Uppers initially launched in July 2016 in Japan. The game is set on an isolated island where fighting and kicking someone’s ass have turned into the biggest form of entertainment. The island is also inhabited by outlaws, who gather to take part in fights using only their fists. Sounds like a charming and wonderful place, don’t you think?
The English trophies for Uppers saw the light of day back in July 2016, although the brawler game itself was never released in the West. The cool PlayStation Vita game landed to positive reactions in Japan. If you want to catch a glimpse of it, check out the NSFW gameplay trailer below:
As for Uppers, it appears a Western version is in development and it’s only a matter of time now. Here’s hoping. It might be time to grab my PS Vita. It’s been such a long time since I played anything on Sony’s handheld.
By the way, folks, let us know how you feel about this game. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
NIS America, and now the new Spike Chunsoft PR team, are both bringing quality titles to the West with names like Danganronpa, Zero Escape, Rose in the Twilight, and One Piece: Burning Blood to name a few. These are games that have a decent following in Japan and have hit some impressive sales marks. It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to see these same games, albeit with slightly different names at times, do well here. If you haven't played a Danganronpa game and had fun with that bad ass, evil bear Monokuma, you are missing out.
It's more than just a comeback, I think. Japanese games have become really accessible, resulting in heightened interest across the globe. Looks like the country's developers and publishers have found the best way to tap into markets they hadn't explored and at a time when people are generally craving something different. Well done to them.
Japanese devs are coming back and kicking asses in a huge way! While maintaining their classic style, they have somehow managed to finally grab hold of what the world wants out of games after a lull that has lasted too long. They still have a special niche, but they do it in a way that everyone can get into. Purists might hate it, but for the rest of us, there's a beautiful world of games that we're finally getting access to.
There have been some absolutely amazing games by Japanese developers this year (NieR: Automata and Persona 5 are two of my favorite games in quite some time), but I don't think this really speaks to the quality of development as a whole. If you look at the examples of top-notch Japanese developed games, they aren't surprising. Atlus made another great RPG. Yakuza 0, while undeniably rad, is also a step down from Yakuza 5 in both quality and ambition. As far as NieR goes, Platinum Games makes great combat systems (see Bayonetta 2) and Yoko Taro is a genius, so it's not surprising that it turned out well. The only thing that comes as a surprised is really Resident Evil 7:biohazard, and that's a flawed experience that gets outdone by horror indie games in a lot of aspects. So, no, Japanese development isn't magically of a higher quality now, and it's way too early to act like some renaissance is happening, just a bunch of good games came out in a short time period (which was helped by Persona 5 and Yakuza 0 taking months to be localized) from very talented developers. Great Japanese games never went away, and they'll continue to release a few times each year. It just so happened that the majority of 2017's released early on.
Finding that sweet spot where they're able to appeal to an international audience without sacrificing their core Japanese heritage goes a long way, as Cam mentioned, and even Final Fantasy XV is a good example of a JRPG infused with western sensibilities. Granted, FFXV was a long time coming — ditto for Persona 5, Yakuza 0 and even Nioh — so I think it's more a case of good timing than anything else. You wait for a bus and suddenly...
Compared to previous years? Hell yeah! I think it's more of Japanese developers now "getting" just what makes gamers tick from all over the world.
While some of the big JP games are still quirky, they're not to the extent that will alienate those who just want a good game. Thankfully for us, these games (RE7, Nioh, Nier, etc.) are just damn good games on their own right.
Are JP games back? Yeah, I like to think so. I did notice that more and more people seem to be tired of the same old shooter and Western RPG, and playing more and more games that have that Japanese flavor to 'em. And you know what? I'm definitely happy with it.
Games are the real winners here, right? And I'm damn excited to see what's next.
It's fantastic to see so many great games coming from Japanese studios, and they are sure to please both hardcore fans and newcomers. Persona 5, Nioh, Yakuza 0, and Resident Evil 7 have all impressed me, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next!
While fans are out here discovering the game’s final secret, Sony has announced during the company’s conference call that God of War sales have significantly exceeded expectations. At Sony’s conference call for financial investors, Sony’s Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki provided a few interesting tidbits about the performance of PlayStation games.
Totoki leads with some information about how the distribution of video games was the primary factor in the notable increase in the company’s revenue forecast for the full fiscal year. Totoki states that the yearly forecast for PS4 software sales saw an uptick because of God of War sales. In addition to an uptick in PS4 software sales, Totoki confirms that the games revealed at E3 2018 “are receiving strong feedback.”
The NPD Group (formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.)—which tracks sales across a multitude of industries, including video games—revealed that, in May 2018, God of War was a top-seller second only to Undead Labs’ State of Decay 2, which came out toward the end of that month. Clearly, Sony Santa Monica has achieved something spectacular with this new God of War reboot.
In our review of the game, we gave it a 10/10, calling it “an epic reboot of an epic franchise.” It even earned our Editor’s Choice badge. While that’s a pretty large Platinum trophy for Kratos and his son Atreus, it seems the game’s director has five more God of War games mapped out in his head. Looks like the father-son team will have more adventures ahead of them. Considering the end of God of War, who knows what Cory Barlog has planned for the two, but we do know a second game is on the way. Let’s hope their travel isn’t perilous.
God of War is available exclusively for the PlayStation 4.