Nintendo announced a lot of games last night at their Japanese conference. Many of them, like Punch-Out!! here, were brand new. Some, like Supan Smasher and Cosmic Walker, we still don't know anything about. But we've got screenshots. So many screenshots.
After the break, you'll find galleries of all the new games, along with new screens of some upcoming games we've known about for a while. Of special interest to us among the previously-announced Oboro Muramasa Youtouden, coming to the US as Muramasa: The Demon Blade, because it looks super hot, Karaoke Joysound Wii, which appears to have art by Parappa creator Rodney Alan Greenblat, and Takuto of Magic (Wand of Magic), which appears to be a followup to Taito's LostMagic on the DS.
Well, it's a bit late for accurate estimation. Let's just say a lot of new games. And rather than write a separate post about each new game seen for the first time in this Nintendo media conference video, we'll just list out every new game we see in the order we see them, with a bit of description in case you can't figure out which is which. We'll also point out known games for which we're seeing the first video. Okay?
Let's Tap, developed by Prope, published by Sega. The sidescrolling platformer/fireworks ... thing.
Karaoke Joysound, developed and published by Hudson. We knew about the game, but this video was the first look. It's the one with the rabbity avatar.
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. We saw scans of this remake this morning, and now there's the first video.
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii. It's the one that looks like a Taiko game! Coming December 11!
Gaming is a hobby, but sometimes it can feel like a job. As developers try to boost replayability, your gaming commitments can become anxiety-inducing. Just ask anyone who dared to attempt achieving 100% of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. At first, it's a fun and wonderful romp through a vivid world that's just oozing with life and character. By the end, you wish you'd never left Vice City. Did anyone here complete all of Super Smash Bros Brawl? I'm talking Classic Mode with every character, all of the Event matches, the target smashes, and every trophy and sticker available. At a certain point, some games can become an obligation rather than a means to entertainment.
Today being Labor Day in the US, let's take a break from completing every mission, collecting every star, and unlocking all bonus content. Sometime between your 11 AM rise from bed and your evening consumption of copious amounts of hot dogs at your family barbeque, take some time to truly enjoy gaming. Here's our Top 5 recommendations.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Why do we love the Wii with friends? Because we want all to share the splendor and majesty that comes from playing the best home gaming console around. So that's why we set out to bring you a nice, easy package of great multiplayer games for the Wii.
Both online and local multiplayer is covered, as well as games that have released and those that are still in production. We hope you find this useful in your own life, in some small way, or at least a good place to link a friend who has no idea what they're getting into with the Wii. So read on and see what we have in store, then come back here and tell us what multiplayer experiences you enjoy most on the Wii!
If you haven't already, you kids might want to point your cursors towards EndlessOcean.com. Although doing so will mean you have to endure a few seconds of Endless Ocean's God-awful Enya-esque soundtrack (while you scrabble around frantically for the 'Mute' button), it could be totally worth it. See, Nintendo and Norwegian Cruise Line have combined to generously offer three lucky people a seven-day Caribbean cruise for two, on board a ship that looks a lot like the one above.
It's all part of promoting Nintendo's casual gamer-friendly diving sim. Yours truly was rather grumbly about the game itself in our review but, y'know, free cruise. You can even enter once a day between now and February 29th, though if you're under 18 or not residing in the U.S., fuhgeddaboudit.
If you frequent video game blogs or boards, you've probably heard about the Fox News debacle that was sparked by the "pornography" in the game Mass Effect. Wired decided to poke fun (or jab sarcasm) at the alarmist network, pointing out a few other games that should raise hysteria among the stick-up-their-butt crowd.
We won't spoil the whole feature, but to steal an excerpt, this is why Fox News should fear Geometry Wars: "Geometry is math. Math leads to science. Science leads to lies. Thus, Geometry Wars directly indoctrinates our children into the evolutionary lie that we're all descended from homosexual monkeys. Naked homosexual monkeys. We recommend instead the game Intelligent Design Wars, which is just like Geometry Wars, except that the credits read, "We don't know who made this. (But it was probably God.)"
We couldn't agree more. Won't someone think of the children?
Our blogger in the UK, Chris, provided us with a review of the title last month (thanks to the game releasing in his territory before ours, for a change) and spoke his mind concerning the undersea exploration within. After providing his honest opinion on the title, many here who were otherwise dead-set on picking this one up (this blogger included) then began to contemplate the other releases this week. Soon, its place among the "must-haves" for the week was in question, and we started thinking about picking up one or the other.
What about you all, though? Have you picked up Endless Ocean and found the critics to be off their rockers? Is this game awesome and nobody but IGN knows it?
Let's get to the reviews:
IGN (80/100) says: "There are enough missions, from becoming a tour guide for other divers to photographing rare fish, to keep you busy for hours, but you might just prefer the pointless exploration to accomplishing set goals. Add in a two-player online mode and there's a lot to like about this scuba-diving simulation, even if some of its basic controls are wonky and its action-oriented scenarios limited. Did I mention it's only $29.99?"
Game Informer (60/100) thinks: "Have you ever wanted to be as cool as Aquaman, except without any super powers? You could swim around, make friends with fish, and...well, that's about it. That is exactly what Endless Ocean delivers, giving players a chance to pet all sorts of underwater wildlife and watch them float by. The few other distractions, like taking pictures and filling an aquarium, provide only the barest incentive to keep going."
Eurogamer (60/100) labels the game: "Endless Ocean is simple to the point of being quite dull, and certainly no masterpiece. But sometimes all a game needs to do is offer you something different, and it's an honest relief to play something that doesn't shout in your ear, set any time limits, or feature a single explosion; a game whose raison d'être is just beauty and peace. Playing this game is almost like taking a holiday from gaming. If you can live with that paradox - and if you can find it reasonably cheap - it's worth dipping a toe in these calm, blue waters."
GamePro (25/100) magazine critiques: "Endless Ocean's underwater atmosphere is soothing and relaxing but it lacks a crucial element: fun." [Feb 2008, p.84]
Two great titles hit stores this week, one for hardcore gamers, taking you through the twisted and stylized world of Travis Touchdown, the other for those with more casual tastes, allowing you to explore the Manaurai Sea and its marine life. So, considering your limited budget, which of these two are you considering picking up, No More Heroes or Endless Ocean?
Or are you planning to skip them both, buying Advance Wars: Days of Ruin instead? But then what if No More Heroes bombs, and US publishers refuse to bring Goichi Suda's games stateside in the future? Won't someone please think of Suda 51?!
Look, we know we've had our ups and downs. It's not been all roses in our relationship. We've had to go through a lot together and our bonds have grown because of that. But, we have one more thing we must ask of you: purchase No More Heroes. Look, we all know how tough a time the game had selling in Japan, so we're hoping it does better here in the United States. If you don't do it for us, then do it for poor Suda 51.
We hear he's getting evicted from his apartment and moving back in with his mother.
Here's a very brief list of adjectives I would almost never use to describe video games:
Genteel
Laid-back
Soothing
Historically, a handful of titles have bucked this trend -- Electroplankton, PlayStation 3 curio flOw, Pilotwingsand its sublime 64-bit follow-up (one of this writer's all-time favorites)-- but on the whole, the term "video game" conjures up images that are far from tranquil: gobby, cornrowed marines shooting the bejesus out of this week's alien threat, epic battles with scaly fantasy creatures, futuristic pod racing, urban gang warfare. You get the idea.
Endless Ocean does things differently. Arika's scuba-diving sim is almost certainly the most relaxing, pedestrian game of 2007. And while that's certainly a welcome change from other video games, occasionally it can become a little too laid-back for its own good. Or, to be blunt, boring.
If you live in Europe and don't yet know your Humphead wrasse from your Powder blue tang, then fear not, because Endless Ocean (it is known by another name) has the answers, and will be hitting stores in Euroland later this week. To celebrate that fact, developer Arika has treated us to a further 19 screens of its watery exploration game, all of which you can find below.
Needless to say, we're looking forward to this one -- it's pretty unique for starters, and Famitsu doesn't dish out 35/40s for any old tat.*
As if further proof was needed that Nintendo regards Australia as the red-headed stepchild of the global games market, word reached our ears today that our friends down under will be missing out on a host of first-party and second-party Wii titles in 2007.
Posted Oct 31st 2007 10:30AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Those of us interested in exploring the (fake) ocean depths won't need to dive too deeply into their wallets. The price for Endless Ocean has dropped from $39.99 to $29.99, putting it squarely into "impulse purchase" territory when it releases on January 21.
It could use the advantage; the first couple of months of 2008 are actually going to be pretty heavy on releases, with Smash Bros. and No More Heroes clamoring for our money, and smaller stuff like Blast Workspushed back into that period as well. We'd like to support unique games like Endless Ocean, but we can't do that if we're out of money. Luckily, by virtue of being a smaller number, it's easier to come up with $30 than it is $40! Good move, Nintendo. We love this new trend of discounted first-party games.
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Thought of by many as the "Disney of video gaming," Nintendo has crafted themselves an image of family-friendly entertainment. But to certain generations and classes of gamers, the term "family-friendly" is synonymous with "kiddy," and immediately sparks disinterest. But ever since publishing Rare's Killer Instinct, they've been working on broadening the public's perspective. Trying to appeal to the bloodlust of the Mortal Kombat crowd didn't give them any headway, and as generations progressed and they've garnered more "mature-themed" titles, they still haven't been able to shake the "kiddy console" stigma.
Even after snagging the exclusivity to the Resident Evil series for a generation, Nintendo was largely overlooked by the Playstation-bred gamers that were brought up on the series. How much more will it take for Wii to be regarded as a platform that can satisfy the tastes of mature gamers?
