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Mercury Titles Announced for Nintendo Wii
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Nintendo, Release Dates, Strategy, Wii,
In a move sure to excite Wii owners to be, Ignition Entertainment has updated their release list to include two Mercury titles for the Wii. Previously Mercury was a Sony exclusive, and a great asset to the PSP catalog. The first installment, Mercury Meltdown, will be released in November followed shortly after by Mercury Type R, before the end of Q4. The Mercury series includes hours of stimulating puzzles in which you move a blob of mercury around an environment through various gates and around obstacles. The movement of your blob is controlled by tilting the platform that the blob is on, making the Wii-mote a natural choice. This is a strong launch title for the Nintendo Wii and signals more support by third party developers.
Read More 
| Cubed3.com
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Nintendo Registers New Wii Trademarks
Posted by George Hatzidimitriou Categories: Nintendo, Rumors, Wii,
Nintendo of Japan has registered three new trademarks relating to the Nintendo Wii today: Wii Pointer, Wii Culture and !!M. Although the meaning behind these trademarks are unknown so far, speculation is widespread among Nintendo fans online. The first, Wii Pointer, could very well be a finalized name for the Wii remote, while Wii Culture might be the name of the Wii’s online service that was announced. Finally, !!M, which looks very much like an upside down version of the Wii logo, is theorized to be an instant messaging client due to its striking similarity to the acronym “IM”. Keep in mind that the above are simply rumours and nothing more at this point, but we’ll keep you updated as more information is revealed.
Read More | GameFront
Gamespot has the results of a reader survey up about your favorite NES game. The survey includes almost 12,000 votes and is a well rounded list. I can remember playing almost all of these in my neighbor’s basement for hours on end. The editors provide some good commentary on each of the top ten games and pull in some honorable mentions at the end. We’re looking forward to playing some of these classics on the Wii later this year.
The List:
10. Ninja Gaiden
9. Duck Hunt
8. Metroid
7. Mega Man 2
6. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
5. Contra
4. Final Fantasy
3. Super Mario Bros.
2. The Legend of Zelda
1. Super Mario Bros. 3
Read More | Gamespot
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Club Nintendo Gets More Goodies: Game and Watch DS, Multi-Cart Cases
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Retro, Strategy,
Club Nintendo Japan has got more items to keep the Nintendo fanboys back in the States drooling. Chief among them is an exclusive title, Game and Watch Collection for the DS, which features ports of many of the old-school Game and Watch games, including Donkey Kong. Another great-looking item is a DS game case, roughly the size of a CD case, that has room for 9 DS cartridges and includes 7 different DS lite styluses in a variety of colors (one for each day of the week?)
We can only hope that one day Nintendo will realize its folly and create something similar to Club Nintendo for the USA. For now, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for eBay auctions of what are sure to become some highly sought-after items.
Read More | Club Nintendo of Japan via Cubed3
Miyamoto Talks Wii
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Accessories, Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Shigeru Miyamoto talked about the Nintendo Wii with Famitsu magazine, and IGN has a summary and translation of some of his comments. The main thing that IGN picked up on was that the number of buttons on the Wii controller might not be finalized, with Miyamoto reportedly saying, “We’re still debating on the area of how many buttons to use.” This might have been misread in context, however, and may have just been talking generally about the development process for the Wii. He also talked some about the goals for the new console; he wants it to be technology “that you’ll want to turn on every day…like a television.” Certainly, with the DS, Nintendo has been successful at picking up the more casual gamers, but Miyamoto hopes to capture this feeling with the Wii as well. Most telling was Miyamoto’s comments after hearing about the results of the Famitsu game console poll, and is really an indication of how in-grained their “blue ocean” strategy of going after typically non-gamer oriented markets is. Miyamoto’s response, “Was there a selection for ‘I don’t want any of them’? I’d like to know this, because we’re fighting this ‘I don’t want any of them’ selection” really shows the dedication that Nintendo is pushing towards the non-gamer, or perhaps the gamer that has gotten tired of the direction the industry is heading.
Read More | IGN
Edge UK Talks To Satoru Iwata
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Wii,
Edge UK magazine is publishing a series of interviews with the three heads of the competing console manufacturers, Satoru Iwata, Phil Harrison, and Peter Moore, and the first subject featured is Satoru Iwata, head of Nintendo. The focus, of course, is on the Wii, both its unusual control method and name. On
the Wii controller, even experienced Nintendo employees had problems, with Iwata stating:
“I think it’s an unusual feeling for players once they begin using two different controllers with two hands. For example, even inside Nintendo, those who had been working on the Zelda and Super Mario products, some of them are saying now that we have to change completely the way we play the game.”
He also commented on Sony’s inclusion of motion sensing technology, saying it “was something we expected, actually. Because this is not the first time this has happened…we really don’t think that other companies having a similar approach and technology will affect the advantage the our controllers bring to the Wii.” They discuss briefly the plans for the virtual console, and Iwata stated that the design for the Wii is basically complete, with small tweaks being made to the hardware and components. The unusual name also had to be a topic, but Iwata believes there should be no problems with the name, and hopes “that someday in the future [people] will like it.”
Read More | Next Generation
GamePro’s Eleven Most Groundbreaking Controllers
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Hardware, Nintendo, PlayStation 2, Xbox,
GamePro has a list of what they feel to be the eleven most groundbreaking controllers of all time. Most of the controllers on the list aren’t that controversial, but we thought you might be interested, so here they are:
- The Zapper (NES)
- Dreamcast Controller
- Nintendo Wavebird (Gamecube)
- Super Nintendo Gamepad
- Atari 2600 Joystick
- Nintendo 64 Controller
- Wii Remote
- Xbox Controller Type S
- Playstation Dual Shock
- Keyboard and Mouse
- NES Controller
Its hard to argue with the likes of the Zapper and the Dreamcast controller. Even the Atari 2600 controller was groundbreaking in its own, breakable, hand-cramping way. But while the concepts behind the Wii controller are innovative, it remains to be seen whether this controller will really alter the industry in a meaningful way. It certainly pushed Sony to adopt motion-sensing, but it’s hard to consider this a real breakthrough until the console actually ships. Similarly, the Xbox Type S controller may be best known for being released in response to the horrible feedback that the original Xbox “Duke” controller got; while it is a well executed controller, there isn’t a whole lot new that it brings to the table. Its amazing to see how many of the controller breakthroughs come from Nintendo; they weren’t always the first to implement a control scheme, but they usually were the first to make such things usable and gamer friendly.
Read More | GamePro
Nacho Libre comes to the Nintendo DS
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile, Release Dates, Sports,
Fear not luchadors, Nacho Libre is coming to the Nintendo DS game system. The game is based on Nacho Libre which features Jack Black and opens on June 16th. The game will be the first wrestling game on the Nintendo DS in the US.
Players can play as Nacho or more than 10 other luchadors, all with their own unique abilities. The game also features a range of over-the-top wrestling attacks, four play modes, themed Touch Screen mini-games, 4 player wireless matches and numerous arenas from the movie in which players can battle to be the ultimate Luchador.
Nacho Libre was developed by Budcat Creations, who have previously worked on Madden 06 for the PC and Psychonauts for the Playstation 2.
Read More | Majesco
How To Spot Pirated DS Cartridges
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Internet, Nintendo, Nintendo DS,
It appears that the first pirated DS games are beginning to make their way overseas, so eBayers beware! GBA carts could often be difficult to pick out (sometimes the only way to tell was by looking inside the cart above the metal contacts), but for now it appears that the pirated DS carts are pretty shoddy and easy to pick out. Keep an eye out for any game with black contacts or deeply recessed lettering on the back of the cart. And of course, if you see labels that are poorly aligned and/or look like they were printed on an inkjet, that might be a give-away.
A description of what you should look for in pirated games, along with helpful photos, can be found over at 4 color rebellion. With the DS lite getting so popular these days, it’s no doubt we’ll be seeing more of these in the months to come.
Read More | 4 Color Rebellion
Clinical Trial On The Effects of Gameboy Before Surgery
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube, Portable/Mobile,
Young patients in New Jersey may have something to look forward to for calming their nerves soon. As part of a clinical trial, the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry is testing the effects of playing Gameboy games before surgery on levels of anxiety. The researchers theorize that playing Gameboy before surgery might be as effective as certain anti-anxiety drugs in helping young patients cope with stress.
There seems to be a lot of interest among the medical community these days into the uses in videogames in hospital environments. With studies possibly showing that doctors should play Super Monkey Ball before operating and children should play Gameboy before surgery, maybe we can look forward to a day where gaming consoles are a standard fixture in doctors’ offices.
Read More | Community Dispatch
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