For those of you who've already tackled the new robot bosses, been through Wily's castle, and even taken down Fake Man, it may seem that Mega Man 9 still has something new to offer. According Seth Killian, community manager with Capcom, there's still one thing that folks haven't found yet.
"There's only one undiscovered Mega Man 9 secret that I know about ... I don't predict anyone will discover this one for quite a while yet," Killian said over at the Capcom boards. Of course, with this, many have launched themselves into the thread, anxious to be the one who finds this last hidden gem in what is, indeed, itself a gem.
By: WiiFanboy.
BIZ: What is your response to people who love, say, Super Mario Galaxy, but who are not so interested in things like Wii Music?
SM: My attitude is that obviously for 30 years now I’ve been making games and for the vast majority of time I’ve been making the type of games that the loyal Nintendo fans enjoy. Those are the types of games that my career is based on and we’re going to continue to make those types of games. In fact, we have many of those types of games in development right now.
BIZ: Would you like to be able to make more games for the broadening Wii casual gaming audience, or do you think your time is better spent on other projects?
SM: I think it’s very important for us to not only take the types of games that we’ve seen in the past and continue to polish them and make them more immersive and more extravagant, but we must also look at ways to make video games accessible to more people. Like any traditional craft, the more and more you refine those classic styles of games, the harder and harder it is for more people to enjoy them. For me what’s important is not only do we have to come up with new ideas for games that we have seen over the years, we need new game experiences like Wii Music and Wii Fit that will reach out to a broader audience.
BIZ: With the popularity of games like Spore and LittleBigPlanet, what role do you see user-generated content (much like the music videos players can create in Wii Music) playing in games moving forward?
SM: I think user-generated content and the ability to give people these sets of tools that they can unleash and share with others is something that’s going to continue to expand and become more popular. Especially given the advent of the Internet and how people are connected all over the world today. We’ve looked at that already to a certain extent with the Miis and the Mii Contest Channel. Rather than us spending the time to create the best Miis that our game designers can think up, it’s much more interesting to give a topic or challenge to the game players out there and let them do it. Obviously, the Mii Channel is limited with the amount of parts it has, but it’s fun to challenge gamers with how creative they can be to design different types of Miis and then share them with others. Wii Music is another example with how we allow gamers to share the music videos they create.
-GameDaily
PRESS RELEASE: SEGA Gets Zapped by High Voltage with The Conduit
SEGA to Publish Highly Anticipated Wii Title in Spring 2009
SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® of Europe Ltd. today announced a worldwide partnership with High Voltage Software to publish and distribute the Wii™ home video game system-exclusive title, The Conduit. The first-person shooter garnered multiple awards at E3 2008, including Best Wii Game by GameTrailers and three awards from IGN: Best Shooting Game (Wii), Best Graphics Technology (Wii) and Best Overall Wii Game. The Conduit is a stunning, futuristic title powered by a new game engine technology that delivers remarkable visuals and effects, as well as a rich interactive experience that is unlike any other title on the Wii.
“The Conduit is one of the most talked-about Wii games this year and High Voltage Software has only scratched the surface of the game in terms of what they have shown so far,” says Simon Jeffery, President of SEGA of America, Inc. “They have proven that graphical and technological innovation can be exciting to the Wii market, and SEGA is thrilled to partner with a team that truly shares our belief in the Wii’s gaming potential beyond the casual market.”
“High Voltage Software’s partnership with SEGA to publish The Conduit represents an important milestone for this studio,” said Kerry Ganofsky, CEO and founder of High Voltage Software, Inc. “SEGA shares our vision for the title and its tremendous potential, which is why we chose them from a long list of potential partners. With their support, we are confident that The Conduit will deliver the definitive shooter experience that Wii fans have been waiting for.”
The Conduit takes players into a dark story in Washington D.C. after a vicious alien invasion has rocked the country. An organization called the Trust has sent in Secret Service agent, Mr. Ford, to go up against the insect-like alien race known as “The Drudge.” Armed with an array of futuristic weaponry and an intelligence-gathering device simply called the “All-Seeing Eye,” players follow an intricate storyline filled with conspiracy, shady government activity and terrifying aliens.
The Conduit’s detailed control system allows players to customize and configure look sensitivity, turning speed, the dead zone and much more. As players delve further into the mystery behind the extraterrestrial invasion, shocking details reveal that the invasion may have been brought on with help from the government itself.
Powered by High Voltage Software’s groundbreaking Quantum 3 engine, The Conduit ensures that players will experience single and multiplayer gameplay with graphical fidelity never seen before on the Wii. The Conduit will also support the recently announced Wii Speak peripheral, allowing online multiplayer gamers the ability to chat as they destroy aliens in each terrifying level. Additionally, the game will take advantage of the Wii MotionPlus for optimal control.
The Conduit, exclusively for the Wii, is slated to ship in spring 2009. For more information on the game, please visit http://www.conduitgame.com. For screenshots and art, please visit the SEGA FTP site at http://segapr.segaamerica.com.
ANIMAL CROSSING COSTUME CONTEST GIVES FANS A CHANCE TO WIN PRIZES, EXCLUSIVE INFO
Oct. 27, 2008
Fans of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing™ franchise are some of the most loyal in the world. To reward them for their devotion to these community-building games and to get players fired up for the Nov. 16 release of Animal Crossing™: City Folk for Nintendo’s Wii™ console, Nintendo is hosting an outrageous animal costume contest.
Critter lovers can show their creativity by submitting the most original images of animals dressed in costumes or even as characters from the hit video game franchise Animal Crossing. The entrants of the top 50 photos in the “Animal Crossing Welcome Waggin’ Costume Contest” will win membership to the exclusive Welcome Waggin’ Committee. All committee members will receive a Wii video game system, a copy of Animal Crossing: City Folk, a Wii Speak™ microphone, access to exclusive information about the game and more.
Expanding on the popularity of the Animal Crossing series, Animal Crossing: City Folk lets every member of the household partake in the fun of a unique animal-filled town. Players use the simple controls of the wireless Wii Remote™ controller to customize their own characters and surroundings. And for the first time, players can take their adventure to the city, complete with shopping and theater excursions. It’s also the first game to make use of the Wii Speak microphone, a new accessory that enables players to use voice chat over a broadband Internet connection. The Wii Speak microphone is sold separately.
Daily photo picks and details about the “Animal Crossing Welcome Waggin’ Costume Contest” will be posted at www.WelcomeWagginContest.com. Entries will be accepted Oct. 27 - Nov. 16. For more information about Animal Crossing: City Folk, please visit www.Animal-Crossing.com.
6. Parental controls...(bleh)
Phahtrox: Homebrew!DSiWare200 includes the software that can be bought for 200 Nintendo DSi Points. These pieces of software will be very compact-sized tools and games. DSiWare500 will cost 500 Nintendo DSi Points, and will include simple puzzle games and tools of significant size. The fourth category are the Premium titles. Premium includes anything that is more than 800 Nintendo DSi Points. Nintendo also revealed that Brain Age 1 and 2 are being re-designed as DSiWare titles, and those DSiWare Brain Age titles will be known as “Literature Edition” and “Science Edition”. And while these aren’t confirmed, Satoru Iwata presented some ideas for DSiWare applications, such as “a Zelda calculator, an Animal Crossing clock, street maps for various large cities, or possibly a simple Tetris.”DSiWare shop so far:
The hack, documented in detail by Knoxximus over at cheapassgamer.com, basically amounts to filling up the card with junk data until the remaining free space is less than 2GB. You first use a PC with the SDFormatter program to initially format the card (since the Wii won't format the 4GB card to begin with). Then you copy some files to the disk using your PC, bringing the free space below 2GB. Then the disk magically works in the Wii.
Though the filler data takes up usable space on the disk, you can remove filler files as the disk fills up. Essentially, you can access all 4GB of the disk - you just need to ensure that free space at any point in time is less than 2GB. Knoxximus has a PC utility that will create a bunch of files on your SD Card with a user specified size, which makes this whole process fairly simple. For instance, you can make a folder with hundreds of 100MB files, and you just delete a dummy file or two whenever you fill up your card with Wii files.
It sounds like the 2GB limit is completely arbitrary, since writing to a 4GB disk works without problem. Somewhere in the Wii's software, it's just checking to make sure there isn't more than 2GB available on the drive. I'm not sure why the developers didn't check the volume size of the disk instead of the just the available space, but thankfully they didn't or this hack wouldn't be possible.
On Thursday, 10/23 starting at 7 AM, the Shopping Channel is undergoing maintenance longer than scheduled, and is currently not in service. We apologize for any inconvenience due to this maintenance.
With this maintenance, the following changes will be made.
Wii Points will soon be called Nintendo Points, and all references as such will be updated. All other functionality with Nintendo Points will remain the same.
The controller usage explanation screen will be updated.
The controller usage explanation screen will be separated from the purchase screen. Along with this, the user will be prompted to confirm that they have any necessary accessories before being able to press the Purchase button.
The design of the icons displayed will be updated.
The WiiWare title My Pokemon Ranch is getting an update. Since Pokemon Platinum is out in Japan, My Pokemon Ranch needs to be updated to be compatible with that game. Well, we now know that the update is scheduled to hit Japan next month and is free of course. Here are the new additions:
- You now store a max of 1500 Pokemon instead of 1000 Pokemon
- You can deposit Giratina’s Origin Forme
- Shaymin’s Sky Forme appears somehow
Normally, Shaymin reverts back to its Land Forme when deposited in the box, so it’s unknown how Shaymin’s Sky Forme will appear. It’s possible it could be like Cherrim and Castform and randomly change types in the Ranch. I’m thinking this update will allow the new Rotom Formes to appear as well, though that hasn’t been confirmed yet. It’s likely that the US will get this update soon after Platinum releases in the US as well, though nothing official has been said yet.
[Via Serebii.net]
Rock Band 2 comes with 84 songs on the disc, but Harmonix has been promising Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii gamers an additional 20 downloadable tracks for no extra charge. After much speculation, the company confirmed today a November 4 release for the full slate of songs from an "emerging artist lineup."
To access the songs, gamers will need the DLC redemption code found inside the packaging of new copies of Rock Band 2. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to save the songs to the systems' hard drives, whereas Wii users may need an SD card to store downloaded content. Once redeemed, the code locks, denying those who rent or purchase used copies of the game access to the DLC, given that the songs will not be sold separately.
As with the on-disc setlist, the new downloadable tracks represent a wide variety of musical genres and countries, from progressive Japanese metal band X Japan to Portland, Oregon's Christian alternative act Kutless.
A full list of the tracks follows below (artist/song):
The 88--"Sons and Daughters"
Authority Zero--"No Regrets"
Between the Buried and Me--"Prequel to the Sequel"
The Cab--"Bounce"
The Chevelles--"Get It On"
The Cocktail Slippers--"Give It To Me"
Dealership--"Database Corrupted"
Endeverafter--"I Wanna Be Your Man"
The Ghost Hounds--"Ashes to Fire"
Hollywood Undead--"Young"
Kutless--"The Feeling"
The Len Price 3--"If I Ain't Got You"
Lesley Roy--"I'm Gone, I'm Going"
Opiate for the Masses--"Burn You Down"
Semi-Precious Weapons--"Magnetic Baby"
Shaimus--"Like a Fool"
Thenewno2--"Crazy Tuesday"
Tickle Me Pink--"The Time Is Wrong"
Underoath--"Desperate Times, Desperate Measures"
X Japan--"I.V."
“I’m not sure where ‘this is the final build’ stuff is coming from, because that is simply not true. The TGS “build” was mostly just a tech demo and is not the actual or final game, guys…I believe the situation is this: 1) the final game is almost done. 2) the final game is NOT the tech demo shown at Leipzig or TGS. The tech demo is a tech demo, and is not the final game. No press or media have yet seen the version of the game that Nikai was talking about when he said it was basically done. Someone at Capcom said there would be a new version of the game at TGS because that was the plan, but for reasons I dunno the details on, it didn’t happen. As for why we would show the same thing over again, it mostly boils down to different producers having different attitudes, and Nikai definitely has his own way of doing things. This is not a hair-splitting technicality, as I know a number of things have changed. I haven’t played the final build, so I dunno if it’s going to be 3000% different, but I have seen screenshots, and yes, there are more zombies on the screen and a few other notable changes. I can’t promise the moon without having actually played it, but I’m not trying to double-talk you here. The TGS build is not the final game, and there do appear to be some positive changes going forward.” - Seth Killian, Capcom Community Sr. Manager
Harmonix staffer "HMXHenry" has informed the official Rock Band forum that the developer "hasn't shut the door" on including different genres of music in the franchise, and has suggested that country music, hardcore punk, goth, and ska could all play a part in Rock Band's future. "We'll have Country in RB sooner or later," stated HMXHenry, to a predictable bout of whining in the thread.
While nothing official has been announced by Harmonix, we'll be welcoming country music with open arms. "But it's Rock Band," we imagine some of you will tiresomely protest. Well, yeah, it is, but do you want to be the goon who passes on the chance to bang out "Ring of Fire" on plastic instruments? Exactly. Nor do we. Now hush up and nobody tell Charlie Daniels.
Nintendo Everything put together a list of some newer info for Animal Crossing: City Folk. Check it out.
* Can use the nunchuck to walk (or just point with the Wiimote)
* Motion controls for some activities (fishing, chopping trees down)
* Menu bar is at the bottom of the screen, only appears when you point at it
* Pointer mainly used with the menus
* Can type letters with USB keyboard
* Example of a mini-game with another town resident: Hide-and seek: Find other residents before time runs out
* Events such as Harvest Festival, Halloween, fireworks are back but there are new events
* Green chameleon Nat can give you a net
* Dr. Shrunk one of the acts at the theater in the city
* USB keyboard support for letter writing.
* New town visitors and holidays.
* The ability to choose shoe colors.
* A third Able Sister, who works a retail gig in the City.
* Different world regions get different holiday events, but if you know players in those regions, you can travel to their towns on their holidays and participate!
The Bad
* Same character interactions.
* Inventory menu still doesn’t show the actual item, only the item category icon.
* Dr. Shrunk returns with the ability to learn pantomime emotion animations, but no word on how this works with Miis.
* Same exact setup: Kapp’n and Rover bring you into town, penniless, and Tom Nook signs you up for his intense-debt plan.
We’re proud to announce that the second of Downloadable Content packs for Mega Man 9 will be available this week. Here’s the run down on what’s coming out.
Hard Mode – Dubbed Hero Mode in Japan, this mode enables you to play the entire game on an increased difficulty level with alternate enemy distribution and spawning points. Hard Mode is not compatible with Rankings or Challenges Modes.
Expert Mode – Dubbed Super Hero Mode Japan, this mode represents the apex of Mega Man 9 difficulty settings and is not for the novice Mega Man 9 player. This mode triples the level of difficulty from the default Mega Man 9 game. Expert Mode is not compatible with Rankings or Challenges Modes.
Special Time Attack Stage – This DLC gives you an additional stage for Time Attack Mode, complete with an all new level and Robot Master Boss, “Fake Man.” Similar in difficulty to the Willy Stages, players will have a fun time tackling this time sensitive competitive stage. Special Time Attack Stage is not compatible with Challenge Mode.
All three DLC packs are available now on WiiWare Channel today (October 20 th, 2008) with XBLA following on October 21 th, and PSN releasing October 23 th.
“Chariots of Fire” theme song by Vangelis
“Daydream Believer” by John Stewart (made famous by The Monkees)
“Every Breath You Take” by Sting
“I’ll be There,” performed by The Jackson 5
“I’ve Never Been to Me,” classic Motown hit by Charlene
“Material Girl,” by Madonna (EBA)
“Please Mr. Postman,” the debut single from the Marvellettes
“September,” from Earth, Wind and Fire (EBA)
“Suriyaki,” a Japanese song popular in the ’60s performed by Kyu Sakamoto
“The Loco-Motion,” another 60s pop song
“Woman” a song by John Lennon
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by the illustrious George Michael
“Jingle Bell Rock.” We all know this one.
“Do-Re-Mi” by Rogers and Hammerstein from “The Sound of Music.”
Operational Mode RequirementsPower Management and Efficient Operation Requirements
- Off Mode: ≤ 1 W Sleep or Auto-Off: ≤ 5 W
- Sleep or Auto-Off - The console shall power down to a sleep mode after 1 hour of inactivity; andƒ Provide Game Developers the tools/features allowing APD within games or programs designed for the console; andƒ Automatically APD when games are in an inactive or paused game state; and ƒ Provide for Full Network Connectivity in sleep.
- TV/Display Sleep - The console shall have the ability to drop Component, Composite, DVI outputs (using in-place standards where applicable) when the system is inactive for 15 minutes. Ability to do this in HDMI should be implemented once a HDMI standard for doing so exists; andƒ Provide visual feedback on the console's integrated display or LEDs calling attention to the consoles continued active state while outputs are dropped.
- Power Scaling - Set Top Box (STB) and DVD/Blu Ray/Movie Playback functions must come within 10% of the requirements in place for the Energy Star STB Specification Version 2.0, Tier 2 (finalized on April 23, 2008). Game consoles must be tested using the test procedure in the Set Top Box specification to evaluate their ability to meet the requirement.
- Efficient Networking
- Wireless Access Point functions must use less than 10W.
Backed by a variety of unique interfaces, Nintendo’s Wii™ console topped the U.S. video game hardware sales charts with nearly 687,000 units sold in September, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Nintendo DS™ was the No. 2 best-selling system, with nearly 537,000 sold.
Wii enjoyed the biggest monthly unit sales increase with 234,000 more units sold in September than August. Wii also saw a year-over-year increase of more than 37 percent over September 2007.
Four games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10 best-selling games of the month, including Wii Fit™ at No. 2 with nearly 518,000 sold, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 4 with more than 353,000 sold, Wii Play™ at No. 7 with nearly 243,000 sold and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Wii at No. 8 with more than 223,000 sold.
“The four Wii games in the top 10 all feature controls just not possible on other video game systems,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The Wii Balance Board and Wii Wheel give players new ways to interact with their games, while the Wii Remote controller transforms into a pool cue, table tennis paddle or lightsaber. Consumers have truly responded to this variety of entertainment options.”
There have been some mixed messages in gaming press, but I’m happy to confirm that the Wii Guitar Hero 3 guitar will be compatible with Rock Band 2 for the Wii. We wanted to clarify for all the Wii Rockers that have expressed confusion regarding this compatibility, and reassure that Harmonix will continue to advocate wide-ranging compatibility for instruments across music platforms.
Hours before Nintendo’s conference in Japan, the Everyone’s Theater Channel was announced. Since we had plenty of news from the conference, the news of this channel was lost in the midst of everything else, so I figured I would let everyone know about it. It’s basically a video on demand type service for Wii, where you can downloaded movies and TV shows. You’ll have to pay 500 Wii Points to download the Everyone’s Theater Channel, with the programs being offered between 100 and 400 Wii Points. What kind of programs will there be? Well, they’ll range from pre-school entertainment to adult anime. It is also said that the videos will be in high quality, so that it will allow compatibility with HDTV’s and sound systems.
So far, only a Japan release for December 2008 has been announced. While this sounds like it would be nice to have, I have a feeling it will stay in Japan, just like the Television Friend Channel. And speaking of channels, when is the Digicam Print Channel releasing in the US? We know it’s coming, and hopefully it will be soon.
Easily one of the most interesting aspects of Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is its weapon creation system. Since your mushroom warriors are teensy, everyday household items and junk found on the ground can be made into deadly weapons. Mushroom Men's "SCAV" system allows you to combine found items into various types of weapons.
This week, we have an exclusive gallery featuring examples of the game's "bashing" weapons -- heavy melee weapons built from seemingly useless items like a pipe, sardine can keys, and even a toy Viking. It's almost guaranteed to give you a new way to look at your living room: as an ad-hoc arsenal in the making.
Hau also detailed the exact differences between the two releases, and it's good news. "There's no difference bar the blood," Hau said. "If you remember the differences of the first game it'll be just that." The "uncensored" European release will be exactly like the US version, and the "censored" release will be like the Japanese version. This also means that Grasshopper is planning to release the game in Japan.
GRAPEVINE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Forget your busy schedule and drop the kids off at soccer practice – its time for a little “me time”. GameStop (NYSE:GME), the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today announced that it will host a “Me Time Test Drive” for the Nintendo DS at 1,500 locations nationwide on October 18, 2008.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., customers can stop in and test drive the Nintendo DS with games such as Brain Age, Crosswords DS and Mario Kart. GameStop’s expert employees will be available to answer any questions and guide you through the ins and outs of the Nintendo DS functionality. When customers demo the Nintendo DS, they will receive a scratch-off game piece for a chance to win a GameStop gift card.
Several Marquee events are also joining for the ultimate test drive from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at seven different locations:
* Cambridgeside Galleria in Boston
* Fox Valley in Chicago
* Stonebriar Mall in Dallas
* Northridge Fashion Center in LA
* Aventura Mall in Miami
* GameStop at East 86th Street in New York City
* Bellevue Square in Seattle – TacomaWomen from all over can gather around to demo a Nintendo DS for a chance to unlock and win various prizes. GameStop employees, along with Nintendo representatives, will also be available to help with your Nintendo DS needs. Enjoy the “me time” and relax with refreshments and music while you learn about the Nintendo DS.
In addition to the test drive, starting today, with the purchase of a new Nintendo DS and any new DS game, Gamestop will throw in a free designer carrying case. The trendy carrying case is designed with a feminine touch for women on the go. Made from cotton fabric, the case has a chic handle and clasp to ensure your Nintendo DS stays with you. No matter where you’re headed, you can keep it by your side without having to sacrifice fashion.
Every woman, avid gamer or not, needs a little playtime to break up a busy day. The Nintendo DS is the perfect way to get “Me Time, Anytime” no matter where you are. Visit GameStop during this October and find out how the Nintendo DS works for you.
For more information or to find a store near you, visit www.gamestop.com.
