Nintendo Wii

Platinum, formerly Clover, resurfaces with new games for just about everyone.

A few days ago, we finally heard some real noise from the talented folks who formerly comprised the inarguable core of Capcom’s Clover Studios team back until shortly after the release of Okami. Here’s a refresher in case you missed the last thirty or so I gave you: Clover underperformed at the cash register, so Capcom closed them in an attempt to reabsorb those Capcom legends who had created profitable franchises like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, but ended up losing them altogether when they walked out the door instead. It wasn’t long before we heard they had formed their own studio called Seeds, which later became Platinum Games. I was starting to wonder if they were actually doing anything, and eventually I stopped thinking about them. Not long ago there was a leak of some video that was allegedly of some gameplay of Platinum Games’ work, most notably a black-and-white gorefest called MadWorld. It turns out, it’s all real, and there’s a lot to share, thanks to… Sega? That’s weird.

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Lost Winds Blows (Me Away)

Based on the positive buzz it has been getting, and the fact that I have an abundance of Wii points at the moment, I decided to give the new Wii Ware title Lost Winds a try.  I was expecting it to be good, and it is, but there is something more.  For me, Lost Winds seems to have that rare, magical element that very few games have.  I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is.  It’s a kind of trance the game puts me in.  It’s a union of excellent control, visual style, and excellent music that gel together harmonically to become more than the sum of the parts. If Lost Winds represents the kind of game Wii Ware will be bringing to the table in the future, it looks like we’re all going on a fantastic ride.  Now if Nintendo would just give us a hard drive… 

Review: Battle of the Bands

What is it?

Battle of the Bands is a Wii-exclusive Planet Moon-developed THQ rhythm game. The game follows a template laid out by Guitar Hero in a lot of ways, but takes things in a bit of an interesting alternate direction. The game is played entirely as a duel, rather than a competition to just finish the song without screwing up too bad. The goal is to score more points than the opposing band by doing a better job matching the on-screen prompts and foil their gameplay with a variety of distracting attacks. Read the rest of this entry »

Strong Bad Cool Game For Attractive People Screens, Video

Emily from Telltale Games was nice enough to send over a few new stills from the upcoming game, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.  They also sent over a great video of what looks to be gameplay from the Wiiware version of the game.

The game starts off with Strong Bad doing his normal gig, walking around the house, answering emails and looking for any chance to beat his rivals.  Strong Bad’s scheme for this episode has him trying to win “The Race to the End of the Race”, but chaos ensues and things do not work out as Strong Bad planned.  Hit the jump for more of the pictures and the movie, along with the press release.

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Game Informer Shows Off New Drum Kit for Guitar Hero IV

Not to be content with Rock Band stealing some of their thunder, Neversoft has decided to come back with a vengeance, adding several new instruments to the Guitar Hero gameplay.  To the left, you can see the drum pads that have been created for the game.  The first thing you notice is the two cymbal pads that are elevated from the rest of the drum pads.  It is also suppose to be quieter than the Rock Band drum set, which is much appreciated.  It is also wireless, which should lessen the clutter in front of the TV.

Activision also notes that at one point, they had a Drum Hero game in development, but they discontinued it, and folded its development into the Neversoft team, so they could focus on a full band game.

Now I only have two questions that need to be answered.  One is the compatibility question, because as I see it right now, this game has 3 pads, 2 cymbals and 1 foot pedal, which is one more than the Rock Band drum kit.  So I would need to have another drum set sitting in my living room if I want to play this, because I can’t see them being compatible.  Secondly, doesn’t this seem to go beyond the scope of the name, Guitar Hero?  One other question kicking around would be whether they go with a good amount of downloadable content, because the allure of Rock Band right now, is the new content that players get every week.  Not a pack every month or every other month.

image from Game Informer, via joystiq.com

Why Go Outside This Summer?

EA has let us know that there’s a swarm of new titles releasing this summer that might pique your interest. Whether or not they keep you indoors on sunny days is a question of how excited you are for them. I know for sure that Battlefield: Bad Company and Spore will be on my list. I might even withhold from picking up Spore on a console, if officially announced, and go straight for the Mac version.

Battlefield: Bad Company - Xbox 360 and PS3
Ship Date – June 23, 2008

Burnout Paradise - PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
Downloadable Content in June.

Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath - Xbox 360
Ship Date – June 2008

Mass Effect - PC
Ship Date – May 28, 2008

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames -PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 2
Ship Date – August 31st 2008 in North America; September 5th 2008 in UK and Europe

Rock Band - Wii
Ship Date – June 22, 2008

Spore - PC, Macintosh, Nintendo DS and mobile phones.
Ship Date – September 7, 2008

Alone in the Dark, New Screens

We’ve got some new screens to show you from the upcoming macabre-styled Adventure/Action/Horror game: Alone in the Dark. We will be covering the game right up until its release date of June 24th except for the PS3 which has an undetermined release date at this point.

If you haven’t already seen the teaser trailer, check it out on the next page.
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Rogue Trooper Hiking Wiiward

I last extolled the virtues of Rogue Trooper on the PS2 when the dog ate our podcast back in September and like many good games this one’s getting ported to the Wii with a fancy little title including your friend and mine, the colon. The Wii becomes the fourth platform for this shooter, and probably a pretty good fit considering the low difficulty level. People who buy the shovelware that’s oozing out of the publisher sewage pipes these days could do a whole lot worse than this game even if it just matches the quality of the PS2 or Xbox version’s visuals when it’s finished. You can also find Rogue Trooper for the PC, and it’s on GameTap in case you have that fine service and haven’t found it yet.

Kotaku links to VideoGamer.com with more information on Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Zone Massacre here. What they don’t say is what makes them think that putting “massacre” in a game title won’t affect your initial impression of the game sitting on a store shelf, especially in the family-friendly-Wii section.

Top Spin 3 Developer Call

Yesterday, Ryan Jones of 2K Sports, was nice enough to invite Aeropause to a developer conference call with the lead producer of Top Spin 3, Anthony DeLuca.

Anthony let us know that the Top Spin franchise has become the number one rated tennis game among fans and that it was only natural to continue the series.

2K Sports took the franchise back to the drawing board looking at the changes that needed to be made to make Top Spin 3 stand out among its competitors.  This time around the development team would be focusing on the shot mechanics, service mechanics as well as the graphics for the game. 

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New Wii Channel now available

So as we all know, the Nintendo Channel was announced last month with US due-date of mid-May. Well, we must have hit mid-May because waiting for me when I got home from work tonight was a new update and the ability to download the Nintendo Channel. So far my experience has mixed reviews. Read the rest of this entry »