Author Archives: Steven

About Steven

Editor-In-Chief of The Wired Fish since 2010. Suggestions, praise, and hate mail can be sent to steven@thewiredfishnetwork.com

The Last Story Ends My Relationship With GameStop

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About two weeks ago XSEED released The Last Story to the masses… Hold on, let me correct that. XSEED shipped The Last Story to the masses. Of course on August 14 I called GameStop and I was told that they didn’t have it in yet. You can see how that all went down here. So then, On Thursday of that week there was a podcast taping, so I wasn’t going to have a chance to pick up the game. Looking online, it looks like GameStop wouldn’t have it until that Friday. So I made a good choice to not bother calling them. However, upon coming home something happened that pretty much solidified my choice in stores for the foreseeable future.

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New Nintendo Direct In Japan Set For Tomorrow

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Looks like Nintendo’s gonna do another Nintendo Direct. According to the message on the streaming page, they’ll only be focusing on Wii and 3DS software. They make it very clear that there will be no Wii U news on this. I have a feeling this is primarily going to be a 3DS showing as the Wii is on its last legs. If they’re going to show anything on the Wii, it’ll probably be extra stuff for games currently released, maybe some Fatal Frame II and Kirby 20th Anniversary news, etc. Remember, this is the Japanese Nintendo Direct, so any news coming out of this may not necessarily apply to the U.S. But who knows, maybe Iwata might break the flow, become aware of the U.S. audience watching it, and suddenly announce at the last minute that Pandora’s Tower‘s coming to the U.S.!

Since the broadcast starts at 8PM JST, using a timezone converter, that means it’ll start at… 7AM EST? Huh… I think I might have to wake my ass up early for this then. Use this. If I’m wrong, please correct me.

[Japanese Nintendo Direct Site]

Shin Megami Tensei IV Gets A Trailer

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Now you might be thinking, “huh? Isn’t Strange Journey the fourth mainline SMT game?” Well it’s actually not. Our colleague Hachi76 told us this during a podcast tapings some weeks ago. You can pretty much pin this on Atlus just slapping the SMT name on a lot of things and confusing us on which is a side-story and which is mainline.

So then. What do we see in this trailer. Well, it starts off looking like something out of Avatar: The Last Airbender. A large fortress is shown with what looks like shots of the inside flashing onscreen. It then shows three people looking over the fortress (probably from inside the walls) and then cuts to a someone with a mysterious looking arm-brace that looks way too advanced for the time period this is set in. The screen flashes white and fades back in to these same individuals now in a modern setting (most likely Japan) with words being spoken by different people. Quick shots of some shadows and a ruined city are shown. Finally, we see an in-game shot of what could be the protagonist standing still as the environment around him changes from parts of a ruined street to a large desert. Lots of mysteries abound in this trailer.

Shin Megami Tensei IV is planned for a 2013. Accoding to the website, it looks like it’s headed for the 3DS.

Shin Megami Tensei IV Trailer [via Youtube]

It’s A Depressing World On iOS Devices

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Well, the countdown clock counted down to pretty much an iOS version of TWEWY titled The World Ends With You -Solo Remix-. Those hoping that this was a sequel to the cult hit were in for a monsoon of disappointment. Again having never playing the original, I’m not as bummed out as some in the audience are. But I can relate to them (especially since we have our own iOS nightmare to deal with) as something with a similar magnitude such as this can be a huge bummer. In this iOS version, gone is the dual-screened mayhem of the battle system. Now any second characters you bring into battle will be controlled by the AI. Also now some moves will be handled through a micro-game.

On the plus side, some of the sprites have been cleaned up and the music has been remixed for this release, though I’d imagine some would want this to be on a 3DS instead of an iDevice. But who knows, maybe this could bring awareness to the series and maybe spawn an actual sequel. But I’m with everyone when I say that Square probably shouldn’t be using countdown clocks to hype iOS releases. And dear lord up to $20 for an iGame? I don’t think Square realizes that iDevices are a different beast when it comes to pricing.

The Wold Ends With You -Solo Remix- Website

Night-Time Listenings Wrap-Up: Week of 8/20/12

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Continuing Composers’ Month, we dived into the music of Yoko Shimomura. We fought Ken in Street Fighter II. We talked to townsfolk in Super Mario RPG. We looked toward the Mana Tree in Legend of Mana. We fought some Heartless in Kingdom Hearts. And finally we fought on the plains of Bionis in Xenoblade Chronicles.

If you want to see the music as it goes up (and not wait every Saturday for these wrap-ups), remember to go to our Tumblr page and follow it. Music for Night-Time Listenings goes up every weekday at 10PM

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New Giana Sisters Game In The Works w/ Kickstarter (7 Days Left)

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And no one told me about this when it was revealed. *sigh* Regardless. I saw some of the art and thought “hoo boy, Pikomi’s rolling in his future grave.” Then I saw the actual gameplay. Holy shit this game looks awesome! Before I explain here, let me educate you with some Giana Sisters history.

The Great Giana Sisters was an old game made by Time Warp. It was essentially a Mario clone for the ZX Spectrum, C64, Amiga, Amstrad, and other home computer platforms. And boy did it borrow a lot of Mario-like elements. It looked so much like Mario, Nintendo stepped in and ordered a cease and desist on the game’s production. This was back in 1987. Fast forward to a few years ago, and DTP Entertainment and Spellbound Interactive make a new Giana Sisters game for the DS. This time there’d only be one sister, and collecting a power up (aka mushroom) turned her into Punk Giana. The stages in this game were short, but very numerous. The artwork of the game was phenomenal, putting New Super Mario Bros. to shame.

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Nintendo Power Is Dead

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There’s… really no other way to say this. Nintendo Power, one of the oldest running gaming magazines and probably one of the first magazines some of you out there subscribed to, is stopping the printers and ceasing production. Ars Technica reports that Future Publishing, who took over publication from Nintendo back in 2007, would not renew its contract with Nintendo, nor would Nintendo themselves. Future hinted to Nintendo that digital was the way to go since many are getting their news online. However Nintendo didn’t see it that way, and now Nintendo Power is paying the price. Other magazines, like @Gamer, Xbox Magazine, Playstation Magazine, and Game Informer have digital versions of their magazines available. However some, like EGM and Gamepro, died out even with those initiatives, only to come back to lukewarm reception or with production greatly diminished.

Hearing this news, I think back to more recently when I thought that the console specific magazines would still live. I mean, the mags that fell were the independent ones, not the ones tied to a First Party — They would be funded after all. I guess I was wrong. Any magazine can fall now. At the moment not much is known when the last issue will be shipped. I’ll do some memory articles later on or leave it to a podcast topic.

Source: Nintendo Power magazine to cease publication (updated) [Ars Technica]

DICE Executive Producer Still Has Hope On A New Mirror’s Edge Game

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Oh Mirror’s Edge. The game that introduced me to the “next generation.” DICE Executive Producer Patrick Bach stated in an interview with IGN that there’s still a possibility that a new Mirror’s Edge and Battlefield: Bad Company game could still be made. He stated that, “Mirror’s Edge was a game we all loved. Of course it had flaws, like all games. But in general it’s an IP we love. We haven’t killed it ’cause it’s too good to kill.” Of course when you have an idea like Mirror’s Edge, a First-Person Platformer with a minimalist aesthetic and ambient music starring a Master Kick-Asser Faith as the protagonist, you can’t just let an idea like that go. Plus the game was really short and ended on a cliffhanger. What’s gonna happen to Faith and the runners? What about Kate and her link with the blues? And what about Callaghan’s re-election campaign?

On thing’s for sure: if a new Mirror’s Edge game is made, James and I will welcome this with wide-open arms. We want to see this story through to the end.

DICE: Mirror’s Edge and Bad Company Are “Too Good to Kill” [IGN]

Square Enix Teasing A New World Ending Game?

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Oh? What is this? Looks like a new countdown clock has popped up. This time from Square Enix, and it looks like they’re teasing a new The World Ends With You game. At first it looks like nothing much. Then you hear the music. Since I’m on a big Persona 4 fix now, listening to the music, it sounds very Persona-like. Since P3/P4 and The World Ends With You shares the same Japanese-Pop aesthetic, we can pretty much draw this conclusion. Or you can just ignore my long-winded deducing and look at the bottom of the page and see that Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi are credited as Character Designers. Both worked as artists for The World Ends With You, so it’s pretty safe to say that this is a new TWEWY game. Another hint is in the URL, “subaseka.” In Japan, the game is known as It’s A Wonderful World, or Subarashiki Kono Sekai in Japanese Romanji. So Subaseka is a portmanteau of the game’s Japanese name.

I really wish I played this game when it came out. Hearing lots of good things about it, I feel pretty left out of the loop. If I find a copy though, I might transition pretty well into it–being fresh off Persona 4 and all. There’s 6 Days left to the counter. So by the end of the week something should come out of this. We’ll be there to break it.

Square-Enix Teaser Site

Night-Time Listenings Wrap-Up: Week of 8/13/12

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Composers Month Continues with smooth and catchy sounds of Michiru Yamane. We flew through the skies with Detana Twinbee!! Then we slayed some vampires with Castlevania Bloodlines. We lost a painting with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. We went even further back in time with Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. And finally we wrapped with the week with Skullgirls. Yeah, there’s no pun for that. Ms. Fortune took them all.

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The Wired Fish Podcast S3 – Episode 4 (2 Parts)

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Ahoy! In this episode, we talk about the Colorado shooting hand how this could affect general geek culture. Then we dig into EA Origin boss talking crap about Steam Sales. And finally we talk about what characters we want to see in the next Super Smash Bros. and Playstation All-Stars.

Time table of contents and part 2 after the break.

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The Last Story Launch Hits A Little Snag [UPDATE]

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Yesterday I got dressed and was ready to haul ass to Gamestop in the Hub of South Bronx to pick up The Last Story. I called the Gamestop to make sure it was there. As soon as I asked the question, I was immediately responded with “It should be here tomorrow.” And I mean he immediately answered me, like he was asked that already by someone else. Considering how pompous I feel, being a gamer of such refined taste as I in a neighborhood such as this, I thought I was the only one in the neighborhood to preorder the game. I mean, I was the only one that preordered Xenoblade here and I had to make a second trip some days later for the artbook. I also preordered The Last Story that first day too. Certainly I deduced that I was remembered.

But I digress. I equated this to Gamestop being up to their old shenanigans again. But just out of curiosity I checked to see if other gamers were having this issue. And lo and behold, I wasn’t the only one. In fact, this was affecting many Gamestops and other stores in the U.S. Confirmation of shipping delays came straight from XSEED’s Twitter. Even Canada was having issues. So if you didn’t get The Last Story yesterday, check today. But do call ahead to make sure. Looks like Gamestop’s off the hook… for now.

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Night-Time Listenings Wrap-Up: Week of 8/6/12

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This week, we continued the Month of Composers with David Wise. First was a trek through Castle Harman in Time Lord. Then we grew some ram horns in Battletoads arcade. We shot through barrels across brambles in Donkey Kong Country 2. Speaking of barrels, we heard a song from Star Fox Adventures. And finally we heard a remix Wise himself made for Overclocked ReMix.

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The Breakdown: The eXceed Collection

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System: PC/Publisher: Nyu Media/Developer: Tennen-sozai/Players: 1/Release Date: 3/29/12

The shmup genre, a playstyle that’s lived longer than most of us on the staff. As we played these games and grew, our skills were honed to the point that memorization and bullet dodging became second nature. As time went on, a desire for a more… difficult approach arose, and along came the Bullet Hell Shooter. Like watching a fireworks show, the screen is littered with bullets with narrow passages of escape. Thanks to small hitboxes, escape was somewhat easy, and pretty cool at that. So in the heap of Bullet Hell Shooters comes a series of indie games called eXceed. The three games in the series sought to change things up a bit by introducing certain mechanics to the standard Bullet Hell formula. And now, they’re in a complete little package for a small price. Is it worth getting all three, getting part of ’em, or not bothering at all? After the jump, I breakdown each game of The eXceed Collection.

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Shatter Composer Doing A Live Performance, Will Livestream If Enough People Are Interested

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Shatter composer Jeremiah Ross, aka Module, is going to do a live performance of the Shatter soundtrack in the San Francisco Bath House in New Zealand. This is NOT in San Francisco, repeat, NOT in San Francisco. This is in a club called San Francisco Bath House. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, he’s informed people on his Facebook page that if enough people are interested, he’ll livestream Shatter Live on Ustream for those that can’t make it to NZ. All you gotta do is go here and like/tell him you’re interested. The performance begins at 9PM NZ time on September 20th. He’ll be accompanied by Benny Tones (which he collaborated with before) and Jen Kyle.