Arc Rise Fantasia scans

(click on scans for larger view)


Wow, this Japan RPG came out of nowhere! It looks amazing and I can't wait until we get some more screens or a video of this game in action. Not much is know about the game as far as release date and such but you can be sure that we'll be hearing more about it soon.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09 Gameplay videos

I enjoyed Wii Golf back with Wii Sports, but since then I haven't been interested in Golfing on the Wii. Maybe because no one has done it right yet. This new game of Tiger Woods looks like it might be worth checking out; the look is nice, the gameplay looks fun and the controls (from what previews have said) are 1:1 ratio with your swing. I think those are a winning combination.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Wii trailer

The style of the game looks just about identical to the the movie. I'm hopeful that the controls will make the Wii remote feel more like a lightsaber and not just a bunch of waggle with no direction. I'm sure there will be more info at E3 coming soon.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World developer TV spot

This game is going to be selling good in Japan and no doubt the same when it's released in States. The battles look every bit as fun as the first game but with more control over the movement of your characters. Who was that girl laughing with the developer? "hehehehehe" You gotta love Japan....

Madden '09 Wii trailer

This looks to be the best playing and best looking Madden on Wii yet. The "Call your shot" mode looks excellent and will give you so much more freedom to call plays. I can't wait to see more soon.

The Conduit: Developer Q&A

Dan Kaufman - Software Development Director for High Voltage Software.

Rob Nicholls - Lead Game Designer on the Conduit.

Q1: We see alot of images of all different kinds of alien species, what are they called? Ex: Halo has the Covenant, The Conduit has?

Rob: Our alien race is called “The Drudge”.

Q2: Could you give us a brief glimpse into the story of the Conduit?

Rob: The Conduit is a first person adventure game that takes place on Earth in a fictional near future. The main character, “Mr. Ford”, works for an undisclosed government agency that has assigned him to investigate a possible extra-terrestrial encounter. The whole situation ends up going terribly wrong when the player discovers that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than anybody could have realized. Players are going to be very surprised when they discover the real truth that surrounds us all.

Q3: In lots of the images and in the trailer their are aliens standing in front of what appears to be portals. Care to explain?

Rob: That’s because they ARE portals. The alien Drudge has the ability to set these up in various locations in order to easily pour in reinforcements. It also means these portals should be prime targets for players, in order to keep from having to face an endless horde of enemies. =)

Q4: How would you describe The Conduit's gameplay?

Rob: The Conduit is a fast-paced action shooter, intended to cater to a wide variety of play styles. It doesn’t matter if you are the “run and gun”, the “cover to cover” or the “sniper” type of player, there will be something for you in The Conduit.

Q5: What kinds of Online and offline modes can we expect to see?

Rob: The Conduit has an engaging single player mode for offline play and will have at least three competitive multiplayer modes for online play.

Q6: You mentioned in an IGN article that the framerate was currently at 30 but you were aiming for 60. Have you hit your goal yet?

Dan: The game will run absolutely solid at 30fps. For HVS, choice is either to have less visual splendor and run at 60fps or achieve the look we want for the game and run at 30fps. 30fps is a frame rate that is plenty responsive for FPS gaming and we are valuing the increased visual detail we can offer over the slightly smoother gameplay we might otherwise get by scaling this back.

Q7: Are we going to see voice/text chat or any way to communicate other then ducktaping out phones to our heads?

Dan: We are exploring the possibility for voice chat. It is too early to make any promises along these lines, but we agree it could make the game even better!

Q8: Any plans for local/splitscreen or lan multiplayer?

Dan: Splitscreen multiplayer – not this version. LAN multiplayer – very likely.

Q9: What has been the hardest part so far in the process of making The Conduit?

Rob: There are hard parts on any project, but since this is HVS’s first big internal title in some time, I would say that my biggest challenge on this title has been to maintain the focus and the vision. Not because people have wanted to make a different title, but because everyone is so excited about this opportunity that they all want to contribute above and beyond their normal roles. However, I think we succeeded in staying focused on making the best fast-paced action shooter on the Wii. =)

Q10: Lots of other third party developers have loaded their games full mini-games with... interesting controls. Any chance we will see any in The Conduit? (Yes, this question may be considered a joke)

Rob: Seriously, we _do_ have one “mini-game” in our title, but it plays so well that you don’t even notice that it’s a mini-game. I think that says something about how far we’ve come with our game design. =)

Link

So there you have some nice information from the developers themselves. I'm liking the Lan possibilities since there is no game like that on the Wii yet. I'm just hoping they nail the art style and make some better looking Aliens.

Alone in the Dark Wii trailer

This looks like a PS2 port with Wii controls all the way, but a decent attempt no doubt. The controls look interesting, but how many more of these type of games do Wii owners need to put up with before developers just use the Wii as the main console for development and forget about the PS2?

The Conduit: updated screens

The Conduit shows a lot of potential, and I'm happy that High Voltage is not releasing the game until early 2009 to perfect the game with more development time. While the screens I've shown here look great (great main character detail on the hands and guns), the rest of the screens that have been released on other sites leave more to be desired. The main problem is the art design and poor textures of the Alien enemies shown so far. The good news is that High Voltage has plenty of time to fix those issues since they have a great engine to run the game and in the end I'm sure it will look extremely good on Wii.

Call of Duty:World At War running the Call of Duty 4 Engine on Wii

Keep in mind that all next-gen versions of Call of Duty 5 will be running off the awarding winning Call of Duty 4 engine. The fact that the Wii version of the game will be running it as well is an amazing feat in itself, but read on for more details on Call of Duty 5 for Wii:

From Gonintendo:

This information is said to come from the latest issue of gamesTM magazine. If anyone out there is a subscriber, or has purchased the latest issue, please shoot me an email to confirm these details.

- enemies will be ’scarier’ and have new tactics

- co-op gameplay

- vehicles and squad-based multiplayer

- Wii version is being handled by Treyarch, but a separate team within Treyarch

- CoD 4 engine has been adapted to Wii

- Wii Zapper support

- Opening scene: Japanese commander stubbing a cigarette out in the eye of a prisoner before slitting his throat - the blood splatters and dribbles down the side of the tent you are being held in. He turns towards you to deal out the same treatment but help arrives just in time. Cue a daring level-long escape.

Reader the Real_weeman confirmed this information, and gave us some quotes!

“Man, we can definitely talk about the Wii Version, I mean, where do we start? Well, first and foremost, The Wii version is being developed here at Treyarch. It’s a separate team from the next-gen team but its on-site. If you’re going to compare the next-gen version and the wii version side-by-side then you’re going to find that it’s a much closer comparison than, I think, any other Wii game currently on the market..”

“Yeah, the challenge with this one was ‘how do we make a cutting edge next-gen game work on the wii’?’. The answer is a lot of frickin’ smart engineers who’ve shipped Wii titles in the past. Getting the call of duty 4 engine on Wii was our first challenge - which we’ve managed to do and it looks great - but there are also a content and design challenges to consider.”

“Beyond that, We’re reall accepting the fact that the person buying on the Wii is doing so for a different kind of experience. I mean, we’re going to be supporting the Zapper and, I don’t know how familiar you are with the Zapper personally, but you lose about five or six buttons on that controller, so it’s very challenging to make a call of duty game that functions well. We’ll be doing some unique stuff with co-op gameplay, too, but we’re not ready to talk on that yet. I honestly think you’ll see what we’re taking the Wii very seriously.”

Link to Gonintendo

Link to Strategyinformer

I can't wait to hear some more information on this soon. It's too bad that the game is back to good ol' World War II....but the technology running the game on the Wii is very exciting indeed. Glad to see a big time developer is really taking the Wii seriously (yes I know you are trying Capcom, but show us more!) and putting strong resources behind it to go along with their 360/PS3 efforts. There is also no way this is a PS2 port....

Tenchu IV Trailer

From what I'm hearing, Tenchu IV's exclusive announcement for the Wii was actually pretty big news. I have never played a Tenchu game on any platform, so can anyone tell me what to expect from the Wii game (besides the obvious control) and how good it can actually be? Leave a comment and let me know.

New Fatal Frame IV screens

Link to more screens including CG screens for comparison

These are all real-time screens and it's looking extremely atmospheric and awesome. Having to use the Wii remote as a flashlight is probably something many of you have been wanting to do ever since the Wii was announced back in 2005. Looking kinda spooky and scary too and that's always a good thing.

Spyborgs debut trailer

Capcom has said to have "faith" in this game, so I'm willing to give it a chance. After the strong backlash from hardcore fans wanting something like Lost Planet or Devil May Cry on the Wii they had to be expecting that. Before I jump to any conclusions about this game I will need to actually see some more info on how it plays, controls, and just more of the game itself.

Shiren the Wanderer 3 screens

link

This that new RPG coming out in Japan for the Wii. It's looking really good and hopefully it will come to the United States at some point. It looks extremely Japanese though and I'm not sure how much that will effect a release in the States.

Fatal Frame IV even better scans

(click on the screens for high resolution images)

Now I'm even more convinced that this game is going to be exciting. The graphics look extremely good and the detail looks like some of the best yet on Wii. Being enclosed in a mansion might help the overall detail of the game, but regardless of that it still looks awesome.

Fatal Frame IV first in-game screens

Finally we get to see what the game looks like beyond the CG. It looks very similar to the cut-scene graphics, with nice lighting and detailed environments. Don't know anything more about the game or the story but hopefully it will be scary and good.

Tales of Symphonia 2 is now a must have!

We have seen many screens and some footage of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World and they all look "good" but nothing that made me think it was a must have game....until now that is. You must watch the entire trailer to appreciate the presentation, animation and the gameplay. It looks amazing in my opinion and definitley just shot to the top of my list for this holiday for games on the Wii. Not to mention that it fills the need for a really good RPG that the Wii still doesn't have.

Tell me how you feel about this game after seeing the new trailer.

V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack Trailer

I believe that this game is only 700 Wii points, it looks fun and easy to play. For a quick round of Blackjack, you probably couldn't go wrong with this one. Anyone downloaded this yet?

The Conduit debut trailer

This is the game many of you have been waiting for and now finally we are getting the video we were promised a couple weeks ago. To me the game looks like a cross between FEAR, Timeshift and Bioshock (the hand holding the seeing eye). Only in the style and presentation, not much is known about the gameplay since no hands-on previews have been made yet but it does look pretty much like a run and gun FPS. I'm looking forward to seeing much more soon.

MadWorld screens continued

Link

It's almost like Platinum Games is trying to make up for the lack of Mature Hardcore games on the Wii by making this game a definite no doubter that the Wii is for everyone (including adult gamers) and not just people that want to play Tennis or Bowling. Death by street sign looks.....well.....they all look gruesome!

MadWorld Screens for Wii

13 screen shots of MadWorld. Can we say "sorely needed on Wii" ? Just put a nice advertising campaign behind this and it will sell very good. Any game with one of the creators of Resident Evil 4 working on it deserves my dollar.

MadWorld trailer and confirmation for Wii

Originally Posted by Gamespot but has since been removed:

The final game announced at the event was Madworld, an ultraviolent action game coming to Wii. The game has a stylised black-and-white palette, with bright red blood providing the only splash of colour on screen. Madworld bears a striking resemblance to the Frank Miller comic series Sin City and the recent Gears of War 2 announcement trailer. Coincidentally, "Mad World" is also the title of a song that featured in an Xbox 360 Gears of War television advertisment.

The developers said they aren't setting out to make a depraved or perversely violent game with Madworld, but rather a game focused on "fun," comical violence.

PlatinumGames said they felt the Wii was missing "such a game [as] Madworld," with many games on the platform being too similar to each other. A brief gameplay segment was shown at the announcement press conference in which the game's lead character, Jack, used a chainsaw--controlled with a flick of the Wii Remote--to slice up foes, and was able to perform finishing moves such as impaling them on a nearby spiked wall.

The game also features Bloodbath Challenge minigames. One demonstrated was called Man Darts, where the object was to splatter enemies onto a giant oversized dart board by swinging a baseball bat at the correct time. "

-The world is entirely black and white, with the exception of the blood
- It's an action game sporting comical ultra-violence.
- The themes are "Cheerful violence" and "Curb Brawler"
- It's a game about a protagonist which carries his past on its shoulders and which is getting on with commiting his ultimate slaughter.
- Director is Shigenori Nishikawa
- The Japanese release is not fixed yet.

Link

This game looks like what Manhunt 2 should have been. Lots of style and no censoring the "executions" and tons of red all over the screen. Yes it's violent but I doubt it would get an "AO" rating seeing that the art style would protect that from happening. This game is embargoed but I don't see the point anymore since everyone already knows that MadWorld exists. It's so funny how the Internet works with IGN dancing around their knowledge of the game but basically confirming that the game is exclusive for Wii at the same time.....

LostWinds direct-feed gameplay video

GoNintendo direct-feed: LostWinds
by rawmeatcowboy

LostWinds is probably the only WiiWare game that is a "sure thing" if you want a game that looks great, plays great and has a great price. If you are not convinced, just watch this video and then proceed to the Wii Shop Channel and download this.

Resident Evil 5 Wii: clearer info on recent interviews

Recently there was an interview with Resident Evil 4 producer Masachika Kawata. After doing some deeper digging on anything Resident Evil 5 and Wii related, I found a much clearer translation from the original Japanese interview. Read below:


Q: What inspired you to develop a new episode of the serie Resident Evil on Wii? (referring to RE:UC)

A: The Wii-mote was perfectly adapted to that kind of game.

Q: What do you think about third-party support on Wii in general. What drove you to develop on Wii instead of working on PS3 or X360?

A: The basic concept of Resident Evil is to run with guns and shoot everywhere [!!!], so from that perspective, it was really interesting to take full advantage of the uniqueness of the Wii. We wanted to create a balance between the shootings and the horror.

Q: We gave Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition an excellent score. Why isn't Capcom bringing RE5 to Wii? As we seen with that game, impressive graphics can be done on that platform as well.

A: Decisions surrending the RE5 project were taken a long time ago [perhaps even before Nintendo unveiled Wii-mote?] and they needed to choose quickly on which platform they wanted to develop it. They haven't decided if they will port RE5 on Wii yet. So in a way this game (RE4:Wii); well both games [I think the translator switched Kawata's words to point out both games] will help us to test the market, to see if developing this genre on this platform is interesting. The decision is not made yet.

Link to "Ask Capcom"

The key quotes are: "They haven't decided if they will port RE5 on Wii yet." "The decision is not made yet."

This leaves the door wide open for the Resident Evil 5 to come to the Wii. I payed a visit to Capcom's "Ask Capcom" and this question has been asked of them many times: "Why don't you just port Resident Evil 5 to the Wii?" They say the game can't be done on the Wii since its being made from the ground up for 360 and PS3, but that seems to set the forums ablaze with reasons why it could work on the Wii and how it could look good if made to the Wii's strengths(see my previous post on the TEV unit in Wii). There are many graphics discussions going on right now and many people are quick to discount the Wii. However if the producer of Resident Evil 4 hasn't decided if RE5 will come to the Wii yet, then you know that graphics are not really an issue to them(it is much easier to convert High-Res textures to Low-Res Textures than Low-Res to High-Res) its really the money. Capcom can make a port for the Wii and make it look similar enough to the other versions for a fraction of the cost. This doesn't confirm anything for sure but the possibility is very high. Another reason why Capcom would release Resident Evil 5 for the Wii would be to make a profit to cover development costs of the other versions.

*UPDATE 5/08/08*

Thank you all for your heartfelt comments and support for the chance of Resident Evi 5 coming to the Wii. Capcom still has not made an announcement on if RE5 would come to the Wii or not. Sometimes no news is good news. Capcom does know that Resident Evil 4 for the Wii is nearing 2 million copies sold worldwide and that it already has outsold RE4 on the Gamecube. I will bet the farm that Capcom will give the Wii at least 1 more Resident Evil game whether it is Resident Evil 5 or an exclusive Resident Evil game taking place right before Resident Evil 5 (Leon?) or (depending on when the game is released) right after RE5. I personally think that doing a port of RE5 would actually be easier for Capcom than making a totally new game. Why do I think that? Read this preview of WALL-E for the Wii which is being ported from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. Yes I understand that WALL-E is a completely different game than Resident Evil 5, but this shows that porting from the "big boys" is possible and might actually be easier than making a new Resident Evil game from scratch.

Capcom has the ability to port this game down for the Wii, there's no excuse anymore.

*UPDATE* 7/23/08

Sega of America president Simon Jefferey in an interview concerning hardcore gaming on the Wii let slip that Resident Evil 5 was coming to the Wii. He said: "Resident Evil 5 (he then pauses for a moment) when that happens on the Wii it's going to help."

Jefferey tried to backpedal his statement after the interview but I've found more evidence:

Christian Svensson, Corporate Officer/VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development of Capcom had this to say when asked about the Resident Evil 5 Wii slip up in the "Ask Capcom forum":

"Simon's a friend of mine... but I don't think I've spoken to him about anything like that.

No comment beyond that really. Interesting clip that slip aside though. Simon's a really smart guy. I have a lot of respect for his work at Sega and his prior work at Lucasarts."

Link

Hey guys I don't know about you but that is looking like a very strong hint that RE5 is in development for the Wii. That is definitely not a denial, and usually when Sven talks like that it means something is happening concerning that subject (for the Wii in this case) and he can't say anymore about it or it will interfere with Capcom's future plans. If Resident Evil 5 was announced right now for the Wii, how many sales would that take away from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions which are almost finished? From a business standpoint I can understand if Capcom plays it quiet until after those versions are released, and then they may announce RE5 for the Wii.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel it seems....

Mario Kart Wii: Cowboy Jed says "Look at the footage!"

The first video is all 3 Mario Kart Wii commercials shown on TV. The second video is behind the scenes "footage" and a music video remix of Cowboy Jed going nuts. I vote for him being the new Nintendo spokesman for commercials, absolutely hilarious!

Protothea announced for WiiWare

Yet another WiiWare game, I think it is a safe bet that this service is going to rock. Now lets get Konami to put an original Castlevania game on it and we'll be set.

Super Mario Kart with Force Dynamics

I saw this on the NeoGaf forums and thought it was cool enough to post. It's a shame that the guy playing Mario Kart is so bad at it, but it does make a good demonstration of all the different kinds of feedback you can have in that Kart he is sitting in. Who knows if all that shaking makes you worse at the game or not. The other picture is a funny comic about F-Zero X.....enjoy.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Wii Duel Mode Preview

The Duel Mode looks extremely fun if you ask me, the graphics also look better than I last saw with nice shadows and lighting/particle effects. I found it funny to see the version of Luke Skywalker from Episode IV: A New Hope having Force Lightning power since he could barley hold his Lightsaber and was too busy whining about being a whining farm boy. Luke: "I'm not such a bad whiner myself you know."

Had to do it.