ROUNDUP: The Cereal Edition

WEEKLY ROUNDUP for 10/29-11/3 ~ We’ve done compilations of everything we’ve had for the week (see: WWWF, the short-lived Weekly Roundup), but this is one I’m finally committing to. A full compilation of absolutely everything important that went down this week for those of you who love compilations. It’s a quick and easy way to find everything good that happened this week wrapped up into one.

But it’s also a good way for me to tell offbeat stories about things I’ve just wondered about. Had LocoRoco been widely successful in Japan, I could actually imagine a LocoRoco cereal, those Japanese gamers and everyone alike pulling out a bowl and dumping some yellow LocoRoco-like cereal into it, along with marshmallow MuiMui extras. Of course, there is one problem to this awkward fantasy: one, LocoRoco wasn’t widely successful in Japan. But to say that it couldn’t be accomplished is false, because Kelloggs actually produced a Pokemon cereal a long time back. Thanks to the dwindling popularity of the television show, movie properties, and trading cards, it has been discontinued, but even still, there actually was one, right? All the weekly stuff after the jump

HOLIDAYS07

 

 

 

Beginning Monday, November 12th, BGL brings the power of the forums, our podcast, and the blog’s writers together for our second annual Holiday Guide 07, everything you have to know for this holiday season and beyond. Stick around!

Newsletter, Podcast Restart

Are you ready? This November, BGL is producing its first ever made-for-PSP magazine, a successor to the successful newsletter which ended up with over 1,200 views in its three issues. The magazine will arrive in three different flavors as well as the lengthy and shortened version, featuring the usual reviews, news, and analysis, plus some user-content from the members over at BGL. You can enter the competition here, but only with a membership at the forums. A date will soon be announced, but the plan is to have it out the weekend before Thanksgiving (for our international visitors, that’s 11/22).

Moreover, that team podcast that was hinted at two times before is becoming a reality. Now that the software, news, and other problems have been solved, the plan is to get a date running and get everyone on the air. Even so, our regular/classic podcasts will be back this weekend with a lot of goodies.

I’m proud to announce that November will also host Reviewrama and the beginning of our much-anticipated Holiday Guide, which this time will be released in full length. Good things are coming at BGL, so stick around!

More News on Cocoreccho

We were displeased–okay, a little bit more than displeased–to hear that LocoRoco Cocoreccho, or as it’s been called, Buu Buu Cocoreccho would be merely an interactive screensaver with a few minigames. Now, we’re hearing more about the game from the “official unofficial” or semi-official blog SONY runs, ThreeSpeech.

KEY FEATURES
High resolution at 1080p HD
SIXAXIS™ tilt functionality
3 Mini-games
Ranking modes:
Total score ranking: The player competes using the total number of LocoRoco collected plus the score of the mini-game.
Time Attack ranking:
The player competes using the total time taken to get to the goal. So all depends on the route chosen to reach the end of the game, the shortest it is, the better.
Characters:
LocoRoco: The mysterious creatures who love to bounce and roll around.
Mo[j]a: Loves to gobble up LocoRoco! Don’t let the LocoRoco get eaten!
Muumuu: LocoRocos friends.
BonMucha: The big bad Moja boss!
Online features:
Online ranking board

It’s nice to hear that there will be an online ranking board and 3 minigames, but I’m still not satisfied. I was looking forward to a full-fledged LocoRoco game, but it seems highly unlikely PS3 owners will see one anytime soon. There’s always hope for the PSP-vert. Cocoreccho will be playable at TGS.

ATC: SONY’s Fighting the Fight (At Least)

All Things Considered is a weekly series, providing the ranting and raving podium for the eager founder and blogger of Get Loco, locoroco. It will cover topics ranging from the gaming industry as a whole to its players.

Here at Beyond Get Loco, we were pretty sure this is the Year of the PSP. 2007’s gotta be. God of War: Chains of Olympus, WipEout Pulse, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, and a couple of other exclusives are coming in addition to a new PSP, and at least for our friends in Europe, a video download service. With everything–including sales–looking up, it’s easy to say that we were right. We’ve had our doubts in between, but critics have nothing on those who truly say that this year will show immense success for SONY’s little machine that can: SONY’s fighting the fight, and doing it extraordinarily.

WWWF~ Week of August 12th

What We’re Writing on the Forums is a weekly series showing what our forum community, Beyond Loco, is chatting up on the forums. Join us! Unfortunately, we’ve been unavailable to get back in on the forum action for quite a while now, but that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on. In fact, the forum is bustling with posts and if you haven’t joined yet, we’re asking you to get in on the fun!:

• While you were gone, we switched hosts for bandwidth purposes…
• Bundles, infrastructure, storylines, oh my! Ideas for LocoRoco2
• Previewrama2 might be over, but you can still participate
• guitarplayer’s insane desktops and the rest of ours
• We all agree to disagree about our thoughts on Patapon
• Why I might get a PS3

Now it’s your turn. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!? You’re just a click away from joining our forums and joining in on the fun. Not only do you get access to hundreds of user-created levels, but you also get access to a feature-filled arcade and growing shop, and the ability to compete with others on the thread for Pickories, our own version of money. So, why not join in on the fun? Click here, right now!

Previewrama2 Wrap-Up

This week has been a boatload of serious kickass fun! Previewrama2 went off with a bang, and in five days, you’ve seen five previews loaded with screenies, analysis, gameplay videos and trailers, and rumorage.

• Previewrama2: Sonic Rivals 2
• Previewrama2: Echochrome
• Previewrama2: Patapon
• Previewrama2: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
• Previewrama2: Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (Readers Choice)
• Where Are They Now?: God of War: Chains of Olympus

AND THAT’S NOT IT! Continuing throughout next week, we have our remaining coverage of the big events with…

• Where Are They Now?: WipEout Pulse
• Where Are They Now?: LocoRoco2
• Where Are They Now?: Crisis Core
• Where Are They Now?: The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion
• “The Previewrama2 Aftermath”: Podcast #19
• Reviewrama Deats

Thanks a bunch and see you all then!

Previewrama2: Readers Choice

Previewrama2 :: Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (PSP)
Release Date :: October 2007

You casted your votes and now the envelope, please! In a record tight vote, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, which ships to PSP in October, won our readers choice vote and is your winner. Following the immensely successful Star Wars Battlefront II, which made its way to PSP and became one of the PSP’s best sellers, the follow-up promises a continuation of the series by using the PSP’s top-notch graphical capabilities and make use of the powerful online gameplay. SONY even has enough hope in the success of this game that they are pushing a special-edition Ceramic White PSP with Darth Vader on the back with this game’s launch. It’s clear that this isn’t just a sequel; it’s a whole new ballgame.

Previewrama2: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles

Previewrama2 :: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)
Release Date :: Quarter 4 2007

For this year of two thousand and seven to become the Year of the PSP, there needs to be an extreme level of exclusive titles. And if everything goes well, we’ll see a whole bunch of them this year. One of them is perhaps the biggest to longtime gamers: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles brings the lost chapter of the veteran series (Rondo of Blood), which was never released in the United States, to PSP and our favorite handheld only. This exclusive is major, as the Castlevania series has become extremely dominant on sales charts in past years. And from what we can see now, the game looks excellently executed.

Previewrama2: Patapon

Previewrama2 :: Patapon (PSP)
Release Date :: Late 2007-Mid 2008

When Get Loco was liveblogging SONY’s long, but interesting press conference, we didn’t expect to hear anything of the latest LocoRoco-like game, but fortunately, we did. Patapon can be summed up in a few words: a brawny, 2D side-scrolling RTS that uses rhythm aspects. Though it doesn’t seem like LocoRoco thanks to an increased amount of violence, the game’s non-stop humor and colorful graphics shows that SONY is up to trying new things, and that can only be good.