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Six of our favorite Media Summit videos
You've already had the chance to examine scores of wonderful screens from new Wii games announced at the Nintendo Media Summit. This new post is dedicated to displaying thousands of more screens (squashed together to create videos) of some of the bigger titles that have been shown at the event.We settled on placing Nintendo's official Punch-Out!! trailer at the top of this post, but could have easily led with some truly fantastic Sin & Punishment 2 footage, an impressive tech demo of The Conduit, or Yuji Naka's wacky-looking Let's Tap. Instead, all of those (and more) are past the break, and need to be viewed right now. Before you go, though, one final note: if any game released this year has a funkier soundtrack than Let's Tap, we'll be gobsmacked.
DS Fanboy's Media Summit screen round-up
The worst bit about big industry events for impatient bloggers and readers? The game assets. Oh Lordy, the assets. An absolute landslide of screens, usually scattered about across, ooh, dozens of pages. But not at DS Fanboy! Not on our watch! Because we wub you, readers, we've collected a big old stack of new screens for your viewing pleasure and placed them all after the break of just one post. This post, in fact. From the well-known to the obscure, we'd be amazed if there's not at least one game that appeals to everyone past that line of blue text. Mario & Luigi 3, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (right), Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel, Shining Force Feather, and Picross 3D is only scratching the surface, so make the jump!
New Final Fantasy lets DS and Wii gamers play at the same time
Fans of Square Enix and their Final Fantasy line of games are in for a treat. The company revealed in the latest issue of Shonen Jump magazine that it's developing a new installment in its Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series of games. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is a game that will release on the DS and Wii on January 29th. Also, it will allow DS gamers and Wii gamers to play together online. How neat is that?Nothing in the way of exact functionality is explained, other than the prospect of transferring your Mii from the Wii version of the game to the DS title (and the previously mentioned co-op). We'll provide more information as it's made available.
Square Enix reveals new Final Fantasy for Wii
The latest issue of Shonen Jump magazine in Japan details a new game from Square Enix in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles franchise, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Other than having a ridiculously long name, the title will allow DS and Wii gamers to play alongside each other at the same time online. It will even allow you to transfer your Mii from the Wii version of the game to the DS version!The game has a release date of January 29th listed and when more info is made available, we'll update you all. Who's excited for some more Final Fantasy on Wii?[Via Final Fantasy Union]
No more DLC planned for My Life as a King
FFCC: My Life as a King's director, Kenichiro Yuji, commented to 1UP that fans of My Life as a King (and fans of spending money on DLC) aren't going to get downloads anytime soon. "All DLC has been available since May 30. That's everything for now, and we have no plans for future DLC at the moment." So much for more downloadable bikini outfits!How many of you have picked up some DLC for My Life as a King? Want more? Could care less?%Gallery-12067%
Developers dish on My Life as a King on the Nintendo Channel
While we do love all different kinds of trailers and videos to spaz up our normally dull internet lives, we really appreciate when we come away with something useful after watching one. That's why we love developer's diaries, especially ones that involve the beloved Square Enix, and especially when said Squeenix game is WiiWare's My Life as a King. With the exception of the almost monotonous voice-over work, we found the video and the tidbits of info offered interesting. Note, though, that we're still a little bitter about the "content updates," which is the developers' euphemism for "Square Enix maiming our wallets for stuff that should have been included in the first place." Nothing else too special hit the video channel, aside from some previews of upcoming games. Here's the full list, though, for you to judge: Developer's Voice - FFCC: My Life as a King (embedded above) SPOGS Racing Info Video Get Wii Fit with Alyson: Strength Training We Love Golf! Info Video LEGO Indiana Jones Info Video Little League World Series 2008 Info Video Final Fantasy IV Info Video (DS) Soul Bubbles Info Video (DS)
Life as a King gets harder every day
It's easy adding a bunch of content to pretty up your Life as a King, but the latest details for the new Japanese additions are anything but cosmetic. For a price of 300 Wii Points, Infinite Tower is a tough dungeon with plenty of infinitely awesome treasure to find. The Library (200 Points) allows you to teach species-specific abilities and includes an extra dungeon.Finally, Castle Reform (100 Points) lets you change adventurers names and adds the Temporary Estuary Dungeon. Three content-heavy updates for a grand total of 600 Wii Points. Nothing superficial there .. except that bikini for Chime and new clothes for King Leo -- 100 Points each. Well, lives of kings can't all be explore'n and build'n.%Gallery-12067%
Wii Fanboy Weekly: June 5 - June 11
Before you question how you're able to read Shigeru Miyamoto's thoughts (let alone visualize them in a speech bubble in clear, easy-to-read text), we would like to ask you about your thoughts on Wii Fit? Do you have it? Want it, but can't find it? The latter story seems to be the one most can identify with right now, so we figured we'd compile a list of some alternatives, which consist of past combinations of gaming and exercise (exergaming, if you will), along with a little bit of our own flair tossed in.Oh, and for those of you who enjoy free stuff, check out our latest Virtually Free giveaway. We're hooking one person up with My Life as a King. Features Wii Fanboy Review: My Pokemon RanchCheck out our review and direct-feed video commentary Born for Wii: Panzer Dragoon OrtaWe reimagine the game for Wii Wii Fanboy Review: Actionloop TwistIs this one worth your time, European gamers? We let you know Can't find Wii Fit? Try these alternatives!Our compiled list of alternatives to the hot new exercise bundle Revolutionary: Balance and OptionsColumnist Mike Sylvester churns out another good one Brawl Stage of the WeekOur weekly highlight of user-created stages for the game Virtually Overlooked: Rex Ronan: Experimental SurgeonWe tell you why it should be on the Virtual Console VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 6/9/08Our direct-feed video and commentary to this week's Virtual Console releases in North America Video Content This might be the best Guitar Hero III player everSeriously Current TV on the Wii Fit phenomenonPretty funny skit about Wii Fit How to snap a neck in Tenchu IVSurprisingly easy! A new habit for nunsEveryone is into Nintendo's latest console News of Note Best Buy replenishes Wii Fit, Karate Kid stockBut when will they clear all those Fast & Furious DVDs out? Korea's Wii controllers are a stealDarn cheap to pick up some hardware in Korea WiiWare developer shares rejection letterThey can't all be winners, can they?
My Life in the Everyone's Kingdom website
My Life as a King fan, are you? Then you'll be happy to know that Square Enix created a love-fest site for the game, in which you take a break from being the king and become the adventurer instead.When you first enter the site (assuming you've logged into your Square Enix Member's account), you'll be greeted by a quiz that will determine your job (this blogger sadly conjured up the lamest of the lame jobs, the white mage). Once you have a job and a house, you can dally around the town.Different places in the virtual kingdom let you do various things. At the castle, you can write questions, comments, or thoughts about the game to its developers. Throughout the town you can also check out the bulletin to see the "king's behests," download some goodies (like screen savers), see other members' "houses," and other random stuff.The website is a nice idea for fan service, but to be honest, there's no reason to spend more than five minutes there at the moment. Hopefully Square Enix will add some more neat things to it soon.[Via Destructoid]
Wii Fanboy Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
The Final Fantasy games have sometimes differed wildly from one another in terms of gameplay and look, but they've tended to have one thing in common: a group of adventurers ends up charged with a Very Important Task. With this latest installment, however, you're the one doing the charging. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King turns the whole formula on its head by placing the player in the role of a king who must rebuild and reclaim his country, and the result is the most unusual Final Fantasy yet. My Life as a King is about just that: the tasks a ruler must undertake in order to build up his kingdom. Upon your arrival, there's nothing but walls and a castle, and it's up to you to create neighborhoods, train warriors, and master the surrounding terrain, all from the comfort of your cobblestone streets. %Gallery-12067%
My Impressions as a King
Like a child counting down the days until Christmas, I've been looking forward to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. I'm a sucker for Square Enix anyway, and the prospect of a $15 game (even if there is pricey DLC) was too much to resist. That's why it was so shocking to discover that my first few game days in Padarak were ... well, boring. Everything was very controlled and linear, and I couldn't run around and explore. Instead, I sat through cutscenes explaining more than I wanted to know at that point, when all I wanted to do was flex my new architek power. And then, once I was free, I had very little in the way of resources! Frustrating.Several hours later, since I was still playing, I realized that maybe I wasn't so bored after all. The simple directive of get more stuff sucked me in as soon as I had a free hand with the game, and before I even had time to think, I was obsessed with building up my little kingdom. Without my even realizing it, My Life as a King had gone from boring to fun.%Gallery-12067%
NMS08: Joystiq gets their hands dirty with WiiWare
Besides checking out what retail Wii and DS games Nintendo had available, Joystiq also managed to spend some quality time with WiiWare and a few of its games. The general consensus? It's a mixed bag. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People seems to capture the Flash toon's look and feel, but is fairly linear (at least in the demo available at NMS08). Stern was also able to pry some more info about the episodic nature of the game from the title's marketing director, who said "Each episode, a different designer [is in charge], which is more like they do on TV. ... It's still the same team. [But] it'll be interesting to see how the episodes feel as a result. With Sam & Max, we've had complaints that they feel too similar. We might find with Strong Bad, that each one feels very different." LostWinds is shaping up nicely, apparently, as Stern commented "Because of game's playful controls, I wish I could have spent the time progressing through the entire game." He says this because LostWinds is actually finished, and the folks behind it hope its in the WiiWare launch lineup. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King is more for the folks that like everything outside of the combat in RPG games. It's very menu-heavy, and you're very much like the manager of the game, sending out your townfolk to find goodies to bring back to you. Pop seems to have some very interesting multiplayer mechanics and, like LostWinds, is totally finished. The single-player games are "casual and a trance-like way to relax," apparently. They hope that it will be in the WiiWare launch lineup and between 500 and 800 Wii Points. Major League Eating is offering up a buffet of features for users to take from, including Wi-Fi gameplay and the complete package of competitive eating. There's going to be gross out techniques, as well as actual attack and defensive maneuvers. We're not all about who can eat a billion hot dogs the fastest ourselves, but it looks like this one is shaping up to be a full meal of fun on WiiWare. World of Goo is something that we've been interested in, surely you all know. And everytime someone checks it out and bothers to write something up on the internet, we're even more convinced this is a must download. Stern's label that this title has the "clever puzzle mechanic" and "irresistible gameplay" we've been hoping may have just cemented its status as a must own for us. Read - Major League EatingRead - World of GooRead - LostWindsRead - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a KingRead - PopRead - Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
DS Fanswag: The Ring of Fates awaits
There's nothing we love more than giving you free stuff, particularly when it's something we've enjoyed ourselves. This time, we invite one lucky reader to join twins Yuri and Chelinka (and friends) on their epic quest. All you have to do to win our copy of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates ($39.99) is answer a simple question: what's your favorite DS game from Square Enix (so far)? Legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec) may enter once per day between now and Wednesday, April 9; the contest will end that night at 11:59 PM Eastern time. Please note that, as with most of our contests, you must be 18 or older to enter. Questions? Check the official rules. We'll select one winner in a random drawing on April 10. If you want it to be you, get commenting!
WiiWare Final Fantasy to charge for downloadable races
We've known for a while that Nintendo's just-launched-in-Japan WiiWare service would require an additional fee for some downloadable content. Little did we know that content would include a pretty fundamental part of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.SiliconEra is reporting (via Square's Japanese web site) that players who pay 1,500 Wii Shop Points to purchase the ridiculously-abbreviated FFCC:MLaaK will only have access to one of the game's races. Players wishing to recruit any of the other three races will have to spend 100 to 300 Wii Shop Points to construct a home for them. Players will also be able to lay down real money for new character costumes, which don't seem to have any effect on the gameplay.Given the controversy surrounding the pricing of additional gameplay content for Lumines Live, we can't imagine Wii owners will be happy shelling out 1,500 points for what's essentially an incomplete product. Then again, the wide variety of Final Fantasy collectibles suggests a fan base willing to shell out whatever it takes to get their dose of apocalyptic, Japanese RPG goodness. We'll see soon enough, we suppose.
WRUP: Shooting crystal bugs edition
With three high-profile titles releasing in North America this week, we're having a hard time deciding what game (or games) to pick up for this weekend's promised downtime. Should we go with the tried-and-true formula of shooting everything in sight and get Nanostray 2? Or, should we see about putting on our gumshoes and solving a case or two in Insecticide? Perhaps the more epic quest is in order and we should go with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates? Maybe we should just go with them all?While we try to decide, tell us what you've got going on in your gaming world this weekend. What will you be playing?
Crystal Bearers continued development possibly confirmed
We've been greatly concerned with the fate of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers for the Wii, considering the system needs more RPGs, and certainly a Final Fantasy game (outside of Wii Ware). There have been rumors, however, that the game was canceled, and we've been biting our nails and waiting for news. It looks like we've finally got some, though from an unlikely source: an interview about the latest DS games in the franchise.The staff at Kikizo recently sat down with some of the creative forces behind Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, and in the course of the discussion, the possibility of connectivity between the Wii and DS Crystal Chronicles games came up. Ring of Fates director Mitsuru Kamiyama indicated that the Wii title is, in fact, still in development. We are so very relieved.There's just one problem that sheds a little doubt on the Crystal Bearers reference -- either the Kikizo staff wasn't too familiar with the DS titles, or this is an old interview. There are questions asked about well-known features of both DS games (such as the lack of inclusion of Wi-Fi multiplayer), and we're forced to take the whole thing with a grain or two of salt. However, we're willing to hope that we've just been thrown the tiniest of bones reassuring us that we have a Final Fantasy experience to look forward to beyond what's coming on Wii Ware.[Via GoNintendo]
DS releases for the week of March 17th
This week, there are a lot of DS games headed out all around the globe, but it's particularly a great week for those of you who keep your eyes peeled for interesting Japanese releases. Not the import type? That's okay -- there's a lot of other games to consider, and some that aren't even quite games, per se. Diary Girl Fantasy Aquarium by DS GoPets: Vacation Island Lost in Blue 3 Sega Superstars Tennis
DS Fanboy Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Let me get this out of the way right off: I have always preferred the "older" Final Fantasy games. By that, I don't mean the older titles in the series (my favorites are scattered throughout), but rather, those that feature older main characters. Because of this, I approached Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates with a rumbling feeling of apprehension. It looked good. It sounded much improved, control- and gameplay-wise, over the GameCube's Crystal Chronicles. But would I be able to get into a storyline that revolved around youthful characters?I need not have worried. Ring of Fates boasts a surprisingly rich coming of age story in a world that is beautifully realized and packed with dungeons just waiting to be looted. Even the most hardcore fans, who prefer a traditional Final Fantasy experience, will find little to disappoint here.%Gallery-3462%
WRUP: Many genres edition
This week's release list is pretty darn nice, with a variety of genres being represented in the ranks of new titles available for the DS. RPG junkies get their fix with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, shoot-em-uppers get something new in Nanostray 2 and the niche crime-solving insect genre gets an entry in Insecticide. How's that for a week of releases?Are you picking up a new game? Going to hammer away at something older? What are you playing?%Gallery-3462%
DS releases for the week of March 10th
What a week for DS releases! Of course, in the shadow of a certain release on the Wii side of the Nintendo fence, a big week was probably necessary, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. Though there are only three DS titles scheduled for release, each one has something going for it. How often does that happen? Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Insecticide Nanostray 2 In fact, there's a lot to look forward to all around the world. Europe's scoring Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Bomberman Land Touch! 2, among other titles, and Japan boasts our beloved Contra 4 (there, Dual Spirits), and the hilarious Duel Love. Surely you can find some time to tear yourself away from beatdowns for one of these.
