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Kogoro Kurata working on a giant, bone crushing mech?
Gulp, this is not going to end well. That mechanized hand is just a piece of Kogoro Kurata's latest "secret" creation. Just imagine a massive, bus crushing hand fitted to a fully functional, giant mech and you'll understand our concern. Please Kogoro-san, we beg you on behalf of the children: don't finish it!
Wii Warm Up: NMS excitement
Fresh from the Nintendo Media Summit, we've quite a few impressions of games coming out in the immediate future. Among them: Mario Party 8 Super Mario Strikers: Charged Big Brain Academy Pokemon Battle Revolution The Bigs Boogie My Word Coach Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2 We're most jazzed for Strikers, especially after reading such effulgent impressions from Penny Arcade. But which game shown at NMS excited you the most? If you were stuck on an island and could only have one game ... you know, assuming you had a Wii and a couple Wiimotes, and a nice TV ... maybe some nunchuks, oh, and the sensor bar, and I guess you'd need a standard 120 W outlet somewhere in the sand ... and a decent supply of food and water, or you wouldn't spend your time playing the Wii ... you know what, never mind.
Rumor: Smash Bros and Metroid Prime press conference coming soon?
The clues are beginning to come together: there's a countdown on the official site of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and some rumblings of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption news coming around May 20th. In this month once reserved for the mighty E3, it's been quite some time since Nintendo has held a major press conference. Finally, good 'ol Matt has made it perfectly clear in a recent IGN Mailbag: he's on his way to Seattle next week for some mysterious reason, and it's not for Starbucks.About freakin' time, Nintendo. For a company still claiming that the big three will release in 2007, they've been awfully tight-lipped about the impending trio. We look forward to bringing you some surely awesome news coming next week ... uh, you know, assuming that this actually happens.
Get a degree in knowing how to play Big Brain Academy
We haven't read any research on the particular brain-embiggening properties of Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, and we're also quite certain that playing it won't result in an actual degree conferral (which is too bad, because we could use some more of those!) Whatever health or brain-bigness benefits it may have, the game certainly looks cute and fun. Siliconera has posted some impressions of the Japanese version, with plenty of screenshots and explanation of the various minigames involved. We suggest you check it out and dramatically increase the size of the area of your brain that holds Big Brain Academy gameplay details!
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: little big edition
There's somewhat of a correlation between using the descriptive little and the premise of big, enormous landscapes of creativity. Of course, LittleBigPlanet is one prime example. Recall even Little Nemo, an old children's book which spawned a decent licensed video game, The Dream Master. (We wouldn't mind seeing that on the Virtual Console, Capcom.) And we find Mario Galaxy so strangely familiar because the concept of jumping between a vast array of mini-planets is a concept we remember from Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince).This has nothing to do with webcomics; here are our picks for the best gaming comics. Be sure to vote for your favorite, and let us know of any gems we missed this week! Juice, that was a good one Hey! Listen! Devil May Cry, but Fanboys Cry Louder Really more just guidelines Old rivalries Your consoles are off (for context) While supplies last Gaming Scientific log (10,000) = 4 Q4 FTW
Japanese hardware sales, Mar. 5 - Mar. 11: March Madness edition [update 1]
[Update 1: Fixed official host of March Madness to DS Fanboy. Hellz yeah!]Can you feel it? The millions of dollars of productivity just slipping away in a bracket-induced frenzy? This month, eight of the biggest contenders will go toe to toe in a winner-take-all bloodbath of pain and glory.The DS, by virtue of winning the last nineteen straight tournaments, has been officially eliminated from the competition. Vegas is giving 3:2 odds on the Wii, but inconsistent supply performance puts them on shaky ground. The PSP, which charged back late in the season to earn the number 1 seed, is playing its best right now, but the in-state rival PS3 is still a force to be reckoned with. The Xbox 360 has also shown marked improvement, with wonderful individual performances by Blue Dragon and Trusty Bell.We're totally picking the Gamecube, though. It's the cinderella story of the season! (Seeds were determined using this week's numbers. Next week's sales charts shall determine the winner!)(And go Gators!) - DS Lite: 108,512 3,302 (2.95%) - PSP: 56,175 9,981 (15.09%) - Wii: 44,495 13,477 (23.25%) - PS3: 32,115 11,885 (27.01%) - PS2: 14,585 779 (5.07%) - Xbox 360: 3,333 46 (1.36%) - Game Boy Micro: 812 7 (0.87%) - GBA SP: 679 59 (7.99%) - Gamecube: 240 63 (20.79%) - DS Phat: 119 7 (6.25%) - GBA: 13 12 (48%)[Source: Media Create]
Japanese hardware sales, Mar. 5 - Mar. 11: March Madness edition
Can you feel it? The millions of dollars of productivity just slipping away in a bracket-induced frenzy? This month, eight of the biggest contenders will go toe to toe in a winner-take-all bloodbath of pain and glory.The DS, by virtue of winning the last nineteen straight tournaments, has been officially eliminated from the competition. Vegas is giving 3:2 odds on the Wii, but inconsistent supply performance puts them on shaky ground. The PSP, which charged back late in the season to earn the number 1 seed, is playing its best right now, but the in-state rival PS3 is still a force to be reckoned with. The Xbox 360 has also shown marked improvement, with wonderful individual performances by Blue Dragon and Trusty Bell.We're totally picking the Gamecube, though. It's the cinderella story of the season! (Seeds were determined using this week's numbers. Next week's sales charts shall determine the winner!)(And go Gators!) - DS Lite: 108,512 3,302 (2.95%) - PSP: 56,175 9,981 (15.09%) - Wii: 44,495 13,477 (23.25%) - PS3: 32,115 11,885 (27.01%) - PS2: 14,585 779 (5.07%) - Xbox 360: 3,333 46 (1.36%) - Game Boy Micro: 812 7 (0.87%) - GBA SP: 679 59 (7.99%) - Gamecube: 240 63 (20.79%) - DS Phat: 119 7 (6.25%) - GBA: 13 12 (48%)[Source: Media Create]
"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis..."
With the opening bar of the third verse in his debut single "Juicy," Biggie prioritized a young male's desires, putting video games at the top of his (now fulfilled) wish list. The words resonated with youth everywhere; even with those who might not otherwise identify with the Brooklyn-bred 'Bad Boy.' Admit it, you've rapped along to the words..."Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis,When I was dead broke, man I couldn't picture this 50-inch screen, money green leather sofa..."KarmaLoop.com pays homage to these rhymes with a pricey ($29) concept tee.
Celebrate a rapper and the VC at the same time
Whether you're a fan of the rap music or not, chances are you've heard of Notorious B.I.G. Well, in the spirit of his song Juicy and its one random line "Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, when I was dead broke I couldn't picture this", this shirt has hit the internet for purchase. Personally, we'd buy it if we were paid in money (why did we sign a contract where our payment is pain?!), but figured those of you who love the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console service could also get a kick out of it.
DIY Xbox 360 controller only slightly bigger than the 'Duke'
This controller is just a couple of millimeters larger than the Xbox's original controller, so if you're looking for a throwback to that, or something that can double as the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, then look no further. Sibling site Xbox 360 Fanboy has posted a link to instructables.com, where you can learn how to make one of your very own to hold and to love, and to use as a bed.When we say massive, we really mean massive. There is no doubt that they could have also housed a couple of 360s inside this thing, hooked it up to two TVs, and made a Gears of War/Halo 2 gaming machine all in one.. A controller at each corner of the box, embedded plasma screens, surround sou ... okay, granted that's taking it a bit too far.In a day and age of miniaturization, it's nice to see someone maximizing things. We'd really like to see a DS Lite this big, aw yeah.
Get your Irish hands on the Wii next month
Irish gamers will get a chance to get their hands on the Wii next month at the annual Toys 4 Big Boys, which features home entertainment and electronics through a variety of third-party supporters. Nintendo falls in line as one, offering up demo stations for visitors during the show on November the 10th, 11th and 12th.Any Irish readers planning on hitting Dublin for the event?[Via Cubed3]
Big Brain Academy headed to the Wii?
One of our wonderful readers sent us in a tip (note: sending in news tips may or may not increase your chances of becoming a billionaire) regarding Super Mario Galaxy. Turns out, Nintendo's listing of Wii titles has Super Mario Galaxy as only being a temporary name. More importantly, however, is the listing that shows Big Brain Academy (also a temporary name) is headed to the Wii.Could this mean that a Brain Age sequel will not be releasing on the Wii, with Big Brain Academy being the only brain-training game to hit the platform?[Thanks Modano!]
Nintendo's top 10 games of 2006 (so far)
With the year half-way over, Nintendo of America's Rufus has seen fit to put out his list of top 10 games so far this year. What's surprising is that Big Brain Academy comes in at the number one spot, a place which we're fairly sure should be given to New Super Mario Bros. instead. What isn't surprising, however, is that the list is dominated by DS titles. Big Brain Academy (DS) New Super Mario Bros. (DS) True Swing Golf (DS) Drill Dozer (GBA) Super Princess Peach (DS) Chibi Robo (GCN) Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (DS) Tetris DS (DS) Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (DS) Odama (GCN) What would your own personal list look like?[Via Infendo][Note: This has nothing to do with sales numbers. This is a list purely based on personal opinion of one Nintendo of America employee.]
Panasonic's 103-inch plasma shipping this year
You know that 103-inch, ain't ever going to go on sale, plasma TV Panasonic's been lugging around the trade show circuit? Well, start pinchin' those pennies son, cause Panny is putting them on sale in time for the holidays. This 7.5 x 4.2-foot (8.5-foot diagonal) plasma goes 16:9 and throws up a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 3000:1 contrast ratio and features Panasonic's 1080p HD high-speed pixel drive we've already seen in their 65-incher. The perfect, er, accessory for their DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player, no doubt. Sorry, no pricing announced -- but if you gotta ask, you can't afford it. [Via New Launches]
Apple launches "Big Ideas" Mac mini page
Apple has launched a new section to their Mac mini product page titled "Big Ideas." This brief new section highlights all the unique things that creative individuals and modders are doing to and with the smallest little Mac that could, including powering a wall-sized digital canvas, a self-driving VW Touareg and even a Millennium Falcon case mod competition winner. I think Apple certainly could've put this up a while ago, but nevertheless: it's a slick homage to all the cool new uses the Mac mini is finding its way into.
