Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Rockstar has taken a long-form approach to scaring people with Manhunt 2. They've waited very quietly, very still, until everyone in the UK forgot that it was there, and then they JUMPED OUT AND ANNOUNCED A RELEASE DATE! "BOO! Manhunt 2 is coming out on October 31!"

This version of Manhunt 2 is different from the one the US got, having been "heavily reworked" (as IGN describes it) in a desperate bid for BBFC approval. They got the right to release the game in December, but by then Halloween had already passed, and what's the point of releasing a horror game on any other date?

Because it's not a Nintendo event if it isn't followed by "where's (Game X)" questions, Kombo cornered Reggie Fils-Aime at yesterday's conference and asked him about the status of North American versions of Disaster: Day of Crisis and Fatal Frame IV. While nobody expected concrete dates or even confirmation from Reggie's answers, he still managed to impart a bit of information.

Regarding Disaster: Nintendo of America is waiting to see how the game performs in Europe before making a decision. That means that we at least have to wait for a while after October 24 to hear anything.

As for Fatal Frame, he offered the following frustrating response: "you're going to have to contact the publisher for questions on that." So it might be coming out here -- just not from Nintendo, despite Nintendo of Japan publishing it. Who wants to start cold-calling publishers?*

*Note: Wii Fanboy does not encourage the cold-calling of publishers.


[Via GoNintendo]

Bloober Team may have split from the Notorious N.I.B.R.I.S., but their methods seem disturbingly similar to their progenitor. They have yet to actually release any games, and after months, and some cases years, of teasing, we have nothing to go on but concept art and occasional doctored screenshots. Their most complete games have made it to the "DS homebrew program" stage. We really want Bloober Team to not be Nibris.

So it is with mixed feelings that we present this concept art of Last Flight. We can laugh at the continued non-development of Nibris's Sadness, because it sounds like a pretentious, overambitious game and we'd probably laugh at it if it came out anyway. But Last Flight, the WiiWare game about fighting vampires on an airplane, is something that we would actually like to play within our lifetime. We're glad to see Bloober Team releasing something about this game, but we're a bit worried that it's concept art.


[Via press release]

We feel sorry for Capcom PR staff right now. Take Jason Allen here. His performance when talking about Dead Rising: Chop 'Til You Drop is as smooth and unruffled as they come, but somebody just had to wheel out the old, old question of zombie numbers, didn't they? Allen clearly knew it was coming -- he gives a wry smile as he answers -- but he does stumble a little. "[There will be] just as much, er, a satisfactory number of enemies on screen to fight off against," he replies. Fair enough.

Away from the issue of zombie quantity, Allen discusses how the game borrows Resident Evil 4's combat controls, a decision that was made because the Wii Remote worked so perfectly there; in fact, he notes, Dead Rising on the Wii will boast more firearms than the Xbox 360 game. Capcom is also restructuring the title so it's more appealing to the casual gamer set. All side quests are now incorporated into the main narrative, the rationale being that casual gamers are less likely to replay the game for the extra quests. That makes sense, and it doesn't really result in less content. It's just all squashed together in one whole now.

Dementium: The Ward and Moon developers Renegade Kid have announced that they're partnering again with Gamecock for their next game. The platform isn't explicitly specified for this new project (nor is anything else), but Renegade Kid has references to their "next original title for the Wii" in job postings, and only the Wii and DS logos appear on their website, so it's a fairly short logical jump to assign this new game to the Wii.

The new game is based on "one of the biggest horror icons of all time," and, like the platform, it doesn't seem too hard to figure out. The cool stencil-style teaser art features a caped character, a full moon, and a bunch of bats. The Gamecock logo is even sporting some little fangs! Also the character appears to have Texas for a hand, but that may not be related to the character's lore.

[Via IGN]

Our greener, slightly more hi-def colleagues at X3F recently had a chance to sit down with Denis Dyack, famously outspoken founder and president of Silicon Knights. Although Dyack and Silicon Knights have been working with the others in recent years, the company does have a history of working alongside Nintendo, perhaps most notably when Ninty published cult favorite Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem on the GameCube. Since it was released in 2002, the fan clamor for an Eternal Darkness follow-up has been considerable.

Regrettably, the signs given by Dyack here (at around the 4.30 mark) aren't encouraging. The sticking point seems to be the issue of who owns the Eternal Darkness IP, something which Dyack describes as "a complicated question with a complicated answer."

That said, he also reveals that Nintendo is a "silent partner" with the developer, and that the two companies have a "great" relationship. "It's not time to talk about Eternal Darkness 2," he concludes. The chances of an Eternal Darkness sequel on Wii seem a little slimmer after watching this, and that makes us sad pandas.

So yeah, we're not even touching this. Not with a twenty-foot damn pole. Some user at GameTrailers compiled this video, featuring a comparison between Dead Rising: Chop 'Til You Drop and the PlayStation 2's Hitman: Blood Money. The point? To show up the supposed lack of NPC zombies in the former, by comparing it to the achievements of a two-year-old game on a technologically inferior system.

The Dead Rising footage used is a touch selective (we've seen screens with a far greater number of zombies), but like we say: we're staying out of this. It isn't going to end well.


[Via Go Nintendo]

You'll have to endure some conference attendee's phone call at the beginning of this off-screen Cursed Mountain footage, but it takes place during the seemingly interminable intro anyway. This video contains the first actual images of Deep Silver's horror title, which, at first, only seems scary because the music and the editing tells you it's supposed to be. It's just a foggy mountain, which isn't really that terrifying unless you're there. But then ghosts arrive, and it's generally accepted that ghosts are scary.

Judging by the brief glimpse of an onscreen prompt, QTE-style gestures figure into the combat. Either that is what they meant by motion-controlled combat, or those arrows were on the screen as a tutorial, to help players learn the gestures. There's also a pointer visible on screen, which may just be used for investigating or may also be part of the ghostbusting.

Go Nintendo's RawMeatCowboy recently received an email from an anonymous, shadowy figure calling themselves "rabbits can't be sad." That's pretty weird, but stranger still, the email contained something we almost never expected to see: footage of Nibris' "vaporware" title, Sadness. Despite the unconventional method of its delivery, it definitely looked like the real deal.

We say "looked" because now it's gone, pulled down by RawMeatCowboy, who (we're guessing) was asked to remove the footage. In his amended post, RMC simply writes: "Sorry for the inconvenience, but I unfortunately have to remove this post. That is all I can say at this time."

So after being relentlessly mocked (not least by us), has Nibris actually been making a game all along? Really, really slowly?

[Update 1: Some enterprising soul grabbed the footage before it was pulled, and added it to YouTube -- thanks, DaisukeKiriyama!]


[Via Go Nintendo]

The Wii seems to be getting a lot of one thing lately: horror games. Fatal Frame IV and the newly-announced Cursed Mountain spring immediately to mind, along with Dead Rising (hey, it's got zombies who wish to eat you, and that's pretty horrifying), rumors of Resident Evil 5 (as well as the other Resident Evil games we've seen on the system), and, uh, Sadness (lol). That's not even all of the games that fall under the horror umbrella -- the Wii library already boasts several entries, and will soon be packed with more horror than you can shake your pitiful flashlight at.

We've established the what -- now let's talk about the why. What's with all the horror games? Is it because it's one genre that has proven popular with all types of gamers, from the most casual to the hardest of the hard? Is it because the Wii controls can add to the immersion factor of the game, and immersion drives horror? Or is there another explanation?

Nothing makes EA sound like a warm, welcoming place than two people used to dealing with Japanese publishers. 1UP interviewed Suda51 and Shinji Mikami about their new horror game with EA, and the two have nothing but good to say about their treatment from the mega-corporation. Suda was impressed with the communication:

"We actually don't even communicate that much when working with a Japanese publisher, but when something happens, we can always get in touch with EA and talk about how we both feel on an issue. Our relationship is extremely good."

This deal is four years in the making. Suda presented Mikami with his concept at the end of their collaboration on Killer 7, and the two decided that they work well together. "I mean, Grasshopper has experience in creating action games," said Suda, "but Mikami is one of the top three action game creators in the world." They described how Mikami balances out Suda's weirdness for the audience, and how Suda delivers amazing visuals. Last June they brought ideas, including this horror game, to EA.

No concrete information about the game was revealed, but Suda proffered two sources of inspiration (though there is a note in the translation that these are guesses): the Takashi Miike film Crows Zero and the Japanese drama Rookies. So something about high school gangs?

And here we thought the only talk of "Dream Team" was going to involve the Olympics! But no, an incredible wealth of talent in the gaming industry is coming together to produce something we hope is very special. With a mixture of talent like this, we wonder how it couldn't be!

So, facts: EA and No More Heroes (otherwise known as the best game on Wii) developer, Grasshopper Manufacture, have signed a publishing agreement regarding an "all-new action horror game." On top of that, the title in question is being produced by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. Oh, and Q Entertainment is also involved. It's okay, we just wet our pants a little too.

Sadly, that's as much as we know. The source link is full of the kind of carefree lauding that most press releases have, so we're just going to have to wait for more info on this project before we get so excited that we start typing in italics.

[Via Joystiq]

Dead Rising: Chop 'til You Drop offers the one feature that Wii owners didn't even know they needed: waggle-based zombie-batting. According to the latest screens, shaking the controller in response to an onscreen prompt while holding a baseball bat will trigger the "Home Run Swing."

We're happy to see that the Wii Dead Rising game keeps an emphasis on a wide variety of useful and/or hilarious weapons, including saw blades, samurai swords, benches, and various firearms. All of the weapons have been given some kind of motion-based interaction: guns, for example, are reloaded by shaking. That sounds like some other Wii game that used the Resident Evil 4 engine! But which one?

Okay, let's try our best to forget about all the bad stuff that's recently been revealed about Fatal Frame IV, and concentrate on what the game does best: scaring people like us who can't resist watching/playing it absolutely witless. With this in mind, we'd like you to do something for us. Switch off all your lights and close all curtains/blinds, pull up a seat, grab the most expensive set of headphones available to you, and watch the video above. Now go past the break and watch the other two.

Done all that? Good. Now that's two of us who won't be able to sleep tonight. Yeah, you're welcome.

We've been riding the Fatal Frame IV hype train as enthusiastically as any other site in recent months. The Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture crossover has long looked beautiful, engrossing, and hiding-behind-the-sofa scary. Furthermore, it's being published by Nintendo, which more or less guarantees a good time, right?

Wrong.

The game released in Japan last Thursday, meaning early importers are just now getting their copies in, and already several new owners are complaining about a host of collision detection issues, unselectable menu options, a ghost database that doesn't record all ghosts, and -- far more depressingly -- a game-freezing bug. Nintendo is acknowledging the glitches, and has released a statement featuring advice on how to best cope with them. We'll just have to hope some of this mess is cleared up when (and if) the game comes to the west.