Ren of Heavens

Maybe they're pushing Metroid Prime as their hardcore Q4 title this year...

"Nintendo has announced that the New Play Control version of Pikmin 2 will be released across Europe on 24th April. The reworked Donkey Kong Jungle Beat will then follow in the summer."

Yeah, it's funny how easily people forget. The latter half of the Gamecube era was awful. There were basically no triple-A Nintendo games the last two years prior to Wii. Nintendo games released in the US between November 19, 2004 - November 19, 2006 (Wii launch): Battalion Wars Chibi-Robo! Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix Donkey Kong Jungle Beat Donkey Konga 2 Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Geist Mario Party 6 Mario Party 7 Mario Superstar Baseball Odama Pokemon XD Star Fox: Assault Super Mario Strikers So then, to put this into perspective, the Wii came out and Nintendo gave us Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros. Brawl, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Excite Truck, Super Paper Mario and Mario Kart Wii within a year and a half... Nintendo abandoning the hardcore with Wii, eh?

Nintendo has always been a company of not just giving people what they want, or at least not what they think they want. This causes a lot of frustration, but I think gamers are better of in the long run. Perhaps what caused the most forum outrage last generation was the annoucement of cel-shaded Zelda and the new Metroid turning into a first person shooter by a western developer. In hindsight it seems Nintendo knew what they were doing as they both became hardcore classics.

As I've said before the main problem with the Wii line-up so far is third party support (which is about to change starting with MadWorld). Nintendo gave us Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Fit, AC: City Folk and Mario Kart Wii last year. Not too bad, really.

Nintendo (not counting Retro and HAL) didn't really make any revolutionary games in the GC era. Mario Sunshine and Mario Kart DD was arguably the worst in their respective series. Wind Waker is perhaps the closest with it's beautiful cel-shaded graphics and being a great game overall. Pikmin was good, but not legendary good. All other Nintendo-made games were pretty mediocre, at least in terms of innovation. Older series getting a bit better graphics and some new features, like Mario Golf, Mario Power Tennis etc. The creative edge from older generations were gone.

Sony recently increased all their electronic prices (except PS3) with 10%.

Like every other private company in the world Nintendo's goal is to make as much money as possible. Simple as that.

Dunno, but he gave it an 9.0, not an 8.0 as it says here...

Only 2-player split screen?

Eurogamer 7/10: "Still, as a piece of violent spectacle MadWorld is unrivalled. The creativity of PlatinumGames in providing ever more unlikely and delicious ways to kill and maim Jack's antagonists boggles and delights the mind at some deep, base level. And so, no matter how much the schoolboy-humour commentary grates, no matter how repetitive the bits in between the set-pieces start to feel and no matter how frustrating the later levels become, MadWorld provides a rush of blood to the head almost as often as it provides a rush of blood to the pavement." http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/madworld-review

http://hackmii.com/2009/02/why-the-wii-will-never-get-any-better/ Interesting article from a Wii hacker about Wii's architecture and its limitations: - No software improvements or bug fixes can be made for games already released. - No other code can run while a game is running. For instance no downloading, no friend online/offline status etc. while playing a game. - A game can't take advantage of improvements released after the game, for instance older games can't take advantage of Wii speak or an improved Mii system if released. - SD card filesystem code is implemented in games, so it can't be changed. - No unified friend system possible. - Basically zero provisions for any future updates; even obvious things like new storage devices. "Remember, when Nintendo fails to deliver new Wii features, it won’t be because they aren’t trying. It’ll be because they’ve killed their chances from the start."

Rumours say Edge gave RE5 7/10 and Madworld 9/10 in upcomming issue...

The concept art is pretty cool. Hopefully some of the ideas by the Montreal team has been kept...

Yeah, it was cancelled because of Majesco's financial troubles.

I feared it would be very different to ET, but it seems they've kept much of the look and feel. Really want to see some gameplay videos.

The boxart and name is like a stereotype of all the shite kiddy third party party games on Wii. But still 1. It's being published by Nintendo. This alone means it will be a proper game and not some rushed cash-in. 2. It's being made by the people behind Excite Truck. They have not announced working on other titles, so they've probably spent at least two full years on the game.

It's certainly not Excite Truck 2, but could still be fun.

"You won't believe your eyes when you find yourself shooting goals, throwing pies and even playing poker in the middle of racing robotic animals and insects around off-road tracks" The game is being developed by Monster Games, the guys who also previously made ExciteTruck. The game is confirmed to have Wi-Fi connection play for up to 6 players.

Remake of Lylat Wars.

Cool, never played the first one.

Ew, Wii almost third in Japan now: For the first time in Wii's lifetime there's no Wii game in top 10:

My guess is that it will be similar to Trickstyle/Airblade.

Yeah, I was really looking forward to using WMP with The Conduit in June