Text Adventure
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Anime homage to Phoenix Wright
In this episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the characters find themselves at a turnabout dinner table, trying to get to the bottom of a mystery. If you've played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (and you really, really should have), you may spot some awfully familiar mannerisms that give the homage away.[Thanks BPM!]
WoW: The Text Adventure
This Wired column takes a sideways look at WoW, re-imagining it in the form of a text adventure. It's an excellent parody of some of the gameplay mechanics we've come to know and love, but I find it interesting for other reasons too.Having managed to log over ten days of play in a MUD character in the past (my WoW habit now puts that to shame), I wonder if the addictiveness of text-based multiplayer gameplay is often underestimated by those who joined the game when graphics were the de facto standard. After all, a great deal of the social interaction in WoW is done via text, even in this age of emotes and stunning visuals--that addictive social factor was a huge part of what kept me playing the MUD, and what keeps me playing WoW.
WoW reimagined as a text adventure
Lore Sjöberg, formerly of Brunching Shuttlecocks, has reimagined massively multiplayer online role-playing juggernaut World of Warcraft as... what else? A text adventure! It begins:"You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully. There is an elf with an exclamation point above her head here.>Talk elf"Alas," she says. "There is a great darkness upon the land. Fifty years ago the Dwarf Lord Al'ham'bra came upon the Dragon Locket in the Miremuck Caverns. He immediately recognized the ..."> Click Accept"Hey," the elf protests. "This is important expository. Azeroth is a rich and storied land, with a tapestry of interwoven ..."> Click Accept"Good stuff. When will the practice of reinterpreting things as text adventures get old? (Don't answer that if you disagree!)See also:Gamers respond with Thompson text-adventuresHamlet - The Text AdventureIraq war as text (mis)adventure[Via Boing Boing]
More Phoenix Wright copies on the way?
If you've been reading this site for a while, you'll know that at just about every available opportunity, we tend to go on and on about how wonderfully hilarious the DS lawyer-em-up, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, is. You'd also be aware that the game has sadly become increasingly hard to track down (especially online). Seemingly discontinued, availability of the title has become more and more anemic, just as demand for it has become more and more ravenous. Well, relief may be in sight, as online retailer National Console Support reports that more stock is on the way. The game's page says that a new production run of the game is scheduled to arrive at the end of March. Interestingly enough, the game's European release also happens to be scheduled for the end of March. Seeing as National Console Support deals with import titles, it might not be out of line to suggest that this new production is, in fact, referring to the forthcoming influx of European copies. If this is indeed the case, the game's US shortage will likely continue. At least it'll give a few more people another chance at getting their hands on one of the DS' top titles, provided they can put up with absolutely dreadful European box art. [Thanks Jenny!]
Phoenix Wright discontinued?
There's a nasty rumor going around that Capcom's hilarious text-based courtroom adventure, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, has been discontinued. This comes as a bit of a surprise, as the game was well received by critics and has enjoyed excellent word of mouth. It's still just a rumor, but our own in-depth investigation (we browsed the internet a bit) has turned up some grim evidence.Exhibit A: The game is no longer available at EBgames.com.Exhibit B: At Gamestop, it's "back ordered".Exhibit C: Phoenix Wright is mysteriously absent from the DS page at Capcom's online store.Exhibit D: The one-legged, one-eyed homeless man heard from a friend's sister-in-law's psychic aunt that this was going to happen. He gladly exchanged this information with us in return for a half-eaten Oreo. Do you OBJECT! to these claims of a Phoenix Wright scarcity? If so, give us some details on where you've seen hundreds of copies lining the shelves. If not, let us know if you've had trouble finding the game in your area.
