According to the Pokemon game translator himself, Nob Ogasawara, Nintendo has told him that his services are no longer needed. Ogasawara will no longer be in charge of translating the Pokemon games. Instead, Nintendo plans on doing any translation work internally. Said Ogasawara, “So, after nearly a dozen years and nineteen Pokemon games later, I am out. I was told that my services were no longer needed because translation work will be handled internally hereafter. They assured me it’s not a quality issue, but because of some bureaucratic thing. OK, cool, whatever. As a career-long-and-not-about-to-change freelancer, I always expected this day to come, but not for this reason. But such is life…”
The main reason why I’m marking this as a rumor is because I can’t say with 100% certainty (although it’s highly likely) that Mr. Ogasawara is indeed the poster of the news and we haven’t heard anything official from Nintendo. Nevertheless, hearing about Nob Ogasawara leaving is a bit saddening, since he’s been there since the beginning of the Pokemon games.
Thanks to Ohnoes for the tip.
Nintendo News: Nintendo DS Fans Have a Hot New Color for the Fall: Metallic Silver
In some venues, silver is the color of second place. For Nintendo DS™, silver is No. 1. Starting Sept. 7, Metallic Silver joins the Nintendo DS color palette. The new Metallic Silver version makes a nice addition to any tech collection, whether you’re a gadget hipster or fashionista. Watch for the Metallic Silver DS to be featured in the new upcoming Nintendo DS print ad featuring actress Liv Tyler.
Millions of people around the world, from core gamers to new players, have discovered Nintendo DS. Some like to play traditional games like New Super Mario Bros.™, Mario Kart® DS or The Legend of Zelda®: Phantom Hourglass. Others use it to train their brains with Brain Age®: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day or solve puzzles with Crosswords DS. With a library of more than 600 games in every conceivable genre, there’s a game or experience for everyone.
Well, the mystery has been solved! Disaster will be heading to Europe in October, although I can’t say the same for any other territory.
2nd September 2008 – Earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, flood, hurricane… and the small matter of an ex-military terrorist group with their hands on some nuclear weapons – and all in just 24 hours! Welcome to Disaster: Day of Crisis, the action adventure game on Wii from Nintendo and Monolith Soft., sweeping across Europe on 24th October 2008, guaranteed to bring out the survival skills in everyone.
Stepping into the shoes of Raymond Bryce, a traumatised but highly decorated retired US marine and former operative of the International Rescue Team, you’ll prepare for a day like no other. Called back into action to deal with the threat of SURGE, an ex-military terrorist unit led by former elite forces specialist Colonel Hayes, Ray must overcome personal tragedy and numerous devastating natural disasters to prevent the threat of nuclear warfare.
Wracked with guilt over the loss of his best friend in the line of duty, Ray finds out that SURGE has kidnapped a leading seismologist and his assistant in order to predict the arrival of an earthquake, which will act as a diversion for their plan to seize the nuclear weapons. However, upon finding out that the assistant is his lost friend’s sister, Lisa, the mission turns personal and offers Ray the chance of redemption he’s been craving for.
Videos
Developer’s Voice – Mystery Case Files
Mystery Case Files: Demo Download is Available NOW
Spore Creatures: Demo Download is Available NOW
My Aquarium Info Video
Super Mario RPG Info Video
Mario Super Sluggers TV Spot
Helix Developer’s Voice 1
NHL 2K9 Info Video
de Blob Video 3
Dokapon Kingdom Info Video
Tornado TV Spot 3
Moon Info Video
Digest Video
Demos
Mystery Case Files MillionHeir (no expiry date)
Crosswords DS-Anagrams Demo (expires 9/7)
Spore Creatures Demo (expires 9/7)
PICTOIMAGE (expires 9/7)
Arkanoid DS (expires 9/7)
Small update: N-Europe has translated some details coming from the German Disaster: Day of Crisis German page.
Some rumored information about Disaster: Day of Crisis has come to light based off of the latest screenshots of the game. None of these details are confirmed by Nintendo, though the information below is still somewhat realistic.
– You can set where the radio messages and the gun sound fx comes out from. The screen shows the Radio messages output set to the Wiimote, and the Gun sound fx output set to the Wiimote as well.
– There are items in the game, and you have an inventory. They look like the normal restorative items for health and whatnot.
– The game is stage based and you get a ranking for how well you did at the end of each stage.
– You earn BP from combat and SP from rescuing people (and probably completing various QTE events successfully). BP is used to buy new weapons and upgrade the weapons, while SP is used to improve the character stats.
– You start with 3 basic weapons available – Rifle 1, Handgun 1 and Assault Rifle 1. Each of these are the start of a weapons tree, kinda like a skill tree in RPGs (lol Monolithsoft). You buy more weapons with BP via this tree.
– For weapons you already have, there are 5 areas you can upgrade them in – Power, ammo capacity, reload speed, etc. Upgrading will also cost BP.
– Avalon Code (DS)
– Akagawa Jirou Mystery (DS)
– Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii)
– Oboro Muramasa Youtouden (Wii)
– Rune Factory Frontier (Wii)
– Harvest Moon WakuWaku Animal March (Wii)
– Little King’s Story (Wii)
– Hitman Reborn (Wii)
Right now, it looks like all of the titles mentioned above with be playable except for Little King’s Story. I’m hoping there will be good impressions for Arc Rise Fantasia!
Monday 1st September/… Eidos Interactive Ltd., creators of some of the world’s leading videogame properties, has today confirmed that Gauntlet™, a modern reworking of the classic fantasy hack and slash arcade game from Midway, will be released on Nintendo DS this October.
Gauntlet is set in a fantasy-themed universe where evil cloaks the world from the high clouds of Ascendia to the depths of the lava-ridden Abyss. Players can choose from the four classic heroes, Elf, Warrior, Wizard, and Valkyrie, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and special abilities. Throughout the journey, the heroes will slash their way through demonic foes and gain up to four power move abilities to aid them in their battle with evil.
“With Gauntlet we’ve revitalised all of the action and fun of the original 1980s arcade classic, whilst updating the visuals and gameplay for today’s DS gamer,” said Ray Livingston, Brand Manager at Eidos. “With four-player Wi-Fi cooperative mode, one of the most memorable multiplayer gaming experiences of all time is back with a bang.”
