As a hilarious April Fools' Day prank, AkibaBlog posted a notice that Square Enix's DS role-playing game, Dragon Quest IX, had gone on sale early, with stores hosting surprise midnight launches. The blog posted pictures from other launch events in Tokyo's Akihabara district, passing them off as images of 2,000 eager gamers waiting to pick up their copies of the game. "The Starry Sky is protected, but the release date isn't," according to a fake marketing slogan.If you happen to be in Akihabara, don't rush over to Sofmap! It's a joke. It seems especially cruel to pick on the people waiting for Dragon Quest IX, who are already grief-stricken over the game's delay from March 28 to July 11, and many of whom are probably crying right now, collapsed on the sidewalk outside of AsoBit Game City.[Via Kotaku]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Speaking to VentureBeat, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime attempted to dismiss the proliferation of used game sales as not only something that Nintendo isn't worried about, but as something that consumers shouldn't think about, citing the long life of some of Nintendo's games."We don't believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer," Fils-Aime said. "We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels. A game like Personal Trainer: Cooking has a long life. We believe used games aren't in the consumer's best interest."While it may be true that designing a game that can be replayed enjoyably for years is a good defense against used games, many consumers will still fast-track their way through games to trade them in as quickly as possible for something totally new ... just because. Reggie follows up this argument with an odd point -- that other forms of media don't have significant used markets."Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don't see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in video games."That strikes us as just wrong. There have been used book shops worldwide for as long as there have been books, and there's even (at least one) chain of stores devoted entirely to it. And stores like Hastings and CD Warehouse trade heavily in used DVDs and CDs.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is coming out. Seriously, it is. If the trailer above looks familiar it's because you've already seen it. It was released in Japan before being removed by Square Enix's evil grasp, only to reemerge on The Crystal Bearers' new global gateway. Square promises new videos are on the way but gamers will have to work to get them.In a diabolical move, Square Enix has decided to unlock two additional trailers for Crystal Bearers at an undisclosed time, presumably when an unknown amount of visitors check the site. Put simply, more visits equal more movies. Shenanigans! Smart shenanigans ... but shenanigans nonetheless. Everyone start clicking!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Pearl Jam's album, Ten, is ready to get grungy this week on Rock Band for Wii. A few other tracks tag along to get the Wii music store up to spec with other consoles.Pearl Jam's Ten (200 Wii points apiece)

• "Once"
• "Even Flow"
• "Why Go"
• "Black"
• "Jeremy"
• "Oceans"
• "Porch"
• "Garden"
• "Deep"
• "Release"
• "Master/Slave"

Individual songs (200 Wii points apiece):

• "Through Being Cool" - Devo
• "We Care A Lot" - Faith No More
• "I Don't Care" - Fall Out Boy

The tracks will be available today, March 31, and videos for all of this week's tracks are after the break.

Continue reading Rock Band Wiikly: Pearl Jam, Devo, Faith No More, Fall Out Boy

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