THE CRAVE GAMING CHANNEL
V'lanna
 

Japandemonium R P G A M E R   -   J A P A N D E M O N I U M
Of Screenshots & Copyright Violation!
0 5 . 2 0 . 2 0 0 4


E3 is over for another year. Finally, this joint can get back to normal...or at least, whatever normal is around here. Since most companies covet information right before E3, and release all of it there, there isn't all that much here this week. Be sure to hit our E3 coverage for all that stuffage!

Perhaps one of the biggest news bits of Japanese gaming recently is the arrest of the owner of the extremely popular gaming site, Game Online. He was arrested in Fukuoka on charges of copyright violation. Apparently, a number of companies, including RPG developer juggernaut Square Enix, discovered illegal screenshots on the site. Of the thousands of screenshots available on the site, hundreds of them were illegally scanned and taken from other gaming sites and magazines. This situation explains Game Online's sudden disappearance last month. This news could have rammifications across a large number of sites, including RPGamer itself, many of which have claimed screenshots and information from Game Online. Right now, nobody really knows if the site will return or not, but since the site was a for-profit site, using advertising-based income, you can be sure if it does come back, it won't be the same.

I'm interested in your opinion on this news. Feel free to join in the discussion on this update's RPGamer Message Board thread.

Saving some stuff from E3, Namco has released a few tidbits on their new Tales game, Tales of Rebirth. Two characters, Veigue Lungberg and Claire Bennett have been revealed. The former, an 18 year old Huma, lost his parents when he was young. The latter is a 17 year old girl who was raised by Veigue's family. An incident when she was a child forced her to leave her hometown. Joining in with this information is some new screens. For your viewing pleasure, they follow right here!

claire1.jpg veigue.jpg claire2.jpg
tore1.jpg tore.jpg

More Namco news and Tales screens! Yay! The PS2 version of Tales of Symphonia is going to include new animated cutscenes throughout the game, which are being made by the rather well-known company Production I.G.

tos1.jpg tos2.jpg tos3.jpg
tos4.jpg tos5.jpg tos6.jpg

This July 8th, Marvelous Interactive will be releasing a female-oriented version of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, named Bokujou Monogatari: A Wonderful Life for Girl in Japan. When you purchase the game for 6800 yen, you will also get a bonus soundtrack album which is being bundled with the game.

Konami has released a number of screenshots for its new PSP game Ys: The Ark of Napishtim. Not much is known yet about the game, but when new information comes out, I'll be sure to report back to you all.

ys61.jpg ys62.jpg ys63.jpg
ys64.jpg ys65.jpg ys66.jpg
ys67.jpg ys68.jpg ys69.jpg

As reported in Japandemonium a few weeks ago, Xenosaga Episode II will include new unlockable suits for Ziggy, Shion, and KOSMOS. Well, this week I bring you a look at those new suits, for those who are interested!

xeno2.jpg


So yeah, this week's wasn't all that interesting. Sadly, when E3 comes around, most companies lock their doors and bar their windows, while they ship all their good information to Los Angeles for the big Expo.

The May 24th weekend is fast approaching, and for those who celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday, like we do here up in Canada, have a good weekend. I get to spend my weekend working, as it's the first big weekend of the summer in Cottage Country. This in many ways does not bode well, since I am already exhausted from work, and it's not even time for the summer rush. However, in a couple weeks I will be spending a nice weekend with my friend in Toronto, doing a 3 day birthday party. It's just the two of us, but that's better than nothing!

~The End of the first update built with JPUpdater v1.01!!!~

Missed an installment? Check out the Archives.

Discuss this story News Sources
RPGamer Message Board 1UP | The Magic Box |



<- Back
© 1998-2017 RPGamer All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy