Zack-and-Wiki
Latest
Friday Video: Zack, Wiki, and hats
After this promo for Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, we just may be buying a ticket on the hype train. Not only is this trailer long and content-rich (in fact, those who don't like to see a lot from a game may want to watch only the beginning), but it's full of hilarious cartoon clichés. We just couldn't resist a chance to show off adorable pirates in this week's video spotlight. [Via GoNintendo]
Zack and Wiki on ice
Some kind of Ice World may be standard fare for video games, but the one in Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at least has looks going for it. The cartoony art style found throughout the game lends the ice level a beautiful, clean appearance that is enhanced by the bright blues used to render the ice. But that's just our opinion, of course. The latest screens from Capcom's pirate adventure also highlight (get it) the multiplayer screen-writing mode, which nobody will ever use for its intended purpose, ever. We still love it, because we like being childish. For more Zack and Wiki, check Dengeki for a new WMV video of the game.
Zack and Wiki inspired by Princess Tomato
That's not the entire message of Chris Kohler's interview with Hironobu Takeshita, producer of Zack and Wiki: Quest for etc., but it's the part that makes us grin the most. When Takeshita mentioned that the game was indeed inspired by classic adventure games, Kohler asked which games in particular were most influential. Apparently this has been the subject of some conversation between Takeshita and the game's director, Eiichiro Sasaki (who did Power Stone!). He cited the following games: " Princess Tomato In The Salad Kingdom, and (obscure, horrible-looking Japanese adventure game) Dezeniland. Also Spelunker, which is that game where you die really quickly." Spelunker, it would seem, got the team to consider how death would work in the game; Takeshita goes on to talk about the system of buying continues with tokens, and restarting at a particular puzzle. It's comforting to know that the guys in charge of this title have some experience with classic adventure games-- maybe they'll have learned what works in an adventure game, and what kind of illogical puzzles and game-ending mistakes don't work. The interview also covers We Love Golf, and gives some information about how swinging the club actually works in that game. As expected, it's significantly more complicated than Wii Sports Golf.
TGS07: Scribbling mustaches on Zack and Wiki
Game|Life's hands-on impressions of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at the Tokyo Game Show uncovered a pretty interesting pseudo-multiplayer feature: up to three of your friends can draw on the screen with their remotes. They'll be able to direct you to clues, point out characters that resemble C-list celebrities, and doodle enlarged genitalia over every square inch of the adventure title. Remember when you used to watch your friends or siblings play a video game while you idly waited your turn? Unless they were playing something like Sonic 2, you didn't have much to do except hope that they would died soon, both in the game and in real life. Now you'll have something else besides murderous plots to keep your mind busy! Capcom's effort to turn spectators into participants really speaks a lot of the developer's commitment to making Zack & Wiki as fun as possible for everyone.
Zack & Wiki: Quest for some wallpapers and stuff
The website for everyone's favorite kid-friendly Wii pirate adventure game that features a magical monkey and is made by Capcom (that's a fairly safe statement) has updated with things to do and see. You can download some desktop wallpapers and chat-program buddy icons, enjoy some screenshots and video of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, and read about the game. Our favorite part of the website, however, is the activities page. It contains a maze, a connect-the-dots picture, a little web game, and a printable template for a paper hat. It's like going to Long John Silver's, but slightly less delicious and much less likely to kill you! [Via Capcom USA Blog]
Zack and Wiki steal their own section of the internet
The official site for Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure has launched and looks are deceiving. We say that because upon loading up the front page, it really does look like a treasure trove of content awaits the eager clicker. The truth is more disturbing. At the moment, the site lacks just about anything to do, save staring at the front page. It taunts us with a "coming soon" message when scrolling over its different sections, including video, downloads and screens. So, just keep it bookmarked and check it so often if you're anxious for new Zack & Wiki content. [Via Go Nintendo]
LGC07 hands-on: Zack & Wiki
Throughout the '90s many of our favorite PC gaming experiences were point-and-click adventures: Discworld, Monkey Island, King's Quest VI, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max, to name a few. Sadly, with the development of 3D graphics the old 2D point-and-click gameplay mechanic was left behind. Grim Fandango is the only game, in our opinion, to successfully carry over the formula into 3D. Enter Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, the out-of-left-field hit which promises to resurrect the point-and-click gameplay of yesteryear. Tucked away in the back corner of Nintendo's press-only booth stood a single Zack & Wiki display kiosk to which no one was paying any attention (having to walk past various Pokémon, Mario and Metroid stands to get there might have something to do with it). This worked in our favor, however, as we had time to play a few levels before anyone else turned up. %Gallery-2568%
Straight outta Leipzig, a crazy mofo named Zack (and Wiki)
It's not Lowcash and they aren't CB4, but we bet Zack & Wiki can still hold it down with the best of them. From all we've seen, they can definitely get themselves out of a jam. That has to make them gangsta, right? Well, regardless of how you feel, here's the newest trailer for the game (focusing on the different ways you can use the Wiimote to interact with your environment) to supplement those new screens we saw last week. %Gallery-3283%
Yet more Zack & Wiki screens for you to ogle
At this rate, we're pretty sure we may see every inch of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure before it ever touches a shelf. It seems that not only is the hype out of control for Capcom's latest adventure title, but the media is as well. We've updated our already-expansive gallery with some new shots. Maybe if you print 'em out and make a flip book, you can get an early preview. Or you could just get radical and watch a video. %Gallery-3283%
Wii Warm Up: Zack & Wiki
So, are you on the hype train for Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure? We know there are a lot of pirate fans out there -- and we like YARRRring as much as anyone else -- but we just aren't Matt C.-ing ourselves for this one. Not to say that we won't be puzzling it up come October, but it's hard to put it on top of our wishlists for the fall with everything else that's coming out for our favored systems. We love to hear what you think, though!
New Zack & Wiki video may not offend you
Unless overacting disgusts you, there's nothing here to get upset about. Capcom seems to be marketing Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure as a party adventure game, which, it seems, is an interesting shift for a genre that has always been about solitary play. They aren't going so far as implementing a multiplayer mode, but this video is set up like any other Wii game commercial: a bunch of people having fun together. We used to play single-player games with others around, but try as we might, we could never get them that interested in what we were doing. Even when we totally found the sailors in Shenmue, we couldn't elicit a couch-hop or even a "waaaaaaaa."
Zack & Wiki censored
Don't worry, it's not a big deal. It's not as if they removed the fatalities* from Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. Capcom, responding to complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, removed a short sound sample from the game, because it contained the phrase "Allahu akbar," which means "God is the greatest." We'd love to understand the thinking that led to religious speech being included in the soundtrack to the children's pirate adventure game. We're sure it was just included to give the game an "exotic" feeling. We're glad Capcom removed the offending sample, else they could have pulled a Kakuto Chojin-- by which we mean "get recalled because of inappropriate Islam-related sound samples," not "be a crappy fighting game." *There aren't any, we're pretty sure.
Joystiq hands-on: Zack & Wiki
Here's the scenario: the treasure chest is overhead and guarded by a wall of fire that can be deactivated once you fill a statue full of water using a seemingly unreachable fountain below. Capcom's Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is a fun game that is almost guaranteed to be ignored because of its cartoonish visuals. And it's a shame, too, because we had a lot of fun. The motion controls of Wii remote are used extensively. Movement is done via pointing our protagonist to objects he can interact with. Creatures can be turned into useful items -- here a column that can be used to fill a birdge and plug a lava hold. Our favorite little detail came with using the empty bottle. We couldn't figure out how to draw water from the well until we actually turned our wrist over and filled up the bottle as if we were in real life. It's not a megaton feature, but it certainly shows the attention to detail being taken with the title. We're not going to start a campaign to buy the game, but we'd definitely recommend you check it out. Zack & Wiki is a great example of how to utilize the Wii remote and a smart adventure / puzzler. The game is due out later this year. %Gallery-2568%
Capcom reveals Zack & Wiki story in press release
We didn't know much about the story for Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure except for the obvious ("Hey, treasure! Dude, let's quest for it!") Thankfully, Capcom detailed some of the plot in a press release about the game. Zack & Wiki involves a young pirate named Zack who happens upon the talking skull of the legendary pirate Barbaros. And, like anyone who finds a magically animated skull, Zack decides to do what it tells him. Luckily, it tells him to go on an adventure leading to treasure, which is courteous for a hallucination/undead pirate. The full press release is after the break. The skull says READ IT! And the animated skull of Matt Casamassina says BUY THE GAME!
IGN conducting the Zack & Wiki hype train
IGN's Matt Casamassina wants you to buy Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. Is he communicating this by being effusive in his previews? Not exactly. He outright wrote an article called "Buy Zack & Wiki Campaign 2007." He goes on to say that the last time IGN shattered the illusion of objectivity to promote a game (our words) was for Eternal Darkness. Because Zack & Wiki is such a competent and fun game, reminiscent of the classic PC adventure games, it is absolutely worth buying and evangelizing, in his opinion, but it may need help getting noticed. Bafflingly, Casamassina thinks that the game could be in sales trouble because it's cartoony and doesn't depict realistic, gritty violence. That may have been the case a couple of years ago, but ... has he heard of this "Wii" thing?
Zack and Wiki's wacky puzzle technique
Capcom's adorable treasure-hunting adventure Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure uses the Wiimote in context-sensitive orientations and movements to solve puzzles. Different items use the Wiimote in different ways. The trick is that it doesn't seem to tell the player how the Wiimote is to be used in a particular situation. In this example found on GAME Watch, players are asked to insert a crank handle into a mechanism and then operate the crank. How you get the thing in there is a matter of figuring out which side goes in and then manipulating the Wiimote in some way to make that happen. Rather than just telling us how to do it, GAME Watch gave readers the choice above for the proper method. We're guessing temporary swinging. This example seems simple enough, but we can see how not knowing how to use the Wiimote will amplify the difficulty of some puzzles. We've also filled our gallery with new treasures from the game. Yarrr. %Gallery-3283%
Project Treasure Island Z for Wii renamed extravagantly
Oh, and if you're like us and pronounce the "Z" as "zed", you just completely ruined the headline. Never mind, the importance of the information about to be conveyed far outweighs such a triviality. In a quick e-mail blast, Capcom has announced that the Wii's gesture-based puzzle adventure game, Project Treasure Island Z, has been been given the final title of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. It's undoubtedly an improvement, especially from a marketing perspective. A glance at the name tells us all we need to know: The game stars two wacky and lovable characters. You know, just like Jak & Daxter, Sonic & Mario and, err, Kane & Lynch! It involves a quest! For treasure! That belongs to someone else! This is sure to be a major hit with the GTA crowd. %Gallery-2568%
Joystiq hands-on: Project Treasure Island Z (Wii)
Officially unveiled at Capcom's San Francisco Gamer's Day, Project Treasure Island Z is scheduled for a Fall, 2007 Wii release. (The title's name may change before then.) The adventure/puzzle game is based on many -- Capcom says 80 -- different Wii Remote gestures, like twisting keys and scooping water. After playing the game, I'm interested in its final version; Capcom seems to be living up to its innovation-and-risk ideal. Gamers, especially the American audience, will first notice the risky kiddie graphic and character style in the single-player-only game. Project Treasure Island Z has a lot of substance beneath that saccharine layer, but Capcom faces a significant challenge in selling the game to older players. I asked about the target audience and age for the title, and a company representative admitted that it skewed young at first glance. However, she mentioned that Capcom will work to market the game to a broader group, including hardcore, dual-system gamers. After getting past the graphics, I picked up the Remote -- the only means to control the game -- and swung into action. I moved my character by pointing and clicking on-screen. "Zack" (no relation) interacted with the environment when I clicked on objects. But the point of Project Treasure Island Z is the method of those interactions. %Gallery-2568%
