Nintendophiles 10.29.08

Posted by Theo Fraser on 10.29.2008

This week’s Nintendophiles brings you news of BioWare returning to the DS, the super-slick MadWorld boxart, Guitar Hero: World Tour downloadable content, the latest look at Sonic Unleashed, and why there may still be life left in Project H.A.M.M.E.R yet. Check out all that and more inside!






Well it's definitely Winter now, in case there was ever any doubt. I got caught out in the pouring rain earlier with no coat, and apart from completely drenching me, it messed up my hair, which in my book is the equivalent of Original Sin. Sigh. On the plus side, I managed to get myself another Awesome Gaming Bargain (TM), picking up Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the measly sum of £7. For some reason it was in the Clearance section at my local Zavvi store, but I'm certainly not arguing. I've definitely been missing out big time on this one as it is just plain brilliant. Count me in for buying Order of Ecclesia once I complete it.




BioWare to continue with DS development
Credit: Cubed3





Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood met a mixed reaction from the gaming media upon its release last month, with scores reaching as high as 93%, and falling into the low 70s. Still, this hasn't adversely affected BioWare's plans for the DS, as they are still planning to continue developing for the platform, according to recent reports. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk recently commented on the company's future with regard to the DS, saying,


Zeschuk: ...we recently released the Sonic handheld game for DS, and we've got other DS plans that we're thinking about these days.

It's quite a bit of stuff. We've a pretty a big plate full of things we're working on. Across the studio we number probably over 400 people.


400 people working on DS projects?! That's preeeeeeeeetty big. Which would infer that at least one of the projects is something major. Could this relate to the reports a couple of months ago that said that BioWare were possibly hoping to bring one of their acclaimed franchises to the DS, such as Jade Empire or Mass Effect. As a massive fan of both games, I surely hope so. Sonic Chronicles was BioWare's first DS outing, so imagine how much improvement there will be now that they've had experience developing for the system.




Nintendo increase Wii production in run up to Christmas
Credit: Cubed3

For the third year in a row, it looks like the Nintendo Wii will be the elusive, hard-to-find gift this festive season. At least, that's the way it was looking, but Nintendo are hoping to help ease the pain of desperate parents this year by upping the production rate of the Wii into unprecedented territory.

Last year, in the run up to Christmas, Nintendo produced 1.6 million units a month. For Christmas 2008, Nintendo are increasing production a whopping 33% to 2.4 million. With LittleBigPlanet out for PS3 and numerous 360 ‘killer apps', the console war is bound to step up a notch once again, so Nintendo are hoping to make sure there are no hardware deficiencies at their end come Christmas.




SEGA show off MadWorld boxart

Somewhat of a non-story I suppose, but sometimes you just look at a game's boxart and it oozes that cool vibe. MadWorld doesn't just ooze...it gushes.





It's minimalistic, much like the in-game visual style, and the splash of red on the tip of the chainsaw and inside the logo perfectly encapsulates the content of the game. It's a simple concept, but I think it will really stand out on store shelves. Especially when pictured next to the likes of Pippa Funnell: Ranch Rescue. Which I actually played for about a minute this past weekend. Don't judge me.




H.A.M.M.E.R time still a possibility?
Credit: 3Sat





Quite some time ago (the Leipzig Games Convention last year, if I'm not mistaken) it was made public knowledge that the once-promising Wii title Project H.A.M.M.E.R. had been canned. As one of the first titles to be demonstrated to the media at E3 2006, when gamers got to try their hand at the Wii-remote for the very first time, it was seen as quite the disappointment to learn of its untimely demise.

However, there may yet be hope. For the past week or two, the man synonymous with the design and ideas portion of Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, has been doing the rounds across the globe, mostly in promotion of Wii Music. Speaking to German website/technology show 3Sat, Miyamoto was asked directly about the status of Project H.A.M.M.E.R.


Miyamoto: [says he is not part of the development team and really cannot comment] (...) What I can confirm here is that only when Nintendo can become almost certain of the timing of the launch we are able to make the relevant launch announcement of the software.


Which is a very roundabout, confusing way of saying "let's just wait and see." This could be Nintendo simply not wanting to confirm anything either way, but it could very well also indicate that work has started back up on the project, and it was merely on hold whilst other, more important IPs were worked on. Since H.A.M.M.E.R. first went into development, there have been a number of improvements to the Wii hardware, most chiefly of which would be the announcement of the MotionPlus technology, which in all likelihood would work very well with the title to give you absolute, full control over the player's colossal hammer. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be the sole reason for the game's revival. But as Miyamoto himself said, we're not going to find anything out until Nintendo are ready to tell us.




Guitar Hero: World Tour Wii DLC revealed
Credit: IGN

To those of you who have already bought the game, this will most likely be old news, but for everyone else, it was revealed just prior to the game's launch exactly what the downloadable content would constitute for Guitar Hero: World Tour on Wii. Let's take a look:

• An Endless Sporadic – "Anything" [free]


• Blind Melon – "No Rain" [200 Wii Points]


• Boston – "Rock and Roll Band" [200 Wii Points]


• Foreigner – "Hot Blooded" [200 Wii Points]


• Metallica – "Broken, Beat & Scarred" [200 Wii Points]


• Metallica – "Cyanide" [200 Wii Points]


• Metallica – "My Apocalypse" [200 Wii Points]


• Rick Springfield – "Jessie's Girl" [200 Wii Points]


• Sworn – "Electro Rock" [free]


• Ted Nugent's Original Guitar Duel [free]


• Zakk Wylde's Original Guitar Duel [free]

Then on November 20th, The Raconteurs release a three-song download from the second album, Consolers of the Lonely, which features "Salute Your Solution", "Hold Up" and "Consoler of the Lonely". These will cost 200 Points each. Even more tracks will follow in the coming weeks, including:

• Oasis – "Bag it Up" [200 Wii Points]


• Oasis – "The Shock of the Lightning" [200 Wii Points]


• Oasis – "Waiting for the Rapture" [200 Wii Points]


• R.E.M. – "Horse to Water" [200 Wii Points]


• R.E.M. – "Man-Sized Wreath" [200 Wii Points]


• R.E.M. – "Supernatural Superserious" [200 Wii Points]

As mentioned last week, Rock Band 2 chose to go down the route of releasing songs by relatively unknown bands as DLC (although admittedly these were free, so nothing to turn your nose up at), but Activision have got a pretty strong lineup for you here if the initial lineup of tracks included in the game isn't enough to satiate your Guitar Hero needs.




The latest look at Sonic Unleashed...

No ground-breaking developments for this one, but I thought it would be nice to show how Sonic Unleashed has been progressing on Wii, seeing as how everyone seems to be paying more attention to the admittedly gorgeous 360/PS3 versions. So take a look at the latest trailer, featuring a nice preview of the Werehog sections. By the end of the video, you'll definitely have a clear idea of what to expect from each type of gameplay. As an irrelevant aside, I'm really not a fan of the music. *Hits the mute button*.







The 411 Games Crew

Vincent Chiucchi presents The Select and Start News Report, covering the week's big stories such as the new Star Wars MMORPG by BioWare and the latest on E3 2009.

B3yond the Report by Derek Robbins discusses the special collector's edition PS3 packaging for Smackdown vs Raw 2009, the status of Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, the latest from the PSN store and more.

Ty Huston and The Classic Flashback turns to Fallout 2 this week.

Chris Evans has another DRM rant for you in The PC Centric Extravaganza, as well as a look at Alan Wake, which is still looking awesome despite having been in development longer than I've had years on this planet.

The Checkpoint makes a triumphant return, with John Curry at the wheel.

Drew Robbins has a massive edition of Coming Attractions for you this week, and what would you expect on a week that includes the release of LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3 and the new Guitar Hero?!

It's the Top 10 PSX Games in the latest instalment of The 10th Hour, brought to you by Derek Robbins.



Right, well I shall check back in with you next Wednesday, but in the mean time, I shall wrap up warm to stop myself from freezing (my housemates evidently don't believe in switching the heating on until someone has actually died from the cold), and then another dose of Castlevania sounds good to me. See you in 7, my fellow Nintyphiles!

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