Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Rock Band DLC Update: 3/31/09
This week continues the trend of Wii Rock Band 2 owners receiving last week’s DLC update for the other systems; with Pearl Jam’s "Alive" included as an on-disc song, Harmonix is offering the rest of the album Ten for download, including the hit song "Jeremy" and "Even Flow", which appeared in Guitar Hero 3. In addition, Wii owners can obtain three new songs from the back catalog, including a new tune from Fall Out Boy and a re-recorded Devo song. All songs cost 200 Nintendo Points and are downloaded in-game.
Pearl Jam "Once"
Pearl Jam "Even Flow"
Pearl Jam "Why Go"
Pearl Jam "Black"
Pearl Jam "Jeremy"
Pearl Jam "Oceans"
Pearl Jam "Porch"
Pearl Jam "Garden"
Pearl Jam "Deep"
Pearl Jam "Release"
Pearl Jam "Master/Slave"
Devo "Through Being Cool"
Faith No More "We Care A Lot"
Fall Out Boy "I Don’t Care"
I personally am a Pearl Jam fan, and may be forced to obtain this album. It’s good to see that Harmonix is keeping Wii owners mostly up-to-date. I wonder if that means Wii owners will be treated to some Spongebob Squarepants next week?
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Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DSi | 1 Comment
Live Unboxing Of Nintendo DSi
April 5th is the launch of the Nintendo DSi. Two days before that happens, NintendoGal.com will be unboxing a US unit live on Ustream.tv. To check out the event, just come back here at 4PM PST (7PM EST) on *April 3rd to watch. Viewers will be able to ask questions and chat with me live when the event is taking place.
Hope to see you all back here on the 3rd!
*In the event the system does not show up, the event will be moved forward a day as needed.
The feed as it was recorded is now up!
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Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Amazon.com Gold Box, Lightning Deals
Amazon.com today has a few great deals on select Wii games. The Gold Box deal that lasts for 24 hours or until the amount to be discounted is out of stock is Wii Music at $29.98. Throughout the day the company also will have Lightning Deals which last for an hour or until all have been claimed.
At the time this article went up, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party was $29.98.
First party titles don’t generally go down in price. If you’ve been looking at Wii Music, it might be a great time to buy.
Read MorePosted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
XSEED Brings Edutainment To Wii
XSEED Games announced yesterday that they’ll be publishing the edutainment game, Drill Sergeant Mindstrong. The game will have two modes to select from when first entering boot camp, "Focus Training" and "Basic Training." Answers for the problems presented must be accurate and timely, otherwise Mindstrong will be on their case.
Drill Sergeant Mindstrong will be available in April.
Wow, why is it that I can fondly remember games such as Number Munchers and Oregon Trail, but when I look at educational games now a days I can’t help but cringe?
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Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Wiikly Update: 3/30/09
With the imminent launch of the Nintendo DSi in North America, Nintendo will be ditching its Wiikly Update format starting next week. Replacing it will be the "Nintendo Download", which contains updates for WiiWare, the Virtual Console, and DSiWare.
WiiWare: Bonsai Barber, 1,000 Wii Points
This game has you doing hairstyles for a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other plants that will wander into your barbershop. Each real-life day gives you the opportunity to trim five new customers, either trying to go for a specific hairstyle, or letting you be creative. If you do a good enough job, you may get postcards from satisfied customers as they travel the world.
SNES: Super Punch-Out!!, 800 Wii Points
Little Mac returns in this SNES sequel to the original NES hit, ready to battle his way to the top and earn the World Video Boxing Association belt. There’s a new group of boxers to battle as you charge up the Minor, Major and World Circuits; keep your eyes open and strike when the time is right.
I’d read about Bonsai Barber, that seems like a quirky little fun title. Super Punch-Out, though, that’s a game I may end up downloading.
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Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Wii In 720P
If you have an HDTV, you may have noticed that the Wii doesn’t output HD resolutions. Now with the help of an emulator, high end PCs can output Wii games at 720P. A YouTube user, renebarahona, has posted Super Smash Bros. Brawl running on the emulator at 720P along with other games.
To see it in 720P, click the HD button on the YouTube page itself.
Though it was able to run at a higher resolution, the PC used wasn’t one you’re likely to find at your local retail store:
+ E8400 @ 4GHz
+ 4GB Ballistix DDR2 RAM
+ XFX GTX 260 216 Black Edition
via Reddit
It’s interesting that with the right hardware/software combinations, you can make older games look great. I’m not refering to the Wii or GameCube with that comment, but more the N64 and the emulators that have come out. If you search the web for Mario 64 emulator screenshots, you’ll find some vast improvements over how the game looked originally.
Read MorePosted by Michael Phillips in Nintendo DS, Reviews | 1 Comment
Guest Review: Personal Trainer: Cooking
Our podcasting guest for episode #5 takes a stab at reviewing a few DS games!
You finally finished Cooking Mama 2 and feel you’re ready to take on the real thing eh? Well then this title is right up your alley.
First off Personal Trainer: Cooking is no game at all. There are no bonus stages or points. You basically have a highly detailed push button multimedia cookbook on your DS. The highly intuitive menus and training instructions make creating tasty mouthwatering morsels, fun for younger chefs (with parental supervision and help) and detailed enough for the those of you who want to get you Iron Chef skills started.
You may be thinking, ”What good is a digital cookbook when I can find cookbooks with many more recipes online or in a bookstore?" I have some answers for that. With its 245 recipes and calm and comforting digital chef voice, this guide makes the cooking process less scary for those who don’t spend much time in the kitchen. In terms of meal preparation, you get checklists for ingredients, videos and full color detailed photos for prepping and cooking, a calculator, and even a cooking timer. If your hands are full, you can use voice commands to "turn pages." Also, there is Cooking A-Z which has cooking terms, and ingredient substitutions, as well as tips and advice to make the work more fun.
You can select recipes in a variety of ways. A very clear menu lets you select by ingredients, country, and keywords. The keyword feature allows you to write in letter by letter using your stylus. Another feature in this menu allows you to set more specific requirements, including calories, cooking time, cooking method, and many others.
Once you have decided on what dish you’re interested in, you can choose the servings you want (1 to 6) which will alter the ingredient checklists and other details so you don’t have to do extra calculations. If you have food allergies or dietary restrictions the settings feature allows you exclude recipes containing ingredients you don’t wish to eat when choosing what to cook.
Having done cooking and baking myself, Personal Trainer: Cooking delivers on the step-by-step cooking process wonderfully. Your "Assistant Chef" has an easy to understand and pleasant voice and is filled with good advice and congratulations upon completion of your dish. The voice navigation is also great if you don’t want a stylus accidentally falling into your meal as you cook. The international recipes ensure a variety of tasty treats for both the vegetarian and carnivores out there. In the end, for a beginning chef, it’s a nice investment at around $20. Happy cooking everyone.
Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment
iGoogle Adds Gaming Themes
Google has revealed a gaming selection of themes for their popular iGoogle service. In the mix are a few IPs from Nintendo such as Mario and Link, but Mega Man and The Godfather also fill out the list. A preview video was released for the launch.
All the themes are available for viewing at the
page. All themes are currently live.
I’ve only used iGoogle a few times, but I think it’s rather neat that they are branching out with the themes.
Read MorePosted by Andrea Campton in General News, Miscellaneous | Comments Off
New Podcast Available
We’ve released episode 5 of the NintendoGal.com Podcast. To check out the summary and listen to it, click here.
Read MorePosted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment
NintendoGal Podcast #5
In this episode we have a new guest, Mike Phillips, a friend who’s done some voice acting. Come listen to the factual inaccuracies and humor that ensues!
The runtime is for this episode is 69:14.
Or stream it right on this page:
We’ve also added RSS feed options for the podcasts. Two are available:
Read MorePosted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Rock Band Sales Top $1 Billion
Harmonix announced today that their popular Rock Band franchise, including sales of games, accessories and downloadable content, has surpassed $1 billion in sales in North American territories alone, a feat that only took them 15 months, according to research done by NPD Group. Augmented by the sale of over 40 million downloadable songs, the original Rock Band ended up making more money than any other game in 2008. The press release also noted that artists were benefitting from high sales as well, not only from royalty fees, but from increased album sales due to the exposure.
Harmonix definitely has a good sales model going for them; they made the monthly sales charts this year a couple times, in lower positions, but they’re working with a business model that doesn’t require enormous game sales to make tons and tons of money. Hats off to them.
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Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo DS | 2 Comments
Professor Layton Sequel Headed To U.S.
In one of the more obscure announcement at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference, Akihiro Hino, president of Level-5 and producer of Professor Layton and the Curious Village, mentioned that the sequel, named Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, was currently being localized, and he hoped to have it released in North American territories within six months. He also mentioned his hopes that the other four Professor Layton titles would be localized as well; the first trilogy of games has already been released in Japan, and a second trilogy is currently being produced.
I’ve been waiting for this news for quite a long time. I ate Curious Village right up, I thought it was a fantastic game. I can’t wait to play Diabolical Box.
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Posted by Andrea Campton in Nintendo Wii, Reviews | Comments Off
Review: Rock Band 2 (Wii)
Instead of the standard text review for Rock Band 2 for Wii, I decided to give the game a rare video review. If you’re looking for more in-depth commentary, look no further as TheSoundDefense’s comments on the game below will give you just that. Enjoy the labor of love and please read below after you finish the seventeen minute video.
TheSoundDefense’s additional comments about the game:
Score Duel is the most basic competitive multiplayer mode, akin to a Pro Face-Off from the Guitar Hero series; you and another player will play the same song, at the same time, competing to see who can get the highest score. Tug of War is rather similar, except that instead of both players playing the entire song, they’ll trade off sections, with one player playing part of the song, then the other player taking another; I found the latter mode to be a bit more fun, as you’re less likely to get tired out, plus you can watch your opponent play without worrying about your score. While both of these modes are plenty of fun, I would generally recommend that players try out Ranked Match, which matches you up with an opponent around your skill level on a randomly selected song. With the other mode, Player Match, not only are you likely to get someone either quite high above or quite below you in skill, but as NintendoGal commented, most players only ever want to play "Painkiller", "Panic Attack" and "Visions", the three hardest songs in the game. It gets tedious.
Drumming on the higher difficulties is an immensely entertaining experience, and I am completely addicted. The transition from song to note chart is a very faithful one for the most part, and while it most definitely takes practice and dedication to get up to that level, it really feels like you’re playing the song’s actual drums. The only exception is some of the metal tunes, which tend to use double bass pedals, something that Rock Band 2 has decided to eschew in favor of accessibility, but I never found this to be a real disappointment. The drumset itself is a definite improvement over the original; NintendoGal mentioned that she hits the drums rather hard when she plays, but unlike the original controller, you really don’t have to. The drum pedal has been reinforced with a thin sheet of metal to improve its sturdiness, and I found that it feels better underneath a foot than the grooved plastic pedal of yesteryear, though more similarities to a real drum pedal would be appreciated. Some gamers have complained that the drum controller has a tendency to break, and I would like to know what wrecking-ball forces they are unleashing on their poor drumsets, because I play mine into the ground and it still works fine.
The guitar, unfortunately, I have a couple more issues with. There are more guitar-intensive songs in the game this time around, which I personally like, and on the whole the hard songs are harder than they were on Rock Band; "Painkiller" has a particularly punishing solo that leaves a man’s fingers in ruins. The problem I have is with the guitar controller itself. NintendoGal mentioned the button placement in her review, and the placements themselves are fine, but if you’re playing a more difficult solo you’ll need to slide fingers across the buttons, and this is harder to achieve on a Rock Band 2 guitar with the raised separations between buttons. The strum bar is the real issue, however. It is easy to grip with its shape, but there is no satisfying "click" when you strum, or anything at all to give you feedback. Your hands won’t be able to tell if you’re strumming properly, and I can almost guarantee this will come back to bite you in fast strumming sections.
Vocals are probably the most accessible kind of fun you can have playing this game, though it really works best with songs you know. As NintendoGal said, the only real criterion the game will care about, even on Expert, is what pitch you are currently singing; you can say essentially whatever you want as long as it sounds sort of close. The game’s pitch line, indicating roughly what pitch you need to sing, is tied very closely to the vocal track of the song, including slight inflections, pitch bends, and even moments where the singer is horribly out of tune like in "Panic Attack", so on higher difficulties it’s less about singing the song and more about knowing the little intricacies of the vocal track; "Tangled Up In Blue", for this reason, is just outright mean, forcing you to sing the warblings of Bob Dylan nearly pitch-perfect. On lower difficulties, of course, it just becomes karaoke, and entertaining karaoke at that. The only real problem I have with the vocals is one that, as far as I know, is unique to me: the game doesn’t tend to recognize my normal voice during the spoken sections, which mystifies me. If I switch and sing in falsetto, however, the little round score meter lights up like the Fourth of July.
Other notes:
-When trying to perfect a song in Practice Mode, I found that when you slow the song down, it gets much harder to properly hit notes for some reason, especially on drums. I ended up just repeating sections at full speed in order to get them down.
-The auto-calibration tools do not work quite as well as I would like them to, inserting a tiny bit of lag. While they’ll do just fine if you’ve got a projector setup or something similar, on most TVs you can just set the offset to 0 and be done with it.
-The "all songs" cheat, and any other cheats relevant to partygoers, should be available from the start without the use of codes. The "pick-up-and-playability" of party games is very important, and speaking from experience, it’s frustrating when a Rock Band event is put on hold as someone looks for the cheat to unlock all songs.
Read MorePosted by Andrea Campton in General News, Miscellaneous | Comments Off
Nintendo GDC Game Media
Nintendo has released a new screenshots and video of many games that Satoru Iwata talked about at his keynote at GDC this morning. Below you’ll find a list of what’s been added to the site.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Nintendo DSi Shop
WarioWare: Snapped!
Screenshots
Excitebots: Trick Racing
Screenshots
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
Screenshots
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Screenshot
Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment
Iwata GDC Keynote Summary
For the first time in three years, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata took the main stage at the Game Developer’s Conference, in order to give the keynote address. Not surprisingly, he took to talking about how Nintendo was attracting new consumers while keeping hold of older ones, which led to a series of announcements that both crowds could enjoy.
A major focus of the presentation was the upcoming launch of the Nintendo DSi, specifically DSiWare. The Nintendo DSi Shop, as it will be known, will utilize Nintendo Points in a similar manner to Wii Points; they can be bought on your DS via credit card, or you can pick up Points Cards in stores. Applications will be priced as either free, 200 points, 500 points, or 800+ points, but anybody who heads to the DSi Shop before October 5, 2009 will receive 1,000 free points to do with as they please. Iwata also introduced two upcoming DSiWare games: Moving Memo (not the final name), which allows users to create a digital flipbook, and WarioWare: Snapped!, which brings the DSi Camera into the world of Wario’s microgames.
To round out DS news, Iwata announced a new handheld entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will have Link utilizing a steam engine train to navigate the world, while inside of dungeons, the players will not only utilize new items, but will switch control between Link and a new character, called Phantom. The game won’t be playable at GDC, but an E3 demo seems likely at this point.
Downloadable games on WiiWare, of course, are an excellent way for developers to try new ideas, as Iwata pointed out. He pointed to an upcoming WiiWare title called Rock N’ Roll Climbing, in which you use the Wii Remote, the nunchuk, and the Wii Balance Board to simulate the experience of rock climbing. That wasn’t the only downloadable revealed, however; the Virtual Console Arcade is already live, allowing players to download fully-fledged arcade titles to their Wii at about 500 Wii Points apiece. Currently available for download are Gaplus (which is actually 600 points), Mappy, Star Force, and The Tower of Druaga; soon to come are games like Space Harrier.
With all this new downloadable content, Nintendo has finally seen fit to unleash its Wii storage solution on the world. Starting today, Wii owners can update to System Menu 4.0, which allows players to save games to, and play them from, their SD card or High Capacity SD card, without having to continually organize their Wii Channels. There does need to be enough empty space in the Wii’s memory to run the game, equivalent to the size of what you’re trying to play, but the system update also includes an option to have the Wii automatically manage your memory, so you can have that space cleared up without going to the trouble of doing it manually.
As one final note, release dates for two games were noted. Excitebots: Trick Racing will be released on April 20, while the new Wii Punch-Out!! title will be released on May 18.
This is definitely a lot of information. I’m loving the SD card update, and the Virtual Console Arcade; I wish I was at home with my Wii so I could try them out.
Read MorePosted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | 2 Comments
Nintendo DSi Sampling Event
As a Platinum Member of Club Nintendo, I was invited to attend a Nintendo DSi sampling yesterday. The event took place at 6:00PM at a GameStop in Tukwila, Washington and had a rather surprising turn out. Certainly the crowd contained the typical gamer, looking to check out the newest gaming handheld on the horizon. Other attendees included a father and his son, a few young couples, and even an older married couple from what I gathered. There were two older women as well, but they didn’t stick around too long.
What the event entailed was exactly what was advertised, a testing of the Nintendo DSi before it hits stores on April 5th. Everyone was allowed to try the system out and get a feel for it. Mostly what was being tested was the camera and the fun distortions you can perform with it. People were invited to snap shots of themselves and get it printed out right on the spot. When it was finished, they received a magnetic photo frame advertising the system. Attendees were also given lanyards with the DSi logo silkscreened across the fabric.
My brief time with the system left me with a few impressions. The system is longer than the Nintendo DS Lite, slightly thinner, and only about a hair lighter in my hands. I thought that the fact that the screens on the DSi are larger would stand out, but instead I found myself admiring the black matte system and the lack of finger prints. That’s not to say that the screens aren’t welcome, quite the contrary when I popped in Peggle Dual Shot and was greeted with a bit more room. Another welcome change is the menu system and OS. No longer do you need to power down your system to put in a game. It’s only a few seconds shaved off, but when you’re on the go, time is money.
The actual software that comes stock on a DSi was amusing as well. Most of my experience was with the camera functions, but I did check out the sound modulation as well for a minute. These new features do add a bit of amusement value to the system, especially the merging of two faces my husband and I found. I did find that in every task I performed, there seemed to be numerous options wherever I went. Since I was unfamiliar with the system, this became a slight hindrance when looking for the picture transfer feature that can transfer a picture to or from an SD card. Once I found it however, the transfer was quick and easy. I’d say there’s a bit of a learning curve to the system at first, but it’s minor.
This was one of fifty events that are scheduled to take place across GameStop locations in the US according to a district manager I spoke to. The next and last event for the state of Washington will be in Redmond next week for Club Nintendo members. I’d like to thank GameStop for providing NintendoGal.com photos of the event.
Want to win the Nintendo DSi lanyard and magnetic photo frame? CONTEST OVER, THANKS FOR ENTERING!
Contest will end March 27 at 11:59PM PST. NintendoGal.com staff are not eligible to enter/win. Open to US residents only. The winner must provide a shipping address for delivery of their prize. If it is lost, NintendoGal.com will not be held responsible. Rules can be changed and/or updated as needed.
Good luck to everyone who enters!
For the curious, here at the photos I had printed at the event:
Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Rock Band Update: 3/24/09
Today, Harmonix announced tomorrow’s DLC update for Rock Band 2 on Wii. In addition to the 3/12 update for 360 and PS3 owners, which includes music by R.E.M. and the Offspring, Wii owners will receive an impressive eight tracks from rock superstars The Who. Each song costs 200 Wii Points and is downloaded in-game.
The Offspring "All I Want"
The Offspring "The Kids Aren’t Alright"
R.E.M. "Losing My Religion"
Richard Thompson "The Way That It Shows"
The Who "Amazing Journey"
The Who "Behind Blue Eyes"
The Who "Eminence Front"
The Who "Going Mobile"
The Who "Leaving Here"
The Who "Real Good Looking Boy"
The Who "Sea And Sand"
The Who "Who Are You"
In addition, a new Track Pack was announced for all consoles today: Rock Band Track Pack Classic Rock. The track pack will retail for $29.99 and, like the other track packs, will contain 20 tracks available on the 360/PS3 Music Store. It will be released on May 19, 2009. The full track list is below.
Boston "Peace Of Mind"
Boston "Rock And Roll Band"
Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles"
Dead Kennedys "Holiday In Cambodia"
Free "All Right Now"
George Thorogood & The Destroyers "Bad To The Bone"
James Gang "Funk #49"
Jethro Tull "Hymn"
Lenny Kravitz "Let Love Rule"
Pat Benetar "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
The Police "Can’t Stand Losing You"
The Police "Truth Hits Everybody"
Rush "Close To The Heart"
Rush "Red Barchetta"
Siouxsie And The Banshees "Kiss Them For Me"
Steve Miller Band "Take The Money And Run"
Steve Miller Band "The Joker"
The Stone Roses "Love Spreads"
The Who "Baba O’Riley"
The Who "Behind Blue Eyes"
"All I Want" is a song I’ve wanted to see on the service for quite some time. On drums, it’s definitely a difficult track. Bass notes are everywhere.
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Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Wiikly Update: 3/23/09
WiiWare: Pop ’Em Drop ’Em Samegame, 500 Wii Points
This block-matching puzzle game will have you racing to clear the board of all your blocks. In single-player mode, you can adjust the difficulty by getting a bigger grid or more colors, or else you can try one of the three multiplayer modes with some friends. "Fame Game" has you racing to get the highest score, "Shame Game" has you striving for the lowest score, and "Blame Game" has all four players working on the same grid.
TurboGrafx-16 (Import): Bomberman ’94, 700 Wii Points
The evil Bagular (which some gamers may recognize from the N64 title Bomberman Hero) has split the planet into five parts, and it’s up to you to restore it. This Bomberman title uses the same gameplay as previous titles, though they’ve added in an animal companion named Rooi – use his abilities to prevail against your enemies.
TurboGrafx-16 (Import): Detana Twin Bee, 700 Wii Points
The twin shooters Twinbee and Winbee are up against some rather goofy villains in this vertical-scrolling shooter. Play through the six stages by yourself or with a friend; team up in order to unleash powerful joint attacks as you fight to save this "cute and comical world".
I’m a big fan of Bomberman and all, but really, I can’t see why you’d need any more than one of those games. The multiplayer doesn’t really change much, and that’s the major draw.
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Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Miscellaneous | Comments Off
Nintendo Responds To February NPD Results
Nintendo yesterday responded to the results of the February NPD Group numbers by touting continued sales of Wii Play which has sold over 10 million units in the United States to date. The company also pointed to their "evergreen" games, Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. as top performers on Nintendo DS. Third party publishers also faired well on Nintendo platforms according to data released to Wired from the NPD Group:
Top 10 Wii
1. WII WII FIT NINTENDO OF AMERICA
2. WII WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA
3. WII MARIO KART W/WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA
4. WII GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
5. WII LEGO STAR WARS: COMPLETE SAGA LUCASARTS
6. WII MY FITNESS COACH UBISOFT
7. WII JILLIAN MICHAELS FITNESS ULTIMATUM 2009 MAJESCO
8. WII NASCAR KART RACING ELECTRONIC ARTS
9. WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL NINTENDO OF AMERICA
10. WII TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 09 ELECTRONIC ARTS
Top 10 Nintendo DS
1. NDS MARIO KART DS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
2. NDS NEW SUPER MARIO BROS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
3. NDS CLUB PENGUIN: ELITE PENGUIN FORCE DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS
4. NDS LEGO STAR WARS: COMPLETE SAGA LUCASARTS
5. NDS SUPER MARIO 64 DS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
6. NDS FIRE EMBLEM: SHADOW DRAGON NINTENDO OF AMERICA
7. NDS MARIO PARTY NINTENDO OF AMERICA
8. NDS KIRBY SUPER STAR ULTRA NINTENDO OF AMERICA
9. NDS POKEMON RANGER: SHADOWS OF ALMIA NINTENDO OF AMERICA
10. NDS BRAIN AGE 2: MORE TRAINING IN MINUTES A DAY NINTENDO OF AMERICA
Top 10 Game Boy Advance
1. GBA UNO 52 DESTINATION SOFTWARE INC.
2. GBA SHREK 2/MADAGASCAR OPERATION PEN ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
3. GBA BIG MUTHA TRUCKERS DESTINATION SOFTWARE INC.
4. GBA PUPPY LUV: SPA & RESORT ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
5. GBA MADAGASCAR ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
6. GBA ASTEROIDS/PONG/YARS DESTINATION SOFTWARE INC.
7. GBA DRILL DOZER NINTENDO OF AMERICA
8. GBA GOLDEN NUGGET CASINO MAJESCO
9. GBA SPYHUNTER/SUPERSPRINT DESTINATION SOFTWARE INC.
10. GBA VAN HELSING ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
Top 10 Accessories
1. WII NUNCHUK CONTROLLER NINTENDO OF AMERICA
2. WII REMOTE CONTROLLER W/ JACKET NINTENDO OF AMERICA
3. PS3 DUALSHOCK 3 WIRELESS CONTROLLER SONY
4. 360 LIVE 1600 POINT GAME CARD MICROSOFT
5. 360 LIVE 1 MONTH GOLD CARD MICROSOFT
6. 360 LIVE 12 MONTH GOLD CARD MICROSOFT
7. WII REMOTE CONTROLLER NINTENDO OF AMERICA
8. WII CHARGE STATION NYKO
9. WII WHEEL GRIP NINTENDO OF AMERICA
10. 360 HEADSET MICROSOFT
*Inclusive of collectors’, limited, instrument bundles
Data above provided by Wired.com
Read MorePosted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off
February 2009 NPD Group US Sales Numbers
Hardware
Wii – 753,000
NDS – 588,000
360 – 391,000
PS3 – 276,000
PSP – 199,000
PS2 – 131,000
Software
1. Wii Wii Fit – 644,000
2. 360 Street Fighter IV* – 446,000
3. PS3 Street Fighter IV* – 403,000
4. Wii Wii Play – 386,000
5. PS3 Killzone 2 – 323,000
6. Wii Mario Kart Wii – 263,000
7. 360 Call of Duty: World at War* – 193,000
8. NDS Mario Kart DS – 145,000
9. NDS New Super Mario Bros. – 144,000
10. Wii Guitar Hero World Tour* – 136,000
*Includes all versions of that game for that system, except for versions bundled with consoles.
^The numbers on the right represent units sold.
People are seriously still buying Mario Kart DS to the point where it’s in the monthly top 10? There’s someone out there who doesn’t own it yet? That’s incredible, that a three-year-old game (two of them, in fact) are still topping the sales charts month after month. Nintendo likes to talk about the long-term selling power of these titles, but I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
Otherwise, it looks like Street Fighter IV wins this month, with its sales split over two systems; Killzone 2, however, did an amazing job considering the two days it was actually out in February. The three Wii mainstays, though, are close to indomitable at this point. The industry as a whole took in $1.47 billion this month, a 10% increase from last year, despite the continuing downturn of the world economy. If Congress is looking for some emergency cash, I think I know where they can find some.
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Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off
Beyonce Promotes Rhythm Heaven
Entertainment Weekly recently talked to the famous R&B singer, Beyoncé Knowles on the set of a new TV advertisement for Rhythm Heaven, coming to the Nintendo DS on April 5th. Beyoncé expressed joy at the prospect of being able to take a break from wearing stilettos and corsets to be able to wear socks and play with the game. The singer also noted that her first gaming system was a [Nintendo Entertainment System].
To read the full interview, head on over to Entertainment Weekly’s site.
I wonder if anyone has corrected her for calling the NES a Nintendo.
Read MorePosted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Rock Band DLC Update: 3/17/09
For the second time, Wii owners are being treated to DLC before their 360- and PS3-owning counterparts, and quite a bit of it. There are R&B tracks from Earth, Wind and Fire and James Brown, as well as some modern rock from Against Me! and a brand new single from Papa Roach. Wii owners are also getting three classic live tracks by The Who, from the back catalog of DLC music. As usual, all songs costs 200 Wii Points and are bought in-game.
Average White Band "Pick Up The Pieces"
Earth, Wind & Fire "Shining Star"
James Brown "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine – Pt. 1"
Against Me! "Thrash Unreal"
The New Pornographers "All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth"
The New Pornographers "Use It"
Papa Roach "Last Resort"
Papa Roach "Lifeline"
The Who "My Generation (Live)"
The Who "Summertime Blues (Live)"
The Who "Young Man Blues (Live)"
This is quite a variety of music to be receiving. I love Harmonix’s taste in music, that they’ll mix in Earth, Wind and Fire with The New Pornographers.
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Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off
Nintendo Ships 100 Million DS Units
Nintendo’s 100 millionth Nintendo DS system was shipped on March 6, 2009, according to a press release issued recently. Seeing as the DS is a little under 4 years and 4 months old, this sets a new record for the fastest game system to ship 100 million units, beating out the old record-holder, the Playstation 2, by nearly a year and a half. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime noted that "we are grateful that people of all ages continue to respond to our products, and we will continue to look for ways to please current gamers and create new ones."
Nintendo also noted that there are a whopping 83 different titles on the DS that are million-sellers, and seven of these games have sales topping ten million units. Nintendo cited the "evergreen" nature of these games, noting that some of them continue to make top 10 sales lists years after their release.
Originally I had said that no other handheld has shipped that many units, but as it turns out, the Game Boy/Game Boy Color is sitting at around 120 million units. It’s not even been 5 years, though, and the DS is showing no signs of slowing down in the US. Could the DS surpass the Game Boy and the PS2 to become the best-selling system in history?
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Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off
Wiikly Update: 3/16/09
WiiWare: Bit.Trip Beat, 600 Wii Points
This modern retro title takes the classic game of Pong and updates it with an interesting visual style and some music-based gameplay. You’ll use the Wii Remote’s motion controls to "bounce beats" back and forth, while 8-bit beats enhance the gameplay and the enjoyability. The press release warns that the game can get pretty difficult, and also warns of more Bit.Trip titles to come.
Commodore 64: Summer Games II, 500 Wii Points
Apparently Olympic fever is back again with Summer Games II. You’ll play as an athlete from one of 18 different countries, competing in eight different events: "cycling, equestrian, fencing, high jump, javelin, kayaking, rowing and triple jump". Play them in practice mode to perfect your skills, then head to the actual competition with up to seven other human players.
I’m always a little wary of really old sports games, not all of them seem to have been made with a lot of care, with a couple of notable exceptions like Punch-Out.
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Posted by Jim Avery in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments
My scoring system.
I was looking through past reviews recently for some reason, and I realized that I had given 5 out of the past 9 games I’ve reviewed a 9.0 or higher. This information doesn’t concern me, I’ll defend those scores to the death necessary, but I was having a conversation with someone else recently about where exactly reviews come from. I figured that maybe I’d just give people a rough idea of where my scores come from and what they mean.
It’s not really a complicated process; I don’t take the average of anything, and since I have 100 possible scores to work with the numbers are a little bit arbitrary when you consider tenths of a review point. Basically, I consider how much fun I had while I was playing the game, and then I plug that into the following Official Review Rubric (patent pending):
0.0 – 0.9: deemed "cruel and unusual punishment" by the U.S. judicial system
1.0 – 1.9: a broken, unplayable mess that no one will ever enjoy
2.0 – 2.9: a working, playable mess that no one will ever enjoy
3.0 – 3.9: fundamental gameplay flaws with minimal polish, but maybe it was fun at some point in development?
4.0 – 4.9: it had the potential to be good, but it’s just out-and-out bad; give it to someone who won’t know any better
5.0 – 5.9: on the bad side of mediocre, franchise fans may overlook the flaws that cause me to tear my hair out
6.0 – 6.9: on the good side of mediocre, non-picky gamers will enjoy this
7.0 – 7.9: hey this is actually a pretty fun game, people would enjoy this
8.0 – 8.9: all-around good title, for any fans of (insert genre here)
9.0 – 9.4: I couldn’t put this title down and my friends are sick of me talking about it
9.5 – 9.9: WHY DON’T YOU OWN THIS GAME ALREADY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU
Usually it’s pretty easy to put a game into these categories, based on its fun factor alone. Once I’m there, I think about the other elements of the game, like presentation and replay value, to see if it’ll be on the high end or the low end of that score range (8.8 instead of 8.2). Sometimes, though, these elements can push a game into a higher or lower score range, depending on whether or not I think the game deserves it. As a general rule, though, if a game falls into a score range listed above, the proceeding comments will describe my thoughts of it. If you’re pressed for time, feel free to just cross-reference a review score with this list, but keep in mind that some games may not be for all audiences (Mega Man 9, for example).
I do not speak for other members of the NintendoGal.com staff with this editorial.
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