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Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/3-3/9

To most of us, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is old news. The U.S. has had it since last summer, and even Europe has been enjoying the game for a few months now. It only debuted in Japan last week, though, and we were happily surprised to see it make the top five. It only sold 32,000 copies in its first week, but that's still not too shabby for a Metroid game in Japan. Hopefully, the game will have some legs and not plunge off the charts after its first week, like many other first-person shooters tend to do.

As for other software, the Wii didn't have too many games in the top thirty -- only eight, in fact -- yet it was still the second most represented gaming system on the charts. With the exception of the aforementioned Metroid and Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV, all the Wiis top games have consistently stuck around for (at least) a few weeks.

In other news, Smash Bros. once again failed to take the first place spot. The game beat out last week's chart champ, the new Gundam for the PS2, but fell behind the newly released Yakuza 3.

In hardware, the Wii claimed the top spot once again as Japan is clearly so over the Mint Green PSP (that was so five minutes ago). You can check out the hardware and software numbers for last week in Japan after the break -- we recommend that you do so.

Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/3-3/9

Homebrew brings the noise to Wii

With the "Twilight Hack" now available to the public and enabling users to run unsigned code on their Wiis, basement programmers are wasting no time in releasing their unofficial software to the incipient homebrew community. After all, they've waited over a year since the Wii's launch for this opportunity.

Here's a list of homebrew developments from just today.
What do you think will be released next?

[Thanks, Craig!]

Best of 2007: First-party games [update]


With the end of 2007 approaching at near lightning-fast speed, we thought it would be nice to check out what you, the excellent reader, thought about the games of this year. First up, we have the obvious: first-party games. We have a good idea which game you're going to say, but in the name of healthy debate, check out all of the choices past the break.

Continue reading Best of 2007: First-party games [update]

Photo channel update avoidable and reversible


The update that will make the Photo Channel lose MP3 support is finally here, and we can only imagine how utterly gutted you are. Or maybe "utterly indifferent" would be more fitting.

Fortunately, if you're like us and think this "upgrade" makes no sense (even though we don't even use the Photo Channel), there are steps you can take to resist switching to AAC compatibility. First, you can avoid downloading the Photo Channel 1.1 upgrade altogether, which is the easiest course of action, as this means you don't have to do anything. If it's too late and you've already downloaded the upgrade (for curiosity's sake, perhaps?), then you also have the option to downgrade the Photo Channel back to version 1.0, which allows MP3 playback. Just follow Nintendo's handy instructions here to get the downgrade.

Of course, this will only work with Wiis sold before December 2007, so if you've gotten yourself a shiny new Wii for the holidays, you're out of luck.

[Thanks, hollyw0od!]

The road to corruption: Retro Studios and the making of Metroid Prime


As gamers, our focus is often on playing games and not the subtleties that go on behind the scenes. If we only knew about all those details, though, we might be shocked to find out how something like the Metroid Prime series almost never came to be.

Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh recently talked about the Prime arc at the 2007 Montreal Games Summit. In the conference, he explained the pressures of having his (at that time) rookie studio pick up such an important franchise, and how Miyamoto was influential in taking the series from third person to first person.

Continue reading The road to corruption: Retro Studios and the making of Metroid Prime

Cold chillin to 'Check Mii Out' music

While many disregard the Check Mii Out Channel for providing little more than a few minutes of entertainment, the promise of new channel tunes kept us excited about its release. We watched anxiously last ngiht as the software downloaded and Mario ran to collect our coins, babbling to ourselves, "Oh boy oh boy oh boy."

We've been fans of the Wii's different system music for some time now, so we were pleased to see that someone has already ripped the new channel's tracks and posted them as downloadable MP3s. You can grab them yourself by clicking the "Read" link below. We're quite fond of the new "Mii Parade" song; it's just so .... funky.

See also: Wii Music (Remix) ft. ROBOTOBOTS

[Via Galbadia Hotel]

Metroid Prime 3 boxart revealed


You know, I was sitting here and enjoying a nice bowl of oatmeal, when suddenly a small and frightening object came crashing into my office here at Wii Fanboy Estates. It was none other than Joystiq's Ludwig Kietzmann. "I have something for you, David," he said, shortly before slapping me in the mouth. As the universal Joystiq greeting, I felt obliged to return the gesture, but so hard was Ludwig's smack, I found myself on the floor before having time to react. Clearly, he had put some time in with the company.

"We've got Metroid Prime 3 boxart!" he said, slamming a sheet of paper down onto my collection of milk crates I call a desk. As I picked myself up off the ground and looked the sheet over, I stroked my chin in a manner that most people do when they're looking over a sheet of paper. "So ... what game is ...?" I ask, only to find myself slapped again before the last syllable escapes my mouth. Then, Ludwig jams another piece of paper in my face, one that shows off boxart for a certain Sega title called Sonic Adventure 2.

"We must warn the people!" he screamed, as he jumped out of the window like a flying rodent escaping a dark underworld. I wondered if he was dead (my office is on the 73rd floor), when just then I saw him atop a flying hyena, off toward the sunset. "That Ludwig," I think to myself. "He sure is one awesome dude."

I then realize my wallet is missing. And so is one of my kidneys.

Gallery: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


[Via Joystiq]

New Metroid Prime 3 screenshots rolled out



With less than three months away from its August 20th release date, Nintendo has started to put some push behind Metroid Prime 3: Corruption with five new screenshots. You won't see any previously unannounced features, and these images follow Nintendo's tradition of grabbing awful stills from games that otherwise look great in motion, but uh... the logo artwork is certainly impressive. Considering that we haven't gotten much media from the FPS-adventure series since last September, this will have to suffice for now.

Gallery: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


[Via Joystiq]

Nintendo drops the bomb on us, MP3 this Summer

Nintendo dished out a rather juicy bit of news today, documenting release dates for some of its most high profile Wii and DS games. Notable titles include Boogie (releasing this Fall), Mario Strikers: Charged (July 30th), Battalion Wars 2 (September) and Space Station Tycoon (August). Oh, and a little title by the name of Metroid Prime 3 receives a release date of August 20th. While it isn't the release date we were all hoping for, it's still better than the Christmas time release we were all expecting.

For the full list of games, head past the post break.

Continue reading Nintendo drops the bomb on us, MP3 this Summer

Wii Warm Up: Sadness, delays, and concerns

We are definitely sad about Sadness. That was really something we had high hopes for, as the gameplay sounded truly revolutionary, and thus perfect for the Revolution Wii. But it's probably easy to talk up something that may or may not even exist. Still, the Frontline/Nibris split, and the delays on Nintendo's most-anticipated first party titles, plus what we've seen so far ... well, frankly, sometimes it makes us a little concerned. While a lot of the added-waggle ports have been surprisingly good so far, we're not seeing a lot of right-here, right-now, pop-'em-in-the-Wii original games for our shiny original system. At some point, we just have to ask ... is developing fresh, new games with sensible motion sensitive controls (like Wii Sports, but bigger) really so difficult? Some of these games have been years in the making, after all. And we're all for the wait, mind you, if it results in a more perfect gaming experience, but we're still a little anxious at times when we see fallout like this.

Metroid Prime 3 delayed until ... 2008?


If you're the type of person who pre-orders things from retail giant Best Buy, then you might have received an email as recently as today explaining that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has been pushed back from its current slated release of Summer 2007 to ... New Year's Eve. This, of course, shouldn't be taken as entirely true, but the fact that Reggie has been dodging the question as of late increases the chances that we won't be seeing Samus until she hits the console later this year in another game first.

[Via Codename Revolution]

Metroid Prime 3 gets the preview treatment

You know, sometimes we feel like the luckiest bloggers in the world. Then we see the whip marks in the mirror and read about other people getting to playtest a preview build of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and it throws us into a maddening rage as we, in a Hulk-like trance, destroy everything in our path. Suddenly, our offices full of cobwebs, shackles and Hot Pockets are destroyed and we lay huddled in the corner, crying ourselves to sleep.

Now that the introduction of horrible imagery is out of the way, what exactly did GamePro have to say about the game, what little of it they were able to play? Well, impressions were good, however they focus more on the control scheme of utilizing the Wiimote than anything else, speaking of using the Grappling Hook to rob enemy units of their shields.

Other than that, GamePro really didn't have anything more to share, so hopefully they're saving all of the juicy information for a more adequately sized preview article.

Custom soundtracks in Excitetruck?

Sweet.Thanks to some new screenshots of the upcoming launch title Excitetruck, it now indeed looks as though we called it. That's right: if the picture here is any indication, the arcade racer will be able to read .mp3 files from your very own SD card and insert them into the game, a la the Xbox and Xbox 360. It's a nice little feature, and the ability to rock out to our latest find on Pandora while catchin' some air is quite enticing indeed.

Does this feature matter to you guys? More importantly, how many games are actually going to support it? Only the flying spaghetti monster time will tell.

Confirmed: Wii has MP3 playback support

Rammstein pwnz
In the most recent "Iwata Asks" interview, Iwata talks with Kouichi Kawamoto about the Photo channel for the Wii. Aside for some basic Photobooth functionality, Kawamoto mentions an interesting tidbit: MP3's stored on the SD card along with the photos will be played in the background during a slideshow.

While this seems horrendously not cool, consider the fact that this functionality is in fact very similar to the Xbox 360's ability to play personal tracks during gameplay. In fact, a developer could most likely easily implement this functionality into any game they desire, so keep on the look out. If nothing else, it's an easy cop-out if Nintendo wants to add an extra "music channel" to expand functionality.

Check out the downloads with Wii Fanboy!Wii Fanboy celebrates Mario Kart!Read our interview with Johnny Chung Lee!
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