Game Review: Playground is More Than a Wii Bit Of Fun

As we all know by now, the genius of the Wii isn't in the graphics, it's in the gameplay. Whether it's the rolling a bowling ball or swinging a bat in Wii Sports, swinging the golf club in Tiger Woods Golf, or throwing the football in Madden NFL, the natural gameplay allowed by the Wiimote has brought gaming to another level of fun for even the casual player.

What is also great is how this advance has freed game developers to create new titles based on concepts that previously would not have created much excitement when confined to a standard controller. One good example is Playground, from Electronic Arts (EA).

The setting is a school playground, and the hook is playing classic playground games (mostly) using the Wiimote, to collect marbles and stickers to unlock advanced moves and open new play areas. The classic games include Dodgeball, Tetherball, and Wallball, which all utilize the Wiimote in interesting ways; and the not-so-classic games, such as Kicks (think volleyball + soccer), Slot Car Racing, Paper Racers (flying paper airplanes for distance and points), and Dart Shootout.

The players are cartoon-character kids, each with their own specialties in different areas. You walk your kid around the playground, picking games to play, or taking dares to challenge other kids and win their marbles. The graphics are typical for the Wii - nothing fancy, but nicely animated, and the gameplay is very enjoyable, each game calling for interesting use of the Wiimote. As I said, there's no way they could make these games work on standard platforms: could you ever imagine playing Tetherball with a Sixaxis controller? But with the Wiimote, it's a ton of fun.

All in all, this is another fun title that shows off what is best about the Wii. It's not about high-resolution first-person shooters, where every blade of grass is rendered perfectly; it's about enjoyable gameplay that can be shared with family and friends.

GeekDad: Innovative, family-friendly gameplay with a fun setting and interesting challenges.
GeekSad: Some of the game choices are odd: who ever played slot-cars on a playground?
Price/maker: $40 / EA
Rating: 8/10

Source: Wired

Game Day: Play Drums, MIDI, Guitar with a Wii Controller, Free

All for FREE - Visit the website to get the details here

Bless Nintendo for making the Wii controller: inexpensive, lots of internal sensor data (motion sensing, tilt sensing, buttons), elegant design, and standard Bluetooth support allowing it to be used with Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Now there’s free and open source software for making the most of your Wiimote as a musical instrument. First up: Wiinstrument, a multi-purpose percussion instrument, now available for all three operating systems (a Windows version was recently added).

Plays percussion / drums with gestures
Use an (in-development) internal sampler with WAV files, or trigger other software via MIDI
Use tilt for control changes
Supports tilt, velocity (how much force you use when you move your Wiimote), with acceleration from both the Wiimote and nunchuk
It works with Mac, Windows, and Linux, via a standard OpenGL-based interface, thanks to the awesome 2D OpenGL library Gosu. (Programmers, take note.)
Of course, drums are just the beginning — you could use this to trigger clips, grooves, visualist videos and animations, whatever. And it comes with demos, tutorials, source code, the lot.

Nintendo Says It's Not Limiting Wii Supply

Nintendo denies rumors that the company is limiting the supply of Wii units worldwide.

Nintendo has refuted ongoing speculation that the company is limiting the supply of global Wii units in an effort to fake demand.

"We strongly reject and resent the accusation that we are 'PR-ing' stock shortages," a company official told Max Console on Monday.

"We are doing all we can to ensure that the unprecedented demand for Wii can be met as far as possible in the run up to Christmas."

Nintendo says it is working at maximum capacity in producing 1.8 million Wii units per month.

Since first launching in November of last year, the Wii has seen widespread shortages at retail and regularly commands US$100-200 above its MSRP of $250 when sold online.

Will the Wii be a set-top box?

Will Nintendo try to turn its Wii console into a platform for delivering movies and other content to consumers? The company is experimenting with it.

The company has created a service in Japan that lets consumers get TV listings via the Wii, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, said at the Dow Jones Consumer Technology Innovations Conference taking place here this week.

Nintendo went forward with the project because a TV Guide Network-like service similar to what Nintendo is offering didn't exist. (TV in Japan is notoriously weird: in the past, PCs and TVs had to be fitted with an array of tuners to get all channels).

There are no plans to bring something like this to the United States at the moment, he said, but Nintendo is always looking around. "There are other channel opportunities," he said. "They may look like games. They may not look like games."

Fils-Aime was quite less vague when it came to talking about why the Wii console and DS handheld are doing well. One reason, of course, is that Nintendo is reaching out to a wider variety of consumers than the other guys.

The company also placed a bet on interactivity when Sony and Microsoft put their efforts behind boosting the graphics on their games.

The next big hardware change for the Wii will be the Wii Fit, an exercise-like board that will let consumers literally put their feet in the game. You stand on it and shift your feet and weight to play the game.

Some examples of possible games include Pilates, aerobics, stretching, and skiing. Fils-Aime himself has suggested a tennis game. Nintendo's Wii has tennis now, but it involves only your arm. With the Fit board, players would shift their feet when swinging a racket.

Along with the Fit, Nintendo will additionally bring more of its classic games to its newer platforms.

Nintendo also spends less on its games than its competitors do.

Developing a game for the DS costs a few hundred thousand dollars. Thus, Nintendo has to sell 100,000 only copies of a game to make money on it.

Wii games cost a little more. Developing a game for Wii might cost $5 million to $10 million, including all of the marketing costs.

By contrast, developing a game for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 can cost $20 million to $50 million, Fils-Aime asserted. As a result, a developer needs to sell 1.3 million to 1.5 million copies of a game to turn a profit, he argued.

"That's a pretty dramatic difference," Fils-Aime said.

While Sony and Microsoft executives may argue with some of his figures, this is clearly the good ol' days for Fils-Aime and Nintendo. The company has already sold 53 million DS handhelds. "It is on track to be the fastest-selling console, period," he said.

The Wii isn't doing too bad either. Late last year, Nintendo predicted that it would sell 14.5 million consoles in 2007, a high number that has been since raised to 17.5 million, he said. Right now, Nintendo is selling about 1.8 million consoles a month.

Two weeks ago, the company had its biggest sales week ever. Last week, it surpassed that record, he noted. As a result, the console is tough to find for a second holiday season in a row.

"At this point, we are literally trying to catch up with demand," he said. There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and to 40- and 50-year-olds who aren't avid gamers.

"They aren't going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times," he said. "It is literally a missed opportunity."

Sudden Strike Next7 engine for Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory

Fireglow Publishing today announced its plans to use Sudden Strike Next7, the engine behind the upcoming Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory title. This engine will allow a variety of products to be created. Some of them will be announced soon.

Sudden Strike Next7 is a generic RTS engine to be used in subsequent games in the Sudden Strike series and other games from Fireglow. Fireglow is also developing thorough documentation in order to license the engine to third parties. The public version of the editor is being prepared and will be released with add-ons.

Here is a link to the trailer (8Mb) showing how microAI works in Sudden Strike Next 7. After the Player gives the units a single command to unload, they can be left on their own to defend, supply and fight without orders from humans and without having to be managed.

More information about Sudden Strike Next7 engine can be found on the official site:
http://www.suddenstrike.com/index.php?uid=obj_view&uid_obj=2286939&uid_cat=262

About Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory:
Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory is the latest instalment in the award-winning, critically acclaimed and hugely popular Sudden Strike series. It features historically authentic models built to scale, fully interactive giant maps and full 3-D state-of-the-art graphics in the popular Sudden Strike style. Only Sudden Strike plays like the 'real thing'. WW2 gaming at its best: on land, at sea and in the air!

Demo for Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory (276 Mb, US South)
Demo for Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory (276 Mb, US North)

Features:

· Fully interactive landscape (all objects can be destroyed, all buildings and pillboxes can be
used as shelter)
· Massive operations on big maps, strategic scale of the maps (front line can be a few
kilometres long)
· Thousands of units fighting in real time
· More than 300 tanks, ships, soldiers, guns and planes with original weapons built to scale
· Great sounds, 5.1 supported, nations speak native languages
· New feature - advanced Micro AI-behaviour allows your troops to act exactly as you plan
· Joint naval and ground operations, air raids, artillery strikes etc.
· State-of-the-art technology to render 3D landscape, realistic lines of sight and fire
· Spectacular visual & lighting effects
· Multiplayer mode: up to 8 players, GameSpy® supported
· Five campaigns playable for American, British, German, Japanese and Soviet sides

The Lifestyle With NBA Ballers: Chosen One

Midway Announces Third Installment of Popular NBA Ballers Franchise Coming to Next Generation Consoles in Spring 2008

Midway Games, a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, today announced NBA Ballers: Chosen One as the next installment in its top selling NBA Ballers franchise. The fast-paced one-on-one and two-on-two action returns as players can select from more than 65 NBA superstars to be the next "Chosen One". NBA Ballers: Chosen One is scheduled to ship for the Xbox 360™ and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system in Spring 2008.

"NBA Ballers: Chosen One will allow players to live the life of an NBA superstar," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Featuring new competitive combo and super-move systems, the NBA Ballers Franchise returns with the amazing realistic graphics for which the franchise is known as players take part in the ultimate challenge to become the next 'Chosen One."

With an optimized next-gen graphics engine, NBA Ballers: Chosen One will continue to set the bar for graphic quality, with the most true-to-life athlete likenesses seen in a sports video game. The franchise's hallmark pick-up-and-play gameplay allows Ballers of all skill levels to master combos and pull off amazing super-moves as they hoop-it-up with the best players in the NBA.

For the latest game information, screenshots and more, please click on to www.nbaballers.com.

New Nikitova Games IP titles in production

Tatiana Makarova, “Nikitova Games” VP of Sales announces two of it's own new IP titles are currently in production and planned for release in 2008.

“We are happy to share the details of our own new IP titles with the gaming society. In accordance with our strategic plan for 2008, these two games will be designed for both the Nintendo Wii and DS consoles.

The first game, CCTV, is a game where the player assumes the role of a surveillance officer using Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and police cars to catch petty criminals and most-wanted criminals alike. The player's aim is to clean up the streets of his city by finding his suspects and nailing them in this fast-paced, humorous game of observation, identification & interrogation. The game is designed to be played as either a single player, as two players co-operatively or as 2 players competing against one another.

The second game, Mind Games, is a selection of 21 mini-games based on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) of "computeribrainized" tests developed in Cambridge University by a celebrity female neuropsychology professor and her team and used in science and medicine in 500 institutes and hospitals in 50 countries worldwide, to analyze the performance and activity of various areas of the brain. Mind Games is being developed for both the Nintendo Wii and DS consoles, allowing one or two players of any age to have fun while they are learning, said Tatiana Makarova.

“CCTV and Mind Games, as well as other Nikitova Games' title details, can now be found at a brand new web site, www.NikitovaGames.com”; Alex Godun, Nikitova Games’ Head of Marketing added.

The Games Company obtains certification from Nintendo.

Development and Publishing for Wii and Nintendo DS planned

In 2008 the strategic orientation of the Berlin based publisher points towards next-gen consoles. In addition to its successful PC products TGC will be extending its portfolio with titles for Nintendo’s Wii console and for Nintendo DS. Proprietary as well as licensed products and commissioned productions for these consoles will then be published by TGC on its own initiative. As a certified Nintendo partner TGC will develop and publish Wii and Nintendo DS games for European, Australian and New Zeeland markets.

With this strategic decision TGC is entering a strongly growing market and setting the course for the expansion of business activities in the upcoming fiscal year. The company will announce the first console titles very soon with its line-up for 2008.

Markus Malti, CEO of TGC, comments on the accreditation by Nintendo: “The partnership with Nintendo emphasizes TGC’s ambitions as a multi-platform publisher. I am looking forward to the first projects we are going to realize for the two platforms.”

UK Games chart 24 November

All formats

(Full price) Week ending 24 November 2007

1 ASSASSIN'S CREED UBISOFT 1
2 NEED FOR SPEED: PROSTREET ELECTRONIC ARTS -
3 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION 2
4 THE SIMPSONS GAME ELECTRONIC ARTS 3
5 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2008 KONAMI 7
6 SUPER MARIO GALAXY NINTENDO 5
7 WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2008 THQ 4
8 FIFA 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS 6
9 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK ACTIVISION -
10 MASS EFFECT MICROSOFT -
11 MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES SEGA -
12 RATATOUILLE THQ 9
13 KANE & LYNCH: DEAD MEN EIDOS -
14 LEGO STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA LUCASARTS 8
15 HALO 3 MICROSOFT 12
16 THE SIMS 2: CASTAWAY ELECTRONIC ARTS 10
17 MYSIMS ELECTRONIC ARTS 13
18 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. NINTENDO 14
19 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS 20
20 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2008 SEGA 15

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja Japanese voices free

Japanese voices now available!

Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced that the Japanese voices by the official Naruto Japanese cast of Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, an Xbox 360 video game exclusive, are now available to download on the Xbox Live for free !

Voices to include:

- Junko Takeuchi - Uzumaki Naruto
- Kazuhiko Inoue - Hatake Kakashi
- Chie Nakamura - Haruno Sakura
- Noriaki Sugiyama - Uchiha Sasuke
- Kujira - Orochimaru
- Akira Ishida - Sabaku no Gaara

Here are the instructions to download them:

1- Sign-in into Xbox Live (Silver account required)
2- Start the game
3- In the main menu, go to ‘XboxLive Marketplace’
4- Download Japanese voices package from Marketplace
5- Go to options – Play Japanese Voices – select ‘Yes’
6- Have fun!