Rumor Control - IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat

[pedrocasilva]

Since they do them every week... I think we should start using a thread to comment on them; This week for example it's so vast that there's no topic where it fits... so...

Wii-k in Review 6/8 #1

-> http://wii.ign.com/articles/795/795160p1.html

BBA- Solid game, challenges are fun, good drinking game, wish it had true online but Wiiconnect works very well, wish it had more challenges though.


Scarface- not a lot of gestures, lot of IR stuff, good GTA type game, just overall impressed- "really cool", good writing.

RE4- GC visuals, superior version of RE4, not quite perfect- one quirk in the controls- can't look up and down with the Wiimote- up down left right movement done by analog stick- feels odd- feels like a light gun game. Dramatic speed difference in shooting compared to GC version because of the controls. Some off the waggle controls aren't needed- wagging the knife is unnecessary. But overall its the best version. Best looking realistic looking game on Wii

The Bigs- Uses pretty decent Wii waggle, pretty cool bat tracking, exclusive coming up on the Wii version.

Madden- hands on next week.

Ghost squad- Very much the arcade game with added multiplayer support. Disappointed that its running in 4:3. Easy cash in- fun game, but not a ton added to the Wii version. Bitching about developers not putting in progressive scan and 16:9.

Nintendo changes- Further semi-confirmation of the 3 marketing execs leaving. Speculates that Nintendo is shifting their focus- trying to be more aggressive within the industry. You can tell Matt isn't happy.


DQ:Swords- They played it. It's fun and cool. Mostly just swords stuff. Very simple. Can upgrade and combine weapons. Leave the towns and enter paths, then you are on set paths but can sometimes choose what way. Basically completely on rails. Old school- random battles. Sword swiping is cool, there is some strategy to it. Not incredibly deep. Game might be longer than you think- at least 10 hours, maybe 15 plus. No loading when enemies come. Visuals aren't quite as good as we thought, but good bloom and little effects, and main character animations are good. Nothing more to it than what you think, but thinks people will like it. Thinks it will sell well, especially in Japan. Doesn't think it will be released in the U.S anytime soon.

Mercury Meltdown- Fun game, good Wiimote functionality. Will get a solid score. A little shallow, but puzzles will keep you busy.

Explanation of Wii debugger software

New RPG's- some new RPG's on the way. Hinting at sequal to RPG that came out same time as Baten Katos..Matt- "I might as well just tell you. Bozon- keep faith in Crystal Chronicles. It's going to be good.#

NHL EA- No news. Probably not coming until next year if it comes.

3 EA sports games to talk about- FIFA is one of them. 2 others- not sure if they've been announced.

RE4- No GC controller support

For next year- Thinks Wii Sports 2, Wii Health, Pikmin, and sure there are other surprises.

Re: Hardware announcements- haven't heard anything, but thinks its likely to have a hard drive and headset announced soon- just logically thinking, no inside info.

FF:CC- Think multiplayer will be downplayed, single player focused likely.

Great multiplayer games- for Wii BBA is a good multiplayer game, Strikers- Bozon psyched,Battalion Wars will be a great multi player game.

Re: big developers switching over. Suspects SC 4 to 360/PS3. Big test is Manhunt- if it does well, will show that adult games sell well.

End of show nugget- "Cool stuff we could tell you about, but then we'd get killed. " Some announcements to make with 3rd parties, but nothing major. Thinks they're going to get stuff before E3.

Sorry if I missed anything guysSource: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162140

RPG sequel that came at the same time as Baten Kaitos? Run! it's FF X-3! :p

But honestly... if it was really big they would highlight it as so... (unless they gave the lead exactly like someone gave them :heh:) So... Suikoden, Shin Megami Tensei could be candidates (looking at the timeframe), other than that I have no clue.

[ShadowV7]

Why are RPGs always so late? I want a friggen RPG now :mad:

Damn developers...

Hope there's a headset and HDD announced soon.Then we can download demos.

[immy]

Why are RPGs always so late? I want a friggen RPG now :mad:

Damn developers...

Hope there's a headset and HDD announced soon.Then we can download demos.

they take ages to make

[Retro_Link]

Hinting at sequal to RPG that came out same time as Baten Katos..Didn't Tales!! come out around the same time as Baten Kaitos?

Also, I'm not sure if Manhunt is a fair test to determine the mature Wii market against; isn't it even a bit extreme for a lot of that market!?
For example, GTA is seen as a mature series, yet it gets bought and played by people of ALL ages. The same can't really be said about Manhunt, so sales may not necessarily reflect the market.

[ShadowV7]

They've had a fair amount of time.They've had well over a year atleast,and we've heard bugger all about RPGs in that time.Even developers mentioning they have an RPG or 2 in the works is fine,but after all this time we've heard just about squat.

[flameboy]

Didn't Tales come out around the same time as Baten Kaitos?

Also, I'm not sure if Manhunt is a fair test to determine the mature Wii market against; isn't it even a bit extreme for a lot of that market!?
For example, GTA is seen as a mature series, yet it gets bought and played by people of ALL ages. The same can't really be said about Manhunt, so sales may not necessarily reflect the market.

Yeah I think your right. Manhunt is the extremity of the mature games market, but I guess this and No More Heroes will help gauge just how far mature content can go and still succeed.

[system_error]

I guess it is Tales of "..."


That hardware stuff got backed up by a friend of mine - who told me about harddrives and other stuff for the Wii.

[Goron_3]

Ign's wii-k in Review is always awesome. i love their humour :heh:

I'm quite surprised DQ only lasts about 10 hours though...

[jammy2211]

There are quite a few RPG's annouced, without Titles. Here's a list of some of the games you might not know about :) :

Camelot RPG - Confirmed for a Wii exclusive RPG. They made the Golden Sun games on GBA.

Media Vision RPG - Guys who make Wild Arms confirmed to be making an exclusive Wii RPG.

Mana Projects - Square Enix confirmed they're working on a Mana game for the Wii. Expected to be People of Mana.

Sword of Legendia - Spin off to Tales of series. Could be what they hinted at in all honesty.

Konami RPG - Not sure what this one is but it's another RPG :/.

Then you get stuff like FF:CC, DQS, Opoona, Fire Emblem and a few more. I'm sure more annoucements are planned, RPG's take alot of time and money to make and so most companies chose to play it safe and wait until they knew whether the Wii or PS3 would be a hit in Japan. Now that Wii is a hit in Japan we will be getting all the major RPG's :).

[pedrocasilva]

^ And the first director of FFXII (as well as Vagrant Story and Ogre Battles) Is working on a wii exclusive, Rune Factory and Project O (King Story) are also RPG's in my book, and Harvest Moon to some extent. Nippon Ichi asked for Wii dev Kits, seeing as Makai Wars for PS3 is canceled now and hoe expensive the console is and their sales... I'd say they should be planning to jump on the Wii-wagon.

There's also at least one Monolith RPG coming.

[ShadowV7]

But we've heard nothing of it.Even a screen would be good :(

Here's to E3.

[Hellfire]

What's BBA?

[darksnowman]

What's BBA?

I was wondering that as well... thought I'd sound stupid if I asked. Glad you did it for me!


Do IGN really think its unlikely for DQ Swords to get to the USA? If thats true then would'nt it be even less likely to see it in Europe? :(

[Retro_Link]

What's BBA?Big Brain Academy.

[Hellfire]

Ah, thanks. Coolio.

[pedrocasilva]

I was wondering that as well... thought I'd sound stupid if I asked. Glad you did it for me!


Do IGN really think its unlikely for DQ Swords to get to the USA? If thats true then would'nt it be even less likely to see it in Europe? :(I didn't read it like that... more like it's coming but it'll take a while.

Like every Square-Enix game sadly, the punchline is... it isn't coming in 2007 in America/Europe (yet it's coming next month in Japan).

[darksnowman]

Big Brain Academy.

Ah right... I was thinking things like Brothers Bin Arms... :blank:

[ShadowV7]

I was wondering that as well... thought I'd sound stupid if I asked. Glad you did it for me!


Do IGN really think its unlikely for DQ Swords to get to the USA? If thats true then would'nt it be even less likely to see it in Europe? :(


Doesn't think it will be released in the U.S anytime soon.



Dragon Quest Swords got confirmed for the US and will be out in 2008.

[darksnowman]

Yeah anytime soon... that sounds kinda disheartening when it comes to games of this type. And the way they think itll sell well in Japan yet wont see a U.S release anytime soon hints at them saying it might not be one for the U.S market.

Well, thats the what I got out of it anyway.

::shrug:

[ShadowV7]

Square Einex has already confirmed that it's coming out in the US.

They gave a '2008" date and with translation etc it will be half a year to America then another few months for Europe.

Other DQ games took a year to be released in the US and since they're will be alot less to translate,i'll say 8 odd months,then another 4 for us.

But again,it has been confirmed for the US and there's no reason not to release it in Europe.

[The Bard]

Bozon's quote "Life needs a reset button" was just made of pure win.

Also, they said a Gamecube RPG that came out at the same time as Baiten Kaitos, so it's clearly a Tales game.

[pedrocasilva]

Bozon's quote "Life needs a reset button" was just made of pure win.

Also, they said a Gamecube RPG that came out at the same time as Baiten Kaitos, so it's clearly a Tales game.They said specifically Gamecube RPG?

There's no doubt then; but then... sequel? meaning Tales of Symphonia sequel? I'd rather have a new game, unless by sequel they mean Tales of Phantasia Remake.

But we kinda already knew a Tales was coming, question is... is it the unnamed RPG or the Sword of Legendia game?

Sword of Legendia by the name should be in the making by the Team Melfes who did Tales of Legendia, it was also the only Tales whose codename wasn't Tales, instead it was Project Melfes. So yeah, it should be Tales or a Spin-off already.

I'd wish we had Team Symphonia (Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss) on board too.

[Hero-of-Time]

Here is this weeks banter....

- Pre E3 events happened this week. Good things on the way for E3

- Project H.A.M.M.E.R. rumor still a rumor. Casamassina says that another company working on a more traditional title to make it more mainstream

- Harry Potter overall very good. Few minor control and cutscene quirks

- Wii-k in review crew pushing for people to buy Zack and Wiki. High praise for the game. It may be the most difficult title on the Wii so far. They are asking Capcom to make downloadable levels

- The Bigs is fun but has issues. A little bit of lag, and sometimes the Wiimote is over-sensitive

- Matt talks about Halo DS and says “nay sayers are about to be owned next week or so”.

- More info soon on titles we know of and brand new titles. New titles looking great, Matt hopes to unveil something next week

- If you like Godfather you will like Scarface

[Demuwan]

Matt talks about Halo DS and says “nay sayers are about to be owned next week or so”.

That Cassamasima, always causing controversy.

[Jordan]

That Cassamasima, always dripping with total shit.

Corrected...

[Jamba]

I don't even listen to Matt anymore, he likes stirring too much and not to be harsh about Bozon but from what I've read of what he writes and the way I've seen him act in audio and video from IGN he doesn't seem like the smartest guy ever. We get more inteliigent speculation here tbh. :yay:

[Tyson]

Bozon is awesomely fat. It's cute in some weird way.

[Cube]

- Matt talks about Halo DS and says “nay sayers are about to be owned next week or so”.


Is he still going on about "Halo DS WAS in the works"? Did he miss the developers specifically saying that it never existed?

[frankie_baby]

Is he still going on about "Halo DS WAS in the works"? Did he miss the developers specifically saying that it never existed?

unless it was developed by a different company

[jammy2211]

The part about Project H.A.M.M.E.R's cancellation was worrying. I'm going to start asking some third parties to see if Nintendo are trying to 'interfere' with their projects, it sounds pretty legit to me.

Great to see the hype about Zack and Wiki though. It really is shaping up a great game. The pod cast didn't really tell us alot else though.

[pedrocasilva]

This week's Wii-k in Review:

- Matt thinks Take Two will appeal Manhunt 2’s AO rating to the ESRB and there will be a really significant delay if they lose. Bozon says it’s the “most violent game he’s ever played”.

- Online multiplayer hinted at for Godzilla: Unleashed

- Kirby Wii at E3.

- They know about a couple unannounced games from Nintendo that will be revealed at E3.

- They’ve seen quite a few unannounced EA Wii Games at pre-E3 events.

- Cool, non-kiddie games coming from THQ

- Craig has an interview with Bioware about the Sonic DS RPG coming up next week.Source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165817

[Haden]

This week's Wii-k in Review:

Source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165817

So could this mean we are getting an NHL game in September? :smile:

[Emasher]

didn't TOS come out around the same time as baiten kaitos

[pedrocasilva]

This Weeks, IGN Wii-k in Review:

- Jessica attempted to say something smart. Could not.
- Pokemon Battle Revolution == teh sux
- Transformers talk
- Bozon references that NeoGAF thread about broken Driver game. Doesn't actually mention NeoGAF specifically.
- Geometry Wars Galaxies. 60 planet types. Game looks "more vibrant" on 360. "Vertical Scrolling level". Both seemed to prefer dual-analog style of play. Number of enemies and effects on the screen can make it difficult to see the red laser guide on the IR control. Classic controller support probable, GCN controller not so much.
- Hori fighting stick talk. Hori wanted IGN to write a review with ONLY PICTURES.
- BUY ZACK AND WIKI. "If you are not stupid you will like that game"
- Jessica calls the iPhone an "overpriced piece of bullshit". Matt compares her to Hitler.
- Matt will be playing a private demo of Metroid Prime at E3.
- Matt calls DK Bongo Blast "pretty assy". No bongo controller support. Wii controller doesn't work well for the game.
- FIFA talk. Minigames like Foosball included.
- de Blob. They said it was interesting. Music is "sucky".
- Everybody makes fun of the "Pickman" incident. Also Geist for N64 incident.
- Mario and Sonic shown behind closed doors at E3.
- Bozon says they don't know anything about what is going to happen at E3. Says they they well be screwed because everything is so spread out.
- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 coverage on Monday.
- Soul Calibur Legends coverage soon. Craig Harris played it.
- Red Steel 2 not at show. Other games are being held until after E3.
- No real E3 predictions except PS3 price drop and PSP redesign.
- READER MAIL
- Forever Blue. Matt and Bozon like it. Peer doesn't. Matt says it's a completely different game from its predecessors.
- A Nintendo franchise will be brought back from the dead and shown at E3.
- DIRECT QUOTE (IE, Could be real or not) "There is a Tales of Symphonia sequel coming to Wii." Hinted it last week, Matt wants to confirm it this week. There's so much laughing and failure to bleep here that we can't really know if they are kidding or not.
- Graphics discussion. =/
- Matt hates lack of Smash Bros at E3.
- Matt hoping for a Wii Health Pack surprise.
- Matt says Nintendo or Microsoft will win E3. Bozon says Nintendo. Jessica says Nintendo. Peer says Microsoft.
- Rockstar not at E3.Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/802/802196p1.html

[immy]

"DIRECT QUOTE (IE, Could be real or not) "There is a Tales of Symphonia sequel coming to Wii." Hinted it last week, Matt wants to confirm it this week. There's so much laughing and failure to bleep here that we can't really know if they are kidding or not."


Half of forum pisses pants

[Zelda_Rulez]

"DIRECT QUOTE (IE, Could be real or not) "There is a Tales of Symphonia sequel coming to Wii." Hinted it last week, Matt wants to confirm it this week. There's so much laughing and failure to bleep here that we can't really know if they are kidding or not."


Half of forum pisses pants

Indeed. I'm really hoping this will be true. Tales of Symphonia was one of my favourite games on the GameCube.

As for the Nintendo franchise that will be returned from the dead. Kid Icarus anyone?

[Petey Piranah]

Franchise back from the dead... I reckon Pilotwings, Wii Airplane disappeared, I wonder why? (Rhetorical question)

[Gizmo]

I smell Luigis Mansion with a 3rd-person perspective.

[welsh_gamer]

The dead franchise will hopefully be Pilotwings or Kid Icarus. For some reason I thought Pikmin when I read the sentence "dead franchise". Silly me. Surely that ain't considered dead!

Shame Donkey Kong Jet is getting negative views from them. Nintendo really should have stuckto/or offered the Bongo controls.

[Goron_3]

Hmmm....

Ice Climbers 3D anyone?

[Tyson]

I smell Luigis Mansion with a 3rd-person perspective.

It always was third person.

[Owen]

Its pilotwings i reckon...

Luigis Mansion 2 is a must though! It would work great!

Shame about no new 'big' games being shown at E3 from Nintendo, but it's to be expected...Nintendo's conferences are always a bit of an anti-climax and then you least expect it....wham!!!

I'm looking forward to what Microsoft and Sony have up their sleeves.

[Goron_3]

It always was third person.

I think he means a behind the shoulder camera angle...maybe?

Cos personally I think that would be awesome.

[Gizmo]

I think he means a behind the shoulder camera angle...maybe?

Cos personally I think that would be awesome.

Yeah, thats what I meant. More Gears of War/Resi 4 than the original Lugi's Mansion.

[DCK]

I really don't think Luigi's Mansion is that kind of game...

[DomJcg]

Jessica calls the iPhone an "overpriced piece of bullshit". Matt compares her to Hitler.

^ loved that, made me laugh for awhile

[Goron_3]

Jessica calls the iPhone an "overpriced piece of bullshit". Matt compares her to Hitler.

^ loved that, made me laugh for awhile

I listened to that and pissed myself. Hilarious.

[pedrocasilva]

This Weeks, IGN Wii-k in Review:
No Chobot, Peer, or Gerry. It's just Matt and Bozon.


SUMMARY

- They briefly discuss E3. Generally prefer to new format, despite the cluster**** organization. Not enough games there.
- Conference talk. They obviously weren't satisfied with it.
- They called Wii Fit "Oprah worthy"
- Metroid Prime 3 talk. "Fricken awesome." They liked the cockpit scene. They call story Halo-esque. They say that they game plays "smooth". "Our videos are not going to do it justice." Bozon played Turok afterwards and said the controls felt archaic by comparison. Some journos have made comments about how the Metroid design was watered down (I think 1UP did this?). Matt says that such comments are stupid because it's a demo, and the MP3 demo was structured similarly to the MP1 and MP2 demos.
- Super Mario Galaxy talk. Matt and Bozon calls it their game of the show. Bozon got to play two levels not available to the rest of the press (thanks to Miyamoto!). Bozon got to play Galaxy with Miyamoto. Long jump maneuver helps increase the game's speed. You can control the jump in mid-air with the analog stick. A second player can use his cursor to freeze Mario in mid-air during a long jump. If you long jump off a small body, you might be able to do a full 360 around a planet. "Feels better than Mario 64". Galaxy design means that designers aren't grounded in reality or have restrictions.
- WiiFit talk. Many game-based elements are being added to increase the "fun" factor. Matt thought it was nice.
- Umbrella Chronicles. Bozon calls it a "mish-mash". "Some ways to go". Cursor is not smooth. Shooting doesn't feel visceral. Bozon is comparing its development to Red Steel (uh-oh).
- BUY ZACK AND WIKI. The rest of the press appears to have joined in on the campaign. "Puzzles are really outstanding". Matt and Bozon will post one puzzle video by the end of next week at the latest. Video will be a total spoiler. Although you restart at the end of a level if you die, you can use tickets (bought via in-game currency) to help restore your progress. 3rd party Wii Game of the Show.
- Nights 2. Clunky and framey. Craig Harris is looking forward to it. Matt is not.
- Carnival Games. Needs to be $20. Too simple.
- Furu Furu Park. mini-game collection. Pretty shallow. Better be cheap.
- Spyro and Crash. Spyro is a direct sequel to A New Beginning. Crash is two-player coop. Some IR work in Crash. Crash's spinning move is done by rapidly hitting the B trigger and spinning the analog stick.
- Fishing Master is visually crap. However, some smart Wiimote implementation. Every time you cast, you catch a fish. "Kinda cool, but super basic". Cool for a kid's game or a rental.
- Dewy's Adventure. "Sort of good, but not great. Has potential".
- Trauma Center looking really good. They're trying to get it in office within a month. They're trying to get exclusive coverage for it.
- Nitro Bikes. Matt and Bozon loved Excite Bike 64. Matt doesn't think that most of the original team is still there.
- Reader questions.
- Mario Galaxy is suppose to be as long and deep as Mario 64.
- Freeze maneuver in Galaxy seems to be a 2-player only thing now.
- Smash exclusive event within a month (maybe).
- Nintendo hasn't abandoned their core audience. However, casual games seem to be an internal priority. Truth will be told in 2008.
- Matt believes that Smash is online, despite recent speculation.
- Nintendo did not talk about that resurrected Nintendo franchise that Matt referred to last week. "Even if it did get cancelled it would be taken up by another publisher. Oh, no it wouldn't. Sorry. That couldn't happen. Yeah. Well you can take whatever you want from that answer."
- Factor 5 issue. Matt implies something about their project not being disc based and brings up their back catalog. "Whatever we see from Factor 5 initially will just be a first step."
- Wii Balance Board feels like a scale.
- Favorite thing shown was Mario Galaxy. Least favorite thing was probably Furu Furu or the Wii Zapper.
- There's no reason Smash Bros shouldn't be online because Jump Ultimate does.
- Matt and Bozon's game is still just in concept. Their dev team went down other avenues.
- Battalion Wars 2 talk. Matt and Bozon angry! Matt thinks they may show it at Leipzig (where they originally unveiled it).
- We may see a hardcore-focused event from Nintendo in a month or half or so.
- Matt and Bozon like the game concepts with the balance board, like snowboarding games.
- Lots of suits in Mario Galaxy.
- Matt and Bozon both like cheesecake. Bozon likes French Silk pie. Bozon wants to blend cheesecake, french silk, and chicken mcnuggets (ew).
- Bozon doesn't want this E3 to exist next year.
- They move on to the "competition". Matt and Bozon like Turok, Uncharted, Burnout, Call of Duty 4, and Echochrome. Disappointed in Halo 3. Matt thought the Too Human trailer was "sweet". Rock Band owns Guitar Hero III. You can download entire albums for Rock Band. Matt and Bozon thought the RE5 trailer smoked the MGS4 trailer.Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/804/804922p1.html; http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7042059&postcount=1

[Hero-of-Time]

Cheers Pedro.

I really liked reading this part...

We may see a hardcore-focused event from Nintendo in a month or half or so.

Bring back SpaceWorld!!!

Seriously though I really think they need to do a Core gamer event just to let them know that the games they ( and myself ) are looking for are infact coming and that we havent been pushed aside for minigame collections and fitness games :)

Also about Bozon wanting E3 back to normal it seems he isnt the only one. A few journys and even developers ( Hideo Kojima ) have expressed their dislike for the new format.

Lastly I do think that they should show Smash Bros at its own mini event. The game is huge so letting everyone play it without any other distractions would be a great idea.

[jammy2211]

The part about another publisher getting the resurrected by another publisher. Surely this could be Kid Icarus being made on the Dead Phoenix engine by Capcom?

Or is it a historical reference? Hmmm.

[Maverick]

This Weeks, IGN Wii-k in Review:


Thanks man some good news there i believe nintendo was holding back on E3 on purpose so that microsoft and sony will show all of they cards.

Although none of what they say is promised reggie did say at the press conference that what they are showing here is only the beginning so i guess a lot is planned.

[pedrocasilva]

This weeks Wii-k in Review:

- Matt bitching about Prime's hype, wants 720p 16 x 9 movies of Metroid Prime 3 (what?). Matt thinks blasting an update out to all Wii owners isn't enough and Metroid should be something that sells Wii consoles (ignoring the fact that Wii is sold out everywhere). Matt's still begging Retro and NOA for a Prime 3 blog and trying to go down to Texas to check out the game. Allegedly they're getting the game this week.
- Matt and Bozon basically imply they caused the preview channel. (yeah right)
- Peer and the guys are basically begging for IGN-exclusive Prime 3/Brawl info. Peer trying to claim IGN gets more traffic than Nintendo's site, essentially.
- They hate the Smash Bros. Dojo site. They think more people would get their news from IGN so they complain you can't just search IGN to get information on Smash Bros, you have to go to another site than IGN and gamers will not want to do that. (Ignoring the fact that every day IGN copies and pastes the Dojo updates, steals their pictures, watermarks them, and claims them as their own.)
- Mario Strikers score may be dropped if online issues continue.
- Madden: More of the same. EA Nation online > Nintendo online. EA embargoed all ratings under 9. This game will be bit higher than last year's game.
- Tiger Woods plays better, not perfect.
- Quick talk about 3.0 system update.
- Neo-Geo VC support coming in 2007.
- A bunch more Western 3rd party games are coming to VC (Factor 5's old games)
- Matt pretty much says Factor 5 working on Wii game.
- IGN can't find Escape from Bug Island anywhere, going to have to order it online to review it.
- Matt's source confirmed Space Station Tycoon is cancelled
- 52:00: PC-style-God game being made by an established PC 3rd party is coming to Wii with a possible IGN update next Friday (not set in stone.)
- Matt says to look out for more Western Dev shooters
- Words 2 for the DS is great. Looks and plays well, has online wifi.
- Ninja Gaiden DS update coming monday. The game is really fun apparently. great controls.
- CoD4 for the DS is impressive. D-pad controls movement, stylus to look. Graphically better then Brother in Arms, steady framerate. AI teams, no wifi, but 4 person multiplayer.
- More Zak and Wiki talk.
-Speak about 2008. Mostly all speculation. Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Pikmin, etc. 1080 Snowboarding will probably be done with the Wii Fit board.
- Matt believes there will be 1080º from NST (since Hammer got put on hold)
- Boogie was originally an acting game.
-Game they were saying was going to be unveiled on Wii at E3 is coming in 2008, has been “miniaturized”.
- They’ll reveal a mature game soon if the developer doesn’t get a publisher. They claim that no one wants to publish it because they’re afraid no one will buy it on the Wii

The Emo sissy wants 720p videos of a game that runs at 480p from a preview service of a console who outputs 480p. Is he freakin stupid?

ROFL at their anti-smashdojo arguments, they must think they are Hitler and the universe revolves around them.

[Deathborn]

What a bunch of assholes!
I hope Nintendo will advertise all their big games through official sites or smaller ones. Maybe just give IGN exclusive informations on Wiifit.

[harribo]

But I bet IGN does get a lot more traffic than Nintendo's official sites.

[darksnowman]

But I bet IGN does get a lot more traffic than Nintendo's official sites.

Yeah, I like to visit IGN but I'm very rarely on the Smashbros site, for example. I get any info on it here or on IGN... or else, I'm not overly worried about it. :heh:


The thing though is... can Space Station Tycoon really be axed?? I thought it was shaping up very nicely and hadn't IGN some features on it pretty recently? :hmm:

[Hero-of-Time]

But I bet IGN does get a lot more traffic than Nintendo's official sites.

Agreed.

To be fair though I never go to IGN for news, I always use Eurogamer, Kotaku and Gonintendo.

[welsh_gamer]

Some of Factor 5's old games on the VC?? Hopefully this will mean some Star Wars and Indiana Jones games!

[pedrocasilva]

This wii-k's:

- They can't say much about Metroid Prime 3, but clearly they're very impressed. Been playing it pretty much non-stop. Contains scary portions. Very atmospheric.
- Bozon would love a Wii-fied collection of MP1+MP2 due to precision of the wiimote.
- Next week will provide blow-out coverage that will definitely please Metroid fans.
- Discuss plans for initial WiiWare titles (edutainment and puzzle games). Believe it's suitable given the memory restrictions. But are frustrated by lack of a hard drive for Wii (eg: prevents Metroid Prime 3 demo).
- Medal of Honour Heroes 2 - concerned that it'll be a port-up from PSP. Different dev team from Vanguard. Quite impressed by screens (WTF... WHY?) - big debate over whether they are using lots of AA. Devs seemed enthusiastic. No voice chat is disappointing given PSP version has it.
- Peer says 60fps FPS looks instantly more impressive, especially with great lighting and style - HINT TO METROID PRIME 3 if you didn't realise.
- Boogie has lots of style but has very little substance. Controls don't always work and aren't much fun at all.
- Madden - lacking some features but still a better game of Madden than 07. Feel they may have overrated 07 ("launch-itis"). Has too many glitches and bugs, but core game is superior to last year. 360>PS2>Wii>PS3.
- Escape from Bug Island - struggled big time to find it, but finally did. Last generation design meets last generation graphics. Poor man's Resident Evil with "not-scary bugs". Don't buy it.
- Pokemon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl - great choice - true to the Pokemon franchise. So much fan-service in the game.
- Tiger Woods cames the day after Metroid Prime 3. Controls are a little bit better than 07. Clearly still not impressed with EA's efforts for the franchise on Wii.
- Dewy's Adventure - they have it but haven't had the time to play it much (due to Metroid Prime 3).
- Mercury Meltdown Revolution - $20 and worth it.
- MySims - have to put more time in it than they have so far. Looks a lot like Harvest Moon but better, great style. Noy clunky but natural. Really centres on character customization, building stuff, creating your own town and giving it your own style.
- Endless Ocean - Matt finds it fun, enjoying his experience (playing Jap version). Contains tons of exploration which he likes. Can use SD cards to play MP3 in the game - good idea since the new-age music is very repetitive. Can poke, rub and feed fish. Bozon finds it odd how you just bounce off fish when you touch them.
- Perrin Kaplan Nintendo Minute editorial - internal people read IGN's article on lack of MP3 hype. Doing advertising but IGN don't know in what form.
- Luminous Arc - 7.8. Doesn't do anything amazing but solid stuff like FFT. Has online which is good.
- Madden 08 on DS has better online than the Wii version. Doesn't have voice chat which is disappointing. Has bugs and glitches that bring it down. 7.4.
- Rune Factor - 8.4. Very nice hand-drawn art. Would probably give it higher but Rune Factory 2 is coming out. Bozon thinks it is superior to Mana.
- Peer has been playing Brain Age 2 - enjoying it.
- Bioshock - gorgeous, plays awesome, very fun and atmospheric. Feeling of walking in an underwater city is fantastic. So many ideas put into game, truly creates a unique world.
- Wouldn't name a kid 2. Matt is leaning it to Number 3 instead of Number 1. Number 3 is a clean baby. Peer thinks Number 1 is like a new child, very fresh. Number 2 is somewhat old and boring. Number 3 is the prettiest child, much prettier with tons of bloom lighting. The best child of the 3.
- Leipzig coming up soon and will have some Wii stuff. Rockstar bringing Table Tennis and possibly other stuff. Nintendo going to be there showing off their wares. Manhunt 2 will not be there.
- Rate Bioshock very highly, hinted that they rate it around the same as Metroid Prime 3. Believe that it has the best chance of being GOTY right now, but not enough people have played Metroid which is also very awesome.
- Haven't played Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. Don't know how good it is yet. Comes out this holiday. Trying to get a copy but no luck yet. Should have Wii Sports appeal - should do well.
- Call of Duty 4 DS was nice. Should be excited for N-Space's Wii projects. Some snickering when he says this.
- THQ Rainbow Studio's game - ATV game. IGN has the exclusive in a few weeks.
- Peer thinks Super Monkey Ball got too high a score.
- Metroid Prime 3 shows the flaws in Metroid Prime 2 - looking back on it, Metroid Prime 2 should probably have been a couple of points lower, like 9.3.
- Mario Kart Wii will probably be more casual than some expect. Don't know about any unannounced Nintendo-developed hardcore titles, but do know about Nintendo-published titles developed by other parties. Some games that were initially very hardcore are now less so - hardcore title list may be thinning out.
- Battalion Wars expected to be at Leipzig - should be a big title for them to show off.
- Matt has seen some pretty games recently - "games we've just got" (like Metroid Prime 3 - is really happy with its looks).
- Contemplate reasons for Galaxy's superior visuals to other Wii titles - longer time with tech, the fact that the game's set in small areas, etc. (What smaller areas? stop acting like you know, look at draw distance and polygons wasted on curved worlds) Go back to Gamecube assets because they're working on true HD next-gen graphics. Bozon believes if there were Wii-dedicated studios (eg: like the Capcom RE4 team), would produce some great stuff.
- Matt thinks Animal Crossing will be coming out in 2008 and will be very similar to the DS/GCN versions. Expect it too look very similar with some Wii motion and some online components, but not as much as many would hope for.
- IGN don't expect much in the way of MMO's on Wii - not Nintendo's vision.
- Metroid Prime 3 looks fantastic on a widescreen set. Would put it visuals right next to Galaxy.
- Next week embargo lifts - embargoed on certain levels. Will soon release videos that truly show the game's visuals - much better than the compressed footage Nintendo is showing you. Will talk lots more about it in next week's podcast.Source: http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/813/813635p1.html

[DiemetriX]

Interesting :)

Mp3 scoring close to bioshock? <3 awesome

[Zelda_Rulez]

Good news about Prime 3. I'm expecting a 9.6 from them. The Animal Crossing part is a bit worrying. I was hoping that the game would have a lot more features and would really be a step up from the first ones. But they could be wrong too so...

[Nicktendo]

ign.com are idiots who pretend they know stuff in order to get more hits. Their reviews aren't that good, and their voices are extremely irtratating on the podcast especially that bloody woman.

[harribo]

ign.com are idiots who pretend they know stuff in order to get more hits. Their reviews aren't that good, and their voices are extremely irtratating on the podcast especially that bloody woman.

But they do know stuff.

[DiemetriX]

and Jess is hot...

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

- Wouldn't name a kid 2. Matt is leaning it to Number 3 instead of Number 1. Number 3 is a clean baby. Peer thinks Number 1 is like a new child, very fresh. Number 2 is somewhat old and boring. Number 3 is the prettiest child, much prettier with tons of bloom lighting. The best child of the 3.

And what does this mean? Kid Icarus 3???

Does it actually mean he wouldnt name his own kid the number 2???

[harribo]

And what does this mean? Kid Icarus 3???

Does it actually mean he wouldnt name his own kid the number 2???

Prime 1 is a new child as its very fresh, Prime 2 is the second child as its old and boring and Prime 3 is the third child which is much prettier with tons of bloom lighting.

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

Prime 1 is a new child as its very fresh, Prime 2 is the second child as its old and boring and Prime 3 is the third child which is much prettier with tons of bloom lighting.

Aha, of course.

[EchoDesiato]

and Jess is hot...

Yeah, but she wouldn't have gotten her job there if she wasn't. If it wasn't for that pic of her licking a PSP she wouldn't be working at IGN.

[seanraaron]

Wait, Mecury Meltdown is US$20 in North America? Isn't that thing going for £20+ here?!?

[Ashley]

Prime 1 is a new child as its very fresh, Prime 2 is the second child as its old and boring and Prime 3 is the third child which is much prettier with tons of bloom lighting.

I take offense to that. I am the second child of three and clearly the best.

[pedrocasilva]

This Wii-k's:

- Teases us a bit about MP3.... just cut to the chase.
- SWEET! Metroid Prime music and discussion.
- 12:01AM Sunday Night/Monday Morning Review. Review is done and waiting for embargo to lift.
- 2:08... Control “rocks.” Prime example of Wii first person controls to date.
- Advance Mode control option is the only mode you'll want to use...
- Matt still claims MP3 is a first-person adventure, but admits that the shooter aspect has “been upped a bit.”
- 5:21 MySims Wii and DS talk
- Wii game is very straight forward sims game. Not much detailed customization of character features... you pick a face, and it's that face; you can't change the eyes, mouth, etc.
- As you explore the MySims world, you can use qualities from certain objects (say, an apple) and apply them as textures to other objects (say, bed sheets)
Bozon was psyched about the game, but was a little disappointed after playing it. Still is fun.
- Load times suckkkk.
- 8:20 Tiger Woods discussion
- Better game, but not much different.
- Some controls don't work the way they should and the graphics are “assy.”
- 10:15 Manhunt 2 Discussion
- Comes out October 31st with M rating.
- Don't know how much different it will be from the original version. Rockstar hasn't commented on it yet.
- 10:35 NPD discussion
- Pokes fun at PS3 a bit. Nothing too interesting.
- 13:30 Zack and Wiki & RE:UC discussion
- Resident Evil is looking better. Seems to be surprised at how devs are making changes.
- Hands-on update next week of RE:UC and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2.
- Comment on how we may see ports from PS2 and PSP for quite a while.
- 16:15 Table Tennis Discussion
- Unfortunately, the game doesn't have 1:1 control. Waggle-fest.
- 17:55 Mario and Sonic Discussion
- Disappointed about how simple the game looks. Bozon's hype was completely shot. Presentation was also lacking, not much “cinematic flair”
- 19:20 Naruto: Clash of Ninja Discussion
- Seem surprised at how well the game is shaping up. Didn't expect much, but Matt says it's a pretty intense game. Way better than the GC games. Bigger cast, more levels, controls are pretty spot on. Not widescreen. Can be played with GC control, Classic controller, and Sideways Wiimote.
- Next week they'll be getting Forever Blue (Endless Ocean), Gundam 0079, Dewy's Adventure, and Guilty Gear.

- Matt thinks Free Radical will support Wii. Thinks many devs will switch from PS3 to Wii.
- They don't know whats going on with Bwii or Disaster Day of Crisis. Matt was almost positive Bwii would be at Leipzig.
- MP3 has some pretty tricky puzzles. Bozon and Matt hit a quite a few frustration roadblocks.
- Cassy doesn't like the Metroid commercial. Geared too much towards the casuals.
- 27:50 More Bwii talk... Why no headset? Thinks that there probably is one in the works.
- Again comments on a God-game coming to Wii. Details on this game and several other unmentioned games might be coming soon.
- Matt is pissed off at the Cruisin' screens.
- Mentions Halo/ Metroid comparisons are mainly in the cinematics. Still very “metroid.” No need to worry. They love the graphics. They can't stop coming back to how much they love Metroid. Can be controlled with simple hand movements; no need to dive behind couches.
- F-Zero in 2008? No way. Wave Race? Maybe.
- 37:00 Will devs be able to outdue MP3 controls? Eventually yes. Alludes to Free Radical being a “good candidate” to do this.
- 37:45 “If Retro were working on an HD system, they could make a game that surpasses anything on the market.”
- Brunswick Bowling sucks
- Developer for God-game will hopefully be announced soon.
- 47:00 Metroid Dread? Nothing they “can talk about YET.” Something cool will be shown on Monday Night. Bozon says it's “kind of a wink to the fans.” Says this is definitely not a confirmation that the game is coming. Just something cool.
- Factor 5 middleware Gamecube tools being ported over to Wii. Crytek has something in development for Wii.
- IGN is getting a lot of calls from Publishers to play games. A lot of Wii activity.
- Matt thinks that one of their competitor websites will score Metroid in the 8-8.5 range. There will probably be some 10s.Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/815/815695p1.html

[Cube]

- 16:15 Table Tennis Discussion
- Unfortunately, the game doesn't have 1:1 control.

Yes. Because what we all want is a game that around 2 people in the world can play.


- 37:45 “If Retro were working on an HD system, they could make a game that surpasses anything on the market.”

That's a load of BS. They don't need a HD system to do that.

Crytek has something in development for Wii.

Really? Their official statemnt was that they may make a Wii game in 3 or 4 years...

[Demuwan]

No Fzero :(

[Hero-of-Time]

No doubt it will be Gamespot who give out a lower score than everyone else.

[The-chosen-one]

nintendo should give exclusive information to n-europe ;)

the only gamesites i watch are gametrailers , n -europe , somethimes IGN but they have crap on informations , sometimes gamespot , and smashbrosdojo

[pedrocasilva]

No doubt it will be Gamespot who give out a lower score than everyone else.I'm thinking of the 1Up arseholes judging from their preview, actually.

Their point is that Metroid isn't Halo neither Bioshock while trying to sell them, so I don't think they'll give Metroid a 9.5, they'll tell you to buy those instead (assholes).

[Zelda_Rulez]

I'm thinking of the 1Up arseholes judging from their preview, actually.

Their point is that Metroid isn't Halo neither Bioshock while trying to sell them, so I don't think they'll give Metroid a 9.5, they'll tell you to buy those instead (assholes).

Yeah, it must be 1up, their preview said it all.

[Zechs Merquise]

Good to see that more developers are chosing Wii and I'm literally DELIGHTED to hear that RE:UC is starting to look greta and the Devs are really pulling it together - I predict this game will be delayed and improved.

I'm also VERY happy that Free Radical are working on Wii, please give us the best FPS EVER! Also the fact that they think a headset may come to BWii is encouraging.

As for the Metroid score... I think IGN will go for 9.6 or 9.7, maybe I'm wrong, it could even be more, I certainly hope so. However, I will be seriously pissed f anyone gives it 8 - 8.5, that would be seriously shite. I think if anyone does that it'll be a real kick in the teeth as you just know if it was on the 360 it'd be scoring high 90s from everyone due to HD graphics.

[Zelda_Rulez]

Good to see that more developers are chosing Wii

- Comment on how we may see ports from PS2 and PSP for quite a while.

I hope choosing for Wii will not equal this.

[darksnowman]

No Fzero :(

Yeah that stood out to me as well. I was hoping once we get Metroid outta the way maybe news about F-Zero would start to leak... perhaps not?

[Goron_3]

I wouldn't be surprised if IGN give Metroid above 9.5; they love the game, love the graphics and controls, so I don't think it'll score below.

1UP are actually a disgrace judging from their preview. Wouldn't be surprised if they only give it an 8.

Edit: I just finished listening to it and they said that Monday night there will be an update on metroid dread :)

[Tellyn]

nintendo should give exclusive information to n-europe ;)


If only... We do have a good relationship with Bplus though.

[pedrocasilva]

This Wii-k:

- Metroid Prime 3 = better than dual analog controls fact; hardcore game
- third parties are starting to wake up. Such as EA, which is making a game that capitalizes on Wii
- Zack and Wiki cool but they can't talk about it, Amazing game but nobody will probably buy
- RE:UC arcade mode better than main mode, camera issues, frame rate issues, slow moving, grainy, not very polished, but controls are good
- They don't believe RE4 Wii sales numbers they don't think it did that well
- Manhunt 2 next week maybe
- SMG graphics compared to power of Xbox (bullshit)
- LucasArts is being quiet and dumb
- MoH: Heroes is close to mouse and keyboard. Controls damn well
- Arcade mode in Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 is better than RE:UC
- RE:UC in-depth talk
- Pepsi > Coke
- The next Zelda game may star Zelda for the first time in the actual Zelda series
- The "God Game" is coming from a company that recently posted an ad for Wii developers
- My Sims is linear
- Want Zelda:PH to be played with DS held like a book
- Good exclusive stuff next week and stuff lined up until 2008
- Smash Bros FAQ launching tonight (http://wii.ign.com/articles/809/809868p1.html)Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/817/817269p1.html

There goes IGN again talking about what they don't know, but I won't comment further in hopes that it does spread like willfire like some stupid comments from them in the past did.

[killer kirby]

They can't help it, they need news. Now that MP3 is out they have nothing much to talk about. So all they can do is blabber on about shit

[Cube]

Longer summary


- Metroid Prime 3 is the best game on Wii - uses the Wii better than Zelda - the first game that people should buy for the console. Feels so smooth and dynamic. Not one of the games casuals can play - commercial doesn't represent this. Controls are fantastic - aiming is amazing, though turning is a little slow.
- Metroid has proved the power of the Wii controls - superior to dual-analogue ("totally oblitterates it"). Those who say otherwise simply aren't experienced with the wii remote.
- My Sims - enjoyable but linear. Need to turn a terrible town into a great one - build objects, paint things, fill houses. Doesn't feel like a completely open world - doesn't feel much like a social simulator, feels more like a building-simulator. Still fun, good style, feels like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing.
- Medal of Honor Heroes 2: expected the worst since it is a PSP port, but are actually pretty optimistic about it. About as pretty as Vanguard (worse lighting effects, but has a cleaner look). Runs at 60fps nearly all the time which benefits heaps. Lots of customization - can have it incredibly fast is you wish. Can even use Zapper. Online is just as customizable as single player and they don't believe it will share Madden 08's lag problems - reportedly maintains 60fps even with 32 players online.
- Controls are in some ways possibly better than Prime 3. Running needs to be faster - feels like "window-browsing" through the environments - feels like you're in duck mode the whole time. No sprint feature either, but hopefully it will be implemented.
- Lots of cool gameplay features, such as using the rumble and speaker when walking across the mine-field. Arcade mode is a bit shallow but still in some ways better than RE:UC even though its a secondary mode.
- Shows that some companies are starting to capatalize on Wii. Some handheld developers are actually excited to work on Wii due to the increase in power.
- Code Lyoko - based on the TV show. Can go into a computer world - can switch between 4 different characters with special moves. Can draw bridges with wii remote, can fly with both controllers, etc. However, it has control and camera issues. Still early and has some work ahead of it, hopefully these issues can be fixed since it looks quite promising.
- The Sims 2: Castaway has arrived in the office. Haven't played it yet. Not too optimistic since it's Sims 2 again, so it's likely very similar to Pets. Go with My Sims if you want a Sims game.
- Both played a little bit of the US version of Phantom Hourglass. Really well done on DS. Link feels really responsive, not sluggish at all. Stylus controls really intuitive. However, there are some issues. They believe it should be book-form since it doesn't use buttons and the traditional style of holding is less comfortable. Sometimes their wrist would get in the way of the action. However, they believe the game will be a huge success and deservedly so.
- Zack and Wiki - campaign is coming back "full force" since they've played more. It kicks ass. Just appears better and better. Puzzles are diverse - can borrow some ideas from former puzzles but it all still feels new. Puzzles can get crazy and really intelligent. Boss fights appear throughout the game, based on figuring out how to kill it. The game looks fantastic, similar to Wind Waker especially the water. Capcom seems more excited for Zack and Wiki than stuff like Devil May Cry 4. Game is awesome, but retailers and IGN doubt it will sell well. "Amazing game that nobody is going to buy." - buy it, especially if you want sequals.
- Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - still disappointing. Slow moving with sluggish framerate. Looks good but grainy. Shooting zombies doesn't feel dynamic - they don't have much reaction to shots. However, the aiming controls are precise and co-op works well. Knifing feels pretty cool but need zombies to be close enough which is difficult. Camera is too mechanical. Shooting snakes didn't work well because it's difficult to tell if the snakes are dead due to visuals and animation. Game isn't context-sensitive enough and reactions are poor and inconsistent. There's still time but they're not confident, needs a lot of work.
- Rumours of 750,000 RE4:Wii sales are likely not true. However game has still sold well, possibly better than expectations. Capcom shouldn't base support on whether Umbrella Chronicles sells. Frustrated by Capcom's belief that Wii players couldn't handle a game like Resident Evil 4.
- Worms: Space Oddity announced for Wii from THQ and developed by Team-17. Has a space theme going on. Lots of customization options and Wii controls. Has online as well. Worms DS is really fun so they've got very high hopes for the Wii version. Will have coverage on the game next week - screens and tons of new info.
- New editorial coming out about lack of headset for Wii. Nintendo has no excuses. It's
- Haven't played the import games (Dewy, Endless Ocean, Gundum, Guilty Gear) yet as they have been too busy. Will cover them next week.
- Manhunt 2 - on Friday will possibly be able to bring you coverage on the new version. Will be able to play it, and perhaps show screens and video. Will detail difference from AO version.
- Super Smash Bros. FAQ up tonight. Allows them to speculate on rumours which official update site cannot do.
- Believe 3rd party A teams will start working on Wii once 3rd party games start selling great on Wii. Right now they're not doing so well (except Resident Evil 4). Expect an onslaught of crap, like PS2 had, due to the incredible sales of Wii.
- Don't expect to see Brawl at TGS - instead expect to see a single event dedicated to the game.
- Believe pro-scan and widescreen should be compulsory.
- Red Steel 2 - definitely coming, expect to hear more on it very soon. Don't think Ubisoft will ignore the poor reviews. Expect them to focus on fixing the controls, which is vital since because Prime 3 came out, they would probably give Red Steel a 3 or 4 if it came out today.
- The Eidos game is not the "God Game" that IGN have been talking about.
- Believe Metroid Prime 3 could be done on Xbox even though the game's visuals are highly satisfying. Believe Super Mario Galaxy could also be done on Xbox. The nature of the environments means that a lot of great effects can be done.
- Believe Halo 3's controls show the strengths of the wiimote.
- Lucas Arts are being very quiet on the Wii front. That "lightsaber" game for 2007 is just Lego Star Wars, and it's basically just gesturing for a button press.
- Guitar Hero 3 Wii - online multiplayer will be the extent of your online experience.
- Pespi>Coke.

I wouldn't argue about MP3 and Galaxy using the power an Xbox does. That'll just prove that Nintendo are using efficient graphics. Rather than lazy graphics and wasting polygons and power. (For the clearest example of "efficient" graphics - look as SM63DS. Mario looks a lot better, but is in fact lower poly than the original)

[Zelda_Rulez]

- Believe 3rd party A teams will start working on Wii once 3rd party games start selling great on Wii. Right now they're not doing so well (except Resident Evil 4). Expect an onslaught of crap, like PS2 had, due to the incredible sales of Wii.


I thought 3rd parties were doing quite well on Wii. Just look at Red Steel, Rayman and Trauma Center for example.

[Zechs Merquise]

Sad about RE:UC especially after they said it had improved loads last month.

[pedrocasilva]

- Believe Metroid Prime 3 could be done on Xbox even though the game's visuals are highly satisfying. Believe Super Mario Galaxy could also be done on Xbox. The nature of the environments means that a lot of great effects can be done.What a BULLSHIT!

Xbox couldn't even handle Metroid Prime 1 polycounts at 60 frames, everyone in the industry should know that (or at least have that idea from playing the game); Xbox couldn't do 15 million polygons at 60 frames because GC had the edge with that; now... a game like Prime 3? It's tottaly in another league and still at 60 frames, that's why I say these guys are tottally third rate, arseholes. They look for flashy exagerated headlines and end up saying shit.

And what Mario Galaxy is doing on CPU alone is leaps and bounds from Xbox, let alone the rest of the game; frickin pricks.

[Retro_Link]

- Rumours of 750,000 RE4:Wii sales are likely not true. However game has still sold well, possibly better than expectations.I don't see why Capcom would lie about it!

Also I think the figure is 750,000 shipped not necessarily all sold yet,

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14329

Capcom sets another milestone for its survival-horror masterpiece.

At the same time Capcom announced it would be publishing Wii Love Golf for Camelot, the granddaddy publisher also revealed that it has shipped out 750,000 copies of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition to retailers worldwide. This is an impressive figure, considering that it's only been available for about three months.

What's more telling, however, is that it may be selling faster than the GameCube original. Six months after RE4 shipped on GameCube, Capcom reported North American sales at half a million. Sales from the other major gaming regions would have obviously put that figure higher at the time, perhaps as high as around 750k units. If that speculative sum was accurate, then the Wii version is selling twice as fast as the GameCube version, despite it being almost three years late to the game.

Was the GameCube in that bad of shape at the time? Or is the game really that good? If you've got an explanation for this phenomenon, we'd love to hear it in Talkback.

[Hellfire]

MP3 and Mario on XBOX?
Oh my God these guys don't know SHIT. I mean, c'mon this is freaking ridiculous, what dumbasses.
Also, Phantom Hourglass bookstyle? Idiots, the shoulder buttons are very useful to use items if it was bookstyle you couldn't use them.

[Mikey]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/14/fifa-08-wii-mii-supported-party-games-dev-equates-wii-power-to/

This comes straight from a developer.

[pedrocasilva]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/14/fifa-08-wii-mii-supported-party-games-dev-equates-wii-power-to/

This comes straight from a developer.Yes because EA is taking the same out of Wii as Nintendo is, they really push their systems :indeed: it's just like that Ubisoft team who said Wii doesn't even do shaders; they simply don't know the hardware they're working, simple as that (and sometimes use that as a excuse). We have more real information than that and like referenced... they (IGN) just said a lot of bullshit, because it's simply not true; couldn't be done full stop.

Fact is that MPrime 1 had polycounts above those of any Xbox title at 60 frames, so in reality... couldn't be done on one, not as it was; suggesting prime 3 would run on Xbox is not only a mouthfull, it's worth a laugh; credibility zero, just something tossed in the air by a noob.

[Cube]

Fact is that MPrime 1 had polycounts above those of any Xbox title at 60 frames, so in reality...

How do you know what the polycounts are? It could be that Retro's models are well-made, and just look like they are higher poly than models from other developers.

[pedrocasilva]

How do you know what the polycounts are? It could be that Retro's models are well-made, and just look like they are higher poly than models from other developers.Because that kind of measure was still used last gen and thus that info was released, MPrime 1 and 2 are 15 million polygon games who ran at 60 frames.

Just like we know for Factor 5 games actually... And a bunch of other titles.

GC actually had the edge when it came to textured polygons, because it was more efficient than Xbox when applying them, because when it came to RAW polygons (without texturing) Xbox would have the edge, of course you hardly use those in the game. In reality GC had games who doubled the maximum xbox did in that area, so yeah.

Different architectures different strengths if you will, but this said it really capitalized on GC's strengths to the point of not being doable on Xbox (just like Halo 2 wouldn't be possible on GC mainly due to RAM limitations), suggesting Prime 3 who is a upgrade on all fronts could run on Xbox is delusional.

[Hellfire]

They just look at clockspeed and say "oh, it's like XBOX, so it'as as powerfu as an XBOX." This comparison is completly ridiculous on two different architectures.

[Goron_3]

MP3 and Mario on XBOX?
Oh my God these guys don't know SHIT. I mean, c'mon this is freaking ridiculous, what dumbasses.
Also, Phantom Hourglass bookstyle? Idiots, the shoulder buttons are very useful to use items if it was bookstyle you couldn't use them.

If the game was bookstyle it would be perfect. All they'd have to do is have a message that says 'Turn DS sideways' for boss battles.

Also, drop what they said about graphics. Every week matt and bozon say they love the graphics on Wii and they think it looks great; they don't care it's underpowered. Grow up people; you act like they're taking the piss out of the console.

[Hellfire]

If the game was bookstyle it would be perfect. All they'd have to do is have a message that says 'Turn DS sideways' for boss battles.

Also, drop what they said about graphics. Every week matt and bozon say they love the graphics on Wii and they think it looks great; they don't care it's underpowered. Grow up people; you act like they're taking the piss out of the console.

Having played the game I really have to say it wouldn't be perfect bookstyle it's much better like this.

Also it's not wether we care or not, the problem is, it's one of the most read sites in the world and they're incredibely uninformed and ignorant which leads to misinformation and more ignorance. Like we didn't have enough of that already.

[Goron_3]

Having played the game I really have to say it wouldn't be perfect bookstyle it's much better like this.

Also it's not wether we care or not, the problem is, it's one of the most read sites in the world and they're incredibely uninformed and ignorant which leads to misinformation and more ignorance. Like we didn't have enough of that already.

Surely if Prime and Galaxy were dumbed down like Resi 4 was for PS2 they could be on xbox.

And when you say they show misinformation, care to give an example?

[Retro_Link]

Surely if Prime and Galaxy were dumbed down like Resi 4 was for PS2 they could be on xbox.They aren't talking about dumbed down versions though are they? They're saying they could have been done in their current Wii form on Xbox!

[Mikey]

Who really cares either way? I don't care about how powerful the Wii is, the only thing that bothers me is when devs don't push a console and port old games with no graphical upgrades at all. Like Twilight Princess and Resi 4 Wii Edition.

Am I the only one who is far more impressed by seeing how much a developer can get out of a console than seeing better looking games on a more powerful console which don't push the unit?

[Noku]

Who really cares either way? I don't care about how powerful the Wii is, the only thing that bothers me is when devs don't push a console and port old games with no graphical upgrades at all. Like Twilight Princess and Resi 4 Wii Edition.

Am I the only one who is far more impressed by seeing how much a developer can get out of a console than seeing better looking games on a more powerful console which don't push the unit?

Correct me if I'm wrong (Pedro), but I think Resi 4 did have advantages over the GC version (graphically). Doesn't it do 16:9?

And no, you're not the only one :)

But I probably am the only one who thinks the Wii-graphics don't look half-bad. I see the hyper-realism of the 360 and especially the PS3, and all I can think about is "too bad they don't have that Nintendo-interface."
But indeed, that lack of energy coming from some 3rd parties is just appalling.

[Hellfire]

Surely if Prime and Galaxy were dumbed down like Resi 4 was for PS2 they could be on xbox.

And when you say they show misinformation, care to give an example?

Dumbing down Prime and Galaxy to work on Xbox would be a tremendous effort which would probably result in completly different games. Although RE4 is breathtaking it doesn't feature any thing that was impossible for last gen, for example, they reused lots of assets, the pallete is all very brown and most textures suck up close. But, redoing textures, reducing polygons, removing most of the lighting and physics and handling FOV and the number of things on screen to port MP3 or Galaxy would be basically making a game from scratch.

Misinformation? Hell, they make lots of mistakes when it comes to game features and history and whenever they talk hardware they're talking out of their asses.

[...]

Ok, I don't know much about graphics from a developer's point of view, but I believe that the Wii is much more powerful than the average Joe Blow thinks/says it is. Everyone knows what Factor 5 did with the gamecube FIVE years ago and that no one else actually did it.

Now, why don't devs know how to work on the GC and Wii's architectures? Shouldn't it be Nintendo's responsability, and in their best interests, to teach devs how to do it? A few devs have made their thoughts public about what they think are Wii's weaknesses. Now, if they are wrong (and I believe they are) why don't Nintendo just say so and take them into some seminars and teach them how to maximize Wii? Afterall, isn't it in Nintendo's best interest that everyone out there should know how to program for their hardware? Isn't it their job to educate 3rd parties, to guide them by the hand?

These are all honest questions, I'd appreciate an honest reply rather than sarcasm, thank you. :)

[Cube]

But I probably am the only one who thinks the Wii-graphics don't look half-bad.

You're not the only one. I want games that are easy on the eye. Nothing more.

[Retro_Link]

Ok, I don't know much about graphics from a developer's point of view, but I believe that the Wii is much more powerful than the average Joe Blow thinks/says it is. Everyone knows what Factor 5 did with the gamecube FIVE years ago and that no one else actually did it.

Now, why don't devs know how to work on the GC and Wii's architectures? Shouldn't it be Nintendo's responsability, and in their best interests, to teach devs how to do it? A few devs have made their thoughts public about what they think are Wii's weaknesses. Now, if they are wrong (and I believe they are) why don't Nintendo just say so and take them into some seminars and teach them how to maximize Wii? Afterall, isn't it in Nintendo's best interest that everyone out there should know how to program for their hardware? Isn't it their job to educate 3rd parties, to guide them by the hand?

These are all honest questions, I'd appreciate an honest reply rather than sarcasm, thank you. :)I wouldn't say no other devs pushed the GC, Capcom did with it's Resi games, Rare did with Starfox Adventures etc... but yes I get what you're saying!

Yeah I think it is up to Nintendo in some ways to motivate third parties, and hopefully the fantastic looking 1st party games will show to other developers and to the public just what the Wii is capable of and so general expectations will rise!

However, I think one problem the Wii has was revealed by Ubisoft the other day when they said they are using the profits they can make on Wii to fund their larger projects...
It just shows that a number of developers are lazy! and if they see they can make a good bit of profit from games with short dev. times or from quick ports, they will do!
The problem is these types of games are currently selling on Wii because of the wide range of people currently buying the console. Developers are getting games out quickly to capitalise on the Wii uptake!

Maybe once the Wii userbase stabalises more and the console clearly establishes itself as the front runner, those developer will dedicate more time to Wii games!

But I probably am the only one who thinks the Wii-graphics don't look half-bad. I see the hyper-realism of the 360 and especially the PS3, and all I can think about is "too bad they don't have that Nintendo-interface."
But indeed, that lack of energy coming from some 3rd parties is just appalling.I agree!
I think Wii Sports looks fantastic! and the likes of Metroid, Mario and SSBB are just awesome!

The 360 and PS3 sometimes look like they are overcomplicating things, as though they are striving for a level of photorealism that in actuality doesn't quite exist yet!
I'd much rather have gameplay and a great art style over flash graphics!

However it's incredible frustrating when we know what the Wii is capable of a third parties still have the nerve to delivering the likes of Cruis'n!!
It's those times when you look at third party efforts on the 360 and PS3 and just think *sigh*!

[Mikey]

I'm with 'Cube on this. I don't really care that much for HDR lighting and other stuff like that. Games which are clean, and crisp appeal to me more.

Galaxy looks like this, and I think it looks stunning because of it.

[...]

Yeah, Rare have a history of knowing Nintendo's systems as well as Nintendo themselves. ;)

[Mikey]

Rare were much better than Nintendo when it came to getting amazing graphics out of a system.

[pedrocasilva]

Every week matt and bozon say they love the graphics on Wii and they think it looks great; they don't care it's underpowered. Grow up people; you act like they're taking the piss out of the console.If they do why do they still go out of their path commenting how it could be done on Xbox? they are doing Wii a disservice.

Of all consoles this gen we are the ones that don't need this kind of comments, specially when they have no reason to be made.

For the record I don't consider Wii weak for what it is, so I really dislike this misleading titles, it's giving X360/PS3 fans fuel to the flame "see wii doesn't beat Xbox" kind of stuff... And it's simply not true.Surely if Prime and Galaxy were dumbed down like Resi 4 was for PS2 they could be on xbox.

And when you say they show misinformation, care to give an example?Thing is... we're talking about exclusive games who pushed the hardware, so even last gen a port to other platform would suffer; for example... Metroid Prime 1/2, yeah could be done dumbed down when it came to geometry and locked at 30 frames... But same for Halo 2 on GC if we go by those standards (except then, we'd probably have a dumbed down version when it came to textures due to RAM constraints, but running easily at 60 frames whereas on Xbox it's 30 frames).

Neither would be ideal, and if we set to push either with both versions... We'd end up with different games.

But when it comes to Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3... And we realize GC's handycaps (like lack of RAM) have been resolved and even upped beyond Xbox 1... No, it's not even doable anymore, doesn't make sense to realisticaly suggest that.Who really cares either way? I don't care about how powerful the Wii is, the only thing that bothers me is when devs don't push a console and port old games with no graphical upgrades at all. Like Twilight Princess and Resi 4 Wii Edition.

Am I the only one who is far more impressed by seeing how much a developer can get out of a console than seeing better looking games on a more powerful console which don't push the unit?I do care when I know they're wrong.

I agree with you, thouh. What I like to see most in consoles is games pushing hardware boundaries.Correct me if I'm wrong (Pedro), but I think Resi 4 did have advantages over the GC version (graphically). Doesn't it do 16:9?Wii versus GC version?

Pretty marginal ones, they pretty much just trown the code in the console, but still zones where the game had framerate hickups should be fine (kinda like with zelda tp gc/wii)

Real anamorphic 16:9 could be done on GC, it just wasn't, and to my knowledge (I still don't have the game) the game's internal resolution wasn't bumped when compared to the original. (I might be wrong on this one, just something I've heard as of now)Rare were much better than Nintendo when it came to getting amazing graphics out of a system.Different philosophies I think, Nintendo always goes for sustainable framerates and doesn't overly detail stuff; I've never seen, for example a polygon pusher coming from them... But I've constantly seen games coming from them that push the system reasonably all around...

Rareware often had N64 games with almost constant slowdown, they were awesome graphically, but where also paying a price for that... It's just that rareware though it was worth it for that little extra.

Zelda OoT was always kind of a environment pusher for me because of that, it's not like Nintendo didn't knew how to do the same stuff, more like they didn't want to make that many compromises and therefore going with something in the middle; kinda balanced.

Actually, same for Retro Studios, imagine they were using the Metroid Prime 3 engine locked at 30 frames? ;)

[jammy2211]

It's all well and good saying Nintendo should be telling third parties how to unlock the best in their system, how to do all these graphical techniques and stuff, but the truth is, are any of them actually going to listen?

I mean, at the moment alot of them all seem keen on the mentality that a Wii game can be made on the lowest budget possible and graphics can be forgotten as important, which well, is probably correct looking at sales. I'm pretty sure people like EA and Ubisoft don't care if their games don't look as good as Nintendo's, provided they can cut their developement spans and costs in half by doing so.

However, the Wii is really starting to build up a third party library of good games, many of which use great and vivid art styles, the sort of which I've really been hoping to see. I think we're seeing some third parties step up and be ready to compete, while others still try and flog the visuals in games like Nitro Bike and Cruis'n.

I think by the start of early 2008 the competition will be too much for games which are clearly a rushed cash in. Much praise to companies like THQ, Capcom, EA (sort of), Grasshopper, Konami and Square Enix who are stepping up their Wii budgets already. (there's quite a few more too, mind you.)

[...]

Real anamorphic 16:9 could be done on GC

But of course, GoldenEye did it on the N64.

[DCK]

It's all well and good saying Nintendo should be telling third parties how to unlock the best in their system, how to do all these graphical techniques and stuff, but the truth is, are any of them actually going to listen?Technically speaking, I think developers know everything required to make Mario Galaxy-grade visuals; they are just not skilled with the system. There are many Wii and GameCube ports that are completely stripped from lighting effects because developers can't use the Wii's alternative shaders, for example. The documentation should be there (seeing Dewy's Adventure), but as no-one has an online tutorial for it like with the DirectX Shading Language, they don't try.

Secondly, the Wii has a big problem that the middleware a lot of developers use (ready made engines and the likes) are not optimised for Wii but for GameCube or PS2 instead. Many popular middleware engines like Gamebryo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamebryo) and Renderware (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renderware) don't even have a Wii implementation; the GameCube implementation runs directly on Wii.

[harribo]

I like how IGN are always wrong and evil.

[pedrocasilva]

I like how IGN are always wrong and evil.I wouldn't say always, they have good informers and such, when it comes to games it is what it is (unless Matt talks Halo DS), they just suck when they go taking conclusions themselves on hardware issues, because they don't really know what they're talking about, but think they do..

[darksnowman]

I like how IGN are always wrong and evil.

Its a dilemma, cos I like IGN and I like Pedro too...

[Gizmo]

<3 IGN.The shit stirrers that they are.

[James McGeachie]

What I find funny now is how you guys always pick IGN up for the specs thing, when virtually every other big gaming site does the exact same thing, yet they talk about it in a far more negative view than Matt or Bozon ever do.

Pedro unless you ever get Wii hardware yourself and make a game with it that surpasses anything on the Xbox by far I'd like to think you fall under how you just described IGN. After all for all the facts and figures you spew, matter is unless you've got the hardware and test it yourself, you're as "in the know" as they are.

[DCK]

IGN presents wrong facts out of sheer arrogance. The editors don't know hardware, but think they do. Examples are the comparing of Wii and Xbox clock speeds and 'Wii can't do normal mapping'. They're great at games, but they're not at hardware reports.

Pedro's conclusions are based on open knowledge, and they make more sense than the proven limited knowledge Bozon and Cassamina have.

[pedrocasilva]

What I find funny now is how you guys always pick IGN up for the specs thing, when virtually every other big gaming site does the exact same thing, yet they talk about it in a far more negative view than Matt or Bozon ever do.I don't see them (big gaming sites) speaking out of their asses on how Mario Galaxy could be done on Xbox, that's something I don't even expect from a dedicated xbox website.

It's not me that picks on them, but when they say what they did... They need to be corrected before public assumes it to be as is.

Basically they think that, because they have sources and status in the gaming sites business they have credibility to give their own opinions about the matter and they'll be credible as well... Thing is... they don't; even if the source is credible (Wii final specs for example)... that's the source, not them.

We are always going to square one with this one, but when IGN says; "according to our sources Wii's CPU performance is double that of GC" (something like that), that's already the same as stating it has more than double the power Xbox had in that area, yet then they look at the MHz and sprout "souped up Xbox"... That's the kind of confusion they did, and it's simply wrong.

They're game reviewers, not tech freaks, and quite simply... Half of the times they end up saying something silly or untrue. I'm not saying they have ill intentions, but I'm saying they should keep their mouth shut, because it's hard to clear their misunderstandings. And Wii is the platform on the market that doesn't need comments like that at all... We know Wii is not comparable to X360 and PS3, but the Xbox comments... are just pissing all over it and dragging it under.Pedro unless you ever get Wii hardware yourself and make a game with it that surpasses anything on the Xbox by far I'd like to think you fall under how you just described IGN. After all for all the facts and figures you spew, matter is unless you've got the hardware and test it yourself, you're as "in the know" as they are.I don't need to prove it myself (doing a game who surpasses Xbox) as I've have given facts in the past, polycounts comparisons and even interviews with guys who pushed the cube architecture and are third party, whether you want to believe them or EA... It's your call.

In the end of the day... We're talking about two Wii exclusives here, who couldn't, no matter what... be done on Xbox; and we won't even argue they could have a source on this one, they're simply toying with the idea and convincing themselves that's the case. And... It's simply untrue.

[Goron_3]

well tbh after listening to it, the way they say it it sounds to me that they are just making a point by saying it (as in, we know its not as powerful as Ps3, but you shouldn't care).

I don't see why people give em stick considering they stuck up for the Wii during every podcast featuring Peer seeing as all he says is 'it can be done on Cube'.

[Meo]

What I find funny now is how you guys always pick IGN up for the specs thing, when virtually every other big gaming site does the exact same thing, yet they talk about it in a far more negative view than Matt or Bozon ever do.

Pedro unless you ever get Wii hardware yourself and make a game with it that surpasses anything on the Xbox by far I'd like to think you fall under how you just described IGN. After all for all the facts and figures you spew, matter is unless you've got the hardware and test it yourself, you're as "in the know" as they are.

True, its very easy to pick IGN, and the reason is very simple. Other media outlets have come to accept the machine (well, most of them) for what it is. Matt on the other hand, trying to show himself not biased/fanboy, still continues the bashing. And that's fine by me, bitching about graphics is a good thing specially when it brings it to the attention of the developers. But the problem is he doesn't stop there, he actually adventures himself in a realm he doesn't understand; the technical one. And the bullshit rolls from there on, even when he is proven wrong by developers.

"Spewing" facts and figures isn't the wrong atitude, because they are supported by real world facts and numbers; making outlandish remarks is.

And believing developers who have never worked on the platform until now; developers who don't know that a shader is a glorified name for combiners and can pretty much be achieved in any (fairly) recent hardware; is just as bad.

EDIT: beaten.

[Hellfire]

Pedro unless you ever get Wii hardware yourself and make a game with it that surpasses anything on the Xbox by far I'd like to think you fall under how you just described IGN. After all for all the facts and figures you spew, matter is unless you've got the hardware and test it yourself, you're as "in the know" as they are.
You mean something like this
http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/803/803385/super-mario-galaxy-20070711110616131.jpg

or this

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/815/815424/metroid-prime-3-corruption-20070824012355081.jpg

It's a FACT that the XBOX couldn't do Metroid Prime 1 how the hell could he do 3? That's ridiculous.

And we're talking about IGN, bexause this is an IGN thread, it's as simple as that.

[pedrocasilva]

^ And images don't do them enough justice, Mario Galaxy is pretty hard to judge just how much stuff is going on by screenshots alone and the latter Metroid Prime 3 one is heavily compressed. (and runs at 60 frames, something that can't be translated into a screenshot)well tbh after listening to it, the way they say it it sounds to me that they are just making a point by saying it (as in, we know its not as powerful as Ps3, but you shouldn't care).Didn't hear the podcast, but that's more bearable... Still it's their habit of going after a flashy headline, we get it it's no X360/PS3 (we got it ages ago) but the way it put it, it's bad.

[Mikey]

I really don't know about tech specs much. I admit it, I'm ignorant, but what I want to know is, is the Wii really capable of doing graphics noticibly better than the GameCube while also supporting widescreen? Because really, I'd be happy with just cleaned up GC graphics with widescreen support.

[pedrocasilva]

I really don't know about tech specs much. I admit it, I'm ignorant, but what I want to know is, is the Wii really capable of doing graphics noticibly better than the GameCube while also supporting widescreen? Because really, I'd be happy with just cleaned up GC graphics with widescreen support.It is, problem for some, is that it won't turn GC games horrible by comparison... Other brands felt obliged to go into HD for a reason, you can push, say... double the polygons in Standard Definition and if the object look was already rounded... well it's only a improvement, not miles and bounds better; however if you bumped the resolution it would be instantly crispier, so it's easier to make a difference from last gen.

No Wii game will embarass RE4 on GC (and others), just like IMO high-end gamecube/xbox can still hold their own as good graphics, but we can perfect it, with better textures, widescreen, more enemies/polygons on screen... you name it, the hardware is simply better while proposing to do the same. So in that sense it's not unpowered; that's the way I like to think of it, it has a higher ceiling when used right, meaning you can do more.

[Mikey]

To explain myself better. In Twilight Princess for example some areas look better than others. The Castle Town looks stunning, while some parts, like certain areas of Hyrule Field, look significantly worse because of it's size. Is the Wii basically powerful enough to make games like TP look as good as the Castle Town all the way through?

[Cube]

No Wii game will embarass RE4 on GC

That's because the GameCube technically couldn't handle RE4. It runs at a lower resolution to account for that.

[pedrocasilva]

To explain myself better. In Twilight Princess for example some areas look better than others. The Castle Town looks stunning, while some parts, like certain areas of Hyrule Field, look significantly worse because of it's size. Is the Wii basically powerful enough to make games like TP look as good as the Castle Town all the way through?In Twilight Princess case should be, in Hyrule Field graphics tend to be worse not only because of the bigger areas and lack of RAM, but also because Nintendo gave up a whole texture pipeline out of 4 in order to do the clouds moving in the area; Wii has 8 pipelines so even if they do it again, visually the price to pay will be significantly lower.

I don't think Castle Town looks that great though, the characters and the scenario is not that high in polycounts, but it certainly has life to it. Anyway I believe good graphics nowadays require more time and attention to detail than RAW power so with the limitations you talked about out of the day, and they mostly are, the graphics can maintain and surpass the level you suggested, instead of going under.

[Cube]

In Twilight Princess case should be, in Hyrule Field graphics tend to be worse not only because of the bigger areas and lack of RAM, but also because Nintendo gave up a whole texture pipeline out of 4 in order to do the clouds moving in the area; Wii has 8 pipelines so even if they do it again, visually the price to pay will be significantly lower.

Nintendo need to steel code from Star Fox Adventures. The grass, in particular.

[pedrocasilva]

Nintendo need to steel code from Star Fox Adventures. The grass, in particular.They should know exactly how to do it, they just don't want to, but I agree, that would be a relatively inexpensive (and intelligent) way of making the grass in Zelda looking loads better.

[Mikey]

Nintendo would never do it, but they should totally lease the SFA engine from Rare, and upgrade certain parts of it for Zelda. It had widescreen support in it as well, despite all of the graphical effects. Great looking game, even by today's standards.

They should know exactly how to do it, they just don't want to, but I agree, that would be a relatively inexpensive (and intelligent) way of making the grass in Zelda looking loads better.

Not necessarily. I think I read somewhere about how Nintendo said the graphics in Donkey Kong Country for the Snes weren't possible, but Rare proved them wrong. Rare are masters at getting everything out of a console. I'd bet my ass if they were making Wii games, they could get some of their titles almost 360 quality. Look at their N64 games like Perfect Dark, and Conkers. They looked better than some of my Dreamcast games!

[pedrocasilva]

Nintendo would never do it, but they should totally lease the SFA engine from Rare, and upgrade certain parts of it for Zelda. It had widescreen support in it as well, despite all of the graphical effects. Great looking game, even by today's standards.I thought it was great technically, but a little bland when it came to some environments and artistic direction. I wouldn't wish Nintendo used their engine, but definitely take some ideas, a Zelda engine could benefit from having the best of both.Not necessarily. I think I read somewhere about how Nintendo said the graphics in Donkey Kong Country for the Snes weren't possible, but Rare proved them wrong. Rare are masters at getting everything out of a console. I'd bet my ass if they were making Wii games, they could get some of their titles almost 360 quality. Look at their N64 games like Perfect Dark, and Conkers. They looked better than some of my Dreamcast games!I don't know about that, but DKC was only possible thanks for Nintendo paying Rareware the CGI stations, as it certainly wouldn't be possible without them. They didn't buy them expecting nothing, although I'd believe DKC was better than they envisioned, because I believe that was the first time it was made.

Nintendo was testing the same back then, considering Yoshi Island was supposed to be like it, until Miyamoto opted out.

But IMO, DKC games are nothing compared with what they technically did on the N64.

Rare are pretty hard working when it comes to pushing the graphical envelope, problem is that leading personal came out and they kinda lost their edge to good games, longer development times and average games that with the founders ultimatum made Nintendo sell them. One of the reasons starfox adventures looks so good is supposedly because it was almost stalled lots of times because rareware would finish their funds and ask Nintendo for more. These times with lesser funds allowed them to polish what they have. (the way I see it)

No doubt they'd be pushing some of the best visuals on the Wii, but it's N64 Rare that I miss, not GC/Xbox one.

[Mikey]

I thought it was great technically, but a little bland when it came to some environments and artistic direction. I wouldn't wish Nintendo used their engine, but definitely take some ideas, a Zelda engine could benefit from having the best of both.I don't know about that, but DKC was only possible thanks for Nintendo paying Rareware the CGI stations, as it certainly wouldn't be possible without them. They didn't buy them expecting nothing, although I'd believe DKC was better than they envisioned, because I believe that was the first time it was made.

Nintendo was testing the same back then, considering Yoshi Island was supposed to be like it, until Miyamoto opted out.

But IMO, DKC games are nothing compared with what they technically did on the N64.

Rare are pretty hard working when it comes to pushing the graphical envelope, problem is that leading personal came out and they kinda lost their edge to good games, longer development times and average games that with the founders ultimatum made Nintendo sell them. One of the reasons starfox adventures looks so good is supposedly because it was almost stalled lots of times because rareware would finish their funds and ask Nintendo for more. These times with lesser funds allowed them to polish what they have. (the way I see it)

No doubt they'd be pushing some of the best visuals on the Wii, but it's N64 Rare that I miss, not GC/Xbox one.

The only part of SFA which wasn't amazing, was the lighting. it was bog standard stuff. This is why I said Nintendo should lease it, but also modify it as well. A Zelda using the SFA engine, with Twilight Princess lighting, and Twilight's art direction would be amazing.

As for DKC, I was only going by what I read a while ago. Take it with a pinch of salt.

And yes, I do not miss the GC/Xbox Rare at all either. Nintendo did right to sell them.

[DCK]

Hmmm, I think this discussion is rather hypothetical... Graphics design is more complex than occupying texture pipes (the difference between Hyrule Field and the Castle Town is more than just the clouds) and the rendering technique of the grass (the power used for that will cause sacrifices in other areas).

Anyway, you made a good point last page Pedro - Wii games will never really outshine the best Xbox and GameCube games, but that doesn't mean it can't make far better graphics. To be honest, the 'Mario on Xbox' statement isn't that far out as some of you make it to be; the game's core processing (polygon/textures) itself doesn't seem extraordinary more advanced than what was possible on GameCube or Xbox. What sets Mario, and to a somewhat lesser extent Metroid, apart from last-gen is the beautiful use of bloom lighting, something that was too heavy for the last generation consoles. Take that away, and the game is not a very advanced game. Mario on Xbox is unthinkable, but not completely impossible.

That nice shader upgrade is a very nice addition to the hardware, and I'm really looking forward to see a Wii-made Zelda making use of that.

Also Pedro, what's you source on the 8 texture pipes in the Hollywood as opposed to the 4 texture pipes in the Flipper?

[pedrocasilva]

Hmmm, I think this discussion is rather hypothetical... Graphics design is more complex than occupying texture pipes (the difference between Hyrule Field and the Castle Town is more than just the clouds) and the rendering technique of the grass (the power used for that will cause sacrifices in other areas).Of course, but it's been said the reason hyrule field does seem blander than the rest of the games comes from there, they wasted 1/4 of their texturing power on the clouds alone; on the Wii that would be 1/8, a lot more bearable.

As for SFA, of course they were wasting some juice in there, but they were actually pretty intelligent over it, only the parts closer to the camera and a little ahead of starfox were shaded that way and it would make it like that as you got close, this made it so there would be no extra impact if you did a area, say... twice as big, at distance it's a simple texture. (almost unnoticeable)

Should be made more often.Anyway, you made a good point last page Pedro - Wii games will never really outshine the best Xbox and GameCube games, but that doesn't mean it can't make far better graphics. To be honest, the 'Mario on Xbox' statement isn't that far out as some of you make it to be; the game's core processing (polygon/textures) itself doesn't seem extraordinary more advanced than what was possible on GameCube or Xbox. What sets Mario, and to a somewhat lesser extent Metroid, apart from last-gen is the beautiful use of bloom lighting, something that was too heavy for the last generation consoles. Take that away, and the game is not a very advanced game. Mario on Xbox is unthinkable, but not completely impossible.I disagree, it's not just lightning and particle effects, tracking objects in a 3D space is very intensive for the cpu, so with all that's going on with galaxy... I don't think xbox could even try to keep up with that.

That said... Of course you could try and shrink down the game until it runs, for example cut loads of geometry and leave mario and only that planet loaded, that way and for conceptual reasons I bet it would run, thing is the full game could not be realized. (even because the xbox doesn't have the loading advantages the wii has).

My query with IGN is not for saying something this rational like what we just did, it's that I find quite tasteless to go out of your way and suggest it could be done on xbox like if Wii is inferior.That nice shader upgrade is a very nice addition to the hardware, and I'm really looking forward to see a Wii-made Zelda making use of that.

Also Pedro, what's you source on the 8 texture pipes in the Hollywood as opposed to the 4 texture pipes in the Flipper?Sadly, I've seen no documentation saying it outright, but I've seen people assuming as such in their analysis and I'm going with that too.

Reasons for that would be the core shrinking, and how much area it has over what a shrinked flipper should be, given that area (more than double what flipper would be) best way of expanding power while maintaining the compatibility would be by doubling the pipes, so I bet they did; that doesn't answer what they did more in there though.

TEV pipeline got doubled too, no point in leaving the texture pipes like they were.

[Goron_3]

It's funny how a thread about rumours on games turned into this....

[pedrocasilva]

It's funny how a thread about rumours on games turned into this....It'll always get on track with the next weeks "Wii-k in Review" update anyway, so there's no harm done; this is a generalist thread giving that in the podcasts they don't talk about one game alone, and we have separate threads for (most of) those.

[Mikey]

Although I don't know much about games form a technical point of view, I do find reading about it to be interesting. Plus, I learn from what others have said in this thread.

Of course, but it's been said the reason hyrule field does seem blander than the rest of the games comes from there, they wasted 1/4 of their texturing power on the clouds alone; on the Wii that would be 1/8, a lot more bearable.

As for SFA, of course they were wasting some juice in there, but they were actually pretty intelligent over it, only the parts closer to the camera and a little ahead of starfox were shaded that way and it would make it like that as you got close, this made it so there would be no extra impact if you did a area, say... twice as big, at distance it's a simple texture. (almost unnoticeable)

Should be made more often.I disagree, it's not just lightning and particle effects, tracking objects in a 3D space is very intensive for the cpu, so with all that's going on with galaxy... I don't think xbox could even try to keep up with that.

That said... Of course you could try and shrink down the game until it runs, for example cut loads of geometry and leave mario and only that planet loaded, that way and for conceptual reasons I bet it would run, thing is the full game could not be realized. (even because the xbox doesn't have the loading advantages the wii has).

My query with IGN is not for saying something this rational like what we just did, it's that I find quite tasteless to go out of your way and suggest it could be done on xbox like if Wii is inferior.Sadly, I've seen no documentation saying it outright, but I've seen people assuming as such in their analysis and I'm going with that too.

Reasons for that would be the core shrinking, and how much area it has over what a shrinked flipper should be, given that area (more than double what flipper would be) best way of expanding power while maintaining the compatibility would be by doubling the pipes, so I bet they did; that doesn't answer what they did more in there though.

TEV pipeline got doubled too, no point in leaving the texture pipes like they were.

BTW, I know the CPU in the Wii has been upgraded, but in what way as the GPU been upgraded? Is it basically the GC one, but faster, or is able to do more effects?

[pedrocasilva]

BTW, I know the CPU in the Wii has been upgraded, but in what way as the GPU been upgraded? Is it basically the GC one, but faster, or is able to do more effects?It has been upgraded; we just can't outright say how much because we lack the documentation to do so.

Flipper (GC GPU) was manufactured at 180 nm, Hollywood (Wii GPU) by it's turn it's 90 nm, so...

GC Flipper - 180nm process, 110mm² diesize.
Wii Hollywood - 90nm process, 72mm² diesize.

The expected size of a simple Flipper at 90nm would be 26mm². the extra space taken amounts to a 175% increase. A lot of stuff could fill in there; we know that the TEV pipeline (Wii's programmable shaders) was upgraded but that's at most a extra pipeline in size so that still leaves a lot of space, I'd really go with extra texture pipelines, it's almost a no brainer upgrade to do.

Mario Galaxy's leap over say... Mario Sunshine also suggests that, it would be really hard to do with 4 pipes. (but we can't just look at a screenshot and conclude how many texture passages they're using).

[pedrocasilva]

This Wii-k's:

-Super Smash Bros Brawl - My Music. Can customize soundtrack on each stage - plenty of songs from all franchises. Insane list of composers. Matt expects the hype to continue to grow and Nintendo to just blow the game out, especially since this will very likely be the only Smash Bros. on Wii.

- Bozon doesn't expect Brawl to have 4 player online, but all three do expect online play to be in the game. Might struggle due to 60fps and so much going on - if anything, there could be 2 player onine at 60fps. Matt doesn't believe the game will ship without online.

- Brawl vs Halo 3 sales: Melee nearly kept on the original Halo's sales. Wii install base has already passed 360 and Brawl looks epic. Fran expects Halo 3 to convinvingly beat Brawl in USA (Matt expects it to be a lot closer than expected), but worldwide Smash Bros. should come out on top due to Halo's severe under-performance in Japan.

- Worms: Space Oddity - set in space environments. Modified physics to suit environment. Using IR, but some weapons also feature gesture control (eg: point grenade, then use motion to throw it). Worried this might hurt the game like overuse of stylus did hurt the first one on DS. Has online - 4 player. Also has WiiConnect24 for downloadable items.

- Mario Kart Wii - It looks pretty good, but seems to feature a lot of DS stuff. "Speculation" about 16 players online.

- Fran believes there's too much worthless scanning information in Metroid Prime 3. Doesn't like the first area of the game, but really likes the controls. Matt replies by saying the game is a lot better and different after the first area.

- Trauma Centre: New Blood - have first footage today. Features co-op - some operations designed for co-op (eg: have to perform actions at same time). Good stuff.

- Rockstar has delayed Manhunt 2 coverage by a few days - should be able to provide coverage later next week.

- Super Mario Galaxy - Gravity is a major component to the game. Planets have different gravity levels and this will play into the puzzles. Hopefully this is taken far since the physics based puzzles are awesome. Fire Mario is back. There's a haunted house level, water levels, etc. Should have some big levels rivalling the size of 64 and Sunshine. Hope Galaxy will have higher levels with greater falls. Excited because Galaxy seems to have a lot of the sunshine platforming levels.

- Battalion Wars 2 - can use naval forces as well - subs, ships, etc. Subs hard to target, ships move slowly. Adds lots of strategy. 3 multiplayer options. Great style but apparently the controls have come together (a lot better since the early controls of last year's version).

- Should have some Zack and Wiki coverage next week - will be able to show the game in motion.

- TGS - Nintendo is not going to be there but 3rd party Wii titles will. Tecmo showing a few things, SEGA, Square, Capcom, etc as well along with other parties.

- Nintendo keeps alluding to a seperate event sometime down the line. Spaceworld discussion, may be coming back. Still wondering what Reggie meant by the WiiConnect24 September surprise.

- Nintendo still hasn't got back to Matt about his editorial on the lack of a headset for Wii, but should be up next week. Will also sometime write upon about the lack of a hard drive.

- A "dark" Wii game that is kind of "spooky" (and has a resemblance to a previous game that Matt won't divulge in) [Eternal Darkness?] will be announced soon since the game recently got a publisher.

- New Smash Bros. boxart - Matt believes it doesn't mean anything - probably just a placeholder. Not completely official and Nintendo claims they have not released any boxart.

- Matt believes Metroid Prime 3 will still sell well despite Nintendo's efforts to ensure the opposite. (arse, the game sells well and he bitches) However, from their experience, they don't think it will reach as many people as it could have. Not enough people know about it.

- Nintendo games are the best selling games on VC. Stuff like Street Fighter is still doing decently well.

- Future of Resident Evil after Umbrella Chronicles. Hopefully franchise will continue on Wii as well. Matt unsure, Bozon thinks there will be another RE4 style game. Capcom are busy with RE5, and are really into graphics which the Wii cannot provide for them. Very much doubt they would bother downgrading RE5, could be done with a lot of time and effort, but most likely won’t happen. - it's working on a new engine and would take far too much effort.

- Believe that devs are starting to take Wii seriously. "Dark game" is targeted towards Wii and could turn a few heads. Zack and Wiki looks awesome. Even Medal of Honour 2 is promising and takes advantage of Wii in many ways. Plus more impressive games on the way.

- DS is the system that changed Nintendo.

- Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - because RRR was a launch game, this helped its sales. RRR2 is funnier, controls seems about on par, seems a bit like a "pack update" rather than a huge improvement. Going to be more depth to the shooting mode. Matt thinks it will still sell pretty well but probably not as well as the first. (well, duh)

- Nintendo will probably focus on Japanese-developed VC games for little while longer, but US publishers will likely start putting VC games up soon enough.

- Matt called Julian Eggebrecht today. They would love to work on Wii and if the opportunity would arise they would do it in a heartbeat (maybe Pilotwings?). Willing to make a new Rogue Squadron game. Could maybe update the Rogue Squadron games from Gamecube, or preferably make a new Rogue Squadron game. Matt wants fans to make a petition and IGN would support it. (do it, now!)

- Matt not a fan of split-screen gaming for FPS, so not disappointed that games like MOH: Heroes 2 doesn't have split-screen even though many others are.

- Konami - don't really know what is going on with the Castlevania franchise on Wii. Apparently something in the works for PS3 and 360 but probably not Wii. There were rumours of Metal Gear on Wii but not anymore.

- There will be certain developers that prefer to work on PS3/360, especially those who love content, storylines, atmosphere, etc, and thus they won't want to work on Wii since it cannot fully express their ideas. In contrast, there will also be developers that prefer to work on Wii, especially small companies such as Atlus with Trauma Centre. Hoping that companies will start to put A teams on Wii - confident they will, especially with good sales of stuff like Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition.


- Matt thinks the best 3rd party game right now for Wii is Zack and Wiki. Believes Factor 5 would be the most promising developer to work on Wii that currently isn't.

- Worried about Zack and Wiki's sales. The name isn't good and may hurt sales, and though the style is awesome, it may be perceived as "kiddy". Matt, Bozon would market Zack and Wiki by drawing parallels to game mascots like Mario and Sonic. Wii demo disc for a demo would be great, in-store demo kiosk would help too. Capcom have an uphill battle, and retailers aren't giving Capcom an easy time about it.Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/818/818845p1.html

[peterl0]

Hey pedro, thanks for summarising these things.
For some reason can never actually get the thing to download anymore.

[Teppo Holmqvist]

Hey pedro, thanks for summarising these things.

These summaries are actually from NeoGaf and Pedro just drops them here.

[Zelda_Rulez]

- A "dark" Wii game that is kind of "spooky" (and has a resemblance to a previous game that Matt won't divulge in) [Eternal Darkness?] will be announced soon since the game recently got a publisher.

This sounds intriguing.

- There will be certain developers that prefer to work on PS3/360, especially those who love content, storylines, atmosphere, etc, and thus they won't want to work on Wii since it cannot fully express their ideas. In contrast, there will also be developers that prefer to work on Wii, especially small companies such as Atlus with Trauma Centre. Hoping that companies will start to put A teams on Wii - confident they will, especially with good sales of stuff like Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition.


Weird reason for not putting games on Wii. Why couldn't they have storylines , content and atmosphere? Graphics shouldn't be the deciding factor on that.

[Zechs Merquise]

Interesting stuff coupled with the usual IGN rumours and pretending to know things.

Happy about Battalion Wars though, and I'm still unsure about Brawl, I think if this has full online it will beat Halo in worldwide sales.

[Hero-of-Time]

Best thing in all of that for me was the mention of the platforming levels from Sunshine being in Galaxy. Those sections in Sunshine were simply platforming gold and a return to that makes me very excited.

[Deathborn]

Weird reason for not putting games on Wii. Why couldn't they have storylines , content and atmosphere? Graphics shouldn't be the deciding factor on that.

Not if you are not skilled to create an atmosphere... They probably want to hide that behind graphics.

[Goron_3]

I agree with matts comment completely about MP3 sales. This was THE game to appeal to hardcore gamers and yet they bloody advertise it to casuals :(

[Teppo Holmqvist]

I agree with matts comment completely about MP3 sales. This was THE game to appeal to hardcore gamers and yet they bloody advertise it to casuals :(

Once again common sense doesn't seem to prevail.... Those who are interested about Metroid Prime 3 knew about it, and it also got serious magazine / site coverage. You don't need more than that for enthusiasts*. When Nintendo did dark and brooding marketing campaign for Metroid Prime 2, it fucking bombed. In fact, Wii Would Play campaign has never failed so far. Every game that has been marketed with it has been successfull.

* I prefer word enthusiasts to "hardcore", because whole word was only invented to make teenagers feel more mature than they are. Pretentious and stupid.

[Goron_3]

Once again common sense doesn't seem to prevail.... Those who are interested about Metroid Prime 3 knew about it, and it also got serious magazine / site coverage. You don't need more than that for enthusiasts*. When Nintendo did dark and brooding marketing campaign for Metroid Prime 2, it fucking bombed. In fact, Wii Would Play campaign has never failed so far. Every game that has been marketed with it has been successfull.

* I prefer word enthusiasts to "hardcore", because whole word was only invented to make teenagers feel more mature than they are. Pretentious and stupid.

Ok, so...there any people out there that don't know about it but would buy it? Because trust me, I know some hardcore PC gamers and they've never had an urge to play a metroid prime game because it was on a console. This is THE game that should make them interested in the Wii (they already like Resi 4 on Wii but they ent forking £180 for one console).

I'm just saying they fucked up their advertising for this one; it should have been better.

[pedrocasilva]

These summaries are actually from NeoGaf and Pedro just drops them here.yup (sorry for any misunderstanding)I agree with matts comment completely about MP3 sales. This was THE game to appeal to hardcore gamers and yet they bloody advertise it to casuals :(I totally disagree, he's just being a dick, did you heard of the TV advertising for metroid on launch day?

They say it was everywhere, dozens of times over and over. And it's when the game comes out that it's important to mass advertise it, not when the game is not on-sale.

So really, I think he's being a prick, he only wants to bitch and say "look I was right" besides the darn game habing sold +300k on the first week, what's left to bitch? it's selling like cakes.Weird reason for not putting games on Wii. Why couldn't they have storylines , content and atmosphere? Graphics shouldn't be the deciding factor on that.Tottaly agree, basicaly they dislike the Wii, specially US developers, because it actually brings something new to the table and they dont like changes...

Basically... I think they're not even trying; it's not power... I can do this, I can't do that, they're lazy and against Wii, and most never actually touched the hardware, because they don't even want to (and if they did it would be against their will so they'd shovel something, or disregard graphics because they thing they can get away with it on the Wii).

For example:

The Wiimote is truly disruptive. Nintendo has disrupted our industry. None of Perry's favorite games or games he is looking for are on the Wii. When the great games come out for the 360 and PS3, people aren't going to be content bowling with their Wiimote.Source: http://kotaku.com/gaming/austin-gdc-07/liveblogging-the-dave-perry-qa-297493.php

Blahblahblah, disruptive; just wait for OUR response in other consoles, etc... something new who brings more people and makes you re-think game development as disruptive. This guy is clearly a idiot, but he comes out and say's it... a LOT of US developers think just the same, hence why they don't want to develop, they're still praying that Wii is a fad, or that somehow they can miss it.

I'll be honest, you see it in reviewers and some game developers (specially Ocidental ones) the way they look at stuff like brain training and Wii Sports, for them it's some kind of radioactive Nemesis, something they don't want in their so called industry, hence why they rate it as low as they can... same as shoveling it away; but truth to be told they're not the target of that game hence why they hate it.

If Americans go after technology, as they always do, we'll end up with a situation like DS, most US made games (and Europe too) are crap... that's changing a little lately, but look at the best rated lists on some sites first 10 games... 9 are japanese, only tony hawk isn't. I actually always though PSP gets more US support than DS, Xbox also got tons of US support while it wasn't even a leader.

Basically what I'm saying is... they waste opportunities due to pride, the teams don't want to and they actually have input in the matter? hell no, "the damn thing sells just program for it", that's what happened with PS2 and DS in Japan.

That's why American teams (taking companies like EA aside) are never market driving or that prominent, they go after the horse they like, not profit, causing them to be always late and often push to the side they want even if it's a loosing side; the Japanese by instance end up really jumping on the bandwagon as soon as they realize which is the winning one; and they'll take profits from that strategy a lot sooner.

Sorry for the rant.

[Zechs Merquise]

So really, I think he's being a prick, he only wants to bitch and say "look I was right" besides the darn game habing sold +300k on the first week, what's left to bitch? it's selling like cakes.

Now that is good to hear, anyway Matt can shut his gob until the all format charts are released by NPD, then and only then will we see what kind of impact MP3 has had.

And what's more Nintendo are right with their advertising, all this rubbish about building hype is one thing, and I think there was plenty of hype for this game. But selling it is another thing all together, advertising a game massively before it has actually come out CAN be counter productive as there isn't a product actually on the shelf to buy.

[jammy2211]

I think these developers who hate on the Wii are just not interested in what it offers. They have probably established themselves by using consoles to make the best possible technological acheivements and that is where they made their reputation, and why their games sell. Can you blame them for disliking a console which tries to disrupt what made them so successful?

At the same time, there are alot of developers who favour the Wii. Jet Black Games said they're exclusive to Wii and DS because their a format in which innovation sells games much more then just having a huge budget, which to alot of developers is very important.

Publishers will be seriously pushing for Wii games now anyway, sales speak for themselves in that respect.

As for Zack and WIki advertising, I think this is a game which is going to be heavily relying on word of mouth. Guitar Hero was the same if you think about it, it was stupidly awesome but had all these barriers Capcom are facing, but once people play it they're always sold to the idea. The sales trends show that sort of chain reaction effect of Guitar Hero simply from word of mouth, and Zack and Wiki needs to pull off the same effect. I think it's built an extremely dedicated fanabse already, and provided it delivers, will get the same sort of thing as Guitar Hero did.

[pedrocasilva]

I think these developers who hate on the Wii are just not interested in what it offers. They have probably established themselves by using consoles to make the best possible technological acheivements and that is where they made their reputation, and why their games sell. Can you blame them for disliking a console which tries to disrupt what made them so successful?That's what they think, but in reality they're just shoveling it aside instead of being open minded about it. Truth is... few third That's stupid; when you're not the one in charge it makes you incompetent, and if you're in charge and pass the idea "it's ok, it's a Wii game we don't need effort on the graphics part and we can blame the system". Makes you incompetent as well, since you're not even trying to put out the best product possible... No "taste" in it, just a job, that's bad, of course that way you won't like to develop for it.

Point is... you should be proud and feel lucky that you have a job, there's a lot of people trying to climb up in this industry and the ones on top seem to forget this.

For instance... If you're that old in the industry does hardware mean that much? look at this from this perspective, ok, Wii isn't a HD powerhouse still... I've worked with stuff ten times worse. You don't see them saying Metroid Prime and Mario Galaxy look bad due to technical limitations either... and they run at 60 frames, there's lots of ceiling for them to reach those, they just don't want to.At the same time, there are alot of developers who favour the Wii. Jet Black Games said they're exclusive to Wii and DS because their a format in which innovation sells games much more then just having a huge budget, which to alot of developers is very important.

Publishers will be seriously pushing for Wii games now anyway, sales speak for themselves in that respect.I think we're fine with the support we have on Wii you know? when it comes to amount, now we just need one thing... ambition, and I don't know if those studios have it... that and money to invest.As for Zack and WIki advertising, I think this is a game which is going to be heavily relying on word of mouth. Guitar Hero was the same if you think about it, it was stupidly awesome but had all these barriers Capcom are facing, but once people play it they're always sold to the idea. The sales trends show that sort of chain reaction effect of Guitar Hero simply from word of mouth, and Zack and Wiki needs to pull off the same effect. I think it's built an extremely dedicated fanabse already, and provided it delivers, will get the same sort of thing as Guitar Hero did.Guitar Hero could be even more risky, acessory like that and a extra price, Zack and Wiki is supposed to be $40 at launch.

[jammy2211]

That's what they think, but in reality they're just shoveling it aside instead of being open minded about it. Truth is... few third That's stupid; when you're not the one in charge it makes you incompetent, and if you're in charge and pass the idea "it's ok, it's a Wii game we don't need effort on the graphics part and we can blame the system". Makes you incompetent as well, since you're not even trying to put out the best product possible... No "taste" in it, just a job, that's bad, of course that way you won't like to develop for it.

Well, if you company has a special interest in graphics and visually great game, you're going to choose the 360 and ps3 arn't you? The ones who don't care about graphics so much may choose Wii, but will opt to ignore the visual side of things. I think the WIi graphics problem is more just companies don't have Wii engines built yet, so they're just using their ps2 technology, but that'll be addressed in time. The second wave of games look much more appealing visually.

In all honesty, the publishers don't really have a reason yet to try push the Wii. The majority of games look severely under-par, and games still seem to sell even if they look horrible. I'm sure Nintendo will keep raising the bar and plenty of developers will try to push things further, but there currently is no real incentive for developers to try that extra mile.

[Cube]

Well, if you company has a special interest in graphics and visually great game, you're going to choose the 360 and ps3 arn't you?

It depends on what you want your graphics to look like. If you want "realistic" (or HDU, as I call it) then you would chose the 360/PS3. Mario Galaxy is the most visually appealing game I've ever seen.

[jammy2211]

It depends on what you want your graphics to look like. If you want "realistic" (or HDU, as I call it) then you would chose the 360/PS3. Mario Galaxy is the most visually appealing game I've ever seen.

Yeah, I'm speaking from a technical stand-point, in terms of creating the best technilogical acheivement.

Art Styles should be much more the focus on the Wii, as well, they look awesome, and hide the Wii's technological short-comings. That seems to be the way alot of developers are heading with the Wii, which suits me.

[harribo]

I like how people get angry at Matt for having an opinion.

[pedrocasilva]

Well, if you company has a special interest in graphics and visually great game, you're going to choose the 360 and ps3 arn't you? The ones who don't care about graphics so much may choose Wii, but will opt to ignore the visual side of things. I think the WIi graphics problem is more just companies don't have Wii engines built yet, so they're just using their ps2 technology, but that'll be addressed in time. The second wave of games look much more appealing visually.No, If I was going by that I'd choose a PC, since according to John Carmack High-end PC is already surpassing them by a whole generation.

Seriously though, you have to develop for where the money is, picture that last gen, do you think PS2 would have gotten FF's, Metal Gears and such? It was the market leader simple as that, since Xbox and GC wouldn't give you as much sales and profits no way you'd have that kind of budget from them apart from first/second party titles.

And if they're making money on the Wii in order to invest it on X360, other than a bad decision (wasting more money where the revenue is lower) they're being hypocrite, simple as that.

Wii is not that limited too, so they're not saying "oh I can't do this" truth to be told it's "I don't want to do this" they're acting like spoiled kids.In all honesty, the publishers don't really have a reason yet to try push the Wii. The majority of games look severely under-par, and games still seem to sell even if they look horrible. I'm sure Nintendo will keep raising the bar and plenty of developers will try to push things further, but there currently is no real incentive for developers to try that extra mile.Well, they should... they just aren't. Most of those "Wii sucks" developers actually should have a reason to develop for it too (it sells and reaches the masses).

If all they release sucks ass graphically and "we" still buy it... they ought to invest and fix that, because if the games didn't sell (even because of that and being crappy) they'd abandon the platform just the same; probably that's all they wanted/needed... a reason, one or another, everything leads to the same.

See, it's two sides of the same coin, and what you're telling me is that a lot of teams and publishers wanted the wii to flop while they made profit and capitalized on it while it lasted (ubisoft is a prime example), that's the incompetence I was talking about before, they ought to make more effort; if the platform sells they should have all the reasons they need.

As a developer and providing you like what you're doing... you should always try the extra mile, that's what makes you a good developer rather than just a worker; now I also understand a lot of budgets and timeframes for release are tight and some games get prejudice from it... but there's also lots of guys who wouldn't do the extra mile if they had 5 years with the hardware; that's the same as saying they're third rate developers, in my book.

[jammy2211]

No, If I was going by that I'd choose a PC, since according to John Carmack High-end PC is already surpassing them by a whole generation.

And some companies do, I think there is more of an aurora around consoles, along with the fact developing the best graphics on the PC reaches a very nishe market as well, not many people have PC's that can cope. I'm sure alot of these companies would develope on PC instead of consoles, but know to pull of the graphics they want isn't financially viable.

Seriously though, you have to develop for where the money is, picture that last gen, do you think PS2 would have gotten FF's, Metal Gears and such? It was the market leader simple as that, since Xbox and GC wouldn't give you as much sales and profits no way you'd have that kind of budget from them apart from first/second party titles.

But is the money in the Wii? multiplatform games over all consoles still sell better on Xbox 360 then any other platform (even PS2 now) and Nintendo own about 50% of Wii software sales. Third parties are obviously still trying to learn if they can make as great sales off of the Wii as the userbase size suggests.

And if they're making money on the Wii in order to invest it on X360, other than a bad decision (wasting more money where the revenue is lower) they're being hypocrite, simple as that.

Indeed.

Wii is not that limited too, so they're not saying "oh I can't do this" truth to be told it's "I don't want to do this" they're acting like spoiled kids.Well, they should... they just aren't. Most of those "Wii sucks" developers actually should have a reason to develop for it too (it sells and reaches the masses).

If they're still raking in the money off of the 360 and PS3, then they don't need to go to the Wii. Especially if it challenges their company to do things they've not got any experience in, why take a risk with the Wii userbase when they can be guarenteed success on the other formats?

If all they release sucks ass graphically and "we" still buy it... they ought to invest and fix that, because if the games didn't sell (even because of that and being crappy) they'd abandon the platform just the same; probably that's all they wanted/needed... a reason, one or another, everything leads to the same.

It makes them more money though, so until the other competitiors start raising the bar no one is going to bother. There's alot of thing sthey should do, but that doesn't mean it's best for them as a company.

See, it's two sides of the same coin, and what you're telling me is that a lot of teams and publishers wanted the wii to flop while they made profit and capitalized on it while it lasted (ubisoft is a prime example), that's the incompetence I was talking about before, they ought to make more effort; if the platform sells they should have all the reasons they need.

I think it's more they expected the Wii to flop, they probably didn't even look into it enough to decide whether it benefited them or not to have it successful. Now it is they 'should' raise the quality and budget of games, but why should a company like Ubisoft do this when they can just port all their old games and still make tons of money off of them?

As a developer and providing you like what you're doing... you should always try the extra mile, that's what makes you a good developer rather than just a worker; now I also understand a lot of budgets and timeframes for release are tight and some games get prejudice from it... but there's also lots of guys who wouldn't do the extra mile if they had 5 years with the hardware; that's the same as saying they're third rate developers, in my book.

I think your perception of the video games industry is a bit flawed. Developers really don't get a choice how much budget they have, how long they can work on a game etc. That's up to the guys EA, or Ubisoft, or Capcom or whoever. They don't want to make the best possible product, they want to make the biggest amount of profit, and if PS2 graphics don't look out of place on the system there's no financially enticing reason to try go above them.

[pedrocasilva]

And some companies do, I think there is more of an aurora around consoles, along with the fact developing the best graphics on the PC reaches a very nishe market as well, not many people have PC's that can cope. I'm sure alot of these companies would develope on PC instead of consoles, but know to pull of the graphics they want isn't financially viable.That would make sense if PS3 and X360 weren't niche markets now. I really understand it though, and I understand cross platform... But I simply can't understand you know... Ignoring and a big platform if they're supporting the others

But is the money in the Wii? multiplatform games over all consoles still sell better on Xbox 360 then any other platform (even PS2 now) and Nintendo own about 50% of Wii software sales. Third parties are obviously still trying to learn if they can make as great sales off of the Wii as the userbase size suggests.I dunno about that (if they're really trying)... that said look at what X360's offers, it's very aimed at americans... american developers develop for it and even japanese ones, capcom games for example are clearly aimed at them, other games like RPG's, and experimental inovative games sell bad by comparison (viva pinata for example), so it's not really a universal example.

Besides it still has a bigger userbase in US and Europe... not saying their tie-ratio is not good, it is... but it's quite obvious why we don't surpass that yet, even if we're all hardcores; that said... Wii can surpass it eventually, even if it's down to userbase.If they're still raking in the money off of the 360 and PS3, then they don't need to go to the Wii. Especially if it challenges their company to do things they've not got any experience in, why take a risk with the Wii userbase when they can be guarenteed success on the other formats?Because there's money there, if you don't support the market leader you're getting a secondary market in name of security.

That's fine with me, I know it happened to gamecube and all... But I don't expect most third party developers to stand still in there "oh we have success it's enough".It makes them more money though, so until the other competitiors start raising the bar no one is going to bother. There's alot of thing sthey should do, but that doesn't mean it's best for them as a company.don't you agree if the games didn't sold at all they've had dropped us though? it just goes full circle, and IMO it's their vision that's wrong... So... what do you think the solution is?I think it's more they expected the Wii to flop, they probably didn't even look into it enough to decide whether it benefited them or not to have it successful. Now it is they 'should' raise the quality and budget of games, but why should a company like Ubisoft do this when they can just port all their old games and still make tons of money off of them?Well, we here on nintendo forums never expected this kind of success so I understand they were caught by surprise... thing is... they still aren't changing and a lot of them doesn't want to... a lot of them still wants the Wii to go away... it's a hindrance... and you can clearly feel it.I think your perception of the video games industry is a bit flawed. Developers really don't get a choice how much budget they have, how long they can work on a game etc. That's up to the guys EA, or Ubisoft, or Capcom or whoever. They don't want to make the best possible product, they want to make the biggest amount of profit, and if PS2 graphics don't look out of place on the system there's no financially enticing reason to try go above them.I know that, hence why I said:

I also understand a lot of budgets and timeframes for release are tight and some games get prejudice from it... but there's also lots of guys who wouldn't do the extra mile if they had 5 years with the hardware

perhaps I forgot to tell that a lot of them don't decide that, but it was self implied.

That said, I don't think I have a flawed view, but I'll admit I'm a idealist at core, so I always want to expect the best game possible, the best effort possible, etc; that's how I like to think... that's how I think of my future work too, I can't think of it as a chore or something I don't wanna do.

So I think developers should always attempt to do the best game possible... But I feel they sometimes don't.

As for not having a reason to go above it... well, a game with good graphics will, in most cases sell better; so I believe they have a reason, if they want to figure how to sell games... They sure figured that quickly on X360.

I understand launch games not having budget... I don't understand current games not having budget.

[jammy2211]

I'll reply later, got stuff to do atm.

Actually it'll be tommorow, arg.

[pedrocasilva]

I'll reply later, got stuff to do atm.

Actually it'll be tommorow, arg.No problem :)

[Hellfire]

I agree with matts comment completely about MP3 sales. This was THE game to appeal to hardcore gamers and yet they bloody advertise it to casuals :(

Lots of people have their Wii online and they're getting an entire channel with trailers and also tv and magazine ads. Seems pretty advertised to me. Not to mention it has been selling.

[Gizmo]

Zack and Wiki should drop the "Quest for Barbados Treasure" part of the name, for me. It's gonna be one of those games like Super Monkey Ball - when I tell my friends "oh, I got Super Monkey Ball yesterday!" they'll instantly think wow, your a prat. But then when they play it, they'll think, wow, this is awesome.

[Goron_3]

Lots of people have their Wii online and they're getting an entire channel with trailers and also tv and magazine ads. Seems pretty advertised to me. Not to mention it has been selling.

I never said it wasn't selling. I just said it could sell more. Trust me, there are lots of gamers who aren't even aware of this game who if they got to play it, they would buy it 100%. In fact, hardly anyone in my year group if 190 students has even heard of metroid. I'm just making a point; stop feeling the need to defend Nintendo on everything.

[pedrocasilva]

^ Do you live in US?

I heard there was a raging launch campaign there, and I think if you live in UK (or europe for that matter) that's only normal; still MP1 and MP2 had their campaigns I believe, and they (still) don't know the franchise? Prior advertisements or not could make a difference?

And just for comparison, are they as mass consumers aware of say... Bioshock? (and if they have a X360 this question doesn't count because people obviously look for titles their platform has, just the way I'd say at least most gamers with a Wii should be aware of Metroid)

[Hellfire]

I never said it wasn't selling. I just said it could sell more. Trust me, there are lots of gamers who aren't even aware of this game who if they got to play it, they would buy it 100%. In fact, hardly anyone in my year group if 190 students has even heard of metroid. I'm just making a point; stop feeling the need to defend Nintendo on everything.

Stop feeling the need to think that people don't have an opinion, they just automatically defend Nintendo. What I'm saying is a fact, it's not personal opinion.

[Goron_3]

Stop feeling the need to think that people don't have an opinion, they just automatically defend Nintendo. What I'm saying is a fact, it's not personal opinion.

So it's a fact that the game has reached its entire possible audience? BEcause i don't believe that for a second.

[jammy2211]

Metroid Prime 3 has almost doubled the first week sales of MP2, and that is on a userbase over half the size, in a month where games traditionally sell less.

So, I think the sales are doing well thus far. Perhaps Nintendo haven't invested as much into advertising it as we'd hope, but I would argue it's one of those games where everyone who wants it, already knows about it, and those who don't will have seen the TV adds.

I hope it'll continue strongly into it's second week.

[Gizmo]

I'm with Goron on this, I don't know anyone at my school who has heard of Metroid. While the advertising is yet to begin for MP3, it doesn't really bode well. Alot of people have heard of say Brawl, and thats even further off.

[Hellfire]

So it's a fact that the game has reached its entire possible audience? BEcause i don't believe that for a second.

No game has reached its entire possible audience, don't exagerate no one said that. Just that the web has been abuzz with MP3, Wii owners with online got thei hands on trailers, there was advertising and they've done a much better job than before. Metroid will never be a Halo. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single Halo 3 ad in mags or TV and the game is nearly out. Not that it needs advertising.

[Goron_3]

No game has reached its entire possible audience, don't exagerate no one said that. Just that the web has been abuzz with MP3, Wii owners with online got thei hands on trailers, there was advertising and they've done a much better job than before. Metroid will never be a Halo. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single Halo 3 ad in mags or TV and the game is nearly out. Not that it needs advertising.

Lmao. Erm, have you SEEN the prime trailer! God there was so much buzz with that game; everyone saw it was like 'wow'. The tv ad for this game is basically a bunch of women going 'omg i can twist a handle in game'.

Also, FHM just did a feature on Halo 3. That said, I'm trying to compare the two, but come on, this game (from what i've heard) is the first game that truly reaches for the hardcore crowd but Nintendo don't really seem to want steal hardcore gamers from PS3/360, and they seem to be saying 'this is for our old metroid fans who have downloaded the trailer and have been following the game online (as limited as playtime was before reviews came out), and hopefully we'll get some casuals in on the act too'.

[pedrocasilva]

They did that Halo drink in US, but then again that came with the popularity of it.Lmao. Erm, have you SEEN the prime trailer! God there was so much buzz with that game; everyone saw it was like 'wow'. The tv ad for this game is basically a bunch of women going 'omg i can twist a handle in game'.Welcome to 2007. Back in 2002 there was so much buzz about Prime 1, yet... Like Jammy2211 said... This one doubled the sales of Prime 2 first week sales, the rule with sequels be it with movies or games is that the further the number goes the less it sells (apart from FF because they're totally separate)Also, FHM just did a feature on Halo 3. That said, I'm trying to compare the two, but come on, this game (from what i've heard) is the first game that truly reaches for the hardcore crowd but Nintendo don't really seem to want steal hardcore gamers from PS3/360, and they seem to be saying 'this is for our old metroid fans who have downloaded the trailer and have been following the game online (as limited as playtime was before reviews came out), and hopefully we'll get some casuals in on the act too'.did FHM get paid to do that?

And if it was solely for the old fans why would they advertise it like mad on TV when the game launched? and why that advert you yourself are complaining about?

The tv ad for this game is basically a bunch of women going 'omg i can twist a handle in game'.

are you complaining because it aimed at the regular metroid fan? I don't think so.

You need to sort yourself, I get what you're saying and I don't agree but still, it's like you're struggling to make a point inside; the masses... are casual, simple as that. And for the record... I didn't love that advert either, but I see it as 80's adverts you know? it's supposed to be kinda ridiculous.

[Hellfire]

Wait wait, you complain that the commercial is aimed at a larger crowd with the women and whatnot, and then you complain that they're not targeting casuals?
Zelda was also a game that could achieve the crowd of MP3 and Halo and I understand what you're saying but, right now, Halo has an untouchable status and I doubt any amount of advertising and marketing would change that.

[Goron_3]

No no no.

I'm complaining at the advert because it's targeting casual gamers, not hardcore gamers. I mean, I've got mates who LOVE PC gaming and hate dual analogue. Now, this is the kinda game that will make em buy a console; the controls are that effective, but my mate saw that advert and dismissed the game straight away. I then linked him to a video review on IGN which made him consider getting a Wii. THing is, that TV ad isn't interesting AT ALL; you see and are like 'well they said Red Steel had great control' (lol!), when what they should be showing is how epic the game is.

They should have made the ad more epic is what I'm saying, like this ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQd0w_mG0ok

I mean come on that ad practically sold the game to me.

[pedrocasilva]

I understand what you're saying and understand why they saw what you did, but still... are you complaining about lack of advertisement or bad advertisement now?

By any means I agree, I didn't really like that advert, but I think it sold quite a few units considering by the end of the week sales

[Goron_3]

I understand what you're saying and understand why they saw what you did, but still... are you complaining about lack of advertisement or bad advertisement now?

By any means I agree, I didn't really like that advert, but I think it sold quite a few units considering by the end of the week sales

It's a bit of both really. it'd have better if the advert was better because most of my mates that have seen it thought it was awful.

And yeah the sales are great :) I just hope it has staying power!

[Helmsly]

http://wii.ign.com/articles/823/823811p1.html


After being shorthanded in IGN LA for the last few weeks, Bozon sucks it up and delivers a "not so serious" LA podcast to tide readers over until Monday's official Wii-k in Review return. With Casamassina out until next week, Bozon is joined by IGN's Chris Monfette, gaming guru, resident jerk-ass, and Editor-in-Chief (slave) on the IGN DVD channel. Why is a DVD guy talking about gaming? What the heck is wrong with the still-busted podcast equipment? Why call it Wii-k in Review when they're talking about every system? Will the Wii-k in Review ever be the same?


- Bozon still concerned about 3rd party sales on Wii, as well as the quality of 3rd party games on Wii.

- Bozon doesn't expect PS4/X720 to use just motion control and IR - does not think it is a necessity unlike analogue sticks.

- Chris doesn't think that Metroid Prime 3's gameplay can help make it GOTY - the controls aren't enough to make up for the last-gen graphics in comparison to games like Bioshock and Halo 3. Feels this will be the case for all Wii games. However, what it does have over 360/PS3 games is that you ultimately take the visuals for granted on next-gen systems, but the controls feel fresh throughout.

- Chris thinks that Nintendo is expanding the audience, such as getting a wife to play, but will the wife go out and buy a Wii game? Probably not.

- Bozon likens the new executions to having your "eyes closed." Thinks it is too tame (tamer than Manhunt 1) and it ruins some of the appeal that it once had.

- Chris thinks that if you want to play an untapped version of Manhunt 2, then you should be able to play it (given you're of age). Thinks they possibly could've done a more artistic approach to the execution kills - perhaps make the kills more 'implied' and thus more powerful.

- Chris feels, with the help of technology (specifically on PS3/360), the game industry is starting to great truly epic storytelling and is reaching a fantastic level of presentation.

- Bozon played Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles with Peer. It's "growing" on him and is pretty fun. Fun to do dual-wielding thing with two wiimotes. Doesn't seem fully finished - for example, some character models look unfinished. But it's improving and things are still be finalised.

- Smackdown vs Raw 2007: "Very cool game". Uses tons of motion sensing but is very interactive, lots of fun. For example, can lift with the wiimote then slam them down. Are sceptical of how deep it will be due to being the first wrestling game on Wii. More coming in the next few weeks.

- Mercury Revolution keeps getting pushed back so they can't publish the review yet, but they will be reviewing it since they've had the game for a few months now.

- NiGHTS - according to Craig it's like the Saturn game. Is looking a lot better than it originally was, so people who enjoyed the original should be pretty excited.

- Bozon is glad to hear that Smash is online, but has some concerns. Finds it frustrating that there's no headset and also that it's not as fully featured as stuff you see on competitive systems (despite some issues with games like Halo 3 such as insults). Hopes they will announce further modes for the online.

- Chris thinks Call of Duty 4 is a fantastic experience online. Bozon played Skate and after learning the ability to upload videos and stuff, couldn't stop playing for ages. Believes this is the kind of experience that is pushing things online, and when you compare to something like Brawl's online, Brawl just doesn't match up.

- Bozon glad to hear that Ghost Squad has online leaderboards, since it was a feature that they hadn't really pushed before.

- Bozon played Super Mario Galaxy with Miyamoto, had tons of fun. Can't wait to play Battalion Wars 2. Ironically, doesn't believe any Wii game will win GOTY.

- Bozon actually hasn't played much Bioshock so can't give a definite impression of it. Chris thinks it is a completely original project, not perfect but very good.

- Halo 3 not really doing it for Bozon, but Metroid Prime 3 totally hooked him. Chris misses the snowcapped mountains of the original Halo - he wants more open areas similar to the original. Scale isn't there for him. On the other hand, Prime's areas are almost perfectly orchestrated.

[pedrocasilva]

the controls aren't enough to make up for the last-gen graphics in comparison to games like Bioshock and Halo 3Holy crap! Halo 3? :shakehead

Criticizing Metroid graphics? (next to halo 3 ones, LOL) move on; and for me it doesn't need to "make up for"; the graphics look ace as they are, and I want Metroid Prime 3, can't say the same of Halo though, because they are TOTALLY different games.Ironically, doesn't believe any Wii game will win GOTY.Ironically I don't think the reviewers will let a Wii title receive the same praise a HD title does; I'm seeing a lot of "X360 overhyping" and a lot of "Wii underrating" lately... but if Galaxy doesn't... well, they're really lame, then.

[Cube]

Finds it frustrating that there's no headset

Who effin talks in a fighting game????

[pedrocasilva]

Who effin talks in a fighting game????True... Who the hell was expecting Smash Bros Brawl with headset really?

They're delusional, next they'll say they didn't expect friend codes.

But still... they'll probably knock off points for the online not being right up their tastes (if it's not voice chat then is no "something"). Seriously, no one is expecting Xbox Live.

Rest of Wii-k in review impressions:

- The level design was much better in MP3 than Bioshock, because it doesn't hold your hand as much.
- Bozon has no reason to buy a Playstation 3 right now, doesn't believe it has enough quality games to warrant a purchase, despite the presence of Warhawk.
- Bozon disappointed by the lack of RE2 in Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Hoping that Wii gets a remake, especially since Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition sold great for what it is.
- Bozon excited about the VanillaWare games for Wii. Very glad to see 2D games on the console, and thinks the game looks great. (games? is there more than one?)
- Project O looks "sick". Some amazing visuals and a terrific concept, make sure you keep your eyes on it.
- Chibi Robo DS is in office, media and a review coming soon.
- Bozon doesn't think Retro Studios are going to go back to Ravenblade. Expect them to do something new and very cool, and doesn't think it will be a first-person shooter type of game.
- Dewy Adventure and Dragon Blade reviews are coming soon, but needed time to do them because of TGS.

[Zelda_Rulez]

I though MP3's graphcs were better than last-gen? I can certainly tell the difference.

[Hero-of-Time]

Who effin talks in a fighting game????

Erm me. You mean to say you never talk when playing local multiplayer games? Online is exactly the same especially when you know the person.

Seriously, no one is expecting Xbox Live.


True but in this day and age surely an online multiplayer option is the norm for multiplayer games. As long as they sort out any lagging issues then I will be happy. I would love a Halo 3 style screenshot saver when I can send my saved screenshots via Wifi to my mates.

[pedrocasilva]

Erm me. You mean to say you never talk when playing local multiplayer games? Online is exactly the same especially when you know the person.Were you expecting voice chat in Smash Bros? Mind you it's not on Xbox live.

I sure didn't, hell, a few weeks ago I was afraid of not having online.True but in this day and age surely an online multiplayer option is the norm for multiplayer games. As long as they sort out any lagging issues then I will be happy. I would love a Halo 3 style screenshot saver when I can send my saved screenshots via Wifi to my mates.Doesn't MP3 allow you to save/send screenshots?

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/2273/metroidprime3corruptionda5.jpg

Who knows, for smash bros brawl, as it would actually make sense to allow that.

Still... that's not what I meant by "xbox live service".

[Zelda_Rulez]

Who knows, for smash bros brawl, as it would actually make sense to allow that.

Still... that's not what I meant by "xbox live service".

I think there's a big chance you'll be able to send screenshots with Smash. I don't know why it wouldn't be possible.

[Hero-of-Time]

Were you expecting voice chat in Smash Bros?


Nope not with the attitude Nintendo has regarding online. Just saying it makes sense to have it especially in an online console game.

How hard is it to bring out a headset? I mean really? They feed us with a Fisher Price steering wheel for Mario Kart yet they wont give us a pretty important item for having a laugh with your mates online. It may come out eventually and I hope it does especially for a game like Battalion Wars.

I think there's a big chance you'll be able to send screenshots with Smash. I don't know why it wouldn't be possible.

Hopefully. That would be pretty sweet.

[Gizmo]

Who effin talks in a fighting game????

Are you saying when you played multiplayer smash you played in total silence? Half the fun is laughing at each other while playing, shouting at the guy who just sent himself flying off the edge with Luigi's Side B headbutt or Jigglypuffs B Roll, boasting about how fast you just sent your mate off the screen, or forming alligencies against the guy whos winning by 3 lives.

[pedrocasilva]

Nope not with the attitude Nintendo has regarding online. Just saying it makes sense to have it especially in an online console game.

How hard is it to bring out a headset? I mean really? They feed us with a Fisher Price steering wheel for Mario Kart yet they wont give us a pretty important item for having a laugh with your mates online. It may come out eventually and I hope it does especially for a game like Battalion Wars.I never expected it for smash bros, hence I'm not disapointed in that or think I really need that qhen online. But... I agree that headset would fit in perfectly on Battalion Wars.

I find it ok that they pressure Nintendo for it in separate queries or make a fuzz before Nintendo says something final about Battalion if that could make a difference, but I'm not on the same page for acting indignated for Smash not having it... Because we all knew it wouldn't. It's almost "if it's not this, it's that" (if it wasn't the voice it would be the leaderboards, the friendcodes, or something)... It is what it is, basically; the taunts were already a good surprise for me.Hopefully. That would be pretty sweet.Indeed. :)

[darksnowman]

Lol at the constant disclaimers about it not being the average Wii-k in Review. I dunno about the unrest here just cos Bozon says that Smash Bros. Brawl would rock online with a headset... sure we can say its not a necessity and all, but it would be fun and the joy of Nintendo multiplayer is largely in the banter involved - and you can't totally get that from flashing up some captions on screen.

Cut IGN a bitta slack! :heh:

[Cube]

Are you saying when you played multiplayer smash you played in total silence? Half the fun is laughing at each other while playing, shouting at the guy who just sent himself flying off the edge with Luigi's Side B headbutt or Jigglypuffs B Roll, boasting about how fast you just sent your mate off the screen, or forming alligencies against the guy whos winning by 3 lives.

But that fun is taken away even with a headset.

[pedrocasilva]

Lol at the constant disclaimers about it not being the average Wii-k in Review. I dunno about the unrest here just cos Bozon says that Smash Bros. Brawl would rock online with a headset... sure we can say its not a necessity and all, but it would be fun and the joy of Nintendo multiplayer is largely in the banter involved - and you can't totally get that from flashing up some captions on screen.

Cut IGN a bitta slack! :heh:

Not saying otherwise, just saying they're being captain obvious on this one, and they really should let go instead of constantly whining about something. If I did that I'd seriously crap my experience with games.

"doesn't have PC Crisis-game graphics"

"doesn't have X hours of gameplay"

"doesn't have Wii controls" (on some other/older console games)

Doesn't have this, that, etc...

My point being... They should focus on meaningful things. (and Battalion Wars 2 is, at least until Nintendo closes doors and says "no voice chat")

[ShadowV7]

If you have a 360 then just talk in that while playing Brawl/BWii online. What i'm gonna be doing.

[Noku]

As far as I'm concerned, voice chat is the first thing I turn off when playing online. I don't know the people whose ass I'm whooping, and most of the time, I don't need to. Bloody childish bastards yapping about when you shoot'm in the head, or vice versa. No thanks.
The arguement that "voice chat enables friends uphold their relationships" crumbles at the thought that you can just simply invite them over. Seriously, I don't think the majority of online gamers has "friends" across the globe.

[Gizmo]

But that fun is taken away even with a headset.

It's diluted a bit for sure, but it's better than not having it at all.

[darksnowman]

My point being... They should focus on meaningful things.

I know what you mean Pedski but they need something to talk about! And if everyone looked at games for what they do have rather than what they don't have, then every single one would be a classic.

[pedrocasilva]

I know what you mean Pedski but they need something to talk about! And if everyone looked at games for what they do have rather than what they don't have, then every single one would be a classic.Hmmm... no, because there are flaws that really impossible to ignore, the ones that turn the game into crap or not; it's a game after all, it pretty much has to achieve that and be fun while doing it.

What we do have, is flawed works as cult classics.

But I don't think that is the case here; no "famous" game from a established franchise can equal all the expectations some have (and demand) for it/from it, and Smash Bros Brawl is no exception; Neither was Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, and even Halo 3 if we're gonna talk about it... the graphics are not up there with the rest of the X360 library... apparently it runs at 640p instead of 720p and well... it's more of the same by itself, most of the things were already in Halo 2 regarding multiplayer.

Yet... are we gonna bitch about that endlessly? that's pulling the game down, and ending up not enjoysing it because we're focusing to much on what we wanted... I sure think they're focusing too much on that. They must talk about something and I understand that, but still...

I feel the industry is disregarding shortcomings of some games as if they didn't exist, and yet going the useless extra mile to bitch about others, almost if they were promised something in the magnitude of Killzone 2 CGI trailer graphics and got the ingame instead (and strangely I see no critics complaining about that one)... We all knew if Smash were to be online it would be bound to the Nintendo online service, and in the end unacceptable is lag that could hamper the experience, not voice chat that some of us disregard completely; I agree if someone wants it and it's there it's already a bonus, but we've gotta be realistical.

[Hellfire]

This "GOTY" stuff is bullshit
GOTY by who? Because of the quality? Their awards? Gamerankings? BAFTA?
Seriously that's just a bunch of inconsequential crap. The gaming industry pisses me off more day by day.

[Hero-of-Time]

I agree if someone wants it and it's there it's already a bonus, but we've gotta be realistical.

I think those wanting voice chat are being realistic, hell talking online has been in gaming for years and its about time Nintendo got their finger out.

Im not really complaining as like you said Pedro I never expected it to be in the game its just that there is no decent excuse ( whole talking to strangers rubbish is nullified with the friendscode system ) why Nintendo cant put it in.

I do agree though that lag is a far more worse problem that really needs to be sorted for when this launches.

[ShadowV7]

Even on the GameCube you could go online and talk via a keyboard and it was fun.

But i'd rather they sort out the lag first then communication. Cause chances are i'll talk to people online with BWii and Brawl using the 360 headset.

But get the lag sorted out for long distance battles on Brawl and i'll be fine.

[pedrocasilva]

I think those wanting voice chat are being realistic, hell talking online has been in gaming for years and its about time Nintendo got their finger out.

Im not really complaining as like you said Pedro I never expected it to be in the game its just that there is no decent excuse ( whole talking to strangers rubbish is nullified with the friendscode system ) why Nintendo cant put it in.

I do agree though that lag is a far more worse problem that really needs to be sorted for when this launches.They're being realistical in the point it's perfectly possible to do... but they're not being realistic to expect that from Nintendo at this time.

Voice chat is totally secondary for me, but I go with the masses with these matters, if they want it, if a single person wants it, it's good that it's in the game... But, it probably won't be, hence why I think these campaigns over it it's like raining where it's wet already; I think it's still worth it with Battalion Wars though, since Nintendo still hasn't said anything "final".

Best thing was if Nintendo somehow allowed voice chat on the OS later on (automatically enabling every game to have voice chat and recieve voice calls when online), but still... I wouldn't use it for most games, I really dislike using stuff like webcams and mics on the pc, let alone games. But this is my own judgement.

[Hellfire]

Planet Puzzle League DS, MPH and Pokémon P/D for example, have voice chat, not only because it's suitable, but because DS has a mic, but in SSBB? Who the hell cares?

[IMJ]

Tbh, i dont really care about voicechat. I dont wanna smack talk with people i donno. Especially if it means i'll have to endure lots of swearing and stuff. I just wanna enjoy the game.
I do see opportunities in certain games though, but not every game is a suitable for that kind of communication. Eventually, it's a feature i think should be available, but i'd rather have them focus on the issues that matter, like lag, match-makings, dropouts etc.

[Helmsly]

Ok so the 'proper' Wii-k in review is up now at IGN, complete with Matt Matt casamassina. I'm downloading it right now so not sure what they talk about or mention yet.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/824/824248p1.html

[Cube]

- Rockstar Table Tennis discussion. Same game as 360 except for graphics downgrade and no online. No controller lag. A lot of details on mapped controls.

- Dragon Blade discussion. Resembles one of the “Simple Series” games from Japan. Controls a little rough, boss fights ane elemental attacks are impressive.

- List of Wii games from retailer. Nothing we haven’t discussed.

- Beth Llewelyn and Julia Roether leaving mentioned again

- Chris Slate from PSM is going to handle Nintendo Power

- Halo 3 sales talk, and how it relates to Xbox 360s sold

- More Halo 3 and Prime 3 comparisons

- Fifa 08 plays like Fifa series. Slightly impressed, but there are issues

- Dewy’s Adventure discussion. Straightforward platformer game from what has been played so far.

- Wednesday night next week, Nintendo is having a show for their upcoming Wii and DS holiday titles

- dark themed game that has been hyped could be called a “high B, low A” quality title. Game found publisher, and now lost the publisher. Kind of Resident Evil style, a darker game

- Godzilla Unleashed may or may not have online.

- Brawl discussion. Ranked random matches are not confirmed as of right now.

- Ghost Squad calibration discussed. Point Wiimote at corners of screens and it locks into place. Hasn’t been tried with the shell yet.

- IGN says if anything, Link’s Crossbow Training was most likely the September surprise. They also say it may have been delayed, or been scrapped altogether.

- IGN doesn’t know if the Japanese VC titles released here will disappear from the service as they did in Europe.

- Endless Ocean delay believed to be due to marketing reasons

- The Nintendo event rumor comes up, but the person that sent in the question said it was on the 12th. Matt/Bozon joke about how they discussed the event earlier. I believe this is a misunderstanding, since we know the rumored Nintendo event was said to be on the 10th. The North American event and the rumored (but confirmed) Japanese event could be one in the same.

- Not sure if a uniform voice chat could be used across all games. Don’t believe it will ever happen.

- StarFox talk, want to see a return to the original StarFox ideas.

- Phantom Hourglass feels epic, believes the game is very easy. 12-15 hours on first run, 25 for really getting into it

- Where is Pikmin? No official announcement yet, even though Nintendo has hinted at it.

- Square Enix Wii support talk. FFCC: TCB is playable, but Square Enix hasn’t shown it yet.

- Umbrella Chronicles needed improvements - better framerate, more speed, transitional animations could be beefed up.

- Tomb Raider Anniversary is okay. PS2 issues are still present in the Wii version.

- MX vs. ATV Untamed is fun, physics are pretty cool. Different team for Wii, PS2/360. Online play hinted at.

They're still going on about Brawl's online...

[Petey Piranah]

dark themed game that has been hyped could be called a “high B, low A” quality title. Game found publisher, and now lost the publisher. Kind of Resident Evil style, a darker game;

Sadness ?

[Cube]

Sadness ?

Apparently, it's another one.

[Strange Cookie]

dark themed game that has been hyped could be called a “high B, low A” quality title. Game found publisher, and now lost the publisher. Kind of Resident Evil style, a darker game;

Sounds like an Eternal Darkness-sequel. Not ever going to happen, though... Shame... Shame... :weep: Damn SK! Damn their eyes! Not even a remake on 360 is possible, as Nintendo holds all the rights! Damn their eyes too!

- Godzilla Unleashed may or may not have online.

Why, thank you, IGN, for clearing that up! :wink:

- StarFox talk, want to see a return to the original StarFox ideas.

Agreed.

- Where is Pikmin? No official announcement yet, even though Nintendo has hinted at it.

The day they do will be a happy day indeed. :smile:

[ShadowV7]

Who knows with the whole Sadness thing and the Nibris conspiracy. I doubt it's the game IGN mentioned though since they have actual confirmation.

[DCK]

It's probably the Fatal Frame that was announced a few days ago.

[Helmsly]

New Wii-k in review is up, here's a summary done by _Alkaline_ at NeoGAF:

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/828/828949p1.html



Summary

- Both have been incredibly busy with Wii games - very overwhelmed. Have a massive backlog of games they need to cover - Zack and Wiki, Soul Calibur Legends, Manhunt 2, FIFA 08, Naruto, Smartypants, Fishing Master, Medal of Honour: Heroes 2, MX Untamed, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, etc. At least 10 games they need to catch up on - they're working on the reviews, but they're taking a while because there's so many to cover.

Zack and Wiki
- Was supposed to have the exclusive review on Zack and Wiki up tonight, but they couldn't complete it - stuck on a really hard (but awesome) puzzle.

- Maybe half-way through the game, and don't have any concerns about the length (about 15 hours).

- Difficulty is great, ramps up as the game progresses. Everytime you step into a new level, you're confronted with more new and unique puzzles.

- Puzzles and controls are lots of fun. Definitely recommend it - will be an editor's choice. Go and preorder it right now. One of the best 3rd party games on Wii. One of the very few Wii games that simply could not be replicated on another console. A "must-have title".

- The puzzles are challenging, you may need to even get help from friends (which you can). "Best designed puzzles in a decade" - probably superior to Zelda. "The quality and consistency of these puzzles is just insane."

- Don't have many complaints - wish they would supply more puzzles through WiiConnect24, sometimes need to use exact motions yet sometimes it's pretty much guess-work, sometimes trial-and-error gameplay might annoy.

- But it's a really good game. Saw the GameInformer review - definitely not a mid-7's game.

- Really smart puzzles and really beautiful (though sometimes framerate takes a dip). The animation is awesome - looks like you're watching a cartoon. Lots of polish and little elements that many other developers would not even think about including. "Insane production values."

- Next week there will be massive coverage of the game.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- "Exactly like you would think" - like Melee, with tons more options, characters, more interactive environments, and looks beautiful.

- Appears to be more "strategy" in this game, even though this demo was very slimmed down compared to the final product.

- Nice balance with characters: Metaknight is really cool - is really quick but he is still vulnerable due to his small size. Ike is real strong but slow and vulnerable is 1vs1 situations as a result.

- Samus appeared to be a little nerfed - a bit slow and weak. Sonic is very fast and awesome but needs to be mastered. Love Diddy Kong - really quick and awesome.

- Matt can't wait to delve deeper into it - all we've seen so far is a shell of a game.

Super Mario Galaxy

- "Going to rock the house" - Matt says although he loves Smash, he would put Galaxy above it without hesitating.

- The nature of Galaxy just allows for so many ideas to be implemented. The creativity is just incredible. Too many games are restricted by their attempts to be realistic. Galaxy refuses to abide by current game convetions - it's just crazy.

- Constantly dazzled by the gravity system in the game. Love how you can jump off the planet but then are drawn back to the planet through gravity. Feels and looks amazing. Hope they use more puzzles with gravity implications later in the game.

- A second-player can not only hold and shoot at enemies, but can also make Mario jump, which is really funny and interesting. Two player mode is a nice little extra - nothing critical, but could still be helpful in some situations. The single-player is all you need - incredible.

- Should be Game of the Year, only real competition is Bioshock and maybe Metroid or Mass Effect. The lack of Smash in 2007 doesn't really matter simply because of Galaxy.

Battalion Wars 2

- Was a very basic demo - didn't get to play single player, only Wifi multiplayer. Just "balls-out" deathmatch. Wished they could have played single-player and see the strategy components of the game.

- Can lock-on to anyone with the cursor, but this might be an issue because you can also lock-on to your allies.

- Don't think the controls make a big difference - a lot of this stuff you can simply do with a Gamecube controller. Don't get a great sense of commanding your troops, you're really just locking onto people and commanding people with the a button. Wish there was more stuff like a Starfox map where you dragged people to certain areas on the map, but none of this kind of stuff is to be found. Does not think it makes enough progress from the original.

- However, still think it will be superior to the original, mainly because of new units, more options, better visuals and Wifi support, which is a good thing because they loved the original.

- Will be more coverage of the game soon.

Link's Crossbow Training

- "Twilight Princess with the Wii Zapper." Options include:
1. 1st person light-gun style.
2. 3rd person aiming.
3. Can control link with the analogue stick.

- Really liked the last mode. Felt nice to be able to control Link and shoot at the same time -"really good natural feeling."

- Don't want to play with the Zapper - both are not very impressed with the Wii Zapper. Feels just like a gimmick and don't think it is as accurate.

- Great deal for a pack-in game with a peripheral.

Manhunt 2

- Working on getting a review up soon, but having issues. Are not allowed to post reviews with a lower-than-wanted score before the game comes out.

- Are currently playing it. It's "unfortunate" - they had the privelage to play the game before it was tamed down, and thus are aware of the changes that have been made. Makes the executions have less impact. Will likely have an impact on the review score - feels like "Mortal Kombat without fatalities."

- Find it ironic how some content in the game that reminds is actually worse than the executions - for example, some people throw faeces at you or piss on you, but stabbing someone with a syringe is blurred out.

- Firmly believe early press impressions was a major reason as to why ERSB clamped down on it.

- Don't get the wrong impression though - it is still pretty violent - still think it is a good game. Great for Halloween. It's just really hard when you know how it has been toned down.

Soul Calibur Legends

- Have only played it for a little bit - have posted some new videos.

- The game is 60fps (not 30fps like the videos show). The game is quite nice looking, but lacks a bit of detail in textures and geometry.

- Feels like a deeper Dragon Blade. Pretty basic in design - just mainly running around and killing stuff.

- Controls work pretty well - on-screen animations represent your own motions pretty well. Using the nunchuck to jump actually works properly, unlike a lot of Wii games.

- Not blown away by any stretch of the imagination - lacks the cinematics and gameplay depth of true Soul Calibur titles.

- Developers keep trying to branch out one genre into another. Unlike those games, Legends isn't a complete failure, but it's only ok.

Fishing Master
- "Who cares game."
- Should be on WiiWare.

Balls of Fury
- 1.2 is generous.
- Flash game as a Wii game.

Naruto
- Really good fighter, but nothing amazing. Just really a roster update + motion and some mini-games.

- If you want a really new Naruto experience, you will probably be disappointed. But if you want the best fighter on Wii (until Smash), then you should buy this game. Even if you're not a Naruto fan - Bozon isn't, but he really likes this game.

- Better game that Bleach Wii.

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

- Have the game, but haven't been able to play much of it yet. Can't talk about much at all as of yet.

- Have only played one mode - the live-action FPS mode that has been showed through videos on the site.

- The new graphical technique is cool and nice-looking but the real-time video is running a bit slow. Hopefully this is fixed by the time that game comes out.

- If you liked RRR, then you'll enjoy this one too. The game isn't going to blow you away, it's just a solid continuation from the first game. Less emphasis placed on Rayman and more on the Rabbids, which is very good thing.

- Really funny game - find some of the Rabbid costumes hilarious, such as how some Rabbids dress up as Rayman himself.

Guitar Hero III

- The guitar controller is cool - better than the 360 GHII controller. The buttons are shaped better, entirely wireless and use rumble and the speaker (even though it's hard to hear the speaker).

- The game is really fun, but the 360/PS3 version is superior due to downloadable content. This is not because the developer didn't try, but mainly because of the lack of space provided by Nintendo. For a console that is opening the door to developers, the lack of a hard drive is actually blocking some developers.

- If you don't have a 360/PS3, then definitely buy this version. It's still a really good game on Wii and is targeted to the Wii demographic.

Okami announced for Wii for 2008

- Happy and bummed at the same time.

- Happy: It's a great game (IGN 2006 GOTY) and a natural fit for the console. Handed out to RDS, who is very competent.

- Bummed: Using Clover Studios original engine (a bit worrying), no graphical enhancements and no new features or content other than new controls. Was hoping they would go a little further - don't expect anything too much.

- Disappointed about the Capcom announcements on Wii - a bit underwhelming compared to stuff like Street Fighter 4 and Bionic Commando.

NPD
- Expected to see Microsoft actually beat Wii by more, but Nintendo surprised again despite having no big games in September.

- Software sales are a very different story - Nintendo has nothing, except for Galaxy and Smash (which should both do extremely well), that could come close to Halo 3's numbers.

- Matt thinks globally Smash should eclipse Halo 3's sales - he even thinks, maybe, Smash will ultimately overtake Halo 3's sales in USA due to Smash's long-standing power.

- Bozon thinks Wii will stay generally sold out until Summer 2008 (maybe even Xmas) - thinks Nintendo could've beaten Microsoft this month had they produced some more Wii systems.

- Matt amazed about how it took Halo 3, an incredibly hyped game with a massive fanbase and huge marketing, to get 360 sales above 500k, yet for Wii it took nothing.
- Wii Sports alone, which is just basically a tech demo, is still bringing so many people to Wii.

- However, despite consistently selling well, Wii's software sales remain disappointing. Nintendo and 3rd parties need to prove that Wii games can sell. Think that Nintendo and 3rd parties need to take a risk and really market their products - games like Metroid Prime 3 (and likely Battalion Wars 2) could sell a lot better if they were probably advertised. Matt really disappointed by MP3's sales because it such a good game and deserves more.

- Are concerned that because of non-games and casual-games sell better on Wii than hardcore games, that ultimately this will mean developers will not bother making hardcore games. However, right now this concern should not be overstated as Nintendo are really delivering some excellent games like Metroid, Galaxy and Smash.

Contra 4
- Have the game in office.
- It's really cool with nice extra content.
- Bozon worked on the game and thus cannot cover it.
- There was a big booth for the game at E for All, which shows some much-needed retro love.

- Matt thinks Fire Emblem should have poured more time into it. There needs to be more advertising. However, the core FE crowd will eat it up as usual.

- Thinks there are lots of possibilties with the Wii Balance Board. Stuff like snowboarding and skiing is a natural fit - they also think a game with duelling where you use the wiimotes as swords and move side-to-side with the Balance Board.

- Matt thinks Dr. Mario should be lots of fun with the online stuff and Mii integration.

- An E for All podcast is coming up, with contains Matt and Mark as well as a few others.

- IGN is accepting people to work with Matt and Mark as an onsite freelancer. 3 days a week. Has good pay for what it is. Another position avaliable is an intern, which is 5 days a week. Can send an e-mail to Matt IGN through the feedback system, just like you would send a normal e-mail. Title it "LA Freelancer" or "LA Intern", but you need to explain why you deserve the job.

[Zechs Merquise]

What's new this week, more whinges about RE:UC, which to me looks more enticing with every screen and vid released.

Pikmin and Starfox talk, personally I'm pleased they haven't been shown - we need to have something left in the tank lol

All the talk about Halo 3/Galaxy/Brawl sales is starting to get old. REAL OLD as are the comparisons with Prime 3.

Let's face it: sales are a function of total console sales and the uptake rate of that game, with the Wii outselling the 360 and the Japanese market, we could easily see Brawl and Galaxy outsell Halo 3. And this months NPD shows that although Halo 3 boosted 360 sales, it certainly didn't dent Wii sales.

Secondly, the Prime things really annoys the hell out of me. If Prime was in had the same graphical sheen as those 360 games the score would be higher. IGN i notice are quite fair with scores, but tossers like GAMESPOT are total arses who automatically dock every Wii game at least a whole point due to graphics, and usually several more as they don;t understand the controls.

[Maase]

- The puzzles are challenging, you may need to even get help from friends (which you can). "Best designed puzzles in a decade" - probably superior to Zelda. "The quality and consistency of these puzzles is just insane."


-Ok, now im sure, the first game il buy when i have an Wii will be this :D

[Petey Piranah]

Zack & Wiki 100% certain full retail purchase for me. Legitimate effort here from Capcom, one of the only legit decent unique third party games that could be done only on Wii, please Wii owners of the world;

BUY THIS GAME!!!

[Zelda_Rulez]

I will definitely buy Zack and Wiki!

[Petey Piranah]

Quite seriously though, I think this really could be singlehandedly one of Wiis most important third party releases to date. They've obviously spent a fair amount of time and pumped a fair amount of resources into this game, what better way to show skeptic "safe" developers that proper game efforts are actually desired and rewarded on Wii (via good sales numbers). It'd be very saddening to see this game perform poorly with sales, it certainly doesn't deserve to...

[Hellfire]

Funny, cause every BWii hands on I saw said that the controls were amazing on the Wii and that troop management rocked because of the controler.
Also, yeah, it's a pity that OKami probably won't have new content, but it's still a fucking great anouncement and for now, better than a 3D game that will probably suck (which is a shame the original was awesome) and a FMV.

[darksnowman]

Zack and Wiki should definitely be good. Also, I REALLY wish Nintendo would get Fire Emblem to Europe!

[Hero-of-Time]

Zack and Wiki should definitely be good. Also, I REALLY wish Nintendo would get Fire Emblem to Europe!

Im glad they havent announced it for this year, the release schedule is packed enough without that eating into my time.

[darksnowman]

Im glad they havent annoucned it for this year, the release schedule is packed enough without that eating into my time.

Aye, I know thats likely their excuse for it but seriously, when a video collage of Wii games was shown ages ago and the new Fire Emblem featured for a few seconds... I was hyped! If they released it between now and Christmas I'd make room for it and so should you. :p

[Helmsly]

New week in review up, Matt and Bozen are joined by Peer Schneider and and Jessica Chobot this week:

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/830/830751p1.html


Summary by _Alkaline_ at Neogaf

Summary

- The two receives five more games today, making them even busier than they were last week.
- Capcom have find it difficult to get stores to stock Zack and Wiki - very limited. Chobot and Peer found it different to get their hands on the game. Disappointed because the game is so awesome.

EA Playground
- Matt reviewed it - 6.6
- Wii Sports title that isn't as good as Wii Sports.
- Overpriced at $49.99
- Bozon likes the slot-car racings, Matt thinks the paper-airplane game is ok.
- Confused as to why MySims and EA Playground didn't have Mii Support given their distinct styles.

Cosmic Family
- Matt reviewed it - 5.0
- Really meant for young ages.
- Static 2D backdrop with little imagination.
- Has an MS paint-ish program to draw things which is kind of cool.
- Very limited and simple tasks.
- Severely overprived at $49.99
- Don't bother with it.

Bleach
- Bozon reviewed it - 6.3
- "Waggle-fest"
- First effort of a 3D fighter on Wii - pretty meh.
- There are much better fighters - DBZ 3 and Naruto.

Dragon Ball Z 3
- Bozon is pretty optimistic about it (gave first game 8.3)
- Kind of unconventional - flying combat, more based on building up super attacks.
- Tons of characters in the game.
- Should turn out really good.

Zack and Wiki
- Matt reviewed Zack and Wiki - 9.0 (editor's choice)
- Probably the best 3rd party Wii game.
- Can't replicate the experience on other systems.
- Anecdotal evidence - one store sold out, but they actually only had 2.
- Reader reactions are really positive.
- Both recommend that you don't use the dolls to help you - it's so much more rewarding when you don't use any help.
- They're really happy someone has stepped up to make something that rivals Nintendo's work on Wii.

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
- Got in final version this morning
- New videos coming up tonight - direct-feed 480p.
- After E3 and today, Chobot feels underwhelmed. However, Matt and Bozon tell her to play more of it before she forms an opinion.
- Slower and more methodical than other Resident Evil games, but both are starting to like it. Not a masterpiece but still good fun.
- Gore has been toned down, but they've only played a little bit of the game. Think it will ramp up a bit.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
- Got it in today.
- Only played a little bit of it, but so far seems pretty shallow - just lots of incoherent waggle.
- Fencing is not very good - just a lot of waggling. There's also "forward into the screen" motions, which never seems to work well on Wii.
- Matt was really anticipating it but it's just a mini-game fest and nothing special.

Battalion Wars 2
- Got it in today.
- Matt is pretty happy with it so far - good fun.
- Feels a lot like the Gamecube version, haven't seen much new stuff yet.
- Visuals show quite a lot of improvements, especially the beautiful water.
- Using the nunchuk to jump is a bit frustrating. Using the pointer doesn't really add much, especially in terms of camera control, which is slow and there is no sensitivity setting to change it.
- Doesn't really make big jumps from the original in terms of game mechanics. They would have liked to be able to control the direction of your forces on a map.
- However, he still feels satisfied with it. He's not blown away but he really enjoyed the original and this is a solid continuation of it.

Nintendo financial report
- Nintendo seeling 13.2 million units in less than a year
- Gamecube, in 6.5 years, only sold 22 million units.
- Will catch Gamecube in mid 2008.
- Wii software sales is also dominating Gamecube software sales.
- There have been 9 one-million sellers on Wii, including some surprising games like Mario Strikers Charged.

Visuals on Wii
- Not allowed to mention the title, but played a racing game recently that is multiplatform.

- Looked sluggish and blurry.

- Night-and-day difference to the 360 version, which felt intense and thrilling.

- All discuss visuals on Wii - they think Nintendo have done really well, but are still frustrated with the processing power of the system. Don't like how Nintendo claims that visuals don't matter anymore. Matt would have really liked the best of bost worlds.

- However, on the other hand, Nintendo are doing amazing in attracting new gamers. Peer talks about how his parents immediately 'got' Wii Sports, but normal games with normal conventions of play would always confuse them.

- Chobot thinks the 360 and Wii is all you need. Doubts the need for a PS3, which is a nice piece of hardware, but the support, costs and the attitude of Sony are really dragging the PS3 down. Peer - "this Christmas does not belong to Sony."

Medal of Honor 2
- Got several copies of the game in.

- Had the sensitivity settings cranked to as fast as they could get it.

- Finally a game that does FPS controls that beats Metroid Prime 3.

- Matt doubts that these controls will ever be surpassed.

- Chobot found it much easier to control with the wiimote than she does with standard controllers.

- The AI is pretty mediocre. Sometimes you could shoot them but they still keep standing.

- The controls are not shoe-horned - "everything makes sense."

- Pretty good looking game but not near Metroid Prime 3. Great to have 60fps. There are some sacrifices (eg: dead soldiers disappering instantly) but these are barely gripes.

- Metroid Prime 3's motion is better but Medal of Honor's is still fun.
- Turning the remote to zoom in with the wii remote feels really good and much better than the previous method of moving the controller towards the screen.

- The gameplay is pretty similar to previous Medal of Honour games, but the controls make it so much more.

- Bozon thinks it is "fricken sweet." The controls make the game really fun. Chobot feels it slightly reminds her of Goldeneye.

- It seems the multiplayer mode has really come together, even though they didn't get to play it.

- More coverage on the game next week, that will demonstrate the controls, which can be as quick as keyboard + mouse. Nothing on a console comes close of Medal of Honor's control.

Online play on Wii

- Talk about the lag of some EA Nation games (eg: Madden) and how some don't have lag (eg: Medal of Honor).

- Apparently it is because in games like Madden, there is individual AI for all players on the field, whilst this is not the case in Medal of Honor.

Some games coming up in the next two weeks for IGN to cover
- Barbie Island Princess, Ben 10, Dancing with the Stars, Monkey King, High School Musical, Bee Movie Game, Disney Princess, Spy Games, Hooked! Motion Fishing. All must-buys.

Reader questions

- Krystal in Brawl - Bozon thinks she will be an assist trophy. Matt doesn't care if she's in the game or not. Peer thinks she might be playable given the lack of Starfox support in the game.

- Peer is convinced that a Square-Enix character will be revealed before the end of the year, especially given how close Nintendo is working with Square these days. Also expects a Capcom character.

- Out of Link's Crossbow Training, Ghost Squad and Umbrella Chronicles, they would go with Umbrella Chronicles. The other two are fun but simple, whilst Umbrella Chronicles has the most depth. Go with that for your on-rails needs.

- Skies of Arcadia 2 rumour - don't know anything about it at this point.

- Both think there is definitely a Zelda game being worked on right now for Wii.

- Kirby Wii - listen to come out on Wii in 2008.

- The third-party Zapper is better than the official Nintendo one, but overall it's just better to not use one at all.

- Apparently Walmart was given a large shipment of Zack and Wiki by Capcom, so they recommend you check there if you are struggling to find it.

- Animal Crossing MMO - Bozon calls BS. Matt thinks it is legit. Reminds him of those rumours of a Pokemon MMO years ago. MMO seems to go against Nintendo strategy on Wii.

- Hard-drive on Wii - Guitar Hero III shows that it's vital for the Wii to have a hard-drive. Nintendo need to stop sitting down on the issue and actually do something.

- Discuss Guilty Gear score - there is conflict on the issue. Some think it is unfair, since the game works fine with the classic controller and Nintendo told us from the start that developers can use the classic controller instead of the remote. On the other hand, others think that the system is based on the wiimote, and not only that, but players are basically being forced to buy a controller that they may have not already had. Bozon thinks it should have received the same game since it's just as good as the PS2 version.

- Best version of The Simpsons game is apparently on 360, since that is the prime platform for the game. However, they have to wait to see since they haven't really gotten to play the Wii version.

- Bozon thinks King Story will be the next "Zack and Wiki-ish" sleeper-hit game on Wii.

- Matt thinks Nitro Bike will be decent. De Blob is stylish and fun. EA Blocks is good stuff. Harvey Birdman should be enjoyable.

- Peer wants to see a really well-done adventure game on Wii. Zack and Wiki kind of answers this but it's a different style.

- All of them think Cruis'n will be horrible.

[LazyBoy]

I've pretty much ignored Medal of Honour since...well forever actually, but I might have to check this out. Online and the best FPS controls on the Wii? Alright

[flameboy]

- Animal Crossing MMO - Bozon calls BS. Matt thinks it is legit. Reminds him of those rumours of a Pokemon MMO years ago. MMO seems to go against Nintendo strategy on Wii.

I'm sorry but is Bozon thick?! When he's not brown nosing Matt he is just talking shit... The two aren't even comparable...Animal Crossing has always been a sociable game and whilst a full blown MMO might perhaps not happen but I think it is a natural progression for Animal Crossing to continue and at least take some elements of the MMO genre. Whereas Pokemon multiplayer has always been about the combat/battles over any element of socializing/battling together in the world at the same time.

[darksnowman]

Bit of a chaotic one this time seeing as there were four people all trying to talk at once.

[Goron_3]

I'm sorry but is Bozon thick?! When he's not brown nosing Matt he is just talking shit... The two aren't even comparable...Animal Crossing has always been a sociable game and whilst a full blown MMO might perhaps not happen but I think it is a natural progression for Animal Crossing to continue and at least take some elements of the MMO genre. Whereas Pokemon multiplayer has always been about the combat/battles over any element of socializing/battling together in the world at the same time.

But still, he's got a point. Since when have Nintendo EVER wanted to make MMO's? I rekon they could hand it to a 3rd.2nd party to make.

[Helmsly]

yeah, a MMO kind of goes against everything Nintendo seem to want out of online for the Wii.

[flameboy]

yeah, a MMO kind of goes against everything Nintendo seem to want out of online for the Wii.

How does it? Like I said I think we will see elements of MMO's, perhaps not a full blown MMO, so perhaps sharing villages with people who you've exchanged codes with? I mean a huge sprawling world isn't going to work anyway so almost a microcosm of the MMO genre... Each game needs to be tailored to it's needs and there is no doubting AC is slowly evolving into a form of MMO. I still stand by my statement that it BS to rule it out completely.

[Zechs Merquise]

They seem underwhelmed by RE:UC and BWii two of my most hotly anticipated games, I really hoped both would score 8.0 or above. I tend to trust IGN more than other review sites, very rarely do I feel they substantially miss the mark.

[darkjak]

Hmmm...
It's been quite a while since EA actually made a "best" in something. Actually, last time must have been like in 1998, when they released my fave racer for years to come, NFS: High stakes:

http://www.firingsquad.com/games/nfs4/images/e.jpg

[Hellfire]

They seem underwhelmed by RE:UC and BWii two of my most hotly anticipated games, I really hoped both would score 8.0 or above. I tend to trust IGN more than other review sites, very rarely do I feel they substantially miss the mark.

Trust? IGN?
Does not compute.

[Helmsly]

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/832/832465p1.html


New Wii-k in review is now up (Matt, Bozon and Jessica this time)

I'm listening to it at the moment, so far the the first 20 minutes has been all about Mario Galaxy

[Hero-of-Time]

Im on listening to it now. I will type the stuff as it happens as no one has posted it yet. No doubt a better version will be posted later but here is the jist of it :)

SLIGHT MARIO SPOILERS AHEAD, nothing major but I thought I would give you a heads up.


-Mario Galaxy music is amazing.

-Matt not rushing through Mario he is taking his time and will give the review when its ready.

-For the most part Mario Galaxy is easy, well they argue over it Matt says it isnt other say it is.

-The lives that you collect arent saved so when you continue your game you start from 5 but they says its not an issue as the extra lives are everywhere.

-Easy to heal Mario

-The whole office gathering around watching Galaxy.

-Everytime you get a new Star it feels like a new level in itself where as Mario 64 you had certain Stars in the same level.

-It has a very 2D feel to it even though its in 3D

-GOTY talk, Matt defends that the GOTY should be based on pure fun rather where as the Jessica says Mass Effect should get it. Matt says Mass Effect can get boring due to the amount of text and many people will end up getting bored ( I did with KOTOR ) and Mario is more accessible. Both games cant really compared, both different types of games.

-Controls in Mario Galaxy are great, Wiimote used very well and not just tacked on. You do a spin attack to do Fire Power, feels great.

-40 mins into the game they say that Galaxy is a 10 game, but later they have some tiny issues with certain things so the score will drop. They say its probaly the best Mario game.

-They mock people who say the audio has no voice acting but again they say that the music is amazing.

-Variety in the game is huge, they are half way through and havent found anything getting stale. The big worlds are great but they love the smaller planets as the physics are amazing.

-Mario does ice skating.

-1st part fades out with a remix of the original Mario Bros music....FANTASTIC!!!!

-They discuss Manhunt, 2 say its good and wish it wasnt censored. You cant really see your kill sequences.

-Fire Emblem review got 8.0 but they say its a solid game but it is pretty much a Cube game.

-Smackdown got 7.5, people complained about the score. Its very arcadey and feels great, the Wiimote replaces the anlogue stick moves from the other consoles. The Wii version is cut down, no schedule in the game, you end up fighting at same venue all the time.

-Fifa got 7.0, said it was a good first step.

-Battalion Wars 2 got 8.0 hasnt progressed much. Wiimote kind of develops the game but you can see the developers have run out of buttons.

-Guitar Hero 3 got 8.6 and lost .2 points compared to other console versions due to lack of downloadable content and lack of chat feature when playing online.

- Resident Evil 4 topping 1 million. Capcom prove to other compaines wrong who say casual games only sell well on the Wii and hardcore games dont. Proves that people do what these types of games and not just minigame collections.

-Touch on how old people are playing Wii Sports they say Nintendo should come out with a Driving School game to help senior citizens to drive :)

-They discuss the price of Wii games and how they dont match up. Carnival Games and R Evil are the same price and the likes of Fire Emblem are $50 even though its essentially a Cube game.

-Medal of Honor is discussed they love the controls and they are best on the Wii and any console, blows Halo out of the water! They say it may get passed by due to it being a war time game. Other developers should just copy the game as it works so well.

-Dragon Quest Swords, Jessica wasnt happy with it and didnt like the controls. Apparently she sucked at it anyway :) You use the d-pad to walk and they admit it is pretty much an update of a plug-in play game. You cast spells here and there and its a very simple game yet boring to play. You dont have much control of the game.

-Question time. Why are Gamespot and 1up biased against Nintendo? They say 1up is all over the place but Gamespot is pretty solid. They dont think they are biased just have different opinions.

-3rd party N64 VC games are discussed. They say it would come next year. Pokemon Snap needs to come asap on the VC ( I AGREE! ).

- Someone asks why Zelda didnt do Ocrestrated music where as Mario did. They couldnt really answer it say it may be due to budget.

-They have to give their top 3 games for the holiday season Mario Galaxy Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4. If it was Wii games it would be Mario Galaxy, Trauma Centre and Medal of Honor. Say Trauma Centre 2 player co-op is awesome.

-Umbrella Chronicles is discussed very briefly, they say its just like House of Dead. Good thing IMO.

- Soul Calibur Legends. They say its bad and they are very disappointed, runs at 60fps but its very basic.

-Annoyances is games. Escort missions annoy them all, and Paper Mario and Zack and Wiki that dont let people skip stuff and then constantly talk you through the game. They say that more gamers should have a pick up and play feature and you should be able to skip stuff if you have heard it already.

-Galaxy gets compared to waffles. You dont know why waffles have all of those little squares in them but what you do know is that you love them.

-No Resident Evil buzz after UC, they say they would love a R Evil 2 remake ( would LOOOOOOOVE it if that happened )

-Fatal Frame discussed, say its a spinoff and will not be FF4. Fear it may be a port of the 1st games.

All done :)

[Daft]

-No Resident Evil buzz after UC, they say they would love a R Evil 2 remake ( would LOOOOOOOVE it if that happened )


RE2 remake....Please god!!!! I would definitely consider killing for this game!

[jammy2211]

I swear Fatal Frame 4 was confirmed for the Wii. Maybe it's been misinterpreted or something, going to need to see what happens there though.

[triforcemario]

- Someone asks why Zelda didnt do Ocrestrated music where as Mario did. They couldnt really answer it say it may be due to budget.

It's actually due to the fact that it was originally a GC game, and they wouldn't have been able to fit orchestral music onto a GC DVD.

[Hellfire]

I swear Fatal Frame 4 was confirmed for the Wii. Maybe it's been misinterpreted or something, going to need to see what happens there though.

It was. I remember posting it on the main site.

[Owen]

I've never played a fatal frame game before, so i'll probably give it swirl when it comes out on Wii.

[pedrocasilva]

I swear Fatal Frame 4 was confirmed for the Wii. Maybe it's been misinterpreted or something, going to need to see what happens there though.hmmm, looking back it was kinda implied, not said, the title of the news was:

Tecmo Planning Next Fatal Frame for Wii (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163198)

In a sense... "Next" could be anything. I wouldn't mind enhanced ports though; but I'd rather have something that uses the hardware.

[Phube]

I wish I could moan about games being £25 quid too!!!

[Maverick]

RE2 remake....Please god!!!! I would definitely consider killing for this game!

Aint That Some Fucked Up Shit?

Would be cool and almost feels possible.

[Iun]

Y'know, I've never played Resident Evil 2, so a remake would be rather good.

[Maverick]

Y'know, I've never played Resident Evil 2, so a remake would be rather good.

It is by far (in my personal opinion) the best storywise i imagine you have played RE 4 which has the best gameplay and worst story.

If this game was ever made they would have to up the zombie count otherwise the game would be way too easy ... not that i would mind haha

[...]

Can someone explain to me the "sue joke" right at the end? What did Matt say that was so bad...?

[James McGeachie]

It's actually due to the fact that it was originally a GC game, and they wouldn't have been able to fit orchestral music onto a GC DVD.

Sort of bull really. It's possible they'd have been really stretching the limits of a disc with a lot of compression or would've had to do 2 discs but the fact is that wasn't the main factor in it at all, Nintendo just don't feel the need to splash out on things like orchestrated soundtracks usually. If you read the interview with the Galaxy sound team on one of the "Ask Iwata" Wii updates they even bring up how they were hesitant to do it because of the budget.

I think the main reason Galaxy has one is because they really wanted to make sure this game was the best it could possibly be in all areas... as you know it wouldn't surprise me if it's the utmost peak of Mario games. After all, there are no settings that are "bigger" and more "epic" than space.

[Iun]

I'd really like to give the older Resident Evil games a good going-over, but the antiquated control system puts me off a little. I managed to get through Remake and halfway through 0 before I just couldn't take it any more. I thought 0 was the better game, actually. Certainly more interesting and there was a lot more investment in the characters. So I'm really looking forward to Umbrella Chronicles as it seems to have some darned fine story sections.

Should I go to a tech plaza here and splash out on all the Gamecube Resident Evil's and get a Classic Controller so I can get the full experience?

[James McGeachie]

Dunno why you'd want a classic controller for them and not just use a Gamecube one, hell I don't think the classic controller even works with Cube games does it? Or maybe I'm wrong, never tried.

Anyway if you think 0 was a better game than Remake, which is perhaps the finest of the traditional RE's by modern standard, only edging out RE2 because the latter is far more dated, I'm not sure how much playing the others would appeal to you as they follow a very similar formula to RE1 except that 2 and 3 have ps1 level of visuals. Code Veronica is Dreamcast and might interest you slightly more actually as it's the only one with 3d environments, though still has the old gameplay style but actually has some shifting camera angles.

All isn't lost for there maybe being a Remake of 2 at one point on Wii though, the fact they've deliberately left out Leon and Claire in Umbrella Chronicles almost suggests they're keeping the re-visioning of that story for a remake, all dependant on whether UC sells enough to prove the Wii has a good number of hardcore RE fans on board.

[Cookyman]

Better late than never IGN's latest wii-k in review is now up!: peace:

[Hero-of-Time]

Better late than never IGN's latest wii-k in review is now up!: peace:

Thanks for the heads up, will probably listen to it when I get in from work this afternoon.

[tapedeck]

Rough breakdown:


You can tell they have a lot on their plate at the moment. They don't really go into much depth this week about "big" games. There are some enthusiastic moments about wiiware and they dismiss check mii out as being a 15min diversion.
Other than that they justify mario galaxy's score and say it would have been a ten if not for its lack of difficulty.

Medal of honour two is mentioned and again they say if it wasn't for the controls it would be just another call of duty 3. They then praise the wii mote use in fps games. (Again).
Matt says RRR2 is apparently more of the same yet hasn't played multiplayer so cannot really rate the game yet.

They then talk about drab titles such as Hooked (fishing) /disney princess.
They then note that Hooked has wifi yet Mario and Sonic doesn't...good point perhaps.

Wiiware is discussed in great detail (65/35 ratio of income for devs...35% goes to Nintendo - Which they were shocked about).
They then mention that titles which are cheaper/smaller go up first on the servers yet devs can only submit one game per month.

The price can be whatever the developer chooses. They say that "cup and ball" could be on there for one buck. or we could see N64 like adventures. And although nintendo won't let ppl make games for NES VC, Wiiware doesn't stop ppl from making 8bit type software.

They end with questions from readers. A good point is raised about wii's 1st year (one of my threads here:p ) and they reckon it's had one of the best 1st years of any console and if the 2nd year is like the 1st it should cement wii as brilliant.

Bozon states that "exclusively" the DS version of Mario and Sonic at the olympics got 2.7 higher than the wii version due to wifi alone.

[Zechs Merquise]

They then talk about drab titles such as Hooked (fishing) /disney princess. They then note that Hooked has wifi yet Mario and Sonic doesn't...good point perhaps.

Mario and Sonic was crying out for online... a real shame.

[pedrocasilva]

This wii-k's:

Victorious Boxers Revolution
- Gave the game 4.5 - was actually going to be lower, but decided against it because of the ability to use a classic controller.
- Much worse than Wii Sports boxing, which wasn't all that great to start off with.
- Poor motion recognition.
- Camera issues, super buggy - "total pain in the ass."

Smartypants
- Gave the game 7.0
- $49 which should be $29 at most - the content in the game is far too slim for the price they charge for it.
- It's a fun game - "really good party game that anyone can play." Good trivia game.

Avatar
- Gave the game 6.2
- Only decent - very straightforward game.
- Matt's a fan of the animated series but disappointed with the games.

Ben 10
- Gave the game 6.8
- Actually pretty cool, but doesn't extend from the PS2 version.
- Very basic presentation but fun combat and good animations.
- Not for the hardcore - very straightforward, but if you're a fan you should consider picking it up.

Namco Museum Remix
- Gave the game 5.0
- Worthy of being a WiiWare game - definitely not a full game.
- Boasts 14 games - 5 of which was remixed games, some of which are no good.
- The only good two are Galaga and Pac'n'Roll. Rally X is ok. The rest are either not much fun or are just too obscure.

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
- Gave the game 6.3, a whole two points below the original.
- The novelty is pretty worn off - it's just more mini-game. Doesn't feel quite as fresh.
- Feels more shoddy all around - definitely feels rush.
- Matt doesn't like how they force you to use Rayman. Even worse is that his voice effects are the same as the Rabbids.
- 90% of the minigames are throw-aways that barely use the controller - most uses of the controller just compose of shaking it.
- FPS sections - it looks better, but it's negatively affected gameplay-wise because the camera is slow moving and stops a lot. It feels slower and less interactive and exciting than the FPS sections in the original.

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
- Gave the game 7.9
- A good, fun experience with a ton of flaws.
- The hit detection is pretty terrible - you can shoot them in the head for 5 times in a row and it still doesn't kill them.
- It's a cool idea, really immersive, is deep with upgradable stuff, nice and interactive, has a good story, solid controls, great boss fights and has branching paths
- However, the core game isn't as good as other on-rails shooters.

Tomb Raider Anniversary
- Gave the game
- Port of the PS2 version - looks and plays like it.
- Added Wii functionary - controls her flashlight but still doesn't feel 100%, also controls an on-screen reticule as well as all-new interactive elements.
- Biggest problems with the game - doesn't look very good - looks just the PS2 version; only runs at 30fps, which in unacceptable since the much better looking Super Mario Galaxy runs flawlessly at 60fps; contains the drawbacks (eg:clunky camera) of the PS2 version.
- In addition, Tomb Raider has been outperformed by Prince of Persia and it just doesn't feel as good as controlling Prince or Assassin's Creed.

Guitar Hero 3 in mono
- Apparently it's all in mono - the guys at IGN never noticed, despite playing all the other versions of the game.
- It's possible that it only plays in mono if you're using Dolby Pro Logic 2 system with the game.
- Shouldn't be too much of a problem - it's not very noticeable. The game sounds fine for those at IGN.

NPD numbers
- Wii and DS back on top - recovered after the very small hit last month from Halo 3.
- Xbox 360 pulling pretty good numbers despite coming 3rd.
- PSP is getting some good games and the sales are starting to show.
- PS2 still pulling in great numbers - should continue to be around for a while.
- PS3 doing pretty poorly - more than tripled by 360, even more by Wii. Bozon thinks the system's sales will ramp up as more quality games keep coming to the system - no need to panic just yet.
- Guitar Hero 3 Wii selling nearly 300k on Wii, despite lack of downloadable content, shows that 3rd party games can sell well on Wii as long as they are good quality and appeal to the right demographic.
- Zack and Wiki sadly sucked it up in sales.
- Matt thinks Umbrella Chronicles will do pretty well.

Link's Crossbow Training
- Just got it in, so you will see some pics and movies for the game.
- Don't play it with the Zapper. Both really don't like the peripheral - feels cheap and doesn't function very well.
- It's pretty fun - for 20 bucks, this is a very good deal. It's short but very fun and also features multiplayer.

Nitrobike
- Good fun - pretty much bikes in ExciteTruck. Good sense of speed, great blur effects. Also has online which should be cool.
- From Left Field, although a lot of the original team has left.
- Matt thinks it has an uphill battle - we haven't seen a lot of great stuff from Ubisoft lately, though they do promise to have amazing Wii games in 2008.

House of the Dead for Wii
- First screens came out today.
- They knew about this, but heard it was a completely original game for Wii. Indeed, there was also apparently another SEGA shooter game in development for Wii (have a guess), but the don't know if that one is still happening, but given Ghost Squad is doing ok, they might consider it.
- Both games are great. Matt and Mark are hopeful they the games aren't downgraded. Don't expect a whole lot of differences - it's really only a compilation.
- Hoping the game will be appropriately priced.

Geometry Wars Galaxies
- Takes Retro Evolved's formula and just goes crazy with it.
- Some really tough and exciting missions.
- Likes it better with the classic controller - when things got serious, the wii controls hampered Bozon's ability rather than help it.
- Also has WiiConnect24 ranking systems, co-op mode, and connectivity with the DS.
- Also a pretty good looking game.
- Shouldn't be $40, but still worth it since it makes the Xbox Live game feel like a demo. Very fleshed out.

Trauma Centre: New Blood
- Gave it 8.5
- A sequal done exactly as you want a sequal done.
- Co-op, online ranking system, 480p and widescreen.
- Wished it would have online co-op.
- Really hard but very fun. The difficulty is good though - it's a terrific challenge and very addictive.
- On the Holiday Buyer's Guide - definitely recommend buying it.

Reader questions notes
- Bozon isn't a big fan of Harvey Birdman. Matt thinks it's much too simple, but absolutely hilarious writing. Feels a bit like a flash game - use the wiimote occasionally to look at a static envionment, you unlock evidence to present to people and that's how you progress through the game. The main appeal is in the humour. Be apprehensive if you don't watch the show.

- They can't think of an other notable point-and-click games in development for Wii.

- If Capcom do a sequal to Zack and Wiki, they should let retailers know about the game's excellent reviews. It's a formula that works very well with Wii.

- Both hope that more future Wii games have difficulty settings - this would be especially beneficial for games like Zelda.

- Matt can't stand Ninja Gaiden. Bozon thinks Metal Gear is overrated.

- Both still can't believe the DS has voicechat yet for some reason Wii doesn't. Matt thinks they'll have it eventually, maybe when Smash Bros. Brawl comes out.

- "Dark game" - Matt is reluctant to talk about it because of message board reactions. Last he heard, the game was going along well and the hit a new milestone. The game still doesn't have a publisher, because they think it looks really cool but doubt it'll sell well due to the demographic of the Wii. Matt refuses to agree with this mentality, especially after looking at the sales of Resident Evil 4. Publishers don't acknowledge these sales - they think it doesn't matter because it's Resident Evil and therefore automatically sells well.

- They are seeing more interesting things. They have to be vague, but they saw some engine things on Wii. They saw some really nice effects on Wii - lots of bump-mapping, basic normal mapping, cool light effects. These effects are a huge powersuck, but if the engine can be optimised than it's promising stuff.

- Smash Bros. continues to become more and more packed with features, with the newest addition of Spectator Mode. Matt is constantly blown away.

- Matt thinks Galaxy, Umbrella Chronicles and MOH Heroes 2 will all sell well (and in that order respectively). Capcom America said that Umbrella Chronicles is selling well, with positive reviews helping sales. Galaxy should be huge in America, despite lukewarm sales in Japan.

- Developers, like gamers, are wowed by next-gen technology. They want to constantly move forward with visuals. However, atittudes are changing towards Wii from developers - more and more exciting ideas are being developed. However, developers putting their A teams on Wii games will be in the minority. Expect most big teams to still go to 360/PS3, unless Wii 3rd party software start selling through the roof.

- Matt still hates Mario Kart: Double Dash.

- The calibration method in Ghost Squad works ok, but it's definitely not impeccable. It's a nice extra but not sometimes that redefines on-rails shooters on Wii. Ghost Squad also features girls making out with pandas.

- They don't think a Donkey Konga game would work well on Wii. In fact, they think it would be pretty damn horrible, if Bongo Blast is any indication.

- Medal of Honor Heroes 2 features great online mutiplayer which justifies purchasing the game. It is slightly downgraded visually, and it's not COD4 online, but it's well-organised, fast and good fun.

- Mario Galaxy may be more linear than normal 3D Marios, but in essence this brings it back to the original linearity of the series and a key reason why it is so good.

- Red Steel 2 - should be announced, and we should hear more about it, early next year.

- Both are hoping Timesplitters makes its way onto Wii.

- They do know of a first-person shooter-esque game on Wii, though it controls more like a 3rd person game, which they think is quite cool.

- Bozon thinks a Megaman game with free run and IR aiming would be really cool.

- Bozon's biggest surprise is how well Wii is selling. Matt's is the sheer volume of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Both are disappointed by the way in which Battalion Wars 2 just flopped.

- Don't think Mario Kart Wii will feature LAN play - they think it will be all online.

- Matt thinks No More Heroes will have a cool story, be really atmospheric and be fun to play, but will be clunky to control. Think it might be a case of style overcoming substance.

- Both are feeling a bit sceptical on NiGHTS. They think the flying, which is the essence of the game, looks really mechanical, and are therefore worried that the rest of the game will be similarly underwhelming. Bozon doesn't feel like a big step is being taken - other games are doing similar things better. However, they do like the musical score, as well as how there are a lot of features, such as the weather system.

- They don't know of any original Donkey Kong game being made for Wii.

- Matt expects Monolith to be making an RPG on Wii after they have completed Disaster: Day of Crisis. (well, duh)

- Think Umbrella Chronicles sold pretty well in its first day (70k). Matt thinks the game should ultimately rack up a few hundred thousand in Japan alone.

- Expect Rock Band to come to Wii next year.

- Both are hopeful Wii will start to get more quality games to Wii. Though sceptical, what Ubisoft recently said is promising - developers and publishers need to realise that bad games won't sell well on Wii.

- Soul Calibur Legends review coming soon - it's very basic. Doesn't have the charm of the fighters. It's not boring, and it does run very fast, but it's underwhelming.

- Matt thinks GOTY will come down to Bioshock, Mass Effect and Super Mario Galaxy. Galaxy is a game that is so good that the flaws don't really come out. With Mass Effect, it's so epic and presented so well that the flaws can be forgiven. Bozon would be surprised if Galaxy wins, despite being the more entertaining game. Matt thinks Galaxy will probably get GOTY at nearly every place except for IGN.

[Hellfire]

Don't really get what they mean by NiGHTS being mechanic, but like I said, the hype is sooo huge, everyone will be disapointed by the game.
Also, God damnit, why doesn't anyone make a good avatar game?