Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney WiiWare First Look! [Capcom]

It's definitely on its way to Japanese users, with Capcom Mobile "looking into" porting it for a Western release. Good, good, good. I stopped playing Phoenix Wright about the time I stopped playing my DS, which just happens to be around the time I got my iPhone. No need to carry two devices around anymore, you see.

Bring the series to the iPhone and it'll be like the return of the prodigal son. Only, he'll have magnificent hair.

Surprise! Ace Attorney Makes Its Way To iPhone [Capcom]

I'd imagine such low-res textures will look worse the bigger your screen. And, in case you missed it, that grey border isn't just ugly; it scrolls as well, which won't be distracting at all.

The series will be released on Nintendo's WiiWare service, with Ace Attorney out in Japan on December 15 (and going for 900 Points). It'll be followed by Justice for All (January 26) and Trials and Tribulations (February 23), both of which will cost a little more at 1200 points.

Finally, on March 16, the fifth case of Ace Attorney - which can only be found in the DS version of the game - will be released separately, for 300 Points. And if it's being released separately, guess that means these are ports of the PC version. Which makes sense.

No word yet, obviously, on a Western release. Stay tuned.

[Famitsu, November 19]

There's not much more to it than that, other than the name "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney", so questions like:

"Will it be episodic?"
"When is it out?"
"How much will this cost me?"
"Is there anything new being added to the Wii version?"

Will have to wait for a more official announcement. Judging by the title, though, don't go holding your breath for a new game, or a collection. This is probably just a straight-up port of the existing PC version of Ace Attorney.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Coming To The Wii [Gamerbytes]

"Young Mia Fey," Motohide Eshiro was telling me through a translator without hesitation last week at the Capcom media suite of the Tokyo Game Show. "You've got to go with young Mia Fay."

The director of Ace Attorney Investigations declared that one of the more attractive attorneys in the game's series would be the video game lawyer he would want want to defend him, if he even got in trouble with the law.

Eshiro's colleague, Ace Attorney Investigations producer Takeshi Yamazaki, who sat beside him during out interview (and is pictured at left up top), was flustered.

"That's not fair!" he said through a translator. "How could you steal that example with me? I can't think of anyone i trust... All the other characters are a little shaky. you never know if they're going to go with the right answer or present the right thing. I'm not sure I could put my life in their hands."

That's the comedic truth of Ace Attorney Investigations and the series from which it has been spun-off, the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney line of lawyer games released, in the U.S., all on the Nintendo DS. The games are about murders and the court cases that root out the wrongdoers. But they're played for jokes. And the attorneys never seem quite competent enough to win their cases except by luck and determination. Players go along for the ride, tapping through the text-heavy games to argue the cases and present key evidence.

Eshiro and Yamazaki assured me that their new game, which stars series favorite attorney Miles Edgeworth and moves the action from the courtroom to crime scenes, will be as funny as the previous games. It will also be as screwball, featuring such developer favorite supporting characters as Kay Faraday, the — Yamazaki's words — "spunky teenager who is always giving Edgeworth a hard time" and Interpol agent Shi-Long Lang who — Eshiro's words — is "a bit of a punk" and often strikes martial arts poses.

In Tokyo, the two developers showed me an example of a case, an Eshiro favorite set in a luxury jumbo jet. Edgeworth discovers a man murdered in an elevator. The twist in the new game is that players get a full view of the crime scene and can directly control Edgeworth, so they can move him through the murder location and piece together the evidence to solve the crimes.

The game gives Edgeworth access to forensic crime-solving tools, which got me wondering if it would tap into the camera functionality of the DSi. It does not, and Eshiro isn't sure that a photo-taking system would benefit the series. "It would feel kind of weird if you took a picture and it got brought into the game, because you have such an Anime style game," he said. "It's a very 2D sprite-oriented game. To suddenly have a 3D object in that world, it's kind of a strange disconnect in terms of the atmosphere."

The little bit I saw of the game looked like it would be true to the series' traditions: Lots of colorful characters, lots of talking, lots of jokes, lots of tapping around for clues and contradictions. With so many games released using this formula and with so many fans following them, I was struck that a console version of an Ace Attorney game has yet to be made.

It sounds like the team not only has no plans for a console Ace Attorney adventure, but doesn't think it would work. "The games have always been sort of a portable game," Eshiro said. "Even if we were to change the game and make it suitable for other systems, then perhaps the game would feel too far removed that people wouldn't think it is an Ace Attorney game anymore."

The developers said their focus for the series will remain "exclusively on the DS."

Yamazaki keeps getting ideas for cases, from what he sees on TV and what he reads in mangas. And he and his colleague seem to be having fun. So expect more Ace Attorney games, more weirdo characters you'd never want to have defend you in real life, and more games you can play on the go.

[Mia Fey pic via Giant Bomb]

There's Queen, too. Queen makes everything better.

Osu! [Official Site via GoNintendo via GameSetWatch]

I was speaking two the two top men behind Ace Attorney Investigations in their last interview at the Tokyo Game Show. We talked about their game, which stars fan favorite attorney Miles Edgeworth (pictured, dashingly, above), and I'll have more on that later this week.

But today's all about fighting games, so I wanted to share this part of the conversation. The translator working with me gave them my question:

If Frank West from Dead Rising can be in a Capcom fighting game, then why not the lawyers of the Phoenix Wright series? Who should go in and what would their moves be?

They cracked up.

"They're not sure any of the characters suit the fighting game world, so they've never actually thought about it," a Capcom translator told me as Ace Attorney Investigations' producer and director, Motohide Eshiro and Takeshi Yamazaki, laughed and started pantomiming attacks.

Eshiro was the first to get specific: "Wel,l I guess if we were going to do one, we could put in Agent [Shi-Long] Lang, because Agent Lang, in the story, he has a specific martial art he knows. Sometimes you see him do poses from it. If we were to expand that, his martial arts could fit into a game somehow."

"Well, if you want to talk about weapons, Franziska von Karma has weapons: Her whip," Yamazaki said. "So it would probably be pretty easy to fit her and her whipping into a game."

He added, joking, "We could put in Phoenix or Edgeworth and they could yell 'Objection!' and a little bubble would come out of their mouth and it would be like —' Objection!' — like a projectile.

"Or they could throw evidence at the opposition and yell 'Take That!' as they throw their evidence." He was pretending to throw evidence at me while he said this.

I suggested that the series' judge could be a good fighting character. He'd use his gavel to hammer his opponents.

"It's awesome," Yamazaki laughed. He started shaking his hand up and down vigorously, as if demanding some order in the court. "It would be a really strong attack."

But that was all speculative brainstorming. As of this writing Capcom has put none of their legal heroes into the deep rosters of their many fighting games.

The Revue's shows range from the traditional (Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!) to anything but (stage versions of Oliver Stone's JFK, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby).

Takarazuka star Ranju Tomu is once again Phoenix Wright in Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Truth Resurrected, Again. This time, Tomu is sporting a new hairdo. There's also a new character, Luce Areia, a California native who comes to Phoenix for help.

"The decision to produce a sequel was based on the positive feedback from fans of the original," Capcom stated back in March. "The combination of Capcom's story about a passionate young attorney who must defend those who are wrongly accused with elements of love and romance that the Takarazuka Revue provides led to tickets selling out on the first day."

Takarazuka uses the game's English language character name, Phoenix Wright, instead of the character's original Japanese name, Ryuichi Naruhodo, for its musical versions.

The performances in Hyogo Prefecture have ended, but the Phoenix Wright musical will be running in Tokyo until September 15.

Now you can check out the musical with handy English subtitles!

Takarazuka has decided to go with the game's English language character name, Phoenix Wright, instead of the character's original Japanese name, Ryuichi Naruhodo. The ace attorney is being played by actress Ranju Tomu.

The Revue's musicals range from the traditional (Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!) to anything but (stage versions of Oliver Stone's JFK, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby).

The Best All-Female Japanese Musical of a Nintendo DS Game You'll See All Day [Topless Robot]

Niitsuma told NGamer magazine that Capcom wanted Phoenix Wright, and Franziska von Karma (for her whip), in the game, but ran into trouble with Wright's move set.

Because Phoenix Wright only has one move, 'Objection!', we struggled. We designed a move for him: when he says objection, the actual writing attacks the opponent. However, 'objection' in Japanese is 'igiari' - it's four characters, whereas 'objection' becomes ten [sic. It's nine, actually.] When we localize, the balance of the game gets destroyed because the move becomes bigger. There'd be no way of avoiding it! We had to remove him for these reason. In the future, it is one of our aims to get him in.

Phoenix Wright was Planned for Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, but was Scrapped Due to His Famous Catchphrase [Go Nintendo]

And once again, Takarazuka star Ranju Tomu will be taking the role of Phoenix Wright in Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Truth Resurrected, Again. This time, Tomu is sporting a new hairdo. There's also a new character, Luce Areia, a California native who comes to Phoenix for help.

"The decision to produce a sequel was based on the positive feedback from fans of the original," Capcom stated back in March. "The combination of Capcom's story about a passionate young attorney who must defend those who are wrongly accused with elements of love and romance that the Takarazuka Revue provides led to tickets selling out on the first day."

Takarazuka uses the game's English language character name, Phoenix Wright, instead of the character's original Japanese name, Ryuichi Naruhodo, for its musical versions.

The musical will be performed at Takarazuka Bow Hall in Hyogo and the Takarazuka Revue's Akasaka ACT Theatre in Tokyo. The Bow Hall performances will run by August 20 - August 31. The Tokyo performance will run from September 5 - September 15.

"The decision to produce a sequel was based on the positive feedback from fans of the original," Capcom stated. "The combination of Capcom's story about a passionate young attorney who must defend those who are wrongly accused with elements of love and romance that the Takarazuka Revue provides led to tickets selling out on the first day."

Cleverly dubbed Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2, the musical will be performed at Takarazuka Bow Hall in Hyogo and the Takarazuka Revue's Akasaka ACT Theatre in Tokyo. The Bow Hall performances will run by August 20 - August 31. The Tokyo performance will run from September 5 - September 15.

The ace attorney will once again be played by actress Ranju Tomu and will be written and directed by Kei Suzuki.

The Revue's musicals range from the traditional (Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!) to anything but (stage versions of Oliver Stone's JFK, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby).

Takarazuka has decided to go with the game's English language character name, Phoenix Wright, instead of the character's original Japanese name, Ryuichi Naruhodo. The ace attorney is being played by actress Ranju Tomu.

The Revue's musicals range from the traditional (Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!) to anything but (stage versions of Oliver Stone's JFK, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby).

Phoenix Wright takarazuka explains plot points through interpretive dance [Japanator]

The Takarazuka Revue's Cosmos troupe will bring its crossing-dressing musical sense to a stage version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, complete with romance and intrigue. The poster's tagline is typical Takarazuka gush:

"Can you believe the person you love...
Can you keep on believing..."

Phoenix Wright as a love story with only women? Yeah. Okay. Why not. The play's full title is Gyakuten Saiban: Resurrected Truth. Our verdict: THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT.

宝塚版『逆転裁判』のストーリーは恋愛ものになりそうだ [はちま起稿]

Plenty, plenty more pics at the link below.

TGS：ボークス「逆転裁判」キャラのアクションフィギュアのデキに異議なし!! [GA Graphic, via 1UP]

The nearly 300-page book is packed with 21 short stories by two dozen artists and writers and wraps up with authors' comments, translation notes and a sneak peek of volume 2.

The book is an enjoyable romp through the strange, flashy-dressing world of OBJECTIONS! and turnabouts. What it isn't is a book that recreates the fun of playing the game. The storylines certainly ring true and the art is a fun collection of different styles, but maybe they should have taken the Choose Your Own Adventure path.

If you're a fan of the game franchise then it's probably worth picking up, but others may find it a bit on the dry side.

＜宝塚歌劇＞人気ゲーム初の舞台化　「逆転裁判」　宙組の蘭寿とむさんが主演 [Yahoo! News] [Pic]