This year's Jump Festa wasn't packed with a ton of new info -- unless, perhaps, you're a big Square Enix buff. A few SE games got some major buzz this past weekend, including our own highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. While we have not yet found video of the playable demo that fans were treated to at the event, we do have a breakdown of what was included, as well as other juicy details on the title. The first, and most important bit, is that the devs are aiming for release this summer. Whether or not they'll make that timeframe is debatable, but DS dev cycles seem to be pretty quick, and if there's already demo action, it might just be in the cards.
We have culled some specific details from the demos available at Jump Festa and compiled the information after the jump. It goes without saying that some of this info may include spoilers, so if you're looking to stay away from specifics, you might want to skip it.
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.
Square Enix has been pushing Final Fantasy IV hard this week in Japan, advertising the 3D remake with five different CG-filled commercials. We were curious to compare these spots with how the RPG was marketed when it first appeared on the Super Famicom, all the way back in 1991, and the two approaches couldn't be any more at odds!
Square Enix has released new images from the upcoming DS remake of Dragon Quest V, and that means two things for you: a gallery of spiffy new(ish) shots, and several comparison images. With two earlier versions to look at, we just couldn't help finding some comparable shots and setting them up side-by-side for your viewing pleasure. You can check them out after the jump, and the new DS images are all safely tucked away in our gallery below, along with some character art.
The official site for the upcoming Atlus sequel Etrian Odyssey II has uploaded two new trailers for the game. One (above) focuses on the game's story, while the other (tucked past the break) provides a glimpse into some of the gameplay aspects of the title. Each of the trailers are fairly brief, but the environments look pretty darn good, if we may say so. RPG fans, keep an eye out for this one.
It may have a new name, but we still burn to get our hands on a little buggy strategy, so it's a good thing Atlus has decided to localize Success Corp's Insect Wars -- now Drone Tactics -- and bring it to the U.S. in late March. So why should you be excited? Because Drone Tactics has it all: RPG and strategy elements, 100+ weapons, 50+ maps, and what's more? Mecha bugs. Sign us up for two copies, so that we may force friends to play with us. Sadly, Drone Tactics does not feature Wi-Fi play, but that's okay. One can't can't have everything, or we'd never buy anything else.
Zip on past the break to check out a couple of screenshots from the title, and you might want to check out the website as well, though it's a bit slim on content at the moment.
To get players ready for the Jump Festa demo, Square Enix has posted the control scheme for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days on the game's official website. While we don't necessarily need to know which button does what, it's an easy way to find out what can be done in the game at all. NeoGAF's Kyoufu translated the diagram, and revealed some details of the game's multiplayer in addition to the awkward control scheme: In multiplayer, one player controls Roxas and others control spikey-haired pretty-boys Organization XIII members Xigbar, Axel, and Saïx.
As for the control scheme: it is an attempt to cram all of the functionality of the original games' dual-analog, four-shoulder-button control scheme onto the DS, and it sounds about as natural as you would expect from such an endeavor. For example, you have to hold both L and R to lock onto an enemy -- the individual shoulder buttons handle camera control. Also, menu control has been moved from the d-pad (of course) to the X button -- we think that you scroll through options by tapping X. Kyoufu's translation is reproduced after the break.
The deluge of pre-Jump Festa info continues, and with it comes a three-page spread on Blue Dragon, complete with new images. Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of blue in the pictures. Who'd have thought?
We've seen and heard a lot of rumblings about whether or not Blue Dragon can make the leap from console to handheld, but it's worked for so many other games and franchises that we don't have any major worries. Certainly it will look good, but after the mediocre reaction to ASH, we've got fingers crossed concerning the game play. We'll have to wait a bit longer to see that, however. For now, you can check out the scans after the break.
With Jump Festa right around the corner, Japanese magazine V-Jump is teasing readers with spot coverage of games we can expect to see at the event ... and that means Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. While there's only one page (which we've tucked away for you after the break), there's a mix of old and new images that should have fans salivating for more. We can't wait to see the footage out of next week's event! There have been so many scraps that we're about ready for a full meal on this one.
With the Final Fantasy IV remake out today, Square Enix wants to make sure to get all the crazies out lined up in Akihabara -- and maybe a few 'expanded audience' members as well. To that end, they've debuted a series of short commercials that show off the game's stunning cutscenes. They accidentally left some real gameplay in the commercials too, which you can see towards the end. Final Fantasy VII sold gobs, and its advertising was totally CG-focused, so why change?
But wait, there's more! In addition to the two commercials embedded in this post (one of which is after the break) there are three other commercials on the Final Fantasy IV website. It's so weird to see the Final Fantasy IV characters rendered like this. Especially Cecil, who we used to think of as manly.
We've informed you about the Mother 3 fan translation project before, and now it's time for you to enjoy some of the fruits of Starmen.net's labor. The project is not completed yet, but the team has at the very least finished translating and coding the prologue of the game. You can watch it in the video above (spoilers, obviously), without even having to worry about downloading any unauthorized ROMs or being involved with any yarrrrrring.
The video will also help you further acquaint yourselves with Lucas, who will be showing up as a playable character in one of Nintendo's most anticipated Wii games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
From what we've seen, Mother 3 has a certain charm about it, and we can see how fans would be so dedicated in their efforts to bring the game to English speakers. Now, if only Nintendo had the same dedication.
This week, Japanese gamers will be able to get their hands on the much-updatedFinal Fantasy IV. Unless you're importing, you've got quite a wait ahead of you before you can share in that joy, but we thought these screens might soothe the pain a bit. Check out our updated gallery below for a peek at the unlockable ability-absorbing character and more.
We hate to disappoint you, but if you were desperately holding on to some insane hope that the blocky, sub-Final Fantasy VII look of Away's characters was somehow an artifact of a poor scan, these new direct-feed screens will disabuse you of that notion. The flat faces and blank, circular eyes continue to look really damn creepy, in character art and in gameplay.
Luckily, the game is Away: Shuffle Dungeon, and not Away: Hanging Out With 1996-Era Character Art. Meaning that the majority of your game time should be spent focusing on dungeon crawling, and not face-to-face chatting with the polygon-economical cast.
In fact, the actual dungeon part is 2D, character art and all. And it looks really nice. For some reason, Mistwalker and AQ Interactive have decided that the only time the characters should look embarrassingly ridiculous is when you're talking to them. Why didn't they just stick with 2D for the whole game?
Remember those vicious rumors regarding Blue Dragon DS being a card-based RPG? Well, looks like they may have been wide of the mark, as a new scan gleaned from the pages of Japanese publication Shonen Jump suggests otherwise. Instead, the magazine describes the game as a "real-time simulation RPG," a label that brings to mind the recently released Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. Whatever the hell Mistwalker's game is -- and the screens do suggest a kind of real-time strategy/RPG hybrid -- there's certainly no mention of cards.
Pleasingly, that March 2008 Japanese release date seems to have held, which surely means we'll have more information on this in the not-too-distant future. Go past the break for the Shonen Jump scan.
We recently discussed some of the other new elements in Final Fantasy IV, but the math mini-games and the event theater aren't the only things we have to look forward to (besides an awesome game). This time around, options are being throw in; for example, if you don't like the voice acting? Turn it off! There's a setting in the configuration screen. And for those gamers who hate rewatching a cut-scene ten times (I doubt I'm alone in this), they're skippable if you so desire. Anyway, you can always rewatch them at your leisure in the event theater!
Gaming sites are inundated with holiday gift guides at the end of the year, listing the best and most popular games that everyone pretty much already has (or knows about). Well, we're not going in for that this year. Our gift guide will help you find the best gifts in categories the other sites won't cover -- because we just made them up.
Nintendo's indifference towards PAL regions is infamous, but there's arguably less room for complaining when it comes to the DS. See, the DS is (and we do not use this phrase lightly) an importer's dream. It doesn't faff around with region-specific software, there's a huge library of diverse and interesting NTSC-only titles, and the games themselves are cheap. As in, cheaper than they'll be when they arrive in the UK/Europe/Australia six months from now. Frankly, we can't think of a good reason for you not to import.
Which brings us to our latest anti-guide, featuring the five DS-related gifts that PAL regions won't be seeing until 2008 at the earliest -- if ever. All deserve to be imported without hesitation, so read on fellow PAL folk, and prep that credit card!
This year's Jump Festa wasn't packed with a ton of new info -- unless, perhaps, you're a big Square Enix buff. A few SE games got some major buzz this past weekend, including our own highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. While we have not yet found video of the playable demo that fans were treated to at the event, we do have a breakdown of what was included, as well as other juicy details on the title. The first, and most important bit, is that the devs are aiming for release this summer. Whether or not they'll make that timeframe is debatable, but DS dev cycles seem to be pretty quick, and if there's already demo action, it might just be in the cards.
To get players ready for the 
With 
This week, Japanese gamers will be able to get their hands on the 
We hate to disappoint you, but if you were desperately holding on to some insane hope that the blocky, sub-Final Fantasy VII look of 
We recently discussed some of the other new elements in 
