Disney joins in the music game bandwagon with the announcement of its Ultimate Band for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Disney believes that rockers don’t just play music, they must perform it. Ultimate Band lets player get into character and have the performance of their lives.

I don’t know how Disney will pull it off. Unlike Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which come with Guitars and Drum Kits, Ultimate Band won’t need extra controller and will be controlled by the Wii remote and Nunchuks. Players can opt to be the lead guitarist, bassist or the drummer of the Ultimate Band. But don’t you think players will be more into the action when they hold guitars rather than the Wii remote and Nunchuk? Read more »

Konami has three casual games that your kids will surely enjoy. Two of these games will be out in the market soon, while the third one will be available on in a not so distant future.

First up is Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked! This Wii game is part of the Survival Kids series which first came out three years ago in the DS. Kids will use the Wii remote and the nunchuk to performs skills such as fishing, carpentry and fire building in order to survive.

Then there’s Time Hollow. This DS game lets the player be Ethan Kairos and try to solve the mystery regarding his missing family. Ethan uses a Hollow Pen that permits him to roam through the past and present at the same time. I think not only kids but adults would enjoy the problem solving aspect of this game. This will be available on the 23rd of September.

Lastly, Konami is set to release Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero. This DS game features the Elebits in the quest of solving puzzles in order to go to the next level. This would give your kids occupied for hours. They could play heads up matches with their friends va the DS Wi-Fi connection. Konami earlier has said the this would be released on the 19th of November but postponed the release date to something early next year.

Konami Is bringing more casual games on the table. I know this genre sells but if game developers keeps going on this pace, Nintendo will lose hardcore or non-casual gamers to other consoles. A little less casual games in the future please.

An Indie developer, Nintendo’s upcoming casual game, new regions to conquer, a rant and more in this week’s Nintendo News round up.

Independent Game Developer 7 Studios Ranks among Fastest-Growing Businesses in America for Second Consecutive Year
7 Studios is an independent video game developer that has produced hits for the Wii and DS such as Six Flags Fun Park, George of the Jungle, and Napoleon Dynamite. Go figure.

Pikmin 3 confirmed as Wii title
It is now confirmed that Pikmin 3 will be for the Wii and not the DS. They’re are also developing a new Zelda game for the Wii.

Nintendo set to push Wii/DS hard in New Zealand
Despite dominating other markets, Nintendo is having a hard time with New Zealand. A look at the New Zealand gaming chart and you’ll see a single Nintendo game in the top ten.

Nintendo Wii in India
Finally, official versions of the Wii and DS will be available in India. It’s about time. This is bad news for those engaged in the grey market though.

Nintendo, why? A lament on the Wii
Author asks Nintendo why there seems to be no more innovative games coming out for the Wii. Although the Wii successfully became the number one console to date, it seems that Nintendo is targeting the extreme casual gamer and forgotten about the rest. I concur!

Harry Potter fans are rabid these days. First there was the announcement by WB of moving the sixth movie’s showing to summer of 2009. Now EA also earns the ire of the fans when they announced the postponement of the Half Blood Prince game.

The Half Blood Prince game, which is originally scheduled for a November release, will be available for the Wii, DS, PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox360, PC, Mac and other mobile devices. Its release will coincide with the movie’s release.

Robert Nashak, EA Casual Studios vice president has this to say about the game:

“We are creating an immersive game experience that Potter fans around the world will really enjoy playing as they fly and duel their way through the story of the film. The game will feature new Wii gestures and increased gameplay capabilities across all of the platforms.”

Read more »

Nintendo announces that it will be launching a new Nintendo Wi-Fi Network Adapter that is due to come out in the Japan market on September 18. The adapter can serve as a router or a bridge for your existing router. There’s also an auto setting in which it can detect and automatically switch to any network.

Although it is labeled as Nintendo and made for the Wii and the DS, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Network Adapter could also be used by other devices as well. Just like any ordinary wireless adapter/router, it is compatible with your PC as well as your non-Nintendo consoles such as the PS3, Xbox and the PSP.

It’s so nice that Nintendo though about the connectivity of their users but this is not what we, the Wii users, want. What I want is more storage capacity for the Wii. I won’t stop asking for this until Nintendo gives in to this demand.

The Nintendo Wi-Fi Network Adapter will be available in Japan next week for 5,800 yen. There are no plans yet to release it to the other regions.

Photo from: Famitsu.

Unconfirmed rumors suggest that Take-Two, Gran Theft Auto’s publisher, is developing a GTA game for the Wii. Although there’s no official word on this issue but Take-Two’s CEO Ben Feder recently said:

We continue to build that relationship. GTA Chinatown Wars is not even the first step but certainly an important step in continuing to develop that relationship. I will say that Nintendo and Take-Two work very well together. Nintendo and Rockstar are beginning to work well together and we intend to continue to grow that relationship.

GTA Chinatown Wars is exclusively for the DS. It features new characters, custom game engine and Wi-Fi connectivity. It will be available this coming holiday season.

If the planned GTA for the Wii pushes through then it will be the first Gran Theft Auto game for any non-portable Nintendo console. There’s GTA for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. GTA’s Wii-version would surely be something I would look forward to in the near future.

Photo from MyWii.com.au

In the time when record companies want more royalties from music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Metallica has announced that their latest album will be available for Guitar Hero World Tour as downloadable content. Hopefully more bands would follow in Metallica’s footsteps and offer their album as DLC as well.

Activision’s partnership with Metallica would be the first time that a music album release is simultaneous with it’s availability as DLC for any video game. The band has always been technologically savvy. In 2000 Metallica was one of the first bands who sued Napster and eventually had a hand in shutting it down. I never forgave Metallica for that one. Read more »

Speculations about Nintendo, the next DS, a new color for the North American market, and Tecmo in this week’s Nintendo News round up.

What’s Up with the Nintendo Wii?

Here’s another rant about current Wii games. I would have to agree with the author on this one. Hardcore gamers don’t want to see another casual game for the Wii.

Action? Check. Sports? Check. RTS? Check. Platformer? Check. Tecmo(R) Has It All This Holiday Season

Tecmo announced their holiday games. DS games include Robocalypse and Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff, while the Wii will be having Rygar: The Battle of Argus and Spray.

Why Nintendo will never have it better than now

They say that what goes up must come down sometime. There are people who predict that Wii and DS success today might come to an abrupt end soon if Nintendo don’t do anything about it.

11 Things to Expect from the Next Nintendo DS

Here’s a list of things that the author wants to see on the next generation DS. Among the improvements I would want the next DS to have better audio. Being a music lover and a gamer at the same time, I would want my DS to sound better.

Metallic Silver Nintendo DS Headed to US Sept. 7

Finally, the Metallic Silver DS will be available for the North American market. This color is already sold outside the U.S. for almost a year now. It’s just right that they caught up with the rest of the world.

The long wait is over. The full version of Spore will be released this week. September 4 is the release date for Australia, September 5 for Europe and Japan, and September 7 for the North American market. In addition to the game, it will come with a making of Spore DVD, a mini-book, a poster and a handbook.

I know it’s a PC game and this is a Nintendo gaming blog but Spore is big these days. Everywhere I go, all I see is Spores. It’s as if Spore is stalking me. I can even see a Spore creature in my dreams.

Last June, EA Games and Maxis came out with the teaser, Spore Creature Creator. This allowed users to create their own creature. Then they can upload their creatures to Sporepedia. The site’s database has thousands of creatures in it.
Read more »

Nintendo announced that it has raised its full year profit and sales forecasts. Its profits are 23% higher than last year’s numbers. The company has earlier predicted an increase of only 9%. The increase is mainly due to the strong showing of the Wii and DS consoles outside Japan. Read more »