Playing on the Go

In news that is news, but not really new news since it is in the form of old news, the DS and Wii continue to own the entire industry. Both systems are selling well, but the figures for the DS are absolutely astounding, according to the NPD. Substituting hyperbole and, well, just plain hype, take a look at the figures below for yourself.

* Nintendo DS: 561.9K
* Nintendo Wii: 381.8K
* Sony PSP: 290.1K
* Sony PlayStation 2: 270.7K
* Microsoft Xbox 360: 198.4K
* Sony PlayStation 3: 98.5K

Step back and ponder on this, if you will. Consider the Nintendo DS, a system over two years old with admitted horsepower limitations and no new top tier games until October 1st. Not only is is selling doubly that of the Playstation 2, but it is also selling at least five times as much of the Playstation 3. And more than twice that of the Xbox 360. To sum it up, the thing is un-freaking-stoppable.

[via joystiq]

[image via barkertrax@ flickr]

Not one to miss a new color scheme, it looks as if Nintendo will be releasing one that is, at the very least definable as odd, pretty soon. As you can see from the image above, it is dual toned in red and black. And for whatever reason is being released in connection with the release of Brain Age 2. Which doesn’t really primarily feature either of those colors. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, but as hot as the DS is, Nintendo could probably release one branded “Vomit Green” and it would still sell a gazillion units.

Look for the dual package of the red DS and Brain Age 2 to hit on August 20.

nintendods, brainage2

[via kotaku]

It seemed like a no brainer at first. But there was no initial indication as to whether or not the game would actually do it or not. But the ever detail oriented gang at GoNintendo seems to have found a bit from a Nintendo catalog that would seem to say that the game will be…

You have to look closely, but there is a Nintendo WiFi logo at the bottom of the page. As the graphic appears on a related page from the horse’s mouth, that horse existing as Nintendo itself, perhaps that’s a good go ahead on expecting the game to go online after all.

My one concern with this would be the crowd who seems to find it appropriate to force a disconnect by powering off the system when losing a game. As I’ve gone over in the past on this blog, it’s an ever growing problem. Given the slower pace of the Mario party games, it seems that players obsessed with win / loss records would have ample chance to cut the system off and reconnect to another game once they are a star or two behind on the Mario Party board. Not a promising prospect. Let’s hope that Nintendo can somehow solve the problem before launch time.

nintendods, marioparty, mariopartyds, nintendowifi

You read that right, what could usually be seen as kiddie crap fodder has the potential to be freaking awesome. Those of you seasoned enough to remember a time when the Loony Tunes were actually cool and aired on ABC on Saturday mornings may remeber a short featuring Daffy in which he was the sole character on screen. He talked with and smarted off to the animator, who was intent on drawing props and scenery that had the sole intention of torturing Daffy. Up until the end when you discover that it was Bugs all along, the animator shows up only as a hand and a paintbrush.

Now. Imagine this if you will. Replace the hand with your own and the paintbrush with a DS stylus. Do that and you’ve got a new game on the way for DS. Once you get over your premonitions, admit to the fact that the idea is completely awesome. I certainly already have. Of course, the game has the potential to suck, as most liscensed games do. But done right, this could be an awesome game experience. Be sure to check back with us, as we are going to certainly keep tabs on this potentially awesomely fun and funny game.

daffyduck, nintendods

[via mercury news]

Phantom Hourglass is really shaping up to be a doozy. Much more than a capstone game for the afternoon hours of the DS, the new Zelda could actually shape up to be a revolutionary game that sets the bar for future Zelda games to come. Don’t believe me? See what right hand man to Miyamoto himself, Eiji Aonuma has to say on the subject.

“With this DS Zelda, I and the staff, our eyes were opened to the possibilities of the hardware, as game developers, to understand what our responsibility is. And what we were creating, what the potential was there. So not only are we planning to do the same thing for the Wii, but to continue to do so for the DS as well.”

Twilight Princess aside, I’m of the belief that the series has been in a bit of a stall ever since Ocarina of Time set the standard for what nearly has been a decade. Majora’s Mask was a nice change of pace, Wind Waker brought a fresh visual approach, and Twilight Princess had a fun new method of control on Wii. But really, none of these games have truly brought something new to the table as when Ocarina of Time truly turned the entire industry upside down. Phantom Hourglass has the potential to do something truly new for the series that could set the stage for future Wii offerings and beyond, and it looks as if Miyamoto and Aonuma are taking the opportunity seriously.

nintendo, zelda, wii, nintendods

[via wired]

A lot of folks have wondered for a while why there’s not been a Mario Party DS. And for good reason. The mini-game fest on New Super Mario Bros. practically was half of the game already that just got our taste buds wet for a full board game bonanza. But finally we know that it is indeed on the way thanks to the above little trailer for said game. No mention yet of a release date or if there will be any WiFi connectivity with the game, but that news shouldn’t be too far behind.

mariopartyds, newsupermariobros, e3, nintendods

Nothing all that earth shattering concerning the DS came about from the Nintendo show. However, there was plenty for the Wii to be had. Be sure to check out our sister site at 1pStart for that coverage. The only real news concerning the DS other than the fact that its selling more units that gallon jugs of milk was some specific control schemes for Phantom Hourglass and a few casual games that will be localized from Japan. No mention whatsoever of any redesign or “sequel” to the DS. And frankly, at this stage Nintendo doesn’t need to.

Now, on to Sony. That show starts at 11:30 Pacific, 2:30 Eastern. Mere minutes from now, actually. I’m sure there’s no need to remind you where to find coverage for the show, if you are reading this I’m certain you already have that taken care of.

nintendo, nintendods, sony, psp

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]

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]

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

You know all of these “late to the party” movie sequels we’re getting lately that are coming around ten years later? You know, like Live Free or Die Hard this weekend and then Indiana Jones 4 in around a year? Video games can do just that too. Contra 4 for the DS will be hitting the system sometime later this year. This news had made the rounds last week, but I remained somewhat skeptical due to the fact that the development of the game had been practically outsourced, but recent developments have me hopeful.

1up / EGM recently got thier grimy little hands on a preview build of the game, and they seem to be mighty impressed. A promising comment from one of the producers is that New Super Mario Bros. was a huge inspiration for them when it was time to take the old school formula to the new school system. Basically, it’s still the old game as we all know and love it with some modern enhancements that keep it from feeling dated. There’s much more detail in a wonderful in-depth article available by hitting the link above. It seems that the designers and producers are taking the development very seriously, in hopes that gamers will be equally serious when it hits later this year.

contra, nintendods

Well, this one certainly came out of left field. This morning, Nintendo has announced a new “indie” development platform for the Wii entitled “WiiWare”. The implied connections to Wario Ware are there, though probably not intentional. The best explanation of the idea comes below, straight from the mouth of said horse.

“Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners.”

Sounds cool enough. This sort of small time development platform has been expected for some time now, as many flash developers have already figured out how to do some pretty cool stuff via the internet channel. But why stop there? With connectivity capabilities to the DS, this platform could extend there as well via WiFi downloads. DS homebrew has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years, leaving endless possibilities should a more official outlet for basement developers open up via WiiWare.

Nintendo isn’t stupid. But they are slow. They’ll more than likely eventually warm up to this scenario, although it will more than likely be in a highly restrained developmental environment. Since the first WiiWare offerings on the native system will begin to be offered in early 2008, anything downloadable to the DS will surely come later on that year.

nintendowii, wiiware, nintendods

The flow of news will start to become slim as we get closer and closer to E3. A lot of the big names are holding out until the Expo, which is now just a few weeks away. We’ll save speculation until another day as we get even closer.

For right now, I’ve got two videos that may grab your interest. The first is probably the best video I’ve yet seen when it comes to demonstrating some of the nitty gritty mechanics of Phantom Hourglass.

As you can see, this clip is from gamevideos.com, which may run a little slower than what you are used to from YouTube. But you’ll quickly find the video worth it as it gives what I think is the best idea yet of the mechanics. A lot of pundits have said that this game is sort of a melting pot of Link to the Past and Wind Waker. But after taking a look through that clip, it honestly reminds me more of the mostly overlooked Minish Cap on GBA from just a few years back. Which was outsourced to Capcom instead of seeing development in house at Nintendo, but still was a kickass game that threw the franshise for a loop in a totally good way.

The second video I thought might tickle your fancy is a follow up from yesterday’s post. This is the advertisement to be run on UK screens in the not too distant future, featuring Nicole Kidman trying to best the Good Doctor on her DS.

Allright. That’s not hardly as Earth shattering or revealing as the Zelda clip, but I thought you’d still get a good jolly out of it. Was I the only one expecting her to slam the DS on the floor and start shouting?

“SCISSORS, DAMNIT! SCISSORS!!”

phantomhourglass, E3, brainage2