Majesco had a solid line-up of games at E3. Cooking Mama: World Kitchen looks promising and, until I got my hands on it, Major Minor's Majestic March also looked very good. Suffice it to say I was kind of shocked at just how lackluster Our House is, considering it was next to these games at Majesco's booth.
Our House is going to need a lot of renovations before it's ready for a final inspection.
While we lack the skills (and free time) it takes to do anything other than blog, folks are out there, doing crazy DIY projects. This is one of them. Now, we don't condone the use of illegal emulators and ROMs, but cramming an entire NES experience into the NES controller is impressive nonetheless.
We like kittens. This post from yesterday just got them on our brains and their cute, furry little selves won't get down from up there. So, we figured we'd ask you all about your favorite game kittens, or just plain old felines.
So, out with it! Love the cat in Chu Chu Rocket? Are you a fan of Bubsy?
There is no better way to celebrate your healthy and happy Wii Fit lifestyle than by embracing the power of a mind-altering drug. To cover up your dirty old Balance Board, AMR Racing (creators of the Hoochie Mama) has created a marijuana print, lovingly entitled Weed White.
This isn't exactly the message Nintendo would want to send to the children of the world, but to all the Wii Fit moms out there? Smoking a joint might be totally fair game. You can pick up this cover from Amazon for around $20, which includes a bonus Wiimote skin. Might want to grab a bag of Doritos while you're at it.
When The King of Fighters '94 introduced the concept of the three-person team to side-scrolling fighting games, it simultaneously introduced the idea of the joke team. While the other teams consisted of martial arts champions, mercenaries, and wielders of ancient powers, the American Sports Team was a group of three American professional athletes:
Brian Battler, the football player in a single, giant shoulder pad, obsessed with tackling
Lucky Glauber, a pro basketball player who spends his spare time street fighting
Sometimes, it really sucks to be the little guy (especially if the big guy you're up against is Nintendo). Take Forbis Technologies, for example, who came out with the Weemote (and trademarked the name in 2000) long before the Wii even launched.
Nintendo never officially refers to the Wii's controller as a Wiimote, and always calls it by the full name Wii Remote. Retailer and blog outlets such as ourselves are the cause of the problem, however, as we constantly use the unofficial nickname. Ever since the term "Wiimote" caught on, though, the Weemote's sales have "fallen considerably."
Wii Music was the big news at E3 in terms of Wii games about pretending you were playing a fake instrument (in contrast to games like Guitar Hero, in which you actually play a fake instrument). But it wasn't the only game in town: Disney's Ultimate Band also features the Wiimote and Nunchuk subbing in for guitar, bass, and drums. Except, instead of MIDI versions of your public domain favorites, Ultimate Band has you playing along to abhorrent covers of recent pop/rock hits. Also, unlike Wii Music's freeform nature, Ultimate Band is a game with, like, goals and points and stuff.
Hey, there's a party beneath the sea, and you're invited! Reflexive Entertainment just announced a WiiWare version of its maritime-themed PC puzzler Big Kahuna Reef, except because this is the Wii and the Ultimate Party Machine, it's now called Big Kahuna Party. Adding Party has worked for at least one other title, we believe.
Gameplay in Big Kahuna Party is of the "line-tiles-up-to-make-them-disappear" variety, and while that may not sound wildly exciting, there will be both co-operative and competitive play for two to four players in all of the game's 99 levels. The reward for completing stages is the chance to unlock 26 "beautifully rendered" exotic fish and, uh ... that's it.
Oh yes, and you can totally play it for free already, much like certain other WiiWare games. No release date for this one yet, but we sense it needs to be cheap.
We just got a press release sent in about some cool features at the LEGO Batman website. The only problem is, these features have not gone live yet. That isn't stopping us from telling you what to expect, though.
First of all, there's a downloadable widget for your desktop, in the form of Batman himself or The Joker. Also, there's a tool for creating your own custom wallpapers, if you're into that sort of thing. Then, there's the usual: screens, video (the E3 trailer you saw already) and other miscellaneous goodies. Keep an eye on the site for the new content, which is supposed to be live right now, but wasn't when we checked.
On top of that, there's also a new Facebook group for the game. That is, if you're into the whole social networking site thing.
Gallery: LEGO Batman
Source - LEGO Batman website Source - LEGO Batman Facebook group
If the previous videos for Helix got you all kinds of excited for the WiiWare title, then the new, official trailer for the game is likely to make your heart explode with anticipation. To us, it's the usual: some experience shots sprinkled throughout gameplay clips and a list of the game's features. According to the trailer, we can expect this one to hit WiiWare sometime next month.
Poor Koji Igarashi seems to be getting the same question a lot: Why is Castlevania Judgmenta 3D fighting game? He had his stock answer about short-session Wiimote whipping at the ready when Wired's Chris Kohler asked him.
He also had other, shockingly new things to say in relation to Judgment, which sadly reveal the kinds of budgets Konami offers Castlevania games these days. In response to a question about the environment for third-party games on the Wii, Igarashi said the following, which lays bare the approach taken by Konami:
"I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible; the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer."
There is hope for more real Castlevania games on a smaller budget, and that hope is called Mega Man 9. "I'm watching that very closely to see how it does," IGA told Wired. "Myself, I'm a big retro gaming fan, so if it is successful that definitely opens up doors for what I can do." It's no wonder that Igarashi would be interested in a console game that reuses 8-bit sprites.
The latest Japanese Wii software update added this item to the Wii Shop Channel's settings, with a gold icon and a label about "bonus content." Above it is a link to Club Nintendo through the browser and a link to the settings for Wii Shop presents. The "bonus content" link prompts users to enter 16-digit codes before being awarded ... something. But what is this bonus content? Free Wii Points as a promotion for game purchases? VC games linked to retail games in the same series? A puppy?
It might be that stuff later, but for right now, it's how you get the Speaker Channel that interfaces with Daigasso! Band Brothers DX on the DS. A bit disappointing, sure, but having infrastructure in place for Wii Shop bonus stuff could lead to interesting things in the future.
Aside from knowing the game exists, I didn't have anything else to go on when I came across Guinness World Records: The Videogame at my closed-door session in the back of the Warner Bros. meeting room at E3. When the game was revealed, I figured it would just be another cookie-cutter mini-game compilation that didn't hold much value. Actually, I was wrong, as Guiness World Records is a pretty fun title.
Sure, it may be the most neglected continent in the history of video games, but those crazy Australians are going positively mental for Nintendo all the same. According to industry tracker Gfk, the Wii has just passed the 500,000 mark down under, making it the fastest-selling console in history. Well, Australia's history. Does that still count as cool?
The Wii achieved this monumental feat (remember, there's only 20 million people in Australia) in just 84 weeks since launch in December 2006. On top of the "hey, we're awesome!" announcement, a few new release dates for some hot Wii games have been revealed. Wario Land: The Shake Dimension will be hitting consoles on September 25th, and Trauma Center: Second Opinion (yes, that neglected) is coming out August 28th.
While it may look like some Laser Cats to most of you, us history buffs know that Lasers were not discovered in Japan until 1714, much later than when Tenchu IV takes place. So, these cats can't shoot lasers, but they can do other awesome things. Like look cute and distract enemies.
Thinking of a ninja's arsenal, kittens don't really come to mind. They're prone to make noise (which could mean certain death for a ninja) and they take up a lot of space in a satchel. This space could be used for more deadly ninja stars. But, hey, we're not complaining. We love kittens. Even the fake kind in video games.