The Nintendo Fall Media Summit: An Overview
I attended Nintendo's Media Summit last week and got to see quite a few cool things. There was not a whole lot of actual "new" game news coming out of it at least as far as game titles go. The DSi news had already broken the night before via a Japanese press conference and other than that the only real notables were the announcements of a new Punch Out game, a follow up to Sin & Punishment, Club Nintendo coming to North America and the vague promise of a new Mario and Luigi RPG coming sometime in the distant future. The big news for me was the announcement that the fantastic World of Goo will finally be a presence on WiiWare on Oct. 13! This is not to say however that there wasn't plenty of other things to see. Many of the titles present we had seen before at E3 or other events but most had new builds and new features to check out. Since we have covered almost all of these games in past articles, I will give a short overview of each of the things I saw and what my impressions were.
Make the jump to check out the coverage!
World of Goo (WiiWare)
What can I say about World of Goo that hasn't aready been said? An incredible physics based game created by a two man team. Amazing Tim Burton-esque art style, great music and great gameplay all from the twisted minds of Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel. World of Goo is what independent game making is all about. An absolute "Download this game immediately when it launches" title.
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (DS)
When I first heard the title I thought "Oh great, a crappy Professor Layton clone!" Thankfully it turned out to be nothing of the kind and in fact was quite charming and fun. It takes advantage of both DS screens: The top for the platforming adventure and the bottom for the puzzling. The two work in tandem and once you get the rhythm of play down it's a total blast. Plus it stars a guy with a big mustache, monocle and pith helmet who turns into a giant robot whenever he has tea. How can it be better?
Personal Trainer: Cooking (DS)
This was my favorite thing that I saw even though it can't really be classified as a game. This will be the first entry in a new series of DS "Personal Training" titles. This title has already been out in Europe and Japan for a while and is finally coming stateside Nov. 24, just in time for Thanksgiving. Personal Trainer: Cooking contains over 245 recipes from around the world and includes main courses, salads, soups and deserts. The recipes are authentic (this was told to me by my foodie Italian girlfriend who was there) and the trainer tells you everything you need to know to make them: ingredient shopping lists, utensils, etc. A voice will tell you what to do and in turn you can control it with your voice, telling the DS to "Continue" allowing your hands to be free for cooking. There is also an extensive knowledge base of terms, cooking styles and even a series of videos that show you how to properly prep your ingredients like how to cut veggies properly or how to fold a wonton. Extremely immersive and smart cooking training. A must have for any DS owner who likes or wants to learn how to cook.
Madworld (Wii)
Sleek and stylish, Madworld provides a much needed boost to the amount of M rated games on the Wii. Utilizing elements from such varied sources as The Running Man, Escape From New York, Mad Max, Devil May Cry and Sin City, Madworld is set to take the stylish action game to a new level. Presented in glorious black and white and red, madworld tells the story of a world gone mad (what else?) where inmates of an island prison are used as pawns in a hunting humans type death game. You fight your way through the various levels with chainsaws, guns, knives and various other weapons and pulling of gruesome finishing moves such as decapitation and the removal of the heart by punching through the chest cavity. Great stylish gore!
Dead Rising: Chop 'Till You Drop (Wii)
This is an extremely dumbed down version of the amazingly awesome Xbox 360 zombie classic, Dead Rising. The graphics looked blocky and jaggy, there were only a couple types of zombies and the character models suffered greatly in the translation. There was not a whole lot of information on the title when I checked it out. No real release date, no information on whether the storyline and missions will be the same. I am going to hold off on final judgment until the game releases fully, but from what I've seen so far this version pales in comparison to the original. It will probably satisfy the tastes of those who haven't played the 360 version, but fans of the original are likely to be disappointed.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
The Castlevania formula strikes gold again in this new DS title. This time around the hero is actually a heroine, but the enemy is still the same: the dreaded Dracula. 30-40 hours of gameplay await you with all new character portraits done in a beautiful classical painting style and a new "glyph" weapons system. Search for the ultimate Dominus Glyph and put an end to Dracula forever! Arriving on October 21, just in time for Halloween.
Those were pretty much all the titles i really had time to check out given various time restraints however there were a few other notable titles there including The Conduit, Cave Story, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Chrono Trigger, Rhythm Heaven, Tetris Party, Call of Duty: World at War, Animal Crossing: City Folk and of course Wii Music.
Fruit Brute
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 6 October 2008
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