Many video gamers have dealt with the issue of long loading times when playing certain games. Nearly all of us have felt that pain or annoyance waiting to get past a loading screen. One game developer is tackling that problem in their game before it releases.

Developer Monolith Software has created free downloadable data packs for the disc version of Xenoblade Chronicles X to reduce in-game loading. Doing this is supposed to improve disc load times by downloading the files from the Nintendo e-Shop.

The files to download on the e-Shop are:

• the Field/Basic Pack (2GB)
• the Enemy Data Pack (2.7 GB)
• the Player Data Pack (3.6 GB)
• the Doll Data Pack (1.7 GB)

The Field/Basic Pack helps load up the game’s terrain faster. Having the Enemy pack helps load the field faster. The Player pack improves loading times on changing equipment. The Doll pack helps improve Dolls deployment. Players are encouraged to download all the packs, but they can choose which ones they want. The Field/Basic Pack has to be downloaded in order to download the other packs.

For those who buy the digital copy of the game, the data packs are pre-installed.
I wonder if will this really help improve the game’s loading time. Only time will tell.

Xenoblade Chronicles X will be released for the Wii U in Japan on April 29th.

Grendel Game's new puzzle game, Underground, is now out on Wii U. Underground is about a Sari, a young girl, and her butler robot friend Sw4nk. The story is that Sw4nk works for Sari's father and is horrible at his job and as a result he gets sent to the mines. Sari goes to free him and they get into trouble while in the underground caverns.

The game has the player travel through four different worlds and navigate through difficult situations. Underground is inspired by medical surgery training and helps improve players motor skills for laparoscopic surgery and allows surgical professionals the ability to train their skills. The hardware for the game that provides the training has been tested and validated to show that it actually works.

Underground won the “Best Serious Game & Best Applied Game Design” at the Dutch Game Awards 2013.

In order to do the training players have to buy the laparoscopic controller which is sold separately. Underground can also be played with the Wii U GamePad. The controller is still being made and will be on sale soon.

Underground is only available for Nintendo Wii U eShop Europe. The game will be available in North America, France, Australia, and New Zealand at a later date.

Monster Tale is making a comeback. The 2D handheld platformer is returning in the form of a reboot. The game was originally released for the Nintendo DS in 2011. The game’s developer DreamRift has announced that a remake is in the works titled Monster Tale Ultimate. The game will be available exclusively for the 3DS. The game’s graphics will be improved, with all the visuals redone in 3D. Also the gameplay will be improved and has gone through some rebalancing. There is also new orchestral background music added. Players can switch between the game’s original soundtrack and the new orchestral soundtrack.

The game is about a young girl named Ellie and her adventures in Monster World with Chomp, her monster companion. They must work together to stop the evil Kid-Kings who took control of Monster World and bring peace to land and get Ellie home. Monster Tale had originally received good reviews among critics, with the game being praised for its graphics, combat and Metroid like game play.

Monster Tale Ultimate is anticipated to be released this spring on Nintendo’s eShop.

Level-5, an often overlooked independent producer and developer based out of Japan, has an impressive portfolio of work. Going all the way back to the Dark Cloud series on the PS2 and stretching all the way into today with the Professor Layton series and instant classic Ni No Kuni, they've done a little something for everyone. The guys over at Operation Rainfall recently had a spotlight on one of their most recent games: Weapon Shop de Omasse and I bit.

The trailer is simply a must watch. It features Yoshiyuki Hirai, the Japanese comedian turned game developer, introducing the game in a goofy sort of way before some gameplay is shown. Not every day is a comedian given a large say on decisions in the game industry.

I always get this sort of happy feeling when the little guys get some attention. Weapon Shop de Omasse was originally not going to be localized and brought to North America, since it's by no means a Final Fantasy or another predictable JRPG and the amount of dialogue was cumbersome to translate into English. Thankfully, neither of these challenges made the experience any less enjoyable for me, and the expert job done on bringing the myriad of jokes in the dialogue to an English audience only enhance the gameplay.

It's Dangerous to Go Alone... Take this! (But Bring It Back Later)

The story goes like this: Adventurers all over need weapons and usually buy them. Omasse's shop gets an edge because you'll rent out weapons to adventurers and typical JRPG heroes and wannabes. Naturally, customers flock to you and if you keep hammering out weapons like a good smithy, your customer base will grow and you'll make more money.

At it's core, Weapon Shop is a rhythm game. You'll get requests from customers to make their preferred weapon and then go out back and hammer it out along to one of the game's catchy tunes. You need to be careful though, as you can't hammer the same spot too many times. You'll also need to balance heating and cooling of the weapons during it's creation as the stats of each weapon change depending on your skill.

Along with the rhythmic nature of the core gameplay comes a feature of this game that really makes it stand above other 3DS e-shop junk: the dialogue. As you rent out weapons and meet new customers, each will provide their own stories. The narrative is meant to poke fun at the typical JRPG and when each customer goes out with your rented weapon all sorts of fun is had. Along the top of your screen will scroll out multiple customer adventures in sort of a Twitter-esque feed, complete with hashtags and classic RPG parodies. At the end of their journey the adventurer will return hopefully with your weapon. You'll rinse and repeat this process until the end of the game.

Smithy in Training - The Bad Stuff

I felt sort of slighted by the Twitter-feed as the dialogue was comical but you never actually got to see anything happening on their adventure. I wanted to see how the knight who always returned a clean sword was maybe faking his fights. I wanted to see the French swordsman woo ladies in a cave. 

I also felt that although I was first excited by the hype and laughing at the jokes, they sort of lost their magic for me after a couple hours of play. The characters were predictable and since there's only a handful of unique customers, the shock value of their jokes wears out quick.

The most upsetting part for me though was the fact that the tutorial is only given once at the very beginning of the game before you've had any time to experience it. I forgot a lot of what was said and since it's all digital with no manual, I made a lot of mediocre weapons when I could have made masterpieces with the right amount of instruction.

This game is perfect for jaded RPG players who can appreciate the dialogue, as well as the 8 year old who is satisfied simply by tapping away at the screen.

With a price point of less than $10 however, I would cut it a little slack and give it a go if only to rag on the genre it parodies.