News

The Lunar Series, which has not had an original title developed for it since Lunar 2: Eternal Blue for the Sega CD back in 1995, is set to have its first completely new title. Lunar: Dragon Song will be released on July 16th in the United States.

Dragon Song is a prequel to the original Silver Star Story. As the title of the topic says, the game will appear on the Nintendo DS. The story takes place in a time in which beastmen are the dominant race. While not the dominant race, humans peacefully coexist with the beastmen, living in the countryside. This peace is disrupted, however, when the goddess Althena powers begin to fail. It is rumoured that a tribe of black-magic wielders have kidnapped her. The story follows the adventures of Jian and his journey to save her.

There are some changes from the previous Lunar games in Dragon Song. Game Arts has switched to an isometric view for dungeons, towns, etc. instead of the old top-down perspective. Some changes have been made in the battle system as well. First, there will be no more random encounters (enemies will appear on screen as in the remakes). A "Battle Card" system has been added as well. Players will be able to equip their characters with cards to gain additional abilities. One way Dragon Song will make use of the DS's two screens is by placing aerial enemies in the upper screen.

Source: RPGamer

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Even though I find myself to be increasingly tired of anime-style games, I would probably check this out if I had a DS as I enjoyed the earlier Lunar games.

While the title of this news post is a joke, its contents is not. One would have to be living in a 1950s fallout shelter to not have heard of the horrific tsunamis that have devastated much of southern Asia after a 9.0 earthquake on December 26th. The death toll is reaching 150,000 and continuing to rise.

There has been a great human response to the disaster and gamers from Ultima Online and EVE Online are trying to do their part to help.

Ever laugh over someone selling a virtual item for selling a virtual item from real money (and even harder at the person who actually bought it)? Many UO players are selling their in-game items in order to raise funds for donations. EVE Online, on the other hand, has set up a section in each player's account where donations may be made.

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If you would like to make a donation, you can do so to the Red Cross through Amazon.com . Every little bit helps.

Courtesy RPGamer...

The title formerly known as Earthbound64 was feared dead as details ceased to emerge and the Nintendo64 died off. However, good news is here for fans of the series. Mother 3, the official title of the game, is approximately 60% complete, says the game's writer, Shigesato Itoi. It is not known if this means the writing or the programming of the game, but as the speculated release is late 2005, it can be assumed that it is the writing.

RPGamer news

As a fan of the series, this makes me extremely happy. I had a Nintendo64, and had the game come out when I owned it, I would've been doing flips. Now that it's back, I might have to buy a Gamecube if that's the platform.

Paper Mario RPG, sequel to the N64 title Paper Mario, is scheduled for release on the Nintendo Gamecube this Thursday in Japan.
According to Nintendo, the sequel employs many of the same aspects of the original game--most notably the Action-RPG genre twist and cheery feel intended to help open up the game to younger audiences.
Additionally, the unusual qualities of 2D characters placed into a 3D environment are again a key point of the game, with such updates as the ability to fold Mario into various origami shapes, including an airplane and a boat, to help him traverse obstacles he encounters.

Nintendo Japan has posted an official site for the game (Japanese), but as of yet have made no comment regarding an American release.

Paper Mario RPG will retail for 5800 yen ($53-55).

Some of you may remember that Nintendo gave out free ports of Ocarina of Time and Master Quest for the Gamecube as a bonus to those who had pre-ordered the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.

Well, Nintendo is putting together another Zelda compilation for the Gamecube. The games planned to be included this time around are: The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Other than the titles to be included, not much else is known about the compilation. There are no release dates for either Japan or North America. It is not even known whether this will be a standalone product or another pre-order bonus.

Source: RPGamer

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I know many are getting upset at gaming companies for the recycling of old titles, but this is definitely some recycling I would enjoy.

Nintendo of Europe has announced that Paper Mario will be released for the GameCube during the first half of 2004.  Little is known about the release thus far.  It is not even known whether this title will be just a plain port of the Nintendo 64 version, a remake, or completely new game.  

No information have been made available by Nintendo of Japan or Nintendo of America as of yet.

Source: RPGamer