Nintendophiles 10.01.08
Posted by Theo Fraser on 10.01.2008
Nintendophiles this week covers the story of a potential new DS model in production, SEGA’s upcoming DS RPG 7th Dragon, and Rock Band 2 on Wii being fully online compatible! Check it out inside!
Hello everyone and welcome to another instalment of Nintendophiles! I had a great weekend attending the ‘Eve of Indypendence' wrestling show in Wolverhampton. The main event of Austin Aries vs Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness had been a dream match of mine for quite some time, so I was ecstatic to witness it in person, and it lived up to the high expectations I'd put upon it. So yeah, that was awesome. Not so awesome is the fact I still haven't got my internet sorted out, so I've had to resort to using a friend's computer, sifting through all his porn to get to his word processing programs. Fun stuff. Unfortunately that means this will be a shorter column than usual, so I heavily apologise for that, but I promise that next week will be a big one!
New DS model in the works?
Credit: Nikkei, Kotaku, CVG
Japanese newspaper Nikkei made the report this past week that Nintendo are working on a brand new DS model, that would include larger LCD screens, camera functionality, MP3 playback, and increased Wifi capabilities. A price of 20,000 Yen was quoted, which translates to roughly the same price as the current DS Lite model. Since the report was released, Nintendo have interestingly made two comments. The first:
Nintendo: We are always developing new products. However, since nothing has been announced officially, we are unable to comment at this time.
And then a few hours later:
Nintendo:Nintendo has made no such announcement and will not comment on rumour and speculation.
It's an intriguing rumor, that's for sure. If it were true, this would bring Nintendo into direct competition with media devices such as the iPhone, which is something Nintendo have always shied away from. Are they really willing to move into such territory, considering the fact they've always assured us that they're not interested in that area of the entertainment business and are a strictly gaming-oriented company? Bearing that in mind, it kind of makes the report seem a little dubious. Unfortunately, we're unlikely to get official confirmation for quite some time, as it would be counter-productive for the company to announce details months before its on-sale release date, as current sales would plummet. The camera functionality would be awesome, as apparently Nintendo have plans for new types of games, and hey, that's never a bad thing! So yeah, it all sounds very cool, but whether or not it will ever materialise into something we can physically hold in our hands remains to be seen.
Quality team assemble for SEGA's ‘7th Dragon' DS RPG
Credit: Famitsu
7th Dragon is the latest RPG to come to the DS, headed by SEGA and Image Epoch, with a fantastic team behind the project. Just look at the cast involved:
Producer - Reiko Kodama (Phantasy Star, Skies of Arcadia)
Director - Kazuya Niinou (creator of Etrian Odyssey & Trauma Center)
Main Composer - Yuzo Koshiro (Score for Shenmue & Shinobi)
That's some top names right there! Plus, factor in character design by doujin moe artist Jun'ya Ota, and you have one impressive set of contributors.
As for the game itself, it's a pretty simple concept, tasking you with killing all the dragons in the world (and as you might guess from the title, there are 7 of them). It's a party-based affair, with 4 characters in tow, and you'll be able to fully create and customise each and every one of them. Aside from the obvious physical attributes you can assign, you'll choose from a variety of character classes, including fighter, mage, rogue, knight, samurai, healer, and princess. I'm so being a princess.
A neat little trailer is shown on the official Japanese site, so check that out and I'll give a more in-depth look at the title in the coming weeks.
Rock Band 2 to provide same online functionality as PS3/360 versions
Credit: USA Today
USA Today perhaps isn't the most reliable of sources, and despite MTV Games also confirming the story, I'd wait for official confirmation from Harmonix before taking it as fact. Anyway, the story itself is that despite the severe (some might say ‘crippling') limitations of the original Rock Band on Wii (No World Tour, no DLC etc), the sequel will apparently offer the exact same online functionality found in the PS3 and Xbox 360 iterations of the title. This means Wii owners will finally get to try out online multiplayer modes as well as World Tour mode, not to mention the ability to download new songs/track packs.
Many are remaining sceptical since the main reason for the lack of that sort of content in the original game was supposedly down to the Wii's limited on-board memory capacity, and Nintendo's unwillingness to produce an external hard-drive. No such hard-drive has arrived, and the Wii's memory remains at a low 512mb. The way I see it, there are two possible paths of action Harmonix could have taken if this report proves to be true. One, you'll have to download tracks from the internet onto an SD card and play them from there. Feasible, but not exactly user-friendly. Two, a system will be in place like with Virtual Console titles, where you can buy and download as many songs as you like until the internal memory is full, at which point you'll have to delete some if you want to download any more. Like VC titles, you'd of course be able to download previously bought songs for free. That's probably the more simple solution from Harmonix's point of view, but a total hassle from the customer's. Either way, it's not an ideal situation, but what can you do when Nintendo are still merely "looking into" the situation regarding the lack of storage space?
The Full Circle: 360 News Report by Joe Roche keeps you up to date on stories such as a possible Halo 3 expansion, the Banjo Kazooie release date, the success of The Force Unleashed, and downloadable gaming is this week's Hot Topic. Check out all that and more inside.
Derek Robbins runs down the Top 10 Final Fantasy characters in The 10th Hour this week.
Coming Attractions by Drew Robbins features a look at Sonic Chronicles and the week's other big releases.
Rod Oracheski takes you through the achievements list for Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in the latest edition of Achievement Unlocked.
The Hall of Shame turns to The Worst Consoles You've Never Heard Of, compiled by Vincent Chiucchi.
I'll be back next week for the Two Year Anniversary edition of Nintendophiles!
Surely there's enough Nintendo content for you to make this column better. You've got like two stories.
Talk about some old NES games or something. Jeesh.
Posted By: Poppycock (Guest) on October 01, 2008 at 04:58 AM
The only way for there to be more content is for Nintendo TO RELEASE A FREAKIN' GAME that isn't a port or garbageware. If I didn't have Mario Kart and VC games downloaded, I'd trade my Wii in.
Posted By: Steve307 (Guest) on October 01, 2008 at 07:45 PM
Steve, Wario Land Shake and Kirby Super Star Ultra would like to have a word with you...
Posted By: Drew Robbins (Registered) on October 01, 2008 at 08:42 PM
Sure, they can tell me how they are filler games to take people's minds off the fact that all of Nintendo's GREAT franchises have already seen an installment during this gen. We're not left with much, unless a new Zelda or Mario Galaxy comes out.
I may be exaggerating when I say "no games", but not by much.
Posted By: Steve307 (Guest) on October 02, 2008 at 10:55 PM
