News: May 2007 Archives
Santa Cruz Games in collaboration with Pipeworks Software are set to bring back Godzilla back onto gaming TV screens worldwide, and with a roar.
Since the Godzilla films had been officially put to sleep in 2004 to try and renew interest in the franchise, it did not mean the same could be said about the gaming adventures of Tokyo’s favourite green giant.
A total of 23 familiar faces (+ two new characters) will be on the menu to wreak havoc across the globe where familiar territory will provide the games backdrop and selectable areas. One of the areas is rumoured to be Sidney - an area best remembered in Godzilla: Final Wars where both the original Godzilla and his unpopular American namesake duked it out. The 23 monsters (+ new characters) will be categorised into 4 different factions: "Earth Defenders", "Aliens", "Global Defense Forces" and “Unknown”. Even though the monsters will be affiliated with their faction they will still have their own individual agenda in the storyline of the game.
Godzilla: Unleashed is being made specifically to be played by the Wii control system, giving this Monster Mash a more exclusive establishment on Nintendo’s wonder console. Godzilla: Unleashed is set for an Autumn release, and we'll cover it once it's ready. After the last film franchise, for us it's a case of 'the only way is up!'
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More and more recognition is pouring in for the difference a Wii makes.
Today, Australian web site Newscom explained to the readers how Nintendo are 'crafty' and have created 'a family board game for the computer generation because it turns play into a community event instead of just a person versus a machine'.
"When you look at someone playing an Xbox 360 game you see his face is really hard and both hands are stuck on the controller. When you see someone playing Wii, you always see a smile and movement." said Xavier Poix of Ubisoft.
We have also noticed that everyone can actually play together when it's a Wii that goes on the television screen. Dads and Grandads can join their sons & daughters in a wild game of Wii Sports in oppose to staring rather blankly at the screen as they walk past and a serious Xbox game is playing, perhaps Gears of War. The individual, post modern approach of traditional consoles, that place gamers into their own little world and their own box is being out and out rejected by gamers. Even on the traditional formats, gamers now demand internet connectivity and Xbox LIVE! is at least leading the way in terms of getting everybody together over the net.
However, it's still little boxes all connecting to each other. With the Wii, there is no box at all.
What do you think?
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It's not too much to say that today marks a genuine landmark in the life of the modern gamer, for today is the day that new gamers everywhere get to 'go online' and play a game against real people through the internet for the very first time.
For some, this really will be a whole new thing. Not every Wii gamer is all pinged up on their ninja home PC network of fragging glory. Whilst a proportion of gaming is all excited this week over the pending release of Starcraft II, the fact remains that much of Nintendo's current audience probably have never heard the word Starcraft, much less own at it.
Mario Strikers Charged presents an easy concept for gamers to pick up and play that is directly competative (there are few people who don't understand the most basic concept of football/soccer) and yet fun for all ages. In the simplicity of it lies the secret of modern gaming; why it can appeal to Granny as easily as myself or my Dad ... or kid brothers who were practically raised with a SNES joypad in their hands.
Today, I'd encourage you to pick up Strikers Charged if you already have a Wii. If nothing else, join the foray into this new modern era of gaming spearheaded by the mighty DS. If it's not your cuppa tea, there's always eBay! We'll have the full review as soon as we're done invading Nintendo House ...
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"Unexpectedly high sales of Nintendo Wii, moderate sales of Microsoft Xbox 360 and weak sales of Sony PlayStation 3 may catalyze game developers to refocus their development priorities."
X-bit labs reported today in concise form what many analysts have been saying for weeks; and that is that putting various market factors together brings up the surprising picture of an unlikely leader (in the eyes of the techno crowd, anyway...), Nintendo. Especially it's little white Wii.
Oh - we so want a black Wii. That would be awesome on a stick.
Today, MSN featured a rather telling article all about the latest 'must have' cool technical bits of gadget wear, and the Wii was one of about five they showcased on the image advertising the article. Is it just a flash in the pan? We don't think so. Although there's a long way to go, we think the Wii is definately here to stay and with a great year of titles lined up and at that price? It's a good time to think about purchasing your very own little white box of fun.
Light, bright, and not in the slightest bit .... contrite? ;) (Ahem - Ed)
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July 30: Mario Strikers Charged
Aug. 20: Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
August:
High School Musical: Sing It!
Madden NFL '08
Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08
Space Station Tycoon
Brunswick Pro Bowling
Dave Mirra BMX Challenge
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
September:
Brothers in Arms
Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal
George of the Jungle
Battalion Wars 2
October:
Boogie
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Ever wanted to express yourself through your Mii in public, but don't want to invite every Tom, Dick and Harry into your lounge? Now you can. Those lovely folks down at Mr Cloud have invested in a Nintendo approved project called Mii on a Tee, where you can send them your Mii by adding them as a friend on your Wii, and they'll print your Mii's face onto a T shirt which you pay for, and then can wear with true pride around town. Awesome!
That is ... if you really want your own face staring out at everyone from your chest region. It's not for everyone, but with summer heading our way there will certainly be a place for funky, original T shirts.
The web site, www.MrCloud.com is open to anyone for use. Nintendo's UK PR reps are thoughtfully giving journo types today the option of receiving their Mii on a T shirt for free, to promote the Wii system. So, if you see us adding a picture soon with one Kim Kaze wearing a crazy Mii T shirt, that's why!
Get in on the action if you want; send us your Mii Tee images to kimkaze at denofwii .com
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A few blogs and news sources today are highlighting Capcom's Christian Svensson recently discussing the Wii's ability for online gaming. As this week sees the confirmation that Mario Strikers Charged will let players compete with other teams via the internet, it should be an exciting prospect to imagine original gaming content designed for the Wii, being available to buy via online connection just as we currently do with Virtual Console games.
Although technically a step behind the competition in this arena, Capcom say the Nintendo machine is physically able to produce this. They just haven't 'turned on' to it just yet. We're playing a waiting game while the Wii establishes itself via the Voting channel and of course, the purchasing of retro games. I think Nintendo will be interested to see how gamers take to playing online in Mario Strikers Charged.
We have been waiting all along for the Wii to truely become an online gaming machine with original games to buy over the net, but known that it's never been a priority for the big N so far. Hopefully that'll change very soon, Mario Strikers Charged will do very well and in six month's time, all this internet starvation will seem like a bad dream ...
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It's just been announced by Eidos that Tomb Raider: Anniversary is now being developed for the Wii.
The game will present newer and unique ways of controlling Lara Croft via the nunchuck and remote controll. No actual word has been said as to when this game will be released, but with versions out next month for other platforms, it can be certain that Lara Croft’s first outing on the Wii isn’t following far behind!
We're bouncing with excitement already!
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The Wii version of Soul Caliber is set to debut this winter in the form of a third person adventure.
Soul Caliber: Legends will focus on familiar and new faces from the beat/slash em up series on their personal quest for ‘Ultimate Power’. Using different motions with a combination of the wiimote and nunchuck will perform your character's range of moves as they do battle with an array of enemies and rock solid bosses. As you progress through the game, your character will also get to bag some new tricks along the way!
More news on this game as we get it ...
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The last few years have seen a surge in comic book heroes (and villans) on the big screen, translating across to gaming formats in doing so. The very next outing looks like it's going to belong to one cool customer - The Silver Surfer.
2K Games and Seven Studios are bringing Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer to the Wii on June 15th 2007, planning of course to link up with the movie release. It will also be released across most other formats, but as usual the Wii version will operate differently and make use of the Wii's special features and abilities.
Set in a third person action setting, we await the results of yet another movie licence with baited breath. Will it soar, or bomb? One thing's for sure - Dr Doom brings a certain darkness to any comic book based video game that's more than welcome. We'll report more on this one as we get it.
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No, we're not pretending. It's true.
Sega are to bring their arcade hit title Ghost Squad to the Wii early in 2008. The Wii remote will be used as a multi-tool (much like it can 'become' almost anything in Wario Ware) enabling the player to defuse bombs, attack the enemy and rescue innocents out to do their weekly grocery shopping as it all kicks off down town!
“Ghost Squad was a great success at the arcades because it provided players with instantly exciting gameplay, coupled alongside well thought out pace,” said Gary Knight from SEGA Europe. “The Wii version has mirrored this entirely and is a brilliant way to bring all the arcade excitement into gamers homes. Ghost Squad utilises the Wii Remote perfectly as a light gun, resulting in the game being a total blast.”
Weapon selection is varied; everything from machine guns, submachine guns, pistols, sniper rifles, shotguns, and even crossbows. Ghost Squad features four different modes of play; Arcade, Multiplayer, Training and Special. Players can also track their personal performances against other players via the Wii’s online functionality - perhaps a sniff towards the sort of competative edge that Xbox's LIVE service brings to those who use it? We'll see.
It's fantastic news to see a mature shooter title on the way to the Wii; let's hope for more of the same to pad out the constant flow of fun titles.
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What's that you say? There's only TWO Wii Virtual Console releases this week in Europe & the UK? Fiddle faddle!
We're not sure why, but for whatever reason this is the case. This week's offerings come from two retro machines - Nintendo's NES and the Turbografx (PC Engine). Firstly, Mario and Luigi strike the greens in the golf simulator, NES Open Tournament Golf (1992). Bringing up the rear for the Turbografx is something of a different genre entirely; the action title Ninja Spirit! Donning your black Ninja costume will set you back 600 Wii points, whilst swinging out the clubs on the green will only cost you a piddling 500.
Compared to last week, it feels a little quiet - golf being very much a pick-up-and-play experience and only Ninja Spirit to pick up the adventure or action line. Considering last week's offerings included several games with adventuring and even RPG elements, we think Nintendo can be forgiven for balancing it off with this week.
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News has reached us that the Virtual Console will soon be graced with another TMNT outing from the past. This game for the NES catalogue will be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.
March this year also saw the original Ninja Turtles game from Konami surfacing on the Virtual Console, a game that Nintendo used to boost sales of the NES in the console wars with Sega. The second NES TMNT outing is a version of the popular original arcade machine which saw Mike, Raph, Don and Leo fight their way through Shredder and the Foot Clan in true old-skool scrolling beat em up fun.
This weekend also marks the 24th anniversary of the Ninja Turtles, so this game is likely to be very welcomed by Wii owning TMNT fans.
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At the moment a surprising partner is lapping up their ability to release exclusive content to Nintendo machines, and it's a surprising customer perhaps - EA.
Best known for their throngs of sporting titles, games that often suit the hardcore gamer and of course, The Sims - EA have recently been very keen on releasing Wii versions of their big brand names, as well as developing exclusive software.
The latest talking topic is somthing that's currently dubbed EA Playground. IGN have published a preview of the as-yet-unannounced game, a mini-game based title for Wii owners. The DS version will have different mini games to the Wii, with each machine's unique abilities being focused on. We don't know if the game will be online, but we do know that it will be multi player.
I would expect the big bucks and big guns to be firing on this one. EA tend not to invest in things by halves, so I would expect as much interactivity as possible and varying games on both consoles. I'm particuarly interested in seeing how the DS microphone is used.
It's good to see EA making full use of the Wii's ability to play games differently. After all the hard work of the developers, the Wii could have flopped if nobody had caught the vision of making even multiformat games run using the Wii control methods of tilting and moving in 3D space.
We'll be asking EA to provide more information about this upcoming little excitement, and promise a preview and review as soon as possible.
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Tinkering with cars that just won't go, vacuuming out the inside of your super cool PC case and perhaps trying ever so helpfully to get old Audrey's kettle working again. If that's anything like you, then you're the sort of geek who might think about hacking his or her Wii remote and trying to control other devices with Nintendo's little rod of joy.
Obviously the official line is that no device intended for 'Wii-ing' ought to be tampered with in any way, as it will certainly void the warranty. But that hasn't stopped fans globally from trying and in some cases, controlling even sword-wielding robots with their Wii hacking!
WiiBot is the pet project of two engineers who have created a mechanical arm which they control using the Wii remote. Also using the Wii's innovation are DJs and other fans of remote moving.
Whilst we don't recommend that you break out the screwdrivers and start screwing, it's clear that the Wii has enabled some people with technical expertise to enhance the controller for other, non officially recommended uses. We'd love to hear from anyone who has done this successfully - but the rest of you we strongly suggest leaving your Wii to be enjoyed as it is. Remember - it's not taking it apart that's hard. It's putting it back together afterwards!
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Welcome to the section where you the readers will soon have ultimate power - the Mii Gallery!
The idea of this is quite simply - your Miis, all in one place. We want to see the Miis that get you stirring; whether it's you, a famous celeb you just can't get enough of, your Mum or some bloke who wandered blindly onto your Mii parade and you thought he looked cool ...
Either send us digital photos of your Mii to kimkaze at denofwii .com or add us as your friend on your Wii system, and then once we've added you back, you can send us your Mii of choice. To speed things up, try emailing the address above with your own Wii number so that we can counter add you immediately.
Den Of Wii's Wii number is 5004 9332 2179 7450!
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The President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata has announced plans to release up to 45 new titles for the Wii, many of which will be available this year.
Speaking in Tokyo during a press conference, Iwatu revealed very few details about the new games that will no doubt increase Nintendo’s already massive market share; over the past financial year 29 million Wii titles were sold worldwide.
According to IGN, Nintendo have since officially announced that the following titles will be available in Japan later this year:
• Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race
• Wii Health Pack
• Disaster: Day of Crisis
• Mario Party 8
• Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
• Wii Music
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Battalion Wars II
• Forever Blue
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
The news will no doubt come as a relief to us Wii fans who have been crying out for more games for a while now. However, US and UK gamers will have to wait a while longer before they are able to purchase all of the above games, Japan as it does returning to it's throne of gaming priority. Now that’s just not fair!
Watch this space for more details.
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