Author Archives: Steven

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About Steven

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

Location Test Footage of P4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena

I don’t care how many times I do these articles, I’m not calling P4: The Ultimate “P4U.” It just sounds dirty. Anyway, here we have footage of a location testing (or “Loketest”) of Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena. Here we have a fight between Kanji and my homegirl Mitsuru. Things are still as fast as ever. One interesting thing that one of the youtube comments pointed out was that the blue bars under the life gauge have been changed to look like the backs of the Arcana cards from Persona 3&4. Pretty interesting. What other changes have you noticed? Point them out in the comments below.

Thanks to reader Brayan A. for the heads up.

Atlus Reveals Gungnir for PSP

After teasing the hell outta gamers with little hints of what they’ll be bringing to the U.S., Atlus has revealed the game to be the strategy RPG Gungnir. While being only the fourth game in the Dept. Heaven series of games by developer Sting, it’s actually the 9th episode of the whole series. I’m guessing they’re pulling a Star Wars and skipping some episodes. The Dept. Heaven series so far consists of Riviera: The Promised Land, Yggdra Union, and Knights in the Nightmare. Gungnir is slated for release on June 12, 2012 for the PSP. That up there is the announcement trailer/intro to the game.

Now get cracking! You got a new game to guess about!

Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition Trailer

What do you get when you take Pokemon and make every, damn, location Ecruteak City? You get Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition. Nobunaga’s Ambition is a long-time series of strategy RPGs made by Koei that first released in 1983. Each game takes place in Feudal Japan. And now, Tecmo Koei and Gamefreak are teaming up to bring Nobunaga’s and Pokemon together. I will say that putting Pokemon in a strategy RPG is interesting since it’s never been done before for the series. Color me fascinated!

This game is being made for the Nintendo DS and is set for release in Japan in 2012. No U.S. release date is set.

Retro Weekends – Super Mario Kart

Next weekend is the weekend of Christmas. That tree of yours is packed with presents, and there’s probably a 3DS in one of those. Good luck to you with that. But today, we’re going back in time again (as we always do with Retro Weekends) to the year 1996. If you read last week’s Retro Weekend on Donkey Kong Country 3, you’ll know that I also received Super Mario Kart alongside it as a Christmas gift as well. Well, this week is Part 2 of our little Holiday Special of Retro Weekends. Hit the jump and join me as we talk about Super Mario Kart. Continue reading

Retro Weekends – Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble

Here we are, the final game in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy for the SNES. If you missed out on reading about the other two games, go back and read them here and here. To summarize, both games somehow found ways to avoid me. DKC1 stopped working, and I never owned DKC2. But what of DKC3? Well, this is the only one in the trilogy that I still own on the SNES and still works. I haven’t played it for many years, but trust me when I say that I played it a lot since it was the only one in my possession and working. Join me as we explore one of the last games released on the SNES. Continue reading

The Last Story Gets European Release Date

In the midst of all the celebration of Xenoblade’s U.S. release confirmation, Nintendo has set February 24, 2012 as Europe’s release date for The Last Story. Hironobu Sakaguchi and his company Mistwalker are the makers of this game. The last major games they made were Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, both Xbox 360 releases. The Last Story was release in Japan in late January of this year. No word yet on if The Last Story while join Xenoblade in coming out in the U.S., but I’m assuming Nintendo of America is going to see how this game performs in Europe before taking any action on it.

The Last Story gets European release date [CVG]

I Stand On My Soapbox: You Wanted The Game, Now Follow Through

I Stand On My Soapbox is a series of editorials that cover more specific topics in the games industry and community. These articles are a little more extreme than normal editorials published here, and could just degenerate to outright ranting. Have fun and enjoy the show!

Over the weekend, the Wii community, and JRPGs as a whole, have been celebrating the confirmation of Xenoblade finally making it to the U.S. I’ve been listening to the music all weekend and have added some songs to my daily playlist. I’ve seen the trailer a lot, saw some gameplay footage, and watched a couple of early cutscenes in the game. I’m ready to preorder this baby this week (even though I really hate Gamestop, it’s my only choice. And no I have no means to pre-order from Nintendo). But in the back of my mind, I fear that this game may not sell well in the U.S. But this time, it cannot happen. It mustn’t happen! Continue reading

Xenoblade U.S. Trailer and new Title Design

Not too long after the reveal of Xenoblade coming to the U.S., a new trailer was posted. The trailer reveals that the U.S. release will be based on the PAL version, meaning that there will be British voices a-plenty. One thing that has been changed is the title design, which now has “Chronicles” in smaller font and under a line (ignore the IGN thumbnail). I actually like this new design as it’s less busy than the PAL version and downplays the “Chronicles” part of the title (something that many gamers saw as an unnecessary subtitle). You’ll also notice many of the songs that are in the game that are really stunning. I’ve been listening to some of the music all weekend, and it’s really good! Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono series, Soma Bringer) are the composers for this game, so you know this is going to be an amazing soundtrack. Xenoblade is set for release in April 2012.

Retro Weekends – Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

Last week, we covered a game that was one of my first games on the SNES, Donkey Kong Country. It met a sad fate when it stopped working, and I went without the first game for over a decade. Eventually I bought the game on the Wii’s Virtual Console, and all the memories started coming back. So this weekend, we’ll be talking about a rather elusive game for many gamers, including me. Physical copies of this game are somewhat rare and pretty expensive as many gamers that own this game aren’t willing to part ways with it. As the header image suggests, I’m talking about Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest.

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Xenoblade Confirmed For U.S. Release!

Well guys, it finally happened. Xenoblade will finally be hitting the U.S. next year under the title Xenoblade Chronicles. This comes to us via a report from IGN in which an image from an anonymous Gamestop employee was shown to have Xenoblade in the release schedule. Soon afterward, images of Xenoblade Chronicles popped up on on Nintendo’s Facebook page. At 10:10AM PST, Nintendo posted on their Facebook page:

“It’s confirmed! Next year, Wii players throughout North America can wield the Monado blade and join the epic battle between the Homs and the Mechons in Xenoblade Chronicles. Like this post if you’re ready for an adventure on the surface of two frozen Titans!”

There are some out there that may feel a little manipulated out there after begging, pleading, and potentially boycotting all Nintendo products, and they have a right to be a little disappointed that Nintendo would dangle the carrot in front of gamers like that. But I think it’s time to put the pride aside and just be happy that we’re getting the damned game. The critically acclaimed game is set for release in April 2012.

Xenoblade Confirmed for United States [IGN]

Man Punches Boy On Black Friday, Wins Dick Of The Year Award

Ah Black Friday, A day when the ugliest of human nature shines through, all in the name of great deals and low prices. Take for instance what occurred last Thursday night at a Naperville Wal-Mart when a 13-year-old boy tried to snag a copy of Batman: Arkham City (I’ll go with Kotaku in this case and sit it was). A man was there saying that he was going to push and shove people who got in his way to get Arkham City. When the boy got the copy, the man slugged him in the face. The boy wasn’t seriously injured. But the man ran away like the huge dick that he is. He’s still on the run.

Man hits teen over video game in pre-Black Friday rush [Triblocal, via Kotaku]

I Stand On My Soapbox: Wireless Controllers Need a Locator

I Stand On My Soapbox is a series of editorials that cover more specific topics in the games industry and community. These articles are a little more extreme than normal editorials published here, and could just degenerate to outright ranting. Have fun and enjoy the show!

“The next generation is a wireless one.” That was the slogan for the Xbox 360 controllers that were advertised during the launch of the 360. This was going to be the new standard, as opposed to previous gens where your wireless fix came from third party manufacturers, or you spent more money on the official one. But this generation, nah-ah, you got a wireless one right in the box. Before you knew it, that slogan proved very true, as the PS3 and Wii controllers were wireless too. Finally, no more lowering or raising the wire to let people pass, or them tripping and potentially dropping the consoles from whatever precarious ledge the console was perched on (like my Gamecube… 6-foot-drop, still lives). So far, the only thing that is wired on the consoles now is the TV cables and the power supply (and you know they’re not going wireless anytime soon), and they’re in no one’s way. So with this new found freedom to game anywhere in the house without worry of bodily harm to the console, I have one question: Where the hell did I put my controller!?

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Say Hello to Nyu Media, Your Newest Niche-Game Publisher [UPDATE]

In a world full of Battlefields, Call of Dutys, and Skyrims, it’s nice to play something out of the ordinary (and a helluva lot more colorful). So far, there’s primarily Atlus, NIS America, XSEED, and Ignition that cater to the niche market by bringing over Japanese games that the big guys are too scared to publish in the U.S. Well now you can add Nyu Media to the mix. They’ll be specializing in bringing doujin games over. “The high price of imports, limited distribution, and the language barrier have prevented gamers from fully enjoying many quality doujin games,” says founder Seon King on the company’s new page in regard to how hard it is to acquire these games and support the often small dev teams. So far they have six games they’ll be publishing this year, with more on the way in 2012. The gaame will be available on PC through regular distribution platforms. No word yet on if they’ll be publishing the games as downloadables on consoles and/or handhelds. You can hit up the company’s website to see what they’ll be bringing over.

[UPDATE] I’ve contacted Seon King, and he said that they’re in talks to release these games on online platforms like Steam. On the handheld/console front, they’ll also be release games on smartphone devices. There are currently no plans to release these games on PSN or XBLA (Understandably so since these services can have some steep hosting fees).

New Doujin Publisher, Nyu Media, Publishing Japanese Indie Games [Siliconera]

Spain to Capcom: “Que Carajo Estas Haciendo Aqui!?”

Man, no one’s a fan of Capcom lately. Just when you thought Capcom couldn’t piss off Spain again, Capcom reveals that they’ll be dressing Magneto in the King of Spain’s royal clothes. Now, this probably isn’t all Capcom’s fault. Magneto wearing the outfit in question is actually a throwback to the comic House of M in which Magneto is seen wearing said outfit. The Spanish Royal Family had issue with the depiction of their King’s garb and sued Marvel. They’ve settled this a long time ago. Guess no one gave Capcom the memo to not open those old wounds, as now Spain is going down on Capcom for using the outfit as DLC for Magneto and is threatening legal action. It’s currently available on PSN and XBL, so get it while it’s hot!

Capcom May Have Pissed Off The King of Spain [Complex]

Retro Weekends – Donkey Kong Country

Picture if you will, two rivals, Nintendo and SEGA, in the middle of a very heated war of consoles. SEGA enjoyed the #1 spot after releasing their Genesis, competing against Nintendo’s NES. They steal not only Nintendo’s thunder, but third parties as well that had enough of Nintendo’s draconian bullshit during the 80s. They shelve Alex Kidd and replace him with the hip, the cool (and sometimes creepy), Sonic The Hedgehog. Nintendo, not willing to bow down, release the Super Nintendo. Now the companies are on even ground: two companies, two 16bit consoles, each with their strengths and weaknesses. Nintendo is pulling ahead and netting good game after good game from both them and third parties. A new format is on the rise: the CD. SEGA would invest money into it and make the SEGA CD add-on, with FMV games being their main push. Nintendo, they still got their cartridges, and still kicking ass. SEGA’s frustrated, as their CD format ain’t cutting it. So, they return to cartridge format and make the 32X, capable of rendering polygonal 3D graphics. Nintendo? They’re still sticking with their regular SNES cartridge. Not only that, they release this behemoth: Donkey Kong Country.

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