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These DSiWare games can't be transferred to 3DS
When Nintendo announced the ability to transfer DSiWare to the 3DS, and the addition of DSiWare software to the 3DS eShop, it qualified the list. Most DSiWare. "A few exceptions," Nintendo's Charlie Scibetta told Joystiq. Nintendo has now posted a list of the DSiWare games and apps that won't be available for transfer to a 3DS -- and, though it isn't explicitly said, we expect these games won't be available from the 3DS eShop as well. The list includes the DSiWare Art Academy apps, all the Domo games, some sudoku stuff, and ... aw, Flipnote Studio. No reasons are provided for these omissions, though in the case of the Nintendo DSi Browser, it seems obvious. The Domo character rights could be limited by platform, we suppose. [Thanks, Julian]
Nintendo 3DS eShop to launch on June 6 with internet browser and free Excite Bike
Why wait until June 7th when you can instead get your update on June 6th? That's the question Nintendo has answered this morning, telling us that the coveted eShop update for the 3DS will come a day earlier than previously anticipated. This will finally give gamers the ability to download some titles straight to their system, but more importantly will give everyone a free copy of Excitebike, the NES classic, naturally re-mastered so that the 2-D side-scrolling racer will have a little bit of depth. Super Mario Land and a few other downloadable titles will come along help launch the show, with Nintendo pledging to add new content every Thursday thereafter. But wait, there's more! Pokemon fans will be able to use their AR card to check out those they've already caught in 3D, and if you've purchased any DSiWare games you'll be able to download those to your 3DS. Last, but certainly not least, will be a full internet browser that you can spin up without exiting a game, which might make keeping tabs on that Ocarina of Time walkthrough a little easier. It has, after all, been a long time since last we vanquished Ganondorf and his Gerudo chums. Again, all this is set to go live in the evening of June 6th (which could still be June 7th where you are), so now might be a good time to invest in that bigger SD card you've had your eye on.
Fallout Online's future in doubt as Interplay crumbles
Fallout Online and several other Interplay-developed titles may be in serious jeopardy, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission report filed by Interplay last week. Develop discovered the filing, which spells out dire financial concerns for the immediate future of the company. Multiple times, the report states: "If we do not receive sufficient financing or income we may (i) liquidate assets, (ii) sell the company (iii) seek protection from our creditors including the filing of voluntary bankruptcy or being the subject of involuntary bankruptcy, and/or (iv) continue operations, but incur material harm to our business, operations or financial conditions. These conditions, combined with our historical operating losses and our deficits in stockholders' equity and working capital, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern." Similarly worrying, the company's current cash balance is approximately $3,000 (yes, that's just three thousand dollars, seriously), and it's operating with nearly $2.9 million in debt. The filing also illuminates the company's shift from paying its developers upfront for projects to working on a "net revenue sharing model," where devs get a cut of the final sales rather than paid when their work is complete. While that model sounds hugely profitable for third-party devs, and has been sporadically successful in the movie business, it seems to signal something less than wonderful in Interplay's case. Additionally, the company's credit agreement has ended, which Interplay says "has resulted in a substantial reduction in the cash available to finance our operations." Rather than assure investors that everything will work out, the company again warns of potential negative outcomes, saying instead, "There can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into a new credit agreement or that if we do enter into a new credit agreement, it will be on terms favorable to us." Currently, Interplay has five known projects, ranging from a lawsuit-entangled Fallout MMO to a sparsely detailed Earthworm Jim sequel. Several WiiWare and DSiWare projects are also in the works, though the fate of all five games could be grim given the wording of the company's SEC filing.
NintendoWare Weekly: Super Adventure Island, House, Valet Parking 1989
How timely! One day before Takahashi Meijin leaves his post as Hudson Soft's resident PR expert/hero/mascot, Nintendo has released a Virtual Console game starring Takahashi (or, as he's called here, "Master Higgins"), namely Super Adventure Island. On DSiWare, we get to experience one of the most delightfully random release days since the service started. There's a game about parking cars with an early GTA-style top-down view, an A-Team pastiche, and an episodic House, M.D. adventure game. Examine the full list of releases after the break.%Gallery-124786%
NintendoWare Weekly: Puzzle Quest, Overflow
We certainly didn't expect Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords to be released on DS this week, mostly because it was released on DS in 2007. But new publisher 1st Playable Productions has surprised us all with a DSiWare version. If you missed out on it then, you can get it now without undertaking a heroic journey to the store. In addition to subverting our expectations with a "new" game from four years ago, DSiWare also hosts a shmup about conserving ammo. Meanwhile, WiiWare features a game about ... pouring liquids. But, like, with puzzles and stuff.
USK rates Hole in the Wall for Kinect, Cut the Rope for DSiWare
A few hacks have hinted at it, a few minigames in collections like Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do have touched on it -- now it seems Microsoft is fully cashing in on the very reason for the Kinect's existence: Hole in the Wall. The game, in which players contort their body in an attempt to fit through the titular cavity, was recently rated by the German USK ratings board. No details about the title were included in the rating, other than the fact Microsoft will handle publishing duties. Another, equally exciting new entry on the USK ratings site is a DSiWare listing for Chillingo's infinitely addicting puzzle game, Cut the Rope. Again, there are few details, but a tease posted on the Facebook page of indie developer Abstraction Games (which brought Angry Birds to PSP earlier this year) seems to indicate they'll be in charge of porting the title. We'll let you know when we hear more about these two projects!
NintendoWare Weekly: Chrono Trigger, Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove
It's an oldie, but a goodie -- actually, you know what? It's a bestie. Square Enix's beloved SNES RPG Chrono Trigger arrives on the Wii Virtual Console for 800 Points, giving us yet another platform upon which to totally hang with Robo, Frog, Lucca, the prehistoric one, the princess, and that one wizard guy. Oh, Chrono Trigger. It has obviously been far too long. Other games added today include Big Bass Arcade on DSiWare, in which bass -- preferably big bass -- are pulled from bodies of water using sticks and twine, and Natsume's gothic rhythm title, Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove: Monster Mix for WiiWare. Check out the full list of new releases below!
NintendoWare Weekly: MDK2, Mighty Milky Way
A classic game is newly downloadable on Wii today, but it's not a Virtual Console title. IdeaSpark Labs' remake of BioWare's PC/Dreamcast/PS2 action adventure title MDK2 is up on WiiWare, allowing you to see that cool ribbon parachute thing again. DSiWare has WayForward's Mighty Milky Way, an action puzzle game that depends on the creation of a path of tiny planets for the character Luna. There's also the gothic-esque timed platformer Tower of Deus and Whack-a-Friend. The latter makes sense as soon as you learn that the DSi camera is involved.
WayForward's Mighty Milky Way orbits DSiWare tomorrow
Having found major critical success last year with the DSiWare release Shantae: Risky's Revenge, developer WayForward is returning to the download service tomorrow with Mighty Milky Way. As "Luna," you have a magical power to create and destroy planets, and then hop between them, making a celestial path for yourself as you escape from ... a "laser-eyed T-Rex." In 40 stages, you'll use the gravitational fields of the planets to carry yourself around, collect "planet candy" and avoid obstacles and space dinosaurs. Mighty Milky Way will cost 800 DSi Points.%Gallery-123063%
NintendoWare Weekly: Bit. Trip Runner demo, Rival Turf!
Gaijin Games has made it simple for you to try out its super-hard platformer Bit.Trip Runner, releasing a demo on the Wii Shop today -- just as it has for most of the Bit.Trip games. You should absolutely try this one, unless you get frustrated easily. Also on Wii today: Rival Turf!, a game that isn't actually very good, but has a distinctive box art that ... also isn't very good.
Antipole coming to DSiWare, PC version in the works
Saturnine Games has announced that its gravity-defying platformer Antipole is headed to DSiWare later this year. We recently spotlighted Antipole in our Xbox Live Indie Gems feature, making note of its difficulty and well-executed mechanics. The DSiWare version is expected to arrive in the first half of 2011 which, if you haven't noticed, is almost over. Those who have already purchased Saturnine's first DSiWare title, Cosmos X2, will also have access to a special bonus mode in Antipole. Saturnine's Edward Di Geronimo Jr. is also working to bring Antipole to PC, though he has yet to pin down a release date. Check out screens of the DSiWare version in the gallery below.%Gallery-122548%
NintendoWare Weekly: Inchworm Animation, Airport Mania
Today's DSiWare and WiiWare lineup definitely looks like the work of a company that isn't paying the strictest attention to its current generation of consoles. As Nintendo turns its eye toward the future, the downloadable Wii and DS lineup is looking pretty sparse. The good news is that Flat Black Films was finally able to sneak its remarkable-looking animation app, Inchworm Animation, into the DSi Shop. That DSi in your hand just magically became an animation studio. Or it will, later, if you buy the program.%Gallery-122193%
NintendoWare Weekly: Mega Man X
We didn't have to wait long for Mega Man X on Virtual Console. It was announced for Japan just last month, and it's on the Virtual Console in North America today! Of course, if you count all the time since the original 1993 release, including the years since the Wii first came out, it's a longer wait. WiiWare offers a Bit.Trip Core demo today, and on the total opposite end of the "crazy hardcore" spectrum, My Little Baby. DSiWare has a very cute submarine game, a piano teaching tool, and the third DodoGo puzzle game.%Gallery-121503%
NintendoWare Weekly: Play with Birds, Escape Trick
Today, you have the choice between carefree flight and life-or-death escape. On WiiWare, a minigame collection called Play with Birds lets you ... play with birds. Meanwhile, on DSiWare, you can attempt to find a way out of the mysterious prison into which you've been thrown unjustly. For a different kind of high stakes, DSiWare's Art of Ink lets you simulate tattooing your customers. You'd better do it right, because there's no DSiWare laser tattoo removal game yet.%Gallery-120842%%Gallery-120841%
DSiWare animation program 'Inchworm' races toward April 25 release
Remember Inchworm? Chances are, unless you've been employed as a DS blogger for the last three years, you don't. Inchworm Animation is a DS animation program by Bob Sabiston's Flat Black Films, the company responsible for the rotoscoped animation in Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. It was shown off at GDC in 2008, and then it disappeared for a while, before being announced as a DSiWare application last year. And now, finally, the drawing and animation app has a real release date. "Great news!," the developer announced on the website. "Inchworm Animation has been approved! It will be released as DSiWare for 500 Nintendo points on April 25, 2011." To see what kind of art you can make with that five-dollar outlay (if you are also a professional animator) check out the gallery, and watch a new trailer after the break.
NintendoWare Weekly: Super Bonk, From the Abyss
The future of Bonk: Brink of Extinction may be uncertain, but that doesn't mean you can't download a new (to Wii) Bonk game today! If you prefer your adventuring to be more technologically advanced, there's also a game about using an underwater vehicle to capture fish. DSiWare features baseball management today, along with fantasy-themed puzzling and Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From the Abyss -, a DSiWare spin-off of an obscure DS dungeon game.%Gallery-120348%
NintendoWare Weekly: Demos, Faceez: Monsters
With the 3DS now out in stores -- and unable to support DSiWare until May -- we expected Nintendo's download service to become a total ghost town today. It's definitely a slower day for the service than most Mondays, with just two new games (one of which is Faceez: Monsters, allowing us to relive the joy of finding out something was called Faceez), but releases are still happening. What we didn't expect was for WiiWare to go quiet(er). There have been occasional no-release days in the past, but today marks the first time in the history of the service that only demos have come out.%Gallery-119849%
NintendoWare Weekly: Natsume Championship Wrestling
We suspect the Wii and DSi Shops are going to go even darker than usual next week, with all of Nintendo's attention turned toward the 3DS. This is likely to be the last normal-ish release week until the late-May eShop update (prove us wrong, Nintendo!) Today's update features a fairly obscure SNES wrestling game, which lacks a real wrestling license but does include four-player functionality. In addition, there's a demo for Dive: The Medes Islands Secret. DSiWare features another budget G.G. Series game, this time a shooter featuring tanks, and a port of PC puzzler Shapo. We haven't played the game, so we can't comment on the actual quality, but "Shapo" is way fun to say in whatever manner you choose to pronounce it.
NintendoWare Weekly: Plants vs. Zombies, Liight
We'll issue the standard "PopCap Warning" here: One of the developer's severely addictive casual games is spreading to a new platform today, raising the threat level to your productivity to red. If you have your DSi nearby and have a bunch to do, be warned that Plants vs. Zombies is now available on DSiWare. On WiiWare today, Studio Walljump releases Liight, the puzzler it first announced in 2008. In Liight, you position colored lights and manipulate shadows to ensure that the correct color of light is shining on multiple targets. Find the rest of this week's downloadable Nintendo releases after the break.%Gallery-119025%
NintendoWare Weekly: Heavy Fire: Black Arms, Bomberman Hero
Plenty of firepower on the Wii this week, with Teyon's war-themed light gun sequel Heavy Fire: Black Arms and the Nintendo 64's Bomberman Hero. Since last month's closure of Hudson Entertainment, the publisher has been responsible for every Virtual Console release (well, both of them). DSiWare brings representation from two budget series, with the addictive-looking GG Series Horizontal Bar, and Go Series Earth Saver, which reimagines the plot of Armageddon as a Dig Dug 2 style game.%Gallery-118512%
