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Metroid Prime Trilogy packaging cooler than a Chozo suit
Click image to morph into gallery We just got sent the box art for the upcoming Metroid Prime Trilogy and, wow, it's really nice. Featuring a badass Samus-adorned metal case, the box art is about as cool and futuristic as the retooled Metroid Prime content located on its disc. In addition to the metal case, the Wii Trilogy will also include a "special Metroid Prime Trilogy artbook." Looks like Nintendo's managed to weasel out another $50 out of us, huh? We'd go on more about it, but then that would keep you from going into our gallery below and checking out the various shots for yourself.%Gallery-66717%
Rumor: Retro Studios hints at news today
A Twitter account that claims to be from Retro Studios is teasing at something big. "We think you guys will be pleasantly surprised in just a few hours :)," the latest tweet (out of a grand total of two) reads. Of course, it could be a fake, but the possibility of Retro-related excitement is too wonderful to ignore.Despite the departure of Retro senior staff to form Armature Studio, Retro is still in operation, as a Nintendo-owned developer. Which means that if there is some Retro news (beyond Metroid Prime Trilogy, which we know is Nintendo-related), it'll probably be related to Nintendo, as well. Odd, then, that the pleasant surprise is supposed to happen today, when Nintendo's keynote doesn't happen until tomorrow.[Thanks, Mr. Khan!]
All three Metroid Prime games rolled up into Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii
If you were jealous of Japan's New Play Control releases of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, don't be. Nintendo of America just announced plans to release all three (non-pinball) Metroid Prime games on a single Wii disc as Metroid Prime Trilogy. The press release says that it was developed by "Retro Studios and Nintendo." Did Retro itself work on the refit before leaving Nintendo, or does the Retro credit apply only to the original games?Metroid Prime 1 and 2 will be enhanced with a widescreen mode and the pointer-based Wii controls from the Japanese re-releases. Metroid Prime 3 won't be, because it was already a Wii game and already has them. The collection will feature a "new unlockables system" that allows access to bonus artwork and other rewards based on accomplishments in all three games -- Corruption's "token" system applied to the whole series.Trilogy will be out in North America on August 24 for $50.
New Play Control Metroid Prime games get Corruption's token system
If you played through any significant portion of Metroid Prime 3, then you likely encountered a colorful token or two during your progression through the game. These tokens were awarded for a variety of reasons and were a lot of fun to compare with your friends, so it's nice to see them being utilized in the New Play Control versions of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime: Echoes. Anything adding replay value to these great games is just fine by us!
Japanese Metroid site probably isn't teasing a new Metroid game
We felt a brief jolt of excitement when we saw this graphic on the new Japanese Metroid series website. Right under the boxarts for the two New Play Control Metroid Prime remakes and Metroid Prime 3, this graphic teases "Another side story -- coming soon"! The Japanese text underneath says "Follow the history of Metroid Prime from the perspective of the Space Pirates", which would potentially be a pretty cool game.However, we don't think it's going to be a new Metroid Prime spinoff at all. For one thing, Nintendo wouldn't really tease a new game like that, and certainly not in Japan, where nobody cares about Metroid. Given that the site provides quick synopses of each game's storyline, we're guessing this is going to be some story retrospective -- as in just a thing on the site. Most likely, it's some clever way of packaging the whole backstory of the series for new players. But for us, it'll be just more incomprehensible Japanese text. It could be a new game, but it probably isn't. Whatever it is, we'll find out -soon-![Via NeoGAF]
Metroid Prime's new play controls demonstrated in Japanese ads
Nintendo's new Japanese commercials for the New Play Control version of Metroid Prime pretty well answer the question of how the new controls work. The commercials show example motions over in-game activities, revealing that the control scheme for the Wii remake of Retro Studios' first-person adventure game are similar to the controls found in Metroid Prime 3. The clip goes by too quickly and doesn't feature enough detail for us to determine if any changes have been made to the Corruption control scheme, but we doubt it.This is basically what we expected, and we're delighted to see it: aside from a minor issue with the + and - buttons, the Wiimote/Nunchuk controls for Metroid Prime 3 were just right. We're quite excited about getting to use them in the magnificent first Prime.
Rumor: Metroid Prime remake in Japan February 12?
According to Gamekyo, the Wii de Asobu/New Play Control remake of Retro Studios' Metroid Prime has been scheduled for release in Japan on February 12. We're not sure where they got that date, but it seems reasonable enough, given the biweekly releases so far in the series of Gamecube updates.While it will be interesting to see how the Japanese Wii audience reacts to Prime, this is most relevant to gamers outside of Japan due to the fact that the Pikmin and Mario Tennis remakes are expected to be out in North America and Europe in February and March, very soon after the releases of those two games in Japan. This means that we could possibly see Metroid Prime sometime in the first half of this year -- although Donkey Kong Jungle Beat came out in Japan before either of those others, and we haven't seen that one yet.
Toys R Us does 50% off select Wii games
Starting tomorrow and lasting until Saturday, Toys R Us will be offering select Wii games at 50% off. These games are actually some quality titles, too. None of that burning through their stock of Anubis II or anything, we're talking top-notch games. So what's on offer? Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles BWii: Battalion Wars 2 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Not bad, right? So be sure to check their site first thing tomorrow. Who's planning on picking up a game? And what game would that be? [Thanks, TheResidentEvil!]
Retro Studios vets form Armature, sign publishing agreement with EA
Back in April, we reported three key staffers at Retro Studios had vacated their offices and turned in their letters of resignation. These three individuals were design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller and technology engineer Jack Mathews. Speculation was the three left to start their own company. Well, that's what happened.The three have announced their new company, Armature Studio, has signed a "long-term, exclusive" publishing deal with games giant Electronic Arts. Armature and EA were both, obviously, excited about the move. "We are very excited about trying to rethink how games are developed for this generation of consoles, and our partners at EA have been nothing but supportive in this pursuit," said Pacini. "What really gets me going is that now, no platform is off limits. That is just something we didn't have the ability to do before." "I can't begin to describe how thrilled I am to be working with the talented team that created such an amazingly well-crafted series of games," said Louis Castle of EA, whom would be acting executive producer on the future Armature games.With Retro Studios making such wonderful games on Nintendo hardware, it would appear these three key players aren't going to be favoring the Wii, sadly. Pacini really wants to see what the other consoles are about, commenting that "now, no platform is off limits. That is just something we didn't have the ability to do before." [Via Joystiq]
Top 5: Where Do They Go Now?
As someone who's been following Nintendo for quite awhile, they've almost never failed to surprise me. Though their origins are classic, Nintendo-developed games are continuously refined, retooled, and revitalized. Some may buy into that old standard line used mostly for musical artists that makes you sound cool: "their older stuff is better." Such broad generalizations are silly: to ignore Super Mario Galaxy because of a fetish for Super Mario Bros. would be dogmatic.But for those of us growing long in the gaming tooth, we're led to wonder where all of these classic IPs are headed. It's hard to imagine a gaming world without Nintendo's current A-listers, but does anyone have a solid idea of what future iterations of our favorite franchises will be like? Now that just about every gangbuster franchise has been successfully embedded in 3D, we're at a loss as to the next big step for gaming. Some of us have really good ideas, but I'm positively stumped as to where these franchises are going. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Rumor: Metroid Prime Trilogy?
A mysterious tipster sent a rumor in to GoNintendo that a retailer database now lists a product called Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii. GoNintendo's RawMeatCowboy speculates that this would be "Prime 1, (2), and 3 all on the Wii ... but Prime 1 and 2 with all-new Wiimote controls."We believe that, if this is a real product, it's a lot more likely that it's the three Prime games ... in a new box! Or maybe even in the same boxes, but with those inside a new box! Not that that's a bad thing -- the Prime games are very high-quality (even if you hate first-person!), and quite reminiscent of the real Metroids. The first two are definitely among the best GameCube games, and any opportunity to get them in new Wii owners' hands would be welcome.
Three Retro Studios staffers escape, save Etecoons on the way out
Three high-level members of Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios have left the company. Design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and technology engineer Jack Mathews' last day at the Austin-based, Nintendo-owned developer was Friday. Shacknews speculates that the three are going to start a new company, which is certainly more likely than the three of them simultaneously tiring of game development.Retro's last released project was, of course, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, after which Pacini said the company would be working on non-Metroid projects. Apparently, even that wasn't enough change for these three -- or they just feared for the condition of their tea tables.(Yes, the title is a Super Metroid reference and not a Metroid Prime reference. Close enough.)
Shacknews: Key staff leave Metroid Prime dev Retro Studios
Shacknews reports that several "key" employees of Austin, Texas-based developer, Retro Studios, have left the company. The studio is best known for its work on the critically acclaimed Metroid Prime trilogy, which concluded in August last year on Nintendo's Wii.Staff members said to have been escorted off the premises last Friday include design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller and principal technology engineer Jack Matthews. There's no word yet on what their futures entail, but Shacknews notes that Retro Studios is in no danger of closing. Which is just as well, really, since we're in no danger of not wanting more games from them. We'll let you know when we hear more on this subject.Update: There's some unconfirmed gossip from mysterious dealer in rumors, Surfer Girl, who mentioned that "something definitely went down at Retro" in a post dated Sunday, April 20th. An unnamed individual is quoted in the post as saying, "Pretty much no one at retro would agree to relocate at nintendo's behest, as asinine shenanigans are typically met with little fanfare."
The road to corruption: Retro Studios and the making of Metroid Prime
As gamers, our focus is often on playing games and not the subtleties that go on behind the scenes. If we only knew about all those details, though, we might be shocked to find out how something like the Metroid Prime series almost never came to be.Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh recently talked about the Prime arc at the 2007 Montreal Games Summit. In the conference, he explained the pressures of having his (at that time) rookie studio pick up such an important franchise, and how Miyamoto was influential in taking the series from third person to first person.
We mourn the passing of Metroid Dread (kinda)
During an interview with Mark Pacini and Todd Keller, Stepehen Totilo over at MTV grilled them about this whole Metroid Dread business. And, in award-winning fashion, the duo did little to sway our hopes for the project to see the light of day. Instead, they said it wasn't going to happen, but not exactly.In response to the question regarding Metroid Dread's existence, Pacini said "It's not what you think it means... it was something that was overlooked and wasn't in any way indicating anything about the handheld game. We know no information about the handheld games." Once Totilo grills him more, he further adds "We actually had a fictional element of something else in the game that by a large coincidence could be read that we were giving a hint about "Metroid Dread" which was not the case. It's a complete and utter coincidence."Then, interestingly enough, Pacini comments "That's all I can say on it." This, of course, lends more fuel to your hopeful fire, as it does ours, but considering that Hunters were referenced in the first Metroid Prime title, which then became a handheld game, we're willing to believe.What do you think?
New Metroid Prime 3 screenshots rolled out
With less than three months away from its August 20th release date, Nintendo has started to put some push behind Metroid Prime 3: Corruption with five new screenshots. You won't see any previously unannounced features, and these images follow Nintendo's tradition of grabbing awful stills from games that otherwise look great in motion, but uh... the logo artwork is certainly impressive. Considering that we haven't gotten much media from the FPS-adventure series since last September, this will have to suffice for now. %Gallery-3355%[Via Joystiq]
