Say Goodbye To Computer Science In The University of Florida

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Being a college graduate from New York City’s CUNY network of colleges (Lehman College specifically), I’ve seen some f’ed up shit happen behind the textbooks. But nothing compares to the downright stupidity that is happening in the University of Florida. In an age where tuition rates are ever rising and demand for people versed in technology is at an all-time high, UF goes ahead and removes the Computer Science division. Stranger still is the fact that the athletics department at the school saw its budget increase by $2 Million, bringing it’s annual budget to $97 Million (though Forbes stresses in a postscript that the Athletics budget is separate from the other depts. thanks to the UAA). According to Forbes, the big culprits here are “…the Florida state legislators, who have cut the budget for their flagship university by 30% over the past 6 years.”

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Night-Time Listenings Returning To Facebook

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Hey, remember that almost daily musical segment I did when I ended The Wired Fish on LiveJournal and moved to WordPress? Of course you don’t, which is why I’m bringing it back. However, there will be a few things changed to the format of those Night-Time listenings. for starters, there will probably be only one song per night. Not saying it’ll only be one song a night, but that the probable amount will be just one a night. Second, I really don’t have the energy to analyze every little thing on a song like I used to do back during those segments. My energy ran out pretty quickly then, so most listenings will be reduced to one or two sentences from me.

And finally, these listenings will be on Facebook. It all started on Facebook as status updates I did on my personal Facebook. Then I moved them over to TWF. And now, I’m bringing the segment back and to the format that started it. You can catch all all of the listenings on the official Facebook Page of The Wired Fish. And do remember to like the page as well to get all the updates on the articles and the music! I would like to warn you that there will be days missed. But We’ll try to do this as often as possible.

Nightly Listenings will be posted as status updates (hopefully) everyday between 10:00PM to 12:00 midnight EST.

Announcements From Nintendo Direct: Kirby 25th, Project X Zone Trailer, Animal Crossing, And More!

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Okay then, the Nintendo Direct broadcast has ended. Quite a few announcements were made, most of which were for the 3DS. Hit the jump to see the news. I’m gonna break them up in segments.

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Elizabeth and Two Others Join Persona 4: Arena

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Continuing the trend of checking official websites, it looks like Persona 4 Arena‘s Japanese site got an update too. Several in fact. Going there now, you’ll notice that the sites taking a little longer to load. That’s because the theme song gotten a change. Now someone is singing the theme song in glorious, glorious Engrish. Delving into the characters section, you’ll see three new combatants have been added. First is Elizabeth, Igor’s assistant from Persona 3. This might peak your interest if you’ve played to the end of Persona 3 and fought Margaret in Persona 4. Since Persona 4 Arena is canon and takes place after Persona 4, her inclusion might indicate something. She’ll be using Thanatos as her Persona.

Along with her is a character named Labyrs. She looks like a new character since I’ve never seen her in Persona 4. Maybe I haven’t played far enough in P4 (I’m still in Naoto’s Dungeon). The other character is Shadow Labrys. She (meaning both) looks like another android like Aigis. Her uniform suggests that she’s from Inaba. Her regular form’s Persona is Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete in Greek Mythology who was in charge of the Labyrinth. The Shadow form’s Persona is Asterius (aka Asterion), the Minotaur of Crete that was in the Labyrinth. Huh, looks like Atlus had a dream of seeing Japanese and Greek mythological figures clash. Persona 4 Arena is slated for a Summer release in the U.S. on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Persona 4 Arena’s Official Site (Japan)

Project X Zone Site Updated, Has Music, Hints At Resonance of Fate and Viewtiful Joe

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Last week Capcom, Namco, and Sega revealed Project X Zone, the sequel to Namco X Capcom that now adds Sega into the mix. I briefly mentioned in the reveal article that the site was still barren, only showing just the logo. Well, the site got a rather significant update. The first thing you’ll notice is the music. I will say it sounds pretty cool. Doesn’t sound tied to any one company; could be the theme song for the game, like for the intro. Then you’ll see a panorama behind the logo. Almost immediately you’ll notice Les Chattes Noires, which was a location in Sega’s Resonance of Fate. Looking in the background, that large tower looks suspiciously like the Tower of Basel from Resonance of Fate as well. If you look below it Les Chattes Noire, you’ll see a place called MovieLand, which was the world Joe would go to become Viewtiful Joe in Capcom’s… err, Viewtiful Jow. There are a few more things that might suggest something, particularly that ornate area to the far left, or the three movie posters above MovieLand

Looking at how these locales are arranged, maybe this is how the player will interact with the different game worlds, like Kingdom Hearts and the Disney Worlds, or like Smash Bros Brawl and those world orbs Tabuu seizes. Or maybe their worlds have clashed and are being melded into one. And so, the plot thickens…

Project X Zone Offiicial Website

Dragon’s Crown Now Belongs To Atlus

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Finally some good news for this ambitious title from Vanillaware. After concerns popped up as to whether or not Dragon’s Crown was alive, and if Ignition was capable of publishing the game after parent company UTV’s acquisition by Disney, Atlus has come in to save the day. Late this evening, Atlus has announced that they will be taking over publishing rights to Dragon’s Crown. Not only that, they’ll also be sending over some of their own to help out with the production of the game. Dragon’s Crown was slated to release this Spring, but Atlus has stated that it’ll be pushed back to 2013. They also stated that the game can’t retail for $30. Not sure if they’re referring to price of the PS3 version or the Vita version. But hey, Joystiq is right. Since Atlus is doing this, we’re probably gonna get some kind of extra goodies when getting the game. Speaking of which, this is the first time Atlus has published a Vanillaware title since Odin Sphere.

But man, you gotta feel for Ignition. Just when it looked like things were going good for them, Disney comes in and makes things a bit iffy.

Atlus picks up Dragon’s Crown publishing, also assisting with development [Joystiq]

[Rumor] Nintendo To Use Square Enix Characters For A New Project

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Oh? Well then. There’s seems to be a rumor going around stating that Square Enix has licensed off their older characters to Nintendo for them to use. Nintendo has not stated what this project is (nor if any of this is true for the matter). Since these are the older characters, and not necessarily from Final Fantasy, this opens up large opportunities for other characters to be used. Could it be Crono? The boy from Secret of Mana? Fan favorite Geno from Super Mario RPG? The god from ActRaiser? Slime from Dragon Quest? Last time we saw collaboration between the two countries, besides Fortune Street, a basketball game was released. Well, if nothing comes out of Nintendo now about this rumor, then it’ll probably come out at E3. We’ll update you on this if anything arises.

RUMOR – Square-Enix licenses characters to Nintendo for undisclosed project? [GoNintendo]

What Could Super Mario 4 Possibly Be?

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Before I begin the speculation, let me bring everyone up to speed. Not too long ago, gamers discovered that Nintendo had registered supermario4.com. When you go there, it redirects you to Nintendo’s country selector. Now normally when you enter some bonkers domain name, either you’ll go to a “domain not found” page, or a page from a domain squatter. But here, you can see that Super Mario 4 is most certainly Nintendo’s. Then in an interview with Korean site Betanews, Miyamoto confirmed that his team was in fact making Super Mario 4 for the Wii U. However, he didn’t specify what exactly this new Mario game would be: a 3D or 2D platformer. Here’s where we start guessing what this could be.

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While We Enjoyed Xenoblade, Europe Got This…

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I want to cry. So… so much. While Nintendo of Europe has shown how awesome they are by being the bigger man by localizing the three games and giving them awesome collectors editions, they went one step further and created this. Exclusive to HMV, the box came with an artbook depicting concept art for all three games and left extra room to store your three games, Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower. Note that the box does not come with the actual games themselves, nor is this the Limited Edition box for Pandora’s Tower (it has its own LE).

You got this if you pre-ordered any version of Pandora’s Tower. Prota tipped me on this during a Spring Break hangout at the ol’ campus. I couldn’t believe it. Then he showed me it on Facebook. My jaw dropped into the pits of Tartarus. For a while, both links lead to missing pages on HMV. But the Limited Edition on has since returned (though whether or not you get the box with the game is still a mystery). While I thought that image you see up there was fake, this video proves that it does exists and that NoE are the kings of trolling the hell out of us American gamers. But hey, if you got the disposable income to get the box somehow, you can still put your NTSC games in there. I probably would.

Again, thanks to Prota for the tip.

The Legend of Dragoon Now On PSN, Almost Had A Sequel

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Good news for any Legend of Dragoon fans out there. The classic Sony RPG is now available on PSN. Well, it’s actually been available for a while. I’m a bit late to the party (playing Xenoblade and all). I do remember my time with The Legend of Dragoon. I got quite hooked on the game and almost beat it. What happened? Well, first my gaming ADD acted up (I got a new game). Then my PS1 stopped working. Then my PS2 had trouble reading PS1 games. And I was on the fourth disc. Damn. But hey, I got a PS3, and it does read PS1 games (as ALL PS3s DO.) So maybe I’ll return to this someday. But hey, if you want a bug-free romp through this game and/or you want to finally play this game, it’s up on PSN as a PSOne classic.

And now for some crotch kicking news. The Legend of Dragoon almost had a sequel. Yep, and it was in production, most likely for the PS2. However, no one knew about this until Shu Yoshida talked about it recently. He states that when he left SCEJ, the game was still in production. Why it was cancelled is a mystery. But it could’ve been lack of interest at the time. I mean, yeah, there were fans of the game and yeah the game did well with critics, sales, and gamers. But when you have Final Fantasy X looming around the corner and everyone talking about how awesome the game was going to be, you know your morale’s gonna take a major blow. Yoshida didn’t state how long the game was in production, nor when exactly it was cancelled. But hey, at least this cancellation wasn’t as bad as another one we know.

Sony Reveals That A Sequel to The Legend of Dragoon Almost Happened [Shogun Gamer]

Project X Zone Characters and Screenshots.

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Not too long after the reveal, Famitsu released character art and screenshots for Capcom/Namco/Sega collaboration Project X Zone. The game is a strategy RPG much like its predecessor, Namco X Capcom. That character roster might seem paltry now, but of Namco X Capcom is anything to go by, this is is going to grow by a huge margin. So far not exact date is set, but the trio’s aiming for a late 2012 release. Characters and art after the jump.

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Capcom + Namco + Sega Collab Revealed As Project X Zone

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I’m normally the center of my Capcom hate on this site. March was not a good month for Capcom at all, and boy howdy was it a PR nightmare for the company. But today, I’ll hold back my hatred for reasons you’ll see in a moment. Remember that teaser image that popped up last week that showed color bars depicted the colors of the characters (that Japanese gamers sorta solved)? Well, Capcom, Namco and Sega have revealed the game and it will be known as Project X Zone. Instead of a fighting game, it’s a strategy RPG. If your memory called back to Namco X Capcom right there, then you’ll be pleased to hear that this is the sequel. Not much else is known, but the trio did reveal which character would be in the game so far. And there’s one character I’m sure many Mega Man fans will be pleased to see in the roster. Check it out after the break.

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I Stand On My Soapbox – Gamefly

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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!

After two months into having Gamefly in the house (thanks sis!), I’ve been able to play games that, in my currently broke-ass situation, wouldn’t have been able to play. So far I’ve played Sonic Generations, Solatorobo, Digital Devil Saga, and Kirby’s Return to Dreamland. So all the games that some within my circle have talked about I’ve finally played and understand where they’re coming from. Now don’t get me wrong. Gamefly is a good service, especially in a place like the South Bronx. However, there are some things that Gamefly seriously needs to fix, especially if they’re serving a place like New York City (meaning all of the boroughs).

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Persona 3: FES Coming To PSN… NOW!

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Before Xenoblade showed the world that JRPGs weren’t dead, Persona 3 showed the world that JRPGs weren’t dead… on the PS2. Being a combination RPG/Social Sim, it was a refreshing take on both the gameplay and storytelling of the genre. And it made Turned-Based Battles in the game far more engaging with the use of Personas and exploiting weaknesses for extra turns. I played the game on the PSP back in 2010, loved the hell out of it, and actually beat the game (within about 111 hours). The only downside was that P3P didn’t have The Answer, which was an epilogue chapter explaining what exactly happened upon the main game’s conclusion. The Answer was introduced in Persona 3: FES, an expansion that fixed a few things in the original game. And now it’s available for purchase on the PSN store as a PS2 classic. While I would say to get the PSP version since you can control your allies (the originals had the AI controlling them), it doesn’t have the cutscenes and the fully rendered world that you would see in the original PS2 version. Plus, FES the cheaper version on PSN. But hey, it’s up to you. You win an awesome JRPG regardless of your purchase!