Messages

1101

TalkBack / Re: Capcom Discusses Darkside Chronicles Sales, Looming Handheld Difficulties

« on: January 06, 2010, 04:26:09 PM »

16,000?! What in the hell happened there, Capcom? Umbrella Chronicles was a million seller. Some people in the company clearly aren't doing their job well enough. A drop in demand for this style of game wouldn't make that much of a difference.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Monster Hunter Thwii

« on: January 06, 2010, 02:59:31 PM »

I would wait for Capcom to announce a date. I still remember Official Nintendo Magazine "confirming that Europe would be getting Fatal Frame IV (and that it would come out in summer 2009).

No, Capcom actually sent out a press release confirming an April release.

ONM UK wasn't the only outlet to report on it:
http://wii.nintendolife.com/news/2010/01/monster_hunter_tri_eats_your_spare_time_in_april

    Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games today confirmed that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Nintendo for its forthcoming Wii title Monster Hunter Tri, the next instalment in the multi-million selling series. Under the terms of the agreement Nintendo will be responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of Monster Hunter Tri throughout European and Australian territories with Capcom remaining as publisher. Monster Hunter Tri is scheduled for release this coming April and will set the bar in the action/adventure genre with the introduction of new features and gameplay elements as the Monster Hunter franchise makes its debut on the Nintendo system.

    Monster Hunter Tri is one of the most strikingly beautiful games ever created for the Wii and brings to life a living breathing ecosystem where man and monster co-exist. The title’s single player story mode sees gamers taking on the role of a hunter whose village is beset by a series of violent tremors that threaten to destroy it. Charged by the village chief to discover the source of the earthquakes players will embark on a series of quests where they must face gigantic beasts that inhabit both land and sea.

    Living the life of a hunter need never be a solitary experience with the option to form a team of up to four hunters via the game’s custom online Wi-Fi mode; alternatively the game also offers a two player split-screen Arena mode. Even solo players do not have to face Monster Hunter Tri’s challenging quests alone as they will be ably accompanied by Cha-Cha, an AI hunting partner whose skills will prove invaluable.

    “Nintendo has identified Monster Hunter Tri as a key title for the Wii platform in 2010,” stated Michael Pattison, Senior Director Marketing, Capcom Europe, “We are really excited about partnering with Nintendo to further develop this franchise.”

    Laurent Fischer, Managing Director, Marketing & PR, Nintendo of Europe, commented “Monster Hunter has a huge and passionate following in Japan and we are looking forward to introducing the Monster Hunter Tri to a whole new audience in Europe as the series makes its first appearance on the Wii.”

Nothing yet on whether they've managed to get Wii Speak to work for the online play though. We might find out if that was a successful venture in the near future.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Monster Hunter Thwii

« on: January 06, 2010, 01:12:35 PM »

Monster Hunter Tri to be released in April in PAL regions; Capcom reconfirms marketing partnership with Nintendo

No specific day announced as of now, but still, that's a LOT sooner than I was expecting, especially since the NTSC release date recently went from March to TBC.
One other small tidbit: I didn't know MH3 had 2-player splitscreen functionality. I just noticed it being described in this article and it was news to me. Sounds cool.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 177

« on: January 06, 2010, 02:32:15 AM »

Thanks for the Spirit Tracks imps, Jonny. You and I had pretty similar feelings about Phantom Hourglass, and much of what you stated about this entry made me cringe, so now I'm fully comfortable passing on this sequel.

Pfffft. Your loss. The dungeon design in Spirit Tracks is some of the best in the franchise and honestly, if you give yourself things to do while driving, the train segments are fine, especially as more warp gates open up...

...which brings me to some corrections for the RFN crew with regard to Spirit Tracks.
* I don't know why you had so much trouble with the warp system. Every time I found a new warp point, I marked two locations on my map and labelled with region it takes me to. It really isn't as convoluted as you made it sound.
* You speak of the game like the temples and the train travel are the only gameplay portions of it. The activity in the towns have been, in my view, vastly improved over Phantom Hourglass. Nearly everybody has a sidequest for you, there's a decent amount of environmental puzzles to solve so you can explore the locale more and there's plenty of optional games to partake in.

Good episode otherwise. It has me chomping at the bit to play A Boy And His Blob some more (Little King's Story has been occupying all my gaming time since Christmas).

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Podcast Discussion / Re: NWR Newscast: Episode 8

« on: January 05, 2010, 11:57:44 AM »

The start of this year for Wii will be mad, mad I say! There's a steady stream of good third-party software over the next 3 months, and the downloadable scene is shockingly vibrant. WiiWare has evolved so much in the year and a half since it launched on the Wii Shop Channel. I'd say it's on par with its rival services now, which are a fair bit older.

It's even better for Europeans because there's a handful of games which got released in '09 in America that are coming early this year for us. This includes Silent Hill (out in February), which I'm eagerly awaiting the review for.

The only noteworthy omission from your anticipated games discussion that I can immediately think of is Trauma Team. You spoke about that last episode though, so nice job on this feature.
I think that one is scheduled for April - yet another one to be excited about soon.

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TalkBack / Re: Famitsu Reveals New Details About Red Steel 2

« on: January 05, 2010, 08:32:27 AM »

Only 90% finished in January 2010?

As the saying goes, "The first 90% of the work require 90% of the time. The other 10% of the work require the other 90% of the time."

Oh, I get that. I'm just saying that I don't think Ubisoft could have ever expected this to have met the initial release date of Autumn 2009 when there's still 5-10% of the game's content in the works even now.

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TalkBack / Re: Famitsu Reveals New Details About Red Steel 2

« on: January 04, 2010, 04:59:06 PM »

This is all fine and dandy, but there's still a humongous question mark hanging over the sword fighting. It's more integral to the game now that you can wield the blade any time, so I hope they've tightened the controls up (impressions so far have been skeptical). I know Ubisoft says that's the reason Red Steel 2 was pushed back, but come on! Only 90% finished in January 2010? This delay was more than just MotionPlus teething troubles - they hadn't finished the game. Well, at least they are making sure everything is in place rather than rushing it out incomplete like the original.

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TalkBack / Re: Sega to Scale Back M-Rated Wii Games

« on: January 04, 2010, 02:30:57 PM »

  They forgot the part where EA didn't actually put any marketing muscle behind this other than the initial announcement.

You beat me to it. EA and Visceral didn't make any substantive attempt to let people know that Dead Space: Extraction was there. Well, there's that, and it's in a niche genre.

Speaking of niche, that's exactly what both Madworld and House of the Dead: Overkill is catering to. Developers don't appear to be able to understand that a mature game doesn't sell solely on the fact that it has mature content. The audience that Madworld & HotD are aimed towards is the audience who tune into the reception surrounding games and they know that these two games are short, shallow experiences that if you would rent if you really wanted to try them.

Any company who uses this as an indication of how these games sell is missing the point. Sega seems to assume there's no audience for these games, but really it's the fact that these "litmus test" titles were extremely niche and poorly marketed.
 

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General Chat / Re: NWR New Years Resolutions for 2010

« on: December 31, 2009, 07:23:09 PM »

My resolution is to sleep more. I've never seen the big appeal of sleeping. It always seemed like such a poor use of time to me. Then again, looking into it, there are some benefits, such as, you know, not being tired all the time.

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TalkBack / Re: Happy New Year!

« on: December 31, 2009, 07:11:49 PM »

I know New Year's Day is still several hours away in North America, but here in Great Britain, 2010 has already arrived. So I'll take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the NWR staff for providing what is, in my honest-to-God opinion, the best Nintendo coverage on the internet. Thanks for all the work you've put in over the last ten years and here's to another prosperous decade for the website. *Raises wine glass in a 'making a toast' sort of way*

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TalkBack / Re: Cave Story to Finally See Release in 2010

« on: December 27, 2009, 03:35:07 PM »

Better late than never. Here's hoping that the submission-and-approval process goes smoothly for Cave Story. It sounds like the developer has been incredibly thorough though, seeing as its release was delayed, like, four times or something crazy.

I'm also glad that they have officially confirmed additional content, but one thing at a time, Nicalis. They're only a small team, so they should have the sense to spread out the DLC over the latter half of 2010. If they are overly ambitious, the extra levels may fall flat and we certainly don't want that.

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General Chat / Re: Giftmas - What Was Under Your Tree?

« on: December 26, 2009, 05:23:05 AM »

I got:

• Two awesome t-shirts
• House, Season 1
• Little King's Story (Wii)
• A Boy And His Blob (Wii)
• Massive beanbag
• Futurama themed 2010 calendar
• 16Gb memory stick
• Procession of the Dead by Darren B. Shan
• Family-sized tin of Maltesers

Very, very happy with this haul. I also spent more than usual on my family. For the most part, I was fairly unimaginative as I purchased a LOT of books and DVDs, but I did get Professor Layton & Pandora's Box for my sister, a 2 CD set of rock anthems for my dad and a café-style espresso machine for my mum.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: X-Mas gaming!

« on: December 25, 2009, 05:55:56 PM »

I received Little King's Story and A Boy & His Blob. LKS is the only one I've played so far, for an hour this morning. I'm looking forward to getting deeper into them both tomorrow.

Merry Christmas to everybody! Enjoy your games and anything else you do today.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 173

« on: December 09, 2009, 03:38:44 PM »

If I were to start collecting anything, it would be to expand my N64 collection. It's the one console I feel I should have more games for. Interesting discussion


For the future of the Pokémon series, I wouldn't mind if they cut back on the total number of Pokémon from game to game. It wouldn't be the first time (Ruby & Sapphire scaled down the Pokédex from Gold & Silver) and the long-term ambition of "gotta catch 'em all" might become feasible again. Other than that, it's more tricky to narrow down what needs to be overhauled.


Cheers for another stellar episode, although I will make one request: I'll just say that, with New Business in mind, let's put the 'Nintendo' back into 'Radio Free Nintendo'. Please and thank you.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: December 09, 2009, 02:12:49 PM »

I think that's what makes elements like that special. You experience them in only one or a few levels which makes them memorable.

This, this and this again. Yes, with regard to overall structure and basic mechanics, it's a familiar game, but the creative juices poured into the individual levels are like none other.

This weekend, I'm going to try and convince two friends to play through it with me. Looking forward to seeing how different the experience is.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: December 07, 2009, 12:05:02 PM »

Cor! Almost a million in a week. Do we have data on the sales everywhere else in the world? I'm intrigued to know what this new figure does for the LTD for New Super Mario Bros Wii.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

« on: December 05, 2009, 11:43:46 AM »

I suppose that means that your stance on the train sequences in the final product is considerably kinder than your thoughts from the E3 demo. Smashing.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: December 05, 2009, 11:06:25 AM »

Unlocked and played through stage 7-6 today. It was a total fluke that I found the alternate exit in the fortress, but I am glad I did, because 7-6 is bonkers. Next task: unlock 8-7. I assume that's the skeletal snake rollercoaster that was in the launch trailer. I'm psyched for that one.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: November 30, 2009, 11:57:25 AM »

So, like Super Mario Galaxy, only a quick swish is required? That's good to hear.

Yes indeed. I just do a light flick upwards with my wrists. It's the sort of motion that is really easy to pull off, but not so much that you accidentally do it (unless you're really cold or nervous about something or some other strange reason for shivering while playing a game).

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 172

« on: November 30, 2009, 02:50:10 AM »

Thanks for the great show once again. It's a shame you guys aren't enjoying New Super Mario Bros. Wii as much as I am, but to each his own. Amusingly, the multiplayer anecdotes from James, although described in a way that sounded like it irritated him, actually makes me more excited to try out some two-player action.


I'm very grateful for the music discussion. The aural design of videogames is obviously important in the review space; let's be fair, if the music and sound isn't up to par, it would annoy you and wilt your enjoyment level of the overall package. It really is one of the lesser mentioned aspects of software, though.
Often, a game's soundtrack can reflect on the diversity of the game's design, as representing a large number of music genres would generally be for the purpose of matching them with a large number of suitable environments. Speaking of which, I like that game composers are starting to broaden their cultural scope with the music they create. We are hearing more of the Chinese, Arabian and African styles being used, which is fantastic because the instruments each of those have all add their own distinctive flavour, oriental stuff especially.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: November 29, 2009, 04:36:04 PM »

I have relatively large thumbs, and I've never hit the A Button on accident. I don't see how people are managing to do it. The button is not THAT close to the D-Pad. Same with the unintentional shaking, I haven't ever done that. Do some of you just shudder your hands when you play games or something?
As with Wario Land, the shaking is secondary to the tilting. The use of tilt was spot on in The Shake Dimension (or Shake It!, whatever) and the same goes in New Super Mario Bros Wii. I definitely took a greater appreciation for that control as it was utilised in more creative ways later on - case in point Ludwig's Tower, level 7-7 with the shifting platforms and level 8-5 where you navigate over a long pit of lava while Para Bob-Ombs rain on Mario.


Really close to the end now. The final castle is available, so I'm mopping up the Star Coins I missed earlier on before going in. Did I mention that I love this game? 

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: November 29, 2009, 03:19:50 AM »

More recently, Super Mario Galaxy had great, original music.  This game does not.  I would have probably given it a 6 on the sound front.

Oh, of course, Mario Galaxy's music was incredible. I'd probably rate SMG's soundtrack more highly, but on its own merits, NSMBW, in my view, makes for a strong audio experience nonetheless. We'll have to agree to disagree: I can still remember the Beach and Forest BGMs even though I haven't heard them for three or four days. Heck, even some of the Map themes encroach into my head sometimes.

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TalkBack / Re: EA Releases New Online Levels for Bash Party

« on: November 29, 2009, 02:50:21 AM »

It's going for a decent price on Amazon, so I'm tempted to bite the bullet and pick it up. It sounds like great value for money, and I enjoyed the first Boom Blox for the time I rented it.
This update flew a bit out of nowhere to be honest -- I wasn't under the impression it had sold amazingly. Maybe the purpose of this influx of levels is for that very reason. EA could just be trying to get Bash Party into the hands of more people, and this seems like it would be enough of an incentive.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: November 28, 2009, 03:37:18 PM »

I think I might be one of a minority who really likes the music too - very cheerful stuff.

People don't like the music in this game? What, is that just because it doesn't have the
"classic" Mario theme? This game is NEW Super Mario Brothers so it has NEW classic music.

Well, I don't recall many reviews, including the one on this site, citing the music as being particularly special. The new melodies are growing on me personally. The re-arrangements are nicely done without being overused. All in all, great music. In fact, I'd say the sound design as a whole is marvellous. All of the Koopa Kids have amusing voices and I love Mario's Chipmunk voice sample when you complete a level with the Mini Mushroom.

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TalkBack / Re: Tetris Party Deluxe Coming to Wii

« on: November 28, 2009, 02:51:09 PM »

Come on, Hudson. The Tetrominoes have been exploited in almost every imaginable way. Does the world really need this? It wouldn't surprise me if Tetris Party Deluxe is the same game as the first one on WiiWare with a few extra superfluous modes.