We've been sitting on this copy of Square Enix's Dragon Quest Swords (retails for $50) for a little longer than we would've liked, but we're now ready to gift it to one lucky reader. As with the majority of our giveaways, there are some rules that must be followed.
First of all, you must be 18 years of age or older to enter, as well as a current resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). Sorry, no getting around these two. Also, in order to enter, you only need leave a comment telling us what your favorite Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior) game is. And you may only leave one comment per day, or else you'll be disqualified from the giveaway.
We'll be ending the contest on Sunday, March 16th at 11:59PM Eastern. All comments after that time will be disqualified and we'll announce the winner (chosen via random drawing) on Monday. For a full and very complete list of rules, click here.
In a lot of ways, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is a lot like the Wii itself. It appeals to a new kind of gamer by making sacrifices for the greater good, and introduces them to a genre they might not have known of or cared enough about in the past. However, in making these sacrifices, Dragon Quest Swords ultimately fails as a RPG.
But that's not the end of the world, necessarily, because this is a title to ease gamers into the genre, ignoring the best features and aspects of modern RPG titles and replacing them with simple gameplay and an overall easily accessible package. But longtime fans of the Dragon Quest (previously Dragon Warrior) franchise will find that this game is a lackluster spin-off.
Most folks will tell you that a RPG ultimately needs two things: a good story and an engaging battle system. This game, sadly, falls flat on both accounts.
This week's big release is likely to be Pimp My Ride for the lot of you, but for us here at the Wii Fanboy offices a little known title from Square Enix called Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is going to be the primary focus of our downtime this weekend. Mainly because we have to review it (keep an eye out for that!), but also because we like to pretend we're sword fighting with our Wiimote.
In fact, we even have our own crudely-made mask here to wear while doing so. If you want an idea of how it look, picture someone tearing holes into an old, dirty washcloth with a butter knife and you pretty much got our mask.
Will you be playing this, as well? Are you instead trying to pimp virtual rides? How will you get your game on this weekend?
It looks like Balloon Pop got pushed back a week, meaning that it did not release last week, but is hitting retail shelves this week. We're sure that's not the game you are all dying to play, however. No, we look at this list of releases and know only one experience can satisfy your lust for a worthwhile gaming experience: Pimp My Ride. That's right, if you've got the disease, then Xzibit and his car-modifying friends are the doctors, ready to force a bottle of antibiotics down the throat of your craptastic car.
Oh, and some Square Enix game is coming out, too. Apparently, it's like some kind of spin-off from one of their huge franchises or something.
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
Square-Enix fans (in North America, at least) will be happy to know that the release date for Dragon Quest Swords has been bumped up, perhaps to put a little more space between itself and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. That's right, this isn't news about a delay -- the game will actually be coming out earlier than it was originally planned for.
The initial release date for the spin-off was February 26th. The game was only pushed up one week, but still, we like the sound of February 19th a lot better.
Does that make any of you Dragon Quest lovers breathe easier? Or, is it still a little too close for comfort (and possibly too hard on your wallets) to, you know, the release of that other game?
Seriously, we're looking forward to the title and all, but it's been so long. The game released in Japan months ago, yet the rest of us are left sitting and waiting for Square Enix's Dragon Quest spin-off. Now, with just about a month until it releases here in the states, it would appear the first ad for the game has found its way onto the internet. Sadly, we're not sure if this is the first of many or the entirety of Square Enix's television marketing campaign.
Update: Reader strongbad80 writes in to inform us that this is a video to be played inside game stores such as Gamestop and not a television ad.
Word hits that North American gamers can get their Dragon Quest fix come February 26th, when Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors releases to hungry fans. And, Dragon Quest fans are their own kind of breed of hungry fans, eagerly clawing and destroying anything in their path to that game. We suggest you stay locked indoors when that day comes.
For any of you who might have forgotten exactly what the game is like, check out some videos and screens for the game. And, care to comment on whether you're looking forward to this or not? Are you hoping for a more traditional Dragon Quest game on the Wii sometime in the future?
Siliconera has gotten their hands on a Japanese copy of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. In taking the game for a spin, they carefully document the beginning portions of the game and let us all know what to expect from the upcoming Square Enix title.
First, navigation sounds like it will be a pain. Unlike most 3D titles, you will not have analog control over your character, instead requiring you to move as if you're "walking around in Resident Evil 1." Ouch, that's not very good. Also, when navigating the enemy-infested areas, the game goes semi on-rails. There's two strikes.
Battling seems to add lots of flavor, though. In describing the many formations of enemies and their own distinctive attacks, as well as the art of blocking, we've found the thing that offsets the lack of navigational freedom, in our eyes. Seriously, it could probably get repetitive after a bit (we're just speculating here, having never played the game), but overall it looks to be very fun.
The latest batch of screens of Square Enix's rail-RPGDragon Quest Swords focuses entirely on everyone's favorite part of any RPG: talking to townspeople. We don't know about you, but we were afraid the game would be all about swordfighting!
Sometimes we rush through the tedious boss fights and story progression so we can get back to town and hear the single, repeated piece of information from every citizen. We just want to hear all about their lives. It reinvigorates us for more hours of grinding right outside of town!
When anything at all happens related to a Dragon Questgame, we pay attention. Therefore, we felt that the newly-released Japanese boxart for Dragon Quest Swords was worth posting. Take an early look at something that's going to be in pretty much every Japanese home after July 12th!
The boxart looks pretty nice, actually. We appreciate it when publishers put actual hand-drawn art on the cover instead of action poses of the main character's 3D model. Especially when it's Akira Toriyama art, which we continue to like despite Dragon Ball Z.
While what we really want are closer impressions of the intriguing character designs, we'll take whatever screenshots we can get from Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, because we eat RPGs like sweet, sweet candy. Behind the jump, we have loads of screens for you -- check 'em out!
As an aside ... wtf, isn't that bridge in Lufaise Meadows? It looks like a place we may have lain, all corpsified and angry.
Over at Square-Enix's Japanese site, we find the main page for Dragon Quest: Swords. And by going through that, one may stumble upon a newly-released trailer for the game. In the trailer, we receive a short intro speech followed by some artwork of the game's characters being shown and, well ... we don't want to ruin the whole thing for you, so we suggest you go check it out.
A whole slew of new screens for Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors have surfaced over at French gaming site Jeux-France. The images, which showcase in-battle scenes and cutscene dialogue, present a new light on the game, showing us some more of enemies we'll no doubt encounter, as well as presenting the overall experience in a much more favorable light.
Of course, now that we've received some new images, it'll be that much longer before we get any more, so be sure to give these a thorough look.
Coming from Nintendo World 2006, the embedded video of a boss fight with a rather angry knight has us thinking Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors might not be that bad. Sure, we thought it was a bit gimmicky and the novelty would run out rather quickly when first presented with the idea, however seeing it in action has made us rethink our previous assumptions. How about you?
This week's 
Square-Enix fans (in North America, at least) will be happy to know that the release date for 
