Earth Defense Force Extravaganza

Earth Defense Force is certainly getting a lot of attention lately, eh?  D3 recently released a trailer, highlighting four (!!) new EDF games.  If you’re like me, you can’t read that crazy moonspeak, I’ll here with all the foreknowledge too tell you what’s going on for your EDF fix.

The first game shown is Earth Defense Force Portable 2, a game coming out in Japan… um, relatively soon.  Anyway, this appears to be a remake of the PS2 game Global Defense Force, and apparently there wasn’t a first Earth Defense Force Portable, so I’m not quite sure what’s going on with that 2.  Anyway, the game actually comes in a ‘Double Pack’; you get two UMDs when you buy the game, so that friends can’t have an excuse to not play with you.  They don’t have the game?  No worries, you got an extra.

Next is Insect Armageddon, which I’ve already looked at and is coming out in the US in March. Something that isn’t in that article, though: Apparently you can upgrade different types of armor, and adds more customization.  Combining that with over 400 different weapon types, you’re fittin’ for a varied experience.

The last two games… well, I don’t know much about them.  Sometime in this month (January), EDF Mobile supposed to come out.  I don’t know anything about it, nor will I probably ever, given that Japanese cell phones are light years ahead of the US’s.  Maybe in 2020, or something.

And, at the very end of the video, along with the “EDF” chant, is a logo for Earth Defense Force 4.  Not much is out about it other than… well, that, but I’m crossing my fingers that it’ll be another nice sequel that’ll make it Stateside.

That’s all for this little… deluge of information.  If you’re an EDF fan like me, hopefully this’ll bring some good news.  I’d sure love to see the PSP port make it over here… 2 UMDs or not!

Towel Slappin’ Pro Jumper

I sure do love my quirky games.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen any, though; it almost seems as if the fad of “OMG CRAZY JAPAN GAMES ARE CRAZY AWESOME” has died out over here in the US, which makes me a bit sad.  How will I get my quirky game mix without resorting to importing/learning another language/pirating?

Thankfully, I’ve found the answer.  And that answer is Towel Slappin’ Pro Jumper.

Let that image sink in for a moment.

Yeah, the DSiWare’s got me covered, and it’ll be coming out sometime this year in the US.  As you might get from the title, Towel Slappin’ Pro Jumper! involves getting the creepily cute Chamaki to the legendary hot spring, to relieve his back pains. (At least that’s what Siliconera tells me.)

Oh, what, that’s not what the title implies?  Well, I guess not.  But this awesome trailer should give you a better idea about it all:

Yep, it’s a platformer with some really neat sprite graphics.  Oh, and did I mention it’s a Guilty Gear spin-off?  Yeah, the main character here was in Guilty Gear 2 (somehow).  You know, the Guilty Gear no one ever played.  Regardless of that, though, the gameplay seems solid enough, and it’s just oozing with the quirky-ness we all know and love.  I don’t know the price when it comes out on DSiWare, but I hope it’s under 500 points, so I can get it…

(Super ending special!  The ESRB has already rated this game, and the comments on it are pretty funny.  Check out the tidbit here.)

A new twist to Pac-Man: PacMap

We’ve all played Pac-Man Championship Edition DX by now, and loved it.  It was a breath of fresh air into an archaic series, and an acid-induced one to boot.   But that’s old news, it’s time to look into the FUTURE of Pac-Man.

And that future is PacMap.

PacMap is an interesting little app being developed for Andriod phones.  What the app does is Google Map your neighborhood, then plops Pac-Man and the ghosts down for some road-based pellet eating action.

Something… worries me about it, though.  Check out the video out for it:

Look at how slow and sluggish it is!  I know it’s not the final version, but come on… a game like that would take AGES to simply walk down the street!  Hopefully they’ll spice and speed it up in the final version.

…Okay, okay, so maybe I lied.  PacMap isn’t really the future of our beloved yellow circle, but it certainly is an interesting concept.  I just hope that the developers will realize its potential, and not squander on some of the finer points.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin may actually come to the US

I sure have been posting a bit recently… but there’s been news to write about in the gaming world, of course!  And this tidbit will be very interesting for Shin Megami Tensei fans… Persona 2: Innocent Sin is being remade for the PSP, getting the same overhaul as the first Persona game did when it was ported over.  Yep, that means new graphics, remixed tracks, and other… uh, neat-o stuff.

But the important part?  A new Persona game is very likely to come out of Japan… and since Innocent Sin didn’t make it out of the Land of the Rising Sun the first time (though Eternal Punishment did, oddly enough), that’s big news to us overseas.  Atlus hasn’t made any statements about bringing over to the US yet, but here’s to hoping, right?  The game’s already slated to come out in Japan during the winter, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long to know if we’ll get it or not.

Anyway, you can check out the awesome opening here.  The moonspeak scares me too, but believe me, that theme song is worth it.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Earth Defense Force: 2017 by now.  It’s everyone’s favorite little bargain bin game, after all.  It’s not a bad game by any means, just ridiculous and low-budget.  But, especially if you’re playing with a friend, it can be a hell of a lot of fun.

EDF 2017 was released three years ago, though, so most people have likely played the game out by now.  Luckily, the developers of 2017 have decided to make a new game, and it’s for both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.  Titled Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, this sequel promises to bring more bug-busting action with it.

EDF: IA also promises to bring a few new features.  First off, there’s up to 3-player online co-op, when the first game had no online at all.  There’s also a Survival mode, and oh…

JETPACKS!

Hopefully D3 won’t try to make this game too good… then it just might be bad!  If you’re interested, check out the official site.