Nintendo Voice Chat podcast summary – Episode 15

Facebreaker
– “Party version of Fracebreaker,” but title is misleading (not really minigames)
– Graphics look great – art style is impressive, moves nicely
– Gameplay has a lot of promise also, but Matt wasn’t able to play it long
– Shot from the sideview, still a 3D boxing game
– Very fast, arcadey

Skate It
– Still not a lot of gameplay available in the version Matt + Daemon played
– Will be a learning curve, but it’ll be a “cool” way to play a skateboarding game – Daemon
– Programmed intuitively
– Grinding all about timing
– Visually not too impressive
– Framerate needs to be up and running – lag won’t be good for the game

DS Version of Skate It
– Developed by Exient
– Looks very, very good for the DS
– Draw all tricks on the touch screen, drawings are similar, so you might do a trick by mistake
– Looks promising

Order Up!
– Latest version more polished, somewhat enjoyable
– Kind of like Cooking Mama/Diner Dash, more control of what you’re doing
– Won’t blow anyone away, but Matt would rather play it than Cooking Mama

Cocoto Kart Racing
– Looks decent, rip-off of Mario Kart
– Unnecessary game because of Mario Kart
– One control option works well though if you use it, there isn’t much of a challenge

SPOGS Racing
– Worst WiiWare game, ugliest game on the Wii
– No license, but sort of basing it on Pogs game
– Makes Virtua Racing from 1991 look great
– Just a tire, not even a car or anything
– Computer AI is awful (rubber-banding)

– Two new Harvest Moon games announced (DS and Wii)
– New stuff on Little King’s Story

Moon
– Single-player shooter
– Good, but not as “wowed” because of Dementium
– Saw it very early on, but so far not too much exploration
– Puzzles related around a little droid
– Not a lot to shoot when enemies showed up – won’t ever be overwhelmed
– Will be very difficult to play on DS Fat because of the darkness
– Matt interested in seeing more

Guitar Hero On Tour
– Received mixed reviews
– Selling very well – 300K in first week
– Amazing for third-party DS game AND with its price
– Best selling DS game of all time for Activision
– Craig was teasing about feature in the game that hasn’t been unlocked yet, will know about it in around a week (Craig already knows, we should know during E3)

Away Shuffle Dungeon
– Announced for US
– Did Blue Dragon on 360
– Surprised Majesco is publishing it

Reader Questions
– Mario Tennis will come to the Wii eventually, according to Bozon
– Ultimate Band will be decent (or High School Musical) for younger audiences interested in music games like Guitar Hero
– Excite Truck not the only game to offer custom soundtrack (Endless Ocean, too but you couldn’t really create a soundtrack)
– Funny emails about people asking to pimp their rides, someone who thinks the IGN Nintendo Team partially developed Mario Kart Wii
– Look forward to (hopefully) Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Monster Hunter, Fatal Frame, any surprises at E3 – Mega Man 9 supposed to be at E3
– E3 fantasy surprise: Bozon – Miyamoto coming out botomless, Matt – Retro’s serious next big game
– Matt doesn’t think we’ll see more Metroid at E3 unless it’s a remake of Wii controls for MP1 + MP2
– The IGN Nintendo team says they’re not ready for E3 – It’s pre-E3 for them right now
– Matt & Bozon are psyched for Fatal Frame, but one of Matt’s friends said it had a weird framerate – should be fairly hyped
– Matt will sell his Wii Fit to Craig
– Matt will have a little fun at the E3 media briefing (it’s the highlight for everyone basically)
– Wario Land for Wii footage (thoughts) – looks alright, it’s a 2D platformer
– Kid Icarus or Man Icarus? Man Icarus (Icarus is supposed to be older anyway)
– IGN Nintendo team hyped for The Dark Knight
– Know 5-6 at least games for Wii for sure, expect more games though (gimmicky stuff and traditional stuff)
– Pikmin 3 Party Babyz joke
– Space Station Tycoon still canceled
– New peripheral at E3? Bozon thinks they’re bound to, need voice chat and storage solution (not sure if these two will be peripherals)
– Overall E3 rating hype: Watch out for crazy factor, Nintendo should have some good stuff this year
– Other franchises that will get the Mega Man 9 deal: Bozon hopes for Castlevania, not too many franchises that would work
– IGN stream keynotes up to Fran
– Matt thought Elebits 2 DS would be for the Wii, but Konami still thinking about a Wii version
– There’ll be a lot of RE5 gameplay
– Daemon doesn’t like Civilization Revolution for DS, nothing like Advance Wars
– We’ll never stop getting VC crap
– More third-party games other than The Conduit need to sell well for them to step up on Wii
– There will be third-party E3 surprises, but nothing too big
– Joke about NGamer’s blurb on the unexpected take on a next gen-favorite (Bionic Commando card game for Wii joke)
– Not too high chances for Crystal Bearers at E3
– Chrono Trigger port/remake looks just like a SNES game on the DS, won’t be coming to the VC
– Nothing too much that has blown Matt away graphically that will be at E3 (don’t know anything first-party though)
– Rygor was delayed again for the Wii, is still supposed to come out
– If Kid Icarus shows up, that’s a big piece of fan service. Same with Animal Crossing and maybe Pikmin 3
– Star Wars Force Unleashed: 360 version excites the IGN Nintendo Team the most
– Star Fox Wii at E3: Matt hopes not, Craig wants to see the series continue
– Soul Bubbles review up, Craig enjoyed it – can only get it at Toys R Us
– Chances of OLED for next handheld: Not high
– New handheld this generation? Bozon’s theory: Will be linked with Wii, a bit of internal memory, GB, GBC, backwards compatible with DS, touch and rumble – announcement maybe this year, could come out in 2009