Posts Tagged wii

A Sonic game with fast

Sonic Unleashed Banner

New footage (below) leaked from Sega’s own ftp site shows the recently announced Sonic Unleashed game in action. There is still very little known about this game other than:

  • it has a generous budget and development team
  • it will most likely come out on the Wii and XBOX360
  • it’s release date is in November, 2008
  • there will be a new character introduced

There is also an unconfirmed rumor that you will be able to play as a werewolf form of Sonic (which would explain the screenshot).

More screenshots, including hi-res, and info here.

Tags: , , , ,

Massive mod chip raids

Due to a weird interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Nintendo and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided 32 locations in 16 states in search of mod chip makers and distributors.

Their interpretation? and why is US Customs involved? Because the chips violate the region encoding on the consoles. And also the belief that the chips were being “imported”.

This warranted all-out raids and arrests. Yeah. Screw the courts system, we’ll just raid everyone for this extremely violent crime. Mod chips are, after all, a gateway drug.

Guess which department “US ICE” is under. The Department of Homeland Security. Good ol’ Patriot Act to the rescue again!

Nintendo supports the raids, and they should because they were the ones that initiated contact with US ICE about doing this kind of thing in the first place.

Tags: , , , ,

Wii Swordplay in Soul Calibur: Legends

I really need to get a Wii.

As I’ve said on here a million times, I’m not much of a console gamer. Or at least, I don’t really consider myself one. I played all the classic Atari, Coleco, and Nintendo titles, but things got banal and monotonous for me after the Sega Genesis, and even that console had a vast pit of crappy games to go with the few gems.

I got the Xbox only after it had been out awhile, had dropped in price, and specifically to use as a media player/linux pc platform. I never even bought the PS or PS2, although I’ve played them a few times.

But there are three genres of games I prefer on consoles: Driving, Sports, and Fighting. Those just aren’t as fun on a PC, and translate much better to sitting in front of the TV with a controller.

My favorite fighting game series is Soul Calibur. I bought that game immediately after buying the Xbox, and it is definitely my most played Xbox title. It had stunning graphics and animation back then, and still looks and plays damn good today.

And now comes Soul Calibur: Legends for the Wii. We all know about the controller and we anticipate great things to be done with it. A couple weeks ago the trailer for the new Lego Star Wars on the Wii showed a first taste of what lightsaber battles could be like. But I had no idea they were going to integrate a Soul Calibur title to be used with it. This series stresses melee weapon combat, and does it better and more varied than any other fighting game. Now we can wear ourselves out swinging the staff or whipping Eve’s sword. I can only picture good things ahead. At least, after I finally get ahold of a Wii.

Tags: , , , ,

Sony buckles, drops PS3 price by $100

In a move everyone could predict, Sony swallowed their pride and finally dropped the price of the PS3 to $500. Just a bit higher than the most expensive Xbox360 package. This move should increase their sales somewhat, but as usual, they are making broad, boastful claims about it:

“Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum,” Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview.

Well, whatever. But I guess they figured it was safe to lose some money per console, as Microsoft dropped the big bombshell of extending everyone’s warranty on the XBOX360, costing them over a billion dollars, last week. Plus, Sony doesn’t exactly like being ignored at E3, which starts in a few days.

And the Wii, well you still can’t even find it in stores. Keep on truckin’.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Anyone can make some Wii

Nintendo announced WiiWare, which allows anyone with some developer moxie to produce games for the Wii.

“Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. “WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners.”

Tags: , , ,

XBOX360 could drop to $199

Bloomberg catches a blurb from a Microsoft executive.

“We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really 199 bucks,” said David Hufford, a director of Xbox product management.

This would definitely make me buy one. I want a Wii as well, but man, there are some very good games for the XBOX360 platform. Everyone knows that they make all of their money off of the game sales anyways. While a price drop would make it take longer to accomplish breaking even per user, it would make the overall users explode in number.

Unfortunately Sony will never learn this lesson. They are far too proud and pompous of their visionary PS3. It is time for Microsoft to be smart and take the hit for the future of their console, as the Wii is leaving everyone in the dust.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Wii Ocean-sized

In the quest for bigger and better screens, the obvious choice is to play games in a movie theater. Right?

The only thing that can trump this is an IMAX Wii Experience.

Tags: ,

One Million Wii (or is it Wiis?) for North America

Nintendo said they wanted two million Wii sales in North America the first year of release. The shocker is that they are now saying they will have one million of those at launch.

I think they may still be slightly hard to get because of the pricepoint, but for one million consoles, anyone should be able to easily get one the first week. At least it won’t be the same crunch as the XBOX360 had. Sony still says they will have around 300K PS3′s at launch, but with their price (even after the 20% decrease announced a week aggo) the demand will not be as high. And their hype is in the crapper.

Tags: , ,

Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam for the Wii

Yet another reason for the Wii, a new Tony Hawk game that combines his old style of games with an SSX racing style. You don’t use the Wii Remote for this one, but it still uses the motion sensing controller, as can be seen in this video for Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam:

Tags: ,

Now Wii have a date: November 19

Wii logoNintendo announced today the price and release date for it’s hyped-to-the-breaking-point system, the Wii. It will be $250 MSRP in the US and will hit the shelves November 19. With the launch package you get one multi-game called Wii Sports, which features Tennis, Ping Pong, Baseball, Golf, and Flying.

Also, the official Wii website was launched today.

If even someone such as I (a lover of PC gaming) am tempted to pre-order, this thing is going to be huge.

I must have had a premonition about this yesterday, because I signed up for another free hardware site, for, of course the Wii. If you love me, you will sign up. Really!

Tags: ,

PangYa!

albatross18 bobI have no idea what it means, but that is the battlecry of the Albatross18 golf game.

While I’m not a big fan of golf, I have enjoyed a few rounds of Tiger Woods on the XBOX in my time. Albatross18 was introduced to me a couple weeks ago as Korean MMO golf game. I was slightly intrigued by a couple demo movies on their site, so I signed up. It turns out this game is a blast and the physics in it work surprisingly well.

There are a few modes of gameplay. The most popular is versus, where you play against up to 4 other people trying to get the lowest score and the highest Pang. This is played similar to real golf, where everyone takes a turn until everyone sinks the ball. There are also 30+ player tournaments which you don’t directly see the other players and play pretty much as fast as you can swing. You can see other players ball locations and standings, but that’s it. I learned quickly that you really have to book to finish 18 holes in 30 minutes.

While it seems to have a bit of lolicon influence, the characters are really well animated. Where they make their money is from the hordes that love to trick out the styles and ubergame the stats of their characters. This can be done with “Pang”, which is a money type system earned through game wins and extra style. Also, you can use “Cookies” which are only available by purchasing with real money. Most of the stuff bought with Pang is pure fluff, while Cookies buy the majority of the sought after stat boosters and outfits.

I actually have no problem with no stat enhancements, but I can see where they would be helpful. I have already won many versus games against people who are relatively decked out. Skill is definitely the main factor.

Speaking of skill, there are many “special move” type shots, such as the tomahawk, cobra, and super spins. More are expected in the next “Season” (they call new versions of the game “Seasons”).

The current season:

Upcoming Season 3:

What I just found out yesterday is that they are making a version of this game for the Wii. It will be called PangYa, and, of course, utilizes the versatile Wii Remote for the golf swings. It looks like a blast. I swear I haven’t wanted a console so bad since I was a kid.

Tags: , , , ,

Wii fishing

Here’s a couple demos of the Wii shown recently. They show fishing in the Wii Zelda game. I love how the little satellite “nunchuk” controller works in harmony with the Wii Remote.


bonus! old NES commercial for the original Zelda:

Tags: , , , ,

Wii, Austin-style

Wii logoWhile this could go the way of elitist hobnobbing, it also has some great potential.

Details are emerging of Nintendo doing their own viral marketing just before the release of the Wii console. They will be having private parties in select major cities. In fact, Austin is one of the only four cities rumored. The others are LA, Chicago, and Denver. Nintendo chooses several people as hosts and those luckies invite 30 of their closest friends. Little is known about the content of the parties beyond messing with the new console and guests being whisked there in secret. The parties will start in mid-October.

The quality of the parties will be in the hosts. Who are how they are picking them is anyone’s guess at this point. Will they pick local celebs, hardcore Nintendo geeks, General gamer types, or regular people wandering down SoCo? I doubt it will be entirely random.

Seems that they are trying to make it sorta trendy, so I would bet they are going for the 4th-6th street crowd or possibly even focus on University of Texas students.

A bit ago I reported that Nintendo was going to be promoting the Nintendo Wii grassroots style by using a series of private sessions with regular gamers and non-gamers across the country.

Nintendo is going to use some mysterious formula to calculate buzz and cool and then select a few people as “hosts” for this private Wii parties. The plan, it sounds like, is for Nintendo to select a few of these hosts for each city.

Then the host gets to invite a couple dozen friends, family and the like. The hope, I hear, is that it won’t be just a Wii and 30 Nintendo fanboys. What Nintendo really wants is a nice mix of soccer moms, dads, grandmas, worker bees, technophiles and, yes, some hardcore gamers.

The event will feature a number of Wii games, but the only two I’ve been able to nail down are Wii Sports and WarioWare: Smooth Moves.

More from Kotaku

Tags: , , , ,

Wii vs. PS3

I’m annoyed by the Mac vs. PC ads.

Well, the current ones, not the previous ones that had a pleasant quirkiness. Not because I mainly use a PC (guess what Mac users? your Mac is actually a PC with a BSD operating system!), but because of the misinformation and blatant marketing to the stupids.

Anyways, here’s a funny spoof:

Tags: ,

Wii Tennis Video

When Nintendo first started talking about the Nintendo Revolution, it sounded like a bunch of hype. I mean, they promised alot for the Gamecube, too, but the final product wasn’t all that impressive.

Later they showed off their unique controller design. This tweaked my interest, but it still seemed like spin to try and drum up support with little actual planning behind it.

Lately there have been a flood of demos and videos released, just before and after the name change to Wii, especially. Each one I see makes me want this console more and more, and I am not much of a console player.

Miyamoto demos the Nintendo controller by playing Tennis on the Wii, in this video. I have to admit, this is how I imagined future gaming would be like when I would wile away hours at the arcade as a kid in the ’80s. Nintendo is really onto something here, and if they can pull it off, especially at a decent pricepoint, I think it’s going to be massive.

Tags: , , ,

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes