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E308: Dinosaur King unearths a trailer

Posted Jul 17th 2008 9:16PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Video, Screens

Our unfaltering love of dinosaurs makes us want to also love any video game having to do with such awesome and mighty creatures, like Dinosaur King. Yet, once again, the juxtaposition of cartoonish graphics with real-world imagery leaves us uneasy. We were really feeling it until the anime sprites showed up out of nowhere. Perhaps we need to actually see the show this is based on to understand the allure.

At the same time, thoughts of digging up fossils, having a dinosaur compendium, and fighting dino battles are incredibly tempting. Too bad Sega didn't forgo the license and just hunt for the meat of it all. The music in the trailer makes one thing clear, though: dinosaurs rawk. Not that we needed another confirmation of that fact.

Interested parties can also check out the new screens in the gallery below.

Gallery: Dinosaur King

Watch dinosaurs be kings

Posted Jun 1st 2008 12:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Video

If you like watching dinosaurs beating the snot out of each other, you'll probably enjoy the Dinosaur King trailer above. The battle animations looked pretty cool to us, and we found ourselves letting go of some of the worries that plagued us earlier.

Even so, we were disappointed when watching the second gameplay trailer (embedded below), only to see that the stegosaurus has the exact same moves as the triceratops. If all the dinosaurs can do the same things, we can foresee the battles in the game getting old fast.

It does seem that each dinosaur has an attack specific to its own kind, though, so we hope that will be enough to keep things interesting.

Gallery: Dinosaur King

Continue reading Watch dinosaurs be kings

Excavating more details on Dinosaur King

Posted May 19th 2008 8:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Screens

We were more interested in Dinosaur King when we thought it was just a paleontology sim. Now that more details have surfaced, though, we're a bit more wary.

According to Sega, the fossil digging is only the beginning. In this anime-based game, you also have to use the different dinosaurs that you collect to fight -- think of it as Pokemon, only with extinct creatures rather than cute, fictional animals.

Sounds good, right? So far, yes. The dinosaur-loving dorks inside of us were also excited to hear about the game's compendium, which keeps track of the dino bones that you've collected and lists facts about the beasts they came from, too. With seventy different dinosaurs to collect, as well as stylus-utilizing excavation processes and Wi-Fi battles, this seemed like something we could really get into.

Then why our hesitation? You'll probably have to check out the screens in our gallery below to fully understand, but it has something to do with the game's clashing styles. Bright colored anime and realistic-looking dinosaurs just don't seem to mesh well. Add that to a cheesy storyline (as members of the D-Team you're trying to stop Dr. Z and the Alpha Gang from destroying the world), and we can't help but lose some of our initial excitement. Still, we'll be keeping our eyes on this title, which is scheduled to release this September.

Gallery: Dinosaur King

[Via press release]

Digging up fossils in Dinosaur King

Posted May 12th 2008 8:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Screens

Oddly enough, screens for a game called Dinosaur King popped up on Sega's press site, but there's been no official word or press release as to what the game is or when to expect it.

Still, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this title involves. The screens are pretty telling; it looks like some sort of paleontology sim, in which you dig up dinosaur bones and restore the extinct creature's skeletons as completely as possible.

In fact, it sounds very familiar to what we know of We Are Fossil Diggers, a second-party game that was only released in Japan (and happens to be selling quite well over there). Some of the screens for Dinosaur King also hint that the title has an added drama element, though, so we'll wait until we hear more information.

Gallery: Dinosaur King

We are First Impressions

Posted Apr 11th 2008 9:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Imports

Bokura wa Kaseki Horidaa (English name: We are Fossil Holders) doesn't launch in Japan until next week, but Siliconera got its hands on a copy early, and wrote about the experience of excavating one of the in-game fossils; apparently, it's a little more complex than casually chatting to an owl in a bow-tie.

There's a range of tools and techniques required to successfully excavate fossils without damaging them, including an X-ray device (to detect what lies underground), a hammer (to break down rocks and soil), and a drill (to chisel away smaller pieces of earth). Blowing dust away (using the DS's microphone, a la Spectrobes) is also an important part of recovering pieces for your dinosaur army.

Beware, however, for if greenish cracks appear on the fossil, that means that it's getting damaged, and could break. We'd recommend reading Siliconera's write-up, as it actually sounds like quite a tense (and delicate) process!

A brief dig unearths Kaseki Horidaa site

Posted Apr 1st 2008 10:30PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Imports

An official site has just appeared for Kaseki Horidaa, Red's dinosaur-based title in which players dig up fossils, assemble them to create a dinosaur army, and then send them out to fight with other dino armies. For the winners: ultimate victory! For the losers: uh, we presume they just perish and eventually become fossilized all over again. It's a vicious cycle. But we digress.

There's plenty of screens and character art over at the official site, and also (more interestingly) some footage of the game, including a brief slice of action from the battles (here), and also a video showing an actual excavation in process, with the stylus being used to gently chip away at the dirt around a fierce-looking skull (here - scroll down and you'll see it). There's elements of both Spectrobes and Pokemon on display here, and that's no bad thing.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Dig up fossils and enslave dinosaurs on your DS

Posted Feb 27th 2008 12:45PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Screens

Famitsu has a pretty interesting look at a new game for the DS. Developed by Red and published by Nintendo, Kaseki Horidaa looks like Pokemon on steroids. Instead of deceptively cute creatures that hide dangerous attacks, the game will feature blatantly scary dinos with unspeakable power.

Unlike Pokemon, the game will allow players to compose a 3-dino team. Gaining a new dino comrade demands the player dig up fossils, as each ferocious beast is made up of 4 different parts. And digging up fossils isn't as simple as blowing away virtual dirt by blowing into your DS's microphone.

There's a real sense of tension here, as players can just as easily destroy a fossil as liberate it from its earthy confines. But, with over 100 different types of dinosaurs in the game, breaking a fossil or two won't be too much cause for concern. And, based on what dinosaurs you make, they'll be adept at attack, defense or support.

That's about all we could get from the Famitsu page (machine translation is being a royal pain with this, for some reason), so for some more eye candy, be sure to head on past the break to see screens. And keep an eye on DS Fanboy for more news on the game as it develops.

Continue reading Dig up fossils and enslave dinosaurs on your DS

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