A few weeks ago, we discussed Koei's plans to move into digital distribution with Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends coming to Xbox Live. Today, Koei has officially announced the plans along with the release date of March 21. Currently no price has been confirmed.
As I said before, digital distribution is the perfect route for Koei to take. Offering expansions to the main games as DLC instead of separate games is far less offensive to those sick of the constant milking, and they can no be defined properly as downloadable content rather than confusing the average gamer who sees nothing but bizarrely titled Koei games on a store shelf and doesn't know what to go for.
Full press release after the jump. Also, we have screenshots -- you can use your eyes to look at them.
Samurai warriors 2 xtreme legends moves online
Xbox 360 version available only as a download on the Xbox LIVE®online entertainment network.
Hertfordshire, UK- FEBRUARY 27, 2008 - KOEI today announced the release of Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends as an additional download for Samurai Warriors 2. It will be available on the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Featuring new characters, levels and play modes, Samurai Warriors 2 XL greatly enhances the Samurai Warriors experience, adding a multitude of new features to this legendary series. Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live download on March 21, 2008.
The release of Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends sees KOEI’s first moves into download content for European gamers. The game is only available to owners of Samurai Warriors 2 on Xbox 360, who will be able to download an entire new game’s worth of content to enhance and expand their Samurai Warriors experience.
Samurai Warriors 2 XL will also be available on PS2 as a standalone game which can also be used to power up the Samurai Warriors 2 experience or be played on its own as an entirely new Samurai Warriors experience. Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends on PS2 will be available in stores on March 21, 2008.
About SAMURAI WARRIORS 2 XTREME LEGENDS
Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends introduces brand new levels, play modes, characters and challenges, whilst also enhancing the Samurai Warriors 2 experience. It enables owners of SW2 to power up all of the original characters with new charge attacks and a fifth new weapon and increase their growth level from 50 to 70. Players are also able to use the brand new SW2 XL characters in SW2’s Survival, Story and Sugaroku modes.
Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends also features 36 new scenarios, including the new battlefields of Okehazama and Shikoku, and the brand new Mercenary mode, where players get the chance to hire other samurai to fight alongside you. 2 player co-op mode can be played in Story mode and Free mode and the game now has two new difficulty modes for beginners and veterans alike, leading to six in total.
And most significantly Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends introduces six new legendary characters: Kojiro Sasaki, Yoshimoto Imagawa, Katsuie Shibata, Toshiie Maeda, Motochika Chosokabe and Gracia.
Chosokabe Motochika
He looks calm and unflappable but always has passion in his heart. His weapon is a Shamisen. It is a traditional Japanese guitar and he uses the sound waves from this weapon to attack his enemies.
Gracia
She is a daughter of Mitsuhide Akechi. She has a curious and innocent character. On her travels through Japan she met Magoichi Saiga and built a great relationship with him. Her weapon is her martial arts ability and agile movement coupled with her magical power.
Imagawa Yoshimoto
He is a man of refined taste such as his love of Kemari (an ancient Japanese sport similar to football) or poems rather than War or politics. He is very proud of his lineage but is always pretty idle on the battle field and keen to avoid dangerous situations. His weapons are the Katana and the ball of Kemari.
Maeda Toshiie
A hot-blooded man who makes much of bonds of friendship. He respects Katsuie Shibata and treats him like a father. His weapons are the Katana with a wide blade and two spears. He overwhelms enemies by super quick attacks with his sword and wide-range attacks with spears.
Sasaki Kojiro
He is Musashi Miyamoto’s rival and a man who wants to master the way of sword. He understands the sword is just a weapon for killing people and he believes defeating people in battle is the only way to be a true sword master. His weapons are the Katana with a very long thin blade and the gigantic Katana which is summoned from a parallel world.
Shibata Katsuie
He is a fearless soldier who belongs to Nobunaga Oda. He tries to teach the way of the Samurai Warrior to Toshiie Maeda whom he treats as a real son throughout his battles. His weapons are two gigantic axes. His powerful attack can sweep all opponents in front of him.
Contest:
6:14 AM on 02.27.2008
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Wake me up when we get Viking Warlords Legends: Extreme Pegasus Assault.
Awesome! I love Kojiro Sasaki, even though he got his ass handed to him by a boat oar.
I really don't know if I can downgrade from DW6 for this, though...
Jim, you said I could use my "eyes" to look at the pictures - what are these "eyes" you speak of?
While I like the character choices, I have questions.
1) A guitar? Come on.
2) They made Motochika into a douche. Look at him.
3) Are they switching to the correct form of names, Surname first, then given name? I hope so.
4) I hope they don't make light of Toshiie (my favorite person in history, perhaps)'s friendship with Hideyoshi. After all, he had to choose between him and Katsuie, and chose Hideyoshi. Because he's a BAMF.
I'll wait 'til 3 and get double the new characters, though. Plus, I had SW2 for PS2. No dice.
Also, I'm with Necros on the "Xtreme" hate.
Is there:
Wailing guitar solos?
People's faces being eaten?
Children being lit on fire?
Pregnant women getting Falcon Punch'd (or any equivalency)?
Tits?
Moar tits?
These are the question's that plague mankind nowadays.
If they stick with DLC it will push my to get this game. I am just sick of these rehashes and hope to god that they stick with ONE release, let it have alot of DLC and then once they have a new idea and more innovation, they release a new game.