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Nintendo scraps 'Metroid Prime 4' development and starts over
Nintendo announced Metroid Prime 4 all the way back at E3 2017, but there's hardly been a peep about the game since. The Japanese giant finally offered an update, but it's one that fans won't be happy to hear.
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?
Taking a stroll through Retro Studios
Oh, how lucky some are.We wish we could be strolling around the halls of Retro Studios, trusty camera in hand to capture all of the wonderful things that happen within its walls. But, no, we have to settle for watching GameSpot's video tour instead.[Via Infendo]
Retro taking time off from Samus
According to an interview with Retro Studios' Mark Pacini, the developer of all three Metroid Prime games, Corruption will have to satisfy you for a while, because there won't be another Prime for a bit. Or, if there is, it won't be a Retro Studios game. According to Pacini, "We are taking a break from the Metroid series and from Samus. I think that there will be other titles created. But as far as Retro Studios is concerned, we'll take a break for a little bit."Does anyone else find it weird to have actual news in a softball mainstream-media interview like this one from Yahoo? Also, does anyone think this will be like all those times Hideo Kojima quit Metal Gear?[Via NeoGAF]
Retro Studios taking a Metroid break
We hope you forgive us for wondering aloud about this exact subject during the podcast going up today, we're going to seem positively out of the loop. Despite our pride, we wanted to tell you that Retro Studios, which just finished up the excellent Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, is taking a break from the series.As the game's director Mark Pacini told Yahoo in this video interview, "We are taking a break from the Metroid series and from Samus, I'm sure there will be other titles created, but, as far as Retro Studios is concerned, we're taking a break for a little bit." Listen Retro, we're sad to hear it, but you just made three games, we understand. In slightly more chuckle-inducing news, can you believe the team didn't know about the Wii control scheme until they were 9 months into development? Oh, what we would have given to be a fly on that wall.
Metroid Dread resurfaces in MP3: Corruption
Unofficially announced in a 2005 issue of Game Informer, Metroid Dread was rumored to be the 2D follow-up to Metroid Fusion for the DS. Despite never actually being confirmed by Nintendo, "insiders" later claimed that the project was canceled, bludgeoning our hopes into a bloody pulp. Two years and two E3s have passed since the grapevine reports, and two titles for the series, Metroid Prime Pinball and Metroid Prime: Hunters, have been released in its stead, without so much as a single Metroid Dread screenshot to corroborate its existence.IGN, who've insisted several times over that the game is in development, noticed a nod to the mythical project in its review copy of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Scanning a particular panel with Samus Aran's visor reveals the following message: "Experiment status report update: Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion." Could Metroid Dread really be on the way, or is this just a friendly prank from Retro Studios? We'll keep photoshopping dreadlocks and rasta hats onto the bounty hunter until we find out!
More Metroid Prime 3 videos, bland commercial
We're not too crazy over this Metroid Prime 3: Corruption commercial, but we suppose it gets the job done. To us, the "Wii would like to play" approach just doesn't fit the game's atmosphere, its loneliness and oppressive environments. Also, when was the last time you played a Metroid title with dozens of people, young and old, behind you and craning their necks to get a better view of your Morph Ball clumsiness. We would hazard a guess at never.Thankfully, the two movies from last night's Corruption preview channel update make up for the flavorless advertisement. In addition to throwing light on Dark Samus's relationship with the Space Pirates, the videos also offer a glimpse of a hectic battle between Samus and a group of enemies in a mine. Head past the post break to watch both clips.
Metroid Prime 3's token feature a small taste of achievements
It's not the system-wide accomplishment tracking that we've grown to love on the Xbox 360 (some more so than others), but according to a GoNintendo tipster, Nintendo fans will get a taste of the sweet life on August 27th when Metroid Prime 3 finally lands on the Wii with bonus content for in-game tokens.So how does it work? The tokens are doled out in four tiers: red, blue, green and gold. Red tokens are gained by scanning enemies and items, blue for scanning lore and completing side quests, green ones you receive from friends and gold is achieved by destroying bosses on various difficulties.According to the tipster, tokens can be traded in for bonus content in-game, but are also used to track progress amongst your friends. Vouchers for those friends can be found and then sent in the form of green tokens as well. We've seen these tokens in recent videos of Metroid Prime 3, but we may have a wait ahead of us to find out exactly how they function.
Month of Metroid kicks off with MP3:C channel, VC releases
Building up hype for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's August 27th release, Nintendo has declared our eighth month as the "Month of Metroid," releasing a downloadable preview channel for the FPS/adventure title. As shown in the video we've embedded above, you can grab the preview from the Wii Shopping Channel's WiiWare section for free. Two streaming videos should be included with the download -- one a lengthy trailer, the other demonstrating gameplay -- as well as two hidden artwork samples. More videos will be made available this August 13th.Also on August 13th, as we predicted, Nintendo plans to bring the original Metroid NES game to the Virtual Console for 500 points. Super Metroid fans can expect to see the SNES classic appear this August 20th, priced at 800 points. Coinciding Wii releases with their complementary retro titles seems like an obvious sales stratagem; we wonder what took Nintendo so long to catch on? Anyhow, we can't wait to see what else Nintendo has planned for this Metroid Month. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Rumor: Metroid goodness coming soon to VC
Using a Firefox browser workaround, intrepid Virtual Console fans can occasionally get a peek into the future of Nintendo's retro gaming plans (and the dripping irony is not lost on us). Aiming their black-hatted crystal ball at Nintendo's U.S. VC servers, their recent exploits have today turned up images of the start screens for both the original Metroid (already available in Europe) as well as Super Metroid. Could Nintendo be priming these titles to coincide with its release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption later this month? Don't you know it! [Via GoNintendo]
Wii Warm Up: On Metroid
Yesterday, we discussed what other games you might be interested in, but today we thought we'd get back to one of the heavy hitters -- specifically, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. We know a lot of people are disappointed with some of the development decisions (like no online multiplayer), while others are excited for this game like no other. Where do you fall in the spectrum? Do you think this is a purchase for you, or perhaps a rental ... or might you skip it altogether?
Metroid Prime 3 quietly delayed a week, try to remain calm
And they thought nobody would notice! Buried at the bottom of the press release trumpeting The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' October 1 release date is the following: "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the third installment of the hit trilogy, launches with motion-sensitive controls exclusively on Wii on Aug. 27."Those of you with August 20th marked on your Exotic Wildlife of Zebes calendars aren't imagining that release date, Nintendo announced it (along with the release dates for a bunch of other titles) back in May. What has this lesson taught us? First and foremost, don't use indelible marker on your calendars, you should really know better by now. Second, just in case this is a simple typo we've contacted Nintendo for confirmation of the new release date. [Update: and they've confirmed the new release date.]... stay strong.[Thanks, vidGuy]
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]
