<![CDATA[Kotaku: digimon]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/kotaku.com.png <![CDATA[Kotaku: digimon]]> http://kotaku.com/tag/digimon http://kotaku.com/tag/digimon <![CDATA[ Namco Bandai Roundup - Digimon, Naruto, And The Game That Never Ends ]]> My very last E3 appointment was at Namco Bandai on Thursday afternoon, and while the majority of my time was spent getting my ass kicked at Soul Calibur IV, which I will handle in a separate post, they did have several interesting offerings on hand, from the girl-friendly We Cheer to the anime-friendly Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm to the most authentic Digimon experience for the Nintendo DS. Here's some of the titles that Namco Bandai has coming your way.

Digimon World: Championship: As mentioned above, this is the ultimate Digimon experience for the DS, bringing the game back to its handheld electronic pet roots. Use the stylus to capture Digimon in the wild, bring them back to your base to train, feed, and care for them, and then place then in the arena to battle. Includes cleaning up Digi-droppings - it doesn't get any better than that.

We Cheer: God help me, We Cheer didn't look all that bad. Using two Wii controllers you follow the motions depicted on-screen in a style reminiscent of Elite Beat Agents as your tiny cheerleader avatar does her thing. I had one of the reps on hand demo the game for me, and when he asked if I wanted to try I was sorely tempted. This scares me.

PowerUp Forever: PowerUp Forever is a game coming to Xbox Live and PSN that combines the frantic shooter gameplay of Geometry Wars with the growth mechanic of flOw to create a game that could literally have you powering up forever. You pilot a small ship that must destroy certain enemies to unleash a boss. Defeating the boss makes your ship grow, enemies scaling as you progress. Large structures eventually become smaller enemies for you to take on, and this continues forever until you lose all of your life. It's a throwback to the games of yesteryear that wouldn't actually end until the machine exploded. Definitely a purchase for me.

Afro Samurai: We posted impressions of Afro Samurai back in April, which is good because some jerk was completely dominating the display kiosk at Namco Bandai's booth. I did get to watch for a bit, and found the game a bit reminiscent of the Samurai Champloo game for the PS2, which was released by Bandai before the whole Namco deal. There's good reason for this too - developer Grasshopper worked on both titles. I was one of the few folks to really love the Samurai Champloo game, and with this knowledge in hand, Afro Samurai is now situated firmly in my radar.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm: I saw characters I can't tell you about, and with my newfound understanding of the series I even know who they are! The game is going to have 25 characters total, a few of which are sure to surprise and delight fans of the series. The game play is extremely solid and entertaining, though I cheated a bit and downloaded the Qore demo on PSN before I played it at the booth, so I knew what to expect. Despite all of the new characters I saw, I will still play as Hinata, because she is so freaking adorable.

]]>
Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:20:00 MDT Mike Fahey http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5027296&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ CDC Games Bringing Digimon MMO to North America ]]> digimonlogo.jpg I think I still have handfuls of Digimon cell phone charms given out by some Taiwanese convenience store chain lurking in a suitcase, but in case you prefer your Digimon experience to be on your computer and not dangling off your cell phone, CDC Games has gotten the license to bring the Digimon MMOs to North America and the PRC. CDC hopes to launch the extremely creatively named Digimon RPG in North America sometime this year, and Digimon RPG2 (that name's supposedly temporary) should be hitting the Korean market by the end of '08, as well. Full release after the jump.

Mar 12, 2008 (CORPORATE IT UPDATE via COMTEX) — CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corp. and provider of a "free-to-play, pay for merchandise" model for online games in China, announced it has licensed "Digimon RPG" and "Digimon RPG2," the massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) based on a Japanese television animated series, for distribution in North America and The People's Republic of China from SK Telecom, a mobile telecommunications operator in South Korea.

Digimon RPG is based on a series of Japanese animated television shows called, "Digimon Adventure," "Digimon Adventure 02," "Digimon Tamers," and "Digimon Frontier." Digimon RPG2 (currently the tentative name with an official name to be decided prior to launch date) is a 3D MMORPG version based on the next series of the TV shows listed above for Digimon RPG, as well as a series of shows called "Digimon Savers."

The "Digimon Savers" and "Digimon Adventure" series, produced by Toei Animation, is a Japanese animated line of media and merchandise that includes a cartoon series, anime, manga-style comics, toys, trading card games and other media. The media network for the Digimon series currently includes a Digimon Savers cartoon television series running on Toon Disney, and 13 video game titles available in North America.

Digimon RPG and Digimon RPG2 are developed by Digitalic and are also jointly planned by Digitalic and Bandai Korea Co., Ltd. CDC Games intends to launch Digimon RPG in North America later this year. Digimon RPG2 is currently under development and is expected to be launched first to the Korea market later this year.

"We are very pleased to license Digimon RPG and Digimon RPG2 to CDC Games," said Yongbo Cho, Online Game Business team leader, SK Telecom. "Digimon RPG has been very well received in Korea which is one of the world's most competitive online games markets. With CDC Games' impressive global infrastructure, deep expertise in the global gaming market and its successful track record in the world's largest online games market, we believe Digimon RPG will be very successful in both the U.S. and China."

"This is the first massively multiplayer online game based on the Digimon world," said Jeffrey Longoria, president of CDC Games International. "With one of the most widely recognized names around the world, this family-friendly game is targeted at the millions of Digimon fans who have enjoyed the last 10 years watching the worldwide syndicated cartoons, have played more than a dozen different Digimon console and handheld video game titles, and enjoyed the world-wide phenomenon of the popular collectible card game. Now for the first time, Digimon fans along with their favorite friends from all over North America, can interact with this amazing world and each other in a whole new exciting way.

]]>
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:00:44 MDT Maggie Greene http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=368434&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Digimon From Dusk Til Dawn ]]> Yeah, so I am a pretty big Digimon fan. Not that I am rabid or anything; I just displace a lot of water when submerged. Digimon World: Dawn and Digimon: Dusk is an RPG in the fine tradition of Pokemon, where the two different versions are essentially the same except for certain Digimon being exclusive to each version. I won't spoil the surprise, mainly because I am too lazy to find out, but you'll be able to connect to friends and strangers via Nintendo's wi-fi connection and trade anyway, so it hardly matters. I'd say pick Dusk, because it's more purple. ]]> Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:30:30 MDT Mike Fahey http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=295312&view=rss&microfeed=true