Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan Available on WiiWare Soon

Pirates, giant sea mammals and demonic talking skulls invade the North American WiiWare™ network Monday, October 26 with the release of Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan. The 3rd chapter of the five-part episodic series will be available for 1000 Wii Points ($10) on the Wii Shop Channel.

If you haven't yet check out our review of the game.  Fans of the Monkey Island franchise won't be disappointed. 

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias Review

Howdy:    *The game’s awfully pretty.
                *The controls are as tight and intuitive as the first game
                *Toku is dressed like a Wookiee during the winter segments

See Ya’:  *The game’s still not very long

Back in May of 2008 Nintendo launched their downloadable service, WiiWare, and one of the games available at that launch was LostWinds. The game was heralded at the time for its use of motion control and beautiful art style. The game ended up being one of the best games at launch and is still considered one of the top titles on the service.

Fast forward to 2009 and the release of the sequel, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. This game takes place shortly after the events of the first game and center around a mystery involving Toku’s mom, Magdi and a village known as Summerfall. It’s perpetually winter there, and mysterious creatures are causing the residents to live in fear. Toku and Enril must unravel all of the mysteries and save the world, yet again.

At the end of LostWinds you had befriended the wind spirit, Enril, and along with that friendship came the ability to use a number of Enril’s powers. Toku wasn’t able to do much himself, but with the help of the wind could jump, freeze enemies in place and slam them against walls and float on the breeze. At the beginning of this game Toku has most of those powers still at his command and along the way will learn new ways to use those powers. They have completely different uses in summer compared to winter. For instance the vortex power which could cause an enemy to float in the air temporarily can now create snowballs that can be used to weigh down trip plates or throw against walls of ice to shatter them. They really combine these different powers to great use and the puzzles in this game take on a whole new level of interesting. They’re not terribly difficult, but they are quite fun to solve.

Some of the new elements that have been created for this game are the use of cold. Early in the game Toku is not properly dressed for the weather and because of that you have to manage his heat levels. If he gets too cold he’ll start to shiver and will take damage. You can warm Toku up by standing near a source of heat, in most cases a fire. Toku also has the ability, with the help of the spirit of season, change the world from Winter to Summer. These causes the world to take on a whole new look and if you thought the first LostWinds was beautiful, wait until you see the locations in this game during both seasons. Snowfall glints in the sunlit areas and breath escapes from Toku’s mouth when he’s cold. One of the coolest touches I saw was as Toku gets colder his face turns varying shades of blue. It’s not crucial to the gameplay, but it is a nice touch and gives you an easy visual idea of how cold he is without looking up to the cold meter.

The best addition to Winter of the Melodias has to be the map. There was an endless amount of wandering in the first game if you didn’t know exactly where you were going. Frontier added a world map that you can access with the push of a button and it makes it very easy to navigate the world. Areas that you need to visit next are marked in green and areas that you should probably try to visit for helpful items are marked with a question mark. There’s no chance you’re going to get lost in this game and it’s a good thing because the world feels much bigger the second time around.

The summertime portions of the game seem to have gotten a bit of a graphical upgrade as well. There appears to be more stuff going on in the background that extends further than the previous game. In one of the early portions when Toku is climbing up a mountain you see the rock monster, Magmok, traversing the background doing his best Spiderman impression. It’s just another of those touches that adds a bit more life to the game.

One of my favorite elements of the original was the music. It was just a soothing soundtrack that was relaxing to listen to at the end of a long day and Frontier has upped their game with the soundtrack to Winter of the Melodias. The same themes are still present that were in the original, but the addition of the winter portions of the game has given them the ability to add another part to the music and calm things down a bit more. You really get the sense that they were trying to make you feel the difference in temperature with the look and sounds of the game and it’s pulled off brilliantly.

If there is anything bad that can be said about the game it’s that the length is still a bit on the short side. I finished the game at about the three and half hour mark. While it’s not a bad length of time for a WiiWare title it really shows that if you’re making a game that uses graphics and level design to the extent that Frontier did the size limit really hinders the ability to add a large amount to the game. It’s a great experience for those three and a half hours, but I really wanted to keep playing and I hope we get another game on the system because it’s really turning out to be one of my favorite franchises.

The additions that were made to the game, the beautiful art style and the soothing music all combine for what is one of the best experiences on WiiWare since the original LostWinds. Collectables now make a difference as there are more of them and they are used to unlock additional content. Frontier scored big with LostWinds and it’s only too obvious that they’ve made a world they care a lot about. In reality, you should too. For 1,000 points Winter of the Melodias is a must own experience

Final Score: 5/5 Excellent

Review copy of the game provided by Frontier Developments.

Retro Redux: Mega Man

Howdy folks and welcome to yet another Retro Redux. This week we’re going to take a look back at a game that I only played for the first time a little over a year ago, Mega Man. The first installment in the series. I never played the Mega Man games when they originally came out. I don’t know why they were just never ones that I put into my system. It wasn’t until the release of Mega Man 9 when I really got interested in the Mega Man franchise and decided to try them out on the Virtual Console.

Designed by Keiji Infafune, Mega Man was released back in December of 1987 and set the tone for what the franchise would become. There would be some tweaks to the overall formula, but designs such as having a set number of stages all guarded by a robot master that would give you their power after you defeated them would be kept in every subsequent entry in the series. In this instance there were six robot masters that you needed to best; Ice Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Guts Man, Bomb Man and Cut Man. There was a pattern to the way they could be defeated and if you found out the correct order each boss would be much easier to defeat. Once you bested the six robot masters you were sent to the Wily Stages where you had even tougher guardians on each level, including a section where you had to beat each of the six robot masters in succession.

Mega Man was not the prettiest game to look at and there were a number of times where the action on the screen would slow to a crawl because there was so much going on at one time. I can remember playing Cut Man’s stage for the first time and seeing that opening section with the teal blue walls and thinking this game did not hold up very well over the years. Much of this was just from the game being a product of the early NES era and it was corrected very quickly with Mega Man 2 which looks vastly superior to the original.

Sound is where Mega Man really shines. The games score was composed by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, who was credited in the game as Yuukichan’s Papa, and Manami Matsumae. The original themes for this game are still remembered by many as some of the best in the series and there aren’t many games from that era that have soundtracks that are remembered as fondly as Mega Man.

If you were looking for a game that challenged your skills as gamer Mega Man is a good place to look. These games are famous for their difficulty and many games today are compared to the “Mega Man hard” level of difficulty. Some of the design elements of the game would be considered cheap by today’s standards and some would consider it bad game design. Things like enemies being placed on a ledge that is just barely big enough for Mega Man to fit on or enemies that could shoot in multiple directions hitting you when you’re over a pit of spikes. If you really wanted frustration, the moving platforms in Guts Man’s stage would drive you crazy. The infamous Yellow Devil, which could be defeated very easily if you wanted to cheat. If not, the pattern of his movement and attacks was really, really difficult to time and it took a lot of trial and error before you were able to beat him. There was even a scoring system that awarded you points, and it’s the only game in the main franchise to ever see a score attached to your progress. It was pretty much useless and was removed in Mega Man 2.

There were some issues when Capcom wanted to bring the game to America. Nintendo of America, at the time, had strict rules against any religious references in their games and this affected a number of games, including Mega Man. When the game was first released in America the Yellow Devil boss had his name changed to Rock Monster to avoid the devil reference. It’s known today by its proper name. Mega Man’s name also went through a change. In Japan the game is known as Rock Man and when you combine that with his sister’s name, Roll, you get a nice play on the term Rock ‘n Roll. There was an amplifier in the states known as Rockman and Nintendo, in order to avoid a lawsuit, told Capcom to change his name and Mega Man was born. Probably the most famous, or infamous depending on how you look at it, aspect of Mega Man’s release was the cover art for the box. The terrible art depicting a middle aged man wearing blue power armor and carrying a pistol did not give you any idea of what you’d expect in the game and is considered, by many, to be the worst box art of all-time.

What’s not considered on anyone’s worst of all-time list is the game itself. Though Mega Man 2 is considered a far superior game in a number of aspects Mega Man still ranks very highly on many peoples top NES games of all-time list. Because of this, the game has seen a number of ports, remake and re-releases throughout the years. The game saw release on Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld, and was ported to the PSP in the form of Mega Man Powered Up. That game was essentially a re-make featured enhanced, cuter graphics and new level design, but also had a mode that retained much of the original level design with the enhanced graphics. It was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console in preparation for 2008’s release of Mega Man 9, a game which would take the blue bomber back to his 8-bit roots.

Mega Man is remembered fondly by many people and after playing it last year I’m sorry to say I missed it all these years, but everyone should experience the game that was Mega Man. It will make you appreciate many of the games we have now and test your skills in ways you didn’t think possible.

Nintendo Okie in the Morning

Well, this is my first attempt at getting some audio coverage on the site.  You can expect these to pop up from time to time, at least once a week if not more.  They're just a bit of a chance for me to get some audio commentary on the site and begin to dip my toes into the world of podcasting.

This one runs about 5:35 and that's a bit longer than the average will probably be, but you never know.  It's basically just me rambling for a few minutes about what's going on in the world of games.  This first episode is just me introducing myself.  There's no music, or special editing.  I'm new to this.  [=^)

Anyway, I hope you like it.  Let me know what you think.

Nintendo Okie in the Morning - Episode 1 Run Time 5:35

Games Mentioned: Super Mario Bros., Little League Baseball, Duck Tales, Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart, Mario Party 8

Bit.Trip Beat Soundtrack Now Available!

As a huge fan of video game soundtracks, you should see the library on the hard drive, I'm super excited about this announcement.  Gaijin Games has made the soundtrack to Bit.Trip Beat available on CD Baby as of now. 

It should be available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, and a slew of other music retail services on 10/27/09 as well!

If you haven't played the game you really should.  It takes a really old school look, based on Atari 2600 games, and combines it with new school rythm game action.  The follow up to that, Bit.Trip Core is also available, both on WiiWare.  They also have a third game in the series coming soon, Bit.Trip Void, which combines the music game genre with a bit of an old fashioned shooter.

Ignition Entertainment To Bring Arc Rise Fantasia to Western Audience

Glendale, CA – October 22, 2009 – Ignition Entertainment Ltd., a UTV Enterprise, a worldwide publisher and developer of videogames and Marvelous Entertainment announced that Arc Rise Fantasia is releasing in Summer 2010 exclusively for the Nintendo Wii™.

Arc Rise Fantasia, winner of the “Best Wii RPG” from IGN at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2009, is a new turn-based RPG with a beautiful, anime-inspired Japanese art style. Players will jump into the shoes of L’Arc, a calm and composed mercenary, who sets out to defend the Meridian Empire from an impending invasion of ferocious creatures. After assembling a party of friends, each with a unique set of abilities, players will embark on a perilous journey across an overworld filled with deadly enemies and treacherous dungeons. While strategically queuing up attacks, players can summon mystical creatures and work with their party members to execute massive attacks.

“We are absolutely thrilled to bring Arc Rise Fantasia to a western audience,” said Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment. “It’s an ambitious Japanese role-playing game with deep gameplay, top-notch production values, and an unforgettable story line–Wii owners have been pining for a massive fantasy epic and their patience will definitely be rewarded.”

“In Arc Rise Fantasia we’ve implemented a fun and quick paced battle system to give gamers an enjoyable RPG experience,” said Hiroyuki Kanemaru of Image Epoch. “Ignition Entertainment has a great track record with bringing established Japanese experiences to new western audiences and we’re delighted to be able to team up with them to publish Arc Rise Fantasia.”

Additional information about the game can be found at the game’s official website, on Twitter and on Facebook.

Hit The Field With Backyard Football '10

- 10th Version of Best Selling Kids Football Videogame Releases Featuring All New Co-Op Gameplay -

- Debuts on Xbox 360 with Microsoft’s “Family Games” Status -

New York – October 22, 2009 – Atari, one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, announced today the release of Backyard Football ’10, the latest iteration of the number one youth football videogame franchise. Now available at retailers nationwide, and for the first time on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the title has earned Microsoft’s “Family Games” status, which requires the game to pass a strict set of criteria based on rating, ease of play and audience appeal. Backyard Football ’10 has also released on Wii™ and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and features a star studded roster of NFL players featured as animated middle-schoolers in the game.

Packed with real football action, Backyard Football ’10 features all new co-op play for exciting 2 vs 2 action, enhanced controls, new unlockables, insane power ups, custom teams and characters, multiple play modes (single player, season play, tournament and all-pro) as well as a hall of fame where kids can compare their season scores and rankings from Backyard Football ‘09.

“Whether looking for a unique and realistic football experience or family friendly, easy gameplay environment to interact with your favorite NFL players, Backyard Football ’10 is a title that will provide the best in youth gaming out there,” said Keith Gordon, Vice President of Licensing, NFL PLAYERS. “We think fans of the franchise will be excited by the amount of impressive new features and look forward to watching as kids of all ages experience the thrilling gameplay Backyard Football ’10 has to offer.”

“The Backyard Football franchise continues to evolve, building on our past successes and adding exciting new features including co-op gameplay that allows kids and families to play together,” said Jim Wilson, CEO, Atari, Inc. “We also look forward to continued success as we move this ‘Family Friendly’ game onto the Xbox 360.”

Backyard Football ’10 combines realistic NFL plays and strategies with wild arcade style power moves and comical scenarios so gamers of all ages can learn the fundamentals of football while having fun. Kid-friendly and non-violent, Backyard Football ’10 features multiple levels so it is easy for beginners to jump in a play, yet challenging enough for even die-hard football fans. The game lets kids customize their football players and teams, choose the season, style, location, pace, and strategy of the game and play a full season or single games.

Backyard Football ’10 is rated “E” (for everyone) by ESRB and is available at retailers across North America for Xbox 360 ($39.99), Wii™ ($29.99) and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system ($19.99).

Backyard Football is part of the Backyard Sports series, the bestselling sport video game franchise for kids. Since 1996, the Backyard Sports franchise has sold nearly 12 million units and received over a hundred awards for excellent. What’s more, according to an independent study, 15 percent of boys in the United States, ages five to 10, own at least on Backyard Sports title.

Introducing Gargadan (Rage of the Gladiator)

Ghostfire Games have sent along a new bit of info on their upcoming fighter, Rage of the Gladiator. This new information details one of the bosses, Gargadan. Gargadan is an abomination, a twisted experiment gone horribly wrong. Three different creatures have been combined to create this unholy terror; a snake, a lion, and a dragon. The lion seems to be the one in charge of the creature directing the actions of the other two, though each head can think independently and will often attempt to forge its own path.

Rage of the Gladiator is a fantasy fighting game where you, as Gracius, will fight through 11 deadly enemies in an attempt to gain your freedom. Each opponent you face, such as Gargadan, has their own unique style and combinations that you must learn to exploit if you want to survive. Beating these opponents will give you access to even deadlier abilities, like the ability to create a tornado that you can use to lay waste to your adversaries.

Use the Wii Remote, the Nunchuk and even Motion Plus as you learn the moves necessary to win. 11 adversaries await, 10 of them can be fought again, in an even tougher challenge mode. Take control of three different paths of technology to customize your fighter to your own style. Rage of the Gladiator will be released later this year on WiiWare.

Check out more screen shots on our Flickr Page.

Source: PR Email

Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition This Weekend

I wanted to let everyone know that I would be attending the Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition this Saturday at the Spirit Bank Center in south Tulsa. If anyone is in the Tulsa area this weekend you should head over there. Entry is $5 at the door and it runs from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a bit of an idea of some of the stuff that has been there in the past and some of the things that are going to be there this weekend.

There will be a number of exhibitors presenting different items of classic gaming and art. Mr. Slack of Figure Ground Fan Art will be there with his original prints based on the characters from Transformers, Star Wars, Serenity and more. He may even have parts of his classic game collection for sale. You can see a preview of some of his art at Figure Ground.

Barcade Amusements, owned and operated out of Broken Arrow, OK. Keith Walker will bring with him a nice selection of video arcade games that will be setup for play at the OVGE all on Free Play! Prices will be posted on the games for those interested in purchasing any.

Many of the vintage and used game retailers will be on hand with a large number of games available for sale. Some of the stores that will be represented are Vintage Stock, GameXchange, Trade-n-Games from Missouri and more.

Fans of retro game apparel will be happy to know that Retro Gamer Shirts will be back for their second year to show off their stuff.  You can also expect to see a large number of arcade cabinets that will all be set to free play. If there’s something you’re interested in and no one is playing on it it’s fair game. A number of different classic gaming systems such as the Atari 2600, Commodore, Intellivision, Colecovision, Dreamcast, NES, Magnavox Odyssey and much more have all been there in the past and are expected to be back again this year. Many of these systems will also be playable as well.

There will be a multimedia presentation by Jordan Hamilton, from Carthage, MO that details the history of the Nintendo Entertainment System complete with classic commercials that everyone should see. Brad Prillwitz will be showing off some homebrew games for the Colecovision as well as hosting a Pac-Man competition, complete with prizes.

It sounds like it’s going to be a pretty good event chronicling a golden age in video gaming. The entry fee is quite nice and it’s in a good area of the country. If you’re within driving distance or even want to stay a night so you can see everything there are a number of hotels in the area. Head to Tulsa this weekend and join me.

You can look for coverage of the event next week on the site.

No Friend Codes in Monster Hunter Tri

The MTV Multiplayer blog is reporting that a Capcom representative has talked to them and said that the Friend Codes system will not be used in the America release of Monster Hunter Tri when the game comes to North America.  Rather than being hosted on Nintendo's servers, Capcom will host the game themselves.  Online portions, such as a unique friends list and multi-player information, of MHT will be accessed directly from the game's main menu.

Capcom said that the biggest hurdle to the game obtaining a huge following over here is online play.  They feel this will be a big hit in vaulting the game from "obscure curio" to "cult hit" and that it could reach Pokemon levels of popularity. 

The online portion of the game, in Japan, uses Wii Points to give you access for a week or a month based on the number of points used.  Capcom has not commented on whether they will use the pay to play model or if the game will be free to play in America.  We've sent word to Capcom and if we hear any more information on this we'll let you know.

Source: MTV Multiplayer blog
-------------------------------------------
I have not played a game in the Monster Hunter franchise.  I know it's been available over here, but most of the releases, if not all, have been on Playstation platforms and I currently only own Nintendo consoles.  The game has a bit of a Zelda look to the game and I am a huge fan of RPGs so I'm very interested in seeing this title come over here and getting a chance to really get to play it. 

All I need to know is that there are big monsters and big swords.  As long as I'm running around fighting them, that's all that really matters.  Are any of you interested in the game, or possibly even played it before?

New Max Contest Announcement

Okay folks, since no one appears to be biting on my drawing contest idea for Max and the Magic Marker we're going to change it up a bit.  From today on all you have to do is comment in this space and you'll be entered for a chance to win the shirt. 

Make sure you add what size you would like to have. As pointed out in the comment below, because I forgot to add it to this post we have 5 T-shirts available.  1 small, 2 medium and 2 large.  When you post a comment make sure you add what size you want.  The contest runs until 6:00 pm CST on Wednesday the 28th.  Winners will be announced next Thursday.

The contest is open to readers in North America and Europe.

Top 20 WiiWare Titles: Week of October 19th

This week’s Top 20 WiiWare titles are based on the information from the week of October 19th, 2009 (parentheses indicate the previous week’s rank).

1 Contra Rebirth (1)
2 Reel Fishing Challenge (2)
3 My Aquarium (3)
4 World of Goo (4)
5 Tetris Party (5)
6 Word Searcher (9)
7 LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias (N/A)
8 Dr Mario Online Rx (7)
9 Texas Hold'Em Poker (6)
10 My Pokémon Ranch (11)
11 Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (10)
12 Driift Mania (8)
13 Arkanoid Plus! (12)
14 Sexy Poker (14)
15 Family Mini Golf (16)
16 Defend Your Castle (15)
17 Brain Challenge (17)
18 BUST-A-MOVE Plus! (19)
19 Water Warfare (18)
20 You, Me, and the Cubes (13)

No change whatsoever in the top 5 titles this week.  There is one new addition with LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.  That title knocked Tales of Monkey Island off the list altogether. 

The biggest mover of the week was You, Me and the Cubes falling six spaces and now in danger of falling of the chart next week.  Sexy Poker held still and just won't go away.  If there is any title that has a chance to knock Contra ReBirth off the top spot it's going to be LostWinds so let's keep an eye on that next week and see what happens.

30 Minutes With... LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

Welcome to the first edition of 30 Minutes With… In this edition we’re going to look at the first 30 minutes of LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias by Frontier Developments and published on WiiWare. The game is a sequel to last year’s WiiWare launch title LostWinds and takes place very soon after the events of the first game. Spoiler Alert! If you’re not into spoilers be warned that this may contain some story spoilers for both this game and the last.

0:00 Don’t forget to tighten your wrist straps folks. Don’t want any messy incidents. In full disclosure, I am not wearing a wrist strap right now. The game is rated E due to Mild Fantasy Violence.

0:35 This is not Toku I’m looking at. The character asleep on screen is apparently named Riveren and looks a bit like a Martian chicken. He should not be sleeping, he’s supposed to be at the palace gardens.

1:26 I’ve come to an elevator and it runs on song. A quick press of the Z button and away we go.

1:47 Someone very important is returning to the village today. I should keep running to the right until I reach the palace gardens.

2:37 There are more elevators that need the power of my voice. This is a very interesting way to power the systems in the village.

3:36 The king is coming back. He’s the only person the villagers have hope that could find Enril. She’s been missing for a long time. (Toku found her in the last game, if you remember.)

4:34 I’ve seen the first enemy of the game. I’ve watched across a bridge. The glorbs are back. They don’t like singing and they all die.

5:06 Returning to that same bridge it falls beneath me and I fall into a huge pit.

5:40 There is a very strange object that I can pick up at the bottom of this pit. It’s very dark and has a purple mist surrounding it. When I pick it up Riveren hears a strange voice, “At last I’ve found you.”

5:40 Cut to Toku. He’s asleep in a tree. Something stirs him, he rolls over and falls to the ground.

5:51 A man named Notea runs in from the right. He has some troubling news for me. He was exploring the area of northern Mistralis and found a page from Magdi’s journal. (Magdi is Toku’s mom.) He agrees to show us where he found the journal page but it’s a twelve day walk on foot.

7:02 Magmok agrees to help up. It’s the least he can do for us saving his life. Nodea gives us a map that will help us locate the spot. Magmok tosses us on his back and starts up the mountain.

8:05 I’ve come to a ledge that’s too high to climb. Flash to an explanation of how to use gust. This is the first power we have in this game. (I had already used it once before this so I know Toku already had it. It’s just a reminder.)

8:35 Now there’s a very high cliff we have to jump off of. Cue explanation of how to slow your fall. (Another power Toku already had, just a reminder.)

9:01 I come to a place that Toku can’t gust up to. Luckily there’s a plant next to a little pond. A quick splash of some of the water and voila! A spitting plant grows that will spit us up high enough. Magmok tosses a boulder out of the way so we can continue.

9:16 Quick reminder of how to use the vortex to launch rocks and enemies at walls.

9:53 We’re continuing up the mountain. There are some mushrooms to bounce off of that will get us up even higher. After bouncing off one of the mushrooms Magmok grabs Toku in mid air and sets him down on a ledge. Toku continues up the mountain. I notice in the background this whole time that Magmok is doing an amazing impression of Spider-man and he has very short legs. Toku comes to a bridge that has fallen so Magmok tosses him up to the top of the mountain.

10:32 It’s winter up there. Toku is shivering because he’s not dressed properly.

10:44 I’m taught how to open the map to find my way to different places. This is going to be one handy feature.

11:00 Enril informs Toku that he must stay close to fire or he’ll freeze. There is a cold meter at the top of the screen that will be depleted the longer you stay away from a fire.

11:19 I can save for the first time. The save statues from the first game are back.

11:48 There is a large group of icicles blocking the way and snow falling in front of them. Tutorial time. How to make a snowball that can be used to destroy obstacles.

12:19 I’ve found my first hidden statue. These served no purpose in the first game will they be more useful in this sequel? There are apparently 48 of these scattered around the world.

12:31 Toku has arrived at Summerfall Village. A very oddly named town for a place covered in snow.

13:11 There is a house that Toku can go in. It’s inhabited by a blacksmith and he’s not too happy there’s an uninvited guest in his house. He tells us that winter came and it just never left. It’s also dangerous and we should just go home, but we’re not the first person from our village to show up in Summerfall. There was a woman and she was going north to Melodia City.

15:48 He shows Toku on the map where to find Melodia City. There are snow monsters that appeared at the beginning of the Long Winter and they’ve gotten the villagers frightened. His name is Smith, by the way, and he shows us how to light the beacons that Toku will come across. They provide both a source of fire as well as warmth.

16:20 Toku comes across a journal page. It tells of how Magdi’s balloon crashed and how she came to Summerfall Village.

16:42 There’s a creepy Yeti creature in the distance. It doesn’t stay long and runs off when we move closer.

18:14 Toku comes to a very steep, slippery slope that he can’t get up. There must be an alternate route somewhere.

19:50 I’ve found another secret statue.

20:25 Toku stumbles across journal page 3. I don’t know where journal page two is yet. This page tells of creatures in the snow and it’s located at the site of Magdi’s balloon crash. Toku sees the Yeti creature and a mysterious floating woman who has an eerie purple mist around her.

21:05 I’ve found my third secret statue.

21:20 There are fire glorbs in this game. Toku gains a new power, Cold Chill. It can freeze the glorbs and remove the fire from them and then they can be killed.

21:52 Journal page number four talks about Magdi finding the entrance to Melodia City.

22:29 Toku has found the entrance to the city but it has flooded and the water is frozen. There’s no getting in now. So I’m going to head back down the mountain.

23:00 Toku gets attacked by the creepy purple lady. When he wakes up he discovers he’s in the den of the Yeti creature and there is a very familiar face in there…

Well there you go. The first 23:00 minutes of play time with LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. You’re going to get a good handle on the controls if you’ve never played the game before. If you have you’ll very quickly remember everything that you can do in the world and try out some things that you could do, but can’t yet in this game. The new powers aren’t really new they’re just variations on old powers that now have a different effect during the winter and snow.

The game has improved some graphically. There appears to be more going on in the background. The music is just a low key and melodic as the previous game and you’ll feel right at home the minute you boot the game up. I’ve played through about 2 hours of the game at this point and I can tell you there are some really cool things to look forward to.

I’m going to finish the game tonight and the review for LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias should be up on Friday.

XSEED Announces Korg DS-10

KORG DS-10 Plus is currently being developed by cavia, inc. in conjunction with Procyon Studio and will be released exclusively for Nintendo DS™/Nintendo DSi™ in North America in early 2010. KORG DS-10 Plus builds on the success of 2008's KORG DS-10 release, with new upgrades and improved performance that best utilize the high-performance specifications of the DSi™.

Designed after the famous KORG MS-10 music synthesizer, KORG DS-10 Plus is a revamped version of the revered music-creation program for the enjoyment of both professional and aspiring musicians alike. The sound sources in the KORG DS-10 come from KORG, one of the world's top musical instrument producers, and no effort was spared in the replication of creating high-quality sounds. New features for KORG DS-10 Plus for the DS/DSi versions include per-track MUTE/SOLO built into the SONG mode, and EDIT/PLAY enabled for all modes within the SONG mode for further improved real-time performance. The touch-screen controls of Nintendo DS are utilized to the fullest to provide an authentic feel and operability across a dual-screen layout that is unsurpassed in portable music creation. A 6-track/16-step sequencer enables precise control and provides a wide range of musical possibilities. Up to eight units can be linked via wireless connection to play together or to exchange sounds and songs.

Nintendo DSi owners can enjoy additional exclusive improvements and upgrades, all geared to deliver the highest-quality of musical creation and greatest breadth of creativity. These performance upgrades include 12-voice polyphony, 4 tracks for the analog synthesizer simulator, 2 drum machines and more! Also available exclusively when played on the DSi are 2 effects layers, essentially giving users the functionality of two original KORG DS-10's in one for the ultimate in music collaboration.

KORG DS-10 Plus will be available across North America for Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi early 2010.

30 Minutes With...

Hey everyone.  I just wanted to let you know about a new feature we're going to start here at Nintendo Okie.  I call it 30 Minutes With and you'll get a new edition every time I start a new game for review.  I'm doing it for a couple reasons.  The first is just to give you an idea about what's coming up for review on the site.  The other is to just give you a sneak peek at the game. 

The first 30 minutes of a game can tell you a lot about what's going on and give you an early indication about what to expect through the rest of the game.  There are a few exceptions and RPG's are the biggest exception to that rule where it takes that long or longer to get through the opening of the game.

I'll give you a timeline of what I'm doing from the time I start through the 30 minutes.  I'll play around with it some to get it down, but in general you'll see a time stamp and what I'm doing at that point in the game or what's happening at that moment. 

I think you'll like it and it will give us that much more content that we can bring to you.  As always feel free to post your comments on what you see and let me know what you think.

Tomorrow will be the first edition of the article and we'll be doing 30 Minutes With... LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.

Need For Speed Has Sold More Than 100 Million Copies

Innovation and Intensity are the Only Constant for a Racing Franchise

that Re-Invents Itself Year After Year

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – October 21, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) is proud to announce today that the Need for Speed™ franchise has surpassed 100M units sold life to date.* The newest release, Need for Speed SHIFT, pushes the franchise over the 100M mark, making it the best-selling racing brand in the gaming world. Need for Speed has become a driving force for innovation in the racing genre. Known for delivering unparalleled white-knuckle racing, creative customization and street style, the Need for Speed series has generated over $2.7B in life-to-date sales and has become a powerful pop culture phenomenon.

“Few videogame franchises ever reach the 100M units mark, so this is a huge honor. We have millions of fans to thank for driving us to this milestone,” said Frank Gibeau, president, EA Games Label. “With the launch of Need for Speed SHIFT and the upcoming release of Need for Speed NITRO, we hope to continue to deliver the most entertaining, action-packed racing experiences.”

Since the release of Need for Speed in 1994, the franchise has…

* Launched 15 blockbuster titles across more than 14 platforms

* Released in 22 languages in over 60 countries

* Players have raced over 279 billion miles of roads & race tracks

* Generated over 17 trillion user-generated vehicle customizations

* Featured actors, models & musicians including: Brooke Burke (Wild On), Christina Milian (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Emmanuelle Vaugier (Two and a Half Men), Josie Maran (Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and actress), Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III), Kanye West, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Prodigy *Debuted exclusive remix from Snoop Dogg of The Door’s classic song Riders on the Storm

*Sold more games than all new passenger cars sales in the U.S since 1994**

If Need for Speed boxes were laid out end-to-end, it would span 173,609 football fields

100M units represents nearly every household in the United States and is 3x the population of Canada

This year, there are three titles being launched under the Need for Speed franchise. Need for Speed SHIFT delivers a true driver’s experience and has been heralded by press worldwide for being the most exciting and polished Need for Speed game in years. SHIFT is available on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, PC, and PlayStation®Portable system. Shipping in November, Need for Speed NITRO has been developed specifically for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS to capture the fun and exhilaration of arcade racing at 200 MPH. Need for Speed World Online for the PC is the largest open world game in the history of Need for Speed, with an extensive roster of licensed cars and game modes – all for free online. The game follows the free to play business model which generates revenue through advertising and in-game item sales. World Online will begin the beta process in Taiwan this winter and will open to players around the world in fall 2010.

More information about the Need for Speed franchise can be found at http://www.needforspeed.com/, or follow us on Twitter at NeedforSpeed.

*According to internal EA data

**93.8 Million according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Atari Launches New Facebook App - Photo Sauce

- Available Through Facebook® Platform, “Photo Sauce” Adds Flavor to Photos with Colorful Stickers and Speech Bubbles for Instant Sharing with Friends -

NEW YORK, NY – October 21, 2009 – Atari, one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, announced today the launch of the social networking application: Atari Photo Sauce. Developed by the Atari London Studio, this new application allows Facebook users to express themselves by digitally decorating and personalizing their own photos with colorful and fun stickers, speech bubbles and accessories. Atari Photo Sauce is now available to more than 300 million active users on Facebook via the site’s application directory and can be accessed directly through apps.facebook.com/photosauce.

“Atari introduced the world to computer entertainment with simple and fun games for everyone,” said Paulina Bozek, Development Director, Atari London Studio. “Atari Photo Sauce builds on that heritage with a social application that is universally appealing and instantly fun, allowing social networkers, who share billions of photos online, a new way to be creative with photos and share them instantly with friends everywhere.”

Through the expansive sticker catalogue of cute graphics, irreverent sayings and funny accessories, Atari Photo Sauce enables users to create a unique story told through their pictures. Additional features include popular sayings and cultural memes with colorful graphics and accessories such as, gold chains, teddy bear helmets and over-sized shades.

The application is seamlessly integrated with users’ photos on Facebook and features a slick interface that allows users to simply drag and drop the material onto their digital images. Once a photo is “Photo Sauced,” users can publish it in their Facebook stream for their friends to see with a Photo Sauce thumbnail appearing in the story. Tagged friends are notified via the application and receive a message saying “You’ve Been Photo Sauced!” Additionally, Atari Photo Sauce allows users to create personalized and unique digital greeting cards featuring their own photos and special message.

Atari plans to release new stickers for various holidays, events and pop culture moments that will be accessible inside the application. Atari will also likely launch themed stickers and accessory packages for various holidays and seasonal events, such as birthdays, Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Source: Press Release

Need For Speed Nitro Rio Trailer

New Screens for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

Four new screenshots for Sega's upcoming racer Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

Images courtesy of Games Press.

New Wii System Update

As many of you know the Wii and DS Shop Channels were down for maintainence today.  The Wii Shop Channel appears to be back up and if you connect it will ask you to perform a system update. 

After performing that update, which does not seem to be very big as it did not take a minute to download, you can now access the Wii Shop Channel.  It does not look, as of yet, that anything has been done to the shop.  I would imagine that this is in preparation for another big update coming very soon.  If you remember Denise Kaigler a few days ago was promising Wii owners that were connected to the internet would be receiving a big surprise and the evidence points to some kind of update to the Shop Channel. 

I've put in word to Nintendo to find out what's going on and as soon as I hear back from them I'll let you know.

Update:  There should now be a message on your Wii Menu saying that if you were one of the people that spent 500 points to download the Internet Channel you now have the opportunity to buy "One Free Title" by clicking the appropriate button on the top screen of the Wii Shop Channel.  The offer expires at 11:59 pm PST on December 31st, so act now.  You've got just over two months to redeem your free game from the Wii Shop Channel. 

Two New Trailers for New Super Mario Bros. Wii

More and more little tidbits are trickling out every day for New Super Mario Bros.  Have you pre-ordered your copy yet?

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky Review

Games in the Pokemon franchise have typically followed a pattern of release. First two game are released simultaneously that have similar story lines with a few differences between them. Then a few months to a year later another game is released in that line that enhances both of those stories and combines the two games together with a few more additional things thrown in. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is that third type of title. It follows closely behind Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness.

The game follows the same storyline of those first two titles and adds a few things to make it a little different from them. The first is the addition of some playable characters. When you first boot up the game you fill out a quick survey and your answers to the questions determine which Pokemon you’ll play the game as. You can then choose from the remaining Pokemon, not of the same type as you, to play as your partner. You then are thrust into the story where you wake up on a beach unaware that you’ve turned into a Pokemon. You are awakened by your partner, whom you can understand, despite them being a Pokemon. You don’t remember anything that happened before you woke up and the game centers around that point to weave an interesting story.

You are asked to help recover an item that your partner Pokemon has lost and you’ll meet a team of Pokemon that will be a thorn in your side for a long time. After that the two of you decide to team up and join an explorers guild, led by Wigglytuff. That is where you’ll get daily assignments and duties that you are required to complete and after many of them the story will advance. Most of your time will be spent between the town surrounding your guild and the mystery dungeons that are located at different places throughout the world, and there is no traveling between the two. Sometimes, though, to break up the dungeon exploring you’ll be put on guard duty where you play a mini game that asks you to identify Pokemon based on their footprint. If you know a lot about the Pokemon universe that knowledge will come in handy during that time, but it’s not at all necessary. You also find out during your travels that the time gears responsible for keeping time in the world flowing properly are being stolen by a mysterious pokemon. It's up to you to find out what's going on and set things right. You'll meet a lot of familiar faces, as well as some lesser know, such as Shaymin.

The Pokemon mystery dungeon games, for anyone that doesn’t know, are commonly referred to as rogue-like games, meaning they are based off of the game play elements from an RPG known as Rogue. All of the dungeons are randomly generated every time you enter them and travel to another floor. Chances are you will never see the same floor pattern twice, which can be both a blessing and a curse. If you should die while you are in one of these dungeons you will lose up to half your money that you had acquired up to that point as well as a number of the items that you were carrying. Luckily if you survive the dungeon you can deposit these items in banks that will keep them safe for you, and you should do this often, only taking items that you think you’ll need, and never take gold into a dungeon with you. There are very few times you’ll need money while you’re in a dungeon.

The randomness of the game will, as said, be both a blessing and a curse. There is nothing more frustrating than spawning in a dungeon where you’re surrounded by three enemies and you’re almost depleted of all your health. On the flip side, there will be a number of times you thank the developers for having a staircase to the next floor spawn in the tile next to you. As you move through the dungeons every step you take is an action and enemies only act after you’ve taken an action. The entire game is turn based and you can use this to determine the best course through battles. Just remember you act, your partner acts, then enemies act, usually in that order. Many times during your exploration of a dungeon Pokemon that you’ve beaten in battle will ask to join your team. You can have up to two additional Pokemon with you at any time, and the game gets a bit easier when you’ve got the bigger team. Having those extra Pokemon around will be a big benefit and choosing the right Pokemon for the environment could be key to easy victory. The most frustrating aspect of this game is that you can’t prepare for a dungeon and you must guess as what you’ll need when you enter a new area. Be prepared for a lot of deaths and returns to the same dungeons. The plus is that even if you die your progress is still save, any experience gained is kept and levels will not be lost, so you will be stronger each time you enter a dungeon. That keeps the number of replays to a minimum.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky does have a feature that will allow you to call for help over Wi-Fi, or through email and a friend can come rescue you if you die. This will cause all the items and gold you had to be retained and you can continue where you left off. You can set this up to send you messages through email and is a neat feature, but not one you’ll probably use very often. It’s just easier to restart the dungeon, but if you have a rare or powerful item you want to keep it might be nice to receive a rescue.

The game is not quite as nice to look at as the main Pokemon game, but the developers have done a nice job creating a world where you really feel like a Pokemon. All of the characters are easily distinguished and you can tell instantly what types of Pokemon are in the areas that you are. The dungeons reuse the same tiles and after a while you will begin to feel like you’ve seen that same room before, even though everything is randomly created. The in game story scenes have a lot of emotion and despite the small size of the characters it was always really easy to see how they felt. The animated portions of the stories all felt like later GBA titles and maybe could have been done to take more advantage of the DS capabilities. The music, on the other hand was done quite well. Each dungeon has its own unique sound. Party areas all have appropriately cheery music and the moody sections of game had the appropriate emotional feel to them. It’s very well done and fits the tone of the game perfectly.

Once you’ve completed the main story of the game there are bonus episodes that you will unlock as you play through. These episodes can be accessed from the main menu and allow you to play through stories told from the perspective of some of the other members of the guild. They provide some interesting insight to those characters and are more interactive stories than additional game levels, but they’re entertaining none the less.

If you’re a fan of Shiren the Wanderer, or dungeon crawl games in general there will easily be something to find in this game that you’ll like. It’s designed for the younger audience, so it might be a little easier than you’re looking for, but younger players will find the game a nice difference to the standard Pokemon RPG. There’s no denying there is something enjoyable about filling out the survey and the game choosing exactly the right Pokemon for you, though if you know how you can answer so that you’ll get the Pokemon of your choice. The dungeons can get a bit repetitive and irritating at times, but the story is good enough to keep you wanting to know what happens next.  If you played Explorers of Time or Explorers of Darkness, there might not be enough to justify this game, but if you’ve never played the series before or you just really like Pokemon you should look into this game.

Final Score: 3/5 Average

Review copy of the game provided by Nintendo.

Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo Now Available

Action-Adventure Side-Scrolling Platformer Brawler Does It All

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (Oct. 20, 2009) – Leading video games publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that Dragon Ball®: Revenge of King Piccolo is now available exclusively for Wii™. Dragon Ball fans can relive the early adventures of Goku as he explores the world, meets life-long companions and friends, and increases his martial arts power in this latest action-adventure side-scrolling brawler.

In Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, players assume the role of an adolescent Goku as he races against the Red Ribbon Army to collect all seven of the coveted Dragon Balls which, when collected, grant a single ultimate wish. Fans of the series will delight in reliving the crucial moments in Goku’s adventures in Adventure Mode, which take place between the Red Ribbon encounters to the pivotal King Piccolo conflict, including Goku’s journey to Korin Tower and his very first World Martial Arts Tournament.

With a simple move of the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™, players can have Goku fire off intricate combos, fly across the screen to connect jump-kick attacks, and execute his signature Kamehameha ultimate attack against enemies with ease. Additionally, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo supports a number of key gameplay features that will keep the action diverse and gameplay engaging including armor breaks, attack counters, and special lock-on aerial attacks.

In addition to the Adventure Mode, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo also features a Tournament Mode which will allow players to take their favorite Dragon Ball characters into the ring and duke it out. Featuring in-game collectibles and a host of unlockable characters and modes, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo will provide a thoroughly engaging and accurate portrayal of Goku's early formidable martial arts years.

Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii is rated “E10+” by the ESRB and has an MSRP of $39.99. For more information on Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, please visit: http://dragonball.namco.com/.

NPD's Are Out, Playstation Sits On Top of Home Console Chart

The September NPD numbers are out and for the first time Sony has beaten Microsoft and Nintendo in America for the home console sales.  Playstation 3 sold 491,800 units while Microsoft and Nintendo sold 352,600 and 462,800 respectively.  So while Sony did finish the month in the top spot, they did not beat out Nintendo by much.  DS stole the show, though with 524,200 units showing the handheld is not going to stop its dominance anytime soon. 

While Sony stole the console show, Nintendo had a respectable showing in software sales during the month of September.  Seven of the top 20 titles for the month were released on Nintendo platforms and they are as follows:

#2: Wii Sports Resort, with Motion Plus  442,900 units
#4: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story   258,100 units
#10: The Beatles: Rock Band   208,600 units
#12: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days  
#13: Scribblenauts   194,000 units
#18: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box  
#19: Wii Fit (w/ Balance Board)   134,000 units

Halo 3: ODST finished in the top spot with over 1.5 million units sold. 

Those numbers are all very respectable and it's good to see a new title like Scribblenauts doing so well despite being a new franchise.  The game deserves some praise, even with its quirks.  We're getting into the holiday sales season so let's see how Nintendo does for the rest of the year.  Sony did so well off the back of their price drop and console redesign.  Now that Nintendo and Microsoft have also dropped their prices it will be interesting to see if Sony can hold onto that or if they'll drop the top spot next month. 

Cooking Mama 3 In Stores Now

The Queen of the Virtual Kitchen Returns with All-New Features and Recipes

EDISON, N.J., October 20, 2009 - Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced that Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop for Nintendo DS™ is now available at retailers nationwide. The latest addition to the successful franchise that has sold nearly 5 million units domestic, Cooking Mama 3 serves up a new shopping mode that lets players buy ingredients from the store to make 80 new recipes, from chili con carne to pumpkin gnocchi.

In Cooking Mama 3, players use the stylus as the ultimate cooking utensil to shop and chop their way to the top in eight gameplay modes and 200 fun mini-games. In Let's Match mode, aspiring chefs can create their own dishes by combining ingredients together in delicious new ways. Cooking Contest lets you face-off against up to three friends in 20 multiplayer cooking challenges. Three different customization modes enable players to dress up Mama with earned outfits and accessories, change up the game screen or decorate each finished dish in their scrapbook with animated stickers. Cooking Mama 3 also supports gameplay connectivity with Gardening Mama so players can use items grown in Mama's garden to whip up their favorite dishes in Shop and Chop.

Developed by Cooking Mama Limited, Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop is rated E for Everyone and is available now for the suggested retail price of $29.99. To watch the game play trailer and find out more, visit the official game site at http://www.cookingmama.com/.

Source: Press Release

Black Wii Coming to Europe

A press release just came across my inbox saying that the United Kingdom and Ireland will be receiving the new black Wii console on November 6th along with a black remote, nunchuk, Motion Plus, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort.  The rest of Europe will be getting the console bundle on November 20th.  Japan received the console back on the 1st of August.  Does this signal that maybe America will be getting the console as well? 

I'm not a big fan of the black Wii console.  Chances are if it had come out with the White at launch I would have bought it because it matched the rest of my entertainment center consoles, but now that I've had the white system for three years I really like it.  I had a black DS and couldn't stand the finger prints all over it.  The white system masks that somewhat and I just like to look of it.  It stands out among the crowd, which it should do. 

What about you.  Which system would you have chosen if you had the choice?

Backyard Football '10 Broncos Vs. Chargers

Miyamoto Talks Mario's Past, The Future of Gaming

This just cross GoNintendo's feed and I thought I'd pass it along to you as well as comment on what I saw.   This comes from a Popular Mechanics interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. 
----------------------------------------------------
PM: When was it decided that he was a plumber?

SM: When we first created Donkey Kong, I kind of looked at him as your average, everyday foolish guy. The setting of that game was a construction site, so I kind of matched him with the setting of the game, and decided in that game that he was a carpenter. And then when we made the original Mario Bros. game, that was the first game that had pipes in it, and the enemies would come out of the pipes into this dark area and Mario would try to hit them and knock them out. Looking at the setting of that game, it had the feeling of an underground New York sewer system. And so with the pipes and the idea of it being an underground New York sewer system, I thought what kind of guy would be there working on the pipes? A plumber! So rather than saying Mario was a plumber, really it was a matter of what’s his role in the game and what’s the setting of the game and kind of occupation would put him in the setting to be doing what he’s doing.

PM: This is a broad question, but where do you see the future of video games?

SM: I think originally video-game systems were viewed as a toy, and they were something you played with. Whereas now I think we’re starting to see a blurring of the lines, where, obviously, the internal guts of a video-game system is essentially a computer, and we’re gradually seeing video games moving beyond simply entertainment into other aspects of everyday life. And I think what video games benefit from is an intuitive interface that’s easy to understand, where the controller is a little bit more familiar and easier to use than the interface of a typical computer. As time goes on, I think we’re going to see how the system of the video-game console and this interactive interface is going to gradually bleed in to other elements of, say, home electronics and daily life. For example, in Japan the Wii itself has a TV guide channel that Wii owners can download to their Wii. And for a lot of people in Japan who own a Wii, that TV guide channel is a lot more convenient and easier to use than a typical TV guide service.

PM: The Wii uses a motion-sensing controller. Going forward, as Nintendo releases future consoles, do you view the motion-sensing controller as an integral part of the experience that’s going to stay with Nintendo indefinitely?

SM: With both the Wii remote itself and Wii Motion Plus, what we’ve been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for a broad audience. And while we don’t have any concrete plans for what we’ll be doing with hardware in the future, what I can say is that, my guess is that because we found this interface to be so interesting, I think it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient.

PM: What’s your dream type of game that takes advantage of the Wii-mote?

SM: Right now I’m focusing on creating the next Zelda game.

--------------------------------------------------------

While I do find the parts about Mario's past interesting, that really is news that has been around for a long time.  I do like the parts where he is discussing gaming's future and the fact that he thinks motion controls are here to stay.  I have been very favorable of Nintendo's approach to this console generation and have taken to the Wii Remote.  I really like the look, feel and interactivity I get with the Wii Remote and every month a new game comes out that really shows the developers are starting to understand the controller.  It's not about throwing motion control in for the sake of having it.  It's about using the motion and the pointer to enhace game play where it's needed.  Games like Tiger Woods, Wii Sports Resort, Dead Space Extracion and Max and the Magic Marker show you exactly what you need to do with the Wii Remote.  Don't use motion for everything, and allow people options in their controls.

You know there is something to the motion control movement or Microsoft and Sony would not be throwing their hat into the mix as well.  They see the value of those systems, even if you're not completely getting rid of a controller.  It is Nintendo, yet again, that is at the front of gaming innovation, much like it has been in the past.

The other bit right there at the end where Mr. Miyamoto flat out states all his focus is on the next Zelda title.  That is probably my number one franchise in the gaming aside from the traditional side scrolling Mario games.  Everything stops for me for a bit when a new Zelda game is released and those games last me a very long time.  I explore those worlds until there's nothing left to find.  I'm really hoping information for that title will start trickling out, just so we get even more confirmation that it's on the way. 

Right now though, my sights are on a bloy and his blob and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Need For Speed Nitro Goes Gold

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – October 19, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that the award-winning Need for Speed™ NITRO has gone gold and will be in stores early, arriving to retailers on November 3rd in North America and on November 6th in Europe. Developed specifically for the Wii and Nintendo DS, Need for Speed NITRO captures the fun and exhilaration of arcade racing, thrusting players into a world of blazing speed where they must dominate the competition at 200 MPH. Complementing the thrilling gameplay is an adrenaline-charged soundtrack that features songs from some of the world’s most celebrated and innovative artists including k-os, Placebo and Crystal Method.

This soundtrack musically exemplifies the intensity, attitude and adrenaline of Need for Speed NITRO” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing at EA. “This energetic collection of rock, electronic and hip hop, matches the incredible speed and intensity of a game experience players will never forget.”

Our vision was to create something unique on the Nintendo platforms,” said Joe Booth, Senior Producer. “Need for Speed NITRO combines the franchise’s trademark attitude, sense of speed and addictive gameplay with the approachability and pick up and play of Nintendo.”

Need for Speed NITRO delivers the thrill of high-speed racing to all types of gamers with exciting gameplay, accessible controls, and competitive multiplayer events. Recently crowned IGN’s Best Racing Game on the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Need for Speed NITRO is one of this holiday's most fun and exciting arcade racers.

The complete soundtrack is listed below. To hear samplings of each song, please visit www.ea.com/eatrax/.

Artist                                                         Song
Alex Metric                                                What Now
Bloody Beetroots feat. Cool Kids               Awesome
Crookers feat. Wiley and Thomas Jules      Business Man
Crystal Method feat. LMFAO                    Sine Language
Danko Jones                                             Code Of The Road
Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden     Bonkers
Drumagik                                                  Make It Rock
Earl Greyhound                                         Oye Vaya
edIT feat. Wale and Tre’                           Freaxxx
Evil 9                                                        All The Cash (Alex Metric Remix) Feat. El-P
Hollywood Holt                                        Can't Stop
k-os                                                         FUN!
Lady Sovereign                                        I Got You Dancing
Major Lazer feat. Mr.Lex & Santigold      Hold The Line
Matt & Kim                                             Daylight (Troublemaker Remix)
Mickey Factz                                           Yeah Yeah
Pint Shot Riot                                           Not Thinking Straight
Placebo                                                    Breathe Under Water
Rise Against                                             Kotov Syndrome
Roots Manuva                                          Buff Nuff
Rye Rye                                                   Hardcore Girls
Street Sweeper Social Club                      Fight! Smash! Win!
Taking Back Sunday                                Lonely Lonely
The Enemy UK                                        No Time For Tears
The Gay Blades                                      O Shot (Dmerit Remix)
Two Fingers feat. Sway                           Jewels And Gems

Developed by EA Montreal, Need for Speed NITRO is available on the Wii and Nintendo DS and is rated E10+ by ESRB and 7+ by PEGI.

Source: Press Release