| News: Wii TV Channel in Japan |
In another move set to make western Nintendo fans feel just that little bit worse, Japan has recently seen the launch of yet another Wii Channel that we won't get (the previous one being the Everybody's Nintendo demo channel thingy).
Called "TV no Tomo", which roughly translates as "Friend of TV" if I'm not mistaken, Japanese Wii owners can look at a swanky TV guide right on their Wii.
It's actually quite similar in style to one you might find on your Sky or Virgin box, but with a lot more colour and typical Nintendo stylings. For one, you can give programs a rating out of five stars and then see how the rest of the world (Japan) rates them. Of course, this leads to other nifty things such as rankings and personal recommendations. "You liked that episode of Stargate Atlantis? Well we think you might also like this episode of MASH", sort of thing.
If that wasn't enough, you can also set the channel to remind you about half an hour before a program starts either via email, mobile phone text or flashing blue light of annoyance.
Finally, it lets you use the Wii remote as a TV remote in case you lose your normal one, flicking between the channels... and stuff. I'm not sure how it works, but it's probably dark magic.
Click here for more pictures and words in Japanese that you can't read. |
| Rumour: Another "Flavour" of 360? |
Hot on the heels of the discussion of Blu-Ray for the 360 comes some very very idle speculation about a new hard drive. Now come on lads, we've seen this with the PS3, I mean it was 60 then 20 then 40 then 80 and whatever the heck in between, sometimes it had back compat, sometimes not, whatever. Now in addition to the 360 three levels of SKU we're apparently looking at bumping the basic model up to a 60gig (probably only 52 by the time you get your grubby mitts on it).
Why do console makers feel the need to do this, seriously? The reason most people say they like a console as opposed to the PC is that they don't need to worry about the system specification to run things and...oh, why do I bother.
Frankly, at the moment, I'm sitting on the fence here. Microsoft's not yet making the hard drive a requirement, and is actively looking to keep the price down. With the 120gb HDD on the market there's just no real point to this move.
Right, now I've denied it we just need to wait for it to be announced. |
| Rumour: Microsoft Plays the Blues? |
In a giant case of "Ho ho ho, we got you over a barrel now, boy." Sony US are allegedly claiming (via the Financial Times) that Microsoft are dealing with them to bring Blu Ray to the console.
This might actually be surprising and huge coup if Microsoft didn't actually have a vested interest in the format anyway due to the fact that one of the main codecs for it is, shockingly, the venerable VC-1 codec, you know, a modified version of WMV? The same one HD-DVD used? It might also be shocking if Microsoft had stated before that they would never add Blu-Ray. It might even be shocking if MS hadn't had a stand alone disc-drive previously.
As it is it just seems like a logical announcement given the push for things to go into HD on every front. |
| News: EA Gets Wind of Cold War 2? |
Now, we all know of EA's close links with other authoritarian regimes, but this about takes the cake. It appears that EA has gotten wind of incoming Russian Presdent Dmitry Medvedev's plans to rebuild the USSR and it's sphere of influence.
You're PROBABLY wondering what I'm on about now, well it's quite simple. Polish site Polygamia has read the back of the Army of Two box to find that it asks that players be 13+ to register in Czechoslovakia. Now unless my hangover is really bad this morning I was under the impression that the Czech Republic and Slovakia were two separate countries.
Mr Medvedev will not be pleased with you, EA, this warning of the re-establishment of the Warsaw Pact nations will obviously have us all on guard. |
| News: Virtual Console Sucks |
Only one game is released on the Wii's Virtual Console this week in Europe, but it's such a good one I felt the need to report it as news.
First you draw a circle, then you dot the eyes.. Add a great big smile and presto! It's Kirby!
For 1000 of your points you'll be able to grab Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. That's the 3D side scrolling one that not many people played first time round. Probably the best in the series, everyone who has a Wii should own this title, especially given how expensive the N64 cart can be if you can find it. |
Guitar Hero 3, then. It might not be as good as Rock Band, but living in Europe I wouldn't know.
Oh well, let's not grumble. Activision make the sting go away slightly by releasing free DLC for Guitar Hero 3. To celebrate St Patrick's Day, they are releasing three songs from a band called Dropkick Murphys.
I wasn't quite sure who Dropkick Murphys are, but Wikipedia describes them as a celtic punk band blending irish music, scottish music, hardcore and "Oi!". Let's go by the assumption they are good as they seem to have a few albums out!
In this case, it's their sixth album from which songs are taken. "Famous for Nothing", "Flannigan's Ball" and "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya." will all be available on March 17th for both PS3 and Xbox 360. For free. |
| News: Dengeki Proves Japanese Gaming Cliche |
Dengeki, multimedia publishing arm of an insanely large Japanese conglomerate, has recently polled its online users as to the top ten games of all time. So you're thinking "Huh, top 10 games, should be interesting". Well you thought wrong; you see, if you pick the ten most obvious games ever for stereotypical Japanese Gamer #329 then you could pretty much predict the list.
Oh, heck, I'll post it anyway:
What is the best game you ever played?
1. Final Fantasy VII (Sony PlayStation)
2. Final Fantasy X (Sony PlayStation 2)
3. Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (Sony PSP)
4. Xenogears (Sony PlayStation)
5. Tales Of The Abyss (Sony PlayStation 2)
6. Dragon Quest III (Super Famicom)
7. Dragon Quest VIII (Sony PlayStation 2)
8. Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
9. Suikoden II (Sony PlayStation)
10. Okami (Sony PlayStation 2)
See. I told you. |
 According to users of various high-quality internet gaming forums, Bully on the 360 is a sad state of affairs. It would seem that, somewhat randomly, the game will simply hang and force you to turn off your 360.
Rockstar's Sam Mouser, of Super Mario Bros 2 fame, claims that this never happened during testing and that problems are likely caused by "old" Xbox 360s. Furthermore, he stated that Rockstar "would never shove anything out the door - we never have and never will".
Not like the previous three GTA games, then. |
| Rumour: Xbox 360 Price Cut for Europe |
According to various sources, including "top retailers", the Xbox 360 is due to get a price cut in Europe. Citing March 14th as the date, we're supposedly looking at a reduction in price on each SKU by €50.
€50 is about £40 in real money or about $75 in bizarro money. Which, really, is not to be sniffed at.
This cut, if it happens, would mean you could pick up a 360 for less than a Wii. Uh oh, Nintendo! Better start treating Europe with respect.
...oops. |
| In a move that will make at least one person I know very happy, Nippon Ichi have confirmed that Disgaea, once confined to the Playstation, will now be heading to the Nintendo DS. It's called Disgaea DS: Prince of the Demon World and the Red Moon and we have no release date because there isn't one. There aren't even any screenshots, but I'm sure you can imagine what it will look like. They always look the same. |
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