news/reviews/previews

what ya going to do online with r5 kill online zombies

sounds awsome then so like coop zombie hunt

wat wood u do on dmc 4 online? also get army of 2 for 360, re5 is in africa, i dont think theyre zombies, but theyre evil

Update: Mario Kart Wii Text Chat Details
Text chat is in, but it won't support a keyboard. Find out why.
by Matt Casamassina
February 27, 2008 - Nintendo fans still hoping that the arrival of Mario Kart Wii will herald the beginning of voice chat support on the company's home console will have to put those hopes on hold for a while. The publisher's European subsidiary confirmed in an official Mario Kart Wii posting that players will only be able to communicate with each other via text chat, and not during matches.

"You can create rooms for friends to join and even text chat while you're waiting for other racers," Nintendo of Europe revealed.

Update
In our original article, we speculated that players might be able to use a USB keyboard or at the very least the Wii remote to enter customized text messages. Not so, according to a rep for Nintendo of America, who contacted us today to clarify. Apparently, gamers will only be able to select from a pre-determined number of phrases that can be sent along as rudimentary texts before matches. Nintendo is clearly playing it safe.

GDC 2008: My Life as a King Interview
Square Enix fills us in on developing for WiiWare.
by Daemon Hatfield
February 25, 2008 - When Nintendo announced WiiWare, the downloadable games service for its latest console, President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime said, "Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit." So it was surprising when we learned that one of the launch titles for the platform would be a new role-playing game from monolith developer Square Enix. The name of the game is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

The FFCC series has been serving Nintendo systems since the company and Square Enix made nice in 2004 after a long separation. With a full-sized Crystal Chronicles game already set for retail Wii release sometime this year (Crystal Bearers), FF fans are going to have their hands full trying to waggle through all these adventures.

We were granted some quality time with Toshiro Tsuchida, producer for My Life as a King, during the Game Developers Conference last week. He told us a lot about what developing a WiiWare title is like and just what we can expect from this downloadable quest.




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Tsuchida told us Square Enix definitely wanted to be one of the first developers out of the gate for WiiWare.

Toshiro Tsuchida: We hope that being one of the first ones out there will get us more attention. Because we were trying something new, any attention we could get we thought would be good.

My Life as a King is described as a "country-building RPG."IGN: What was your initial inspiration to make My Life as a King? Why did you choose to make a Crystal Chronicles game your initial WiiWare offering?

Tsuchida: We wanted to give the player the perspective of a king rather than a hero. That was the original concept. We chose Crystal Chronicles because there is a lot of interaction with the villagers. There's a lot of talking. There are a lot of simple AI movements where the NPCs move on their own, depending on what they're looking for and what they want to do. We felt the characters in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles would best fit that kind of setting. Some of the other assets we had we didn't think would fit that movement very well.




The Producer explained that development on My Life as a King began before the final WiiWare tools were given out.

Tsuchida: We assumed from the beginning it wasn't going to be all that different from other Wii games, except for the memory limitation. So, it actually wasn't that difficult. Nintendo has a pretty good environment set up to develop games. The small things were a little bit different in the end, but for the most part it wasn't that difficult.

Battles in My Life as a King take place off-screen. The player won't be directly engaging in combat themselves. Tsuchida discussed some of the difficulties this presented the team as they tried to engage the player.

Tsuchida: One of the biggest difficulties was the major battles. Until now all the major battles you saw directly. But this time someone is off fighting a battle on their own and you don't get to see that. So it is kind of hard to build up tension, and also write dialogue that talks about it. Also, we have a lot of NPCs moving on their own. Traditionally in our cut-scenes we knew who all our NPCs were and it was easy to construct cut-scenes. But this time we had a lot of problems talking about the story and some guy comes walking in front of the camera. So we had to adjust all of those little things. I think some of the Western developers have had some more experience with that sort of thing.

IGN: Can you give us an idea of how long the game is?

Tsuchida: If you just play straight through very quickly it's not that long. We're hoping that someone who likes games will play it for about 10 hours.

Even though this is a smaller Crystal Chronicles game, the team didn't have to leave anything out.

Tsuchida: If anything, we imagined the game to be a lot simpler. Once you start making a game you start getting more new ideas. I think we ended up having a lot more stuff in it than we expected. Sometimes when you have restrictions you get more ideas. In one sense that kind of helps us make new games. On the other hand if we have a game that we can't fit in 40MB we'll just release it as a normal package game. I think we just have another choice, it's not really a restriction.

The game is currently sitting at just under 40MB, but that is subject to change. We asked if My Life as a King would be seeing additional downloadable content, or if WiiWare even supported DLC. Tsuchida and his handlers respectfully declined to comment on this "edgy" question.



Gaze upon your kingdom.IGN: How large was your team?

Tsuchida: I think we had a core staff of six. In total about 18 people. But we had a group of guys who ate lunch everyday and talked about the game, and that was about six people.

Even though this is a different Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game than we're used to, Tsuchida thinks fans will be pleased.

Tsuchida: The loyal fans, I think, will get mostly what they're expecting from a Square Enix game. But the game design and gameplay are a little bit different.

The game is described as a "country-building RPG." Many fans have been wondering how much flexibility they'll have in creating their empire.

Tsuchida: One of the design decisions we made are that all the roads are fixed. You have slots you can fill in. So in that sense there is not that much freedom. There are different size buildings. In terms of what you actually build in there, such as houses or stores… Some of those things are kind of required to get past certain parts of the game. But for the most part we tried to keep it as free as possible. One of the difficulties we had while making this game is on one hand you want to give as many choices as possible to users. At the same time if it's too wide open they don't know what to do in the beginning. Because this is our first time making this kind of game we do some hand-holding, at least in the beginning, such as "you should build this first, something like this next…" But the final layout of the city is pretty much up to the user.

Manuals for WiiWare games will be kept online, viewable from the Wii Shop Channel. Tsuchida says it shouldn't be necessary for players to read the manual first, as they've tried to include tutorials in the opening moments of the game. He also made clear that while many of the offerings on the Wii are casual-friendly, this may be more of a hardcore title.

Tsuchida: We actually kind of struggled with that a lot. In the end we stuck to our guns and made a game we would play. We're kind of gamers, so maybe it's not all that family-oriented. To make up for it we tried to work on the tutorial, to try to make it as user-friendly as possible. We worked on the tutorial and the user-interface so that more casual users could play it. Also, one of the reasons we chose Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is we hope that style would probably be better for the Wii target market.

It doesn't look like Nintendo will be offering free trials of its WiiWare offerings, and there won't be one for My Life as a King. Look for this Life to begin alongside WiiWare on May 12.

Exclusively available for Wii Ware, this game tells the story of what happened after the original Crystal Chronicles. The Little King of the subtitle, who lost his kingdom due to the events of the first game, gains from the crystals the power to build things. He uses this to revive his fallen kingdom. The game's genre is "Country Building RPG."


Developed by: Square Enix

Genre: Adventure
Release Date:
US: TBA
Japan: March 2008

Announced at E3 2005, this Nintendo Wii game is in the works at Square Enix and will feature WiFi components. The game is a sequel to the multiplayer adventure on GameCube, based on the Final Fantasy franchise.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers
Also known as: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles 2, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, FFCC 2
See All 5 Images

Published by: Square Enix

Developed by: Game Designer's Studio

Genre: Action RPG
Number of Players: 1-2
Release Date:
US: TBA 2008
Japan: December 31, 2007
Europe: June 27, 2008

MSRP: $59.99

cool

Wii Biohazard 0 Unlikely to Go West
Capcom confine zombie port to Japan.
by Martin Robinson, IGN UK
UK, February 28, 2008 - Following yesterday's news that a port of Biohazard 0 would be stumbling its way onto Wii, Capcom has noted that the game will likely never see the light of day outside of Japan.

Head-scratching ensued when Famitsu revealed that a remake of the underwhelming 2002 GameCube title was coming to Wii this summer. However, a Capcom Europe spokesperson today stated that, "We currently have no plans to bring the Wii version of Resident Evil 0 [...] to either US or Europe at this point in time. It will most likely be a Japan-only release."

Anyone saddened by the news would be advised to wipe away the tears and point their web browser in the direction of eBay, where copies of the Wii-compatible original are going for under five pounds.

Disney Offering Ultimate Music Game
Why play in just a Rock Band when you can play in the Ultimate Band?
by Daemon Hatfield


February 27, 2008 - Electronic Arts is cooking up a Wii version of Rock Band, but today Disney announced a title that claims to one-up the musician simulator: Ultimate Band. Disney's title will allow players to "realize their dream of becoming a rock legend when they build their own band or jam alone" (whoa, we just got déjà vu). Unlike Rock Band, though, Ultimate won't be using any fancy hardware accessories -- just the good ol' Wiimote and Nunchuk. Disney is collaborating with bands from a wide variety of genres and eras, and gamers can choose to play guitar, bass, drums, or vocals. Customizable characters also make an appearance.

A DS version is concurrently in rehearsal.

"Whether they choose guitar, drums, bass or front man, members don't need to buy costly, single-function peripherals to play their way through Ultimate Band's deep song list, dynamic venues, and customizable characters," said Craig Relyea, senior vice president, global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. "The Wii Remote and DS stylus are the only tools they'll need to reach rock stardom in Ultimate Band."

The game is in development at Fall Line Studio, which is also working on the upcoming Prince Caspian game for DS. Look for Ultimate Band this holiday season.

Ultimate Band for Wii allows players to live the life of a rock star, by advancing their music careers and popularity from playing in a neighborhood garage to performing in front of an international audience at a world famous venue. Ultimate Band utilizes the innovative Wii Remote and Nunchuk to give fans the ability to play the drums, bass guitar, lead guitar, or take on the role of the front man. Players can also create and customize characters that reflect their own unique personalities and attributes. Along the way, players unlock new songs, venues, and accessories that can be used to customize their band members.

Published by: Disney Interactive Studios

Developed by: Fall Line Studio

Genre: Music
Release Date:
US: Q4 2008

Also Available On: Nintendo DS

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pokemon farm, wht is tht?

look it up

pokefarms?

pokemonfarm it releases in ur country on 3/1/08 so i wood check the wii shop channel or update ur wii so u get ur wiiware buddy

is it free or wii points needed cause eithe way i still have 1000 wii points left

i pretty sure ur goona need money 4 wiiware games, remember the post i made about nintendo chargin money? wiiware is probably it

dang

i think that wiiware will be 1. money
2. wii points
3. both
anyway...

New WiiWare Game: Defend Your Castle
XGen's classic announced for Nintendo's downloadable service. First details and screens.
by Matt Casamassina
February 29, 2008 - XGen Studios announced this week that it is prepping a new version of its classic title Defend Your Castle for Nintendo's WiiWare service. The title, which will cost 500 Wii Points, will be available on May 12 with the launch of WiiWare. Here are first details and screens courtesy of the company.

"The Barbarian hordes have amassed their forces once again to challenge your domain. Will you and your court rise to the challenge, or stand aside as the invaders raze your Castle to the ground?"

Features at a glance:


Four-player jump-in cooperative gameplay - Defend your Castle with up to three pals!
Compete with your friends for kingship - Get crowned for dominating other players and earn the right to manage the Kingdom!
Completely new visuals and animation
Enhanced physics & particle effects
Repel even faster and more massive waves of invaders
Not a port of the original - Defend Your Castle has been re-created from the ground up to utilize the unique capabilities of the Nintendo Wii and Wii Remote
Unlimited levels - Continue to grow the strength of your Kingdom indefinitely
Play on your big screen TV, from your couch!

A screenshot of the updated WiiWare projectWe've posted new screenshots in our media section.

Published by: XGen Studios

Developed by: XGen Studios

Genre: Action
Number of Players: 1-4
Release Date:
US: May 12, 2008
Europe: May 12, 2008

MSRP: $5.00
Also Available On: Web Games

New WiiWare Game: Major League Eating
Finally -- a title our own Mark Bozon can excel at. Info and media included.
by Matt Casamassina
February 29, 2008 - Videogame publisher Mastiff on Friday revealed that it is developing an exclusive new WiiWare title called Major League Eating: The Game. The effort will debut with the launch of Nintendo's WiiWare service on May 12, but the company has not yet set a Wii Point value.

According to Mastiff, the project will make extensive use of the Wii remote to "simulate the fast and furious action of a professional eating contest."

"Watching Major League Eating is like watching poetry in motion" said Bill Swartz of Mastiff. "Professional gurgitators have the grace of ballerinas yet the brute strength, mental focus, and intestinal fortitude to push their bodies and minds as hard as athletes in any other extreme endurance sport. Victory is sweet and defeat can be well, really, really messy. It's an experience we're proud to help bring into the home."


Major League Eating is a real sport. Now it's coming exclusively to WiiWare.The title boasts a full roster of the world's "greatest gurgitory athletes" and features competitions set across a variety of venues, each exploiting different foods.
More from the official release: "Built much like a classic fighting game and deeper than a Chicago style deep-dish pizza, MLE: The Game requires players to master a smorgasbord of offensive and defensive weapons including bites, burps, belches, mustard gas and jalapeño flames while cramming and chewing food at a world-class pace. It's not for the faint of heart, the slow of reflex, or those with an overly strong aversion to a Technicolor reversal of fortune."

Players will use the Wii remote to execute different eating techniques, including the cram, toss and typewriter. There will also be burp-offs and hot potato challenges.

Major League Eating features offline play for two gamers, an online play mode and also leader board tracking.

Published by: Mastiff

Developed by: Sensory Sweep / Mastiff

Genre: Sports
Number of Players: 1-2
Release Date:
US: May 12, 2008

have you guys seen the image they have for major league eating its a guy with his hands on a hotdog putting it into his mouth

tv coming to wii!!!
for more info go here:http://www.friendcodes.com/forums/news-and-notes/77021-the-tv-guide-channel-releases-in.html

Guitar Hero III Double Whammy
Two guitar pack rears its head in Oz.
by Martin Robinson, IGN UK
UK, March 5, 2008 - As a seemingly simple solution to Guitar Hero freaks scouring the streets for a standalone axe, Activision has revealed plans to release a Guitar Hero III pack complete with two wireless guitar controllers, although for the time being it will only be available on the Wii in Australia.

Production issues have ensured that there have been slim pickings for anyone looking for a second guitar for the game – standalone units are rarer than the proverbial hen's teeth. As Guitar Hero III marks the series first outing on the Nintendo Wii, it's a logical step to offer the pack to the debutants who won't have a Guitar Hero II guitar knocking around.

No price point has been announced, and whether Activision intends to roll out the package across other formats and territories is as yet uncertain. As we write we await a reply from Activision Europe to confirm its plans.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Hits 5 Million in Global Sales
The founding fathers of video games, SEGA and Nintendo, find a winning formula with first-ever pairing of famous mascots.
March 5, 2008 - SEGA Corporation today announced that its history-making video game title, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, has sold five million copies worldwide in just over three months. Developed by SEGA for the Wii video game system and the Nintendo DS system, with creative input and executive milestone approvals by Nintendo's developers, the title brought together for the first time the two most beloved icons in the entertainment industry. In the spirit of the Olympic Games, the legendary mascots also brought friends from their storied franchises along, including Luigi, Knuckles, Yoshi and Tails, to compete in a variety of Olympic events.

"With adored icons and fun game play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has shot to the top of the sales charts and is clearly resonating with the growing audience of casual gamers that want an engaging and accessible gaming experience," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America.

Published by SEGA across Europe and North America, and by Nintendo in Japan, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games made its worldwide debut on November 6, 2007, when the Wii version hit store shelves in the United States. According to the NPD Group, which tracks sales data in the United States, the game was one of the top-ten best-sellers in the United States - across all platforms - in the critical holiday sales month of December.

When Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games launched in Europe just days later, it was an immediate hit, rising rapidly to the top of sales charts. Mario & Sonic became the best-ever performing Wii game over the seven-day period that ended on December 11, 2007. In January, Mario & Sonic was the best-selling video game in England across all formats.

"The market for entertaining games that everyone can enjoy is growing faster than any other segment in the industry, thanks in part to the explosive popularity of Wii and Nintendo DS," continued Jeffery. "A key element of our growth strategy at SEGA is to develop and publish games that appeal to this expanding market."

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), the exclusive Interactive Entertainment Software licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

About SEGA Corporation:

SEGA Corporation is a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home, encompassing consumer business, amusement machine sales and amusement center operations. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGA Corporation's Web site is located at http://sega.jp.

About ISM:

ISM is active in managing and developing entertainment software applications. In addition to the exclusive rights ownership of the Olympic Games, ISM is one of the world's leading providers of sports fantasy games, particularly specializing in the football/soccer sector. Visit the company's website at www.ismltd.com