Nintendo Power - August Issue Info:
1. Capcom - no plans to bring Okami to the Wii
2. Ghost Squad - 25 weapons, thermal and night vision
3. My Word Coach - Dr. Tom Cobb of McGill University worked on the game, four cartoon coaches, 11 different exercises, 15,000-word dictionary
4. Carnival Games - 20 games, 15 bonus games, 4 player
5. Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground - Nail the Trick, Grab, and Manual. Create customized videos
6. Battalion Wars 2 - September
7. Soul Calibur Legends - development started in early 2006, wasn’t intended to be Wii exclusive at first. Timing is important to attacks. Egyptian themed level, gigantic bosses that take up the whole screen. “A 16th-century empire is on the brink of destruction and involves Siegfried with his gradual transformation into the “maleficent Nightmare” Takes place right after Soul Blade. 480p, 16:9 and 60fps
8. Tomb Raider Anniversary - Aim weapons in real time via Wiimote, nunchuk motion for quick dodge or grappling hook. Wii exclusive puzzles that take advantage of Wii controls.
9. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers - 4 character races return, main character is more of an adult. Story driven, very cinematic.
10. Team Ninja’s Itagaki interview excerpt: “(Note: he wants to see Pikmin 3 on Wii…) I think it’s (Wii) a very interesting piece of hardware, and it’d be interesting for us to challenge that area as well. The Wii has kind of carved its own niche within the home console arena. It’s almost in an entire category by itself. I do think that it’s totally different from the DS, though…I think it would depend on how you make it (a hard-core action title on Wii). You would really have to design it for the strengths of the hardware. If you used the kind of control scheme that most developers are using right now for the Wii and tried to do a really hard-core action game, I think people would just throw up their hands and say “No, we can’t deal with that”. The Wii has its own reason for existence. If you don’t adapt what you’re doing to fit that, then there’s not much point in bringing an action game to the platform. (regarding possible Wii action game) I’m currently brain-training about that right now (laughs).”
11. Eiji Aonouma would love to make a “Wind Waker” for the Wii.
12. Geometry Wars: Galaxies - 50-level, new enemies, new multiplayer component, eight hours of gameplay
Game Ratings:
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition - 9.0/10
Ratatouille - 7.5/10
Scarface: The World is Yours - 7.5/10
Harry Potter: OotP - 7.0/10
Pokemon Battle Revolution - 6.5/10
The BIGS - 6.0/10
Legend of the Dragon - 5.5/10
Next Month - Metroid Prime 3, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008.
GameTrailers Updates:
- Resident Evil 4 Cube Vs. PC
- Video Game Vault: Karnov
- Need for Speed ProStreet announcement trailer
- Dewy’s Adventure trailer
- Manhunt 2 “bad memories”
- Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer developer interview
- Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer “fearsome foursome”
- Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer “clobberin’ time”
GameVideos Updates:
- Need for Speed ProStreet “drift”
- Mario party 8 “at the chomp wash”
- Dewy’s Adventure “controls”
- Super Mario Bros. blooper reel
- Manhunt 2 “perfect weapon”
- Wiimote as an Xbox 360 controller
- Prototype for Pollen Sonata
- Tomb Raider: Anniversary “dev diary 5?
- Punch-Out!! Michael Jackson
GameSpot Update:
- Mushroom Men art
- Tamagotchi Party On! review
- Activision’s results meet record expectations
- The BIGS swings on Wii
- Tamagotchi Party On! videos
IGN Updates:
- Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl screens
- Manhunt 2 footage
- Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition trailer
- Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles trailer (link broken right now)
- Dewy’s Adventure trailer
- The BIGS in-game soundtrack
- EU Big Brain Academy Opens in July
- New York Assembly Restricts Game Sales
GameTrailers Updates:
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 “baseball challenge”
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 “carrot spitting”
- My Word Coach DS to Wii connectivity
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 trailer
- Shrek the Third TV spot
- Rayman Raving Rabbids “burger serving”
- Rayman Raving Rabbids “rodeo demo”
- Cosmic Family trailer
- Tomb Raider Anniversary “enter the tyrant”
GameVideos Updates:
- Mario Paint “Sonic theme”
- Mario Paint “Tetris theme”
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 “transform”
- Carnival Games trailer
GameSpot Updates:
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 becomes Wii, DS exclusive
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 interview
- Rayman Raving Rabbids multiplayer demo hands-on
- My Word Coach Wii screens
- Horsez 2 Wii screens
- Cosmic Family screens
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii screens
- Boogie trailer 2
- Carnival Games hands-on
- The Bigs hands-on
IGN Updates:
This are the Bigs Wii Gameplay Features:
2K Sports, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today features for The BIGS™, the larger-than-life Major League Baseball® licensed title coming out this summer. The BIGS delivers a unique pick-up-and play baseball video game experience driven by quick reflex timing and smart power-up strategies, with highlight reel moments on every play.
“With The BIGS, we want to take the baseball genre to new heights and redefine what a baseball video game can be,” said Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio. “The BIGS has the fast learning curve of an arcade game coupled with deep play mechanics, amazing visuals, and hero-like presentation of real MLB® players that will keep gamers coming back for more. The BIGS will showcase dramatic highlight reel moments at every at-bat, creating a truly epic baseball title.”
Fans will redefine the baseball highlight reel by performing dramatic wall grabs, spectacular diving plays, and epic homeruns. Unique and intuitive gameplay controls deliver a new baseball experience, while advanced power-up mechanics add exciting depth with each turn. Turbo gameplay raises the action bar to new heights, and culminates in the ultimate batter pitcher power-up duel, where either the pitcher’s Big Heat will be the turning point, or the batter’s Power Blast will be the explosive end to the game. In The BIGS, every play is a big play.
In The BIGS, each MLB player has been individualized to emphasize their extraordinary athletic attributes. The development team paid great attention to detail to portray a player’s face and physical characteristics so baseball fans will easily recognize their favorite players. To deliver the authentic MLB atmosphere, stadium landmarks have been stylized to highlight the unique architecture of each MLB ballpark. Whether it’s the glove at San Francisco’s AT&T Park resized to mammoth proportions or the left field wall in Boston’s Fenway Park made into a real “Green Monster,” gamers will be in awe at the grandeur of each stadium in The BIGS.
The BIGS will be available this summer for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and Nintendo’s Wii™.
Codename revolution has a summary of the contents of the Nintendo Power January 2007 issue:
Here is the January 2007 issue of Nintendo Power featuring first Wii reviews and with Twilight Princess on the front cover!
UPDATE 1: Nintendo plans to bring more Wii console colors “down the road”, but there is no set time-line of their release.UPDATE 2: Nintendo Power has confirmed that it made a mistake about the Opera Web Browser in the previous issue and that you WILL be able to download it for free until mid-June 2007!
UPDATE 3: Current top selling Gamecube game is LEGO Star Wars II.
Wii’ Most Wanted:
1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
3. Super Mario Galaxy
4. Fire Emblem
5. Harvest Moon WiiUPDATE 4: Nintendo Power confirms that Wii Play (w/Wii Remote) will be available in January! Also new screenshots (that were shown from Nintendo World 2006) of Fire Emblem, MP3, Disaster, Hammer and Mario Part 8 are shown and Metroid Prime 3 looks really sweet!
UPDATE 5: The BIGS, a baseball title from 2K Sports and Big Castle Games will include online play! Cooking Mama will include more than 300 real-world recipes from 10 different countries. Super Swing Golf will be released in December 2006.
UPDATE 6: First feature is on WarioWare: Smooth Moves: Some of the mini-games included are scrubbing a cow, a “wild wild west” classic duel shoot-out, a can-shooter, a slapping game, samurai “microgames”, sketch artist, number matching (from brain age), paper airplane, Balloon fight, darts, a diner game, a waiter game, a chauffeur game, a soccer game and more. In multiplayer mode, you can have up to 12 players (switching Wii-motes from one player to another) and throughout the game itself it will include Mii’s. In a multiplayer mini-game your Mii’s end up tightened by a rope, hanging and below your Mii is a swamp filled with crocodiles and your goal is to survive. There are also mini-games involving Nintendogs and even Link in Wind Waker (parachuting).
UPDATE 7: Next feature is on Virtual Console and while there is nothing new, Ristar is listed as one of the “31? games for the launch window. Next feature is on Twilight Princess: (Note: Skip to the next update if needed, this one contains Spoilers) When you start the game (in Ordon Village) for a third-time, you’ll earn a piece of heart. Get some explosives at Kakariko Village and to earn two extra pieces of heart, hit a rock on a high ledge wit ha bomb arrow and use a boomerang to collect it. Destroy a larger rock on the ground to open a path to a pool and another treasure. Get help from Gorons after you return from the mines, to climb the tower on the north end and at the top you’ll be able to start an archery mini-game (you can earn a piece of heart). Visit Malo Mart to purchase a “telescopic” Hawkeye for sniper-like shooting.
When you fill the third Vessel of Light, Castle Town will be “full of life” and you can find a man on the east road who accepts donations and for 1,000 rupees, he’ll give you a piece of heart. Give 1,000 rupees to the Goron at Malo Mart for fixing the bridge, give an additional 2,000 rupees to bring the shop at the center of Castle Town so oyu can purchase a Magic Armor for 598 rupees. There is a STAR Minigame, and with a Clawshot you can grapple onto cage walls so you can earn 60-arrows and if you win again you can get 100.
Go to southeastern part of Castle Town to meet Agitha, round up 24 Golden Bugs for her and give her one bug for Big Wallet (holds 600 rupees) and all 24 for Giant Wallet (1,000 rupee capacity). Speak to the fortune teller Fanadi in Castle Town and speak about your career so she can point out your next challenge and speak about love to get a piece of heart. There are 45 Pieces of Heart in the game. (Note: the next two pages are dungeons which have been reported before in spoiler posts except the last one) There is a “Rollgoal Minigame” where you press the C button to look at the game and you have to roll a ball through a maze (in Hena’s shop) and you can earn a “frog lure” if you win the eight maze. There is more info and I suggest getting a copy of this magazine or read the official guide itself.
UPDATE 8: Interview with Zelda director Eiji Aonuma, the following is an excerpt: “I think it’s safe to say that Twilight Princess has a lot more Miyamoto influence than other recent Zelda games…The total scale of the world, has definitely surpassed that of Ocarina of Time. There are a lot more dungeons as well…I must warn you that this game will take a lot longer to complete than Ocarina of Time…there were actually instances whee the control changes made for Wii were adapted to GCN, and they ended up improving the gameplay in the Gamecube version…Twilight Princess is set about a hundred years after Ocarina of Time…Twilight Princess has elements in it that were made so that people who played Ocarina can say ‘Oh, I remember this!’…releasing Twilight Princess for the Gamecube and creating a whole new Zelda for Wii immediately after (as it was planned) that would have been extremely diffciult to do time-wise.”
“I haven’t decided whether we’ll make Link right-handed or left-handed in future Zelda games…(he likes Goron Mines the best and his favorite character in the game is Link)…(in the future) I hope to offer more guidance to these talented young creators (on the TP team) so they can create a Zelda that I would never be able to make.”
UPDATE 9: Next feature in Excite Truck and in Summary (point-form):
1. Most of it you’ll have to see the screenshots (they are new) to read about it
2. You’ll earn 50 stars for finishing first in the game
3. Later tracks you’ll need to get a minimum of 100 or 150 stars
4. Strategies to use is Smash-Tested (crashing into opponents by boosting), end faster and hit a morph switch when trucks are in front of you
5. The feature looks at “Super Tree Run” in Scotland and Canada, “Super Air Spin” in Finland and Mexico, “Jump Combo” in Fiji and “Super Drift” from China.
UPDATE 10: Castlevania creator “Iga” on the Wii: “I am still thinking of all the possibilities, but right now I am thinking about all the systems the next game could be on. For me, the Wii controller doesn’t yet connect with the core gameplay of Castlevania. I definitely don’t want to make a game with gimmicky controls where you swing the controller like a whip, so I’ll have to think about it longer.” (Comments: I don’t hear anyone complaining about the Wii-mote being used as a whip? Come on Iga, you’ve been asked a million times about this and have gone on and off about it…make it for the Wii will ya! Heck even use the classic controller, I’m sure gamers would still get the game.)UPDATE 11: The reason why Twilight Princess got a 9.5/10 was because of Wolf Link and Music. Although the gameplay was great, the issue was in the early goings when you’re forced to remain a wolf for extended periods and seek out creatures of darkness (meaning it can be a drag). The other issue was Music, and the tracks are too “subtle” for their own good.
UPDATE 12: The ratings once again for those who missed out:
Wii Titles:
Zelda TP: 9.5
Trauma Center SO: 8.5
SMB BB: 8.5
Excite Truck: 8.5
Madden 07: 8.5
Wii Sports: 8.0 / 8.5
Marvel UA: 8.0
Red Steel: 8.0
Metal Slug Anthology: 8.0
Rayman RR: 7.5
Need for Speed Carbon: 7.5
Tony Hawk DJ: 7.5
Spongebob: 7.0
CoD3: 6.5
Monster 4×4: 6.5
Rampage TD: 6.5
Splinter Cell DA: 6.0
DBZ BT2: 6.0 (9.0 for DBZ fans)
GT Pro Series: 5.0
Happy Feet: 4.5Gamecube Titles:
Tomb Raider Legend: 7.5
The Sims 2 Pets: 6.5
Bionicle Heroes: 5.0UPDATE 13: Former World Wrestling Entertainment “World Champion” Rey Mysterio dropped by Nintendo’s headquarters for a hands-on the Wii and went up against (in multiplayer-mode) Nintendo Power’s Chris Hoffman (who also wore a lucha libre mask). Rey Mysterio had the following to say after playing Wii Boxing: “(it was) awesome…exactly like real-life boxing, except for feeling the punches.” He also made a comment about how he was one of the first to play the Wii and it makes “King Booker” jealous. (Comments: Glad you enjoyed it Rey…now can you convince THQ to bring Smackdown vs. Raw on the Wii?)
UPDATE 14: Next Month will take a look at WarioWare with a review and the 50-floor “Cave of Ordeals” guide from Twilight Princess.
Tidbits: Eragon coming to Gamecube is still in question. Nintendo Power speaks about the game for DS and GBA. Odd thing though is the advertisement doesn’t show a Gamecube logo BUT it says “Also Available on Console”. Will this game be on the Wii instead? This issue also includes (besides the pokemon comic) a Twilight Princess poster and Wii stickers (with Wii Sports)! Also Sonic the Hedgehog on the GBA and it’s history is also featured. Also this is your chance to subscribe to Nintendo Power if you haven’t as yet, as a free copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Official Guide and Soundtrack CD will be made available!
Source: Codename Revolution
This is the first image of the upcoming Nintendo Wii baseball game The Bigs by 2KSports
More About: Nintendo Wii, The Bigs, 2KSports
A new game for the Nintendo Wii has been announced by 2k sports : The Bigs
NEW YORK, NY - October 31, 2006 - 2K Sports, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: TTWO), announced today a unique, new sports title that adds more explosive excitement to baseball video games than ever before - The BIGS. This over-the-top baseball action title puts an entirely new spin on Major League Baseball as it blends outrageous visuals and intuitive gameplay mechanics to bring fans a brand new MLB video game experience.
“The BIGS is sure to turn a few heads as it pioneers a completely different way of playing an MLB video game,” stated Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio. “2K Sports is always looking to deliver the most innovative and eye-catching sports video games to fans and The BIGS is one of 2K Sports’ most dynamic titles to date.”
Developed by Blue Castle Games, The BIGS brings blazing graphics to huge proportions with larger-than-life MLB player models and ballparks. Featuring fantastic pitching, batting, and fielding animations, gamers can also take advantage of spectacular power-ups with outrageous special effects. As a standard for all major 2K Sports titles, The BIGS features online play for up to four players, making it a grand slam for online baseball battles.
At the helm of The BIGS is Dan Brady of Blue Castle. Dan is best known as the creator of and Technical Director on the EA Sports MVP Baseball series of games. Joining Dan at Blue Castle is a number of experienced baseball developers, including Jason Leigh - the Lead Designer of MVP baseball. “This is an extremely exciting time for fans of baseball videogames, as Blue Castle Games has assembled an absolute all-star lineup for this game,” stated Greg Thomas.
The BIGS will be available for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Nintendo’s Wii™ home video game console. The BIGS is slated for release in summer 2007.
More About: Nintendo Wii, 2k sports, The Bigs
The creative director of Ubisoft Montreal had harsh words for Sony during an E3 workshop focusing on next-generation game design.Clint Hocking, the creative director behind titles such as Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory explained how he was disappointed by Sony’s attempts to copy technologies from the other consoles.
After referring to Sony’s mimicking of Xbox Live, and then duplicating components of Nintendo’s motion sensitive controller, Hocking paused in frustration.
“How much more ‘me too’ can [Sony] be?,” he asked.
Earlier in the discussion Hocking attacked the industry’s strategy to up the ante in visuals significantly with each console.
It’s a “fundamental problem of approach” to continue to push for stronger graphics, he said.
He argued such an approach puts game developers in situations where they have to be factory workers. Assemble art texture here, model texture shades here. Repeat.
Further, Hocking claimed the adoption rate of high-definition televisions is so low, that the approach wastes resources on art that many customers won’t even appreciate.
At the conclusion of the workshop, Hocking applauded Wii’s new controller interface. If it can meet the technical accuracy promised by Nintendo, it can open up the creative minds of game designers, he said.
While graphics may add emotion, Wii’s new controller interface is more likely to bring emotion directly to the player.
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