Mario Helps Kids Swing for the Fences at 2008 Cal Ripken World Series
In preparation for the Aug. 25 release of Mario™ Super Sluggers for the Wii™ console, Nintendo will be giving fans and players an interactive boost at the 2008 Cal Ripken World Series, the season’s most anticipated baseball tournament for 11- and 12-year-olds. Featuring a roster of champion youth-league teams from across the United States and around the globe, the event will take place Aug. 8-16 at the prestigious Ripken Academy in Aberdeen, Md., where young players will compete on professional-quality diamonds in front of thousands of enthusiastic baseball fans.
Throughout this exciting series, players and fans are invited to experience Mario Super Sluggers, Nintendo’s new Mario-themed baseball game designed exclusively for the Wii console. Interactive kiosks will be placed in the park’s batting cages, where attendees can try out the game’s imaginative baseball action and unique motion-sensing controls, swinging the wireless Wii Remote™ controller like an actual bat. Anyone who samples the game will be entered into a drawing to win a free copy of Mario Super Sluggers.
“For Capcom, we’re pleased with the coverage we’ve received though I think we fared better than some of our competitors. That said, E3 now has become more of a first party battleground than it is a third party event and in that regard I think it still has significant value. Most third parties hold our own events where we made most of our major announcements in a more focused environment.” – Christian Svensson
Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony all have a huge presence at E3, but I don’t think that means it’s a place for third-parties to disregard the event. Then again, E3 might might evaporate in the near future, since the media’s reaction to the event in general was not too encouraging.
Update: News from a press release seems to indicate there will not be a Godfather II Wii version.
‘Godfather II has not been confirmed for the Wii as of yet, though the original was released on the system about a year ago.
– sandbox-style game with RPG, RTS, board game elements
– Miami, Havana, and New York
– Six character classes: bruiser, demolitions expert, arsonist, medic, safe cracker and enginee
– twelve different ‘personalities’
– ‘Don’s View’: check out competition, make plans
– free-aim shooting
– ‘Perks’: gain specific rewards based on the objectives you tackle (take over a rival oil refinery, net yourself bullet-proof vests and armored cars)
– ‘Sting cards’: obtain these through sabotage missions
– 2009 release
01. [PSP] Phantasy Star Universe – (Sega) – 342,000 / 342,000
02. [NDS] Rhythm Heaven Gold – (Nintendo) – 213,000 / 213,000
03. [NDS] Dragon Quest V – (Square Enix) – 112,000 / 946,000
04. [PS3] Soul Calibur IV – (Namco Bandai) – 75,000 / 75,000
05. [PS2] Powerful Pro Baseball 15 – (KONAMI) – 37,000 / 121,000
06. [360] Soul Calibur IV – (Namco Bandai) – 35,000 / 35,000
07. [Wii] Fatal Frame IV – (Nintendo) – 33,000 / 33,000
08. [Wii] Wii Fit – (Nintendo) – 32,000 / 2,442,000
09. [Wii] Mario Kart Wii – (Nintendo) – 23,000 / 1,633,000
10. [PSP] Gundam Battle Universe – – (Namco Bandai) – 21,000 / 201,000
A survey from the folks at Capcom is being sent out to a few select people, but there is one item that may be appealing to Wii owners. Question fourteen asks, “What would make you want to purchase ‘Resident Evil 5’ more?” And wouldn’t you know it: One answer includes, “The release of a Wii version.” Of course, it would be silly to say that this means that Resident Evil 5 has a good chance to come out for the Wii, but one has to consider the possibility. With ports such as Okami and Dead Rising: Chop ‘Till You Drop being made at a regular pace, would Capcom ever consider a Resident Evil 5 Wii release?
Thanks to Bloop for the heads up.
VC
1 – Super Mario Bros. 3
2 – Super Mario Bros.
3 – Super Mario World
4 – Mario Kart 64
5 – Super Mario Bros. 2
6 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
7 – Super Mario 64
8 – The Legend of Zelda
9 – Punch-Out!!
10 – Donkey Kong
11 – Pac-Man
12 – Donkey Kong Country
13 – Paper Mario
14 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
15 – Kirby’s Adventure
16 – Star Fox 64
17 – Double Dragon
18 – Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
19 – Excitebike
20 – BUBBLE BOBBLE
WiiWare
1 – My Pokemon Ranch
2 – Pong Toss – Frat Party Games
3 – Dr. Mario Online Rx
4 – Defend your Castle
5 – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
6 – TV Show King
7 – Pirates: The Key of Dreams
8 – LostWinds
9 – Family Table Tennis
10 – Cocoto Fishing Master
11 – Gyrostarr
12 – SPOGS Racing
13 – Wild West Guns
14 – Major League Eating: The Game
15 – Block Breaker Deluxe
16 – V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
17 – Magnetica Twist
18 – Pop
19 – Toki Tori
20 – Protothea
The positions of the titles will be back last week. I admit, I forgot to do the charts for the past 2 weeks or so…Sorry about that!
“I kind of wished that the difference got sorted out but obviously there’s the licensing issue for bond, if it it’s something that’s already come out. The ball’s not in anybody at Rare’s court, really. It’s squarely in the license holders’ court. It’s a shame. It’s kind of locked in this no man’s land. There’s nothing on LIVE Arcade, there’s nothing on Wii.” – Rare’s Nick Burton
GoldenEye is pretty much one of the best N64 games and it’s also a classic. Even though the game doesn’t look good for a VC release, I suggest that anyone who never got a chance to experience it on the N64 give it a shot.
The first real details about Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars hit the web yesterday via an email survey. However, Rockstar did not seem to be too thrilled about that. The thing is, the details seemed to have come from a broken NDA, so Rockstar is doing everything in their power to have all of the information removed from every website. The funny thing is, the whole situation is strange, since the information has already been posted on tons of websites. At this point, a lot of people already know about the leaked details. Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars is scheduled to release this Winter.
A few weeks back, we learned that an original Elebits game would be heading to the DS. It seems like a new Wii game could be in the works, too.
Wait you said Elebits is probably going to come out for the Wii? Do you mean there is going to be Elebits: Adventures of Kai & Zero on the Wii or is there going to be a brand new Elebits game?
This is also a good question. One question I’ve asked of our producers and we sat and discussed this. There are a lot of press and fans that enjoyed the first game on the Wii and my question to my producer and the game designers was is the DS story the new direction for the franchise?
Mukaitouge-san who is the producer of the first one basically said that the DS experience will be the next direction for the next DS experience. The first Wii game will be the story and the starting point for the next Wii game. There will be two stories that happen in tandem, one on the Wii and one on the DS. They will overlap with characters, environments, and things like that, but each platform will have its own experience.
