Wii

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii | 2 Comments

Liam Robertson dug deep into the development and troubles surrounding Project H.A.M.M.E.R. earlier this year.Today, Robertson published a new report that sheds even more light on the cancelled Wii game.

Here are a few highlights:

– Shigeru Miyamoto wasn’t happy that NST spent over $1 million on lavish CGI sequences which were ordered the game design was concrete and before the game’s reveal in 2006
– Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis also featured cut-scenes from Silver Ant for a high sum of money
– This all caused the person in charge of budgetary concerns on both H.A.M.M.E.R. and Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 getting a slapped wrist from Miyamoto
– Miyamoto branded the investment in CGI “superfluous”
– This ended NST’s relationship with Silver Ant
– Katsuhiko Kanno was the person in charge at the game’s inception
– Kanno was apparently “difficult to work with”, “rude” and “uncooperative”
– Around this time, is is thought that a large number of NST staff left the company under their own volition
– Staff count at NST dropped from 50 to about half of that
– To steady the ship staff were moved onto the project from elsewhere in Nintendo’s North American network
– Metroid Prime level designer Jason Behr was brought on to bring things back on course
– Behr found himself singled out as a scapegoat for the game’s shortcomings
– Behr stayed on until around 2008, and would leave NST to join Monolith Productions
– Senior staff at NST finally spotted the friction between Kanno and his team
– He was removed from the project in 2007 and replaced by Masamichi Abe (Pikmin 1 and 2 director)
– Metroid Prime producer Kensuke Tanabe joined in a supervisory role towards the end of the project
– He didn’t have much of an impact, and only visited NST’s offices a handful of times
– Project H.A.M.M.E.R. would be re-tooled as Wii Crush, a casual title aimed at the Wii Sports audience
– Would have supported MotionPlus
– Project cancelled entirely in 2009

You can see the latest report on Project H.A.M.M.E.R. in its entirety below.

Source

More: NST, Project H.AM.M.E.R., top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 5 Comments

The Skylanders SuperChargers Starter Pack has been discounted over at Amazon and Best Buy. All versions are currently available for $25 off. You can order the game on Amazon here, or Best Buy here.

More: Amazon, Best Buy, sale, Skylanders Superchargers

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 2 Comments

Amazon, through a third-party seller, has Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii in stock. It can be purchased for $40 here.. It’s for UAE Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Singapore, but the game is in English and works with U.S. systems.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments

Just Dance 2016 and Just Dance: Disney Party 2 are both now available in North America. Ubisoft has prepared some different launch trailers, which we’ve rounded up below.

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More: Just Dance 2016, Just Dance: Disney Party 2, Ubisoft

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 2 Comments

Amazon has significant savings on the Luigi Wii Remote Plus. The original asking price was $39.99, but the controller can be yours for only $24.24.

You can place an order for the Luigi Wii Remote Plus here. Note that it may take an extra 1-2 days to process.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 25 Comments

Microsoft is publishing Scalebound, a new Xbox One title from PlatinumGames. But as fate would have it, the project was originally imagined for Wii.

Director Hideki Kamiya recently spoke with GameSpot about his original ambition for Scalebound, which would have had players using the Wii remote to provide orders to dinosaurs rather than dragons. It also starred a little girl rather than the current protagonist Drew.

Kamiya said:

“If you look at the long span of it, the first idea [for Scalebound] was when we started the company and were thinking of ideas and games that we want to make. The idea popped up there, but then we made Bayonetta. Then after Bayonetta, we revived the idea and made a prototype but that prototype failed and the game got cancelled. It was put on a backburner for a variety of reasons and we moved on to The Wonderful 101.”

“When they first started, the idea was for a Wii game and we wanted to use a Wii remote to do the orders for the dinosaurs. You were in control of the dinosaurs, you were ordering the dinosaurs around, and they’d do cool things. Then after we made Bayonetta, we started the prototype. The first thing that I made a change to was making it a dragon game.”

“We changed the dinosaurs to dragons, but at that point the lead character was even weaker than [current protagonist] Drew is in the context of Scalebound. She was actually a little girl who was with these dragons. As we were making this prototype, I realized that I didn’t want to just be watching the fight, I wanted to be more participatory in the fight. And I started talking with the staff about how maybe we should change this to be a swordsman or someone a little bit older. This was when the prototype got put on the backburner, so to speak, and the project was halted. Then we made The Wonderful 101.”

Source, Via

More: Hideki Kamiya, interview, PlatinumGames, Scalebound, top

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii, Wii U | 2 Comments

A few hours ago, Nintendo brought out the latest batch of Smash Bros. DLC, including the return of the Pirate Ship stage. You can see how it compares in the Wii U game to its debut in Brawl below.

More: comparison, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, GBA, General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 328 Comments

EDGE recent put out a special issue featuring the 100 great video games of all time. The list is below, though the full magazine can be ordered here.

This is how EDGE says it determined its list:

“In compiling the list, we worked to simple criteria: all formats – console, PC, portable, coin-op, touchscreen – were eligible; we could include only a single entry from any series that features straight-up sequels; and each game had to stand up today rather than making the cut for reasons of nostalgia or historic significance.”

And here’s the full lineup:

100 – WarioWare Inc – GBA
99 – Spec Ops: The Line
98 – Papers, Please
97 – DriveClub
96 – Braid
95 – Super Hexagon
94 – Her Story
93 – Super Monkey Ball
92 – Final Fantasy XII
91 – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
90 – Katamari Damacy
89 – Animal Crossing: New Leaf
88 – Resogun
87 – Puzzle Bobble
86 – F-Zero GX
85 – The Sims 3
84 – R-Type Final
83 – Elite: Dangerous
82 – Bomberman
81 – Starcraft II
80 – Pac-Man Championship Edition
79 – BioShock
78 – CoD 4: Modern Warfare
77 – Puzzle & Dragons
76 – Tearaway

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 11 Comments

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword introduced us to the memorable character Groose. But as it turns out, this wasn’t his original name. While he may be known as Groose in the west, his Japanese name is Bado – essentially a reference to bird.

Groose’s localized name was created by former Nintendo Treehouse staffer Mike Drucker. On last week’s episode of the GI Show, Drucker talked briefly about how he came up with the idea for Skyward Sword’s character.

During a naming meeting, Drucker was told that Groose was a jock and sort of a jerk. Nintendo was also trying to stick with a bird theme with Skyward Sword. With that information, he went from “Bruce” to “Goose” to “Groose”.

We’ve included the podcast segment in which Groose is discussed below. The whole talk is actually very interesting though since Drucker spoke about his days at the Nintendo Treehouse (before eventually moving on to The Tonight Show!), so you should definitely give it a watch.

Thanks to Jake for the tip.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii | 2 Comments

We’ve already posted plenty of footage of Skylanders SuperChargers Racing running on 3DS, but how did the Wii version stack up? You can get a look for yourself in the video below.

More: Activision, Beenox, Skylanders SuperChargers Racing