EARTHBOUND IS FINALLY COMING OUT ON THE WII U VIRTUAL CONSOLE!
This game has been long sought after. The quirky SNES game was released earlier this year or last year in Japan on their Wii U virtual console, but possible legal issues kept this game from America... for now.
Anyway, it's coming out, but there is no word on what has or will be changed for the legal US release.
The Oracle series from The Legend of Zelda will also arrive in the US for the first time. While the originals were available separately on the Gameboy Color (I actually almost beat Oracle of Seasons, I got stuck on the final boss, and I made it about half way through Oracle of Ages at one point) this time the two will be linked together, getting rid of the password system the original used.
Speaking of that,
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 is coming to the 3DS! I never played the first, but it should be available on the 3DS VC. Or the Wii VC. Either way, I should play it soon. Did you ever play it?
Level 5 is releasing 4 games. So far, no word on Phoenix Wright vs Professor Layton (BRING IT OVER PLEASE!!!!) but Guild 02, among others, will arrive in the US. As will the LAST Professor Layton game ever. (barring Wright vs Layton) I don't know if I can handle that. I'll miss that gentleman.
((I believe I read it will be released in the US Next year, so we will have hope!))
SMT 4 also has a release date
((The function on this blog is keeping me from finding the English trailer) It comes out July 16th.
A lot of people are excited about this one:
Most people thought this game would go the way of Type-0
Where despite it's heavy lauds in Japan, it wouldn't come over here. Happily, Square Enix proved everyone wrong and we'll receive it soon... in 2014. It's kind of a sequel to Four Heroes of Light so pick that up if you haven't already.
On the Mario side of things, there is a new Yoshi's Island, Super Luigi U DLC (to continue the Year of Luigi), and Mario and Luigi: Dream Team is coming to the US and Europe.
There where others, but these are the ones I'm most excited about. (Though I am debating on Animal Crossing, I've never played one before.)
1) FREAKING EARTHBOUND, THE HOLY GRAIL OF VIRTUAL CONSOLE GAMES, WILL BE AVAILABLE. We'll see what and how much gets changed, but this should be great.
2) I adore Legend of Zelda games. This should be a lot of fun. The game has a simple formula, but it's very concise, the worlds are fleshed out, and it always works.
3) The Professor Layton games are great challenges, but more importantly we grow to care about each of these characters. Plus, in a world of violent anti heroes, to have such a gentleman like Hershel Layton and his apprentice, Luke Triton, is so refreshing.
4) While I have played one SMT game (Devil Survivor 1... I still haven't beaten it) I know a lot of people are interested and I DO want to give it a try.
5) Bravely Default is a Square Enix RPG... I'm a total sucker for those games.
6) I'm most excited from Dream Team. It focuses quite a bit on Luigi and it's an RPG.
So, all in all, a very successful Nintendo Direct conference.
No, no, you must be mistaken. I didn't miss Musical Monday.
Happy?
I am, sort of. I really like this theme. But I'm not here to talk about the theme.
Final Fantasy VS XIII was announced at E3 in 2006. The trailer, seen above, knocked everyone's socks off. It was more desired then Final Fantasy XIII itself, and then it fell off the map.
This is understandable. The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy of the time (XIII, Agito XIII (later became Type 0) and Versus XIII) were being developed in one office, and XIII then Agito/Type0 had more of the focus. XIII would be their basic title, and Agito was in turmoil. It first started as a mobile phone game before switching to PSP.
Agito came out to rave reviews. XIII was... mixed. (For the record, I liked it. I am at the final level. I can see some complaints, but anyone who claims all the character are unlikeable did NOT give them a chance to develop. Especially Hope.) So Square Enix decided to create XIII-2. That's also been... mixed.
Which brings us back to Versus. Very little has been released about Versus since it's announcement in 2006. Things have been mentioned, like there will be airships and cutscene and ingame models will be practically identical, and a few very incomplete trailers have been released.
And they have explained that not only has Noctis' clothes changed, they ended up switching the entire engine to another one, and the lighting effects changed so they were very realistic.
(I have since found out that that article was an April Fools Day joke. My apologies)
Admittedly, he says it's because the fans are frustrated, but this is just stupid and sets a REALLY bad precedent.
May I direct your attention to Capcom and Valve?
Capcom had announced post release DLC for Street Fighter. People were annoyed, but accepted it. Then people started digging into the files and found fully working models, costumes, and sound. To say people are spitting mad is an understatement. It might have been better if they were incomplete, but you could hack them in no problem. At this time, several people have registered reports with the Better Business Bureau and Capcom has stated:
"While Capcom is sorry that some of its fans are not happy about the
chosen method of delivery for the DLC, we believe that this method will
provide more flexible and efficient gameplay throughout the game's
lifecycle. There is effectively no distinction between the DLC being
''locked'' behind the disc and available for unlocking at a later date,
or being available through a full download at a later date, other than
delivery mechanism."
Valve for Half-Life 2 switched to an episodic model in order to save development time. Half 2 Episode 2 was released in 2007 with NO updates since then. At least XIII releases trailers.
Square Enix, if you want to relieve frustration, the answer is very simple.
Release information. I will NOT buy a game like this in installments. You have no idea how much I was looking forward to it, but putting 2/3 of the game as DLC has pretty much killed my interest. The game looks fascinating, complex, has a heavy focus on relationships, and... it will mostly be DLC. If you want people to get excited, start by saying EXACTLY how far you are along. The most recent trailer did not have complete voice acting! VAing is all or nothing for trailer cut scenes, otherwise it just comes across as unprofessional. You can release screenshots, talk about characters, over view the battle system, etc.
This also sets a VERY bad precedent. Valve at the very least has been upfront with how they were going to do episodes in the beginning and how the idea that it was supposed to cut down on development time didn't work. But look at something like Kingdom Hearts, the other FF's or just games in general. "We know you wanted it out sooner, so here is a third of the game. The rest is $20 DLC on top of the $60 price tag". "You can't beat the game unless you pay us more money" I'm sorry, but gaming does not work that way, especially for a longer game. You will lose your customers. People buy DLC. I've bought some. But changing a game style to mostly DLC is frustrating and insulting. (This also ties into getting rid of used games). You'll make money now, but you'll lose your customers in the long run. Capcom may often talk to it's community, but this DLC issue is using up a lot of good will very quickly. Square, you will lose even more. And what about Kingdom Hearts? People are getting VERY frustrated waiting for that, will you release that mostly as DLC?
This is coming out negative, but one point remains. If you want to reduce frustration, SE, don't release the game in installments and release more (non trailer) information in the mean time. I love trailers, but I'd rather an interview that gives background to the characters more then a new trailer right now.
Hey? Isn't this Kingdom Hearts, the Disney/Square Enix mashup? I've never seen THIS world before.... What is it?
It's the Jungle Book. And, yes, those are fully functional models of Terra, Ven, and Aqua. As you can see, Jungle Book was fairly late in development when it got scrapped. Why?
Well, we don't know. But I do have a guess.
Did you ever watch Talespin?
By the time Talespin was created, Louie Prima (note, I originally put in Louie Armstrong, but it appears I was wrong. My apologies)(King Louie's Original Voice Actor) had died. So, Disney hired a very good voice actor named Jim Cummings (He's also Pooh, Tigger, Ray, Don Karnage, Darkwing Duck, NegaDuck...) Jim Cummings has a skill in imitation so he imitated Louie Prima's performance.
Apparently he did it too well and Disney was sued by Louie Prima's widow for breech of contract. Since then, King Louie either does not speak or his cousin "Larry" shows up instead.
Now, look at the only perfectly complete room in the video. Apparently Terra was to interact with... King Louie.
My idea is that they started to program this world (and got very far!) by the time the legal issues with King Louie were made known. They were too far along with the project so they dummied out the world instead of reworking it. All hope is not lost though! Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is confirmed to consist of worlds that were highly considered for the other games. With the world partly built, we can assume that DDD is considering Jungle Book as well.
