Just two days until the launch of the North American DSi, and we're already over it. Oh, great, we can get a black one or a blue one. Yay. Thanks a ton, Capcom and Nintendo, for choosing now to reveal the Japan-only Gyakuten Kenji Premium Edition box, containing not only the game, but also this white DSi with a Blue Badger, uh, badge on it. Every time we look at one of the US models, we're going to see a big Blue Badger-shaped void.

The package runs 23,940 yen ($240.20) and will be available in Japan on May 28. Don't expect to see this thing in North America, even if Capcom does localize the game. We never get these limited editions.

[Via Inside-Games]

Spencer from Siliconera found a US trademark from Capcom for something called Ace Attorney Investigations. Just for the simple fact that it means more Ace Attorney anything, that is wonderful news. But Spencer conjectures that the trademarked title is intended for Gyakuten Kenji, the Ace Attorney spinoff starring Miles Edgeworth.

It's a good guess -- the point-and-click style adventure game focuses on investigating crime scenes with Edgeworth and Detective Gumshoe over courtroom action. It's been over a year since we last had Ace Attorney content, so we'll TAKE THAT without OBJECTIONs when it releases, and we hope Capcom doesn't decide to HOLD IT back. But will we be able to pay way too much for it like Japanese fans?

The Phoenix Wright musical that ran in Japan last month was a success for the all-female Takarazuka Revue theatre troupe, with tickets selling out on opening day. If you thought an operatic, all-female performance of stories based on video game characters couldn't be a hit, TAKE THAT! In its press release about the show, Capcom described this presentation as part of its "One Property with Multiple Uses" strategy, in which Capcom properties are marketed for multiple media.

Because of the success of the courtroom crooning, Capcom and the Revue have announced plans for a sequel! The revue will perform Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2 (which, like the first one, will probably be an original story) at the Takarazuka Bow Hall from August 20 through August 31, and at the Akasaka ACT Theatre from September 5 through September 15.

We eagerly await the first pictures from the new show -- will we see a female Godot this time? A Female Dr. Hotti? A female Franziska von Karma -- oh, wait.

We're sure that a gigantic portion of our readership has a boundless love for two seemingly unrelated items: Nintendo DS adventure games, and the opera (staged musicals, that is, not the web browser). This large, imaginary group of people will likely flip their imaginary lids when they hear that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney will be making it's theatrical debut in Japan in the form of an Ace Attorney Opera.

The production is being performed by the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female troupe, raising some ponder-worthy questions about the girlification of the game's heavily-bearded Judge. According to the Revue's producer, the troupe is currently finishing up rehearsals and should be ready to harmonize their "Objections!" in front of a crowd by the end of February.

Ace Attorney spin-off Gyakuten Kenji has been dated for Japan. To add onto the spring release window we've heard already, we now have an actual date: May 28th. Just another reason to be jealous of Japan, we suppose.

We don't have to tell you how much we love the Ace Attorney games, so we're incredibly excited for this game. What about you all? Had enough of these games or are you as big a fan as we are?

After a long stretch of hearing nothing about Gyakuten Kenji, Capcom has issued a Japanese release window for the Miles Edgeworth-flavored Ace Attorney spin-off: a vague "Spring 2009." Unless an English language option is included in the game (it's happened before in this series), that's fairly useless to those who don't speak Japanese, but there's still time to amend that.

To coincide with this announcement, Capcom passed a bunch of new screens around, mainly depicting scenes from the opening case and new prosecutor Makoto Yuuki (which translates as "truth courage"). Anyone else find Edgeworth's bobble-headed physique a bit weird, by the way? No? Okay, probably just us.


[Via Siliconera]

A big part of Nintendo (and gaming) fandom seems to be linked to the appreciation -- nay, love -- of certain characters, and that's what we're exploring in this week's edition of Show and Tell. It's all about characters and the things we do in honor of them. Take the guided tour, or jump all willy-nilly into the gallery below.


Show and Tell is all about fan stuff, so long as it's Nintendo-related. We love to see your collections, your crafts, your frosted creations, your t-shirts and swag of all sorts.Just snap a few pictures, tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest. Not a handy type, but found something neat? Send us a link instead.

Nintendo has confirmed a super official European release date for Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, and it's soon: October 3rd. With any luck, the game will arrive before we're all sucked into the Swiss countryside (if there's anything that really gets our goat, it's our Trials and Tribulations play time being interrupted by the cessation of the universe as we know it).

This announcement comes after months of fretting over whether the third Phoenix Wright game would ever come out in Europe. At one point, we had serious reasons to doubt it would, but recent ratings and a confirmation from series producer Minae Matsukawa have since prevented us from egging Capcom Europe's windows. Even if the series is now out of order, we'll take October 3rd.

In last week's edition of Show and Tell, we saw a little Zelda cosplay, and you know what? We see Zelda cosplay all the time. Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy -- while these series make for some great cosplay opportunities, frankly, they get old. The DS has a library rife with interesting characters who also happen to be from great games, and we want to see people dressing up like them. To that end, we scoured the 'net to find a few cosplay pics inspired by some of the best handheld games we've ever played. Drop in here to take the guided tour, or jump right into the gallery below.

The Brainy Gamer has an interesting op/ed piece, in which the author states that youths of today aren't interested in the puzzles that come along with adventure games. While crotchety old veterans like ourselves (who were actually alive when games like Monkey Island flooded shelves) still enjoy the genre, younger gamers don't have the patience and just don't see the point.

We're inclined to agree a bit, as adventure gaming has become a lot more niche than it was in the past. We would argue, however, that the DS has been doing a good job of reviving such puzzlers, even for younger fans craving more action. With the touchscreen making point-and-click (or point-and-touch, if you will) much more accessible, not to mention the added bonus of portability, we think adventure games reach more than just a veteran gamer demographic. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on our part, but we wouldn't be surprised to see young teens popping in a copy of Phoenix Wright or Professor Layton.

What do you think, though? Are we just too oldschool and stubborn to let the genre lay to rest? Maybe those of you with younger siblings might have more insight when it comes to the patience of the younger set of gamers.

[Via DCEmu]

The "self-help" era is upon us, even finding its way into the video game industry as of late. Aside from the obvious fitness awareness game on Nintendo's other system (we mean Wii Fit, of course), there have been quite a few attempts to help gamers improve their lifestyles and habits. Take, for example, the upcoming My Weight Loss Coach and Ubisoft's "Easyway" title to help people quit smoking.

Our favorite approach so far, though, was when DS Fanboy reader Dan used Pokémon to quit smoking. If there's anything we've learned from Dan's inspiring story, it's that the best way to curb an addiction is to replace it with another. We then decided that we wanted to help more of our fine readers that are suffering from such torments day in and day out. Pokémon may cure smoking, but what about other plaguing ailments? We're happy to say that after months of testing on monkeys and small children, we've finally come up with a few perfect video game cures.

So, look no further than Dr. DS Fanboy, and check out our ultimate self-help guide to find the fixes for your addictions.

---

		Master that addiction!

We've got our hands on some kind of confirmation (after a scare) that Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations is actually coming to Europe. Despite bunging it up just a little bit, fans of the series still wanted to wait around for the conclusion of the original trilogy -- before enjoying the adventures of a new young hotshot attorney with everything to prove.

In an official Nintendo interview, producer Minae Matsukawa stated outright that the team is "in the middle of localizing it right now." It's playable, and they just need to make some final adjustments on the text. After that, it should be all systems go for Europe, in multiple languages.

The only problem? Still no release date, which is all kinds of suck. Non-English-speaking fans will have to put up with the wait just a little longer, while all others might be better off shopping around online. Then again, if you go through those channels, you've probably done it already. Good for you!



[Via Aussie-Nintendo]

There's a light at the end of the tunnel in the ongoing European Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations saga. The good news is that those of you in Europe might be getting the game after all. While we're sure many of you English speakers have already imported Phoenix's final foray into law, people without English proficiency (and folks who just hate importing) have been unfairly deprived of this gem. Not only that, but some gamers are waiting to buy Apollo Justice until they get to play the third title in the series.

The German version of the ESRB (known as the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle) has recently rated the game for a multi-language release, though, meaning that Capcom hasn't forgotten about your poor little Europeans. So, just hold tight -- you won't have to endure these trials and tribulations much longer, we hope.


[Via Siliconera]

Every once in a while, GameFly throws a storewide sale our way. Fortunately, now is one of those times -- until May 19th, at least -- so it's worth checking out the used games that the site has to offer. Whether you're looking for something fun to play during Game Night or just want to pick up a cartridge that you don't already own, there are a lot of noteworthy titles available.

Here are some that we found intriguing, either because they're awesome games or they're just too cheap to resist (or some combination thereof):

• LifeSigns: Surgical Unit -- $13.99
• Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles -- $14.99
• Jam Sessions -- $16.99
• Worms: Open Warfare -- $16.99
• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney -- $19.99
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin -- $23.99

Those are just the ones that stuck out to us, though. Let us know in the comments if you see any others worth a mention.

Capcom released Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney in Europe last week despite the fact that its predecessor, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations has yet to come out. We thought it was bad enough when the games were being released out of order, but now two pieces of tenuous evidence suggest that Phoenix Wright 3 may not see a European release at all.

The first (less convincing) sign is that Apollo Justice's (loud) Nintendo Europe webpage has the string "AceAttorney3" in its URL. That doesn't really mean that the third Ace Attorney game isn't happening, rather that Apollo Justice is the third Ace Attorney game to be released, and that whoever created the URL didn't save a space for the real AA3.

More troubling is the fact that there is a site for Trials and Tribulations, but there are no longer any links to it. Could this point to a cancellation? Court Records members speculate that T&T would get a higher PEGI content rating than the other Ace Attorney games, and because of that, Capcom wouldn't benefit from releasing it. In any case, both the U.S. and Japan have cheap and plentiful Trials and Tribulationses. Feel free to partake!

[Thanks, Maz!]