RPGs, by definition, are immersive – hence the name "role-playing game." Yet, the existence of the fourth wall in video games is an obstacle when it comes to such follies, so the software must rely on a number of charms to keep the player engrossed. The story is often the driving force behind such immersion, but gameplay is equally important so that the title is actually enjoyable, too. Factor in the visuals, controls, music, and so forth, and you realize that a lot of things must fall into place to make a truly memorable RPG.
While Summon Night: Twin Age doesn't hit all these aspects square on the head, each element is addressed to satisfaction, making Flight-Plan's title both charming and addictive. To see what works, what doesn't work, and what kind of works, check past the break and read our review.
This week's release list looks pretty healthy, if you ask us. We've got some games for just about everyone, including an RPG, along with some action/adventure titles. Oh, and some licensed titles, for good measure.
So, what will you be playing this weekend? New game, or something in your collection? How do you plan on getting through this weekend with your DS?
No one told us it was licensed game week. Amidst all the movie property-influenced titles, try not to miss Summon Night: Twin Age if you're interested in it -- it'll be the one with fewer copies at your local gaming store, most likely. Gotta have space for Kung Fu Panda, after all.
The latest batch of screens from Summon Night: Twin Age reveal fifteen of the game's characters, including the protagonists Aldo and Reiha. The images depict humans, Kascuza (the human-like beast race of the RPG), and some summoned beasts that appear. They can be seen in the gallery below, so be sure to eye them over.
Since most Summon Night games don't get localized, we're excited to see how Twin Age turns out. The two GBA titles were fun, be we think the series has the potential to be even greater with stylus integration.
Anyone that agrees with us will be happy to know that Twin Age hits North American retailers one week from today.
We realized today that we don't know Japan as well as we thought we did. With our reasoning, a new Gundam game + the popularity of the DS = cha-ching. While the debuting Emblem of Gundam had decent sales for its first week, though, taking the twelfth spot isn't all that impressive -- especially since there was only one new release cluttering up the top ten.
On the other hand, We're Fossil Diggers, Pokemon Ranger, and the Taiko Drum Master DS sequel continued to shine, giving the DS a nice piece of top ten representation. Batonnage managed to reach the half-million mark, while the other two games neared 100,000 copies sold.
For hardware, DS numbers went up since last week, but the handheld is still convincingly behind the PSP and Wii in recent sales. If you want to see the numbers, though, just click past the break. You can check out the software listings there, too.
Not only did the PSP gain momentum with the hideous brown, er, we mean shiny bronze model that released in Japan last week, but the Wii also beat out its portable cousin, sending the DS to third place in hardware sales:
PSP: 92,411
Wii: 48,796
Nintendo DS: 42,435
PlayStation 3: 9,107
PlayStation 2: 7,108
Xbox 360: 1,283
DS software fared better, though, with two new releases gracing the coveted top ten. Taiko Drum Master: 7 Islands' Adventure was the shining star of the week, reaching almost 56,000 sales. Summon Night gets an honorary mention, though, as it debuted in the fifth spot.
To check out the other new releases and software placings, just keep on reading ... forever.
Summon Night: Twin Age may be coming out two weeks later than expected, but at least you can look at the new screenshots in our gallery. Looking at the brightly-colored action RPG will allow you to imagine what it will be like to play using the stylus-based controls. You can stare dreamily at the screens until June 3rd rolls around.
And if looking at pictures doesn't satisfy your desire to play the game, IGN has posted several new videos, so you can watch someone else play the game! Oh, did we say "tide you over?" We meant "tease you intolerably." They're pretty different things -- we don't know how we could have gotten them mixed up.
Summoning Summon Night: Twin Age into North American stores is proving to take longer than expected for publisher Atlus. When the localization of the stylus-controlled ARPG spinoff was first announced, it was given a release date of May 20th. Atlus just sent a press release out stating that they've delayed the game two weeks to June 3rd. That's a couple more weeks to play Drone Tactics, at least!
That just means that every DS game ever is being compressed even more tightly into the same release period. Eventually, the entire 2008 DS lineup will be released in June.
Those of you looking to get in on the latest from Atlus, check out our new media from Summon Night: Twin Age in our gallery below. They hooked us up with a bunch of new screens on the game to accompany the others in our gallery, as well as the title's boxart.
It's pretty much the usual business here, as these new screens show off some in-game action, with an emphasis on combat. Summon Night: Twin Age is shaping up very nicely, if we may say so. What do you all think?
Ball lightning is 1) a mysterious meteorological phenomenon, and 2) a pretty neat ability you'll be able to unlock via skill tree in Summon Night: Twin Age! We believe this to be one of Reiha's magical Summoning techniques; more importantly, we believe this to look like something fun to do to bust up some monsters.
Atlus seems to be going out of their way to include screens featuring silly, out-of-context quotes in their press releases (along with lots of other new screens, accessible in our gallery). Who are we to turn down an invitation to laughter? Allow us to present the latest in weird Atlus-game quote screenshots: "Man, what a dump. Just perfect for humans."
Atlus just dropped a further six screenshots of Summon Night: Twin Age in our laps, and we'll say this much for the game: when you're not busy gawking at some of the finest ARPG greenery around, you can rely on the title to keep the battlegrounds densely populated.
Also in our PR package today was the U.S. boxart, as seen above. Equip yourself appropriately and hit our gallery for the screenage.
2D action RPGs often have it rough when it comes to making impressive graphics. Due to the perspective, about 90% of the in-game graphics consist of grass, with the rest being tiny character sprites. Sometimes there are trees or shrubs in the grass. So to wow us with the graphics in an ARPG, you have to have awesome grass, and cram as much personality into the mostly-faceless characters as you can.
Summon Night: Twin Age manages to stick out from the crowd as an especially nice-looking ARPG. The graphics are crisp, the effects look cool, and, yes, the greenery is quite nicely done. We've summoned nine new screenshots of the stylus-controlled spinoff into our gallery.
Posted Mar 18th 2008 4:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
No more than two weeks after we goaded you into importing a discounted copy of Summon Night: Twin Age, Atlus has announced its plans to translate and bring the ARPG stateside this May 20th. If you're one of those unfortunate kids who made the mistake of following our advice, you have our apologies. Hopefully, you've learned your lesson.
As with Phantom Hourglass, Twin Age makes heavy use of the touchscreen, allowing you to explore maps, attack enemies, and cast spells using just your stylus. You'll have two heroes to manage, though: Reiha, a young girl versed in the "magical art of Summoning," and Aldo, a "Summon Beast." There's a lot to play with, too, including side quests, weapon crafting, and alternate story paths and endings.
Atlus has already set up a site for the English release, but you should still check out the Japanese page for its web-based demo! Click around the menu, and you'll see what we mean. If you'd rather not leave the safety of DS Fanboy's arms, you can still see more of Summon Night: Twin Age in our gallery below!
Playing import games can be an expensive hobby, but online shops like Play Asia provide some relief for your wallet, hosting frequent sales for Japan-only titles normally priced at $50+. This latest deal is for Summon Night: Twin Age (or Twin Edge, depending on where you look), an ARPG from Banpresto that makes ample use of the DS's touchscreen for moving and attacking with your characters.
GameFAQs has a helpful guide for would-be importers, and there's also a neat demo that appears on the official site if you navigate to one of its sub-pages. Play-Asia will have Twin Age available for you to grab for $19.90 while stocks last.
Yee-haw, we're rounding up some wild game trailers today! Courtesy of an even bigger trailer rodeo over on Dengeki, we've got new videos of some of the most interesting, most anticipated, and most not-in-either-of-those-categories games coming out of Japan. You'll recognize Fist of the North Star above, one of our recent infatuations. It continues to look amazingly weird in motion, and further fuels our desires to tap on-screen indicators violently.
After the break, we've got trailers for the sweetly nostalgic adventure game Afterschool Boy, the, uh, other adventure game Lux-Pain, and the other other adventure game Mushishi. Joining them are the SRPG remake Summon Nightand the sweat-mopping simulator Duel Love.
We kind of forgot to keep the cowboy talk thing going throughout the whole post. Uh, these trailers are rootin'-tootin'? No?
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We realized today that we don't know Japan as well as we thought we did. With our reasoning, a new 
Not only did the PSP gain momentum with the hideous brown, er, we mean 
Those of you looking to get in on the latest from Atlus, check out our new media from 
Ball lightning is 1) a mysterious meteorological phenomenon, and 2) a pretty neat ability you'll be able to unlock via skill tree in 
2D action RPGs often have it rough when it comes to making impressive graphics. Due to the perspective, about 90% of the in-game graphics consist of grass, with the rest being tiny character sprites. Sometimes there are trees or shrubs in the grass. So to wow us with the graphics in an ARPG, you have to have awesome grass, and cram as much personality into the mostly-faceless characters as you can.
Playing import games can be an expensive hobby, but online shops like Play Asia provide some relief for your wallet, hosting frequent sales for Japan-only titles normally priced at $50+. This latest deal is for 
