02.13.09
DQ IX release pushed back
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Most people know what that is, but not the Japanese. They have a skewered version instead.
The Japanese believe the day is solely for girls to give ‘gifts of adoration’ (to use a WoW term) to boys, usually chocolates. It’s a one-way deal, you think. Not so! Exactly a month later on 14th March, we Japs have what we call White Day (don’t ask me why) where boys are required to give back gifts of equal value to girls, whether any mutual feelings exist or not. By no means are boys allowed to give gifts to the ones they like on Valentine’s, god forbid, though going on dates aren’t covered by this rather ridiculous rule. (Even businessmen aren’t immune to this forceful gift-giving operation. My dad works in an office full of girls… and every year, he brings home a load of chocolates around Valentine’s. Every year, my mum packs whatever they can’t manage and sends to me. Then about a month later, my poor dad has to fork out a few blings to give little gifts at his office.)
So, in the grand tradition of Japanese Valentine’s, some of the online games over there are having special events on. This article even has the headline: 女の戦いが始まる – A woman’s battle begins.
Sad news for DQ fans in Japan: DQ IX release date has been pushed back by nearly 3.5months. Originally supposed to be out 28th March, now it’s new date has been confirmed as 11th July. The ‘why’ has been explained in this article. The debugging process is expected to take some time. Mind, Europe release for these titles has been as usual, slow, so we won’t mind waiting a wee bit longer, do we?
Kojima, the celebrated guy behind the MGS series, is giving a talk at the GDC this year. Nintendo’s Iwata is also making an appearance. Hope the translators are good, or everything that gets reported is going to sound garbled.
More trailers available now for Street Fighter IV. Just to keep European gamers drooling probably. We won’t get this game for another while yet.
Apparently PSP sales have gone up to over 50million worldwide. So here goes the PSP-related news:
1) A PSP game titled 勇者30 (Heroes30) is due out 28th May. An RPG taking place over 500years of battles between humans and evil, from 4 different perspectives. The aim, apparently, is to win the battle in 30secs.
2) Another PSP game titled 遠隔操作 (Enkaku Sousa: Remote Control) caught my eye. Already out in Japan, it’s the detective-type story. Except you’re framed and in jail for a murder you didn’t commit, and you have 23days in which to solve the crime and thus get out of jail. So, gathering evidence via the only contact you’re allowed to have with the outside world (your lawyer), you ‘remote control’. Wonder if this will come over here? In Japan, they have a few titles from the Phoenix Wright series out, as opposed to just one here, so maybe not.
A Wii game that actually looks good? I know, I think I may have been fooled by a fox… in this case, famitsu. But look at Oboro Muramasa and tell me it doesn’t look even a little bit interesting (compared to all the dregs that’s been released for the Wii and DS lately, at least in Europe). It’s about a magic sword (妖刀) and you fight ‘youkai’ (妖怪… think monsters and creatures from fairy tales) like oni and dragons to tengu and bouzu. Maybe it’s my interest in things fortean, but hey, this looks good, and will gladly wait for reviews to come out! (game itself out on 9th April)