Posts with tag lumines
Posted Nov 18th 2006 1:15PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Reviews, Lumines
Lumines II is the hotly anticipated sequel to
Lumines, a fan-favorite launch game that won the hearts of gamers and critics. The stylish combination of music, art and gameplay made for a truly surreal experience that was perfect for portable gamers on the go. The gameplay was brilliantly simple: a 2x2 block falls from the sky, and the player must rotate and position that block to create a solid 4x4 square of one color.
The simplicity of the game allowed anyone to pick up and play, and as with all great puzzle games, players started to learn more techniques and secrets to improve their performance. A typical
Lumines session for a skilled player can easily span longer than an hour, but with changing backgrounds, songs, and tempos, the player constantly feels motivated.
The original introduced such a great formula, and Q? Entertainment's sequel doesn't stray too far from it--and that's a good thing in many ways.
Lumines II offers a plethora of new content, and a great refinement in the user interface. However, is the game enough to warrant a purchase from those that already have the original? How about gamers that are new to this
Lumines craze?
Continue reading PSP Fanboy review: Lumines II
Posted Nov 15th 2006 12:30AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Interviews, Lumines, Video
We got early access to an interview with
Mizuguchi which will be hitting the internet tomorrow. The esteemed game master talks about creating
Lumines II, and we have it available for you to download it to your PSP via m.pspfanboy.com. Make sure you save it to the 100ANV folder, not VIDEO.
Expect an in-depth review of
Lumines II in the coming days.
[
Update 1: Embedded video, after the cut.]
Continue reading Interview with Mizuguchi on Lumines II [m]
Posted Nov 13th 2006 9:10PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News
Do you want to talk to the man behind
Lumines,
Rez,
Space Channel 5, and more? Of course you do.
Eurogamer is giving its readers the chance to chat with the legendary game designer,
Tetsuya Mizuguchi. If you couldn't figure it out, Eurogamer is a European website, so make sure you adjust for the time difference. If it's 12:30PM there, what time will it be in your part of the globe? I think according to my calculations, it'll be early morning for most of America. Will you be staying up to talk to this gaming visionary?
[Picture via
Siliconera]
[
Update 1: Unfortunately, Mizuguchi had to reschedule his webchat to a later date. Stay tuned for more information.]
Posted Nov 12th 2006 6:36PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News, Lumines, Loco Roco
Games Radar decided to go through the annals of their video game memory, and search for the 100 most memorable gaming moments they could think of. The PSP managed to get a measly two games on the list:
Loco Roco and
Lumines. Apparently, the moment when all the Loco Rocos get together to sing was memorable enough to mark it the 60th most memorable gaming moment of all time.
Do you agree that these games deserve to be on this list? Or, do you think any other PSP games should make the cut?
Posted Nov 10th 2006 5:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Software
Puzzle Scape is an entirely original puzzle game coming out next month on the PSP. Published by O~3 Entertainment (
not Q? Entertainment), the game has players arranging blocks into 2x2 squares. The game features 40
skins scenes which are interactive backgrounds that evolve.
While this may sound entirely familiar, there are some features that make it somewhat unique: game sharing, eight player multiplayer, and the ability to save scenes as wallpapers.
[Via
PSP World]
Posted Nov 8th 2006 9:05PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Downloads, Lumines
Lumines II has just
arrived in stores and to celebrate, we have a bunch of exclusive wallpapers for your computer and your PSP. You can download these high-res beauties to your computer
here.
If you want to skin your PSP with some
Lumines love, then type in
m.pspfanboy.com into your PSP browser and download the following images:
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Posted Nov 2nd 2006 3:00PM by Chris Powell
Filed under: Software
If you're like me, then you like to buy your games on the cheap. And you can't get much cheaper than
Circuit City and its $17 clearance on a bunch of PSP games.
Here's the list:
Burnout Legends
Death Jr.
FIFA World Cup 2006
Lumines
Mega Man: Powered Up
Midway Arcade Treasures
Namco Museum Battle Collection
NBA Ballers Rebound
Pinball Hall of Fame
Ridge Racer
SSX On Tour
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw
Yeah, most of these games are a tad old, but we gotta take the deals as they come to us, right? It doesn't look like this deal is currently being offered online, so you'll have to get off the computer and go outside.
[Via
Cheapassgamer - Registration required]
Posted Oct 27th 2006 4:45PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News, Lumines, Video
The
Lumines II website has entered Phase II. In this stage, it will develop
chrysalis around its body, to protect itself during metamorphosis. It will also showcase music videos in the new Video Hub section. Artists you can preview include the Black Eyed Peas, Fatboy Slim, Beck, The Go! Team, The Chemical Brothers, and more.
Lumines II flutters to store shelves on
November 7th.
Posted Oct 24th 2006 7:45PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News, Lumines
Do we have a grudge against the Xbox 360 version of
Lumines? Well,
probably. Gamers were shocked to discover that the game they had purchased for $15 was merely
a glorified demo: it would cost another $7.50 to get the "Advance Pack," which includes 22 more skins. Throw in the Artist, Mission and VS CPU Packs, and you're already paying more than you would for the PSP version of the game. Oh, and you're still getting
less than was the PSP version offers: "all the skins in
Lumines Live will be in
Lumines II - plus
more" (emphasis added). According to
Siliconera, there will be 60 skins in
Lumines II, which outnumbers
Live's number of skins by a whopping 26. No matter how you look at it,
Lumines Live is a
total rip-off.
Posted Oct 23rd 2006 7:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Lumines, Video
The biggest addition to
Lumines' sequel has to be licensed music videos. The game will
feature music from Beck, Black Eyed Peas, Chemical Brothers, and more.
Eurogamer has a new video up showcasing New Order's Regret. There were some concerns that the music videos may be too distracting, but from what I can see in this video, it looks like everything's going to be fine.
Lumines II hits stores on
November 7th. And unlike the Xbox Live version of
Lumines, this won't be a
glorified demo.
[Via
DCemu]
Posted Oct 19th 2006 4:30PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News
Gamespot recently wrote an
impressive feature on load times for the three dominant handheld platforms on the market. They wanted to see how long it took for a game to become playable from a completely powered-down system (no standby mode, which is available on both the DS and PSP). Here are some interesting facts from the write-up:
- The three quickest loading games were Astonishia Story, Gradius Collection and Lumines. They took up to 55 seconds to load.
- The longest loading game is (unsurprisingly) WWE Smackdown!: more than four minutes for that game.
- Games with the highest ratings on GameSpot had the shortest load times. Joystiq asks "Does this show that reviewers appreciate short load times, or just that better games tend to be designed to load faster?" I'd say both hold true, but as games like GTA and Daxter show, developers that care about the PSP know how to get around load times.
- The average load time for cartridge-based DS? 24.5 seconds. The average load time for UMD-based PSP? 103.4 seconds.
This shouldn't be surprising to any PSP owner, but it's fascinating to see the numbers. I hate load times a whole lot, and I
will avoid games that have
insanely high loads. That being said, I don't see one minute loads to be too bad at all. What about you? What do you think about load times?
[Via
Joystiq]
Posted Oct 15th 2006 5:00AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Lumines, Gunpey, Video
I ran into Milky from 1UP a few times at DigitalLife, and during our video game musings, we discovered our mutual love of one thing... Lumines. The latest episode of The 1UP Show (PSP version also available) reveals some new footage and details from the upcoming music puzzler. The show reveals that J-Pop artist Mondo Grosso will headline the introductory track for the game, and it looks like a lot of fun. What isn't so fun are the new English language pop music video levels. The music doesn't mesh with the game, and the videos can be distracting, according to the Milkman. Interestingly, the graphics of this puzzle game have somehow become more beautiful. Gyuh? The rest of the episode goes to detail about the customization options in the new Lumines, and unlockables, and the new "harder" difficulty level.
If that wasn't enough Mizuguchi love for you, Gunpey is featured on the episode, and there's nothing but praise for the game. With stylish good looks, a rockin' soundtrack, and some addictive puzzle gameplay, it appears that Gunpey is where PSP owners will flock to get a new puzzler fix, if Lumines feels too familiar for them. Interestingly, the show reveals that both Lumines and Gunpey have been delayed in Japan to 2007, meaning American gamers will be able to enjoy these very quirky Japanese-centric games months before the land of the rising sun. And the reason? Because PSP has become so overshadowed by the DS. Lumines II arrives in stores November 7.
Posted Oct 10th 2006 9:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News, Lumines
We at PSP Fanboy love
Lumines... and apparantly, the people of
Lumines love us right back! The
official website just launched, and within the slick-looking interface, you'll see upcoming competitions, a wallpaper creator, and more. It appears the site will expand over time, to include a blog, a "music hub" and more. Most excitingly, if you check out the Links section (click the green box), you'll see that
Joystiq and
PSP Fanboy are listed in their Links section! A mere mortal like me feels honored.
See also:
Exclusive Heavenly Star fan pack
Posted Oct 3rd 2006 12:01AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Downloads, Lumines, Fan Stuff
As you may already know,
Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi has made a
music video for the upcoming video-infused
Lumines II. The catchy tune by Genki Rockets has been stuck in my head for the past few days, and I decided to share the love through this exclusive Heavenly Star fan pack. Included in this zip file are 20 PSP-formatted wallpapers, the song as an MP3 and a PSP-formatted version of the music video.
"While most of my creative energy has been devoted to video games, because music plays such an important role in them, it seemed ideal to create an original music video," Mizuguchi stated about his original creation.
Lumines II hits stores on
November 7th.
DOWNLOAD
Posted Sep 26th 2006 10:25PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Interviews, Lumines
You should know that
Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a gaming god to me.
Lumines is still one of the best games on the system by far, and Mizuguchi's puzzling sequel has me more than a little excited.
CVG recently had an intimate discussion with the gaming master, and he had some really crazy, possibly drug-induced things to say:
CVG: Can you tell us a bit about the title song in Lumines 2, 'Heavenly Star'?
Mizuguchi: So the girl in the video, she is 17 years-old. She doesn't exist in this world; she's a future girl. She was born in outer space and she's never touched on this planet yet. This is kind of the big love song for the Earth; she's always dreaming of what kind of place Earth is.
Uh... Okay... Maybe the guy had a bit too much to drink before the interview:
CVG: How important is synesthesia - integrating music and visuals - in Lumines? More or less important than in Rez or Every Extend Extra?
Mizuguchi: Rez is kind of tequila; a very strong shot, but Lumines is like a Sauvignon Blanc; a wine you can drink at Sunday lunch.
Yep. The secret to Mizuguchi's success has to be some kind of chemical influence. Maybe you too can become a successful game designer with the right... materials...
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