SpikeTV’s GameHead took their entire episode this week to honor Shigeru Miyamoto. In addition to Geoff Keighly interviewing the man himself, they also took comments from the editors of Kotaku and GoNintendo, the cast of Mega64, and the GameJew. Charles Martinett, the voice of Mario, provides narration between segments.

Its an interesting retrospective, but the secretive Nintendo hero doesn’t give much of a look forward other than the tease that a once cancelled game may still see release.
Watch now: Quicktime / WMV

Lets start this off with some good news on a freebie: Game|Life reports that the first ever release of a high-definition episode of South Park will hit Xbox Live Marketplace. Starting Tuesday March 6, the Season 8 classic “Good Times With Weapons” will be available to Gold members for no cost for 2 weeks. Those without Xbox 360 or Live can still get the episode: On March 20 Best Buy is giving an HD-DVD for free with the purchase of any Xbox HD DVD player or a 360.

Personally, I grabbed Alien Hominid and Ms Pac-Man on Live Arcade this week. Alien Hominid is about the hardest game I’ve ever played on XBLA, and includes a boss event I cannot pass because I have no idea what to shoot. Ms Pac-Man I cleared all 200 Achievement points in under 2 hours. Go figure. Worms HD finally drops next week for another 800 points ($10), but I’ll pass until I actually finish Alien Hominid.

Tekken finally made it to the North American Playstation Network. Which is pretty good if you have a 1080p TV, don’t own the PS2 or the PSP versions. Nah, its budget priced and worth your dollar to get it in the prettiest format available. I understand you can buy Jin a new hat in this one. The much hyped Warhawk sequel from Sony has been downgraded from a full game to a Multiplayer-only download title. Well at least they won’t charge you an arm and a leg for it now.

The best game on the download circuit this week has to go to the best game ever made, The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Nearly a decade after release, its still got the highest rating of any game released before or since. $10 is a hefty sum on Wii‘s Virtual Console, but considering how vast the game is, its a bargain. Nintendo obviously knows how awesome this is, as its been released on the GameCube twice, but if you missed those or (god forbid) the N64 original, now is the time.

As innovative as the concept may seem the Wii remote is actually very similar in functionality to the Nintendo Power Glove from years past. Watch me compare the specifics of both technologies so that you can decide for yourself whether or not the Wii is just a Gamecube with a Power Glove attached to it.

* Disclaimer: Nintendo did not release the Power Glove. It was in fact released by Pax.

Here’s a look at Nintendo’s “Wii Shop Channel” and “Virtual Console” for the Wii.

If unlike Eric Cartman you can wait a little longer for the Wii to come out, then this will make it easier. Wii.com has posted several new videos, the most notable being the introduction cinematic for The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Though only 1:22, it captures the same grand thematic feeling the Ocarina Of Time intro did.

Nintendo has also posted the final launch trailer. More Twilight Princess gameplay videos and demonstrations are available here.

A complete fan film, but light hearted and accurate enough to be direct from Nintendo.

For the past few weeks, people have been talking about Link’s sudden change in dexterity in the upcoming ‘Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’.  Traditionally, Link has always been left-handed, until now…sort of.  According to Shigeru Miyamoto the game was simply mirrored, flipped completely, to enhance the sword combat.  Since the player will be using their right hand to swipe, the game was originally designed to have enemies attack the player from the left, so it was easier to just flip the game’s display horizontally.  Interestingly enough, Link will be left-handed in the Gamecube version of the game, and all of the maps will be left in their original form. 

Thanks to Maxcon for the find!

Quirky Nintendo music composer Kazumi Totaka has a 19-note tune that he likes to hide in his games. Have you heard it? Do you know how pervasive it is? Is it still hiding in yet-to-be discovered places? [Read the rest of this entry…]