Exar make great arcade sticks, and are bringing two new ones to the Wii. You may/will be interested. Both are basically the same thing – a classic six-button arcade layout – but come in two flavours. One is a standard, blank stick, which breaks up the requisite Wii-white with a lovely shade of blue. The other is the same stick, just with some classy Tatsunoko vs. Capcom branding all over it. The blank one launches November 27 for ￥5229 ($89), while the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom one launches December 11 for ￥6279 ($107). Don’t complain about the higher price. Gatchaman is worth the extra spend.
…For the Gears of War movie. Instead of the obvious muscle-bound “wrestler type” for character Marcus Phenix, Gears of War designer Dude Huge prefers muscle-bound thespian. “You know…like a Clive Owen type; somebody who can actually act and is incredibly charismatic,” says Huge. “And they can put him on a workout plan for six months so he can build the muscle mass he needs.” If that doesn’t work, Hollywood can inject him with needles to make him grow muscles!
Meet the new Left 4 Dead system specs. Same as the old Left 4 Dead system spe-waitaminute. Feeling the need/desire to mix things up a little ahead of the game’s release, Valve have unveiled a revised set of system requirements for the PC version of Left 4 Dead. They’re identical to those released in September except for one thing: you now only need a 128MB graphics card instead of a 256MB one. Sure, that’s only one change, but I’m sure it’s one that’ll bring smiles to a lot of people out there with dusty old rigs and an aversion to system upgrades.
The image of video games has been steadily improving for some time now. Besides gaming’s entertainment value, the mainstream folks are realising that games make tons and tons on moolah. Countries like Canada, France, Singapore, South Korea as well as in Scandinavian countries and two states in the US. But in the United Kingdom, no dice. Ian Livingstone, Eidos’ creative director, explains why: It seems to me the UK government would rather see our great industry go into decline than help it maintain its prominent position in the world, and that is madness…
We’re still seen as the red-headed stepchild of the creative industries, one notch up from pornography in the eyes of most of the establishment. They forget that half of the world and half of the UK’s population play games. Games help define who we are as human beings — they are as important, culturally and socially, as music and films.
Seven bundles? Oh, Microsoft Europe weren’t ever going to stop at “just” seven 360 bundles for the holiday season. We knew that when the eighth one hit. And now definitely know it with the ninth bundle, this time in a Call of Duty flavour. Included in the bundle is a 60GB Pro, a wireless controller and a copy of call of Duty: World At War. Not the most exciting bundle, then, but it’s interesting to see an official pack-in of an adults-only game
You’ve seen the DSi, now see the DSi’s…box. The new, updated Nintendo DS handheld goes on sale in Japan on November 1. Stores in Osaka and around the country are taking pre-orders, and in-store displays show off the DSi’s packaging. Hit the jump for a closer look.
Or, to be more precise, puts the Mickey into Mario, in this figure by Dave Bondi, which actually has zero Disney/Nintendo involvement whatsoever. We know, we know, it’s another pretentious “urban vinyl” figure, but the sheer horror of seeing Disney’s and Nintendo’s flagship mascots thrown in a bucket together makes it worth a closer look. *looks closer*. Oh, the horror.
Black, white and red Wii title won’t be bringing “Man Darts” to your living room until next year. Until then, feel free to stare at this — it’s the game’s official box art — and image.
The game will be released next year in North America and PAL territories. But not in Japan, NOT IN JAPAN. (Well, nothing’s been announced.)
MadWorld – boxart [Go Nintendo]
Oh dear. No sooner do I ween myself off my chronic Advance Wars: Days of Ruin addiction than we get a release date for Peggle DS. That date is March 3, 2009. Wonderful. Now I can waste as much time playing it on my DS as I waste playing it on the PC. Effectively doubling the amount of time I waste on a daily basis. Thanks!
While Wii Music has been getting a tepid reception, at least Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto is excited. Really, really, really excited. So excited that even after working on the game all those months, he’s still rushing home to play it. When he’s not playing it, he’s thinking about it — a sign, Miyamoto says, that he’s created a fun game. Good signs! And to those who are sadden that their favourite Nintendo songs haven’t made it onto the game, Miyamoto explains:
