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Posts with tag DS

Born for Wii: Castlevania

For more than 20 years, gamers have been taking whip in hand to navigate Dracula's dark castle and defeat the villain and his minions again and again. Castlevania has evolved considerably over the past two decades, with recent games in the series largely adopting the incredibly popular Metroidvania style of gameplay that first showed up in 1997's Symphony of the Night. The older games typically offer a more classic platforming experience, although RPG elements such as a leveling system worked their way into the series even as early as Castlevania II: Simon's Quest in 1987.

Castlevania has also braved the world of (gasp!) three dimensions with mixed results over the years, but in general Konami has managed to retain the feel of the classic 2D Castlevania adventures on an expanded scale. Rumors of a Wii game titled Castlevania Judgment have been floating around the intertubes for quite awhile, but when the news finally broke -- a Wii Castlevania really was coming! -- it wasn't quite in the form people expected. The terms "3D fighting game" and "Castlevania" don't really go hand-in-hand. Even if the fighter is a success, Wii gamers deserve a true Castlevania experience, and that's why the series is this week's entry into the library of games that are Born for Wii.

Gallery: Born for Wii: Castlevania

Continue reading Born for Wii: Castlevania

Wii Warm Up: Channel spitballing

Talk about cool DS and Wii integration over at DSF got us thinking about the Channel line-up on the Wii right now, game-specific and just those released by Nintendo for our pleasure. Some of the Channels we're all about, yet some just kind of sit there, on the Nintendo servers. Frankly, we refuse to download them because of how useless they are.

So who knows better than you, the fans, right? We want to hear your ideas for some cool Channels that can be implemented into the Wii. Anything is fair game here, from the ridiculous to the realistic. Lay it on us!

Wii Warm Up: System hopping

We've seen games that originated on the DS hop to the Wii -- Lost in Blue is the latest example, but a more notable instance might be Trauma Center.

Do you think switching consoles mid-series is a good idea? If so, are there any particular switches that made more sense on the Wii? And how about the DS? Have there been any franchises that you think should have stayed on the portable?

Nintendo Channel launching simultaneously with WiiWare

We've been waiting pretty much forever (since November, but we're mental goldfish) for the Everybody's Nintendo Channel to launch over here after seeing how cool the Japanese version is. Nintendo has announced that the Nintendo Channel, which offers DS demo downloads, user-submitted game reviews, and exclusive video content, will be released in the U.S. on May 12th, the same day WiiWare launches.

Users will be able to submit reviews of their WiiWare games after playing for the industry standard time (joking) of one hour. We really hope that the same kind of cool DS downloads and video material is available for us as there is in Japan.

Student-developed DS games appear on Everybody's Nintendo Channel



Proof that Japan gets everything awesome -- including first dibs on new releases, Super Famicom Classic Controllers, and giant mechas piloted by bratty kids -- the island country's Minna no Nintendo Channel (Everybody's Nintendo Channel) has started to post student-developed games in its DS downloads section.

For those of you unfamiliar with these titles, Nintendo hosts a 10-month seminar every year in which 40 students take courses on programming and game design, eventually working in teams to develop small DS games to be featured through download stations in Japan. This year's batch consisted of four different titles, including Wakerai no Heya Tsuzuki, a Hotel Dusk-styled horror adventure, and Nan de Momo Koko Yasan, a touchscreen coloring game.

Wakerai no Heya Tsuzuki has already been posted on the Japan-only (for now) Minna no Nintendo Channel, available for free until April 22nd. Presumably, the other three student-developed titles will be set up with a similar arrangement in the coming weeks. Though we doubt Nintendo of America will bring these Japanese releases over when it finally releases Everybody's Nintendo Channel in the states, at this point, we would be happy just to have the dang channel! It has been almost five months since the channel debuted in Japan!

Nintendo shifts more developers to the Wii, less to the DS

There comes a time in every system's life when its parent has to take off the kid gloves and say goodbye. Nintendo might not being doing that just yet with the DS, but the company is decreasing the amount of developers working on DS titles.

That doesn't mean Nintendo will be facing empty nest syndrome, though. By coddling the DS a little less, more developers can (and will) be able to focus on Wii games. The Wii will surely benefit from this, as more manpower means quicker game releases. As for the DS, don't fret. The handheld is littered with third-party titles, and it's not like Nintendo is jumping ship completely on its portable money-printer.

[Via NeoGAF]

Wii Warm Up: Get out of my DS, get into my Wii

We've seen a few DS franchises expand to the Wii or, in the case of Trauma Center, jump ship entirely. We don't really have a problem with this, and, in fact, it can convert a single-player hit like Big Brain Academy into a party game with no real compromises to the original formula.

We personally have a massive crush on the Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents games, and want to see them on any and every console. We have a suspicion that iNiS could come up with a unique and clever interface for a Wii music game. What DS games would you like to see take the trip into waggle country?

Mii Spotlight: A look ahead


We're taking a break this week from our usual Mii Spotlight format to discuss the future of Miis, including the forthcoming Mii-focused channel, and what we would like to see in the way of updates to the Mii creation process. We hope you don't mind ... and anyway, we're short on Miis! We can only guess you guys were far too busy immersing yourselves bodily in E3 videos and news to create any new little people this week.

But no worries! Not only will we have new and interesting ways in which to wield our Miis in the near future, games like MySims seem to be running with the super-cute avatar idea, and soon we'll be able to expand our tiny armies of near-lookalikes to epic proportions. Miis even turn up in Wii Fit, though there it seems they must do battle with faceless VR mannequins who threaten to take over our exercise plans.

Actually, Miis v. Mannequins could be an excellent game inside Wii Fit. Too bad we're mostly sure it isn't included. We do love our cartoon violence ... perhaps a little too much.

Continue reading Mii Spotlight: A look ahead

E307: Geometry Wars Galaxies gets new screens and very busy boxart



Geometry Wars Galaxies, besides being a baffling display of brightly-colored sparks, is also a pretty neat shooting game. It's somewhat easier to tell what's going on in screenshots than to be dropped right in the middle of gameplay like in the video. If, like us, you couldn't really figure it out, we recommend the screens. That boxart is just a swirly mess of sparks, though. It's like someone superimposed five Rez boxarts together.

Galaxies has some exciting features in store, like co-op play and online leaderboards. We checked with Sierra to inquire about online co-op, and learned that, unfortunately, the online aspect was limited to leaderboards. But the bottom line is that this third-party Wii game uses the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for something, and that is very promising news.

Owners of both the DS and Wii versions can connect the two and unlock mysterious bonus content. Connecting the games also allows access to the Elite Leaderboard for people who are really good at playing the same game on two systems!

Friday Video: The other half

Just in case you are one of the four people in the world who doesn't own a DS (for shame!), here's what you may be missing out on in Pokémon Battle Revolution. With all the discussion on the game today, we thought it might be nice to spotlight the Wii game's handheld connectivity. Check it out after the jump.

Pikachu looks so sad here. A little forlorn. Poor little guy.

Continue reading Friday Video: The other half

Wii Warm Up: Half a game

We don't think this is a controversial statement, although feel free to skewer us in the comments if it is: Pokemon Battle Revolution is not worth having if you don't own and play Pokemon on the DS. If we really wanted to arouse some vitriol, we'd say it's not worth having even then, but that would really just be flame-baiting for its own sake. We don't even actually feel that way.

What we want to know is, is it okay in your mind to have a game like this that absolutely depends on another game to be fun? It it okay for such a thing to be full price?

Obviously, if you're of the "gotta catch 'em all" persuasion who buys every Pokemon game regardless of quality, your answer is going to be a little different.

NPD: Nintendo rocks yet another month

Nintendo does it again, as they manage to utterly dominate the competition for yet another month. The latest NPD sales figures for May show Nintendo's DS and Wii topping the charts, with a surprise third place contender in Sony's PSP handheld (likely due to a price drop). The hardware break down is as follows:
  • Nintendo DS: 423K
  • Nintendo Wii: 338K
  • Sony PSP: 221K
  • Sony PlayStation 2: 187K
  • Microsoft Xbox 360: 155K
  • Sony PlayStation 3: 81K
Aside from the hardware sales, Nintendo's software also kicked some tail climbing to the top of the charts. Not only were the obvious poking men on the chart, but also some Nintendo software you might not otherwise have thought could have sold so well in May. The software figures are:
  • Pokémon Diamond (DS)
  • Mario Party 8 (Wii)
  • Spider-Man 3 (PS2)
  • Pokémon Pearl (DS)
  • Wii Play w/remote (Wii)
  • Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)
  • Guitar Hero II w/guitar (Xbox 360)
  • Spider-Man 3 (Xbox 360)
  • Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360)
  • Guitar Hero II w/guitar (PS2)

By our consoles combined, you are a Nintendo Short Cuts entry


Reader Joe sent us his entry in the Nintendo Short Cuts Showcase competition and we have to give it to him and his friends. Having a Track and Field pad for a cape and a hollowed out NES for a mask are just too good. He's like a deformed combination of Batman and Captain Planet.

See what we mean past the post break.

Continue reading By our consoles combined, you are a Nintendo Short Cuts entry

My Word Coach lets you be like us (plus DS-to-Wii connectivity!) [update 1]

FallibLe.
[Update: Fixed broken link.]

Surely you've thought at some point, hunched over your keyboard because that damned essay is due tomorrow morning, that words could flow glibly and beautifully from your fingertips, as they do so often at Nintendo Wii Fanboy.

All right, that was a little arrogant. We're sorry.

Anyway. As you very well may know, Brain Age focused fairly heavily on the numerical side of things. Equations = sadness. Did it teach you how to express, or to inspire? Hell no. And so Ubisoft jumps into the brain training genre, with both Wii and DS versions of their literary inculcator, My Word Coach.

There's an in-depth preview over at IGN, and we highly encourage you to peruse their hands-on experience. We'd also like to point out that this game features a simple and effective DS-to-Wii communication feature, in which handwriting performed via stylus is instantly translated into the Wii title, which coincidentally happens to have a far more robust handwriting recognition system than did Brain Age. Is your brain tingling in excitement? We certainly hope so.

Nintendo dominates April's NPD

Just like this month.
Remember the days when Nintendo's hardware was at a permanent and incredibly depressing third place in the sales charts, month after month? We sure can't; all this success has gone to our heads.

The April NPD numbers, tracking hardware and software sales in North America, were released recently and Nintendo once again obliterated the competition. The Nintendo DS and the Wii took the top two spots for the fourth month running, with 471,000 and 360,000 units sold, respectively. Both of these figures more than double their nearest competitors (PSP and the Xbox 360), and the PS3 could only move a paltry 82,000 units.

It's the same story in software. Nintendo took home the top four spots across all systems with the releases of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and Super Paper Mario, along with the still oddly popular Wii Play. The Pokemon titles, of course, were only available for a single week in April, yet still captured the top spots with a combined 1.7 million units sold.

It just makes you all tingly inside, doesn't it? For the full hardware and software figures, click after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo dominates April's NPD

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