Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | 1 Comment

A Quad Of Companies Announces Nostalgia Headed for US

Four companies have announced their involvement to develop and publish Nostalgia for the Nintendo DS today.  On the developers side is Matrix Software and Red Entertainment who have both had their share in the creation of a few adventure games.  For the publishers, it’ll be the lately busy Ignition and Tecmo. 

Unfortunately, Nintendo Power has the scoop for media relating to the game for now.  If you’d like to see what the game is going to look like localized, you may want to keep an eye out for the latest issue.  Luckily a Japanese trailer has been released for the game, so all is not lost.

For those who enjoy reading the key selling features of a game, Ignition has provided a glimpse at least into that aspect:

• Ambitious, fully 3D polygonal graphical engine offers dramatic, sweeping camera angles and impressive vistas rarely seen in a DS title.

• Cohesive, anime-inspired art direction that effectively captures the game’s turn-of-the-century charm.

• Travel to incredibly unique, non-traditional RPG locales via airship including London, New York, Cairo, Africa, and Russia.

• Features two distinct combat engines: One is a brisk, turn-based close-quarters melee between your party members and monsters; while the other offers thrilling, large-scale airship battles. In addition, your battle skills are scored at the conclusion of each conflict, inspiring strategic mastery.

• Handy in-game notebook feature keeps track of people, monsters, airships and items you’ve run across.

• Plenty of user-defined customization, allowing the player to trick out his or her airship with various weapons, armor types, and special skill attacks. The player can also choose character-specific skills from a branching tree for a more personalized experience.

• Explore a variety of diverse, engaging dungeons that include brain bending puzzles and tricky Indiana Jones-style traps.

• Optional quest system inspires players to approach the adventure from a less linear perspective, extending the life of the gameplay experience.

Well at least it’s a reason to keep an eye out for my copy of Nintendo Power I suppose!

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Rock Band DLC Update: 4/28/09

It seems Harmonix is full of surprises. As announced previously, ten tracks from the famous Jane’s Addiction album Nothing’s Shocking will be hitting the Rock Band Music Store, adding themselves to the on-disc "Mountain Song" to complete the album. Not announced previously was the fact that Wii owners would be getting a second album, from the Rock Band DLC back catalog; Wii owners can now enjoy the seven remaining tracks from Megadeth’s Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, along with a more recent Megadeth track, as well as tracks from Oasis and The Police. All 20 songs from this week’s update are available for 200 Wii Points apiece, and are downloaded in-game.

Jane’s Addiction "Up the Beach"
Jane’s Addiction "Ocean Size"
Jane’s Addiction "Had a Dad"
Jane’s Addiction "Ted, Just Admit It…"
Jane’s Addiction "Standing in the Shower…Thinking"
Jane’s Addiction "Summertime Rolls"
Jane’s Addiction "Idiots Rule"
Jane’s Addiction "Jane Says"
Jane’s Addiction "Thank You Boys"
Jane’s Addiction "Pig’s in Zen"
Megadeth "Wake Up Dead"
Megadeth "The Conjuring"
Megadeth "Devil’s Island"
Megadeth "Good Mourning/Black Friday"
Megadeth "Bad Omen"
Megadeth "I Ain’t Superstitious"
Megadeth "My Last Words"
Megadeth "Sleepwalker"
The Police "Truth Hits Everybody"
Oasis "Don’t Look Back in Anger"

Well this definitely caught me off guard, but it’s a great surprise. That Megadeth album has some of the most fun songs to play on Rock Band, though they’re incredibly difficult for the most part.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | 1 Comment

New Klonoa Gameplay Video Released

Released today by Namco Bandai is yet another video showing off that Dream Traveler Klonoa.  Originally the company spliced up the sections, but I merged them for your viewing pleasure, enjoy!

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo DS | 1 Comment

New DS Lite Bundle Heads To Stores

Even after the release of the DSi, Nintendo is still giving the DS Lite some love; in this case, a new color. Just in time for spring, Nintendo is rolling out a green DS Lite bundle, due to hit stores May 3. In addition to the system, the bundle contains a white-and-green leaf pattern carrying case, as well as a copy of Personal Trainer: Cooking. Nintendo recommends that this bundle be used as your Mother’s Day gift this year, because we all know that what a mom really wants on Mother’s Day is a thinly veiled suggestion that her cooking could improve. No MSRP was given for this bundle.

Click the above images to enlarge them.

It seems like the DS Lite and the DSi are going to end up co-existing like the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS did. For a while, at least.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off

Nintendo Download: 4/27/09

DSiWare: Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics, 500 Nintendo Points

This new Express title takes five card games from the Touch Generations title Clubhouse Games. Play with up to 8 players locally with Blackjack, Five Card Draw, Last Card, Last Card Plus, or President.

DSiWare: Paper Airplane Chase, 200 Nintendo Points

In this title reminiscent of a WarioWare: Mega Microgame$ minigame, you’ll use your DSi to control a paper airplane as it navigates a slalom course in either Endless or Time Attack modes. Get another friend and both of you can play on the same system.

WiiWare: Cocoto Platform Jumper, 700 Wii Points

Zaron, the god of lightning, has kidnapped three friends of Cocoto in hopes of gaining a mystical power, and Cocoto must head out to stop him in this platformer. The press release offered no gameplay information or screenshots, which is all that some may need to hear.

SNES: Nobunaga’s Ambition, 800 Wii Points

This turn-based strategy title puts you in the shoes of a Japanese warlord, and it is your goal to conquer the entire country and unite Japan. Whether you do this with diplomacy, such as sanctions, or force, such as ninjas, is up to you. The game information notes that up to eight players can play.

Not even going to look at Cocoto. Otherwise, I rather enjoyed Clubhouse Games, that seems interesting. It’s not Wi-Fi capable, though, which is a bummer.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Nothing’s Shocking About New Rock Band DLC

After being announced twelve forevers ago, the famous Jane’s Addiction album "Nothing’s Shocking" is being made available as Rock Band 2 DLC next week, for all three systems. Ten new tracks from the album, including "Jane Says", will join the on-disc track "Mountain Song" to make the complete album. Each song is available for 200 Wii Points, and are bought in-store; there is no special album pricing.

Jane’s Addiction "Up The Beach"
Jane’s Addiction "Ocean Size"
Jane’s Addiction "Had A Dad"
Jane’s Addiction "Ted, Just Admit It…"
Jane’s Addiction "Standing In The Shower… Thinking"
Jane’s Addiction "Summertime Rolls"
Jane’s Addiction "Idiots Rule"
Jane’s Addiction "Jane Says"
Jane’s Addiction "Thank You Boys"
Jane’s Addiction "Pig’s In Zen"

I’m divided on Jane’s Addiction, personally. While I really like "Mountain Song" and "Stop", I really dislike "Jane Says" and "Been Caught Stealing". I’m not sure I’ll get this.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment

NintendoGal Daily Vid #2

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment

NintendoGal Daily Vid

Going to try to do daily videos talking about what I’ve been doing. They are pretty informal since I can get chatty. Check out the first and let me know what you think by commenting!

If you can’t see the video, click here to go directly to it.

Posted by Mark Surber in Nintendo Wii, Reviews | Comments Off

Review: No More Heroes (Wii)

For those of you who are tired of the mundane ’family’ game that targets everyone or the action/adventure game that fails to achieve anything new, behold: a ray of light shines through the dark! Rejoice, for we have been given No More Heroes! From the makers of Killer 7, this game was created for the purpose of breaking outdated molds. Though by now it’s not remotely a new release, No More Heroes is definitely worth looking at.

The goal of the game is basically to fight a boss and then earn enough money to fight the next boss. Repeat that process until you are ranked number one and that’s No More Heroes in a nutshell. The game starts off with an optional tutorial that is exceptionally thorough, and then leads directly into the heart of the game. You go through room after room of enemies making your way to the first boss, while grabbing all the collectibles you can find. After you finish off the first boss, a series of cutscenes explain the basics of the plot and you are immediately kicked out onto the streets of Santa Destroy with the order to get enough cash to pay your way into the next match.

The bulk of the game is spent earning money, unless you are like me and you obsessively scour the city for every single piece of treasure there is. There is a lot of treasure.The first thing you must do to start getting the green is to swing by the Job Center and get a part time job. A new one will be unlocked after each boss. Each part time job is a minigame with fairly simple controls. They are actually very clever in concept and a lot of fun. I think I liked mowing the lawn the best. The motion controls for the lawn mower were accurate but required a steady hand, and the pattern needed to get a gold ranking for the job is the same one I use when mowing a real lawn. Don’t get the wrong impression, though. I don’t normally enjoy mowing lawns.

Once you have completed your part time job, you are allowed two new hit missions every level. Unlike the part time jobs, the hit missions are actually a bit repetitive. Some really stand out and are a ton of fun, but others are just… not that fun. However, the assassination gigs get way more bucks than the part time jobs, so you basically have to do them. I slugged my way through them mostly because they are also good training for basic skills that will be necessary during boss fights. Like I said, though, there are a few hit missions that are gems and I replay them often.

The third way to earn money is to participate in a free fight mission. These matches are scattered across the map and always available, except when you’re already in another mission. In a free fight, you kill until you take a single hit or until all the enemies are dead. You are paid a given amount for each opponent killed. Since every free fight is exactly the same, I got tired of them pretty quickly. They are good for the times when you just want nonstop mindless killing, but even then if you take a single hit, the mission is over and, because the mission doesn’t reopen right away, you have to drive to the next one.

Once you get enough money to enter the next ranked fight, you go to an assigned place on the map where you enter a ’dungeon’ and battle your way through wave after wave of assassin henchmen to work your way up to the boss. Each boss has a different setting and a different set of henchmen. The battle that leads up to each boss fight is, as a result, mostly unique.

I know that by this time you must have read the word ’different’ at least a dozen times in this review, but when it comes to the bosses, I want you to understand that these are each so vastly far flung in diversity that pretty much any game I can think of seems just dry by comparison. Some bosses are fast and some are strong; some use guns and some use grenades; some of them run and some of them fly, but all of them are full of personality and deadly tricks. Every fight begins with a cut scene that draws you into the fight and shows off a few of your opponent’s moves, and at the end, each felled assassin is granted a few last words before they are stripped of their rank… and their life.

The boss fights themselves are all incredibly challenging for at least the first time you play through. You will fight tooth and nail for every inch in these fights, and you will savor every second of it. This is what all boss fights should be about. My favorite one is still the third boss fight against a black samurai girl. It was like the fight against Ganondorf at the end of Zelda: Twilight Princess, except in fast forward. It was ridiculous, and I loved it. I actually kept a save file of that fight so I can replay it whenever I want.

Now after gushing about all my favorite parts, I have to mention the not-so-great parts. The setting for the game, Santa Destroy, is like a ghost town. This is easily the biggest downer for the game. There are very few people and there are only a handful of pedestrian character models. You will frequently see two identical pedestrians pass each other on the sidewalk. The worst part is that you cannot interact with these people in any way. You can’t even beat them up.

Also, the town features only a handful of places you can go to, other than free fight missions. The cops, who are often seen cruising the streets, will do nothing to you when you park your bike in the middle of the road, speed, run over pedestrians (they can’t die) or drive on the wrong side of the road. I guess that can be explained by saying that Travis is one of the top ten assassins in the world and they can’t really touch that, but still I wish there were some interaction with the town. It just feels so dead, and that isn’t helped by the fact that there is no background music playing when you explore the town on foot.

The troubles don’t end there, though. The overworld is full of technical difficulties. A noticeably low framerate, pop-ins, invisible walls and oversized hit boxes abound. Like pretty much every reviewer out there, I’m going to say that No More Heroes would have been perfect were it not for the problems with the overworld. Aside from that, there is really a lot of great value in the game. The visual style a very cool blend of flashy pixel art and futuristic punk cel-shading, and the voice acting is actually really good for a video game. I really enjoyed the music in the game, and of course, the boss fights are always a treat.

No More Heroes is an absolute must for the hardcore Wii gamer. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants a game that is wacky, exciting, action-intensive or just plain different. I doubly recommend it now that a sequel has been announced. Hopefully they will have ironed out all the kinks for the second time around. If you can get past the tedious overworld, you will absolutely love this game like I have.

Posted by Jim Avery in Miscellaneous | Comments Off

Posting from a DSi.

Got the chance to play with one and now I’m messing with the browser. Can’t watch Youtube, but otherwise pretty competent. The touch screen keyboard is a bit slow, but better than Wii to be certain. This seems useful for portable internet. Look forward to more impressions shortly.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News | 1 Comment

Lego Rock Band Announced (With A Beatles Update)

Harmonix, Warner Bros. Interactive, TT Games, Backbone Entertainment, and Lego: by their powers combined, we receive Lego Rock Band for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS. This game will allow players to "Build a Band and Rock the Universe", combining the Rock Band gameplay with the humor of the Lego games as you aim to rock not only the world, but what lies beyond the stars. Players will be able to build and customize their band, entourage and crew, among other things, as they rock out to a setlist that contains at least five new tracks:

Blur "Song 2"
Carl Douglas "Kung Fu Fighting"
Europe "The Final Countdown"
Good Charlotte "Boys And Girls"
Pink "So What"

Lego Rock Band will be available for all systems this holiday season.

In addition to that announcement, Harmonix recently announced the contents of The Beatles: Rock Band Special Edition bundle. In addition to the game itself, the bundle contains a Hofner bass guitar modeled after Paul McCartney’s bass, Ludwig-branded drums reminiscent of Ringo Starr’s set (complete with the face of the kick drum!), a microphone with stand, and "additional special content". The special edition will retail for $249.99 and will be available worldwide on 9/9/09; anyone who pre-orders the game will be eligible to join the Beatles: Rock Band Pre-Order Club, and can access art and behind-the-scenes footage that will be regularly released up until the release of the game.

While the idea of Beatles-esque instruments is pretty awesome, I can’t help but wonder what the point of Lego Rock Band is. What can it do that Rock Band can’t? Besides play on DS, that is.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Rock Band DLC Update: 4/21/09

After a universal update last week for Chinese Democracy, Wii owners return to getting the newest updates from the previous week. Six tracks from country star Toby Keith meet up with music from The Shins, Black Tide (of "Shockwave" fame) and Bullet For My Valentine. In addition, Wii owners are getting three back-catalog tracks from Yngwie Malmsteen. All songs cost 200 Wii Points and are purchased in-game.

Toby Keith "Should’ve Been A Cowboy"
Toby Keith "Beer For My Horses"
Toby Keith "Who’s Your Daddy?"
Toby Keith "How Do You Like Me Now?!"
Toby Keith "She’s A Hottie"
Toby Keith "I Love This Bar"
Yngwie Malmsteen "Red Devil"
Yngwie Malmsteen "Damnation Game"
Yngwie Malmsteen "Caprici Di Diablo"
The Shins "New Slang"
Black Tide "Warriors Of Time"
Bullet For My Valentine "Waking The Demon"

"Warriors of Time" is a pretty sweet track, I think I’m going to pick that one up sometime, I think. Too bad that we’re a week behind again, though. It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?

Posted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off

Nintendo Download: 4/20/09

DSiWare: Dr. Mario Express, 500 Nintendo Points

Dr. Mario is now portable and downloadable. Defeat some viruses in Classic mode, or take on a computer in Vs. CPU mode. Sadly, no multiplayer in this installment.

DSiWare: Master of Illusion Express: Deep Psyche, 200 Nintendo Points

Yet another Master of Illusion Express title, for those who want to impress friends but are low on cash. This one, Deep Psyche, asks a series of questions and then reveals "a startling truth.

WiiWare: Crystal Defenders R1, 800 Wii Points

Square Enix brings a tower defense title to WiiWare. Lay down troops, including soldiers and black mages, in strategic positions to prevent the enemy from escaping with your crystals; when you’re ready, hit the start button, and the politely waiting enemy will come storming out for you to take down. See if you can beat every single stage without losing crystals.

Genesis: Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, 900 Wii Points

The town of Xenobia is under attack, and it’s up to Leo (and Priscilla, if a friend wants to play) to cut the invading monsters down to size. You’ll jump, slash, and collect powerups as you travel through these stages, but be careful, you’ve got a time limit on each stage.

Dr. Mario Express looks like a pretty fun addition to the DSi. As for Square Enix’s offering, a tower defense game doesn’t really seem their style.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off

March 2009 NPD Group US Sales Numbers

Hardware

Wii – 601,000
NDS – 563,000
360 – 330,000
PS3 – 218,000
PSP – 168,000
PS2 – 112,000

Software

1. 360 Resident Evil 5* – 938,000
2. NDS Pokémon Platinum – 805,000
3. 360 Halo Wars* – 639,000
4. PS3 Resident Evil 5* – 585,000
5. Wii Wii Fit – 541,000
6. PS3 MLB ’09: The Show – 305,000
7. PS3 Killzone 2 – 296,000
8. Wii Wii Play – 281,000
9. Wii Mario Kart Wii – 278,000
10. 360 Major League Baseball 2K9 – 205,000

*Includes all versions of that game for that system, except for versions bundled with consoles.

^The numbers on the right represent units sold.

It looks like Resident Evil 5 is cleaning house this month, with 1.5 million units sold across both consoles, making it the biggest Resident Evil launch ever; it far and away eclipsed Halo Wars, which was released earlier in the month. Baseball games are also surprisingly popular this month. The three consoles had a fairly even division of bestsellers in March, with the Nintendo DS taking the #2 spot with Platinum. The difference, of course, is that these Nintendo titles will probably be on next month’s list, while I doubt most of those other games are going to remain.

Overall, video game sales declined this month in comparison to March 2008, most notably Wii hardware sales. Don’t forget, though, that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in March 2008, and that was one of four games to completely dominate last year’s sales. Expecting the nearly-year-old Wii Fit to compete with that is a bit unfair.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous, Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Nintendo Fan Network

I was given a wonderful opportunity to check out the Nintendo Fan Network yesterday during the Seattle Mariner’s home opening by Nintendo.  Unfortunately the camera that I used to take the photos of the event along with the actual application in use have been lost.  Apologies for the lack of photographs in this article!

When I arrived at Safeco Field I headed for one of two Nintendo Fan Network booths in the stadium.  Upon arrival I picked up a Nintendo DSi that was already pre-loaded with what I needed to see.  With equipment in hand I went for my seat.  For reference, I was positioned on the 3rd base line and was close to the field.

The actual look and feel of the application hasn’t changed all that much from my brief  encounter with it last year, aside from the ESPN branding.  That however was a great addition due to ESPN being current with the world of sports.  When I checked the headlines, I was able to not only look at what was going on in baseball, but other sports as well.  Headlines could be easily scrolled through and selected if I wished to read the article in their entirety.

Next up I checked the video and audio sections where you can watch the game streaming on your DS.  Aside from a few stutters initially, playback was great.  Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring along a pair of headsets, so to hear the radio portions I simply held the system up to my ear.  Surprisingly I was able to hear even over the crowd cheering.  A few colleagues sitting next to me tested whether or not the system would transmit audio through a headphone jack when the system was closed.  They found it worked when they tested it.

By this time I was getting a bit peckish and was in need of a bite to eat.  I went to the food ordering menu and looked it over.  There was all the typical foods you’d find in a ballpark, burgers, hot dogs, fries, but they didn’t have what I was after, garlic fries, so I instead went for a healthy Caesar Salad.  In case you aren’t interesting in a full blown meal of sorts, you can also order snacks such as popcorn, elephant ears, and Cracker Jack too.  I however stuck with the salad and went to place my order.  The price of the salad was $9.50 and the system refused to take an order that was less than $10.  A minor annoyance for those trying to be frugal, but then again it’s a $9.50 salad.  After my rejection, I decide to check out their drink selection.  Unlike the rather vocal and energetic individual next to me, I wasn’t in the mood for alcohol, so I picked a Minute Maid Pink Lemonade.  The tab came to a slightly under $15 which was sent off to who knows where to be expedited.

After less than ten minutes, my food arrived by a patient young lady who had to deal with my fumbling around to put my laptop away.  She was pleasant and accommodating.  When she was finished giving me the goods, she asked if I’d like anything else, to which I said no and away she went, back to serve another presumably.  The salad was simple and served in a plastic container that allowed for the salad to be tossed with the included dressing.  All in all I’d say it’s easier to order from your seat than it is to get up and wait in the dreadfully long lines.  With my hunger sated, it was time to check out the rest of what the Network had to offer.

Since I had only checked out the video and audio portions of the MLB in Action section, it was time to see what else was there of interest.  I went to the closed captioning section and while it did slowly display what the announcer was saying over time, I kept having connection issues which made it virtually unusable.  When it does work in full capacity, you’re able to change the amount of lines that are shown on the top screen as well as the color of the background.  The other section I looked over briefly was pitch tracking which showed where each pitch was being delivered and at what velocity.  This of course had a disclaimer that it might not be 100% accurate to what was actually being called by the referee.

Not being a true sports buff, I vaguely checked out the MLB Stats & Standings where it listed scores from other games.  Interestingly, you could track another game going on with a bit more detail than simply looking up at the left field sign to see scores.  Not only were scores and inning information available, but the current batter was there as well.  Cool for those itching to keep track of their fantasy teams while at a game I suppose.

After that it was onto check out how the messaging system worked.  This was about the only major letdown in the system.  I exchanged information with the reporter sitting next to me, but it wasn’t valid.  It wasn’t until I went up and had it clarified that you need to enter in both the username AND ID in the box.  It was there to read, but I suppose the glare of the sunlight had me squinting so much I missed it.  We assume that it would be smooth sailing from here, but in reality it wasn’t.  When going to make a new message it seemed we could access every person in the stadium who happened to log in and create an account.  Except for who we wanted to of course.  For those concerned your children could be speaking with strangers, there is a friends only option that makes it so only friends can message you.  When I tested the friends list however, no one showed up even though I had added two individuals already.  A few bugs in the system to work out perhaps.

Next up was the games section. What would a service on a DS be without that?  While the games offered aren’t as intriguing as the normal offerings developers provide gamers, they were enough to keep kids happy I suspect.  Trivia, two basic slide puzzles, a word search, and a find the differences game were among the choices presented.  Not exactly game of the year material, but again a tool that parents could use while at the ballgame.  I did enjoy the fact that there were leaderboards, so it does give players something to strive for.

Last but not least was the Fan Network Information section.  This is where you add friends, look at your account information, and check on weather and traffic.  The weather was provided by local TV station, KOMO News 4.  It had a 7 day forcast and a map of current conditions in the area.  As for the traffic aspect, that was pulled from the Washington State Department of Transportation and had available a mini version of the map that is full sized on their website of traffic conditions around Safeco Field.  Unfortunately I didn’t setup the account on the system since it was provided for me, so I didn’t test that aspect.

All in all I’d say this is a much better experience from what I remember of it last year.  ESPN news is a good suppliment to that end.  The only big concern I have is the connection which seemed to drop often, but this might be due to the fact it was opening day and there was a buzz about it, so usage might have been well above normal.  If the service remains free, I could see it doing well in other venues if Nintendo wishes to expand it.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Rock Band DLC Update: 4/14/09

In tandem with the Xbox 360 update, Wii owners have been treated to the rest of the long-awaited Guns ‘N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy. Thirteen other tracks will join with the on-disc song "Shackler’s Revenge", allowing players to play the entire album through if they so choose. Each track costs 200 Wii Points and is purchased in-game.

Guns ‘N’ Roses "Chinese Democracy"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Better"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Street Of Dreams"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "If The World"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "There Was A Time"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Catcher In The Rye"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Scraped"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Riad N’ The Bedouins"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Sorry"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "I.R.S."
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Madagascar"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "This I Love"
Guns ‘N’ Roses "Prostitute"

Whoops, late update. A Wii press release was never sent out, though, so this one slipped us by.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

MotionPlus, Wii Sports Resort Dated

For all of you worried about the future of Red Steel 2 and Tiger Woods, Nintendo today finally announced the release date of the MotionPlus: June 8, a little over a week before the release of the aforementioned Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10; the device will retail for $19.99. Additionally, Wii Sports Resort, which is pretty much the only first-party game Nintendo has used to promote MotionPlus, will not be arriving for another month and then some; expect to pick up that game July 26 for $49.99, bundled with a single MotionPlus.

Crafty release date juggling there, Nintendo. Now people will rush out to get a standalone MotionPlus and not just buy the one that comes with Wii Sports Resort.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DSi | Comments Off

NintendoGal DSi Podcast

A new podcast is available from the NintendoGal.com crew.  Check out the full details on the podcast page.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | Comments Off

NintendoGal Podcast #6

Once again Mike Phillips joins us as a guest as we discuss the newly launched Nintendo DSi.  Also NintendoGal and Misa actually agree on something in this episode!

The runtime for this episode is 61:28.

Download Podcast #6

Or stream it right on this page:

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Posted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off

Nintendo Download: 4/13/09

DSiWare: Mixed Messages, 500 Nintendo Points

This DSiWare title, reminiscent of LOL, relies on the creativity of multiple players to keep the ball rolling. Like a cross between Pictionary and Telephone, one player writes out a sentence, and the next player tries to draw a picture of it; based on that picture, then, another player will try to decipher the message and put it into a sentence. There are no points and you don’t win, but up to 21 people can play along. Here’s hoping you have creative friends.

DSiWare: Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games, 500 Nintendo Points

Another Master of Illusion Express title hits DSiWare. This particular entry claims that you will be able to know what your audience is thinking; the "Vanishing Card" entry is included here as well.

WiiWare: Party Fun Pirate, 500 Wii Points

This… peculiar title is based off of the Pop-Up Pirate children’s toy. In this game, you’ve got a pirate captain in a barrel, and players take turns sticking swords into the barrel; if you hit the captain, he goes flying and it’s game over for you. You can also substitute a Mii of your own creation for the pirate. Goodness knows how a game based on inserting swords into people made it to WiiWare, but you and up to three other friends can explore this mystery.

Genesis: Pitfall: the Mayan Adventure, 800 Wii Points

Pitfall Harry, of Pitfall! fame, has been captured by the evil Zakelua, Lord of Evil, and it’s up to Pitfall Harry Jr. to explore the Mayan jungles and rescue his father. In addition to 13 levels of fast-paced exploring action, this game contains the original Atari version of Pitfall! as a hidden bonus.

Okay, seriously. Party Fun Pirate is one of those games that I can barely imagine got past the "ideas" stage. What the heck? Besides that, though, picking up two Pitfall! games for $8 may be a pretty good deal.

Posted by Jim Avery in Nintendo DS, Reviews | Comments Off

Preview: Rittai Picross

I’ve never expressly stated so on the site before, but I am ludicrously addicted to Picross DS. I first played the game two years ago, and have played practically every single day since that time. I was doing the Daily Picross, downloading Classic puzzles, the works. So when I heard that a new kind of Picross was headed to the DS, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Actually, I didn’t wait. I’ve been playing the Japanese version of Rittai Picross for the past two weeks, and I’m as addicted as I was the first time around.

The mechanics of Picross DS and Rittai Picross (translated as "Solid Geometry Picross", apparently) are similar to a point, but Rittai takes it to a new dimension – namely, the third. Instead of a flat grid full of squares to fill in, you’re given a three-dimensional rectangular prism, tasked with eliminating the cubes that make it up. Once you remove all the unnecessary squares, the remaining squares will form a 3D pictures that’s… really not very obvious, you often won’t know what you’ve just made until it fills in colors for you. The pictures are made of dozens of not-so-tiny cubes, after all. It’s still quite satisfying, though, and entertaining to see the little animations each sculpture brings.

Getting to that point is a rather different endeavor from the original Picross DS, though. As you play, you’ll either select a block as "definitely part of the puzzle", wherein you can’t accidentally break it, or you’ll break it and remove it from the puzzle. In the screenshot, you can see little red and blue arrows – these are called the "slicers", and they allow you to select a specific section of the puzzle to look at. You’re essentially dealing with a large number of interlaced, 2D Picross puzzles. The general solving process, then, consists of using the slicers to continually look at the various sections of the puzzle, chipping away one or two blocks at a time, then seeing how your actions affect other parts of the puzzle. It’s different from what Picross players will probably be used to, but it’s still got an inherently adictive quality to it. I haven’t been doing much else except play this since I got it.

The game starts off with a tutorial mode, which is important as some of the rules have changed a bit. Instead of having multiple numbers assigned to one row like in regular Picross, some rows will have a number surrounded by either a circle or a square. If a number is surrounded by a circle, it means that that number represents the total number of blocks to keep in that row/column, but the blocks are separated into two groups; if it’s a square, they’ll be in three groups or more. I found the tutorial mode to be rather helpful, using a lot of visual demonstrations, though if I didn’t speak some Japanese I’m not entirely sure I would have understood the circle/square thing. But I can’t really fault the game for that, can I?

When you complete a puzzle in Rittai, you’ll be judged on a few things. If you missed in Picross DS, it added a few minutes to your total time; in this game, though, it simply counts as a strike. Five strikes and you’re out, but if you complete the puzzle with no strikes, you’ll get a better star rating; if you complete the puzzle within the optimal time, and never miss, you’ll get the best rating of three stars. The number of stars you get willlet you unlock other, bonus puzzles, so going for gold is best. As you complete puzzles, too, they’ll be placed on backgrounds with other, simiarly themed puzzles to create a diorama; it’s nothing spectacular, but it’s a nice touch, I think. Completing a diorama is rather satisfying.

In addition to normal puzzles, the game has three kinds of challenges to throw at you. The first, a "Time Challenge", has something to do with some sort of time constraint, but for the life of me I have no idea what’s going on in them; my Japanese is insufficient to figure that one out. There’s also a "No Miss Challenge", where you’re not allowed to break any blocks you shouldn’t, or the game ends. Lastly, there is the "Big Challenge", my personal favorite. In these challenges, you solve five to seven smaller puzzles, then all the pieces will combine to form some large, super-detailed puzzle like the Statue of Liberty. These shake the game up a little, though I personally always try to never miss, and to finish within the time constraints, so the Big Challenge is the only really different one to me.

The only real gripe I have with the game so far is the controls. It’s almost entirely stylus-based; you’ll use the stylus to turn the thing, move the slicers, and select blocks for preservation or destruction. If you want to select a block to be broken, you’ll hold up on the D-pad as you touch the block; if you want it to be preserved, you’ll hold right instead. The problem is that it’s pretty easy to press the wrong direction on accident, and you’ll end up breaking a block that’s supposed to remain, and you’ll be penalized for it. In later stages, this happened to me quite often.

My verdict: if you enjoy Picross DS, you’ll probably love Rittai Picross, or whatever they end up calling it, just as much. If this game is slated for a US release, we’ll be letting you know, and you can expect a full review of the game at that time. For now, though, I’m going to get back to playing.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Chinese Democracy Headed To Rock Band

If you liked "Shackler’s Revenge" on Rock Band 2, then take note: the rest of the Chinese Democracy album by Guns ‘N’ Roses will be made available for download on the 360 and Wii Music Stores on Tuesday, April 14. Each song will cost 200 Wii Points, and downloading the entire album will presumably cost 2,000 Wii Points, but this price point was not made clear for the Wii version specifically. Here are the tracks that are going to be made available:

Chinese Democracy
Better
Street Of Dreams
If The World
There Was A Time
Catcher In The Rye
Scraped
Riad N’ The Bedouins
Sorry
I.R.S.
Madagascar
This I Love
Prostitute

I am not sure if I’ll be picking this up. I liked "Shackler’s Revenge" but it didn’t really blow me away or anything. It’s not nearly as good as something like "Paradise City".

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

More Sales For Strong Bad WiiWare Games

Telltale announced that after Nintendo released the latest system update that allows users to actually utilize the SD card slot on the front of their Wii consoles, sales doubled for Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People.  Politely saying what we were all thinking was Telltale’s CEO Dan Connors:

"Nintendo’s new solution really opens the door for players to add to their collection of downloadable games, which is critical for a series with multiple installments.  This is a major step forward for episodic gaming. We’re looking forward to even greater success on WiiWare with Strong Bad, as well as other projects."

Hopefully this means we’ll be getting more content from Telltale in both downloadable episodic format AND discs, i.e. Sam & Max Season Two.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Beatles Catalog Re-Released With Beatles: Rock Band

If you’re like me and listen to the music of the Beatles constantly, you’ll be glad to hear that EMI Music and Apple Corps Ltd. announced that on 09/09/09, the same date as the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, the entire Beatles catalog of music would be re-released on CD, all of it digitally mastered for the first time. The albums will also contain expanded artwork and booklets, and for a limited time, each CD will contain a video documentary about the album. Two new box sets are also being created: all of the albums, as well as Past Masters I & II, will be released in a stereo box set, and the ten albums mixed for mono will be released as a set entitled "The Beatles in Mono", for those five people who prefer mono sound.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | Comments Off

Interview: Sean Kenney

If you’ve been to the Nintendo World Store in New York, you may have noticed a Nintendo DSi built entirely of LEGO pieces.  We got in contact with the artist of this sculpture to ask him a few questions.  Don’t forget to check out his website after reading where you can see all the different works he’s produced.

NintendoGal.com: How many man hours did it take to complete this project from start to finish?  How much of that was just putting it together?

Sean Kenney: The sculpture took about 200 hours to design and build, and was done over the course of about 2 weeks together with two of my assistants.  It contains 51,324 LEGO pieces, all of which are available in regular off-the-shelf LEGO products.  (Yes, kids, you too can do this at home!)    The final sculpture has giant-sized versions of every detail, from the screws on the battery cover to the electrical contacts in the power port.  The tiny SD card slot is over a foot tall!

About 20 hours was design work, folded in throughout the entire construction process.    Normally I spend longer on design than on construction, but the compressed timeline forced me to design-on-the-fly!   Before the project started, I gathered as many photographs of the DSi as I could, and then used graph paper to plan out the basic shape and size and all the visual elements like printed lettering, buttons, slots, and so on. Eventually Nintendo mailed me a real DSi and I took hundreds of measurements, from the depth of the buttons to the width of the tiny bevel around the edges.  I’d build prototypes of different areas (a camera lens, a button, some text, etc) to see how it would look, often taking them apart and rebuilding them over & over.  When I finally would have a button, port, plug, or icon that I liked, I’d rebuild it with glue and place it onto the rest of the sculpture.
 

NG: Was this completed in the typical amount of time it generally takes you for a commission?

SK: This project was done on an incredibly tight timeframe.  I personally put in about 180 of the over 200 hours, in only 14 days; it was a lot of long nights and weekend work to get it done in time.  My assistants put in another 38 hours.  The people at Nintendo of America and at The LEGO Group were also wonderful and helped service my needs at light-speed!

NG: What tools do you use to do these projects?

SK: All the LEGO pieces are snapped together one-by-one, just like you used to do when you were a kid… there are no tricks or secrets.  That said, I do glue the pieces as I place them down, so the sculpture can withstand shipping and the inevitable "curious fingers" during public display.   I sometimes use a rubber mallet or compression grips to press together the LEGO bricks if I’m working in a tight space.  And I use a LEGO "brick separator" to pry apart LEGO pieces once they’ve been pressed in place.  (Or a set of pliers once they’ve been glued!)  I also make my own LEGO-shaped graph paper for drawing out my ideas.

I don’t use computers to plan out my sculptures… it’s far too complex, and — if you ask me — it takes all the fun out of it!  I like to build the "old fashioned" way, just by sitting down with my LEGO pieces (and maybe a photograph or two of whatever I’m building) and just see where it takes me.

The sculpture is very thin (50cm deep), is 2m tall, and weighs 125kg.  To keep such a thin, heavy sculpture upright and stable, I built it around a custom steel skeleton.  It is, after all, on public display and even though it’s glued you don’t want it to fall over and flatten anyone.

NG: In other interviews you mention having to special order through LEGO for the bricks, do you go through a different process than most would for buying through them?

SK: As a LEGO Certified Professional, I have a special relationship with The LEGO Group.  I don’t get any freebees, though … I have to buy all my LEGO pieces.  But The LEGO Group is glad to let me order in bulk.  Ordering in bulk is a very manual process that involves looking through grids of data and talking with people at their warehouses in Europe, so placing orders is slower than, say, ordering from an e-commerce site.  But the people at The LEGO Group are amazing and they knew I was on a tight deadline; they managed to get 16 crates of light blue LEGO pieces shipped from Europe to my studio in New York in only a matter of a few days!  Even the shipping people were amazing… one dispatcher drove his personal SUV to customs at Newark Airport, put as much as he could fit into his car, and drove it straight to my studio!

NG: Is there any particular portion of the piece that you’re fond and/or proud of?

SK: I love all the tiny details, like the text, markings, plugs, ports, and screws.  They were a lot of fun to design and build.  My favorite feature is the SD Card slot, which simulates the panel door on the side of the DSi.  The lettering and icons are built using lots of really tiny LEGO pieces, to simulate beveling into the surface of the sculpture.  Everything is all one color, so the shadows and depth allow you to see the shapes as they really are.  I think it came out very cool.

NG: Are you a fan of Nintendo or gaming at all?

SK: I used to play a lot of video games when I was younger … I have fond memories of time spent with Mario and Duck Hunt on the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  (And, going back further, I did play a fair amount of Pac Man, Space Invaders, and Centipede in my youth!)  But lately my LEGO work takes up all of my available time, so video games have had to take a back seat to my other activities.   When I do free time I enjoy walking around New York City or taking time off to travel around the world.  Although I’ve been playing a lot of iPod solitaire lately…

NG: Since you got a Nintendo DSi, what are some thoughts you have about it?

SK: I was so busy building the LEGO sculpture of the DSi that I didn’t even get to play with the real DSi!  I only ever turned the DSi on once… to see what color the different lights lit up!   Perhaps now I’ll have some time to actually use it.

NintendoGal.com would like to thanks Sean Kenney very much for taking the time to answer our questions!  Be sure to check out his website.