If you’re like me and you picked up Monster Hunter Tri last week, chances are you’re also like me and haven’t been able to put it down since. I am, in fact, playing it at this very moment (anyone wanna hop online with me?) and have been letting it take up far too much of my precious free time. That being the case, what better way to celebrate the launch than to have it be our next game for game night!?
Therefore, this week’s game night will be on Friday at 7PM CST (8PM EST, 5PM PST) and will work just a little differently than most.
Being as Monster Hunter is a game that is only playable by 4 people at a time online, we’ll have to divide up into teams (if we get enough players, that is!). We’ll have team leaders, one of them being myself, and (permitting they have the game) other staff members will be other team leaders. If none of them have the game, I’ll call upon some people on the night of the game night to take over.
Every few quest victories/failures, we’ll switch groups so everyone gets a chance to play with everyone else, and we’ll just keep repeating that until we get bored!
If you have any questions/comments, feel free to ask away! Otherwise, just let me know via e-mail, the comments, or the forum if you plan on playing!
The Wiimote is very recognizable thanks to its similarities with a TV remote. But you may be surprised to hear about one particular prototype Nintendo had created prior to finally settling on the final design. A new book called Nintendo Magic: Winning The Video Game Wars details the prototype, noting that it “had a large star-shaped button in the center, surrounded by three smaller buttons, and used internal accelerometers that let the player control by tilting it forward, backwards, left, or tight.”
The big news, however, is that the controller was met with a great deal of opposition. Developers at Nintendo felt that it would not work very well established franchises such as Zelda and Mario. As we know now, the idea was eventually shot down.
You can read additional details about how the controller would have worked below and we’ve also included a picture of it in this post as well.
“Development on the new [Wii] controller was in full swing by the middle of 2004. With Iwata focusing on the DS, Miyamoto acted in his place on the project. Takeda’s engineering team searched for sensors that would enable intuitive game control, which Miyamoto’s people used to implement the actual controller.
At first, they started just as Iwata had suggested – by aiming for a simple, TV remote-like controller. But as they did the work of testing the controller prototypes that included new sensors, the form factors began to take an unexpected direction.
‘No one liked that one,’ recalls Miyamoto with a rueful grin, of a large, disc-shaped example. It had a large star-shaped button in the center, surrounded by three smaller buttons, and used internal accelerometers that let the player control by tilting it forward, backwards, left, or tight. The prototype was orange, and its bizarre appearance earned it the nickname ‘cheddar cheese’ from the development team.
It was admittedly simple and easy to understand, but was also far too garish. Miyamoto’s team met with around 40 game developers within Nintendo bimonthly to hear their opinions. This iteration of the controller was met with opposition — they complained it was totally unsuited to traditional games like Mario and Zelda.”
A new Iwata Asks interview has gone live on the U.S. Wii website. Iwata, along with developers from Nintendo and Treasure, discuss the development of Sin and Punishment: Star Successor as well as the original game. We’ve picked out some of the notable quotes below, though you can check out the full interview here.
Iwata
Yamagami-san and I had actually been talking for some time about making Sin & Punishment for the Wii console.Maegawa
Huh? Really?!Yamagami
Yeah. (laughs)Maegawa
I was surprised when I got a reply a mere three days after submitting the proposal. It can take up to a few months to hear results, so I was telling these two to take it easy.Nakagawa and
Suzuki
(nods)Yamagami
When I received the proposal from Maegawa-san, I was really pleased with it, but I didn’t get to discuss it with Iwata-san until three days later.Iwata
If I’d been able to meet with Yamagami-san the same day it arrived, I would have approved it that very day.
SHOWCASE YOUR GAMING CREATIONS, SAVE THE TURTLES AND SURVIVE THE TOUGHEST CHALLENGE OF ALL – HIGHSCHOOL
28th April 2010: Let your creative side shine this week as WarioWare™: Do It Yourself – Showcase is available on WiiWare. Play and share wacky microgames with your friends and showcase your WarioWare creations on the big screen.
On Nintendo DSiWare this week you’ll be called upon to Save the Turtles from predators such as crabs and seagulls, struggle to master the art of SURVIVING HIGH SCHOOL and fight your way to the top of the tennis championships in VT Tennis.
