Nintendo Announces New Games and Important Release Dates

Today, Nintendo has announced the remainder of their lineup for the first half of 2011. Lots of great first and third party games. Release dates or release months have been announced for games like Dead or Alive: Dimensions which comes out in May, Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion on May 24, Spongebob Squigglepants 3D on May 17, and Cave Story 3D on June 28. This list also pretty much confirms that we won't be seeing the release of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D until July at earliest. But of course the one Nintendo 3DS release everyone is looking forward to also got a release date today. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D will be released on June 19 and will include Master Quest

Also, Nintendo announced a couple of new Wii titles including Wii Play: Motion which is a new version of Wii Play utilizing Wii Motion Plus. The game which will release on June 13 will be bundled with a black Wii Remote Plus controller. A new Nintendo title Mystery Case Files: Dust to Dust has also been just announced and will release on June 27.

Below are all the games releasing on Nintendo systems for the remainder of the first half of the year courtesy of Kotaku.com

Wii

The Conduit 2 - April 12
Rio - April 12
SpongeBob SquigglePants - April 12
ExerBeat - April 26
Reader Rabbit Preschool - April
Reader Rabbit Kindergarten - April
Reader Rabbit 1st Grade - April
Reader Rabbit 2nd Grade - April
Thor: God of Thunder - May 3
Kung Fu Panda 2 - May 24
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game - May
Get Fit with Mel B - Spring
Karaoke Revolution Glee: Volume 2 - Spring
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters - June 7
Wii Play: Motion - June 13
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Stealth Force Edition - June 14
Mystery Case Files: Dust to Dust - June 27
Cars 2: The Video Game - Summer

DS Family

Rio - April 12
Squinkies - April 12
Paws & Claws Pampered Pets 2 - April 19
Match 3 Madness - May 3
Thor: God of Thunder - May 3
Loving Life with Hello Kitty and Friends - May 10
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2011 - May 10
Picture Puzzle Collection - May 17
Kung Fu Panda 2 - May 24
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game - May
Cake Mania Main Street - May
LEGO Battles: Ninjago - Spring
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters - June 7
Transformers: Dark of the Moon AUTOBOTS - June 14
Transformers: Dark of the Moon DECEPTICONS - June 14
Hollywood Files - June 14
Cars 2: The Video Game - Summer
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass - Q2

3DS

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Stealth Force Edition 3D - June 14
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II - May 24
Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion - May 24
Dream Trigger 3D - April
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game - May
DualPenSports - May
PAC-MAN & Galaga DIMENSIONS - June
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - June 19
Cave Story 3D - June 28
DEAD OR ALIVE Dimensions - May
SpongeBob SquigglePants - May 17
Driver Renegade - Spring
Rabbids Travel in Time - April 10
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D - April 10
James Noir's Hollywood Crimes - June 7
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters - June 7

Source: Kotaku link

The Nintendo 3DS Details You Want Are Here

Early this morning, or should I say earlier in the day in Japan, Nintendo announced the details on Nintendo 3DS that all gamers have been waiting for including a release date, price, new features, and one hell of a lineup of games

Nintendo 3DS has many new features in comparison to Nintendo DSi. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata even went as far as saying that it is almost like a portable console in that it will have more features than any other 3D portable device being sold. It looks like a huge emphasis is being put onto tag mode, a feature seen on original DS titles like Nintendogs. In tag mode, players leave their DS or 3DS in sleep mode and when you walk by another player in tag mode, data will be exchanged whether that is ranks or items or practically anything. The difference here is that tag mode is native to the hardware rather than the game. Tag mode now works for multiple games at once so you can have tag mode happen in a game even when it is not in your 3DS. Examples of this are in games like Ridge Racer 3D where stats are exchanged or in the game Love Plus where characters can gossip with characters on another 3DS in the area. When you take your 3DS out of your pocket after a nice day out and notice a glowing white light in the top right corner of the screen, this indicates that tag mode occurred.

Another cool feature is the Mii Studio. Now you do not even have to create a Mii from scratch. Just use the 3DS's camera to take a picture of yourself and then that image of you will turn into a Mii. Images of your Miis can also be saved to an SD card and shared anywhere. In addition, the 3DS's home buttons works a lot like the home buttons on other systems such as the Xbox 360 and PS3 where it will take you back to the main menu without forcing you to leave your game. Nintendo 3DS will still have many of the DSi's features like photo editing and web browsing. In addition, Nintendo 3DS will offer 3D television streaming. The final new feature that was announced is that there will be a store similar to the Virtual Console where you can buy old Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles as well as 3D revamps of titles, much like the ones shown at E3. I would guess Game Boy Advance titles are also included but I keep hearing mixed things so I am unclear on whether Game Boy Advance titles will be available. Most of these features can be seen in the video below.



Now for the launch details you have been waiting for. Each Nintendo 3DS will come with a 2GB SD card and the 3DS will come in two colors, Aqua Blue (shown above) and Cosmo Black. It will release in Japan on February 26, 2011 for ¥25,000 which in US dollars is about $298. Nintendo 3DS will launch in North America and Europe in March 2011. More details will be provided at a later date by the respective branches.

In terms of software, check out the video below for more details. See everything from Kid Icarus, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendogs + Cats, Resident Evil, Professor Layton, Metal Gear Solid, Super Street Fighter IV 3D, and tons more.

GamersCast # 25: Touching is Good

At long last after too much editing, episode 25 of GamersCast has officially been released onto the podcast feed. Because it is second latest item on the podcast feed you may have to manually click the download or "get" button in iTunes or in your podcasting client to get this episode.

Now, why did the episode take so long to get release? We had some problems with the quality, and though it sounds dramatically better now than it did before, there is still just a bit of static. Please note, we have resolved this problem so it WILL NOT ever occur again. Also keep in mind, that the quality does get better, the farther you get into the episode.

Aside from audio quality, this is easily the best episode of GamersCast we have ever done! Here's some of the highlights from GamersCast # 25: Touching is Good:

- BEST EPISODE EVER!!!!!
- We respond the listener's e-mails
- Is Nintendo going to sue Apple?
- Massive Halo 3 Discussion
- Halo 3 Tournament Sign-Ups Open!
- Is Halo worth cutting school over?
- Was Halo over-hyped?
- Bungie splits from Microsoft (and reason why I didn't post about it)
- In-Depth Tokyo Game Show 2007 Analysis
- Steve has a nice Japanese accent :P
- How long does the PlayStation 2 actually have to live?
- Apple releases iPod/iPhone SDK
- Super Smash Brothers Brawl News
- Japanese import games for Wii VC
- SpongeBob has been stealing ideas from Nintendo!
- Samus VS Master Chief
- Link VS Cloud
- Intense Phantom Hourglass Discussion
- What's been changed since the Japanese version of the Phantom Hourglass?
- Dumbledore is Gay!
- Nintendo's Fall Press Conference Analysis
- Which is best form of FPS controls?
- AND MUCH MUCH MORE!!

This is one episode you guys really HAVE TO listen to! It was just THAT good! Squeeze time in somehow, listen before bed, do whatever you have to, because this is GamersCast at its finest! This post will not appear on the news feed, so you newsletter subscribers are getting a look at an episode that will go down in GamersCast history. (So, now episode 8 is only 2nd best XD )

I also want to mention that based on your feedback, we have decided to have a LIVE episode of GamersCast! Right now, we're planning on having it the week before New Years, so that school wouldn't be an issue for listener's attendance. Give us as much feedback as possible on what you want to see from the live GamersCast, so we can make this event as much of a success as possible!

This is GamersCast: Video Game Podcasting

New Link's Crossbow Training Details

New details on Link's Crossbow Training have just been announced. Link's Crossbow Training is actually a free Wii game that is packaged with every Wii Zapper (not the other way around as some people have been lead to believe). It has also been revealed that the game, like Twilight Princess, is rated T, features a 4-player turn based multi-player mode, and as previously stated this bundle is only $20.

To me, it's a bit surprising how the game got its T rating so quickly, considering this will make it only the 2nd Zelda game to get a T rating. Or perhaps, it's combat is just that similar to Twilight Princess...

Link's Crossbow Training will be released alongside with the Wii Zapper on the 1-year anniversary of the Nintendo Wii, November 19th.

Link's Crossbow Training

Umm.... I'm not gonna jump out and say that this will be an amazingly epic Zelda adventure game for the wii. But, anyway, Nintendo has just announced today that for the 1st anniversary of Wii, Nintendo will be releasing a new game, called, "Link's Crossbow Training". The consists entirely training with Link's crossbow. Not much more than that has been announced. Other than it will ship on the Wii's 1st anniversary date, come with a free Wii Zapper, and cost an MSRP of $20. So, generally, it's a free game you get with a Wii Zapper. Kinda in the way that Wii Play was $10 game plus a Wii Remote.

We will be discussing this new game on the podcast, which is now scheduled to be recorded, tonight.


Get the GamersCast Newsletter! All of the quality news you would find here can be sent directly to your e-mail's inbox or Wii's Message Board the instant news is posted here! Simply send an e-mail to GCnewsletter@gmail.com or register GCnewsletter@gmail.com into your Nintendo Wii's Address Book to subscribe!

GamersCast: Episode 24

Hey guys,
Episode 24 of GamersCast will be recorded and released tomorrow! Here's what we will be talking about:

- We discuss listener's e-mails
- We discuss the 2007 German Gaming Conference (GC)
- Could BioShock be Game of the Year?
- WiiConnect24 achievements to be the next Xbox Live?
- What to expect inside Nintendo's next handheld system!
- Are Wii's FPS controls superior to dual analog sticks?
- "Project Metroid Dread is nearing completion"
- Retro Studios decides to take a break from the Metroid series
- Potential uses for the Wii Balance Board
- Halo 3 goes gold!
- Call of Duty 4 BETA
- iPod Touch Games?
- Shocking Japanese Console Sales!
- Massive Super Smash Brothers Brawl Updates!
- And much more!!

All of this and more will be coming your way tomorrow, on episode 24 of GamersCast: Video Game PodCasting....



Get the GamersCast Newsletter! All of the quality news you would find here can be sent directly to your e-mail's inbox or Wii's Message Board the instant news is posted here! Simply send an e-mail to GCnewsletter@gmail.com or register GCnewsletter@gmail.com into your Nintendo Wii's Address Book to subscribe!

E3 2007 Ended....

Alright, I have been getting some comments wondering why I didn't post more during E3 this year. Well, the reason being is because most of the news came during the Press Conferences, which I already posted, and all the news from those conferences only required one post (though this may change by E3 2008). We will soon be making our press conference commentaries, and have our special post-E3 Edition of GamersCast. We have all 3 of the E3 Conferences over on our podcast feed and below (Quicktime Required). And of course, if you are viewing this on your Wii, you'll need to hop on your PC and head to GamersCastPodCast.com/news to see the videos.

Nintendo's Press Conference (Download: "Right-Click -> Save Target As..."):





Microsoft's press Conference (Download: "Right-Click -> Save Target As...")




Sony's Press Conference(Download: "Right-Click -> Save Target As...")




Now, don't be sad, E3 may be over, but the 2007 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is just a couple weeks away! And of course, GamersCast will keep you up-to-date on everything happening on the show floor!


Get the GamersCast Newsletter! All of the quality news you would find here can be sent directly to your e-mail's inbox or Wii's Message Board the instant news is posted here! Simply send an e-mail to GCnewsletter@gmail.com or register GCnewsletter@gmail.com into your Nintendo Wii's Address Book to subscribe!

Camp Hyrule Cancelled

Today, Nintendo has announced that the 13th annual Camp Hyrule will be cancelled this year, because of the fact that 13 is an unlucky number. But they are giving away human-sized statue of Link to make up for it.

Camp Hyrule was a virtual online summer camp run by Nintendo on CampHyrule.com and each year they gave away many prizes to hundreds of campers by competing in contests (Flash games), trivia, and more. There were also chat rooms where you could talk with some Nintendo executives. (last year Charles Martinett, the voice of Mario was there).

To read the official bulletin, go to:

CampHyrule.com


Get the GamersCast Newsletter! All of the quality news you would find here can be sent directly to your e-mail's inbox or Wii's Message Board the instant news is posted here! Simply send an e-mail to GCnewsletter@gmail.com or register GCnewsletter@gmail.com into your Nintendo Wii's Address Book to subscribe!

E3 2007: Nintendo Press Conference Details

If you don't want to watch the full press conference, here's some bullet points from the event, which just ended a few minutes ago:

- Begins show showing the mass amount of headlines and press Nintendo has been getting
- Goes into hardware stats and gaming percentages
- Announced DS will get 140 new games by years end
- Wii gets 100 new games by years end
- Announces Wii Zapper, which will be bundled with 1st Party FPS titles
- Announces Wii Wheel (bundled with newly announced, Mario Kart Wii)
Announces release date for Super Smash Brothers Brawl to be December 3rd, 2007
- Announces Super Mario Galaxy on November 12, 2007
- Announces the "Check Mii Out Channel"
- Reggie calls Super Mario Galaxy, "The only worth successor to Super Mario 64"
- Nintendo announces WiiFit (uses Wii Balance Board)
- Announces Wii Balance Board (to be bundled with WiiFit)

We'll have our commentary on this converence on the feed soon, and within minutes we will also have the full conference on the podcast and this page!

Episode 22: The Answer is 7

Well, we have finished recording our Pre-E3 Special Edition of GamersCast, and I from this experience I have found that bad things come to those who do not wish to edit.... :P But seriously, I apologize for the background noise in this episode, but considering the conditions at hand we couldn't do our usual thorough background noise removal check. So, don't worry, it won't happen again.

On this episode we are joined again Edward "Beanz" Nunez, who for the 1st time didn't drop! And again, we had the always controversial Steve Caskey, and the usually mute Adam Shear (and me!).

During this episode, we took an exclusively in-depth look at the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and answered your questions about the game on the show (keep sending them in as we will be doing occassional check-ups on the game leading upto its release).

We held our 1st annual GamersCast Awards and took a quick look at what's to come at E3 2007.

EXCLUSIVE Look at Phantom Hourglass!

If you thought getting the GamersCast Newsletter was just a bunch of articles getting sent to your Wii, then you're only partly right. Because now, we're opening up something very special to our newsletter subscribers only!

If you got this e-mail from subscribing to the GamersCast Newsletter, then you'll get an exclusive look at Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass! How so? Well, our own Steve Caskey got his hands on the Japanese version of the game, which was just released and we are going to be previewing it on our pre-E3 episode of GamersCast! But how does that help you?

Well, if you are a newsletter subscriber and received this e-mail, simply reply to this e-mail with ANY question or anything you ever wanted to know about Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and we'll answer ALL of your questions on the show!

But what if you aren't a newsletter subscriber, but want to get in on this? Well, simply send an e-mail to: GCnewsletter@gmail.com . If you would like to get this newsletter sent to your Wii Message Board, then simply register GCnewsletter@gmail.com into your Wii's Address Book

Once the Europeon version of Phantom Hourglass is released, we will be doing this "Q & A" again, but that isn't for another two months! Don't miss your chance to find out everything you wanted to know about one of the most highly anticipated games of the year!

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass will be released in the United States on October 1, 2007.

Phantom Hourglass Dated

Well, possibly to become one of the greatest handheld games to come in a long, long time, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has launched in Japan! Now, isn't that just great, but WHAT ABOUT US? Well, this morning Nintendo officially announced on its press site (alongside their "Wiikly VC Updates") that the game would be released in North America on the 1st of October, 2007.

Wanna know what's better? Our own Steve Caskey got his hands on a copy of the Japanese version of the game! The bad news? Steve can't read Japanese, and trivia questions are required to pass a certain point in the game. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure he makes a preview of it during E3! Speaking of E3, I'm sure we're almost guaranteed to hear more about this game, at E3. I mean, it's probably the highlight of the Nintendo DS this year (if Pokemon isn't).

Smash Brothers Brawl Control Revealed

Yeah, in one of the daily updates at SmashBros.com they announced what controller will be used in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I personally thought either Gamecube Controller or a sideways Wii Remote. Well, my prediction was right, sorta.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl will use every possible control layout during play.


It uses the Classic Style Wii Remote, Wii Classic Controller, Wii Remote + Nunchuck, and the Gamecube Controller. And while, Nintendo said Gamecube controller would be the easiest to know, they also said using the 3 other control options would provide a much fresher feeling to the game.

So, despite the console is no longer being shipped, my guess is that Nintendo Gamecube controllers will still be around for quite some time to come. However, no control scheme has yet been announced, though we can assume that the Gamecube control scheme is almost identical to Super Smash Brothers Melee. They did also say, that the control scheme would be posted on the site, in due time. But they did miss one control layout. Couldn't the Nintendo DS act as a controller? :P

Experience Wii at Six Flags!

UPDATE: This is also going to be appearing at YMCAs throughout the United States.


Yesterday, Six Flags theme parks across the USA opened yesterday morning. What wasn't expected was, at these theme parks there were Wii Experience centers, which contained 10 Wiis and 10 Nintendo DS Lite units. I happened to be at the parks opening and saw that they had the following games playable:

- Excite Truck
- WarioWare: Smooth Moves
- SSX Blur
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Super Paper Mario
- Wii Sports
- Wii Play
- Cooking Mama: Cook Off!
- Diddy Kong Racing DS
- Wario: Master of Disguise
- Custom Robo

Yes, you heard me correctly, Super Paper Mario is featured at these stations, but unfortunetely at my location, they hadn't realized that they forgot to put the disc in!!!! (AHHHHHH!!!) So, if anyone is in the area of a Six Flags theme park and can't wait until Monday to play the full version of Super Paper Mario, it's something worth checking out. Also, note that Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was only a demo of fishing and a portion of the Goron Mines dungeons (with a slightly weakened version of the dungeon's boss). Each unit also houses either 1 or 2 Wii Remotes, only attached to Nunchuks on games in which they are required.

Here, no licenses are required to play, but the controllers have a thick string attaching them to the wii units, though the string is long enough so that it won't affect gameplay. Each television set is a Sharp Aquos, with a shield in front of it so they don't break! :D
And last, but not least. Each Wii is equipped with the earliest available firmware, but configured to component (480p) display.

GDC 07: Phantom Hourglass Trailer

Well, Phantom Hourglass was officially announced at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, so it's only proper to give us a trailer from the game this year. At the show, they had a multiplayer demo running on display. Here's the trailer (also on the podcast feed):

Ocarina of Time coming to the VC this Monday!

Keep in mind that I will not be doing this every week, but considering this is my 2nd favorite game of all time it is worth posting. Through, my own personal searches, (*coughhackcough*) I have found out that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is coming to the Wii Virtual Console this Monday!

I have the screen shots to prove it (if you are viewing the text-only version, go to gamerscastpodcast.com/news to see the images):

http://ccs.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/000100014E414350/FFFD0001

http://ccs.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/000100014E414350/FFFD0002

http://ccs.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/000100014E414350/FFFD0003



And Europe just got it on their VC as well:

New Twilight Princess Control Scheme!

Just recently, Nintendo has announced that they are now incorporating a new control scheme into the final version of the game. Nintendo says, that upon playing it, it feels much more interesting..... I'm kind of freaked out on what they mean, by "interesting". But anyway, as for the controls, only a few basic movements have changed. The bow and the sword.

The Sword: At E3, to swing Link's sword, you simply press the B button, but now you swing the Wii-mote to have Link swing his sword. What worries me most about this is that at E3 Nintendo made a comment, saying they thought players would get too tired from swinging the Wii-mote like that, and now they just practically contridicted themselves.

The Bow: The bow's controls changed for one reason and one reason only, and that reason is becasue the sword's controls changed! Ironic, eh? Anyway, since B is no longer used to swing the sword, B is now used to shoot arrows. Nintendo says, it's easier to push B than the D-Pad, as was used at E3.


"I can't talk about it yet, but this Zelda has a lot to it," said Miyamoto. "What you played at E3 was just the tip of the nail."

There will be more discussion on this during episode 15 on GamersCast, but the only reason it wasn't recorded yet, is because the Camp Hyrule Closing Ceremonies were delayed, and then while they were going on, is when we were supposed to be recording, and once they ended everyone went to bed, and the next day a lot of them lost their voices, and it was just a whole big mess, but rest assured it will be recorded soon.