This amusing video made with Halo 3’s Forge parodies Nintendo’s Pokemon, Mario & StarFox games. Check out this interesting mash-up entitled, ‘Gal, Guy & Villain’.

[source]

Due April 27th in the United States Nintendo’s latest Mario title is highly anticipated by millions of Wii owners. Check out the following intro video from the Japanese release - it’s identical to the upcoming American release.

Nintendo Wii Fanboy had these details to share Super Mario Galaxy:

The game is incredibly charming and creative, and filled with life that make it a clear killer app for the console.

Firstly, the game looks absolutely stunning. Not only does it run in 480p and in widescreen, the game features some beautiful colors, fantastic texture work, and some stellar special effects. The Mario character model is easily the best we’ve seen in any Nintendo game so far: it’s not hard to think that the in-game cut-scenes are pre-rendered at times. Galaxy, at the very least, shows that the Wii is a capable piece of hardware, so long as developers take time and care with it.

and they also mentioned this about multiplayer mode:

We also got to try the “multiplayer” mode, in which the second controller can act as another pointer to help Mario: it can stun enemies, and Mario as well. A player that refuses to play well with others will want to point at Mario, stopping him in his tracks.

Expect this title in November exclusive to Nintendo Wii.

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Mario Strikers debuted in the #3 position this week on Nintendo’s WFC online activity chart which includes both DS & Wii systems.

Games that are new to the top 10 chart are listed in bold.

Nintendo WFC Online Activity (W/E May 27th)
1. Pokémon Diamond - 1,460,474 connections
2. Pokémon Pearl - 1,007,074 connections
3. Mario Strikers Charged Football - 399,569 connections
4. Animal Crossing: Wild World - 360,855 connections
5. Mario Kart DS - 294,993 connections
6. Metroid Prime Hunters - 201,480 connections
7. Jump! Ultimate Stars - 128,872 connections
8. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - 108,299 connections
9. Tetris DS - 71,347 connections
10. Pokémon Battle Revolution - 51,781 connections

Here is the top 10 chart for the week prior:

Nintendo WFC Online Activity (W/E May 20th)
1. Pokémon Diamond - 1,395,022 connections
2. Pokémon Pearl - 949,767 connections
3. Animal Crossing: Wild World - 372,978 connections
4. Mario Kart DS - 293,370 connections
5. Metroid Prime Hunters - 202,067 connections
6. Jump! Ultimate Stars - 119,847 connections
7. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - 103,915 connections
8. Tetris DS - 67,307 connections
9. Final Fantasy III - 53,172 connections
10. 42 All-Time Classics - 47,705 connections

[source]

Found this article over at Newsweek.com game section Level Up about how Nintendo fans love the family friendly games that Nintendo produces themselves, but when it comes to 3rd party titles of the same type - they avoid these like the plague. From the article:

Kevin Cassidy (founder of the news, reviews and opinion site GoNintendo.com) regarding a Level Up post about how Sony’s hit games with alternative controllers paved the way for the Wii’s success, when Cassidy wrote:

“Right now people are too busy bitching about Konami’s ‘kiddy’ games. I swear, Nintendo fans are never happy.”

After some back and forth discussion of his statement, we realized that Cassidy’s thoughts had the makings of an insightful rant, so we asked him to answer the following question “Are Nintendo fans too hard on third-party games?”

Here’s his response:

For many years, Nintendo had a rough time securing truly robust third party support. But back during the 8-bit and 16-bit wars, things were quite different: Sega and Nintendo were the big players, and their respective systems were cartridge-based. As time moved on, things changed drastically on all fronts, from storage, to competitors, and even subject matter. Nintendo decided to stay with the more expensive cartridges for their Nintendo 64 platform, while newcomer Sony went with much cheaper CD-based media. That change, combined with the scary prospect of competing against Nintendo’s first party powerhouse franchises, produced the perfect recipe for third party disaster, resulting in ever-decreasing third party support until very recently.

Enter the Wii, Nintendo’s new platform full of fresh ideas: Two motion-based controllers, a Virtual Console system which lets you download classic titles from a number of platforms, and Nintendo’s pledge to actively pursue third party development. The first few months for the Wii have been outstanding. Consumers seem to understand and enjoy what Nintendo is striving to do, and third parties see the Wii as a viable platform for their work. Nintendo is doing what they said they would all along, getting the third party support that fans wanted. The only problem is that these same fans don’t seem to want what third parties have to offer.

Konami, Ubisoft, THQ, EA, and many other big name third party developers have announced that they have a number of games in the works for the Wii. You have ports of last generation games, original IPs exclusive to the Wii, huge titles from EA’s lineup, and more. Yet from what I have seen, Wii owners are complaining about almost everything the Wii has heading its way. Take for example Dewy’s Adventure, a recently announced puzzle/platformer game that makes use of everything unique to the Wii’s control scheme. An alarming number of fans have branded the game as “kiddie” and not worth a second look. This not-worth-my-time message board buzz seems to be afflicting an alarming number of titles coming to the Wii. Prince of Persia: Rival Swords; The Godfather: Blackhand Edition; Scarface; Mortal Kombat: Armageddon—fans lambaste them all because they appeared on last-generation platforms. Nintendo die hards want third party support, but they don’t want the original titles, enhanced ports, or “kiddy” games that they accuse third parties of dumping on the Wii.

Well, what do Wii owners want then?

From what I can see, Wii owners want more “mature” titles. I put this term in quotes because I simply don’t believe that the gameplay examples fans are citing qualify as mature. The general outcry seems to be for titles that offer up violence in one way or another. So while many Wii owners do not want ports, they do want original IPs that are grittier than the traditional Nintendo fare. This desire is definitely a byproduct of the popularity of franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo and their many imitators. Those games are both wonderful examples of pulling people into game worlds, but they don’t have to be the end all, be all of software support.

Going back to the unjustly maligned Dewy’s Adventure, what Nintendo fans deride as “kiddie” is more fairly described as whimsical. Still, they write on message boards that the game doesn’t appeal to them at all because it lacks “mature” themes, yet many of the people leaving these comments aren’t even old enough to purchase Mature-rated games. All the while, Nintendo’s own family friendly titles somehow seem to be exempt from these “kiddie” accusations, most likely owing to the company’s well-established heritage.

So when it comes to third party games, Nintendo fans are almost impossible to please. They seem to want everything and nothing at the same time. They want massive third party support, but when they get it they turn their backs. They have no problem with the rated-E for Everyone titles when Nintendo makes them, but the same designation is unacceptable when coming from third parties.

Over the past several weeks we have seen a huge amount of external support for the Wii in all categories, and I can’t think of one title in particular that fans are really excited about. Is this the product of a mentality that says games aren’t fun unless they are violent? Or are Nintendo fans being too picky for their own good? If their current opinion of these games carries over to the final sales tally, it looks like Nintendo will once again lose the third party support they have been working so hard to regain. Here I thought things were finally going the Big N’s way, and now, because of the fickle tastes of my fellow Wii-philes, I am left worrying that Mario and friends will once again be left to carry the console end of Nintendo on their shoulders, all by their lonesome.

[source Level Up]

- Thanks Hurt!

In 1995 Apple launched its first games console, the Bandai Pippin. It was based on a 66MHz PowerPC processor and ran a stripped-down version of Mac OS 7. The market for the device was not immediately obvious. The Mac was notorious for its lack of mainstream gaming titles, so basing a games console on OS 7 was a staggeringly perverse decision — some might say suicidal.

The 603e processor the Pippin used was woefully under-specced for decent gaming even back in ‘95. Set adrift in a world where almost every gamer had a Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn or Nintendo 64 tucked under their television set, the inevitable happened and Pippin died a horrible, embarrassing death. Recently, the Pippin was included in PC World’s ‘25 Worst Tech Products of All Time’.

Apple’s track record with games has improved slightly since. Many major titles like World of Warcraft and Halo are available to buy for the Mac — although often the Mac version is one release behind the PC versions. Only the bestselling PC games make it to the Mac and there’s often a six- to 12-month wait while companies port a title. But this may be about to change.

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