This information comes from the latest IGN Nintendo Voice chat. I don’t have enough time to complete the entire summary, but I thought you guys would be interested in hearing about The Conduit. In the podcast, the IGN Nintendo team were talking to a few of the developers from The Conduit.
– The Conduit is still at pre-alpha, working pretty heavily on multiplayer. About six months of development left to refine and polish. Single-player campaign has a lot done, you can play through the entire game right now. The core is done, working on details. Making sure everything looks and plays as good as it can.
– The Conduit has had full funding all the way through the project, thus High Voltage was not rushing to get a publisher. High Voltage is very close to announcing the publisher for The Conduit, should come in the next month.
– Eric Nofsinger says we should be very excited about their publisher, High Voltage weighed the decision heavily. It’s a “larger publisher.” Deal with the publisher included that, when the publisher is announced, High Voltage will still continue to provide the press with coverage concerning The Conduit, will push to start on the sequel right away. High Voltage was very choosey about the publisher for The Conduit.
– If High Voltage couldn’t do certain things right, they didn’t include them. Want everything to be high quality. For example, vehicles just couldn’t be done in the first game, will try to have it the second time around. High Voltage wants to make The Conduit as good an experience as the game can be.
– Pretty much everything is customizable in The Conduit. Movable UI interface should be up soon. Move grenade icons, weapon readouts to wherever you desire on the screen.
– High Voltage has upped the run speed, have been playing around with the analog stick from walk to run. Exploring the option of sprint. Land-locked on buttons, something on High Voltage’s to-do list.
– Since The Conduit, Eric Nofsinger has been getting a ton of fan email. Hand-written letters with envelope art, too.
– Have been working on LAN play with Nintendo. Haven’t gotten final approval yet, so nothing official. It is functioning in-house. High Voltage is excited about this as an option. High Voltage has had 12 player LAN play hooked up so far, will support 16 players on release.
– Online mode: Standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, CTF. Depending on how long some of these things take, but High Voltage is interested in adding more modes.
– So far, High Voltage has tested with about 13 people, hoping to test with 16 soon. Frame-rate held up really tightly during gameplay. No significant lag. Goal is to hit rock-solid 30 FPS, never dib. High Voltage is aware that there needs to be minimal lag for FPS titles.
– Even if you own a 360 or PS3, you should be excited about The Conduit about the controls. Obviously the team wants beautiful graphics and want to put out a core game for the Wii, but still want to deliver a different experience. It immediately feels like a new way to interact with a FPS. Closer to a PC experience, especially with customizable controls. Fixes the learning curve with dual analog setup.
– PAX build is 3-4 weeks old, AI has taken a step forward. People will be happy about the behaviors of the enemies.
– WiiSpeak and MotionPlus have NOT been confirmed. High Voltage is getting their development kits early in September. WiiSpeak seems like a more obvious fit, will try MotionPlus. If it’s a tack-on, High Voltage won’t use. It needs to add to the gameplay and make a better experience, but will make every effort to get it in there if it makes sense.
– High Voltage is even looking at things like the Wii balance board and determining if it makes sense. Joke about how sprint mode can be used by running on the balance board.
– WiiSpeak is pretty feasible for The Conduit. Again, High Voltage will have a better idea once the dev kits arrive. Seems like an obvious fit, especially with online.
– Art/tech over the past few months have been improved. A couple of more improvements are coming down the pipe. One of the big recent additions is depth of field (scope mode.) Put cursor over target will become focus, things in foreground/background will go out of focus. Dynamic lighting has been improved. Starting to look night and day.
– Splitscreen multiplayer mode probably not in this version (probably not enough time, other reasons), have been exploring some ideas of cooperative mode. High Voltage has been looking at other things that core gamers will appreciate.
– Developer blog for The Conduit launching on IGN soon.
Virtual Console
1 (1) – Super Mario Bros. 3
2 (N) – Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
3 (2) – Mega Man
4 (3) – Super Mario Bros.
5 (4) – Super Mario World
6 (5) – Sonic the Hedgehog
7 (6) – Super Mario Bros. 2
8 (8) – The Legend of Zelda
9 (9) – Super Mario 64
10 (N) – Ys Book I & II
11 (7) – Mario Kart 64
12 (10) – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
13 (11) – Punch-Out!!
14 (12) – Donkey Kong Country
15 (13) – Pac-Man
16 (14) – Paper Mario
17 (16) – Donkey Kong
18 (15) – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
19 (19) – Double Dragon
20 (17) – Kirby’s Adventure
WiiWare
1 (1) – Strong Bad Episode 1 – Homestar Ruiner
2 (2) – My Pokémon Ranch
3 (5) – Defend your Castle
4 (4) – Dr Mario Online Rx
5 (3) – Wild West Guns
6 (N) – My Aquarium
7 (6) – Frat Party Games – Pong Toss
8 (8) – Midnight Pool
9 (17) – Helix
10 (7) – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
11 (9) – TV Show King
12 (10) – LostWinds
13 (11) – Family Table Tennis
14 (12) – Cocoto Fishing Master
15 (13) – Gyrostarr
16 (16) – V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
17 (14) – Block Breaker Deluxe
18 (15) – Pirates – The Key of Dreams
19 (18) – SPOGS Racing
20 (N/A) – Magnetica Twist
“Well, when it comes down to it, it’s up to the fans’ needs, and we don’t feel that there’s actually a certain number that we should stop at. But each Final Fantasy series has a lot of unique characters, and a world, and we receive lots of feedback from fans, saying, ‘We want to see more of this character!’ or, ‘We want to see more of this situation!’ So, we take those into account, and try to create new side stories based on that. So we’re not necessarily conscious of a certain limit that we have to stop at.” – producer Shinji Hashimoto
A few new details have hit the newswire regarding Little King’s Story for Wii. The game will not have any online features, which seems to even include WiiConnect24 support. Granted, not every game, especially Little King’s Story, truly needs online functions. Also, a surprise announcement of sorts will be revealed at the Tokyo Game Show this October regarding local multiplayer. Any type of specifics were not mentioned although the event is less than two months away.
– Music clips can be recorded + sent to friends
– Orchestra mode accompanies the main mode (kind of like a mini-game)
– ‘Ring the hand bell along with the pattern’ mini-game (like Simon Says)
Whenever one steps into the driver’s seat, there’s always the possibility of a car accident whether the event is caused by a passenger or a maniac on the road. Although, who would ever believe that Grand Theft Auto would actually save a family that was involved in car trouble?
The Norris family was en-route to meet up with relatives when Robert Norris Jr., the father of the family, was feeling a bit lightheaded and swerved off the road. After a few flips and tumbles, the car eventually ended up right by a ditch. Fortunately, it was one of the Norris daughters, Audrey Plique, who saved the family.
Plique knew that if she didn’t get the rest of her family out of the car, her loved ones might end up seriously injured – at the least. She helped everyone exit the car and lead them to safe ground.
Karen Norris, Audrey’s mother, commented on the situation. “She just knew, from playing ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ She saw on there that when a car rolls over, it can blow up. She knew that could happen to us.”
(2) PC 98
(3) Nintendo DS 78
(1) Handy 76
(5) Wii 27
(6) Xbox 360 14
(6) PSP 13
(7) PlayStation3 12
(4) PlayStation2 8
Note: Number in parenthesis indicates position from last year
Mario to Deliver Major-League Excitement as Seattle Mariners Face New York Yankees
Nintendo’s Star Player Gives Fans a Shot at Mario Super Sluggers for Wii
WHAT:
The action at Seattle’s Safeco Field will be wilder than ever on Sept. 5 when video game icon Mario™ takes over the diamond. While the hometown Mariners square off against the New York Yankees, Nintendo’s world-famous plumber will give spectators even more to cheer about, offering fans a special opportunity to enjoy his latest game for the Wii™ console, Mario™ Super Sluggers.
