PS2 in 2008: A year in review
2008 will probably be the last year we’ll see anything remarkable happen on the PS2 ever again. As the year concludes, we’re taking these last few days to look back and reflect upon the titles that have come out for this veteran console — a system which has outlived its contemporaries long after they’ve retired. While 2007 was easily the “Year of the J-RPG,” 2008, however, is a bit more difficult to define.
As 2008 marked PS3’s second full year out on the market, the PS2 was unfortunately overshadowed and came out with a dwindling amount of new games and even fewer new IP. If there ever was a theme associated with this year, it would be “the final push” as this year was all about remakes, rereleases and some last minute revivals in an attempt to keep the system still going. So what titles are those exactly? After the break we showcase eight PS2 titles which stood out of the crowd this year. It’s a rather diverse group but one whose impact won’t be felt again in the upcoming year. It’s time for the PS2 to stand down and pass the torch.
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Yoshiki Okamoto Explains What’s Up With Game Republic
Sometimes when we do an interview, for one reason or another we sit on them until we’re ready to unveil them to the world. Take our last interview with Game Republic founder, Yoshiki Okamoto, the man better known as one of the co-creators of the Street Fighter franchise (and a slew of classic Capcom franchises, like 1942), but who in recent years has been responsible for fan favorites like Genji, Folklore, and the latest Dragon Ball game, Dragon Ball Origins. We tossed that interview around for almost a year before we finally put it online. This time around, however, we’re a little more timely with our latest Okamoto interview, which we conducted less than a couple months ago at Tokyo Game Show. It’s great catching up to this guy, though. He’s an energetic, animated, hilarious person to talk to, and despite his refreshing honesty, he never comes off as cocky, but sincere in his passion for making games. We took some time out of our busy TGS schedule to shoot over to Game Republic’s offices to settle in with Okamoto, to catch up with him, and to see how he and Game Republic have been doing. What follows includes some potentially controversial subject material (spoilers!), but bear in mind that it was all tongue-in-cheek and said in good spirits. That said, to keep things in context, understand that this interview was conducted before Brash Entertainment went belly up, and shortly before Dragon Ball Origins was released. Also, the chat veers from game-related stuff into some seriously off-topic tangents, like marital advice. Despite this, we’ve decided to keep the entire, delirious interview intact, so, consider yourself warned. Note: Accompanying 1UP is translator, Hiroko Minamoto. 1UP: What have you been up to since we last spoke? That was at last year’s Tokyo Game Show. [Editor's note: TGS '07] How have you been keeping busy with Game Republic? Yoshiki Okamoto: For a while I’ve wanted to work on a game based on the Dragon Ball anime license. So I’m in the middle of talks right now with Bandai to put that game together.
Major Tecmo Shareholder Hesitant About Koei Merger
One of the more curious news stories of the past year was Tecmo’s decision to merge with Koei, after denying interest from Square Enix. While the merger seems to be set to go forward next year, Bloomberg reports that one major Tecmo shareholder isn’t satisfied with the plan. Effissimo Capital Management Pte, a Singapore-based investment advisory company that owns 17.6 percent of Tecmo (the second largest shareholder), says they haven’t seen enough information about how the merger would benefit Tecmo investors. "We have not had sufficient information from the company to make a judgment on the merger, such as the feasibility of their plan to raise shareholder value," said Effissimo director Takashi Kosaka, in a statement presented to Japan’s Ministry of Finance earlier this week. When contacted by Bloomberg, a Tecmo spokesperson confirmed they also received the statement, and insisted they have explained to investors why they chose to merge with Koei. This coincides with information 1UP learned earlier this month from sources who said many internal Tecmo executives have also quietly rebelled at the Koei merger. Currently, the companies plan to form the Tecmo Koei Holdings company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in April, so it’ll be interesting to see how those plans turn out going forward.
PlayStation Network experiencing Trophy issues
Congrats! You unlocked a Trophy! Time to sync it up with … Oh, wait. Looks like there’s a bug in the PlayStation Network right now, preventing users from syncing their Trophy data with the servers. You won’t be able to compare Trophies with friends, with a frustrating error message (80022D27) popping up at every attempt.
Considering the large number of complaints on the PlayStation Forums, it looks as though this is a widespread Network-wide outage. There’s no word yet on what’s causing this problem or when it’ll be fixed. Stay tuned.
Pre-order Killzone 2, get free ISA/Helghast costumes for Home
There’s no better way to prove you’re a Killzone 2 fanboy than to don a Killzone costume in PlayStation Home. amazon.com is offering a unique promo for those that pre-order the upcoming FPS on their site. According to the online retailer, players will receive “costume pieces for your head, torso, legs, hands and feet; you can customize your Home avatar to look like an ISA Soldier, a Helghast Assault Trooper, or something in between.” This offer is currently an exclusive to the retailer, so you may want to take advantage of this rather unique deal. The patient types, however, will wait and see what other shops are offering for pre-ordering the game.
[Via NeoGAF; Thanks, Noshino!]
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Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of December 28th
What exactly were you expecting? It’s new year’s week, which means no games. Are you really done playing through all the great games that came out over the last four months? Always one to buck the trend, Europe has a game coming out that we’ve never heard of, so if you’re really desperate that might be an option. Here’s the list:
US Games
No new releases
Blu-ray releases for the week of December 28th
Nothing too exciting in terms of Blu-ray releases this week, but Firefly fans will be extremely glad to see Serenity make its debut in the HD format of our choice:
Oh, you mean you didn’t get enough of Matthew McConaughey’s hair plugs and shirtless torso in the tabloids and Fool’s Gold? Then we highly recommend Surfer, Dude. If you liked Dead Space, you should check out Event Horizon — both are of the sci-fi/horror genre with religious overtones. The rest of the theatrical releases are above.
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PS3 costs 53% less to make now than at launch
It’s well known that Sony’s latest console is a powerful, expensive piece of tech. When Sony launched the PS3, it lost over $200 on every unit sold — in spite of its $600 price point. However, over time Sony has been able to reduce the costs of manufacturing the system, by removing PS2 compatibility and switching over to a more efficient 65-nanometer chips.
Warren Spector’s Studio Making ‘Epic Mickey’ Game?
Home items selling like hotcakes
We’re not sure why, but it seems that quite a few of you out there are buying Home pay-for content. In an interview with Silicon Alley Insider, Susan Panico (Senior Director of the PlayStation Network) says that content in the social networking service is selling tremendously. In fact, in the first four days of the open beta Home produced more money for Sony than the video download service did in its first week.
We’re disheartened to hear that one of the biggest sellers is the ridiculously priced Santa outfit. So if you went ahead and bought a £5 Santa suit: congratulations. You’ve just told Sony that it’s okay to charge 79p for a pair of virtual gloves.
