Source: videogamesblogger.com

How to unlock all 14 playable Castlevania Judgment characters? That question will be answered in this guide that shows you who to unlock to get the full roster in the Wii fighting game and how to do it.

Below we’ve listed the secret characters in alphabetical order. Take the following steps to unlock each one.
1. Aeon — Beat “True” Story mode with him. OR Connect to Castlevania Order of Ecclesia.
2. Carmilla — Beat Story mode with Eric Lecarde.
3. Cornell — Beat Story mode with Carmilla.
4. Death — Beat Story mode with Trevor Belmont. OR Beat “True” Story mode with him.
5. Dracula — Beat “True” Story mode with him. OR Beat Story mode with Simon Belmont, Alucard, Maria Renard, Eric Lecarde, Carmilla, Grant Danasty, Golem, Sypha Belnades, Cornell, Trevor Belmont, Death, and Shanoa.
6. Eric Lecarde: Beat Story mode with Maria Renard.
7. Golem: Beat Story mode with Grant Danasty.
8. Grant Danasty: Beat Story mode with Sypha Belnades.
9. Maria Renard: Beat Story mode with Alucard.
10. Shanoa — Beat Story mode with Trevor Belmont. OR Beat “True” Story mode with her. OR Connect to Castlevania Order of Ecclesia.
11. Sypha Belnades: Beat Story mode with Simon Belmont.
12. Trevor Belmont: Beat Story mode with Simon Belmont, Alucard, Maria Renard, Eric Lecarde, Carmilla, Grant Danasty, Golem, Sypha Belnades, and Cornell.

Unlock “True” Story mode: Complete Story mode with Dracula. As a result “True” Story mode opens. You can recognize “True” Story mode by its different Character Select background, a second Aeon fight, and a final boss fight with the Time Reaper.

Finish the following tasks to unlock these characters in Story Mode.
1. Aeon’s story — Complete Dracula’s story
2. Carmilla’s story — Complete Eric Lecarde’s story
3. Cornell’s story — Complete Carmilla’s story
4. Death’s and Shanoa’s story — Complete Trevor Belmont’s story
5. Dracula’s story — Complete story mode with Simon Belmont, Alucard, Maria Renard, Eric Lecarde, Carmilla, Grant Danasty, Golem, Sypha Belnades, Cornell, Trevor Belmont, Death, and Shanoa
6. Eric Lecarde’s story — Complete Maria Renard’s story.
7. Golem — Complete Grant Danasty’s story.
8. Grant Danasty — Complete Sypha Belnades’ story.
9. Maria Renard — Complete Alucard’s story.
10. Shanoa’s story — Connect to Castlevania Order of Ecclesia for DS.
11. Sypha Belnades’ story — Complete Simon Belmont’s story.
12. Trevor Belmont’s story — Complete story mode with Simon Belmont, Alucard, Maria Renard, Eric Lecarde, Carmilla, Grant Danasty, Golem, Sypha Belnades, and Cornell.

Unlock extra difficulty levels:
* Brutal difficulty level: Complete Story on Hard.
* Hard difficulty level: Complete Story on Normal.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Castlevania Judgment releases exclusively for the Nintendo Wii today, November 18th, and is the first bona-fide fighting game in the Castelvania franchise.

Although the game is a fighter, it looks to play more like a hybrid, similar to Power Stone, Super Smash Bros. Brawl or the upcoming Final Fantasy Dissidia, with a liberal does of Soul Calibur IV thrown in for good measure.

You are able to run around the game’s environments in 3D and there are hazards aplenty to both help or hinder you as you beat down your opponent with special moves and powerful magic attacks, some that are so insane looking that they wouldn’t be out of place in a Final Fantasy title.

Take a look at this 5 minutes launch trailer for Castlevania Judgment, which gives you a good look at all the game’s main characters as well as extensive cut-scene and gameplay footage.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Metal Gear Solid 4 has sold 4.33 million copies worldwide, according to Konami who has released their fiscal report for the second quarter of 2008 ending September 30th. The game even managed to sell 400,000 units during the 3 month quarter.

Other interesting bits of sales information include: (FY2008 Q2 Apr–Sep ‘07 through FY2009 Q2 Apr – Sep ‘08):

* North American Konami sales were up three million compared to last year.
* Last year 38% of sales were on the PS2, this year that number has been replaced by the PS3 (thanks of course to MGS4).
* DS sales shrunk from 30% last year to 11% this year.
* Wii sales grew from 8% to 17%
* PS2 sales shrunk from 38% to 18%
*Konami notes that “Sports, Music and Quiz games showed solid sales”.
* Konami also noted that Japanese multiplayer arcade machines showed solid sales.
* Lastly, Konami noted that the Metal Gear Solid series continues to sell well. Which definitely bolds well for the future of the franchise, which, with four plus million sales, is anything but dead.

Konami’s outlook/product slate looks like this:

1. Deploy global operation
2. Promote stable growth of existing franchises and utilize existing IP
3. Expand products and services utilizing online network

GAME RELEASES
* “Dance Dance Revolution HOTTEST PARTY 2” ?Wii North America: Now on sale Japan: December?
* “Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2” ?PS3, Xbox 360, Wii North America: this winter?
* “PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2009”, “WORLD SOCCER Winning Eleven 2009”
?PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC Europe: Now on sale Japan, North America: November? * Wii version: 2009
* “PUROYAKYU SPIRITS 5 KANZENBAN” ?PS3, PS2 Japan: December?
* “Castlevania Judgment” ?Wii North America, Europe: TBD Japan: Jan ‘09?
* “Silent Hill: Homecoming” ?PS3, Xbox 360 North America: Now on sale Europe: Feb ‘09 Japan: TBD?
* “GENSO SUIKODEN TIERKREIS” (DS Japan: December?

The fourth Metal Gear Solid game saw an older Snake return in a story driven adventure that featured a plethora of upgrades to make the series more accessible to Westerners by ridding the series of some of it’s archaic elements it had been hanging onto from past games. New gameplay features included a remote-controlled Metal Gear Mk. II and enhanced Close Quarters Combat system (CQC).

Set in stages that include the Middle east and South America, Snake is tasked with making his way through a series of battlefields using his legendary stealth abilities and his new OctoCamo stuit to avoid detection and reach his target–his archrival Liquid Ocelot. Also returning in the fourth chapter were classic and beloved MGS characters Meryl Silverburgh, Raiden, Hal ‘Otacon’ Emmerich, and Eva and Roy Campbell.

The game was hailed by critics and consumers alike and received rave review scores across the board when it was released to the gaming market on June 12th, 2008.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Castlevania Judgment is playable on the show floor at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show in Japan and that has brought us new gameplay footage of the Wii fighting game in action as well as a new trailer.

The game is scheduled for release in the United States on November 18th and in Europe in the first half of 2009 (with a Japanese release on January 15th, 2009). Keep in mind that this is the Wii fighting game spin-off, NOT the new next-gen Xbox 360/PS3 Castlevania.

Like a lot of things from TGS 08, the video isn’t the best quality given that it was taken off of the screen with a camera, but regardless you still get to see new video of the game in action.

Including the trailer, there is new gameplay footage of Death, Maria and Simon duking it out. Looks pretty fun to me, much in the vein of Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Capcom’s Power Stone series.

Death vs Death Gameplay


TGS 08 Castlevania Judgment Trailer


Maria vs Simon Gameplay

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Is a “Castlevania 5″ 8-bit NES-style game possible? Yes it is, at least according to series creator Koji Igarashi.

In an interview with Wired discussing the recently revealed Castlevania Judgment, he is asked what he thinks of Capcom’s Mega Man 9.

He responds with this: “I’m watching that very closely to see how it does. Myself, I’m a big retro gaming fan, so if it is successful that definitely opens up doors for what I can do.”

That statement is followed by this one, when he is asked if 3D Castlevania games just don’t work: “Not at all. It’s not the franchise itself that won’t go to 3-D. I’m actually very frustrated about that and I want to keep trying because I think the franchise can do well in 3-D.”

So in short, we not only can expect a new 3D Castlevania, particularly if Judgment sells well, but we also may see a “retro” Castlevania in the same vein as Mega Man 9, considering that game sells . . . So let’s make sure it does! I know I’ll be buying it on day one.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Castlevania Judgment is an all-new 3D Fighting Game in development by Konami exclusively for Wii. It is the first fighting game in the Castlevania series.

The game is fully 3D so you can run around the 3D environments. Naturally you use the Wii Remote & Nunchuck control scheme and their motion controls while playing the game, although you won’t be swinging it like a madman as you’d expect. Shaking the Wii Remote performs a basic attack, while shaking the Nunchuck dashes. Blocks & jumping are done with the Z and C buttons on the Nunchuck. Shaking while pressing B performs a strong attack while A unleashes a secondary attack.

Each character has a different weapon and attacks, as well as varying items that will be available depending on the environment, including knives, crosses and holly water. There will be various traps or monsters in the stage that you can use to harm your opponent (just don’t get hit by them yourself). There will also be Summons, both via certain characters and based on items.

Castlevania Judgment will even have online play via Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection. You’ll also be able to connect to the upcoming DS game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia to unlock additional content.

There will be at least 14 characters in the final game, although they only had three playable at E3 2008: Simon Belmond, Maria Renard and Alucard. Dracula has been confirmed as playable as well, although he wasn’t at the show.

Check out a slew of new videos from Castlevania Judgment from E3 2008.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Konami officially confirmed that Castlevania Judgment, the first Castlevania title in the fighting game genre, is currently in development exclusively for Wii. Developed by legendary Castlevania series producer Koji “Iga” Igarashi, Castlevania Judgment bridges the past with the present as it pits several generations of the Belmont clan against a host of characters that span the franchise’s 22-year history. It will be released in North America in Fall 2008.

“We wanted to take this addition to the signature Konami franchise in a direction that really sets it apart from the previous Castlevania titles in the series,” said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “The Wii Remote and Nunchuk capabilities, along with the iconic characters, make this game the ideal entry point into the fighting game genre. This combination is certain to thrill old and new fans of the franchise. ”

With 3D environments rendered on Wii, players can choose sides in an epic battle of good versus evil using iconic Castlevania characters designed by famed manga artist Takeshi Obata. Using the motion-sensing controls of the Nunchuk and Wii Remote, players can slash, stab and whip their way across a variety of stages and environmental elements with various surrounding objects as weapons. Select characters can also set traps and make use of monsters on the field to achieve victory in a clash of epic proportions. As an added bonus, players are also able to compete head-to-head using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and connect with Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on the Nintendo DS to unlock bonus gameplay content.

More scanned pictures at Jeuxfrance.