The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks won’t be shipping to store shelves in a couple of weeks. However, fans of the series are probably wondering how the latest handheld Zelda title holds up. The Official Nintendo Magazine has written the first review in issue number 50 and gave it a 91%. In case you are wondering, Phantom Hourglass received a 95% from the magazine back in 2007. While Phantom Hourglass earned a higher score, Fred Dutton, the man who wrote the review of Spirit Tracks in ONM, said that Link’s latest outing “is better than Phantom Hourglass” in a recent roundup of reader Q&A.
Thanks to Josh for the news tip!
Videos
Nintendo Week 11/16
Wii Fit Plus Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto
New Super Mario Bros. Wii Super Fun 1
Wii Fit Plus What’s new in Wii Fit Plus?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition Launch Trailer
New Super Mario Bros. Wii Info Video
DSiWare Lineup 11/16 Update
C.O.P. The Recruit Launch Video
Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage Tricking Events
Tony Hawk: RIDE – Tutorial Video #4 – Vert
Rabbids Go Home Design Your Own Rabbid? Yes You Can!
Band Hero Adam Levine Vignette
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles Launch Video
Need for Speed Nitro Madrid Video
LEGO Indiana Jones 2 Info Video
Robot Rescue Info Video
LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias Info Video
NBA 2K10 Info Video
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Ryo Video
Infinite Space Teaser 4
Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy
Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 Info Video
Demos (Expire 11/22)
Cooking Mama 3: Shop and Chop
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Bobsleigh Race
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Madagascar Kartz Demo
“I’m extremely disappointed. I’ve had this conversation with every publisher who makes content that is not available on my platform. The conversation goes like this: ‘We have a 22-million unit installed base. We have a very diverse audience… We have active gamers that hunger for this type of content. And why isn’t it available?’ I think for those games [Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2], typically decisions are being made two years prior. And so the decisions two years ago were that those types of games would not be effective on the platform. But we’ve shown that that’s just not the case. High-quality, effectively marketed against our installed base will sell, period end of story.” – Reggie Fils-Aime
“The fundamental issue in the logic flow is that — and this is what I’m hearing, whether it’s from you or Geoff or Michael himself — is that, gosh it’s such an opportunity to take HD capability and link it with the Wii. And what we have said, repeatedly, is that that’s not the way we at Nintendo do things. The way we at Nintendo do things is, you know, when we will move to a new generation, it’s because there are some fundamental things the [current] console cannot do. What that says is that simply the addition of HD capability will not be the next step for us. There will be more to it. There will be additional capability. There will be additional elements, and, given that, it is far into the future. Not to announce [a new Wii for 2010] with you here today.” – Reggie Fils-Aime
When Nintendo’s next console is unveiled, I don’t expect HD graphics to be the focal point. Like the Wii, I’m sure the company has something else in store that will be much more significant. With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if something like a Wii HD was announced – Just look what Nintendo is doing with the DSi!
16 November, 2009 – Since it launched in May last year, WiiWare has become the source for Wii owners around the world to try some of the most creative ideas from both top developers and independent studios.
From today and for a limited period* you will be able to try some of the best examples for free* thanks to the new Download demo service.
By connecting your Wii to the Internet you can access the Wii Shop Channel, which is continually updated with exciting and refreshing games. Downloaded games can be saved to Wii’s internal memory or an SD Card and added to the console’s Wii Menu or SD Card Menu for easy access at any time.
This information comes from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime…
“We believe that to tease fans over an extended period of time really doesn’t do the gamer just service. So, we have always been mindful of: When’s the launch date? When’s the right time to share information? How do we break information? In particular, with this game, given the Zelda dynamic — which you find out about right at the start of the game — we really wanted to keep that secret and have it be a big reveal. That is something very new and very different in a Zelda game, [having] Princess Zelda essentially playing along with you. That’s essentially what drove the strategy for how we reveal the information, when do we reveal the information and the fact that it had to be fairly late.”
“We just thought the package art we developed with [Nintendo’s Japanese headquarters office] NCL that highlights the train and highlights the Phantom… was a great representation of the game. Not at all [it doesn’t mean North American gamers want a darker Link.”
Thanks to NintenDaan for the news tip!
WiiWare
Pokemon Rumble – 186 blocks
VC
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures – 31 blocks
Street Fighter II: Championship Edition – 32 blocks
DSiWare
Robot Rescue – 33 blocks
Art Style: Digidrive – 91 blocks blocks
Arcade Bowling – 27 blocks
