REDMOND, Wash., April 10, 2008 – The ongoing excitement over Nintendo’s groundbreaking Wii™ system gets a surprise springtime boost with the announcement of a new game. Kicking off its semiannual media summit in San Francisco near the company’s new sales and marketing offices in Redwood City, Calif., Nintendo of America today revealed plans for Mario Super Sluggers™ for Wii, giving baseball fans even more reason to root this season.
“Mario is truly a one-of-a-kind character; clearly fans can’t get enough of him and his friends,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We’re giving Wii users brilliant new ways to enjoy him while expanding our series of active-play games.”
In the same spirit as other sports-themed Mario™ games on Wii like Mario Strikers® Charged and Mario Kart® Wii, Mario Super Sluggers blends richly interactive baseball action with eccentric characters and elements from across the popular Mario universe. Players can swing the wireless Wii Remote™ just like a real bat or wave it toward the plate to deliver a masterful pitch, enjoying the same intuitive, easy-to-learn controls that helped make Wii Sports™ a living room hit. With Mario and his unpredictable pals filling out the roster, imagination and active-play innovation are sure to dominate the diamond in this lively title, scheduled for release later this year.
Summary from IGN
Nintendo Media Summit begins. Cammie takes stage. Talks about her new role at Nintendo. Mentions Wii Fit. “Wii Fit can show people who have never had an interest in gaming that this is something that is a heck of a lot of fun to be involved with.” Dunaway also says, “Wii Fit is very much an answer to core gamers.”
Dunaway refers to Mario Kart as a “bridge” title that will appeal to both casual and hardcore players.
Confirms that NOA will spend some time over the next two days talking about WiiWare. (IGN knows of several WiiWare games expected to be demoed throughout Friday, including LostWinds.)
“Want to make sure that [Wii] is an opportunity for game developers to try something different.” References Boom Blox, de Blob and Guitar Hero DS.
One more piece of news: Mario Super Sluggers. Coming to America. “We think that this is going to take these three wonderful areas of Mario, baseball and the unique capabilities of the Wii remote and bring them together in an exciting experience.”
The past few days, you may have noticed that the number of news posts I’ve put up on the site has dwindled. This has been because I’ve been very sick, and just sitting at the computer has been an arduous job. For the most part, I’ve been resting. I’m starting to feel a bit better, so I’ll attempt to post more news. Moreover, I’ll start doing regular updates again shortly.
Anyway, that’s the situation with the site. I thought some of you would be interested to know about what’s been happening.
UPDATE: I’m pretty sure that this information is fake. The logo appears to be a near replica of the F-Zero AX logo.
Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. These big three Nintendo guns have been released on the Nintendo Wii, but other well-known franchises such as Animal Crossing and F-Zero have not. According to one particular source, “F-Zero Z” will be announced at this year’s E3. Fans can expect an online mode and a weapons system. Because this hasn’t been officially confirmed, I advise to stay hopefully optimistic.
Child abuse is no laughing matter and is, without a doubt, a severe problem in the United States. There are a few out-of-the-ordinary cases in which violence and videogames become interrelated in tragic events. Unfortunately, the two have come together once again, but not for the reasons you may think. A 2-year-old girl was beaten to death on Tuesday by her mother’s boyfriend with a videogame controller. It was not the first time the young child had been abused – due to injuries and bruises on the girl’s body, it was obvious that she had been abused before. Although this case was, most likely, not a result of video game violence, it’s a shame that videogames were involved, even in the slightest, in this saddening affair. Why on Earth anyone would harm a child – especially with a videogame controller – is beyond me.
Super Mario Stadium Family Baseball ? June 19 / 5,800 yen (tax included)
Disaster: Day of Crisis ? July 3 / 6,800 yen (tax included)
If these dates are to be believed, it’s quite possible that the North American audience will receive these games this year. Usually, games are released in North America a few weeks/months after they are released in Japan. So, it’s definitely possible that we’ll see these games fairly soon, or perhaps even before they come out in Japan.
Hm…Perhaps these are two games that Nintendo will feature at E3, and even their media summit.
Perfect Prosecutor (DS/Capcom)
* A law adventure game where you act as the prosecutor.
* Main characters are Miles Edgeworth, Dick Gumshoe
* You control Edgeworth, searching for overlooked evidence and inconsistencies at the crime scene.
* New search and deduction systems are introduced.
Twilight Syndrome: Legend of the Forbidden City (DS/????/7-24)
* New work within the series
* Main character, schoolgirl Mizuki, is led on a chain of horror after receiving a strange chain mail.
* Mizuki: UENO Mami, Riko: HORI Yuri, Reika: SHIHONO Ryo
* Scrolling right and left, you can examine interesting places, checking the truth of rumors
Band Brothers DX(DS/Nintendo/6-26)
* Over 30 tracks chosen from classical and J-pop
* Over 50 different instruments usable
* NES is a usable instrument
* Play guitar by strumming with the pen
* Up to 6-player local jam sessions
* Singing mode with karaoke for both base game and DLC
Review scores
We Are Fossil Diggers?8879
Let’s Invest DS 6676
* Over 100 tracks through DLC
Release dates
Nintendo DS
5/29 Infinite Frontier (BanNam)
6/19 Puyo Puyo Special Price (Sega)
6/26 Our Video Game Exam (BanNam)
6/26 Band Brothers DX (Nintendo)
7/24 Twilight Syndrome (Spike)
late July MoeSta~Moemoe Tokyo U English Exam~ (Mirai Shonen)
December Momotaro Dentetsu 20th Anniversary (Hudson)
summer Sangokushi Taisen AMA (Sega)
?? Perfect Prosecutor (Capcom)
?? Glory of Heracles (Nintendo)
Wii
6/5 Shiren the Wanderer 3 (Sega)
6/19 Puyo Puyo Special Price (Sega)
‘08 Battalion Wars VS (Nintendo
?? “Action Game” (BanNam)
?? Soul Eater: Monotone Princess (SE)
Sega Superstars Tennis (PS3, 360, Wii) 7.25 / 7.5
Okami (Wii) 9.25 / 8.5
Obscure: The Aftermath (Wii, PS2, PC) 3
Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed (Wii) 5
Worms: A Space Oddity (Wii) 6.75
Major League Baseball 2K8 (Wii) 6.75
Castle of Shikigami III (Wii) 6.5
The World Ends With You (DS) 8.25 / 8 *HANDHELD GAME of the MONTH
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS) 7.75 / 8
Lost in Blue 3 (DS) 6.25
Teenage Zombies (DS) 6.75
Puchi Puchi Virus (DS) 7.5
Insecticide (DS) 5.75
– Sony ‘Waggle’ controller brought up again
– Return of Road Rash rumored once more
