The Last Story lead designer Takuya Matsumoto recently had a few things to say about Wii U. He was asked to discuss how the console could be used to take the JRPG genre further.

Matsumoto replied by explaining how the GamePad could be beneficial for information management. He thinks that the controller’s touchscreen could be used in a number of ways, including “looking up a monster’s weak point or, like with a car’s GPS, as a tool to understand battlefield conditions on a sub screen.”

Matsumoto also feels that “things like saving information gathered during gameplay, adding to your own character’s memories and experiences, and sharing with other players via Wi-Fi and the Miiverse will become an experience typical to the Wii U.”

Take a look at his comments in full below.

“I feel that the Wii U’s interface, as with other tablet devices, works best for browsing and arranging information. One merit is the ability to use a touch screen to directly manipulate information, such as looking up a monster’s weak point or, like with a car’s GPS, as a tool to understand battlefield conditions on a sub screen. This special feature will likely bring about opportunities for deep research into JRPG strategy. Also, I think that things like saving information gathered during gameplay, adding to your own character’s memories and experiences, and sharing with other players via Wi-Fi and the Miiverse will become an experience typical to the Wii U.”

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The latest Shin Megami Tensei IV teaser site update offered a tiny bit of commentary from Eiji Ishida. Ishida served as the art director for Nocturne, Strange Journey and appears to be fulfilling that role once again for the fourth entry.

In his message, Ishida said that Atlus has hit its stride with Tensei IV’s development and the team is hoping to improve the 3D depth of the world. Fans can also count on the world being improved 200% in terms of the feeling of surviving and wandering in a chaotic world.

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EA has confirmed a number of additional details for Mass Effect 3 on Wii U, including a confirmation that BioWare isn’t working on the port. Instead, the company has brought in an unnamed third-party to work on the project. You can listen to a few more tidbits in the video above, which also includes off-screen footage.

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As much as we appreciate the fact that EA is bringing Madden NFL to the Wii U this year, there are some disappointing aspects about the game. It’s missing a number of features included in the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 versions such as Madden Ultimate Team and Online Team Play, and it won’t be making use of the new Infinity Engine.

Producer Yuri Bialoskursky commented on the decision to leave out the engine in an interview with ESPN:

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Shifting World has been out in North American for a few months now, but it still hasn’t come out in Europe. That’ll be changing very soon.

The game is about a month away from hitting European store shelves. Rising Star Games has confirmed that Shifting World will be available in September. No specific date yet, but we should be getting that information soon.

Source: Rising Star Games PR

Square Enix’s Gyrozetter 3DS game, announced late last year and detailed a few months back, is scheduled to hit Japan this spring.

The company’s Gyrozetter arcade title made use of Unreal Engine 3. As you would expect, the 3DS game won’t.

Gyrozetter 3DS is a completely original RPG, and it won’t have many ties to the arcade version. Producer Ryutaro Ichimura says development is progressing well.

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