Despite the little tingling we had in our tummies after the initial MotionPlus announcement on Monday, it was lucky we didn’t go expecting anything special from Nintendo’s press conference. Otherwise we would have been really, really disappointed! If you ignored the signs and got your hopes up a little too high, however (or somehow missed the whole thing) you could always pick through these highlights, see if this dark cloud has a silver lining.
Wii Sports 2 Demonstration (With Bonus Pricing Info) How, Exactly, Does The Wii’s MotionPlus Work? Animal Crossing: City Folk Trailer, Screens, Release Date Wii Music Impressions Mario & Zelda Teams Both “Hard At Work” On Wii Games Nintendo Reveals “Wii Speak” Chat For Wii
Announced during Activision’s non-E3 address today was a new addition to the Guitar Hero series, which will make its debut in Guitar Hero World Tour. It’s called Guitar Hero Tunes, or GH Tunes as we’ll now truncate it to, and is basically Activision and Neversoft’s stab at copying Sony’s My SingStar service, where you can record yourself singing/playing along and post it on the internets. No idea why they’re bothering, since half of YouTube’s already clogged up with people filming themselves playing Dragonforce songs in GH, but whatever, this was Activision’s decision, not mine.
Good times! Sega’s announced today a release date for Yakuza 2 in the US. Yes, we know, it came out in Japan in 2006, but let’s try and look on the bright side for once, eh? It’ll be out on September 9 (Europe, you get it on September 28), and instead of trying to get the likes of Michael Madsen back into the recording studio, the sequel will just be sticking to the Japanese voice actors, with English subtitles provided.
A nice, quick, practical look at the stages, classes and outfits you’ll be able to select when engaging in Killzone 2′s multiplayer aspect. It all looks nice enough, but really, it’s all upstaged by Brian Cox, rambling like a madman.
The Japanese are already enjoying GTTV, Polyphony and Sony’s TV content service for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which lets users download and watch (some for free, some for a price) stuff like Top Gear & Best Motoring. As for the West, well, Sony announced earlier today that it’ll launch on August 1. It wasn’t made clear whether this was for just the US, or for PAL regions as well.
Wii Sports is, pack-in or not, the single biggest game in the Wii’s library. Heck, for many Wii owners, it’s probably the only game in their collection. So the sequel had better be good. We’ve heard via Gizmodo it’s going to cost $US 50 when released next Spring, which when you consider it’s coming bundled with a Wii MotionPlus accessory, suggests the game will be about as meaty as its predecessor. As in, not $US 50 worth of meat on its own. You can catch a clip of the game being demoed above, though be warned, the dork factor amongst Reggie, Bill Trinen and Cammie Dunaway is dangerously high.
And you thought all the crazy shit was happening in LA. The latest issue of Famitsu brings word of a new Dead Rising game. But it’s not a spin-off, per se, nor is it the probably-Vegas-bound Dead Rising 2, it’s…a Wii version. And a direct (well, as good as they can get it) port of the 360 original to boot. With zombie-wrestling waggle and everything. Before you ask why, ask yourself why not. It worked for Res 4, you can’t blame Capcom for trying! Scans are after the jump if you’re in a state of disbelief.
I know. Shocking, isn’t it? Speaking with MTV, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick has revealed, perhaps accidentally, that Bungie are working on a Halo game for Microsoft. And it’s not the Peter Jackson one. It’s something else. Rather than insert the same tired, old theories about a Halo game sans Master Chief, or a Forerunner game, or any other well-worn rumour, I’m just going to point out that Bungie are a big developer, and that before you all go wondering what this means with regards to today’s “other” Bungie news, it may be worth bearing in mind they’re more than capable of working on more than one game at a time.
Microsoft Confirms That Bungie Is Developing New ‘Halo’ [MTV][Pic]
Yesterday, we learned that Metallica’s upcoming album Death Magnetic would be made available as Guitar Hero III DLC the same day it went on sale in stores. As for Guitar Hero World Tour, well, that was all a little vague. It’s a lot less vague today, with Activision confirming that the entire album will also be offered as DLC for Guitar World Tour, with the full-instrument support that implies, meaning your inner Kirk can finally be bossed around by your inner Lars while your inner James drinks himself to death.
