Sunday, December 18, 2011

Pokemon + Nobunaga Crossover heading to DS next year.

All I can say is,"huh"? 

Once every blue moon a crossover comet streaks through the open sky, flailing it's multiple arms about screaming: "Hi there!" No, it's not just a hybrid of two delicious holy entities of Peanut Butter and chocolate, it's more than that. This unpredictable force breaks the mold of gaming, shattering the tried and true formula of making a franchise, release a sequel every year, try to improve them as time goes by not making them feel all the same, etc., but instead combines two incredible series and in the process creates a whole new different franchise all on it's own. Who would've thought that a Disney and Final Fantasy crossover would've worked as well as it did, spanning sequels, prequels, and spin-offs while created a new fanbase of gamers? Who would thought we'd see Marvel heroes/villains duke it out with Street Fighter characters, or Pheonix Wright and Professor Layton would be pointing fingers and yelling "Objection!" in a courtroom together?  

I am proud to say that this tradition of crossovers is not over; a new crossover is in the making for the DS: Pokemon will team up with characters from the popular turn-based grand role-playing PC game Nobunaga Ambition. Players will command their team of Pokemon in turn-based battles in an ancient Japanese setting against other Warlords (who spark a mild resemblance to their main Pokemon) commanded by the main warlord of the game, Nobunaga, who is seen with his Zekrom. The game let's choose to be either male or female and your default Pokemon is none other than the versatile Eevee. So it's more or less the same Pokemon game we've grown to love with a slight Tactics twist. A trailer of the game is released and images of the game can be seen here. 
The game is due for release in Japan sometime next Spring. No word on an America release, but knowing how well Pokemon games sell in America, it would be a shame for both the fans and Nintendo if it wasn't released in the West.  
It's great to see two franchises like these unexpectedly clash, and if the game becomes popular enough to garner sequels, then color me excited.


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Friday, December 16, 2011

3DS Ambassador GBA game list

And it is......fricking amazing stuff.

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Mario Kart Super Circuit
Mario vs Donkey Kong
Metroid Fusion
Wario Land 4
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame$

Depending on what you liked on the old GBA, these are some of the highest, most top quality Nintendo first party titles on the system and to be honest a lot of them haven't aged much at all! Yoshi's Island is top-notch, Zelda: Minish Cap is great, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror holds a special place in my heart, Wario Land 4 and WarioWare....oh em gee.

Although free for ambassadors, these are the kinds of games people would snap up in a heartbeat anyway even if they had to pay for them. Let's see a release to everyone else, Nintendo!
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2012 Nintendo game release dates

And finally we get concrete dates on some of the other talked about games last year that couldn't make it before the end of this year, those that aren't named Zelda or Mario Kart or 3D Land. And some of them have really been sitting in TBA for a long, long time now *glares at Kid Icarus Uprising*


It's been in the 3DS hot seat since the console's revealing at E3 2010 but never made it to launch or anywhere near that. No idea why, but it's now slated for March 23 2012, according to Nintendo.


Remember this thing? I just posted about it right below this, and it's going to US as well, but not with Monster Hunter 3G in tow. Rather, it'll be released together with Resident Evil Revelations on February 7 2012. The catch? 3DS' very own frankenstick will only be sold in GameStop, much like the cautious limited US release for Xenoblade Chronicles. I don't understand why Nintendo are giving GameStop the exclusive treatment, it's just limiting sales.


The adorable Rhythm Heaven Wii which made a decent wave in Japan some months ago gets a new title, Rhythm Heaven Fever, and a box art bursting with color! It's coming on February 13, one week after RE Revelations.


No it's not a Mario bowling game, this is Mario Party 9, and it gets a 2012 release date on March 11. That's a goodd way to fill up the release schedule pre-E3 2012....maybe. I do dig some Mario Party though; been itching for something better than the mediocre MP8.


Okay so this may not be on every Wii gamer's wishlist but it's definitely something worth noting anyway since Pokepark 2, right from the first revealed screenshot, already looks ten times more polished than the first game and features at the very least more replayable minigames and battle games. Instead of Beyond the World, the US subtitle is Wonders Beyond, and it's coming on February 27, 2012.

Other release dates to look out for:

  • Tales of the Abyss for 3DS, February 14
  • Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games for 3DS, also February 14
  • Tekken 3D Prime Edition for 3DS on February 2012
  • Metal Gear Solid 3D on Q1 2012
And some other things including downloadable eShop and VC games are coming out too. Good ones at that; a Jett Rocket sequel on 3DS, VVVVV and Kirby's Block Ball among other things.

We've yet to hear from the other 3DS big titles like Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario, but time will tell.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

In support of 3DS Circle Pad

Brought over from my other blog at Gamespot.com. I said I'd make a Circle Pad Pro post, so here it is!

Now, like anyone else I experienced the same backlash when I first found out and saw the Circle Pad Pro Nintendo was planning to release for 3DS. It looked ugly, it looked big, it looked uneccessary and my biggest issue with it was it had to use an AAA battery! Now what kind of half-hearted attempt is this? Knowing Nintendo this will probably be in the next hardware revision so why should I bother?

Except, you don't have to bother if you didn't need the 2nd analog in the first place, and if you wanted one, you don't have to wait for the hardware revision if you already own a 3DS, because after looking at it for a few weeks the Circle Pad Pro kind of settled on my mind and it wasn't so bad after all.

Now it's not in my power to change your opinion of what you think of the Circle Pad attachment, but I can at least dispel some of the unreasonable and unfounded attacks on it. A lot of retarded comments are made simply by looking at the accessory for one second then think 'It's crap' right away and act like they're being forced to pay $20 for it. Terrible attitude, guys. Especially if you don't take five minutes of your life to actually go find out more about it.

My counters to stupid comments?

1. Objects on the Internet look larger than they actually are

By far the greatest complaint was that the Circle Pad was too large. It's a valid complaint but not when 90% of people exaggerate the comment as if it was over 9000 metres/cubic miles/light years long. Get your ass back down to earth and actually LOOK at a real 3DS if you haven't. It's not THAT huge.

Now, I did a little measuring of my own based on a 3DS I saw from a store, and I'm going to use a picture for scale. The handheld itself is roughly 13.5 centimetres wide, about the same as the width of a DSi. That's already smaller than what most people would make the console out to be if they haven't yet seen a real one.



I brought this official picture to Photoshop and again did some measuring. To the right of the 3DS, the Circle Pad attachment adds around 2.7 cm to the width, and on the left no longer than 0.5 cm. Let's make that 3cm, shall we? So the total width of your 3DS with Circle Pad attached is now 16.5 centimetres. If you have a DSi, put 2 rulers on its side and add that extra width. Smaller than you thought right? I absolutely do not believe your palms cannot grip that extra 3 cm.

As for thickness?


(picture above taken at Tokyo Game Show 2011)

It resembles a Gamecube controller, only slightly less thick, though at this angle it's hard for me to judge it by scaling like I did with the first picture. This same size argument can be used for the Wii U controller as well, though that's a story for another day. It's also not as big as you might think.

Here's a few more pics for comparison. See how a human hand can still envelop the entire console and accessory comfortably?


2. It is not a prosthetic arm or leg to the 3DS

Aside from the obvious size issue the other thing I keep hearing is 'I can't bring this outside!' or 'how is this supposed to fit in my pocket?'. Newsflash: It's NOT supposed to fit in your pocket. It only compromises portablility if you actually USE it. So go ahead, buy it, place the 3DS on top of it. But when you bring your 3DS out of the house, you can take the 3DS away from the Slide Pad Pro, you retards. People are acting as if the attachment is permanently FUSED to the 3DS the moment you use it. You don't have to take it outside if you find it difficult to. Oh but what if the game I play supports the use of the Circle Pad Pro? That's my next point.

3. It is completely optional

Note, I said 'support'. 'Support' meaning the game can be played with the Circle Pad Pro as an ENHANCEMENT to the experience and your controls, but plays PERFECTLY WELL even without the accessory. This is one of the biggest misunderstandings of the circle pad, that every game that 'supports' it can't be played without it. Monster Hunter 3G proved it pretty well; you can use the D-Pad to control the camera in the absence of the Circle Pad Pro, or you can even assign camera controls to the touch screen! That's what the DS line handhelds were made for anyway!

 
Same case goes for the rest of the supported games; they can ALL be played without the Circle Pad Pro. There, you just saved 20 bucks on an accessory you weren't planning to buy but still want to be able to play, say, Metal Gear Solid without the thing being force-fed into your mouth. You're not being ripped off, the extra circle pad is an OPTION, not a NECESSITY. I can't stress this enough, can I?

This does not disprove that there will be a hardware revision with the 2nd analog and extra shoulder buttons put on the 3DS (i.e. Wiimote Plus), but if you already own a 3DS anyway you can choose whether to get it or not, it won't detract from your playing experience.

4. It's more than just a circle pad

This one's minor, but also applies to the same people who don't hunt for info long enough (apparently 5 minutes is too long for some attention spans...) but it's not just the circle pad that the accessory adds, it's three shoulder buttons. Three. So many possibilities in extra control mapping and people miss looking at it because all they see is the front view. Though like I said before all this stuff can be integrated onto the touch screen.

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When it comes right down to it, there are still genuine drawbacks to the Circle Pad Pro, and it still indicates a lack of foresight by Nintendo (unless you want to think that this will remain optional throughout the 3DS' lifespan), but it's definitely not the size, nor the controller support, that people should be complaining about. Do at least some basic research before making yourself look stupid.
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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Xenoblade, are thou standing before me?

It’s official. Xenoblade is finally coming to North America via Gamestop exclusive! Surprised? I can’t blame you. With Nintendo’s response to Project Rainfall with a frequent "We never say 'never,' but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!" chances of this game getting an American release just became dimmer and dimmer as the months went by. And considering Nintendo’s history of not bringing new IP titles overseas (Fatal Frame 4, Mother 3, Freshly Picked Tingle’s Rosy RupeeLand), it seemed uneventful  that we would ever see Xenoblade. So it was a big slap in the face when this title was announced for Europe and soon Australia along with Pandora’s Tower and The Last Story; two other Japan exclusives. Not bashing Nintendo or anything, but that was a pretty dumb move.

But it’s finally coming. You can now pre-order the game on Gamestop. This is really happening!  

This is not a time to hesitate; we need to show Nintendo that there ARE gamers like us that will buy these kinds of games. If you are the kind of gamer that is sick of seeing games like Mother 3 not being localized then you must act. Nintendo is not going to localize games that don’t sell: YOU have the power. Buying this game will say: “Yes Nintendo, we still support you! We are still your core gamers!” Make this a reality! AND If you don’t want new IP’s to become dust in the wind like the sadly underappreciated titles Drill Dozer, Chibi Robo, and Elite Beat Agents, which never became full series, then like I said before: you must be ready! We may never get a chance like this again, so we mustn’t fail. Spread the word. Tell every gamer. The final year of the Wii will not be in vain!  
 
It’s coming. Can you believe it? And it’s all thanks to an unlikely source. Here’s to you Gamestop; I never thought I’d see the day that you’d do something that made me want to come to your store.
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