Taking a page off Heavenly Sword's Nariko, SouthPeak Games introduces its own twin-blade wielding heroine in the latest third-person action title for the PC and next-gen consoles with X-Blades. This anime-style hack and slash game fuses cinematic animation and relentless high-speed gameplay. For more information, check out the full article.

 

The RPG genre is one of the most immersive (read: addictive) game types around - with long gameplay hours and extensive plots. Being such, RPGs can amass their own fanbases, making it a bit tricky to take a piece of the pie especially when you've got a new title.

One title has piqued our interest (or at least, this writer's) and we were lucky we scored an interview with the creators. We had a chance to sit down with James Seaman, Managing Director at TopWare Interactive to talk about their upcoming video game, Two Worlds. We're sure you've been expecting some news about what's going on with the innovative RPG. Why innovative? Well, let's see... Two Worlds packs a persistent world, immense in-game environments to explore, no loading times, and other features that are surely considered new to the RPG genre. We got into a lot of things about the game like character progression, multiplayer modes for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions, and release dates.

We'll quit the prattle so you can read the entire interview. It's pretty beefy, so you better keep your eyes peeled. You might find some interesting stuff in there. (Plus, Mr. Seaman's sense of humor didn't go unnoticed here at QJ Central.)

   
Exclusive 360 Screens

Read the rest after the jump!

Unparalleled. Unprecedented. Two words for Two Worlds, appearing on two platforms, as IGN's RPG Vault exchanges words with Topware Interactive managing director James Seaman. Unprecedented freedom in story progression. Unparalleled character customization. Sound bites for a PR, but the point of the interview is for the game's premise to prove those claims.

Seaman delved into the unparalleled and the unprecedented. Character customization alone features the ability to change job classes or "careers" with minimal penalty: rather than having to back to square one as in most other games of the genre, Two Worlds allows the player to carry over some of their existing skill points from the old job into the new one. The game world lends itself to this freedom, from dynamic fighting styles and "stackable" magic system, to a living world where every decision one player makes will have an impact.

Maybe part of that "unparalleled" and "unprecedented" stems from the homework done by Reality Pump. Seaman cites "lessons from other RPGs," "what the fans want," and an extensive outreach to the community as factors in both the development of and publicity for Two Worlds. So maybe it's unprecedented because, well, Reality Pump didn't want to become an Oblivion also-ran. Explains all that extra land.

Fantasy RPG Two Worlds, developed by Reality Pump Studios and co-published by TopWare and Southpeak Interactive is set to be released this spring for both the PC and the Xbox 360.

Of course, given that other big name RPGs are out in the open at the moment -  say for example, Oblivion - we gamers are going to need ample reason to set aside a few of our resources to check this particular offering out.

An interview with the game's producer, James Seaman of Topware, reveals several of the game's selling points and gives us (at the least) reason to consider checking this game out. When asked what environments or settings Two Worlds will offer players, James Seaman had this to say:

The landscape in Two Worlds is vast, and there’s basically every kind of environment you can think of. We’ve got forests, plains, deserts, mountains, swamps, bamboo forests, arctic conditions, a vast underworld…exploring the entire world is a feat unto itself! For those that played and explored Oblivion, there is 33% more land to roam here.

Aside from the fact that the game world is significantly larger in Two Worlds, Seaman is also proud that they managed to (or so they claim) remove the feeling of monotony when you reach a certain power level within the game. Seaman explains:

We were tired of the fact that when you get more powerful, searching felled enemies and treasure troves becomes more of a practice in monotony because you already have so much good stuff. What we’ve done is incorporated a system that allows you to stack similar items and continually add new enchantments. So even though you might just find an axe, maybe you’ll be able to smith it together with another axe you already have to create something even more powerful.

It’s the same philosophy with our alchemy and magic systems. There’s never a useless ingredient or spell, you just have to figure out how to put them to the best use with what you already have.

Other details revealed in the interview include the fact that the Seaman thinks that it isn't right for them to "unfairly try to encapsulate it with a demo" (no demo folks, we repeat, no demo), that the developers have a target date of May for the game's release, and that they're extremely proud of the graphical features of the game. But then again, who isn't proud of the graphics in their game?

To read the full interview, feel free to use our "Read" link below.

Everyone's still on the edge of their seats, waiting patiently (or at least trying to) for the release of Two Worlds. The game will be released for the PC and Xbox 360 on March next year, but even before that's done, SouthPeak Interactive has announced that they've struck a two-product publishing deal with TopWare Interactive. Together, they're going to be developing two games.

The first game of which has already been mentioned above, while the second game... Well, there's no info yet, but they're still keeping an eye on the next-gen consoles. Operative word is "consoles". It's plural. That's mean we can expect the game to arrive in at least two of the four next-gen consoles (yes, the PC is considered next-gen, hence, four consoles).

TopWare's Managing Director James Seaman says that they were looking for a publisher that would give their titles some aggressive promotion and distribution. And in SouthPeak's eyes, Executive Vice President Katie Morgan responds with "TopWare is creating premium games - Two Worlds is a perfect example of the passion they bring to the medium. We have immense respect for their creative vision and can’t wait to work with them."

A match made in heaven? Let's hope!

In a recent press release from Topware they talk more about their upcoming role playing game Two Worlds which is an "incredible look into the future of RPG gaming which  throws away long load times and compartmentalized gaming design and lets you turn your environment inside out. Walk into a room and leave the door wide open – look through a window – you don’t have to close yourself off to the world around you because you decided to enter a room or building."

Topware has released some new screenshots for Two Worlds today and their Managing Director James Seaman states “These new screen shots and move shots truly show off the amazing work the Reality Pump development team have put together so far. They are developing an experience that every RPG player has waited a life time for - a game that is based on real life environmental scenarios catapulted into in a breath taking fantasy world.” So go ahead and click on the thumbnails below to see the screenshots to get the full picture.