Capcom has released an English trailer for the newest entry in the Ace Attorney franchise, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. Dual Destinies will be released exclusively through the Nintendo eShop as a digital download title with a tentative release window of "Autumn 2013". While fans have been waiting on the edge of their seats, desperate for any and all details regarding a western release, this news comes as a bit of a mixed bag. Finally having a release window is fantastic but it's a bit disappointing that we won't be getting a physical release, especially since Japan is getting several different special editions (one of which includes a figure of Phoenix).
Still, I suppose we should all be grateful that it's being translated and released here in the first place. When fans reacted negatively to the news of a download-only release on the Capcom-Unity forums, Capcom's Christian Svensson had this to say:
Sorry guys, but a physical release is not in the cards.
Historically it’s been tough to attract long term retail support for Ace Attorney titles. With the release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies we wanted as many people as possible to be able to enjoy the game for as long as possible. With that in mind we have opted for a digital only release via the Nintendo 3DS eShop.
I understand that this decision may upset fans who wanted to have a physical version of the title to add to their collection but we believe this direction is the best to take.
We will be confirming details on the price point in the not-so-distant future which I hope will also shed more light on the strategy at play here.
Hearing Svensson's statement kind of confirms that we shouldn't be holding our breaths on an English release of Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations 2. Let's make sure to support AA5 when it releases and show Capcom that games like these definitely have a market in the west!
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is set 8 years after Phoenix's last appearance in court. With a naming convention similar to Apollo, the new associate attorney is named Athena Cykes. With her "Mood Matrix", Athena has the ability to detect the emotional state a witness is in during their testimonies. The most interesting tidbit of information revealed, however, is that the new raven-haired prosecutor is named Gaspen Payne and is the younger brother of Winston Payne. As some of you may remember, Winston Payne is the bumbling prosecutor used in the tutorial level in every Ace Attorney game and is used to teach players the basics of gameplay.
Despite not getting a physical release (or a chance to buy a sweet Phoenix figure), I still can't wait to get my hands on Dual Destinies.
