RUMOR: New LocoRoco Christmas Demo Coming to PSP?

Rumors note that on December 13th, a new LocoRoco Christmas Demo will be arriving. Last year, the demo was some swashbuckling fun, decked out with Santas, large Christmas trees, a snow filled environment, and, as usual, LocoRocos flying everywhere. There’s new word out that it will arrive first on the PS Store before gracing direct downloads. We’ll keep you up to tabs on exactly what happens.

[Via PSPFanboy]

…And Back to Regularly Scheduled News…

In case you didn’t notice, we’ve been gone for a quite awhile, but for a good reason! BGL is launching something exciting and new December 16th (hint, hint), and I’ve been working on it a lot! We still have a few editions of the Holiday Guide to wrap up, so I’ll be back with some holiday goodies

LocoRoco Podcast #19

Ahh, the beautiful smell of the holidays: Before Thanksgiving, I planned an enhanced version of the podcast featuring simple moving slides using a nice program I found called Soundslides. Unfortunately, Soundslides (I came to find out) is not free and outputs its files to a nasty Shockwave Flash Object (aka SWF) file that is pretty much unable to convert. I’m going to work with a few media creators to get an enhanced edition out by the holiday season in order to improve the podcast further (the majority of suggestions given to me revolved around getting a video podcast), so please bare with me for the time being. For now, here’s podcast #19! (It will be uploaded in the directory ASAP…)

This is the description of the podcast found at Odeo: Just for you this Black Friday: LocoRoco rumors..bad PSP ads..whether to accept decent ratings as good..IGN’s not-so-pretty review of Sonic Rivals 2..talk of an enhanced version of the podcast..and more! Enjoy and happy holidays.

*CHECK OUT OUR OFFICIAL DIRECTORY HERE AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST! You can download the podcast/get the RSS feed in various places, just check our handy sidebar or About page. The best place to go is Odeo because it’s where we host our podcast. Click here to head to the PSP-friendly PodLounge, where we’ve recently hit #9 in the top 10. Also, you can now check us out on PodZinger thanks to requests from fans. You can additionally subscribe on iTunes; just search “LocoRoco” under the podcasts category and you should find it. Finally, if you have any questions/concerns/suggestions, please contact me at contactlocoroco[AT]gmail.com and check our podcast tag for updates. Thanks!

Playstation Store Launches Worldwide!

We’re extremely late on this news story, and I apologize (especially since we’ve only been covering the store for a gabillion months now, including in our Holiday Guide), but in case you haven’t heard, SONY has released its Playstation Store worldwide on PC, without any real release date. Though we appreciate it, we’re just a bit ticked off that SONY didn’t announce any release date–I’m sure more people will use it as we get further into the PSP’s life cycle, but right now, considering that only online junkies (like you and myself) know about it, there’s little chance the non-internet PSP owner will use it. There is no PSP-direct store yet, FYI, so you’re still forced to connect your computer, but you now have access to PS1-games, demos, and more: all in one place. Of course, this is not it. It’s a late-night here at BGL as I will soon be uploading some photos of my first experiences in downloading a freebie followed by an actual PSOne game. (First, I have to delete half of everything on my Memory Stick ) Check the store out here.

ROUNDUP: The Zune Edition

ROUNDUP 11/4-11/16

Okay, it’s not that we don’t like Microsoft. It’s just that they consistently have a “way” of doing things–abandoning their own creations (DRM WMA, maybe?), pushing products with glitches (XBOX 360), and making mistakes constantly (Windows ME, much?). Their Zune was one of those mistakes–a bulky, outdated player with a mere 30GB in a market where 80GB became the standard. The original Zune had a very old-fashioned standard d-pad with a center button and two other buttons instead of a touch feature that the other mp3 players had. It also had Wi-Fi that was used for Zune-to-Zune sharing (like anybody did that) and video support without the videos. The new Zune2 has been raved by critics alike, who enjoy its new interface, new button system (a touchpad system reminiscent of the Click Wheel), and a flash version. Sure, it’s all around improved, but it screams “iPod Competitor”. Instead of giving us more–for example, a social video community where people could share their videos straight from their Zune, a built-in digital/video camera for taking photos/videos and sharing them, an actual social network (a la Facebook) on the Zune, or an actual video store–they gave us just what the iPod offered. If Microsoft seriously aims to compete with the rest, they need to innovate the market, not crowd it with the same thing. All bets are on : The Zune2’s sales won’t improve. Weekly Roundup after the jump…

LOCO2?: LocoRoco Devs Looking for new Staff…

LOCO2?: That’s right. The LocoRoco developers in Japan are looking for new help in developing a new game, which could either mean LocoRoco2 or an entirely-new project. Considering that we haven’t heard anything about our favorite game since the release of Cocoreccho, it’s nice to know that the LocoRoco faithful might have something else to play in the upcoming months.

[Via PSPFanboy]

PODCAST: Our New, Official Super-Duper Directory

A nice note to our podcast listeners: we have a new, official super-duper directory up on our main site for your streaming and downloading pleasure. The directory features all of our podcasts, the majority of them archived, and features information and streaming. This doesn’t mean that you can’t still get your podcasts from our near-dozen number of directory sites (Odeo, ThePodLounge, iTunes, etc.), but BGL will be uploading the official podcasts up at this directory before anybody else gets a hold of them. Enjoy!

LAUGH: IGN Thinks LocoRoco 2 Is Coming Out Next Week

Here at BGL, we’ve kept tabs on all the latest LocoRoco 2 news we could find, but it’s very easy to admit that this is by far the most bogus release date we’ve heard of. Apparently, IGN thinks that despite the lack of any news or “official” confirmation, per say, that LocoRoco 2 is going to be released next week along with WipEout Pulse. Sureeeee….

Cocoreccho Not a Screensaver?! and More “Reviews”

Despite generally negative reviews for LocoRoco or Boo Boo Cocoreccho, the PS3 “interactive screensaver” that made its way to the general public on Playstation Network today, many LocoRoco fans and other reviewers across the net had better hands-on looks, impressions, and reviews. Because I do not own a PS3, it’ll be hard for me to tell who to base your opinions on, but feel free to look at the better side of the spectrum…

The Nays Have It: Cocoreccho is “unenjoyable”…

The Playstation Network-version of our favorite game isn’t liked by reviewers from across the spectrum. Not only have they pelted it left and right, but they’ve criticized the fact that it’s only an interactive screensaver. Despite being cheap and continuing the franchise, Joystiq went as far to complain that the game lacked the simplicity of the first. This is not good as LocoRoco, which seems to be suffering a “mid-life crisis”, is just two games into the franchise. IGN perhaps put it most lightly: “a celebration of characters…if not the gameplay”. littlevish at the forums has a nice compilation of the current previews for the game and BGL will have a metareview out sometime soon.