences are also included in the featurette. In addition, new screens are available here.

Gallery: Trauma Team (2/24)

Interview: Atlus on localizing 3D Dot Game Heroes

by JC Fletcher { Feb 23rd 2010 at 10:00AM }

Atlus is following up the surprise PS3 hit Demon's Souls with another From Software title: The retro-inspired action RPG 3D Dot Game Heroes. While we wait for the game's May release to plunge North America into a new retrogaming renaissance (or just be fun), we spoke to Atlus's Manager of PR and Sales, Aram Jabbari, and editor Scott Strichart about the strategy for localizing the game, about its retro roots and about Spelunker.

Joystiq: How did Atlus arrive at the budget pricing for this game?

Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales, Atlus: We made a conscious decision early on to make the game as irresistible a value as possible. While the door isn't entirely closed on Atlus Spoils goodies, we are presently leaning towards passing on as much savings to our beloved fans as possible. Though we feel the game is far meatier in content than the 8- and 16-bit games it lampoons, we are also cognizant of how a simpler retro gaming experience compares to some of the epic current gen releases, at least in the minds of some gamers, and we want to do everything in our power to entice them to experience 3DDGH for themselves.

Gallery: 3D Dot Game Heroes (1/19/10)

Continued →

Zeno Clash hits XBLA March 31, new trailer

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 18th 2010 at 4:20PM }

Atlus has released a new trailer for the upcoming first-person action XBLA title, Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition. Upping the ante on the first-person fisticuffs seen in previous trailers, the new video shows off some of the new weapons in Ultimate Edition. You'll get a chance to see some particularly nasty looking hammers -- look at the size of the roothammer! -- as well as a spear and a shotgun that looks like it was designed by a caveman. And you're going to want them all, too, especially with all the weird pig-monster-men walking around.

According to the trailer, Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition should land on Xbox Live Arcade on March 31.

Investigate Trauma Team's forensics missions

by JC Fletcher { Feb 17th 2010 at 7:53PM }

A few weeks ago, Atlus demonstrated Trauma Team's forensics segments for us in a webcast. The publisher just released a new trailer focusing on that mode, so you can witness the medical crime-solving gameplay for yourself. It's like Phoenix Wright, but more medical-y, and with more revealing clothes.

Of course, it wouldn't be Trauma Center without some odd supernatural elements, and in Trauma Team's forensic missions, space virus monsters give way to phone calls from the dead. If only Dr. Naomi Kimishima had the presence of mind to ask the victims who killed them.

3D Dot Game Heroes' character editor explained

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 16th 2010 at 2:30PM }

We've been looking forward to getting our hands on 3D Dot Game Heroes since before we knew it would be localized; however, we've worried that our complete lack of artistic ability would limit our proficiency with the game's character creator. Oh, sure, we'd pretend to be really clever: "Look guys, I'm a Tetris brick!" Don't be fooled, friends. We're just terrible artists.

Fortunately, a recent post on PlayStation.Blog provides a pretty helpful tutorial on how the character creator can be used to make (and animate) slightly more complicated creations. Like, for instance, two Tetris blocks, smushed together to form an uppercase "T." Look, we're hopeless, alright? Go check out the tutorial so you can whip up some neat characters for us to play with once the game hits store shelves May 11.

Demon's Souls bipolar Valentine's event begins today

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 12th 2010 at 4:15PM }

Adventurers, your votes have been tallied and now Atlus is ready to unleash the Demon's Souls polar tendency event for Valentine's Day. Beginning today, Boletaria will shift to Pure White Tendency until next Tuesday. After that, the power of love will morph into its inevitable form of hate and plunge the world into Pure Black Tendency for the rest of the week (Atlus tells us, "Friday, most likely").

To experience the event, players will need to have their PS3 connected to the interwebs and it may require logging in more than once -- sometimes the servers hiccup. Happy questing!

Trine on 360 'likely will not happen'

by Justin McElroy { Feb 12th 2010 at 3:05PM }

You may have started to suspect this when it didn't release last year, but it seems that an Xbox 360 version of puzzle/action/platformer Trine is all but dead. Writing on the company's forums, Frozenbyte's Joel Kinnunen said "It's out of our hands but most likely will not happen. Sorry. (We probably won't comment on this any further.)"

We got a very similar statement from Atlus which told us it's out of the company's hands and probably isn't happening. So if it's out of Atlus' hands and out of Frozenbyte's hands, it would seem the only remaining mitts belong to Microsoft. To be fair though, none of the companies involved would even confirm it was coming, despite the fact it had once been announced by Atlus.

We've asked Microsoft for some more clarification, but don't be surprised if we never get the full story. The important thing to note here is that if you want to play Trine, it's almost certainly going to require a PC or PS3.

[Thanks, Booger]

See who made the cut in Trauma Team character contest

by JC Fletcher { Feb 9th 2010 at 7:15PM }

This is Charlie Malone, a composer who has worked on Pac-Man World Rally, Pirates of the Burning Sea and more. He won a contest held by Atlus at E3. As a result, he's totally going to die -- unless you can save him.

Charlie won Atlus's Trauma Team contest, which awarded him the "prize" of becoming a patient in the upcoming medical game. He submitted pictures to Atlus, and was redrawn to "make the character fit the game while retaining the features from the reference picture," according to art director Masayuki Doi. As a result, it'll seem like you're really patching up this guy's insides.

We've also updated our gallery with new images of the game's fictional characters.

Gallery: Trauma Team (2/10)

Atlus lets you pick your special V-Day event in Demon's Souls

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 6th 2010 at 2:30PM }

Atlus is an awfully empathetic company. It realizes that not everyone gets all sunshine and lollipops around the 14th of February -- in fact, some folks experience the opposite sensation: Darkness and ... salt-water taffy? We guess?

With this dichotomy in mind, Atlus is allowing players to vote on the special event which will overtake its hard-as-hell RPG Demon's Souls on Valentine's Day -- will it be the easy-going White Tendency which appeared during the holiday season? Or the extra difficult Black Tendency which destroyed players on Halloween? Only you, and your either loving or jilted heart, can decide.

Gallery: Demon's Souls

Demon's Souls replacement guides ship next week

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 5th 2010 at 2:15PM }

If you were among the unlucky number of gamers to suffer printing issues on the Demon's Souls strategy guide, we have some good news. Atlus has announced that the replacement guides will begin shipping this Monday, February 8. Late last year, after discovering that many Demon's Souls collector's edition guides had "unusual cover ink wear / fading" problems, Atlus opened a replacement program.

Thankfully, the company didn't deprive gamers of their guides in the meantime, requiring that only the cover be sent as proof of the defect. It's a good thing too, because that game is effing hard. Seriously, look at that thing up there. You're supposed to kill that? With a sword? Hard!