Zoo King’s Chronicle Hands-On Impressions: A Cute Tribute To Altered Beast

Posted 16:56 EST on 21MAR2014 by: tim walker in hands-on » babarageo, flash, pc, zoo king's chronicle, zoo oki

Japanese indie game makers Babarageo just added a new game to their ever-growing repertoire of flash games available for free on their site, and it’s a fun romp to spend a few minutes on. It’s called Zoo Oki (“Zoo King’s Chronicle“), which is a play on Juoki (“Beast King’s Chronicle“), best known to Western audiences as Altered Beast. The general look and flow of the game definitely pay tribute to the first Sega Genesis pack-in as well.

Cast as a bear who has apparently escaped from his cage, your goal is to advance through four stages of angry zookeepers, sea life, and even a My Little Pony mini-boss. Your character advances forward automatically; you can attack by clicking the mouse button anywhere on the screen, and can also change the positioning of your character by clicking in front of/behind him.

The game’s graphics, animation and music are minimal, but I’m pretty sure that’s the look and feel that Babarageo was going for here. Unlike Neru Game, there’s not much depth here, but I appreciated Zoo King’s Chronicle for its general absurdity. Check out some screenshots below, and click here to try it for yourself. (Note: No, we didn’t really spoil the ending for you below: The game’s author notes that the actual ending will be added later. Consider this game a WIP.)

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Neru Game Hands-On Impressions: Nap If You Dare

Posted 13:58 EST on 21MAR2014 by: tim walker in hands-on » android, babarageo, bitsummit, flash, iOS, neru game, pc

Everybody needs a good night’s sleep, but what happens when your choice of venues is limited, and maybe even life-threatening? Would you forsake snoozing at a construction site to avoid possible death by wrecking ball? Would you feel all right catching a few Zs with a shady cat hanging around? These are some of the intriguing questions raised by Neru Game (literally, “Sleep Game”), a free-to-play flash game from Japanese indie developer Babarageo.

Neru Game starts you off in your bedroom, tells you your current Stamina (100) and Risk of Danger (0%), and gives you two options to choose from: Sleep or Don’t Sleep. Choose to sleep, and you’ll increase your Stamina (it maxes out at 150) and decrease your Drowsiness (an unseen stat that eventually forces you to sleep!); choose to pass on sleeping, and you’ll lose Stamina and gain Drowsiness. As long as you don’t run out of Stamina completely, you’ll be able to move on to the next day and the next locale.

The next location might not be your cozy, risk-free bedroom though (aside from your starting point, location advancement is somewhat randomized). You could find yourself in a meeting at work (moderate Risk), on board a train (low Risk), at a construction site (high Risk), or even behind the wheel of your car (very high Risk). Your challenge is to assess the risk involved in sleeping in each location while keeping a close eye on your Stamina as well.

     

The concept behind the game is simple, yet maddeningly addictive. Since one wrong move means instant death (even if your Stamina is full, the game will be over instantly if you sleep in the wrong place), you obviously don’t want to sleep in an area where the Risk of Danger is at 70% or 80%. But what about in the middle of a convenience store, where the risk of death (presumably by trampling) is at a mere 20%? You might choose to skip sleeping there now, only to find yourself thrust into 3 high-risk scenarios in a row afterwards, ultimately forcing you to sleep while underwater or in the middle of being robbed. On the other hand, you might choose to snooze during that low-risk board meeting and still find you’ve met your maker (stapled to death, perhaps?). These hard choices force you to weigh each click carefully, and will ultimately keep you coming back for more.

The variety of the situations you’re thrust into will also keep you playing. Though the game starts off with some relatively mundane areas and situations, survive long enough and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a battlefield, staring down a ghost, and out on a date (the latter carries a pretty high risk factor!). All of these stages are rendered in simple but charming black and white graphics that reminded me of early adventure titles, such as Roberta Williams’ Mystery House.

Although Neru Game is completely in Japanese, it’s pretty easy to pick up and play. Just remember that the percentage near the top-left part of the screen is your Risk of Danger for the current stage, the next number is your character’s Level (this may affect something behind the scenes, but I’ve yet to notice exactly what it does), and the last one is your current Stamina. The button on the left commands your character to Sleep, the one on the right commands him to Not Sleep, and the one that appears after a successful nap lets you move onto the next stage. Hints are sometimes given in white text on the left (“It would be best not to sleep here.”), along with critical warnings (“You need to sleep, or you’ll die.”). Hopefully this gem will be localized soon so that all of its humor is conveyed properly.

     

Neru Game is great for laughs, but is also surprisingly deep for a game that offers you only two choices. It can be played for free online by going here, and Babarageo announced at BitSummit that it is headed for iOS and Android as well.

Shippo Neko and the Missing Fried Shrimp

Posted 16:38 EST on 18MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in previews » bitsummit 2014, shippo neko, yoshio ishii

Developer Yoshio Ishii is following up his Flash Game Festival ’07 entry Shippo Neko Shooting with the side-scrolling adventure title Shippo Neko and the Missing Fried Shrimp.

The two Shippo Neko titles are set apart by their unique presentation, resembling woodblock ink prints. As a matter of fact, it’s Ishii’s intent that all of the graphics in Shippo Neko and the Missing Fried Shrimp be created from handmade wood prints.

Once you’ve gotten a feel for the Shippo Neko universe by playing Shippo Neko Shooting, you can try your paw at the BitSummit 2014 Shippo Neko and the Missing Fried Shrimp Demo.

From the game’s intro:

Everything in the demo is created from Ishii’s handmade block prints, right on down to the “tutorials” etched into the side of walls and other objects. (“It’s up here!”, says one helpful wall guiding, players to hidden treasure.) Ishii is crafting a simple but charming series with unique visual presentation and a protagonist that’s immediately recognizable.

But don’t take our word for it — go ahead and give the demo a try!

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Marvelous AQL Smartphone RPG Regarded as Purchasing Trend Bellwether

Posted 16:11 EST on 15MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » cross horizon, DeNA, marvelous aql

Here’s something different: an action RPG for iOS and Android created by a Japanese company, and with a visual style heavily influenced by manga and anime, is being released in Japan — months after it came out in America.

Marvelous AQL (in cooporation with DeNA) has begun taking pre-registrations for the Japan release of Cross Horizon, nearly nine months after its July 3rd release in North America.

When Cross Horizon was released in North American, some wondered whether its visual style and presentation weren’t better suited to the Japanese market. In the end, the visuals were less a concern than the heavy-handed monetizing. It seemed North American gamers were less forgiving of being frequently prodded to pay up, and within only four months of its released, Marvelous shuttered the title’s doors in North America.

The question is whether Japanese players will be more generous, and some are regarding the title as a bellwether of purchasing trends between the two markets. Marvelous AQL’s release of pre-registration numbers remains on the horizon, but already news of the the commencement of pre-registrations was one of top stories of the week on the trend-making app news site Social Game Info.

P&D Hits 1M Downloads Mark Between Taiwan and Hong Kong

Posted 15:52 EST on 14MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » gungho online entertainment, puzzle & dragons

GungHo reported that as of March 11th, its flagship series Puzzle & Dragons had been downloaded a total of one million times between users in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

GungHo released the Japanese-language version of Puzzle & Dragons in Taiwan and Hong Kong on January 23rd for Android devices and on March 4th for iOS. Despite the language barrier, the title quickly leaped to the top of download charts in both regions.

The most recent figures show the iOS version of Puzzle & Dragons sitting at 3rd and 9th places in the games category in Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively.

News source: Social Game Info

Navigate Japan’s Real-Life Labyrinth in Shinjuku Dungeon

Posted 15:55 EST on 13MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news, previews » man-made labyrinths of no return, shinjuku dungeon, ueharalabo

Anyone who’s ever been through Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station can understand why it has a reputation as being Japan’s “real-life dungeon”. It’s a pretty confusing place!

Fortunately, JR East Japan has this handy-dandy map to guide you:

If you’re thinking it looks like something straight out of a video game, developer UeharaLabo agrees, taking the idea so far as to get all meta on us and release a video game version of Japan’s real-life labyrinth: Shinjuku Dungeon.

From UeharaLabo’s description:

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UeharaLabo claims that Shinjuku Dungeon is a complete recreation of its namesake (albeit with treasure chests and monsters), so those planning a trip to Tokyo can consider it practice for the real event. Tackle Shinjuku Dungeon‘s “collection mode”, and be sure to have no problems negotiating Tokyo’s real-life labyrinth. It’s likely to add hours to your available sightseeing time.

Shinjuku Dungeon is available for free for iOS and Android. Just follow the links on UeharaLabo’s page.

Tomonobu Itagaki and Ex-TeamNINJA Staff Give Breakout a Shot in the Arm

Posted 15:06 EST on 13MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news, previews » colors, reground games, teamNINJA, tomonobu tagaki

Tomonobu Itagaki (formerly of Tecmo, where he oversaw the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series) has joined with his former TeamNINJA staff to give the Breakout formula a shot of adrenaline.

Published by Reground Games, Colors uses the “EEGANA” system developed by Itagaki and his staff. The EEGANA system is broken into stages, coded by the eponymous colors for ease of understanding:

• EEGANA level 1: The highly destructive red ball, which can break through any blocks that stand in your way. With the red ball in play, players can tap blocks on their screen to reduce them to digital dust.
• EEGANA level 2: The blue ball, which destroys anything in its path. Players slide their finger over the screen to guide the blue ball’s path. Players can also tap the screen to make the blue ball leap short distances.
• EEGANA level 3: Although it doesn’t have the same destructive power as blue and red, the green ball has the longest activation time. Tap quickly and judiciously and the power of the green ball is unlocked.

With over 160 stages to complete (which Reground promises can be done without spending one silver yen or copper penny), Colors is sure to keep action puzzle fans busy.

Colors is available to English speakers through Google Play.

GungHo Announces Founding of Child Corporation in the Netherlands

Posted 14:04 EST on 12MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » gungho online entertainment, softbank, supercell

March 12th: GungHo announced that it founded the fully-owned child company GGF B.V. in the Netherlands on October 21st of 2013, with the purpose of purchasing voting shares in the Finnish mobile developer Supercell.

GungHo contributed $306 million and GungHo parent company SoftBank contributed slightly over $1.2 billion (20 percent and 80 percent of the total contributed, respectively) to indirectly purchase 51 percent of Supercell’s special stocks allowing voting rights, using the special-purpose corporation Kahon 3 as a go-between. The total purchase of Supercell’s shares amounted to just over $1.5 billion. To acquire these shares from Kahon 3, GungHo formed GGF B.V.

GungHo asserts the formation of GGF has had little effect on its operations, and assured investors it will take appropriate steps to measure and indicate the child company’s impact on GungHo’s performance going forward.

News source: Social Game Info

Glorious Blades and Rise of Mana Reach 100K and 500K Downloads

Posted 13:25 EST on 12MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » glorious blades, rise of mana, square enix

It’s been a good week for Square Enix and its mobile titles, with its two latest offerings — Glorious Blades and Rise of Mana — reaching 100K downloads and 500K downloads, respectively.

Glorious Blades is an RPG developed in collaboration with gloops and overseen by producer Takashi Tokita, whose credits include the SNES-era fan favorite Chrono Trigger. Art direction was overseen by Toshiyuki Itahana, who has provided art and character designs for some of the more recent Final Fantasy titles.

Glorious Blades was released through DeNA’s Mobage platform on March 4th, reaching the 100K downloads mark in just eight days.

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Rise of Mana is the latest title in Square Enix’s venerated Mana series, which stretches back to the Game Boy era. You can check out our initial impressions. We found Rise of Mana to be a well-presented title that deftly manages the expectations of mobile gamers and series’ fans alike.

Rise of Mana was released for iOS on March 6th, gathering 500K downloads in only six days.

News source: Social Game Info [ 1, 2 ]

Docomo Expands Mobile Support for Square Enix’s Dragon Quest X

Posted 12:27 EST on 12MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » docomo, dragon quest x, square enix

Docomo is Japan’s largest telecommunications corporation, and the operators of the dGAME platform through Dragon Quest X is available. Docomo has exclusive mobile rights to Dragon Quest X, so that the title is not available through Google Play or the App Store.

Until recently, the only device for which Docomo offered official support of DQX was NTT’s “dtab” tablet. However, Docomo has now announced additional support through the following devices:

• AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-02E
• AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-01F
• SH-01F DRAGON QUEST
• ARROWS NX F-01F
• ARROWS Tab F-02F
• GALAXY S III SC-06D
• GALAXY S III α SC-03E
• GALAXY S4 SC-04E
• GALAXY Note 3 SC-01F
• Xperia Z SO-02E
• Xperia Tablet Z SO-03E
• Xperia A SO-04E
• Xperia Z1 f SO-02F

Although this news isn’t directly relevant to Western gamers, it’s interesting in that this represents a movement on the part of Square Enix toward making its flagship series available for mobile platforms. This is a careful but logical approach toward increased support of mobile platforms for Square Enix’s most popular series (in Japan), and indicates that Square Enix believes there is a mobile market even for pay-to-play titles.

News source: Famitsu App

Square Enix Reveals Details of FF Agito’s Story Structure and Battle System

Posted 11:58 EST on 12MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news, previews » final fantasy agito, square enix

Square Enix has revealed details of the story structure and battle system in Final Fantasy Agito, the upcoming spinoff from the PlayStation Portable title Final Fantasy Type 0.

Agito will tell a story divided into chapters, and will have a proper ending. The story structure will be looped; once the final chapter has been released and players reach the game’s ending, Square Enix will start the story over again from the beginning.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be variety, though. Releasing the story over time divided into chapters frees Square Enix to incorporate player feedback. In Famitsu’s wording: ‘During chapters, there is a a “decision phase” in which votes from all players determine the actions all “candidates” will take. Depending on the outcome, the course of the story and the contents of the missions will change.’

The chapters themselves are divided into a weekday “solo phase” and a weekend-only “team play phase”. During the week, players participate in solo play to acquire skills and strengthen their character’s job class. On the weekend, players participate in team play, taking on larger monsters and challenges that would be impossible for a single player.

The chapters are paced such that most players should be able to complete a single chapter in the space of two weeks. Famitsu describes the following chapter breakdown:

• At the beginning of a new chapter, the player’s job class and team are determined. (Famitsu’s wording insinuates this assignment will be out of the player’s hands.)
• Players strengthen their job class through solo missions throughout the course of the week.
• On the weekend, players join their assigned team for “subjugation missions”, taking on powerful enemies.

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Players take on the role of “candidates” referred to in-world as agito, with a school of magic as their home base. The school of magic experiences a day / night cycle broken into four stages: morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The missions available differ by time frame, encouraging players to log in throughout the day.

Missions players receive are also determined by the strength of their relationship to NPCs who share the magic academy. Square Enix has not revealed the specifics of how players may improve their relationship with NPCs, stressing only the importance of “communication”.

In fact, even when participating in weekday solo play, players are still able to enlist up to two NPCs with which they’re on a friendly basis to aid in battle. The NPC party members will automatically attack and use their abilities, although players can intervene by tapping enemies’ yellow-lit “break sites” to have their party members initiate powerful attacks. Abilities, meanwhile, are powerful aids, but require a certain amount of charge time between uses.

Weekend team play is more akin to an MMORPG. Players join their party of up to 19 other members to track down and take out particularly powerful foes. How much a player is able to contribute is determined by how well he trained his character in his job class throughout the week. As an example, Famitsu mentions the “cover” ability learned from the “knight” job class. If a player has acquired this skill for his character, he’ll be able to soak up some of the damage that would have been distributed to his team members, making him a valuable party companion.

With Agito, Square Enix is taking pains to create a system that combines the deep narrative the company’s RPGs are known for with the social aspects that are the mobile format’s strength. Agito is planned for release in Japan this Spring. Square Enix has mentioned several times they are interested in an English-language release for Agito, so it may not be long before Western players get their chance to see how well the combination works.

For more screen shots, head over to the article on Famitsu App.

News and images source: Famitsu App

BitSummit: Ascend to a Higher State of Concentration with Poppoloco

Posted 18:03 EST on 07MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news, previews » bitsummit, gemdrop, poppoloco

Gemdrop head Yuichiro Kitao wants you to wreck your iPad — or, at least to cover it in sweat.

That’s the idea behind his company’s panic-inducing “real-time action puzzle” title Poppoloco, a game where you need to ascend to a zen-like state of mind to prevent your poor locomotive from being destroyed by a pursuing monster. Think endless runner, but your protagonist is also solving a Rubik’s cube.

The rules are simple: use your finger to trace a line over connected blocks sharing the same color. Do this quickly enough, and your locomotive portrayed at the top of the screen will scream along to the next station, evading its pursuer. Keep the train moving long enough, and you’ll be able to catch your breath (and wipe off your screen) at the next station.

Connect too few blocks, and your locomotive will slow to a crawl. No need to guess what’ll happen then. Fortunately, players don’t need to rely on the luck of the draw. By tapping a block, players can cycle through the color palette, making the block match its neighbor. It’s a risk, since time is always of the essence, but bigger combos mean more steam for your locomotive.

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Gemdrop claims its frantic puzzler is already programmed and good to go for release to iOS, Android, and Windows 8 (including English text!), so hopefully we’ll see this title soon. Keep those fingers limber!

News and images source: Famitsu App

Rise of Mana Hands-On Impressions: A Little Bit MMO, A Little Bit P&D

Posted 17:58 EST on 07MAR2014 by: tim walker in hands-on » android, iOS, rise of mana, secret of mana, seiken densetsu, square enix

Seiken Densetsu: Rise of Mana was just released yesterday in Japan for iOS (coming later for Android), and I’ve been able to spend a few hours playing around with it. Though a little rough around the edges, it’s a pretty enjoyable game that tips its hat to Mana games of old while firmly embracing many of the modern-day conventions of mobile games like Puzzle & Dragons.

The game begins with you selecting the names and genders for your characters: One member of the Lasta tribe (angels), and one member of the Darka tribe (demons). Once this has been completed, things are kicked off in dramatic fashion with your two leads fighting to end each other in heaven. Unfortunately, the apparently-mystical Mana Waterfall has other plans for them, knocking both down to the human world. Neither tribe can survive long here without perishing, so a deal is hastily struck between the two to merge into a single body, giving them the chance to survive.

     

Once this is complete, you’ll take control of the merged beings, and are able to switch between your angel and demon forms at will. The main advantage to this during the action sequences of the game is that the swapped-in character starts off with a fuller lifebar, allowing your better half time to regenerate in the void. This ability also becomes useful in the city of Miste (the game’s central hub), where swapping forms can allow you to read the thoughts of certain villagers for more information.

Before taking you into town, the game gives you a quick tutorial on the basics of combat. Like many of its predecessors, Mana is action-based at its core. Unfortunately, unlike past titles, the action controls are all touched-based, a mixed bag to be sure (to be fair, the game supports physical game pads for later versions of the iPhone as well, but we only had a chance to test it with touch controls). The default setup allows you to move your character both by dragging your finger around the screen and by tapping a fixed point for them to walk to. Whenever combat begins, your character locks on to the nearest enemy automatically, and tapping the screen will cause them to strike. Tapping a different enemy will allow your character to switch targets, and sliding your finger across the screen in the middle of battle allows them to dodge.

     

In theory, this setup should work well, but I definitely encountered input confusion while playing. Tap too excitedly during combat to strike, and your device will often misinterpret your motions as swipes instead of taps. In non-combat situations, while you can guide your character to a set point, they’ll rarely stop there, instead continuing on in the general direction that you tapped or else walking in place forever. There is a virtual pad option as well, but since it’s completely invisible (an in-game guide explains roughly where it’s located), it can be frustrating to use. (as an added bit of frustration, it’s impossible to swap between the two setups while you’re in the middle of a quest) Hopefully these issues will be corrected in a future update.

During combat, you have a few other options available to you. You can perform special attacks with the weapon you’re currently using by tapping an icon in the lower-right corner of the screen. You have a limited number of these per combat session, and there is a cooling off period of a few seconds between uses. After the tutorial, the Familiar (a fairy, essentially) will inhabit the body of a doll found on the road, creating an ally to assist you in combat (she’s effectively the first “monster” in your party, and can later be replaced with others). Another player’s character can also be selected prior to starting a quest to beef up your team.

     

During the tutorial, your character wields a sword, but you’ll also gain access to a bow and a spear once you’ve moved onto the main game. You’ll find more variants on these three weapons as you play, and you can use your spares to strengthen other weapons in the same manner you would with monsters in Puzzle & Dragons. You can upgrade your pet monsters (allies) in a similar manner. One odd trapping of Mana is that upgrading and even swapping are not done from a pull-down menu: Not only must both actions be done in town, each must be done at a specific, separate location in town. The absence of the ability to swap from the pre-quest menu is a particularly odd game design decision.

The town of Miste is pretty small, but there are a few other things that can be done here. As noted earlier, you can speak to villagers and read their thoughts, which often allows you to gain access to new quests, MMO-style. Maybe I’m just anti-spoiled by the lack of substance in modern FtP games, but Mana seems to have a lot more dialogue and character development going on here than the typical FtP titles out there. I appreciate the fact that Square Enix actually put these elements into a game that they’re giving away.

     

Before you leave town, Nikita (known as Niccolo in Western releases of past Mana titles) shows up to let you take part in the requisite lottery for a shot at a rare monster. There’s also a vendor selling jewels for real-world money that have different effects, such as refilling your Stamina (Rise of Mana is FtP, so naturally quests “cost” in-game currency to take part in).

The typical quest you go on lasts around 3-5 minutes. It normally consists of you leading your party down a path to the next combat encounter, taking out the monsters that get in your way, and moving on. The action aspect keeps things fun, but I would have preferred a bit less linearity in the setup (most “alternate routes” are blocked by hulking monsters that cannot be attacked). I’m just getting started though, so hopefully the layouts will improve as I get further into the game.

That should wrap it up for my initial thoughts on the game. While I wish that the touch controls worked a little better, I’m still having a lot of fun playing Reign of Mana, enough to forgive it for its flaws. Check out the gallery below for more screen captures (we took quite a few). I may revisit this title with some further impressions soon, so be sure to check back with us!

(Seiken Densetsu: Rise of Mana is available on Japanese App Store for iOS devices)

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BitSummit: Yoshiro Kimura’s Million Onion Hotel

Posted 17:27 EST on 07MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news, previews » games centrally involving onions, million onion hotel, yoshiro kimura

Yoshiro Kimura, the idiosyncratic developer behind such titles as the PS1 cult classic Moon, was on hand at BitSummit to show off his latest title in person. Kimura’s latest game is a quirky puzzler called Million Onion Hotel — although he might not be glad to see us describe it like that. You see, according to Kimura, the title’s genre is “poem”.

From Famitsu’s hands-on report, players tap the onions as they pop up randomly about the field, turning that square of the field red. Tapping the onions adds a bit of time to the clock. Occasionally, clock icons pop up that add even more time.

The trick is to hold off, leaving a square that will complete a line open, until turning that square red will complete two or more lines. Complete one line, either vertically horizontally, or diagonally, and it’s just a “single”. Complete two lines by filling in one square, and it’s a “double”. Although not seen in the video, since diagonal lines are also allowed, with skillful playing gamers can clear three, even four lines all at once.

This is difficult, because if you’re not tapping onions, you’re running out the clock. Plus, some onions require more taps than others to turn their square red. Trying to get a double, you might get down to the wire, only to have a particularly tough onion finally pop up in that last spot.

The goal of Million Onion Hotel is to rescue the hotel diner patrons who’ve been abducted to space by the mysterious onion soup. To do this, you need to get to space. (Obviously.) To get to space, you need get at least double line clears. Fortunately, once in space the player’s efforts are further rewarded by fruit and other special, high-point items that join the onions in rising out of the playing field.

With a quirky story, flavorful 16-bit-esque graphics (pun intended, we swear), and the attentive crafting that has the developer going so far as to call it a “poem” to gamers, Million Onion Hotel is shaping up to be far more than just another smartphone puzzle game.

News source: Famitsu App and Destructoid

DeNA Announces Pricing Change For MobaCoin In-Game Currency

Posted 10:08 EST on 07MAR2014 by: tim walker in news » DeNA, mobacoin, mobage

DeNA Co., Ltd. has announced a change in the pricing for their MobaCoin currency that is used for in-game purchases in games offered by the publisher on the Mobage and Yahoo! Mobage game platform services. The cost increase is scheduled to take effect on April 4th, and will be implemented through scheduled maintenance in relation to the recent changes in Japan’s sales tax rate.

The 3% increase will bump the price of a single MobaCoin up from 1 Yen to 1.03 Yen. Coins are typically sold in packs of 100, which will now retail for 103 Yen (~$1.03 USD). The pricing change will have no effect on any virtual currency already in players’ possession.

The scheduled maintenance will be completed between March 26th and April 4th. Players will not be able to make any purchases at certain times during this period.

MobaCoin is a unified in-game currency used in many different mobile games available on the Mobage platform. (you can read more about it here ) The announcement of the cost increase comes just one month after the company announced that MobaCoin purchases in Japan have been falling at a rate of 4 billion yen (USD 40M) per quarter over the past fiscal year.

News Source: Game Watch