shikigami-no-shiro-iii
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A large formation of Castle Shikigami III videos approaches
In case you can't tell all the Wii shooters apart, Castle of Shikigami III is one of the few that comes on a disc, and the one in which you play a flying butler. That should help you keep them straight. Here's a handy mnemonic device: butler. It's apparently coming out next week (we hope for real, as all three of the shooters that were supposed to have come out this week have been delayed), and in anticipation of its release, IGN has posted five gameplay videos. We've picked the most butlery for the place of honor atop this post, and embedded the rest after the break. Be sure to check the last video for some weird fourth-wall breaking!
Get cheap Freeloader fodder at Play-Asia
Play-Asia has just started their "Easter Egg" sale, which is actually a sale on video games (though Play-Asia may sell you an egg if you ask). Most of the things they sell (released more than 30 days ago) are 20% off. The Freeloader isn't included, but lots of import games to play using the Freeloader are. It may be a little harder to find excellent deals on the Wii, as opposed to something like the DS which is bursting with deals, but we've found a few interesting items in our brief browse.Shikigami no Shiro III - $35.92Mario Strikers Charged - $19.92Miburi & Teburi - $39.92Crazy Climber Wii - $31.92Oneechanbara Revolution - $ 47.92NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (US version) - $39.92And, why not, Fishing Rod Advance - $3.19It's definitely worth looking around yourself. Play-Asia's selection is vast.
Taking out the trash in Castle of Shikigami III
Aksys Games' Shikigami no Shiro III may not have enjoyed amazing first-day sales in Japan, but we're still glad it's coming to North America. If you're clueless to the whole thing here, hit up the video above. Basically, you just shoot the crap out of everything in sight. We're sure there's more to it than that, but we really don't care. Shooting things is enough for us.%Gallery-11810%
Rumor: Wii games face disappointing first day sales in Japan
This seems to be becoming a trend, but the handful of Wii games that were released this week in Japan are reported to have had poor first day sales. They were all third-party titles, which is also somewhat worrisome. Here's a look at the numbers: Chocobo's Dungeon (Square Enix) - 30,000 (30% sell through of initial amount shipped) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Sega) - 7,000 (10% sell through) Soul Calibur Legends (Bandai Namco) - 5,000 (10% sell through) We Love Golf (Capcom) - 4,000 (10% sell through) Shikigami no Shiro III (Arc System Works) - 500 Granted, these are only rumored first day sales, and we'll have to wait until later in the week to get a better grip on the situation, but as of now it doesn't look good.So, what do we make of these numbers? If they're correct, is it bad news for the Wii and third-party developers, or just more evidence that Japan is shying away from console gaming? While the latter is certainly a factor, third parties certainly can't be happy to see low numbers. However, it's way too early to ring a death knell for any of these games, even if these numbers are correct. We'll just have to wait and see how these games perform in the next few weeks.[Via Cubed3]
Aksys shooting Castle of Shikigami III at the U.S.
Aksys Games announced today that they will localize Alfa System's vertical shooter Shikigami no Shiro III as Castle of Shikigami III. The game, featuring 10 characters (who fly around and shoot magical bullet things) will be released in the spring of 2008. It seems that only the Wii version is being localized, and not the Xbox 360 version.We're a little surprised to see a 2D shooter being released in the U.S. outside of the Virtual Console (which is shmupland). But we shouldn't be -- it was published in Japan by Arc System Works, and Aksys seems to have swept up all of their Nintendo content for localization. Just to be clear, we are thrilled about that. Check out the press release after the break and enjoy our gallery of brightly-colored, confusing screens!
Shikigami no Shiro III: a shooter with the human touch
The Shikigami no Shiro series is pretty weird, for a number of reasons: first, the truly off-putting budget US release with the generic Charlie's Angels boxart; second, that the latest iteration of a shooter series is being released in 2007 at all; but most importantly, and most pertinent to actual gameplay, that Shikigami no Shiro III includes a variety of characters, in the same vein as a fighting game. That the game is being released on the Wii seems fairly standard for a shooter, if anything could be "standard" about a modern entry in this classic genre.The latest screenshots show the basic projectiles fired by some of the characters. Yes, you play as a flying human in this game, and not a spaceship or multi-headed dragon. That's something. We can't wait to float around as the classy Munchausen and shoot crystals from our outstretched hands. We can only assume that he's fresh from washing single handkerchiefs in a cocktail shaker.
