The Evening Report, March 19th, 2013: The Ninja Special and Sonic Eggs

The Evening Report, March 19th, 2013: The Ninja Special and Sonic Eggs

Mark of the Ninja: Special Edition announced, includes scads of commentary

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It’s not often that you hear the Criterion Collection referenced in regards to our favorite interactive medium, but according to Giant Bomb (and Mark of the Ninja lead designer Nels Anderson), that’s exactly what the upcoming Special Edition of 2012’s stealthy romp is going to try and evoke. Announced today, Mark of the Ninja: Special Edition will include an extra level focusing on the game’s tattoo artist Dosun, along with close to 15,000 words of text-based commentary within the game. Beyond that, you can also expect a handful of new items and a costume that Klei hopes will encourage people to play with different strategies on new playthroughs.

Mark of the Ninja took me by surprise last year: I hate stealth games, and yet I couldn’t manage to break away from this adventure until I’d completed it. With a Special Edition on the way, there’s reason to give it that rare second glance. If nothing else, hunting around for all the new gadgets and commentary bubbles should prove to be a great insight into how a game like Mark of the Ninja manages to come out and provoke emotions and feelings that so many other stealth games have only feebly come close to.

[Source: Giant Bomb]

The Rumor Mill™ claiming that a Strider reboot/entry on its way to PC, XBLA

Ouroboros

A long time has passed since we’ve seen a game focused on stealthy, scarf-wearin’ ninja Strider Hiryu: the last entry in the Strider series was simply Strider 2 in 1999, and he’s been relegated to roster status in the Marvel vs. Capcom series since then (barring a canned reboot in 2009). We might finally be getting a new entry in his saga, if a rumor via NeoGAF (and Joystiq) is anything to go by. Temporary box art and banners for a game simply titled Strider have been dug up in Steam databases, pointing towards a potential release with Double Helix at the development helm.

Having absolutely no experience with the original games whatsoever save for looking at a few YouTube videos, a side-scrolling beat’em’up like Strider seems rife for a reboot or HD remake. In the process, perhaps people will remember that Strider Hiryu isn’t just a character Capcom drags up from their basement when a new MvC game needs to be released.

[Source: Joystiq]

Shadows of the Damned director’s company signs with Sony for new “movie-length” IP

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Ovosonico – Italian for Sonic Egg, as it would happen – is some form of multi-studio endeavour from Grasshopper Manufacture’s director Massimo Guarini, one of the masterminds behind Shadows of the Damned. Beyond having some really interesting key art and graphic designs, it turns out they’re also hooking up with Sony to make a “movie-length” game with a new IP, Eurogamer reports. The partnership doesn’t get into much more detail than that, but one can imagine this will probably lead to some form of PS4 downloadable title.

In the interest of honesty, this is probably not the biggest piece of news to drop today, but Sony’s continued displays of engagement with more independent developers and studios like this makes me a lot more excited for the Playstation 4. Committing to games that bridge the gap between the $60 and free-to-play games of today’s market seems to be something Sony’s hot after for their next console, and that’s a strategy I can get down with. Give me more games that are shorter and refined over big dumb action games that meander about with tons of filler.

[Source: Eurogamer]

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Dyl-Questing: Watch This Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Ad, You Guys, It’s the Best Kind of Dumb

I watched this last night and could not get over how brilliantly dumb it is. I’m not sure who came up with the idea, but someone at Capcom needs a raise.