buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Nintendo

So this new Zelda game…

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zelda twilight.jpgIt might be sorta, kinda good.

I was cruising my favorite meta-review site, Metacritic, checking out the new Wii titles when I browsed over to the new Zelda: Twilight Princess page. Right now, it’s clocking in at 9.8. I guess that would mean it’s a pretty solid launch title, right? Three reviews scoring it a perfect 100 and another at 99. IGN’s review hasn’t been integrated into MC’s score, but they gave the game a 9.5. Wow.

So this has to be the highest rated launch title, right?

I haven’t read any of the reviews, as I want to go into Z:TP completely unspoiled, so I’ll have to take these scores at face value. It just happens that said value is very high.

Hacking the Wii giftcard

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Target is handing out Wii GiftCards in anticipation of Nintendo’s release of this remarkable console. The cards are a bit thicker than your regular credit card and house some pretty nifty electronics. Pressing the button on the outside of the card turns on a ominous blue Wii glow that lasts about ten seconds. I’ll pop the case on this little thing and check out the internals. After that we’ll add a bit of functionality to the LEDs.

Instructables (via MAKEBlog)

Someone forgot to tighten the levels

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Via Matt from PTB, it looks like the new Bubble Bobble game for the DS has shipped with a game-crippling error — there’s no level 30 boss. So ya, all those hundred levels you paid for? You ain’t seeing the last 70.

Opps. I’m sure Nintendo will make things all better, but this is pretty embarassing.

There’s a video of the “glitch” at Go Nintendo.

Wii 100% backwards compatible

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I was going through my monthly clean-out of my Yahoo email address I came across this tidbit from Gamespy:

From: Joseph
In a recent news article you mention that “530” gamecube games are playable on the Wii. Is this the entire cube library, or are there limitations to the backwards compatibility as with the Xbox 360?

Li C. Kuo: I did a quick search on Nintendo’s official website and found a list of every GameCube game out so far. According to the website, there are 549 titles available for the GC right now. More are still being released. That’s a bit more than 530, however, Nintendo said “more than 530” GameCube games are playable on the Wii. We then asked Nintendo about this and were told that the Wii is “100 percent backwards compatible.”

The jury is still out on how much backwards compatibility actually matters, but it’s good to know I’ll still be able to break some necks with HUNK and RE4 Mercenaries.

This may be common knowledge, but it’s the first place I can remember seeing it in “print.” So there you go, future Wii owners — all your Gamecube games will work on your Wii.

Wii release details

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You can’t walk around the gaming blogoverse without falling over the release news for the Nintendo Wii. A few details from the New York Times and few thoughts:

  • A release date of November 19
  • Retail price is going to be 250 dollars
  • Shipping with Wii Sports
  • 25-30 launch titles, including Zelda Twilight Princess
  • Games will still retail at 50$
  • Retro game downloads between 5-10 dollars (30 games initially available)

The 250 dollar price tag is very reasonable but it’s a first for Nintendo. Coming out just before the holiday season is going to making getting your hands on a Wii difficult, no matter how much inventory they ship. Launching with 25 games will be nice, but I hope there are more than 30 games available for download.

Having just bought an Xbox 360, I wonder how Mrs. Buttonmasher will take to yet another video machine going under the TV. She’ll just have to learn what it’s like living with a gamer (and confessed Nintendo fan-boy). And I’ll have to figure out a way to justify a $250 purchase on top of possibly getting a new TV around Christmas time.

And in closing, I’d like to quote a Forbes.com article, reporting on the Nintendo news conference in Japan, with a quote from Satoru Iwata that is wrong on numerous levels:

‘With these new features, I believe that anybody, regardless of age or gender, will be urged to touch our Wii at least once,’ Iwata said.

Right…

Wii news and links

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Sometimes I forget that buttonmashing.com is one of the only sites people (read: my friends) visit for gaming news. Often forget to post links to exciting news I find, especially when it comes to the Nintendo Wii, because I figure most of you have already seen it somewhere else. But for those of you that don’t scour over 100+ video game blog feeds, allow me to enlighten you. I’ll be linking to a lot of cool Wii news, now that the launch is hopefully only months away. The excitement is building up fast. On to the links:

USA Today had an interview with Reginald Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s new president and chief operating officer, where they discussed all-things-Wii. Most important was the topic of the online system that the Wii will sport. From the article:

Q: You’re not pursuing a subscription model?

A: We view online gaming as essentially an enhanced way to enjoy the gaming experience and drive more sales of hardware and software.

Q: How do you extend your online strategy to Wii?

A: It’s the same premise. We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They’ll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you’ll be able to plug it in and go. It won’t have hidden fees or costs.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it — I hope and pray that Nintendo’s online service is similar to Microsoft’s. The Gamer card, the Gamer score, the Xbox Live Arcade, all of those features would be so cool to see on Wii’s online service. This is something I would pay for! Give it to me for free, if you want, but please make it worth my while. Let me play RC Pro-Am multiplayer. Let me co-op Contra with my friends. I’d love to know how my high-score on 1942 compares with the rest of the world. There is so much untapped nostalgia and potential here that it boggles my mind. I could go on forever with possibilities.

Nintendo is also starting to announce titles that will be available for the Wii. Wikipedia actually has a list of all games that have been mentioned for the Wii. Most recently, Mario Strikers Charged and Battalion Wars 2 have been announced. There is definitely going to be a tug of war between new titles and retro downloads.

Twilight Princess, the new Zelda title will sport a totally new control scheme. Swing the Wii-mote to swing Link’s sword is going to be riot. Or tire out your wimpy-birds arms. Sissy.

There’s still a lot of speculation going on with regard to the launch price for the Wii. It hovers between 170 and 250 dollars. Does it really matter? If it stays around the 250$ mark, Nintendo is going to sell every single console they manufacture. Period.

There’s more info coming out daily about the Wii, little details, hints, and snippets. It’s all very exciting. I just hope I can keep up!

The Ultimate DS Library

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Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

I’ve been playing my DS Lite so often now I should probably change the name of the site from “buttonMashing” to “screenTouching” or something like that. Touching is indeed good. I’ve been speding some time on eBay recently, hunting for some DS titles to round out my library. It got me thinking about what would make up the “Ultimate DS Library.” So I present to you my idea of the “Ultimate DS Library.” (Note that I don’t, as of yet, own some of these titles. But I have enough faith in them that I am actively pursuing a copy of them.)

[Read more…] about The Ultimate DS Library

A simple instruction manual

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This month’s Round Table Discussion is a trip down memory lane — “A moment when you knew that games were to be a part of your life…” As soon as Corvus announced the topic I immediately knew what moment that would be for me. The moment is crystal clear. It happened one Saturday morning on my way to Boy Scouts.

I was twelve years old at the time (1987), and on Saturday mornings I attended our weekly Boy Scout meeting at my friend’s house. His dad was the Scoutmaster and I’d get a ride to the meeting with another buddy of mine. This particular Saturday (it was late October, if memory serves me) my friend handed me the manual to his new Nintendo game, Kung Fu.

I had already been playing video games for a couple years on my trusty Atari 2600, but that was the extent of my playing. I didn’t play it very often, just a game of Combat or Pitfall when I was bored. I was more into my G.I. Joe Headquarters than any video game. My friend had an ColecoVision and I knew what the new Nintendo system looked like, but I had never played it. Leafing through the pages of the Kung Fu manual that chilly morning, I was immediately sucked in. “Look at those graphics!” Amazing! “Oooh, I bet the Mr. X is tough to beat!” I had to play this game. All during the meeting, all I could think about was saving the girl and kicking butt, Kung Fu style! After the meeting, I called my mom and begged her to let me go over Lance’s house. That afternoon we played Kung Fu and Super Mario Brothers for hours. I don’t know if you can get Nintendo thumb from just a few hours of playing, but I’m pretty sure I did. Kung Fu was one of my favorite games on the NES and that single day cemented my love for video games.

Of course I set about making sure Santa knew that all I wanted for Christmas that year was a Nintendo Entertainment System. No G.I. Joe, no Transformers. Just Mario, Luigi, and any other 8-bit creations I could play. Santa came through, as he always does, and I haven’t stopped playing since.

Kung Fu
“Where it all started“

If you’re interested, you can download the Kung Fu manual here, from replacementdocs (which is where I got the image above).

DS Lite, handheld perfection?

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I am this close to declaring the DS Lite the perfect gaming machine, ever made. The DS as a console was really coming into its own, with a ginormous library of Game Boy Advance games right out of the box and a steady stream of DS games that were simply success after success. Then they gave us the Lite and its sexy, svelte look and bright, beautiful screens and Nintendo had achieved handheld perfection.

I’m trying to find a flaw, I really am, but I just can’t do it. Everything about it is screaming perfection and I am hearing it, loud and clear.

DS Lite and the Ark of the Covenant

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Belloq

Remember the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Belloq, dressed up in biblical clothing, begins the ritual to open the ark? Where he does some Hebraic incantations, waves his staff around some, and then opens the ark? Nothing happens at first, but eventually angels and spirits emerge, to which Belloq declares,

“They’re beautiful!”

Then they turn into lion-headed destroying angels and they melt Toht’s face off. Remember that part?

Well, my DS Lite arrived today. When I took it out of the box, it was pretty much the same scene, minus the biblical clothes and the waving of the staff. Its brightness pretty much burned my face off.

Toht
“It’s beaut… Ahhhhhhhhh it’s too bright!”