Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Camilla seems like a minor character in the Castlevania storyline, one of the "other" vampires who appeared as a boss in a few games. She's typically portrayed as a nude, winged woman atop a giant skull. And Golem makes Camilla seem vital -- Golem is nothing more than a vaguely memorable normal enemy! You know, the big guy from Aria of Sorrow who looks like he's made out of logs.

Well, they've both been honored with places in the Castlevania Judgment roster. Camilla's been redesigned so that she's in some clothes, though barely, and Golem is a giant, grotesque science experiment with ampoules sticking out of his back. We have screens of both in action in our gallery.

We haven't seen the latest issue of Nintendo Power, but according to NeoGAF, the remaining Castlevania III characters (Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Grant DaNasty), as well as Cornell the werewolf from Legacy of Darkness, will also be playable.

That transcript also notes that the GameCube controller and Classic Controller will both be supported by Judgment. Considering how much it relies on motion controls, using one of those should basically turn it into a different game.

You may know this from reading the operations guide or from trying it, but in case you don't, Mega Man 9 does not recognize GameCube controllers -- despite previous information leading us to believe that it would. We had yet to try it, satisfied with the Wiimote and the Classic, until alerted by tipster "fatcatfan." We switched on the Wavebird, kept close by due to frequent Chibi-Robo, and ... didn't play Mega Man 9. Confirmed.

This is especially bad news for people who ordered RetroPorts specifically for Mega Man, or who expected to use the Hori GameCube pad. Please don't let it stop you from buying Mega Man 9.

Nintendo is officially down $21 million.

After a recent court ruling that declared Nintendo the loser in a patent infringement case, Nintendo appealed the $21 million penalty sum, hoping to have the charge reduced. Anascape Ltd. was the plaintiff in the case (and potential receiver of large amounts of cash), claiming that Nintendo violated their patents when making the GameCube, Classic, Wavebird, and Wiimote controllers.

A judge denied Nintendo's appeal, finding that the sum was fair based on the evidence. Anascape, obviously, was happy about the outcome, with the lead council saying, "We appreciate the Court's thoughtful consideration in upholding the jury's decision. Although not a giant corporation like Nintendo, Anascape has every right to protect its technology."

Since the patent affects all of Nintendo's most recent controllers, we wonder if this will have any impact on Nintendo's future designs or technologies.