The Nintendo Download: Nintendo’s Got Your Final Fantasy Right Here [Downloadables]

Final Fantasy II spearheads this week’s Nintendo Download, which explores the mysterious worlds of fantasy, horror, and learning Spanish. It might not be Final Fantasy XIII, but Final Fantasy II, or Final Fantasy IV in Japan, makes up for the lack of newness with sheer quality. Lightning, Snow, and Hope have nothing on Cecil, Rydia, and Edward, though the latter might be a bit too spoony for some tastes. For more fantasy, check out Max & the Magic Marker, Press Play’s WiiWare game about a boy drawing his way through his imagination, or Elemental Masters, a fantasy-based trading card game for DSiWare from lbxgames. If horror is more to your liking, Chillingo’s Dracula: Undead Awakening appears on WiiWare and DSiWare this week, with early teen horror fans getting another dose of Too Ghoul for School in EA’s Flips: The Bubonic Builders for the DSi. Check out the gallery for the official descriptions, and remember, if you hate galleries, you’ll love clicking here . Max & the Magic Marker Publisher: Press Play Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief Price: 1,000 Wii Points Description: One day Max gets a mysterious marker in the mail. Not knowing better, the first thing he draws is a wacky, purple monster. As soon as the marker leaves the paper, the monster comes to life and jumps off the paper and into another drawing. With the monster on the loose and messing with Max’s drawings, Max has no choice but to go after it. Armed with the magic marker, you must help Max track the monster through 15 inventive and challenging levels. You’ll need more than good will and quick reflexes to tackle the challenges ahead. Draw freely inside the game to help Max defeat enemies, overcome obstacles and solve puzzles. As you draw stairs, seesaws, balloons, surfboards and whatever else you can think of, your creations will interact with the physical environment, making every session unique. Dracula – Undead Awakening Publisher: Chillingo Players: 1 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Fantasy Violence Price: 1,000 Wii Points Description: Are you a vampire hunter? Are you ready to battle legions of undead foes including zombies, ghouls and werewolves? You’ll need to wield an arsenal of powerful weaponry while using your skill and intelligence. Uncover devastating firepower – machine guns, buzz-saws, flamethrowers and more – and choose upgrades for them as well as unique new perks for your character as your enemies increase in number and ferocity. You’re a tough customer, but beware – Lord Dracula is always on the hunt, and you are his prey. Enemies in Dracula have one thing in common: Undead, lycanthrope or mutant, they’re all after your flesh. FINAL FANTASY II Original platform: Super NES Publisher: Square Enix Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes Price: 800 Wii Points Description: Follow the dark knight Cecil – Lord Captain of Baron’s elite force, the Red Wings – as he embarks on a fateful journey riddled with trials, betrayals, friendship, loss and self-discovery. Plagued with uncertainty over his monarch’s motives, can Cecil turn away from the path of darkness and destruction? Elemental Masters Publisher: lbxgames Players: 1-2 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Animated Blood, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points Description: In this fantasy card game, stand your ground in a quest filled with magic and adventure, and experience a thrilling combination of strategy and role-playing. Choose your character, build up your army in your card deck and fight the mystical creatures of Elendior. With thoughtful use of your cards, you’ll obtain the monsters of your enemy and support your attacks by using arcane spells and the rules of dark magic. Dive into this captivating story in the quest mode or duel with your friends in multiplayer mode. More than 100 creatures in numerous maps are waiting for you. 4 TRAVELLERS – Play Spanish Publisher: AGENIUS Interactive Players: 1-4 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points Description: Whether played alone or together with friends, 4 TRAVELLERS can teach you new words in Spanish. The game is suitable for both young and old, and no previous knowledge is necessary. The more you play, the more your Spanish vocabulary increases. You can also play and learn with the game’s unique learning mode. The game is perfect to bring on your trip, with more than 240 carefully selected words included specifically for this occasion. Dracula – Undead Awakening Publisher: Chillingo Players: 1 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Fantasy Violence Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points Description: Are you a vampire hunter? Are you ready to battle legions of undead foes including zombies, ghouls and werewolves? You’ll need to wield an arsenal of powerful weaponry while using your skill and intelligence. Uncover devastating firepower – machine guns, buzz-saws, flamethrowers and more – and choose upgrades for them as well as unique new perks for your character as your enemies increase in number and ferocity. You’re a tough customer, but beware – Lord Dracula is always on the hunt, and you are his prey. Enemies in Dracula have one thing in common: Undead, lycanthrope or mutant, they’re all after your flesh. [image via NintendoLife ] Flips: The Bubonic Builders Publisher: Electronic Arts Players: 1 ESRB Rating: Not Rated Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points Description: Flips Interactive Books are the fun new way for kids to read. The builders are in to replace the girls’ toilet block, but they’re more interested in cups of tea and instant noodle snacks than doing any work. James suspects foul play, but Alexander and Lenny are doubtful until a strange accident hammers the truth home. How will the three friends stop St. Sebastian’s from being reduced to rubble?

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The Nintendo Download: Nintendo’s Got Your Final Fantasy Right Here [Downloadables]

NHL 2K Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Resting [2K Sports]

Take-Two Interactive CEO Ben Feder sheds some light on NHL 2K’s absence from the company’s PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 line-up, explaining that the series is on hiatus this year in order to come back stronger with NHL 2K12. When NHL 2K11 didn’t show up on a list of Take-Two’s 2010 releases , some took that as a potential cancellation for the series, which has long trailed behind EA Sports’ yearly NHL offering. An ad for bands to perform on the NHL 2K11 soundtrack gave fans of the franchise some hope that this year’s installment was still in the works, and in a way it is, but only for the Nintendo Wii. According to Feder, the Wii version of the series has gained momentum among Canadians, so Nintendo’s platform will be getting a release this year. As for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it’s back to the drawing board, until next year. “We’re doing that because we’re so committed to competing that the team needs a breather,” explained Feder during the Take-Two first quarter financial results conference call. ” The following year we will come back a lot stronger. We have an intention to win and we’re going to maximize the opportunity.” It looks like EA Sports is winning this year, at least as far as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are concerned, but next year…

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NHL 2K Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Resting [2K Sports]

Tiger Woods Confirmed for Console Release as EA Opens Online Beta [Golf]

At risk of stealing its own thunder, EA Sports confirmed today that its next console golf simulation will feature beleaguered superstar Tiger Woods in the title; EA’s announcement came right as it opened the beta for its online golf game. Woods is currently on a leave from professional golf as he manages a very public, very embarrassing marital infidelity scandal , but neither his indefinite timetable for returning to the PGA Tour nor his tarnished image were enough to end his 11-year run on the title of EA’s golf offering. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will release in June for Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3, Wii, and also on the iPhone. The game golf fans may play now , however, is Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online , which will be EA Sports’ first big push into subscription-based online play for PC or Mac OS. The beta is free and open to the public for as long as it runs, which Mike Taramykin, the game’s executive producer, said should last for at least “a couple months.” The game recently completed four closed betas over an eight-month span. Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online restores the simulation to the PC, which hadn’t seen a new title since 2008. The game’s sales performance on the PC had slipped noticeably beginning around 2003, Taramykin said. “Rather than come out with another DVD version of the game, we decided to go back to the drawing board,” he said, “and come up with a new way of delivering authentic golf to millions of connected gamers.” The online version is entirely browser-based. In it, players will encounter swing-meter gameplay familiar to console versions of the game. Seven real-life courses are available immediately. But the biggest differences will be in the game’s career mode, which will play out in quasi-MMO fashion. Players will earn experience and money to rank up their golfer’s skills and swing attributes. EA Sports also built a large social dynamic into the game, allowing users to be aware of other golfers playing the same course, chat with them and see their shot placements, or simply turn it all off and concentrate solely on their games. Two other features also encourage interacting with other golfers and spreading word about the game. “Sponsoring” another player allows a player to bet, more or less, that an online colleague will make that day’s cut line (an average score determined by the community at that difficulty level). If he does, the sponsoring player collects an experience bonus. But if the sponsored player doesn’t play, the sponsor misses out, and so the incentive to remind friends to play is apparent. The other feature is akin to an online “Arnie’s Army.” Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online offers connectivity with Facebook, and through that players may recruit friends, whether they play or not, to join their galleries. A multiplier bonus to experience is awarded commensurate with the size of a player’s gallery. Taramykin was also careful to point out that the game saves a player’s progress shot-by-shot, allowing him to interrupt a round repeatedly (a common example: someone’s boss coming around the corner at work) and play it over the course of a week as well as finishing 18 holes of golf in a single sitting. EA Sports has yet to finalize a pricing structure when the game enters its full release, Taramykin said. But it will be a multi-tiered schedule to accommodate how often one wishes to play. The game will also feature microtransactions to allow for the instant purchase of branded pro shop items and/or attribute upgrades instantly. But Taramykin said all such items will also be unlockable for free by acquiring experience through gameplay. Perhaps indicating where pricing tiers might be divided, data culled from the closed beta showed participants playing an average of 13 rounds of golf a month. The closed betas, which at their height saw 70,000 participants, also showed a much older user base for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online than the game’s peers elsewhere in PC or sports gaming. Taramykin said 74 percent were 34 years or older, and 20 percent were over 55. Further, 90 percent also play golf in real life. While EA Sports is trying to figure out if its installation base are golfers who like games, or vice versa, the figures do show it breaking ground in a robust new market. Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online [site]

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Tiger Woods Confirmed for Console Release as EA Opens Online Beta [Golf]

A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

Yoshitaka Amano , known for his Final Fantasy character and logo designs, did not do character designs for FFXII — but did design the game’s now iconic title. But if he did draw the characters of FFXIII? The characters in Final Fantasy XIII were designed by Tetsuya Nomura, but Amano offers his take on the cast of FFXIII in this drawing.

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A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

Yoshitaka Amano , known for his Final Fantasy character and logo designs, did not do character designs for FFXII — but did design the game’s now iconic title. But if he did draw the characters of FFXIII? The characters in Final Fantasy XIII were designed by Tetsuya Nomura, but Amano offers his take on the cast of FFXIII in this drawing.

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A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

Yoshitaka Amano , known for his Final Fantasy character and logo designs, did not do character designs for FFXII — but did design the game’s now iconic title. But if he did draw the characters of FFXIII? The characters in Final Fantasy XIII were designed by Tetsuya Nomura, but Amano offers his take on the cast of FFXIII in this drawing.

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A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

Yoshitaka Amano , known for his Final Fantasy character and logo designs, did not do character designs for FFXII — but did design the game’s now iconic title. But if he did draw the characters of FFXIII? The characters in Final Fantasy XIII were designed by Tetsuya Nomura, but Amano offers his take on the cast of FFXIII in this drawing.

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A Great Final Fantasy Artist Draws Final Fantasy XIII [Yoshitaka Amano]

The Mortal Kombat That Should Have Been [Midway]

Ex-Midway artist Vincent Proce went back to the drawing board for a pitched, but ultimately rejected visual reboot of the developer’s venerable Mortal Kombat franchise, posting the results of that back-to-basics design plan on his personal blog. Proce, who contributed to Midway’s final fighting game ( Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe ) before being snapped up by Warner Bros, wrote that the re-imagining of the MK franchise proposed “mixing modern muti-player and dismemberment game design with the original fighting mechanic.” The artist’s take on four Mortal Kombat mainstays—Raiden, Kano, Scorpion and Sonya Blade—are dramatic, gritty and, for the most part, a welcome change. Proce describes his Scorpion as “a wraith wearing the yellow blood of the demon” that resurrected him, his Kano as “half Japanese half US military bad ass.” His Sonya, which will likely draw the most criticism, was redesigned as “the daughter of a Texas Ranger who’s sex appeal weakens her opponents while her Special Forces training kicks their asses.” Finally, his Raiden pitch portrays “a god [whose] feet rarely touch the ground.” We’re not sure what direction the Mortal Kombat team is taking the series at its new home, but I’m personally hoping it’s more along these lines—a darker, more dramatic, less comic book-like treatment with a pared down cast—than what we got with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. I enjoyed that game as much as the next guy, but I like my MK with a little less Wonder Woman. Here are the never before seen Mortal Kombat characters… [Vincent Proce Art Blog via GameSetWatch / SRK Forums ]

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The Mortal Kombat That Should Have Been [Midway]

Is This A First Look At The New Mistwalker Game? [Mistwalker]

Mistwalker, the developers behind Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey , are hard at work on a new title. In a recent blog post , Mistwalker head Hironobu Sakaguchi wrote, “I am working hard on a new project. Now we just started going into the final phase of the production. No matter what, I will make it really good….” A recently added page on the Mistwalker official site shows an artist by the name of Watanabe hard at work at his desk. What’s that on the screen? A grassy field and perhaps a character? It’s hard to say because the drawing is incomplete. mistwalker [Official Site via Siliconera ]

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Is This A First Look At The New Mistwalker Game? [Mistwalker]