PhoenixWright
Latest
Objection! Capcom registers 'Apollo Justice'
According to the NeoGAF forums, Capcom has just registered an unusual trademark: Apollo Justice. If we follow the strands of speculation like so many dots, the trail leads to Phoenix Wright and the western name for Housuke Odoroki, the new hero of Ace Attorney 4. It fits the lawyerly theme of the series, and Housuke is written with the kanji character for "law", so unless Capcom is planning a new IP (or a gigantic moon-mounted laser), it looks like we have a winner.
Capcom registers "Apollo Justice" trademark
Don't object to our speculation, but Capcom has registered a trademark that sounds like it may have relevance in our daily lives. "Apollo Justice" ... hmm. The first name is taken from a mythological figure, one associated with law and truth, and the last name is also legal-themed. Oh, we got it-- this is the name of the next Resident Evil game.Oh, or Ace Attorney. "Apollo Justice" would be a pretty good name for Odoroki Housuke, the protagonist of Gyakuten Saiban 4. And if that's what the trademark is for, then it's a good sign for those of us hoping for a localized version.[Via NeoGAF]
Box art and images from DS Gyakuten Saiban 3
Just in case the idea of importing the oh-so-tempting Japanese DS release of Gyakuten Saiban 3 (now with super English track!) wasn't already bouncing around in your noggin, we thought we'd drop some screens and boxart for you. So who's with us? Last time we checked, August does come before September, and waiting is so very hard when it comes to our favorite lawyerin' crew. %Gallery-3478%
DS Daily: Objection!
Who objects to pie?! He better be countering with pie.So. Cake? Pie? Or ... do you object? Post to change the topic.
Gyakuten Saiban 3 to include English translation
Recently, Capcom announced the third game in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series, Trials and Tribulations, was being localized for North America. Just like previous Gyakuten Saiban releases in Japan, native English brains won't be the only ones to benefit from the translation. Gyakuten Saiban 3 will be re-released in Japan as a budget title (approximately $25) with both the original Japanese and the English built-in. Fancy-pants importers can use this to score a copy of the game a month before its September North American release.
Gyakuten Saiban 5 confirmed
Nothing more than the greatest news ever, Bloomberg Japan brings word that a fifth installment in our favorite lawyer-em-up franchise will hit retail as Capcom firmly plucks it from our dreams and brings it violently crashing into reality. We're sure that such an announcement is causing likewise symptoms in yourself (wobbling knees and sweaty palms), so in the interest of allowing you to escape your monitor's gaze with a majority of your health intact, we'll conclude this post by stating that there just isn't anything else left to state. The game is coming and now we all know. Rejoice![Via Go Nintendo]
Hardboiled detective title coming to the DS, but not the US
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tantei Jinguuji Saburou's (Detective Saburo Jinguji) debut on the Famicom Disk System, WorkJam plans to bring the adventure game series to the DS. Despite appearing on a multitude of consoles ranging from mobile phones to the PS2, the chain-smoking sleuth's bebop-jazz-filled murder mysteries haven't yet been localized for the US audience.Given the success of Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk in the states, both of them also being adventure titles, perhaps we'll finally see an English translation for this one? Come on Atlus, we can cross Touch Detective 2 off the possible-projects list and bring this gumshoe game over instead, right?Players investigate their cases through menu-based interrogations and actions, piecing together clues found at crime scenes while taking Saburo through Shinjuku's tough streets. Bring your magnifying glass and deerstalker hat past the post break for screenshots of the stylish DS title and a gameplay trailer from the series' GBA release, Detective Saburo Jinguji: The Woman With the White Shadow.
Phoenix Wright TV drama to air this week in Japan
Insert Credit reports that a Phoenix Wright TV drama will air in Japan sometime this week to promote the release of Capcom's Gyakuten Saiban 4. No news about the plot, but be sure to bank on "OBJECTION!" being yelled many, many times. As corny as this sounds, we're betting it won't be half bad. Hopefully some day a channel like G4 will have video game based comedies and drama airing on it. The Phoenix Wright piece is only five or ten minutes long, and viewers can solve the crime here ... if they speak and read Japanese.
DS Daily: Get your skin on
We were looking wistfully at this phantom Phoenix Wright decal set, as we are prone to do in unguarded moments, and we realized that despite the fact that this particular set was too beautiful for this world, we still have a desire to skin our DS.But we thought we'd check with you before we did anything hasty. What's your opinion on skinning? Is it universally tacky (er, in the style sense-- we'd kind of hope they were a little sticky) or a way to make your system unique? And if you're all for it, what do you go for? Bling? Anime tie-in? Or something from one of the online stores like Decalgirl that specializes in skins?
Capcom to Japanese TV: "Take that!"
Well, this is just about the coolest marketing campaign ever; and, of course, after reading that, you'll be able to guess that it's for Japan only. Also, if you're familiar with our site, you should have no problem guessing what game it promotes. Gyakuten Saiban 4, the latest entry in Capcom's Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney series, doesn't really need any more marketing, but we aren't complaining. Capcom will be running a 5-10 minute Gyakuten Saiban TV drama, which presents a case for viewers to solve. Later, the solution will appear on the Gyakuten Saiban 4 website. If any of our Fanboy friends are located in Japan, we hope they'll watch next week and tell us about it!
Gyakuten Saiban 4 is huge
Capcom announced today that Gyakuten Saiban 4 passed the half-million mark in shipped copies today, a new record for the series. It's no surprise that being on the DS boosted sales; it's likely to boost sales of anything. But let's not diminish the accomplishment. Gyakuten Saiban 4 is a hit! This milestone has contributed strongly to another milestone: as of today, the Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) series has shipped 2 million copies in Japan alone. That's pretty great for any series, much less a text adventure series! If there were any objections within Capcom about spending the money to localize GS4, they've probably been shot down by now.
Judgment generator is guilty of being awesome
Capcom is promoting its release of Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney) in Japan with a "judgment generator" video that anyone can drop faces and text into. The short clip's scene depicts a group of reporters waiting outside a courthouse as a man comes running towards them to announce the jury's decision. The verdict? That's up to you to decide!The prompts to enter text and upload/crop images are all in Japanese, but it shouldn't take you longer than a few seconds to figure out what's required. Why not mock up one of your own, and comment with a link to your video? You'll have to keep Japan's right-to-left text placement in mind and also compensate for the ten-character limit, but we're confident that you'll come up with something creative! We've already made a couple that you can see after the post break!
Ace Attorney serves subpoena on a plumber in Japan
After being served, Mario soon finds himself convicted of 802,672 counts of Koopa manslaughter (he claims he didn't have control, on account of all the mushrooms). With that being said, the number one spot in Japan has been left vacant and it didn't take long before someone filled it. It was that same lawyer!And, with the third game in the series on its way to English-speaking territories, the fourth title has just seen its release in Japan. It has done well, actually too well, as new series star Housuke Odoroki lands in Japan with a huge splash. The splash is about as big as 250,000 copies of the game, piled high in a lone room, which is funny because that's how many copies of the game sold in its first week. OK, maybe it's not funny ...
Take that! Ace Attorney overrules Mario in Japan
A text-heavy and fundamentally unhinged lawyer adventure game? You must be kidding.Actually, no. A few years ago, the very suggestion of such a game would have garnered an uncaring shrug and a disbelieving, "Only in Japan." But now, the thought of the Phoenix Wright series being available "only in Japan" is one that generates a seething anger, the kind that results in bricks being flung through Capcom office windows. It's just as well they've already announced the English release of Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations -- or more accurately, Ace Attorney 3.Even with our man Phoenix replaced as protagonist by Housuke Odoroki in Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4), the game has managed to break into the Japanese sales charts with aplomb. Hitting the top spot with over 250,000 copies sold in one week, the crazy courtroom sim comfortably beats out fellow DS game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, which sold just over 92,000 copies. Third place in the DS-dominated list goes to supreme waggle champ, Wii Sports, with 41,035 sold.
DS Fanboy Favorites: Dave's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers.I own a total of 19 DS games. Yes, just 19 games. I've never been too crazy about handheld systems, mostly because I'm the type of gamer that enjoys the escape of playing something more immersive, like console games. That's not to say the DS isn't capable of presenting games that allow me to escape, even some of which are in my collection, but gaming lends itself a bit more to pick-up-and-play, quicker gaming sessions on a handheld when compared with a console.With that in mind, let me show you my top five DS games.
It's official: Phoenix Wright 3 confirmed for U.S.
Titled Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, the third title in the series has been confirmed as arriving on the DS in the U.S. this September. That's correct, we'll all be able to enjoy more of the lawyer-em-up goodness of the franchise in under 5 months. The third title will also have players, at times, taking up control of Mia Fey.Any objections? We didn't think so ...For a trailer of the game, head past the post break. When you're done watching the video, check over at Joystiq for a sweet gallery of images.
Phoenix Wright, step down. Capcom's bringing Harvey Birdman
The popular DS lawyer-ing game, Phoenix Wright, proved to be a fan favorite around the world. Now, Capcom is trying their hand at yet another lawyer game, but it's going to be unlike anything you could've ever expected. Capcom and Cartoon Network are teaming up to bring Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law to PSP (and PS2). We're hoping that Harvey Birdman will have all the fun of Capcom's other series, but with a hipper, edgier tone.Unfortunately, details and screenshots have not yet been released. Although the premise has us a excited, we can't help but look at developer High Voltage's track record, and get a little worried. (The Family Guy and Leisure Suit Larry games don't really offer much street cred.) Capcom better get this one right, or it won't be too long before PSP fans are screaming "Objection!" ... for all the wrong reasons. [Via Joystiq]
Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations confirmed for America
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Phoenix_Wright_Trials_and_Tribulations_confirmed_for_America'; Capcom has officially announced what many already expected after its beg-for-it-contest; Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations is on its way to North America for September, 2007. The third game in the series offers more of the same to established fans of the DS courtroom drama. Players control Wright as he muddles through cases, and in some points of the adventure game, they play as his mentor, Mia Fey, in the proceedings.%Gallery-2563%
Gyakuten Saiban 4 goes on sale, offers up crime scene
Now why can't we get game displays like this in the United States? This is how you market a game! Anyway, the sale of Gyakuten Saiban 4, which is comprised of 4 episodes of the tried-and-true investigation and courtroom segments of the previous three games, featured the above chalk outline of what we're assuming is one of the cases the game's new protagonist must tackle.Check out other screens past the post break.[Via Go Nintendo]
Let your fingers do the objecting
Excuse us if this post has a typo in it or something. We're dividing our time between writing it and packing up all our worldly possessions.You see, it's ... well, there's a Gyakuten Saiban 4 cell phone theme for the FOMA 903i that makes your phone's menu look like the game's menu, and puts GS4 backgrounds, animations, and sounds on the phone. It even has special screens associated with things like sending mail and receiving phone calls.Every time we use our only partially-themed phone (which only has a Phoenix Wright background and ringtone, and nothing else) causes us pain. We have to go to Japan, immediately.
