Nintendo Voice Chat podcast summary

Handhelds

– Article up going through all of the Nintendo handhelds
– Nintendo been updating handhelds every 1-2 years
– GBA and DS were supposed to coexist but that didn’t happen
– Bozon feels more could have been done with GBA before moving on to the DS
– TMNT game that came out on consoles wasn’t good but one on GBA was a lot of fun

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

– An average but fun game for Wii
– Had to cut a lot of corners to put it on Wii
– Cut out the ability to use camera
– Daemon still has fun mowing down zombies
– Average but totally average and playable game
– Short game – under 10 hours
– Will probably be a rental for most people
– When you use certain weapons zombies just wait to be killed
– Game is really easy – might have scaled back the difficulty
– The point: Daemon had fun playing it, could have been a lot worse, could have been a lot better
– Zombies pop up out of nowhere
– Using the RE4 engine but doesn’t look as good as RE4
– Craig thinks it’s strange to use the RE engine for Dead Rising – different kinds of designs

Blue Dragon Plus

– A lot like Heroes of Mana
– RTS feel
– CG work is amazing – around 30 minutes
– Level up after each battle
– Don’t get to finish level until you kill anything so it’s weird to have level ups
– Really fun but basic
– Review coming up tomorrow

Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times

– Animal Crossing clone
– Set up village, go to the shop, etc.
– Can see stuff coming from a farther distance because of both screens
– Some slow down and frame issues
– It’s a cool game
– Wireless, chat, event days, competitions, catch bugs/fish,
– Magic system to communicate with NPCs
– There’s a fart spell

Moon

– Game sold very few units in launch month (NPD numbers)
– Can’t say exact number
– Didn’t sell 1500 units in launch month
– Daemon finds that shockingly low
– Brand probably worked against it
– No marketing for the game
– It’s the kind of game you really want to support
– Could be better but it’s a great game
– Hurts more that Renegade Kid has done 2 titles, now the second game didn’t sell very well at all
– How will they convince publishers to give them money to work on the next game?

New Play Control! Metroid Prime

– Came out last week
– 480p widescreen
– GameCube already ran with progressive scan but not widescreen
– Cut-scenes are cropped (widescreen on Wii) – minor issue but noticeable if you’ve played the GameCube version
– Craig would much rather play this game on Wii
– Much better than doing lock-on stuff on GameCube
– Advanced controls are PC-like
– Basic lock-on is like GameCube game, more advanced – cursor doesn’t automatically lock-on to character
– Everything done in Metroid Prime 3 applied to NPC! Metroid Prime – makes it a much better game
– Still holds up 6-7 years later
– Looks better than Dead Rising
– Voice-over at beginning of the game – really cheesy – apparently European version had it

Overlord: Dark Legend

– Not a port of the original
– Play as Overlord
– Kind of like evil Pikmin
– Group of minions do your bidding
– Daemon impressed
– Looks really good
– Pointer controls to control minions – works really well
– Daemon had a lot of fun playing it

Overlord Minions

– On DS, skeptical of Overlord Minions – Gave it a kiddy style
– Overlord doesn’t make an appearance – only 4 minions
– All touch-screen controls
– More of a puzzle game
– It’s okay but not as impressive as Overlord: Dark Legend

Gauntlet

– Might be canceled
– Craig knows for a fact it has been in development for a long time
– Originally was a tech demo
– Was impressive to Nintendo but weren’t willing to put money into developing it fully
– Eidos came in and gave money, then finished the game
– Has been finished for at least a year, Eidos has been having some problems
– Warner Bros. calling the shots
– It was flawed but fun
– Game still in limbo
– Craig is guessing the game will find itself in some other company’s hand

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

– It’s good
– Another match-3 game and gems are hexagonal
– Gems can replenish from any side of the playing field
– Very addictive
– Still has RPG elements
– Tons of stuff to do in the game
– Game a lot bigger than the first Puzzle Quest
– Doesn’t run all that smoothly for some reason
– Will enjoy it if you liked the first Puzzle Quest

Peggle DS

– Turned out great
– Like Pachinko mixed with pinball
– Tun of luck in the game but also need to be skillful with choices that you make
– Also an addictive game

DICE news

– Nintendo announced first DSiWare game – Moving Memo
– Create own animations and share them
– Can be edited by other users
– Upload them to a website
– Didn’t say if they would charge for it or not
– DSi comes with 1000 Nintendo Points in Japan, haven’t announced that yet for NA
– Developers haven’t been sent out DSiWare dev. kits – only a few people have kits

– Picross 3D coming out next month in Japan – will probably release in US later this year

Valkyrie Profile

– Another turned base strategy game
– Only have 4 units in party – each one mapped to different face button
– When you attack an enemy, any party members in vicinity will join in on the attack
– Daemon impressed with it
– Comes out March 17

My Pet Shop

– No one should care about this game
– Would still choose it over Petz: Horses 47

Reader questions

– Nintendo releasing the blue DSi in NA probably to appeal to women – Craig prefers the black DSi
– Other sports that should be in Wii Sports Resort: Frisbee golf, javelin, candlepin bowling, batchi ball, horseshoes
– Should start out with Chrono Trigger as first RPG experience out of Chrono Trigger, DQV, The World Ends With You
– THQ probably not publisher of Scribblenauts
– Fully charged DSi runs for about 6 – 7 hours – full brightness and using Wi-Fi – little less than DS Lite
– Software that justifies buying a DS: Elite Beat Agents, Lock’s Quest, Moon, Call of Duty titles, New Super Mario Bros. Picross, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc (list goes on too long)