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Ocarina Of Time Now On Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii,
Highlighting this week’s Virtual Console releases is Nintendo’s classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Ocarina, of course, dealt with some controversy during its release due to the number of perfect scores the game received, and the game is still the highest ranked entry on Gamerankings.com. While gamers might dispute the “perfect” score, this entry of the franchise brought Zelda into full 3D for the first time, and is one of the best entries in the series. At 1000 Wii Points, this release is a bargain; the Wii-compatible Gamecube Ocarina releases are selling for above $30 on eBay. Two other titles hit the Virtual Console this week as well, Bio-Hazard Battle for the Genesis at 800 points, a decent side-scrolling shooter, and Chew-Man-Fu the Turbografx-16 a bizarre arcade action game with Pengo style gameplay at 600 points.
Read More 
| Nintendo
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Nintendo Customer Service goes “Shockingly Right”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Rumors, Wii,
The good folks at The Consumerist spend their days pointing out the variety of ways in which corporations try to screw consumers over. But they’ve also got a soft spot for really touching Customer Service experiences, and they’re quick to note when a company is doing something right.
Most recently, they tell the story of Saska, the sad owner of a broken Wii living in Redmond, WA (the location of NOA’s headquarters). When he called up Nintendo, the consumer service representative recognized the area code and basically said “Oh, why don’t you come on down and we’ll fix it right now!”. Instead of having him ship his Wii to NOA headquarters, Nintendo fixed the console on the spot, transferred over all his Wii points and virtual console games, and even reset his warranty clock - all within 30 minutes.
You may not be able to duplicate this experience unless you live in Redmond, but it’s still touching to see how well Nintendo treats its customers…
Read More | Fiendish Glee Club via The Consumerist
Nintendo’s Japanese Virtual Console site now shows two additional emulated consoles, supposedly coming in 2007. The MSX was a popular platform in Japan; since this hardware was rarely seen in the US, the likelihood of seeing any VC titles for this platform stateside is unlikely. However, the Neo-Geo hardware hit both arcades and store shelves in the US, and has a huge library of titles that would be a great fit for the Virtual Console. No pricing appears to be set at this time for Neo-Geo releases, but MSX titles will sell for 800 points in Japan.
Read More | Nintendo Japan
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More Super Paper Mario Details
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
EGM’s Shane Bettenhausen has played through a full preview build of Super Paper Mario and he took some time out after completing the game to answer questions about the game at 1up. There’s some interesting ground covered in the Q & A, particularly since not a whole lot is known about the game other than some short previews and some movies of boss fights that have hit YouTube. It was known that the game would neither be a straight platformer, nor an updated version of the other RPGs in the Paper Mario franchise, but the preview gives some insight into how the combination is going to work. The game also looks to feature a lot of content, roughly 27 hours for the main game, plus more for some of the side quests and extras. From previously released screenshots, gamers know the game will support 16:9 presentation modes, but Bettenhausen also clarifies that the title will support progressive scan as well. The preview also briefly touches on the story, characters, and Wii-mote support. The preview screen shots released look great, and this update gives gamers something to look forward to on April 9th when the game releases in the US.
Read More | 1up
Sega Brings Four New Virtual Console Titles
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Retro, SEGA, Virtual Console, Wii,
Destructoid has a Sega press release indicating Beyond Oasis, Vectorman, Sonic Spinball, and Sword of Vermillion are soon to be hitting Nintendo’s Virtual Console service. There isn’t an official release date, other than “soon” from Sega PR, but there are a couple of standout titles in the list, and some from gaming history. Sword of Vermillion isn’t a great RPG by today’s standards, but it does offer an early look at some of Yu Suzuki’s work. Beyond Oasis, though, is a strong action-RPG that saw a follow-up on the Sega Saturn in Legend of Oasis. Vectorman was strong platformer using pre-rendered 3-d graphics, and was generally seen as a response to the release of Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, so its only a little ironic that the game is coming to the Virtual Console after this week’s Nintendo releases.
Read More | Destructoid
This week’s theme seems to be numerically comparing the Wii to other consoles - and by all measures, it’s doing pretty well… First off, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Wii is dominating console sales for January. In NPD Group data cited by Microsoft of all people, Nintendo’s console sold roughly 150,000 more units (436,000 total) than either the Xbox 360 (294,000 units) or the PS3 (244,000 units). The PS2 still continues to be a juggernaut though, selling just under 300,000 units thanks to a spate of great farewell titles including Guitar Hero 2 and God of War 2.
Next up, GamesRadar.com points out that the perceived Wii drought doesn’t really match with the numbers. The chart at above compares the number of games releasing each month for the Wii with Nintendo’s previous launches of the Gamecube and the ill-fated N64, and it appears that the Wii is actually gaining momentum on the games release front. Of course, how good most of those games are is up for debate - the Wii definitely needs some more killer apps to maintain steady interest in the console.
Finally, in a chart presented after the jump, HardCoreWare looks into console power consumption and notes that the Wii is a real energy sipper - so much so that it uses 10x less than either the PS3 or Xbox 360, and pulls only around 18 watts even at peak performance.
Read More 
| Seattle PI
Read More | GamesRadar
Read More | HardCoreWare.net
Click to continue reading The Wii Week in Numbers
Wii Super Paper Mario Screens, Now Widescreen
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
Famitsu is showing off a few new screenshots from Super Paper Mario for the Nintendo Wii, now in widescreen mode. Given that Wario Ware shipped with only a 4:3 display mode, hope for true widescreen gaming goodness abounds. The game definitely looks sharp in its transition to the Wii from the Gamecube, with the screens showing off the 3D mode and Mario and Bowser in battles. The game is scheduled to hit the United States on April 9th, with the Japanese release following on April 19th.
Read More | Famitsu
Wii Leads January Sales, Playstation 3 Trails
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
A Credit Suisse analyst has Nintendo’s Wii leading January console sales with 436,000 units, according to a report from Bloomberg news. The report cites January NPD data, and has the Xbox 360 selling 294,000 units with the Playstation 3 trailing with 244,000 consoles sold. Above 200,000 units for January is a decent showing, but it will be hard for Sony to spin its numbers in the face of increasing availability on store shelves. Nintendo, of course, will be happy with their January sales; every indication into the third week of February has the Wii still facing shortages on shelves, so one might expect this trend to continue. While many had dismissed the Wii’s new control scheme as a fad, the console’s continuing popularity gets harder and harder to deny as the months continue.
Update: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has comments from both Microsoft and Nintendo here.
Read More | Bloomberg News
Internal Wavebird Mod For Wii
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
One of the mods for the Gamecube has resurfaced for the Wii. Gamers were originally able to internalize the receiver for the Wavebird controller on their Gamecubes to get the dongle out of site. With the sleek lines of the Wii, the wireless receiver can be even more of an eyesore. Now, the classic mod has been updated to work with the Wii, thanks to foobar2k at the MaxConsole forums. The mod does require the disassembly of the Wavebird receiver and some soldering, and of course will void your Wii warrantee; in fact, foobar2k managed to break the DVD drive cable on the Wii while trying this mod. Still, those with a little soldering skill and a lot of caution can internalize the wireless receiver while keeping the ability to use the first wired port as well.
Read More | MaxConsole Forums
Donkey Kong Country, Three Others Hit Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, SEGA, Virtual Console, Wii,
Nintendo posted four new games to the Virtual Console for the Wii today representing the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, NES, and Turbografx-16. The biggest title would probably be Donkey Kong Country. Originally published on the Super Nintendo, the game had a re-release on the Gameboy Advance, and represents a time when Rare was entering the collective consciousness of gamers with pre-rendered 3D graphics and decent gameplay. Donkey Kong Country sells for 800 Wii Points. The Virtual Console also gets the side-scrolling beat-em-up, Streets of Rage for the Sega Genesis at 800 points and the platformer New Adventure Island for the Turbografx-16 at 600 points. Rounding up this week’s releases is The Legend of Kage for the NES at 500 points.
The full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Donkey Kong Country, Three Others Hit Virtual Console
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