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Nintendo is looking to get Goldeneye back?
As if the mere notion wasn't every Wii owner's wet dream, MTV's Steve Totillo sat down with Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime to discuss the possibility and find out if all the hopes and dreams of gamers out there were realistic. Turns out, Reggie wants to see the game grace the Virtual Console as well, as he replied "Suffice it to say we would love to see [GoldenEye on Virtual Console], so we're exploring all the rights issues."Of course, the rights issues are varied and abundant. With Microsoft now owning Rare, the company responsible for developing the title, as well as Activision owning the rights to all of the Bond games, Nintendo could find themselves writing a lot of checks. However, judging by the desire the title enjoys from its many fans (undoubtedly heralding their arrival through battle cries of "GREATEST CONSOLE FPS EVAR!") and the big boost to the Virtual Console the game would no doubt cause, we could very well see Nintendo cutting those checks sooner than later.
Super Star Soldier now available on Virtual Console
Well, Nintendo sort of promised us Virtual Console updates on Mondays, and no, they technically didn't lie. Late last night, Nintendo added a single new game, Super Star Soldier (of TurboGrafx-16 fame), available for 600 points. For those of you who aren't familiar with the title (you know ... everyone), Super Star Soldier is a vertically scrolling arcade shooter, resplendent with eight whole stages and seven whole bosses. There are even two-minute and five-minute time attack modes! Golly!Cynicism aside, those old 2-D shooters are fan favorites, and may add a lovely bit of retro to your gaming life. Anyone excited? Or just pissed that Nintendo is on its merry way to breaking its ten-game-a-month promise?
Backseat Playground to integrate GPS into in-car gaming
If you thought your portable gaming options were all but limited to Sony's PSP or Nintendo's DS / DS Lite (or those Korean-based all-in-one gizmos), a group of Swedish programmers are hoping to change all that in drastic fashion. Concocting an "in-car gaming system" that utilizes a GPS receiver, handheld computer, headphones, and a laptop in the trunk of the whip, the Backseat Playground would eventually turn real world "sights, attractions, and locations" into in-game characters and events for the lucky passenger(s). The basic idea is to start the game off in a primarily audio-based murder mystery scenario where "actual forests, skyscrapers, and rivers" become part of the story, giving children (or adults, too) a way to virtually interact with their surroundings while traveling. The laptop uses the GPS data to maintain a 3D model which keeps the vehicle correctly positioned in the virtual world, and much "like a novel," the story unfolds as different turns (ahem) take place based on the decisions players make. While the entire system is still prototypical, it currently works "over a 35 square kilometer area in Stockholm," and designers are currently testing interest in other locales throughout the UK. Personally, we can't wait to see the variations in storylines while cruising down the 101 versus the pits of Hell's Kitchen, but we'll probably just wait for third party reports of the later.[Via The Raw Feed]
TurboGrafx-16 games available on the VC now
One of our readers sent us in this tip regarding a pair of much-wanted Virtual Console games on the Wii. TurboGrafx-16 games Bomberman '93 and Bonk's Adventure are both available to download for 600 points a piece. They work with any controller, including the Wiimote, GameCube, and Classic gamepads. With Bomberman '93 supporting 1-5 players, just how long will it take Nintendo to get the online red carpet rolled out for this game?[Thanks to all that sent this in!]
No using GC controller for Sega VC games
Turns out, if you were looking forward to downloading some of Sega's Virtual Console games and using your old GameCube controller to play them, you are up a very large creek and lacking any kind of paddling device whatsoever. See, to play those Sega VC games, you're going to have to purchase Nintendo's classic gamepad. Looks like Nintendo was lying when they said all VC games would work with the classic gamepad or GC controller. The decision to make the gamepad mandatory for all Sega VC games is one that this blogger cannot wrap his head around. What would the logical reasons be, if there even are any?[Via Joystiq]
No rumble support for N64 VC titles
According to CVG, N64 Virtual Console games will not support rumble feedback. Also, the VC controller will not support rumble at all and, apparently, the GameCube controller's including rumbling functionality will not be used. What's the deal with that, Nintendo?For the most part, this makes no sense. We can understand not including rumble feedback into the VC controller, but why turn off rumble functionality altogether? It could work fine with GameCube controllers, so why intentionally leave it out? Wouldn't it take more effort to strip the game of rumble support than to just leave the code alone? Maybe that isn't the case, as we know full well we lack any sort of games development experience.What say you readers?[Via Joystiq]
Music Thing: Music and audio gear in Second Life
Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment: Now, I've never been inside Second Life, but -- inspired by Reuters, which set up a bureau inside the game, which now has over a million players -- I've spent some time trawling the shops for cool music gear. Dissapointingly, I've found no vintage synths, keytars or mountains of old studio gear. I did find a British virtual instrument-maker called Robbie Dingo, who mainly sells slightly ordinary guitars, drum kits, bagpipes, grand pianos and something called a Hyper Flute, which - disappointingly - is completely safe for work, but allows you to compose your own music within Second Life.Robbie sells his instruments at SL Boutique - a steel drum set costs L$120 (40 cents in real money), while a Hyper Flute costs L$3,000 (around $10). Most Second Life instruments are really toys -- they'll play a couple of sound loops and animate with your avatar. Some are slightly more advanced: Robbie's 1965 Fender Stratocaster (L$400/$1.40) "loops a funky pattern that can be transposed via the menu system to any key whilst remaining in time." How many real-world guitarists can say the same?Robbie's greatest claim to fame was creating the guitar used by folk singer Suzanne Vega when she played a gig in Second Life. As far as I can work out, the guitar in this case was just a prop -- she was playing a real guitar into a microphone, whch was beamed into the concert. Other SL gear manufacturers include Neurocam Audio, who produce headphones and microphones, which really confused me. How does a microphone work? It "serves a purpose: It changes your chat to GREEN in the chat window, allowing the event host the ability to be noticed above noisy crowds!"Finally, for just L$1 (1/3rd of a cent), you can buy a Cigar Box Guitar, just like the one featured in Make Magazine, which will play a short clip of cigar box guitar jamming. Virtual cigars not included.
Rumor: Buy 5,000 Wii points, get a free VC controller
Do you have your abnormally large grain of salt in-hand? Good, hold on to it through this one, as there is no official confirmation from Nintendo regarding this claim. However, according to Vooks, gamers in Japan can receive a free VC controller by purchasing 5,000 Wii points (5,000 Yen, or $41.85 US). They fail to link to any credible source or official statement from Nintendo in their article, so as of now we're considering this a HUGE rumor.[Thanks Mykie!]
From gaming teen to virtual entrepreneur: how to cover college tuition [update 1]
Despite devoting much of the past three years to hunting and mining, Ogulak Da Basher, or Mike, a 17 year-old from Durango, Colorado, rarely breaks a sweat. Ogulak is Mike's Project Entropia avatar who has earned more than $35,000 through hard work in the Entropia Universe, becoming captain of the "ck Coat Killers" hunting society, and creating a potentially lucrative new business model based on Ogulak's mastery of crafting weapon and mining attachments.The next step in this young virtual entrepreneur's budding career is to donate $12,000 to pay for parts of his siblings' college tuitions. Lovely story, right? But wait, before you go and sign up your future collegiate kin for Entropia accounts, know that MindArk's inspiring tales have a history of being manufactured. Think of Entropia like Poker, you might have fun playing, but chances are, you're spending dough, not making it.Update: added "Ogulak Da Basher" image.[Via Terpin Communications press release]
Sony says: PSP will become a virtual PS3
Sony Computer Entertainment corporate executive Izumi Kawanishi shared some insights today in a report titled "PSP will become a virtual PS3." The article goes over emulating PS1 games on the handheld, and the obvious difficulties in translating some games that involve using more than one analog stick and use more shoulder buttons. According to Sony, emulation was always technically possible, but only now is the broadband penetration high enough to warrant 600MB downloads for players. "We felt that there was now an environment where true e-Distribution could be realized."It appears that e-distribution of games is a high-priority for Sony. Services like Steam (PC) are becoming more and more popular with users and publishers, and Sony understands the appeal for many of us. Downloadable demos will be a continued trend for all kinds of games: PS3, PSP and PS1. Also, it was confirmed that you will not need a PS3 to download content to your PSP (for those that were worried).But the future of digital distribution doesn't stop there:
Microsoft announces "Live Drive" 2GB iDisk-like storage
Continuing their new Live platform push, Microsoft has announced an iDisk-like service dubbed Live Drive. This bagillionth addition to the Live product family will boast 2GB of online storage, accessibly via any computer with a web browser (read: IE or possibly Firefox - if enough people bug them for it), which can also live on a Windows Vista computer as a virtual drive.MacNN, where we found this, didn't have many more details as to whether Live Drive will mimic any other .Mac functionality, such as application and data syncing, and we can't seem to get in with Firefox or Safari so that's all you get for now. Ultimately, with services like Live Drive and AOL's upcoming 5GB of free online storage via Xdrive, the virtual storage market is definitely heating up. Let's just hope it hasn't gotten too hot in the kitchen for .Mac.
Nintendo Wii: The Movie
This video, chock full 'o footage from the last E3, does a nice job of summarizing what the Wii is and what it is all about. In explaining all the aspects of the console that come together to create such a unique package, this video is perfect for those who still lack the knowledge the common Wii Fanboy reader possesses.The video has been embedded into the post after the break.
Run Vista on your Intel Mac with Q
Parallels Desktop is all the rage in Mac virtualization these days, but it doesn't offer one major feature (yet): the ability to run Vista on an Intel Mac (believe it or not, this will be useful to many a Mac user). Sure, they've promised it's coming on their blog, but who wants to wait for Parallels when the open source virtualization project Q can already do it?That's right: if you have a copy of the public beta 2 of Vista (which unfortunately closed not long ago), you can check out their documentation (which boldly welcomes Parallels switchers) with simple instructions for installing Vista as a virtual machine. However: I don't know yet what is and is not supported under Q. Parallels has had issues up until this latest beta with supporting a lot of USB devices, amongst other things. Vista requires some heavy video card support, so I don't know how well it will run depending on how much support Q (and the QEMU project it's based on) has baked in.While I snagged a copy of Q already and installed Ubuntu in it, I'm still turning over every half-empty box in this new townhouse trying to find my Vista images. If you readers beat me to the punch, by all means, share your experience in the comments.
Epyx back on DS, Wii
Development studio System 3 has scored rights to the old Epyx library of games and is already planning to bring popular titles Impossible Mission and California Games to the DS and PSP. Impossible Mission is due to grace the handhelds in January, while California Games will release in May including unlockable content in the form of older titles Winter Games and Summer Games. While these games will be remakes of their original, dust-covered cousins, System 3's founder Mark Kale said they will not be updated to 3D."You gotta keep the gameplay mechanics the same or else it ceases to be the original game and you're only using the game brand to sell games," Kale said. "It ceases to be Impossible Mission or California Games or what have you. ...What we're doing is we're incorporating the original gameplay and mechanics and bringing the gameplay up to date."Kale also noted that versions of these remakes are also planned to release on the Wii, which he was quick to say had the ideal control scheme for these games. We assume the games will be sold independently via Nintendo's Virtual Console service, however the piece makes no mention of distribution plans.
Widget Watch: MultiDash - workspaces for Dashboard
Looks like even Dashboard is getting in on this 'spaces' concept with MultiDash - a workspace manager for your Mac OS X 10.4 widgets. Flipping the widget over allows you to create separate workspaces, and it simply records which widgets are open, complete with a screenshot, when you create the workspace. Flipping the widget back over allows you to click the title bar to chose which workspace you want to see and potentially switch to. Clicking the button on the bottom... well, that's pretty self explanatory.After tinkering around with this widget, I have to say: this is fantastic. Setting aside the debate about widgets and system resources, this is a killer way to manage sets of widgets for different Dashboard uses, rather than compromising with keeping all your widgets open or dealing with the less-than-ideal widget strip in the Dashboard to re-open widgets as you need them.MultiDash is available from JBearTechnologies as donationware, and I highly recommend dropping them at least a buck (pound, etc.) or two for their slick work.
Hudson contemplates new Bonk game on the Wii?
Over at the official Hudson forums, the above image was posted by a Hudson employee while posing the question of whether this was a "taste of things to come?" or not. The poster, one Dementia, seems to enjoy torturing loyal Hudson fans, dangling the smallest morsel of delicious meat above their cramped cage, just out of their malnourished hand's reach. Shame on you Dementia... Instead of torturing everyone with what could be, why not just find the proper outlet to announce something for you? [Via N-Sider]
Why wait for Leopard? Get a virtual desktop manager now
Mac publications are all taking a new eye to the apps and features that Leopard is 'killing,' and Dan's post about the 7 apps that Leopard kills inspired me to check out the current market of virtual desktop managers for Mac OS X. Since I'm on a MacBook Pro however, the only one I could really put through the ringer was VirtueDesktops, which is fine since it seems like a feature-packed and very capable virtual desktop manager. Hence, another post in an ongoing theme here at TUAW: Why wait for Leopard?While we didn't get a full shakedown of Spaces at WWDC 2006, VirtueDesktops seems to offer the same functionality, with quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Barb blogged VirtueDesktops in February 2005, but it has certainly come a ways since then. It still offers a basic set of four desktops with the ability to add more, and it's very keyboard shortcut-friendly. Here's a quick rundown of the rest of this highly customizable desktop manger: Eye candy - a wide variety of the standard Aqua transitions are available for switching between desktops. This alone is worth showing off to friends, even if you aren't into the multiple desktop thing AppleScript-able Extensible with plugins Works with Growl to let you know which desktop you've switched to (you can name them for better organization and recognition) Sticky windows and apps - you can bind apps to one desktop or another, or specify them to show on all desktops. This is handy, for example, if Mail.app is 'stuck' to a 'Communication' desktop. Clicking on Mail.app in the dock will automatically switch to the required desktop There's even more to this virtual desktop utility, and since Leopard is taking a while to cook, why not check it out? VirtueDesktops is donationware and a Universal Binary.
Wii: All your adventure game are belong to me
You know, games like Sam and Max, King's Quest, and Myst. Those are games that hold a very special place in many a gamer heart and the linked piece over at About looks to Microsoft's Xbox Live and Nintendo's Virtual Console service as the avenue with which fresh, exciting adventure titles may make their way into living rooms (or other gaming areas if you wish to nit-pick) once again. We love adventure games, don't get us wrong, but is the market there? Maybe. If there was a certain definable demand then we could think this possible, especially considering how cheap it is to develop on the Wii, it's more than likely a great deal cheaper to develop for the Virtual Console service, which likely has greater opportunity for revenue by cutting out shipping and manufacturing costs. In terms of hardware, the console is perfect for it. You've already got a great interface in the Wiimote, a digital distribution system set up to deliver the content, and all that would be needed is gamers like you to voice your desire for adventure gaming on the Wii. OK, we could give the classics a whirl if they were to make it to the Virtual Console service, but we'd rather see new content instead. Go ahead, let Nintendo know...
Parallels Desktop official in Apple Stores with rebate offer
I was in an Apple Store here in CO yesterday and noticed that retail boxes of Parallels Desktop have arrived on the shelves. In fact, I had a nice discussion with a customer who was switching because he could now run Windows on a new Mac (he never considered Virtual PC an option - I personally don't blame him). He even used the term 'safety net' to refer to how often he hoped to have to run Windows - if ever.I also just received an email from Parallels promoting a $20 rebate with the purchase of Parallels Desktop ($80) and Windows XP (either $200 for Home or $300 for Pro). The rebate is good through August 15th, and Windows XP must be purchased within 14 days of Parallels Desktop.
15 Virtual Console titles that need to be played
Gamepro has released a top 15 listing for retro games that must be revisited on the Wii. While we're fairly sure some of these won't be making the Virtual Console service for the Wii, fantasizing about which games will make the service is something we are no stranger to. Overall, we like Gamepro's choices, and wholeheartedly back up games such as: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - We'd personally like some vengeance against Soda Popinski for countless humiliations in the ring. His teeth are as black as his heart (too much soda, and all...). Super Mario All-Stars - Sure, it's just the classical Mario games, but they look better, there are lost levels included, and it's 3 games bundled in one. Super Metroid - Single-handedly the best Metroid title and quite arguably the greatest 2D adventure/platformer of all time. ActRaiser - Personally, I always felt the sequel was the better of the two, but the inclusion of any winged God who smites evil demons is A-OK in my book. So, in the spirit of things, what would your top 15 list for most desirable retro games on the Virtual Console look like?
