Square Enix's announcement that Dragon Quest IX would be exclusive to the DS effectively signaled the end of this generation's console wars in Japan. Now, according to an EGM rumor, the DS will have to share the title with the Wii.
"Quartermann," EGM's pseudonym for various rumermongering staffers, says that Protectors of the Starry Sky will be ported to the Wii, probably in the same manner as the dual DS/Wii Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. If true, this is actually a pretty decent arrangement: people desiring the more traditional Dragon Quest experience would be able to play at home on the TV, DS players can enjoy it on the go, and both can engage in the new multiplayer mode. If it isn't true ... we can just play it on the DS. It's the best kind of rumor: the kind that isn't really that disappointing if it turns out to be bunk.
Europeans: it looks like you're going to have to jump ... over to the Wii Shop on Friday, in order to download Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective, the penultimate episode of Strong Bad's Etc. According to a press email, and this forum post by Telltale's Emily Morganti, Nintendo sent the company a notice that the adventure game would hit the PAL WiiWare service this week.
Obviously, this is good news because Dangeresque 3 is a game we loved, and we're happy that you'll get to share in the experience sooner or later. But more importantly, we're thrilled because this release announcement gives us an excuse to link to the browser-based Dangeresque Roomisode 1: Behind the Dangerdesque!, which is a breathtakingly pixel-perfect tribute to vintage adventure games.
Kotaku got to try out the Wii version of Ghostbusters and, predictably enough, revealed that it differs quite a lot from its high-definition cousins on the othermachines. The voice-acting and script aside, the Wii build sports its own level designs (which are smaller, naturally), a Wii-specific control scheme, and a far more cartoony visual style.
Precisely none of which is surprising. Games developed for a spread of consoles often look and feel quite different on the Wii, but this doesn't seem to harm Ghostbusters. Kotaku reports that the Wii title has been built from the ground up, and deems waggling a Wiimote to capture spooks "a little more intuitive" than punching buttons.
On a personal note, we definitely prefer the rounder, more rubbery character models found in Ghostbusters Wii. The franchise always felt pretty goofy to us, so these just fit more closely to our expectations of a Ghostbusters game. We've included a couple of comparisonshots in our gallery for you to peruse and make your own minds up.
Edge Online has received some unfortunate tidings for people desperate to learn about their Miis' future: as of right now, it appears that the Today and Tomorrow's Lucky Fortune Telling Channel is destined to remain in Japan.
Or, at least, remain in not-Europe: "There are no current plans to bring this to Europe," a Nintendo spokesperson told Edge. No word about North America, but we're not going to get our hopes up about it. Not that we're hoping that hard! Of course, there's also the possibility that Nintendo just doesn't feel like announcing the Channel previous to its arrival, which is fairly consistent with their standard operations.
Next week, the Japanese Wii Shop will get an infusion of bizarre light-gunnery, courtesy of Hajime no Ippo The Fighting DS developer Grand Prix Games. Shootanto puts one or two players in the roles of monkeys, equipped with some kind of energy projectiles. As you shoot giant prehistoric insects, snakes, bipedal dinosaurs, and other baffling, low-poly obstacles, your monkey will begin to evolve -- first into a sort of Australopithecine ape-thing, then a caveman, toward what looks like a modern soldier.
Normally, we'd complain about the crummy, low-budget graphics, but this is a game that will release at a six-dollar price point. For that much, we can relax our standards and have a laugh. We doubt this game will see release outside of Japan, which is kind of too bad. Check the link for a small gameplay video!
This might be one of the weirdest ads we've ever seen, to tell the truth. Much like those awesome ads for the Sega Saturn starring Segata Sanshiro, we see potential for many more commercials starring the man above, whether they are for de Blob or not. Watch and try to believe this is happening.
It's no secret that we love World of Goo. The game is great and if you don't like it, we don't like youthen we appreciate you giving the game the old college try. Now, 2D Boy's most excellent title has been rated by the OFLC, meaning a down under release is closing in. With the news that Europe would be getting the game, we're now happy to see just about every territory getting in the action.
Any of our Aussie readers looking forward to this one? You should be!
As you can imagine, two things really stuck with us following our viewing of this latest trailer for Cursed Mountain: how much walking they show the protagonist doing and one enemy with a pointy hat. Sure, there's other good stuff in there, like brief snippets of combat and a variety of locales, but we usually find pleasure in the little things, to tell the truth.
Activision will continue feeding your unhealthy Guitar Hero World Tour addiction with more DLC throughout December, and it looks like Wii owners will be getting all of it this time.
Along with three songs each from The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and The Eagles, a further three tracks from the "Reggae Rock Track Pack" will be offered for the price of nothing. The rest, as usual, will be 200 Wii Points apiece. The full list is below, and videos of all twelve (yes) are past the break:
Capcom released two new Tatsunoko vs. Capcom gameplay videos today instead of the usual one per week, and around here, that's cause for celebration! Let's celebrate by watching the videos. The first, above, features Tatsunoko heroes Yatterman no. 1 and Casshern vs. the giant PTX-40A from Lost Planet. That mech is surprisingly agile! And Yatter-Wan the dog is surprisingly huge! After the break, look at some footage of the same Tatsunoko pair facing off against last week's stars, Chun Li and Morrigan.
The characters' minigames include: Yatter-Wan Chicken Race, in which you propel the jet-powered robodog towards, but not across, a line; Raging Wind Friender Intensive Training, in which button presses translate to increased speed for Casshern's own dog, Friender; and Akrid Destroy Mission, a Lost Planet-themed vertical-scrolling shooter.
We couldn't be more thrilled about the impending Japanese release of this game. Well, we could be a bit more thrilled if we didn't have to import it and use homebrew to run it.
Posted Dec 3rd 2008 10:55AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Not even a week after Black Friday, Amazon has announced another pile of Wii deals. Tomorrow, starting at 12AM Pacific time, the retailer's "Gold Box" will feature Wii deals exclusively.
If the event follows previousGold Boxthemedays, the first deal will be the Deal of the Day at midnight, which will last throughout the day or until stock runs out. Additional discounts will then be revealed every couple of hours, with a one-hour time limit and a constrained supply. Which means that, if you even have any cash left over from Black Friday, and you want some Wii stuff, you may have to hover around the computer tomorrow!
One more Wii game announcement from Atari! The company has announced plans to bring Namco Bandai's Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboardto Europe in February of 2009, one month before We Ski & Snowboard is released in the US. The sequel will be released under the streamlined title Family Ski & Snowboard. Like its predecessor, which was used as a sort of proof of concept for the Balance Board, Family Ski & Snowboard supports both Wiimote/Nunchuk controls and the Wii Fit accessory.
Two new locales, Mt. Angrio and Jamboree Snow Resort, are playable in the sequel, which also adds new features like half pipes, animal search and rescue tasks, and, of course, snowboarding.
We're not sure we understand what has happened with Ready 2 Rumble Revolution. The last Ready 2 Rumble game featured some exaggerated celebrity characters as well, and we found it kind of funny. But there is nothing funny about the caricatures in Ready 2 Rumble Revolution. That Hasselhoff-esque boxer is, in fact, kind of upsetting. The good news is that, aside from the substitution of these abominations for Ready 2 Rumble's cast of wacky stereotypes, this looks a lot like the classic boxing game we know and kind of like.
After the break, a video featuring what looks like custom characters -- a possible escape from the offensive appearance of Dewie Strudel.
There's been a lot of Virtual Console releases this year (been keeping up?), and we were wondering which were among your favorites? We've received Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, and River City Ransom, to name a few. So, which sit at the top of your list for this year? Sure, we were hoping we'd have another to consider, but let's not dwell on that.
Next year's feature film from Dreamworks, Monsters vs. Aliens, will be adapted to all major platforms. Set for a March release next year, the game will be developed by Beenox Inc. and stars a group of misfit monsters on a quest to save the world from an attacking force. The game will feature co-op gameplay, as well as multiple playable characters.
Square Enix's announcement that Dragon Quest IX would be exclusive to the DS effectively signaled the end of this generation's console wars in Japan. Now, according to an EGM rumor, the DS will have to share the title with the Wii.
