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Nintendo sponsoring Apex 2015 tournament series
Nintendo will sponsor Apex 2015, a competitive gaming series that will include tournaments for every Super Smash Bros. title released on home consoles as well as games like Ultra Street Fighter 4, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Pokemon Omega Ruby & Pokemon Alpha Sapphire. Apex shared the news on Twitter, noting that Nintendo would help the series put on an "incredible" Smash Bros. event. Apex 2015's tournaments will run from January 30 – February 1, 2015 at the Clarion Hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey. If you're unable to attend, you can still check the event schedule and tune into one of the Twitch channels that will be covering the event. Nintendo's sponsorship is a welcome gesture of embracing the competitive fighting scene, especially when considering its alleged attempts to shut down the Smash Bros. Melee division of EVO 2013. Nintendo did eventually give the go-ahead to feature Melee in the tournament as well as EVO 2013's streaming schedule, but it's nice to see the developer stepping up its support for third-party tournaments from the get-go. [Image: Apex]
Smash Bros. director says Wii U version will be familiar and focused
Masahiro Sakurai, who is overseeing the upcoming Namco-created iteration of Smash Bros. on the Wii U and 3DS, says the goal for the game will be to keep things focused and fresh, rather than blowing out either the mechanics or the character list.Sakurai told IGN that because the franchise is so popular lately, he believes the core gameplay is on target, and thus won't change much in the next installment. "The game system itself is complete," says Sakurai, "so we don't want to make it 3D or introduce complicated controls just for the sake of it." The Wii U's new controller will be used, but outside of that, it sounds like things will stay familiar for fans.That will be true for characters as well. While Sakurai thinks "Snake and Sonic joining were fantastic," he's leery of going too far outside the Nintendo staple, for fear of losing "the focus of the game." Will there be anything new at all? Sakurai says only that he and his team are thinking of "ways we can introduce a slightly different, fun experience all the while keeping the usual frantic game play."
Pikmin 2, Mario Power Tennis on US Wii June 10, DKC Returns and Brawl discounted
Despite never having been released for Wii in North America, the Wii's "New Play Control" version of Pikmin 2 will be released as part of the "Nintendo Selects" line June 10, alongside fellow GameCube port Mario Power Tennis. Rather than question the logistics of a budget re-release of a game that was never released in the first place, we'll celebrate the $19.99 price point under which it's coming out.Also joining the Nintendo Selects line are two bona fide Wii games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the excellent Donkey Kong Country Returns, at $30 each. It's about (two years past) time for Brawl to be made cheaper, though it's unusual that these two games will sell for $10 above the normal Nintendo Selects price.%Gallery-155336%
Thank Kojima's son for getting Snake into Smash Bros. Brawl
Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and Sora Ltd. head Masahiro Sakurai are friends. So when Hideo Kojima wanted one of his most famous characters, Solid Snake, put into Sakurai's fighting series, Super Smash Bros., all the two had to do was talk. "When I was developing Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube, Hideo Kojima contacted me and practically begged me to put him in there, but at that time we were deep in dev and it was too late," Sakurai told Kotaku back in 2006. Snake didn't end up in Melee, but did appear in the Wii's iteration of Super Smash Bros.: Brawl.So what drove Kojima to "practically beg" Sakurai to get Snake in the game? "My child likes Super Smash Bros., so we play it a lot together. And he told me that there's no character that you made in that game," Hideo Kojima told a group of interviewers late last week ahead of the Smithsonian's "The Art of Videogames" exhibit. Aside from his son's pleading, Kojima pointed to Metal Gear's low profile on Nintendo consoles as a second reason."As you know, we did make Twin Snakes, but generally speaking, there hasn't been a lot of Metal Gear on Nintendo platforms. So from that perspective, I thought it was a good way to expose younger people to this character, Snake," he said. It must be working, as Snake is one of Brawl's most popular characters.
Bastion narrator takes a hilarious journey through other games
What happens when Bastion's ever-present contextual narrator lands in some of gaming's most famous titles? Pure hilarity, as seen in the Dorkly-crafted video above.
Hackers add Waluigi to Super Smash Bros. Brawl
We'll be honest: we're equal parts impressed and creeped out by the video above, which depicts a hacked version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with an additional character, Waluigi. We're impressed because, hey, dude's totally not in that game -- remember, it's a hack -- and we're also impressed with the whole execution of it. These guys really love themselves some Brawl! As for the whole being creeped out thing, isn't it obvious? Just look at him! Waluigi is the creepiest.
Kirby Wii preview: King Dedede, you, and me
It's hard to speak about Kirby Wii without a tinge of regret, and harder still to do so after seeing this video of a very similar, cancelled Kirby title for the GameCube. The game was never quite "cancelled" per se, but it was put on hold for quite some time while its developer, HAL Laboratory, pursued other projects -- Picross 3D and Face Raiders, among others. Among a mess of other logos flashed at the end of Nintendo's E3 2011 presser, Kirby Wii prominently stood out, reminding us that the game still exists. And when I spotted the game in Nintendo's press area available at a hands-on kiosk, I jumped at the chance to finally play the six year old game. What I found was a New Super Mario Bros. Wii meets single-player Smash Bros. Brawl mashup, with a hefty dollop of pink fluffy Kirby covering everything. Something not quite as "hardcore" looking as the GC game, but not far off.%Gallery-125891%
Rumor: 'Wii Select' budget line launching this month
After only four and a half years, it looks like Nintendo is finally ready to introduce a line of budget titles in North America. Kotaku reports that the "Wii Select" line will launch alongside the newly discounted Wii, which is rumored to drop to $150 two weeks from now. The first titles reported to be part of the $20 lineup include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Super Sluggers and Wii Sports. Yes, Wii Sports is supposedly being removed from its position as the longstanding pack-in for Wii console bundles. Taking the bundle's place will be a Mario Kart Wii bundle, which will be sold at the rumored $150 price point.
Sakurai describes 'grueling development' of Smash Bros. Melee
If you own a GameCube, odds are you probably have a copy of Smash Bros. Melee, arguably the platform's greatest game. It sold like it was, anyway -- over seven million copies were moved worldwide. Those sales were the fruit of what Sakurai says was a "grueling development cycle," very different from how he crafted the follow-up, Smash Bros. Brawl. Honestly, he's kinda underselling it. "I worked on that game for 13 months straight, after all, without a single Sunday or holiday off that whole time," Sakurai recalls in a Famitsu interview translated by 1UP. "During parts of it, I was living a really destructive lifestyle -- I'd work for over 40 hours in a row, then go back home to sleep for four," he added. Putting himself through the grinder like this stemmed from concerns about spearheading the massive undertaking, which Sakurai called the biggest project he'd ever worked on. Today, he looks back on it as "the sharpest game in the series," adding that it's "speedy all around and asks a lot of your coordination skills." To him, "it just felt really good to play" and was the most hardcore entry to date. As for his latest, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it was more an attempt to find some middle-ground and present a more accessible game -- and to finally help us solve one of gaming's greatest debates, of course.
Unofficial Smash Bros. Brawl rebalancing update released
The "Balanced Brawl" project, first announced in 2009, aimed to fix Super Smash Bros. Brawl by removing overpowered combos and exploitable moves and by altering individual characters to improve the competitive balance. It was an impressive project then, and it's been made even more impressive by the fact that you can make use of it in your own copy of the game right now -- without having to install the Homebrew Channel or permanently hack your Wii. The development team has implemented a clever mechanism that loads the Balanced Brawl files from an SD card. You just have to download the files to a card (and remove all your saved custom Brawl stages), pop it in the system and launch the Stage Builder mode -- the loader will automatically take over from there. If you're interested in having a Balanced Brawl party, we suggest throwing one soon, before Nintendo releases a firmware update to block the unlicensed balancing act. [Thanks, Kyle]
Master Chief crash lands onto Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The modders at Kitty Corp: Meow Mix, the group behind the remarkably awesome Cloud Strife appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, have worked their inexplicable magic once more, bringing a decidedly non-Nintendo character into the frantic fighting game. This time around, it's the Halo universe's quintessential badass, Master Chief -- or rather, a re-skinned version of Captain Falcon, who is fully decked out in Master Chief's armor. (We really hope he asked permission before trying it on.) You can check out a video of Master Chief's moves in a playful sparring match against Cloud just past the jump. Enjoy that video, because it might be the closest to a 3D version of Mushroom Kingdom Fusion that we'll ever get. [Thanks, Ike!]
Cloud Strife hacked (and slashed) into Smash Bros. Brawl
Up until today, our biggest problem with Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been that it doesn't have enough introspective, spiky-haired RPG protagonists. That's all changed, thanks to a group of modders known as DasDonkey Team and Kitty Corp: Meow Mix. Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud Strife -- along with his trusty Buster sword -- has been faithfully recreated in surprising detail here in Nintendo's franchise fight-em-up with custom animations and attacks. We won't pretend to understand the motivation behind the implementation (with these mods, we so seldom do), but hey, we're not complaining. The more, the merrier! Head past the break to check out some video of Cloud in action. [Via GameVideos]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl surpasses 100 million hours played
Wow, guys, you really like your Super Smash Bros. Brawl, eh? Nintendo Channel data reveals the fighter has spun around in Wii disc drives for a collective 100 million hours and then some. On average, each gamer has put just over 73 total hours in. To put some perspective on the figure, some of Nintendo's most notable titles haven't even come close to approaching 100 million hours played. Mario Kart Wii has only been played for 46 million hours, while Super Mario Galaxy has managed a mere 34 million hours in total. Wii Sports, however, remains the obvious top game played, netting a total play time of 105 million hours. [Via Coffee with Games & Go Nintendo]
Hackers add Roy to Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Smashboards forum user goodoldganon wasn't satisfied with all of the characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His main contention with the game was that it lacked several key Melee characters. So, he did what any sensible member of society would do: He wrote a letter to Nintendo He hacked the crap out of the game.As evidenced in the videos past the break, this isn't merely a texture swap, as goodoldganon also incorporated Roy's moves into the game. By delegating the hack to a certain color set of Marth's (here it's the red suit), he can pick Roy at will and seamlessly integrate him into the game. Sure, the bottom of the screen still says Marth, but, for all intents and purposes, this is the Roy you remember.It's impressive stuff, to say the least, so head past the break and check out the footage of a fighter's return to the arena.%Gallery-26316%[Thanks, Slashy!]
Pachter calls March Wii console sales 'somewhat disconcerting'
Michael Pachter, analyst for Wedbush Morgan, isn't freaking out, and he wants you to know that you shouldn't be either. He notes, while speaking on the subject of March NPD numbers, that even though the month saw hardware sales numbers drop across the board, that really has more to do with extraordinary sales for all comparable months. Speaking with GameSpot, Pachter said, "It's entirely possible that we were just up against an impossible comparison ... we're looking at a comparison to Grand Theft Auto IV in April, so it's likely that April will be down as well," referring to the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl in March of 2008 and the subsequent month's GTAIV. What he does find worrisome, however, is declining Wii software sales after a year of strong console sales, reportedly doubling the system's installed-base. "Given that the installed base of Wii consoles has doubled in the past year, we find it remarkable (and somewhat disconcerting) that Wii software sales were actually down year-over-year in March, dropping by $72 million, or 26 percent." Pachter doesn't see the future as grim though, pointing out that this summer's release of Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort should put some wind back in Nintendo's sales sails. We'll just have to wait 'til August NPDs are released to find out!Source 1 - GameDailySource 2 - GameSpot
February's Wii software usage: Smash Bros. still on top, Animal Crossing sees boost
MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo recently posted a breakdown of the amount of playtime users logged during the month of February for various Wii titles using statistics that are readily available on the Nintendo Channel. Most of the results are unsurprising -- the top three spots are currently occupied by Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Guitar Hero III and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, respectively. Those three titles have remained in said spots since September of last year.However, a number of games saw massive usage boosts over the past month -- most notably, the average user's monthly playtime with Animal Crossing: City Folk increased nearly seven hours, bringing the game to a fifth-place finish for February. Similarly, Call of Duty: World at War's average playtime increased over five hours, bringing it up to 13th place. Sadly, Ninjabread Man didn't place at all -- but that won't stop us from holding out hope for a strong March showing.
GameFly members award Fallout 3 with GOTY
GameFly's sixth annual Q Awards have bestowed Fallout 3 with "Game of the Year" and "Xbox 360 Game of the Year" honors. The winners were selected by tallying over 100,000 votes by the rental service's subscribers. The winners across platforms: PS3 game of the year - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS2 game of the year - Kingdom Hearts: Re-Chain of Memories PSP game of the year - God of War: Chains of Olympus Xbox 360 game of the year - Fallout 3 Wii game of the year - Super Smash Bros. Brawl DS game of the year - Final Fantasy IV To see the runners-up in each category, check out the Q Awards page at GameFly. Looking at the list (and taking into account GameFly's demographic), is anyone surprised?
Report: Wii games dominate top 5 US sellers in '08 (so far)
Still obsessing over sales statistics, Gamasutra has crafted a report on 2008's five top-selling games in the US -- so far. Though some figures are approximated, there's assurance that "the maximum possible error in each figure should not affect the rankings." All consoles considered, the rankings are as follows: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (3.5 million, estimated) Mario Kart (3.4 million) Grand Theft Auto IV (3.2 million, estimated) Wii Play (3 million) Wii Fit (2.8 million) Be sure to check out the report for further details, several of which are likely to fuel the fanboy fires for, oh, the next fifteen minutes at least. We look forward to entertaining your "Wii games don't sell," "GTA IV is overrated" and "Wii Play is just a controller in disguise" arguments. We do not, however, want anything to do with your "Why isn't Golden Axe: Beast Rider on there?" madness.
Top 5: Multiplayer Experiences
As someone who writes on the Internets, I do a lot of reading as well. As just about any successful author will advise, if I want to be a better writer then I should be reading as much as possible. Thus, I tend to spend a good amount of time scouring the gaming websites and reading commentary from just about anyone. I wouldn't insult anyone by pointing out flaws in their work (as I'm host to many of my own), but it is sufficient to say that there is great diversity in the quality and other general attributes of gaming commentary. One source that I do consistently enjoy comes from GoNintendo's head honcho, known as RawmeatCowboy. Equal parts Nintendo fan and beard enthusiast, RMC has a passion for gaming unmatched by nearly anyone else in the entire industry. Whereas some journalists and commentators may give off an impression of jaded cynicism, this particular blogger is a bundle of video game-loving joy. Though he's not quite the wordsmith of a Jerry Holkins, his joy and optimism transcend any potential criticism. And after all, that should be the reason we play video games: for happiness. Stepping away from worshipping his shrine, I'll get back on target. In a recent post, RMC discusses offline multiplayer via a get-together involving several friends of his trying out Guitar Hero: World Tour. He states that multiplayer is more enjoyable in person than online, and I find it difficult to disagree. That is not to say that online multiplayer is garbage; quite the opposite is true. Aside from the obvious pragmatics of not always being able to round up a few friends to play a game you enjoy, there's the global aspect behind online gaming. Though I've been battling people online via chess years before any major console had such capabilities, the enormous power of the technology didn't register with me until very recently. As I was connecting to an online race in Mario Kart Wii, the identification of racers on the globe really hit home. Realizing that I was simultaneously connecting with individuals from Japan, China, Germany, and England was strangely beautiful. Despite the fascinating global implications of such connections, I remain a bit of a luddite in that I don't think there's anything better than having your friends in the same room with you while fighting with or against each other. Here's the Top 5 ways we recommend that you enjoy such opportunities. 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.
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.
