Here’s our verdict on a new game starring the most revered character in Sega history… after Sonic, of course. So, is it a dream to play? Or is it your worst nightmare? Watch the video and find out.
The amazing Dr. Kawashima, who is a real person not just a pretend Nintendo creation like Mario or Princess Peach, has not taken the Japanese equivalent of a penny from Nintendo for his smash appearance in the Brain Training series.
“Not a single yen has gone in my pocket. Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it,” said the brain specialist of his decision not to touch the Nintendo millions pouring his way.
The Dr. is allowed under the rules of his employer - the Tohoku University - to take half the cash for himself. But he’d rather not - “To hear this may put you off - but my hobby is work,” the madman said.
With royalties from the staggeringly successful BT series currently standing at a total of 22 MILLION AMERICAN DOLLARS, Dr. Kawashima is clearly in no fit state to go around issuing mental advice to others.
Source: AFP
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It is with cap in hand that we humbly apologise to Michael Pachter for calling him an ass.
Although we stand by the point we were making - that Wii Sports shouldn’t be unbundled from the Wii - we were wrong on two counts.
Firstly, the tone of our post was needlessly insulting to Mr Pachter. He’s actually a very nice man and undeserving of our ridicule.
Secondly, it was not a prediction he had made, but merely a statement of a possible course of action. If Nintendo wanted to maintain their price advantage over their rivals without too much of a cost to themselves, then it is conceivable that they could unbundle Wii Sports.
Now we’ve got that out of the way, we can move on to the meaty part of this post, a brief interview with Mr. Pachter to further clarify his position. It’s an interesting set of comments, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Welcome to another edition of ‘Well, They Would Say That, Wouldn’t They?”. This week’s guest is Nintendo. This plucky little company assuaged concerns about the unprofitable nature of third-party titles on the Wii by saying their situation was only temporary.
Altogether now!
“Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they!”
[Cheers, applause]
That’s right, a report put out by Nintendo wanted to assure their publisher friends that it takes time to get the kind of success on Wii that Nintendo have with their first-party titles like Super Mario Galaxy.
“Our software sales percentage is currently high because our internal teams know the Wii’s special characteristics best, and they started development quite a bit before the Wii’s release,” said the very Nintendo itself, before not saying that they’ve also held onto long-established franchises guaranteed to be big sellers by name alone. Then again, developers have had years to get to grips with the PS2, so I don’t see what the problem is considering how much they love their ports.
[Laughter, applause]
“If you look at the data for our third quarter you’ll see that, out of the 14 Wii titles that shipped over a million units [like Ubisoft's Red Steel, above], 11 of those were our titles. However, if you look at the 50 titles that shipped over a million units on DS, only 28 of those are ours,” thus proving that quality takes time somehow and it’s not just an excuse to brag. In conclusion, then, third-party publishers, keep plugging away and you’ll soon wipe that smug grin off Mario’s face with your finely honed Wii edition of Military Gun Grunts 2: Conflict of War. Goodnight!
[Applause, closing credits]
Source: Tagged on the underpass by C&VG
Related-posts: Black Monday: third-party releases bomb in Japan
Our verdict on Geometry Wars Galaxies. Is it a cack-handed conversion of an arcade classic? Or does it play like a retro shooter dream? Watch the video to find out.
Michael Pachter is an ass. Every couple of weeks the financial analyst for Wedbush Morgan pops up and makes some daft prediction about the future of the industry, and more often than not he’s completely wrong. By blogging about his opinions we’re giving the man more credence than he deserves, but he’s really annoyed us this time.
His latest prophesy borders on the idiotic. He suggests that a lower-priced Wii without Wii Sports would give Nintendo its best chance of success this year. Those sage words in full:
“The console has a price advantage over the Xbox 360 and PS3 that can be maintained if Nintendo chooses to un-bundle Wii Sports from the console. I think that if Nintendo were to do so and cut the price to $199, it would still sell a piece of Nintendo software to 80% of new Wii purchasers, and would end up effectively lowering revenues per console by only around $10. At that price point, the Wii should be strong again in 2009.”
2K Games have reported that the Wii version of Civilization Revolution has been enigmatically put on hold for the near future. Not only that, but work continues apace on the 360, PS3 and DS versions as Firaxis polish off the “next-gen” versions of the game.
Civilization Revolution is the latest console version of the Sid Meier’s PC hit. It’s a slow-burner, in which you take mega-turns building units and cities up from the early age of man right into the present day and beyond. It’s known to steal hours from gamers’ lives and Revolution looks to be doing the same, making sure not to pander to the lowest common denominator and actually take the best bits of its parent. It’s got online, too, which is also a bonus.
A delay for the Wii does seem odd, though. We know by now that Wii can’t match the power of its console cousins, but the DS version is there, and surely Civ: Rev isn’t a game that requires too much graphical polish. Perhaps they lack confidence in the title selling to Wii owners. Here’s a brain-taxing, deep strategy game, dropped into a flood of casual titles and minigames. It’s a relatively unproven concept on the Wii these days. So is it that, or is it just them getting the usual stuff out of the way to really concentrate on the Wii’s controls? Whatever, the lack of a simultaneous release could hurt it in the long run.
Source: Found while waiting for Joystiq’s turn
Related posts: Out of space - Space Station Tycoon cancelled?
Here at long last is the definitive verdict on Capcom’s point and click adventure. Is it a treasure trove of delights? Or is just fool’s gold for foolish fools? Watch the video and find out.
Sadly, this isn’t a story about the police using the Mii designer to create a photo fit of a hardened criminal to show on Crimewatch. Rather, it’s the opposite. West Yorkshire police have released pictures of the Miis contained on a stolen Wii in an attempt to track down the owner.
To back that up, they’ve also released a couple of names, like they release offenders after a rubber-hosed beating in the cell (only joking, the police!): Seb, Pheebes, Nicks, Ellie and Evie. Its a few names out of sixteen characters, but knowing Wii owners, Hitler and Jesus are probably on there as well. The Wii Code is 7901 7431 3732 8898.
If that’s your Wii, then hurry along and claim it. We reckon proof of identity will be checking which game was lodged in the disc drive when it was nicked. To which you can admit to your eternal shame that it was you who bought that copy of Billy the Wizard.
Source: Kotaku
If you thought Wii Fit’s balance board was a one-trick pony, destined to lie snug under the bed beside the Super Scope and Slide Controller, then cast your eyes EA-wards for rumours of its use in the sequel to last year’s Boogie, their Wii rhythm action game that we’ve all nearly forgotten about by now.
Slightly spurious games gossip-monger, Surfer Girl has psst-ed another secret development into the ears of every gamer in the land. Our take? It could work. Wii Fit’s already shown us its dance moves with some sedately paced step exercises in time to music, so taking it to the next level, Wiimote in hand, Boogie at least has a base to build on. Although, we’d take a good old-fashioned dance mat any day of the week.
Speaking of which, Dance Dance Revolution’s Hottest Party, the first of Konami’s dance forays into Wii territory hasn’t been setting the world on fire overseas and probably won’t when it comes over here. Hopefully Boogie number two can improve on that and its own disappointing execution to deliver some mainstream thrills, all the while nagging at us to shift the weight onto our left foot until we chuck in the cupboard beside our Wii Zapper.
Source: C&VG
Related posts: Five turkeys to avoid this Christmas, Boogie video review, Babbling baby beats Boogie
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