Yes, you are well informed.

Try flying close to a ship in one of the PS2 games and you might understand what I'm getting at. And fly through a tree while you're at it.

I hope Kobayashi and friends don't spend too much time on this soundtrack though; they need to save all of the good music for AC6. They should just reuse old tracks for this one; maybe some arrangements even.

What the hell, the first multiplayer Ace Combat game is on a portable system? (AC4 doesn't count with such a shitty vs mode) Namco needs to get it together and get online already!

the ETA of the game is due in fall if I read the scan correctly.

It's probably a special weapons selection box. When I first saw it I thought it was a 3D diagram of the target your missile system is locked onto, which would be kinda useful for long range missile targeting. Oh well...

Game Watch now has a bunch of high quality screenshots up:

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx18.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx29.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx17.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx03.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx15.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx11.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx23.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx26.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx32.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/...0414/acx30.jpg

List of aircraft in the game now includes the F2-A, F-14D, MiG-31 and Tornado.

Suddenly the graphics aren't that hot anymore :(

If I can handle Ace Combat 2's graphics in 2006, I can handle this too. It'll probably have some extra gloss in the final product anyway. And are those four aircraft, the F2-A, F-14D, MiG-31 and Tornado the only playable aircraft in the game?

Never judge PSP graphics from Pics.
In the case of PSP , graphics of original game always look better than screenies.

Judging from Pics above , my take is that when AC will pop up on PSP , it will look amazing.

Apart from some clipping in the models, the graphics are half bad. Im just too excited to be getting an ace combat game for my psp =)

Did anyone notice the target selection box in the upper left? It also seems like you can select individual groups of targets (indicated in the upper right display). I'm willing to bet that these are elements of the "strategic A.I. system" mentioned by IGN.

Maybe you can focus on various targets during a mission and affect the way the current or consecutive missions will unfold. Additionally, you might be able to help your allies (air, ground and naval forces) by prioritizing targets.

Anyhow, this feature sounds very interesting and surely will make Ace Combat's handheld debut a unique experience.

As far as graphics are concerned, they show the obvious flaws of the PSP hardware: blurry and undefined textures. On the other hand, it manages to display a comparably high level of detail and number of objects (I haven't seen an equally detailed bridge in any of the PS2 AC games).

I think this will definitely be on par with AC4's graphics by the time it comes out.

So does anyone know what place in time this game takes place in the AC world? Or maybe even a hint at what the story could be.

Didnt one of the articles say something about a random mission generator or something? Im gonna guess that X probably has something to do with the more recent games.

IGN has a hands-on preview. I don't know about these controls. I might be able to live without yaw controls just as long as triangle still centers the camera on the target. Missions determined by what you destroy? Cool.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/703/703303p1.html

I'm sorry, but this game looks great. I'm not expecting PS2 graphics at all, but the PSP is like a PS1 on crack, so I would expect the game to look decent enough. Besides, it seems Namco has learned their lesson from AC3 and put a fully enveloped Story. And the majority of us AC fans love the game for it's story. This game should be no different.


I'm curious though, has anyone tried to look for this country of Aurelia [sp] on the Map of Namco's world?

Namco, however, is an exception. They have been putting a lot of effort into their PSP products and it shows! Ridge Racers looked fantastic and was the first 3D game to run at 60 fps on the machine. Katarmari then comes along and pretty much matches the PS2 version visually. Now, we have Takken DR at 60 fps looking shockingly close to the arcade game and AC for PSP. I'm guessing that AC will look fantastic.

...? Can't find it. Some names and labels would help Namco...
Maybe it's on Verusia, the least travelled continent of AC. Aurelia sounds like Australia, maybe it's in that southern Australian-shaped area near the Sotoa sea. Just a guess...

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/2...dmap4lx.th.jpghttp://img103.imageshack.us/img103/4...e02l9dn.th.jpg

I hope that namco realizes how good their ace combat games are... just imagine if they lose the soundtrack composer? .... it would ruin the game, plummet it to the ground.. at least for me it would. I really hope it doesn't get ruined if it happens to go mainstream.

Well hold on...in Ace Combat 3, they didnt' have the composers they've had for the last three games, and I thought it's soundtrack was very awesome. The ambient/atmospheric electronica music was great for the future setting of Usea.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing something new and different from the AC sound team. Don't get me wrong, the military-esque music is a huge highlight in the series, but it's cool to hear maybe some rock, metal or hell electronica from them.


Oh and on another note...I don't think we should expect a game with 30 missions and 50 Aircraft. This is a PSP game after all, they can't handle that much data. If it's a dozen planes and 17 missions, that shouldn't be too bad.

These are the type of people who eventually ruin the franchise.

Anyway, the soundtracks already feature rock, metal, and even electronica. Can we please get some cotton swabs.

Who was that commented directed to by any chance? :eyebrow:

And no, we haven't heard Metal in AC...rock yea, but Metal..I don't think so.

Metal... eh... doesn't really go with air combat, it's kinda because the pace of the music is not as hard as the action on-screen, both the music and the action have to go hand-in-hand, so while I know how you might feel about metal, you should try playing ace combat with metal then get back to us, heh.

It's more about the adrenaline rush, and both the epic songs and rock/electronic. songs merge well enough to provide a feasible soundtrack that doesn't distract you too much but rather inspire you on what you're currently doing in-game.

Just think of it this way, it's kinda like putting rap to the action. The beats and pace of the music totally clashes with it. Where as something like Jazz is both fast and slow and has a pace that is nothing and everything, Jazz would fit nicely, but it would have to fit the story or characters that you're fighting.

Kinda like how the acoustic fits so well with Zero.

Hmmm, it seems IGN updated their Ace Combat X info and they also updated with a video. Unfortunately, it's not a gameplay vid, but more of a represenative of namco talking about the game. Also, from what i've seen in the video...the 'World' that we know in the AC games, will not be the same world in this game, considering no one has seen Aurelia in the world that Namco originally created.

But hey, wireless multiplayer...not too shabby ;D!

Still, I can't see an Ace Combat game not sharing the same universe with its PS1 and PS2 brethren.

It might not be directly connected with the events taking place in AC4 or AC5 und Zero, but I'm pretty certain it will be part of the bigger AC universe.

I just watched the interview, and it ain't even real. IGN just paid off some college kid to read off a sheet of paper in a library.