Wii can't do 1:1 Plus

Welcome to another edition of Wii can't do 1:1. This edition will cover what Wii Motion + is and what it does.

First let's recap how the wiimote's accelerometers work. They read motion based on the force put on them. This data is reported as a number on one of 3 axis. For instance a quick move to the right could read as x=7, a slow one x=3. The greater the force the larger the number. Left and right movement is read as x, forward and back y, and up and down z. For each axis one direction is a positive value and the other negative. In the case of x right is negative left is positive. With this you can make gestures that are as simple as a quick move to the right or as complicated as the shapes in a game like SSX Blur.

Tilt is done using the force of gravity. When you tilt the wiimote two of the 3 values change do to the pull of gravity. The wiimote uses this data to tell what angle it is being held at. It reports this as one of two angles, pitch and roll. It can't do yawn because gravity doesn't change when you tilt the wiimote left and right. Up until recently I thought this was a great way to read tilt.

Even though tilt controls tend to work well the way they are they still have there limits. The lack of yawn is one. The fact it uses the accelerometers is another. The force of gravity can not be used when the wiimote is in motion meaning you can not have both tilt and normal acceleration at the same time. A great example is Wii Sports baseball. The game uses tilt to make you think the Wii can do 1:1 motion but any quick motion triggers a swing. The Wii is just using tilt until it sees a quick motion and this triggers the swing. It can't determine the wiimote's angle while it's in swing because it can no longer feel the force of gravity. You can see this in Warioware was well in the samurai game. If you tilt the wiimote quickly the sword disappears for a second up till it can feel the pull of gravity again. You may also notice this in racing games if you turn the wiimote quickly. What Wii need is a something else to handle tilt.

This is where Wii Motion + comes in. It is a gyroscope. A gyroscope is a device that can determine it's orientation by resisting gravity. Using this the wiimote can always tell how it's tilted. To make things better it can also adjust the accelerometers so they know there being tilted and can discount the pull of gravity. This means the wiimote and always know how it is being held and moved! Similar systems are used in inertial navigation systems.

Now there are many thing that can be done with this setup. Sword fighting is just one of them. Now games like baseball, golf and tennis can read both the speed and angle of your swing like never before. Your passes in Madden can now take your angle into account like never before. Why not have a free throw system in an NBA game that requires you to have just the right angle and power to make the shot. It may even be possible to use the wiimote like a gyroscopic mouse and remove the need for the sensor bar. There is little doubt that this will be big for the Wii. If it will mean true 1:1 however I'm not fully convinced.

The accelerometers may still not be good enough to know distance the player moved. The wiimote knows how much force was applied to it but will that be enough to know how far it moved. If you look at the sword fighting in Wii Sports Resort you can see that the angle the sword is held at still determines where it is held. I have yet to see some one hold a sword in front of them and up at a 45 degree angle. If the sword is held at a 45 degree angle the Mii holds it up at a 45 degree angle even if the player holds it out strait.

Even though this is a big steep for the Wii I can not lie and say it is perfect. I started this feature not to make the Wii look bad but to explore it's potential. To do that I can not ignore what it can and can not do. Rest a sure what it can do is impressive but I don't want people to have unrealistic expectations. For now I say the Wii still can not to 1:1.

Here is a video that should help explain things (Thank you -VashTS):

Note this is the first Wii can't do 1:1 in this blog. Others can be founded on my other blog.
Update:
The accelerometers are better then I thought. The Wii can finally do 1:1.

Thanks AmazingJanet

Discovery! A Seek and Find Adventure also on Steam

If these games where not enought now you have Discovery! A Seek and Find Adventure:

"Hunt for the more than 1,000 hidden objects as you play across five different game modes and four fun mini-games."

Like before you can save 10% by August 5th.

Valusoft games now on Steam

Yea... not much to see here...

Are You Smater than a 5th Grader?
Ride! Carnival Tycoon
Midnight Outlaw: 6 Hours to SunUp
Sprint Cars Road to Knoxville
Mahjongg Investigations: Under Suspicion
Hot Dish
Dr. Daisy Pet Vet

As usual save 10% before August 5th...

Steam updates

Here is the list of todays updates:
Children of the Nile

• Made installation of the latest DirectX redistributable more robust

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed team switches on Attack/Defense maps spamming the console
  
• Fixed the Kritzkrieg not working on servers with crits turned off
  
• Fixed some clipped localized strings in various in-game dialogs
  
• Fixed several cases where files were synchronously loaded while the game was running
  
• Fixed a shutdown crash in the material system
  
• Cached rendering of item model panels to improve performance, in particular while weapon selection was visible
  
• Added a gear symbol behind the health bar for Engineer buildings, in both target IDs and freeze panels
  
• Players killing themselves will now give a kill credit to the last enemy who damaged them
  
• Fixed grenades, rockets, and flamethrower being able to fire through grates at round starts
  
• Fixed players being killed and creating ragdolls during team switches
  
• Fixed various exploits and performance problems in CP_Badlands, CP_Well, and CP_Fastlane
  
• Removed health bonus from the Backburner

That last one is a big one. I hope the health was not you reason for choosing the Backburner...

Red Steel 2 Conformed may use MotionPlus

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz Ubisoft's Alain Corre stated that the game has been in development and hits that it may use MotionPlus:

It was a great announcement, what [Nintendo] showed [in its press conference], because it's true that on Red Steel it's the typical product that will appreciate the new device.

Red Steel 2 has been in development for many months now, and this new device will help us be even more precise in what we do with the product. The Red Steel brand is strong - I think we released it on year one, and that people understood that it was a first try on new technology, technology that wasn't completely finished.

And our game tried to grab the best out of it, and was a bit rushed to be sure to offer something in year one to Wii consumers. But Red Steel is still selling well - at a lower price of course, but still it's in the top 30 or 40 in every country on Wii.

So Red Steel is a brand, and as with every brand we have, we now have to reach the top quality possible. What was missing was the preciseness of the sabre - and with this new device I think it will change the experience.

[Source]

A group of IGN videos

Disgaea


Livewire

Tenchu 4 trailer

What of Gaming Left 4 Dead video interview

[Source]

Nintendo still working for the hardcore

In two different articles on Edge Online both Michael Pachter and legionary designer Shigeru Miyamoto say Nintendo will still support the hardcore. Pachter had this to say with his latest financial predictions:

"Some hardcore gamers were critical of Nintendo’s failure to announce new Mario and Zelda games at the show, but overall, we think that Nintendo focused upon building upon its formidable lead with the mass market, and do not consider the lack of major hardcore game announcements to be an abandonment of its core."

Miyamoto in a via Telegraph has stated this:

"Making these 'traditional' games is what I am best at, because games of that nature take upwards of two or three years to make, we always have to keep the teams working on those projects going. At any given time, the team could be five to ten people, or it could be fifty-plus. People are always switching in and out of those teams. They are all working on more Mario, Zelda and Pikmin projects. And they all work in close proximity to me, so I can keep a good eye on them."

Many people can care less what an analyst has to say but Miyamoto's words my do some damage control. There are still people who want such a game shown and by Nintendo. When will we see these games? Keep it here to find out!

[Sources:1,2]

EA wishes it backed Wii more

The CEO of EA John Riccitiello has expressed feelings that EA should have supported Wii more to The San Jose Mercury News:

"One thing that's different is we typically figured out who the market leader was going to be before the start of the cycle and bet with our development resources on that platform... We made the wrong call there [by betting on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360], which made this transition harder than it would otherwise be. But now we're catching up, and I think we're fine... We've got some incredibly innovative Wii titles, incredibly innovative DS titles coming. And so I think that issue's sort of behind us."

EA is going to increase it's Wii support. This is not the first time EA has felt they should have supported the Wii more. Both the number and quality of there games have been increasing.

[Source]

Comcast giving out free Wiis

I'll spare you the full PR fulled press release and tell you the just of it. People who order Comcast Triple Play will get a Wii. They say the Wii and there internet are a perfect couple. It seems like a weird deal but ok.

[Source]

Steam updates

Only one this time:

Garry's Mod

• Sped up startup times (by up to 15 seconds)
  
• Slightly reduced 'sandbox' loadtimes
  
• Reverted to older version of 'FindInSphere' function
  
• Reverted gravgun hold to pre-orange box style
  
• Fixed 'PrintMessage' not working on dedicated server
  
• Fixed cs_fix.mdl server crashing exploit
  
• Fixed exploit in RunConsoleCommand allowing any console command to be run
  

New redemption option hits Japanese Wii Shop Channel

Images have surfaced of a new option has been added to the Japanese Wii Shop Channel. This option allows users to use a redemption code to get "bonus software". The codes come from buying retail games. That is all that is known at this time. More as it breaks.

[Source]

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days official site opens

Yes, it's in Japanese...
[Source]

New Castlevania my come to WiiWare

A little investigation from the Wiire points out evidence that a new 2D Castlevania may hit WiiWare. In one interview with MTV the game's creator Koij Igarashi stated that he is "definitely interested in WiiWare and I think it's one of the areas that 2D can still be very strong...I'm very much looking into that." and mentioned to Wired about Mega Man 9 that he's "watching that very closely to see how it does. Myself, I'm a big retro gaming fan, so if it is successful, that definitely opens up doors for what I can do." This could be big news if you like 2D Castlevania games.

[Source]

Peggle coming to DS

Q Entertainment is bring the popular casual game to the DS. Some may know Peggle from it's release on Steam and it's free version that came with Orange Box on Steam. As stated before this version is being made by Q Entertainment and is set to come out this winter in the US with European released planed soon after and Japanese released is planned. It will be customized for the DS.

[Source]

RE5 to Wii?

Well we all knew that Capcom is a good Wii supporter. Not to long ago they said they where going to port Dead Raising to Wii. People felt RE4 was made for Wii. They started to want RE5 for Wii. Can it be done? Sega of America's Simon Jeffrey seems to think so:

"The Wii's selling incredible amounts of hardware, but Nintendo knows it needs to expand the demographic. It needs to connect with the core gaming demographic. Resident Evil 5 - when that happens on the Wii that's going to help."

Does he know something we don't? How will the newly announced coop work on Wii? Stay tuned for more!

Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop Press Release

Capcom, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced that Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop is in development for the Wii home video game system. Based on the critically acclaimed Dead Rising, which has sold in excess of one million units since its release in 2006, Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop is scheduled to hit store shelves this Winter.

Taking advantage of the same proven technology that brought Resident Evil 4 so successfully to Wii, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop delivers a more immersive, intuitive and interactive experience as players use the Wii Remote to shoot, slash and bludgeon their way through a zombie infested shopping mall, fighting for survival.

Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop follows the harrowing tale of Frank West, an overly zealous freelance journalist on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. In pursuit of a juicy lead, he makes his way to the small suburban town of Willamette only to find that it has become overrun by zombies. Frank escapes to the local shopping mall, thinking it will be a bastion of safety but it turns out to be anything but. It will be a true struggle to survive the endless stream of enemies, but players will have full reign of a realistic shopping centre and its varied stores offering an endless supply of real and makeshift weapons to fight off the flesh-hungry mob. If Frank is running low on health he can pay a visit to one of the many restaurants or cafes for a meal in order to restore his energy and continue the fight.

The game is split into a series of individual cases, all of which Frank must complete in order to gain vital information that will allow him to piece together the truth behind the horrendous epidemic. In addition to the cases, players will be faced with the dilemma of deciding the rescue priority of the residents of Wilamette who also sought sanctuary in the mall. Depending on the player's skill, some may not be so fortunate as each rescue needs to be undertaken in a set time period, therefore players may need to delay completion of a case in order to save a fellow human.

Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop's infectious humor delivers some welcome relief from the incessant tide of zombies with players able to dress Frank up in a variety of comedic costumes and take on the undead hordes with a selection of improvised and sometimes highly ineffective weapons such as a toy sword or a football.

Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop includes the following features:

-Utilizes the same engine as Resident Evil 4 Wii edition.
-New level of interaction - aim and fire guns, swing and throw weapons and shake off zombie attacks with added Wii Remote functionality
-Huge environment - expansive indoor and outdoor areas of the mall provide a variety of different locations to explore
-Improved save functionality allows for more seamless gameplay
-Hoards of enemies on screen at once resulting in non-stop, pulse-pounding action
-Anything in the mall is at Frank's disposal
-Grab environmental objects like umbrellas and benches to use as improvised weapons
Snatch items from different stores to use as weapons including golf clubs, lawnmowers, frying pans and more
Consume food and drink to revive health

New L4D Louis screenshot

Like it or not Valve is redoing the L4D cast. Although not ever one my like the new direction there is no doubt the quilt has gone up. Just check out this shot from shacknews:

Late Steam Updates

Sorry about the absents. For those interested here are the latest updates to hit Steam:

Children of the Nile

• Lots of fixes for French, German, Italian, and Spanish where strings would be missing or have extra nonsense at the end of them. Cheats work again in French, German, and Italian. Some messages appearing with a "" marker in them have been taught to speak proper German
  
• When running the game on Vista, you can now open scenario info screens without crashing, regardless of your user privileges. This will let you start a campaign or load a scenario without any of the fiddly rigamarole with properties and options you had to go through before
  
• Fonts are now installed in-game if needed, fixing a problem where you'd lose most text and could crash if the game was updated without your machine being restarted
  
• Steam achievements now work properly. IMPORTANT: On some machines, this will prevent you from running the game directly from the "steamapps/common/children of the nile" folder. You'll need to start the game from the Steam client, or use the client to create a shortcut (right-click on the game in "My Games", select "Create desktop shortcut", and move that shortcut wherever you like)
  
• The latest version of DirectX is automatically installed if you need it when you first run the game
  
• 
  

Audiosurf

• Players can now easily experiment with custom game modes by
  combining special tags in song names. More info is available on the
  forums
  
  • [as-4lane] Play with 4 lanes
    
  • [as-monoonly] Mono characters required
    
  • [as-everybodymono] All characters have only 2 block colors
    
  • [as-lessgrey] Mono characters have less grey blocks
    
  • [as-allgrey] Mono characters have all grey blocks
    
  • [as-nogrey] Mono characters have no grey blocks
    
  • [as-monoptX] Base points for Mono characters (default 3)
    
  • [as-nostlth] Remove Stealth and cumulative hit bonuses
    
  • [as-swind] Sidewinder camera mode
    
  • [as-bankcam] Banking camera mode
    
  • [as-first] First-person camera mode
    
  • [as-caterp] Block caterpillars
    
  • [as-mszX] Minimimum match size (number for X)
    
  • [as-wbX] Percentage of white/black blocks
    
  • [as-mtX] Match collection ticks (default 10-25)
    
  • [as-prowsX] Puzzle row count (0-8)
    
  • [as-hidepuz] Play with an invisible puzzle grid
    
• Fixed bug finding CD tracks in drives beyond the first
  

Bushing finds Wii security issue, tells Nintendo

Famous hack known for the Twilight hack Bushing has discovered an exploits that may let people run pirated Wii games on unmodified Wiis. Being the honest hacker that he is he sent word to Nintendo. Hopefully Nintendo will both fix it and respect Wii homebrew more.

E3 not the place to show core games any more?

Miyamoto says that due "the media that gathers at E3 now," Nintendo plans to share there games for hardcore gamers at other shows. This appears to be a response to the lack of 1st party core games shown by Nintendo at E3. Here are two quotes from the interview:

“For a very long time, E3 was an event where — and certainly Nintendo included — catered specifically to the core gamer. Now we look at more … an opportunity for us to introduce new concepts and new types of play that we intend to bring to the broader audience, particularly because of the media that gathers at E3 now,”

“The first that I’d want to clarify is that the concept that Wii intentionally does not cater to core gamers is probably a misconception, and perhaps one that’s almost a PR tactic used by some of the other companies to paint us as a company that’s not targeting core gamers,”

“So while attending an E3 event like this, they might be given the impression that Nintendo is no longer focusing on the games that appeal to the core gamer, in fact we’re still working on many of those titles, but it’s just not the type of event where we’ll be showcasing that anymore.”

Does Nintendo have some thing special waiting for us in the future? Wait here and see.

[Source]

Silverfall: Earth Awakening Now in Steam

Another action RP hits Steam. Silverfall: EA contains 6 races and a level cap of 45. It normally goes for $19.99 but there is and extra 10% when you get it before July 25. You can view more/get it here.

Left 4 Dead at the EA conference

Do you did the new look?

Wonderful End of the World brings puppets to Steam

Ever want to take on the world as an energy absorbing puppet? Well now is you chance! Wonderful End of the World is now on Steam. Save 10% off the $9.99 price.

New Pikmin is in the works

Shiguru Miyamoto stated that a new Pikmin is in development. At a Developer round table during E3 Mr. Miyamoto said "We're making Pikmin". This is the first official confirmation of a new Pikmin game.

*Image from Super Smash Brothers Brawl
[Source]

Steam update for Steam this time

This update is for Steam itself. Here is the changelog:

Steam Client

• Improved cache defragmenter to both defragment at the OS level and internal files
  
• Improved defrag progress dialog
  
• Improved download status reporting in games list
  
• Increased background update frequency
  
• Improved voice quality
  
• Added audio recording device selection for voice chat
  
• Added push-to-talk support for voice chat
  
• Fixed apps getting stuck at Updating 0% when downloading
  
• Fixed possible crash when resuming from Standby mode
  
• Fixed Steam preventing some PC's from entering Standby mode
  
• Fixed overlay sometimes getting stuck up and not responding to hot-keys after server join
  
• Fixed uninstalled apps becoming installed when viewing their Properties page after Steam restarts
  

[Source]

Valve hires Minerva creator Adam Foster

Adam Foster, creator of the episodic mini-MOD Minerva has been hire to work for Valve Software! Even better yet he will work on Episode 3.

"Like any of my projects, it started off small, but rapidly grew far, far, bigger. It's not finished yet, but this time I actually released something. 'Episodic' worked.

And, I accidentally acquired a job in the process. Oops?"

Great work, and best for luck. Live the dream Adam...

[Source]

Knights Reborn Podcast

Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday. The time I usually spend going though the days news was spent helping to record the Knights Reborn Podcast. It should be up soon and it covers E3. Don't worry I'll still have yesterdays top stories and I'm working on a special report for the weekend. It is also brought up in the podcast.

Conduit Developer walk through!

IGN and Miyamoto

IGN was able to track down Miyamoto and ask him a few things. Here they are all in one place.

About the next Zelda *1:

"The Zelda team in particular always works on Zelda titles. The core members of the Zelda team have for a very long time now been focused on Zelda games, and continue to focus on Zelda games, so they are hard at work and working away, and then, of course, we have the DS Zelda team as well, so even there we're having some switching of people in and out where the DS team is mixing in with the Wii team and working on the Wii version...I don't necessarily think it will change that drastically, but I think that Zelda is a franchise that does need some big new unique ideas and so the team right now is very focused on trying to find those ideas."

Wave Race and 1080 *2:

"Well, of course I worked on both 1080 and Wave Rave, so on the one hand I think it's very difficult for me to say, but I think that form in which we present the snowboarding game [in Wii Fit] and the power cruising game in Wii Sports Resort is something that's going to appeal to a much broader audience. And really, what I'm trying to do is find a way to bring these interactive experiences to as many people as possible. So I think for the time being I'm probably going to focus my attention on more of that, but if I find something that's particularly interesting or a way to take that and develop it into a much richer experience, I can't say that I'm not going to do that."

Storage *3:

"There isn't anything that we can announce today, but we have been thinking along a variety of different lines regarding this matter for some time now. So my hope is that sometime in the not too distant future we will be able to discuss some concrete solutions."

WiiSpeak *4:

Why it's not included:

"In all honesty, it's just in relation to cost. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who want to play Animal Crossing over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Maybe just as it is. There may be some people who want to use a USB keyboard to chat and we're fine with that. And there may be others who want to use something like WiiSpeak. So just from a cost perspective and being able to provide the game to everybody, we thought that was the best way to go."

On why it's not a headset:

"Basically, our idea with WiiSpeak is rather than to just provide a voice-chat function, we want to really connect living rooms to each other. In that sense, the microphone in WiiSpeak is really designed to be able to clearly capture many different voices being spoken in a room at the same time and convey that over the Internet. It's a very capable microphone and it's designed with that intent. And so that's why WiiSpeak has taken on the form that it has."

On background noise:

"Actually, that functionality is also very good and that's probably what's contributing to the cost of it."

On MS's Avatars *5:

"I don't really use the term avatar to refer to what we've done with the Miis. We created the Miis with the idea that the people you live with in your house or family, you also live together with inside the TV, and you can use those characters interchangeably in the games you play. To see that a company like Microsoft has taken something we've done and kind of looked at it in a way and brought it out on their platform to kind of show that we've done has become the standard, I find quite flattering. But on the other hand, I think probably the basic ideas behind perhaps those two different systems are different and because of that I think they will probably develop in different ways."

Sources:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Nintendo Press conference E3 highlights

Shaun White Snowboarding was announced,
Animal Crossing: City Folk,
WiiSpeak,
Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades,
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia,
Wii MotionPlus,
Wii Sports Resort,
Wii Music,

My thoughts latter tonight.

Portal: Still Alive For 360 announced

Portal is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade with bonus content. It was announced today at the Microsoft press conference. You can view more here.

Real 1:1 with Wii MotionPlus

Nintendo has already anounced one of tommrow topics, Wii MotionPlus. It is a attachment that will go on the bottom of the wiimote and allow real motion tracking.

"Nintendo's upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player's arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo's commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing."

[Source]

Matt Casamassina speaks out over MS E3 08

There is a lot of talk about today's Microsoft press conference. The biggest controversy is no doubt on the new Avatar and Blade system coming out this fall. Some say it is a ripoff of the Wii. Even if it is some say it could be better than what Nintendo is offering. IGN Nintedo's Matt Casamassina put up an editorial to day with his view. Here is a snip:

"All right, so I'm laying it on a bit thick, but the Microsoft presentation really left me a little perplexed. I left the conference with the impression that the company has an identity crisis. If during this generation Nintendo has spread outward toward the casual sector, Microsoft has successfully hugged the hardcore demographic with successful franchises that really appeal to traditionalists. At the company's E3 2008 conference, we saw more efforts in that vein, like the gritty Fallout 3 and the beautiful Gears of War 2. Somehow, Xbox 360 owners even got Final Fantasy XIII on their system despite the fact that the console is drowning in Japan. But lodged between all of these revelations, we had to sit through an overly long dedication to a simplified experience -- a blatant attempt to Wii-ize the Xbox 360 interface and environment. A quick look around the message boards revealed that most 360 owners were not terribly impressed. Nauseated, yes. Impressed, no."

You can read the rest here.

Steam Updates

Garry's Mod Update Released

Updates to Garry's Mod have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Garry's Mod

• Fixed crash when prop's physics object couldn't be created
  
• Fixed Team Fortress 2 blood overriding Half-Life 2 blood
  
• Fixed shotgun having wildly reduced damage
  
• Changed default jump height so you can jump on a crouched player
  
• Fixed not being able to override materials on clientside entities
  
• Fixed not seeing hunter blood in MP

Audiosurf Update Released (7/14/2008)

Updates to Audiosurf have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Audiosurf

• Fixed a crash bug introduced by the last update that could occur during server communications

RACE 07 Update Released

Updates to RACE 07 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

RACE 07

• Added support for the upcoming GTR Evolution expansion
  
• Added texture garbage collection
  
• Added option to choose minutes instead of laps in dedicated server
  
• Added "right-click to unbind control" in control settings. ESC will cancel instead of unbinding
  
• Added reworked pitstops logistics
  
• Added 'automatic gear' and 'automatic clutch' to in game host menu
  
• Fixed mesh cache
  
• Fixed description on Honda and Alfa 2007
  
• Fixed driver feet animations
  
• Fixed helmet view FOV in rain
  
• Fixed so category buttons in custom championship track selection won't select the track
  
• Fixed car alpha bug in replay
  
• Fixed . issue in foldername
  
• Fixed free flight cam in instant replay
  
• Fixed camera change bug after instant replay
  
• Fixed blue flag warning (24s before stop&go)
  
• Fixed virtual mirrors still showing when looking back
  
• Fixed time attack refresh button text (bug in non-english languages)
  
• Fixed bink clear backbuffer. (Steam Community popup getting stuck in intro movie)
  
• Disabled car collision in pit lane
  
• Loading optimizations
  
• Removed timings info from second race timings screen
  
• Removed car class filter in lobby
  
• Removed pit stop screen tint and added text shadow
  
• Reworked pit strategies for AI
  
• AI code tweaks
  
• AI tweaks for Macau, Pau and Porto (reduced crashing)

Enough wasting time E3 is a foot!

Insurgency Beta 2.1 RC is out

The popular realism MOD Insurgency has released version 2.1RC. Check out the change log:
Key Features

• Includes all the patches and hotfixes from 2.0 onwards (2.0b, 2.0d, 2.0e).
• Improved server stability.
• Improved client stability.
• Immersive game experience with new suppresion and concussion and damage effects.
• Four new maps:
  - ins_abdallah (pre-beta)
  - ins_buhriz (beta)
  - ins_haditha night
  - ins_samawah day.
• Improved weapon system, new weapon sway system.
• Head sway while walking has been improved.
• Modular weapon accuracy modifier has been implemented.
• Redesigned spawn protection system implemented on all maps.
• Implemented slow crawling during reload.
• Improved movement system:
  - Reload while sprinting.
  - Strafe while sprinting.
  - Walking, leaning and aiming (at the same time) is now possible.
• When prone and using ironsights, you will now be able to crawl slightly without popping out of ironsights. If you move too fast or too much, you will pop out of ironsights, then pop back in automatically once you've stopped crawling.
• Removed knives and bayonets from the game.
• "mp_fadetoblack" cvar has been implemented for league play.
• "wait" cvar has been implemented for league play.
• New cvar ins_squadshuffle lets server admins manage the randomize weapons option on round restart (default: off)

Other Fixes & Changes

• Sniper rifle aiming has been fixed.
• Improvements and fixes to all maps, including performance optimizations and fixes for several reported exploits.
• Improved animation code. Smoother head sway while moving.
• Many new weapon sounds.
• New and improved soundscapes in several maps.
• Bullet ricochet effect has been removed.
• Improved HUD: less intrusive, compass removed. Only the "new" objective indicator system is present, and it can be toggled on/off and flashed on screen.
• Some iron sights have been adjusted (taken further away from the player).
• Some frequent DX9-related crashes have been fixed.
• Reduced ladder climbing speed.
• Improved Al-Kadesiah scope / animations ("black scope bug" fixed).
• Al-Kadesiah 3D-scope allows now a bit of lateral vision (doesn't cover the entire screen).
• Players will now be able to use and reload an M203 properly when picking up an M16/M203 from the ground.
• Fixed RPG requiring two right clicks to unshoulder after firing.
• Fixed scoped view while leaning for the sniper rifles.
• Fixed commander objectives having wrong colours.
• Prevented several objects that provide cover from disappearing depending on the players view distance.
• Fixed long distance texture problems while in scoped view.
• Improved weapon data values. Some values may vary between the release candidate and the Beta 2.1 Release version.
• Fixed animation latency issue for systems with lower performance.
• Improved overhead maps.
• Changed teammate colors in overhead map.
• Changed player icons in overhead map.

Sounds like good changes. Check it out if it's your kind of thing!
[Official site]

L4D interview

Fansite L4D 411 has a email interview with Mike Booths about Left 4 Dead. Here is a snip:

Will there be things like the taunts from TF2 in L4D? I don't think taunts would really fit the games's style, what about things like "Whoop! Nice work people!" type expressions through animation?
The auto-vocalizations in TF2 were added after the dev team played L4D and saw how effective they were. We really do collaborate at Valve, and this is yet another example of the benefits of such cross-pollination.

You can check out more here.

HL2 Wars v0.5 out

The HL2 RTS mod has just released there next update. Here is a short change log:

Short Changelog:

• Two new maps
• Changed to Orange box engine
• Added basebuilding
• Improved stability
• Improved units AI
• Added support for navigation mesh
• Improved balance between units
• Improved various visuals
  

You can view more and download it here.

This Weekend Only!

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is 50% off of the weekend, going for only $9.99. Offer ends the 14th. You can get it here.

Latest IGN Pre-E3 Stuff

Interview With Iga
Hands-on With SmackDown vs. Raw 2009
Hands-on Castlevania Judgment
SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 Hands-on (DS)

E3 is just a few days away. Are you ready?

Mega Man 9 trailer

Half-Life 2: EP3 Art wins Into the Pixel award

A piece of EP3 art was entered and has won an ITP award, a video game based art award. It shows a person that could be Gordon facing an Advisor in some strange location.

[Source]

Nippon Ichi eyes Wii

Nippon Ichi, well known for JRPGs has expressed intress in the Wii in The Kabushiki Shimbun. CEO Kouichi Kitazumi stated that "We'll be looking into signing on with Wii in the future." and "We wanted to sign on and get new fans,".

[Source]

Audiosurf update

Just in:

• Adds "Everybody Mono" mode (to be unlocked only in upcoming radio songs)
  
• Upgrades online CD track data searches to use XML

Enjoy!

Mark Rein says Wii not Epic's "medium"

In an interview with GameIndustry.biz Mark Rein once again confirmed that despite what CliffB may say Epic is not into the "Wii" way of making games.

"No we don't have any plans to make something for the Wii. That's like asking a sculptor when he's going to start painting. That's just not our medium. That's not our area of expertise - our area of expertise is the more high-end consoles and things that push technology higher. That's what we do - there's a lot more water in that well for us, when that runs dry then maybe we'd have to think of doing something else but I don't think that well is going to run dry anytime soon."

No real surprise...

[Source]

Grid update

Earlier today an update hit Grid:

• Fix for sessions list overflow and missing characters in front end
  
• Fix for errors generated on game shutdown
  
• Support for TrackIR
  
• Online experience points: more points awarded for completing longer races
  
• Assists on/off toggle added to session creation and browsing
  
• All offline events (apart from head-to-heads and touge) are now available online (event voting screen now scrolls to see additional championships)
  
• Fix for failure to recognise some devices in user-created action map presets, including Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2
  
• Fixed GRID startup issue where it appears as a process in Task Manager but fails to run
  
• Additional experience points are awarded for not colliding with other cars whilst racing damage on or forward sessions

You can get by restarting Steam.

Mega Man 9 to have DLC

Famitsu has announced that MM9 will feature some kind of DLC. What will it be? Stay tuned...

[Source]

Episode 1 Source Engine update

Just in!

Episode 1 Source Engine

• Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch customers running under Windows Vista can now take advantage of 5.1 and 7.1 speaker configurations

Nintendo patents new controller

Filed on February 28, 2008 this patent is for a new controller that looks alot like a Gamecube controller shell. As it stands Gamecube games are lock out of "Wii mode" for security reasons and can not access any Wii features such as the wiimote. It could just be Nintendo covering there bases but who knows. Stay tune for more as it beaks.

[Source]

Todays Steam Updates

Eve Expanding Via Steam

To celebrate the launch of the eighth free expansion to Eve Online, the popular massively multi-player online game (MMOG) from CCP, the full game is available for 10% off its regular price for one week. The limited-time offer which includes the latest expansion, Empryean Age, is accompanied by the release of an impressive new trailer which is freely available now via Steam.

Now On Steam - Sacred Gold

Sacred Gold, an action RPG from Strategy First, is now available for purchase via Steam.

Sacred delivers a huge, elaborate world comprising 16 regions beset with heroic quests, battle-hardened warriors and horrific enemies. Sacred Gold is the complete Sacred collection in one box, containing the full version of Sacred, winner of the 'Best Roleplaying Game 2004' award from PC GAMER, Sacred Plus and Sacred Underworld.

Pick it up today for just $9.99.

Now On Steam - Elf Bowling: Hawaiian Vacation

Elf Bowling: Hawaiian Vacation, the new casual game from MumboJumbo, is now available for purchase via Steam.

If you thought Santa's elves were crazy before, just wait until you see them on vacation! The zany crew has escaped from the workshop to hit the sand and surf in Elf Bowling Hawaiian Vacation.

Pick it up today for just $9.99 or try the Free Demo.

Source Sdk Update Released

Updates to Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Enhancements

• Particle Editor, Material Editor, and Commentary Editor are now included in the Source SDK
  
• Updated SDK source code for Orange Box mods
  
• Added example particle system files to SDK content
  

Bug Fixes

• Updated Linux binaries and makefiles for dedicated servers and server plugins
  
• The Faceposer phoneme editor now pops up a warning message when a phoneme cannot be saved
  
• Fixed crash in 'splitskybox.exe'
  
• Day of Defeat: Source now appears in the list of Orange Box games

Source Dedicated Server Update Released (7/9/2008)

Updates to the Source Dedicated Server have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Source Dedicated Server

• Fixed crash caused by excessive rcon attempts sent with incorrect password set

It's always good to see new updates and new games come to Steam. The Commentary Editor sounds like a great new addition to the SDK!

Wario Land: Shake It! Gameplay trailer

The 3rd party quagmire

It's a problem Nintendo has had sense the 64 days. No one company can make enough games to fill a consoles life cycle. After the cost of cartages caused many third party games developers to make move there games to the Playstaion Nintendo systems have had to survive on Nintendo titles. This problem continues to haunt the Wii.

The problem is not an easy one to solve. There are now several things working ageist the Wii. One is the fact that third party games have not sold well on Nintendo system in a while. There is no prof that there will. Another is the Wii's market. No one knows what kind of gamers make up the most of the Wii owners. Last is the challenge of porting. When making a game for the Wii it is not easy to move it to or from another system.

It was once said that people buy Nintendo systems for Nintendo games. When looking at sales numbers for the Wii it is not hard to see

Top 10 Wii games via VG charts:

1. Wii Sports, 25.23m
2. Wii Play, 13.26m
3. Super Mario Galaxy, 6.72m
4. Mario Kart Wii, 6.04m
5. Super Smash Bros Brawl, 5.97m
6. Mario Party 8, 5.35m
7. Wii Fit, 5.24m
8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 4.90m
9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, 4.68m
10. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, 2.90m

Only the last two games not made by Nintendo. Compare this to the other two systems.


Top 10 Xbox 360 games via VG charts:

1. Halo 3, 8.02m
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 6.17m
3. Grand Theft Auto IV, 5.56m
4. Gears Of War, 5.25m
5. Forza Motorsport 2, 3.92m
6. Assassins Creed, 3.79m
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, 3.12m
8. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, 2.50m
9. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, 2.45m
10. Madden NFL 08, 2.31m

Top PS3 Games via VG charts:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV, 4.04m
2. Motorstorm, 3.38m
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 3.35m
4. Resistance: Fall of Man, 2.90m
5. Assassins Creed, 2.73m
6. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, 2.06m
7. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, 1.85m
8. Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, 1.72m
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, 1.63m
10. FIFA 08, 1.50m

Microsoft only has 3 games on the 360 list and one is made by a 3rd party. Sony has 4 games on the PS3 list. The next thing to look at are the sales numbers. Few Wii games have sold more than 500,000. Even good Wii games have little chance of selling well.

When looking at the Wii's market share it is huge. The problem is telling what theses people bought a Wii for. Some got it just to play Nintendo games. Others just for Wii Sports. Some want RPGs other shooters. Who do you make the game for?

Because porting games is not easy, Wii games have to be built just for the Wii. What games are ported are overlooked regardless of quality. Either way this means it's not going to be easy to make multi-plattform games for Wii and the Wii sales maybe all a 3rd party gets.

Although it may not look good there is still hope. Some big games are still coming. If they get the right advertisement and gamers give them a chance more can come. We can only hope that both gamers and 3rd parties are willing to not give up on the Wii yet.

Next Time: Wii need to learn from Steam

CliffyB Praises Wiimote

In an interview with CVG Cliff Bleszinski says that the 360 controller has to many buttons and gives credit to the wiimote.

"I think you could do things with a built-in camera or a little motion sensitivity. You look at the Wii controller with less buttons - they added functionality by doing waggle. Not a lot of games use the waggle well, but Super Mario Galaxy for example uses it perfectly. Zak and Wiki uses it rather well."

We can only hope the rest of Epic feels the same.

[Source]

Nintendo and Apple face lawsuit over touchscreen

John R. Martin is claiming that his 2005 patent for a game device was infringed on by both the Apple and Nintendo. He has already filed suit against Nintendo for the DS and is work on one for Apple (possibility against the iPod). Here is a clip from the patent:

An electronic game device system [which] is switchable between an amusement mode and a gaming or gambling mode and is useful for vehicles such as airplanes or boats which move geographically from jurisdictions where gambling is legal to jurisdictions where it is not...

An improved method of operating a touch screen on a CRT or ICD computer screen uses finger release as input registering... Mounting arrangements for mounting computer screens or monitors are also disclosed...

The DS came out in 2004...

[Source]

Two new Chocobo games for the DS

Square Enix has announced two new Chocobo games for the DS. One is Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Maze of Time DS+. The other is a casual mini game collection know as Chocobo and the Magic Storybook: The Witch and the Girl and the Five Heroes.

[Source]

Team Fortress 2 Dispenser Mod

Bit-tech has an article up on a TF2 dispenceer casr MOD made by TiTON. You can see it and others here.

Spellforce 2 on Steam

lforce 2 - Shadow Wars and it's expansion Spellforce 2 - Dragon Storm are hit Steam today. Together they are $29.99 or $19.99 each apart. Find out more here.

Children of the Nile: Enhanced Edition on Steam

Tilted Mill Entertainment has put Children of the Nile: Enhanced Edition on Steam. It is and updated version of the city sim with new content and Vista support. It is available world wide for $19.99

[Source]

Team Fortress 2 Update

There just has been a new TF2 update today!

• Fixed rcon crash caused by too many incorrect password attempts
  
• Fixed clients experiencing connection problems during round restarts
  
• Fixed flares not always being removed on impact
  
• Fixed 32 player servers not working correctly with SourceTV enabled
  
• Fixed dropped flags sometimes falling through the world
  
• Fixed number key menu input sending 2 key events
  
• Fixed PING field being clipped in the scoreboard at 800x600 resolution
  
• Fixed broken Medigun taunt
  
• Changed mat_showmiplevels to only be allowed when cheats are on
  

[Source]

The DS is coming to Taiwan and China

Taiwan and China are getting there own localized versions of the DS. Tomorrow the World!

[Source]

Maga Man 9 Gameplay Video

Mega Man 9 - first footage
by rawmeatcowboy

Chrono Trigger DS Trailer

CVG Mad World Preview

CVG has put up a trailer to the ultra violent Wii game Mad Word. There where treated to a small demo of the game after a screening of a trailer. Here's a clip:

But we're concerned that the majority of Wii owners won't want to listen. It's a brave move from Sega, signing up this game, and Wii certainly needs more quality titles in the action genre (not necessarily this bloody, but certainly more action-orientated), but it ain't exactly the sort of thing that Mum and Dad will be playing with little Johnny (or Jack) in the living room.

Get ready for blood in 09!
[Source]

Garry's Mod update

Garry's Mod

• Reduced entity bandwidth overhead
  
• Fixed SQLite errors
  
• Changed how particles are loaded
  
• Fixed DModelPanel model color issues
  
• Fixed ents.FindInBox only returning half the entities
  
• Fixed ents.FindInSphere only returning half the entities
  
• Fixed cookies not restoring

[Source]

Meet the Soldier now in French and German

You can find out more here.

StillAliveDS releases new version

A home made DS game based on Portal? You bet! Version 1.15s came out yesterday and includes the following:

[Level Editor]
+ 5 new elements (see below).
+ Grid (press select to hide/show).
+ You can save your map when you want
+ You now have to upload your maps through the level editor. Only possible if the map was finished.
+ New clear button which deletes everything on screen.
+ The "Build" feature is automatically called when you save/upload a map.

[Game]
+ red energy wall : you can shoot portals through them but can't pass.
+ razor wheels : These will kill you if you touch them.
+ moving platforms : Jump on them to move in the map. They kill you if you're stuck. You can put portals on them.
+ acid pool : Don't try to swim in it.
+ reflecting wall (which is also a slippery floor) : Shoot a portal on it and it will be reflected. Up to 5 bounces are possible.
+ If multiple red plasma switches are set, you have to deactivate all of them to clear the green energy field.

[Menu]
+ language selection
+ customizable controls : just click on a control to change the associated action.

[Other]
- Backgrounds are now loaded from the flashcart
- Updated EFS lib to V2.0 finale, maybe G6 and M3 will load the game now ...

More Valve Nintendo unity! My heart skip a beat.

[Source]

DSvision launches

The DS media kit that lets you buy and download anime and manga to you DS is out in Japan. It comes with a 512MB memory card and works a little like a flash card. Sadly it doesn't appear to out match some of there features and is only out in Japan...

[Source]

Wii Play on top of the software charts?

Amazons top software chart not only shows 5 Wii and one DS title but the top title is Wii Play!?!

01. Wii Play w/ Remote—Nintendo (Wii)
02. Rock Band Special Edition—MTV (Wii)
03. Mario Kart w/ Wii Wheel—Nintendo (Wii)
04. Wii Fit—Nintendo (Wii)
05. Super Smash Bros. Brawl—Nintendo (Wii)
06. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots—Konami (PS3)
07. Assassin’s Creed—Ubisoft (360)
08. Guitar Hero: On Tour—Activision (DS)
09. Assassin’s Creed—Ubisoft (PS3)
10. Diablo Battle Chest—Blizzard (PC)

Wow, that many people are really still buying Wii Play? I know causal games have lower drop off rates but really... WFkitty...

[Source]

FaceBreaker K.O. Party Interview via IGN

Facebreaker on Wii will be a different SKU from it's HD counter parts. IGN as a pre-E3 interview with producer Trey Smith about this version. The first thing many people think when it comes to this kind of Wii game is "port". Although the interview may have some worried there is room for hope. Here is a snip:

There are a whack load of buzz words that people toss around when talking about controls on the Wii, but the two that we've been razor-sharp focusing on are intuitiveness and responsiveness. In doing our research on what games have been the most successful at these two things, we kept circling back around to Wii Sports. With intuitiveness, we wanted each and every gesture to match what your character is doing on the screen…from Jabs, to Charge Punches, to Breakers (our Super Punches). There's a deep satisfaction that takes place when this happens, and we see this as a key ingredient to being successful on the Wii. And responsiveness… if your character isn't doing what you want them to do, when you want them to do it, it becomes less about strategy and more of a "Flailfest" where whoever "waggles" fastest wins - and that is lame. We knew we needed to nail that 1 to 1 responsiveness or it wasn't even worth showing up to the ballpark. There's an additional level of immersion that takes place when Wii controls deliver on the intuitiveness AND responsiveness fronts. Bottom line, we know the controls are our bread and butter and we've invested in them accordingly.

It could be one to keep an eye on...



[Source]

Steam News from Valve

Here is a list of News fresh from Steam:

Weekend Deal: SiN Episodes: Emergence - 66% off

This weekend only, pick up the action FPS game SiN Episodes: Emergence for just $4.99. Offer ends July 7th.

Team Fortress 2 Update Released (7/3/2008)

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed a memory leak affecting both clients and servers
  
• Fixed a malicious packet exploit

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Update Released (7/3/2008)

Updates to Rainbow Six Vegas 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Rainbow Six Vegas 2

• Added new gameplay features
  
• Added UPnP support
  
• Added HostName and Ping sort for Match selection
  
• Fixed Some (3)Ping issues
  
• Fixed Terrorist hunt Spawning
  
• Fixed automatic weapons shoot without holding the trigger
  
• Fixed spawn with leader in Streets map
  
• Fixed Custom search issues

SiN is a great game. If you get the chances pick it up this weekend! More as it breaks...

Chrono Trigger DS Press Release

LOS ANGELES, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix(TM) interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that it will release CHRONO TRIGGER(R) in North America this Holiday season. Remastered exclusively for Nintendo DS(TM), this marks the first time that the groundbreaking RPG will be available on a handheld console.

Originally released in 1995 on Super NES(R) and shipping more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, CHRONO TRIGGER has been hailed as one of the greatest games of all time by critics and fans alike. With a unique and multifaceted storyline, the game revolutionized the world of RPGs with

never-before-seen features, including an unprecedented soundtrack and multiple endings determined by side quests and the player's actions.

With artwork by famed manga artist Akira Toriyama and an unprecedented and inspiring musical score created by Yasunori Mitsuda, CHRONO TRIGGER represents the best-in-class of the video game world. This newly revamped edition maintains all of the game's original elements and spirit while introducing the portability, dual-screen presentation and Touch-Screen functionality of Nintendo DS. Players will soon be able to rediscover the exhilarating RPG experience, breathtaking storyline and innovative gameplay in the palm of their hands.

STORY

When a newly developed teleportation device malfunctions at the Millennial Fair, young Crono must travel through time to rescue his misfortunate companion from an intricate web of past and present perils. The swashbuckling adventure that ensues soon unveils an evil force set to destroy the world, triggering Crono's race against time to change the course of history and bring about a brighter future.



FEATURES

-- A masterpiece with an engaging and unparalleled storyline, leading to the discovery of multiple epic conclusions to a journey that transcends time

-- An unprecedented and inspiring musical score created by Yasunori Mitsuda

-- Intriguing battle system made possible by the unique combination of the Active Time Battle system and Tech skills

-- Famed character designer Akira Toriyama lends his signature art style to create the vibrant world that has captivated gamers around the world

-- Taking advantage of the Nintendo DS hardware, CHRONO TRIGGER makes its way onto the portable platform with all-new dual screen presentation and Touch-Screen functionality

-- A brand new dungeon and a Wireless Play mode adds exciting new dimensions to this timeless classic

CHRONO TRIGGER has not yet been rated. Please visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board website at http://www.esrb.org for more information about ratings. The official website can be found at

http://na.square-enix.com/ctds.

About Square Enix Co., Ltd. and Square Enix, Inc.

Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix), with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, develops, publishes and distributes entertainment content including interactive entertainment software and publications in Asia, North America and Europe. Square Enix brings two of Japan's best-selling franchises -- FINAL FANTASY, which has sold over 80 million units worldwide, and DRAGON QUEST(R), which has sold over 43 million units worldwide -- under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.

Square Enix, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Co., Ltd. with offices in Los Angeles, California. It handles operations in North America, including development, localization, marketing and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix can be found on the Internet at http://www.square-enix.com.

CHRONO TRIGGER, DRAGON QUEST, FINAL FANTASY, SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Co., Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Nintendo DS and Super NES are trademarks of Nintendo.

SOURCE Square Enix, Inc.

Moon videos via IGN

More here

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed videos via IGN

Here are some fresh vids from IGN



More here.

Brawl Tops UK Chart

Super Smash Brothers Brawl tops the UK charts this week showing that despite being late gamers in the UK love to Brawl! Wii fit and Wii Player where the next games on the list that consisted of 6 Nintendo system games. Sadly one one was third-party...

01. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
02. Wii Fit (Wii)
03. Wii Play (Wii)
04. Battlefield: Bad Company (360)
05. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
06. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
07. Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3)
08. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
09. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS)
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS)

[Source]

Dragon Ball DS

Dragon Ball DS has been announced. It 3D action adventure game that takes place in the Dragon Ball universe before Z. You can replay classic scenes from the original manga. The game will feature a full 3D world presented in a "three-quarters overhead view" and
stylus based controls. The game is being made by Namco Bandai and is set to come out September 18 in Japan.

[Source]

IGN Readers Interview Kenichiro Yuji on My Life as a King

IGN has a reader based interview up where director Kenichiro Yuji of Final Fantsy My Life as a King. Many topics are covered including DLC, Wifi and more. Here is a snip:

The IGN Readers: How long is the game's lifespan in terms of replayability? [For example] Once I beat the game will new areas and challenges be unlocked or will it just end with the credits?

Yuji: Once you beat the game, some of the data from that game can be carried over to a new game. The castle itself doesn't change on your second play through, but new dungeons and new buildings can be unlocked, along with the additional Hard and Very Hard difficulty modes.

You can read the rest here.

Guitar Hero: On Tour Breaks Record

Guitar Hero: On Tour is now Activion's fastest selling game in North America. The game has sold 300,000 it's first week alone!

[Source]

Gamin to do well dispite economy

DFC has a report out with positive estimates for the gaming industry. In it there are good predictions for the Wii and PC downloads. They note the the Wii is not a fad but do note that third-parties will still struggle to find there place. For the PC end of things it is noted that online revenue is up and PC gaming is expected to be $19 billion by 2013.

This is not to say there is anything bad about there competitors as gaming as a whole is doing well. It is good news for PC and Nintendo gamers in the long run and I think they are fare predictions. I can only hope that Wii can get more third-party support.

[Source]

Meet the Sniper out in German and French

The title says it all. You can view them here and here.

Sadness Lives!

Just when you thought it was vaporware Nibris launches a new Sadness website. The site is not what every one may have been waiting for but there are some "Screens". They are tiny but there. there is also a placeholder for a new trailer and stated that they will be at the next GC in Lepizig.

[Source]

Sakurai talks about charater dropped from Brawl

In an interview with the Official Nintendo Magazine Sakurai talks about the balance between development time and features.

"What happened in the next year and a half was that we distilled the game down, worked out which ideas we had time to include and which we didn't. Sadly, we had to trim out many great concepts just to keep within the time contraints. I had a lot more characters, for example.. but sadly I can't discuss which ones didn't make it."

Check out more here.

DOD Free weekend and Palermo update

Valve has released the Palermo update adding in new community features previously in beta. Along with the new update comes a free weekend and any one can play the game free from July 4-6. Please enjoy and invite you friends!

Welcome!

Welcome to the only blog dedicated to Valve and Nintendo! These two are on the cutting edge the gaming universe. Both have done many things to help shape modern day video games and gamers. Valve and Nintendo will continue to do so in the future.

Nintendo is known as the house that Mario built. Most known for ending the video game crash in the 80s this Japanese company once known for making playing cards became the icon of the video game world. Nintendo has both defined and created genres. There is not a console controller you can look at and not see a Nintendo based design. Even as Nintendo lost there spot on the top of the console hill they stayed profitable and are the undefeated champions of hand held gaming. They are now the center of controversy for there new direction of targeting "non-gamers" and are tiring to expand the entire gaming industry.

Valve was started by two Microsoft millionaires leading a group of Quake MODers. They sat back and asked themselves "what could be fun?". So started the long tradition. Valve works hard to get there games at the quality they release them at. When a fault is found anyone in the company can ague how to fix it no matter there position. This method leads to long development times but also some of the most polished experiences in gaming. Games like Half-Life, Counter Strike, and Team Fortress have had big influences on the FPS world.

Both of these companies have a lot in common. They both have changed and created genres. Both are pushing new ideas and pulling lots of controversy. Even Valve once said there gameplay comes before there graphics. Indie game developers have new hope thanks to Wiiware and Steam. Although it doesn't show on the outside Valve and Nintendo are on the same page. They are two of my favorite developers and I can only hope if you do not love them as well you can at least grow to recognise what they have and can do for gaming.