Posted Jun 30th 2008 11:00AM by Phil Larsen Filed under: News
It's been a veryveryveryveryvery crazy ride for the Wii in regards to DVD playback. It's still not certain if the general public really cares anyway, on account of owning about six hundred devices that play DVDs already, so it's no big deal that Nintendo still isn't doing much about their planned movie-ready console.
IGN picked up a report from a stock-holders meeting, and Satoru Iwata said outright that "With supply constraints [of the Wii] continuing worldwide, the priority is on the current model." Guess they won't be rolling out a DVD unit anytime soon. It's hard enough to get the existing console to customers as it is, let alone turn around and start dilly-dallying around by making up a new model!
The Oneechanbara movie continues to be our favorite upcoming import-only movie based on an import-only game about girls in bikinis slaughtering zombies. It's a big genre, but we think we can say this with some certainty.
Even so, this latest trailer raises some concerns about the movie. Specifically, why the CG blood? It would actually cost more than the normal goop used in movies, and the producers didn't quite spend enough to ensure that it didn't totally look ridiculous. Oh, that reminds us -- WARNING: This video features blood, sort of, and may not be suitable for children sensitive to the sight of computer-generated Jell-O.
The first trailer for the Oneechanbaramovie should allay the concerns of anyone who thought D3 Publisher's cheap zombie-slashing game series would forget where it came from. Oneechanbara is staying true to its low-budget roots by, apparently, having a very low budget.
Roughly half of the trailer is composed of game footage, followed by a quick look at Eri Otoguro as Aya, in an impressive "leaning kind of sideways, because she's hurt or something" scene. We suppose this trailer -- with little content other than a few seconds of a girl in a bikini -- would fit the definition of a "teaser" pretty well.
When did D3's once-budget hack-and-slash action game Oneechanbarabecome such serious business? Apparently, going full-price on the Wii was just the first sign of Oneechanbara's transformation into an important franchise, because an Oneechanbara movie has been announced for an April release in Japan. The movie will star Eri Otoguro as Aya, Chise Nakamura as Saki, and Manami Hashimoto as Reiko.
We'll be interested in seeing if an audience who is able to cite gameplay reasons for their interest in the series will be up for an Oneechanbara with no gameplay. It's really all about the girls in costumes, this time.
These days, it seems that when someone makes an animated film, someone else clearly has to come along and make a game, and even kung fu pandas aren't exempt from this rule. Though, considering that getting your beat on can be pretty fun in games, we hear, it might make sense in this case.
There's just one problem. Licensed games? Generally not so great. But that's okay. You can still take a moment to shake your head over these screenshots (or the movie's trailer), muttering, "It's a damn kung fu panda." Or maybe that was just our reaction.
The Nintendo Short Cuts Showcase is officially over. After (no doubt) careful consideration of all the finalists, it has come down to one. The winner is Jack Paccione's Good vs. Wiivil, a short film about a waggle fight over an Everyman's very soul.
Paccione will win $10,000, a trip to New York, a screening of his film at the Tribeca Drive-In Short Film Series, as well as a Wii, a DS, and a bunch of games for both. Perhaps most impressively, he's earned a spot for his video after the break of this very post.
We thought we'd given up posting Nintendo Short Cuts entries as a veritable flood of applicants submitted their works shortly before the deadline, but sister site Joystiq posted one that's simply way, way too good.
The above "movie trailer" for the NES classic Punch-Out!! is rife with 8-bit references, as the creators shrewdly blend recognizable game artwork into live-action scenes. The acting (especially Von Kaiser's) is top-notch, production values sky-high, and the music made us replay the last minute of the trailer nine times just to rock out. If Hollywood really knew what was up, this would have been made instead of the lukewarm Rocky Balboa last year. We officially stamp our vote of approval on Team Awesome, and wish them the best of luck.
As the console is generally hooked up to a far larger sound system than the computer, it generally behooves the player to make use of a system as a music- or movie-playing device. We admit, the 360's streaming capabilities put it in a class of its own, but the Wii's easy-to-use internet browser has landed it at the center of many a drunk YouTube gathering. We'd previously reported on the success of Last.fm on the Wii, but now you can get your own music collection playing through your five point one, via iTunes.
The process is a bit lengthy, but it's very step-by-step. Would any readers like to test this out for us? It's kinda early, and there are gentle hobos living in the attic; we don't want to wake them, you see.
Another entry for Nintendo's Short Cuts Showcase film contest has appeared on YouTube. You know, when we first read about this contest, we were expecting a lot of short films in different genres that cleverly integrated Nintendo elements into the storytelling-- conversations taking place during games of Mario Kart, a Clerks-style comedy set inside a game store, or something like that. But so far, the would-be Señor Spielbergos have all taken the direct, literal approach.
This latest entry is the most direct yet-- a bunch of people dressed up like Zelda characters and adventured around on camera. It seems to follow Ocarina of Time, but then what Zelda fan works don't? Hey, even if they don't win, these kids were able to justify buying a Master Sword, so that's ... something.
No, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is not really going to feature murder and robbery. That's just a bit of fun sensationalism from your responsible journalist friends at Wii Fanboy.
We're really invoking the GTA name because EA UK's new game is going to feature the sandbox-style gameplay made famous by Rockstar's series. Mission triggers will be hidden all over, and you are free to explore and take on side missions. This means that you'll potentially have more choice to explore Hogwarts and the surrounding areas than Harry Potter ever did, as he seems to get railroaded from situation to situation without any choice at all. Uh, not that we ever read ... or saw ... any Harry Potter stuff. Oh, never mind-- we're all about children's books. That's right.
Also, one of the most obvious Wiimote uses ever has been implemented: Wiimote as wand. Wiimote gestures will allow you to cast spells and manipulate levitated objects. No word on any microphone stuff, though.
We don't want to make any value judgments, so we'll stick to the facts. A Wii game based on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End exists in some unreleased stage, and Jeux-France posted two screenshots of it, which we have posted here for you.
The screens depict characters from the movie in what appear to be situations from the whole series. Sometimes the characters engage in combat against enemy characters. There is a display on the screen of the appropriate Wii controller motions for the situation.
We don't want to speculate too much, but we're guessing that this game will be pressed onto discs and released to retailers near the time of the movie's release (late May). Should people want one of these discs containing the game, they will be able to obtain one in exchange for currency.
According to Siliconera, who claim to have seen "various retailer release lists", Electronic Arts will publish a new Simpsons game called The Simpsons Game, presumably as a tie-in to the movie. After doing our careful research like the responsible journalists we are (we went to EBGames' website), we can confirm that at least one retailer is listing such a game with a tentative release date of November 1st. The game will be massively multiplatform, with versions arriving on the Wii, DS, and pretty much all those other consoles that we don't bother with.
Four companies that we can think of have held the Simpsons license: one of them, Konami, made the four-player arcade game; Acclaim made a string of pretty rough NES games and the decent Hit & Run; Activision released The Simpsons Wrestling, and EA is responsible for The Simpsons Skateboarding. We don't really have a point here, except that we kind of wonder what genre this one will be! Kart racing? Pachinko? Who knows with Simpsons games?
MSNBC has a neat feature running right now where they talk about the top 5 games that should be movies, noting such highly-acclaimed titles as Halo, Prince of Persia and Metroid. Of course, talk of game-to-movie adaptations probably sends many a chill down your spine, as it does us, but the drool-worthy prospect of seeing Samus take on Ridley on the big screen makes us forget about every bad video game movie ever made. Well, maybe not the one ... If it were to actually happen, who would you like to see starring as Samus?
These two new Fire Emblem videos are guaranteed to rock your socks. Behind the jump, we've got the full opening movie for Goddess of Dawn, and as expected, it's stunning. But the opening cinematics should always look good, and that proves almost nothing. So while the movie is not to be missed, it's the second video that's truly impressive, because it offers close looks at each of the units. The character models, as they will appear in combat, look fabulous.
Fire Emblem is not like Ice Emblem in that it is, well, hot. When a small portal opened, leading to just a subsection of its fiery domain, we could not resist.
The official site for Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami has opened for business, and yes, its entirely in Japanese. For your viewing pleasure, though, you might check out this bitchin' opening cinema, and some excellent box art. We're such suckers for box art. In any case, any FE fans out there owe it to themselves to journey to yon fiery realm. You won't be disappointed.
(And what the hell was Bahamut doing in that cinema?)
It's been a very very very very very crazy ride for the Wii in regards to DVD playback. It's still not certain if the general public really cares anyway, on account of owning about six hundred devices that play DVDs already, so it's no big deal that Nintendo still isn't doing much about their planned movie-ready console.
