It's been a rather slow week in the gaming world, giving you all a chance to catch up on those games you haven't finished before the end of year season is upon us.
Many of you have already finished this title, but Batman: Arkham Asylum has kept me rather busy the past week. I've really enjoyed my time on Arkham, and this is a surprise hit title for me! Still sitting on the fence after playing the demo? Why not read our feature review? Batman: Arkham Asylum.
I was one of the many lucky folks who snagged a Uncharted 2 beta code last week from EB Games Twitter give-away so I'll be waiting to get into that this Tuesday! Those who pre-order the game from EB also get access to the beta so if you can't wait to get online with this game, head down to your local EB today.
This weekend I got the chance to go through the paces of the DLC pack for F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin. Reborn runs a story parallel to that of the main game, and while it doesn't do anything to expand the story or the universe, it's a decent addition to the already great game. If you already own F.E.A.R 2 and want to extend it another 2-4 hours, then check out our review here.
So now I'm just counting down the days till Scribblenauts, Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2!
What are you guys and girls looking forward to playing?
14/09/2009
There is no denying that music-based video-games have been booming in the past few years. The amount the genre has evolved from titles such as Space Channel 5 on the Sega Dreamcast to the staples of Rock Band and Guitar Hero has been moving ahead in leaps and bounds. But with so many additions, expansions, franchises, and peripherals out there, lounge rooms across the globe have come cluttered and confused.
With bands signing exclusivity deals with different franchises, those who take their virtual rocking out seriously are going to want to own all the franchises they can get, the problem you may find is you are parting out your hard earned cash for the sake of rocking out to only a handful of songs.
Harmonix have taken a step to keep consumers happy with their extensive Downloadable Content, offering over 500 tracks, all working with all versions of their franchise. The Guitar Hero franchise has taken a similar step, offering 30 or so tracks off their Guitar Hero: World Tour disc to work with the upcoming Guitar Hero 5.
It’s the exclusivity that is dividing the market. On one hand you have Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Metallica, Smash Hits, Van Halen and on the other you have Rock Band Beatles - so many discs, so many songs, so much choice, but more importantly, so expensive, especially in today's economic climate.
Each new addition to the series (RB1, RB2, GH3, GHWT, GH5) brings with it new peripherals, always slightly better than the previous set, which has many households owning up to 5 guitar controllers and three sets of drums, just to keep up to date.
And with other franchises climbing out of the woodwork such as Band Hero, Guitar Revolution, Lego Rock Band, DJ Hero many people are seriously asking themselves if it’s worth it.
Hamonix and EA are really pushing Rock Band as the biggest title of the bunch, throwing a campaign across the United States which has local bars having Rock Band nights. It's a good idea that promotes the game to a crowd that normally wouldn't have that much to do with gaming. It get's everyone involved, shows that it's a fun experience that can be enjoyed by everyone, and in turn will most likely generate more sales for their product. There were similar evening hosted across pubs and clubs in Australia promoting Guitar Hero 3 that pitted the best players in the country to get the highest scores on the hardest songs. It was successful, but it was only the Guitar Hero afficinados who got in on the action.
With Christmas fast approaching, and two huge titles dropping very soon in Rock Band: Beatles and Guitar Hero 5 with DJ Hero just around the corner, the war will be back on for who can move the most units under those Christmas trees for 2009.
Is the Music Game Genre over-saturated? Is interest slowly dying out from the casual crowd that once got it booming? Ideally we’d love to see one giant DLC store where you could buy any song you like, let it run on any game you own, and just rock out at your own pleasure....but we’d also like a magical gnome here at the office, both ideas are never going to happen....
11/09/2009
So I've decided to retire the Heller's Desk segment, mainly due to the fact I was getting hard pressed to find good desk pics! So welcome to Heller's Den, a chance for me to throw out what I've been researching, playing and looking forward to.
As many of you will know, Batman Arkham Asylum is the hot topic right now, and rightly so! It's a fantastic game and I'm only a few hours into it!. Tano is busy working on the featured review, but until then, why not check out Batman's Greatest Gaming Moments.
While I wait patiently for Uncharted 2 to be released for the PS3 I've started to play Killzone 2 online quite a bit recently. It's a little harder than your average shooter, but it is so in-depth and is a great change of pace!
On the Wii front I've been getting into a lot of Wii Sports Resort, The Conduit, Punch Out!! and I've been getting back into some Grand Slam Tennis which is great fun for local multiplayer!
So we have a huge few months coming up, with such games as Modern Warfare 2, Scribblenaughts, Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band Beatles the list is growing every day!
What are you guys and girls looking forward to playing?
04/09/2009
Written By Stephen Heller
It’s inevitable that each year we hit some form of games drought, but it seems to be a much longer and harsher drought in 2009. Maybe it’s due to the lack of quality releases early in the year, perhaps the endless delay messages we are hearing on larger titles, pushing them back into 2010. Whatever it is we have completed this guide to help you survive the harsh drought until the pre-christmas rush is upon us.
Time To Catch Up
The gaming drought is a perfect time to finish up all those loose ends that you have left over from busier periods in the year. Never got to the end of Mirrors Edge? Still stuck on that infernal puzzle in Braid? Well now you have times on your hands to finish off those games you never quite finished. I know when I look at my shelf I have a good five or six games I still have to finish!
Nostalgia Strikes Again
While you are waiting for that next big game to hit perhaps now would be a good time to get back to your roots and kick it old school. Dig out that N64 or SNES and play some of your favourite classics. You’ll be surprised at how challenging they are after so many years, and might even be surprised at just how well they have held up against the hands of time.
Live Dangerously
Are you one of those gamers who stick to one format only? Perhaps you are a racing nut? FPS are your bread and butter? Now is the perfect time to live dangerously and try something new. Had a game on your mind you’d like to try but just never had the time? Go do some research and pickup something you normally wouldn’t play. It could really pay off and open yourself up to a great adventure.
DLC
There are plenty of great games that are cheap and easy to download from the PSN, Xbox Live or Wii Ware services. Some of these games are rated higher than full fledged games and offer some great gameplay experiences. Do some research and choose a game that suits your needs. Some outstanding titles that come to mind are Braid, Bionic Commando: Re-Armed, World of Goo and The Dishwasher.
Hopefully this guide will help you stay afloat with quality gaming until the drought is lifted for the pre-christmas rush. What are your plans to survive these tough times?
27/07/2009
By Ben Salter
Watch as Wii Sports Resort becomes the game to knock off Wii Fit and take the top spot as the best selling game in Australia for an extended period. There’s no doubting the primary purpose of Wii Sports Resort is to show off Nintendo’s MotionPlus attachment; it is another tech demo. We must then ask, why is it the price of a full retail game? Surely Nintendo could have lowered the RRP to help their quest to get as many MotionPlus units into Wii homes as possible.
Fortunately Nintendo know it’ll appeal to the large market of Wii Sports fans out there. If the Wii is to be a serious Motion console in the coming years MotionPlus must become standard and be implemented in as many games as possible. If everyone buys a copy of Wii Sports Resort now with a ‘free’ MotionPlus unit the transition, or forced controller upgrade, will be a lot smoother for Nintendo, or at least they hope. In that regard it’s in their best interest that anyone and everyone that owns a Wii goes out and buys a copy of Wii Sports Resort. On top of that most people aren’t going to play Wii Sports Resort alone, so they are going to be forced to fork out for additional MotionPlus’.
Wii Play + a Wii Remote has been one of the best selling games for almost 3 years by being offered for $10 more than a Wii Remote on its own. If Nintendo charged a little more than MotionPlus by itself - maybe an RRP of $50 rather than $30 - Wii Sports Resort would all of a sudden be much more appealing to everyone. It would easily fly off shelves if this were the case, although I predict it will none the less.
Wii Sports Resort does its job very well. It is great as a tech demo and tutorial for Wii MotionPlus, as the original Wii Sports was for the Wii Remote in general. As a sequel, and game on its own right, Wii Sports Resort is certainly lacking. The end result is a complication of mini-games that most people are either going to buy for MotionPlus, or for the social aspect of the original title. Don’t get me wrong, the game is far more in depth than Wii Play, but it’s not at the standard we would expect from a full retail release.
Some people were surprised that the game was not released on its own, without MotionPlus, but that would defeat the purpose. Wii Sports at its core is a multiplayer title. If you didn’t already own a MotionPlus unit you’re going to have to purchase one, if not three, more for the complete multiplayer and Wii Sports experience. Lets face it, who would buy Wii Sports for the single player component? Taking that into consideration Nintendo would easily have made a bucket load of cash off of extra MotionPlus unit sales if the game had a reduced RRP. Sure, they’ll still get that but surely they are going to upset some fans. What about poor old dad who bought a Wii for his kids, and now has to folk out $200 for Wii Sports Resort that can be enjoyed by 4 people?
The Wii is meant to be a social experience, and Wii Sports is what started that trend. It came free, and is one of the leading factors to the Wii’s sudden rise to fame and tremendous success. If Nintendo really wanted MotionPlus to have the same success with a majority of existing Wii owners, then they should have started Wii Sports Resort at a reduced RRP. If they seriously want to compete with Sony and Microsoft when it comes to motion gaming over the course of the coming years MotionPlus is going to be a requirement. Wii Sports Resort could have sneakily introduced multiple MotionPlus units into each Wii household if it were cheaper. I fear, for now at least, many Wii Sports Resort adopters will make do with just one or two MotionPlus’ and in the process reduce the social experience of Wii gaming.
We’ll have our review of Wii Sports Resort up in the next few days.
26/07/2009
Written By Stephen Heller
The journey of an Australian Wii Gamer has been a long and bumpy road, full of ridiculously late release dates (RE: Super Smash Bros Brawl) lack of “hardcore” titles, and things don’t seem to be shaping up to brighter horizons. Nintendo have just announced news regarding release dates for the highly anticipated Punch Out!!! and the new racing title Excitebots
That news is there is no release date, in fact the games aren’t even being picked up by local retailers. Excitebots sales have been dismal at best in the USA, so Nintendo Australia has made the judgement not to bring it into the country.
Punch Out!!! devotees will have to travel to their nearest JB-Hi Fi store as they will be the only stockists of the game in Australia. Rose Lappin, managing director of of Nintendo Australia issued this statement.
To be honest we didn’t have a lot of requests for the game,” she continued. “There’s a few people… there’s a lot of noise but not a lot of sales, that sort of thing. However there was one retailer that was chasing it, so that’s why we’ve decided to go that way. Of course, if it continues and consumers want it then that’s what we’re here for. At the end of the day if we don’t support consumers then we don’t have a business. We’re certainly here to work with what people want.”
Nintendo sure are giving people what they want....IF they live near a JB-Hi Fi store. For those of us in rural areas who don’t have a JB-Hi Fi within 100kms from our homes, it’s going to result in an inconvenient process to get the game.
It begs the question will this become a common trend with Nintendo First Party releases? Will we be faced with late releases, or in some cases no release at all, totally dictated by sales in the USA?
Is the global economic crisis putting so much pressure on the industry that it’s harder for publishers to take risks? Instead of taking these risks will publishers just choose to not release games on our shores to avoid the possibility of bad sales?
Due to Nintendo’s strict region coding importing titles aren’t as easy as it is for PC or the Playstation 3. If this becomes a popular trend many Wii gamers could miss out on their most anticipated games, due to sales in another country....
Do Nintendo really care about us?
15/07/2009
Nintendo E3 2009 Wrap
Nintendo and Sony headlined the busiest day of E3 this year, with back to back keynotes that were sure to keep us entertained on E3 2009 Day 2.
Nintendo started proceedings with a bang. After a slight delay Cammie Dunaway kicked things off with a Mario montage, leading in to the announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The all new 4 player Super Mario title was demonstrated on stage and will certainly please Nintendo fans of old.
Unfortunately the excitement level dropped directly after as Cammie went on to announce the leaked Pre-E3 Wii Fit Plus - a game that is heading in a 'new direction' and would help people "create a specific workout program that's perfect" for them. Cammie showed off a range of new minigames, including skateboarding and barrel jumping, which finally puts the gamer in Mario's shoes.
Reggie then came on stage to start talking about 'innovation' and went into a promotion for Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort, two items that were announced at E3 last year. Nintendo's Bill Trinen showed us that Wii Sports Resort will begin with skydiving, and then gave us a look at the very interesting archery and basketball games. Reggie reminded us that third party developers are making use of Wii MotionPlus, including EA with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 & Grand Slam Tennis and Sega with Virtua Tennis 2009.
Reggie dropped an interesting statistic by claiming that more 3rd party games were sold on the Wii and DS than any other platforms. Wow! He used Square Enix as an example of upcoming RPGs by showing off a trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearer and Kingdom Hears 358/2 Days. Continuing the RPG trend Reggie discussed how Bowser sucks, and this time he literally means it. In Mario & Luigi RPG: Bowser's Inside Story the famous brothers have been shrunk and find themselves inside their nemesis!
The biggest under the radar announcement was that of Golden Sun DS. After a 6 year absence one of the best RPGs of the GBA era is back, and deserved way more excitement than it got.
Cammie replaced the Nintendo of America President on stage to announce Woman's Murder Club, an interactive book for the Nintendo DS. This is all about 'taking risks' and trying new things. It's definitely an interesting concept, and one we'll see more of if it turns out to be a success. Continuing with the DS content she announced COP: The Recruit. An open-world third-person urban crime game, Cop puts players behind the wheel, and on foot, as a street racer who's faced with the choice of returning to his criminal ways, or helping the police. The action packed trailer looked like GTA meets Driver mixed in with some Anime style cutscenes.
The DSi has some interesting unique features, including the ability to download content and 'applications' from an online store. In keeping with this theme Nintendo announced that it is developing a system for users to be able to share DSi pictures on the World Wide Web. Users will be able to take pictures with their DSi and then directly upload them to their Facebook page straight from their DSi console. WarioWare DIY is another DSi exclusive title and will allow players to create their own microgames, using features such as the DSi camera, then send them to their friends locally via Wi-Fi.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata came on stage and confused everyone. He gave an extremely long, seemingly unnecessary speech, about Nintendo attempting to increase its audience. He said there are three active groups - those who actively play, those who never play and those who might. If gaming is to grow, it must come from the "maybe" group. There are 295 Million people in Japan, Europe and the US actively playing games. Then there's another 145 Million who say they might be involved in games. He continued to discuss non-gamers for quite a while and it seemed as if he didn't really have a point.
Eventually Iwata announced the Wii Vitality Sensor - a device the plugs into the bottom of your Wii Remote and receives information about your heart rate by being attached to your finger.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 was announced to the surprise of many since a new Mario title was announced at the start of the show. Check out the trailer to see Mario running around the spherical world, this time with the help of Yoshi. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the first true sequel to a 3D Mario title, and the first time two 3D Mario adventures will appear on the same console.
Reggie reads the blogs. He knows we want more mature titles from third party developers. So, he decided to show us three games on the horizon that fit this description, and one of those games was Dead Space Extraction.
Nintendo started the show with a surprise, and ended it with a massive shock, by announcing that they were teaming up with Team Ninja to bring Metroid: Other M to the Nintendo Wii. It's Metroid like you've never seen it before, and as Reggie says, it takes a name you know well and turns it into something new. The game is due out next year and features a mix of 1st and 3rd person gameplay. With that Nintendo concluded their Keynote for E3 2009.
Later in the day, at their roundtable discussion, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that a new Wii Zelda title is in development. Don't expect it until 2010 at the very earliest and reports that we won't see it again until next E3 suggest it may be further away than that.
Sony E3 2009 Wrap
The morning continued with Sony's Conference starting at 4am local time. Jack Tretton started proceedings by thanking everyone for coming and stated that they won't be "out done" by anyone. He discussed the success of the PS2 and that Sony was the first company to have 3 successful consoles in the industry at the same time along side the PS3 and PSP. inFamous is just one of 35 titles to come exclusively to the PlayStation 3 in 2009 and looks set to further increase the 13 million PS3 that have already been sold worldwide.
Sony played montages of various upcoming games throughout the entire keynote. Out of all the videos the show early in the piece Heavy Rain received the biggest applause.
The PSP was a major player in the keynote as Sony officially announced "the worst kept secret of E3" the PSP Go. They also confirmed that the new iteration of the handheld wouldn't make the PSP-3000 or UMD obsolete and that they intended to continue to support both in the future, even after the PSP GO is released.
Sony did have a surprise or two in store for us, however, by bringing out Kojima to announce Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP. It is set 10 years after the events of MGS3: Snake Eater and is said to be a true sequel to that title. The game is set in 1974, where a powerful group takes over Costa Rica.
Gran Turismo PSP kept the good news coming for PSP fans as it was announced along side the PSP Go and showcased with an impressive trailer. There will be over 800 cars, 35 tracks and 60 layouts of those tracks. The game will also run at 60 fps. It will be a launch title along side the PSP Go.
Finally Agent was announced exclusively for the PlayStation 3. "We have always enjoyed making action games, and with Agent we are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. We didn't get any images or footage but nobody is going to complain about an exclusive game from Rockstar.
Sony dropped a bombshell during their E3 2009 keynote speech when they announced Final Fantasy XIV Online exclusively for the PS3 and PC. A small trailer was shown, although no gameplay was in the trailer. The response to the announcement was one of amazement, as the audience at the keynote didn't quite know how to react to it.
In keeping with the FF theme Sony revealed that Final Fantasy VII is going to be released on the PS Store for download.
The biggest shock of the morning came when Sony announced their new motion controller for the PS3. While the controller was still in the form of an early prototype it worked in a similar way to the Wii Remote. However, with the aid of a camera it appeared to detect movement better than the current Wii Remote. Dr. Richard Marx, creator of the EyeToy, demoed the controller on stage, showing off its real-time movement and how precise it is with the gamer’s swings. We'll post the video of the demonstration shortly.
Sony also announced Mod Nation Racers - a community and creative-focused title from developer United Front Games. The title will be a kart racing title, allowing you to generate your own characters and build your own karts.
Another PS3 exclusive, God of War III will be hitting shelves during March 2010. It just snuck in towards the end of the conference and we're glad it did with a trailer. The gameplay is just as we expect it to be - gory, violent and action-packed! The environments look stunning and the enemies just as massive and aggressive as we remember from the first two mind-blowing titles. And with that Sony Concluded their Keynote.
03/06/2009
3:09am - Reggie wraps things up. Keynote ends.
3:07am - Trailer looks awesome. It's called Metroid: Other M. Set to be narrative drive, taking us deeper into Samus' story. It looks spectacular.
3:06am - New trailer starts up for unknown game. It's with developer Team Ninja. It's a third-person Metroid!!!
3:05am - "No opportunity larger than Nintendo" for third-party publishers. Starts talking about Nintendo. New and edgier game coming from them? Yes!
3:04am - Now Dead Space. Dead Space: Extraction answers questions asked from the original on PS3 and 360. Game is exclusive to Wii. Trailer is shown. Looks great.
3:02am - Talking about Resident Evil. Top seller on Wii. Works well as a shooter and as an adventure. Talks about RE: The Darkside Chronicles. Trailer starts up. Nothing we haven't already seen.
3:01am - Reggie "reads the blogs as well". Talking about third-party publishers. Talking about third-party titles. "harder edge" games coming exclusively on Wii before years end. First is The Conduit. Built from the ground up on Wii. Showing trailer. Looks absolutely awesome!!!
3:00am - Confirmed! Super Mario Galaxy 2. Reggie comes back on stage. Talking about what they've shown for the conference.
2:59am - Trailer looks good. It's essentially a sequel to Galaxy by the looks of it. Yoshi aspects looked great fun.
2:58am - Cammie back on stage. More to show us, she says. New Mario game coming. A second full 3D title is coming to Wii. Trailer starts up. It's Galaxy 2 - but with Yoshi.
2:57am - That's it. Iwata leaves the stage. OK then.
2:56am - Talks about how it can be used to relax. It will help us relax - see our physical problems.
2:55am - Talking about Brain Age. Going to show us a new way to "think". Announces Wii Vitality Sensor. Records your pulse. "Visialise something that is otherwise invisible." Talking about how nervous he might be. Saying how it is invisible. The Wii Vitality Sensor will allow us to see the inner world of our body.
2:54am - Talking about how games like Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Games are games for everyone, even current non-gamers.
2:53am - Difficult to understand what he is actually getting at.
2:52am - Still talking about non-gamers, gamers, maybe gamers. He really needs to hurry up and get to the point.
2:51am - We still have a long way to expand the gaming audience, according to Iwata. Says Nintendo has erased the thought that those who never play games now, will never play in the future. The gaming population is much larger.
2:50am - Talking about doing research to find out "what's happening". Three active groups - those who actively play, those who never play and those who might. If gaming will grow, it must come from the "maybe" group. 295 Million in Japan, Europe and the US actively playing games. 145 Million who say they might be involved in games.
2:48am - Nintendo President Satoru Iwata comes on stage.
2:47am - Talking about The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Playable. Says it's amazing. Don't show any footage.
2:46am - Talking about DSi camera. This summer (our winter), you will be able to take pictures with your DSi and share them to Facebook.
2:45am - Showing WarioWare: DIY. Let's you create your own games from scratch. Showing Japanese trailer in background. Let's you invent the challenge. "Makes experience deeply compelling."
2:44am - Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again will be available for DSi on DSi this coming Monday in the US.
2:43am - Talks about user generate content. Mario vs. Donkey Kong. First in the series to let players make their own levels - set their enemies, power-ups etc. Can upload them to friends locally or via Wii Wi-Fi connection.
2:42am - Elaborating on personalization with the DSi. "People don't just consumer entertain, they create and share."
2:41am - DSi sales in the US have surpassed 1 million units. 400,000 DS Lite's have been sold in that time. Key difference between the two is personalisation.
2:40am - Talking about DSi now. Already "capturing the passion of players". Showing a trailer, interviewing people about how awesome the DSi is. That's cool. /sarcasm.
2:37am - Announces "Cop: The Recruit". About a young cop, forced undercover to investigate the framing of his partner. Open world game set in New York. Looks great. Action packed!
2:35am - Cammie is back on stage. Talking about Wii and DS base. "Developers can take risks". Talks about James Patterson, the writer. "Woman's Murder Club". An interactive book. Trailer comes on. Investigation game. Looks OK.
2:34am - Reggie announces Golden Sun DS. Trailer comes on screen. Looks nice.
2:33am - Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for DS being shown. Looks pretty cool. Confirmed for release this Fall (Spring for us).
2:32am - Showing Kingdom Hearts trailer. Now talking about how Japanese have released how Bowser "sucks". New Mario game has Mario and Luigi being shrinked and checking out bowser's internal pipes.
2:30am - Talking about Square Enix and Final Fantasy. Showing footage of new FF. Quick trailer. Exclusive version of Kingdom Hearts will be avaiable on September 9th.
2:29am - More third party titles sold on Wii and DS than any other consoles. Really!?
2:27am - Reggie is talking about Wii Sports Resort. Launches in the US on July 26th. Talking about EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 with MotionPlus, which comes bundled, as does EA's new tennis game, as does SEGA's Virtua Tennis 2009. MotionPlus will accurately mimick your actions. Committment with Red Steel 2 is strong. Only playable with Wii MotionPlus.
2:25am - Bill and Reggie trading scripted insults. Looks like All-Star 3 point shoot-out. You shoot as you would in real life. Same movements. Wiimote acts as the ball - just don't throw the remote. Reggie wins with the money ball.
2:24am - 3-point contest with Reggie. Reggie's game is the "inside power game". Reggie is scary. Good aim, flick of the wrist. Just like you shoot a real basketball.
2:23am - The longer the string is held back, the smaller the focus circle becomes. Looks difficult. But kind of fun, in a Wii Sports kind of way.
2:22am - "Welcome to Wii Sports Resort." Now showing archery. You hold the Wii-mote and nunchuck just like a real bow. remote as the main body, and the nunchuck as the bow screen. Panning left to right, up and down, is accurately shown on the screen.
2:20am - Gameplay being shown with Wii Sports Resort. Sky diving is shown. Showing how precise the movement is. Twisting the body around. Looks good. "it's a lot of fun". Let us be the judge of that.
2:19am - Trailer is still going. We get it.
2:17am - Wii MotionPlus trailer on screen. Showing how the controller can be used. Purely examples. Not actual gameplay. Trailer is in slow-motion. Doesn't tell us something we don't already know. Movement is more precise.
2:16am - "Physical reality has become new proving ground". Talking about Wii MotionPlus. Precision control.
2:15am - Talking about how the wii-mote was strange at first. Then the nunchuck. Then the balance board. Wants to explain new improvement in technology. A Wii-mote comes on screen. Looks the same, but apparently we need to feel it to know the difference.
2:14am - Reggie comes on stage. Starts talking about the innovation of Wii. How the Wii has moved deep within mainstream gaming and audiences. Primary weapon is "interface".
2:13am - Wii Fit Plus will arrive this Fall in the US with the Balance Board. Showing a trailer now. Really pushing "innovative." We get it.
2:12am - Announces Wii Fit Plus. Is a more definitive fitness program. Can't be "entirely" about Fitness. What makes it "about" Nintendo is that it's a lot of fun. 15 new balance games. Juggling, skateboarding a new game called perfect 10 where you swing your hips to total numbers to reach 10. "Brain Age for your backside."
2:11am - Talking about Wii Fit now. Says it is the best selling "game" in the world. Funny. It's not a game. Consider it a seperate gaming platform. 15 million sold. Ranks next to other home system based on worldwide installed base. 10s of millions are enjoying Wii Fit. They look at ways to apple Wii Fit easier to life.
2:10am - New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be available this holiday season (Christmas). Calls the game "Mr. Miyamoto's new masterpiece."
2:09am - As soon as one touches the flag poll at the end, the other 3 have 3 seconds to do the same to get extra points. Everything is ranked at the end with each player ranked based on points.
2:08am - Showing balance between single-player and multiplayer. Single-player or co-op with 4 players. You can switch at any point in time. New items, such as the propeller suit. Kind of like the bunny ears from The Six Golden Coins. Co-op gameplay lets you help damaged friends. There's a lot going on on the screen.
2:07am - About "how" many people can play Wii. Looks like Super Mario Bros. with awesome graphics. Co-operatively minded gameplay.
2:06am - New Super Mario Bros. for Wii! Cammie comes on stage to show it off. Talking about how they can make it a "new" New Super Mario Bros. for Wii.
2:05am - Talks about game data. Is now showing a Mario montage. Talking about the evolution of Mario. Admits they haven't been able to move him into the "4th dimension".
2:04am - Conference starts. Cammie Dunaway comes on the stage. Starts talking about "innovation".
2:01am - That doesn't really make a different because it's now 9:01am yesterday in LA and it still hasn't started. Nintendo have already failed E3 with this tardiness.
2:00am - Apparently my clock is fast. It's 9:00am yesterday in LA RIGHT NOW!!!
2:00am - It's 9:00am yesterday in LA. Why hasn't it started yet, damn it!
1:59am - I'm looking forward to lots of Nintendo sales numbers and how the Wii has sold so much. /sarcasm.
1:58am - 2 minutes. Might be the longest 2 minutes in the history of time.
1:56am - 4 minutes. ZOMG!
1:54am - 6 minutes to go! The anticipation is too much too handle.
1:48am - 12 minutes to go!
1:40am - It's way too early in the morning. 20 minutes to go.
03/06/2009
Nintendo was disappointing at E3 last year to say the least. However, a year later Nintendo has promised bigger and better things at the number one gaming conference on the calendar. After ‘downsizing’ in the past two years, the real E3 is back this year. Back to being the specular event it should be, and more importantly what we all want it to be. But will it deliver on the announcement front?
Over the course of the week we’ll be looking at what Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have in store for us this year. What we expect to see, what has been teased, predicted and what we’d like to see surprise us this year.
What’s Expected
"From Nintendo's perspective, we always go into E3 with a very high bar wanting to satisfy not only the core fans but also ourselves” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. After a disappointing show last year, fans have a right to be skeptical. However, with the recent release of the DSi, and a lack of big name titles from Nintendo themselves on the Wii, this time around the Big N need to pull out something special. If they don’t I fear many loyal fans may begin to jump ship.
Kid Icarus Wii
Where is it? It should have been announced ages ago! Nintendo need to pull out their big guns this year, making E3 the perfect time to revive Kid Icarus.
We want Kid Icarus on Wii!Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil & Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles
One is a remake and the other is an on-rails shooter, but one thing is for sure, Resident Evil sells well on Wii. It may not be Resident Evil 5, but if sales of past games are anything to go by Wii fans love the RE series. Both of these Capcom titles will be on show at E3 and can be penciled in to sell over a million copies to the mature Wii audience.
Tatsunoko Vs Capcom
Originally released only in Japan, a western release for Tatsunoko Vs Capcom was recently announced and the game has been confirmed to be on show at E3.
Red Steel 2
The first Red Steel had a great concept; the execution just didn’t match it. Red Steel 2 will be set in a desert-bound, high-tech metropolis. The title will also take full advantage of the Wii MotionPlus peripheral. We expect to see Red Steel 2 on show at E3 and hopefully, with the help of 1:1 motion, it’ll play as it should have the first time around.
Wii MotionPlus
MotionPlus will be released a few days after E3 wraps up. Expect Nintendo to give it one last pre-launch promotion at E3. Wii Sports Resort, Ninty’s first and currently only title to use the device, was announced last year and will launch worldwide in 6 weeks. Expect Nintendo to really push MotionPlus as it is essentially transforming the Wii into the motion controlled beast we all thought it would be 2 years ago. No doubt they’ll have a few big name games in development that make use of the device.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Announced at GDC’09, Reggie hinted that we would get a confirmed release date at E3. In fact besides that the Nintendo of America President has been tight lipped regarding what we can expect from E3 (besides an improvement on last year).
Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver
It wouldn’t be Nintendo without Pokemon. The remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver for the DS were recently announced, and we expect Nintendo to show off some more footage at E3.
Wii to DS Connectivity
The DSi has expanded Nintendo’s audience who own both the Wii and DS, making E3 the perfect time to start pushing DS to Wii Connectivity. Perhaps a new Wii Zelda could connect to Spirit Tracks or Mii’s could become transferable to the DSi menu.
Metroid Prime Trilogy
The three Metroid Prime games all on one disc with remastered Wii controls is something to get excited about. Seeing how the game itself has already been announced don’t expect it to be a big feature, but some more info would be nice.
What's been Teased
Two new games from High Voltage Software
The developer of The Conduit teased us by confirming they will announce two new Wii games at E3.The first will be a FPS which they hope to make technically stronger than the very impressive The Conduit. The second is “a different kind of a thing.”
Sadness
The survival horror title was one of the first announced for the Wii; however, we are yet to get a single in-game screenshot or trailer. Developer Nibris has teased that we may finally get a glimpse of the title running at E3.
Coloured Wiis/Wii Remotes
Rumours of coloured Wiis and Wii Remotes have been around since the console launched. There’s nothing more concrete this year to suggest that we’ll see them than in the past, besides the fact that the console has now been out for a few years, and that’s generally when Nintendo decide to get colourful.
Is it time for Nintendo to get colourful?Zelda & Mario Wii
Nintendo have hinted that these are in development, and now is the time to announce at least one of them. Zelda seems like the obvious choice seeing how Zelda: Twilight Princess was released back in 2006, and it was a GameCube port. In saying that, don’t be surprised if Nintendo go big and announce both of them to make up for the lack of software last year.
Capcom Mystery Title
We know that Capcom’s ‘mystery title’ is an action game and will be developed by Capcom Japan. What we don’t know is anything else. At this point in time we don't even know what console it'll be on.
Surprise us! The things we want to see
Pikmin 3
Where is Pikmin 3? I’ve been playing the New Play Control version of Pikmin 2 this week and it seems almost criminal that the Wii hasn’t had an instalment in the franchise. While we’re on the topic a DS version wouldn’t go astray either.
Pikmin and the Wii and/or DS go together so well. Where's Pikmin 3?Donkey Kong
I’d love to see a real Donkey Kong game for either the Wii or DS. We haven’t had one since DK64 (Jungle Beat and what not really don’t count). While it wasn’t the same as the Donkey Kong Country games I thought it was a solid transition from 2D masterpiece into the 3D arena.
Mario Tennis Wii
I wasn’t a fan of the controls in New Play Control Mario Power Tennis, but I’d like to see Nintendo give it another crack. Wii MotionPlus should help with the lack of accuracy which plagued the GCN remake.
GTA Wii
It’s not likely, but that’s what people said last year and seemingly out of nowhere GTA: Chinatown Wars for the DS was announced. It received critical acclaim from game publications and fans despite not selling as well as Rockstar may have liked. It’s really a matter of if they think the market is there on the Wii after what may have been a mature audience experiment on DS.
Super Smash Bros. DS
This almost definitely won’t happen, but we can dream. After doing so well on consoles it seems blatantly obvious to us that the franchise should go portable. Yet Nintendo, who must have their reasons, chose to keep it exclusive to their home console. Maybe one day, but we hope at this year's E3!
02/06/2009
It's back, bigger, badder, and better than ever before. E3 is here on our doorsteps, the biggest gaming exhibition the world has ever seen, which is constantly the event when all the juiciest content is revealed. What are my predictions for this years E3 Expo?
Xbox 360
When looking on the boards there hasn't been that much talk of great, exclusive content coming out for the Xbox 360 in the next twelve months. Microsoft will be showing us more of Halo: ODST which was a given, but other than the staple cross platform titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the like, information on exclusives are lacking.
Epic could be set to release information on a either some serious DLC for Gears of War 2 or possibly the expansion with a new title in the series, but this is purely speculation.
There has been a lot of talk about some type of motion sensing device for the Xbox 360 for a number of months now, and with increasing leaks of "information" it is likely that IF such a device is in the works, we are going to see it at E3.
I think E3 will spell out the fate of the Xbox 360. IF there is a lack of content, I feel we will get an announcement by the years end of a new console coming out in the next twelve months. The Xbox 360 has been in our houses for quite some time now, and has almost reached the pinnacle of it's potential. E3 could be the clue that tells us if a new console is closer than we expected.
Wii
Ahh the Nintendo Wii, the little console that could. It's dominance in sales since it's release is impressive, but is let down by it's lack of decent games. Once again, not much is on the cards for Nintendo, and in true Reggie style, I think we will get some corkers announced at E3.
First of all The Conduit will be high on the lists, to continue the hype train as it inches closer and closer towards release. Top this off with Motion Plus and of course a more in-depth look at Wii Sports Resort we will get a taste of what we can get our hands on very soon.
With the release of the DSi we can expect some big titles coming out along with a spiel on the DSi Ware titles. Nintendo should also be ready to unveil a storage solution for the Wii, it's been a hot topic for an eternity, and E3 would be the perfect time to address it.
Mature gaming is going to be high on the list, and we will see a bunch of info on the new Resident Evil title and of course Dead Space Extraction
Purely speculation but I have a feeling we will see one of the big Nintendo franchises with a new title on the Wii, I'd be leaning towards a new Legend of Zelda title.
PS3
Killzone 2 is out, Infamous is on the way, what is next for the big black box from Sony? Uncharted 2 will surely be on display, along with God Of War III and I'd be leaning towards getting some more info on Gran Turismo 5.
Sony has a really good chance at domination in 2009, and E3 is going to be make or break it for the console, especially IF Microsoft announce a new Xbox coming to the streets in the next twelve months.
Heavy Rain will steal the show this year, it's been sitting there with some teasers every now and then, and it would be a perfect setting for David Cage to show the world exactly how far his team have pushed the PS3. It could be the underground title that really propels the PS3 to greatness
Heller's Wish List
*Alan Wake
*Sadness
*Max Payne 3
*New Valve Title
*LA Noir
15/05/2009