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

Gamestop To Hide New Games Behind Used Games

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In a message to Canadian Gamestop/EB Games employees, Kotaku has reported that one of the employees has has come forward to show what the new policy is. According to the employee, there will no longer be new or used games, just games. To make matters worse, all new games will be behind the used games on the shelves, and it’ll be hard to tell them apart since they’ll have the same stickers. This’ll be a huge problem for games that utilize online pass codes like Mortal Kombat and Saints Row: The Third to play online, as buying a used game means having to fork over more money to play online. “I can confirm this 100% we were given instructions last week to start this,” says one employee to Kotaku. “We were told that we were to merge all used games with the new games and have them sectioned off by one of four specific genres they gave us.”

Later in the day, another employee has come forward claiming this to actually be false. Kotaku has contacted EB Games (which is owned by Gamestop) and have yet to hear back from them.

EB Games/GameStop Gets Rid of Used Games Section [Update] [Kotaku]

P4U: Aigis No Longer Alone – Mitsuru and Akihiko Join The Fray [UPDATE]

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Atlus you cheeky bastards, leading us to assume that Aigis was the only P3 representative in that fighting game you’re making with ArcSys. Shame on you! But I digress, Atlus has revealed recently that Mitsuru Kirijo and Akihiko Sanada from Persona 3 will be playable characters in Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena. Since this takes place some time after Persona 4, you already know these two aged when you consider when P3 took place. Akihiko has now lost his shirt and is sporting a huge scar across his chest (that looks like it came from a bear). Mitsuru now looks like a spy for the KGB and is now wearing a fur coat, and hot damn am I okay with that! They’ll be sporting their ultimate Personas, Ceasar and Artemesia respectively. The official website has been updated to show these characters. Screens after the break. Now if you excuse me… Continue reading →

Kirby’s Adventure + Japanese Commercial = Kirby’s Epic Yarn!?

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Looks like it. I encountered this commercial yesterday after looking up some more recent Wii game commercials. I click on this thinking it’s Japan’s Epic’s Yarn commercial. Besides it looking like it was recorded with a VCR, the video looked normal. Then the gameplay footage is shown. I’m like, “what…? Kirby’s Adventure?” I’m thinking “must be an extra in Epic Yarn.” Then the old Japanese “Nintendo” splash is shown to end the CM. I’m thinking “nah, this guy must’ve edited something.” I look up another video, and it’s true, this was the real deal: this really was the Japanese Kirby’s Adventure commercial! So that means someone at HAL looked back on this commercial and thought, “You know what, let’s make a game outta this!” I gotta admit, this is pretty cool. The only other time I’ve seen Nintendo take cues from their commercials was when they took the Chandelier Dragon from the Golden Sun US commercial and added him to the game in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Retro Weekends – W-Gundam Zero Custom Model Kit

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This past week I spent much of my time playing through Persona 4. It’s been a while since I played it and I last left off at the sauna right before the Kanji fight. Well, cut to yesterday, and now I’m up to the the secret base dungeon. In between that, I took a quest where I had to make a mech model for this guy. It was an ema request, so I I figured “eh, why not. The fox’ll give me a discount.” So, I made the main character build the model, and then the slight nostalgia trip hit me… the seemingly tedious job of building a mech model was actually fun when I had one. And it was the only one I ever had.

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Hidden Message in Sonic CD

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Hello everyone. Feeling sleeping yet? It’s just about 2AM as I’m writing this (don’t ask). So I figured I put something up before I go to bed.

Not too long ago I came across the vid you see up there. It’s a hidden screen in Sonic CD that you can access by stringing together some numbers in the Sound Test menu. When you press play, this screen pops up. The message “Fun is Infinite (represented by the symbol). SEGA Enterprises” is shown (but in Japanese) amidst a creepy Sonic background and the very eerie Sonic CD boss theme. Suddenly, the “Fun is Infinite” thing just got a hell of a lot creepier. There’s also the “Human Sonic” variant with different music. I’m pretty sure many people already know about the hidden messages/pics, but it doesn’t hurt to put them up anyway. Well, goodnight then.

Ono: There will be no Super Street Fighter X Tekken Turbo

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In an interview with Gematsu (via Gamepro), Street Fighter X Tekken producer Yoshinori Ono was asked if there would be any extra versions of this game. Ono responded by stating that if there’s to be any extra versions of the game, it would be handled similarly to Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition instead of Super Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. In other words, it’ll be done as a downloadable update for those who already have the game (and probably retail for those who don’t have it yet).

To put simply, you will risk being a sucker… again.

Interview: Yoshinori Ono on Street Fighter X Tekken, fighting games [Gematsu, via Gamepro

Naoto and Teddy Ready to Kick Ass in P4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena

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Big blogs, I am disappoint. How could you talk about Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim and not talk about this!? This is big news here! Naoto and Teddy have been revealed as playable characters in Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena, a fighting game being done by Atlus and Arc System Works (of BlazBlue and Guilty Gear fame). They’ve actually been revealed for some weeks already, but not a lot of blogs seem to be mentioning it. I guess it’s somewhat of a forgone conclusion that the P4 crew would be playable, but it doesn’t hurt to let the public know anyway. You can check the official website to see Naoto and Teddy (though the info is in Japanese). They’ve also added Twitter icons for any Twitters users out there to use. And for you wallpaper fanatics, they’ve got a wallpaper available a well. You can find those in the Special menu in the bottom. Teddy after the jump.

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I Stand On My Soapbox: The DKC3 Soundtracks

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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!

Ah Donkey Kong Country 3. Many consider this game the Super Mario Bros. 2 of the Donkey Kong Country series, the sort of outcast that not many people remember. I mean, it came off the heels of Donkey Kong Country 2, and was released the same year the N64 came out. Like its following and fan reaction, its soundtrack was met with… okay ratings. While there were some memorable tunes from this entry in the series, it was obvious that some was… missing. Maybe its because Eveline Fischer did most of the composing and not David Wise (no offense to Fischer). Maybe it’s the relatively new setting for the Kongs.Years later, facing audio issues for the GBA, Nintendo saw this and brought back David Wise to redo the entire soundtrack of DKC3 for its GBA release. And then… a fanbase split ensues!

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Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Phoenix Wright Trailer

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For real this time. For a while I was wondering if Phoenix was really going to throw some punches and kicks. Turns out, he’s not quite doing much of that. Instead, he’s whipping out paper, throwing what looks like laser pens, calling out his assistant to do the Luigi Punches. I’m really diggin’ his level 1 Super though, calling out the Judge like a god! So far his fighting style is very different than the other fighters. He also has some icons over his super meter. Evidence perhaps? Hachi is definitely gonna love this!

Henry Lewis: Pokemon Names “Are Actually Names of Demons”

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…….I’m hyperventilating from the outright idiocy this man is spewing from his poisonous gob. I am trying my best to not punch my laptop clean through as I hear this man speak nonsense that even the most conservative Republicans would call crazy. Of course, many radical Christians have picked on Pokemon ever since the boom of it in the late 90s (god I feel old). Since then, Pokemon has popped up intermittently amongst Christian radicals, citing something random for corrupting youth. Lewis calls Pokemon “Oriental Demons.” Surely several Oni and Jaki will not take kindly for being mislabeled as Pokemon. Most mind numbing of all is that he says that the names of the Pokemon are actually names of demons. Um… Yeah. So Venusaur is demonic name, and not the combination of “Venus” and “Dinosaur.” Oh, and Rapidash is not the combination of “Rapid” and “Dash,” but is in fact a horse from hell. Gotcha boss….f*ckin’ idiot.

Zues help us if these crazy fools discover any game in the Shin Megami Tensei series (particularly Nocturne). Though I’d probably take pleasure in seeing what the hell these guys would have to say about it.

Persona 4: The Animation Has Been Licensed For The US

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There was probably a good chunk of the audience that thought that Persona 4: The Animation was not going to cross the Pacific and land on our shores. I mean, a good chunk of Japanese made stuff, be it anime, games, and shows, never get released here (officially anyway). But, as the headline suggest, Sentai Filmworks (one of the successors to ADV Films), has licensed P4A for US release. So far there’s no word on whether they’ll be bringing in the P4 voice actors to reprise their roles, get some news guys in, or forgo dubbing altogether. But this is still good news for those that want to officially see the anime of P4 and not depend of shoddy work of some hack fandub group.

‘Persona 4 The Animation’ Gets License For US Release [Geekology]

Bloody Roar 5 Confirmed…In Our Imaginations

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Over the weekend, there was news that Hudson announced that they were making Bloody Roar 5. This came from Twitter account “HudsonSoftLtd,” and even had ハドソン written under its name. Well turns out that the Twitter account is fake, and so is the news about Bloody Roar 5. *sigh* I did wonder though why something like this would be announced on a Friday since most game announcements usually occur earlier in the week. But the truth is out, and those hoping to play as a bunny girl in HD won’t be getting any of that action. I still wonder what the game is like to play since I’ve never played a Bloody Roar game.

Once again, there is no Bloody Roar 5 game in development. But, maybe this might fan some flames of interest. And maybe, just maybe, Konami (owners of Hudson) might some something for the franchise.

Art of the Week: Feature 8 – Paul Robertson

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You may not recognize his name, but you most likely have seen his pixel art (or played a certain beat-’em-up game with his art). Paul Robertson has been involved with many forms of media, including music videos, commercials, videogames, and the like. Hailing from Australia, Paul’s artwork is very, very colorful and energetic. His main base of operations is on the blog, The Mecha Fetus Visual Blog. The subject matter of some of his works can actually be very macabre nature, contrasting the lightheartedness of his artstyle. While I really can’t show most of his artwork here, he has a plethora of nsfw art that in a sense is… fun. It’s really hard to describe the sense of freedom that you can see in his art, especially in some videos and gif animations that he’s done. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he’s not afraid to be crazy with the work he does, and if twin boys can morph into a plethora of references until becoming the king of violence, they’ll do it. Paul tackles a range of subjects in his animations, from Pokemon, to Persona, to fighting games, etc. His work on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game lent itself well to the source material and the mayhem of Scott’s world.

I wish I could talk more about this guy’s art, but I highly suggest check out his stuff. He’s on livejournal, deviantART, the aforementioned blog, and some of his videos can be found on Youtube. Along with a sample after the break, I’ll link you to those videos on Youtube.

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The Legend of Zelda + Lady Gaga…Ummm…

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I’ll try to keep my opinions about Lady Gaga’s music to myself. But I think some of you might find this amusing. I will say though, the use of Zelda footage here is really just a backdrop for what is otherwise a pseudo 8-bit remix of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance (and just view-whoring to rake gamers in). I say “pseudo” because this is being done on GXSCC. Now this would be real 8-bit if it was being done on something like Famitracker (of even LSDJ). Really not a fan of GXSCC’s sound, but nice try for the creator.

via BuzzFeed

I Stand On My Soapbox: Expecting Too Much From Your Game

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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!

Take a look at the featured comments section of this article. Read the comments? Now I ask you, have you noticed a pattern here? A good chunk of the comments there mention Atlus and/or Catherine. The people here are reacting to a comment made by James Mielke of Q Entertainment, in which he states that Monster Hunter will never be as successful in the west as it has been in Japan. The first commentor, Taggart6, mentions that Monster Hunter Tri has sold over 470 thousand units in the US and questions how the hell that is not considered a success. Catherine sells 200,000 in its first week, and Atlus was thrilled to sell that much (and pretty much alluding to it being a success). Two companies, two games, both high sellers, and the lower selling one is a success. Why? Well, it’s all about expectation, and from the looks of how some games end up selling, some companies still have trouble understanding their audience and just how many units is expected to sell.

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