Rumor Control - IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat

[Zechs Merquise]

Thats a huge summary.

 

Surely they will get Ubisoft to publish the Conduit, won't they?

 

I reckon it might end up being Nintendo themselves, or maybe someone like Activision. They've already had publisher interest, I reckon quite a few will be after this one and they're holding out for the best deal.

 

You never know, Nintendo might buy these guys...

[darksnowman]

Lol, I was gonna say Nintendo could snap em up, but I didn't want to be the one to jump the gun.

[DazzeL]

I hope EA get them tbh. EAs online service > Nintendos.

[Guest Maase]

-RE2 Wiimake. bogus. they wish that Capcom would make a new IP

 

So true it hurts

[Retro_Link]

Capcom are though, that Spyborgs crap [...though it could be good].

[D_prOdigy]

I hope Nintendo doesn't publish The Conduit. It needs to be fully 3rd party... the point of this game is to prove that 3rd party hardcore games can sell.

 

Japanese publishers don't touch FPSs (generally). That rules Capcom and Sega out.

 

I think it'd make a very nice addition to THQ's line up. Activision and EA are up there too (the latter being preferred, in order to make the online mode win). I think Take-Two could be a dark horse candidate actually.

[Grazza]

I know it's from last week's, but:

 

- Nintendo will probably make a design change and use Wii MotionPlus for the next Zelda. Matt thinks the franchise needs a reboot. Matt would be for a Wind Waker style. Bozon would like to see adult Wind Waker style.

 

Quite right too! The cartoony style (whether cel-shaded or something better) is the way forward, and I'd love for them to prove it works just as well for adult Link as for his younger self!

[Emasher]

Lol, I was gonna say Nintendo could snap em up, but I didn't want to be the one to jump the gun.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

I hope EA get them tbh. EAs online service > Nintendos.

 

How much better is EA's I've never played an online EA game?

 

I hope Nintendo doesn't publish The Conduit. It needs to be fully 3rd party... the point of this game is to prove that 3rd party hardcore games can sell.

 

Japanese publishers don't touch FPSs (generally). That rules Capcom and Sega out.

 

I think it'd make a very nice addition to THQ's line up. Activision and EA are up there too (the latter being preferred, in order to make the online mode win). I think Take-Two could be a dark horse candidate actually.

 

Hopefully even if it was published by someone else Nintendo would still help with the marketing, if the game turns out good, It would still be in their interest. Perhaps just putting an add in the box of some of their other games.

[david.dakota]

nintendo are simply not going to advertise, or help to advertise a game they're not going to publish "there you go, EA, there's one and three quarters of a million dollars to advertise YOUR game, while we understand your the largest Western publisher, we'd just LOVE to help you out".

[Emasher]

Perhaps EA might be different. I don't really mean giving them money to advertise the game, I more meant just having stuff about it on their website, ect.

[Hero-of-Time]

Heres this weeks summary

 

Main Podcast Summary

 

pre-podcast

-Matt still out

 

Force Unleashed (Wii)

-Wii did better

-gameplay and combat better on Wii, though more fun with physics in HD version

-DS review tomorrow

-Bozon once wanted to punch Lucas in the face

 

WiiWare games

-new Strongbad episode

--slightly better

--8.2

--not-Homestar fans will be lost

--would like Strongbad to be a regular character

-Popouri

--kind of like a super puzzle fighter

--more fogiving than SPF

--weird mechanics, never explained

--sluggish, pointer based, no combo system

--an idea that was never really fleshed out

--however, it looks and sounds good

--groov'n blocks was good though. no similar at all

--Helix also sucks

 

Samba de Amigo

-Good, all the same charge, great soundtrack, CONTROLS NOT ALL THE WAY THERE

-positions get confused with the positions

-easy is fine, but the Hard difficulty can't keep up

-non-gamer friends will LOVE it.

-Samba fans might be disappointed.

 

Armature Studios

-talk about EA deal

-talk about how Armature is excited about having no platform restrictions

-Atari 2600 games down the line? MAYBE!

 

Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii)

-freak'n sweet

-basically the same thing as the HD versions, short visuals

-doesn't really look that bad on it's own.

-Daemon looking to get the 360 version for RB cross compatibility, still pretty sweet.

-Always online. download songs strait to the game

-Vicarious Visions is getting more out of the tech - putting in the effort

-GH:WT one to get on the Wii. best music game Bozon has ever played

-sliding notes, bunch of other cool stuff

-Mii Freestyle - play whatever you want to a theme and play over it

-sort of like electroplankton + Wii Music. exlusive to Wii

-sound studio functions still there

-air-drum set

-Harder. alot harder.

-Bozon hadn't picked up RB2. feels more of the same.

 

Iga interview

-sorta cool watching him play on the giant capture unit (updated one incoming!)

-interview should still be up on the DS page

 

Suidoken Tierkreis (DS)

-Bozon blown away

-Soma Bringer level model detail

-really nice looking

-very polished

-Random Battles (cue groans)

-auto battle system

 

Metal Slug 7

-basically Metal Slug on the DS

-looks scaled down to the DS

-almost no polish in downscaling either

-touchpad basically worthless except for hostages

 

BlueDragon Plus

-either a big deal or marketed as a big deal

-March 09

 

Line Rider 2: Unbound (DS)

-had to put gameplay in order to make LineRider into a game

-sort of hurt the overall idea

-good community tools

-could have been tighter

 

Quest Trio

-great puzzle game pack

-worth the cash

 

C.O.R.E. DS

-tomorrow

 

Wii games this week and next

-Zoo Hospital - horray euthanasia

-Rebel Raiders - apparently it sucks. worse than Heatseaker

-Igor - licenses ahoy!

-Littlest Pet Shop - not to be confused with the Hasbro toy line, or is it?

-De Blob - Somethind decent! review thursday or friday

-Wario Land Shake It! - Aussies say awesomesauce

-Sim City Creator - terrorize your city because you can!

-Twin Strike: Operation Thunder - so that's where Thunder Girl went after Kablaam!

-Lego Batman - Why so destructable?

-Samba de Amigo - maracca shaking fun!

-Pitfall: The Great Adventure - GCN port of a crap game on Wii. something tells me this is going to be a pitfall of a title /rimshot

-Margo's Word Brain - you know, a brain, made of WORDS.

-Brother's in Arms: Double Time - apparently it IS real

-Lost in Blue: Shiprecked - look, ANOTHER easy to pun name

-Cabella's Dangerous Hunts - Guns and testosterone, this time directed agains animals

-Battle Rage - wut

 

DS

-Igor - i should have known there was going to be a DS list

-Happy Cooking - PLEASE PITY ME!

-Imagine Fashion Designer - this will SO not get posted on Go Nintendo

-Digata Defenders - i have no idea

-Drop Cast - apparently, neither do the podcast team

-Nacy Drew: the Hidden Staircase - hey, there we go

-My Little Pony: Pinky Pie's Party - pfft, was better on PC

-Brain quest 3&4. 5&6 there too. apparently they don't like 1st - 2nd graders

-Sim City Creator

-Kirby - Pink balls that suck and blow - something awesome happening apparently in places on thursday

-SAT coach -more things for parents to spend money on to get their kid into Harvard

-Disgaea DS - Prinnies FTW. Review later in the week

-Rhapsody: a Music Adventure - funded by Real Networks and Verison

-Dinasaur King - Raptor Jesus?

-Barbie's Fashion Show: Eye For Style - Daemon's got an eye for style~

-Pipe Mania - like an old pipe dream... Thats what she said

-My Japanese Coach - hey, something i could actually use!

-Lego Batman - riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of a portable LEGO bat?

-Margo's Word Brain - i got noth'n

-Shaun the Sheep - still more lisences

-somethingsomething Hamtaro Chalenge - Hamsters. is someone pitying me yet?

 

INTERVIEWS?

-GHWT interview split in half

-Samba de Amigo interview

-Sonic Chronicles

 

Guitar Hero World Tour Interview (Vicarious Visions)

-Mii Freestyle

-Excluive mode developed in the last 12 months since shipment of GH3

-they felt like they should create a mode for providing a creative outlet

-step 1, chose Mii, step 2, rock out

-peripherals or air drums

-VV really excited to show it off

-Guitar - 3 levels of tilt for octaves and chords.

-top level of tilt special where by pressing a single button or multiple buttons make riffs etc.

-supposed to be a sort of toy mode where you sound great from the start

-you can go into the music studio and import your tracks from the Freestyle mode to make real songs

-saving is only in the music studio. Freestyle more of a jam mode

-air drums are simple. modifying sounds with buttons

-auto-loop function to make sure you can hit every sound.

-custom creation mode, drum kit, freestyle mode ala Wii Music, Peripherals - Jam packed (pun intended?)

-VV felt that GHWT was the game to get all the features in there. they really love developing for the platform

-DLC - works in game off the main menu

-preview clips, album art, stats, genre

-can be moved into the SD card and loaded off of it

-simple but seamless

-if copyrighted music is requested to be taken down off of the community sharing network, they have to do it.

-Nintendo songs may not be cool either.

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

Is it possible that the Retro guys left because they had little impact on how the games would turn out?

[david.dakota]

i suspect they were happy with what they'd done- and they should be- but wanted to progress into the HD market where they can do more visually.

[Tellyn]

They're only a small studio, they'll probably be working on XBLA, PSN, WiiWare and DS to start off with.

 

Also, I have to say I love Vicarious Visions.

[Hero-of-Time]

Here's this weeks summary.

 

Mega Man 9

- Debate was going on about what score the graphics should get

- Matt thinks the graphics are outdated and kind of ugly, but it doesn’t affect the gameplay

- Craig/Bozon say it’s not a bad looking game, just a step back in technology

- Daemon doesn’t think the graphics are bad either

- Graphics score given was a 3

- In the swing of things, the whole breakdown doesn’t affect the scores as much as people think they do

- Talk about how cool the Mega Man 9 press kit is

 

Wario Land: Shake It!

- 8.4 review score

- Doesn’t run in true widescreen, Matt feels its almost a deal-breaker for him these days

- Still a quality product, controls are responsive

- Level design is great, a lot of variety

- Backdrops change a lot too, reminds Matt of the games he grew up with playing and loved

- Doesn’t have many gimmicks other

- You know where to go, you just have to figure out how to get there

- Bozon doesn’t like some of the backgrounds - such a small amount of parallax and foreground layers

- Can complete the stages in about 5 hours but you can keep (and will want to) come back to the stages

- Matt highly recommends the game, would pay $50 for it

 

 

de Blob

- Also an 8.4

- Giant puffy ball, kinda Kirbyish

- Roll through environments and splatter paint everywhere in monochromatic worlds

- Want to gain points and open up gateways

- There’s an overall countdown timer, secondary mission objectives

- It’s a very polished Wii third-party game

- Matt thinks they could have done more with this first game, like use the pointer

- Matt hopes people buys it, maybe the beginning of the franchise

 

Nintendo’s October conferences

- Press event, not public. Two events (Japan, North America).

- Usually means that if they’re doing these events at the same time they’ve got some kind of news/game/announcement that is big enough that it must be done internationally

- Joke that maybe it’s just Wii Music, but Matt believes Nintendo is now aware they need to appeal to the hardcore. Joking about how Wii Music at the conference would be a double slap in the face.

- Matt still thinks Wii Music will be there, but they’ll downplay it. Says maybe they’ll show off Disaster since it hasn’t been announced for North America yet.

- Matt isn’t too sure that Kid Icarus will be there

- Matt is optimistic because Iwata basically admitted that E3 was horrible. Believes maybe Disaster, The Conduit, Animal Crossing Fatal Frame will be at the conference. Don’t totally turn away the possibility of a new game announcement.

- Might be a good opportunity to give a solution to the storage problem since this is being done internationally

- Matt won’t really talk about Kid Icarus now since he hasn’t heard anything new. Bozon thinks maybe next year at GDC or something. (This is all speculation)

- This is preceding TGS, so it could be their “splashâ€

- Matt thinks it’s going to be a big event, he goes on record and says people should tune in that week, but he could be wrong

 

Wii Music

- Official release date on October 20

- Joke about burning Wii Music discs

- Little Big Planet comes out on the same day

 

Shaun White’s Snowboarding

- Daemon thinks it looks visually impressive

- He likes the game, the balance board controls feel good. Is a bit casual.

- Has multiplayer issue because everyone will want to use the balance board

- Looks better than Skate It because it’s stylized

- Wii version is taking more of a casual approach, but Craig says this isn’t a bad thing

- DS game was pretty good too

- Joke about how Cammie Dunaway should be a playable character

 

Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades

- Great track-listing

- Basically like the last game, just more of an update

- Bozon thinks the tracks are way better than the first game, Craig thinks there are some awful tracks

 

Ninjatown multiplayer

- Daemon says it’s a lot of fun

- Multiplayer much like single-player, want to win each wave

- Three multiplayer maps for single-cart multiplayer, 9 for multi-cart

- Comes out next month, should be on people’s radar

 

Drawn to Life SpongeBob

- The original sold very well

- Craig believes this version will sell much more than the original version because SpongeBob is in the game

- Presentation is a little iffy, no character voices - but still fun

 

C.O.R.E.

- Looks pretty good visually, ran smoothly

- Nothing original about it

- Has same issues as moon since there aren’t many enemies on screen

- When enemies get shot they don’t react

- No radar

- Might be okay, need to play more

 

Reader questions

- IGN Nintendo Team has had some concerns looking at trailers/screens of Disaster: Day of Crisis. Some parts of the game look fun, others not so much.

- Commodore 64 isn’t on NA VC yet probably because it was more popular in Europe. Bozon says he can’t name 5 games he’d want. Craig wants Atari 2600 games.

- Call of Duty for Wii is being held off for an event coming up soon. Nothing new on Renegade Kid’s title that can be shared, the company said it’s not the right time to show more yet. The Conduit’s publisher news any day now, IGN will hear first. Matt is guessing EA.

- Should Capcom release Mega Man X on the VC? Why not

- Favorite entry in the Wario Land franchise? Virtual Boy game - Bozon, Wario Land 2 - Daemon, Super Mario Land 3 (?) - Craig

- Away Shuffle Dungeon opinion - Daemon likes it a lot

- The World Ends With You sold around 270,000, good for a new IP.

- Should see some more coverage of Quantum of Solace soon

- Mega Man 9 on which console? Wii for Bozon since it looks muddy on the 360

- Matt and Craig like the new layout more. Matt says the ads aren’t bigger.

- Know anything about the new Spider-Man game for Wii? - No, but DS version is fun, Craig and Bozon both like it

- Wii Shop Channel is inefficient - Bozon thinks Nintendo won’t fix it, Matt wants a storage solution

[Hero-of-Time]

Here's this weeks stuff.

 

DS rumors

 

- Nikkei spilled the beans on the potential of a future Nintendo DS

- Rumors have always been out there, but Nikkei is like the Wall Street Journal of Japan, so when they say something, you kind of listen.

- Updated version of Nintendo DS, adding a second touch screen, bigger screens SD card and mp3 support. Suggested faster Wi-Fi and alluded that Nintendo wants to have more connectivity like Safeco Field

- Also saying there’s a camera, Craig says the camera could also be used at the Wii’s i-Toy.

- Another theory from Craig: Save files off the Wii to the DS -> Wii’s storage solution. Bozon also thinks they’ll open up the SD card, like what Vicarious has been doing.

- Backward compatibility could be a problem with bigger screens

 

 

ORBIENT

 

- Orbient - grow big enough to attract the sun of each solar system, use bigger plannets to sling-shot yourself around

- Control with A + B buttons - Attract and repel

- Figure out how to use the momentum + gravity of the planets

- Can see where the repel and attract is coming from (gravity) - Can orient yourself better

- Based around the same levels, more hazards in the way

- Craig’s going to give it an editor’s choice, Matt’s enjoying the game

- Simple and cheap

- Matt was surprised to see a WiiWare game published by Nintendo

 

Bomberman Blast

 

- Daemon thinks it’s good, it’s a lot like Bomberman Live on XBLA

- Bozon wishes there was a completely top-down mode or more top-down

- Online is really fun, runs smoothly

- Get docked like a 1000 points for disconnecting online

- No costumes from 360 versions, can use your Mii locally when you play through the 11 maps

 

Sonic Chronicles

 

- Bozon isn’t a fan of the game

- A lot of fetch-quests

- Environments relatively small and you’re locked into them for a long time

- Walking around and retracing areas, enemies low-level but will still attack aggressively

- Not a crap-game but Bozon thinks only the hardcore Sonic fans will look past the fact that it isn’t a good core RPG game

- Visually looks good

 

SimCity Creator

 

- Had all of the parts in place but the control scheme wasn’t great

- Sim designs from MySims used to try to give the game personality but Daemon thinks it’s actually obnoxious

- Controls really hurt the game, nunchuck isn’t used

- Developers nailed the game from a technical standpoint

 

- Brothers in Arms - Matt says make sure you don’t buy that game. Bozon says Far Cry even has better controls than the game.

 

- Line Rider 2: Unbound basically like the DS + PC games. The things that are good + bad about those games apply to Unbound

 

Reader Questions

 

- Video games don’t have long shelf-life, especially compared to DVDs. If a game is worth reprinting again, it’ll happen.

- Chances of Sega putting 32X and Sega CD games on the VC - Matt wouldn’t rule it out, there’s a possibility that it can be done.

- No one on the Nintendo Team isn’t sure what Nintendo’s event is going to be about. Matt thinks maybe we’ll hear some DS news, Disaster and Fatal Frame for North America. Wii Music and Animal Crossing pretty much guaranteed. Matt thinks it’ll be good but not epic. Under embargo until next week, will be able to live-blog the first hour or so of the presentation.

- When you plug in MotionPlus you DO NOT lose the option to use the nunchuck

- Craig is hoping that Nintendo will bring all the Bit-Generation games to WiiWare, Nintendo Puzzle collection and Doshun the giant

- Not a high chance that third-party games will use WiiSpeak in 2008

- Nintendo Team is getting new playable levels of The Conduit tomorrow

- Maybe about a thousand or so of the Twilight Princess trailer carts from previous E3 out there

- IGN Wii playground will start happening again

- de Blob DS game probably won’t launch until next year

- Bozon isn’t sure where he died the most in Mega Man 9

- Everyone agrees that achievements on Wii would be a good thing

- Excitebike 64, Pilotwings would both be good choices for the 300th VC game

- IGN Nintendo Team isn’t getting motion sickness from de Blob

- Reason why Nintendo Team doesn’t like simple button controls being replaced with waggle: it’s unnecessary, doesn’t make it fun

 

Boooo for the embargo!

[darksnowman]

- Video games don’t have long shelf-life, especially compared to DVDs. If a game is worth reprinting again, it’ll happen.

 

Any ideas if this is in relation to a particular game or was it just asked in general?

[Hero-of-Time]

Any ideas if this is in relation to a particular game or was it just asked in general?

 

Im not sure, guess someone will have to listen to the whole thing to find out

[Hellfire]

Any ideas if this is in relation to a particular game or was it just asked in general?

Regardless, it's true, finally Wii was able to break that tradition. It's not just a problem in Japan though.

[Hero-of-Time]

Any ideas if this is in relation to a particular game or was it just asked in general?

 

Im on listening to it now and it was just asked in general.

[darksnowman]

Ah, cool. I was just wondering whether it had been brought about by a question regarding the reprinting or possible reprinting of a particular game.

[pedrocasilva]

New summary after 'oh so long and we didn't miss thee':

 

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band

 

- Craig was impressed with Rock Band 2, but they don’t have the instruments yet

- Tried using Guitar Hero controllers and they worked

- Feature-wise identical to PS3/360 games

- Visually isn’t bad, it’s lower-res. Looks better than the PS2 version.

- Rock Band 2 review coming on Wednesday

- Everything on PS3/360 will eventually be available on Wii (DLC)

- Bozon says World Tour star power isn’t very well-done in Guitar Hero

- Actual gameplay in Rock Band is better than World Tour

- Track selection also better in Rock Band 2

- Daemon loves that you can play through Rock Band 2 solo, or bring in friends

- Overall the IGN team is very impressed with Rock Band 2

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fighter

 

- Bozon’s really interested in the game

- Bozon will probably end up reviewing it

- Members of the Smash Bros. team and Ex Team-Ninja

- Darker look to the game - more edgy/aged up

- 4-player Smash style game

- No single-player like Subspace Emissary, it will be something else (might just be staged based)

- Can use different controller options

- Sounds like a cool project

- Going to try to have better online than Brawl

 

 

NERF N-Strike

 

- It’s aimed at kids, but it comes with a gun

- Gun is very cool according to Craig

- You can buy the gun separately

- Game itself is generic, arcadey

- Opens up as crappy Area 51 clone

- Uses flash animation for intro, etc.

- Still worked really well

- If you’re older than 14, just buy the gun

- Has a cool Boom Blox inspired level

- $60 price tag - gun is $20

 

Strong Bad Episode 5

 

- Daemon likes the game

- A lot of Homestar fan service

- Haven’t made any announcements about more games, probably depends on sales numbers

- Daemon recommends combining all the games into a retail release

 

GTA: Chinatown Wars

 

- Release date announced

- March 17, 2009

- Looks like they’re releasing the game on the very last day of Winter

 

DSi

 

- Satoru Iwata said he would like to see it be used more for business

- Iwata gave businesses instead of PC terminals as an example

- Craig has heard rumors that the SD card will have similar problems as Wii SD card situation

 

Speed Racer

 

- It was in Matt’s backlog

- Came out May 6

- Game is good apparently

- Matt thought it felt like F-Zero

 

- Matt also liked Clone Wars on the DS

 

Prince of Persia: The Fallen King

 

- 6.8

- Thought it was kind of “meh”

- Touch screen control was unnecessary

- Character design is terrible

 

Dragon Ball: Origins

 

- It’s fun, a lot like Phantom Hourglass

- Hilarious

- Definitely earns the T rating

- Have D-pad control if you want

- Should pick it up if you’re a Dragon Ball fan

- Visuals are pretty good

 

Suikoden

 

- Bozon likes the game

- Super deep (some characters get older as the game progresses, etc)

- Random battles - Craig is turned off

- Craig can only tolerate random battles in Pokemon

- Set for March as of now

- Bozon says the game will give FFIV a run for its money

 

Reader questions

 

- DS capture box is how IGN gets the DS on TV (can’t buy it)

- IGN Nintendo team tries to judge kid games fairly (Would a kid like this?, etc)

- Holiday wishes: Craig always brings home casual games for his mother, Bozon is excited he’s going to get House of the Dead: Overkill this week. Daemon wants to play the big games from this year.

[D_prOdigy]

I was thinking about bringing this back from the grave the other day

 

I still listen.

[Hero-of-Time]

Heres this weeks round up.

 

Moon

 

- Bozon liked it - Gave the game an 8.5

- Runs 60 FPS, looks beautiful, technically awesome

- A lot of exploration

- Remote access droid is pretty cool

- Only downside is that you shoot at a lot of floating robots - Become repetitive - Worlds look the same

- Still a really fun game - pretty rewarding

- Seems to be inspired my Metroid

- Story neat as well

- Bozon thinks best FPS on DS is still Metroid Prime Hunters

- Hope to get news on Wii game soon

 

Call of Duty: World at War (DS)

 

- Bozon gave it a good review - 8.3

- Has online

- WWII has been overdone

- Matt heard that World at War hasn’t been selling so well on Nintendo platforms

 

Personal Trainer: Math

 

- Not fun

- Seems like math questions from Brain Age pulled out and expanded into this game

- No real minigames that are fun

- Just do math programs and you’ll get better at them

- Strange because Personal Trainer: Cooking was incredible

- Matt wonders if Carrie Underwood will like it

- Well developed, but again, just not fun

 

 

Trackmania

 

- Has been around for a few years now

- No online for the DS version

- Go against computer times, still track creator and some cool challenges

- There is local multiplayer

- Track editor same as it is on the PC

 

Jungle Speed and Planet Pachinko (WiiWare)

 

- Bozon has had his hands full with Sandy Beach

- Jungle Speed apparently based on card game

- Castlevania III on VC as well - Bozon says it’s awesome

 

- Guitar Hero III the first one game to pass $1 billion in sales

- Matt “saw” MySims Party at CES - Mini-games with MySims characters

 

Trivial Pursuit

 

- Use Wiimote to select pieces on the board

- All timing based

- Like a quiz game

- Matt says it’s very very casual

 

Scrabble (DS)

 

- Works very well

- Was fun

- Not sure if the game will have online - doesn’t look like it

 

- Not a whole lot of Wii software at CES

- Matt got a tip about a release date for DSi (unconfirmed), much earlier than what a lot of people would think

- Some speculation about Wii sales for December at 3 million

 

Klonoa

 

- Namco Bandai announced Klonoa for Wii heading to North America

- Bozon, Craig like Klonoa

- Matt likes the style of the Wii game

- Media coming in the near future

- Matt chatted with Namco about Fragile and Sky Crawlers - Don’t expect Sky Crawlers this year or possibly ever - Did not have anything to say about Fragile for this year - Maybe someone other than Namco will publish it

 

Reader questions

 

- Unsure if Ubisoft will make a new Rayman game (not Raving Rabbids)

- New true Pokemon RPG on the DS? They could, Platinum hasn’t even released yet - Craig says yes

- Thoughts on adding warning to video games? If it doesn’t affect the content, Craig doesn’t care. Matt doesn’t really seem to mind.

- MadWorld hands-on soon? Craig has played it, can’t write about it for a couple of days - Matt will be very excited to review MadWorld - Bozon can’t wait

- Factor 5 situation? Matt doesn’t know what’s going on, Matt tried contacting them over the holiday - service to the company still works - Might be an opportunity for Nintendo to buy Factor 5, make the company internal - There’s something up obviously since Matt hasn’t received any replies

- 2009 - year of the Wii? - Matt fully expects to hear news of Mario and Zelda at this year’s E3 - Mario might be this year if it’s Mario Galaxy 2 - 2009 will be a much stronger year for Wii than last year

- Opinions on EGM/1UP? - It’s bad news - just trying to make a living and now have to find new jobs - Matt feels like magazines are beginning to show their age

- Re-review of Rygar? Wasn’t delayed for dev. reasons, decided to delay it due to rush of games - Probably won’t review it again

- Smaller devs on WiiWare sales? Matt has talked with a few people that weren’t too pleased with sales - World of Goo, Tetris Party will probably sell well - Nintendo still needs to let people know about WiiWare

- Matt can’t say which title (though it’s already been announced), but a third party which has a major online game on the way are not going to use friend codes

- The Conduit online multiplayer mode? Matt will be able to test it soon

- What’s next for de Blob team? Everyone’s been watching de Blob to see how it will perform - Matt hopes they will do de Blob 2

- Why no DLC for Rock Band II yet? Daemon has been trying to find out, no one is communicating with him - Might be the same thing that happened with Guitar Hero where Nintendo has to approve

- How long is Moon? About 15 hours - In-game clock at around 12 hours

- When can we expect news about Madden 2010? Team probably at alpha already, maybe a couple of months

- Updated impressions on House of the Dead: Overkill? New build from SEGA tomorrow - Will go hands on with levels 4 + 5

- Matt brings up the dark game they’ve been talking about in the past - Will have something next week on it - Not in development really anymore - couldn’t find a publisher, no one wanted to take a gamble - not the second coming, but it’s a cool concept - technology will impress some people

 

Is it just me or are Namco a bunch of lazy SOBs when it comes to getting their fingers out and publishing stuff? I mean yesterday we got the rumours of the Tales game not coming to Europe, Tales of Vesperia hasnt got a release date over here yet and now Sky Crawlers and Fragile are in doubt.

[Ren of Heavens]

My guess is that Red Steel 2 wont use friend codes.

 

I really doubt a Mario Galaxy 2, at least not this year.