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Activision announces new sports game for Wii
by David Hinkle 
{ Oct 14th 2008 at 3:31PM }
The final version of the game will feature 22 events across six different sports and various game modes, including single game, marathon, and tournament. There's also going to be a character creation mode which, you guessed it, means there is a strong chance the game will have Mii support. Look for Big League Sports this holiday season.
MLB Superstars pitches us some new screens
by David Hinkle { Sep 29th 2008 at 9:01PM }
Click image for new screens
But, then there are small, tiny rays of hope that manage to break through the thick protection of cash-in that is the outer crust of MLB Superstars. That ray of hope? The Philly Phanatic. It can't be all* bad now, can it?
Gallery: MLB Superstars
*Yes, it can. And probably will be.
E308: Wii Fanboy takes a hammer to Our House
by David Hinkle { Jul 24th 2008 at 1:27PM }
Our House is going to need a lot of renovations before it's ready for a final inspection.
E308: Wii Fanboy sets records in Guinness World Records: The Videogame
by David Hinkle { Jul 23rd 2008 at 2:45PM }
E308: Hamtaro tries extra hard to scare off older gamers
by Candace Savino { Jul 16th 2008 at 2:30PM }
You shouldn't be ashamed if you're an adult (or even just a non-elementary schooler) who's played a Hamtaro game. People who've tried Ham-Hams Unite for the Game Boy Color or the GBA's Ham-Ham Heartbreak know that the sickeningly cute series can translate into a fun adventure game. Even Ham-Ham Games, which strayed away from the adventure formula and landed itself in minigame territory, wasn't half bad. Hamtaro's handheld history was enough to make us consider picking up Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge once it released on the DS, but E3 swiftly changed our minds. Throwing up and spitting out everything that made Hamtaro bearable in the first place, the new game is not only a collection of minigames, but it features educational ones designed for young children. Basically, it looks like Brain Age for five-year-olds, with cute little hamsters taking the place of Dr. Kawashima.
Don't fret, though, Hamtaro fans. There is another title based on the license that came out in Japan last year, which seems to return to the adventure-like goodness we know and love. Unfortunately, that's not the game releasing this summer, and that's not the game Natsume decided to show off at E3. Hopefully we'll see it get localized soon enough, so that we can forget Ham-Ham Challenge ever existed.
Gallery: Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge
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E308: Goosebumps: HorrorLand steals E3
by Eric Caoili { Jul 15th 2008 at 11:00PM }
Never mind Wii Music or Wii Sports Resort -- as we hinted earlier, Goosebumps: HorrorLand is the real star of this year's E3 Media and Business Summit.
Nintendo might not have mentioned this innovative title during the company's press conference today, but we have a feeling that this was the twinkle in president Satoru Iwata's eye when he mentioned a big paradigm shift in the global game market. Yes, a paradigm shift towards more Goosebumps games.
Just when you thought you had put R.L. Stine's
The graphics aren't impressing anyone -- it almost looks like the duct-tape holding the system's two GameCubes together came loose -- but there are shooter segments, carnival-themed minigames, and, uh, portions where you run on a log with a swamp monster. Mark our words, when you slide this game's disc into your Wii, you will say, "Wow!"
Gallery: Goosebumps HorrorLand
Wark! Two Chocobo trailers waddle into view
by Eric Caoili { Jul 9th 2008 at 9:00PM }
Making sure that you get the message -- the message being "Chocobos are really cute; buy our Chocobo games" -- Square Enix has posted trailers for its two recently revealed fall-bound Chocobo titles, Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Maze of Time DS+ and Chocobo and the Magic Storybook: The Witch and the Girl and the Five Heroes.
As you might be able to tell in the promotional clip and the game's title, Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon is an enhanced port of Chocobo's Dungeon (released in the U.S. for the Wii this week) with more focus on Final Fantasy regular Cid. Given the nature of roguelikes, this DS release doesn't look like that much of a "downgraded" experience compared to the Wii version!
The Chocobo and the Magic Storybook clip isn't nearly as epic, but if you're enough of a Chocobo fan to have read this far into the post, you'll likely want to watch it anyway. Jump past the break for more of the flightless, chubby bird.
Square Enix announces new Chocobo Tales, Chocobo roguelike
by Eric Caoili { Jul 8th 2008 at 8:45AM }
As a promotion for its Virtual World -- yes, it's a virtual world titled Virtual World -- Square Enix held a special event in the beta 3D space unveiling two new Chocobo titles for the Nintendo DS -- Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Maze of Time DS+ (fall 2008) and Chocobo and the Magic Storybook: The Witch and the Girl and the Five Heroes (winter 2008).
Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Maze of Time DS+, as you can guess, will be a roguelike starring Final Fantasy figures Cid and Chocobo. This will actually be Square Enix's fourth Chocobo Mystery Dungeon entry, an enhanced port of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon for the Wii, now with new jobs and a storyline told from a new perspective (Cid's).
The chances of this one coming to the U.S.? Given the current "surge" of roguelikes hitting the States, it's very likely we'll get this one! You can preview some of Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon's first screenshots in our gallery below.
The second title, Chocobo and the Magic Storybook: The Witch and the Girl and the Five Heroes, follows 2007's Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, a minigame collection with RPG and card-battling elements. If you remember our favorable review for the original game, we called it "just about the cutest thing ever." Screenshots below!
[Via Duckroll]
'Catch' criminals, 'rescue' patients by running them over
by Eric Caoili { May 6th 2008 at 12:45PM }
We weren't expecting much from Emergency Mayhem, a Crazy Taxi-styled emergency services title peppered with minigames, but these video previews for the police car and ambulance modes look really fun! For a game with such a distressing past -- having been announced and canceled for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2004, exchanging publishers and developers several times since -- we wouldn't have been surprised if this turned out to be a wreck.
Though reviews haven't been kind to Emergency Mayhem (the game hits stores this week), we think the minigames look like a good break from all the high-speed chases and siren-whining. You can defuse bombs, administer CPR, and even help someone cough out a fly. According to these two clips, you can also get some sort of bonus by running over criminals and patients. When that gets old, you can add spice to your emergency duties by crashing into crowds of pedestrians without consequence.
Gallery: Emergency Mayhem
Used and Zapper-less: Link's Crossbow Savings
by Eric Caoili { Apr 17th 2008 at 11:15AM }
Even without any discount, the Link's Crossbow Training and Zapper bundle is already cheap at $20, but if you're looking for a way to pick up the pack-in game without being taxed for the extra plastic, Game Deal Daily has just what you need! The Woot-styled online shop is offering used, standalone copies of Link's Crossbow Training for only $4.95 (plus shipping and handling.)
Really, for a minigame collection with only an hour or two worth of content, that price sounds on target. Buy it now before the sale ends! You can finally find out what we were talking about when we said the game reminds us of your mother!
[Via CAG]
Joystiq impressions: Wii Fit mini-games
by Zack Stern { Apr 15th 2008 at 9:00AM }
Sure, Wii Fit is about health and lifestyle, but I'm looking forward to the games; I sampled some of the lesser-known modes at the recent Nintendo Media Summit. We've already played with the hula-hoop, soccer, ski-jump, and other basics, so I jumped straight to tightrope walking, floating in a bubble, and other later unlockables. But first, I warmed up with jogging.
Gallery: Wii Fit
Away: Shuffle Memory
by JC Fletcher { Apr 8th 2008 at 12:45PM }
For the first two levels, it's straightforward enough: you have 60 (and then 50) seconds to find all nine pairs, just like any other Memory game. In the third level, all the cards are blank but three: one pair to match, and one card that resets the locations of those two cards. Oh, and the rows of cards are constantly moving around. At the end, you're awarded with a desktop wallpaper. Have fun! Or just download the wallpaper here (1024x768, 1280x1024).
'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of a perfect tea ceremony'
by Eric Caoili { Mar 5th 2008 at 12:45PM }
Bangkok-based Studio Nocturne has kept busy cultivating its games and shopping them around for interested publishers, so it's understandable that we haven't heard much about Housewife Superstar or Makeup Diva since last year's Game Developers Convention.As chauvinistic as Housewife Superstar's title sounds, it's a tongue-in-cheek production in which players master a collection of minigames in their quest to become the perfect stereotypical Japanese housewife. Those minigame activities include mochi making, flower arranging, traditional fan dancing, and, of course, hosting a tea ceremony. Sounds like a bizarre scenario, right? Well, that's what people thought about Cooking Mama, and look at how that turned out!
Studio Nocturne has brought in Insert Credit's Brandon Sheffield to handle the game's story, a name some of you might remember from his wonderful work on Barnyard Blast's script with Sanuk Software, another Thai developer.
Let's go through these details one more time:
- offbeat title from a little-known, DS/Wii-exclusive developer
- strong, colorful art direction
- peculiar premise for strange minigames
- promises of a humor-filled script
Gallery: Housewife Superstar
Promotional Consideration: Return of the reused assets
by Eric Caoili { Feb 10th 2008 at 7:30PM }
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.
Revisiting last week's theme of recycled assets, we're taking a look at the familiar artwork seen in a recent print ad for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Unlike the Flower, Sun, and Rain commercial which repurposed an old promotional music video to great effect, this one's a forgetful piece, the video game equivalent of a comic book cover with a generic superhero-team action shot.
Gallery: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
What does a four-player game need? Five players, of course!
by David Hinkle { Feb 7th 2008 at 8:00PM }
Not one, not five, but ... well, actually it is five. Five ninja; no more, no less for this trailer from upcoming game Ninja Reflex. And doesn't that strike you as odd? With a four-player game, it seems the odd-man-out isn't so much a friend of the four enjoying the game, but the group whipping boy, there only to serve drinks to thirsty players and watch them enjoy their Wii from afar, silent longing for a day when he too can experience the pleasure of motion-based gameplay.
And, dude: what is up with the kid with the chopsticks? Seriously?
