Crispy Gamer News

At a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horil revealed inadvertently that Dragon Quest X is in the works and is headed to the Nintendo Wii. Japanese blog Gemaga captured these moments and translated them to English which is probably a good thing because my Japanese is a little rusty (READ: non-existent).

Horii: “We’re currently developing Dragon Quest X on Wii.” This was followed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata taking the stage and adding “Thanks very much for announcing Dragon Quest X on Wii!”

While that is a pretty weak confirmation, it is a confirmation nonetheless. Will Level 5 be developing the game? Will it support the Wii Remote?  Will it make its way to North Ameerica? Will it suck? We’ll keep you posted.

Frontier Developments is teaming up with Square Enix to publish its WiiWare title LostWinds in Japan and Asia. LostWinds was one of the better WiiWare launch titles, topping the WiiWare charts in both the US and Europe in May 2008. The game also garnered critical acclaim for its unique gameplay and art style.

No word on when Square Enix will release the game in those regions, but the partnership marks an interesting trend for Frontier, a company better known for its work on such games as Thrillville, Dog’s Life, and the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.

Japanese hardware sales for Nov. 3 - Nov. 9 shot that the new Nintendo DSi is doing pretty well in the region, beating out every other platform out there including the usually impressive PSP. The DSi sold 104, 897 units during the week, followed in the distance by the PSP at 40, 726 units, the Wii at 24, 726, the PS3 at 18, 354 and Xbox 360 at 12, 759. The good old DS Lite, one the standard bearer of Nintendo’s hand-held business in Japan, is the real victim here; the system moved a meager 8, 381 units, only beating out the PS2 which moved 5, 743 units.

You can see the list - in order - after the break:

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Win a jackpot … catch a criminal. At least that’s the idea behind a company’s upcoming online slot machine game.

Earlier this week, Japanese software developer Famista, Inc. announced that it plans to launch a new Internet-based slot machine game which will incorporate mug shots of criminal suspects on the country’s wanted list. The company says it plans to start the free game as a way of publicizing information about the criminals by drawing on the popularity of pachinko games in the region. Players who hit the jackpot will be shown detailed information about the suspect and how to report any leads in their cases.

According to Famista representative, Takashi Saito, “There are many Internet sites that display photos of those on the wanted list, but they are not necessarily visited frequently. By mixing it with entertainment, we thought we can make some contribution to the police efforts.”

While the idea has not gotten an official endorsement from Japan’s National Police Agency, the company reports that individual police officers have supported the project, hoping that by getting the information out to the public, it could help lead to the arrests of many criminals still eluding capture.

It was interesting to check out the newswires today and see headlines discussing a video game related “virtual murder” that took place in Japan, resulting in the arrest of a 43-year old woman. Of course, dig a little deeper, and the story takes on a whole different flavor.

The reality of the story involves the unnamed woman and a man she had virtually married in the game MapleStory. According to reports, the online relationship soured, with the man apparently “divorcing” his online wife. Of course, as the saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

“I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.
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So, you’re a major video game company that had an underwhelming E3 performance, and you’ve also decided to skip out on this year’s Tokyo Game Show. What do you do? Well, if you’re Nintendo, you hold a special press event in Tokyo to unveil a new version of one of your best selling consoles. Early this morning, Nintendo officially raised the curtain on the latest version of the DS, dubbed the DSi.

The new handheld is much thinner than the current DS Lite, due in large part to the decision to drop the GBA port from the device. The DSi will also include a 640×480 camera, an SD card slot, larger screens, and new audio capabilities. Using the system’s built-in browser and a Wi-Fi connection, gamers will be able to download games and other software from a special DSi Shop (think Wii Shop Channel … but smaller), and save it directly to the DSi. According to Nintendo, pricing for the ‘DSiWare’ downloads will be broken down into four categories: Free, 200, 500, and 800 points. Apparently, the DSi will also come packaged with 1000 points included at launch to spend at the DSi Shop.

The Nintendo DSi is currently slated for a November 1st launch in Japan, with a retail price of ¥18,900 (US$179). The DSi will initially come in two colors: black and white. More pictures after the jump.

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According to an MCV report, which cites an “impeccable source in Japan,” a new version of Nintendo’s DS hand-held will be announced tomorrow morning. The new version of Nintendo’s ultra popular dual screen hand-held will have some sort of multimedia function, though no specific details are available as of this writing.

But don’t worry, there’s plenty of speculation on what “might be” announced tomorrow. Among the rumored features is the plan to offer support for multimedia like pictures and music, and possible support for external storage devices via the GBA slot - which will be replaced.

While all the wild speculation is interesting, what is more interesting is not what this new DS will do, but rather when it will be released. We’ll have more on this story as it develops, and hopefully Nintendo will have release dates for Japan and other regions tomorrow.

Source: MCV