GDC
– Doesn’t really start until Wednesday
– Iwata will have a keynote
– Can only film first 5 mins of the keynote
Punch-Out
– Playable at GDC
– Looks pretty good
– Almost a remake – what they want
– Disco Kid is a new character
– 13 fighters
– Will have multiplayer
– Looks like there are different moves for old characters
– 13 fighers doesn’t seem like too much
– They will have impressions on the game
NPD numbers
– Came out last week
– Almost not newsworthy
– Wii #1, DS #2
– Wii Fit sales have outpaced Halo 3
– 10 million copies of Wii Fit sold
– House of the Dead: Overkill not doing too well
– Report on MadWorld’s sales at the end of March
– Daemon casually talked to VP of Marketing for SEGA of America, happy with early results – gives us some hope
Excitebots: Trick Racing
– Matt thought it was great
– Everything you love in Excite Truck, multiply it
– Control robot animal-like vehicles
– Stunt system like Excite Truck
– Some interactive elements are cool
– Over-the-top
– Terrain can change
– Looks like a little of advance in the engine
– Bozon beat the game – took 4 hours of steady racing – now is going back to get S ranks
– Still things that they can’t talk about yet
– Didn’t play multiplayer
– Bozon loves using the bat
– Controls feel tighter
– Not sure if it’ll be at GDC but Matt thinks it will be
– DSi, Excitebots, Punch-Out probably at GDC
Boom Blox Bash Party
– It’s fun
– Everything you hope it’d be out a sequel
– Zero-G, underwater stuff is cool
– Everything is seamless with online
– Can create own multiplayer levels
– Stages looked smooth and nice
Klonoa
– Not a lot of differences between Japanese + NA versions
– Visuals have seen dramatic improvement – looks really nice on Wii
– Still a lot of fun, even after 10 years
– Definitely worth your time if you’ve never played it
– Voice work is cheesy
Top secret third-party game
– Learn about it in April
– It’s totally badass
– Really good, high-quality
– It’ll surprise you how good it is
– You can hate Matt for giving a hint about a cool game
– Game is for the hardcore
Lux-Pain
– Steer clear of this game
– It’s a bad game
Rune Factory Frontier
– Bozon reviewed it
– Bozon likes it
– Adds dungeon crawling, weapon making
– Start out with $500
– Seems like the developers want to continue with the game
– Seen a lot of it before, but it’s a good start
PES 09
– Made some improvements
– Looked pretty awesome to Matt
Pokemon Platinum
– Craig retired from playing Pokemon RPGs
– Distortion World is new
– Better than Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
– Might not be for people who have played Diamond/Pearl
– Enhanced Internet experience
– Can save battles, post them online, people can download and watch battles
– Craig will come back from retirement if they turn Pokemon into an MMO
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
– Wii version is a port of the DS version
– Main changes from Rings of Fate – better online, better multiplayer, controls
– On Wii version, back to being complex – constantly pointing and changing stuff
– No reason to play it on Wii
– On Wii, can only have people come to your system
– Not a good game on Wii
– Wii version running around in the 6s, DS in the 8s
Suikoden Tierkreis
– It’s awesome
– Review up now
– Some readers didn’t like the ending
– Game is great even though the story isn’t great
Knights in the Knightmare
– Half real-time half tactical strategy game
– It’s crazy but awesome
– Light and dark to it
– Very arcadey
– Really interesting but impossible to describe
– Turn-based strategy games should be interested in this game
Reader Questions
– Only multi-cart play for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
– Need to see new games that will use WiiSpeak – Not sure if Tiger Woods is using it but probably not
– Nintendo released NPC! Metroid Prime in Japan before US – Nintendo of America has their own agenda, schedule
– Text size of dialogue in MadWorld is small but it isn’t a huge problem
– The Conduit is going to be a T game
– Craig not sure if DSi supports SDHC cards – doesn’t think so, could be supported in future updates – no reason to have it anyway
– EA Active, Don King Prize Fighter, probably Shaun White 2 will support the balance board
– Craig heard a rumor that Tony Hawk for Xbox 360/PS3 is really cool – Wouldn’t use balance board on Wii – would come with a peripheral
– Don’t know if WiiSpeak support will be in Tony Hawk
– Craig saw a DSi game last week, it’s pretty cool – won’t be at GDC – working out specifics of how it’ll be distributed
