Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login

Start Button Press - August 2006

Hungry Jacks and Nintendo have a promotion at the moment: buy a Kid's Club meal, and get a free Nintendo keyring. 5 to collect - Donkey Kong, Peach, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi! They actually look kind of enticing, instead of the random toy gear usually given away





IGN has kept their "Is your DS Lite sick?" article up to date
, with info on cracked hinges and yellowed screens added. The only issue I've encountered is the cracked hinge, and frankly I'm not fussed about it - it's covered under warranty, and it's not as if it's a particularly structural weakness.

In gaming news, there's a new shoot-em-up for the DS on its way out - Raid Over The River. It's a remake of an old Intellivision title, and it looks fantastic. Check it out here (there's a ~10s tech video of it, too).

67
Vote
   


A little bit of everything...

August 14th 2006 06:07
I'll start off today with some fan-made artwork for the Wiimote:



Images courtesy of forum member "stickylabel" on the wiisay.com forums.

Look great, don't they? I'm not sure whether the Wiimote will have removable faceplates - actually, upon checking, there's no evidence of it in the Wiki or on Nintendo's site, so I'm assuming not. An XBox360-esque changeable faceplate system would add a nice level of personalisation to the Wii, I think.


Stuff Magazine has had the first Wii ad I've seen in the print media, advertising Ubisoft's Red Steel first-person shooter:



Just as an aside on Red Steel - "Ubisoft's Red Steel game for Wii will incur a development cost of approximately $12.75 million, according to a report by JeuxFrance.com. Red Steel is being readied to launch alongside the Wii later this year. According to its developers, the game will have approximately 13 hours of play time.

Wii is considered to be the cheapest next-generation console to develop for. In May, THQ president Brian Farrell estimated Wii development costs are in the range of a quarter to half of that required for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 development. What does this mean for developers? A game such as Red Steel could cost them between $24 - $48 million on PS3 or 360."
That little snippet is taken with thanks from here on N-Sider.com.

I think there are really two main reasons for the Wii being easier and therefore cheaper to develop for. Firstly, the dev kits are largely the same as those for the Gamecube - meaning they can be re-used by those who already have them, and also meaning that Gamecube games should be easily ported to the Wii. Secondly, the simple architecture of the Wii (one CPU, one graphics processor) when compared to the PS3 and XBox360 (seven and three CPUs respectively, anyone?)

The oft-quirky The Game Rag had two interesting bits of news recently:

Nintendo To Announce Wii Release Date In DS Game
- Apparently Nintendo are bringing out a "new Nintendo DS adventure/mystery/sudoku/pet breeding game" that will contain the release date for the Wii, somewhere deep within it. I see.

Survey Shows Perverts Love Wii - The Wiimote will have some interesting uses, it seems... "Imagine a tentacle monster simulator using multiple Wii-motes! Just set it in an all-girl high school or a crowded train car..."

Stay tuned for more news!
65
Vote
   


Wii's launch titles...

August 12th 2006 09:26
Excite Truck, Red Steel, Zelda Twilight Princess, Wii Sports... and many, many more. 1Up have a list of all the confirmed release titles for the Wii, as well as a link to a list of 151 more in development.

"By way of comparison, when the Xbox 360 launched, it did so with 18 games -- and 11 of them were sports titles. PS3? Currently standing at 15 confirmed games available for its November 17 launch."
[ Click here to read more ]
61
Vote
   


Black DS Lite coming to Australia

August 10th 2006 12:08
That's right, for all those of the counterculture, you'll soon have the option of a DS Lite in a colour rather than iPod-esque Polar White.

dStore.com.au have the release date slated as September 21st, and other sources note that this is a pretty sure thing. All major retailers are going to carry the new colour, including EB Games, for a retail price of $199.95. Expect that price to waver by around 10% though, dependant on specials and price gouging at various resellers [ Click here to read more ]
64
Vote
   


More Wii Rumors...

August 9th 2006 00:32
IGN have more speculation on the Wii price and release date, this time supposedly from Nintendo insiders.

"With only a few months left before the release of Nintendo's new generation console, every publisher, developer and hardware manufacturer seems to have a friend of a friend who knows something about Wii's release date and price point. Over the last week, IGN has been able to compile the juiciest rumors for your reading pleasure. Please keep in mind that Nintendo has yet to announce an official release date or price point for its new system and as such, everything below should be considered with a grain of salt.

[ Click here to read more ]
79
Vote
   


" Adventure games like King's Quest and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle might be almost extinct in the commercial gaming business, but they are still loved by many. Ballooning development costs, demand for high action games, and sluggish sales have lead to the demise of one of gaming's most creative genres. Adventure games just aren't made very often anymore.

And yet they have so much to offer. Adventure games tend to be story focused, a huge advantage to anyone that appreciates good storytelling in their games. And because of the lack of expansive 3D worlds, adventure games lend themselves well to creating extremely detailed and beautiful individual artwork and backdrops. Yet, lucky for us gamers, the next generation might bring the adventure game back from the grave. Systems like the Wii's Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade, which allow smaller games to be released and downloaded over the Internet, might have what is needed to make adventure games both common, and once again profitable to make. "

[ Click here to read more ]
62
Vote
   


CVG has a short (albeit rather pessimistic in parts) article on the upcoming Wii title Sonic Wildfire, complete with screenshots. Both CVG and Joystiq's coverage of the new screenshots make comment on the graphics of the game. Joystiq says it's really nothing special (clearly they love the X360 ) but CVG does at least mention it's one of the prettiest Wii games on offer. Anyway, at the breakneck gaming speed we're used to from Sonic, it'll all just be one big motion blur anyway

These pictures shamelessly borrowed from CVG


[ Click here to read more ]
57
Vote
   


Wii specs revealed!

August 2nd 2006 00:21
If you're into numbers and specs, you'll drool upon reading this latest release on MAXCONSOLE. It contains the specifications for Nintendo's upcoming Wii console, and contains some interesting information as well as a heap of MHz figures.

"The Wii Hardware
[ Click here to read more ]
93
Vote
   


Weird and wild DS/PSP mods!

August 1st 2006 00:58
TechEBlog have a fantastic roundup of what they see as the "Top 5 Strangest PSP/DS Mods".

If you want, check it out here.
[ Click here to read more ]
56
Vote
   


More Posts
2 Posts
7 Posts
5 Posts
38 Posts dating from July 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
Moderated by Campbell
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]