On this week’s episode: Star Fox 64 3D, BIT.TRIP SAGA, BIT.TRIP COMPLETE, Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2, Star Fox 64 3D Launch Party and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
You remember Rodea the Sky Soldier, right? It was that very promising NiGHTS-like game that was set for a dual-release on Wii and 3DS.
Although we haven’t heard anything about the project since it was announced earlier this year, development has progressed well. In fact, Yuji Naka has said that the title is complete “for awhile now.”
“Rodea the Sky Soldier has been finished for awhile now. My part at Prope has been done. Now it’s up to Kadokawa Games to decide on the release strategy whether it will be come out for North America, Europe, and Japan.”
Naka was also asked about a possible Wii U version. At this time he explained why there are no plans for that:
“It’s finished as Wii title and as of now we have no plans to bring it to Wii U. Rodea was made specifically for the Wii so players could enjoy it by flicking the remote. If we tried to incorporate those controls into the large Wii U controller it wouldn’t be the same. I would really like for people to play and enjoy it on the Wii as I had originally intended.”
Some absolutely crazy stuff, that’s what! It’s been a few months, so I guess we were due for an absolute implosion.
What I initially thought was the problem actually wasn’t the problem. As it turned out, our sister site was apparently getting completely hammered by a mysterious force. That caused almost everything to crawl and die (including NE).
Things seem to be in working order now. I’m still somewhat concerned, so I won’t say for sure that everything is completely fixed. I have more optimism than last night though, that’s for sure.
It’s 2 AM here now, so I won’t even bother with updates. Be prepared for an onslaught of catch-up news in a few hours…
Multiplatform
North America:
1. Gears of War 3 (Microsoft, X360)
2. Zumba Fitness (Majesco, Wii)
3. Test Drive Unlimited 2 – Download Edition (Atari)
4. Dead Island (Deep Silver, X360)
5. Madden NFL 12 (EA Sports, X360)
Japan:
1. Dark Souls (From Software, PS3)
2. ICO/Wanda to Kyozou Limited Box (SCEI, PS3)
3. Gears of War 3 (Microsoft, X360)
4. Dark Souls – Limited Edition (From Software, PS3)
5. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 6 (Konami, PSP)
UK:
1. Gears of War 3 (Microsoft, X360)
2. Zumba Fitness (505 Games, Wii)
3. Dead Island (Deep Silver, X360)
4. Michael Jackson: The Experience (Ubisoft, Wii)
5. Dead Island (Deep Silver, PS3)
Nintendo Wii
North America:
1. Zumba Fitness (Majesco)
2. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo)
4. Wii Fit Plus With Balance Board (Nintendo)
5. Michael Jackson: The Experience (Ubisoft)
Japan:
1. Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Collection (Square Enix)
2. Minna no Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo)
3. Family Fishing Bundle (Namco Bandai)
4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
5. Wii Remote Plus Variety Pack (Nintendo)
UK:
1. Zumba Fitness (505 Games)
2. Michael Jackson: The Experience (Ubisoft)
3. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
4. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo)
5. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney)
Nintendo 3DS
North America:
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo)
2. Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo)
3. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)
4. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (Capcom)
5. Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retriever and New Friends (Nintendo)
Japan:
1. Senran Kagura: Shoujotachi no Shinei – Limited Edition (Marvelous)
2. Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina 3D (Nintendo)
3. Senran Kagura: Shoujotachi no Shinei (Marvelous)
4. Super Pokemon Rumble (Nintendo)
5. Devil Survivor Overclock (Atlus)
UK:
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo)
2. Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo)
3. Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retriever and New Friends (Nintendo)
4. Puzzle Bobble Universe (Square Enix)
5. Rabbids 3D (Ubisoft)
Nintendo DS
North America:
1. Kirby Mass Attack (Nintendo)
2. Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades Bundle (Activision)
3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
5. Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (Natsume)
Japan:
1. Atsumete! Kirby (Nintendo)
2. Pocket Monsters Black (Nintendo)
3. Pocket Monsters White (Nintendo)
4. Ni no Kuni (Level 5)
5. Oideyo Dobutsu no Mori (Nintendo)
UK:
1. Let’s Draw! (Majesco)
2. New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo)
3. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney)
4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
5. Art Academy (Nintendo)
Metroid: Other M’s story was controversial to say the least. Samus spoke more than ever before, and did so in a pretty melodramatic way.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for the game’s story, it looks like you could point to Yoshio Sakamoto. Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi recently said that it “was definitely the product of Mr. Sakamoto”.
“The story for Other M was definitely the product of Mr. Sakamoto at Nintendo. We definitely worked with them on the project, but that was all him. For NG3, we’ve worked with Masato Kato to create our own story. It’s going to be different in a lot of ways. There are definitely things we learned from Other M by working with Mr. Sakamoto and with Nintendo that we’ve applied to the NG development. The actual story that you will experience here, however, will have a very different feel. A ‘Team Ninja’ feel, you might say.”
Update 2: Okay, NOW we should be good to go. The only remaining issue is logins, which we should fix tomorrow.
Update: It seems we are done! Er… or maybe not. I’ll monitor things and edit this post again when I have more concrete information.
Both sites are accessible right now, but as you’ve probably noticed, things are a bit slow. That’s a result of some important behind-the-scenes stuff going on. It’s basically just a bunch of technical work, so I won’t bore you with the details.
Basically, once it’s complete, things will be back to normal! And again, everything can still be accessed… it may just take you awhile.
