Launching tomorrow for the Wii is Ubisoft’s first-person shooter Red Steel 2. Utilizing WiiMotion Plus enables gamers to experience sword fighting at a whole new level, never before seen on the Wii. Mixed in with gunplay equal to the Metroid Prime series, players will be able alternate between shooting and sword fighting instantly.

Jason Vandenberghe, the creative director on Red Steel 2 at Ubisoft Paris, was recently interviewed by VG247′s Nathan Grayson. They discussed the future of the series depending on the success of the latest installment. Jason also expressed interest in utilizing the Wii Vitality Sensor in the next game, as well as creating a multiplayer focused RS game.

Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Jason Vandenberghe: Red Steel 2 isn’t really a “do-or-die” situation. What I meant by my comments [that success is crucial for RS2] was that the desire to make another game in the series will depend on whether or not Red Steel 2 is a success (by several measures, not just sales).

Fact is, that’s always true. If the fans don’t want us to make a sequel, we generally won’t. See, because we know they won’t buy it. Which is sort of the point. So, in that way, this situation isn’t really all that different from any other first or second releases in a franchise. We either prove that the idea is cool enough to keep chasing, or we call it and try something else.

[Regarding Wii Vitality Sensor Support in Red Steel 3] Duh. I intend to include a “zen” mode where if you can keep your heart-rate low, your spirit (re: mana) will regenerate faster, and, to the contrary, if you maintain a high heart-rate, you will generate more rage with each strike, which will allow you to unleash ultra combos.

You can find the full interview at VG247

VG247

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It has been years since SEGA released a Sonic game with as much anticipation as Sonic The Hedgehog 4 is receiving. The episodic WiiWare title will launch it’s first installment this summer on Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. I’m excited to see Sonic go back to it’s roots as a 2D side-scrolling platformer that’s focused solely on high speed fun.

The Official Nintendo Magazine of Europe has asked its forum members to pose questions to Sega’s Takashi Iizuka, the Project Lead for Sonic The Hedgehog 4. Iizuka was the Director of Sonic Adventure as well as the Lead Game Designer for NiGHTS into Dreams.

Iizuka discusses the possibility of Tails making an appearance in the series, as well as decision to use the WiiWare format as opposed to a full game disc. He manages to dodge rumors regarding Super Sonic appearing in the series and the questionable foresight of future 3D Sonic games.

Here are some questions asked by the ONM UK community forum members, extracted below.

How long has Sonic The Hedgehog 4 been in development and how has the approach for designing a downloadable game differed from the way you design other Sonic games? – MK Skillz

Takashi Iizuka: About a year including concept development. As this is a downloadable title, the data size and price is very different from a packaged title. We just focused on old school classic game content to minimise data size and price.

Were you inspired by the success of New Super Mario Bros on both Wii and DS? In terms of giving the retro fans what they wanted? – FlibyFlow

TI: At first we weren’t aware of it. At the beginning of the development we wanted to create a downloadable exclusive title but knowing that the Wii version of New Super Mario Bros. has become a major hit in Japan and also around the world, it encouraged us as even now 2D platform action is loved by a lot of people.

Continue to ONM UK to read the entire interview.

Official Nintendo Magazine

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Coming soon to PSN and Xbox Live is the Just Cause 2 demo, which will be released on March 4th, 2010. It promises “a massive 35 square miles of the Lautan Lama Desert, a vast expanse of stunning, sun-scorched scenery taking up just one of the many islands in the 400 square miles of the Panau archipelago.”

Square Enix also states that the demo is “packed with towns, villages, military installations, mountain ranges, missions and more, the demo will feature an astonishing amount of activities for the player… and opportunities for adrenaline-fuelled chaos are limitless.”

Hunt down and assassinate one of the game’s 50 military colonels; devastate military bases, bio fuel chambers, government infrastructure and more; hijack tuk tuks, military 4×4s, armoured vehicles, mopeds, helicopter gunships, light aircraft, mini vans and numerous other military and civilian vehicles; freefall from desert outcrops or from burning planes at 20,000 feet; and unlock one full, multi-stage mission, traversing the mountains to a heavily fortified government radar station and ending in an unforgettable desert car chase.

“The Just Cause 2 demo is simply massive and with so much to do, the replay value is enormous,” said Lee Singleton, General Manager of Square Enix London Studios. “It’s easily one of the biggest free roaming demos of all time and for fans of open world games, it’s unmissable.”

Look out for the Just Cause 2 demo, available March 4th, 2010, on PlayStation®Network, Xbox LIVE® Marketplace and Steam.

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