Posted May 23rd 2007 10:40AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News
Seriously. Go to GameStop and pick up at least one copy. It'll be $15, which is $7.50 per 'Vania.
That's only one (or two, kind of) of the games you'll be fighting CAG users for this weekend, as GameStop is marking down a bunch of stuff by 25-50% during their Game Days sale.
On the DS, you'll be able to get reduced-price copies of Phoenix Wright and Sonic Rush. There's some other stuff, too-- we've posted the whole list after the break. For more convenient browsing, DS games have SKU numbers starting with 18 and GBA games start with 16.
Unfortunately, when we were getting ready to install the tiny chips into our heads to allow us to fluently speak and understand Japanese, we accidentally grabbed the German chips by mistake. Es kann sehr nützlich sein, but it doesn't allow us to play Gyakuten Saiban 4 anytime soon. Luckily, the guys at Siliconera have our backs.
They've run through the Phoenix-less title's first case, and have gotten a fairly good idea of where the series is going. Rest assured, the quality of the plotting seems wholly intact, and the guys are enjoying the fully-integrated DS features (a la case 5 of the localized Phoenix Wright: Attorney at Law). For some more details, check out the full preview. Take that!
We were looking wistfully at this phantom Phoenix Wrightdecal set, as we are prone to do in unguarded moments, and we realized that despite the fact that this particular set was too beautiful for this world, we still have a desire to skin our DS.
But we thought we'd check with you before we did anything hasty. What's your opinion on skinning? Is it universally tacky (er, in the style sense-- we'd kind of hope they were a little sticky) or a way to make your system unique? And if you're all for it, what do you go for? Bling? Anime tie-in? Or something from one of the online stores like Decalgirl that specializes in skins?
Well, this is just about the coolest marketing campaign ever; and, of course, after reading that, you'll be able to guess that it's for Japan only. Also, if you're familiar with our site, you should have no problem guessing what game it promotes.
Gyakuten Saiban 4, the latest entry in Capcom's Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney series, doesn't really need any more marketing, but we aren't complaining. Capcom will be running a 5-10 minute Gyakuten Saiban TV drama, which presents a case for viewers to solve. Later, the solution will appear on the Gyakuten Saiban 4 website. If any of our Fanboy friends are located in Japan, we hope they'll watch next week and tell us about it!
Capcom announced today that Gyakuten Saiban 4 passed the half-million mark in shipped copies today, a new record for the series. It's no surprise that being on the DS boosted sales; it's likely to boost sales of anything. But let's not diminish the accomplishment. Gyakuten Saiban 4 is a hit!
This milestone has contributed strongly to another milestone: as of today, the Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) series has shipped 2 million copies in Japan alone. That's pretty great for any series, much less a text adventure series! If there were any objections within Capcom about spending the money to localizeGS4, they've probably been shot down by now.
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers. It's odd; in the past two years, I've played my DS more than any other system, console or otherwise. However, I very rarely play outside of the comfort of my own room. Sure, I have the ten minute bus ride to campus everyday, and an hour break between classes, but the bus ride is relaxing and the hour I spend on campus, playing chess with some friends. It's really a testament to the quality of the library on the DS, that it would stand against the heavy-hitting consoles without the added advantage of portability.
I'm a bit of a Renaissance gamer, playing titles far and wide. Sure, I've grown tired of the World War II shooters, but if a game is innovative and/or well-crafted, I'll give it a shot. I also like bunnies and salsa dancing and figure skating; I'm so macho.
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games, along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers.
I am absolutely the target market for a handheld system. I'm busy all the time, and I have weeks where the only times I really get to play games are when I can't possibly do anything else-- like when I'm on a plane, or waiting to pick my wife up from school. So I tend to carry my DS around waiting for opportune moments. Of course, with such concentrated play sessions, I want the most out of my game time. That's not to say that I want simplified games that I can always jump right into, but I need games that are basically going to be awesome every time I play them. I need games that are going to reaffirm my passion for gaming while I'm waiting for a bus.
(The picture doesn't have anything to do with the theme of my little essay. My cat Indiana Jones is just adorable.)
Titled Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, the third title in the series has been confirmed as arriving on the DS in the U.S. this September. That's correct, we'll all be able to enjoy more of the lawyer-em-up goodness of the franchise in under 5 months. The third title will also have players, at times, taking up control of Mia Fey.
Any objections? We didn't think so ...
For a trailer of the game, head past the post break. When you're done watching the video, check over at Joystiq for a sweet gallery of images.
Excuse us if this post has a typo in it or something. We're dividing our time between writing it and packing up all our worldly possessions.
You see, it's ... well, there's a Gyakuten Saiban 4 cell phone theme for the FOMA 903i that makes your phone's menu look like the game's menu, and puts GS4 backgrounds, animations, and sounds on the phone. It even has special screens associated with things like sending mail and receiving phone calls.
Every time we use our only partially-themed phone (which only has a Phoenix Wright background and ringtone, and nothing else) causes us pain. We have to go to Japan, immediately.
What's the opposite of OBJECTION!? Oh, we know! APPROVAL! A Gamecrazy employee posted this screen from his store's computer system over on the awesome Phoenix Wright fansite Court Records. It shows a game called PHOENIX WRIGHT-TRIALS TRIBU, to be released on September 25. We'll go ahead and deduce that the full title would be Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, and that since it names Phoenix in the title and not the new guy, that this is a DS port of Gyakuten Saiban 3.
Retail computer systems aren't the most reliable sources of information, but we doubt Gamecrazy would make up a title. Plus, we've had evidence that GS3 was going to be localized for a while.
Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to go to Gamecrazy and reserve our copy of the game. If they aren't open yet, we'll just break in. No problem!
We're having a pretty hard time coping with our Gyakuten Saiban withdrawals. Ever since we learned that we wouldn't be able to play the Japanese release in English, we've had to turn to alternate means to get our daily allowance of fake Japanese law. We refresh the GS4 website obsessively, play the translated demo until it hits question-mark land, and shout "OBJECTION" at every opportunity that is even a little appropriate.
We found some screens on Famitsu to torture ourselves with. They show the intro to the second case, a witness in Chapter 1, and Chapter 2's defendant. If you want to make yourself feel bad about the lack of Ace Attorney in your life, then by all means, have a look. If you can't handle the wait, we suggest trying to put the whole thing out of your mind.
DS Fanboy pal Zachary Hinchliffe is powerfully awesome, and you can quote us on that. He's working with Croik of the Phoenix Wright fansite Court Records to translate the Japanese Gyakuten Saiban 4 Flash demo, which actually consists of part of the first case.
It's in a very early stage right now-- essentially, once you get past the intro and into gameplay, the text switches over to question-mark speak that is even less useful than the original Japanese dialogue, but you can at least watch the introduction. And you can set your bookmark now to play more as more gets translated, because we're sure you'll get to play this demo to completion in English before the game gets an English release.
In addition to Capcom's official GyakutenSaiban 4 page, retailer Tsutaya has their own, with the same screenshots, character art, and story information as that on the Capcom page. We saw on Dengeki Online that the Tsutaya page had a new GS4 Flash game up, and we got excited. Turns out it's a personality quiz that tells you which character you're most similar to, which is neat, but it's also totally in Japanese and not really something we can recommend.
Poking around the site a little more, we found this sharp wallpaper featuring new hero Odoroki Housuke, and figured that you would enjoy it! Put it on your desktop and start memorizing the title kanji. It's a good first step toward learning enough Japanese to play the game!
Previous Japanese incarnations of our beloved Gyakuten Saiban series, a.k.a. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a.k.a. the greatest courtroom drama in the history of mankind, have included an English language option for those who wanted to get their fix early. In fact, savvy importers were able to play the superlative Phoenix Wright 2: Justice For All back in October, months before their blissfully ignorant counterparts.
Alas, it appears that the next installment of the series, Gyakuten Saiban 4, will not contain an English language option for importers. However, we would like to note that GS4, though the third title in the series to be released on the DS in Japan, is precluded by the currently GBA-only Gyakuten Saiban 3, which has not yet been localized in any form. According to preliminary reports, the storylines of GS3 and GS4 are not directly related (GS4 doesn't even star our man Phoenix), but you never know with those crafty writers.
For people not completely obsessed with Phoenix Wright, please rip out your own colon please ignore the above paragraph and simply know that you won't be able to import GS4 from Japan.
Yesterday we linked the Capcom USA interviews with Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All localization team members, and they mentioned what every game translator mentions: changing cultural references to fit better with the target audience. The translations considered "best" are the ones that attempt to maintain the spirit of the original game without too much Japanese culture left behind.
Our question to you is this: do you like localization, or would you prefer a direct translation? Do you want things to be exactly as they are in the Japanese version, but directly translated to English? Are you happy with American TV references in Phoenix Wright? And what about the localized-from-the-ground-up Elite Beat Agents?
Seriously. Go to GameStop and pick up at least one copy. It'll be $15, which is $7.50 per 'Vania.
Unfortunately, when we were getting ready to install the tiny chips into our heads to allow us to fluently speak and understand Japanese, we accidentally grabbed the German chips by mistake. Es kann sehr nützlich sein, but it doesn't allow us to play Gyakuten Saiban 4 anytime soon. Luckily, the guys at Siliconera have our backs.
Well, this is just about the coolest marketing campaign ever; and, of course, after reading that, you'll be able to guess that it's for 
Capcom announced today that 
Previous Japanese incarnations of our beloved Gyakuten Saiban series, a.k.a. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a.k.a. the greatest courtroom drama in the history of mankind, have included an English language option for those who wanted to get their fix early. In fact, savvy importers were able to play the superlative Phoenix Wright 2: Justice For All back in October, months before their blissfully ignorant counterparts.
Yesterday we linked the Capcom USA 
