phoenix-wright
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New Gyakuten Saiban 4 screens
We're having a pretty hard time coping with our Gyakuten Saiban withdrawals. Ever since we learned that we wouldn't be able to play the Japanese release in English, we've had to turn to alternate means to get our daily allowance of fake Japanese law. We refresh the GS4 website obsessively, play the translated demo until it hits question-mark land, and shout "OBJECTION" at every opportunity that is even a little appropriate.We found some screens on Famitsu to torture ourselves with. They show the intro to the second case, a witness in Chapter 1, and Chapter 2's defendant. If you want to make yourself feel bad about the lack of Ace Attorney in your life, then by all means, have a look. If you can't handle the wait, we suggest trying to put the whole thing out of your mind.
Laws in translation: Playable, English Wright demo
English-speaking fans of the Phoenix Wright series got a bit of bad news when they heard the Japanese version of the upcoming fourth installment would not feature native English-language support, as previous releases have. Capcom added insult to injury with a tantalizing web demo of the game that is similarly Japanese-only. Oh, how those foreigners love to taunt us and our lack of multilingual skills!Fear not, though -- a band of intrepid Wright fans over at court-records.net have taken the case, translating the demo bit by bit and posting the results for the English-speaking world to play. The translation only goes a few minutes deep so far, but you can follow along with the progress on the project blog. This is probably as close as most of us will get to enjoying more Wright until the likely localization is released months from now, so enjoy it while it lasts.[Via DSFanboy]
Gyakuten Saiban 4 demo translation is a heroic effort
DS Fanboy pal Zachary Hinchliffe is powerfully awesome, and you can quote us on that. He's working with Croik of the Phoenix Wright fansite Court Records to translate the Japanese Gyakuten Saiban 4 Flash demo, which actually consists of part of the first case.It's in a very early stage right now-- essentially, once you get past the intro and into gameplay, the text switches over to question-mark speak that is even less useful than the original Japanese dialogue, but you can at least watch the introduction. And you can set your bookmark now to play more as more gets translated, because we're sure you'll get to play this demo to completion in English before the game gets an English release.
Friday Video: Everyone's favorite attorney
Since we never cover anything Phoenix Wright-related, we thought we might relent for once and put him in this week's video spotlight. Don't start expecting it. You know we can't stand those silly games. Rubbish, all of them!We're practicing for April Fools. Did it work? Hit the jump for a special Gyakuten Saiban 4 trailer while you ponder.
DS Daily: The bandwagon effect
When you're on top, everyone wants a piece of you, and right now, Nintendo's the one in the spotlight -- with not one, but two extremely hot systems. That means one thing: ports and remixes. The problem is, we tend to look with disfavor on the practice of wantonly porting games from console to console, all willy-nilly, without considering that some combinations just don't work. Conversely, there seems to be an assumption that anything that works on the DS could well work on the Wii ... and as much as we love stuff like, say, Phoenix Wright, we're not certain everything and its brother should be ported away from the DS, either (after all, we just stole him from the GBA!). Anything upcoming or announced that you think suffers from a bit too much "me-too?"
DS Daily: New horizons
There have been a lot of familiar franchises on the DS, and we love them! But, and this is where a lot of the system's publicity comes from, there has also been an explosion of new genres and new experiences, as well as revivals of past trends. So, as hardcore gamers (the kind who read game blogs), has your gaming universe been expanded by the DS? Have you taken part in any completely new experiences? Played your first graphical text adventure? Minigame collection? Whatever Brain Age was?Or maybe what you discovered on the DS is something popular that you just missed out on for some reason, like Final Fantasy or Castlevania. We want to hear about your experiences! We want to know how the DS has affected your gaming tastes! We want to know how you classify Brain Age!
Japan gets a Gyakuten Saiban 4 calendar and we don't? OBJECTION!
Capcom put this gorgeous "school calendar" (it starts at April) up for sale in their Japanese store today, and we're dying over here. Look at that cover! That is better than most posters, there. There's Ema Skye, and Phoenix Wright, and the whole group is surrounded by new guy Odoroki Housuke's bracelet thing.And there's six pages of official art inside. This is too much. We don't really have anything clever to say about it. Look at it. It's a thing we want, a lot, and probably won't be able to purchase.Oh, man, we feel so inadequate. How can we be Phoenix Wright fans if we can't look at some Gyakuten Saiban characters when we want to see what day it is? We're going to have to look into placing an order for this thing. 1,260 yen turns out to be ... $10.45.Oh, and while you're at the e-Capcom store, check out these other just-out-of-reach Gyakuten goods!Sample calendar page after the break. You could resize it and make a very blurry, artifacty wallpaper out of it!
Ema Skye returning for Gyakuten Saiban 4
Ema Skye, the science-obsessed, Luminol-toting teen sidekick from Case 5 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban: Yomigaeru Gyakuten) is making a return appearance in the new DS sequel, pink goggles and all. Her new character art portrays her as a little more grown-up, so maybe she'll be less annoying. Even if not, we really started to feel sympathetic to Phoenix's junior-detective friend in that case (Don't know what we're talking about? PLAY THE GAME!).Speaking of return appearances, you know who else will be returning when this comes out? Us. Our frothing demand for this game increases. You might as well call us "Phoenix Wright Fanboy." Click past the post break to scientifically investigate a few screenshots.
DS Daily: Less action, more talking
As hard as it is for us to admit it, not everyone loves the rebirth of the adventure game that's been brought about by the DS. For some, the action in games like Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk just isn't enough. We, however, are pretty obvious fans of the adventure game and find it intriguing when people bring up the idea of true visual/interactive stories that use the DS as a vehicle. Sure, you can read whatever you want on your DS with a little work, but we think it might be keen if people designed more stories that are meant to be experienced on a handheld. What's your stance? Do you prefer games that are a little more involved, or are you as in love with adventure gaming as we are?
Friday Video: Ultimate secrets edition
This week, we here at DS Fanboy are going to offer you a special treat for our featured video. We're going to reveal a concrete way to realize your dreams of being an international wo/man of mystery, racking up hangers-on and piles of glittering jewels. Oh yes. It's all inside. Awecat will look at you as though you are a giant slab of raw tuna rolled in catnip.The One Who Got Away will call you and want your hot body. F'realz.You will crush your enemies in Mario Kart DS this weekend and make them weep like little girls.If you're ready for your close-up, hit the jump.
Hold it! Capcom now accepting pleas for the next Phoenix Wright
If you make your way to Capcom's official Phoenix Wright forums, you'll note that they've just started up a cool little contest involving the third and as yet unlocalized game in the series, Gyakuten Saiban 3. The task is simple: use the provided comic and speech bubbles to create a convincing and preferably hilarious argument for Capcom to bring Gyakuten Saiban 3 to the US as Ace Attorney 3. The allure of winning adorable Phoenix Wright figures is no easy thing to resist.That being said, is Capcom's ultimate decision really going to be influenced by a forum contest? Considering their recent approach to marketing within the gaming community, we'd suggest that we already have the confirmation of Ace Attorney 3 right here -- unless they were planning to pick some winners and then promptly deny them a localization. Further evidence can be found in the recently released (and utterly superb) Justice for All, which made the Phoenix Wright name less prominent and placed the focus on Ace Attorney. This is likely in preparation for an English version of Gyakuten Saiban 4, the forthcoming built-for-DS sequel that stars a new protagonist. (Just in case we're completely wrong though, keep in mind that the contest comes to a close on February 28!)[Via DS Fanboy]
Capcom demos playable Flash version of Phoenix Wright 4
Capcom has come up with a great lunchtime distraction for the bored-at-work: a playable preview version of Gyakuten Saiban 4 in Flash. The DS version of what we'd call Phoenix Wright 4 is still a couple of months away from its Japanese release, so we can only applaud Capcom's generosity here. GUILTY: the dialogue in this demo will be largely incomprehensible to most Western players, as its script is written entirely in Japanese. NOT GUILTY: the music is sublime and manages to convey (without lyrics) how the trial is progressing; this is also the first time we've seen Odoroki-kun (captured here) at the bar. Cheers!
DS Daily: The new book?
The adventure genre peaked in the early to mid 90's. And then it crashed. Hard. As it trudged along through the years, essentially dead but for rare gems like The Longest Journey, it slowly faded from the minds of modern gamers.The point-and-click capabilities of the DS have certainly given the once-zombified genre a much-needed jolt. We've seen excellent offerings, including the superlative Phoenix Wright series, the soon-to-be-released Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Trace Memory, Lost in Blue, and a few others (let's not even mention the ScummVM homebrew project). But the DS gives these games something they could have never had in the nineties: absolute portability. It's almost as though these games compete directly with the classic novel, something which has never really been seen even amongst the myriad of gadgets anyone can go out and readily purchase.Our question is this: how does a DS adventure game compare to that of a classic book? What would you rather whip out on the way to work? Phoenix Wright 2 has had our hearts and minds in a legal grip for days on end. You may not look as smart as those punks reading Vonnegut, but that's okay. You look cooler.
Objection! Phoenix Wright should have bonus items!
Order! Capcom's domestic version of the lawyer 'em up series we know as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is being prepared for a fourth major stint in court. Two versions of Gyakuten Saiban 4 will be released simultaneously in Japan on April 12 -- one edition is not limited and costs ¥5,040 (US$42), while the other is limited and more pricey (¥9,240/US$76). Permit us to solve the mystery of their differences: the limited edition includes Gyakuten Saiban-branded headphones, a DS card entitled Gyakuten Saiban Dictionary, and a DVD that contains footage of animated highlights from all games in the series. The Saiban Dictionary seems like it could be a useful tool, as it explains Japanese legalese (truly a complicated language) in some detail. The limited edition DVD even contains footage of last September's Gyakuten Saiban stage performance at the Tokyo Game Show. Now let's have an English version of this package, please, Capcom. The law is an ass -- we think Phoenix Wright kicks it.
Hold it! Phoenix Man
Is our abject lust for all things Phoenix Wright so terribly transparent? It must be, because you guys are forever sending us lawyerly tips, and we love you for it. Not that we're complaining. Please don't stop. Never stop.Today's edition of All Random Phoenix Wright Stuff comes by way of a regular feature from webcomic Dueling Analogs, wherein they envision possible rejected Mega Man villains. Gotta love this one! He would own us every time. How could we fight Phoenix Man? He has a attorney's badge and wings! That's an unstoppable combination right there.[Thanks, Jesse!]
DS releases for the week of January 15th
There are really only two words of import this week: Phoenix Wright. Unless you're in Japan, and then the big word is "Wario." For everyone in browser-free North America, we can also turn a glaring eye on Australia, where the official NDS browser is set to hit shelves this week. The globe is teeming the DS goodness this week, so let's get to the details, with the US up first:DS releases (US): Fossil League: Dino Tournament Championship Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All For the rest of the world, check after the jump!
Friday Video: pointing and clicking
The waiting, it hurts us, but it's almost over. Still, we figured that it was as good a time as any to break out a Phoenix Wright video for our Friday feature, just to get people in the mood for the second title in the franchise. Justice for All ships next week for gamers in the US, and in March for Europe. Last week, trailer, this week ... gameplay!
EGM so-so over Phoenix Wright, anoints Hotel Dusk
While we haven't seen it, word is that the upcoming issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly has some very interesting scores (and reviews) for a pair of upcoming DS titles. The March issue takes a look at both Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All and Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (it's long title month around here), and offers a lackluster-to-good range of scores for one, and great scores to the other ... and it's not the way that you may think.Word on the street forums is that the scores for the two games in the issue are as follows:Justice for All: 6.0, 7.0, 8.0Hotel Dusk: 8.0, 8.0, 10 (yeah, that's a ten)Now, it's true that this edition of Phoenix Wright is not judged to be the best by those who've played deeper into the series, and those are decent and respectable scores (which mean nothing, since we're all playing it anyway, and probably twice). But the scores for Hotel Dusk are surprising, and something of a relief as well. Whether or not you're a fan of EGM, it's nice to see such enthusiastic review scores. As a point of comparison, Trace Memory (often invoked when mentioning Hotel Dusk) scored much lower with EGM -- that game posted an average score of 6.17. [Via Go Nintendo]
Friday Video: getting ready for some Justice
Earlier we brought you the print edition metareview, and now it's time for the trailer for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, the second installment in what is probably the most-discussed franchise around here, and for good reason. This is one guy who needs no introduction. Are you counting down the days yet? We certainly are! And that's why this trailer is this week's featured video.
Preorder Justice for All, get swag
GameStop is offering a Phoenix Wright stylus as a bonus if you preorder Justice For All. We're so there. We were, in fact, already there, before it happened, because we are psychically attuned to all the world's lawyery* goodness. Or maybe it's just that we're obsessed. We'd probably pick up special edition Phoenix Wright diapers and spend the day trying to wrap them around the cat.*Lawyery can so be a word.
