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Japanese game devs give their verdicts on TGS
by Xav de Matos 
{ Oct 22nd 2009 at 5:00PM }
But not every developer looked favorably on the late-September show. Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya pointed out that only three titles out of the 12 awarded 'Future' prizes at the Japan Game Awards were non-sequels. "That seems to go crossways with the term 'future' in my mind and it's frankly kind of sad," he said.
Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi revealed he was "a little disappointed" that there were very few Japanese-made titles positioned for the worldwide market. However, he does note the titles meant for Japanese consumption puts the industry (in the East) on a stable base. While Fumito Ueda -- currently working on The Last Guardian -- noted that he is extremely excited about offerings from the West, specifically Modern Warfare 2. "I feel a serious sublime beauty in all of Infinity Ward's FPSes," he told Famitsu, despite qualms that Western companies came to Japan to push their wares rather than discussing innovation.
According to Akihiro Hino, head of Level-5 -- one of the busier booths at TGS 2009 -- the show felt "kind of plain." However, he does agree that the show offered a lot of games he personally wanted to play. "So in that respect," he noted, "TGS was great." If you consider waiting in line for 180 minutes to play one title great, we agree.
[Via 1UP]
White Knight Chronicles coming February 2010
by Andrew Yoon { Oct 16th 2009 at 10:00PM }
Such an early 2010 release should give players a few months time to delve into Level-5's world before Square Enix launches Final Fantasy XIII. That should make Level-5's Yoshiaki Kusada pretty happy, right?
Time to start waiting for White Knight Chronicles 2
by Andrew Yoon { Oct 9th 2009 at 1:40PM }
You'll create another avatar to join Leonard on his quest, and this time you'll be able to transform (a power unavailable in the first game). In addition to the requisite new areas, monsters, equipment and skills, White Knight Chronicles 2 will also feature a brand new female knight, and the ability to have six characters in your party.
SCE didn't reveal when the second White Knight game would hit Japan, but we do know this: English-speaking fans shouldn't expect to it see any time soon.
Gallery: White Knight Chronicles 2
Puzzling: No plans for Wii Professor Layton
by Richard Mitchell { Oct 8th 2009 at 5:40PM } 
Frankly, we're shocked at the revelation, as a Wii release of Professor Layton seems like the mannerly, logical thing to do. We're sure the world-famous Hershel Layton would agree.
Level 5 would consider new Dark Cloud if community shows interest
by Griffin McElroy { Oct 3rd 2009 at 7:00PM }
Level 5, please consider this our humble request: Please, please, please make Dark Cloud 3. Would it help if we went ahead and reviewed it? Fine, here we go: "Dark Cloud 3 is the greatest game ever created by anyone in the entire universe. Everyone should own it. In fact, failure to own it should be considered irresponsible. Its purchase should be federally mandated. If we did numerical scores, we'd give it a 68,439 out of 3."
There's more than a few box quotes for you, Level 5. Now get to work.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Interview: Level-5's Yoshiaki Kusada
by Andrew Yoon { Oct 2nd 2009 at 8:40PM } 
Joystiq: White Knight Chronicles has been out in Japan for a very long time. Why has it taken so long to find release in America?
Kusada: When Level-5 launched the Dark Cloud series in the past in Japan, we tried to incorporate feedback from users to make updates before releasing it overseas. In terms of White Knight Chronicles, since it's an online game, we have received a lot of feedback from users. So, we wanted to improve the title more based on the feedback from the users before releasing it overseas. In fact, in the Japanese market, these improvements have been made available through patching. We are awfully sorry we have been keeping the US users for so long, but we wanted to make sure that all the updates and improvements of everything up to the so-called "Second Wave," which includes Georama, before delivering it to the US users. After the "Second Wave," we started the localization of the game for the international market. We are so sorry that it has taken so much time. For the time, we believe we are able to deliver a much better game for the US market. So, I would like to ask for a bit more patience.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Ni no Kuni
by JC Fletcher { Sep 25th 2009 at 1:00AM } 
TGS 2009: Unboxing the Level-5 Premium Gift
by JC Fletcher { Sep 24th 2009 at 8:00PM }
Finally, we were ushered into a game demo area, and then handed the requisite swag bag. Having been told that the swag bag contained this year's version of the vaunted Level-5 "Premium Gift," with either a DVD or a DS demo cartridge, we decided to share the excitement of opening the sealed envelope with the internet. Enjoy the exciting conclusion in the video above!
Fantasy Life's collection of lives
by JC Fletcher { Aug 31st 2009 at 1:46PM }
The identity of each Life isn't labeled, though Andriasang printed a list from Famitsu magazine of all the jobs to go along with the picture. Many of them seem pretty obvious given the tools in their hands, and six of them are outright revealed by a second picture. Both images, and the list, are available after the break.
Level-5's CEO on lessons learned from Professor Layton's first adventure
by Xav de Matos { Aug 29th 2009 at 5:00PM }
As for the recently released sequel Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Hino estimates the game features "roughly double" the amount of data than the first. Not only is Layton's new tea-sipping adventure bigger, but it makes more sense contextually. "One lesson we learned from the first title is that some puzzles seemed irrelevant to the storyline," Hino said, noting the Professor's second outing actually works the puzzles into the game's story to give them a purpose. "For instance, you may have to solve a puzzle about a key in order to enter a locked chamber."
If Layton's adventure piques your interest, make sure to check out our review of Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box.
Level-5 invites players into a 'Fantasy Life' ... in a doomed town
by JC Fletcher { Aug 26th 2009 at 1:18PM }
Fantasy Life occurs in the world of Fantazeal, which shows prophesied signs of impending destruction after a shadow passes over the moon. If this were a normal RPG, you'd portray some kind of teenaged hero fighting to save the world from this catastrophe, but in this game, it basically doesn't seem to matter: you choose a job and undertake daily "Life Quests" related to that job, to improve your wealth and happiness levels. The game includes local and online wireless functionality, allowing others to visit your town.
Aside from Level-5 and Brownie Brown, Fantasy Life features more big names. Nobuo Uematsu is composing an opening theme, as well as ending themes for the ending of each job's "life," and character design is being done by Hideo Minaba, a Final Fantasy series alum who most recently designed the characters in Little King's Story.
[Via Andriasang]
Level-5 and Studio Ghibli's Another World delayed until another year
by JC Fletcher { Aug 25th 2009 at 2:00PM }
A playable demo was available at the LEVEL-5 VISION conference, and the same demo will be playable at Tokyo Game Show, where it will also be handed out to lucky attendees as part of the Level-5 Platinum demo cartridge Said cartridge which also hourse Professor Layton and the Devil's Box and Inazuma Eleven 2 demos. Check out Andriasang for predictably lush new screens and artwork.
Professor Layton 4 includes unlockable Professor Layton RPG
by JC Fletcher { Aug 25th 2009 at 1:00PM }
The Brownie Brown-developed London Life is an RPG that, according to Level-5's Akihiro Hino, will last over 100 hours. It was originally announced for the ROID cell phone game service -- we have yet to learn whether it will still be released there in addition to DS. Devil's Flute will be out on November 26 in Japan.
Review: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
by JC Fletcher { Aug 24th 2009 at 7:00PM }
To be clear, this is not the Zelda II of the Professor Layton franchise. It features the same combination of woodgrained old-world feel and Osamu Tezuka-style character designs, a similarly puzzle-minded citizenry, and a storyline intriguing enough that, somehow, the player manages to be drawn into a world that ostensibly exists only as a puzzle delivery system. There was absolutely no reason to change the formula after the magical Curious Village, and developer Level-5 knew it.
The Layton series is proof that almost any activity can be grafted into a video game to make an engaging experience. These games do for brain teasers what RPGs have done for menus.
Meet the characters of White Knight Chronicles
by Andrew Yoon { Aug 18th 2009 at 9:00PM }
A new trailer released at Gamescom showcases the various characters, and in the process reveals Sony's English localization and voice acting. Can you wait to play as a rogue mech-transforming warrior named, er, Leonard?
