Former Nintendo Power staffers tell insider tales

by Alexander Sliwinski on Aug 29th 2012 9:30AM

Former Nintendo Power staffers have gathered their fond memories of working at the magazine that'll cease publication this December.

Hands in the Air, written by a pair of former editors, shares many anecdotes from the publication's glory days. One of the best includes StarFox's Falco "Rambaldi" cited as "Lombardi" in the Star Fox 64 player's guide and that name sticking for years. There's also the mini quote about the belief that the Pokemon TV show would "NEVER be successful in the US."

It's a sweet walk down memory lane and interesting to see the insider's view. Share your personal memories in our "Nintendo Power remembered" post.

View the original article here

Madden Nfl 13 WiiU New Images

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Inazuma Eleven Go Strikers 2013 Wii New Images

These are some new images of the Nintendo Wii game Inazuma Eleven Go Strikers 2013

More About: Nintendo Wii, Inazuma Eleven Go Strikers 2013

No items matching your keywords were found.

View the original article here

Ben 10 Omniverse WiiU New Images

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Sleeping Dogs rests atop UK charts

by Alexander Sliwinski on Sep 17th 2012 8:35AM

Sleeping Dogs is, once again, at the top of Chart-Track's UK all formats sales chart. This is the fourth week Square Enix's crime sandbox has rested comfortably on the throne, with its reign briefly broken a couple weeks ago by Guild Wars 2, which battles on in seventh.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was the only major new addition to the chart last week, debuting in second. Chart-Track notes it's been 12 years since the previous entry on PlayStation 2, back in October of 2000. The rest of the top ten shuffles to make room. Punch past the break for the UK top ten.

Top 10 UK Software Sales (All Formats); week ending September 15:
Sleeping DogsTekken Tag Tournament 2Lego Batman 2: DC Super HeroesNew Super Mario Bros. 2London 2012: The Official Video Game of the Olympic GamesThe Sims 3: SupernaturalGuild Wars 2Dead Island GOTYNHL 13Max Payne 3

View the original article here

Tank Tank Tank WiiU New Images

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Now Playing: September 10-16, 2012

by Steven Wong on Sep 10th 2012 7:00PM

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Nintendoware Weekly: Metal Slug X, VectorRacing

by JC Fletcher on Aug 23rd 2012 5:30PM

It's a quiet week on Nintendo platforms (except, of course, for last Sunday's New Super Mario Bros. 2 launch), with just one new game per platform.

Wii Virtual Console fans can rescue hostages and blow up everything that isn't a hostage in Metal Slug X; 3DS owners get to see through the track in VectorRacing; and DSiWare has a sort of submarine exploration game called Abyss.

Wii Metal Slug X (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): An updated, remixed game based on Metal Slug 2.3DS eShop VectorRacing (Arc System Works, 1 player, $6.99): A racing game with vector-style graphics, featuring twelve different tracks.DSiWare Abyss (EnjoyUp Games, 1 player, $1.99/200 DSi Points): Pilot a biomechanical robot through dark undersea mazes to find energy.

View the original article here

Just Dance 4 WiiU New Images

These are some new images of the Nintendo WiiU game Just Dance 4

More About: Nintendo WiiU, Just Dance 4

View the original article here

Channeling my inner Liam Neeson in Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013

by David Hinkle on Sep 21st 2012 3:30PM

Video games are great because they let you do the things you either couldn't do in real life or wouldn't want to do. A guilty pleasure for me has always been the Cabela's line of games, a series focusing on hunting animals in their natural habitats. Through this franchise, I've been able to channel my inner Liam Neeson; a man known for punching wolves in the face.

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 let me do something pretty amazing: I got to fight a pride of lions with a shotgun, alone, in the woods. I shot every single one of them and it was pretty intense – though completely the opposite of what I would do in real life if pitted against the horde: run, screaming like a small child.

I should preface by saying I'm not some guy who just thinks it's fun to kill or torture animals – this is a video game where I'm free to portray that kind of monster. I can escape from being the upstanding concerned citizen I am in my normal life and become a bloodthirsty animal murderer whose only respite from this painful world is sweet, sweet lion blood.

It's a narrative I've invented in my head, just go with it.

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 is designed to be a more dramatic and embellished experience. You aren't the nameless hunter plodding around some African desert tracking down a zebra to shoot. There's an honest-to-goodness story here about two brothers.

But its story-driven experience was of no concern to me, I only cared about the multiple animal shooting scenarios. In one encounter, you stumble upon a group of lions and their alpha male, a situation with two choices: shoot the alpha male and all of the females will scatter, essentially killing the entire species in the region because when lions mate with an alpha male they mate for life. It's like how it is with penguins. Look it up.

The second option is to shoot any lion other than the alpha male and have the whole pack charge you. This was obviously the choice I had to make, so I went ahead and clipped off one of the male lion's harem. Immediately teeth and claw came barreling down on me.

As a hunter, I was pretty mobile – I could roll to either side and contextual prompts let me know when a lion was jumping at me from behind. Hitting the right button at this moment slows down time and you get a few seconds to aim at a vital organ on your attacker. These lions don't observe the classic kung-fu movie stereotype of never attacking when the good guy is turned away, of course.

Surrounded by a pack of lions, I had a few weapons: my scoped rifle, a shotgun, and a magnum. The shotgun was clearly the choice here, a good option for controlling crowds of anything. It's also a good gauge to judge any shooter by – flat shotguns mean flat game, I've found. This boomstick really fit the bill.

After that encounter, I was shown a "Horde Mode" variant in Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 where lions attack you forever. I was in heaven and stacked the bodies until my co-op partner – Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 only supports split-screen play, I should clarify – eventually died. Me, I killed a lot of lions and lived to tell you all about it.

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 is an attempt to capture a subset of gamers that have evaded the series: those searching for uncomplicated shooting action and fans of narrative-driven experiences. Though I didn't get a chance to learn much about The Brothers Cabela, shooting lions was fun. A few more hours behind my boomstick and I could've knocked another offender off the endangered species list and into extinction.

View the original article here

We can build on this: Why ideas in The Last Story should be embraced by RPG devs

by Kat Bailey on Aug 22nd 2012 8:30PM

This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer.
When Hironobu Sakaguchi set out to make The Last Story, one of his main goals was to make something new. It was an approach that made him nervous.

"With this title, I felt strongly that as the creator of the game, I was laying myself bare, and I was anxious about how the customers would respond to my ideas," Sakaguchi said in an Iwata Asks feature released by Nintendo. "At the same time, there are certain unique things I want to do and express, and in the end, I don't think that my approach is mistaken."

In the end, Sakaguchi was indeed vindicated. The Last Story was met with solid reviews, and was praised in large part because of its creative battle system. All told, it's a nice story of a developer breaking out of its comfort zone to create a new and interesting game, and it's worth reading the full interview to see how The Last Story ultimately came out. I don't think it needs to be the whole story though.

It's in part because The Last Story incorporates so many new elements that I would like to see it adopted in some way by other RPG developers – especially strategy RPG developers. The Last Story can't really be pegged in any particular genre; but it does have a fair amount in common with strategy RPGs. It's not grid-based, or even turn-based, but it does place a premium on enemy placement, for example, by making it possible to knock out casters or other hazards using alternative methods.

Playing The Last Story, my mind went to another Nintendo-exclusive RPG series: Fire Emblem. I've always liked Fire Emblem because it feels as much like a dungeon crawler as it does a strategy game. Objectives are typically centered around reaching a certain location in a castle or a field, and there's usually treasure to be found if you're willing to go out of your way to look (don't wait too long though, because a thief might grab the goods and make a run for it).

Can Intelligent Systems find a way to build on what The Last Story has started? There doesn't necessarily need to be a large hub city with the sidequests and the like. I imagine this new Fire Emblem would be divided up by chapter, as usual, with each dungeon serving as a map of sorts. The trick would be finding a way to deal with the much larger parties that would be inherent to a Fire Emblem game. Some serious thought would definitely have to go into designing the actual enemy encounters, and it could make for some exciting large-scale battles. As with the real Last Story, I expect the element that would keep things from getting too far out of hand would be the ability to pause the battle and direct individuals in a concerted attack.

If not Fire Emblem or strategy RPGs in general, I imagine that The Last Story's system could work in any number of other contexts. The nice thing about Last Story is that it fills so many niches; it has both action elements and tactical elements, and it demonstrates a deft touch in maximizing both without allowing one to overwhelm the other. It doesn't quite feel like an MMO, and it definitely isn't an action game like Kingdom Hearts. It is, as Sakaguchi said, something new.

With a new console generation on the way and the genre in transition, Sakaguchi's ideas are uniquely positioned to be relevant to a whole new set of RPGs. In a recent interview, Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase said that he feels audiences are trending away from turn-based systems and toward action RPGs. It's a trend, he said, that you ignore "at your own peril." As a game that occupies a kind of middle ground between the two, The Last Story would seem well-placed to appeal to both traditionalists and newcomers. Imagine the irony if Final Fantasy XV ended up incorporating a variant of The Last Story's battle system.

Whether the ideas forwarded by The Last Story are ultimately embraced by developers will come down to the usual factors – sales figures and Metacritic scores. Sales will likely be modest given that the Wii has largely fallen out of favor with core gamers on both sides of the oceans, but reviews have thus far been positive. Another developer will likely have to make a leap of faith in taking The Last Story's ideas and running with them. But sometimes it only takes one or two studios picking up a new idea to start a trend.

Based on my experiences, they are ideas that certainly deserve to be picked up. In developing The Last Story, one of the foremost RPG developers of our time worked as if it would be his very last game. It would be a shame if such efforts were to go unnoticed.

Kat Bailey is a freelance writer based out of San Francisco, California. Her work has been featured on multiple outlets, including GamesRadar, Official Xbox Magazine, gamesTM, and GameSpot. You can follow her on Twitter at @the_katbot.

View the original article here

Super Mario Bros. demade in Atari 2600 style

by Alexander Sliwinski on Aug 22nd 2012 11:59PM

An ambitious forum user at AtariAge has uploaded a playable Atari 2600 demake of World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros. The demo includes the entire level with warp pipes, yellow bonus blocks and flagpole.

Developer Chris Spry, who posts as "Sprybug" on the site, hopes to add another 15 levels, up to World 4-4. He'd also like to add a Koopa Kid to the end of each world. It may not be canon, but we aren't complaining.

View the original article here

Assassin’s Creed III WiiU Trailer

This i sthe new trailer of the upcoming Nintendo WiiU game Assassin’s Creed III

Participate! Leave your comment.
[ Nintendo Wii ][ Wii Games ][ Wii Friend Codes ][ Wii Wallpapers ][ Wii Cheats ]
[ Wii Virtual Console Games ][ WiiWare Games ]

[Abou Us][Privacy Policy][Contact Us]

View the original article here

The Binding of Isaac in production for consoles, PC as a new game

by Jessica Conditt on Aug 29th 2012 8:30PM

A revamped version of The Binding of Isaac is crawling to consoles and PC via a mystery publisher and a new team, Edmund McMillen reveals on his Formspring account. This is more than an update to the existing Binding of Isaac available on Steam – it's a brand new game.

"The remake will be more than just an expansion, it will be a new game with all new graphics, music, etc. It will also feature an expansion-sized pack of all new content, bosses, characters enemies, items etc.," McMillen writes. "And yes, in about a year if/when it comes out, the Flash version of the game will appear obsolete for sure. But a year is a long time and I'll do what I can to make sure the guys who remake it make it substantial enough for you to play through all over again."

The new Isaac will have local co-op and is aiming to launch on all platforms; McMillen even gives the 3DS a 50 percent chance. McMillen is "avoiding all the business BS," but the team has been talking to Microsoft for a while, and "they seem to also want Isaac a lot, but only time will tell if anything gets signed."

McMillen says he'll ask the investors about selling the new game at a discount for current Binding of Isaac and Wrath of the Lamb owners, but since he's not the one fronting the money he doesn't call the shots.

View the original article here

Another PES 2013 demo, available next week on XBLM and PSN

by Sinan Kubba on Aug 23rd 2012 9:00PM

Konami will release a second demo of Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 next week, crashing into the nets of Xbox Live on August 28 and PlayStation Network on August 29. Yes, a second demo within a month of the first one. It may seem a bit crazy to release two demos, let alone so close together, but Konami did the exact same thing last year.

PES Productions have been hard at work tweaking the game since the first demo, presumably based on feedback. The second demo will offer a more equal balance between attack and defence, improved control for manual passes, and a number of other refinements – including improved refereeing. If only they could do that with the actual sport.

The game is scheduled to release around late September on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, and then later on in the year for PSP, 3DS, Wii, and PS2.
23 August 2012
Second PES 2013 demo rolls out next week
KONAMI shows the constant evolution of eagerly-awaited football title with second, more exhaustive demo
Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH today revealed the second playable demo for its stunning PES 2013 title will be released for, Xbox 360® on August 28th and on PlayStation®3 on August 29th, with a Windows PCto follow later in September. The new demo showcases the continued evolution of the game, and offers a truly immersive on-pitch experience.

The demo will be available via Xbox®LIVE Marketplace and PlayStation®Network. The free demo will offer 11 fully-licensed teams, and benefits from a raft of subtle but important gameplay improvements since the first demo was released in July.

"We wanted to show our hand early with PES 2013 as, frankly, there is a lot to enjoy," commented Jon Murphy, European PES Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. "However, we are constantly refining the game and this second demo will show fans that we are always striving for perfection, and they will notice many additions and enhancements that bring PES 2013 even closer to matching the grace, unpredictability and skill that top-level football displays."

The new demo offers six difficulty settings, and allows the user to play ten-minute matches. Since the first demo, the Tokyo-based PES Productions team has been constantly working to analyse how to improve PES 2013, and the new demo is a perfect example of their quest for football perfection. The game's balance between offense and defence has been equalised, and the targeting of passes using the game's feted manual control system has been improved. Similarly, the trajectory of passes has been refined, as has the blocking by defenders, shot speed, and the ways referees officiate – including the overseeing of offside situations.

Critically, the AI when a team is passing out of a defensive situation into a potential attacking one has been fine-tuned – an essential part of a game like PES 2013, where passing and movement are central to build up play. Lobs and looping shots have also been made harder to effect, following feedback from the initial demo. Anthems for the starting line-ups have also been implemented.

With the focus of PES 2013 firmly on the field, the new demo also invites players to tackle a selected number of training trials. The full version of the game offers an exhaustive training roster wherein users can familiarise themselves with quick one-twos, tackling manual shooting and passing and dynamic first-touch moves to gain space on a closing defender. The demo will feature a number of these tests so users can experience the sheer level of control PES 2013 offers.

Product Information:
Formats: PlayStation®3, Xbox 360®, Windows PC, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Nintendo 3DS™, Wii™, PlayStation®2.
Release Date: End September (PlayStation®3, Xbox 360®, Windows PC); October-November (PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Nintendo 3DS™, Wii™, PlayStation®2)
URL: www.konami-pes2013.com & www.facebook.com/pes2013
Contact:

All copyrights or trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used under license.

About Konami Group
KONAMI CORPORATION was established in 1973, and became a holding company of the Konami Group on March 31, 2006. KONAMI CORPORATION covers the fields of "Digital Entertainment Business", "Health & Fitness Business", "Gaming & Systems Business" and "Pachinko & Pachinko Slot Machines Business". KONAMI CORPORATION went public on Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1988, the London Stock Exchange in 1999, and the New York Stock Exchange in 2002. Home Page URL: www.konami.co.jp. Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary, responsible for popular franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill and Pro Evolution Soccer amongst other top sellers. Konami Group is also the manufacturer of the wildly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, which has sold more than 25 billion cards worldwide. For more information concerning Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH and its products, please visit www.konami-europe.com.
www.konami-europe.com

View the original article here

Madden 13's wrong photo leaves NFL star incensed

by Sinan Kubba on Aug 29th 2012 1:00PM

Madden NFL 13 endured league star Marcus Thomas' ire yesterday, Kotaku discovered, after the New York Giants player discovered the game had a photo of a completely different Marcus Thomas in his profile. The Marcus Thomas it did feature (below right, after the break) last played in the league three years ago. To make things worse, he didn't even play at the same team (Denver Broncos), and he looks nothing at all like the first Marcus Thomas (below left). All of that incensed the first Marcus Thomas.

In a furious flurry of tweets – well, maybe not that furious – Thomas branded the football game "unprofessional" and "disrespectful." The defensive tackle's temper apparently cooled down once content producer Donny Moore tweeted he'd make the fix in Madden 13's next update. As yet, we've yet to hear what the other Marcus Thomas thinks about that. Or Belgian actor Marcus Thomas. Or Marcus Thomas, LLC.

View the original article here

Nba 2k13 WiiU New Images

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Adventure Time creator loves games, you guys, and started this Tumblr

by Jessica Conditt on Aug 26th 2012 7:30PM

Pendleton Ward, the beard behind the cult-cute cartoon series Adventure Time, loves games. He says so right on his new Tumblr called "I Love Games You Guys," which is where Ward plans to "interview people who work on games."

Apparently it's also where he plans to post adorable video game gifs, starting with Mario. Ward is gearing up for his first interview with Charles Martinet, who has provided the voice of Mario since 1994. I Love Games You Guys is a community effort, with Ward asking readers if they can help him snag contacts or make connections with interviewees in the industry.

Considering there's an Adventure Time game on its way, maybe Ward should interview himself. If you have a helpful connection or just want to watch Mario stick a plunger on his face for a few hours, check out Ward's Tumblr right here.

View the original article here

Go broke on discounted Rock Band DLC this week

by JC Fletcher on Sep 17th 2012 2:00PM

You'll probably have the same reaction we did upon learning of the half-off sale Harmonix is holding on over 1,100 Rock Band tracks this week: "Oh, no." More than one Joystiq editor expressed despair in response to the discounts on both individual tracks and artist packs, on Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, because it means an inevitable purchase of too many tracks that can be played not only in Rock Band 3, but in the new Rock Band Blitz, as well.

The situation became even more dire when we remembered that the Rock Band World Facebook app lets you build shopping lists for DLC, which then show up in Rock Band Blitz for easy, convenient purchases. Instant ramen, anyone?

View the original article here

Rise Of The Guardians Les Cinq Legendes WiiU New Images

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

NPD: Number of US mobile gamers surpasses core, totals down

THE U.S. EXPERIENCES DECLINE IN TOTAL NUMBER OF GAMERS

Mobile Gamers Now Represent the Largest Gamer Segment

Port Washington, NY, September 5, 2012 – According to Gamer Segmentation 2012: The New Faces of Gamers, the latest report from leading market research company, The NPD Group, there are an estimated 211.5 million gamers in the U.S. that play video games, a 5 percent decline, or loss of close to 12 million gamers, when compared to 2011.

Of the six gamer segments in the report, only Mobile Gamers and Digital Gamers saw increases in the number of gamers when compared to 2011, with Mobile Gamers up 9 percentage points to 22 percent and Digital Gamers up 4 percentage points to 16 percent. All other gamer segments, which include Core Gamers, Family+Kid Gamers, Light PC Gamers, and Avid PC Gamers, experienced declines, with Family+Kid gamers experiencing the most significant decline of an estimated 17.4 million gamers.

"Given the long lifecycles of the current consoles and the increasing installed base of smartphones and tablets, it's not surprising to see a slight decline in the Core Gamer segment," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "It's the revenue contribution of the Core Gamer segment that continues to outpace all other segments, and remains vital to the future of the industry."

The size of key gamer segments are shifting, with Mobile Gamers now representing the largest gamer segment, edging out Core Gamers, which was the largest segment in 2011.

"While this study segments the gaming audience based on a number of key variables and attributes, looking across the total gaming audience we see a tremendous impact from mobile gaming, particularly on smartphones and tablets," said Frazier. "Because of this, our next study, which will be released later this month, takes a deeper look into the area of mobile gaming."

Money Spent
Game purchasers reported spending an average of $48 on physical games and $16 on digital games-PC/console/portable in the past three months. Core Gamers spent $65 on physical games over the same time period; this is more than any other gamer segment.

Close to 14 percent of total gamers report that they purchased microtransactions/additional game content in the past three months versus 11 percent during the same time period in 2011, with Core Gamers and Digital Gamers being the largest consumers of these types of purchases at 27 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

Methodology
An online survey was fielded in March 2012 to members of NPD's online panel. Responses for kids under age 13, as well as some kids in the 13-15 age range, were captured through surrogate reporting (where the parent answers on behalf of the child). The data is weighted and representative of the US population ages 2 and older. The study is based on 8,488 completed surveys.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 2,000 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food, home and office, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visit http://www.npd.com/, or follow us Twitter at https://twitter.com/npdgroup.

View the original article here

Rock Band Weekly: Green Day five-pack with single off latest album

by Alexander Sliwinski on Sep 21st 2012 6:45PM

Green Day is back for its third round of Rock Band DLC next week, featuring "Oh Love," the first single off their new album ¡Uno! The other four tracks in the Green Day five-pack were previously only available through Green Day Rock Band. Xbox 360 / Wii / PS3
Available: September 25, 2012
Green Day Pack 03 (680 MSP / 850 WP / $8.49) "Brain Stew/Jaded" (160 MSP / 200 WP / $1.99)"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (160 MSP / 200 WP / $1.99)"Warning" (160 MSP / 200 WP / $1.99)"Minority" (160 MSP / 200 WP / $1.99)"Oh Love" (160 MSP / 200 WP / $1.99)

View the original article here

Disney Epic Mickey Disney Epic Mickey Le Retour Des Heros Wii New Images

These are some new images of the Nintendo Wii game Disney Epic Mickey Disney Epic Mickey Le Retour Des Heros

More About: Nintendo Wii, Disney Epic Mickey Disney Epic Mickey Le Retour Des Heros

No items matching your keywords were found.

View the original article here