Welcome to the Caves of Narshe

RPGamer.com has discovered that the ESRB has re-rated Earthbound as an 'E for Everyone' title (replacing its old K-A rating, which no longer exists) and has it marked as a Wii title. A quick search on the ESRB's website confirms these findings, which as of this posting have not been covered up or hidden. This is being taken as a sign that Earthbound will soon be released on the Wii's Virtual Console. There has been no official announcement made by either Nintendo or Ape Software, so no more details are known.

This is fantastic news. The Virtual Console, while a great concept with a few gems, has been sorely lacking in a lot of my favorite games, most notably SNES RPGs. With this release of an old classic and cult favorite, perhaps the doors will be opened for more games and companies to jump on the Virtual Console train and try to get a few more bucks out of their older titles. However, for those hoping for Final Fantasy releases, with the rate that Square-Enix is pumping out remakes, I wouldn't get your hopes up for any of those. For now, fans of the series can enjoy the game once more, and people new to the game will be able to discover their love for New Age Retro Hippies and Multi Bottle Rockets.

Those links again:
RPGamer.com
Re-Rating and Wii platform for Earthbound
The ESRB's website

Recently, bit-tech.net conducted an interview with Yoshinori Kitase, who some gamers may recognize as the director of Final Fantasy 7. The interview is mainly about the recently released Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, a spin-off game for the PSP. However, the most interesting bit of the interview comes near the end, when the question is raised about whether or not there will be more prequels or sequels in the FF7 series. Kitase remains noncommittal, but mentions that they wouldn't even look at a remake of the initial game unless they could bring together the core of the FF7 development team, who are split among various projects, most notably FFXIII, so the idea won't be explored until at least after that game is completed.

Though I think a lot of good could come from a remake of FF7 on a system with much more power than the original PS1, I think I would much rather have the development team of such a great game working on newer projects. FF7 is getting a tremendous amount of overexposure as a new title within the universe seems to be released every year. It appears that the idea of a remake is at least put aside until after the completion of Final Fantasy XIII, so gamers who, like me, would rather see new content, will be placated to that end.

Those links again:
bit-tech.net
Interview with Yoshinori Kitase

A website for the North American release of FFTA2: Rift of the Grimoire was promised just days ago, and Square-Enix has already delivered. The company has once again put together a beautiful website for the game. As is par for the course for RPG websites by Squenix, not all of the information is available, but we already have access to a page for the story; a page for characters, which includes information about characters Luso, Adelle, Hurdy, and Cid, with spaces for 6 more; a look at five of seven races and some of "more than 50 classes"; and sections under construction for the battle system and multimedia.

In addition, some questions were answered on the Square-Enix Members Blog regarding the game, which says that the storyline of FFTA2 will be completely independent of the other FFT games, so gamers new to the series can jump right in.

The website just makes me more excited for the game. The characters have neat designs and I'm really excited to hear that there will be over fifty classes. I'm hoping that that doesn't necessarily mean class/race combinations, so they could, theoretically, give a Hume White Mage and a Viera Whtie Mage different abilities and call it two different classes, but that could possibly happen. Either way, I'm looking forward to June 24 more and more.

Those links again:
Square-Enix NA FFTA2 Website
FFTA2 Blog Entry
Square-Enix Members Blog

A preliminary song list for Guitar Hero: On Tour, the DS adaptation for the franchise due out in the United States on June 22, has been released. In addition, over the last several weeks, more details have been released about how the guitar mechanism will function. An adapter plugs into the GBA slot of the DS and it is held vertically like a book, with the GBA slot to the right side. Strumming the guitar will be performed via the touchscreen. Additionally, there will be microphone functionality, including activating your star power and blowing flames out on the guitar during battle mode.

The functionality of the game sounds extremely fun, with the buttons on the side of the system and strumming with the touchscreen. The songlist, however, leaves me with a little to be desired. Of the 15 songs announced, I am prematurely excited for just three of them. Fortunately, there will be at least ten more songs yet to come, and as another bonus, nearly all of the tracks will be master tracks so we don't have to deal with terrible covers, as we did in GH2. There has been local wireless play announced, but I would be much more interested in seeing some DS Wifi play as well. All-in-all, they're discovering new ways to bring out more function in the already-amazing DS.

Also it's going to retail at $50. Yoaaurgh.

Those links again:
GH DS preliminary song list
GH DS Details

Following the announcement of the North American release date of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, Square-Enix has released the box art for the game on their Members Blog. The blog entry doesn't have any new information regarding the game, but promises more content "soon" and the writer of the entry has spent over 110 hours playing the game. The release is still scheduled for June 24.

I am very excited for the release of this game, even having not played the original Tactics Advance. As Final Fantasy Tactics remains one of my favorite games of all time, I'm fired up over what has been reviewed as an excellent game on a portable console. Stay tuned for the information about the game promised by the blog.

Those links again:
FFTA2 North American release date
FFTA2 North American box art
Square-Enix Members Blog

Square-Enix has opened their North American Final Fantasy 4 DS website, setting the stage for information regarding the much-anticipated remake. The site opens with a beautiful splash screen featuring many characters from the game, but unfortunately there isn't anything at the site yet. However, the actual opening of the site is a good sign for information being translated and updated regularly as the release of the game approaches. In the meantime, you can check out the Japanese site for Final Fantasy 4: The After, Square-Enix's Japanese-only mobile game, to make yourself jealous over what you aren't getting.

I have played FF4 way too many times, on different platforms and translations, and I am still very excited for the game to be released in July. I'll almost certainly be getting it on release day, if I'm not still playing Squenix's current gem, The World Ends With You. The site launch is good news for those of us waiting for another one of the company's trademark gorgeous sites, and The After is fun to look at, even if I can't read it, we're not getting it, and Luca looks like some sort of ridiculous 80's teen idol.

Those links again:
FF4DS NA
Final Fantasy 4: The After

When the Castlevania series hit the PlayStation 2, a divergence occurred. Konami struggled to get 3D vampire killing just right on the consoles, but continued the beloved Symphony of the Night style on Nintendo's handheld machines. Fans of the castleroid style of Castlevania games will not be disappointed. A third DS Castlevania title has been announced and rated by the ESRB.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia has been registered as a trademark in the United States, and a rating of T for Teen now appears on the ESRB website. Furthermore, the name has been registered in such a way as to imply that there will be an online component--hardly surprising, given the nature of the DS and online capabilities employed in the past for DS Castlevania games.

We don't have a date, an official comment, or much else (though I believe Lasz had some maybe screenshots several months ago), but we DO have a reason to rejoice.

Now, tell me that Alucard is returning as the hero, and I'll die happy.

Source: GameSpot

Yes, we all knew it was coming. Who couldn't? But now we have a real date: 22 July 2008. On top of that, the new site for the North American release is up and ready, with a pretty-cool splash page as well.

Unfortunately, AmaCoN doesn't yet have the title ready for preorder (merely the OST), but I'll keep everyone posted once it shows up.

From what I've seen and heard, this game is a must-play for DS owners. If anyone would like to buy me a DS, I'll be inclined to try it out and agree.

Source:
Square-Enix Blog

Image 1
Image 2
Famitsu information

As far as I can tell, this information must be taken with a grain of salt, given that no writing that this newsposter can read is visible in either screen. Given the translation or further information at the info link, it appears that we will be getting a new attorney game in the Phoenix Wright world, but this time it's through the (third-person!) eyes of Miles Edgeworth, "Perfect Prosecutor." The game appears to be similar to the Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice series, except you're on the other side of the courtroom. Returning characters thus far are Edgeworth and detective Dick Gumshoe.

As a HUGE fan of the series, I can't begin to write how excited I am to see a game from the prosecution's side. Since Edgeworth captured my heart and became one of my favorite characters in the first few games of the series, I always hoped for a game where we would be able to play as the ruthless prosecutor. It looks like this wish will finally be granted. Though they could very well be a new sort of cutscene, it appears that the action outside of the courtroom will be third person, allowing you to move Edgey around and search for "overlooked" clues.

I can't wait.

DeviantArt, the well-known online artistic community that has a lot of nice Final Fantasy fanart, a lot of nice Final Fantasy fan artists, and increasingly toes the line of defining the phrase "too much Anime fanart" is currently hosting a competition that might be of quite a lot of interest to the people here who make nice Final Fantasy fanart and our own nice Final Fantasy fan artists.

DA want people to submit works based on the upcoming Square-Enix game "The World Ends with You" and to make this very intresting, they're doing it in conjuction with Square-Enix themselves. Square-Enix have given DA special permission to distribute concept art from the game for use in this contest. Your role as the artist asks for your best works inspired by the art. Ten winners will recive a copy of the game, a six month subscription to DA, a DA t-shirt and a DA Accessory pack. The grand prize winner recives all that plus a written critque of their prize-winning submission from members of the game's development team. For the full information and rules, check the Announcement for the contest on DeviantArt.

"The World Ends with You" is an Action RPG from the same team behind Kingdom Hearts, set in and inspired by the Shibuya district of Tokyo. The game sees amnesiac Neku awake in Shibuya, and told that he must play the "Reaper's Game" or face erasure. Presumably, this is some sort of code for "you're dead," so obviously Neku wants to avoid said erasure (and as the player of the game so do you). To do so, he (and you) must complete a series of missions, and find badges that will let him (again, you) unlock new powers and abilities to help him (that's probably still you) succeed. The game is for the Nintendo DS and will be released in North America on the 22nd of April and in PAL regions on April 18th.

External Links:
Contest Rules and Information
DeviantArt Homepage
Official US Site for The World Ends with You
Official EU Site for The World Ends with You