The Nintendophiles 02.14.08
Posted by Theo Fraser on 02.15.2008
Is Miyamoto planning Wii Sports 2 already? Have Silicon Knights really been commissioned to develop an Eternal Darkness sequel? Are there really plans for downloadable Smash Bros content? And what on earth is going on with Spore for the Wii? Find out all of that and more inside the latest edition of Nintendophiles!
Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Hopefully it's been a fruitful day for you, but if not, rest assured that we all love you here at 411mania. In a totally hetero way, of course. "Guy Love" as JD and Turk would say.
*Awkward pause*
On that note, I think we'd better get straight to the good stuff. Sound fair?
Miyamoto hints at Wii Sports 2
Credit: CVG
This can't be seen as confirmation that Wii Sports 2 exists, but it certainly suggests that it's been talked about, and that's good enough to get a mention in Nintendophiles, especially when it comes from such a highly regarded name in the gaming industry.
In a recent "Iwata Asks" feature from Wii.com, Shigeru Miyamoto spoke regarding the jogging portion of the newly-released-in-Japan Wii Fit, and had the following to say:
Miyamoto:As we didn't know if there was going to be a Wii Sports 2 at the time or not, I gave the director a call and said to him, 'This idea's really good, and since there's no official word on Wii Sports 2, could we have it for Wii Fit?
Evidently, talk of Wii Sports 2 has been bandied around, and it sounds like Miyamoto called the director of Wii Sports to check that he wouldn't be stepping on any toes if he used the jogging idea in Wii Fit. Which would indicate that decisions have possibly already been made on what type of sports/events will feature in the Sports sequel.
I'd be interested to see what kind of direction Nintendo would take with Wii Sports 2, as this time it would obviously be a standalone product, as opposed to a packaged title that comes free as part of the base console. There isn't a ton of depth to Wii Sports, but that never really mattered as 1) It was free and 2) It was really just meant to serve as an introduction to how the Wii worked and what it could do. A standalone sequel that people would have to pay for would have to do something quite drastically different to warrant a purchase. Not that I don't have confidence in Nintendo; I'm sure they've got the bases covered! I'm just intrigued to see how they'll handle the project.
Downloadble Smash Bros. content prepped to hit WiiWare
Credit: Famitsu
More speculation for you here, and not a major news story but something that could turn out to be pretty cool and pave the way for future Nintendo goodies. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu recently sat down with series director Masahiro Sakurai (he of the SmashBrosDojo fame), who mentioned that new elements of the latest Smash Bros title may become available in the near future through the WiiWare channel, where gamers could download brand new Brawl content, from characters, trophies and stickers to perhaps even a new stage!
Save for a brief venture into this kind of territory with Animal Crossing: Wild World on the DS (where logging onto the Nintendo WiFi Connection on a particular date specified by Nintendo reps resulted in you receiving a new item of furniture), this sort of thing hasn't been done before by Nintendo, and the fact that it is now is testament to how strong they want to make their online service. Price is obviously a factor, but with Xbox Live and the PSN already well-versed in this area, Nintendo have a reference point to study in order to make sure they pitch it right.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl already has a massive lifespan, but with possibilities like this cropping up, I could see myself playing this game until I'm 70. And if it's a profitable/successful venture for Sakurai and co, we could see a lot more downloadable content coming our way, and that's an exciting prospect for sure. I'd imagine the game will see its worldwide release before we hear any more on this matter, but it's definitely worth keeping in the forefront of your mind.
What's going on with Spore on the Wii?
Credit: IGN
Earlier in the week, we found out that Will Wright's eagerly anticipated Evolution-sim Spore will finally see a release on September 7th of this year...at least, on other platforms. The Wii version that had been planned was not mentioned in Maxis' press release, which left me more than a little concerned. Things got worse when IGN interviewed Spore's Executive Producer Lucy Bradshaw, who further kept us in the dark.
IGN: What about the Wii version? When might we hear more about that?
Lucy Bradshaw: Well that's, right now, I mean I know we made mention of the fact that we're exploring other platforms, and we'll certainly be doing that. We don't have any details for you right now on any of that.
IGN: So no tentative release date or anything on that?
Lucy Bradshaw: No sorry, can't.
Very suspect. That kind of coyness makes me believe the Wii version may have indeed been cancelled, which would be a tremendous shame. We were always going to get a watered-down version of the game that will appear on other platforms, but it was such an interesting and original concept to begin with that I really wasn't too bothered; just the option to mess around with evolution with the Wii remote appealed to me. I hate jumping to conclusions, but this is definitely not a good sign. And first impressions of the DS version of Spore have not been very positive, so all in all it appears that once again, Nintendo fans have been given the short end of the stick.
Eternal Darkness sequel no longer a fantasy?
Credit: Toohuman.net, Cubed3
As a massive Eternal Darkness fan, this news has got me rather excited and hot under the collar! Developer Silicon Knights have received a grant for $500,000 to begin development on a new "psychological thriller" for next-gen consoles. No consoles were specifically mentioned, meaning that the Wii could easily be the console in question.
So, for those who can't see the link, Silicon Knights were the development team responsible for bringing Gamecube owners the original Eternal Darkness, which was of course a psychological thriller. When said development team are freely given a wad of cash to develop a new game of the same ilk, it's going to grab the attention of fans like myself. The Ontario Media Development Corporation are the people we have to thank, being responsible for handing over the investment grant, who want to see a prototype that can be marketed to various publishers. No real hardships there. The project is set to see full fruition by 2010, and if Too Human is any indication, we surely won't see it complete any time before then! If production really has only just begun, I wouldn't expect to see anything until very late in the year, at least, possibly not until 2009. Knowing Silicon Knights, however, it'll more than likely be worth the wait, and if it really IS the continuation of the Eternal Darkness franchise, I'm happy to wait for a long time until they get it up on a par with the Gamecube offering, which was simply fantastic.
I would be ecstatic to see an Eternal Darkness sequel come home to Nintendo, and some of the gameplay elements would lend themselves tremendously to the Wii. Forming the Magick Attacks with Wii-mote gestures would be especially intuitive, so the game would be a perfect fit on Nintendo's console, and with the original title still able to be played on the Wii thanks to the Gamecube backwards compatibility, it'd be a sensible marketing campaign. Let us pray that Silicon Knights see it that way too. I don't think I could bare to see another of my favorite franchises bastardised on another platform. :(
The 411 Games Crew
Part 1 of the 411 Gaming Awards for 2007 are up, and you'll definitely want to check that one out to see what made the list. Part 2 has just gone up, so click here to see what the 411 staff picked as Game of the Year.
Mark Salmela's SIXAXIS News Report includes a fresh batch of Street Fighter IV screens, plus news on all the top PS3 titles of 08, from GTA IV to Rainbow Six Vegas 2!
The Select and Start News Report is presented by Vincent Chiucchi, and features news of PS3 budget range emerging, the possible demise of HD-DVD, soldiers affected by Call of Duty 4 and much more.
Chris Evans brings you this week's edition of The PC Centric Extravaganza, which covers everything from the exclusive Facebreaker trailer to a ton of Valve/Steam news, as well as the first info for Red Faction III.
Sick of all the schmaltz and lovey-dovey stuff today? Damian Sarcuni has the antidote with this week's "Valentine's Day Massacre" edition of Angry Gaming.
Before I go, I'd just like to send a quick apology to everyone for the lateness of this week's column; I've had some net problems over the last few days, and the entire local server went down for a bit. An absolute nightmare, what with work deadlines that had to be emailed etc, not to mention the worry of not having net access for this Sunday's WWE No Way Out PPV! Yeah, that was my main worry to be honest! Still, it's back up now, but much later than expected, which put back my writing of this week's Nintendophiles.
Enjoy what's left of your Valentine's Day, and I'll see you right back here next week, same time, same place. Take care!
