Up to this point, the Wii has yet to see a traditional Final Fantasy game. Square Enix has been sticking with the Crystal Chronicles universe, which is considered to be more of a side story. In a recent video interview, Akitoshi Kawazu, producer of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, spoke about why Square Enix has gone in this direction on the Wii rather than the route that has been taken on the PS3/360.
“The Crystal Chronicles series is a more action-oriented game, with a little bit more movement in the gameplay itself, so we felt that the Wii was a very fitting console for that.”
I’m actually quite pleased that Square Enix has gone with the action route on Wii. I’m not a huge fan of the other Crystal Chronicles titles, but this is the most I’ve been excited for a Final Fantasy game in a long time.
Best Buy
The Conduit (Wii) – $39.99
EA Sports Active (Wii) – $49.99
Konami has actually done pretty well with reviving their retro franchises. It would be difficult to deny that Gradius Rebirth and Contra Rebirth are faithful entries in their respective series. The latest Rebirth title we know about is Castlevania, but we haven’t heard a word about it since its leaked ESRB rating.
That could change tomorrow, though. Latt Meone and Jeremy Parish – two editors over at 1UP – are teasing a retro revival reveal. Both have a similar message displayed on their Twitter accounts:
“We’re revealing a new Konami retro revival in Monday’s 1UP Cover.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Castlevania Rebirth will be showcased on 1UP tomorrow, but I’d say that it’s likely. After all, Nintendo did say that the game is supposedly releasing in Q3 2009.
Thanks to Jake for the news tip!
Game Info
Genre: Fitness/Activity
Available: 10/04/2009
Video: 16:9/480p
Audio: Stereo
Players: 1-2 (Depending on activity)
Nintendo Wi-Fi: None
ESRB: Everyone
With “Wii Fit Plus” Nintendo re-offers players a unique way to become active and introduce exercise with a gaming approach.
For owners of the original Wii Fit, Plus offers 15 *new* activities (some are new takes on older ones), 5 new balance tests, 3 new exercises in the Strength and Yoga categories and a lot of new improvements and additions overall.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a dedicated post for Nintendo Everything updates, hasn’t it? But now I actually have some pretty exciting news to share!
Some of you may know of Jason Tanner. He’s become a fairly regular commentator on the site over the past few months, so the name might be recognizable. Jason and I have been talking over the past few days and we were able to work out an agreement that will provide a huge boost for original content on the site. Basically, Jason will be handling a number of our reviews and also (in what will be a first for NE), interviews with developers.
This is something that I’m happy we could work out, mainly because we’ve been lacking in the features department as of late. But with Jason’s additions, we’re going to have all of our bases covered. I’ll still be covering news while reviewing some games/working on other features here and there, Austin will be our middleman with a mixture of news/reviews/articles, and Jason will only be handling reviews/interviews. Basically, you’re going to see the amount of content here go way up!
Jason has actually written a little blurb for you guys, which explains how he initially found interest in gaming. We’ve posted it after the break, but first I wanted to fill you all in on some other news.
We’re going to begin hosting a number of Scribblenauts contests in the near future. Details will be posted tomorrow, but I think that it’ll be a great way to promote more of a community aspect on the site. I don’t want to give much away for now, but I hope you check back in to see what it’s all about!
Last but not least (I’m sorry this is going on so long!), Jason’s first review will be going up later tonight. He’s been playing through Wii Fit Plus and has compiled his thoughts into one lovely post for you guys. Jason actually has a slightly different review structure than Austin and I employ, but I think it works quite well. You can read all about it after the break!
Thanks to Ross M for the news tip!
Onegai Kanaete
– Standard quest (142)
– Go to the cave in North Easter Wollow
– Need to finish the game first
– Sheina, supposedly a spirit, will ask for you to complete 5 other quests
– Can obtain rare head gear if you do the task
– Go through it a second time to receive items to make rare items
Samayoeru Ou
– Story quest (143)
– Go to the Sealed Shrine (Fuuin no Hokora)
– Need to finish quest 141
– Talk to the ghost under the shrine, he’ll ask you to steal something from the S Killer Machine boss
– Finish the quest to obtain special equipment
Itsudemo Bomberman
– Hudson’s DSiWare Bomberman game
– 500 points
Mario vs. Donkey Kong Minis March Again
– Same as North American version
– 800 points
“You Can Use the Camera Too: Japanese, English, French, German, Spansh, Italian — Vocabulary Translation Dictionary.”
– 500 points
– Translation tool
– 15,000 words or so
– Enter words with stylus
– Can recognize images as words from DSiWare camera photos
Sleep Record Alarm Clock.
– 200 points
– Alarm clock
– Records sleep time, provides graphs to see sleeping patterns
– Can enter sleep info manually
Shogi Challenge Spirits
– Play against CPU in a game of shogi
– Can change difficulty level
– 200 points
DSiPoint Ichimoudajin! Neko King
– 200 points
– Given mice/cats, need to draw a line to trap mice
– Tokoton Neko King mode – reach high score
– One Minute Neko King – Capture as many mice as possible in one minute
The Wii version of Okami launched in North America and Europe last year, but Japan still has yet to see the game. However, it might have been worth the wait. Remember how the credits were removed? Well, in the Japanese edition, the complete ending sequence from the PlayStation 2 version is intact.
The missing credits stirred quite a bit of controversy when the discovery was made. Hideki Kamiya, the director of the original game was vocal, saying that the lack of credits in Okami Wii was “incredibly disappointing and sad.”
Aside from the credits though, there will be some changes for the Japanese release. Most notably, the controls have been refined. There were a decent amount of complaints regarding the Wiimote controls for the North America/European version, so it looks like the developers have been trying their best to address those issues.
