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Week In Review

Kinect's launch, Shenmue's (possible) revival, The Last Story gets some hype, and tell us more about PS3's FFXIV!

2010-11-22 03:20

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The Last Story was one of the week's big topics as Nintendo shared screens and details with the online press and unveiled a hardware bundle.

Kinect launched here this past week. Was this the big happening of the week? Microsoft certainly achieved the frenzy one expects of a launch event attended by major celebrities, but we'll find out if the system has had a major affect on Xbox 360 sales once Media Create's figures are released on Wednesday.

It was also a big week for Shenmue fans -- finally! While Shenmue City looks like a typical social mobile app, series creator Yu Suzuki made some comments indicating that the series could continue in the future. He didn't announce anything solid, but hearing that the story could at some point come to a close seemed to be reassuring to many longtime fans.

Aside from this, the biggest stories for the week were mostly updates about big upcoming releases. Nintendo shared lots of details on The Last Story and unveiled the game's hardware bundle. Square Enix continued to flood us with The 3rd Birthday news and also provided a look at the latest Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy characters.

Here are the top 10 stories from the week (11/14 to 11/20) based off views:

10. Kinect Japanese Launch Live Coverage

Kinect launched with a Japan-heavy lineup and the promise of more homegrown titles to come. Backed by SKE48 members, a wrestler, and the Microsoft Special Forces Division, Microsoft drew crowds of at least 150 people to the system's early morning launch event in Akihabara.

For all Kinect launch coverage, including galleries and links to Japanese sites, visit this topic page.

Microsoft's Takashi Sensui (in the suit) does the Love Kinect pose with the first buyer and the celebs at the Akihabara launch event.

9. First Look: The Last Story's Online Play

One of two stories about The Last Story to make it into the top 10 this week. This one accompanied some screens that Nintendo sent out to the online media. Nintendo has actually never distributed screens to the non-print press. Prior to this, our only screenshots came from the official site.

Here's a list of all our The Last Story stories from this week:

The Last Story has two types of online play: co-op boss fights and free-for-all melee combat.

8. Aya Brea's Knight Armor Costume

Word of Aya Brea's latest costumes always leaks out in advance from magazines, so we usually have to wait to get some official media. But textual descriptions appear to be good enough for some!

Here are some additional The 3rd Stories from this week:

If you're interested in reading some actual gameplay details, check out the customization system story.

7. Shenmue City Unveiling Live Blog

Aside from a few comments towards the end, the Shenmue City press conference was mostly focused on Shenmue City. Yu Suzuki's meatiest comments came in post press conference interviews where he said that the series could see future developments that complete the story.

For all our coverage of the Shenmue City press conference and post-conference interviews, see this topic page.

Yu Suzuki speaks at the Shenmue City press conference. Although Sunsoft asked that questions be limited to the new social game, Suzuki did get some questions about the series as a whole.

6. Aya Brea Has a Maid Costume

It looks like you'd rather read about a maid costume than a knight costume. See above for links to more The 3rd Birthday stories.

Famitsu.com posted first screens of Aya's new costumes late in the week. The official site will likely get the content later this week.

5. Japanese Developers Comment on Kinect

Back at the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft announced a huge lineup of Xbox 360 exclusives, including some potentially hardcore Kinect offerings. We didn't hear much about the games then, but Famitsu managed to get a few comments on Project Draco, Codename D and Haunt.

Project Draco (left) and Codename D (right). Microsoft's biggest Japanese Kinect games arrive next year.

4. The Last Story Special Package Revealed

Xenoblade got a soundtrack pre-order bonus. The Last Story is one upping it with a full system bundle.

The Wii system inside is just a standard one.

3. First Look: Bleach PS3

With this much apparent interest, maybe Sony will bring 11 Bleach games to PS3 like they did for PSP.

Sony has yet to share details on the first PS3 entry in the Bleach series.

2. Kingdom Hearts 3D Update

Nintendo hardware tends to get the "lesser" Kingdom Hearts games (in the sense that they're more like side entries in the series). But based off Tetsuya Nomura's latest comments in Famitsu, it looks like the upcoming 3DS entry is going to be the real deal, leading up to Kingdom Hearts 3 both in terms of gameplay and story.

1. Final Fantasy XIV Producers Detail PlayStation 3 Version

Famitsu had an interview with the Final Fantasy XIV staff this week, mostly covering upcoming plans for the PC version, but also sharing a few PlayStation 3 developments. It looks like people are curious about the PS3 version, making a short summary of the interview this week's biggest story.

The world awaits further news, and even a first look, at the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIV.