Wish for the future features, latest features, and torture in this week’s Nintendo News Roundup.

Bridging the Gap: Connecting Guitar Hero Wii and DS
The author talks about the possibility of connecting the Wii and DS to play Guitar Hero. That’s not a bad idea at all.

Nintendo DSi: Definitely not all it is cracked up to be
Here’s a naysayer’s take on the new DSi. She says that Nintendo might be moving in a new direction with the DSi that it confuses her. But then she states in the next paragraph that it is nothing new at all. She really is confused.

Wii Speak Channel: Nintendo announce release date
Wii Speak Channel would let 4 people to speak and share pictures and text messages. The channel would be launched on December 5 in Europe.

Will Nintendo DSi region locking combat piracy
Nintendo announced that the DSi consoles would be region-locked. This goes with the DSi games as well. I hope Nintendo changes this policy or else it will be the end of those great imported games from Japan.

Top 10 Reasons Hardcore Gamers Fear Casual Gaming
Number 1 – The Nintendo Wii. I LOL’ed with this list but it pretty much summed up what I feel about casual games.

The USA might be experiencing a financial crisis but the demand for Nintendo consoles and games would still be high this coming holiday season. This is according to the predictions of Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

Nintendo will increase its Wii shipment up to 50% while the DS will have a 10% increase. The figures are compared to the numbers of last year’s holiday shipment. Even with the increase in stock, NoA predicts that the demand is still higher than the supply.

The holiday season is when Nintendo does the most business. Last holiday season Nintendo managed to sell 2.85 million Wiis and 4.5 million DS consoles. Last year a lot of children were disappointed when their parents can’t find a Wii or a DS for Christmas.

My advice is to do your Christmas shopping early this year. I would definitely want a DSi this year, if I can find one.

NintendoNonstop got to chat with Go! Go! Kokopolo! creator Keith Webb and he stated that the game would not be promoting bullying in any ways. He made it clear that it is made for “comic mischief” and nothing more. He can’t elaborate on that any further but I did get to ask him a few questions.

Nintendo Nonstop (NNS): What’s the story behind the character Kokopolo?
Keith Webb (KW): Kokopolo is a wild cat with a slightly hyperactive temper. When his peaceful slumber is disturbed, he embarks on a mission to play pranks and cause mischief to those responsible.

NNS: Why release it on the DS and not the Wii?
KW:Developed for DS purely as a great fan of pixel and sprite artwork. The game is also designed to be purely “pick up and play” and played in short bursts. Thus perfect for handhelds.

NNS: What’s your take on casual gaming?
KW:Love casual gaming. Great way of getting more people involved. Though also a great fan of more hardcore, old-school, retro games. I think there is room in the market for both

Judging from the sketches, it does have a retro feel to it. Well, I did sounded kinda harsh during my last article on Go! Go! Kokopolo. I should have waited for the game itself rather than judging it immediately.

The exclusive sketches of Go! Go! Kokopolo! after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

Go! Go! Kokopolo! Will follow the adventure of a wildcat named, you’ve guessed it, Kokopolo. He is sort of an anti-hero and his enemies are not necessarily evil, they’re just in his way. With that description alone, I would not be giving this title to any of my nieces and nephews when it is released.

The game’s creator, Keith Webb, describes Kokopolo as:

“The ultimate trickster, scratching innocent animals at will, and luring them into deadly traps in a typically comic style.”

Well tell that to the hundreds of children being bullied in schoolyards. Any game that promotes bullying is a no-no in my book.

Developers have also announced that its sequel would be release for the Wii on 2012. Hmmm… will the Wii still be available in 2012?

Hopefully the storyline will change when the game is finally released. As is, I won’t be recommending the game for anyone.

*Edited*

I judged the game prematurely. That’s uncool of me.

During the recent Nintendo press conference, it is announced that the Pikmin series would be released for the Wii as part of the company’s Let’s Play on Wii series. It is reported that Pikmin would be released on Christmas Day in Japan. Pikmin 2 is also stated for rerelease but no release date has been given yet.

It was hinted during E3 2008 that a third Pikmin would be available for the Wii. Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway has said before:

“It’s not the Pikmin that Mr. Miyamoto referred to, no. Mr. Miyamoto referred to a new Pikmin, as opposed to the classics that are being rereleased on Wii.”

In the recent developments, it is hinted that Pikmin 3 might be heading for the DSi instead. When Charlie Scibetta, Senior Director of Corporate Communications of Nintendo of America was asked if there’s a Pikmin 3 for the Wii, he answered:

“I don’t have an answer for you.”

The answer is a bit vague. It might be because they want to keep the project secret for now. They might even release it for the Wii and DSi.

I do think that Pikmin is more suited for the DSi than the Wii. What are your thoughts on this?

News on the latest developments for the DS and Wii; new game from Square Enix; and Nintendo rivals in this week’s Nintendo News roundup.

WTF? Play New Crystal Chronicles on Wii, DS
Square Enix has unveiled the new chapter to the Crystal Chronicles and it will be available for both the DS and Wii. It is scheduled to be released early next year.

Feature: Will the New Nintendo DS Have DLC?
There are a lot of speculations regarding the new DS. One of the features that most gamers want from a new DS is downloadable content. DLC is already available for the Wii; why not bring it with the DS as well?

Apple vs. Mario: The handheld gaming battle begins
If it’s true that the new DS will be featuring a built-in cam and music playing capabilities, then it must be due to the fact that Jobs’ Apple is closing in the gap between the iPod and the DS. The new iPod Touch has been tagged as the best portable device for games. I can’t wait for the next chapter of this saga.

More than just Rumours: Next Gen High Definition Nintendo Wii a Reality
So-called experts had uncovered evidence of a new Wii that’s in Nintendo’s drawing board. The report stated that in 2011, the next gen Wii will be unveiled with the name Wii HD, with HD meaning High Definition rather than the hard drive gamers are yearning for.

Analysis: Trends in the Japanese Game Market
This is a report on why Nintendo is dominating the gaming industry. It states that the DS would still be number one over the PSP. Bad news for Nintendo is that statistics show a steady decline of DS’ popularity over the next 5 years.

Everyone knew that Nintendo would be releasing a new DS with built-in camera. But instead of a single camera, Nintendo DSi will feature 2 cameras, much to the delight of camwhores everywhere. It is said the future DS games can include Mii-like features. It has a 3.25 megapixel external camera and an internal camera as well.

And don’t look for the GBA cartridge slot anymore. It is replaced by a SD slot. This improvement makes the DSi 12% slimmer than the DS Lite. There’s talk about internal storage but no official word yet on its capacity. The screens are also a little bit bigger. Read the rest of this entry »

Gameloft has recently announced its game lineup for this year’s holiday season. They will be releasing 2 DS games and one for the Wii.

Gameloft’s soccer game is back for another year with Real Soccer 2009. The game has a real soccer feel to it with 198 professional teams, dynamic AI, and explosive graphics. The touch screen controls are simple yet powerful enough to let the player get in the action.

Gameloft joins the music bandwagon on the DS with its Guitar Rock Tour. Just from the title alone, it hopes to capitalize with Guitar Hero and Rock Band’s popularity. Players get to use guitars or drums to jam to famous the music. The tracklist include Girlfriend; Beat It; Rock You like a Hurricane; Message in a Bottle; Underclass Hero; and In the Shadow.

Lastly, Gameloft will be releasing TV Show King Party for the Wii. The whole family would truly enjoy this trivia game’s game show atmosphere. Questions would range from Music, Movies, History, Science and Sports.

Guitar Rock Tour, Real Soccer 2009 and TV Show King Party will be available starting in November.

It’s been ten years since the first ever Harvest Moon was released for the SNES. I remembered playing the game and actually enjoyed it. Not much has changed with its gameplay over the years. Basically the player is tasked to run a farm over a course of time, while maintaining a healthy relationship with your neighbors.

Although it started with a Nintendo console, it has since then been produced for various consoles such as the Game Boy, GBA, N64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, GameCube, DS and the PSP. It was available for the Wii via the Virtual Console.

For the game’s tenth year anniversary, Natsume has released Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for the Wii. Now you can enjoy farming with your Wii remote. It features new settings and characters. Plus it is said that it has the most refined gameplay for a Harvest Moon game yet.

Harvest Moon has introduced to me how to farm in a game. It teaches patience and how to manage your crops properly. Farming is a great gaming skill and until now I’ve applied it, farming for gold in WoW.

Tree of Tranquility has been rated E therefore everyone can get in the fun and enjoy farming. I’m grabbing a copy myself. For more info on the game, you can go to www.natsume.com.

Nikkei has reported that Nintendo is set to release a new DS version before this year ends. Among the improvements would be a better wireless functionality, larger display screen, built-in camera and music player.

The built-in camera is said to be used by some games in the future, wherein the picture will be incorporated in the gameplay. It is said that the new DS will be available initially available only in Japan to test whether gamers would welcome it.

Being a music lover, I like this new music player feature, although I need to buy a bigger SD card to store my mp3s.

There’s no official word from Nintendo yet regarding this development. I guess we all have to wait for their autumn conference where they are said to announce some product news.

Still no news on a Wii update yet. I wish Nintendo would give in with the request of a larger memory capacity for the Wii.

I’ll keep you posted once more news is available on this one. Would you be willing to buy an updated DS or will you stick with your old one? What are your thoughts about the latest features?