Dragon Quest Swords

It has been some time since the Wii got a non-mini-game-based title that was designed specifically with its hardware in mind. In fact, it is arguably its first time. The surprise here is that it isn't a first party title but rather the product of third party, Square-Enix (Squeenix). Clearly the hegemon in the world of RPGs, Squeenix is best known for creating the endless stream of Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests -- quality titles that are always critically acclaimed, if not well received by gamers across all shores. Dragon Quest Swords (DQS) is no exception.

Released on July 12th in Japan, DQS sold over a quarter of a million discs in just 3 days! Though this may not come as a surprise, given the Dragon Quest fan base in Japan, it is nonetheless an impressive accomplishment. However, the real issue concerning curious gamers is not how well the game sold, but how well the game plays.

From the very beginning, players will soon realize that Squeenix has successfully managed to capture the feel of Dragon Quest, while at the same time incorporating an entirely new battle system. Though the obvious limitations of the Wii keep the game graphically inferior to its next-gen counterparts, the visuals still look good. The signature Toriyama character art together with the familiar sound effects and music work to constantly remind us that we are in the world of Dragon Quest.

Where Swords deviates from the norm is in the way you do battle. You can still bring up menus that allow you to choose how you'd like your partners to fight, but no longer do you have a turn-based system with time to calculate your next move. This time around you'll have to act quickly and use your Wii-remote to slash and defend. You can lock on to areas by pressing the A button. Then swing your Wii-remote in the direction you wish to slice. The B button is used to bring out your shield. You'll need to carefully place it in the way of the monsters' attacks in order to defend. Meanwhile, you can have your partners provide you with support magic such as healing and defensive or attack spells. The premise here is simple but it is also very satisfying. The interaction made possible by the Wii will have you feeling like you are actually cutting your way through monsters. It's a fun an interesting new take on Dragon Quest that brings new life to the more than 20 year old series.

The only major criticism for this game is that it only utilizes the Wii-remote and not the nunchuk. Perhaps this was done so that players did not have to own an extra accessory in order to play. Defending and moving with the nunchuk while slashing with the Wii-remote seems like it would have been more intuitive, making it easier to switch between defense and offense. As it stands running by pressing up on the cross button and the B button feels clunky and a tad bit awkward. That said however, DQS is a great game that no Wii owner and RPG fan should be without. Time to get slashing!

Eye-Catching Ad

Pepsi Twist didn't have a long life in Japan. Perhaps the taste didn't sit well with many of the Japanese. Maybe the lackluster ad campaign didn't increase awareness as well as it should have. Whatever the reason, Pepsi Twist Diet is no more. However, in its place there is Pepsi Nex.

The name does not make mention or even hint to its lemony flavor. You'll have to make a conscious effort to look for that information on the product's label. In fact, rather than focusing on its refreshing flavor, what Pepsico (or rather Suntory) wants you to know this time around is that the product is zero calories, and it's zero calories of deliciousness.

So now that they've successfully disguised its little citric additive, how is Pepsi Nex going about getting its name known? Well, how about using hot celebrities to attract the 18-35 year-old crowd?

Suntory has enlisted the talents of Masaharu Fukuyama, Satoshi Tsumabuki, and Erika Sawajiri for their new ad campaign, spanning billboards, TV and the Internet. To be honest, I am not very interested in Japanese TV dramas, but Ms. Sawajiri's seductive pose and provocative outfit in the ads make her worth investigating; and thus make Nex stick out in the collective minds of most men. If Suntory can make someone with virtually no interest in Japanese TV or mainstream films take note of their ad campaign, there is no doubt that with the popularity and sex appeal of the celebrities in these ads, Pepsi Nex will be a well known beverage in no time.

Watch the ads here.

Blue Dragon Manga Volume 1

The first volume of the Weekly Shonen Jump manga, Blue Dragon Ral Grad, is now on sale. Book/comic stores across Tokyo have been promoting sales with large displays set up at entrance ways. Hikari posted an article on the new series and its risque nature in January (Blue Dragon: Beautiful Visuals, Some More Revealing Than You Would Expect). Look for a more in-depth review of the manga soon.

NiGHTS Confirmed for Wii

After years of waiting and months of rumor and speculation, NiGHTS' official sequel will be coming to the Wii. Though not much detail is available, Takashi Izuka of Sonic Team USA, the new game's producer, had this to say:

"In 1996, we created the NiGHTS character to achieve a concept of 'being refreshed from being able to fly in the sky'. 11 years later, at last, we have broken our silence. NiGHTS will now fly in a new dream world: new stages, new story, and on the new Wii platform. Please look forward to NiGHTS and friends exploring this brand new adventure."

The Wii remote should be a perfect match for the play control of this new iteration of the Sega Saturn cult classic. NiGHTs is currently slated for a winter 2007 release in the US.

Game Rankings, 3/26~4/1

Only one "next gen" title makes the top ten this week, and that's Wii Sports (some even argue that the Wii is not in the "next gen" category).

1. Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ (PS2)
2. Muso Orochi (PS2)
3. More English Training DS (DS)
4. Digimon Story Sunburst (DS)
5. Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
6. Tamagochi no Abare! (DS)
7. Pro Baseball Spirits 4 (PS2)
8. Word Puzzle Mojibitan (DS)
9. Wii Sports (Wii)
10. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP)

Media Create

Reason #3 to Be Pissed at Microsoft

Damn, I forgot perhaps the most important reason here to be frustrated at this week's announcements.



Let me first refresh your memory with another quote from way-back-when (this time, from around November):

"At this point we’re not ready yet to roll out a bigger hard drive. I can tell you what people tell me they do to get around this. What they do is they put their Live account on a memory unit and then they have one hard drive that they put their games or related content on, and then they have another drive that they put their movies and TV on." [link, Wired via GamersReports]

Got that? Turns out this is horrible, horrible advice -- aside from the insane cost of having to shell out $100 (at the time) for each supplementary drive in this ridiculous scenario.



Here's better advice: Don't run out and buy one of the upcoming 120GB drives in hopes of consolidating your multiple Xbox 360 drives. You won't be able to!



That's according to a Microsoft Japan press release, located here.



What were you even thinking, listening to Microsoft in the first place?



[link]

Two Things That Kind of Piss Me Off About the Xbox 360 "Elite"

…Or more specifically, about the announcement of the "Elite".



First: Let's talk about the high margin of return. External 120GB drives routinely sell for US$65-$90. Microsoft's selling its new add-on for around $180. There's profit, and there's gouging, and once an application (something IPTV-related, maybe?) debuts that requires much more than the paltry 13GB of usable capacity on the current-gen Xbox 360, Microsoft will have officially embarked into the realm of the latter.



Thing No. 2 that burns me:

"I think at the moment we have the widest available connections on the system. If you want to get great HD, I think we've got a good solution for that ... At the moment, everything you might have seen is just looking at our experimentation back in Redmond, not really a product that we're thinking about announcing."

That was said by Chris Satchell at Microsoft's game developer group, all the way back in January. Now, I understand that Microsoft didn't want to hurt sales of the "regular" Xbox 360 models between then and the present. But there comes a point when deliberate obfuscation hurts consumers. And it's pretty clear console companies don't understand this.



Let me clarify it for them. The point where you stop helping your cause and begin actively hurting consumers occurs when:

A) If properly informed, some consumers would prefer to wait for your more advanced future product, as opposed to buying your current-generation model.



B) There is overwhelming and detailed information on said future product from semi-legitimate sources (see: rumors.)



C) There is no competitive reason to deny rumors about future product. (This is to say,

confirming longtime, persistent rumors adds nothing to competitors' ability react to your future product. If they're any good to begin with, they're already listening to the rumors and preparing accordingly.)



D) Denying consumers information about the future product -- in this case, by categorically contradicting these rumors -- causes consumers to make an uninformed buying decision.

In other words, once the rumor mill reached fever pitch about the Xbox 360 Elite, Microsoft should have stepped up and gone ahead and announced it. Instead, some consumers were duped. This could include people like my girlfriend, for instance, who may conceivably have waited for the Elite before buying her 360 Premium.



Microsoft, of course, isn't alone here in treating consumers like they're the enemy. Sony, in the course of a few short months, has already established a solid track record of not only ignoring consumer needs, but the needs of developers, retailers, stockholders, and the press. Did I leave anyone out?



These companies need to behave a bit more like the big hardware vendors in the PC space. Intel and AMD, for instance, publish roadmaps of where they're headed well in advance of future models. They react quickly to feedback, and don't ram unneeded features down consumers' throats.



They understand that customers, the retail channel, and the entire damn ecosystem involves knowing what's coming out and when -- not thinking so short-term and trying to squeeze out a few months' more of sales of an old model through duplicity before they roll out a replacement. They're not as arrogant as the console companies, are more willing to work with partners, and most importantly customers, to deliver products that meet current and future needs.



Customers deserve an informed choice, not obfuscation.



Funny, I wrote nearly 500 words on this, and I'm not nearly as irate about the PR game around the Elite as I am about Microsoft's shitty support around the brief Xbox Live outage this weekend. More on that later, perhaps.