my-life-as-a-king
Latest
My Life as a Darklord trailer shows evil takes work
The only thing better than being evil is being evil and a-dor-a-ble. Announced during GDC09, WiiWare's My Life as a Darklord plays out the other side of the My LIfe as a King lifestyle. From the trailer (above), it appears that players are tasked with building a demonic tower, full of baddies, to keep those pesky heroes (sent by the young king?) away.One of the only real issues My Life as a King had was its total lack of action. Darklord appears to have King's "city building," plus a little bit of (active or passive) combat. Hopefully we'll learn more at E3, which takes place in less than a month.%Gallery-48531%
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)
The My Life as a King DLC you've been waiting for
We didn't just get one WiiWare game and one Virtual Console game this week. We also got ... some DLC for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King! Well, that's much better! The new content includes four new dungeons: the Infinity Spire pack for 300 points, which contains two dungeons, one of which levels up when it's completed, Castle Renovation for 100 points, a dungeon that enables you to rename your adventurers and listen to the game's music in a jukebox mode, the Library for 200 points, a dungeon that adds libraries to the game and lets you teach your adventurers skills. In addition, for 100 points each, you can buy new outfits for the King and Chime. That's right, the Chime bikini DLC has finally arrived. Just in time for summer for furtive, shameful downloading![Via press release, image via Siliconera]
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%
Virtually Free: Crowned King
We've got a winner in our latest contest: reader Nathan, who was looking forward to Tetris. After all, what's life without a little Tetris? We can only hope he's also looking forward to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, since he's picking up a copy on us! Didn't win? Don't worry -- we'll have something new on offer next week!
Virtually Free: Last day as a king
Interested in trying out a (few) day(s) as the little king of a little region? Then jump on over to our Virtually Free giveaway and throw your name in for a chance to win Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. The contest winds down tonight!
Virtually Free: Live as a King
Don't forget that we're offering one reader a chance to experience life as a (Final Fantasy) king! Head on over to our latest edition of Virtually Free for a chance to win a copy of the WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. Remember, you can enter once per day until the contest winds down Monday night!
Wii Warm Up: Born for WiiWare
There are two things that led to this particular question of the day: our new column, Born for Wii, and the release of expanded games like Dr. Mario Online Rx. Are there other properties you'd like to see get this kind of enhancement for WiiWare? Or maybe you'd be more interested in something like the direction Square Enix went with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- in that it's a nice break from the typical with the Final Fantasy franchise.There are tons of original games for WiiWare, sure, but there are equally as many possibilities for things like this, from board games to expanded online mini-games based on popular characters. What would you pay for?
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?
Virtually Free: Life as a King
We've got something special for you in this week's Virtually Free giveaway: the chance to live as a king! Manage your peasants, live in a castle, and jaunt around in puffy shorts, all on our dime. Of course, it's virtual, but hey -- we never promised the moon. Or a kingdom. But we are promising Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King ($15) to one lucky reader!So what do you have to do to win? First of all, you have to leave a comment (with a valid e-mail address) on this post telling us what WiiWare games (current and announced) excite you most. Second, you must be a legal resident of the United States with an American Wii (sorry, Canadians, we have to leave you out of this one; blame the gifting system and not us!) and 18 years of age or older. You may enter once per calendar day between now and Monday, June 16; the contest comes to a close that night at 11:59 PM Eastern time, and we'll select a winner in a random drawing the next day. Questions? Check out the official rules.
Wii Warm Up: How about that flow?
Wow, we've been happy with WiiWare. You all have been happy with the titles, correct? Well, regardless of how you would rate the service so far, we have a tough question to ask.Do you think the steady flow of new titles will remain constant going forward? Would you expect at least one new WiiWare game each week, or do you think that the well is getting close to dried up? Sure, there's Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People to look forward to, but what else? Will the flow continue?
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]
WiiWare lifts off in Europe and Australia
Right on time, Nintendo has pulled the appropriate levers, flicked the necessary switches, and sent a whole world of WiiWare goodness down the pipes and into Europe and Australia. Here's what greeted this blogger on his local servers just now: Dr. Mario & Germ Buster -- 1,000 Wii Points Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- 1,500 Wii Points LostWinds -- 1,000 Wii Points Star Soldier R -- 800 Wii Points TV Show King -- 1,000 Wii Points Toki Tori -- 900 Wii Points Expect reviews of Dr. Mario and Toki Tori in the very near future; in the meantime, let's hear what you've downloaded so far, PAL people! %Gallery-23089% %Gallery-20255%
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%
Nintendo reveals first WiiWare titles for Europe
Nintendo has released a list of eight games described as "launch window" titles ahead of WiiWare's debut in Europe on May 20th. Included are four games that the U.S. is still waiting on -- Dr. Mario & Germ Buster, Star Soldier R, Toki Tori, and Pirates: The Key of Dreams -- though it looks like Europe will be waiting a little longer for Defend Your Castle and V.I.P Casino: Blackjack. Frankly, we'll live without a blackjack game.Once again, note that these are "launch window" games. How long is a launch window? No idea. "Launch window" is one of those infuriatingly flexible terms beloved by PR types. Anyway, the list of WiiWare games that Europe will be getting kinda near the launch is as follows: Dr. Mario & Germ Buster Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King LostWinds Pop Star Soldier R TV Show King Pirates: The Key of Dreams Toki Tori There's currently no news on pricing, but we'd fully expect European WiiWare prices to match those of other regions, assuming Nintendo hasn't found a totally new and unique way to rip European gamers off.
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%
My Life as a King co-creators on WiiWare challenges, ActRaiser
In their GDC presentation, Square Enix's Fumiaki Shiraishi and Toshihiro Tsuchida described the new direction they were taking with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. They discussed how they were shaking things up at their company by making a small, low-budget game with no elaborate cutscenes. Brandon Sheffield and Jeremy Parish spoke with the game's co-creators about the advantages and challenges of trying to make a Square Enix game under strict financial and storage budgets.Shiraishi described the limitations as an inspiring factor for the game's design, and also pats SE's artists on the back: "I don't think we would've had this game design idea if we didn't have the memory restriction to begin with. Once we had the restriction, we had... all our artists are veterans, so if you tell them the size, they'll hit it right on." Another (very) noteworthy offhand statement comes at the end, in a discussion of Square Enix's attitude toward the Virtual Console. When the similarity in theme between ActRaiser and My Life as a King came up, Shiraishi said "I'd like to make an ActRaiser sequel. That would be kind of fun." Yes. It would.
WiiWare goes live!
As we anticipated, Nintendo waited until the last possible moment to reveal the details on WiiWare's U.S. launch. In a press release which describes WiiWare as the "most democratic environment in industry history," Nintendo confirmed the six titles that launched with the download service today -- and it looks like the leaked information from the weekend was spot-on: LostWinds -- 1000 Wii Points Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- 1500 Wii Points Pop -- 700 Wii Points Defend Your Castle -- 500 Wii Points V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack -- 700 Wii Points TV Show King -- 1000 Wii Points So it's finally up -- hurray! Monday mornings haven't felt quite this optimistic in some time! Have any of you lot already downloaded yourself some WiiWare? %Gallery-16505% %Gallery-12067% [Via press release]
Nintendo reveals WiiWare launch List
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Nintendo_reveals_WiiWare_launch_List'; The North American WiiWare launch is almost upon us, and instead of the stealth releases that we thought were coming, Nintendo's press release of WiiWare games debuting this Monday (along with their point values) was recently leaked. While we can't be sure this list is 100% valid, it looks like we can expect the following: Defend Your Castle -- 500 Wii Points Pop -- 700 Wii Points V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack -- 700 Wii Points TV Show King -- 1000 Wii Points LostWinds -- 1000 Wii Points Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- 1500 Wii Points Although we're disappointed by the lack of Dr. Mario, this looks like a pretty solid launch list to us. It'll be difficult to pick and choose exactly which titles we want, but there are definitely some that stand out more than others. How about you? Do you plan on downloading any of the above, or are you going to wait for impressions and reviews first? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
