We've been following Wario Land: The Shake Dimension for quite some time now. After the numerous scans and screens, we're about ready to hear something on a release date for the game. Well, as ready as we are in North America, it looks like Europe is the only region with a cemented release for the game.Wario Land: The Shake Dimension will release in Europe on September 26th.
Aside from that game, Nintendo of Europe also dished out release dates for plenty of other Wii games, including Baroque (July 18) and Manhunt 2(August). To check out the full list, head on past the break.
It's hard enough to convince gamers to buy a roguelike, but asking them to pay $39.99 for a dressed-up remake of a Sega Saturn dungeon crawl? Fuhgeddaboudit!
If pricing has been that barrier keeping you from exploring Baroque's Neuro Tower dungeons, look to Amazon for a deal-of-the-day discount. The online retailer has slashed $14 off Baroque, bringing it down to $25.99. That makes this Sting-developed, Atlus-published title eligible for free shipping!
Make sure to read our review for Baroque first to get an idea of what you're jumping into! It's not a game for everyone!
I'll be frank -- when I first started Baroque, I hated it. Being thrown into such a strange and ugly world with the barest of backstories was completely disorienting. I had no idea where to go or what to do, and didn't have the luxury of taking my time to explore because my vitality meter was plummeting from the get-go. One character (known as the Coffin Man) kept yelling "goddamnit!" at me, and when I finally got to the place where I was supposed to be, it wasn't long before I died.
If I hadn't been reviewing this game, I probably would have quit right there. But, since it's (clearly) considered bad form to write a review after only twenty minutes of playtime, I trekked on -- and I'm extremely glad that I did. Once I delved deeper into the world of Baroque, I realized that first impressions aren't always the best impressions.
Now that you've kindly read through my personal aside, let's move on to the actual review, shall we?
We're impressed with Rising Star, who have been bringing a lot ofnichegames to Europe. The most recent one on the publisher's list is Baroque, which will be hitting the continent on June 27th. We're sure that Rising Star is hoping that the game will sell decently, but after seeing how it was received in Japan, the company might be a little worried. Of course, it can't do any worse than that ... can it?
In any case, we're sure that at least some of you folks in Europe will be glad to get the chance to play Sting's hardcore roguelike on your Wiis.
Many folks have had their eye on Baroque, taking note of its release this week. And if you aren't one of those people, then this isn't your week. There's, uh, Mini Copter Adventure Flight, if you're brave enough to try and tackle such a big adventure in such a smallcopter. But, other than that, nada.
So are you going to check out Atlus' RPG? We suggest you wait for a certain gaming blog to weigh in first, as they're in the process of reviewing it as you read this. Until then, might we suggest seeing if there is a Virtual Console game you want to download or checking out one of the many Wii games that recently received a price slash? If not, what are you playing?
It's Monday again, which means we check out what's on the radar for Wii. This week, a pair of new titles release, including Atlus's latest for the Wii. It may have been pushed back a few times, but RPG fans may finally rejoice.
This week's releases are:
Mini Copter Adventure Flight
Baroque
Anyone interested in either of these titles? Planning on picking up a new game this week?
We've gotten a peek at so many screens from Baroque that we're ready to hijack someone's posh color printer and start making our own little flipbook. We hear that if you turn the pages at just the right speed, you can see Creepy Bastards and Emo Mummies in full motion. Sure, we could pick up the manga, but we're shooting for creativity here. Try not to stifle the process.
In other news, we have seen a gushing floodwater of media from this title. Go ahead -- check it out in the updated gallery.
Goodbye, Family Ski and Winning Eleven: Play Maker 2008 -- we hardly knew ye. While Family Ski enjoyed a seven-week run in the top thirty, Wining Eleven (aka Pro Evolution Soccer) only lasted for four. It's no coincidence that they fell off this week, though, as fifteen spots were taken up by new releases.
The big Wii dog in town was not Brawl (which ended up 7th), and not even Wii Fit (which ended up 5th), but new release Deca Sports. We can't help but wonder if the appearance of Deca Sports will have an effect on that other sports game for the Wii. Is there room for both on the charts? (We think so.) And will Deca Sports have the same longevity as Wii Sports? (Probably not, but we're sure the game will do well for itself.) It's also worth noting that Deca Sports had the third highest third-party sales debut for the Wiil, following only Dragon Quest: Swords and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
Atlus doesn't want you to forget about Baroque, and we don't, either. Clichés like amnesia and world-saving aside, the dark RPG sounds -- and looks -- really fascinating, and we can only hope it delivers. For now, however, we're delivering up some new screenshots, courtesy of Atlus, showing off some battle footage, as well as the support character, the Baroquemonger. Despite his onscreen discussion about customers, he does not ask, "What are you buying?" We're sad.
We've added a ton of character images for you to check out, too. The artistic design for Baroque is really setting a high standard -- we can't wait to see the final product!
Baroque may have experienced a few delays, but it's still on the way, as evidenced by the screens in our spiffy new gallery. Or perhaps we should say new-ish, because we've seen a couple of them before in blurry, muddied forms, and now they're crisp, clean, and much more attractive. We're happy to be reminded of this title, and happier still that it was pushed back so as not to compete with Super Smash Bros. Brawl; after all, we want more RPGs on the Wii, not fewer, and if Baroque does well, it might help developers to realize that there are more than just casual gamers among the Wii's audience.
Update: It's official. The game has been delayed. Thanks to LordGek for pointing this out to us!
It looks like Baroqueis getting pushed back yet again, as the release window of March is no more. Actually, it could still be on track for a March release, however word from gaming retail giant GameStop is that the game is releasing on the 8th of April. To add more credibility to this rumor, Gamefly is saying the game isn't releasing until the 10th of April.
While this is far from official word via Atlus or something, odds are that those of us dying to get our hands on the RPG will have to wait an extra month. And, hey, if there's one thing us Wii gamers have learned, it's how to wait for games we want.
We were recently sifting through the latest list of forthcoming Wii releases, when it struck us: for Wii owners, the opening three months of 2008 are looking surprisingly healthy. As anybody who is familiar with this industry will know, the first quarter of any given year is usually a drought for quality games, a period for wallets to gain some respite from the Christmas bombardment of releases.
With Atlus's Baroque coming to the U.S. in March, we here at the Wii Fanboy offices have been getting prepared for the RPG. We've been checking every bestiary we have here at HQ, going over possible battles ahead and compiling strategies for each scenario. Like the sports team with a big match coming up, we're now carefully scrutinizing the above film, taking care to commit any and all things to memory.
If the video has piqued your interest, check out some screens in our gallery below.
It seems that Baroque was always meant to be bullied by Nintendo's juggernaut, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Originally scheduled to release on February 26th (two weeks after Brawl'sformer February 10th date), Atlus has delayed the RPG until March 18th. As you may recall, Brawl is coming out on March 9th. Will that be a long enough gap for you to stray from your darling Nintendo fighter?
The reason for the delay, according to Atlus, is that the company wants both the PS2 and Wii versions to come out at the same time. Assumedly, this means that the Wii version is holding the PS2 version up. Aside from "subtle" motion controls, the Wii version also supports 16:9 widescreen and progressive scan.
At least Atlus has a good sense of humor about the delay. From the email, the publisher states, "After we told Nintendo, they decided to move the launch of one of their lesser releases, some game called Smash Brawl, into the same month. We hope they know what they're doing."
OMG Nintendo interviewed the Baroque localization team at Atlus USA about the challenges of making a super-hardcore dungeon RPG on the Wii. And don't worry -- this isn't being loaded with minigames or billed as Dungeon Training or anything. The team is fully aware of who the audience for Baroque is, and it's not the casual crowd. There are varying degrees of casual-to-hardcore, and "crazy dungeon RPG" is well beyond the hardcore side. Said Atlus's Aram Jabbari: "Baroque is a pure hardcore RPG experience and doesn't apologize for being so. With its dark subject matter and eerie characters, it definitely offers a change of pace from the Wii's usual light fare."
As is pointed out in the interview, Atlus has been doing surprisingly well on the Wii with the Trauma Centergames. Atlus's Clayton S. Chan sees the success as a result of good designers being paired with new possibilities: "Honestly, I think what the industry really needs is some (pun definitely intended) New Blood. An influx of good designers who are given more control would undoubtedly yield more unique titles that took better advantage of what the Wii offers." Of course, that doesn't apply to Baroque, which is a Wii port of a PS2 remake of a Saturn game.
We've been following Wario Land: The Shake Dimension for quite some time now. After the numerous scans and screens, we're about ready to hear something on a release date for the game. Well, as ready as we are in North America, it looks like Europe is the only region with a cemented release for the game. Wario Land: The Shake Dimension will release in Europe on September 26th. 
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