Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny

The Onimusha series may be long forgotten, but back in the early days of the Playstation 2, there were few moments in gaming more awe inspiring to me than watching the first Onimusha game or it’s sequel in motion. Much of this shock and awe was a consequence of  the majority of  launch titles for the Playstation 2 failing to live up to the all consuming pre-launch hype. The bad blood didn’t last long though, and I could see the tide turn as I popped the Onimusha game discs in and played what I (still) think are two of the best games of the past generation.

Not only were you greeted by some of the best pre-rendered CG sequences (by ROBOT) ever in gaming, but the visual fidelity didn’t let up when you switched over to actual gameplay. Extra special (to the cinophile in me) was how Capcom used real actors to base their heros on. Takeshi Kaneshiro and the late Yusaka Matsuda oozed class and the feudal Japan sets and environments (all lovingly pre-rendered) chanelled the best parts of every Samurai film I’d seen. The attention to detail didn’t stop with the visuals though. The Taro Iwashiro (Memories of Murder, Red Cliff) composed score never failed to inspire you, and the art direction (from the meticulously researched village settings to the props) was awe inspiring. Although a hack-and-slash game at heart, Capcom seemed to know they had something special in their hands as there were cleverly placed lulls in the action that let you soak in the atmosphere and prep yourself for the next encounter, mo-capped katana at the ready. The games also blended their fantastical story with characters and clans from Japan’s rich history. Battling Oda Nobunaga had never been done better, before or since.

One can only hope that Inafune-san comes back to Onimusha sometime in the near future. It would make more sense than another Bionic Commando debacle at the very least.

The rumor stork has dropped a little nugget for us today. A job posting on the Contractorindex website mentions the requirement of QA Tester / Game Tester position for Bioware’s upcoming online epic by the foreign office of a large Indian BPO. The description is reproduced below:

Job Title: QA Tester/ Game Tester
Company: Ienergizer, Granada
Date From: 10/2007
Date To: 04/2008

Description:
EA/ SONY/ BIOWARE: Star Wars: Knight of Old Republic- Game based application

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a massive multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG) video game by BioWare and Lucas Arts collaboration. My job as a leading team member to perform testing on different layers of the build like functional, regression, Smoke, BVT, Ad hoc, Frame rate, Graphic, System testing using V model methodology. Creation of test cases, checklists sending daily and weekly reports to manage includes bug reporting.

A google search of iEnergizer reveals that it is a BPO based in Noida with offices abroad. I wonder if this means we’ll find some easter eggs in the game that can only be enjoyed by us folk (shall we say, Indian exclusive Easter Eggs?).

I wonder if anyone here works for or has heard of iEnergizer.

Thanks to the rumor stork for the heads up.

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While Square-Enix announced The Last Remnant as a multi-platform title for the PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC, it never did see a release on the former, leaving the PS3 RPG fans quite puzzled. Though, speculation was rife that the game was plagued with development issues associated the Unreal Engine 3, Square-Enix never came out with any explanation for the delay in the PS3 release.

However, the recent investor meeting at Square-Enix may answer our queries, where Yoichi Wada (CEO, Square-Enix) made a statement that though multi-platform games are often announced, it may not end up that way because Square-Enix needs to look at the profitability of any venture. He went on to say that if there is a delay between the release of multiple versions of the same game where the first release is not successful, they will have to assume that the other versions will fare relatively same and implied that such releases may not happen.

Makonako has posted the gist of the meeting.

The last couple of years has seen a lot of consolidation in the videogame industry. Today brings news that the mergers & acquisitions brigade is alive and well (and seemingly marching onward nailgun in hand) with the acquisition of id Software by Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Both parties have stated that id will continue to function as an autonomous development entity and will not see major changes as a result of the deal.

The buyout brings some of the biggest franchises in gaming under one roof. Along with much revered FPS titles like Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein, Zenimax can now boast of owning the publishing rights to all future id developed titles. The deal does not include the long awaited in-development FPS/racer hybrid Rage, which will still be published by EA, or Wolfenstein,  in line for an August release by Activision. However, the next Doom game which is currently in pre-production and without a publisher will find a home in the new arrangement. Zenimax will also have access to the much talked about Rage Engine and it should be interesting to see what applications they can find for it within the Bethesda portfolio, if any.

Do you feel lonely?

Do you feel unloved?

Do you wish to wrap yourself around a special someone like a pretzel and mumble sweet nothings to each other as a comet gracefully arcs across the starry night, binding that moment forever in time?

Then look no further folks! Register yourself at the GI forums NOW! We have all the advice you need to woo the ladies in our brand new Dating Advice Thread, started by CaPwN. At first I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the fact that the thread was being taken seriously, but one look at CaPwN’s avatar makes it abundantly clear that he has more than just dating advice going on for him, making him the perfect candidate for our resident Love Guru. I can almost hear Shawn Michaels’ theme in the background.

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