Although Executive flame wars like those routinely highlighting mega-gaming blogs can be a lot of fun (after all, who doesn’t enjoy reading about Sony’s crackpot comments or Microsoft’s clueless retorts?), ultimately they just make the companies involved look a little…juvenile. We all love to laugh at (insert company name here) when they make fools of themselves, and when they do, the blogs love it because they get page traffic like there’s no tomorrow.

But what these things ultimately end up engendering rarely reaches beyond the level of pissing off Group A, Group B or both. It doesn’t take much effort to find a PS3/360 related flame war on the net, after all.

Then enter Nintendo, who’s Wii has become the utterly undisputed champion of this generation, nearly matching the combined sales of both its competitors, a goal it will likely reach this quarter. When we see mention of Nintendo in the press it’s usually in the context of how their new system and its software is helping someone. The elderly. The sick. The Injured. The Children.

One of the best examples I’ve seen of this is a posting on mega-gaming blog Kotaku today, proclaiming that Wii Fit Helps Paralyzed Girl Walk Again. I’m sure it’s overstated, I’m sure it had more to do with her doctors than Wii fit itself did, but the effect on perception is profound all the same.

In all of these cases, what do we see that we don’t get from the other console vendors by either their press releases, their advertising or their flamebait, crackpot commentary? We see situations that virtually anyone, no matter what their belief system, their politics, their affiliations–can open their hearts to. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, a Christian or an Atheist, you almost can’t help but feel an affection, admiration or appreciation for anyone or anything that helps people. We all know someone–or of someone–who fits into one of these categories. A grandparent. A friend. Our own children. And when we see that something reaches out, takes a little of the pain away and delivers a smile to someone for whom perhaps it seems that nothing else could, that in turn puts a smile on our faces, a warm place in our hearts, and an opening in our wallets.

I think some things are very clear when it comes to Nintendo and its Wii. It’s not selling on the power of flashy visuals and it’s not catering to the Home Theater enthusiast crowd. It doesn’t do movies, it doesn’t tantalize us with cleverly named processors or promises of 50 million dollar game budgets. Instead it’s reaching toward something far more universal and meaningful than what its competitors are: our heartstrings.

It tugs at our nostalgia with its Virtual Console. It tugs at our sense of family, friends and fun with its playful games that demand a group. And in the media, in our public perception, it tugs at our sense of purpose because–whether its true or not–it reaches out to help those who need a hand–and a smile. In the end, maybe that’s more powerful marketing than any buzzwords or polygon counts can ever be, because while only some of us care about detailed games, practically all of us care about people who suffer more than seems fair.

As reported over at mega-blog Kotaku, Analyst Colin Sebastian joins always-ready-with-a-prediction Michael Pachter in stating that he expects Nintendo to ship a brand new Zelda title in time for Holiday 2009. Now, at the risk of sounding all naysayerish, duh. I mean seriously, Holiday 2009 will mark 3 years since the last console Zelda title shipped, that title has obviously worn off some of its polish–and let’s face it, it wasn’t really a native Wii game anyway, it was a ported Gamecube game. A nice launch title, to be sure, but let’s not pretend it was something other than what it is, OK? I hate that shit.

With that said, it would truly behoove Nintendo to maintain their huge momentum with the Wii platform by not only bringing out a new Zelda title in time for holiday 2009 worldwide, but to ensure that the game pushes the system to its absolute maximum limits in all areas from graphics to gameplay. It’d also be beneficial for the game to require and ship with a Wii Motion Plus peripheral. Heck, I’d be onboard with Balance Board support, too. Whatever else is true and in spite of what the other manufacturers like to say, the momentum of this console generation is truly with the Wii platform. The question going forward is, how will they sustain this momentum, and how long until Wii 2 (Wii HD, whatever) hits? What do you think?

Apparently taking the issue of people getting overzealous in their Wii playing seriously, Nintendo has issued an email–presumably just to registered users, of which I am one–asking users to be sure and follow the safety guidelines when playing with their Wii’s. While the warning is certainly justified (the number of idiots hurting themselves, others, or even their possessions due to overly rough play is pretty staggering–if not kind of funny–as documented by the fine folks at Wii have a Problem).

The official content of the email follows after the break, so click that “read more” deal to see for yourselves. Ideally, you’re already smart enough not to hurt yourselves while playing, but if there are any doubts in your household, we definitely recommend printing this one out.

Wii(TM)
http://l.nintendo-news.com/l/r/04N5X5Z30WlJG0GGjX

Hello,

We hope you are enjoying your Wii. When using the Wii
system, please review this safety information to insure an
enjoyable and safe play experience.

Wear the wrist strap when using the Wii Remote.
Make sure all players use the wrist strap and that the strap
lock is correctly tightened. When sharing the Wii Remote
between multiple players, make sure each person using the
remote properly uses the wrist strap. Wearing the wrist
strap will prevent you from accidentally dropping or
throwing the remote during game play which could damage the
remote or surrounding objects, or cause injury to other
people.

Do not let go of the remote during game play.
For example, in a game like Wii Sports bowling, the ball is
thrown by simply releasing the B Button on the remote, not
by letting go of the remote! Hold the remote securely and
avoid excessive motion during game play. If your hands
become moist, stop and dry your hands. Excessive motion may
cause you to let go of the remote and may break the wrist
strap.

Allow adequate room around you during game play.
Stay at least three (3) feet away from the television. Make
sure objects and other people are out of your range of
movement or arm motion to prevent damage or injury.

For more information on Wii safety, please visit
nintendo.com/consumer/wiisafety.jsp:
http://l.nintendo-news.com/l/r/04N5X5Z30WlJG0GGjX

Thanks and we hope you are enjoying your new product!

Nintendo of America Inc.

During E3 I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the new Nintendo Wii in order to try out a game that just may be one of the system’s killer apps. Red Steel is a first person shooter set in modern day Tokyo; it is being developed by Ubisoft. The game makes excellent use of the system’s unique controller (affectionately referred to as the Wii-mote) for aiming, moving, and shooting.

The Wii-mote took a little getting used to, as it is extremely sensitive and responsive, but after a couple minutes it became very intuitive and natural to use. I was easily using the Wii-mote to aim and fire my gun onscreen. Also, at one point in the game I was able to use a Samurai sword to combat my enemies and again the controller performed flawlessly as the sword slashes on screen matched my hand and wrist movements.
The game itself played well and looked fantastic.

For being a Wii game, I was surprised with the amount of detail that went into the lighting, shading, explosions, and environment. Visually it looked about as good as Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360. The Wii is certainly not as lacking in the graphical department as reports would lead you to believe, plus it looked fine on the HDTV that I was playing on. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with both the game and the Wii in general and I had to keep reminding myself that what I was playing is only a demo of a game that is still months away from release. In closing, Nintendo is proving that they are still very much a force to be reckoned with and all I can say is that I can’t wait to buy my own Nintendo Wii so I can immerse myself in games like Red Steel.

In an entirely unexpected announcement this morning, Nintendo has unveiled the release name of the console formerly known as “Revolution” : The Nintendo Wii.

According to a cute animated release on Nintendo’s site, the name is pronounced “We” and is chosen for numerous reasons, including ease of pronunciation regardless of language, representation of the system’s unique Dual-Controller system and a bunch of other stuff you can read for yourself.

I’m not sure I hate the name, but I’m still pretty attached to Revolution. Either way, this is THE console to pick up for unique games in the coming generation. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Tetris DS, developed and published by Nintendo, turns out to be much more than just a republication of a classic. Published March 20^th, 2006, the new game features multiple new play modes, an internet WiFi
capability and the ability to wirelessly hold 10 player Tetris matches using just one cartridge. These features and more all come together to make the latest iteration of the puzzle classic far more than your average rehash.

Like virtually every iteration before it, Tetris DS is less like a game and more like a little plastic bag of crack cocaine: once you start, it’s really hard to stop.

Graphics
Presentation:

The colorful graphics, while nothing to write home about in the days of Normal Mapped, high poly characters and environments, are nevertheless a delight to look at and a nostalgia trip all on their own. For
players of the original Tetris, they graphics are certainly cleaner and hold more detail than the original, but the style and symmetry remains the same regardless. Each of the game’s several modes demonstrates a different theme ranging from the classic Super Mario Bros to the original Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario and even Zelda’s earliest adventures.

Score: 5

Audio Presentation:

The audio quality is clean, with music taken from the classic games that also inspired some of the graphical themes. Most of the songs appear to be “remixed” a bit, and while they’re a fun trip down memory lane they can get annoying after awhile. I find myself torn between playing with the sound all the way down or with it turned up, and I tend to alternate between the two extremes.

Score: 3

Gameplay:

Tetris is a classic precisely because of the addictive, fun gameplay that sucks players in for hours on end. That hasn’t changed here at all. In the standard mode you use virtually the identical controls to the original Tetris (no touching needed except in the Touch Mode) and the game plays in nearly the same way. Various blocks of different shapes make their way down the screen and it’s up to you to stack them up, line them up and clear rows of them for points. Ideally you’ll clear rows in groups of four to score a “Tetris”, which will build up your ranking even faster.

In addition to the original Tetris mode, there are others including Puzzle, Push, Touch, Catch and Mission modes. Puzzle is harder than it sounds in some cases: You begin with a prebuilt stack of blocks and it’s up
to you to figure out how to use three tetriminoes in the right order to clear all the blocks. In some cases this is absurdly easy, in others it’s incredibly difficult, but I’m convinced that succeeding at these puzzles will make you a better Tetris player all the way around.

In Push mode you play against the computer or another player, and each of you tries to clear as many lines as possible to “push” the other player either up or down (depending on whether you’re on the top screen
or the bottom). Whichever player succeeds in pushing the other to the goal line wins the match.

In Touch mode you use the stylus to manipulate blocks in a classic game of Tetris, but believe me, it’s more challenging than it sounds. The mode’s blocks have a different appearance than they do in other modes,
offering more of a pastel color scheme and solid blocks rather than the standard tetriminoes that are made up of individual squares. It’s a minor difference, but an interesting one.

In Catch mode you begin with a stack of blocks and rather than manipulating falling blocks it’s up to you to “catch” falling blocks by manipulating your core stack left and right, and rotating it to find the best
position in which to catch the blocks that fall. This mode is fun and very challenging, as it turns the traditional Tetris gameplay model on it’s ear…and it’s butt…and it’s nose…and it’s…well, you get the idea.

Mission mode presents you with a classic Tetris style playing field, but in order to proceed to the next

mission you have to successfully clear objectives according to the guidelines given. Examples are things like “Clear two lines using the [L shaped piece]”, which requires you to use your falling blocks to create a field in which you can use that L shaped piece to clear two lines. If you fail, your blocks are pushed higher up the screen, risking your chances of succeeding in the future

All in all, the new modes add a great deal of replay value to the gameplay of a classic, and will ensure hours and hours (and hours and hours) of entertainment for people who enjoy a good puzzle game.

Score: 5

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer is where this title really shines, and it brings a tremendous new element to the already classic gameplay. Being able to wirelessly play Tetris against any other Tetris DS player on the planet is a huge plus and is surprisingly fun and addictive. In the past the best you could really do to challenge friends was to challenge what level you’d gotten to as compared to them. Now you can match your skills head on in a number of modes. If you happen to have 9  broke friends with DS’s but no Tetris, invite them over and all 10 of you can play the game together wirelessly thanks to support for the wireless Download mode. We’ve
seen wireless games in the past that would let players download the client to play against the “server” on the DS, but to my knowledge none have gone as far as letting 10 people in total play together. Truly this is an innovative and clever feature that adds all kinds of possibilities to the fun you can have with the Nintendo DS and Tetris.

Score: 5

Extras:

While Tetris DS doesn’t have extras in the sense of downloadable addons or expansion packs, the added modes and online play more than compensate for anything you won’t be downloading down the road.

Score: 3

Dev’s Perspective:
As a pseudo developer working on MOD projects and game-engine rendered short films, I tend to spend a lot of effort thinking about what could make a game better, whether that could come from graphics, audio or what have you. In the case of Tetris DS I’m unable to think of anything I would change about gameplay or
graphics. The only thing I really would like is better variety in music, but this is doable easily enough in the case of Tetris DS by turning the sound off and cranking up your iPod. Short of an MP3 player attachment and SD card reader for DS, I don’t see any way to really do that in the context of the system. It’s a minor gripe, though, and doesn’t detract from the game  at all.

Score: 5

Overall Score: 4.3

The long anticipated Nintendo DS title Metroid Prime Hunters has finally made its way into the hands of gamers everywhere today, March 21^st, 2006. While I work my way through this little piece of portable FPS heaven I’ve decided to offer my first impressions of this landmark title in the growing catalog of Nintendo DS “Must-have’s”. Though the game’s Wifi multiplayer functionality has managed to get all the press since it’s announcement last year, there’s also a deep and engaging single player experience here that’s
well worth playing through.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: METROID
PRIME: HUNTERS

Without going into a lot of detail (I’ll save that for the review proper), MPH looks, sounds, feels and plays fantastically. The controls are easy to learn and a few minutes with your hands on the unit will show you
just how easy it in fact is to manipulate the character and do what needs to be done. The game starts out very similarly to the other two recent Metroid Prime games for the Nintendo Gamecube: Samus Aran, bounty hunter, is assigned a new mission to explore a mysterious planet.

In a scene that should be familiar to all Metroid players, your ship lands on the planet and you are then able to control Samus and begin exploring the environments. So far, the environments are surprisingly well
detailed, as are the enemies. Samus looks excellent here as well, and this time you start off with the ability to morph into a ball and even drop bombs. Ambient sounds are nicely done, with different environments echoing differently, Samus’ boots (or metal skin, when she’s a ball) having appropriate sounds for
various ground types, etc.

In the early part of the game where I am, there aren’t a lot of enemies yet but I’ve already come across a simple puzzle. I won’t spoil it for you, but you shouldn’t have too tough of a time figuring it out. All the
classic gameplay elements are here from the start, however, and people familiar with the Metroid Prime look and feel should be right at home. For those new to the game—and of course, everyone new to the touchscreen controls—you’ll quickly become accustomed to the new control scheme. I highly recommend using the little nub on your DS’s carrying strap for the sake of accuracy and quick navigation of the control scheme. Trust me when I say, you’ll NEED it.

I’ll be back with a full review of Metroid Prime: Hunters in a couple of days, but until then I hope you’ll enjoy the multiplayer but don’t forget to play the single player experience, too!

Source: Computer and Video Games

According to  Nintendo’s Jim Merrick, Nintendo’s forthcoming Revolution system will, in fact, boast graphics on par with Xbox 360 and PS3. What this will mean overall for the industry and the market is still unknown, of course, but what it does do is further solidify Nintendo’s position in the next generation as a complete wildcard (which almost sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it?). Fanboys on the Xbox 360 and PS3 sides of the table have continued to bandy about a previously unsubstantiated rumor that Revolution would “only be 2-3 times the power of the Gamecube”, for months, effectively removing it from the competition (at least in their minds), but this new development throws that entire premise completely out the window.

While speculation and rumor are sure to go flying more than ever now, one question remains: How will the
market react? There are plenty of opinions on the matter, but the one thing that’s becoming clearer is that Nintendo is looking to make itself the Next-Gen platform come 2006. If the system is indeed able to compete graphically with the likes of PS3 and Xbox 360, and if the new control system truly “revolutionizes” gameplay the way Nintendo hopes it will, they may just be on track for the single greatest comeback in gaming history. The question now becomes, where are the screenshots, trailers and playable demos for Nintendo’s newest system?

With any luck we should begin seeing Revolution games in a playable form when the console comes closer to release. According to Merrick, “Miyamoto doesn’t like to show incomplete games”, which explains why we haven’t seen so much as a screenshot to date, and reportedly will not within 2005. This strategy has often worked for Nintendo in the past, serving to build up huge anticipation for upcoming titles, though it’s worth

noting that we’ve seen numerous screens and videos for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a game which isn’t due to ship for another 6 months at minimum.

Whatever Nintendo chooses to do with regard to building their own hype and marketing juggernaut before Revolution‘s launch, this much is becoming clear: Nintendo plans to be a serious competitor
in the next console war.

Source: 1Up.com

Like a screaming child who’s come to the realization that he’s not getting his way, Sony’s now resorted to calling the DS names. That’s right, folks, Sony’s own Phil Harrison, VP of development, has now resorted to calling the DS “a gimmick”. Well, Phil, maybe it’s a gimmick, but if it is, it’s a gimmick that’s kicking your ass.

What amazes me about these interviews and these incredibly arrogant statements from the Sony camp of late (apparently Kutaragi’s head-in-ass syndrome is spreading) is that it never comes down to them doing anything wrong, making any mistakes, failing to meet the needs of the audience. No, with Sony it always comes down to the calling of names and assertions that the competition isn’t as good or now, that they’re defining feature is a “gimmick”.

This, of course, brings up some other questions.

For example, some might think that having MP3 playback or mini-movies on proprietary disks is a “Gimmick”. And they’d be right. One of the things that happens with every new generation of hardware is some kind of new angle, whether its technology or a feature that doesn’t necessarily need to be there for the gaming experience. In the previous generation it was DVD movie playback being built into the PS2 and Xbox. Did that enhance the gameplay experience? Not in the least. Nevertheless it became a defining gimmick for both PS2 and Xbox (though more so for PS2, as it released 2 years earlier), and people actually perceived it as being a feature missing from the Gamecube.

Perhaps you’ll remember the world-altering innovation of the “Emotion Engine”, which was supposed to give us “Toy Story-like graphics in real-time”. Or remember how it was so advanced that the Japanese
government wasn’t going to let it be exported? Remember how it was going to become a super-intelligent guidance system for high-end missiles? Of course, as it turned out, all these “innovations” and amazing features turned out to exist solely in the mind of Ken Kutaragi, who appears to be continuing his descent into senility and now taking poor Phil Harrison with him. Given the results of the “Emotion Engine” in the 6 years since it was introduced, I’d go out on a limb and say that it’s damn safe to call it a “Gimmick”.

In the end, certain features of practically every new gaming device (to say nothing of other products which suffer from the same malady) can -and should-be considered a Gimmick. For PSP, it’s playback of MP3′s and UMD’s is pure gimmick, through and through, and neither feature helps out gaming or improves/alters the gaming experience at all. Meanwhile the Nintendo DS’s dual screens have proven to be useful for helping developers create whole new kinds of gameplay experiences for some games and extending the kinds of experiences possible in others. The touch screen adds a new element of interactive possibility to games produced on the system (witness the just-released Nintendogs, a smart and innovative game that undoubtedly baffles Sony. It has something Sony tends to shy away from: uniqueness, to say nothing of fun).

Whatever else you can you can say about DS’s gimmicks, you can’t call its dual screens or touch screen gimmicks. These are options that affect, change and grow the possibilities of gameplay and the interaction between the player and the system.

Of course, Sony’s never been about innovation so much as repetition.