Perhaps one of the last great Super Nintendo platformers, Kirby Super Star went above and beyond other games of its kind in terms of content. While most games simply offered huge overworld maps, this game divided its content up into 9 different games, each with their own distinct gameplay features. Although it can be beaten in a weekend, the game is still one of the best in the series. For those of you who don’t know about Kirby, he’s a little pink puff ball who swallows enemies. He can then either take on their powers for himself or spit out the enemy for use as a helper character, who can then be controlled by a second player. [Read the rest of this entry…]
I’ve done a fair amount of trying to debunk this one. It keeps coming up at forums and I keep saying “No guys, this is just an early April Fools” because frankly we’ve heard this talk before.
Official Nintendo Magazine (which is the like the Nintendo Power for England) published this teaser on the last page of their April issue. The image of the stars could easily imply a lot of things, but the most direct conclusion was an update of the Sega Saturn game NiGHTS Into Dreams. Many blogs ran this image as truth, many ran it as rumor, and most ran it as a joke. I, on the other hand, wasn’t going to run it at all until we had better evidence.
Now we’ve got some. Chandra from ONM has come out and said “This is not April Fool” but also won’t confirm what it actually is becuase, hey, they still want you to talk and buy the mag when it comes out.
So with a new NiGHTS game coming further into the realm of reality we have to deal with the next big hurdle… the fact that Sonic Team hasn’t made a good game in several years.
Pokemon Battle Revolution is due June 25 on Nintendo Wii and it will be the first online multiplayer title for the system. Already released in Japan, it supports the dreaded “friend code” system that makes pairing with friends and keeping track in game much more difficult than in the firmware available for Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.
That may change now. GameSpy, who not only are a video game news site, but also a middleware developer for online games, have been charged with turning the Wii’s online capabilities into a full functional network. They developed the software that governs existing DS WiFi titles, but promise something more robust for the console. Full press release after the jump, but I’ll spoil it for you right here with the important parts
Friends Lists
Ranked Matches
Matchmaking
Of course, all of those have been in place since Mario Kart DS became the first Nintendo online title, but the promise of keeping a list using the console’s identity rather than each game’s is enough to give us hope for the future. Launching 7 months after the Wii’s debut and a year and half after the Nintendo WiFi service launched on DS, they’ve had plenty of time to get this right.
Still no word if this GameSpy middleware is being sent to 3rd party developers.
Not letting the fact that the show’s been off the air for over 10 years stop it Sailor Moon seems to have a game planned for release on the Wii. Asian import store YesAsia has this product description up for a Sailor Moon game published by Namco set to be released in December 2007. While this isn’t a certain confirmation that a game will be released YesAsia is a reputable online store I’ve dealt with a number of times so this should be taken more seriously than your run of the mill bogus Totaka rumour.
Who knows what kind of game play such a title could have in store or how it will use the Wii’s functionality but rest assured Powet.tv will be the place to get news on this title as it becomes available.
Ever since Symphony of the Night, the Castlevania series has taken a heavy inspiration from Nintendo’s Metroid, particularly the portable entries. Even though they are all cut from similar cloth, the exploration-heavy format manages to keep itself fresh throughout each entry. The first DS entry in the series is no different. Springing from the events in 2003’s Aria of Sorrow, the game stars Soma Cruz, who must take down a cult out to resurrect Dracula. Once again players make use of the soul stealing system, which allows them to gain new attacks by stealing them from enemies. After beating a boss, players must quickly draw a arcane symbol in order to seal its power. If this isn’t done in time, then players must battle the enemy again. While this mechanic seems added in as an afterthought, it’s a fairly decent application of the DS’s touch screen capabilities. By now Castlevania fans will have made their way through this game’s sequel, Portrait of Ruin, so this review is dedicated to newer Castlevania players. This game is another solid entry in a solid franchise, but I long for the day when the series brings back the level-based format of the previous games.
by FakeTrout, filed in Events, Games on Mar.08, 2007
Yesteday there was somewhat of an uproar over Maxis developer Chris Hecker calling the Wii a “piece of shit” and “two gamecubes duct taped together” and implied that Nintendo doesn’t care about games as art.
Here is Super Mario Galaxy, shown today.
Now Hecker apologizes. Does a Mario game need to look any better than that? I mean, thats beyond all my wildest expectations for Mario! Really delivers on Wii being more than just a funny controller. [Read the rest of this entry…]
by FakeTrout, filed in Events, Games on Mar.07, 2007
Even though Game Developer’s Conference should by name be about developers coming together and networking and talking about how to make better games, the big names all bring tons of new info and use their keynotes to stump their product. Sony’s Phil Harrison actually showed Killzone on PS3 last night in playable form but touted it as an exercise in their new game engine and developer tools. Whatever, Phil. You wanted to show Killzone to someone.
Sony came out swinging after almost a year of bad press following their E3 announcement of the PS3’s pricepoint. The bombshell is Playstation Home (trailer) is a service thats part Xbox Achievements, part Mii, and part Second Life. Its almost… too much. It lack’s Mii’s simple charm, and 360’s slick menu system in favor of stocking an apartment full of trophies earned in game and having an avatar you can clothe and send around the virtual world. I have a feeling this sounds cooler than it will be, but at least it sounds cool.
Another feather in Sony’s cap is LittleBigPlanet. Its a platformer. A platformer! Its community based, so you can make and share your own levels. Just Look, we’ll talk about it later. I’ll just say this is a game I’d buy a PS3 for.
PS3
Famicom Dojo
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KEEP PLAYING: Rewind
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Perhaps one of the last great Super Nintendo platformers, Kirby Super Star went above and beyond other games of its kind in terms of content. While most games simply offered huge overworld maps, this game divided its content up into 9 different games, each with their own distinct gameplay features. Although it can be beaten in a weekend, the game is still one of the best in the series. For those of you who don’t know about Kirby, he’s a little pink puff ball who swallows enemies. He can then either take on their powers for himself or spit out the enemy for use as a helper character, who can then be controlled by a second player.
Ever since Symphony of the Night, the Castlevania series has taken a heavy inspiration from Nintendo’s Metroid, particularly the portable entries. Even though they are all cut from similar cloth, the exploration-heavy format manages to keep itself fresh throughout each entry. The first DS entry in the series is no different. Springing from the events in 2003’s