Topic: Nintendo Reveals Two New Titles and Upcoming Release Schedule

[Nick DiMola]

Nintendo's import-friendly Starfy series will make its North American debut, and a new addition to the Excite series will be coming to Wii very soon.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17824

 This morning, Nintendo revealed their upcoming release schedule for both their Wii and DS systems. Included in the schedule were the announcements of two new titles, one for either of their systems.    

The Legendary Starfy, a localization of the fifth title in the Starfy series, puts players in control of Starfy, the legendary hero of Pufftop. This undersea adventure has Starfy assisting a mysterious, bunny-eared visitor find his lost memory. Players will use Starfy to swoop into enemies, glide over bottomless chasms, and transform into powerful creatures to help his new friend. The Legendary Starfy will be available for the DS on June 8 in North America.    

Nintendo also announced Excitebots: Trick Racing for the Wii. Players will return to the Excite universe on April 20 with their Wii Wheels in hand to perform "crazy tricks" in "unique and changing environments". Family friendly mini-games will also be available.    

Finally, Nintendo also announced a number of release dates for third-party titles, and restated their upcoming first-party offerings. New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat will release on May 4th with Punch-Out!! following closely behind, releasing on May 18th. Personal Trainer: Walking will round out their Spring release schedule, launching one week after Punch-Out!! on May 25th.    

For the full release schedule, see the Press Release below, which details each companies upcoming titles and their release dates.    

   NINTENDO'S VIDEO GAME LINEUP DEMONSTRATES GAMING DIVERSITY    

New Games Announced for Nintendo Systems    

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 26, 2009 – While everyone is still buzzing about the upcoming April 5 launch of the Nintendo DSi™ system, video game fans will have plenty of great games and experiences to keep them busy. Nintendo has an extensive, diverse library of about 120 games on the way for both the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems. Upcoming Nintendo-published video games for Wii include:    

Excitebots™: Trick Racing has elements that make it one of the more unique racing games on the market. It launches April 20 and lets everyone in the family use the Wii Wheel™ accessory in unique and changing environments, play fun minigames and perform crazy tricks in a game that builds on the Excitebike™ and Excite Truck™ franchises.    

Donkey Kong® Jungle Beat™, originally made for the Nintendo GameCube™ system, launches May 4 with newly added motion controls. It's the latest in Nintendo's New Play Control! series of games.    

Punch-Out!!™ launches May 18 and brings back all of the fun of the beloved, classic NES® game that thrilled players in the early 1990s. Boxers battle as iconic hero Little Mac as they fight their way through a cast of new and familiar boxing opponents on their quest to win the coveted WVBA (World Video Boxing Association) Championship Belt.    

Nintendo's downloadable WiiWare service continues to be a showcase for new games, new concepts and new ideas. A selection of upcoming titles includes:    

• BIT.TRIP BEAT, developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games: BIT.TRIP BEAT is what you get when you mix classic video gaming with modern gaming sensibilities. What may seem like a simple "paddle" game turns into a psychedelic trip down memory lane which has you hitting "beats" in rhythm to Chiptune style music. While the game can be difficult, if you crank up the tunes and get in the zone, you'll have a great time. Performing perfectly isn't required to experience all the game's content, but the extra challenge will keep score-hunters coming back in search of each level's elusive "PERFECT" score.    

• Eduardo the Samurai Toaster, developed and published by Semnat Studios LLC: Fight your way through 13 diverse locations on your own or with up to three friends in this frenetic and stylish side-scrolling action game. Play as Eduardo and his fellow toaster buddies as you fire an assortment of pastries at all kinds of dastardly food products. Hop onto laser-mounted scooters and fly across the screen in rocket packs, and learn to cooperate with your teammates or simply annoy each other in an awesomely fun way by throwing each other around the screen. The choice is up to you.    

• Night Game, developed and published by Nicalis: Exclusively for WiiWare, Night Game (working title) is part action game and part puzzler. It invites players into a beautifully atmospheric world, where they must use real physics to maneuver a mysterious, glowing sphere through vastly different locales. Night Game pushes the boundaries of design with its unique art style, and professionally produced music score. This title is a 2009 Independent Games Festival Seumas McNally Award nominee and from the same developers responsible for Cave Story on Wii.    

• Swords & Soldiers, developed and published by Ronimo Games: Swords & Soldiers is a side-scrolling real-time strategy game, in which three distinct factions battle for the powers of the gods. The goal is to destroy the enemies' castle on the other end of the level, while protecting your own. This can be done by training powerful units or casting devastating spells. The game will feature a single-player campaign and a competitive split-screen multiplayer mode as well as several other game modes.    

Great titles are also on the way for the portable Nintendo DS system. Some Nintendo-published video games for Nintendo DS include:    

Rhythm Heaven™ is an infectious video game that has been a huge hit in Japan. Players tap and slide the stylus on the touch screen in time to the beat. This fun, stylized game launches April 5.    

A new entry in the Personal Trainer series is Personal Trainer™: Walking, which launches May 25. Personal Trainer: Walking tracks users' progress and makes going for a walk a little more fun. It comes with two pedometers that users can wirelessly connect to their Nintendo DS system when they return home.    

In The Legendary Starfy™ game, which launches June 8, players dive into a spectacular undersea adventure with Starfy, the legendary hero of Pufftop. Players swoop into enemies like a shooting star, glide over bottomless chasms and transform into powerful creatures to help a mysterious, bunny-eared visitor find his lost memory.    

In recent weeks, multiple third-party publishers have announced plans to boost their support of Nintendo systems. Between now and June, Nintendo fans will enjoy games like: The Conduit™, a first-person shooter from Sega that pits players against a terrifying group of alien invaders intent on taking over a futuristic Washington, D.C.; EA SPORTS Active™, a Wii exclusive from Electronic Arts that offers players fun, easy-to-learn exercises and activities that users can do with family and friends; and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 10, the newest iteration of the popular golf game from Electronic Arts that lets players hit the links to prove their driving and putting prowess.    

Below is a partial list of upcoming games for Wii and Nintendo DS. Note that game titles and launch dates are subject to change.    

Wii    

2K Sports
 Major League Baseball® 2K9 - March 3
 Don King Boxing - March 31    

Activision
 X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May
 Ice Age 3 - June 30
 Transformers™: Revenge of the Fallen - June    

Aksys Games
 Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus - May 12    

Atari
 Ready 2 Rumble Revolution - March 17
 Backyard Baseball 10 - March 31    

Capcom Entertainment Inc.
 MotoGP™ - Spring    

Codemasters Inc
 Overlord Dark Legend - Summer    

Conspiracy Games
 Real Heroes: Firefighter - April    

Deep Silver, Inc.
 Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity - April
 Fritz Chess - May    

Disney Interactive Studios
 Hannah Montana The Movie - April    

Electronic Arts
 TRIVIAL PURSUIT™ - March
 MySims™ Party - March
 EA SPORTS Active™ - May 19
 Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 10 - June
 BOOM BLOX™ Bash Party - Spring
 MySims™ Racing - Summer
 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ - Summer
 G.I. JOE™ The Rise of Cobra - Summer
 EA SPORTS Tennis (working title) - Summer    

Hudson Entertainment
 Help Wanted - Summer    

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
 DanceDanceRevolution® Disney Grooves - April 2
 Yu-Gi-Oh! ™ 5D's Wheelie Breakers - May 19    

LucasArts
 Indiana Jones® and the Staff of Kings™ - Late Spring    

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc
 Klonoa® - Q2    

Nintendo
 New Play Control! Pikmin™ - March 9
 New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis™ - March 9
 Excitebots: Trick Racing - April 20
 New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - May 4
 Punch-Out!! - May 18    

SEGA of America
 Virtua Tennis™ 2009 - May
 The Conduit™ - June
 Let's Tap™ - June    

Southpeak Interactive
 Roogoo Twisted Towers™ - April 7
 Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball™ - April 21    

Zoo Games, Inc.
 M&M's Beach Party - March 10
 Puzzle Kingdoms - March 31
 Garfield Gets Real - April 7
 Pennzoil's Build-N-Race: "Speed Demons" - April 14
 Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans - April 21
 Smiley World Island Challenge - April 28
 Garfield's Pet Force - June 9    

Nintendo DS    

2K Sports
 MLB® 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars - March 3
 Don King Boxing - March 31    

Activision
 X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May
 Ice Age 3 - June 30
 Transformers™: Revenge of the Fallen - June    

Activision/RedOctane
 Guitar Hero® On Tour: Modern Hits - June    

Aksys Games
 Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles: Memories of the Past - May 26
 Rockin' Pretty - June 23    

Aspyr Media, Inc.
 Treasure World™ - June    

Atari
 Backyard Baseball '10 - March 31
 My Horse and Me Riding For Gold - March 31    

Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
 TrackMania® DS - March 17
 Tokyo Beat Down™ - March 31
 The Dark Spire™ - April 14
 Dokapon Journey™ - April 14
 Steal Princess™ - April 21
 101 in 1 Explosive Megamix - April 21
 Super Robot Taisen® OG Saga:Endless Frontier™ - April 28
 Knights in the Nightmare™ - June 2
 Shin Megami Tensei®: Devil Survivor™ - June 23    

Capcom
 Mega Man Starforce 3 Black Ace - June
 Mega Man Starforce 3 Red Joker - June    

Codemasters Inc
 Overlord Minions - Summer    

Deep Silver, Inc.
 Pet Vet: Down Under - March
 Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity - April
 Elite Forces: Unit 77 - April
 DJ Star - May
 Fritz Chess - May
 The Humans - May
 Horoscope DS - May    

Disney Interactive Studios
 Hannah Montana The Movie - April    

DreamCatcher
 Dreamer: Shop Owner - April 21
 Dreamer: Babysitter - April 21
 Dreamer: Teacher - April 21
 Prank'd - May 19    

Electronic Arts
 Zubo™ - March 10
 Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure™ - March 17
 MySims™ Party - March
 SCRABBLE™ - March
 LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring™ - March
 MySims™ Racing - Summer
 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ - Summer    

Hudson Entertainment
 Miami Law - Summer    

KOEI
 Monster Racers™ - June    

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
 Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times™ - May 5
 Yu-Gi-Oh!™ 5D's Stardust Accelerators World Championship 2009 - May 19    

LucasArts
 Indiana Jones® and the Staff of Kings™ - Late Spring    

Majesco Entertainment
 Puffins: Island Adventure - April 14
 Powerbike - April 28
 Drama Queens - May
 Marker Man Adventures - May
 Hot 'n' Cold - May
 Dawn of Heroes - June    

MumboJumbo
 Crazy Chicken Star Karts - March 31
 Crazy Chicken Atlantis Quest - April 28
 Crazy Chicken The Pharaoh's Treasure - June 2
 7 Wonders II - June 30    

Nintendo
 Rhythm Heaven - April 5
 Personal Trainer: Walking - May 25
 The Legendary Starfy - June 8    

PopCap Games, Inc.
 Peggle™ Dual Shot - March 3    

Rockstar Games
 Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - March 17    

Southpeak Interactive
 Roogoo Attack™ - April 7    

THQ
 Desktop Tower Defense - April 29    

Ubisoft
 Imagine® Makeup Artist - May 5
 Imagine® Music Fest - May 5
 Imagine® Boutique Owner - May 26
 My Healthy Cooking Coach - June 2
 Petz® Fashion: Dogz and Catz - June 9
 Jake Power Soccer Club - June 16    

Valcon Games
 History Channel: Great Empires: Rome - March 17    

Zoo Games, Inc.
 Yamaha Supercross - March 10
 Hands On!: Tangrams - March 24
 Puzzle Kingdoms - March 31
 Garfield Gets Real - April 7
 Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans - April 21
 Smiley World Island Challenge - April 28
 Garfield's Pet Force - June 9    

For more information about Nintendo games and hardware, visit www.Nintendo.com.

[Pale]

Wasn't Crystal Chronicles supposed to come out in March? It's strangely absent from this list.

[Nick DiMola]

STARFY WOOOOOO! MOAR EXCITE WOOOOOOO!

[TheYoungerPlumber]

I wish I could get excited about this press release. The Excite Truck sequel is welcome news, even though I didn't like the original, and it's nice to see such a close Punch-Out!! release date. I also like how Nintendo is continuing to support smaller development teams.

But I can't help but be underwhelmed. I bought Stafi 4 in Japan when I visited in 2006, and I was completely underwhelmed. Never got near finishing the game after spending over $40 on it, I thought it was so bland. I wanted Stafi 1 on the GBA waaaaay back when, but this fifth entry holds no interest.

The silver lining for me is that everything in this PR is for the next few months—implying there's a bunch of other stuff internally developed that Nintendo is simply being tight-lipped about. I understand this is Nintendo's prerogative, and they seem to be selling things just fine with little more than the games already in the store to talk about. But from a journalist's and enthusiast's perspective, I really don't like Nintendo's new media approach. We've come to expect some sort of hype from a 1st party publisher, and it just isn't there any more. I feel like I'm driving 75 mph in pitch black with only my normal headlights on. It's hard to anticipate things when I can only see one second ahead.

I hope big things are in store for E3, but I get the feeling they aren't interested in showing off a crapload of newly announced games at an event any more.

EDIT: However, at this point I could totally see Iwata stroll out at the E3 press conference and say, "Oh yeah, by the way, next month we're releasing a kick-ass new Zelda with Wii Motion Plus support. "

[NWR_Neal]

Yay Excitetruck sequel, Yay Punch-Out!! release date
And I guess Starfy's cool. I remain kind of apathetic towards the little star guy.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Needs more EXCITTE and more boxart!

[Kairon]

Woah! Stealth EXCITE!!!

[decoyman]

No mention of Wii Sports Resort or FF:CC... guess that means they're at least a few more months off yet. Dang.

For me and my newly-non-gamer self, Resort's one of my most anticipated titles of the year. Punch-Out holds little interest for me. /sacrilege

[NWR_Neal]

It's ok, decoyman. Von Kaiser will go easy on you.

It is weird that Wii Sports Resort isn't mentioned at all. Or, like Pale pointed out, Echoes of Time.

I guess it might be a point to note that Square Enix is not on the list at all. Maybe they're going to do their own? Isn't Valkyrie Profile DS supposed to hit in March, too?

[AV]

Wow i didn't expect to see Punch-Out so soon. However thats a great time. Spring Semester ends like a week or two before so I will have time play . WOOT.

i am more wondering what control method Punch-Out will use. I assumed it would use wiimotion plus

[Caliban]

Isn't Punch-Out supposed to support Motion Plus?

[Ian Sane]

They confirmed NEW characters for Punch-Out so I'm glad to see it's not just a remake.  Still it's a different dev team from the original so I'm going to wait-and-see regarding it.

Wait-and-see is my attitude to all of this actually.  Getting Starfi localized is pretty cool but I don't really know much about the series.  Excitebots' concept doesn't sound very interesting to mel.  It's probably the fact that "family", "Wii wheel" and "mini-games" are mentioned in the same sentence.  Though I still want to see it.  Again it's "wait-and-see".

I agree with TYP about Nintendo's attitude regarding the media.  To me it's just part of the non-gamer focus.  Fans want some pre-release hype and info but they're not a priority so Nintendo is making no effort to please them.  Non-gamers don't care about previews and such so Nintendo is not going to waste time with that sort of thing.  Still it makes it very hard to remain a fan.  After last winter's huge BUST of a lineup they need to assure me that as a core gamer and a longtime Nintendo supporter that I'm still important to them.  Keeping me in the dark when I'm already incredibly skeptical of them is not going to assure me.  I'm basically waiting for them to give me a reason to not drop them for good.  But with them being so tight-lipped are they going to?  I'm not going to just wait all year and see what they release.  I need something like E3 to give me an idea of where things are going with the Wii.

[D_Average]

Excitebots™: Trick Racing has elements that make it one of the more unique racing games on the market. It launches April 20 and lets everyone in the family use the Wii Wheel™ accessory in unique and changing environments, play fun minigames and perform crazy tricks in a game that builds on the Excitebike™ and Excite Truck™ franchises. 

I told Nintendo I long time ago they should combine Excite Bike and Excite Truck into one game, and it seems they took me up on it!  Your welcome.   

[GoldenPhoenix]

  Keeping me in the dark when I'm already incredibly skeptical of them is not going to assure me.  I'm basically waiting for them to give me a reason to not drop them for good.

You keep on giving up my hopes Ian! Seriously, when has Nintendo ever been very forthcoming about games? That is right, never.

[Ian Sane]

Seriously, when has Nintendo ever been very forthcoming about games? That is right, never.

What are you talking about?  You usually knew about a Nintendo game a good six months before it came out.  It wasn't uncommon for a Nintendo title to appear at multiple E3s.  We knew about Twilight Princess for YEARS.  Excitebots is out in less than two months and we've never heard about it until now.  That's very different than what Nintendo used to do.  With the old Nintendo we likely would have seen it at E3 or at least at that October thing where Punch-Out! was revealed.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Seriously, when has Nintendo ever been very forthcoming about games? That is right, never.

What are you talking about?  You usually knew about a Nintendo game a good six months before it came out.  It wasn't uncommon for a Nintendo title to appear at multiple E3s.  We knew about Twilight Princess for YEARS.  Excitebots is out in less than two months and we've never heard about it until now.  That's very different than what Nintendo used to do.  With the old Nintendo we likely would have seen it at E3 or at least at that October thing where Punch-Out! was revealed.

We knew about AC, Wii Music, Wii Fit, Super Paper Mario, Punch-Out, Mario Kart, SSB: B, etc etc long before they were released. Excite Bots is NOT a major franchise of theirs and will not be pushed as so. TP, hate to break it to you Ian, is a bigger game then Excite Bots. So once again you are picking and choosing where you hang your complaining. Let's also not forget we've known for quite awhile that Monster Games was working on a title for well over a year now, so knowing their track record, is this some huge hype shock now?

[King of Twitch]

Two surprise games is a devastating betrayal.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Yeah I was hoping for zero surprises, make it 2003 all over again.

MAN ICARUS IS NOT A SURPRISE

[Ian Sane]

We knew about AC, Wii Music, Wii Fit, Super Paper Mario, Punch-Out, Mario Kart, SSB: B, etc etc long before they were released. Excite Bots is NOT a major franchise of theirs and will not be pushed as so. TP, hate to break it to you Ian, is a bigger game then Excite Bots. So once again you are picking and choosing where you hang your complaining. Let's also not forget we've known for quite awhile that Monster Games was working on a title for well over a year now, so knowing their track record, is this some huge hype shock now?

What position are you arguing?  You're the one who said that Nintendo has never been very forthcoming about games and yet here you seem to be supporting my position that they normally are forthcoming with games and that this is an exception.  Nintendo has been tight lipped since E3.  They showed very little and only showed what was due for the rest of the year and nothing else.  Now they're talking about three first party games - two of which we've never even seen and one that there is virtually no info about.  No previews.  No demos for the gaming media.  The fact that the game exists is pretty much all we know.  That's pretty different and very unfriendly to the media and the fans.  Nintendo was also a little more secretive but not THIS secretive.

I just noticed that in the Punch-Out boxart Mac's arm is completely backwards!  That's not the real boxart, is it?

[Jonnyboy117]

I AM EXCITE!  Even though we still know nothing about it...  Focus on multiplayer sounds good, that was a big problem in Excite Truck.  Hopefully it has MK-style online with Wii Speak, too...

Starfy is an odd but welcome surprise.  I wonder if Nintendo missed the chance for this series to really make an impact in the West, but I'm still glad that they decided to give it a shot.  TYP's impressions of the previous game don't sound great, but maybe this new one is improved.

[GoldenPhoenix]

We knew about AC, Wii Music, Wii Fit, Super Paper Mario, Punch-Out, Mario Kart, SSB: B, etc etc long before they were released. Excite Bots is NOT a major franchise of theirs and will not be pushed as so. TP, hate to break it to you Ian, is a bigger game then Excite Bots. So once again you are picking and choosing where you hang your complaining. Let's also not forget we've known for quite awhile that Monster Games was working on a title for well over a year now, so knowing their track record, is this some huge hype shock now?

What position are you arguing?  You're the one who said that Nintendo has never been very forthcoming about games and yet here you seem to be supporting my position that they normally are forthcoming with games and that this is an exception.  Nintendo has been tight lipped since E3.  They showed very little and only showed what was due for the rest of the year and nothing else.  Now they're talking about three first party games - two of which we've never even seen and one that there is virtually no info about.  No previews.  No demos for the gaming media.  The fact that the game exists is pretty much all we know.  That's pretty different and very unfriendly to the media and the fans.  Nintendo was also a little more secretive but not THIS secretive.

I just noticed that in the Punch-Out boxart Mac's arm is completely backwards!  That's not the real boxart, is it?

Starfy has been out for quite awhile, so there is ONE GAME we've never seen. My point was that this is nothing new, Nintendo shows their bigger games earlier then those that are 2nd tier. Wario Land was the same way. Not to mention your whole point is ridiculous, does a game being announced a couple months before release make it bad? Not everyone is as emo as you are when it comes to game releases. The only thing that changes is that the time you have to wait is shortened. Which is funny because back in the N64 days people got TICKED OFF when Nintendo would announce a game years before it was even finished. But now that they are holding true to release dates and annoncing them with some accuracy that is also terrible.

[Nick DiMola]

Starfy is an odd but welcome surprise.  I wonder if Nintendo missed the chance for this series to really make an impact in the West, but I'm still glad that they decided to give it a shot.  TYP's impressions of the previous game don't sound great, but maybe this new one is improved.

Starfy 4 is a very different beast from the rest of the Starfy games, and doesn't really stack up as well. I presume the Japanese market was cognizant of this as well because I was able to secure that game not longer after release for about $15.

The Legendary Starfy (a localization of the 5th Starfy) seems different from 4 as well, so I'm hoping it is on par with the GBA Starfy titles. I can't express enough happiness though, about the series finally coming to America though. It's astounding that it didn't come to America in the first place since it would've been light translation work, and the Kirby-esque gameplay would've definitely connected with US fans.

Now if we could somehow get Kururin here...

[NWR_Neal]

I AM EXCITE!  Even though we still know nothing about it...  Focus on multiplayer sounds good, that was a big problem in Excite Truck.  Hopefully it has MK-style online with Wii Speak, too...

That would be so awesome. Excite Truck was surprisingly good and I've got a good feeling about the sequel.
I assume the same developer is behind it? Most likely this is the mystery game that was mentioned last fall.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Actually, GP, this Stafy 5 doesn't come out until July in Japan, so it is new. And there's nothing terrible about letting Wii owners know what to expect.  Yes, waiting for a game for two years isn't good, but not everyone can cling to their Wiis on faith, either.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Actually, GP, this Stafy 5 doesn't come out until July in Japan, so it is new. And there's nothing terrible about letting Wii owners know what to expect.  Yes, waiting for a game for two years isn't good, but not everyone can cling to their Wiis on faith, either.

Let's see we know Little Kings Story, Demon Blade, Madworld, Wii Sports Resort, Sin and Punishment 2, Endless Ocean 2, Astronaut Exploration Game, Dead Space: Extraction, Punch-Out, Pikmin, Monster Hunter 3, Dragon Quest X, Conduit, etc etc etc are coming out in the future many within the next several months. Far from needing faith. You are a fool if you don't believe Nintendo is coming out with big games still in the future, plain and simple. It isn't faith, but common sense. Even right now there is more then enough to get excited about so the whining, is just that, whining especially from the king of it. Please stop with th exaggerations, it is getting tiring. There is plenty to anticipate and it just shows how impossible it is please the angst driven core Wii owner.

Believe it or not there are more games to look forward to on Wii then Nintendo games, and even at that Nintendo is doing a great job. I'm HAPPY with them announcing games now that they know will actually make that time frame and come out within 4-6 months of announcement. Have you guys thought that maybe they are shortening the announcements so they can more accurately predict when the game will come out? It is 10xs better then, for example a GoW3 teaser trailer for a game that was still like 2 years out. I always thought it was normal to want something as quick as possible and not to be strung along? It makes the game no better, nor no worse. The game industry is changing, deal with it. Or maybe you should get a 360 so you can be happy knowing that Mass Effect 2 will be out next year.