Fatal Frame IV unlikely to scare up American release

by Jason Dobson on Apr 8th 2009 9:25AM

Since first whispered eerily in our ears, we've been eager to have our pants scared off by the Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture collaboration, Fatal Frame IV. Now it seems like our slacks will be staying firmly buttoned. While Nintendo published the Wii-exclusive in Japan, the company has no intention of making a repeat performance stateside with Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aime telling MTV, "We are not the publisher of that title in the Americas."

A Tecmo spokesperson put the lens cap on the scary sequel, telling IGN that Nintendo of America still holds the publishing rights, and its decision to not release the game means "the title will not be released in this territory."

Read Tecmo's official statement: "As the owner of the IP, Tecmo feels very unfortunate that the fans of the series in North America will not have a chance to play the game, but respects the final decision made by Nintendo of America." If you could take a picture of our faces right now you'd see our jaws on the floor at bearing witness to Nintendo's own unique brand of horror.

Source: Fatal Frame Never Coming to America?
Source: Reggie Talks Wii: Not Paying For Exclusives, Avoiding The Japan Wii Slump

Tags: Fatal-Frame-4, Fatal-Frame-4-Mask-of-the-Lunar-Eclipse, Grasshopper-Manufacture, Nintendo, Survival-Horror, Tecmo, Wii

Reader Comments (104)

And so, NOA continued their streak of unprecedented suckage, and all was right in the world again.

Yeah, this is complete bullsh*t. Nintendo continues to do everything it can to piss off the established userbase. This is a title I was really hoping to buy. I love this game series and would much rather see it than another collection of minigames.

Yeah...as far as the status quo changes go, them releasing translated Earthbound on DS is somewhere on par with Baby Eating Nazy Vampires invading London in zeppelins, right now.

Bad NOA, bad.

Hopefully, if it's out in EU, someone will start making a lot of money from region-free imports.

This is especially face-palmaged due to the fact that Reggie himself is speaking on it NOT coming here. The Regginator. The "Savior" to the "core" Nintendo fan base, if you believe some.

@Duke: Its not Nintendo in general...its NOA. NOA and Reggie at their head are screwing over the American side of the business hard.

@Cody: I completely agree with you on this one. I once really respected Reggie, and thought he was going to be a good thing for NOA. Now, I have next to no faith in him and the way he's running things over here. :(

I've not been on board with some of the Reggie bashing, but lately, his statements have increasingly annoyed me. Lying that you're not the publisher when, in fact, you are doesn't mean NOA hates North America . . . it just means Reggie lies.

At least man up, Reggie, and explain the reasons for not publishing a title like this in NA. Say it's mature for what you think the NA audience will accept, or whatever rationale you have. But don't pawn off the responsibility of your decision on some supposed other publisher.

Sometimes, "douchebag" is just the right word for someone.

Highlar I know that its NOA, what does that matter? It's still Nintendo. Do we need to explain what divisions in every post? I don't think so.

I just meant it in the way of what I've heard, Duke. From what I've heard, Iwata has said before in the past that it is up to the heads of each region to decide what to put out and market in their own regions. Which means, that FF and Disaster getting axed for the US would fall right into the hands of Reggie and NOA. Couldn't blame parent company Nintendo for that, since NOJ did publish FF in Japan. Also, from what I hear around the boards, NOE is publishing the game in Europe. Its just Reggie and NOA that are not putting it out. That does make a bit of a difference to me.

OK, so I guess you want me to say that I am bothered with NOA for this. Fair enough.

WHAT THE FUCK NO

What about europe then!!!!??? :O

A neofgaf thread has an ad on some European magazine. June/July is the impression I'm getting.

"There's a Neogaf thread featuring an ad from some European magazine. June/July is the impression I'm getting."

Revised for grammar. Long day.

And here I was praying that this would be released here and I'd have a reason to go buy a Wii finnaly.
Damm it Nintendo, take my money! Or at least let Xbox have it!

"Or at least let Xbox have it!"

I believe by doing routine (and hilarious) stunts like this, they are allowing you to do precisely that.

Seriously, there better be a way to play this...........

Can the Wii Homebrew Channel be used to remove region specificity?

Europe is still getting this, right?

SERIOUSLY THIS IS MY FUCKING FAVORITE HORROR SERIES I'M HAVING A FUCKING BREAKDOWN HERE

If NA isn't getting it then it's pretty darn likely that neither is Europe either. :(

"Can the Wii Homebrew Channel be used to remove region specificity?"

Yes. Use the Gecko region loader thingy.

Preferably your firmware should be on 3.2 or 3.3. After that, it's safe to upgrade to 4.0.

Yeah I'm updated to the latest firmware, and typically too lazy to bother with homebrew. However, I always have been interested in trying this series out. Which of the previous FF games would you recommend to a noob?

I've played many horror games (FEAR series, Condemned, Clock Tower, RE, etc.) but Fatal Frame II was the only one to ever scare me. I would unequivocally recommend that you play that one first.

Just port it to PS2 or make an upgraded version for PS3 and 360 and then eveyone gets to play it across the world. Why wouldn't nintendo want to release this game in America? Although this doesnt affect me as I live in europe (and don't own a Wii) I do get the feeling if it isnt released in the US chances are it wont see a european release.

Fortunately for Europeans (of which I am not...damn you, Reggie and NOA), it sounds like FF4 has already been set up for release over that way. I've never before used my Homebrew Channel to play imported games, but I may have to finally start making exceptions.

No wonder the wii is seen as the kiddy console, when all the goooood horror games STAY in Japan!!
Not fair

"Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon..."

Wrong story dude.

This calls for some effective action to make sure the game is released! I know just the thing... an internet petition!!!

Seriously this sucks. If they're not going to release it then they should sell the rights to someone else. (I hear the game had some control problems, so a bit of a delay to improve that wouldn't hurt... but even if they don't, at least release the damn thing.)

If there was any doubt in the minds of faithful Nintendo lovers that Reggie and pals don't give a shit about you anymore....THIS is it.

C'mon Fernandos...spin this.

On this point I totally agree with you.

Rather than downvote, I'd like to see someone try to defend this action.

I'm not upset by this, as I don't care for FF at all, not even when it was on ps2. I just can't resist posting this:

I told you guys so. I am right time after time after time and still they don't believe me when I say they bought the wrong system if they're expecting real games.

tmac,

I need to see photo proof that you are even a day older than your early teens. I swear every post I read of yours all I hear is "Nana nana boo boo!!! I told you so I told you so!!"

Do you really require such gratification EVERY SINGLE POST??? GROW. UP. This is an internet blog. About video games. GAMES. No one here (including you!!!) profits off of any of this.

I find it strange you keep telling me to grow up cody, when you are the person who is always making crude and tasteless "your mom" replies to people on here.

Tmac, don't be so quick to pull an I told you so. Repeating over and over what we all already knew isn't exactly enlightening.

Apparently not everyone knew, because I'm seeing a lot of shocked reactions and outrage. See, I expect these things to happen as a general rule and so should everyone else so there is no outrage or surprise.

oh hey, look, tmac the troll crawled out of his cave again.

We are outraged about this reversal on releasing this title. It is a new development. You can't tell me you know they would announce this, even those of us who like the series had no way to know they would refuse to release it over here. Unless you had specific knowledge on a specific subject you can't jump out and say I told you so whenever bad news comes about relating to the Wii. "Nintendo sucks" doesn't put us on notice of anything.

C'mon man. If I told you that they were refusing to release Viva Pinata in the US or some other MS title, you would be shocked by that and pissed as well (assuming you like that game) - no matter if that company had disappointed you often before.

There's no spinning this one, i think. Pure wasted opportunity. But of course our opportunistic friends up there will try and spin this to make it seem worse than it is.

ha HA!

Looks like I already have a region-changer on my Homebrew Channel, and the 4.0 system update only stops you from installing *new* homebrew. European release is also confirmed.

LOOKS LIKE I'LL BE PLAYING IT ANYWAY, ASSHOLE NINTENDO EXECUTIVES!

I encourage everyone (in America) to do the same.

just mod your wii. free games for all! :)

You are F**K kidding me.
I've been wanting this game ever since it was first announced.
This is the only Horror series that I find scary.
This just isn't fare, I could under stand if this was a new series, but its f**ken part 4.

Please Nintendo release it!!!!!!

Do like I said, use the Homebrew Channel to change the region on your Wii, and import from Europe.

Even though the installation of the Homebrew is disabled right now if you installed the 4.0 system update, you can still download and run the Region-changer if you don't already have it, just by putting it on your SD card.

You can get all the homebrew you need from this site:

http://wii.brewology.com/index.php?page=generate&packId=2

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH

I meant to say that installation of the Homebrew *Channel* is disabled if you installed the 4.0 system update.

So what do we do if we have 4.0?

If you already have the Homebrew Channel, then just put the region changer on your SD card and you can use it without any problem (I think so, anyway)

The Twilight Hack has been disabled for version 4.0 systems, so if you don't already have the Homebrew Channel, you're going to have to wait until 4.0 is cracked, which shouldn't be long now. It will probably be cracked before the game is released.

Looks like the news of the Wii USB Loader and then this came at about the right time. Get your downloads on~

hmmmmmMMMMMM?!

What is this you speak of?

Wow nintendo, look at this poor soul. Look what you created.

Blame Reggie for turning yet another to the Dark Side (well, more like the nebulous gray side).

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Fatal Frame IV unlikely to scare up American release

Reader Comments (104)

Posted: Apr 8th 2009 9:30AM samfish said

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