Later, I’ll be posting the first half of my top ten DS games of 2008 list. One game which won’t be appearing is Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. And that’s one game I’m almost certain that, had I played it, would almost certainly be on there.
I’m a big fan of the Fire Emblem series - to me, it’s had the same strategic allure of the Advance Wars games, but with characters you genuinely care about. The franchise’s USP - that once your characters are dead, they stay dead - is part of what make it so great. It’s devastating to witness the death of someone you were particularly fond of, and many players have been known to restart battles as soon as they lose a valued fighter. It makes you more careful than you’d otherwise normally be with the often expendable troops found in most strategy titles, and the RPG-style levelling-up adds an extra layer of attachment to the bond you’ll form with your band of rebels.
So, it’s with great disappointment that I find myself unable to include said game in the list - mainly because I’ve not seen it available in a single shop I’ve been in. I’ve scoured the DS sections of Game, Gamestation, Gamestop, Zavvi, Tesco, Asda and other stockists near me, to no avail. In desperation, I asked my wife - who works in the centre of Manchester - if she’d be kind enough to buy me the game as a Christmas present. She hasn’t been able to locate the game either.
While Nintendo might say that this is down to ‘retail orders’ (as it suggested when I asked about the whereabouts of Professor Layton and the Curious Village) I can’t help but feel that the publisher is sending some of its more niche titles to almost certain retail death. Fire Emblem is a game that would benefit from some kind of advertising spend, but because it’s not geared towards a mainstream, mass-market audience, Nintendo just doesn’t bother. And as hardcore gamers become more and more disgruntled with the casual-focused titles on Wii and DS and start to gravitate towards other consoles, games like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon are likely to sell less and less, the eventual result likely being that Europe won’t see the next game in the franchise.
It’s a great pity - Nintendo has sure-fire hits which will undoubtedly sell regardless of advertising, and it spends a small fortune on putting those games even more in the public eye. Then it has games of undeniable quality, but does so little to promote them that even many core gamers are unaware they are available. It’d be nice to see the company take a risk on one or two of these smaller games - give them some prime-time advertising slots, show a celeb or two (perhaps, you know, someone who actually tends to play games in their spare time) enjoying said titles, and see if they do any better. I’m sure that way we wouldn’t have this ridiculous - actually, let’s be honest, disgraceful - situation where a fan of a particular series can’t actually wander into his local games retailer and buy a copy of the game a week after its release. ÂÂ
The internet is never going to let cold, hard facts get in the way of a good furore, so a Kotaku report (discussed on Casualgaming.biz) that Nintendo of Europe issued a press release politely asking “publications” not to use the old red logo, but the ‘new’, grey one is naturally causing some tears and tantrums before bedtime.
Of course, anyone who’s purchased a copy of the Official Nintendo Magazine in the last couple of years (or, indeed, any Nintendo-published game, though it’s marginally less obvious there) will be aware that the logo’s been grey for ages. It’s just that with this email it’s now sort of official, and it represents Nintendo making further steps towards the Dark Side in some people’s eyes.
While grey isn’t the most inspiring of colours, Nintendo has increasingly wished to position itself away from its previous ‘kiddie’ image towards something a little cooler and more sophisticated, so the abandonment of red makes sense, really. Of course, certain internet-goers see it as further evidence that Nintendo is neglecting its fanbase, who apparently adored the original colour so much that this move is akin to erasing the golden memories of their childhood. Boo frickin’ hoo.
I’ve been umming and aahing about the Wii version of Animal Crossing, mainly because it looks exactly the buggering same as the last two. And the reason it looks the same as the last two? Because it’s insanely cute, that’s why - and that clearly works, given that new shots of it with slightly different furniture and decor suddenly turn gamers like me into a pile of mush, whimpering “want” over and over again like a spoilt toddler.
And so what if one picture (the one above, taken from Japanese weekly Famitsu) suddenly makes me pre-order a game when I’ve been considering not getting it. Does that make me shallow?
Don’t answer that.
Let’s Go To The City is out in the UK in December, Nintendo recently confirmed. And I’ll be buying it, poor deluded fool that I am. Look! It has ickle winter hats and everything!
IncGamers has an interesting piece up on a new Konami game for the DS, which bears more than a passing resemblance to one of Nintendo’s own handheld smash hits.
Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nishi even apparently employs the same nifty scrolling effect utilised in Animal Crossing Wild World. Tut tut, Konami. As the title refers to 365 days, it can even be assumed that it’s the sort of game intended to be played all year round. I wonder if Nintendo might be speaking to its lawyers some day soon.
Still, some Japanese gamers are bound to lap it up, even if certain gaming forums in the east are reportedly less than impressed.
Tongari Boushi comes out in Japan on November 13th.
Perhaps ‘bit-part’ is a bad choice of phrase, actually.
My Japanese copy of Captain Rainbow arrived through the post today, but far more interesting than that is the current controversy raging over its depiction of Nintendo non-favourite Birdo.
Chris Kohler, over at Game | Life, has detailed Birdo’s chequered history - after starting out life as an apparent male character (who liked to pretend he was a girl by putting a bow in his hair) in Super Mario Bros. 2, evidently Nintendo decided this was perhaps a little odd for its family-friendly image and so decided Birdo was a girl - the Mario sports games refer to him/her as such.
But Captain Rainbow has confused the issue once more, by setting its protagonist a task whereby he has to ‘prove’ Birdo is female (after he is arrested exiting a female public toilet, of course) by producing evidence. The item he finds - in Birdo’s bed, no less - appears only as a question mark, but apparently is a not-so-subtle reference to…a vibrator.
Ick factor? Huge. It’s making me cringe just writing about it.
Platinum Games’ forthcoming Wii-exclusive actioner MadWorld has come under fire from the Daily Mail (no link here, because I refuse to give their site any more traffic), suggesting parents are “horrified” at “the most violent video game ever”.
“The decision to release a violent game on a console which has based its reputation on family fun has shocked anti-violence pressure groups” claims the article, adding “Nintendo’s Wii has enjoyed phenomenal success as an innocent alternative to complex - and often violent - role play video games.”
Further gems: “With a repatoire (sic) of mostly sports games (sic) the basic graphics and easy-to-use motion sensor remotes have become hugely popular with young children and families.”
Oh, and this beauty: “MadWorld is significant (sic) departure designed to appeal to ‘hardcore’ gamers who they claim have been clammering (sic) for a more adult theme (sic) action game.”
Quality reportage, there. Still, with the Mail likely to raise awareness of MadWorld, hopefully this will help increase sales rather than prevent the game from being sold. Still, expect a big red ‘18′ on the box when MadWorld arrives on these shores early next year.
If you’re a new Wii owner and you’re after a classic controller or GameCube pad to play certain games, then you’d best hurry up and get hold of one, because Nintendo has been banned from selling both pads (and the wireless WaveBird) after losing a legal battle in the US.
According to this Bloomberg report, Nintendo has infringed upon a patent held by Anascape Ltd, and the controllers in question will be forced off the shelves until the appeal against the decision is heard.
The nunchuk controller and standard remote are fine, however. Nintendo is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but there’s no date for that hearing as yet.
And you thought Wii Music was the most embarrassing presentation of E3. Here Konami sabotages any chance of success for its own forthcoming music title, Rock Revolution, due out on Wii and DS (and a bunch of other formats, for that matter) in Spring of next year. Just try not to cringe.
Makes you feel better about Nintendo’s conference, eh?
 
 
 
 
 
 
Loading ...