Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 1 Comment

The announcement of Wii MotionPlus was somewhat surprising, especially considering that the peripheral was unveiled a day before E3. Although, without a doubt, Wii MotionPlus is sure to add precision to future games. According to EA, the current standalone Wii controller is considerably imprecise, which unfortunately, can impact how well the control is on certain games.

“The Wii MotionPlus is going to be good. If I had to pick one thing we suffered from, it was imprecise control on the Wii. That meant certain genres were never going to perform as well on the Wii. There are a couple of franchises in our booth. Go look at Dead Space and imagine playing that game with a wand and a Nunchuk. If they improve the precision, then you could have a good experience. There is no doubt that Wii Speak will appeal to a certain group of people. I thought what was nice is that they created an opportunity for third parties to be more successful.” – Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

Most block buster hits are traditionally expected to make a transition from the big screen to a gamer’s television, so it was a shock when there were no announcements made on The Dark Knight video game. This may soon be changing though, as Gary Oldman, speaking with G4, finally gave the first “announcement” that the an official game will be released at about the time of the movie release on DVD/Blu-ray. No further information was shared, but it is expected that there will be a Wii version of the game.

Source

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 8 Comments

About a month ago, it was noticed that the Wii Shop Channel had a slight change to its interface. On the first screen of the channel, the “Settings” button was modified to “Settings and Features,” which seemed to point at some sort of update in the future. It’s worth noting that when this was discovered, there were no additions to the shop channel. However, one report is coming in that the Wii Shop Channel has finally seen a conspicuous alteration, but only on Japanese Wii consoles. When one clicks the “Settings and Features” button, an object comparable to a medallion shows up. Following this, a 16 digit code is required. At the time of writing, no one seems to be quite sure of the “feature’s,” functions however. The input of both American and Japanese Wii console numbers were attempted, with no results. According to the same source, the Japanese Wii Shop manuals have updated information about the feature, but due to the lack of Japanese language knowledge, the information has yet to be deciphered. More news as it breaks.

Mini-update: Some have begun to speculate that the new feature on the Shop Channel will allow users to obtain free Wii points, possibly related to WiiWare/VC titles. Basically, if one were to complete a game, you’d receive a code to enter that could reward someone with Wii points. Whether this is actually true remains to be seen, but would make sense and would be an interesting update.

2nd mini-update: I’ve made the screenshot a bit clearer, so if anyone can read Japanese, try taking a crack at the text!

3rd mini-update:  handheldplayer, in our comments section, suggests that the text reads as “Bonus Redeem Software.” Can anyone else confirm this? And does anyone have a guess as to what this could mean? More pictures here and here, courtesy of WiiRevolution1.

4th update: Mystery solved – Also according to handheldplayer, it seems that certain retail games will provide numbers for the Wii Shop Channel. The Wii will be able to obtain the “bonus software,” through the Wii Shop Channel. I’m assuming that this could end up being free content for some games, but the specifics of this newest addition haven’t been exactly pinpointed. Still, I’m hoping that such a feature would eventually be considered for North America, but its anyone’s guess at the moment!

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

Maracas, downloadable songs, and Samba himself…This game has it all, doesn’t it?

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 0 comments

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

As has been known for over a week now, Nintendo’s E3 showing was one of the lowlights throughout the years for the hardcore gamer. Overall, there were a few teases and confirmations here and there, but no trailers or screenshots of games most have come to love – Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. However, Satoru Iwata has “stepped up to the plate,” so to speak. Iwata apologized to the core gamer for those who were expecting more and went on to explain that making certain titles require a lot of time to make perfect. “If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it’s a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means. We are sorry about [the E3] media briefings, specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about ‘Super Mario’ or ‘Legend of Zelda.’ However, the fact of the matter is the so-called ‘big titles’ need a long, long development period. … We really didn’t think this year’s E3 media briefing was the time to do so.”

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

“There’s one thing I do want to reinforce. I could almost put myself into the ‘geeks and otaku’ camp. I grew up playing all those great Nintendo games. And so for me I look at product like ‘Animal Crossing’ and I get tremendously excited. I look at ‘Wario’ and get tremendously excited. I look at ‘Sluggers’ coming out and get tremendously excited. So this mentality that we have somehow lost our soul and [are not] speaking to our fanbase, there is nothing further from the truth. And if you talk to Mr. Miyamoto, you really understand that we really have the interest of our core fanbase right at the top of the list. The recognition is — and I think this is really the point — we’re not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 months. We’re going to show you something that’ll make your jaw drop and make it available shortly thereafter.” – Reggie Fils-Aime

Source

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

Anyone can make a fairly strong argument that Capcom has been a great third-party supporter on the Wii. Wii owners have received classic titles with a fresh coat of paint with an additional mix of original content. Capcom did not announce anything of great importance to the hardcore gamer at E3, but that’s not to say that no more games will be coming from the company soon. Capcom’s Christian Svensson provided a somewhat enigmatic post on Capcom’s community forums, which seems to hint at continued support. “…But again, at any one time, you only know about half the games we have in development. That’s all I’ll say on this.” Also noteworthy is a small bit of news on the number of zombies that will be encountered in Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop. According to Mr. Svensson, “The screenshots released give you a decent idea [about the number of enemies]. Suffice to say, it’s not the number we could do on 360, but that’s to be expected. It’ll be sufficient to keep you well busy though.”

Posted on 16 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

– Same development team as Sonic and the Secret Rings
– A sorceress (Merlina) summons Sonic, monarch gets corrupted, turns into the Black Knight
– Similar storybook setup as Sonic and the Secret Rings
– Slight Wii controller movement = slash to kill low-level grunts, use control stick to move Sonic
– Thrust, parry, midjump cut techniques
– Usually no slowing down because of the way combat is set up
– Sonic’s sword can talk, named Calibur
– Aiding citizens = points for knighthood, killing citizens = hurt reputation
– Can buy items from residents – EX: gauntlets, tomes, swords – each item has its own advantages
– Close to 200 items, can combine items
– Wi-Fi support: Trade items with friends
– Jen Senoue handling songs, “injecting familiar Sonic themes with a Celtic flavor.”
– Alternative/branching paths: Look for townspeople, treasure chests: Reminiscent of Genesis games
– Side-scrolling camera at points for 2D gameplay
– Skills system, missions from original game returns, don’t want it to interfere with the games’ pacing
– Sonic characters will take on the roles of Arthurian people
– Other characters playable, but are optional to play as
– Knuckles (dual swords) and Shadow are two confirmed characters
– Meter/gauge can give Sonic powers – the meter rises as Sonic kills enemies, takes a purple elemental
– When meter reaches its potential, Sonic can execute a strong combo attack, sear through numerous foes quickly”
– Developers wishing to fix problems with past titles

Thanks to Lepli once again for the NP news.