Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[DS Daily: Legend of Zelda: Item of Great Importance]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/14/wii-warm-up-legend-of-zelda-item-of-great-importance/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/14/wii-warm-up-legend-of-zelda-item-of-great-importance/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/14/wii-warm-up-legend-of-zelda-item-of-great-importance/#commentsFiled under: ,

According to the latest news about The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the eponymous hourglass keeps your hearts from draining while in a cursed underwater shrine. Link must go from island to island to find sand so he can keep the hourglass full. Basically, he is addicted to sand.

That sounds like an interesting gameplay mechanic, lending the game a sort of Fushigi no Dungeon-esque resource upkeep element (like keeping the light glowing in The Nightmare of Druaga.) However, that's not the issue for today's discussion.

We want to talk about the item as it relates to Zelda's history. In most Zelda games since the N64 one, there has been an item in the title that is central to the game's plot and/or gameplay-- the Ocarina of Time and the very similar Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, Four Swords, the Minish Cap, and now the Phantom Hourglass. Do you think basing the game (and its title) around a single item is a neat storytelling convention, or lazy formulaic design? We are declaring this a Safe Zelda Bashing Zone. Don't be afraid to say something negative about Zelda! Here, we'll start: the first one didn't even have a subtitle, and it's still the best one.

[News item via NeoGAF]

JoystiqDS Daily: Legend of Zelda: Item of Great Importance originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 May 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dsds litedsdDsLitefourhourglassmajoramajoras maskMajorasMaskmaskminishminish capMinishCapnintendonintendo dsNintendoDsocarinaphantomphantom hourglassPhantomHourglassswordswakerwindwind wakerWindWakerzeldaMon, 14 May 2007 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Wii Warm Up: Do you NEED four?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/24/wii-warm-up-do-you-need-four/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/24/wii-warm-up-do-you-need-four/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/24/wii-warm-up-do-you-need-four/#commentsFiled under:

The Wii is, at least to the generic public, a very multiplayer oriented system. You can't enjoy the flagship Wii Tennis without a second controller ... oh, wait, we need a nunchuk for boxing as well ... but man, three-player would be so cool! And so on and so forth. But Wiimotes are frakkin' expensive. Forty for the main, twenty for the add, you know the deal.

Sooooooo, where did you draw the line? Did you pick up an extra Wiimote with Wii Play? Do all of your Wiimotes have nunchucks? Did you drop the hundred and eighty dollars for the full complement, not including any Classic Controllers? And for the love of God, use rechargeable batteries. Mother nature and your wallet will thank you.

JoystiqWii Warm Up: Do you NEED four? originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ControllerFourNunchuckWiimotewwuTue, 24 Apr 2007 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Laws in translation: Playable, English Wright demo]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/04/laws-in-translation-playable-english-wright-demo/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/04/laws-in-translation-playable-english-wright-demo/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/04/laws-in-translation-playable-english-wright-demo/#commentsFiled under: , ,

English-speaking fans of the Phoenix Wright series got a bit of bad news when they heard the Japanese version of the upcoming fourth installment would not feature native English-language support, as previous releases have. Capcom added insult to injury with a tantalizing web demo of the game that is similarly Japanese-only. Oh, how those foreigners love to taunt us and our lack of multilingual skills!

Fear not, though -- a band of intrepid Wright fans over at court-records.net have taken the case, translating the demo bit by bit and posting the results for the English-speaking world to play. The translation only goes a few minutes deep so far, but you can follow along with the progress on the project blog. This is probably as close as most of us will get to enjoying more Wright until the likely localization is released months from now, so enjoy it while it lasts.

[Via DSFanboy]

JoystiqLaws in translation: Playable, English Wright demo originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 16:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>4demoDSenglishfan translationFanTranslationfourgyakuten saibanGyakutenSaibanjapanesePCphoenix wrightPhoenixWrighttranslationWed, 04 Apr 2007 16:52:00 EST<![CDATA[Three million units sold?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/27/three-million-units-sold/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/27/three-million-units-sold/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/27/three-million-units-sold/#commentsFiled under:

Doing well!
VGCharts, the "premier source for videogame sales charts on the internet", has totaled worldwide Wii sales now in excess of three million units. The same list has Xbox 360 at 7.74 million, and the PS3 at a rather stunted 1.18 million. By comparison, other-unofficial-internet-tallying site NexGenWars has the three consoles at 9.18 million for the 360, only 2 million for the Wii, and 800,000 for the PS3.

Which should you believe? We're inclined to roll with VGCharts, which seems to have a very meticulous method of gathering numerical data. The competition uses an arbitrary "unit sold every x seconds" formula until the site owner can alter the data manually after press releases and official data; in the first week of sales, the Wii inexplicably went from 700,000 to 400,000 in the blink of an eye.

We all know that Nintendo promised four million worldwide by year's end, but over 75% delivered isn't such a terrible let-down. And hey! There are still five days left! C'mon, Nintendo, you can do it!

[Thanks, Richard!]

JoystiqThree million units sold? originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ChartsFourMillionNexGenWarsSoldTallyThreeVGWed, 27 Dec 2006 17:36:00 EST<![CDATA[Taking Red Steel for a MULTIPLAYER spin [update 1]]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/taking-red-steel-for-a-multiplayer-spin/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/taking-red-steel-for-a-multiplayer-spin/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/26/taking-red-steel-for-a-multiplayer-spin/#commentsFiled under:

I kill u![Update: we've added the trailer, YouTube style, after the break. Enjoy!]

We've heard about this mysterious "multiplayer" mode in Red Steel, but it was fraught with mystery and shroud ... till now. IGN has posted the official multiplayer trailer for the game, which you should probably go watch if for nothing else than the entertainment value of the trailer itself. When we play, we're totally ducking behind coffee tables for cover, and then climbing onto the ceiling only to drop down uselessly onto the couch we just left.

In any case, the split-screen looks serviceable enough, though very little swordplay was shown (we assume there will be a swords-only option in the final build). Why couldn't it have been online? Bah. Red Steel 2, we're talking to you.

Continue reading Taking Red Steel for a MULTIPLAYER spin [update 1]

JoystiqTaking Red Steel for a MULTIPLAYER spin [update 1] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Coffee TableCoffeeTableFourGunMultiplayerRed SteelRedSteelSplit-ScreenSwordplayTrailerThu, 26 Oct 2006 15:30:00 EST