As revealed by the lead designer of the project, Gareth Wilson, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed for the Wii U will come with plenty of bells and whistles. The team at Sumo Digital has utilized the new gamepad in some innovative and creative ways that might push the racing genre in some new and experimental directions.
Ubisoft has announced that Rayman Legends will not make the Wii U’s November launch window and it is now delayed to Q1 2013 worldwide.
Recent news regarding a Virtual Console service for the 3DS has caused some renewed interest and hope in the Wii’s own Virtual Console. However, seeing as how 3DS support will happen, given the announcement of Link’s Awakening: DX for the service, most developers are probably shifting their focus on porting old games over to Nintendo’s new handheld right now. Therefore, such hope and interest in Wii Virtual Console support is largely misplaced. Besides that, Wii Virtual Console support has dwindled exponentially over the past few years and has shown little sign of improving, particularly in North America.
Speaking of which, Virtual Console kicked things off wrong here on the first of November, releasing only one game: the little known Neo Geo NBA Jam clone, Street Slam. Meanwhile, Japan received four new old games, three of which are known in the West: Mario Party 2, Super Bonk, and Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Many North American gamers would love to be able to download these games to their Wii, but Nintendo of America has only seen fit to lock down bringing one of those titles over to North America for sure: Ghost ‘n Goblins. When it will arrive in the store is still an undetermined date in 2011. Meanwhile, Mario Party 2 is little more than a rumor for North American release, having no date attached to it whatsoever. Although, it is said to be coming over at some point. Perhaps it’s time for Nintendo of America to just end all Virtual Console support on this side of the Pacific rather than tease gamers what could but may never be.
For almost two decades now, Nintendo consoles have been mockingly referred to as “Nintendo Players.” The title came about during the Nintendo 64 days and grew into widespread use within the Gamecube’s lifetime due to both consoles’ lack of strong third party support. It didn’t help that Nintendo’s steady flow of big name, first party titles squashed what little third party support did actually exist during those times. Fortunately for Nintendo, things have changed with the Wii.
It has been 25 years since Mario was first unleashed on the world, and Nintendo wants you to join in on the celebration. Following announcements for Japan and Europe, Nintendo of America has revealed that they too will be releasing Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition for the Wii.
It is disappointing for PAL wii users not having access to one of the most unique wii games on the console this year. Kirby’s Epic Yarn recently launched in North America on October 17th. Kirby’s Epic Yarn has received many positive reviews from the media in the past week for its unique art style that blends perfectly with the gameplay.
In a press release this week, Nintendo announced that the Red Wii-Bundle commemorating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. will arrive in North America on November 7th. However, don’t expect this new bundle to stick around for very long. This bundle will be the most cost effective and most fully featured Wii console pack yet released. Priced at $199.99, the bundle includes a red Wii console, a red Nunchuk controller, the new and red Wii Remote Plus controller, a copy of Wii Sports, and a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, as well. The normal Wii package currently on shelves only includes a fourth of this content.
Speaking of Wii packages lacking in content, the Red Wii-Bundles for both Europe and Japan differ from the North American release considerably, with each territory’s bundle missing something the other releases contain. While the Japanese bundle doesn’t come with the two pack-in games North Americans get, the bundle does come preloaded with an altered version of Super Mario Bros. that features item blocks emblazoned with the number twenty-five in honor of the game’s 25th anniversary instead of the traditional question mark blocks. The European bundle, on the other hand, will contain everything in the North American package, plus a preloaded copy of the original Donkey Kong, which will most likely be the NES version. However, the Europeans will not get the altered Super Mario Bros.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Level 5 has just announced Layton Kyouju VS Gyakuten Saiban, the Japanese name for a new 3DS game that they are developing as a franchise crossover between Level 5’s own Professor Layton and Capcom’s Phoenix Wright. Level 5 has announced that they will be developing this fanboy’s wet dream in collaboration with Capcom. Attentive fans may remember that the two companies recently teased that they would be cooperating on a project; this appears to be the fruits of their labor.
The new trailer for the upcoming Goldeneye remake on the Wii focuses on how the writers have updated the classic story. While the original N64 game was based on the 1995 Pierce Brosnan film of the same name, this Goldeneye “re-imagining” has been updated to be more relevant to modern gamers. Not only will the game take place in the current socio-economic climate, but it will be replacing Pierce Brosnan’s role as James Bond with Daniel Craig’s version of the character as well. Developers have also revealed that the current worldwide financial crisis will take a more prominent role in the plot, affecting character motivations and interactions.
Sega has just revealed the new release date for Conduit 2 on their Conduit 2 blog site. This is the first concrete news involving the game’s release to make its way into the news since developer High Voltage Software announced the sequel’s delay this past September. Unfortunately, a specific day of release has not been nailed down quite yet, but fans of the original Conduit should be happy to know that they can continue exploring the series’ sci-fi universe come February 2011.
The Sega blog also reports that Conduit 2 experienced two very well received showings at E3 and PAX this year, which allowed High Voltage Software to come up with new ideas for the game and take in a lot of fan feedback. As it turns out, these new ideas and fan feedback were the direct cause of the Wii shooter’s delay. Hopefully, this extra development time will prove invaluable for Conduit 2’s development team, as the first Conduit was no more than an unoriginal, albeit highly competent, Wii take on the first-person shooter genre.
