09.21.07
Posted in Japanese, News at 3:20 pm by yuka
Tokyo Game Show’s in full swing, and yet again, I’m missing all the key game events of the year by a couple of weeks. Come October, we’ll be away for a full two weeks of warmer weather (still 30C and humid), fresh cheap fish (compared to the UK anyway), and at my other half’s insistence, Disneyland. Blech. It’s expensive, crowded, and full of tourists (locals hardly ever go to the nearest attraction unless they have no choice – and I have no choice… even my best mate wants to go there). At least we’ll be going to the cultural centre of Kyoto and getting fed by my parents. …So, no blogging ’til after I come back mid-October.
FF XI: The fourth expansion disc is on sale 22nd November, for approx. £20. Also coming out as a package (of the original plus previous 3 expansion disc, and the 4th), and that’ll cost you £40.
Kingdom Hearts: Coming out as 3 separate titles on 3 different platforms – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS), Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (PSP), and Kingdom Hearts Coded (mobiles). For the DS title, co-op play is possible. No date or prices have been set yet.
Square EnixDS: Style series: 2 titles have been further announced – ワインのはじめかたDS (how to do wine ‘tasting’) out 15th November for £14; おいしく極める食通DS (does what Squaremeal does, but with the top 500 restaurants around Japan, complete with maps), out this winter.
In other news, Lucas Arts has announced they’ll be launching a Wii title: Star Wars The Force Unleashed come next spring (in the US). The story’s apparently based around the time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. EA has also made an announcement that a DS version of Populous is being worked on. Think I’d prefer Lemmings personally.
Konami booth at the TGS had a few surprises up its sleeves: Metal Gear Solid 20th Anniversary. Along with several screenshots and videos of the past MGS games, these were also shown as part of the Super Smash Bros. X.
“Of course, General. That’s Mario.”
“Mario first appeared in 1981, and since then has been gathering fans from across the globe.”
The Square Enix booth has a lot on offer. Apart from being able to play a lot of games (out of 42 games, about 33 are playable), they’re also giving out freebies like a ‘grimoire notebook’ for FF Tactics A2, a mini-torch for Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon or a fan for playing Star Ocean 1 First Departure.
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09.14.07
Posted in Japanese, News at 12:59 am by yuka
For approx. £25.20, you will now be able to dress up your pooches and develop rapport with them. Much like the Nintendogs (DS), it focuses on training your pet pooch and dressing it up. Out 18th October (Japanese title: Koinu DS, roughly translates to Puppy DS). Now you’ll be able to keep a pet better than Paris Hilton, for less. Whether they look ‘adorable’ or not, I’ll leave up to you.
Buu Buu Cocoreccho! will be out exclusively from the Playstation Store, come 21st this month. By the way, ‘Buu Buu’ is a sound that apparently bees make – you play as bees, that when you press the circle button, will make that sound. As the bees you pass through the level (with secret mini-levels) waking up as many LocoRoco as possible. Well now, isn’t that nice of Sony to provide that game in a format that doesn’t require us to buy another machine?
Takarajima Z site is now up with promo vid and so forth. Out 25th October on the Wii for approx. £29 in Japan. I’ll give it until well into next year ’til it shows up here.
DQ IV site now has downloads available: check the rightmost tab of the second row. Out on Wii for approx. £26, on 22nd November. On a related note… with a Square Enix title (Infinite Undiscovery, Xbox360 sales might just finally crawl up in Japan. You never know.
The Wii Zapper will be making it to the US for 19th November, at the price of $19.99. Comes with Link’s Crossbow Training. Other games that uses the Zapper are: Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (EA), Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom) and Ghost Squad (Sega).
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09.07.07
Posted in Japanese, News at 12:49 am by yuka
There’s an interview article with the makers of Chocobo and the Mysterious Dungeon which will be coming out on Wii soon. The DS Chocobo game I have played – cute and the story’s interesting enough, but once you get stuck on a level, beware! Until you somehow clear that level (whether time and effort or cheats), you won’t get further on. Hate it when a game does that. That’s a real downer. Nonetheless, this Wii version sounds good.
The developers talk about how they wanted anyone to be able to play – so no nunchak usage. Just the remote in one hand would do. To sidle however, press the minus button and the direction together. Apparently, once you get used to it, it’s not awkward at all. They also talk how they did don their test Chocobo with armour, shield and sword. But of course, it looked too like its human counterparts and looked way too uncanny – that idea was scrapped. As your Chocobo progresses though, you can do quite a few moves. And the more ‘magic books’ you collect, the more moves you can do. Sounds familiar to the DS game players, I’m sure. For Moogle fans, never fear. He’s in there, as a ‘Help’ character :)
Talking of Moogles… FF CC Ring of Fates (DS) will also have him as an extra. Paint your own Moogle and send it wirelessly to your friends. The game itself has up to 4-player mode, for those hard-to-go-through levels.
Then there’s: 
Due to come out this winter in Japan, it’s a sequel on the DS. It is turn-based though, so if you’re the type like me to go for more action-adventuring, it’s not for you.
Another RPG, Tales of Innocence (DS), will come out reportedly on 6th December. Pre-order it and you’ll get a DVD with interviews of voice actors and illustration gallery. Here’s their official site, where the character page has been updated.
Good news for travellers: DS stations at airports. Sadly not here in Europe.
WTF?! Peter Moore waxing lyrical on Wii. OK, that’s not the shocking bit. He’s actually saying something about ‘bringing Madden to a lot of gamers’. Jeez… that’s one boring game. I know because I was forced to watch one of my ex’s play the game endlessly – he was an American football nutter. If that’s the best EA can do, they’re in trouble.
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09.05.07
Posted in Japanese, News at 4:42 pm by yuka
My lapse of over a month has had various contributors, mostly the genre of historical fiction, I think. And my renewed fervour of levelling and talent trees. No doubt gamers who’d read this would’ve got fresh news from elsewhere anyway, especially during the E3 fever.
My mid-week return to searching hasn’t actually brought up anything much either. Been announced today that Crimson/Black DSLites are on the way come 4th October, with the same price tag as all the rest. It does look slick, but I think I’ll wait out for a special edition first before buying another one (my Ice Blue one is starting to get worn quite a bit).
20th-23rd this month will see the coming of the Tokyo Game Show at Makuhari Messe (the nearest station being Kaihin Makuhari on the JR Keiyo Line) as per usual. Square Enix has announced that as one of their playables, FF IV will be available in their booths (which is right next to Microsoft’s according to the floor plan). The following titles will be at the booth, either as playable or just the promo vid, or as both: FF XI Online, FF CC Ring of Fates, FF Tactics A2, FF IV, Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon, Crisis Core – FF VII, FF XIII, FF versus XIII, FF Agito XIII, FF VII – Advent Children [Complete] (Blu-Ray edition), Dissidia – FF, The Last Remnant, DQ Monster BattleLord, DQ Monsters – Joker, Slime Mori Mori DQ2, DQ IV, DQ IX… etc.
Slightly off the beaten track, but interesting nonetheless, and kind of echoing my previous entry, is 流行り神2 警視庁怪異事件ファイル. Think Phoenix Wright or one of the CSI games in a horror situation, coupled with X-Files. It’s out November on PS2 under the genre of Horror/Adventure. Apparently you can take the cases from a scientific point of view, or you can believe in ghosts and other such fortean phenomena and go in from the occult point of view. Take your pick. One of the comments I had not so long ago stated that all Japanese games can be played even if you don’t understand the context much – I seriously wouldn’t recommend it with this one though. Of course, up to you, if you want to be that foolhardy.
I’ve also managed to check out a review of the new PSP-2000. Mind, it’s only a review, and one person’s point of view. But it didn’t sound that encouraging. Most people have complained of the various loading times of games on the PSP, which according to some takes up to half a minute. Well, this new hand-held isn’t apparently that much better. To his credit, the reviewer does take into account that he only tried with the games currently out, but nonetheless, the sticky point of loading time seems to remain.
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