NintendoStar

Bonus Round Pt 2: The Sequels of Fall 2010

Snakey — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:34:51 +0000

Ken Levine worried about shovelware on 3DS

Snakey — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:29:08 +0000

“Great, no my bedside table is going to have an iPhone, and iPad, and a Nintendo 3DS. I think the question for how much attention the new Nintendo hotness will get is, like always, based on software, on games. Is somebody going to be able to make the darn thing sing? Or is it going to be a shovelware extravaganza (but now in glorious 3D!). Nintendo makes insanely good first party stuff; we’ll see if the rest of us devs can follow suit.” - Ken Levine, President of Irrational Games

I agree, 100%. The Wii has experienced problems with shovelware for the last 3-4 years. It might not be as much as problem this time because of the stronger third party support from top developers, but there are always going to be the ones looking to make some quick money.

Source

Pokemon Battle Revolution

Snakey — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:58:43 +0000

Pokemon Battle Revolution takes place in a small island called Poketopia. The goal of the game is to defeat the colosseums leaders to make your way up to the final colosseum to win the game. As for using Pokemon in battle, they must be on a Battle Pass, in which can only have 6 Pokemon on it. There is no rental Pokemon unlike Pokemon Stadium.

Some of the connectivity features; players can ‘upload’ their Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold or SoulSilver Pokemon to Pokemon Battle Revolution. You can add these Pokemon to a Battle Pass allowing you to make it easier for you (If your DS Pokemon are well-leveled). The downside is that you can only use ONE DS Pokemon Game. This game also allows players to connect to Wi-Fi and battle strangers on there. From double to single battles and all Pokemon are at level 50. Users can even trade their friend codes with other players to play with each other online.

Some of the things you can do in-game; Once a player has beaten a colosseum, the player is awarded Points in which the user can use those points to buy clothes/outfits for your character. You can even buy Mystery Gifts. They allow you to download these gifts to your DS Pokemon game ranging from TM’s to special items (such as a “Lagging Tail”). Players can even go head-to-head with playing each other or verses a computer.

Players that have at least 2 DS Pokemon games can host a tournament showing all of the gameplay on the big screen. Up to 4 people can take part and the game lets you pick your rules and what-not.

The graphics in this game are probably the best I’ve seen for a Nintendo Wii game. The only bad thing about this game is not having rental pokemon. But, they do have rental Battle Passes that you can obtain through the game. So, if you don’t have a DS Pokemon game, I suggest buying one first instead of this game.

Score: 7.3

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

Snakey — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:48:48 +0000

I’ve had my eye on Sin and Punishment: Star Successor ever since I downloaded the N64 import of Sin and Punishment for the Wii virtual console. Like most of us outside Japan, this was our first taste of the S&P arcade shooter goodness that Treasure can dish out. I spent my days dreaming of how the Wiiremote IR pointer could really bring this game into its own. Gladly, I am here to report that I was right.

Let’s just get this out of the way right now. The story in the game isn’t what you would call classic literature, but what you need to know is that the main characters name is Isa and you begin your journey trying to escape via your spaceship from the planet “Earth 4”. At your side is a mysterious girl named Kachi and as your being shot down by the bad guys. You soon learn that you are trying to protect her from being captured. Honestly if you get more than that from the game good for you. You get a cookie. Really what this game is about is shooting, slicing, high-scores and blowing stuff up as fast as possible and we all know how fun that is.

As it’s basic level the game plays like an on-rails shooter, but you are free to move your character around the entire screen and shoot in and any direction you wish. You will quickly learn that this will be your biggest advantage, since the game will throw everything and anything at you from all directions. This is where the Wii IR pointer functionality works like dream. When using an analog stick to control an onscreen aiming reticule, it just shows you how far superior using the IR pointer is in a side by side comparison. This had such an affect on the gameplay that during development when Treasure sent the game to Nintendo, they were told to ramp up the difficulty. There are many points in the game where there is so many bullets and enemies flying around you can easily lose track of where your character is. In those types of situations your going to want to use the dodge button to get yourself out of harms way and continue blasting your way through the onslaught robots, soldiers, and gigantic bosses.

There is no denying that this game deliverers the pain and is one of the hardest games I’ve played in long while. Even taking the game on in easy mode, I found myself failing the missions and swearing at my television like a lunatic. Thankfully there are plenty of checkpoints placed throughout the levels. Your main goal is to rack up points by shooting and slicing enemies and the more you can destroy without getting hit, a multiplier meter will be added to your score. Thus giving you huge points and a chance to post your score up on the online leader boards. The game only features seven levels, but they are filled with tons of varied environments, multiple bosses, unique ways rack up your score, and the option to play through them with either Isa or Kachi. You also can throw in a second Wiimote for some two-player co-op, but the second player will only have their reticule on the screen. For some reason the devs opted to not include both character on the screen at the same time. Which seems like a strange choice to me.

While the game may lack a long single player mode (around four hours) and any real depth in terms of story. Even the best players will have to go back and figure out the best ways to get that high score and that’s fine since the game is purely focused on what it’s good at; providing intense arcade shooter gameplay. It’s also worth noting that even with the insane amount of enemies on screen and some of the best effects I’ve seen on the Wii, it runs fast and beautifully without any hiccups. It feels like the small team at Treasure really put the time in to make sure each level has lots of variety in terms of level and character design.

To be truthful this type of genre always seems to be a hard sell for a lot of gamers today and I don’t see this game selling like a Paris Hilton porn movie. Nintendo seems to be putting a little bit of marketing muscle into the game with a commercial and some online advertising, but nothing too substantial. But if your a fan of this genre, you really should go out and pick this one up. You will be challenged, you will fail, but you will also have an absolute blast doing it.

Pros:
Intense arcade action
A difficult and satisfying challenge
Creative boss and level design

Cons:
Short play through
Leaderboards could have been more streamlined and easier to browse
Two player co-op lacks second on screen character

Verdict: Must Play
This is some of the most intense action you going to find on the Wii that doesn’t involve mini-games and waggle. For Treasure fans I think this game will more than satisfy their need to shoot and create explosions at break neck speeds.

Score: 8.0

Link

Pach-Attack Ep. 128

Snakey — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:38:23 +0000

New Activision release dates

Snakey — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:20:15 +0000

GoldenEye 007 (Wii) - Nov 2, 2010
James Bond: Blood Stone (360, PS3, PC, DS) - Winter 2010
Tony Hawk: Shred (360, PS3, Wii) - Autumn 2010. Available as a bundle or standalone title.
DJ Hero 2 ((360, PS3, Wii) - October 19, 2010 for North America and Australia. October 22 for Europe. Available as a standalone title or two bundles with either a single or dual deck/microphone set.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (360, PS3, Wii, DS) - September 24, 2010 for Europe. September 28, 2010 for North America.
Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS) - November 9, 2010
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS, iOS) - October 26, 2010 for North America. October 29, 2010 for Europe.

Source

Boxart updates - Aug. 15th

Snakey — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:11:13 +0000

Check out more here

IFC Interview with the Big Man

Snakey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:49:18 +0000

A review snippet of the IFC interview with Reggie Fils-Aime…

IFC: You know, I feel like the last few “Zelda” games have hinged on an axis mechanism that the game is organized around. Whether it’s “Twilight Princess” with the light and dark, or “Wind Waker” with the sailing. Do you feel like there is a core part of the series at this point?

RFA: I think it is.

IFC: And in “Ocarina of Time,” you had the different time periods and Link at different ages as the core mechanic in that game.

RFA: So, these two worlds are a key part of the Zelda franchise. And you know, being able to do certain things in world, different things in the other world — now, Mr. Newman, Mr. Miyamoto are the developers — but as a player, a lover of the franchise, to me, yes, those are core parts of the franchise.

IFC: Going back to larger strategy, it seems that, out the gate, you may not be having to support the 3DS when it comes out solely on the strength of first-party content. Comparing the 3DS to the Wii with regard to third-party partnerships, there appears to be a lot more partners on board pre-launch than with the Wii. But it also seems like that third parties may be necessarily supporting you guys on the Wii the way they did after launch. And this is something, again, that Mr. Iwata has said that maybe other publishers still don’t understand the Wii the way we do, how to create content for the consul. What would you have to say to that?

RFA: A couple of different things. First, you can clearly see a progression between DS, Wii and 3DS in terms of third party support. When we launched DS, there were number of developers there at the start, but they did not have content that really showcased the capabilities of the system in a big way.

There is a lot of different reasons for that, including maybe a little lack of belief, especially. Remember PSP was launching at the same time as the DS, and popular opinion was that it’s all about graphical horsepower. That was then. Now, jump to the Wii and there was a much broader line-up of support for the Wii right out of the gate. Pretty good support. (And at this point, the DS is still enjoying very strong sales momentum.) Now, with the 3DS, it’s become much more extensive, because I do believe developers know that our hardware approach and the input devices really will lead to compelling experiences. That’s one aspect [of how things have changed].

There is another aspect though that developers now, and publishers now, I think are just becoming to understand. We have got almost a 30 million unit install base on the Wii, and these consumers are different. They react differently when you launch content, compared to the more smaller install bases of our two competitors, which are predominantly very, very, very active gamers, right? And so you have a product like–I mean, pick one, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″, massive sale peak and then pretty rapid…

IFC: …decline?

RFA: Decline. That is not the sales curve that you see on the Wii. A title like “New Super Mario Brothers Wii” that sold five plus million units, it had a strong peak and then it stayed fairly high. The same thing “Wii Fit”, same thing with “Wii Fit Plus”, same with Super Mario Galaxy”. Hopefully, the same thing with “Super Mario Galaxy 2″. Publishers like Ubisoft saw that kind of curve with “Just Dance”.

The reason that the sales curve is important is it drives your marketing investment decisions. When you have got this massive spike and a massive fall down, everything is front-loaded. With something that’s more even, you have to spread your marketing investment, right? Spreading marketing investment [like that ] was not done on, you know, pick a third party publish title for Wii. Not one of them, with one exception, “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games”, both summer and winter. And by the way, when you look at that sales curve, it looks more like a Nintendo first-party sales curve.

IFC: So you are saying publishers need to be prepared to have marketing support, not just at launch. But how long is that timeframe? I mean, when do you decide to call time-of-death? It could be like on a medical drama where they keep doing chest compressions on a dead body, you know?

RFA: You know, it’s intuitive, it’s based on game quality. I will give you an example, “Style Savvy,” that we launched last year on the DS. If I were a traditional publisher after the first couple of weeks, I might have pulled all my marketing support. Because the sales, you know, they didn’t go the way we thought it would go, didn’t come out of the gate like gangbusters. But, boy, that third week, we saw a nice big spike, fourth week spiked again. It’s a different type of sales curve.

Mr. Iwata has said that Nintendo’s core mission in creating content is to expand the gaming audience. What I’m hearing from you now is that if you are going to do that, it’s not just about like what’s on the platform or the technology in the platform, but also how you talk about it.

It’s everything, it really is a philosophy that yes, absolutely starts with the game, but then extends to system, it extends to the marketing approach, the communications approach, everything needs to be aligned. If you believe that, then apply that thinking to what our competitors are trying to do.

IFC: It’s funny, because “Kid Icarus” is one of those Nintendo properties that people have been champing at the bit for ages. You guys always marry these beloved first-party characters to new innovations of hardware. Is that just canny planning? What’s the idea behind that? I mean, why wasn’t Mario the character who was used to debut the 3DS versus lead character Pit from “Kid Icarus,” for instance?

RFA: Well, “Kid Icarus,” because of the flying and the ground battle, really is tailor-made for the 3D type of experience. There’s another way to think about this, though. I mean, yes, we are fortunate that we have a veritable vault of fantastic franchises. But the other thing that we pride ourselves is constantly looking for new experiences and new franchises. You know, I am absolutely looking forward to “Kid Icarus: Uprising.” But, the next game I personally will buy will be “Steel Diver,” because that’s another one that, to me, in a 3D environment plays exceptionally well.

IFC: I feel like consumers are so used to going into an online hub, be it an App Store or whatever, and getting their content that way. Do you guys feel confident in building such an infrastructure or are you going to leave it up to the partners, the movie studios and such?

RFA: Let’s take this out of specifically movies. One of the things I love about this company is that we constantly look at our performance, and even when we are dominating a particular generation, we look hard to say what can we do better. And as we sit here today, we know we have to do digital better. And so, we will do digital better. How that looks will be different than what current players do in digital.

Why? Because we’re compelled to innovate, we’re compelled to bring this experience forward in a way that in our view is more compelling for the consumer. And so, I can’t and I won’t give you the details of our digital strategy, but what I will tell you is that our digital strategy will be significantly more robust, significantly more compelling than what we have done today.

Full interview here

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Gameplay

Snakey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:42:44 +0000

Deca Sports 3 Gameplay

Snakey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:38:59 +0000