Oh where oh where did Lost in the Blue go? It's not on Nintendo's release list anymore. This was one of the big games I was looking forward to getting.

I checked with Konami's PR department, and they have good news:

"It is indeed set for release this year, although I don't know why NOA didn't include it on their list. We are expecting a late September launch."

So have no fear! Hopefully we'll have more info on this game very soon.

Hey PGC,

Kudos on the mailbag! I would elborate but I have very serious questions to

ask. I am a huge Megaten fan (Megami Tensei), and I've noticed you have

under your "releases" section "Shin Megami Tensei", listed for December

31st, 2005 for the DS. Now I more then anyone would love to see this game

come out for the DS but then I started questioning how likely it was.

There's not alot of information listed on your site about it, and the

original Shin Megami Tensei was released almost 10 years ago.

I have a couple of questions,

1. Has any information been released about this game? I'd assume it'd have

some graphical updates and possibly some extras for people who've never

played a Megaten game before.

2. Is this game "really" coming out? It IS a Nintendo platform and as far as

I remember, in the original Shin Megami Tensei you could slay God. I realize

this is a very touchy subject for many in North America. I've been trying to

look up a press release or even a forum entry about this game on Atlus but I

can't seem to find one. The fact that this title is becoming a North

American release is not only awsome but surprising.

It just seems unlikely, although I think this would be a very powerful RPG

for the DS, it would probably end up causing lots of problems in the long

run for Nintendo do to religious interference and stuff. I just really would

like to see this game out and have a couple of the finer details explained

to me.

Thank you,

-Xero_Freshness: DTC

I asked Atlus's PR department about this game, and they didn't know much more than I did. But here's the response anyway:

"SMT for the DS was a title that was announced by Atlus Japan when the DS was

first announced along with Snowboard Kids and Trauma Center. However, there

has been no news other than that."

In the last bag a reader had a comment about the Play-Yan and the GBA Movie

Player on the DS and sleep mode. Some clarification is in order.

The DS plays GBA games, but it doesn't automatically enter sleep mode when a

GBA game is running like DS games do. A GBA game will continue to run

normally while the DS is closed. Since the GBAMP and Play-Yan are GBA

games, they won't automatically go to sleep when the DS is closed, either.

Also, closing the SP isn't what causes the PY to sleep, it's hitting the L

and R buttons at the same time (or holding Start in the Micro version). You

need to do this on the DS as well to make it enter sleep mode.

That's besides the point, anyway. The Play-Yan was designed to play music

while it's in sleep mode. That's why the headphone jack is built into the

cartridge. You *want* the Play-Yan to go to sleep while listening to music

so you can save battery power. If my battery light turns red while I'm

playing DS games at work, I just switch to my Play-Yan, turn off the

backlight and put it in sleep mode and listen to music. The light stays

green for a pretty long time.

However, like I said in my Play-Yan review, the DS doesn't make a good

portable MP3 player because it's like carrying a brick in your pocket. I'm

dying to try the PY on the GB Micro when it finally comes out over here, not

just for the super-portable MP3 player but the super-portable video player

too.

Steven "WindyMan" Rodriguez

Words of wisdom from the WindyMan.

What's going PGC? Kinda funny that sites like gamespot

and IGN charge for gaming info now (or at least the

last time I visted them) but you guys are the most

complete gaming info soruce as far as Nintendo is

concerend, nad you do it for free. I must say on

behalf of us Nintendo fans, we appreciate it. But

enough of that, and onto the point of the letter.

In the past few years, Nintendo has been somewhat (at

least in my opinion) kinda of ga-ga over the tilt

sensory in games. What do you think about them

implementing it in the Rev. controller? Would it put

the rev controller over the desired price mark or is

it cheap enough to impliment (i mean it's in GBA

cartidges for crying out loud)? I could see it being

turned off and being not utilized for games that don't

need it, but then turning it on for games that do. I

mean you could tilt foward to walk foward and

stuff.I'm trying to think of how this would look and

would seem kinda goofy to me, but then again, people

dance in public on dance pads and speak into

mircophones to talk to games, so what do I know. I

dunno, I'm just throwing out crazy ideas out there

because like most of you, I don't know what to expect

from Nintendo anymore and I figure any thought

expressed is better then nothing.

Finally, what was the result of all those emails sent

to Nintendo begging and pleading for hi-def output in

the Rev.? I sent one to NOA and NOJ (at least i think,

kinda hard seeing as it was in japanese :0-P) Did

Nintendo kind of turn thier head, or did they just

ignore it? Thanks.

-Lnk64

I think tilt technology is a very strong possibility for the Revolution controller. It really depends on whether Nintendo thinks the feature has more creative potential than has been seen up until now. If Nintendo thinks tilt technology can be used in a wide array of games and provides a new enough experience to be worth the cost, they may go with it. If Nintendo thinks it's still too gimmicky or expensive, they may decide to only use it in portable games or make it an optional accessory for the Revolution. After terrible U.S. sales of Wario Ware: Twisted, I'm not sure what they think about tilt right now.

No response from Nintendo so far on the HD issue, but they haven't said anything about Revolution since E3, when the campaign began. We don't know how intimately the high definition output is tied with the design of ATI's graphics chip for the Revolution, so it's hard to say how late the decision could be reversed. Or it may have already been reversed and we just don't know it yet. Or there may be no hope whatsoever because Nintendo plans to use a holographic projector instead of a television to play Revolution games. Who knows.

I was considering importing the Sonic Gems collection, because I really enjoy Streets of Rage. I was wondering if a non-Japanese-speaking person such as myself be able to understand the menus and whatnot in this game?

thanks!

Well, this is hardly an RPG we're talking about. The menus in Sonic Gems Collection are basically limited to choosing which game you want to play. Even through blind trial and error, it can't be that hard to figure out.

Hey guys,

I was reading an article online about Nintendo, and how the Revolution could be the last console that Nintendo makes. I was wondering what you guys thought about this and if this could really happen to Nintendo. Thanks

-Chris

Could be, but it's very unlikely, even if Revolution bombs.

Thanks for answering my question

Do you think that Capcom will consider bringing back the Power Stone Series? The games on the Dreamcast were great and I was wondering whether you have heard any word about at least a port to the Gamecube since that would seem to be the system that will make better use of its colorful and cartoony graphics.

Er, it's a bit late for a GameCube port, don't you think? A DS version is more likely. Capcom certainly love repacking old games, so it's more likely than not that Power Stone will return one day in some form.

Hey PGC!

America will actually see the finger stylus as a special pre-order bonus for Phoenix Wright. However, for the time being, it's only off of Capcom's website.

http://www.capcom.com/xpml/game.xpml?gameid=800038

Surprise surprise...:-P

Thanks!

I am surprised! Thanks for the tip!

Dear Bag,

Great site! I've been reading your work since

spaceworld 2001. I was just wondering if the claims on

gamcubecafe.com were correct about Nintendo officially

announcing that they are going to show the controller

and mario 128 at space world. I normally only believe

information given by you guys and the fine people at

ign.com. However this site carries itself as a

reliable source for information. I have searched all

over the Internet and found nothing. Could you guys

could contact nintendo on this matter or just tell me

if this site is flat out lying. Thanks!!

I also have a quick opinion to say about the new

controller. I know that it wont have a touch screen

for obvious rea$on$ but I was wondering if it were

still possible to have a programmable touch interface

that the developers can make the controller have as

many or little buttons as they wish. I know a lot of

complaints about this theory surround the fact that

you would not get the satisfying "click" of the button

for instant feedback. however i have used an alpine

touch screen for a car stereo system and it gave your

finger a slight zap when you pressed a button on the

screen, and a different zap when you pressed something

that wasn't a button and i think that can solve the

feedback problem.

I'm sorry for the scattered brainless and

horrible grammar of this letter.

sincerely,

Steven Kennedy

There has been no official word of Nintendo announcing anything at TGS. However, Mr. Iwata is giving a keynote speech, so I'm sure he'll drop at least a small morsel of Revolution information. Whether it will be the big unveiling is another question.

I like the idea of a reprogrammable controller, but if there's no display (touch screen), how would you know the function of what you're pressing? Removable joysticks and buttons would work better in that regard, but there are other problems with that idea. Zapping players' fingers is almost as wacky as that old rumor of the controller getting extremely hot or cold during gameplay.

What's up Mailbag,

I found this newsbit over at trusty Gamespot news.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/26/news_6132040.html

"TOKYO--Nintendo today said it would acquire 2.2

million shares of its own stock. The figure represents

1.55 percent of the 130.08 million shares currently

outstanding. The company will purchase the shares next

week and will pay 11,650 yen ($106) a share, the same

as today's closing price."

At the end, it says this happened as a reaction of

Square-Enix making a bid for Taito, Nintendo wants to

spurn hostile takeovers.

My question is: Who would be interested in buying

Nintendo? Who has that capacity? And why? These may

sound like n00bish questions, but I'm a loss on this

one.

Keep it rockin' Mailbag!

Djunknown

Who would want to buy Nintendo? Hmmm. Imagine the value of the company if you got rid of the R&D section and just kept the development studios to make games for a third-party publisher or even to be an exclusive developer for one of the other console manufacturers. I don't actually think such a strategy would work well, since you would put the highly profitable Game Boy business at risk, and many of the talented game developers would probably quit in protest, thus reducing the quality of the remaining studios. But I'm sure you can see that some of the larger game and multimedia companies might consider Nintendo to be an enticing acquisition.

I don't know how plausible this idea is but do you think Nintendo might

ever try to make a RPG with a bunch of it's big named characters such as

Mario,Samus,Link,Dk,Fox and Kirby. I for one would love to play a Rpg that

unites the big guns of Nintendo.. What do you personally think about the

game idea and the possibility of it ever happening? Thanx for all the

updates!

Seems far-fetched, but I would have said the same thing about a Nintendo all-star fighting game several years ago, and now Smash Bros. is one of the company's top franchises.

Hey guys,

I wouldn't say i'm a hardcore fan of DBZ but I really liked

DBZ:Budokai 3. Do you think Atari will bring this over to the

Gamecube? I don't really feel like shelling out 150+ bucks on a PS2 and

probably the only game I would play on it.

Atari has brought over some of their PS2 games, including Budokai 1 and 2, to GameCube much later...but with the next game about to come out on PS2 and no GameCube announcement even for Budokai 3, it seems the days of DBZ on GameCube may be over.

So I was doing a little pondering the other day, and I realized some very shocking things. In the past 10 years, we've only had two 3D Mario platformers, and only ONE (not counting the one for the DS coming out) 2D Mario platformer in the past FIFTEEN years. At first, I thought it was because they were a little more expensive to develop and require a lot more work (at least the 3D ones), but then I listed what sequels Nintendo has done for the GC:

-4 Mario Party games (one per year!)

-3 Metroid Prime games, 1 pinball game, and another 2D sidescroller in the works for the DS (and this is from a franchise that hasn't appeared since the SNES days)

-3 Mario RPGS (Mario and Luigi 1/2 and Paper Mario 2)

-At least 7 Mario games that involve Mario doing some sort of sport, or some gimmick (Mario Pinball)

-4 Warioware games

-2 Starfoxes

-3 Donkey Kongas

-Hell, even 4 Zeldas (3 for the GC, and 1 for the GBA)

Mario platformers are well known million sellers, so why so few of them?

You're even forgetting the original Zelda: Four Swords on GBA, which was included with A Link to the Past. But anyway, point taken. The reason Mario platformers are so few is that Nintendo takes them very seriously and tries to make each one a completely new experience. They want to make sure that every Mario platformer has a unique identity and adds something brand new to the series. I personally think it's an honorable goal, but it also seems pretty silly when the Mario characters are gladly whored out to dozens of other games in between each real platformer.

By the way, check out Mario vs. Donkey Kong for GBA. I don't know if you'd consider it a "real" Mario platformer since it wasn't developed at EAD by Miyamoto, Tezuka, etc., but it's a fun game and definitely has a lot of platforms and classic Mario jumps.

Okay, that's all for tonight, but I'll be back very soon with more mailbag. Really, I don't plan for this to turn into a weekly feature...I want it to be closer to daily, and I'm going to try to do a better job of it this week.