“I can’t speak for the rest of the industry or all of EA but I can speak for my group when I say I think we’ve turned a corner and the industry has woken up to Wii in the right way. We’re seeing a lot of new energy on the platform. One of the things I’ve found when I’ve been building the Nintendo Group is that there’s a lot of very passionate people here. Our job is to find people that can be passionate about Wii and our mission. The vision for the Nintendo Group at Electronic Arts is a long-term one. We always want to have a balanced portfolio but we also want to break some new games and take some risks.” – Joe Booth, Senior Producer for EA’s Nintendo Group

It’s great to hear this kind of attitude from a third-party publisher. And I have to agree with Mr. Booth – The direction that companies have been taking on the platform has changed. Mr. Booth put it best when he said that “the industry has woken up to Wii.”

Source

New Nintendo DS Title Promotes the Fun of Walking for People – and Pets

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– It’s no secret that the Nintendo DS™ system offers great ways to have fun while on the move. With the May 26 launch of the Personal Trainer™: Walking game, Nintendo is inviting consumers to turn their most basic daily movements into an enriching, entertaining experience. Whether they walk for fitness or simply to get from place to place, people of all ages and backgrounds can use Personal Trainer: Walking to monitor and enhance their daily walking routines.

Personal Trainer: Walking is the latest entry in the popular software series that also includes Personal Trainer: Cooking and Personal Trainer: Math. After counting, measuring and recording users’ steps throughout the day, Personal Trainer: Walking creates an engaging series of charts and activities to reveal interesting – or even surprising – “life rhythm” patterns. For instance, the readout might show that a user is most active in the evening, or that mealtimes are typically followed by sedentary periods. Knowing these patterns can help people keep an eye on their plans for the day and watch out for pitfalls of inactivity. People also can rate the kind of day they had or set daily walking goals to improve the quality of their lives. Whether it’s used individually or with family and friends, Personal Trainer: Walking provides a fun, interactive way for people to monitor their walking lifestyle.

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* “Feel Good Inc.” (Gorillaz) vs “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye)
* “Jayou” (Jurassic 5) vs “Rockit” (Herbie Hancock)
* “Bustin’ Loose” (Chuck Brown) vs “Time of the Season” (The Zombies, DJ Shadow Mix)
* “All Apologies” (Nirvana) vs “Give It to Me Baby” (Rick James, DJ Shadow Mix)
* “Let’s Dance” (David Bowie) vs “Jack of Spades” (KRS One, DJ Shadow Mix)
* “Shout” (Tears for Fears) vs “Pjanoo” (Eric Prydz)

Source

Punch-Out!!

– Matt thinks Craig overrated it
– Title Defense mode changes everything, made Craig bump up the score
– Playing through the regular mode Matt saw presentation elements he liked and disliked
– Interface not up to Mario Strikers
– Matt didn’t do Title Defense but he would have scored it a bit lower
– All about patterns
– Craig thinks that Mr. Sandman in Title Defense mode is just as hard as Mike Tyson in the NES game
– Lack of online functionality is a missed opportunity
– Feels like Punch-Out!! remade but no major gameplay changes
– Great for nostalgia/if you haven’t played it before
– Stuck with core gameplay then added presentational stuff around it
– In-game visuals very fluid – For Bozon, almost forget you’re not looking at 720p stuff
– Balance board is terrible
– Bozon thinks it’ll sell well
– Actually marketing the title

Boom Blox Bash Party

– Recommending it
– 8.5, editor’s choice award
– Great sequel all around
– Packed full of content
– Level editor a bit more seamless now
– More options in editor mode
– Connecting to EA’s servers are quick
– No online play, Matt hopes it’s in next time around
– For this game Matt is pleased with the user-created options
– Can rate levels
– Fun game
– Can theoretically play this game forever
– Hardcore and casual gamers should buy this game
– Easy for anyone to pick up
– One of those games that can only be done on Wii
– Has a few flaws (no online, technical limitations, some textures)
– Highly recommended

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Will be updated if there are any additional scores…

Yuusha 30 (PSP) – 8/9/8/8
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) – 9/9/8/8
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS) – 9/9/9/9
Kizuna (Wii) – 5/4/4/4
Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires (Xbox 360/PS3)

What a terribly disappointing score for Kizuna, especially considering how much promise the game showed when it was first unveiled.

Escape to paradise with the second instalment of Wii Sports™ – Wii Sports Resort™ – available from 23 July 2009. Wii Sports Resort includes new sports and a more precise way to play, with each Wii Sports Resort packaged with a single Wii MotionPlus™ accessory.

Available from 11 June 2009, the new Wii MotionPlus accessory easily connects to the Wii Remote and gives players new levels of precision and performance when used with specially designed games such as Wii Sports Resort.

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Thanks to Jake for the news tip!

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DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS SIGNS LICENSING AGREEMENTS FOR NEW MOBILE AND VIDEO GAMES BASED ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL BRAND AND PROGRAMS

May 19, 2009—Discovery Communications, the world’s number-one non-fiction media company, has finalized three new interactive entertainment licensing deals based on the Discovery Channel brand and hit series DEADLIEST CATCH and CASH CAB. Built for mobile, PC and console gaming platforms, the games will debut between June 2009 and holiday 2010.

Specifics on the three new games are as follows:

CASH CAB Mobile Game – CapCom, a leading developer and publisher of mobile games, will create a mobile game based on Discovery Channel’s innovative game show CASH CAB, during which unassuming cab-hailing New Yorkers become trivia show contestants with the chance to win cold hard cash on the way to their destination, or lose and be ejected onto the sidewalk! In the spirit of the fun-loving series, the CASH CAB game will have players racing against the clock to answer general trivia questions before reaching their New York City destination. The game launches for cell phones at the end of June 2009 and for iPhones end of August 2009.

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