ace attorney
Latest
Are games with puzzles a dying breed?
The Brainy Gamer has an interesting op/ed piece, in which the author states that youths of today aren't interested in the puzzles that come along with adventure games. While crotchety old veterans like ourselves (who were actually alive when games like Monkey Island flooded shelves) still enjoy the genre, younger gamers don't have the patience and just don't see the point.We're inclined to agree a bit, as adventure gaming has become a lot more niche than it was in the past. We would argue, however, that the DS has been doing a good job of reviving such puzzlers, even for younger fans craving more action. With the touchscreen making point-and-click (or point-and-touch, if you will) much more accessible, not to mention the added bonus of portability, we think adventure games reach more than just a veteran gamer demographic. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on our part, but we wouldn't be surprised to see young teens popping in a copy of Phoenix Wright or Professor Layton.What do you think, though? Are we just too oldschool and stubborn to let the genre lay to rest? Maybe those of you with younger siblings might have more insight when it comes to the patience of the younger set of gamers.[Via DCEmu]
Games to help curb your addictions
The "self-help" era is upon us, even finding its way into the video game industry as of late. Aside from the obvious fitness awareness game on Nintendo's other system (we mean Wii Fit, of course), there have been quite a few attempts to help gamers improve their lifestyles and habits. Take, for example, the upcoming My Weight Loss Coach and Ubisoft's "Easyway" title to help people quit smoking.Our favorite approach so far, though, was when DS Fanboy reader Dan used Pokémon to quit smoking. If there's anything we've learned from Dan's inspiring story, it's that the best way to curb an addiction is to replace it with another. We then decided that we wanted to help more of our fine readers that are suffering from such torments day in and day out. Pokémon may cure smoking, but what about other plaguing ailments? We're happy to say that after months of testing on monkeys and small children, we've finally come up with a few perfect video game cures.So, look no further than Dr. DS Fanboy, and check out our ultimate self-help guide to find the fixes for your addictions. Master that addiction!
Third time is finally a charm
We've got our hands on some kind of confirmation (after a scare) that Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations is actually coming to Europe. Despite bunging it up just a little bit, fans of the series still wanted to wait around for the conclusion of the original trilogy -- before enjoying the adventures of a new young hotshot attorney with everything to prove.In an official Nintendo interview, producer Minae Matsukawa stated outright that the team is "in the middle of localizing it right now." It's playable, and they just need to make some final adjustments on the text. After that, it should be all systems go for Europe, in multiple languages.The only problem? Still no release date, which is all kinds of suck. Non-English-speaking fans will have to put up with the wait just a little longer, while all others might be better off shopping around online. Then again, if you go through those channels, you've probably done it already. Good for you!%Gallery-3478%[Via Aussie-Nintendo]
Germany summons Phoenix Wright 3 from the ashes
There's a light at the end of the tunnel in the ongoing European Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations saga. The good news is that those of you in Europe might be getting the game after all. While we're sure many of you English speakers have already imported Phoenix's final foray into law, people without English proficiency (and folks who just hate importing) have been unfairly deprived of this gem. Not only that, but some gamers are waiting to buy Apollo Justice until they get to play the third title in the series.The German version of the ESRB (known as the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle) has recently rated the game for a multi-language release, though, meaning that Capcom hasn't forgotten about your poor little Europeans. So, just hold tight -- you won't have to endure these trials and tribulations much longer, we hope.%Gallery-3478%[Via Siliconera]
Has Phoenix Wright 3 been removed from the docket in Europe?
Capcom released Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney in Europe last week despite the fact that its predecessor, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations has yet to come out. We thought it was bad enough when the games were being released out of order, but now two pieces of tenuous evidence suggest that Phoenix Wright 3 may not see a European release at all.The first (less convincing) sign is that Apollo Justice's (loud) Nintendo Europe webpage has the string "AceAttorney3" in its URL. That doesn't really mean that the third Ace Attorney game isn't happening, rather that Apollo Justice is the third Ace Attorney game to be released, and that whoever created the URL didn't save a space for the real AA3.More troubling is the fact that there is a site for Trials and Tribulations, but there are no longer any links to it. Could this point to a cancellation? Court Records members speculate that T&T would get a higher PEGI content rating than the other Ace Attorney games, and because of that, Capcom wouldn't benefit from releasing it. In any case, both the U.S. and Japan have cheap and plentiful Trials and Tribulationses. Feel free to partake![Thanks, Maz!]
Nintendo Channel: New week, new demos
Will the line-up of DS demos available on the Wii's Nintendo Channel change every week? We're not sure, but it's starting to look like it; at least, some of the demos available have been rotated out in favor of fresh meat. If you were looking for something that was previously available, it might just be gone. Lesson? Download quickly rather than putting it off, because the demo you want may just disappear!Peek past the break for the current list of available demos -- you may be surprised at what you'll find!
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/28-5/4
We realized today that we don't know Japan as well as we thought we did. With our reasoning, a new Gundam game + the popularity of the DS = cha-ching. While the debuting Emblem of Gundam had decent sales for its first week, though, taking the twelfth spot isn't all that impressive -- especially since there was only one new release cluttering up the top ten. On the other hand, We're Fossil Diggers, Pokemon Ranger, and the Taiko Drum Master DS sequel continued to shine, giving the DS a nice piece of top ten representation. Batonnage managed to reach the half-million mark, while the other two games neared 100,000 copies sold.For hardware, DS numbers went up since last week, but the handheld is still convincingly behind the PSP and Wii in recent sales. If you want to see the numbers, though, just click past the break. You can check out the software listings there, too.
Phoenix Wright: Asset Attorney
We couldn't help but laugh at VG Cats' recent tribute to the Ace Attorney series. Those of you who've never played a Phoenix Wright game will find this strip confusing (and downright scary), but those of you who are fans of Capcom's lawyering franchise will certainly enjoy it. That is, once you recover from seeing Edgeworth and the Judge in a way that might traumatize you.Just click on the image above to see the strip in full. Also, check here to see an alternate version of the comic (it's the same strip, but with a different final frame).
DS releases for the week of May 5th
This week is certainly interesting, if not packed with releases. Here in the U.S., we get our hands on Nintendo's answer to the DS crossword title, and our pals in Europe will be spending a little quality time with that ace attorney Apollo Justice. Japan, however, is taking a holiday. Brain Voyage Crosswords DS Speed Racer Travel past the jump to see what's cooking in the rest of the major markets.
Gyakuten Kenji trailer: now more visible, full of old friends
We first posted the introductory trailer for Capcom's new Ace Attorney spinoff, Gyakuten Kenji, in the form of a video recording made at the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert. We figured it would be a lot more exciting if you could actually see and hear it. That's how it worked out for us, anyway. And should you even want to read it, diligent Court Records forum members have translated the text.You barely get to see the game in action (Edgeworth walks from one spot to another spot!), but what you do get to see is a rush of half-shadowed characters from Ace Attorney history. Franziska von Karma, Ema Skye, the bellboy from the Gatewater Hotel, Wendy Oldbag, the Steel Samurai, Officer Mike Meekins, Maggey Byrde, Lotta Hart, and Cody Hackins all fly into the screen before the mysterious new character makes her appearance. Reminders of the past storylines, or characters slated to reappear? We'll need to gather more evidence before we can make any judgments!Hit the break for another trailer, this time focused entirely on the ascot-clad lawyer's courtroom prowess.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/21-4/27
Not only did the PSP gain momentum with the hideous brown, er, we mean shiny bronze model that released in Japan last week, but the Wii also beat out its portable cousin, sending the DS to third place in hardware sales: PSP: 92,411 Wii: 48,796 Nintendo DS: 42,435 PlayStation 3: 9,107 PlayStation 2: 7,108 Xbox 360: 1,283 DS software fared better, though, with two new releases gracing the coveted top ten. Taiko Drum Master: 7 Islands' Adventure was the shining star of the week, reaching almost 56,000 sales. Summon Night gets an honorary mention, though, as it debuted in the fifth spot.To check out the other new releases and software placings, just keep on reading ... forever.
Gyakuten Kenji devs vaguely discuss their game
Court Records forum user 'Tuesday' has generously translated a recent Famitsu interview with a trio of senior figures from the Gyakuten Kenji team, including Director Tsuyoshi Yamazaki, Character Designer Tatsurou Iwamoto, and Producer Motohide Eshiro.Because Capcom seems to be hellbent on keeping much of Gyakuten Kenji shrouded in mystery for as long as possible, there's a fair few "we can't comment on that"-style remarks in the piece. That said, we do learn more about the timeline -- Eshiro reckons that the game is set "around Gyakuten Saiban 3 [Trials and Tribulations], I suppose," while Yamazaki observes that Edgeworth is "no longer the jerk in Gyakuten Saiban 1, but the one whose mind is changing, thanks to his battles with Wright." Elsewhere, there's a confirmation that "some popular characters" from the Gyakuten Saiban universe will have parts to play (but guess what: they can't say who).Oh, and a surprisingly large portion of the article is dedicated to discussion about Edgeworth's running. In what is a first for the series, Gyakuten Kenji will have players directly controlling Edgeworth as he moves around various crime scenes, and it sounds as though the team really agonized over getting this new Edgeworth to look right. This even extends to the lawyer's running animations, which Eshiro describes as "graceful, while exerting effort." We're not sure Iwamoto is totally convinced yet, however, as he thinks Edgeworth looks like he's "walking really fast accidentally." Actually, that sums up our comical running styles pretty well.%Gallery-20451%[Thanks, Chris!]
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/14-4/20
Something caused a Phoenix Wright sales revival, and we suspect it was the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert (which was also a Gyakuten Kenji hype event). Both the first and second Gyakuten Saiban games for the DS ended up in the top thirty this week.Newcomer We're Fossil Diggers (a second-party effort by RED Entertainment that actually sounds really fun, at least to the dinosaur lovers in us) deserves all the glory, though. Debuting at third place, this unique piece of software did rather well for itself in its first week.Besides the same old games that have been showing up in the charts for the past few weeks, the other notable is Square-Enix's dull-sounding bookkeeping game. It seems like a rather niche title to end up in the top thirty, but who knows -- maybe a lot of Japanese folks are getting ready to take the Level 3 Bookkeeping exam. Or, maybe they just can't resist a game by the beloved Squeenix.To see all the placings and numbers for yourselves, just click on past the break.
European dates for Etrian Odyssey, LOL, Pokemon Explorers
News of a European release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl has dominated coverage of Nintendo's latest European release schedule, but there are a number of tasty morsels on the list for DS owners.For a start, the continent will finally be getting Atlus roguelike Etrian Odyssey, and it's about time -- lest we forget, the title made its U.S. debut last May! Notably, there are also dates (of varying specificity) for Race Driver: GRID (May), the new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games (July 4th), New International Track & Field (Q2 2008), and Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? (June), the European version of Cooking Navi. "ArchimDS" appears on the list as well, though we presume this refers to LOL, or Bakushow as it'll be known in Euroland.Add all of those to this morning's Final Fantasy IV announcement, and Europe has quite the line-up of games to look forward to. Check past the break for the full list!
Gyakuten Kenji's mysterious girl revealed (sort of)
"Ohhhhhh-a-ohh-a-ohh, mysterious girl, I wanna get close to you."We don't usually kick off the week with a spot of Peter Andre, but the Australian warbler's hit seemed mildly appropriate today, seeing as Ace Attorney spin-off Gyakuten Kenji (Turnabout Prosecutor) has a mysterious girl of its own. The shadowy figure to the right appeared on the most recent cover of Nintendo Dream alongside Miles Edgeworth and Detective Gumshoe, and has immediately set tongues wagging in the Ace Attorney fan community.Cruelly, the magazine remains tight-lipped about who or what she is, revealing only her age (seventeen), and that she is a "major character." Could she be an assistant to Edgeworth, as Maya was to Phoenix? That seems most likely to us. We'll tell you who we most of us would like her to be, however: Edgeworth's love interest. The collective howl from the lawyer's legion of female admirers would be deafening (yet amusing).Turnabout past the break for some snippets of scans.Read: Nintendo Dream scans (scroll halfway down)Read: Direct-feed screenshots from scans%Gallery-20451%
Ace Attorney orchestra awesomeness meets Gyakuten Kenji trailer
The Ace Attorney series is dear to our hearts, so when any information crosses the intertubes regarding Capcom's lawyering games, we foam at the mouth like rabid raccoons. Today's tidings regard both the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert, which took place in Tokyo, and the upcoming spin-off title starring Miles Edgeworth. As much as we love Gyakuten Saiban and its music, we obviously weren't able to able to drag ourselves to Japan for what we're sure was an awesome concert. From what we understand, though, the CDs that you see so deliciously stacked in the video above will be made available for purchase on July 16th. Do want. Also in the video (around the 4:00 minute mark) is a trailer for Edgeworth's game, called Gyakuten Kenji in case you haven't been keeping up (for shame!). The trailer is mostly just moving versions of screens we've already seen, but it also features a new character that will be showing up Check after the break to see some promotional photos for Gyakuten Kenji, some artwork from the event (want!), and some Gyakuten Saiban swag, including an orchestra-themed tumbler (want want!) and even Snackoos (want want want!). %Gallery-20451%
DS Fanboy community project: Muxtape
This may be a little off the beaten path, but we here at DS Fanboy stumbled across the DIY-online-mixtape site, muxtape, recently, and we've had a lot of fun putting together and sharing our creations. So much fun, in fact, that we decided to try to bring everyone in on it. By everyone, we mean you, our beloved readers. Create (if you haven't already) your own muxtape and share it in the comments! We've created two for you to enjoy: DJFanboy: game and game-inspired music DJFanboy2: a selection of blogger favorites -- get to know us better! And you know there's some Ace Attorney music represented. Take your objections to that one elsewhere!
.jpg.cf.jpg)
Gyakuten Kenji is now easier on the eyes
Is squinting at tiny pictures in scans just not your thing? In case you want to save your eyesight for purposes that don't involve looking at Miles Edgeworth, we've posted some nicely-sized game screens here that you can peruse at your leisure. We've also collected some Gyakuten Kenji game art, since we're just that awesome -- although, you might recognize the illustrations if you've already visited the game's official website.The art can be seen in the gallery below, but make sure to click past the break if you want to see the rest of the Famitsu screens.%Gallery-20451%
Turnabout website
Capcom just launched the official website for Gyakuten not Saiban (officially called Gyakuten Kenji, or Turnabout Prosecutor), which is one of our most anticipated spin-off games ever. So far, there are no goodies available at the site, but you can still check it out if you want to see Edgeworth's giant face and a minuscule amount of game art.Aside from the magenta-coated prosecutor and everyone's favorite bumbling detective (Gumshoe), who will both be featured in the game, what characters do you hope to see make an appearance?[Via Gemaga]
DS Daily: Taking the lead
News that Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is to get his very own Gyakuten Saiban game was greeted by much hollering in the DS Fanboy dungeons. A number of our staff have genuine fixations about the brooding, dandified lawyer, and they're not alone.But now Edgey has his own game, which other secondary characters do you reckon deserve the same treatment? We'd rather you didn't say Luigi, as that's a bit obvious, and anyone calling for Luke of Professor Layton fame plainly deserves an electrified cattle prod to the face. Those two aside, choose away.
