Today is the last day of February, meaning you have less than 24 hours left to purchase the current downloadable rewards over at Club Nintendo with your coins. Members can choose from Art Academy: First Semester (150 coins) and Mario Party 2 (150 coins). We’ll find out about the new downloadable rewards by this time tomorrow.

New Nintendo patent: Wii environment sensor unit

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

A new Nintendo patent, filed in the U.S. last August and published last week, details an idea the company had for an “environment sensor unit”. Numerous sensors would be included in the unit, such as an atmospheric pressure sensor, temperature sensor, and humidity sensor. The unit as a whole could impact gameplay in certain ways.

It isn’t known if this is something that Nintendo still plans on pursuing in the future. Perhaps they’re considering implementing some of this technology in the Wii U, or maybe it’s nothing more than an idea.

In any case, below is a roundup of what the patent tells us:

– Sensor data could be used to predict the weather, estimate the time of year, and detect which room in which the device is located
– Can alter in-game content
– Dedicated microcomputer and memory also included
– Microcomputer/memory allow the unit to run the sensors at periodic intervals; it remains in sleep mode otherwise to collect and transfer data
– Sensor reading history can be plotted on-screen
– Information can be shared with others
– Graphs comparing different locations can be shown
– Atmospheric pressure data can be sent to a server
– It can then be corrected for elevation based on the location of the system and can be used to make a large-scale map of atmospheric pressure (isobar chart)
– Temperature/humidity sensors can detect patterns over time; infer whether the room is occupied
– Information from this can be sent to other users to tell them if a person is present
– Information can also be used to infer the time of year over a longer period of time
– In-game environments can be changed to match the real-life season/weather
– Possible applications include sensor readings with various historical data to generate indices such as beer index, influenza epidemic index, comfort/discomfort index, laundry index
– The system can make recommendations including what clothes should be worn on a certain day
– Unit can be equipped with a radio/infrared communication system to control other devices, such as an air condition
– The Wii Sensor Bar’s infrared lights could be used for this communication
– Smell sensor, dust sensor, human sensor, camera, illuminance sensor, and an ultraviolet sensor also mentioned
– Sunlight information can be inferred

Source 1, Source 2

Mario Party 9 screenshots

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii | 0 comments

The first 20 minutes of PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii | 0 comments

Mario Party 9 “Story and Bosses” trailer

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii | 0 comments

Another look at the Pandora’s Tower Limited Edition

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

Nintendo rep: Fan passion not the only factor in localizing Wii RPGs

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments

It can’t be denied that Operation Rainfall played a huge part in the North American localization of Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story. The group managed to stir up interest among a considerable amount of hardcore Wii owners, and led organized efforts in garnering Nintendo’s attention.

However, a Nintendo representative says that Operation Rainfall wasn’t the only factor that motivated the company to bring the much-requested titles to North America:

“Our fans are very passionate, and have demonstrated an interest in this game. We certainly appreciate this passion, but it alone did not impact our decision to launch the game or the timeframe in which it would launch.”

Ryan Tyner, one of Operation Rainfall’s leaders, believes Nintendo might be downplaying their involvement:

“The fact that they revealed [Xenoblade Chronicles] on Facebook is telling, considering that is where the campaign asked for the game. There are other little ‘signs’ such as [NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime] stating in the The Last Story reveal that many people had been ‘clamoring’ for the game. Privately, we had inside sources that confirmed that Nintendo was taking notice of us and that it was indeed because of our efforts that these games were being released…”

Tyner also discussed how Nintendo of Europe’s translation most likely made Nintendo’s decisions easier:

“Really, it was just a matter of the circumstances being ideal for our campaign. I think we showed them that if they did bring the games over, people would buy them. But of course there is also the fact that our member participation has been great, and that the staff has worked hard to make this happen. I work harder on Operation Rainfall some days than I do on my actual job.”

Source