- Gaming Sword
- Includes Interchangeable Handle Guards
- Up to 25 hrs. of Play , 3 AA Batteries Required
- Also Features Enhanced Game-Play, LED Illuminated Blade
} } } } } } } }
The latest Famitsu review scores are as follows…
Blue Dragon Plus (NDS, AQ Interactive): 8 / 7 / 7 / 8 – (30/40)
Houkago no Mystery Club: 26 no Tobira (NDS, Interchannel): 4 / 6 / 4 / 5 – (19/40)
Chi’s Sweet Home: Chi ga Ouchi ni Yatte Kita! (NDS, Interchannel): 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 – (20/40)
Rainbow Pop (Wii, Interchannel): 6 / 5 / 5 / 5 – (21/40)
Update: Looks like Nintendo is pretty mum on the whole situation.
There have been rumblings for awhile that Nintendo plans to release a new DS in the somewhat near future. Last night, Matt Casamassina and Mark Bozon were speculating in their podcaast that a redesigned Nintendo DS would see the day of light, most likely without its GBA slot. Now Kotaku reports that we will see a new DS next year. Interestingly, both screens would be touch enabled instead of just the bottom screen.
“The concept is flexible and the network of the global games industry permits us to be active at different locations. After the Southeast Asian Games Convention, we are now focusing on the North American market.” – Wolfgang Marzin, CEO
Bomberman WiiWare
– 8 player online multiplayer
– Mii support
– 4 players from same console online at once
– Matt & Bozon are psyched, sounds fun
Tiger Woods
– Awesome, fun game, but still has some flaws and old issues – Matt
– Still a step up from previous games
On the radar list for 2008
– Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Sept. 16) – Bozon likes the Wii version more than the 360. Everything seemed to flow better in the Wii version.
– Wario Land (Septemebr 22) – Good old-school platforming mechanics – feels like the games you grew up with playing – Matt
– de Blob (September 22) – Matt says you absolutely need to support this game
– Dokapon Kingdom (October 14) – Fun Mario Party with a twist
– Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 – Still good and still cool
– Guitar Hero: World Tour – Working, functioning Guitar Hero that has everything the other games have plus Wii-exclusive features
– Skate It – Matt would rather do balance board + Wiimote controls rather than just Wii remote by itself
– Tales of Sympohnia – Bozon is pumped, Matt isn’t a huge fan of the series but he’s glad it’s coming
– Little King’s Story (December 2) – Not entirely sure it’s coming out this year, Matt doesn’t think it will be
– Animal Crossing: City Folk, Deadly Creatures, Shaun White, LEGO Batman, Sim City Creature, MySims, Samba de Amigo
– DS: Lock’s Quest, Viva Pinata, Dragon Quest IV, Disgaea DS, Rune Factory 2, Bleach: Dark Souls, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Gauntlet, Tecmo Bowl, Moon, Age of Empires: Mythology, Chrono Trigger DS, ASH (if we ever see it), Away Shuffle Dungeon
– Their point: The rest of the future isn’t totally bleak
– IGN will have the scoop on Renegade Kid’s next project this week
Tiger Woods 09 (again)
– One of the best golf game Matt has ever played
– Near 1:1 thing going on (not quite perfect, but really good and better than anything else we’ve seen)
– Visual boost, frame rate has been ironed out
– In the future EA should just go ground up for the Wii
– Next year they have a chance to totally redo the franchise
– Can play All-Play easy mode or standard settings (Then you can totally direct the power of your shots), Advanced setting (everything done strictly by the Wii remote, but the mode doesn’t completely deliver)
– Next year’s Tiger should be “absolutely fabulous on Wii” – Matt
– Online mode so far has been flawless, seems to run better than Madden
– Next year with Wii MotionPlus and maybe WiiSpeak it could be a must-own Wii game
– A lot of people love to hate EA but EA is doing more online and tech-wise than Nintendo is. Matt makes a few comments about how easy EA Nation is
– There haven’t been a lot of balance board games announced including Nintendo
– Matt thinks a lot of third-parties will use Wii MotionPlus in the future
– Discussion about how NHL 2K9/future hockey games could take advantage of Wii MotionPlus
WiiWare/VC slow-down
– Not a whole lot of cool WiiWare stuff coming, Bozon is hoping World of Goo will come soon
– Missing things like Super Mario RPG in Europe on the VC – haven’t had SNES or N64 game in a long time
Reader Questions
– Should Mega Man 9 be priced as a regular NES title or at 800 or so points? Mega Man fans will pay no matter what, Matt thinks the game should be cheaper across the board
– What’s the deal with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Wii? Is it worth buying? It’s on Bozon’s radar list, if you’re on the fence, then rent it. It’s fun and very cool. Matt thinks it’s pretty fun too.
– Early thoughts/impressions on Tales of Symphonia 2? matt doesn’t have the game yet, should have it very soon
– Any chance Guitar Hero: World Tour instruments will work with Rock Band 2? Bozon doesn’t think that will happen since they went two different routes with the tech
– Madden 09 is fun and all but why isn’t EA making the game look as good as possible? It isn’t ugly, but more can be done, still looks better than any Madden on Wii. Bozon isn’t sure if they’ll do more ever since EA could just add more features instead.
– Any revalations on any old-school style games such as Mega Man 9? Miyamoto hinted Nintendo is working on a New New Super Mario Bros., Reggie kind of hinted as well. As far as non-first party Nintendo, there are only rumblings, nothing solid.
– Lack of information on GTA: China Town Wars? Matt and Bozon give examples of how Rock Star is always tight-lipped
– Is it time to start cracking the whip again until Nintendo mentions something to smoeone about storage? Nintendo seems to be off in happy land again forgetting people are interested in more storage and seem to have forgotten they have forgotten hardcore gamers as well
– How good are we talking in regards to Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia? It’s better than Portrait of Ruin, not sure about Dawn of Sorrow. Bozon doesn’t know if it’ll beat out Symphonia of Night. Really cool, good.
– We keep hearing Nintendo has a redesign coming for the DS, maybe removing the GBA slot
– Is Castlevania Judgment kind of Konami’s Soul Calibur Legends? It’s too early to say but so far Matt isn’t blown away and isn’t really impressed – So far, yes
– The Conduit will get a publisher it’s just a matter of time. Major publishers have expressed interest. It’s not like a Nibris situation.
– Zelda Wii MotionPlus sword-controls, Super Mario Galaxy add-on pack or something similar, a real Resident Evil game for the Wii all realistic possibilites on Wii. Matt isn’t too sure of a true Resident Evil game though.
– Free Radical is making a Wii title, they’re doing the Wii version of Star Wars: Battlefront (the next one)
– Matt thinks Too Human is a good game but he agrees with some of the complaints (same with Bozon)
– Eternal Darkness on Wii probably won’t happen
– Anything coming for WiiWare that resembles Fat Princess for Wii? Animales de la Muerte is kind of similar, same with Swords & Soldiers
– Nintendo will probably make a design change and use Wii MotionPlus for the next Zelda. Matt thinks the franchise needs a reboot. Matt would be for a Wind Waker style. Bozon would like to see adult Wind Waker style.
– Nothing official coming for Nintendo tracks in Guitar Hero: World Tour on Wii
– Sonic and the Black Knight has a chance if the team listens to the feedback on the previous feedback (faster, don’t focus on the sword too much)
– Matt wouldn’t have considered giving Galaxy a 10 even if he knew MGS4 and GTA4 would get 10s. Matt did consider giving the game a 10 before some issues arose.
– Overlord: Dark Legend is shaping up well. Concept is cool. Should be good with the Wiimote.
– Any tidbits at TGS? There is going to be some stuff definitely such as Little King’s Story
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: The Clone Wars are two upcoming games for the Wii that would really do well will a lightsaber add-on. One of the original ideas people had when the Wii was announced was actual lightsaber battles. The Wii remote is fine by itself, but being able to put the controller in a lightsaber shell would give Star Wars games an extra “umph.” Fortuantely, Amazon has put up a few new items on its website called “Glo Swords.” They’re not exactly lightsabers, but they’re pretty darn close. With three AA batteries, you can wield the blade for 25 hours – and yes, it glows!
Amazon’s exact product description is as follows:
So far, Amazon has the Cool Blue and Scorching Red products available for $19.99 in addition to a 2-pack for $49.99. Pretty neat for the ultimate Star Wars fan, huh?
Hamburg/Germany, August 26th, 2008 – Again: She’s 17, she’s blonde and she only faces “problems“ with her hair and make up. No need to worry about anything when Sunny cruises with her rich parents the Caribbean to celebrate their wedding day.
But suddenly a thunderstorm hits the ship, Sunny falls overboard into a life boat. When she regains consciousness, she notices herself being washed ashore on the beach of an island. She has no idea either where she is or where her parents and all the other cruise shippers are – she’s lost.
This is how the PC version of Steve Ince’s adventure game So Blonde starts. Back then, Sunny faced that beautiful Caribbean scenery – now, in So Blonde for Wii™ and Nintendo DS™, this has changed: The island appears dark, no one is to see at the shores and strange black sand crunches underneath Sunny’s feet. Rugged rocks border the beaches – Sunny has to make up something to get to the inner island. What was that up there on the cliff? Wasn’t there a man? If so, why does he ignore Sunny’s cry for help? Sunny will face a new adventure…
– once again, the camera is programmed to help you along the way. If you climb a hill, the camera will help to keep your focus straight ahead
– “Our controls are more customizable than any Wii FPS shooter has ever been. Our default control sensitivity has a dead zone and look sensitivity that is very flexible and intuitive, and designed so that anyone can pick up the control and have an enjoyable game experience. Beyond that, we offer customization of the dead zone size and sensitivity, the turning speed, and adjusting the speed of acceleration of the crosshairs” – producer
– 30 member dev team
– Online multiplayer is the same as PS3/360. Same maps, modes, vehicles.
– dedicated maps for vehicles
– at least 8 playerr
– uses Nintendo WFC
– no online co-op reconfirmed
– Squad Mate Mode: adds another crosshair to the screen so a second player can help shoot
– “We are using the same engine as the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. While the Wii console itself has no hardware shaders, we do a diffuse and alpha pass on the textures. We retain many of the particle effects and explosion effects from the engine, and do this all with a good framerate. All of this means that we’re able to achieve a high level of graphical quality for the Wii.” – producer
Nintendo already told us that its fans should not be expecting any big releases for the rest of 2008 and that they have revealed everything for 2008. However, Nintendo hasn’t said much about 2009, leaving hardcore gamers to hope for the future. Well, it looks like the future those fans have been hoping for may be even later than early 2009. In the October issue of Edge, a Nintendo statement explains that the company does not believe they have ignored the core fanbase. Moreover, Nintendo reiterated that its teams are working on hardcore games, although none will be ready for launch in early 2009.
“We have never neglected our core gamers. We still have developers working on popular core gaming franchises but we need longer to complete these games, approximately two to three years. These games are not ready to launch in early 2009 but are being worked on by all development teams.”
Thanks to Biggity for the news tip!
