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Disney forms Nintendo games studio
Disney is forming a new studio based in Salt Lake City called Fall Line (???) to make games exclusively for Nintendo featuring Disney characters. The new studio marks the fourth that Disney has bought or started up on their own in the past two years at a tune of more than $200 million dollars.While Nintendo puts the emphasis on fun in their games instead of next-gen processing power, Disney could be a great fit with them. Both Nintendo and Disney skew heavily towards younger audiences, and those aren't the kind of gamers who'll be concerned with how many polygons it takes to render Goofy's hat into a photorealistic prop. They have sequels in the immediate future: another Chicken Little game comes out around Wii-launch, and you can probably expect another Cars video game.It'll be interesting to see what Fall Line can produce on their own. Maybe they'll port Kingdom Hearts to the Wii. That would be worth a wait.[Thanks, Bored]
Handheld history reveals PSP's slim figure [Update 1]
Joystiq, the attention-craving parent site to PSP Fanboy, recently compared the sizes of history's greatest handhelds. When looking at the handhelds in size order, one can see that the PSP sits smack in the middle. Game Boy micro: 5.6 cubic inches Game Boy Advance SP: 9.81 cubic inches DS Lite: 12.96 cubic inches Wonderswan: 13.33 cubic inches Wonderswan Color: 14.1 cubic inches Wonderswan Crystals: 14.68 cubic inches Neo Geo Pocket Color: 17.35 cubic inches Sony PSP: 17.52 cubic inches Game Boy Advance: 17.64 cubic inches GP2X: 19.61 cubic inches DS Phat: 22.01 cubic inches Game Boy: 26.39 cubic inches Gamepark 32: 26.83 cubic inches Sega Nomad: 49.36 cubic inches Game Gear: 50.86 cubic inches Atari Lynx: 68.53 cubic inches We should be thankful that the PSP is no monstrosity like the Game Gear... Then again, I did love my Game Gear (pictured).[Thanks, Zebulunite!][Update 1: Whoa, how did that HTML glitch happen? It totally wasn't like that when I typed it. Anyways, fixed.]
Wario Ware Twisted finally goes to Europe
Yes, that's right ... the GBA's Wario Ware Twisted, relesed in 2004 in Japan and 2005 in the US, is finally making its way (officially) to Europe. Is there anyone who wants this two year old game yet that hasn't already imported it? And likely for less than the price it's sure to have when it streets. The real story on the game's rather delayed EU release is somewhat mysterious. Everyone seems to have a different reason for the delay -- manufacturing issues, lack of interest in the European market, legal restrictions. Can you add to the pile of conspiracy theories? Tell us what you've heard.Wario Ware Twisted is set to finally hit Europe in December.
Creator of GBA emulator speaks out
Many of you seem very interested in homebrew lately. With the release of a super-easy way to downgrade firmware, it seems like many of you are ready to experiment with homebrew. While I prefer to support original endeavors, it's pretty obvious that the greatest lure for homebrew is piracy emulation. Exophase is a relatively new coder to the PSP homebrew scene, but he's already come out with a full speed Game Boy Advance emulator for the system. In an interview with DCEmu, he reveales some interesting info about his work.DCEmu: The release of this emulator has been compared to the shock of Ultrahle and Bleem, emulators that werent thought possible until they were released, are you proud that your the first to get a decentplayable GBA Emulator out there ? Exophase: Heh, well, I'm just glad that at least some people can play some games well. I know it was nice being able to play Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for a while when I had nothing else to do.You can check out the rest of the interview at DCEmu.See also:More interviews with more homebrewersCommodore64 emulator for PSPWonderswan emulator for PSP
Top 50 handheld games of the century
Next Gen has painstakingly gone through NPD sales data to give you the best selling handheld games of all time (in the US). They went through the number of units sold, and two PSP games made their way to this elite list of heavy-hitting games. Sure, the rest of the list is dominated by DS and Game Boy games, but Sony has done what the Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, n-Gage, etc. have failed to do: make a portable that can survive against the Nintendo goliath. The two games that represented the PSP should come as no surprise: 48. Madden NFL 06(est. sales of 590,000) 16. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories(est. sales of 980,000) Make sure you read through Next Gen's report to see the entire list.[Via DS Fanboy]
Portable Gamecube rumor returns briefly
For several minutes, in fact. Earlier today, IGN's Matt Casamassina posted an article that served to round up several wily Wii rumors, including the usual price ($229) and launch date (2 Nov. or 12 Nov.) suspects. More interesting, however, was the indication given by mysterious sources that IBM was in the process of shrinking and slowing down the Wii's Broadway chip for a "future Nintendo handheld -- presumably one that plays Gamecube discs."Before the rumor managed to fully set in and plunge the masses into unyielding seizures of delight, the article was promptly pulled from the site and replaced by a decidedly unhelpful update. "At the request of our sources, who do not wish to go to jail this week, we have temporarily removed the Wii rumors piece that was posted earlier." Apparently, the oppressive and joyless Nintendo police were none too pleased with people blabbering about portable Gamecubes to IGN. When the article reappeared, all mention of it had been removed, spirited away to some great rumor recycle bin (send our love to the holographic projector).Perhaps that's all there is to this story -- there is no portable Gamecube and the article's editing serves no purpose other than to make it more accurate. Of course, when an article is admittedly based entirely on whispered secrets and industry murmurings, why yank it just to edit out one rumor in particular? Or could it be another high-larious prank devised by Matt's IGN pals? Time will tell, though we'd rather it be an impatient and stocky time attending the Leipzig Games Convention.[Thanks Master X 24 & Ryoma!]
Weta's giant, imposing love letter to Nintendo
Weta Workshop's "Tripod" -- launched in November '05 to promote the film industry in New Zealand -- is a 6.5m (about 21') tall, 5 ton bronze and steel statue that "appear to be made from railway sleepers for legs, excavator arms and hydraulic pistons, videogame console parts and toasted sandwich makers." Video game console parts, eh? Like what? A poster at the NZGamer forums took some close-ups of an N64 controller (pictured) and a Game Boy (after the break) built into the legs. It's only a matter of time before this thing takes on religious significance for the Nintendo faithful; jaded gamers will go on pilgrimages to Wellington to experience the healing effects of the Tripod. [Via El Jaso]
The next Game Boy should be... a PSP
You won't see too much Nintendo reporting on PSP Fanboy. However, this roundtable editorial on Nintendojo was just too good to pass up. Nintendo has stated that the Nintendo DS was a third pillar, to supplement the Gamecube Wii and the Game Boy Advance. So, what if Nintendo actually made a single-screen follow-up to the Game Boy, to debut at next year's E3? Here's what the some of the editors at Nintendojo wanted from the hypothetical next Game Boy: "The next handheld would be as powerful as the GameCube." "Add some basic multimedia features in the mix." "Optical discs (moreover discs the size of GameCube discs)" "Downloadable retro games." "A single, vivid widescreen display." "A 1 GB memory stick that acts as a 'hard drive'" "An analog 'disc' or 'nub' control." Does any of this sound familiar? There's lots of other suggestions brought up by the Nintendojo crew, but I think it's pretty obvious that many of them would love the PSP.
Totally 1337 Game Boy loot
For those who are so filthy stinking rich that they just can't give their money away fast enough, Swiss Supply Direct has created the ultimate in wastefulness -- the $25,000 Game Boy. That's right folks, a Game Boy for $25,000. As the company says, this thing is the "ultimate in cool." This is what your $25K will buy you: Pave diamond set on display screen Diamonds set on/off buttons Exceptionally heavy -- Solid 18K yellow gold Original cables and extra game cartridges Original blue leather display briefcase All in all, this thing weighs 27 ounces and surely it's worth every penny. C'mon, who wouldn't want to sit around and play an outdated gaming system encrusted in diamonds and gold?[via Born Rich]
Japanese hardware sales, 12 June - 18 June: Phat's back
Quite possibly the only sane thing we've received from Japan this week, the Japanese hardware sales charts show it like it is -- no silly comparisons, half-truths or fuzzy mathematics in sight. The ranking, according to number of units sold:- DS Lite: 141,487 9,460 (7.17%)- PSP: 24,653 2,997 (13.84%)- DS Phat: 22,748 21,377 (1559.23%)- PS2: 20,737 1,756 (9.25%)- GBA SP: 4,642 526 (12.78%)- Xbox 360: 1,407 307 (27.91%)- Game Boy Micro: 1,294 360 (21.77%)- Gamecube: 1,002 41 (4.27%)- GBA: 20 10 (33.33%)- Xbox: 15 5 (25.00%)Aside from the soothing abundance of green, the most noticeable aspect of this week's chart is undoubtedly the DS Phat's performance, indicating either a surge in its popularity or a surge in desperation amongst those who couldn't track down a DS Lite. Perhaps it's time to import a black one from Europe?[Source: Media Create]
WarioWare guys make Rhythm Tengoku, Japan only?
Who said there's no Game Boy Advance games coming out this summer? Oh right, we did. Via Neo-GAF comes word of Rhythm Tengoku (translated Rhythm Heaven), a new rhythm game by the makers of WarioWare that's coming out August 3rd! The catch: that's for Japan ... there are no announced plans to release the title elsewhere. Nintendo, you had me at "rhythm-based mini-games by the dudes who made WarioWare." Where's the love? Here's a scan from Famitsu with some additional images of the game. [Thanks, Stephen]
Dockable DVD player with GBA drops in May
We first got our hands on Visteon's portable DVD player cum Game Boy Advance at CES back in January and, frankly, weren't impressed. Our final assessment: "Needless to say, the engineers have their work cut out for them." Well, those engineers have had a couple months, let's see if they've eliminated the major shortcomings of the prototype. First off, the controller more closely resembles the interface of a GBA. Gone are the "Help" and "Backup" buttons, with the perennial Start and Select buttons in their place. A superficial, but welcome change. The five face buttons have been reduced to a more reasonable three...which is still one more than they needed. Why two A buttons guys?The screen resolution issues appear to have been solved, at least if we're taking the press image at face value. In the prototype, there was some problem with the GBA feed not filling the entire screen, and suffering from the conversion to 16x9. In the marketing mockup above, there is no sign of this problem. We're hopeful this accurately reflects the final product. No word on price, but it will be "available May 2006." Now I wish I had a minivan to put this in the back of...and someone to drive me around in it...and somewhere to go...See also:Coby DVD player with 8-bit Sega game[Thanks, Sense and Sean]
Doing the math on DS lite
The dimensions of the full-sized Nintendo DS are: 5.85x3.33x1.13 inches, giving us a volume of 22.01 cubic inches.The dimensions of the diminutive Nintendo DS lite are: 5.24x2.91x0.85 inches, giving us a volume of 12.96 cubic inches. While it might not look much smaller than the full-sized DS, the DS lite is in fact over 40% smaller by volume. To give you some context, we'll list the volume of some other devices you might be familiar with: Game Boy micro: 5.6 cubic inches Game Boy Advance: 17.64 cubic inches Game Boy Advance SP: 9.81 cubic inches Sony PSP: 17.52 cubic inches Atari Lynx: 68.53 cubic inches Xbox 360 power supply: 51.96 cubic feet inches Despite the size reduction, it's still 80% of the weight of the full-sized DS, so it'll be one dense little unit.(Update: To sate curiosity, the above dimension for the Atari Lynx comes from the original design. More interesting is that the redesigned Lynx II is actually larger by volume. Original Lynx dimensions: 10.75x4.25x1.5 inches, versus the redesigned Lynx II: 9.25x4.25x2 inches. The volumes of the two units are 68.53 cubic inches and 78.62 cubic inches, respectively. Who'da thunk?)[Image borrowed from 4cr]
MSFT thinking about a portable Xbox?
Microsoft is no stranger to portable electronics; they've been providing software that runs many of them for years, only to see their offerings trounced by Apple's unstoppable iPod and now Sony's multimedia maven, the PSP. BusinessWeek is reporting that Microsoft is now considering entering the arena themselves, with a multimedia device that would incorporate gaming. Peter Moore, though not confirming that they are planning such a product, saying that "any Microsoft media device would have to leverage the company's most significant consumer strength, video gaming." Would the portable device be an Xbox and not just a PocketPC PDA with enhanced gaming functionality. Moore says about the Xbox brand, "It can't just be our version of the iPod... I think the brand is an opportunity."There are risks in this approach however: they risk falling into the same niche that the PSP occupies, which is finding consumers to be far less accepting of its broad range of features, instead seeing it only as a gaming device; or of alienating their current hardware partners who may view Microsoft, with complete control over the software, as unfair competition.[Thanks, Neural]
