WiiWare
– No harddrive announced.
– Game manuals will be located on the Shop Channel, not on the ROM.
– Games will be compressed, and will expand when they begin play
– Can move WiiWare games to SD card, or you can delete + redownload later
Downloadable content
– Buy content with Wii points
– Can purchase extra content for WiiWare games, disc games
– Additional content for disc games would be purchased in-game
– No date announced for downloadable content
Pay to Play – new Wi-Fi service
– Wi-Fi connection remains, but this is something else
– Subscribe to a particular game for some titles
– Use Wii points to play
– Red logo will be used so that consumers will not be confused
– Pricing, games, etc. were not announced
GDC hasn’t been filled with a ton the same type of announcements that are generally heard at E3, but an interesting tidbit has come out of the Boom Blox GDC conference.
Head tracking, which allows for players to experience environments with 3D depth, will be available in the game. Specifics, such as how exactly (previously recorded or custom levels?), the feature will be integrated remains to be seen, but it will be available.
It’s been a number of months since the Everyone’s Nintendo Channel was released in Japan, yet gamers have still been hopeful that it would release in other territories eventually. It appears to be that North American Wii owners are one step closer to being able to download the channel.
According to Tom Prata, Nintendo is attempting to bring the channel overseas so that consumers who are interested in specific WiiWare titles will be able to look at the game information, and ultimately judge based on the details provided if the game is suitable for them.
“…Nintendo of Japan also has the “Everyone’s Nintendo Channel” which is used to cover content, and we’re working on making that available to the North American market as well. What that will allow is the consumer to find the content and get familiar and more educated with it, and make their decision based on that.” – Tom Prata (senior director of project development of Nintendo of America)
Already a firm favourite with Wii owners, Virtual Console is once again expanding its catalogue, this time with the addition of a whole new games format. Later this year, Wii owners will be able to enjoy classic titles from the best selling personal computer of all time, the Commodore 64. These titles join classic gems from the likes of Nintendo, SEGA, Turbografx and NEOGEO already available via the Wii Shop Channel.The release of the Commodore 64 in 1982 was an historic moment for the computer and video games industry. According to the Guinness Book of World Records it remains the best selling single computer model of all time, with an estimated 22 million units sold. Its immense popularity saw an unrivalled collection of over 4,000 rich games titles released through its production lifetime (1982-1994), helping to establish the C64 as a ‘gamers favourite’. Now, some of the greatest Commodore 64 titles will be made available for Wii owners to download and play via the Virtual Console service.
Bala Keilman, CEO of Commodore Gaming, commented, “The massive impact the Commodore 64 had on video-gaming is still evident today with many gamers remembering the computer and its games with great fondness. By working with Nintendo of Europe, we are ensuring that future generations of gamers can play some of the best and most popular titles that kick-started the computer games revolution and so keep the C64 legacy in gamers hearts.”
01. [WII] Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo) – 142,000 / 1,213,000
02. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) – 63,000 / 1,484,000
03. [NDS] Tokimeki Memorial: Girls Side 2nd Season (Konami) – 56,000 / NEW
04. [PS2] Poison Pink (Banpresto) – 53,000 / NEW
05. [PS2] Kimi Kiss (Enterbrain) – 34,000 / NEW
06. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) – 22,000 / 2,781,000
07. [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren’s Ambition, The Axis’ Threat (Bandai-Namco) – 22,000 / 144,000
08. [NDS] Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo) – 21,000 / 222,000
09. [PS3] Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom) – 18,000 / 255,000
10. [NDS] Naruto: Shippuuden Dairansen! Kage Bunshin Emaki (Takara-Tomy) – 17,000 / NEW
Mr. Sakurai, the director of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, recently sat down to conduct an interview. One of the things mentioned was that Sakurai had hoped for voice chat, and possibly even text chat with a keyboard to be included, but certain “rules” restricted him for allowing the opportunity to fall through, and the feature was eventually canned.
Sakurai also pointed out that, although he would be interested in creating a Smash game for the DS, there are no plans for him personally to create a game. He was quick to point out that all future proceedings would be left up to Nintendo to plan out.
1 (1) Super Mario Bros 3
2 (3) Mario Kart 64
3 (4) Super Mario Bros
4 (2) Super Street Fighter 2
5 (7) Super Mario 64
6 (6) Super Mario World
7 (5) 1080 Snowboarding
8 (8) The legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time
9 (9) Bomberman 93
10 (10) Super Mario Bros 2
11 (20) Lords of Thunder
12 (13) The Legend of Zelda
13 (14) The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past
14 (15) Paper Mario
15 (12) Pac-Man
16 (11) Sonic 3
17 (18) Pokemon Snap
18 (16) Sonic
19 (17) Bubble Bobble
20 (E) Yoshi’s Story
Hey folks,
Wanted to give you guys an update about a few things. I received the impression that many of you wanted a new design for the website. However, a number of you wanted the old design as well. Well, I’ve managed to come across a compromise. A new design has been put up on the site, but you can change layouts at any time. Personally, I’m enjoying the new design a lot, but the old one isn’t too shabby either. I had hoped to integrate the red color a bit more, though it really wasn’t fitting in with the new design. I hope you like it nonetheless! The theme changer is toward the bottom of the page.
I’d also like to introduce the forums. These forums are new, so I encourage anyone who is interested to join. I do not expect them to grow at an exponential rate or anything, but hopefully in time, it can become a nice, compact community. It will really be up to you – the visitors – to make the forum something special. I do plan on changing it a bit, and making the necessary corrections/additions, but I think it will do for now.
Once again, I encourage anyone who is interested in the forums to join!
The latest European Mario Kart press release has confirmed that some type of communication – whether it be voice or text – will be one of Mario Kart Wii’s online features.
“In addition to all this a new Wii Channel, the Mario Kart Channel, will also be launched with Mario Kart Wii. Players will be able to monitor their ranking against others with data compiled from races completed online as well as also access and share Ghost Data to download. Why not see if your friends are playing by checking their status or even better still set up a room in which you can chat to them before a race starts? Players even have the possibility to join in on their friends races in progress as a spectator and jump into the race when the next course launches. Through this channel, users will be exposed to a host of new online features allowing them to join a community of racing fans from all over the world as well as participate in special worldwide events organised by Nintendo.”
