After Nintendo was silent on Western releases for three major RPGs for its ailing Wii system, fans got together and complained loud enough (Operation Rainfall) for them all to get released. Sure, Nintendo claimed it was already planning on publishing Xenoblade Chronicles, and XSEED had to pick up the publishing slack for The Last Story, but at least they were released. This April, XSEED is publishing the third of the missing RPGs and probably the last worthwhile Wii game, Pandora’s Tower. Read more…
Against all odds, XSEED will be releasing Pandora’s Tower in North America. That’s right, a JRPG Wii game published by Nintendo in Japan is getting a 2013 release, after the system is all but dead following the release of the Wii U. This isn’t the first time XSEED has picked up after Nintendo’s remains, having taken similar measures with fellow Wii JRPG The Last Story, which performed well for them. There’s also a tentative release date, and it’s as early as this spring. Read more…
There are lots of indie games out there making either conscious or subconscious references to games of yore. Part of that is because of the solid, pure design some of these iconic games featured, and part of that is because of affectionate nostalgia. But it’s not often that a retro-inspired game has been in development for so long that it could practically qualify for an “retro” game itself, and not just because it looks like an NES game on steroids. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 29, 2010 in Videogames
Check out this amazing video of Hironobu Sakaguchi’s The Last Story for Nintendo’s Wii. The battle system looks fantastic and seems to mix a number of popular elements. In addition to the classic menu-based combat we’ve seen in his previous titles, we’re given a bit of action-oriented stealth gameplay as well, and it looks fantastic. Unfortunately, the game will be a Wii exclusive, so it might lack the visual polish that we’ve come to expect in modern roleplaying games, but to be honest, none of that really matters to me so long as I actually enjoy playing it. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Oct 19, 2010 in Videogames
Why is it that Wii’s accessories seem so much cooler than its actual games? Last week, I mentioned a nifty Lego Wiimote that recently went on sale over at ToysRUs. This week, we’re taking a look at Shinobii Technologies TT Champion Bat — a Wiimote fashioned after a real ping pong paddle. Suddenly, I find myself wanting to give one of these a try — even if I know I’ll be disappointed by the Wii itself. of course, there are those of us who still manage to find the Wii enjoyable, so I wouldn’t blame you guys for being excited about the prospect. So what’s so unique about this paddle? Well, aside from being compatible with Wii Motion Plus, it’ll feature “Xtra Motion Technology” that supposedly translates the torque, spin control and more. Oh, and it has a built-in rechargeable battery for added convenience. It sounds really promising, and for the $69.99 price tag, I really hope it delivers. While they’re not quite ready to ship, I imagine it’ll probably end up on Amazon at some point, so keep your eyes peeled. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Oct 14, 2010 in Videogames
BDA Gamer recently teamed up with Lego to produce a line of customizable Wiimotes for the ever-so popular Nintendo Wii. It’s a shame that these controllers are being released now as I imagine they probably would have sold far more during the launch craze a few years back. If it weren’t for the fact that my Wii collects more dust than a swiffer, I might have even considered picking up a pair of them myself. Of course, I’m sure there are still plenty of gamers out there who will want one, even if the only thing they’ll ever be playing on that console are titles developed by Nintendo themselves. If you’re in the market for one, you can order them through Toys’R’Us and you’ll receive a free Lego Halloween bucket as well.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Jun 24, 2010 in Videogames
Back in 2006, Clover Studios developed one of the most innovative and beautiful titles to have ever graced to the Playstation 2 — Okami. The studio, who had been funded by Capcom Japan, had been riding off the success of their Viewtiful Joe franchise. While their previous games had featured similar cell-shaded graphics, Okami received crtical acclaim for its combination of beautifully rendered visuals and innovative gameplay. Unfortunately the game failed to sell and ended up being a contributing factor in the studio’s subsequent dissolution at the hands of Capcom’s board of directors the following year. As a result many fans who had enjoyed the game were left wondering if a sequel would ever be possible. Read more…
This is a commercial for the latest Taiko no Tatsujin (太鼓の達人) videogame by Namco for the Wii. While one version of this game has came to America I’m still envious that the arcade version (shown in the commercial for a few seconds at the start) hasn’t come over here. Here’s an additional video which shows a bit more detail from the game — I love the fact that it comes with a drum peripheral: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 9, 2009 in Videogames
The 1988 NES game Contra
Contra Rebirth is a WiiWare title that’s based on the 1987 Konami arcade game Contra ((魂斗羅) where you get to play an mutant killing commando (as a game the plot owed a great deal to the popular films of that era like Predator). The original game did so well that it was ported to NES in 1988 and has a well deserved rep of being the toughest game to beat. I’m really glad that we’re starting to see the market for retro games move out of the hobbyist era and into something more mainstream. Here are some screenshots: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 4, 2009 in Videogames
This is the 90 second gameplay trailer for the American launch of Mini Ninjas. I’ve got to say that I love the variety of scenes shown here — it’s very inventive how they’ve got everything from bobsledding to battles with bears.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 10, 2009 in Videogames
Looking at this latest trailer of Samurai Warriors 3 (known as Sengoku Musou 3 in Japan) I’m very impressed with the level of detail that Koei and Omega Force have put into this Wii game. This series has been running since 2004 and combines historical settings with just a little bit of magic for fighting scenes. This latest version should be out at the end of November, 2009. Here are some very well done character designs I from their preview website: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 8, 2009 in Videogames
Ah yes the trailer with the masses chanting “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” Now I’ll grant you that Eddie Van Halen is one of the most amazing living guitar players of our time (well sort of living if you look at that photo), but the real point of Van Halen is the dysfunctionality of the band itself! And a proper video game should reflect this discord as the central game play of the product. Frankly no one has fantasized about playing a Van Halen air guitar riff since the Reagan era, instead the real game should focus on what went on off stage: After all that’s what we’re really interested in. Heavy metal as a genre lends itself best to a This is Spinal Tap state, so why not give the people what they want instead of some juke box hero plot device that we’ve already seen a hundred times before? Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2009 in Videogames
Crude humor? Yes! Cartoon violence? Yes! I’ve been following Mini Ninjas for a while due to the japanophile angle — the game is being developed in England so I was very happy to see that they’ll be bring it to to the good old USA. I loved the concept from the minute I heard it, but these videos give a bit more backstory, and I like what I’m seeing even more! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 17, 2009 in Videogames
And of course you know that Futo is the largest of the Mini Ninjas! But if you didn’t know that this Edios games looks might be worth keep track of — it’s due out in September and will be eventually be available on the PC, Xbox, Playstation3, Wii and Nintendo DS. In the game Join Hiro embarks on an epic quest to “restore harmony to a world on the brink of chaos”. To battle a magical army of evil Samurai you have to use all of your hard earned Ninja training skills. I just love the look of this game, you can tell that developer Io-Interactive had fun with the details as seen in these screen shots: Read more…
Here’s the latest trailer for the Wii game Fullmetal Alchemist: Prince of the Dawn. What I like about this trailer is that while he pre-rendered animation looks great (when doesn’t it?) the actual game play scenes look pretty good too. This impresses me because as much as I love the Wii as a gaming platform it leave’s something to be desired in the rendering department. Here’s another video preview from a bit ago which shows more of the gameplay, including cut scenes: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2009 in Videogames
There’s always something so rich about the games that LucasArts releases and Tales of Monkey Island for the Wii keeps to that tradition. Shown above is the official trailer and below is a sample scene which shows the “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal”. The developer of this game is Telltale Games which was founded by a team of former LucasArts employees who were working on the ill fated Sam & Max: Freelance Police project. I really love how they brought a cartoony feeling to a 3D world in what little I’ve seen of this game so far: Read more…
If you came of age in the era of Pokémon prepare to feel like an old timer: Every generation has their entry level show which introduces them to the world of anime and the current hot show with the elementary school set is Bakugan Battle Brawlers (爆丸バトルブローラーズ ). With Bakugan there have already been over 50 episodes of the anime series aired in both Japan and North America with and additional 55 millions toys sold last year. So it’s no surprise that a videogame had to come out of this: Shown above is the trailer for the upcoming Bakugan game which is due out later this year for the Wii and DS. Read more…
In the great tradition of Marvel vs. Capcom comes Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars! Old school anime fans will be very familiar with Tatsunoko as the animation studio behind Battle of the Planets, which was a watered down version of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Other Tatsunoko properties featured in this game are characters from beloved classics like Tekkaman and Yatterman and more recent titles like Karas. And of course on the Capcom side you can pick from characters from Street Fighter and Mega Man. This title has already come out in Japan, but I’m very pleased to see that they’ll be bringing it over to North America for the Wii. Read more…
Posted by John Martone on May 29, 2009 in Videogames
Times are hard, and this recessions effects us all. However, we cannot let this economic crisis beat us. People will tell you that “gaming” is just a habit that they can not continue to support, that they should just “grow up.” Well, that’s inaccurate, and those people are capitalism hating fascists. This isn’t to say you cannot get your digital jollies and save a few dollars. Today I’m here to help the destitute gamers amongst you find great entertaining games at a fraction of the cost. To this endeavor, I went to my local gamestop: Read more…
You’ll have to wait until January 22nd, but in the meantime here’s the trailer for the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidou (the DX Pack) dance game for the Wii. Anime fanboys and fangurls will be able to hop along with Haruhi Suzumiya — the official website is here (in Japanese) and you can purchase the game here. I can really see this game being a real hit with the cosplay crowd at anime conventions! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 1, 2008 in Videogames
Taiko no Tatsujin (太鼓の達人) is a drum machine arcade game — what’s cool about the PlayStation 2 and the Wii versions is that they have special controllers which look like a miniature taiko drum. Here’s what the original arcade game looks like:
I really love how taken the physical interface of the game and turned into a peripheral customized game controller — which makes a standard game machine become much more toy like in terms of playability.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 20, 2008 in Videogames
Samba de Amigo is due out on December 11th for the Wii — this music based game goes back to 1999 when it first appeared in arcades, and jumped to the doomed Dreamcast video game console in 2000. What makes the game unique is that unlike other music games Samba is focused around popular latin music songs and of course — samba music! What’s cool about the Wii version is that it will allow you to use your Wii Remote as a maraca — although the game includes faux maracas for the full samba experience.
Ah yes the trailer with the masses chanting “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” Now I’ll grant you that Eddie Van Halen is one of the most amazing living guitar players of our time (well sort of living if you look at that photo), but the real point of Van Halen is the dysfunctionality of the band itself! And a proper video game should reflect this discord as the central game play of the product. Frankly no one has fantasized about playing a Van Halen air guitar riff since the Reagan era, instead the real game should focus on what went on off stage: After all that’s what we’re really interested in. Heavy metal as a genre lends itself best to a This is Spinal Tap state, so why not give the people what they want instead of some juke box hero plot device that we’ve already seen a hundred times before? 
