Many big announcements from Nintendo today as they formally announced the Wii Remote Plus. Not the only thing, Nintendo also introduced a few new games...

Goods news for anybody still hoping to play Fatal Frame IV. Since Nintendo refused to publish the game in the West, a group of dedicated fans took it upon themselves to localize the game, creating a legal English language patch that translates the game while you play it.

Well, the translation patch has finally been released!
All you need is a copy of the Japanese Fatal Frame IV, an SD card to transfer the patch, and your Nintendo Wii (any region).
As the patch runs directly from the SD c...

Fatal Frame IV won't be released outside Japan. So that's the end of that, right?
Not according to a group of dedicated fans at cameraslens.com. They are working on a legal translation patch that will bring the game to Wiis around the world. The project seeks to translate Fatal Frame IV as you're playing it via an SD card. You won't even need a Japanese Wii to play it.

Here is a trailer showing the translation patch in action...



The project is almost complete and is set to be finis...

While Fatal Frame IV won't be released outside Japan, or picked up by another publisher, that hasn't stopped Tecmo from giving it another go. At this year's E3, they revealed that the Fatal Frame series will be continuing, and that they will announce the next FF game "when the time is right".

Let's hope the next installment in the series makes it to Western territories this time around.

"

quote Nintendo

Unfortunately I don't have a comment for you at this point, but if one comes down the pipeline, I'll be sure to send it your way.

So, where does this leave us? From the sound of the statement and amount of time it took to get an answer, I would say Nintendo of America isn't quite sure what to make of the situation right now. Did they get caught in lie? Or did Tecmo point the blame finger at Nintendo of America a little too quickly? Let's hope we get more information about Fatal..."

This looks like the final nail in the coffin. A few days ago Nintendo of America announced that Fatal Frame IV will not be coming to America.
Today, Nintendo of Europe have also revealed that they have no plans on releasing the game in PAL regions either.

After a long drawn out silence to the fans Nintendo has decided not to publish Fatal Frame IV, the Japan confined Wii survival horror game which was released midway through last year for North America. Tecmo has shown disappointment at this move, but it appears the word is final. Sorry Gothic Girl.

In the March editions of European magazine Joystiq and French Official Nintendo Magazine, it was revealed that Fatal Frame IV would be released next month in Europe. It looks like that was yet another mistake. There are still no plans for a release outside America.

In a recent interview with multipleyer, Reggie once again stated that Nintendo of America have no plans on publishing Fatal Frame IV and that he doesn't know who the actual publisher is.

*sigh*

Publisher XSEED is still answering emails that gamers send to them and have once again revealed that "everything points to that game (Fatal Frame IV) eventually coming to North America".

Unfortunately there is no official confirmation of an American release date yet, but with the game being released in Europe early next year, a US release can't be far off.


Discuss in the Fatal Frame IV forum

The latest issue of ONM confirms that Fatal Frame IV will hitting Europe this February, and it will be published by Nintendo.

A North American release hasn't been confirmed just yet, but with the game releasing in Europe and recent comments from XSEED, it seems likely.

Discuss in the Fatal Frame forum

The status of Fatal Frame IV's release has been up in the air for quite some time now. Neither Tecmo or Nintendo have revealed whether the game will be released in the states, with both parties seemingly confused over who is in charge of the game's American release.

The guys at cameraslens.com are starting a campaign entitled "Wii Would Like to Play Fatal Frame IV!" to get fans and interested Wii-owners to contact Tecmo and Nintendo and ask for Fatal Frame IV to be released in the US and ...

In a recent interview with Sean O'Neill of Kombo, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, answered questions regarding the status of Nintendo's upcoming horror title Fatal Frame IV. Is it going to get an American release date? Reggie responded with: "you're going to have to contact the publisher for questions on that."

Which is odd, since Tecmo (the developers of the title) seem to think Nintendo are the publishers.

To add to the confusion, Nintendo of Japan published the titl...

Dolphinking of the IGN forums recently sent an email to Nintendo of America asking about Fatal Frame IV's release date and, unfortunately for fans, Nintendo's response isn't good news.
It appears Nintendo have no plans on an American release date at present, and rather confusingly mention that they might have plans on developing/publishing the game in future (despite the game being a third-party title that has already been developed by Tecmo).

While Nintendo's reply was most likely an a...

Nintendo has recently released a report saying that the Tecmo and Grasshopper Manufacture developed Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse has three bugs, one of which will cause the game to crash. However, none of these bugs will affect save data.

The game-crashing bug can be described as follows:

quote duckroll, GAF

During "三 ノ 蝕 忘 日" (it's a day/chapter in the game I believe) after you have obtained the 暗 号 の よ う な メ モ (coded memo), if you open the door to the doctor's room on th...

"From the official Fatal Frame IV website:

Ten years later, two of the girls who were "spirited away" died, one after another, killed by a horrible figure with a hidden face, who screamed and wailed...

The two girls other than Ruka who remained alive, Misaki and Madoka, headed towards Rougetsu Island in order to unravel the mystery of their friends’ deaths.
And so Ruka followed the two of them to cross over to the island to find out what lay behind her lost memories.

Ruka Minazuki
A..."

The first-day sales for the most recently-released games in Japan are in, and you may be surprised with the results...

The PSP Action-RPG Phantasy Star Portable and the DS's Rhythm Heaven Gold had the highest first-day sales, selling well over 150k copies respectively.

Soul Calibur IV sold 56k on the PS3 and 35k on the 360.

Surprisingly, Fatal Frame IV sold 21k with a 60% sell-through on just the first day. Retailers were cautious as to whether the survival-horror would do well with ...

Good news for anyone looking out for Soul Calibur IV and Fatal Frame IV. They are both currently the most pre-ordered console games on Amazon.co.jp this week.

It comes as no surprise that Soul Calibur IV would sell well, as the series has a solid fanbase and also recieved quite a lot of hype and press.

But it's a surprising feat for Fatal Frame IV to reach so many sales, considering the low publicity the game recieved and the sudden shift to a different console. It seemed doomed to fai...

In this multinational version of Games Releasing This Week, we'll take a look at the games coming out in the three major regions this week, featuring the US, Europe, and Japan. So, how does the last week of July fare for these areas?

US Notable Games This Week:

MLB Power Pros 2008 (WII, PS2) [Neoseeker Profile (Wii) | Profile (PS2) | Forum Listing | Official Site | Wikipedia]

Sam & Max Season One (WII) [Neoseeker Profile | Forums | Official Site]

Soul Calibur IV (360, PS3) [Neoseeker P...

A few days ago it was revealed that Nintendo of America have no idea what Fatal Frame IV is, despite the game being released on Wii in Japan soon.
So perhaps the game won't be published by Nintendo in America? It seems Tecmo feels otherwise... Tecmo told fans to direct all questions regarding FFIV (and it's absence from E3) to Nintendo of America. That might be a little hard though, if NoA reps don't know what the game even is!

Fatal Frame IV's Japanese release is just two weeks away, so one would asume that the game will be released in America sometimes at the end of the year.
Well it looks like that might not be the case...
During E3, GoNintendo.com asked Nintendo of America about Fatal Frame IV ... and they hadn't even heard of the game!
Yes, despite Nintendo being the publishers of the game (and despite a trailer being released at E3), not one person in Nintendo's E3 meeting room had a clue what series GoNi...

In a recent Gamegrep article, Next-Gen previewed Fatal Frame IV detailing most of what we know about the game so far. But a small tidbit of new information regarding the gameplay is what stood out for fans of the series.
Apparently Fatal Frame IV will have similar controls and over-the-shoulder camera angles as Resident Evil 4, (which is a considerable change from the previous FF games which all had a fixed-camera and more traditional survival-horror controls). Is this the first sign of Sud...

"Less than 19 days left! Are you excited?

Few things first: IGN posted information about the FFIV website update.
(Seriously, all of their coverage of FFIV has renewed my faith in them!)

Finally, some famitsu tidbits:
- Choushiro has been demoted since the incident 10 years ago. He's formally called a Keiji (IGN is translating this as a "prosecutor") and then called a Tantei ("detective").
Andmebrick tells me that both terms can be translated as 'detective', however a keiji can arre..."

Andmebrick from Cameraslens has translated the new character updates on the official Fatal Frame IV website. Tecmo sure know how to deliver when it comes to creating cute characters in their games. This bunch of Fatal Frame characters look to be the most interesting and varied yet.

(Though let's hope more males get revealed in future too!)

[Discuss in the Fatal Frame IV forum]

"Fatal Frame IV isn’t getting the buzz it deserves. The title will soon be releasing in Japan, and we are sure to learn more about it come E3 time. Why aren’t more people talking about this game? The series has been one of the most consistently scary games out there, and the 4th entry is going to have the help/influence of Suda51. If that doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, I don’t know what will.


Fatal Frame IV forum"

For those eager beavers who can't wait to get their hands on Fatal Frame IV, Play-Asia.com is now accepting pre-orders for the Japanese copy of the game.
(Remember: The Japanese Version is only compatible with Japanese Wii consoles)

For those who want the American version, let's hope a release date is announced soon ...


Fatal Frame IV forum

Fatal Frame fans can start worrying now. Here are Japan's current estimated shipping numbers of a few upcoming games...
While Wario Land Shake, Blue Dragon Plus and Sigma Harmonics are all expected to ship well over 80,000 copies on their release, Fatal Frame IV is only shipping a measly 20,000 copies to Japanese retailers. That seems oddly low for any game's release, especially a game being published by Nintendo.

Andmebrick from cameraslens.com recently translated the official Fatal Frame IV website which was revealed a few days ago. The translations reveal the "Story" and an interesting page called "Experiencing the horror" which briefly explains how the game will work ...

IGN recently revealed that Fatal Frame IV will be appearing at E3 which was great news for Fatal Frame fans. WE're all hoping for a trailer to finally be released.

It looks like IGN can't wait for the game to be released either, as they revealed in a recent podcast. Expect alot of FFIV news coming from the site soon. As IGN said, "Holy crap! (FFIV) will be awesome!"

Fatal Frame IV the series that shifted from the Playstation to Nintendo, is nearing release (at least in Japan), and that obviously means that we get tons of new stuff relating to the game. Today the new stuff is in the form of the official website and some screenshots which have been attached below. Enjoy them...

Remember more screenshots available at the source.

It's about time this game started getting some real attention! In a recent podcast, IGN announced that the Wii's new survival-horror Fatal Frame IV would be appearing at E3.

The IGN editors are also highly excited about the release of the game, saying that it is one of their most anticipated third-party titles and that the Fatal Frame series is "really bad ass".

Here's hoping the trailer finally gets released at E3.

cameraslens.com have translated the recent Fatal Frame IV pamphlet, revealing some new tidbits regarding the game.
One of the more interesting changes include the addition of an abandoned hospital as an area that players can explore. Previously, FF games only had a haunted mansion or small village as the main location. But Fatal Frame IV has an entire island you can wander around on, and it seemd as though players may be able to explore the various buildings on the island.
It sounds a lit...

"Three sisters and a camera on a haunted island? Sounds about right.

Plot: The game is set in the mysterious Rougetsu Island, where five young girls of the Minazuki family were kidnapped in the past. Two of the girls later died, while the remaining three - Ruka, Misaki, and Madoka - have decided to visit the island in an attempt to remember what happened during that incident. The magazine reveals that players will take on the role of Ruka and venture around the mansion in the island, which..."

It looks like Fatal Frame IV finally has a release date. The game is set for release in Japan on July 31st. Here's hoping it isn't too late for Nintendo to generate any excitement or hype for FFIV.

Nintendo has also revealed some new games, including Wario Land Shake for Wii, Densetsu no Starfi and Rhythm Tengoku Gold for DS. They are all set for a July release.

That's right, folks. The Nintendo Wii is getting an exclusive survival-horror game for Wii: Fatal Frame IV.

The recently released April-issue of Nintendo Power Magazine has revealed a few details and screens on the new game.
With Nintendo publishing FFIV, Tecmo's frightening Fatal Frame series will get some much-needed publicity. And in return, Tecmo will be giving Nintendo a much-needed 'mature' game to add to their collection.

"Grasshopper Manufacturer will start work on the latest instalment of Fatal Frame after it has finished up on No More Heroes, recently announced for a US release via Ubisoft.

The fact that the developer has plumped to continue working with the Nintendo Wii is promising, particularly if it means the console to rely on the software house’s continued support. Even more so since Fatal Frame 3’s producer Keisuke Kikuchi said, “I already have some ideas that I’d like to do if I had more developm..."