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Mother 3 fan translation available this week
After almost two years of hard slog, Starmen.net's Mother 3 fan translation patch has finally been completed, and will be released at the end of this week ... a whole month ahead of schedule! That's according to the latest blog entry on the project's site, in which team member Mato records that, "Testing's pretty much over now. Some bugs did turn up over the last few days, but they were all minor and quickly remedied. Some really hard-to-spot typos were also found and fixed."Joyous news indeed, though the patch will require a few other things before it's of any use: namely a slot-2 flashcart, a GBA emulator, and -- cough -- an entirely unauthorized ROM copy of the Japanese game. While we don't condone piracy, a western localization of Mother 3 doesn't exactly look likely at this stage, and we do condone passionate fan projects such as this one. Hit up this FAQ to learn more, and don't forget to check out some beautiful, Anglicized Mother 3 screens.%Gallery-34505%[Thanks, Joel!]
Ready Check: Mother Shahraz
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, it's all about shadow.Six down, three to go. Our next Black Temple boss guide looks at a lady with more arms than should be strictly comfortable, Mother Shahraz.Upon killing the last of the previous three bosses, which can be killed in any order -- Teron Gorefiend, the Reliquary of Souls and Gurtogg Bloodboil -- you'll see a message indicating that the door to the Den of Mortal Delights has been opened. This means it's time to pay a visit to Mother, although you don't need to iron your shirt for this particular drop-in.What you will need, however, is shadow resistance -- and lots of it. The encounter is primarily resistance-based, and requires the epic craftable shadow resistance gear. This in turn requires Hearts of Darkness, which drop from Black Temple (and occasionally Hyjal) trash, so if you've blazed through the instance so far, chances are you won't have enough to kit out your raid group.
The dirt on Cave Story DS, Cave Story-engraved DS
Praised by almost everyone who's played the freeware PC title, Cave Story is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the "Metroidvania" genre, a polished action platformer embellished with endearing characters and a catchy soundtrack. No matter how many times we're reminded of the fact, it always astounds us that the game was designed and developed by a single programmer, Daisuke Amaya, or Pixel, as he's more commonly known. As you might should know, homebrew developer Ravenworks has been working on a DS port for Cave Story. As it turns out, however, Pixel doesn't own a Nintendo DS, so it would be unlikely that he'd be able to play the port once it's completed. In fact, he hasn't owned a handheld or home console since the Nintendo 64! Isn't it a crime nowadays for gamers in Japan to not own a Nintendo DS?To keep Pixel out of jail, Ravenworks and the rest of the "All Things Studio Pixel (ATSP)" LiveJournal community raised $410 and put together a care package of handheld treats as a "thank you" for the DS-less developer's work. Here's everything the group purchased and sent: Onyx Nintendo DS Lite system (laser engraved with Cave Story characters and a message that reads, "Thank you") R4 cart with 2 GB microSD (for playing Cave Story DS! and perhaps DS development one day?) DS carrying case Mother 3 Game Center CX So, how did Pixel take to the package? You can read his reaction, as well as the community's reasons for picking those two particular games for their offering, past the post break! We also used this effort as an excuse to catch up with Ravenworks on Cave Story DS's progress. %Gallery-22693%
The Joystiq Mother's Day Weekend 2008
Happy Mother's day! We were so happy to play ... by gaming hours on Earthbound on our dusty ol' Super Nintendo console. Wait ... wrong mother? Oh well. (Image credit: protozoider) Check out the highlights for today:JoystiqueryJapanese hardware sales, April 28 - May 4: Mothers in gaming editionThis Week in Review visits LittleBigPlanetWeekly Webcomic Wrapup looks up at the starsNewsGears of War 2 gameplay footage debutBioWare drops 10-day validation from Mass Effect PCEA wants you to "Skate It" on Wii and DSEA takes out $1 billion loan for Take-Two acquisitionFacebreaker trailers: Meet the pugilistsMiyamoto: Ocarina of Time could have been in first-person perspectiveGamecock's Wilson announces candidacy for ESA presidentAmazon and Gamestop offering God of War III pre-orders, claim March 2 releaseRumors & SpeculationRumor: Kid Icarus Wii details, concept art revealedCulture & CommunityGamePolitics speaks with federal game bill sponsor, ESA deems bill unconstitutionalIkea'nt believe it: A fully functional giant NES controller/coffee tableSpend Mother's Day playing games with mom
WoW Insider Show: Mother's Day edition live tomorrow
For tomorrow's WoW Insider Show (which you can hear live at 3:30pm EST on WoW Radio), we're doing something a little special for Mother's Day: we've got mothers! Amanda Dean is actually bringing her mother on the show, and Ms. Emrys, (aka SpaceLady) is a WoW player herself, so we'll chat with her about what it's like to come to games via World of Warcraft. Robin Torres will also be joining us, and she's got little ones of her own, so she'll tell us what it's like to be a WoW player while also running your own little "guild" in real life. And Turpster will return after his absence last week -- all we can say about him is that he's a bad mother... shut yo' mouth.Plus, we definitely can't ignore all the Wrath of the Lich King info that dropped last night, so we'll definitely be talking about vehicles, Death Knights, the 10/25 man instances, and all of the other huge information that Blizzard dropped on us like a ton of level 80 bricks. And as usual (as if all that wasn't enough), we'll have reader mail, which you can send to us at theshow@wow.com, and we'll be chatting in IRC as well at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel.Whew! It's a mother of a show. Make sure to tune in tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, at 3:30pm EST over on WoW Radio. See you there.
A history of zealous Earthbound fandom
Members of the Mother series fan site Starmen.net may be celebrating now, with Earthbound recently rated on the ESRB's web site, but just getting to that tenuous victory (as Ys I & II can affirm, ESRB rating is not the same as a Virtual Console release) has been the culmination of years of agonizing effort and constant campaigning that may not have actually had anything to do with the news. Shacknews has posted a great retrospective of Starmen's 11-year campaign to get something related to Earthbound to happen outside of Japan, from a Game Boy Color release of Mother to localized versions of Mother I & II on the DS to (of course) a U.S. version of Mother 3. They've carried out insane plots like creating a beautiful book of fan works to show Nintendo how much they care about the series. Nintendo's response has ranged from politely dismissive to nonexistent, though the feature reveals that somewhere within Nintendo, Starmen's efforts were at least attracting attention.
Breakfast Topic: Sunday is Mother's Day
Just a reminder that Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday, May 11. If you're planning on sending a gift, flowers, or a card, it's about time to get them in the mail. For the record, I have never met a Mom that didn't treasure a pretty bracelet given to her by her son. All of these things are positively fantastic for a traditional Mom, but we've got a lot of WoW Moms that might like something a little different. Even as I get older, I've found that my Mom, and other Moms around me still enjoy homemade gifts. Our Thursday column, World of Warcrafts, has given us some excellent ideas on some very special gifts. Last week Shelbi showed us how to make a lovely Basket of Flowers. I'm also fond of her wonderful guide for making Super potions. I'm pretty sure my Mom would like these (even more than the paperclip necklace she treasured for years.) You may also consider World of Warcraft T-shirts, or even paid play time. If you don't have a lot of money to dedicate to Mother's Day Shopping, you can give your WoW Mom the gift of playtime or even something special in-game. For those of you with less fantasy-oriented Mom's, here are some easy links to get gifts online: Flowers 1-800-Flowers FTD Teleflora Food: Ethem M Chocolates Harry and David Godiva Remember, you only get one Mom (ok, so in modern families, you may have 2 or 3), and Mother's Day only comes once a year. Make it count! What's your plan for your mom? (I can't tell you, my mom reads WoW Insider.) * This public service announcement was brought to you by gamers who love their moms.
EarthBound rated by ESRB for the Wii
Mother fans, rejoice! EarthBound, also known as Mother 2 and the only game of the series to be released in the US, has been rated by the ESRB for the Wii. While that seems to be a good indication the game is bound for the Virtual Console, we're not going to make that leap without an official confirmation from Nintendo. Besides, given the rabid fan base of the game here, we're half-serious when we say we suspect Nintendo might consider selling the game unchanged for $50 on a disc. We guarantee it would sell like gangbusters.An ESRB rating is the only outside hurdle the Nintendo-owned property to putting it on the Virtual Console (if that's the route they take). Now wouldn't that make for a clever Mother's Day gift, hm?[Via VC-Reviews; thanks, Jango311]
World of WarCrafts: Basket of flowers
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Mother's Day is just around the corner, and though your mom (or wife) may not know anything about a Badge of Justice or Super Potions, she will most likely appreciate a Basket of Flowers. This project is super easy and would be a great way to get the kids involved in making a special gift for mom.Here is what you will need: Flower Bushes (a variety of artificial flowers should do) Basket Dry Styrofoam (preferably green) Spanish Moss Scissors (or cutting pliers) Ribbon (or a pre-made bow) Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-21875%
Mother 3 translation seven months away [update]
Celebrating Mother 3's release in Japan two years ago today, Starmen.net co-founder and fan-translation project lead Tomato posted an update on the unofficial localization's outlook. With ten months of work already behind them, the team predicts that the completed English patch (GBA ROM required) still needs about seven months of hacking, script editing, and testing.While that may sound like a long time, keep in mind that some fan-driven translations can take years before they're finished, and that's if they even make it past the first months of work before dissolving. Besides, it's not like Nintendo of America is rushing to translate the RPG.To help you deal with the wait, Tomato has posted ten minutes worth of video showing the team's progress, all of which you can watch above! So close, and yet so far away![Update 1: Corrected Mother 3's age -- two years old. Thanks, ShadowX!][Update 2: Straight from the horse's mouth.]
2008's April Fools' DS pranks
Oh man, is that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime over there, bringing you a giant bag of popcorn? It must be your lucky day!Too bad it's April Fools' Day! You're not getting any popcorn at all! Nope, it's just another bag of the usual stuff -- disappointment, regret, and the simple pain of living.Rather than spend your day weeping over missed opportunities and movie snacks, why not peruse our collection of April Fools' Day DS pranks? We've gathered up all of this year's handheld shenanigans we could find around the internet, providing you a concentrated punch of lulz to counteract Reggie's kick to your head. Click Reggie for popcorn! ->
Square Enix thanks pirates for playing FFCC
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Square_Enix_thanks_pirates_for_playing_FFCC_pulls_plug'; Mere hours after Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates hit store shelves today, pirated copies of the game appeared in the shady corners of the internet, posted for all the picaroons out there to download and transfer to their flashcarts.Twenty minutes or so into the ARPG, however, many of those pirates found themselves greeted with this "Thank you for playing!!" screen and unable to progress. Players have the option of restarting the game from the last save point and playing on, but the screen reappears at random intervals. Clever!Why not lock pirates out before even loading up the game, you ask? Well, this way, they can try out Ring of Fates, eventually reforming their criminal ways and buying it if they find the experience enjoyable. Also, anyone dumping the game for distribution wouldn't notice this bit of programming unless they played a significant portion of it first.Though this method isn't 100% effective, as some brands of carts are unaffected and hackers will likely find a workaround by day's end, it's certainly cute! Pirates should feel thankful that this isn't even half as malicious as Earthbound's anti-piracy measures.
Breakfast Topic: Your favorite playing partner
I love my wife. I don't think I can say it enough. I was able to convince her to play World of Warcraft with me when the game first came out and luckily for me, she got hooked. We've been playing partners ever since, from her getting lost in the Orc and Troll starting area to exploring Sunstrider Isle together for the first time. Sometimes, she humors me by playing a few Battlegrounds with me or even helps me complete my Arena games when my teammates -- who have more or less quit the game -- fail to log on for the week. Sure, I have to twist her arm to do it, but she enjoys ribbing me after matches: "I thought you were good? How come I beat your DPS and got all the Killing Blows?" Sometimes, I help her farm or watch her back while she fishes up another Mr. Pinchy. Even when we're not together -- like when she immerses herself at the Auction House while I PvP -- we chat in-game and IRL. I can't be thankful enough for actually being married to my favorite playing partner since others just aren't as lucky. Some of our bloggers, like Lisa Poisso, plays with her entire family! Just how cool is it to play with your better half and two kids? Amanda Dean has spent the last week showing her mom around Azeroth. How about you? Do you have a favorite playing partner? Whether it's your significant other, a roommate, a brother or cousin, or maybe even someone you met in-game, is there someone you enjoy playing the game with more than other people? Maybe there is one person you spend more time with than anyone else in Azeroth (or the Outlands, as the case may be). Why? What makes the experience unique or special? The coolest thing about an MMO is that you play with other people. And sometimes, there are just some people we like playing with more than others.
Mother 3 battle clips snuck up from behind!
Unwilling to compromise on the quality of its project for the sake of a quick release, the Mother 3 fan translation crew has been tweaking every setting and smashing every bug in its path to releasing an English patch for the Earthbound sequel. In addition to posting regular updates on the programming process, the team has put up screenshots and videos from its work so far, like the Flint vs. Mischievous Mole movie above. We can't wait to try out that rhythm combo system ourselves!On a disappointing note, the project's FAQ now states that the translation group no longer has plans to put out the patch before Super Smash Bros. Brawl's North American release, even with the Wii game's delay to early March. It's a painful wait, we know, but at least you'll get a few bonuses* that aren't in the Japanese game, like this secret enemy in the clip after break.*provided that you have a flashcart/emulator and, uh, the Mother 3 ROM
Watch the prologue of Mother 3 ... in English!
We've informed you about the Mother 3 fan translation project before, and now it's time for you to enjoy some of the fruits of Starmen.net's labor. The project is not completed yet, but the team has at the very least finished translating and coding the prologue of the game. You can watch it in the video above (spoilers, obviously), without even having to worry about downloading any unauthorized ROMs or being involved with any yarrrrrring.The video will also help you further acquaint yourselves with Lucas, who will be showing up as a playable character in one of Nintendo's most anticipated Wii games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.From what we've seen, Mother 3 has a certain charm about it, and we can see how fans would be so dedicated in their efforts to bring the game to English speakers. Now, if only Nintendo had the same dedication.[Via Destructoid]
One year later: Mother 3 fan translation project
Convinced that Nintendo has no intention of ever localizing Mother 3 for release outside of Japan, fans of the Mother/Earthbound series have been working on their own unofficial translation for the endearing RPG. The volunteer group has put a year's worth of work into the project so far and is celebrating that milestone with two releases: An anniversary video showing the game played with an English script. It's a preview of not only the team's progress, but of the bugs that still need to be addressed at this stage. You can watch the three-minute clip after the post break. An updated menu patch with the most up-to-date translations for Mother 3's menus and chapter titles. Of course, this menu patch and the eventual full translation patch require an unauthorized, completely illegal ROM copy of the game to be of any use. Yarr! Clyde Mandelin's celebratory post at the translation team's page also details the interesting events that went on behind the scenes, covering how the One Piece anime temporarily halted production and why Magical Starsign's failure to sell in the US could've doomed Mother 3's chances of ever receiving an official localization. As Clyde jokes, the project's history really does read like a spy novel!
Dojo update: New Pork City?! Get a rope!
Mother 3 fans are getting everything but the actual GBA game with Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- Franklin Badges, Lucas as a playable character, and now, New Pork City, one of several memorable locations from the Earthbound sequel. The massive arena is one of the game's largest, putting to rest worries that the game wouldn't have any Hyrule-Temple-sized battlegrounds. New Pork City boasts among its attractions a swinging boat and a stage-specific menace. Before you preview the screenshots at the Dojo, be warned that there are some Mother 3 spoilers scattered around the images. You can also watch a 2D tour of the metropolis after the post break.%Gallery-3347%%Gallery-6869%
We bet this Mother 3 shirt is awesome
Since we've never been given the opportunity to play Mother 3, we aren't really able to gauge the thematic radness of Edit Mode's new Mother 3 "Emergency" shirt. Still, just as we know that all shirts sold on The King of Games are awesome, we have an inherent knowledge that everything about this shirt is wonderful, except the $50 price tag. We know that the design is pretty nice, and that the warning text on the back is adorable. The other new Mother shirt, featuring a logo for "The Sharks," comes from Mother 2 a.k.a. Earthbound, and is therefore easily verifiable as being great. You can totally pretend you're in an arcade-occupying, hula-hoop wielding gang led by a smilin', knifin' Frank Fly.[Via GAME Watch]
Dojo update: Enter Lucas
Yay, another new character for Smash Bros. Brawl! Unfortunately, we've never heard of him. Oh, that's probably because the game he is from (Mother 3, in case you were wondering) never released outside of Japan. Still, a new character is nice, regardless of what game he is from, so we can't complain.%Gallery-6869%%Gallery-3347%
Iwata: Nintendo won't 'do the easy'
When Nintendo president Satoru Iwata refuses to "do the easy," you may think he's merely declining to perform some sort of elaborate dance maneuver. Given its name, we imagine such a dance move simply entails lying face down on the floor and remaining motionless until everyone else has gone home. It makes perfect sense really, as Iwata isn't going to take things lying down (see the connection there?) when it comes to a Wii Sports sequel.Simply adding new sports isn't good enough, he explained in an on-going series of discussions posted on Mother designer Shigesato Itoi's news blog, Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. "We're not going to take such an easy way, not by including seven new sports in the game since Wii Sports has five," said Iwata." We're not closing our doors to the possibility of a sequel, but it's definitely not coming out soon." He goes on to say that if Nintendo hopes to continue expanding its audience, the element of surprise is vital. And what affords Nintendo the opportunity to explore new things and have unexpected games pop out of their little white box? "But realistically, I think we can say 'we won't do the easy' because we are currently making profit."
