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North American Tornado confirmed
It looks like GameFly was right once again.We recently reported that the renter/retailer put up a listing for Tornado, which was assumed to be a localized version of the Japanese game sharing the same name. Now according to a blurb in most recent issue of Nintendo Power, the Katamari-like game is indeed confirmed to pop up in North America, although no timeline details were given.Nintendo Power also reveals that Tornado will include some microphone blowing elements, which worries us a little bit. As long as the game doesn't overdo it, though, we can't help but think that this will be a nice addition to the DS library.[Via GoNintendo]%Gallery-25101%
A tantalizing glimpse of the latest Castlevania
Nintendo Power subscriber? Already got your copy? Goody for you -- we haven't! Which is why we're so completely fascinated by the artwork from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia the magazine has on offer; we haven't seen it yet. Since some of you are probably in the same boat, we thought it might be worth sharing a peek.If you didn't see our earlier post on the details of the latest from the franchise, go check it out. For a few blurry bits of screens, jump to the ledge past the break. For better screens? See the gallery below.%Gallery-22992%
Nintendo Power's moon reveals its secret
And we totally called it. That's right: the meaning of the much-discussed moon that featured prominently in Nintendo Power had nothing to do with Disgaea, Metroid, Earthbound, or a ... Balance Board-compatible sequel to Michael Jackson's Moonwalker? You people are strange.So it's Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, which may seem like a disappointment to some (compared to, y'know, Earthbound), but hey: at least we get oodles of new details. According to Nintendo Power, this IGAvania is set in the mid-1800s and stars the series' first ever female protagonist, Shanoa. The magazine that there are "no real weapons in this game," with glyphs that can change form (for example, into a sword) Shanoa's weapon of choice.There's a mass of other details waiting for you after the break -- don't forget your whip glyphs.%Gallery-22992%
Kingdom Hearts Wii rumor revealed, debunked
After Nintendo Power used a vague moon picture last month in order to hint at something juicy, speculation ran rampant as to what the next issue's big surprise would be. Leave it to heartbreakers and photoshoppers across the internets to play around with our fragile, Squeenix-loving selves.Rumors of a Kingdom Hearts Wii have been floating around for quite some time -- that's nothing new. People were starting to believe such talk, though, after a "leaked" cover of the next Nintendo Power issue was "found" on an online subscription form. Putting on our skeptic caps, we immediately came up with a few reasons for why this rumor was false: There's no 20th anniversary badge on the cover There aren't enough headlines and previews (only two, whereas last month's NP had twelve) Nintendo Power rarely (if ever) features the DS in its top banner, making this cover seem more unlikely In case you're not hip to our sleuthing, though, it was also revealed that the Kingdom Hearts cover art in question came from DeviantArt, of all places. So, if you see this rumor on your vast travels across the internet, we'd advise you not to believe it -- even if it hurts. While we're not saying Kingdom Hearts Wii will never happen, it's clear that this cover is nothing but a fake.[Via GamerTell]
Promotional Consideration: King of the Monster Ads
Rawr!Of the three Godzilla: Unleashed games released (Wii, PS2, and DS), the DS version is, without a doubt, the worst of the bunch. That's saying a lot considering that GameSpot described the Wii version as "the worst thing to happen to Godzilla since getting killed by Mothra's babies." In its review of the DS game, Godzilla: Unleashed Double Smash, Nintendo Power opined, "The slow descent in Godzilla games has finally hit rock bottom."Nevertheless, publisher Atari had a job to do -- sell copies of the game -- and it did its best to win over fans with monster-sized ads befitting of the radioactive monster. Lurch past the post break to see what we mean!
Order of Ecclesia site reveals artwork, Nintendo Power's secret?
A quick word about the new art on Konami's Castlevania: Order of Eccelsia site for Japan -- badical. Several not-so-quick words -- we'd heard from early previews that series producer Koji Igarashi and his team were moving away from the anime character designs employed in the two previous Castlevania DS titles, but we weren't expecting the new art direction to impress us this much. Also -- hooker boots.As for the "Nintendo Power secret" hinted in the title, look at the glowing satellite behind Order of Ecclesia's protagonist, Shanoa. Notice anything familiar? Doesn't it look like the same mystery moon Nintendo Power used as a clue in the latest issue's preview page? Peer into a telescope past the post break to compare!%Gallery-22992%
Promotional Consideration: Advertising with Power, revisited
If you recall, back in November, we put up a short piece on the increasing number of ads in Nintendo Power after the magazine was handed over to Future US, the same publisher behind the official Xbox and PlayStation magazines. Chris Slate, Nintendo Power's new editor in chief, explained the ad-bloated issues: "Love or hate the ads, their number should go down significantly over the next couple of issues as we move away from the busy holiday selling season. We saw a huge upswing in ad pages last month because more games than ever are being released right now for the red-hot Wii and DS. However, new titles will slow down midway through December, and the ads will follow suit."So, now that we've put a few months in between us and December, has the magazine kept its promise, scaling back the number of ads in favor of delivering more news, reviews, and previews? Jump past the post break for the breakdown.
Promotional Consideration: Moons, Zombies, Dodgeballs, and Tactics
Aside from its preview page tease and Time Hollow's localization, there wasn't much in the way of exclusive DS news in this month's Nintendo Power, at least compared to what we've seen in recent issues.Paging through the magazine, however, we spotted at least two advertisements that we wanted to share with you. As we were tearing them out to throw into our scanner, we thought, "Why not post all of the other DS ads (and the cover)?" Join us past the break for the scanned pages!
Nintendo Power promises the moon
As it does every month, Nintendo Power closed its latest issue with a preview of the next installment, guaranteeing updates on Sonic Chronicles, Time Hollow, and Ghostbusters. The magazine's writers also hinted at "a surprise or two," suggesting readers study the Moon image above for hidden clues.Our eyes must be suffering from spring allergies, as we haven't picked up any clues after hours of staring at the page. Will it be a preview of Renegade Kid's Moon? Perhaps another entry for the Harvest Moon series? Or maybe Nintendo Power just wants our attention on the white satellite before it pulling off its grandest, most villainous stratagem yet -- carving its name into the Moon with a laser cannon.Give us your best guesses!
Time-traveling game now also a country-traveling game
According to reports from Nintendo Power subscribers who've received this month's issue early, Konami plans to bring its adventure title, Time Hollow, stateside this August, confirming recent rumors spurred by GameFly product listings.Time Hollow has you going back in time to fix small things that will affect the outcome of future events, like an accidental death or the end of the world. This is all accomplished with a magic pen that you control using, you guessed it, your stylus and touchscreen.The game didn't sell too well when it came out in Japan last month, so we haven't heard many import impressions for Time Hollow. If you've played it, we would love to hear if you can use your pen to hunt down dinosaurs, Ray Bradbury-style.
Nintendo Power: FFIV DS coming in July
Misdirection isn't just for magicians anymore ... apparently Nintendo Power practices it too. While everyone was focused on the hints of a U.S. localized Final Fantasy IV DS in the magazine's ten-page cover feature on the game, no one seemed to notice that the game was listed with a "July" release date in that same issue's "Game Watch Forecast."Well, no one except RPGFan.com, which then in turn got noticed by our own DSFanboy, which in turn got noticed by us so you fine readers can notice it for yourselves. This could just be a typo on Nintendo's part, but more likely it's a slip-up that reveals a release window a little earlier than Square-Enix would have liked. Either way, just another pebble on the growing mound of evidence that a localized version is coming.
Wii Wheel MSRP not $15, after all
If you were worried that you'd have to give up your first-born child (which we at Nintendo Wii Fanboy calculate is worth about $15) for the Wii Wheel, we have some reassuring news. Although GameStop recently posted an ad which gave us the impression that the Wii Wheel would retail for $14.99, Nintendo Power has us thinking differently. According to the scan seen above, the wheel's MSRP will actually be five dollars less, costing a more reasonable $9.99.So, if you're planning on getting a few extra of these, we recommend doing so at stores that don't charge above the suggested retail price.%Gallery-4772% [Thanks, Sn1per!]
Nintendo Power asks for your VC wishlists
We get to have our say about what we'd like to see on the Virtual Console every single week, and now Nintendo Power is giving its readers the chance to do the same. At first, we thought Nintendo Power just might be able to turn Nintendo's head to what the fans want (it is, after all, the official Nintendo tome for the U.S.). And then, we read the disclaimer: "This is for polling purposes only, and will in no way determine future Virtual Console releases." But we don't believe them. Actually, we kind of do believe them, but it's worth a shot, right? Right?If you want to take part and push your game up the list, just drop a line to vcpoll@futureus.com, and the magazine will do the rest, totting up the votes and publishing the top 100 most requested not-yet-Virtual Console games in a future issue. It'd be nice if you put in a shout for some of our favorites as well. Not that we're Secret of Mana suggesting you Pilotwings 64 do anything Alf untoward like rigging the results.
Dr. Stiles returns to the DS for Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
The Nintendo Power news just keeps on coming in! If you're not already a subscriber, we very much suggest you pick up a copy of this month's issue when you can -- it's packed with exclusive announcements and screenshots. Almost three years since Under the Knife captured the hearts of wannabe surgeons on the DS, Trauma Center is finally coming back to the handheld after a remake and an indirect sequel on the Wii. Dr. Stiles stars in the game, once again, and is joined by Nurse Angie Thompson as they deal with the effects and "unanswered mysteries" left by the defeated GUILT Virus.Developer and publisher Atlus didn't reveal any new surgical instruments for this direct DS sequel, titled Under the Knife 2, but it did state that the old tools will have "improved functionality. Addressing difficulty complaints many often cited with the original game, Atlus has also included a mode for those of you with unsteady hands and frail nerves. Expect to hear a lot more about Under the Knife 2 from us before it hits stores this summer.
Premotional Consideration: Eco-Creatures
We usually wait until Sunday to post our Promotional Consideration pieces, but we already have something very special planned for tomorrow's column and we didn't didn't want to hold onto this Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest ad for too long lest you completely forget about the colorful game. The environment-conscious RTS's release went mostly ignored around these parts -- blame it on the rain Shiren the Wanderer. To make up for it, we've torn out and scanned a page advertising Eco-Creatures from this month's issue of Nintendo Power. Hit the "read" link or the image above for the full piece. The recycling arrows integrated into the screenshots are a nice touch!%Gallery-4106%
Nintendo Power's big reveal: Tales of Symphonia coming to the U.S.
The newest issue of Nintendo Power reports what Tales of Symphonia fans in the U.S. (and, we're assuming, the rest of North America) have been hoping for. That's right -- the localization of the Wii game is confirmed, and Knights of Ratatosk will be heading to North American shores. Only, it's not going to be called Knights of Ratatosk. The game has a new subtitle, and will be known instead as Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. At least that's easier to spell, albeit a lot more generic than the previous title.Nintendo Power also boasts that the new Tales will be the Wii's first "epic RPG." Is that an insult to games like Opoona and Baroque, or are those games simply not "epic" enough? Whether it's the first or not, though, we're certainly glad that the game will be localized, especially since it seems to be shaping up pretty nicely.Even though this is good news, is anyone disappointed that Nintendo Power's "secret RPG" turned out to be a not-so-secret game?%Gallery-5354%[Via NeoGAF]
Wii Warm Up: Role-playing rumors
According to the latest mumblings in the internet's rumor circles, the latest issue of Nintendo Power hints at a huge RPG announcement for next month's installment: "Next month's cover story is an RPG so fantastic, so engrossing, so epic, and so hush-hush that we'd have to erase your memories if we told you what it is. In fact, maybe we already did. Role-playing fans, get ready for a big one." It's not Sonic Chronicles, because that's the cover story on this issue. What could this secret RPG possibly be? Baten Kaitos 3? A new IP from Square Enix? A 3D remake of Glory of Heracles II: Titan's Downfall?! We'll probably have to wait until next month's issue drops to find out, but let us know what you think it is in the meantime!
Subscribing with power (and $3.23)
The common argument against subscribing video game magazines is that you can get all of your news on the internet for free, but Nintendo Power has done a good job separating itself from its online competition with exclusive previews, attractive posters, and interviews with interesting figures. And with this latest bargain, you can get a hella cheap subscription for 12 months. BestDealMagazines.com, a site which we assume trades in the best deals for magazines, is offering a year's worth of Nintendo Power issues and a free gift for only $3.99. Type in the "YEAREND19" coupon code during checkout, and you'll save 19%, dropping your final total to $3.23. See what we mean? Hella cheap.See also: Promotional Consideration: Advertising with Power[Via CAG]
Nintendo collages for Nintendoholics
If your love for Nintendo is so great that you not only need Nintendo things hanging about, but Nintendo things made from Nintendo things, you'll probably enjoy these collages.Artist Chris Lange (Etsy user sscjl14) is offering to create customizable collages of Nintendo characters, made completely out of Nintendo Power magazines. The results are pretty neat, no doubt, but you probably have to really bleed Nintendo love to shell out $250 for one of these 20 X 30 inch pieces of art. Still, we love the concept, and can't help but gawk at this kind of stuff even if we'll never buy it. Check after the break if you're interested in seeing two more of his creations.
Kaboom Kaboom: Russians, robots, and real-time strategy
Russian studio Vogster Entertainment hasn't yet formally announced Kaboom Kaboom, its comedy-filled RTS title set in "a world of wise-cracking robots," but what we've picked up about the game so far sounds spectacular! Pick-up-and-play touchscreen controls 25+ weapons 20+ level story mode 2-4 player versus and co-op modes (online play not announced) Upgradeable robots with "distinct personalities and attitudes" Hero characters with enhanced weaponry and skills While we're not sure how far along Vogster is with Kaboom Kaboom's development -- no publisher has been revealed, and the artwork above is the only piece of media hitherto released -- we still have a while before the game's expected release next spring. For those wondering whether the Russian team's story and humor will translate well with American tastes, you'll be happy to hear that Vogster has been working with writers from the Spongebob Squarepants series to put together Kaboom Kaboom's script. [Via Nintendo Power]
