Archive for February 1st, 2007
Clip: Conan Vs. Serena Williams In Wii Tennis
Late Night host Conan O’Brien battles it out with tennis superstar Serena Williams in Wii Sports. And man, Conan kicks her ass.
Thanks dean0130!
Japan Still Loves Them Some Pokémons
Can you taste the anticipation? Pokémons Diamond and Pearl are due to hit North America in the next three months and Nintendo is keeping the hype train going by talking big sales.
Japanese gamers (well, retailers) have already been shipped 5 million copies of the pocket monster RPG’s for the DS. That’s not quite the sell-through number sold directly to consumers, but it’s getting pretty damn close according to those Media Create numbers. On top of that, Nintendo is boasting sales of 155 million copies of Pokémon series games as of September last year.
Damn. That’s a lot of Hey You Pikachus gathering dust out there. Pokémon fans should hit the jump for exciting Pokémon press release fun.
DID YOU KNOW? POKÉMON DIAMOND AND POKÉMON PEARL BREAK SALES RECORDS IN JAPAN
Anticipation Builds for U.S. Release in April
Feb. 1, 2007
After more than 10 years as one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world, Pokémon® video games are once again shattering sales records. Just three months after launching on Sept. 28, Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl shipped a record-breaking 5 million units to retailers in Japan, making them the fastest selling Pokémon games ever. More than 155 million copies of the Pokémon series have been sold around the world through September 2006
With a number of exciting new features, including powerful moves and the exotic “Sinnoh” region setting, Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl offer new and experienced fans thrilling new Pokémon adventures. Fans can get an early start on their Pokémon collection in the games with the introduction of a new character in the series, the mysterious Manaphy. A Water-type Pokémon, Manaphy has the power to swap healing effects with other Pokémon through its “Heart Swap” move.
To harness the power of Manaphy and its “Heart Swap” move, players must first capture the Manaphy egg hidden within Pokémon Ranger by beating the story mode of the game and entering the exclusive “Manaphy Egg Code.” Manaphy can then “hatch” in Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl via a unique transfer.
Announced on Jan. 20, the “Manaphy Egg Code” can be found on the Manaphy Web site at www.Manaphy.com. Savvy Pokémon fans should check in often for new information on this mysterious character, as well as fun downloads and game tips. In addition, fans can learn more about Manaphy through its film debut as the star of Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, to be released on DVD in the spring.
Pokémon Ranger is rated E for Everyone and is available at retail stores nationwide. Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl are rated E for Everyone and will debut in the United States on April 22.
First Footage of Castlevania PSP
GameVideos has the exclusive. The first level of Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP still looks a little early, but consider my pre-order in.
Download Burning Crusade Now
If you’re one of the thousands of World of Warcraft players who see no reason to leave the house (or your limited mobility simply won’t let you move further than bedsore avoidance distances), you’re in luck. Blizzard has finally put up the downloadable version of its very successful expansion The Burning Crusade for your digital distribution pleasure.
According to Blizz, all you need to do is:
1. Login to Account Management
2. Click the Burning Crusade “Download Now” button
3. Enter your credit card information
4. Follow the link to download the Burning Crusade game client
Easy! And, no more boxes to throw away! Everybody wins.
The Burning Crusade: Direct Online Upgrade Now Available
Wii Parties Like Tupperware Parties For Dudes
The only thing people like doing more than playing the Wii with their friends and family is writing positive mainstream press articles about how much people just love the damn Wii.
Reuters is chronicling the latest gaming trend, Wii parties. Whether it’s an informal get together, a scheduled Wii Sports tournament or a WiiParty.net organized Excite Truck session it seems that everyone is getting into the waggle scene.
Could Wii parties be the key parties of the new millenium? Maybe. My household is heading out in fifteen minutes for our monthly Geek Night which will include healthy doses of Wario Ware Smooth Moves and some Wii Sports. Of course, we’re also going to be getting some Samba de Amigo time in, so let’s at least give a little party credit to the Dreamcast. RIP.
Wii is guest of honor at new genre of parties [Reuters]
PSP Finally Gets Castlevania
Konami revealed today that their next Castlevania title will be making its way to Sony’s PlayStation Portable. Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles will satisfy vampire whipping fanatics thirsty for a classic 2D adventure with modern 3D graphics. Even better? It’s a fully redone remake of the PC Engine Duo classic Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, a game that sadly never made its way stateside.
Even better than that? It will contain the original version of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood in all of its 2D bitmapped glory as well.
But it doesn’t stop there. Konami is also throwing in a PSP port of the PlayStation classic (and Rondo of Blood sequel) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with a little extra polish. You’ll have to head over to 1UP for the full details. Damn, it’s a good day to be a Belmont fan.
Previews: Castlevania PSP [1UP]
EA To Publish PS3 Exclusive Mercenaries 2
Lucasarts may have taken on the publishing duties for the original Mercenaries for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but Pandemic Studios is partnering with mega-publisher EA for the sequel, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames. The critically lauded shooter is scheduled for a Q4 release of this year.
The game is still also a PLAYSTATION 3 exclusive, according to the company. Call me cynical, but EA’s multiplatform publishing strategy combined with Pandemic’s history of developing for all platforms plus a dash of Sony’s inability to retain an exclusive makes me think an Xbox 360 version isn’t far behind. But I was wrong that one time in the ’90s, so who knows?
Why’s That Euro PS3 So Damn Pricey?
When the PLAYSTATION 3 launch details were announced for the European territories, our ‘PAL’s across the Atlantic didn’t have kind things to say about the pricing. A retail price of £425 is pretty hard to swallow, especially when you figure that the currency conversion equates to about $830 in the US or ￥101,000 in Japan. The 60GB model retails for $599 US and ￥59,980 in those territories, respectively, for the record.
That huge price gap left many Europeans, quite used to getting it in the wallet, a little steamed.
So PS3 blog ThreeSpeech went right to the source, Sony Computer Entertainment’s UK managing director Ray Maguire, to ask the obvious: “Why is the PlayStation 3 £425 in the UK when it is the equivalent of £300 in the US and £250 in Japan?”
His answer?
Here’s a snippet:
If you just take the pound against the Euro over the last few months, you’ll see that the swing between 0.68 and 0.66 would make a difference of £12 on a straight conversion. We don’t deal with consumers using a varying RRP - we don’t say to them: “Today, you’re RRP is £500, but tomorrow, by the way, you’ll have to redo all your POS because it’s £600.” We have to take a reasonable guess. When it comes to looking at the total infrastructure, we have to build it down from the RRP. The UK, in particular, is quite expensive to deal with. Transport costs a lot of money. There’s taxation which is obviously government-controlled, so is more onerous. The cost of living is high, therefore people need to be paid more money at retail and in our own operations than some of our European counterparts.
That’s a sampling of paragraph four of his six paragraph explanation as to how the pricing it set. You can read on, and look for comfort, but you aren’t likely to find it. You will however find very in depth details on how Sony determines pricing throughout the PAL territories. And you might just walk away with a bit of a headache.
RAY MAGUIRE INTERVIEW [ThreeSpeech]
Grudge Match: Hip Hop Vs. Baseball
Because we can never have too much about Snoop Dogg.
Hip Hop Gaming League commissioner Dogg will be facing off against Pro Baseball Gaming League commissioner Johnny Damon to raise money for their bitches charity of choice.
The Hip Hop Gaming Leagues’ Battle of the Commissioners will take place during the Super Bowl Weekend in Miami, Florida and it has nothing to do with getting Snoop free tickets to the big game.
Snoop is playing for the Snoop Youth Football League, and Damon is playing for The Wounded Warrior Project. MLB.com has added $10,000.00 in prize money for the charities — the winner’s charity gets $7000, the loser’s gets $3,000.
Gamertag Radio will be covering the event live from Miami.
Hip Hop Gaming League Super Bowl Event In Miami, FL [Gamertag Radio]
Spore Officially Heading To Nintendo DS
Last summer, Will Wright hinted at a multiplatform release for his massive undertaking Spore, kicking the rumor mill into high gear. An old job posting for a designer tasked with developing Spore assets for handhelds pretty much confirmed it.
EA did their best to quiet such talk rather quickly, stating that the only confirmed platform was the PC version. Oh, and that bastard child mobile phone version, but no one seemed to care.
Today, EA finally came clean on the Nintendo DS version of Spore, pegging it for release sometime before March 31 of 2008. Wright speaks at DICE next week, so keep your eyes on our coverage for (hopefully) further info from the man himself.
Spore Coming to DS [Next-Gen]
Today’s flight simmiest video: Vulcan - BlackBuck raid test in Falkland/Malvinas flight sim
Filed under: Culture, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Simulations, Video
Anyone else heard anything about this flight sim? It looks PC-based, but it just got us to thinking that we really need to see some flight simulator goodness on the next-gen consoles. I’d even settle for a low-grade graphics version on the Nintendo Wii. Back in our college days, we spent hours and hours flying around in LucasArts’ Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, and Wing Commander III, and we want to keep doing it. Build us a good, quality, realistic (and fun) flight simulator, and the masses will come. Is that too much to ask for?
In the meantime, enjoy the footage, and pray for something good to come down the pipeline. Our wallets are ready and willing.
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GTA San Andreas Bitch Slaps Japan Sales Charts
Who said the Japanese don’t like Western games? The Capcom published Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas made its Japanese debut last week, moving a healthy 227,261 copies, twice that of local hero Dragon Quest Monsters Joker numbers. Not bad.
Here are the top ten games solid in Japan for the week of January 15th to the 22nd, courtesy of Media Create.
01. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2) - 227261 / new
02. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (DS) - 103706 / 1026700
03. Sangokushi Taisen DS (DS) - 77229 / new
04. Picross DS (DS) - 71794 / new
05. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS) - 59379 / new
06. Wii Sports (Wii) - 58886 / 910422
07. Wario: The Seven (DS) - 47350 / 138599
08. Wii Play (Wii) - 43612 / 808425
09. Pachinko Winter Sonata (PS2) - 41411 / 41411
10. More Brain Age (DS) - 34028 / 3902307
Next ten after the jump.
11. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
12. Common Knowledge Training (DS)
13. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
14. Prince of Tennis: Doki-Doki Survival (DS)
15. The Idolm@ster (Xbox 360)
16. Mario Kart DS (DS)
17. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
18. English Training (DS)
19. Brain Training (DS)
20. Shining Force EXA (PS2)
While one Xbox 360 game cracked the top twenty, last week’s sales darling Gears of War is noticeably absent. It didn’t even make the top thirty this week. The only PLAYSTATION 3 game to chart was the recent port of From Software’s RPG Enchanted Arms.
Next gen, just call it quits already! DS is your master now.
Australian 360 HD-DVD Priced, Dated
I just got back from tea and biscuits with Jeremy Hinton, from Xbox Australia (yes, the tea was lovely). The topic of discussion? The local release of the 360 HD-DVD player. I’ll spare you the techy bits, since that’s been covered to death by our earlier hands-on impressions, and move straight to the more pertinent local information:
- The HD-DVD add-on launches on March 29
- It’ll be AUD$249
- The first shipment will come bundled with…King Kong. It’s cool. You don’t have to watch it.
- There’ll be 40 titles available locally at launch. Think Fast & the Furious and Riddick for the kinds of tastes and genres that’ll be on offer.
- The launch sounds like it is going to be pretty limited in size, so check with your local specialist stores for stock info as the launch date gets closer (think EzyDVD, EB, etc). Don’t expect to just stroll into Big W or Myer and find HD-DVDs or the drive itself just sitting there.
- There also won’t be any in-store demos, so for an idea on just what your 360 and HD-DVD can do for you, just watch a regular DVD and…imagine? Guess?
Today in Joystiq: February 1, 2007
Joystiquery
Joystiq interview: Soenke C. “Warby” Seidel
Playing Dirty: Good enough to eat
Ring of Death: A Xbox 360 story — Part 1
Today’s hottest game video: Wii Boxing beat-down
News
Games for Windows editors not sold on Vista yet
Tokyo Game Show 2007 extended to a four-day run
Sony explains UK’s PS3 price, lack of 20GB model
European gamers to be caught in Gundam Crossfire
Capcom demos playable Flash version of Phoenix Wright 4
Rock the vote with legislative measures in 2007
Konami battles to draw with childhood obesity
FlatOut Ultimate Carnage crashing into Xbox 360
Lost Planet multiplayer patch March 9
Vista casual game problems are ‘grossly overstated’
PSP hardware shipments plummet, software up slightly
Blast Factor multiplayer, Jet Moto (PS1) added to PS3 Store
Square Enix blames Wii friend codes for lack of FFXI
Bigger 360 Mem Unit resurfaces, forced back down
Darwinia upgrades for Vista
Online retailer quits selling games, blames industry
EA to publish Mercenaries 2, still PS3-only
Sweden to open virtual embassy in Second Life
Aquazone publisher fishing for MS Points, 5000 MS Points!
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles unveiled for PSP
Konami announces Dewy’s Adventure for Wii
EA pledges to be Nintendo’s #2, Spore DS confirmed
Culture
CUBE video takes games to “a whole new dimension”
Animal Crossing banned from Japanese school
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Wii Weight Loss Not Typical
We first wrote about Mickey DeLorenzo back in early December when he set out to lose weight by playing Wii Sports.
hey_suburbia at WiiNintendo.net plans to spend 30 minutes a day playing Wii sports, from December 3rd to January 15th, in order to chart the effect it has on his body, tracking his pain, weight, Wii Fitness Age, etc.
DeLorenzo would later report that he managed to lose nine pounds in six weeks by playing Wii Sports for 30 minutes a day. His workout was so successful that he has now signed a book deal, The Wii Workout, and teamed up with Traineo.com to show off his workout, Time reports.
But is his story of losing all of that weight while promising to “continue ALL normal activity and eating habits” too good to be true? Likely not for him, but it sounds like he may be an anomaly.
I was talking to the Rocky’s fitness writer about his story recently and she pointed out that he would have had to burn an extra 750 calories a day to lose that much weight that quickly without dieting. Looking through his calorie breakdown for each of the mini-games, it’s easy to see that simply wasn’t possible, typically.
A poster on the site points out the same thing:
its takes 3500 kcal to burn 1 pound of fat. You lost 9 lbs. If your caloric energy balance remained unchanged this means you would have to burn 750 calories a day.
I’m glad you lost weight and I’m glad you are motivating people to become more active but its unlikely that your results are typical. cool site though. I dugg it.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
The Best And Worst DS Game Holder
Putting the dichotomy back into DS, this game case from manufacturer Tenyo wins best DS game holder for its adorable DS Lite micro design—just look at that adorable mini-wrist strap—yet it suffers horribly in its execution in its ability to hold only two games.
Two games, Tenyo? C’mon. I could swallow two games and feel better about my temporary storage choices.
Final grade? C-.
Godzilla Unleashed UNLEASHED
Atari dropped word with us know that they’re bringing Toho’s gigantic mutant dinosaur back out for another go in the console brawler Godzilla: Unleashed. Developer Pipeworks, responsible for previous giant beast stomping titles Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, Godzilla: Save the Earth and Rampage Total Destruction, will be at the helm once again.
The title is due to ship exclusively for the Wii, with handheld versions for the PSP and DS due out sometime in Fall of 2007.
THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS MONSTER TO INVADE THE WII, NINTENDO DS AND PSP® SYSTEM
- ATARI ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF GODZILLA®: UNLEASHED -
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2007 - Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATARD), one of the world’s most
recognized brands and third-party video game publisher, today announced the development
of Godzilla®: Unleashed, the ultimate giant fighting monsters game. Godzilla®:
Unleashed will tear its way onto Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM) and PSP®
(PlayStation®Portable) system in fall 2007.
Godzilla: Unleashed is a fighting game on a giant scale. The game stars the
legendary Godzilla and a slew of the most renowned monsters of all-time. Gamers
are challenged to ultimately save the planet from mayhem and destruction. Set
in urban arenas, Godzilla: Unleashed’s interactive 3D cityscapes, big destructible
buildings, soaring skyscrapers and towering alien formations provide the backdrop
to epic worldwide destruction.
“We are building on the famous Godzilla franchise by focusing on multiple story
paths, devastating urban destruction, and utilizing the most imposing creatures
in film history, all in one hard-hitting fighting game,” said Rick Mehler, Director,
Marketing, Atari, Inc. “In Godzilla: Unleashed for the Wii, players will tap
into their inner monster powers when using the system’s wireless, motion-sensing
controller.”
Players will claw, kick, stomp, throw and blast their way through the streets
of major world cities in order to claim the ultimate, beastly title: King of
the Monsters. In addition to a fully reinvented combat system, Godzilla: Unleashed
will feature an innovative non-linear storyline which will allow players to influence
how the story unfolds through their choices within battles.
For more information on Godzilla: Unleashed, Atari and its entire product line-up
please visit www.atari.com.
Godfather Blackhand Control Screens
N’Gai Croal’s always interesting occasional series on Wii controls, Alt-Ctrl, looks at the motion controls for The Godfather Blackhand this week.
Besides getting his hands on these eight images showing how you can pistol whip and bitch slap adversaries with a whip of the controller, he also spoke with senior producer Joel Wade, who talks a bit about the development process for this latest, and most intriguing, iteration of the game.
Bungie Profiles the Spartan Laser
Mmm, the Spartan Laser. This is not a laser that reads data off of a DVD, or entertains your cat. No, this is a burn a hole through Wyoming sort of laser. The kind featured in the classic movie Real Genius, only with 100% less giant feathered Val Kilmer hair. Bungie has posted a profile of this powerful weapon on their page, providing censored specs of the M6 G/GNR, examples of use, and strategies for making it an effective tool in your arsenal. ‘
The laser requires a quick three second charge before it’s able to fire, at which point it lets loose a red beam of light for a split second. Anything in the path of the laser will be destroyed, multiple enemies, vehicles and objects. Because of this you must be particularly careful of friendlies in the area, as they can be wounded or killed by exploding vehicles or the laser itself.
It sounds absolutely glorious. Expect every thirteen year-old griefer to make a beeline for this baby once the round starts up, at least until the three second recharge rate outlasts their attention span.
Spartan Laser [Bungie.net]
Clip: Fire Emblem Wii
I loved Fire Emblem on the Game Boy Advance, but I’m not sure if I’m going to like it on the Wii. For me the game was very much about being portable. I carried it around with me for most of one of my trips to Australia in the Micro. I’m just not sure if I’d enjoy the experience as much if I was forced to sit on my couch and play it, even with motion controls.
