Playing on the Go

Don’t forget that the Nintendo E3 Confernence will be this morning at 9:00am on the West Coast, or Noon on the East Coast. Whichever time zone you happen to fall in. It’s at 11:00 for me here in Huntsville. If chatter around the web is to be believed, we should be seeing a lot about DS to Wii connectivity at the conference. As long as you can tune out the gloating about how well the Wii is selling, there should be a lot of new information to be had.

I won’t pretend that I’m actually at the show by liveblogging the event from a real liveblog (like some sites are prone to do), but I will reccomend some sites that do a good job. If you are at work and can’t watch the video, Kevin Cassidy at Go Nintendo is probably as obsessive as they come and always handles live events great. If you’d like to see the live video for yourself, 1up/EGM has good coverage.

All in all, it should prove to be an interesting show. No one really knows for sure what to expect from this one.

e3, nintendods, nintendowii, connectivity

As best as they may try to tame it, all of the lunacy that is E3 begins today with the highly anticipated pre show exhibitions. The handlers of the show may try to bring it down a few notches, but as long as game developers and publishers have overblown expense accounts to throw around it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. With the show beginning in earnest today, I thought it would be nice to provide you with a list of what can and can’t be expected.

Likely To Happen:

With all of the hoopla over new systems out of the way, the 2007 E3 should be mostly focused on second and third wave games for them. That includes handhelds as well. This should probably be the last show dealing with news for the DS and PSP, as it won’t be very shocking to see new handheld offerings announced next year. Look for both Nintendo and Sony to announce at least one or two AAA titles for each respective system that will give you a reason to stick with it for another year or two. Specifically, look for announcements from Sony in conjunction with Square Enix as well as one from Nintendo concerning another blockbuster game that actually isn’t Phantom Hourglass.

Possibly Could Happpen:

While relatively unlikely, it isn’t outside of the realm of possibility that Nintendo could announce a price cut for the DS. With Pokemon out of the way and Zelda to be here before you know it, sales of the system could potentially slow down with only one or two big titles on the horizon. A price cut to the magic $99 price point would completely undermine recent price cuts for the PSP and give the DS a big spike in sales. As it has been recently cut, and is already a big cost for Sony, don’t expect the same for the PSP. Also, new features or downloadable content for the PSP should probably be expected. On the same token, new periphials for the DS wouldn’t be a big shock either.

Could Come Way Out Of Left Field:

Mind you, these are very small possibilities. But both Nintendo and Sony have been rumored to have had upgraded versions of current systems in the works for a while now. The “DS Liter” as previously reported is highly unlikely, yet still possible given Nintendo’s track record for multiple handheld redesigns in the past. The same goes for the PSP, which still hasn’t wholly fulfilled the “hardware refresh” rumors of the past few months.

The show for this year is the first of the “in between” years in which new systems aren’t likely to be announced, providing for a mess of great games on all ends of the spectrum. Hopefully though, given that and the smaller size of the show, there should still be a few nice surprises. Be sure to stick with us throughout the week for what that may be for handheld gamers.

e3, nintendods, sonypsp

A lot of sites are reporting this image as “possible” box art for the game. But if it isn’t what you will see on shelves on October 1st, I’ll eat my hat. You see, games with certain name recognition don’t have to flail its arms and sprout all sorts of nice colors at you to get your attention. In fact, this game could just say “The New Zelda Game On DS” in a font akin to that of a rubber stamp, and Nintendo fanboys would not hesitate to pick it up.

Jokes aside, this is it. Nintendo usually goes with a relatively simplistic gold toned box for every Zelda release here in the states. Final Fantasy does pretty much the same thing in Japan. Every FF game that’s released in Japan has a overly white monochrome look with just the title. The name says it all.

I do have to say, that’s the best art I’ve seen on any DS box.

nintendods, phantomhourglass, boxart

[via nintendo-online]

Okay, seriously. This one is a bit of a stretch. Despite the fact that nearly every major retail outlet no longer carries UMD movies, as well as the fact that the format is pretty much irrelevant aside from existing as a format for PSP games, they still hold to the claim that the Universal Media Disc is still the format of the future.

Apparently, it “possesses many strengths, from size to form factor to portability,” according to Sony Marketing Manager John Koller. Okay seriously, what are you guys smoking? The thing loads like an overbloated game on Windows 95. Should you ever get anything to load from the format, you’re lucky to have it stick around without bumping into the system. While the PSP has many strengths, the UMD is certainly not one of them. One reason the DS has taken off so much is because there are no load times. Carts may have gone away for consoles, but there’s a reason that they should stick around for handhelds.

Hear this, Sony. Any moving media for handhelds don’t work. Get over it.

[via joystiq]

This brings the term “kiddie fodder” a new definition. I’m sure much of the readership who will see this surely won’t be interested in this game, but if you have younger kids and like to bring them in young, you might want to take a look at this one. Apparently, UK publisher 505 Games will be publishing a collection of games aimed at toddlers and other much younger age groups titled “I Did It Mum”.

Obviously, the title hasn’t been localized for us stupid yanks yet. (Remember, it’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Not Philosopher’s. No hard words for us dumb Americans.) What’s cool about this title is that it fully utilizes the microphone so that parents can record voice messages and commands that the kids will hear later as they complete tasks and such. Honestly, I think this is a great idea. The simple nature of the DS and Wii are perfect for young learning kids, I’m honestly shocked that Nintendo hasn’t attempted to break into this new market already. I mean seriously, people have babies all the time.

babygame, nintendods

[via joystiq]

I’d like to start a regular feature here that will spotlight other podcasts focused on gaming that you can listen to as you mull over whether or not you’d be a regular listener of one here. There are actually quite a few of them out there, many of which take a in depth look at the news in a way not usual to the quick and annoyingly witty way of us bloggers. As this site is titled “Playing on the Go”, why not listen about gaming while you are on the go?

The first that I’d like to draw your attention to is called Press Start from alt.NPR. It’s a show that only a handful of National Public Radio affiliates have bothered to pick up across the nation, but it’s one of the key shows of the alt.NPR initiative that gives listeners access to alternative NPR programming via podcasts. The page for the show describes it as the following..

Press Start is a podcast about the world of video games–and the culture that surrounds them. Hosts Robert Holt, Ralph Cooper, and Kyle Orland discuss the art and craft of video games: what’s new and what games they’ve been playing.

Having listened to an episode last night, I was mighty impressed. The show does not in any way do a quick run down of popular stories from the week. Instead, they take one issue and discuss it throughly amongst themselves. For instance, the most recent episode takes a look at the issue of whether or not retail sales in the industry is dead or not. Which on the surface may not seem like much of an interesting subject, but the hosts take it make it very intriguing. Do yourself a favor and take a listen to the show. It’s likely to change the way you think about gaming news.

podcast, NPR

It’s been quite a while since Nintendo chose to grace us with the presence of screenshots and gameplay footage of Phantom Hourglass. More specifically, it’s been over a year. A lot can change over that time, and from the screenshots that German site Nintendo Online, it really has.

At first glance, it would seem that that the interface has been glossied up a bit. But more importantly, the graphics seem to be much more crisp and defined. So it would seem that even within that time, the Nintendo developers have figured out ways to push the hardware even further on the Little System That Could.

In case you’ve been missing out, Japan already has the game and we can expect to see our translated version around November.

nintendods, phantomhourglass