No online rescues for Shiren (Wii) in the U.S.

Atlus sent out a notice today to confirm our suspicions that the U.S. localization for Shiren the Wanderer (Wii) will not include the Nintendo WiFi Connection features that gamers enjoyed in Japan, likely due to the publisher’s inexperience with the system’s online infrastructure:

“Despite our best efforts, the North American version of Shiren will not include the Rescue, Versus, or Item Transfer online features. However, the downloadable dungeon content from the Japanese version will be included on the disc.

Without these subfeatures, Shiren is still a fantastic RPG, one we hope all gamers can experience and enjoy. Still, we understand that the absence of these features may influence some fans’ decision to purchase the game, which is why we are bringing this to their attention as soon as possible.”

So, if you had hopes of battling other wandering Shirens, trading pots, checking leaderboard scores, and rescuing fallen friends to earn rewards, you’ll need to put those aside. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a miracle that we’re getting an English version of the roguelike at all.

To placate series fans, Atlus posted a wealth of info about the forthcoming game in an official “blog”:

Read More →

tags / mystery dungeon / chunsoft / atlus / shiren the wanderer / online / ec

N- Online Multiplayer, Level Sharing

One of N+’s biggest draws on the DS and PSP, other than it being an excellent portable version of Metanet’s Flash platformer, was its online features: multiplayer matches and the ability to upload, download, and rate levels created with the game’s rich map editor.

Metanet, however, says that due to last January’s closure of Silverbirch, the studio that handled the handheld N+ ports, the DS and PSP community servers are now offline:

“We received word from our stalwart contact at [publisher] Atari that the valiant efforts to rescue the data servers for N+ DS and PSP [from Silverbirch] and reinstate them on-site at Atari have failed, and since the project has unfortunately been something of a financial failure, the community servers are not a priority and will now be abandoned.”

It’s depressing that such a well-received game lost a chunk of what made it so great barely a year after its release. Those who waited for N+ to hit bargain bins before picking it up will never have a chance to try out the WiFi multiplayer and map-sharing.

I suppose this will happen to almost every game with online support eventually — Nintendo included; look at how the company discontinued user-generated content uploads for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Think how much this practice will hurt even more for titles relying heavily on their online components (e.g. Flipnote Studio, WarioWare D.I.Y., etc).

Buy: N+ without its online features

See also: For those who often get the two confused

tags / metanet / atari / silverbirch / n plus / online / ec