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 »

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

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.
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Mario is stepping on the North American plate and hoping for a Wii homerun with Super Sluggers. This Wii title was first released in Japan last June and was received warmly by Japanese gamers. Mario Super Sluggers was released this week in the North America market while Australian gamers can get it this September.

This baseball title for the Wii will have 4 game modes. The Exhibition mode lets players choose their captains and players. You can choose how many innings, stadium and the time of play, whether night or day. The batting order would be determined via toss coin. Read more »

Those of you who already have the Guitar Hero: On Tour would know how awkward and unnatural the feel is to play it with the DS Guitar Grip it comes with. Modder Eric Ruckman has the perfect solution for this. Why not use a regular PS2 guitar controller to play the DS version of the game?

First, he dismantled the guitar controller. He removed the internal parts and then placed the DS in the middle. He included a FM transmitter so that you can use an ordinary radio as speakers. The guitar controller’s start and select buttons act as the frequency selector. If you don’t want to wake up your neighbors, you can plug headphones into it. The controller will use the GBA slot therefore you can still take the DS off if you want to.

Good job Eric!

Watch this video of the Guitar Hero: On Tour guitar controller mod in action.

Source: markvi_fan’s flickr

Photos after the jump.
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The ultimate cooking showdown on cable television will be making its way to the Wii and DS. Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine will be pit two players in a battle to see who will be supreme in the Kitchen Stadium as they battle in a series of fast paced and intensive culinary challenges. Each victory will bring a player closer in his quest to be the next Iron Chef.

Food Network fanatics would love playing this cooking game that would let them compete against the likes of former Iron Chefs Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cat Cora. Game commentary will be made by Alton Brown.

As to why you would prefer to virtually cook food against really cooking is beyond my logic but as a fan of the show I would likely pick this game up. Yeah, another game that caters to casual gamers. Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine will be available this fall for the Nintendo Wii and DS.

Will Iron Chef topple Cooking Mama’s Wii supremacy?

For this year’s Games Convention Midway promised to be bringing the following titles for Nintendo consoles.

More Game Party

(Wii, November 2008)

More Game Party for the Wii is expected to bring more fun for you and your friends. It has 11 party games that include Bean Bag Toss, Lawn Darts, Horseshoes, Puck Bowling, Hoop Shoot, Darts, and Skill Ball. Each game has a four player mode and tournament play that makes More Game Play the ultimate party game for everyone.

More TouchMaster

(DS, September 2008)

More TouchMaster brings a mixture of old and new card, action, puzzle and strategy games that will keep you occupied for hours. You could try and beat your own scores or you can play against other players. More TouchMaster is your own portable arcade to while away your idle times.

Mechanic Master

(DS, September 2008)

In Mechanic Master, you get to use your DS stylus to battle against pesky alien invaders. With over 100 levels and tons of puzzles to solve, finding the right contraption needs lots of creative juice in order to advance to the next level. This is yet another casual game to add to your DS inventory.

Overlord is out to conquer multiple platforms on 2009 including the Nintendo Wii and DS. Codemasters announced that it will be releasing Overlord: Dark Legend for the Wii and Overlord Minions for the DS. Plus it will also put out Overlord II for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Lennart Sas, director and Overlord lead at the Triumph Studios, has this to say about the pending titles:

“It’s also great to see the series reaching new formats. The creativity being packed into the design for Overlord Dark Legend on Wii and Overlord Minions on Nintendo DS make great use of the platforms’ unique features and are perfect extensions to the Overlord series.”

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Nintendo announced that it is set to release to the US market a Limited Edition Pokémon Pack on August 17. The retail pack contains:

•  a Limited Edition Onyx Nintendo DS Lite with silkscreen of Dialgo & Palkia from Pokémon Diamond & Pearl;
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness special animated episode DVD;
•  Pokémon Dialgo & Palkia Carrying Case; and
• Collectible mini-poster featuring Grovyle from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness.

Amazon is already accepting pre-orders for the Limited Pokémon Pack with a retail price of $129.99. Fans of the series would surely be racing to grab one. Yeah, they want to catch ‘em all!

BioWare is set to port to the Nintendo DS their games such as Mass Effect, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age. The developers have big plans for the Mass Effect franchise. Not only are they considering a DS version of the game but they are working on the sequel as well.

My only concern with Mass Effect for the DS is to how its game play would translate into the portable console. I think that a direct port of the Xbox and PC version is impossible. Maybe a couple tweaks of its combat system would be made.

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