Upcoming Nintendo Wii & DS Games For NZ.

By Benedict Wee

Nintendo and their 3rd party developers have just announced a list of upcoming games to hit the US, Japan and Europe. Since we belong to the latter group (God knows why), I've only posted the dates from the PAL region to save us the grief of knowing how much faster the the rest of the world will be getting their games.

First party DS titles:

• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story 9th October 2009
• Nintendo presents: Style Boutique 23rd October 2009
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky 20th November 2009
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks 11th December 2010
• Pokemon HeartGold Version 2010
• Pokemon SoulSilver Version 2010
• WarioWare D.I.Y TBA

First party Wii titles:

• Wii Fit Plus 30th October 2009
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii 20th November 2009
• Endless Ocean 2 (tentative title) 2010
• Sin and Punishment 2 (tentative title) 2010
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (tentative title) 2010
• Metroid: Other M (tentative title) 2010

Third party Wii and DS titles:

Bear in mind that game titles and the release dates are subject to change.

Sources:

Kotaku - Nintendo Announces Its Upcoming Wii Games

Kotaku - Nintendo Announces Its Upcoming DS Games

Kotaku - Wii And DS Games From Non-Nintendo Companies

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers Rocks Bon Jovi.

By Benedict Wee

Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPGs) have a long standing tradition of J-pop artists singing the game's soundtrack but FFCC: The Crystal Bearers does something different by featuring legendary rock band Bon Jovi providing the official theme song of the game.

The track - We Weren't Born To Follow - is from their latest album; The Circle due out November 10. An appropriate song as the game's narrative is about a mercenary born with magical abilities which gets him (and those possessing similar powers) ostracized by the general populace. Incidentally, the protagonist does look like a young Jon Bon Jovi too.

The Japanese ads for the game feature the theme song but for the benefit of those who are easily distracted by the million-and-one things going on in the clips above I've provided the official music video below:

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers hits Japanese/US Wiis this year while PAL regions (read: us) will only get it in February 2010.

Black Wiimote Comes With Motion Plus, Is Cheaper.

By Benedict Wee

Wiimote NZ$100 + Wii Motion Plus NZ$45 +Wii Nunchuck NZ$50

= NZ$195 is a pretty high price to pay for what is essentially, a one-person controller for Nintendo's console.

Thankfully, the first variant color of the bundle promises to be cheaper as the Motion Plus device comes built into the Wiimote.

The black Wiimote will retail for US$50 (NZ$68), which is US$10 cheaper than having to buy both Wiimote and Wii MotionPlus accessories separately. Don't expect us to get a major discount when it reaches our shores that match the US price but we should be paying lesser than what we'd be forking out right now.

Source:

Kotaku - Black Wii Remote And Nunchuck Price For U.S.

Nintendo Release Dates For Europe (And Thereby Indirectly New Zealand)

By Benedict Wee

Wanna know what to ask the family for this Christmas if you're a Wii/DS/DSi gamer? Well Nintendo has released a list of 1st and 3rd party games that will launch on their consoles for the next couple of months. Only 1st party games get (approximated) dates however as they're 3rd party developers have not committed to any schedule. Highlighted titles are the ones I'm excited about.

Nintendo DS/DSi titles:

• Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (25th September 2009)
• Kirby Super Star Ultra (September 2009)
• Girl's Mode (October 2009)
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2nd half 2009)
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (4th quarter 2009)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009)
• WarioWare D.I.Y. (To be announced)

Nintendo Wii titles:

• Metroid Prime Trilogy (4th September 2009)
• Wii Fit Plus (4th quarter 2009)
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (4th quarter 2009)
• Endless Ocean 2 (2009)
• Sin and Punishment 2 (2010)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
• Metroid: Other M (2010)

The US gets slightly more games compared to us, they've got big titles like Golden Sun DS and Glory of Heracles for the DS/DSi. Thankfully DS games aren't region locked so import away. The Wii is however.

3rd Party DS/DSi titles:

• Bakugan Battle Brawlers (Activision)
• Band Hero (Activision)
• Wizards of Waverly Place (Disney Interactive Studios)
• MySims Agents (Electronic Arts)
• Spore Hero Arena (Electronic Arts)
• LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (LucasArts)
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (LucasArts)
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (SEGA)
• Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (SQUARE ENIX)
• James Patterson Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion (THQ)
• The BIGS 2 (2K Sports)
• Might & Magic Clash of Heros (Ubisoft)
• Imagine Teacher: Class Trip (Ubisoft)
• Scribblenauts (Warner Bros)

3rd Party Wii titles:

• Guitar Hero 5 (Activision)
• Bakugan Battle Brawlers (Activision)
• Spyborgs (CAPCOM)
• Sprectrobes: Origins (Disney Interactive Studios)
• Madden NFL 10 (Electronic Arts)
• Dead Space Extraction (Electronic Arts)
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Konami Digital Entertainment)
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (LucasArts)
• LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (LucasArts)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV Games/Electronic Arts)
• Active Life: Extreme Challenge (NAMCO BANDAI)
• Daisy Fuentes Pilates (SEGA)
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (SEGA)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: smash-Up (Ubisoft)

As mentioned before, 3rd party titles do not have a release date so the games listed are for the both US/EU and might be flexible for us PAL region gamers (meaning we might not see some of these titles). Not to worry though, it'll get updated as clearer dates are announced.

Source:

Kotaku - The Great Nintendo Release Schedule. July 2009 Edition

New The Beatles: Rockband Trailer Introduces 8 More Tracks (Update)

By Benedict Wee

The new trailer for The Beatles: Rockband by Harmonix has revealed 8 more tracks for the game. They are:

• Twist And Shout
• Can't Buy Me Love
• Eight Days A Week
• Paperback Writer
• Yellow Submarine
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Within You Without You
• Revolution

Video Games | The Beatles: Rock Band (Trailer 2)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Update: 7 more tracks have been introduced by EA

• Do You Want To Know A Secret
• With A Little Help From My Friends
• Birthday
• I Got A Feeling
• Dig A Pony
• I Wanna Be Your Man
• And Your Bird Can Sing

This joins the list of 10:

• Back In The U.S.S.R
• Day Tripper
• Get Back
• Here Comes The Sun
• I Am A Walrus
• I Feel Fine
• I Saw Her Standing There
• I Want To Hold Your Hand
• Octopus's Garden
• Taxman

This brings the list to 25 out of the 45 songs that will appear in the game.

Source:

GameTrailers - The Beatles: Rock Band (Trailer 2)

Kotaku - The Beatles: Rock Band Track List Expands to 25

E3 Highlights (the other stuff) Part 1

So we've seen pretty exciting stuff from the big 3 console makers in their respective conferences, although they've mostly talked about the games and peripherals that are exclusive to their system. So what about the rest? Here's a quick highlights rundown of the other games that you should look forward to. 

Muramasa The Demon Blade

for: Nintendo Wii

Why I like it: It's a side-scrolling beat-em-up published by Ignition Entertainment exclusively for the Wii and it's graphics are gorgeous!!   Seriously, its art style is so well done you get entranced looking at it (which in hindsight might be bad cause you won't notice the bad guys beating up on you). It's like playing a video game in a painting which reminds me of the similarly beautiful Odin Sphere by Vanillaware on the PS2. Give the trailer a look. 

Metal Gear Solid Arcade

for: Arcade

Why I like it: People who did not get the chance to play the PS3 version of the game (Metal Gear Online) can now pop on by to their local arcade to see what's this popular series is all about. It's a good call on Konami's part because it does help break the "looks pretty difficult and only for hardcore gamers" barrier which means you can bring down a couple of mates and enjoy the game together. 

Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny

for: PSP

Why I like it: I've always been a fan of the Soulcalibur series and squeezing it onto the handheld makes it easier to bring on trips. Plus the game follows its tradition of adding extra characters into its titles and this time we get Kratos from God of War! That is pretty cool. 

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

for: Ps3 & Xbox 360

Why I like it: I don't like it, I love it. Ever since the critically acclaimed Symphony of the Night for the PS1, I've been following this series faithfully (except the abomination; Judgement for the Wii). This time however its designer (and the dude responsible for making the game famous) Koji Igarashi has passed the baton to Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima to take the franchise into current generation territory which is something to look forward to. My primary concern is that 3D Castlevanias have never sat well with gamers (Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness for the PS2 being perfect examples) so I'm hoping this third time's a charm. Also, Patrick Steward is voicing it so having Professor X's in any game is cool. Take a look at the trailer. 

Video Games | Castlevania: Lords of Shadow | E3 09: Kojima Announcement

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii