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Star Fox 64 arrives, Virtual Console does barrel roll
After last week's serious focus on kingdoms waging war, it comes as a relief to see Nintendo's Virtual Console service returning to its former status, namely that of an anarchic menagerie of anthropomorphic troublemakers. This week, we have foxes recklessly piloting spaceships, dragon's uttering foul words and mutated turtles kicking people in the face. Just who's in charge here? As you might have surmised (admittedly, the headline is a big help), Star Fox 64 (N64) tops the list of retro goodies arriving on the Wii today: Star Fox 64 - N64 - 1,000 points ($10) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - NES - 600 points ($6) Dragon's Curse - TurboGrafx 16 - 600 points ($6) All three titles are available for download now. What isn't available for download at this time, however, is an explanation as to why we're expected to shell out 100 points ($1) above the NES norm for Konami's turtle brawler. Perhaps we're being fined for that terrible pun in the last sentence.
StarFox 64 coming to VC soon?
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/StarFox_64_coming_to_VC_soon'; Sure, we knew it would arrive eventually, but now with its addition to the ESRB website, we can realistically expect the game to arrive soon. How soon? Well, maybe this Monday soon (we hope). The big problem is, however, how well it will still play sans rumble. Of course, such an omission isn't going to totally demolish the experience, but we know many of you out there loved the rumble in the game. So, would you download it still without the rockin' rumbling?
Koji Kondo and GDC make beautiful music together
The Game Developers Conference has been trying to get Koji Kondo to come speak about game audio for ten years, according to an introduction by Tommy Tallarico. The wait seemed well worth it, as the famed Nintendo composer's first public appearance in the United States drew a standing ovation from the hundreds-strong assembled crowd today.Kondo, who has worked on the music for the Mario, Zelda and Star Fox series, among others, stressed three main points in making good game audio: Rhythm in game audio is not just having a catchy beat, but matching your beat to the animation and button presses in the game. "If the music doesn't reflect the rhythm of the game, it might as well be piped in from a source outside the room," Kondo said through a translator. Balance in game audio means not just balancing things like sound effect and music volume, but also bringing individual audio pieces in a game together as a single composition, with a defined introduction, bridge and ending. This is why Kondo always submits pieces to his director four or five at a time, so they won't be given equal weight but instead be balanced in the correct way. Interactivity in game music can be as overt as a faster tempo when time is running out in Super Mario Bros. or as subtle as slight phrasing changes in each trip through the overworld in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Kondo stressed that "this ability of the video game medium, which is not possible with CDs, movies etc., is a very interesting and unique feature."
Nintendo's Koji Kondo joins Video Games Live lineup
If one plans to append adjectives to Nintendo's music composer, Koji Kondo, the word "legendary" makes for an obvious start. The Legend of Zelda, along with Star Fox and Mario, are just some of the properties Kondo has contributed to since joining Nintendo in 1984. Attendees of this year's Video Games Live concert will be pleased to learn that the man himself will be making an appearance and performing "one of his favorite melodies" on stage. Can't say we've heard that one -- could someone hum a few bars?The event, which brings GDC to a symphonic end, is being held at Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco on March 9 at 8PM. Other highlights in this year's show include Martin Leung with a new piano arrangement, an acoustic medley by original LucasArts composers (Monkey Island!), a Chris Kline Contra presentation and a performance by voice-over artist, Dee Baker. Get your tickets here, if you please.[Via Press Release]
DS releases for the week of January 22nd
Can you guess what title we're excited about this week? It shouldn't be too hard, since we have made it more than a little obvious that we're gung ho for Hotel Dusk, which is also making its Japanese debut this week.DS releases: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel For releases in other major markets, check after the jump.
Readers pick best webcomic: Star Fox innuendo
How dare Scott Ramsoomair take perfectly innocent lines from the Star Fox franchise and turn it into the subtitles for his dirty, dirty fantasies? And shame on you, dear reader, for picking it as best game-related webcomic for the week. Shame, shame, shame ...Second place went to NekoYasha's Moron Mines comic and third place was taken by The Joy of Tech. Thanks to everyone who voted and be sure to let us know of any gaming comics you stumble upon this week!
The awesome just keeps on coming: more Virtual Console games [update 1]
Because the eight we just posted weren't good enough, we've got another ESRB confirmation ... this time for thirteen. We'll let the list do the talking for us:NES: Excitebike Ice Climber Dr. Mario Mario Brothers Ice Hockey Soccer Super Nintendo: Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Kirby's Super Star Super Metroid Kirby's Dream Land 3 Nintendo 64: Mario Kart 64 Starfox 64 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Mario Brothers", which is technically the name of the arcade title already coming to the VC at launch, is presumably the actual Super Mario Bros., which failed to make it across the Pacific in time for November 19th. The biggest name on this list is certainly Mario RPG, a collaborative effort between Nintendo and Squaresoft USA (now known as Square-Enix). Besides being an absolutely excellent game, it shows that Square-Enix is committed to bringing some of the very best of its SNES golden-era RPGs to the Virtual Console. We don't want to say it, we shouldn't, really ... but dammit, we need to ... Chrono Trigger?[Thanks, Cian C.!][Update 1: Dammit, we can't count.]
Speculating on the Virtual Console [Update 1]
Play-Nintendo has a "reliable list" (yeah, we know how those are) of games that are rumored to be on the Virtual Console. But it looks reasonable, and in fact, some of the titles are already confirmed by various sources. Their list is packed with classic titles, and some of them (oh, Castlevania, how we love you) are expected but still exciting, and others many of us still play on lazy Sunday afternoons (Ocarina of Time, anyone?) If this list turns out to be the real deal, we may have to take some extended breaks from our actual Wii games. A fanboy's life is full of difficult choices. Play-Nintendo also reports that their "source" confirmed five brand new games for the Virtual Console, but they couldn't reveal the details. We'll see. What are you dying to see? Frankly, we think Super Mario Bros. 3 is a necessity, if only because we know there'd be videos everywhere of fanboys reenacting scenes from The Wizard. If you could add any three games to this list, what would you choose? Full list after the jump.
Nintendo patents high scores, wet water
Patent news website Patent Arcade has unearthed a hillariously detailed patent that seems to describe some of the more middling features of the Star Fox series. Issued in 2001, the 23,000+ word document details important game features such as "a score-giving condition is detected according to a relation of the player object to another object." (read: shoot stuff for points) and "... a plurality of different courses through which a player can successively advance by successfully completing a current one of said plurality of courses" (read: a level select screen)The patent seems to focus a lot of energy on unoriginal, pedestrian features such as location-specific hit-detection and allowing players to replay a level for a higher score. Are they really trying to claim ownership of such basic video gaming ideas, or is this legalese just boilerplate that gets filed as a matter of course? Either way, if Nintendo ever files a patent-infringement lawsuit against some game that "makes it possible to... advance to a same course (i.e. replay) even after clearing a course or scene difficult to manipulate," we'll be sure to cover it here.[Via GameSetWatch]Read -- Patent Arcade summaryRead -- Full patent at the USPTO
Metareview: Star Fox Command
One of the highest-profile Wi-Fi titles of the year has finally released and the critics were quick to offer up their opinions. Generally, the game has seen a fair amount of praise, however critics have mentioned that the title's multiplayer is not exactly on par with the game's single-player experience. The scores are as follows: IGN - 80%: "It's at the very least a great start to the franchise. Bump up the difficulty, add some variety to the missions, bring back the forced-scrolling on-rails levels and the wingman-in-danger elements in a sequel and you'll have yourself the ultimate Star Fox adventure." Gamespot - 75%: "Star Fox Command has great controls and introduces a strategic layer that's fairly interesting. However, the random feel of the story battles and the frantic multiplayer mode don't make the most of this game's solid foundation, which might cause nostalgic fans to long for the series' good old days." 1UP - 70%: " None of the strategy elements that comprised the core of the single-player game are in multiplayer -- how cool would it have been to battle for strategic positions and race to key items on the overhead map against friends? How loudly does this game scream for a custom map editor? Should Command see a sequel, competitive strategic multiplayer ought to be a big part of it." We've heard from the critics, now how about the readers?
GRAB proves haptics research is in for a bumpy ride
One of the first times that we encountered haptics, or the study of force feedback, was while playing StarFox 64 back in 1997 (was it really that long ago?), with its Rumble Pak -- that little motor that shook the whole controller every time you sustained a laser hit. Today, haptics has gone from the realm of stellar video games to simulating the edge of a knife. A team of Mexican and Italian scientists announced last week that they've created virtual surfaces to fool the brain into thinking that a flat surface is actually bumpy or pointed. The researchers created a system called GRAB, which consists of a mechanized thimble, connected to the end of a motorized arm. Once the subject puts a finger inside the thimble, various motors create force feedback, and limit motion along a left-right axis, all of which could be used in medical robotics and training, so that surgeon hopefuls can better simulate operations without actually cutting any flesh. Better yet, if these scientists continue along this route, by the time the next version of Call of Duty comes out, receiving a bayonet jab may feel really close to actually drawing blood.[Via Futurismic]
Spoileriffic Star Fox screens
Siliconera is all about some Star Fox Command now that they've gotten their hands on screens of the various endings. The images don't seem too obvious with the spoilers, but check at your own risk -- you've been warned.The game is scheduled to hit the U.S. soon, so if you're the type who wants to see nothing of the ending until you get there, then you don't have long to wait. For the rest of us, who like the pretty, pretty pictures, have at it!
Starfox Command Preview
Ever since Starfox Command was released in Japan, the rest of us would like to know what's going on with it. How is Wi-Fi? What about gameplay? Has Starfox redeemed itself from its horrible predecessors on Gamecube? What about graphics and control? Music? Tell us! Luckily, Game Trailers has a very well done video preview to answer all those burning questions and more. Starfox Command is set to release in only a few weeks, if even that. Then we can all get our greedy little hands on it!
Starfox Command video review
Adblock Mad video review master 'JoshuaZimmerman' brings us this lengthy look at Starfox Command, but we get the distinct feeling he may not really care. He spends most of the nine minutes going over gameplay and options in mission and wi-fi modes, blah blah blah, lets us know how he feels about the sound and the dialogue, blah blah blah, and overall, offers positive impressions of the game. We think, at least. Maybe we weren't reading between the blah-blahs ....
Starfox Command reviewed
Gamebrink has posted a review for the Japanese version of Starfox Command, providing overall positive feedback on their experience with the title. While their two biggest gripes about the game are the amount of time it takes to complete the single-player campaign (if you do not take the alternate routes) and overall ease of succeeding in combat, including boss fights, aren't these basically what the only problems people had with the stellar N64 game were? Composing the longer list of things the guys over at Gamebrink enjoyed about the title, the fast-paced, tense gameplay and non-linear progression take the top positions. Also, they state that the stylus-exclusive control of the title really works well and is implemented excellently into the game's overall formula of Arwing-based combat.
Nintendo and DS in full force at Comic-Con
Nintendo is not without love for the comic geek, it would seem, as they plan to be out in full force at San Diego's Comic-Con 06 later on this month. While you would think they'd be on-hand with the Wii, attempting to get it as much exposure as possible before its launch later on this year, instead the company is looking to strengthen its already huge grip on gaming with the DS.That's right, no Wii and nothing but DS will be available to cosplaying comic fans in the southern California area during the ultimate show for comics. Those cosplaying as Nintendo characters will also get a chance to win prizes such as DS Lites, software, and other junk. Some of the titles available at Nintendo's booth are Mario Hoops: 3 on 3, Elite Beat Agents, Starfox Command, and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. If you're a DS Fanboy reader attending the show and would like to send us some pictures, we guarantee you'll be *handsomely rewarded.*We're good at making people disappear.
Starfox Command looks to shake it up
With the news of 30 stages to traverse in the upcoming Starfox Command, the added news that the game will feature full support for the DS rumble pack, which a few of you might've been able to acquire on the cheap, is like a sweetest cherry on top of our sundae. Also, the game will see the return of mainstay characters in the franchise actually getting into their respective cockpits and taking to the skies alongside Fox across the various game areas. Multiplayer, both locally and through Wi-Fi, also looks to be a very good place to spend some time. August 28 cannot come soon enough...[Via Gamespot]
Star Fox DS details surface
Eurogamer is reporting that the upcoming Star Fox Command for the Nintendo DS will include rumble functionality when it hits our shores on August 28. According to the latest Japanese mag Famitsu, players can now enjoy that same shaky feeling they had in Metroid Pinball or Warioware Twisted on 30 different stages in Star Fox. Something else to look forward to is the game's multiplayer aspects. Star Fox will take full use of Nintendo's super sweet Wi-Fi connection and give wannabe pilots the ability to battle each other four at a time -- ad hoc players can take on as many as 8 at a time.This game can't come fast enough. It's getting a little tiring just beating little noobs on Tetris every night.
A return to series roots for Star Fox: Command?
According to a translated Amazon listing from Japan, the upcoming Star Fox: Command for the Nintendo DS will have multiple endings. This most likely implies a return to the multi-path stage advancement from the original Star Fox and Star Fox 64, which is good news for long-time Fox fans. Also listed are the capabilities for both online play and eight-person local wireless competition. If Nintendo can manage to make the stylus control scheme intuitive and natural, we could have yet another killer-app on our hands.As wonderful as Google's translation abilities are (Strategic map 3D shooting of the new feeling which is due to touch operation), any bilingual readers out there care to give us a slightly less mangled version of the information?[Thanks Redfield!]
Starfox Command screens and info
In their ongoing coverage of Starfox Command, Famitsu has revealed some interesting tidbits about the game as well as unveiled several new screenshots and game art. Turns out Fox is all alone now, with his comrades having gone on to greener pastures. With Falco off exploring the vast regions of space, Peppy taking up the role of a general, and Slippy having found the toad of his dreams, Fox continues to fight the good fight alone. This game also marks the return of Star Wolf.Gameplay will be handled via two distinctly different modes. In the map mode, you're charged with using the stylus to trace out a route to your designation, encountering enemies along the way, which then takes you into the adventure mode where you can fly your plane and take out said enemies.
