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Since first whispered eerily in our ears, we've been eager to have our pants scared off by the Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture collaboration, Fatal Frame IV. Now it seems like our slacks will be staying firmly buttoned. While Nintendo published the Wii-exclusive in Japan, the company has no intention of making a repeat performance stateside with Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aime telling MTV, "We are not the publisher of that title in the Americas."

A Tecmo spokesperson put the lens cap on the scary sequel, telling IGN that Nintendo of America still holds the publishing rights, and its decision to not release the game means "the title will not be released in this territory."

Read Tecmo's official statement: "As the owner of the IP, Tecmo feels very unfortunate that the fans of the series in North America will not have a chance to play the game, but respects the final decision made by Nintendo of America." If you could take a picture of our faces right now you'd see our jaws on the floor at bearing witness to Nintendo's own unique brand of horror.

Source: Fatal Frame Never Coming to America?
Source: Reggie Talks Wii: Not Paying For Exclusives, Avoiding The Japan Wii Slump

We don't usually post about the various end-of-year lists that appear on other sites (we much prefer composing our own), but Edge's "ten most promising Wii titles of 2009" chart was so close to our own 2009 wishlist that we felt it warranted a nod.

Understandably, only super-confirmed 2009 releases are included, so this selection may change over time (if, say, a Fragile localization is announced, or No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle makes this year, or -- LOL -- we get a new Pilotwings), but so far we think this is spot-on. Check out which ten titles made the list after the break, and take note of the strong third-party showing!

All we've heard about the release of Fatal Frame IV in the US is that Nintendo apparently isn't publishing it. According to retailer Play.com and Official Nintendo Magazine (via reports on NeoGAF and also this sliver of a scan found on GoNintendo), the Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture survival horror title could be headed to Europe on February 6, under the name ... Fatal Frame IV, rather than the series' customary European Project Zero title.

Nintendo of Europe's apparent decision to publish this makes Reggie's snub seem just a bit more painful, though we believe that it would be good business for the newly-combined Tecmo/Koei to publish it in North America themselves.

A batch of videos leaked last week to inadvertently reveal a new horror game from Hudson, The Calling. Although Hudson has since requested we take them down, the footage reminded us just how effective games can be at creeping us out. And, since it's, uh, the month of Hallowe'en (look, we're trying to be topical here), we thought we'd open the floor to discussion about games that scare you.

I'll get started, then. Because I am an absolutely ridiculous, quivering coward, I couldn't even finish Shadow Man when playing it alone. Yes, I know it's not a typically scary game and I'm pathetic, but I recall being especially unnerved by the faded face of my character's dead kid brother flashing on screen and whispering at me. Honestly, I daren't even pick up a Silent Hill box now, and I won't be offering to review Fatal Frame IV.

What games have you ended up playing from behind the sofa, or even switched off?

Because it's not a Nintendo event if it isn't followed by "where's (Game X)" questions, Kombo cornered Reggie Fils-Aime at yesterday's conference and asked him about the status of North American versions of Disaster: Day of Crisis and Fatal Frame IV. While nobody expected concrete dates or even confirmation from Reggie's answers, he still managed to impart a bit of information.

Regarding Disaster: Nintendo of America is waiting to see how the game performs in Europe before making a decision. That means that we at least have to wait for a while after October 24 to hear anything.

As for Fatal Frame, he offered the following frustrating response: "you're going to have to contact the publisher for questions on that." So it might be coming out here -- just not from Nintendo, despite Nintendo of Japan publishing it. Who wants to start cold-calling publishers?*

*Note: Wii Fanboy does not encourage the cold-calling of publishers.


[Via GoNintendo]

An easter egg. A tribute. An in-joke.

Whatever you want to call them, the secret costumes that are available in Fatal Frame IV got us thinking again about the sly nods to other titles and secret touches that appear in so many games. You know the sort of thing we mean: the Chris Houlihan room in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The Mount Rushmore trick in Pilotwings 64. The pictures of Mario, Luigi, and Bowser that hang in Hyrule Castle. We love this stuff, partially because we're shameless nerds, but also because it serves as a kind of in-joke between the developer and more knowing players.

Tons of games contain these secrets, but what's your absolute favorite videogame easter egg? Try and keep it to Wii games (or at least Nintendo software), and avoid the obvious (such as Yoshi's appearance in Super Mario 64) if possible. The more obscure, the better!

Okay, let's try our best to forget about all the bad stuff that's recently been revealed about Fatal Frame IV, and concentrate on what the game does best: scaring people like us who can't resist watching/playing it absolutely witless. With this in mind, we'd like you to do something for us. Switch off all your lights and close all curtains/blinds, pull up a seat, grab the most expensive set of headphones available to you, and watch the video above. Now go past the break and watch the other two.

Done all that? Good. Now that's two of us who won't be able to sleep tonight. Yeah, you're welcome.

We've been riding the Fatal Frame IV hype train as enthusiastically as any other site in recent months. The Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture crossover has long looked beautiful, engrossing, and hiding-behind-the-sofa scary. Furthermore, it's being published by Nintendo, which more or less guarantees a good time, right?

Wrong.

The game released in Japan last Thursday, meaning early importers are just now getting their copies in, and already several new owners are complaining about a host of collision detection issues, unselectable menu options, a ghost database that doesn't record all ghosts, and -- far more depressingly -- a game-freezing bug. Nintendo is acknowledging the glitches, and has released a statement featuring advice on how to best cope with them. We'll just have to hope some of this mess is cleared up when (and if) the game comes to the west.

Tecmo took advantage of their new association with Nintendo in one of the funniest ways possible: Nintendo character outfits in Fatal Frame IV. Should you want to punch a hole straight through the creepy atmosphere in Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, these two costumes will do the trick nicely.

At the same time, while they may seem flagrantly inappropriate, Tecmo has cleverly paid tribute to Nintendo's horror-ish games from the past. The Luigi costume is obviously a shoutout to Luigi's Mansion, and the Zero Suit Samus, uh, suit (after the break) is a reference to the costume's introduction, in a sneaking-based level found in Metroid: Zero Mission.

We've heard some quiet rumblings that Fatal Frame IV might be better if it had a little more action (the whole point of the series notwithstanding). While it's certainly not the voice of the majority, we can't help but wonder if there is a perception that some of the self-proclaimed hardest-core gamers won't be happy with anything short of a frag fest, which means that developers may be looking at either FPS games and other titles built around violence for the core contingent, casual and party games for everyone else, and the titles that are more deeply nuanced are being shelved. That could explain a few things, such as the disappearance of Disaster: Day of Crisis, and the lack of love for a few ports/sequels that would be absolutely appropriate for Wii gamers.

We've been keeping a secret. You see, we're absolutely scared to death of Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. That's not going to stop us from picking the game up and playing the crap out of it though. We just felt we needed to share that with you all.

The above video for the game does a good job of depicting exactly what scares us. It's got spooky ghosts, a dark and creepy environment and a girl we hope survives long enough to get her film developed.

For all of you keeping track of how many months the Wii has crushed the PS3, maybe it's time you got yourself a new notebook. That thing must be full. But, in all seriousness, Japan saw the Wii selling quite a bit more when compared to the PS3 last month.

How much more? Well, the Wii sold 171,851 units in the four weeks leading up to July 27th (so, really, it could've sold a lot more last month), while the PS3 only sold 54,823 units. And, as one might expect, both totally crushed the Xbox 360, which only sold 14,439 units.

We expect that the NPD data in the next few months will reflect something similar, as all of us in North America are still waiting on Wario Land: Shake It! and Mario Super Sluggers. Both of those, as well as Fatal Frame IV, have already released over there, but they pretty much don't count here as Wario and Fatal Frame released only yesterday. Sluggers released way back in June.

While Americans are still busy complaining about Nintendo's E3 presentation, Japan got a double dose of amazing Wii games right in the middle of the summer. And Rhythm Tengoku Gold on the DS, as if the lineup wasn't mindblowing enough.

Wired's Chris Kohler, who can apparently afford very fast shipping, has already put a few hours into the whole lineup, and wrote up detailed impressions of both Wario Land: Shake It! and Fatal Frame IV. Both are, basically, in line with their respective series, feeling like they're supposed to and providing the same kinds of challenges, with the addition of sensible motion controls that work well. For example, the pointer in Fatal Frame IV controls the flashlight. As if to prove that it's still Fatal Frame, Kohler says that it isn't scary at first and that the characters move too slowly. Yep, that's Fatal Frame.




Source - Wario Land: Shake It! impressions
Source - Fatal Frame IV impressions

Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (or Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen) is out this week in Japan, which means it's an excellent time for a batch of new screens. And while these seem a little downgraded from some of what we've seen before, they've still got one major thing going for them: the creepiness factor. We're starting to look like the people in the commercials, and we're not even playing the game.

Missing Fatal Frame IV at E3? Some news about the Nintendo-published, Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture-developed horror sequel would have been welcome in an E3 characterized by screaming about a lack of "core" games. Fatal Frame, with its long history of making you want to keep the lights on while playing, would certainly have stood out. Late is better than never, however, especially when there's a lengthy Creator's Voice segment up on the Japanese Wii site featuring Fatal Frame IV's producer and director, Keisuke Kikuchi and Makoto Shibata.

They've got a lot of interesting things to say about the series, and particularly this installment. It sounds like the Wii control scheme allowed them to realize a lot of things they've always wanted to do with the games, without completely revolutionizing the title. Instead, they've taken a few very solid steps forward, while keeping the staples that have been scaring the pants off gamers for years.

If you click through on the video above to watch it at YouTube, you can read subtitles from the interview (provided by NeoGAF poster Stormbringer). The subtitles unfortunately don't show up here, but the video is still fantastic. Or, to read a recap of the whole thing, check out the version at IGN.

While you're in the video-watching mood, you might also want to check out these Fatal Frame IV commercials, which are hilarious(ly accurate) and worth a few minutes of you're time. They're the videos with the nightvision lighting, which you may have seen in the middle of a longer video here, but if you didn't ... go watch them.