Bloody clever bit of marketing from the guys and gals at Sega - a House of the Dead Overkill poster creator, promoting the lightgun blaster which is released this Friday (or today, if you’re in the US).
Featuring a wealth of titles, graphics, character and background art, you can craft your own grindhouse-style movie poster, adding your own credits if you fancy, and muddying the print for added authenticity. There’s even a bunch of tacky filters you can apply to any part of the poster, along with a host of ‘warnings’ for adult content and such like.
You can see one of my efforts above, and I’ve produced a couple more here and here. Do have a go and feel free to link to your own posters in the comments thread below.
Nintendo’s official Japanese site for the Metroid franchise has an interesting little banner on its front page, which seems to suggest that the Metroid series is set to get a new side story, possibly based on the Space Pirates.
Spotted by an eagle-eyed NeoGAF forumite, the banner mentions ‘Another Side Story - coming soon’. Naturally, there’s much fevered speculation as to what it could be, but with strong rumours that Retro Studios isn’t currently working on a Metroid game, it’s unlikely to be a new 3D Metroid. A 2D outing on WiiWare, then? Perhaps, but I’d suggest it might be some kind of anime series, or maybe a manga comic. Or possibly even just a bit of background info on Samus’ enemies on the site, to tie-in with the Wii-releases of the first two Metroid Prime games in the Wii de Asobu/New Play Control range.
Still, there was that mention of Metroid Dread in Corruption…could it be that Wii’s Year of Hardcore brings us a new space adventure for everyone’s favourite bounty hunter?
It’s high time we heard a bit more about Sega’s forthcoming controversy-baiter MadWorld, and so its developer Platinum Games has launched its own site dedicated to that and its two other titles in the making - the bizarre and (potentially) brilliant Bayonetta for the HD consoles, and starship RPG Infinite Space.
Two out of three are obviously of interest to Nintendo fans, and that’s why this deserves a mention - plus the fact that Platinum Games created two of the very best games of the last generation in Okami and Viewtiful Joe as well as the fantastic (albeit divisive) God Hand, which MadWorld owes a small debt of gratitude to, by the looks of things.
The site has Flickr picture sets, blog entries, podcasts and video footage of the games in question, and is well worth checking out if you’re old enough. It had some problems with the age-gate when I looked earlier, but they seem to have been resolved now. Definitely worth a look.
Of all the games in the New Play Control range, Mario Power Tennis looks like it’ll be the one to benefit most from a motion control makeover, and given the success of Wii Sports tennis, stands a strong chance of being the biggest hit of the bunch.
The new site shows exactly how shot-making is going to work, with fairly intuitive remote movements for lobs, drop shots, smashes and such. Rather than true one-to-one control, shot direction will be based more on timing than any controller twisting or tilting, with basic up, down and side swipes used.
It seems the basic controls will, like Wii Sports tennis, rely on AI-controlled player movement, with an alternative option to guide your avatar with the nunchuk for those who can handle two controllers at once.
The reliance on the faintly irritating Power Shots arguably compromised the supreme balance of the terrific N64 version, but Mario Power Tennis remains an enjoyably arcade-style tennis game. It hits Japanese stores next week, with European and US versions to follow in March. Interesting to see how this performs - should it do well, we could see a Wii-vamped Toadstool Tour (for my money, one of the best golf videogames ever) in the not-too-distant. Fingers crossed, eh?
It’s surprising that Nintendo hasn’t yet announced a Wii version of the 1080 Snowboarding games, though it wouldn’t entirely surprise me if we see a balance board-enhanced Wii-make of Avalanche rather than a brand new title. With Shaun White offering a decent alternative to Wii Fit’s winter sports, Hudson is the next developer to send players wobbling down the slopes with Snowboard Riot, its forthcoming WiiWare title, which will be available soon for 1000 points.
It’s clear from the trailer that this isn’t going to be the best-looking title around, but it moves pretty smoothly, and offers online play, which is a real bonus. More importantly, it’s going to feature something quite different from your average boarding sim - something which should make it stand out from what could well be a crowded genre by this time next year. As the official site itself would have it - “Snowboarding + Weapons. Enough said.”
Road Rash on boards? Mario Kart on the piste? This could potentially turn out to be a minor classic. Hopefully Hudson can do the idea justice.
The Japanese site is the most comprehensive, going into detail about every aspect of the game, and providing a few demonstrational videos to watch - some to give players ideas, others to show elements less careful or regular players could potentially miss. It also shows off the special downloadable items which have been made available to lucky Japanese players (a spinning top today joining the Pikmin hat released a week ago). Let’s hope this idea is added to the European and US sites soon, hint hint. ÂÂÂ
The official City Folk site gives US gamers the chance to download a calendar widget, allowing you to quickly access information about important village events from your PC desktop. Again, it’s pretty comprehensive, but leans more towards new players, detailing how to get connected, how to set up your Wii Speak mic, and detailing ’new’ features, which are only new if you’ve never played the GameCube version. Several videos show actors players extolling the virtues of the game and talking about their own personal experiences which they’ve not had because they’re actors. A nice touch, but they take a little while to load.
The European site is a little lighter on detail, but it could be argued that it’s just a little more succinct and streamlined. But everything loads very quickly, the instructions provide enough info while still allowing you to discover the game’s idiosyncrasies for yourself, and it also arguably has the best feature of all three - a little game which allows you to ‘explore’ an infinitely scrolling village, catching bugs and fish, shaking trees and digging up fossils to earn bells (the game’s currency, for the uninitiated). You can then use your bells to purchase themed wallpapers and desktop icons.
All are worth visiting, and it’s a pity the same amount of thought didn’t go into the game itself. But those new to the series will likely find these sites of invaluable assistance given the open-ended nature of the game, and will hopefully encourage previously reluctant Wii gamers to take their console online - which can only be good news for future online options in major releases, as well as potentially increasing sales of WiiWare games. It’s important that Nintendo promotes its online services a little better than it has done so far, and this is definitely a step (or three) in the right direction.
WayForward Technologies, creator of DS retro cracker Contra 4, has opened the official website for its forthcoming WiiWare title, LIT, which will be released in early 2009. It’s an intriguing blend of survival horror and puzzler, as you have to smash windows and turn on lamps to light your way to the exit of each stage. The game uses a mix of top-down and traditional third-person perspectives as you fend off some really rather weird creatures and use your torch as a weapon against these light-hating nasties.
Although it’s apparently suitable for ages 10 and up, the above trailer is more than a little creepy, so make sure you’re not watching it in front of any impressionable youngsters. I’ll bring you more info on LIT soon, but for now this is certainly an intriguing prospect for Nintendo’s download service. More original content like this please, WiiWare devs!
After a bit of a shaky start (involving the site breaking down as soon as the thing opened) Club Nintendo has finally opened its doors to US gamers. This is A Good Thing - Club Nintendo in Japan has offered eastern gamers some incredibly cool gifts over the years, while us westerners have had to put up with mobile phone wallpapers and Mario Kart handkerchieves. Well, perhaps not the latter, but that’s not far off the kind of overpriced tat we used to be presented with when registering our Nintendo Stars.
Anyway, Americans now get the chance to own the splendid Game & Watch Collection for DS (a mere 800 ‘coins’), or the two Animal Crossing-themed goodies above - a DS card holder and stylus set, and a pack of playing cards for 600 coins and 500 coins respectively.
Europe’s started getting some cool stuff too, amazingly enough. Though we’re still not getting it as good as the Japanese - they get points for every game they buy, whether it’s published by Nintendo or not.
Joy of joys. One of the best things Nintendo does these days is the Iwata Asks interviews, where Nintendo president Satoru Iwata interviews the developers of major Nintendo games. It’s always slightly more enjoyable when Miyamoto is involved too (if only for the number of times you see ‘[laughs]‘ transcribed) but the latest one from Animal Crossing is very interesting, particularly as it talks about a couple of features I wasn’t aware of.
For starters, there’s the small matter of ‘animal tracks’, as explained by design director Ryuji Kobayashi:
“Around the town, there is what I suppose you could call undergrowth. There’s green grass, but underneath it, there’s earth. This time, we stuck the grass on so it feels a little like it’s floating on top of the earth. When a player walks on the grass, it wears it away so you can see a little bit of the earth below. As the player walks around, the grass is gradually worn away. We made it so that it starts to grow back after a day has passed. But if, for instance…a player is doing nothing but going fishing, the grass on the path from their house to the seashore or the river will be worn away. And where there’s a bridge which everyone has to walk across, the grass will be completely worn away.”
A nice little touch. What’s perhaps more significant is the use of WiiConnect24. Over to director Hisashi Nogami:
“We used an idea from the Mii Channel, and decided that we would have the data about players’ towns automatically exchanged with their friends. This exchange of information started with the DS version, when you needed to have two separate consoles, each with a Game Card, connected. But this time around, by connecting to WiiConnect24, without one player having to visit the other player, the town data could be exchanged before either player knew it. So then all of a sudden you’d get an animal that’s new in the neighbourhood, who’s just moved from your friend’s town, introducing himself: “Hi! I’ve just moved from so and so town.” And they’ll even tell you gossip about their home town: “This character from so and so town really likes this”, and things like that.”
More to it than meets the eye. But that’s enough from me. Click this here link to read the rest. Fascinating stuff.
After enjoying the daily videos on the official Japanese Animal Crossing site, I was slightly perturbed to find things had changed when I clicked on my bookmarks today - my main worry being that Nintendo has run out of new stuff to show us (and let’s be honest, plenty of the vids were of things available in previous Animal Crossing games anyway).
Now I’m over the surprise, it seems a much more comprehensive site, detailing all sorts of facts about the game’s many features, and generally getting me even more excited about the imminent US release (November 16th - I’m importing).
Naturally it’s all in Japanese, but there are plenty of pics and videos that make most things fairly understandable.
Click on this here link to be whisked away to a world without worry. Well, apart from having to find bells to pay off the extortionate mortgage forced upon you by that darned raccoon, that is.
And for all those who like spending their hard-earned on silly Japanese toys in these credit-crunching times, then bob on over to NCSX, where you can pre-order a set of Animal Crossing keyring projectors. They’re not available until February, but I’d get ordering in case some tat-loving weirdo snaps them all up…
 
 
 
 
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