Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Jetsetter: Summer 2013 brings a brand new game to the Sega Dreamcast

Anthony John Agnello
By
neo xyx
Image used with permission by copyright holder

2013 seems to be the year that the shackles of Christmas Release Madness have finally been broken, with games free to wander the land and find new audiences. The movement has been growing since 2008 when Rockstar Games unleashed Grand Theft Auto IV in April to great sales, and since then publisher’s have been increasingly willing to get games to market all year round rather than waiting for the September to December spending spree window. Games come out all year now, and this year has already seen some huge hits both critically and commercially, like Tomb Raider and BioShock infinite.

Jetsetter is never satisfied with just the big guns, though. Jetsetter, Digital Trends weekly column devoted to import gaming and international game development, demands to know about the other gaming options out there. We want the weirdest of the weird, even weirder than the most avant-garde mobile game, and we’re willing to travel the world to find it. And while we’re out there, we’ll check in on what the makers of some big guns are making, far away from the turbulent US gaming industry. 

Recommended Videos

The Sega Dreamcast will never die (as long as NG.DEV.TEAM lives)

NG.DEV.TEAM are Jetsetter favorites. The German development house has been making games for the forgotten consoles for the better part of ten years now. While most people still honing skills in that ancient craft have fled to the safe shores of mobile phones and digital download services like PlayStation Network and Steam, NG.DEV.TEAM is still pumping out games on discs and cartridges for the Dreamcast and Neo-Geo.

Related

The crew is ready to follow up its 2012 release, Gunlord, with a new vertical shooter called NEO XYX. Described as a game styled like “A Japanese arcade game from 1989,” the team is now taking preorders for all versions. If you have a spare $500 sitting around, you can secure a Neo-Geo copy for its June release. The Dreamcast version on the other hand will set you back around $42, and it’ll work in any old Dreamcast built before 2001.

Screen shot 2013-04-28 at 11.43.13 AM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

China struggles to keep its homemade online games alive

Last week in Jetsetter, we discussed how the Japanese original Monster Hunter is getting its very own MMO in China. Monster Hunter Online will be operated by that country’s mammoth online gaming network Tencent in an effort to eat up a piece of the $8 billion Chinese gaming market. Capcom’s got a good strategy it seems, as most of the popular games in China aren’t made in China at all.

As reported by Aljazeera, China’s General Administration of Press and Publication  started an initiative in July 2012 to get Chinese gamers playing games made in country. “The GAPP will give priority to publishing more quality China-made online games,” said GAPP chief Sun Shoushan. Games like Shining Sword, which lets players control Chinese soldiers fighting back against the Japanese occupation during World War II, haven’t connected with the public, though. The most popular games in China? Korean-made titles like Blade & Soul and even the US’ League of Legends. According 17173.com, Shining Sword is the 376th most popular game in the country. Better luck next time, National People’s Congress!

8680498339_e2bcc6a994_zThe Liverpool, England development community bounces back

Liverpool, England has for decades been a fount of quality gaming with studios like Psygnosis (which became Sony Liverpool) pumping out hits like Wipeout and Colony Wars in the ‘90s, and Bizarre Creations making Project Gotham Racing. Both studios were closed in recent years, though. The good news is that the scene is bouncing back in a big way.

Lucid Games, founded by key staff from Bizarre Creations, is putting out a PS Vita exclusive called Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery later this year. Plus, some of the people behind the Wipeout series formed the brand new studio Sawfly Studios in January. Cheers to Liverpool game makers making it happen.

EVE Online big battle
Image used with permission by copyright holder

EVE Online fan convention kicks off in the land of volcanoes and crazy MMOs

Of the many artistic works to make waves on the international stage in the past decade, few are as intimidating as EVE Online. Most MMOs have people teaming up and collecting monster pelts. EVE Online players run a massive, fictional economy that spans a galaxy, complete with corporate intrigue. This week is the annual EVE FanFest. Digital Trends’ own Adam Rosenberg is on the ground in Reykjavik taking in the sights and sounds. The first day was mostly devoted to detailing technical improvements to the game due in the May expansion, EVE Online Uprising, and detailing the slow roll out of the first-person shooter connected to the EVE world, Dust 514.

Editors' Recommendations

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
All Baobab Tree locations in Tales of Kenzera
Zau fights a dragon in Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

While it wasn't marketed as being a particularly punishing game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is by no means easy. You will have plenty of environmental challenges that can instantly sap your life, and the enemies you face -- especially the bosses -- are no slouches. When you first begin, it will only take a couple of bad hits to send Zau to the land of the dead himself. Alongside the Trinkets you can unlock through hidden challenges around the map, there are also Baobab Trees where Zau can stop to reflect on his journey thus far, have a short dialogue with Kalunga, and get a small addition to his health bar. Like everything in the game, these trees aren't prohibitively hidden, but you could easily pass one by and have no idea where it was when trying to backtrack. These are all the Baobab Tree locations so you can max out your health bar.
All Baobab Tree locations
There are six Baobab Trees to find in Tales of Kenzera: Zau and each adds a small segment of health to your total. When you collect them all, you will roughly double your HP bar. Here are each of their locations in the rough order you should naturally find them in. Most can be picked up on your first time through that area.
Ikakaramba

This one is very hard to miss as it is directly on your critical path. If you do, you can fast travel to the nearby campfire to grab it.
The Great Cliffs

Read more
All Fallout games, ranked
The courier in his nuclear gear and holding his gun in Fallout: New Vegas key art.

Who would've thought the post-apocalypse could be such a fun time? The Fallout franchise has taken the idea of a Mad Max-like future and not only made it into a wildly popular game franchise but also a hit TV series. The core franchise has been around since the late '90s, and yet we've had only a handful of mainline entries in the series since it was revived by Bethesda with Fallout 3. With Starfield in the rearview mirror and the next Elder Scrolls title currently being the dev team's focus, it could be close to another decade before we can set foot in the wasteland ourselves once again. What better time, then, to look back at the franchise and rank all the games from best to worst?

Fallout: New Vegas

Read more
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is as fun to watch as it is to play
Monkeys race one another in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble.

I couldn’t tell you what the last Super Monkey Ball game I played was, but I can still talk your ear off about the series. That’s thanks to the speedrunning community that has formed around the franchise, making it into the most exciting game to watch when it's played at a high level. After spending close to a decade watching old games turned inside and out, I’m ready to finally dig into a new entry for myself.

Thankfully, I’m getting that chance on June 25 when Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble launches on Nintendo Switch. The latest entry in Sega’s precise platforming series comes loaded with content, from an adventure mode with 200 stages to multiple 16-player multiplayer modes. That’s all exciting, but my attention was on one question when I sat down to demo all of that last week: How fun will it be to watch players master it?

Read more