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Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/12-5/18

Posted May 23rd 2008 10:15AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Another Week in ...

The spotlight this week is on Luminous Arc 2: Will, a game that has yet to be confirmed for English language localization. While we're forced to sit and wait jealously, though, forty thousand Japanese gamers ran out and bought the title. Only falling behind the juggernauts Monster Hunter and Mario Kart Wii (and almost squeezing past Nintendo's racer), Image Epoch's SRPG debuted pretty impressively.

In other sales news, the announcement for another Professor Layton game in Japan managed to push the first title in the series back into the top thirty. Aside from that, there weren't any differences in DS software worth mentioning.

In terms of hardware, the numbers for the DS weren't so hot. In fact, we don't remember the sales numbers for Nintendo's handheld ever being this low in Japan. With everyone and their mother already owning a DS in the country, does the system still have room for growth? We won't know for sure until the next big software push, but for now it looks like the dual-screened handheld should get comfy in that third place spot.

• PSP: 70,536 (19,348)
  
• Wii: 41,572 (25,736)
• Nintendo DS: 34,905 (16,323)
• PlayStation 3: 7,701 (353)
• PlayStation 2: 7,022 (442)
• Xbox 360: 1,474 (176)

The software numbers are located after the break, so go on and take a look. They won't bite!*

*DS Fanboy claims no responsibility for those who get bitten by our sales figures.

Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/12-5/18

Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/28-5/4

Posted May 9th 2008 5:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Another Week in ...

We realized today that we don't know Japan as well as we thought we did. With our reasoning, a new Gundam game + the popularity of the DS = cha-ching. While the debuting Emblem of Gundam had decent sales for its first week, though, taking the twelfth spot isn't all that impressive -- especially since there was only one new release cluttering up the top ten.

On the other hand, We're Fossil Diggers, Pokemon Ranger, and the Taiko Drum Master DS sequel continued to shine, giving the DS a nice piece of top ten representation. Batonnage managed to reach the half-million mark, while the other two games neared 100,000 copies sold.

For hardware, DS numbers went up since last week, but the handheld is still convincingly behind the PSP and Wii in recent sales. If you want to see the numbers, though, just click past the break. You can check out the software listings there, too.

Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/28-5/4

Gyakuten Kenji devs vaguely discuss their game

Posted Apr 29th 2008 1:30PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Interviews

Court Records forum user 'Tuesday' has generously translated a recent Famitsu interview with a trio of senior figures from the Gyakuten Kenji team, including Director Tsuyoshi Yamazaki, Character Designer Tatsurou Iwamoto, and Producer Motohide Eshiro.

Because Capcom seems to be hellbent on keeping much of Gyakuten Kenji shrouded in mystery for as long as possible, there's a fair few "we can't comment on that"-style remarks in the piece. That said, we do learn more about the timeline -- Eshiro reckons that the game is set "around Gyakuten Saiban 3 [Trials and Tribulations], I suppose," while Yamazaki observes that Edgeworth is "no longer the jerk in Gyakuten Saiban 1, but the one whose mind is changing, thanks to his battles with Wright." Elsewhere, there's a confirmation that "some popular characters" from the Gyakuten Saiban universe will have parts to play (but guess what: they can't say who).

Oh, and a surprisingly large portion of the article is dedicated to discussion about Edgeworth's running. In what is a first for the series, Gyakuten Kenji will have players directly controlling Edgeworth as he moves around various crime scenes, and it sounds as though the team really agonized over getting this new Edgeworth to look right. This even extends to the lawyer's running animations, which Eshiro describes as "graceful, while exerting effort." We're not sure Iwamoto is totally convinced yet, however, as he thinks Edgeworth looks like he's "walking really fast accidentally." Actually, that sums up our comical running styles pretty well.

Gallery: Gyakuten Kenji

[Thanks, Chris!]

Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/14-4/20

Posted Apr 25th 2008 3:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Another Week in ...

Something caused a Phoenix Wright sales revival, and we suspect it was the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert (which was also a Gyakuten Kenji hype event). Both the first and second Gyakuten Saiban games for the DS ended up in the top thirty this week.

Newcomer We're Fossil Diggers (a second-party effort by RED Entertainment that actually sounds really fun, at least to the dinosaur lovers in us) deserves all the glory, though. Debuting at third place, this unique piece of software did rather well for itself in its first week.

Besides the same old games that have been showing up in the charts for the past few weeks, the other notable is Square-Enix's dull-sounding bookkeeping game. It seems like a rather niche title to end up in the top thirty, but who knows -- maybe a lot of Japanese folks are getting ready to take the Level 3 Bookkeeping exam. Or, maybe they just can't resist a game by the beloved Squeenix.

To see all the placings and numbers for yourselves, just click on past the break.

Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/14-4/20

Gyakuten Kenji's mysterious girl revealed (sort of)

Posted Apr 21st 2008 1:30PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News

"Ohhhhhh-a-ohh-a-ohh, mysterious girl, I wanna get close to you."

We don't usually kick off the week with a spot of Peter Andre, but the Australian warbler's hit seemed mildly appropriate today, seeing as Ace Attorney spin-off Gyakuten Kenji (Turnabout Prosecutor) has a mysterious girl of its own. The shadowy figure to the right appeared on the most recent cover of Nintendo Dream alongside Miles Edgeworth and Detective Gumshoe, and has immediately set tongues wagging in the Ace Attorney fan community.

Cruelly, the magazine remains tight-lipped about who or what she is, revealing only her age (seventeen), and that she is a "major character." Could she be an assistant to Edgeworth, as Maya was to Phoenix? That seems most likely to us. We'll tell you who we most of us would like her to be, however: Edgeworth's love interest. The collective howl from the lawyer's legion of female admirers would be deafening (yet amusing).

Turnabout past the break for some snippets of scans.

Read: Nintendo Dream scans (scroll halfway down)
Read: Direct-feed screenshots from scans

Gallery: Gyakuten Kenji

Continue reading Gyakuten Kenji's mysterious girl revealed (sort of)

Ace Attorney orchestra awesomeness meets Gyakuten Kenji trailer

Posted Apr 20th 2008 6:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Video, Imports

The Ace Attorney series is dear to our hearts, so when any information crosses the intertubes regarding Capcom's lawyering games, we foam at the mouth like rabid raccoons. Today's tidings regard both the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert, which took place in Tokyo, and the upcoming spin-off title starring Miles Edgeworth.

As much as we love Gyakuten Saiban and its music, we obviously weren't able to able to drag ourselves to Japan for what we're sure was an awesome concert. From what we understand, though, the CDs that you see so deliciously stacked in the video above will be made available for purchase on July 16th. Do want.

Also in the video (around the 4:00 minute mark) is a trailer for Edgeworth's game, called Gyakuten Kenji in case you haven't been keeping up (for shame!). The trailer is mostly just moving versions of screens we've already seen, but it also features a new character that will be showing up

Check after the break to see some promotional photos for Gyakuten Kenji, some artwork from the event (want!), and some Gyakuten Saiban swag, including an orchestra-themed tumbler (want want!) and even Snackoos (want want want!).

Gallery: Gyakuten Kenji

Continue reading Ace Attorney orchestra awesomeness meets Gyakuten Kenji trailer

Gyakuten Kenji is now easier on the eyes

Posted Apr 13th 2008 4:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Screens

Is squinting at tiny pictures in scans just not your thing? In case you want to save your eyesight for purposes that don't involve looking at Miles Edgeworth, we've posted some nicely-sized game screens here that you can peruse at your leisure. We've also collected some Gyakuten Kenji game art, since we're just that awesome -- although, you might recognize the illustrations if you've already visited the game's official website.

The art can be seen in the gallery below, but make sure to click past the break if you want to see the rest of the Famitsu screens.

Gallery: Gyakuten Kenji

Continue reading Gyakuten Kenji is now easier on the eyes

Turnabout website

Posted Apr 11th 2008 5:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Capcom just launched the official website for Gyakuten not Saiban (officially called Gyakuten Kenji, or Turnabout Prosecutor), which is one of our most anticipated spin-off games ever. So far, there are no goodies available at the site, but you can still check it out if you want to see Edgeworth's giant face and a minuscule amount of game art.

Aside from the magenta-coated prosecutor and everyone's favorite bumbling detective (Gumshoe), who will both be featured in the game, what characters do you hope to see make an appearance?

[Via Gemaga]

DS Daily: Taking the lead

Posted Apr 10th 2008 9:00AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: DS Daily

News that Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is to get his very own Gyakuten Saiban game was greeted by much hollering in the DS Fanboy dungeons. A number of our staff have genuine fixations about the brooding, dandified lawyer, and they're not alone.

But now Edgey has his own game, which other secondary characters do you reckon deserve the same treatment? We'd rather you didn't say Luigi, as that's a bit obvious, and anyone calling for Luke of Professor Layton fame plainly deserves an electrified cattle prod to the face. Those two aside, choose away.

Gyakuten Kenji: new Phoenix Wright prequel starring Edgeworth

Posted Apr 9th 2008 9:45AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Imports

How about a morning MEGATON? The latest issue of Famitsu contains an announcement of a new Ace Attorney game: a spinoff called Gyakuten Kenji (Turnabout Prosecutor). Like the previous AA games, Kenji will focus on crime scene investigation (but not courtroom theatrics). This time the action follows Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and Detective Dick Gumshoe. Using new gameplay systems, you'll check out crime scenes for unseen evidence, and argue cases in court. Unlike Saiban, Edgeworth will actually be visible on screen, making this more of a point-and-click adventure, versus a graphical text adventure.

It seems pretty likely that this is the big announcement Capcom was planning to make about the series, unless they've got something even bigger on the way. This is quite enough, however -- we're roughly 1% as excited as the Edgeworth fanfic community will be, which is to say outrageously excited.

Continue reading Gyakuten Kenji: new Phoenix Wright prequel starring Edgeworth

Japan gets cheap Phoenix Wright

Posted Feb 27th 2008 11:15AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News

Our initial reaction to hearing that Capcom was slashing the price of the Gyakuten Saiban series in Japan can be summed up by the picture to the right. It was only after we had sulked for a few minutes that we remembered how every one of those games comes in both Japanese and perfect English!

In other words, if you're thinking of picking up one of the four Phoenix Wright titles in the near future, then we strongly advise you to, well, hold it! From April 17th, the games will become part of Capcom's new budget lineup, "NEW Best Price! 2000," and cost a piffling ¥2,100 (just under $20) after tax.

See also: 2008's Biggest Blips -- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

[Via NeoGAF]

You've got to know when to HOLD IT!

Posted Dec 24th 2007 10:30PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Fan stuff, Imports

We've been taking our time getting through Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, savoring what is undoubtedly the best game in the series to date. But, try as we may have to delay it, the game is done. And now our frothing Ace Attorney fandom has no outlet until February -- except stuff.

Capcom has just released a set of playing cards containing character art spanning the whole series (including the upcoming Apollo Justice), called the Gyakuten Saiban Character Trump set. The best news (for us) is that it's available on Play-Asia! If you've ever wanted to spend $20 on a deck of cards, here's your chance. And we can keep those cards in the official Gyakuten Saiban card case.

(Hmm, there seems to be one major flaw in this post. Maybe we should go through the testimony again to find the contradiction.)

[Via Nine Over Ten]

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