Whatever happened to...? Volume 2

Now this is a long-overdue revival. I haven't even touched this subject since August!

It's not uncommon for a game to get announced followed by a huge gap without any information. It happens all the time, in fact. But usually that radio silence is broken with a flood of new information. Not always, though. Some games go on for months and months with little to no information. Here are the two current offenders I'm most interested in hearing more about.



Shockwaves were sent across the gaming world when word got out that Dragon Quest IX was headed to the DS. Everyone was expecting a Wii or PS3 release! After people talked about this in disbelief for a while, they began to notice how little we know about the game. Announced in December 2006, all we've gotten so far is a bit of footage and some screens.

Some good news came in early February 2008 when Square-Enix announced that the game is "almost complete". Good news, right? Well, it was also said at the same time that they're not going to rush it out the door, so who knows how soon we'll actually get to play it? Also, hearing of progress is nice and all, but I like to see proof as well. I can't even remember the last time a new screenshot or trailer was released

I'm not doubting that this game is still coming. After all, it's a Dragon Quest game! I don't think Square-Enix would dare to cancel a new entry in one of Japan's favourite franchises.



Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers has been in a state of radio silence almost as long as it's insane title. The last update was almost a year ago, and even that was an incredibly short teaser trailer. There's even less information on this game than there is on Dragon Quest IX, even though this game was announced a full seven months earlier!

Again, I highly doubt this has been canceled for the exact same reasons. Excluding the NES port of Final Fantasy III, I don't think a Final Fantasy game has ever been axed during development, so we have little reason to worry. I just wonder if the final product will look anything like what we've seen so far... A few months can have a huge impact on what a game will actually end up looking like.

I'm not saying you should rush, Square-Enix, but could we at least see this hit before the end of time? That is, if you think you can finish it by then.

And what of those games from the last edition of "Whatever happened to...?"? Here's the quick low-down:

DS Air: Still no word on a North American release. I think it's a safe bet that we'll never see this game outside of Japan. A pity, because it really looked quite fun.

Disaster: Day of Crisis: I don't think we've seen even one screenshot of this game since the last "Whatever happened to...?". Nintendo has said it's still in development, though, so we can still hope...

Wii Music: Again, very little has happened with Wii Music since I last wrote about it. I think a few screenshots were released about four months ago, but I'm not sure. It's apparently still on track for this year, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

It really sucks to see so many games seemingly fall into the background with nary a word. I'm sure most of these titles will eventually get their time to shine, though, so not all is lost. Feel free to talk about this article in the comments section, or in this forum thread.

The Duck Has Spoken.