By Jim Rossignol on June 3rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm.
So it seems that Atari are going to insist that side-scrolling action platformers are a thing that can happen, by announcing Blade Kitten. Atari say: “Players will jump right in and easily begin exploring and fighting their way through 19 levels, including three exploration levels with Noot (a rideable alien mount). Blade Kitten also features straight forward gameplay mechanics, intuitive “scramble style” exploration, fully voiced dialogue, dramatic narrative and powerful visual direction.” Powerfully pink, anyway. The game is out in September. Trailer below.
(And I’m wishing there was some way we could track exactly how many RPS readers pick this up when it is released.)
Cat-girls? honestly?
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I never got the attraction either.
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It’s based on a web comic, so, yeah.
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Cat-womens atraction is very obsvious. Elegant, female, animaleske, promiscuous, active womens. As oposed to unElegant woManly womans, un-promiscuous and pasive.
Is obvious why a man would get attacticted to a cat-women. A women could be atracted to the active side (the one that can get the mens that like, because is pro-active) as oposed to un-activity (a women that is just there, waiting for the men she like to accidentally talk or walk around and fall in love / fate, and all the other magical ideas people make about love )
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Ummm.. Ok.. Where does the idea that cats are active come from?
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@Tei Zip up before posting again.
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“Ummm.. Ok.. Where does the idea that cats are active come from?”
From London. All ideas come from London. And all roads drive Rome.
Babies are from Paris, and the Women are from Venus.
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If you’d ever had a kittenish girlfriend you’d get it.
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And seriously…
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3436/3223984881_9885bbbe22_o.jpg
There’s no need to get very cerebral about this.
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Holy shit balls Tei.
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Cheetara.
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Tei sounds like he’s from that annoying Bing ad. *shivers*
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“I’m a big bloody beer drinking bloke, what do i want wif the pink and the cats”
You are video game players…quit the big man act :)
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It’s not so much about women looking like cats, but about women behaving like cats. I would explain it similarly to Tei, and I would add the adjective affectionate.
Not sure if it’s allowed to link to porn here, but if you are over eighteen google for “Sheeba’s Cat Therapy” and read it. (it’s free and safe for work) If you can read that with an open mind and still not get the attraction to cat girls, then I don’t know how to help you.
That being said, I don’t think cat girls are appropriate characters outside of porn and children’s stories.
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I personally find cats very attractive, though I have to say that I’m more in the Charr camp than the catgirl one. >.>
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“That being said, I don’t think cat girls are appropriate characters outside of porn and children’s stories.”
Some things, like chocolate and peanut butter, just GO TOGETHER.
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@Earl_of_Josh
Porn and children’s stories go together?
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@Earl_of_Josh:
Yeah I guess I should explain that sentence. Porn because then it’s about the fetish. Then the main attribute is how sexy the character is. Children’s stories because then there is nothing to it. Outside of that it can be OK, too, but at least in Japanese media my experience is, that there is a very strong disconnect between the character and her role. It’s like “why did you make this character so sexy? It doesn’t fit at all.” It’s the same thing as making characters wear revealing clothes without any purpose to it.
I shouldn’t diss it completely because it can be done well, but I don’t think it is done well for example in this game.
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Cool, you can ride one of them Outcast animals.
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AKA a Tauntaun?
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Twon-Ha
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Andre 3000?
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Those are a lot of artefacts.
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I’d buy it, but then I still haven’t bought Shadow Complex yet, and that game doesn’t require me to trade in my testicles (point of fact: I’m pretty sure that it ships with an EXTRA testicle).
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I am actually pretty sure it doesn’t, as Orson Scott Card is vehemently against touching testicles other than your own.
As for the warrior kittens, it looks good technically, but it’s not my cat of tea.
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Those clone testicles are never as good as the real thing.
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Shadow Complex is alright, but Symphony of The Night is much better if you haven’t played that through yet.
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@Robert: He who throws stones at free testicle giveaways, shouldn’t live in houses made out of the pages in his books where he writes about young boys in the shower.
@DrGonzo: Yeah, but I kinda dig the high-tech espionage theme in the former.
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This is what them kids like, animes!
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So.. much … pink. It looks decent, not my thing though by the looks of it.
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“Her tale is one of liberation.
Her tail is pink.”
I laughed at that a little more than I probably should have done.
Not being hugely familiar with anime/manga, I can’t work out if this is playing it gloriously over the top, parody, or just playing it straight.
I’m actually surprised at how few platformers we see in this mould nowadays. The Indie sence seems quite keen on riffing off the 8-bit era, but it seems that the later end of the platformer’s first outing is largely ignored.
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I’m torn. The gameplay looks very promising… but I think I’d hate to have someone know I was playing this. It’s a little mortifying.
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Looks like Borderlands, but with more pink.
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Hm…. *drool*
Looks promising!
But this is a real nicheproduct: 2D platformer, Anime Catgirl, so much pink, no “Naruto” label
*sigh*
I believe it struggle to break even. Best wishes for Krome Studios guys and their courages projekt.
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I like that art, but not the render.
This image: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/10/june/kit.jpg
Looks a 75% draw, a 25% painted, 100% rendered.
The last scene probably is inferior to something from Another World or Heart of Darkness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnxQ97vKXZs&feature=player_embedded
What I mean, is that the PC computer is probably not powerfull enough to make platform games as pretty as 2D games using 3D technology.
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Yeah, it really looks like a 3d render with an “Ink Outlines” shader. Compared to that upcoming 2d fighting game with the really amazing animation and similarish gameplay (the name of which escapes me), it looks pretty low effort. And I know low effort, being a student.
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That image is 100% in engine.
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Hey, I reckon if they get the marketing & pre-release campaign for this right, it could do quite well.
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God, this is something I remember seeing as a webcomic like… 8 years ago.
And going “urgh god pink” and stopping reading.
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“It’s light red!”
Oh wait, web comic.
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Looks keen! I’ma buy it (if the price is right).
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2010 is turning out to be a big year for platform games on the PC! I hope this is released on Steam so I can put it’s icon next to Rocket Knight*, Trine, Commander Keen, and Braid (and possibly Biozone and Dark Void 0 if I decide to buy them).
The very, very pink-ness of the heroine aside, the gameplay looks pretty nice, so I’m keeping an eye on it. Plus, her sword follows her around like the sword familiar in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, so that seems like a good sign.
*Which, for those of you who are wondering, is VERY GOOD. The only caveat is that they are very much not kidding when they say a controller is recommended, as this is a very console-ish game. So if you have a controller already, you’re all set.
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dark void zero is great, if you don’t mind having to play it slow (you die pretty quick if you rush ahead).
also biozone looks good, when’s it coming out? (at first i thought you meant biomenace, from old apogee)
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Unless it’s something that hard-coded requires analog sticks (like Ape Escape or Jet Grind Radio), I’ve never had any problem whatsoever playing allegedly console-specific games – 2D platformers, 3D platformers, whatever – with a keyboard or a keyboard and mouse. Even emulated Wii games are usually no problem. Sometimes for a game like Spider-Man Web of Shadows that uses every button on the controller in various combinations you have to put some thought into your keybindings, but that’s about it.
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CRAP CRAP CRAP!
I downloaded the Rocket Knight demo and you can’t customize the controls! You’re stuck with what they think is an intuitive setup. WHY? WHY? WHY? Why do developers do this? It’s so easy to let people customize their controls.
This looks like a lot of fun, but I’m not going to play it like this. Crap.
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I usually don’t mind playing games that are a tad girlish, but Catgirls almost cross to the “My Little Pony” side of the line I draw when it comes to the matter.
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As a kid, I believed the best mount for He-Man was a My Little Pony.
I still uphold that belief.
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Nope, the best mount for He-Man is one you construct for yourself out of Duplo when you’re being babysat by relatives while your mum takes your cat to a show.
How’s that for scarily specific early childhood memories?
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Also, this was initially something that looked to be a PSN Exclusive, now expanded to XBLA and PC, more informations: http://blog.us.playstation.com/tag/blade-kitten/
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Who else can make a AAA platformer game with high production values, other than the digital download market for consoles? , It just make snese ..sense, sorry, freudian leak.
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I was all set to hate on this like I do with all japanese animation [mostly it's weirdo fans] but you know what?
That looked liked a lot of fun.
It’s called Blade Kitten?!? Really?
Maybe if it was called Blade Tigress or Princess of Prussia or Streets of Blade or Final Fight: Vagina.
Blade Kitten… featuring a pink haired catperson and googly eyed sidekicks… I can’t do it.
I just can’t.
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Someone should take the poor animal that Atari is into the woods and put a bullet in it’s head.
Lol, “amerime” sucks so bad. Blegh. Reminds of that 3rd person cellshaded crap with similar style, with a blondie chick as the main character, I think that also had Blade in the title…
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Actually, provided it’s not a £30 quid game I might actually get it, provided there’s a demo to try out the controls. It doesn’t look un-entertaining. Is that a word?
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Looks like something I’d maybe play on my DS, but not much chance of it ever getting onto my computer.
Shadow Complex, as mentioned earlier in the comments, is something I’d love for them to port to PC, on the other hand.
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Sonic Rush proves that the DS can handle such things, I like that idea…
Yes, if this was on the DS I think it would be a must buy, on PC? I’ll wait for a demo.
That Shadow Complex looks a bit too Gears-of-War-over-the-top-macho-aimed-teens bullshit to me though.
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@jon_hill987: the designers list GI Joe as an influence, so, yeah.
Still, the demo did quite a bit to enamour me of the gameplay.
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Oh, and the tie-in Orson Scott Card novel (which is either based on the game setting, or vice versa; a little of both, I guess) sounds like a real right wing wankfest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_(2006_novel)
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The guy behind the Blade Kitten concept was one of the lead devs on Flight of the Amazon Queen. So for that, it scores a bonus point in my book. I’ll probably give it a try.
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Really? Awesome. The more I hear about this game, the more I like it.
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I will pick this up… and put it in the garbage!!! BOOSH
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I’d probably be tempted by this if the price was low enough looks fun.
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But can you jump left?
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Aw, I was beaten to it.
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Actually, this looks aces. A high-quality, fast-paced, fluid, acrobatic platformer seems to be just what the doctor ordered. Hell, with Flight of the Amazon Queen heritage, this could be the cats pajamas( pun intended!). The character model is detracting( I think furries should fall under bestiality laws- Gawd they are lame!), but I’ve got nothing against fun!
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I’ll never understand why some people attack furries with such vennom. So, their interests aren’t shared by you, and in some cases their fettishes aren’t as well. (my understanding being that being ‘furry’ doesn’t immediately mean a sexual component.) Big deal. Whatever floats your boat, as long as it doesn’t actively harm someone else. I suppose its exactly the same kind of thinking that leads to people getting in a tizzy over people being Gay. It takes all sorts to make a world, and its far more viberant and interesting for it. I’m not about to knock furries, and I hope that they will avoid knocking me for my interest in … REMAINING MESSAGE MISSING
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Hey now! I’m not being a bigot! I’m just being a jerk. (Seriously though, animal people? Seriously?) ;)
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Someone made a rather enlightened post on the Star Trek Online forums about this.
[i]All this demonized things…
…radio broadcasting
…television
…rock’n'roll
…heavy metal
…the internet
…furry-fandom
Glad to have them all.[/i]
The point was that the people who hate furry types are basically the same sorts of people who hated the Internet, heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll, television, radio, and so on. It was an exceedingly well made point. I mean, anyone who’s going to hate on something without actually understanding it is going to be tied to that “Soccer Mom” stereotype in my head, regardless of their gender.
And speaking of Star Trek Online, there are a surprising amount of intelligent, empathic, reasonable people playing that game, and I long to join them. As soon as they have Caitians in there I’m just not going to be able to resist any more. I’ll end up playing that game for the community.
If only this ‘ere community were half as enlightened.
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Oops, sorry about the incorrect tags. I’ll fix those when I can.
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Stylish, cheerful, colourful. Who isn’t going to pick this up?
I mean unless they are so over to platformers and the word “difficulty” makes them break out in panicked sweat.
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Sod this, release Rocket Knight in the Europe instead you swines!
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Ah, I was wondering about the lack of Wot I Think for RK.
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I’m a bit surprised by all the negativity. I’m pretty sure this game would have received a warmer reception here if it had been a lo-fi indie platformer with some nice pixel art. Odd.
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I wish I could say I agree. I’m disapointed but the prevalence of the ‘Urrrrgh, its pink!’ attitude, but not hugely surprised. That said, it is interesting that the developers took this approach, as it clearly isn’t one adapted for mass (gaming) market appeal.
I’ve put this on my ‘to watch’ list, and will see what the reviews are like. If it turns out to be a decent platformer with a few novel ideas then I’ll probably give it a shot. And sod anyone who mocks the pink, a female lead, anime or catgirls. (or platformers come to that, although I think they are socially acceptable again)
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Christ. There’s nothing wrong with pink, people.
Never really understood why people seem to think twelve year old girls who are also cats are attractive, but the game itself looks fun. I like running to the right and jumping on stuff. It looks fairly undemanding.
As long as I can skip through cutscenes, and she doesn’t spout inane rubbish (“Bring it oonnn!”) during the actual game, I’ll probably get this.
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According to the website this one is supposed to be 22. She does look closer to twelve though I agree.
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I’ll probably get it. I rather like the art style, and I think the fluid animation is nice to watch. Probably wouldn’t drop more than 10 bucks on it though.
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@ N
X-Blades, previously named Oniblade.
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The game looks interesting, despite the pink catgirliness of it all.
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Might get this on XBLA
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Catgirls didn’t hurt the worlds most successful film.
Looks well made and hopefully cheap.
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Did I see a Volus in that video?
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Do want (for under a tenner)!
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If the gameplay is as good as it looks, then I might be interested. And if the other music in the game is as good as that in the trailer. Of course.
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Great looking side platformer. That said: side platformer. I’m afraid few PC gamers come to the platform looking for one of those. Perhaps the anime appeal will overrule this.
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B-bu-but… VVVVVV, Trine, Noitu Love 2…
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…were not very popular, is how that sentence ends. ;)
Well, you know, it’s not so much that every game needs to try to go after a massive audience anyway. More power to the artists than the sellouts.
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I’m surprised to see people excited for this one. To me, the physics look insufferably floaty. Even in cutscenes, nothing seems to actually touch anything else or have any weight.
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DO WANT.
I’m not an anime fan, and usually I tend to shy away from the stuff these days, but… what can I say? It’s colourful, it looks exciting, it’s different, and it looks fun. Perhaps I just don’t have enough ManBalls™, perhaps I need six or seven more ManBalls™, but I have to say that this sort of thing very much appeals to me. It appeals to me more than, say, faceless, grubby men crawling around grey-brown maps.
The humble Personal Computer used to have a lot of colour, back in the 90′s, but the colourful games have been dropping off, which is a damned shame. In the days of the Amiga, games were so incredibly colourful they were psychedelic. Remember the skies of Turrican II and Rolling Ronny? They always had me wondering if the bloke I was playing was totally and utterly stoned. Why is colourful bad, these days? Colourful is a huge part of the computer gaming heritage!
Plus, so many game types! And and and… dinosaur things! Running from a gigantic crustacean thing! Alisia Dragoon-ish pet weapon thing!
This, Deathspank, MOAR please, developers.
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Turrican II? F*** yeah!
Remember ‘Putty’? :)
I too miss colour in games. There’s a bit too much rust/desert/apocalypse/brown for my liking. I love STALKER and Fallout 3, but really miss brightly coloured 2D platformers with giant fruit and stuff too.
Having said that I’m looking forward to the Rembrandt-inspired Deus Ex 3.
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I love Turrican II. I was the first long game I finished, so I have a very fond memories of me jumping all around the room. It was epic, in a epic way.
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I hear you. It isn’t that I want to abolish colourless things, it’s just that I think the balance is totally off at the moment, that it feels like so much of one that there’s no room for the other, and it’s leaving me feeling starved. I think there’s room for both, so I’m looking forward to Deus Ex 3 as well.
Oh and yes, I loved Putty, it was fun because that little guy was so versatile, he could do so much. What an innovative little gem.
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I agree with that, they were like the good days, the days of magic and wonder.
Whats not to like I’d buy it a cat woman, how do they come up with these ideas?
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Awww… Catgirls!
^_^
I’ll mention this to my girlfriend, she’ll love this. Any news on whether this’ll be console’d with multiplayer co-op mode? We often play co-op games together.
(we’re not furries or anything btw, it’s just that we both like gaming and she really likes anime).
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Gameplay and visuals look very solid with a coherent, charming art style. That’s more than can be said for most big games these days. Bring it on I say, if it’s as fun as it seems to be.
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Noot? How about a game where you play as Newt?
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The book is based on a concept that the guys at Chair pitched to Card, to further develop the world of the game they were working at the time, also called Empire, which would later, effectively, become Shadow Complex.
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I have a lot of doubt for this one. One thing it’s developed by Krome. They made Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (the person who made this character designed Ty as well) and Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (which got horrible reviews).
I love 2D platformers, I couldn’t wait to get Rocket Knight when it came out. But…I dont know. Given the pedigree I’m not expecting anything good.
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Rocket Knight was pretty naff, too – Konami outsourced it to Climax, who really don’t seem to understand the games they’re updating. Konami should have just used their in-house Rebirth team, who have recently done updates/sequels to Contra, Castlevania and Gradius that easily live up to the originals.
The trailer leaves me kinda cold. The whole cartoonish catgirl stylings don’t affect me one way or another, but there was just something very light and fluffy about how the gameplay moved in the video – pretty much the opposite of what I look for in a platformer.
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Whoa this actually looks good what happened here
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Since this will be on PC, I hope it will be possible to rip the 3D assets and create doujinshi Poser Porn.
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Oh god, she punches another girl! I’m getting this.
(Yeah, and I because love platformers too.)
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Advantage of having daughters, total excuse to buy this :)
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I’m just shocked that a developer is bothering to do a “2.5D” platformer in 2010 and release it on PC.
Please, don’t be completely pants…
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Also, would it be wrong to suggest the evil robots make comments like “nice tail” before you blow them to pieces?
*ducks*
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Um. Not buying.
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Looks awesome. I <3 platformers and I <3 cat chicks, so super win.
(Also, please dont lump cat chicks in with furries :()
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Point of interest: People tend to demonise anime fans for the same things they demonise furry fans. It’s always interesting to see someone of one group being prejudiced against the other, it’s like observing some form of acute self-loathing.
Anime fans are all otaku, and otaku are creepy perverts.
Furry fans are all yiffers, and yiffers are creepy perverts.
It’s also fascinating how some people seem far too preoccupied with creepy perverts, like they have some sort of closet interest in them. It reminds me of the time I pretty much shut up the anti-furry brigade on the Champions Online forums by pointing out that the furry types were being clean, sane, and generally well behaved, whereas those who would think themselves their better were doing all they could to convince said furries to engage in sexual acts.
Now who seems like the sexual deviants there? >.> It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard of someone hating on something though and secretly being jealous of it and wishing they could be it. After seeing that it can happen to an extremist right-wing politician (homophobic who turned out to be gay), I believe it can happen to anyone.
Moral of the story: Those who pick furries up on incredibly specific negative cultural aspects are probably either guilty of the same, or deeply desire to be.
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Dont get my wrong Wulf, ive got nothin against furries, I just find it annoying when cat girls get lumped in that category as its typically viewed worse then anime fans etc.
Also, totally agree with you on the closet interest thing lol. Its like people that are almost over the top homophobic, lots of them are secretely gay or gay and in denial :P Same concept applies here.
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For what it’s worth – I couldn’t care less what turns you on Wulf, but when you go as far as spending most of your life pretending you’re someone/something else – i.e. an anthropomorphic wolf – you need to get some serious help, and that’s putting it in most diplomatic terms possible.
I’ll ignore rest of your post as it’s mostly high school level psychoanalysis, but I’ll agree that seeing weeaboos and furfans go at it is highly entertaining. Cripple fight!
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Furries are mostly felids or canids. Cool animals. I’ve never seen a platypus furry. Because they’re not cool. Just like the otherkin, who are/were always dragons, vampires, demons, faeries and what not. Why nothing known for being big, dumb and smelly like ogres or trolls?
And for the extreme furries who believe they are indeed true non-humans, essentially every one of them is exactly what they want to be. What luck!
Whole lot of nonsense. This doesn’t apply to furries who are just in it for some minor escapism.
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@ Magic H8 Ball: “when you go as far as spending most of your life pretending you’re someone/something else – i.e. an anthropomorphic wolf – you need to get some serious help”
Everyone needs a hobby.
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inb4 “ew-anime/pink/girly” morons.
oh wait too late they’re already here
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For some reason, the gameplay in the video reminded me a fair bit of the sonic games for the DS (well, the platforming bit, at least), and based on that alone, I think I’ll give it a look.
As for the whole pink thing, given that one of my favorite games involves as a protagonist an anime-style woman with purple hair, I can’t complain. I mean, if it’s a non-first-person game, I’m gonna be a lot happier if the character I’m staring at throughout the game is a cute and/or hot woman, as opposed to some gears-of-war-esque thug-alike.
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http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/3/35/Furfagsqg9.png
I cannot say it any better than this. Naturally not safe for work.
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lol you read ED
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I usually find ED more factual than Wikipedia.
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Reply fail. Responding to Wulf and his post about the point made on STO’s forums.
Actually it’s a reply to anything regarding the judgement of furries and those who claim prejudice.
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Yes, the furry fandom should be outlawed on the grounds that it’s lame. That’s enough justification for passing laws.
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When I hear anime and PC I always think
ONI
http://oni.bungie.org/
community still doing updates and mods
(Although Bungie made it, Take2 now own the IP)
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They’re been studies, which show the same area of a man’s brain which becomes excited when it sees a kitten is the same area that gets excited when it sees a beautiful woman. So, a cat-girl just makes sense biologically speaking… they know what they’re doing.
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This looks like absolute crap.
Sorry but REALLY!
I expect more than this mess from today’s games.
Epic FAIL
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Um.
I like catgirls, so i’ll get this.
Just being honest about it.
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