According to an interview on 4gamer, Drakengard and NieR developer Cavia will be absorbed into its parent company of AQ Interactive within the near future.
Though the reasons remain unclear (NieR: RepliCant was a top seller in Japan, so obviously they are capable of producing results), the interview concludes with info that the Cavia brand will officially be no more.
Cavia has developed many licenced titles besides its action-RPGs, including the Resident Evil on-rails shooting titles for the Nintendo Wii. Though the developers titles have been sort of hit-and-miss for me, I have enjoyed Drakengard II and NieR quite a lot, and it saddens me to see their identity get swallowed up.
I suppose we still may see games from the team under the AQ name, but its still a bit sad nonetheless.
In some very sad news, AQ Interactive officially announced on Christmas that their previously announced Xbox 360 action-RPG project, Cry On, has been canceled due to financial restraints.
Announced in December of 2005 (3 years ago), Cry On was a joint project between Mistwalker (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey) and Cavia (Drakengard, Bullet Witch). The game's focus was to be on a young girl named Sally who carried a small golem doll named Bogle, which would grow to enormous size when Sally was in danger. The name 'Cry On' was chosen as the game was said to focus on tears - both of joy and sadness - and, like Lost Odyssey, was to deal with human emotion.
AQ Interactive has been posting in the red for most of 2008, a phenomenon that they attribute mostly to lackluster sales of Blue Dragon Plus and the PS3 port of Vampire Rain. After a business evaluation by a contracted company, it was determined that several of their financially risky titles would be canceled in favor of more marketable games such as KORG DS-10.
(I know this may sound ridiculous, but I swear I'm not making this up. I've been reading their financial press releases for the last 6 months in hopes of hearing news of Cry On.)
In the official Mistwalker blog, Sakaguchi expresses his regret that Cry On was canceled, but has said there was nothing he could do. He has, however, mentioned that he is working on his next "big" project, though said that he isn't allowed to go into any details, and can't even reveal what console the new project is in development for. According to Sakaguchi, this new project is now over half completed, so we hope to hear more about it sometime this year.
Sorry this isn't a very nice announcement at Christmas, but I don't work at AQ.
I was personally devestated when I first heard this news. Cry On was a title I had been looking forward to since its announcement, and easily looked like the most promising title from Mistwalker. Please take a moment to mourn the death of what looked to be a very promising RPG.
Maybe sometimes you just can't make yourself play a game because you haven't seen the game's first 5 - 10 minutes. You think to yourself, "If only someone else would play the first 5 minutes of that game, maybe I would be more interested." Well, you officially have no reason to wonder about Arc Rise Fantasia anymore, as the demo available at TGS is just that. The first 5-ish minutes of the game.
Watch and be at peace.
The game actually looks pretty cool. On the radar.
Chock one up for Sword Machine rumors! As unearthed from the cryptic AQ Interactive press release, Blue Dragon Plus will indeed be seeing a North American release.
Ignition Entertainment has recently announced that they will be publishing Mistwalker's most recent Nintendo DS title on North American shores in March 2009. Though no specific date has been revealed beyond that, March 2009 falls into AQ Interactive's "fiscal year 2009" (which ends March 31, 2009).
Fans of RTS-RPG hybrids or Blue Dragon should have something to look forward to early next year.
Mistwalker, Artoon, and AQ Interactive's next DS RPG, AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon, has finally gained a release date in North America: October 21, 2008.
Though the Japanese release date of October 16 has been announced for a little while, Majesco (the North American publisher) hasn't been as forthcoming with the release on this side of the Pacific. With a mere 5 days between the Japanese and North American releases, it seems like the delays to the game were indeed due to simultaneous localization.
Majesco has also released the North American boxart (pictured above) and a new English trailer, but I haven't been able to find a version that I can embed for you, so you'll have to deal with the Japanese one. Interested parties may view the English trailer at Majesco's AWAY page here.
This game kind of drops on and off my radar for some reason, but everytime it drops on, I get excited again. What are your thoughts on this title?
For the RTS-RPG fans out there, Blue Dragon Plus will be launching on Nintendo DS tomorrow. Being the direct sequel to Mistwalker and Microsoft's 2006 Xbox 360 RPG, Blue Dragon Plus follows Shu and his friends in the newly created Cube Worlds as they search for the reason Nene has been revived, and the mystery of the Shadow-wielding machines.
AQ Interactive has released a final trailer before the game launches via their official Blue Dragon Plus website. You can check it out below courtest of GameTrailers.
In AQ Interactive's recent account report press release (issued August 8, 2008), the company mentions its plans to increase sales through publishing and licencing of its titles in North America. Among the titles mentioned for "overseas release" were Mistwalker's two upcoming Nintendo DS titles, AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon and Blue Dragon Plus.
We already know about Majesco bringing AWAY over this fall, but no North American publisher has been forthcoming on Blue Dragon Plus, and many (myself included) assumed that the title would be passed up for localization. However, as you can see from the chart below (included in the above mentioned press release), BDP is right there with AWAY for foreign release (bottom quarter of the chart).
Since no company has fessed up to licensing the title at the moment, we have to label this one as a rumor. However, with both ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat and AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon getting the ride over, it seems natural that Blue Dragon Plus would also get some love.
With the game's impending September release in Japan, it seems likely that someone will be coming forward with an announcement sooner or later.
And yes, I do read through companies' financial reports just for fun. Thank you very much.
P.S. Before anyone mentions it, I am aware that the chart is labeled March 2009 Period Lineup Plan. That perplexed me for a while as well. But considering the other titles mentioned throughout the entirity of the release (that is, already released or scheduled for release within the next 3 months), I can only assume that AQ labels its financial quarters in different terms.
UPDATE P.P.S. After thinking about it a little bit more, the date could be referring to 2009 as 'fiscal year ending 2009' which some companies do, and the March thing (which in Japanese is literally called 'month 3' or 'the 3rd month') could actually be referring to the 3rd quarter of the above mentioned fiscal year if you group the kanji a little differently (which makes a difference in Japanese). A little dizzying logic, and I doubt any of you care one way or the other, but it's been bugging me.
AQ Interactive recently released a new promotional video for their upcoming Nintendo DS action RPG, AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon, via the game's official website.
The trailer shows off some of the dungeon-exploration gameplay, explains the "shuffling" phenomenon, and introduces Sword and Aneira.
Developed by Mistwalker and Artoon, AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon will be available in Japan on October 16, 2008 from AQ Interactive, and sometime this fall in North America from Majesco.
If you're anything like me, you've played Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, and are thinking to yourself, "Self, it sure would be nice to get my hands on some more Mistwalker goodness." Well, though we might be waiting a while for Blue Dragon Plus and ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (God only knows when Nintendo will finally get around to announcing a release date for that), Mistwalker's third DS RPG, AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon, is already confirmed for North American release this October, and it actually looks pretty sweet.
A (relatively) recent Famitsu article goes into some details about the game, and I figured I might as well share them with you, loyal Sword Machine reader. ;)
For those not up to speed on AWAY, here's the run-down: our young and conveniently-named hero, Sword, was hanging out one day, chatting it up with his friend Aneira, when suddenly, there was a bright light, and Sword almost got dragged away by the mysterious AWAY. (Yes, convenient naming schemes permeate this game, just go with it.) Luckily, Aneira pulled him out, but was unfortunately dragged in instead. When Sword gets a hold of himself, he notices that not only Aneira, but his entire village has mysteriously vanished along with the light. So, of course, he sets off for the dungeon that is said to be connected with AWAY...
During his adventures into the dungeon, Sword will rescue various villagers, returning them to the village, and giving him access to more items, weapons, equipment, and skills. The article lists three different shop owners that will need saving before Sword can get his shop on with their various wares. Bukki (a play on the Japanese word for weapon) is the weapons shop owner, and will be able to sell you new arms for your quest. Bohguu (again, a play on the word for equipment) is your friendly neighborhood armorsmith. Finally, Weldan (probably a play on the Japaneseification of the words "well done") is your man for item upgrades and customization.
Throughout his adventure, Sword will be able to find and use at least four different types of weapons: swords, spears, axes, and daggers (x2). Each weapon will work a little differently, and learning which to use when and on whom will become a key to Sword's victory. These weapons can be upgraded with Weldan, and it seems that there are certain weapons that have additional skills and attributes associated with them.
Finally, the article mentions some mysterious objects known as the Rainbow Strings, which are supposedly seven magical instruments that correspond to the seven colors of the rainbow. Each will be important in Sword's overall journey, and it seems like certain villagers will be required to play them.
The game's soundtrack composer, Nobuo Uematsu, was on hand with the article to talk about these seven instruments, claiming to have once seen the real-life versions of them in Transelvania. He explains that though he wanted to hear them played, he was told that they couldn't risk being broken. Luckily though, he says, they are all available in AWAY, and he hopes that players will enjoy their music.
For me, the parallels between this game and the SNES sleeper classic, SoulBlazer, are hard to miss. But that is certainly not a bad thing. And with Mistwalker's track record, and the charming nature of this game, I am very much anticipating this title.
Check out the scans of the articles below. (Thanks, RPGLand.)
AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon will be available on Nintendo DS from AQ Interactive in Japan on October 16, 2008, and sometime this fall in North America from Majesco.
So, Majesco was present at E3, showing off their large variety of games you probably don't care about. The one game that might interest you is the previously mentioned AQ Interactive + Mistwalker DS RPG, AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon.
Majesco released a few new screens for E3. Take a look at them and imagine what it would be like to play it (since they didn't release a trailer).
AWAY will be available in North America in October 2008.
Developed by Artoon and published by AQ Interactive in Japan, AWAY is a collaboration between Hironobu Sakaguchi (of Final Fantasy and Mistwalker fame) for the scenario, Naoto Oshima (best known as the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog) for the character and art design, and Nobuo Uematsu (composer behind Final Fantasy and every Mistwalker game to date) for the soundtrack. The game features real-time, on-screen battles, and dungeons that actively "shuffle" during play (this is difficult to explain, you have to see it in motion to understand).
AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon has been the victim of several release delays in Japan, having recently been pushed back to October 16th in the land of the rising sun. With Majesco's announcement putting North America's release date right around the same time, I can't help but wonder how many of those delays were due to the decision to release the game in both regions at about the same time. Certainly seems probable.
AWAY is the story of a young adventurer named Sword who stumbles upon a town that has been sealed away inside of an ever-changing dungeon, and he sets out to free it (cue Soul Blazer nostalgia).
Though no solid date has been set, we are willing to bet the NA release date will fall sometime with a month of the Japanese release date of October 16th. We'll bring you more updates as we get them. In the meantime, check out exactly what a "shuffle" dungeon is in the trailer below.
Ah, Cavia. We barely knew thee.
