super
Latest
NVIDIA's GTX 1650 and 1660 Super are two very different GPU upgrades
Following the release of its "Super" RTX 2060, 2070 and 2080 GPUs, NVIDIA is back with a pair of updated graphics cards: the GeForce GTX 1660 Super and GTX 1650 Super. As with the RTX Supers, though, what "Super" means for these new cards is not set in stone. In fact, the two upgrades could barely be more different.
NVIDIA's new RTX Super cards are a pre-emptive strike on AMD
With AMD's next generation of GPUs just days away, NVIDIA is making good on its drawn-out tease with a trio of new graphics cards: the RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2070 Super and the RTX 2080 Super. What does that "Super" mean? Well, there's not a single answer to that.
Twitter co-founder launches Super, yet another way to share your opinion
A wise person once related opinions to one of many things we all have. And it's hard not to think of that when looking at Super, a new opinion sharing app launching today for the iPhone and Android. Text prompts like "the best," "the worst," and "the craziest" invite you to shout your opinions to the world alongside a relevant photo. Like Twitter, it rewards pithy text and clever wordplay. But photos are just as important, making it feel equally like Instagram. You can even double-tap on a post to "like" it, a behavior that Instagram popularized. The more I played around with it, the more Super seemed a generator for those text-heavy posts that always seem a bit out of place on Instagram. (And which inevitably get more likes than my carefully composed landscapes.)
Ultra Street Fighter 4 knocks out new Super, Ultra combos
Ultra Street Fighter 4 is going to solve a lot of disputes with more than just fightin' words in 2014, but in the meantime, Capcom Unity has highlighted a few videos that showcase new Ultra and Super combos. Poison, Hugo, Elena and Rolento (shown above) take turns pummeling foes in the clips, presumably for completely justifiable reasons. The four characters are new additions to the Street Fighter 4 series, but they've made various appearances in previous Street Fighter games and, with the exception of Elena, in the Final Fight series. All four appeared in Street Fighter X Tekken, but the fifth, yet-to-be-announced character joining the cast of Ultra will make their Street Fighter debut.
Toshiba pushes AT270 Tegra 3 tablet through the FCC, gets Excited
If a pair of hands-on treatments and an official press release somehow aren't enough to convince you that Toshiba's 7.7-inch slate is ramping up to a public debut, take it from the government: the Excite 7.7 just hit the FCC. This thin (0.3-inch) Tegra 3 tablet sauntered through CES without so much as a model number, eventually picking up the name AT270 at Mobile World Congress and finally snagging itself a spot in Toshiba's Excite series earlier this month. Its siblings are making their way through the FCC as well, offering 10 and 13-inch variations on the $500 slab. Salivating? Keep your mouth closed, this little number doesn't hit stores until June 10th. Of course, if Federal documents can satiate your appetite, satisfaction is but a source link away.
Super Mario Bros. gets modern sound effects, nostalgia ensues (video)
We can only wonder what'll happen when you reach a certain score -- you know, somewhere above 8000...
Super Monkey Ball updated to 1.01
SEGA has released an update to the popular Super Monkey Ball, which appears to address issues with control sensitivity. The update was expected to drop last month. No release notes were available online. In cursory testing (by yours truly), it does appear the update improves player control. As promised, the "dead zone" where the ball stops moving altogether is larger, and movement overall has become less erratic. I noticed that when trying to slow down, the monkey ball is less likely to turn around, which makes it easier to navigate tight corners and control speed. Also included is a new tutorial designed to help you get accustomed to the controls. Additionally, you can resume where you left off if you press the home button during a game. Super Monkey Ball [App Store link] is a free update for existing users, and $9.99 for new users. Thanks, Adiz!
Half-time band makes sweet game music
The combination of half-time shows, videogame medleys and marching nerds is nothing new, but this could be the best example we've seen yet. The footage above was shot at the UC Berkeley versus Washington State game earlier this month, and sees a rigorously drilled band belting out a string of songs from a glut of Nintendo favorites, including Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon. We only hope some of the crowd can appreciate the brilliance that's unfolding before them.It's the formations that really make it for us, though. That bit with the flag at the end is an absolute win in our book.
Wii Warm Up: Composure
Videogame music has come a far cry from the beeps of yesteryear, with amazing works coming from both studios and independent remixers alike. A musical score is now a critical component of game design, and the big names in gaming are some of the most forward-thinking pioneers in the musical world today.Most classic Nintendo themes have been crafted by the well-known Koji Kondo, but Nintendo's consoles have been host to dozens upon dozens of brilliant composers. So, who's your favorite? There's a ridiculous list composing for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, found here (which interestingly omits the famed Nobuo Uematsu, who already composed the game's title theme). Which names stand your hair on end?
Super Smash Bros. Brawl tidbit roundup
For those not compulsively checking the official Smash Bros. website daily for bare snippets of information, we here at Wii Fanboy have decided to perform the service of coalescing tidbits into tidbigs. Over the past week, a few interesting details have surfaced.Most of the reveals are item-based: you may now move freely with projectile weapons (finally!), and as detailed earlier here, the new "Gooey Bomb" item was unveiled. The most interesting new item, however, is the Smash Ball, which activates character-specific "Final Smash" attacks. Mario's is entitled the "Mario Finale" attack, which unleashes a spread-fire explosion attack, and we've seen Link's Triforce blade attack in an earlier video. Since most competitive Smash Bros. players contend without the randomizing effect of items, it'll be interesting to see if this affects higher-level gameplay.Also unveiled are some of Pit's (of Kid Icarus fame) attacks, which include a controllable arrow of light and limited flight capabilities (most likely the Up+B special). Brawl looks like it's coming together nicely ... do you guys agree?
Smash Bros. website finally updates
After a day of wearing out our F5 key, the Super Smash Bros. Brawl webpage has finally made its promised update. Unfortunately, we have yet to find any huge megaton announcements. In fact, some of the content is a little too non-megaton-- like an explanation of the (unchanged) basic rules of Smash Bros.There is neat stuff to be found, though, most obviously in the form of a few screenshots that, while they still don't show any new or new-to-Brawl characters, do show off a day/night cycle. Also, the list of composers contributing to the game is massive-- a total who's-who of Japanese game music. Some of the composers, we're sure, are only credited for having created the music from Smash characters' original games. But Jun Fukuda and Masafumi Takada from Grasshopper Manufacture are on the list, and that is really exciting.The website promises updates every weekday, so don't let the somewhat underwhelming first day put you off. Keep checking the site for the inevitable character announcements and control scheme explanations!%Gallery-3347%[Thanks, Tigeron Starfire!]
Nintendo dominates April's NPD
Remember the days when Nintendo's hardware was at a permanent and incredibly depressing third place in the sales charts, month after month? We sure can't; all this success has gone to our heads.The April NPD numbers, tracking hardware and software sales in North America, were released recently and Nintendo once again obliterated the competition. The Nintendo DS and the Wii took the top two spots for the fourth month running, with 471,000 and 360,000 units sold, respectively. Both of these figures more than double their nearest competitors (PSP and the Xbox 360), and the PS3 could only move a paltry 82,000 units.It's the same story in software. Nintendo took home the top four spots across all systems with the releases of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and Super Paper Mario, along with the still oddly popular Wii Play. The Pokemon titles, of course, were only available for a single week in April, yet still captured the top spots with a combined 1.7 million units sold.It just makes you all tingly inside, doesn't it? For the full hardware and software figures, click after the break.
Rumor: Smash Bros and Metroid Prime press conference coming soon?
The clues are beginning to come together: there's a countdown on the official site of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and some rumblings of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption news coming around May 20th. In this month once reserved for the mighty E3, it's been quite some time since Nintendo has held a major press conference. Finally, good 'ol Matt has made it perfectly clear in a recent IGN Mailbag: he's on his way to Seattle next week for some mysterious reason, and it's not for Starbucks.About freakin' time, Nintendo. For a company still claiming that the big three will release in 2007, they've been awfully tight-lipped about the impending trio. We look forward to bringing you some surely awesome news coming next week ... uh, you know, assuming that this actually happens.
Billy the Wizard and others spotted on ESRB
Good news! You can sell that imported European Wii you bought! Conspiracy Entertainment is bringing Data Design's lineup of European budget Wii games to the US, according to the ESRB listings. These are budget Wii ports of Metro3D's budget PS2 games. Let us say it again: budget.So far, four Conspiracy games have been rated for US release: Billy the Wizard (original name: Barry Hatter), Anubis II, Mythmakers: Super Kart GP, and Counter Force. No word on Ninjabread Man yet, and we don't know when any of these will be released. In any case, we recommend preordering now so you won't be stuck in line at 5AM on release day.[Via GoNintendo]
Hacked Super Mario Bros. is better than LittleBigPlanet
Feeling that Super Mario Bros. lacked in user-generated content, the folks over at SelectButton decided to start randomly inserting text into the Mario ROM (yarrr) and see what happens. Apparently the game is stable enough to run decently with junk added to it, and the results are ... playable and strangely beautiful. Random invisible blocks, palette changes, bizarre sprites, Mario's freaking head is on upside-down, etc. It's pretty significant that some minor shot-in-the-dark hacking can end up generating new Mario levels that instantly make a near-perfect game infinitely more fun. They should be doing this at I am 8-Bit. If only we could do this kind of user-generated level design on the Virtual Console,we'd have a compelling answer to Sony's LittleBigPlanet. Go ahead and argue with us on that point. We <3 Hacked Mario.Wii Fanboy does not endorse the use of copyrighted ROM images. Just go gawk at the screenshots for a while; that should be enough entertainment.
Marathon guide-writing for Super Paper Mario
In an attempt to get a Super Paper Mario guide out as quickly as possible, the team at WiiGuideYou is burning through the game at warp speed and putting up a chapter a day of their guide. Chapter 1 is scheduled to go up the 10th, and each day will see a new chapter, until the series (and the game) concludes with Chapter 8. They're even attempting to get Chapter 1's guide up early.If they accomplish this task, it means that either they worked day and night at getting through the game to provide a guide, or that the game is really, really easy. If you don't mind the extreme spoilers that are, in fact, the whole point of game guides, then check it out and cheer them on!
A few more Itadaki Street screens
Any time mascot characters from different game companies converge, it's a big deal. As mascot-converging deals go, it doesn't get much bigger than Itadaki Street DS, which forcefully jams the worlds of Dragon Quest and Mario together onto a game board. There's also the fact that another long-time Square Enix franchise heading to the DS is likely to cause a sales supernova. We enjoy keeping tabs on this game in anticipation of that upcoming cosmic event.While you wait for that June 21st release date, and ponder learning how to read "slime" in Japanese (????????????), why not take a look at some new screenshots?
The Famicom Disk System's Minus World
Here's a bit of game history: when Super Mario Bros. was rereleased for the Japan-only Famicom Disk System, the "minus world" generated via a well-documented glitch changed along with the format. Instead of an infinite water level, players were treated to a whole suite of glitch-tastic levels, loaded with air-swimming and Princess Toadstool sprites floating in mid-air.This kind of classic minutiae is exactly what we want out of the Virtual Console. We'd seriously buy Super Mario Bros. again for a crack at this new minus world. Check out the video after the break!
Best Buy whips out mad dealz
Seriously. Best Buy is having a small-yet-appreciated discount on a few of the Wii launch titles. The following reductions should have already taken place: Red Steel - $29.99 (formerly $49.99) Super Swing Golf - $29.99 (formerly $49.99) Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - $39.99 (formerly $49.99) Perhaps not the finest of titles, but the significant price-cuts to RS and SMB might convince gamers who were on the fence to take the financial plunge. Any of you guys out there going to finally pick one of these titles up? Can we come to your house and play with you (we work for cookies and the occasional mixed drink here)?[via GoNintendo]
DS Daily: Adapting anime
We recognize that the fanbase for video games and anime overlap quite a bit, and so do a lot of companies out there. It's no surprise, then, that popular anime properties get adapted into game form quite a bit. We've seen it on the DS with Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach, not to mention the ultimate in anime tie-ins: the Jump Super Stars series.If you like anime, does this kind of thing have any influence on you? Do you get excited hearing about a game version of your favorite show, despite the years of punishment licensed games have dealt us? Or do you get worried that a game will somehow tarnish the reputation of the source material? And if you don't like anime, have you run across any anime-based games that you love separate from the license? The GBA slot in our DS is often occupied by Sega and Treasure's brilliant Astro Boy: The Omega Factor despite our not being the most devoted Astro Boy fans.
