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Spiritual Guidance: The greatest Shadowfiend nerf (or maybe buff) of all time
The race to represent the Spiritual Guidance column is turning into a nail-biter. Dawn Moore, writer of the Sunday version, took an early lead due to her natural dual constituencies, holy and disc. Recently, though, Fox Van Allen, the shadow-specced author of the Wednesday column, has taken a statistically insignificant 46-44 percent lead over his rival in the polls. Some credit Fox's well-written, intelligent columns. Others point to the recent discovery of yet five more Shadowfiend-bite-riddled corpses; Dawn supporters all. "Yes we can" is so 2008 -- "... or else" is the new catchphrase for a new decade! Ladies and gentlemen of the shadow priesting jury, I am outraged. Or possibly thrilled. You see, just this past week, Blizzard has done something totally unconscionable. Or possibly ground-breakingly awesome. Of all the tools at the disposal of the shadow priest, there's one I hold in higher regard than most the others: my Shadowfiend. You see, spells like Mind Flay and Vampiric Touch -- they're all just spells. My shadowfiend is more than that. He's a pet. A friend. When I was sick and alone this past week, it was my shadowfiend who brought me a box of tissues and a remote. It was my shadowfiend that brought me a bowl of gnome noodle soup. It was my shadowfiend who rode across yellow- and blue-colored waves of sound to fight the evil dust empire that exists under my coffee table when I look down there and cross my eyes a little so things get blurry. Granted, most of that may have just been a fevered dream or cough-syrup-induced hallucination. The key point stands, however: You don't mess with my shadowfiend. This week's problem: Blizzard's been messing with our shadowfiend. Maybe. I mean, it's possible that Blizzard's been buffing it. I am incensed. Or possibly elated. We'll try out some funky, back-of-an-envelope math after the break to try and sort through exactly what's happening with our beloved shadowfiend and figure out whether or not this is cause for alarm ... or the best thing to have happened to shadow priests in the history of ever.
How to play Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
Nintendo presents this video as gameplay tips for Sin & Punishment: Star Successor players, but we think those who have yet to get into Treasure's latest explosive shooter stand to benefit more. For one thing, "get lots of coins and medals" is a gameplay tip we could probably all have intuited on our own. For another, this video works really well as an introduction to the various moves available in game: the different charge shots (Isa's, which sets off one massive explosion, and Kachi's, which can target multiple enemies), the dodge move, the melee attack. If you've been playing the game, you know this stuff, but if you have yet to experience it, this video will give you a pretty decent idea of how it works -- with a lot of boss fight footage as a nice bonus.
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Sin & Punishment - Developer's Voice
Treasure knows its shmups, and this week's Nintendo Channel content you just have to see is none other than a Developer's Voice for Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. It's full of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff, like weighing the pros and cons of different control schemes and highlighting some multiplayer stuff. Seriously, if you're going to watch one thing, boot up your Wii and watch this. For the rest of this week's content, head past the break.
Iwata Asks Treasure about Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
In case you missed Siliconera's translation of the Iwata Asks interview with Treasure about Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Nintendo of America has posted its own translation. And if you have read it, you'll appreciate Nintendo's updated translation of Iwata's statement that the N64 "was a machine that was hard to create things for and didn't work at all." Now that semi-infamous line -- probably more accurately -- states that "If you didn't do it well, it wouldn't work at all." Later in the interview, Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamigami described the difficulty of working with Treasure on the first Sin & Punishment, given, well, the difficulty of Treasure games. "When I said, 'It's too difficult. I can't do it," they responded, 'Then you're not good enough to be in charge of this project.'" It took about a year for the team to finally determine that Sin & Punishment was, in fact, too difficult. For Star Successor, Nintendo's Yurie Hattori joined the project and initially found it too difficult as well, pushing to make the game more accessible. While she did prevail upon Treasure to streamline the experience with a tutorial, she eventually discovered the Treasure fan within her and ended up recommending that the difficulty be increased.
Hands-on: Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (co-op)
Click and Enlarge: Gallery Experience For some, Sin & Punishment 2 is of known quality. Released last year in Japan for the Wii, hardcore gamers have already experienced Treasure's latest. Thankfully, for the rest of us, we don't have to rely on imports -- Nintendo of America is finally (and slowly) bringing the franchise Stateside. Although its N64 predecessor found release on the Virtual Console, it's likely that the Wii audience is completely unfamiliar to the franchise. Certainly, the Wii doesn't feel like it should be home to such a niche game from a "hardcore" developer like Treasure. Featuring an onslaught of endless enemies, and a relentless torrent of bullets filling the screen, Star Successor doesn't even attempt to console casual gamers. In fact, moving to the Wii has allowed Treasure to expand the gameplay to the point where Star Successor feels like the game Sin & Punishment was always meant to be. %Gallery-86427%
Nintendo explains Metroid: Other M, Sin & Punishment 2 delays
Nintendo delayed two of its big summer titles for Wii today: Metroid: Other M (to August 31) and Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (to June 27). When the company made the announcement, it provided no reasons. As it turns out, there is a decent reason for each delay. "As you may know, this game is the product of a unique partnership between longtime Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto, Team Ninja and many other individuals and groups, all of whom have set very high standards for this latest installment in the series," a Nintendo rep told IGN regarding Metroid: Other M. "Although it's taking slightly longer than expected to complete the project, we're confident that fans will find it to be well worth the wait." We can understand the game not being finished as a reason not to release it -- although if it were in that precarious of a position, maybe Nintendo shouldn't have been so optimistic with the date in the first place. As for Sin & Punishment, "A June 27 launch allows gamers to enjoy Sin & Punishment: Star Successor without having to rush through Super Mario Galaxy 2 (May 23)." Honestly, as Treasure boosters, we appreciate any effort made not to bury the developer's work -- although, again, we have to wonder why Nintendo set the original release date so close to Galaxy. %Gallery-86427%
Metroid: Other M, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor delayed
If you're a fan of Nintendo-published games about shooting aliens, prepare for disappointment. Nintendo just announced delays for the North American releases of both Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and Metroid: Other M. Sin & Punishment has been pushed back from June 7 to June 27 -- a brief delay. The Team Ninja/Nintendo Metroid sequel, however, has been bumped more substantially, from June 27 to August 31. We should have known the June date was too good to be true when all Europe got was a vague "Q3" announcement. %Gallery-86429%
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Media Summit 2010 redux
This week's Nintendo Channel update features a lot of trailers for all of the big news items out of Nintendo Media Summit last week. If you haven't had a chance to check out the new trailers and our hands-on impressions, hit up this post here. Otherwise, boot up your Wii and enjoy all of the new videos for Super Mario Galaxy 2, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor and Disney Guilty Party! %Gallery-86430%
Mario, Metroid, Sin and Punishment, more dated in Europe
Here's some great news for those of you in Europe interested in playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. Nintendo announced that Galaxy will be available in Europe on June 11, not long after America's May 23 date. And Sin and Punishment will be out in Europe (under the slightly altered title Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies) on May 7, exactly one month before North America gets its hands on that Treasure. The bad news is that Metroid: Other M is dated simply "Q3." It's due June 27 in North America. We've collected all the European release dates for Wii and DS (including a "summer" date for Dragon Quest IX!) after the break. [Via Eurogamer]
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor trailer is suitably insane
When we last saw Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (formerly Sin & Punishment 2) in action, it was little more than an impressive video of an expert player charging through the game's first stage. Today, alongside the renaming and release date announcement, Nintendo unveiled the latest trailer for Treasure's insane shooter, as well as a whole mess of new screens. As you might expect, Treasure once again delivers with its signature brand of brazenly Japanese game design stereotypes, mashed with pounding music and quick video cuts. Check out the whole thing above, and don't feel too bad if you watch it a few times (we did too). It's gonna be a long wait until June, folks. %Gallery-86427%
Sin & Punishment 2 in the hands of an expert
We suspect that even if we started playing Sin & Punishment 2 now and kept playing until the North American release in spring of next year, we wouldn't be able to play with the kind of skill and confidence on display in this video of Stage 1. The player in this demonstration on Nintendo's site builds up a 16x multiplier immediately and hangs on to it throughout the level. In more S&P2 news, Siliconera has been translating an Iwata Asks interview with Treasure, mostly about the development of the first game for Nintendo 64, a system that "didn't work at all."
Lock on to new Sin and Punishment 2 screens
We may die of an acute case of jealousy. Treasure's Sin and Punishment 2 is still on track to be released in Japan on October 29, and it still has that amazing box art. Dengeki has posted a nice selection of screens showing the spectacular visuals you'll be flying around, and shooting at. FYI, for the giant chicken monster-phobic: the giant chicken monster is only in one of the screens.We're looking forward to trying out the multiple control schemes available: both with pointing, in the form of Wiimote/Nunchuk and Zapper, and pointer-free with the GameCube Controller, Classic Controller, or Classic Controller Pro.
Sin and Punishment 2 flying into Japan October 29
The Japanese box art for Sin and Punishment 2, which appears to have been cropped out of a Famitsu scan by NeoGAFfer neo2046, is awesome. We're all thinking it: it's far too awesome to survive the trip overseas. This amazing art is doomed to be replaced with 3D character art upon its release in North America. But we can appreciate it now!We can also appreciate the tiny text at the bottom, which reveals a release date of October 29 in Japan. Nintendo of America has yet to update the "Q1 2010" date for North America -- a date that must have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now places this niche game, which we want to protect like a little baby, in the middle of a very dangerous game environment.
Hands-on: Sin and Punishment 2
Nintendo's E3 booth is full of "Everybody's Games," games designed to be accessible to anyone and enjoyable without being frustrating. Well, it's full of "Everybody's Games" ... and a Treasure shooter. Sin and Punishment 2 doesn't seem to make any concessions to the Wii audience, with the usual frantic pace fans of Bangai-O, Ikaruga, and, well, Sin and Punishment expect, as well as some patently bizarre imagery and language at work. Refer to the giant chicken monster in the trailer above, called the, uh, Cock Keeper. Treasure's English has always been a bit awkward.
Wii Warm Up: Your favorite reveal
There was a ton of stuff to come from Nintendo's big news day last week. What we're wondering is what your favorite item was? Were you stoked about a certain game more than any others? Are you thrilled to hear about Club Nintendo coming to the States? Was the Nintendo DSi your favorite thing from the show? Nintendo's storage solution? What was your favorite thing to come out of Nintendo's fall media summit?
Knockout Sin and Punishment 2, Punch-Out!! screens and video
Since the games were announced last week, all we've had to go on for Nintendo's unexpected, one-two "core" game punch of Sin and Punishment 2 and the new Punch-Out!! for Wii has been second-hand media. Now that the embargo on our Nintendo Fall Media Summit coverage has (finally) lifted, we can offer up these official, pristine screens and gameplay footage.We've already covered the basics on both games – now it's your chance to sit back, crank up the volume, and get every bit as excited as we were when Nintendo rolled these teasers and passed out anything-but-blurry screens. Of course, there are no firm release dates yet for either game, but they're coming, and that's exciting enough ... for the time being. (Click through after the break for silky-smooth Sin and Punishment 2 footage.)%Gallery-33783%%Gallery-33784%
Highlights from Nintendo's big news day
The last 24 hours have been pretty amazing. We've gotten a dream sequel, a new Punch-Out!! and a new handheld to geek out to. There was a lot of news coming out of Nintendo's Japanese and American fall press conferences. As a recap, find all of the news from the show below, in case you missed something.Highlights from the American show Cave Story coming to WiiWare this year Sin & Punishment 2 coming to US in 2009 Punch-Out!! coming in first half of 2009 Nintendo dates Pikmin port, names other Play on Wii titles North America gets Club Nintendo Nintendo sneaks Wii Speak Channel announcement out Rhythm Heaven, Mario & Luigi 3 vaguely dated for US Fire Emblem dated for US, fantastic Wi-Fi mode detailed Nintendo DSi not to reach North America until 'well into 2009' Brain Age getting retooled for DSi launch Highlights from the Japanese show Nintendo encourages friends to help each other get Wiis online Nintendo conference reveals one billion new games Sin & Punishment 2 and other third-party gems confirmed Pikmin leads off Wii collection of GameCube masterpieces Nintendo unveils new Punch-Out!! for Wii Nintendo's storage solution: Load items direct from the SD slot Wii Points officially being renamed to Nintendo Points Let's tap into the site for Yuji Naka's latest New DS games make their Stage Debut Nintendo unveils pedometer for upcoming DS fitness title Nintendo announces Nintendo DSi And don't forget to check out all of the new screens from these DS games and Wii games! Gallery: Nintendo DSi
Watch this: Sin & Punishment 2, Punch-Out!! footage
If there's one thing that disappoints us about Nintendo's Wiivamped Punch-Out!!, it's that it doesn't use nearly enough exclamation marks in the title. We'd like to think that in the year 2008, what with the internet heavily contributing to our subconscious desire to pummel other human bean bags, an exercise in cartoonish pugilism would be announced with at least eight or nine turns of the sentence volume knob. That being said, if punching (!!!!!!!!) isn't your thing, perhaps you're open to other forms of punishment. You'll find footage of Treasure's shooty sequel, Sin & Punishment 2, after the break.
Nintendo unveils new WarioWare, Mario & Luigi, more
Not content with announcing a new DS iteration and a few franchise updates, Nintendo has used its Japanese press conference to reveal approximately 3 bajillion more new titles, including new editions of WarioWare and Mario & Luigi. Highlights include:DS (Expanded List, Video) Mario & Luigi RPG 3 Made in Wario/Wario Ware Wii (Expanded List, Video) Pikmin remake New Punch-Out!!! Sin and Punishment 2 Klonoa: Door to Phantomile Another Code (Trace Memory)
Sin & Punishment 2 coming to Wii
Although its only release in America came as a Virtual Console title on the Wii, Sin & Punishment (N64 version pictured above) has a pretty hardcore following here in the States. Nintendo has announced a follow-up to the Treasure-developed rail shooter. No details are available yet, but those who have played the original Tsumi to Batsu will know that the game is a perfect fit for Nintendo's current home console. Check out videos right here.[Update: Added screenshot of the new game.]
