WiiNintendo

It’s already November 1st in Japan, so the Nintendo DSi has officially launched in Japan. I posted a huge article with everything we knew about the Nintendo DSi recently, and if you missed it, make sure to check it out here. But since then, plenty more has been revealed, so it’s time for me to compile all the information, pictures, and videos here. After reading all about it, I really want one, and it seems we won’t have to wait as long as we thought. Satoru Iwata recently said that “an autumn or year-end launch would probably be too late” and so a Summer release for the US is likely.

Anyways, there’s lots to post, so you’ll have to hit the jump to read all the new details.

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“snoop23″ over at the Gamefaqs forum has received his DSi.  He’s opened up a thread for questions.  Here’s his initial post.

My preordered DSi arrived today (from Renchi.com) and was very happy….only to find that the GUI is ONLY in Japanese. 

The screens are more vibrant than the DS Lite and the camera works pretty well. 

Oh, flashcarts do not work on it.

To view the entire thread, click here.

A couple days ago, I picked up the guitar-game combo for Wii.  I do plan on getting a microphone for the new vocal part, but I do not plan on adding the drum kit as of now.  I’ve been playing the game quite a bit. So far, I’ve completed about 50% of the single player mode going through the career on medium. Here are my thoughts so far.  (For those of you who do not know anything about this rhythm-based music game, please visit GuitarHero.com for more info.)

Presentation
The game looks great. Obviously, a game like this does not have to have amazing graphics, because the focus is on the music and gameplay, but I was impressed with how it looked, especially compared to Guitar Hero 3 and Aerosmith. The band members moved around on stage and interacted with each other, a very nice addition. I also liked the look of the new menu system. Small changes were made to the gameplay screen. The biggest thing that comes to mind is the multiplier being moved to the right side. This is ok, but it took me a bit to find it.

Customization
The level of customization in this game is crazy. I made my own character, trying to make it look like me as much as possible. I created my own guitar, which also looks a lot like my actual Les Paul. I toyed around with the song creator, which seemed great. I plan on spending more time with this later, after I finish the career mode. It seems like you can do a lot with it, but it’s too much for me right now. I don’t want to just make a crappy song, ya know. This game also allows you to create a setlist of up to 6 songs, which is a great addition, instead of having to go back to the menu after every song (if only Nintendo thought about this for Wii Fit).  The “Mii Freestyle” mode is also a nice exclusive addition, but I’d rather stick with the actual game.

Songs
I believe there are about 80 in total (not counting downloadables). Also, they are all originals this time around (no cover bands).  The songs are a mix of very popular and others I’ve never heard before. However, I think this was the goal. It’s fun to play songs I know and love, but it is also good to learn new ones. Some artists may gain new fans because of Guitar Hero. Sometimes I do not understand the combination of songs for a venue, though. I believe I played Sublime and Willy Nelson back to back!

Online
The music store is a great addition. Right now, there are not very many songs to choose from, but I do like how some of them are free. I probably will only purchase songs I really love, but it is nice to now have that option on the Wii. I have yet to play co-op or versus online yet, so I cannot comment on online play. The game does continue to use the Friend Code system. It would have been a nice addition to use the same FC from GH3 or Aerosmith, but needless to say, you have a brand new one to share with your friends.

Guitar
This guitar is pretty sweet looking. I love how sleek it is. I also believe the touch sensor bar is a nice addition, and it is not overly used at all. I was having issues with the guitar strumming on its own sometimes, but after switching out my Wii Remote with a different one, I didn’t seem to have that problem. I hope nothing is wrong with my Remote. If anyone else has had issues with this, please let me know. (And yes, I did try reconnecting it, but this did not solve the problem.) The strum bar is not much quieter than the other guitars, as I had thought it would be, but it isn’t louder either. I like how the whammy bar is longer and easier to reach than the Les Paul guitar. The Star Power button was also a very nice addition for those (like me) who tend to miss notes when tilting the guitar.

Gameplay
Overall, I’m having a blast with the game. I would totally recommend it to anyone who is a fan of music/rhythm games, along with those who are big music fans in general. I can’t wait to play with a group of people in a band. So far, I have only played with my roommate (using my GH3 guitar for bass), and that was a lot of fun.

Concerning the Drum Kit
So far, I plan on sticking with just the guitars. I am looking for a cheap USB microphone to use. I do not plan on purchasing the drums. I am not a drummer, nor do I have room to store that big thing in my apartment. Also, they are expensive, and I would rather use my money on rent/food or perhaps another game. With that said, I have heard of a few people having issues with the drum sensors. Apparently, Activision has offered to fix this problem via a download (for more info, visithttp://www.activision.com/support).

I wanted to take this opportunity to speak on behalf of all the WiiNintendo staff, and encourage you to vote on this upcoming election (of course, those under 18 or do not live in the USA need not apply).  We are obviously not promoting one candidate, but we want you to let your voice be heard on November 4.

With that being said, the folks over at “the-minusworld.com” have put together a mock campaign featuring our most beloved Nintendo characters, called “Thwomp the Vote.”  Here are a couple campaign posters (click to enlarge them).

 

As stated above, we are not backing any candidate here, but we are strongly encouraging you to go vote this November.  For full “Thwomp the Vote” coverage, click here for the-minusworld.com.  For unbiased US election info, click here to visit usa.gov.

Here are some more screens from the 007 game, Quantum of Solace, for the Wii.

This week, the podcast is on time and better than ever! Not only did we record our podcast last night, but we had our biggest podcast crew there to date. The crew consisted of me, queenzelda, Charmy, hey_suburbia (though we just called him Mickey the whole time), SirVenom, hattrick, and even MOMZ dropped by at the end. It seems the only person missing was mazer, who should be returning in a few weeks time hopefully. Anyways, we discussed a bunch of different topics and it was great to get various thoughts on them. And if you stick around for the end of the podcast, you’ll get to hear some especially good discussion, as well as MOMZ trying Wii Music for the first time. Check out a taste of what you can expect to hear below.

- Go over this week’s Wii, DS, and Wii Shop Channel releases, the Nintendo Channel updates for the week, as well as what we’ve been playing on Wii and DS
- SirVenom and hattrick make their podcast debut! Now our final podcast crew is set (and mazer shall join us once again in a few weeks time)
- We talk about the latest on E3 and E for All, the new firmware update, the “Let’s Play on Wii” games coming to the US, and more
- Don’t you just love leaks? Looks like Sega may be The Conduit’s publisher
- Is the excitement for the Nintendo DSi in Japan low? Should we be worried?
- We discuss what we’ve heard about Guitar Hero: World Tour, as well as the upcoming spin-off titles. Are they ruining the series with all these titles or is more Guitar Hero a good thing?
- Wii Music is finally out and we give our thoughts on just how fun this title is
- We hang out in a chat on WiiNintendo (which you can read here) and get the opinions of everyone in the chat on the topics we are discussing in the podcast
- We mention our campaign to help disaster victims, known as “WiiNintendo.net 1UPing Disasters”, and talk about how the Red Cross contacted us showing their support. Look for more on this campaign soon.

There was plenty to discuss and plenty of people in the podcast to voice their opinions. So, it’s expected that this podcast would go over an hour, and it does. The podcast clocks in at 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 47 seconds. As always, you can listen to the podcast, download it (file size is 73.0 MB), subscribe to the RSS feed, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes all at the bottom of this post. If you have trouble finding it on iTunes, it is under the name wiiklyfuse. I recently subscribed to it since I bought an iPod Touch and it’s fun to go back and listen to the previous shows, so I recommend you do so as well.

Remember to join us in a chat on WiiNintendo when we record our next podcast on Wednesday, November 5th (usually it’s on Tuesday, but that’s election day) between 9:30 and 10 pm eastern time. Please send us your feedback and any suggestions you may have for future podcasts. We want you to enjoy these podcasts, so please let us know what you want us to discuss. If you have anything more you want to suggest or to submit a question for the podcast crew (which we’ll play in an upcoming podcast), you can do one of three things: You can post a comment on this post, you can email me at DarkWish@WiiNintendo.net, or you can post it in the Submission/Suggestion Thread on the WiiFuse forums. I look forward to hearing from you!

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I posted the leak yesterday, and now it’s been confirmed. You can read the press release below. Thanks to Roth for letting me know about it.

PRESS RELEASE: SEGA Gets Zapped by High Voltage with The Conduit

SEGA to Publish Highly Anticipated Wii Title in Spring 2009

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® of Europe Ltd. today announced a worldwide partnership with High Voltage Software to publish and distribute the Wiiâ„¢ home video game system-exclusive title, The Conduit. The first-person shooter garnered multiple awards at E3 2008, including Best Wii Game by GameTrailers and three awards from IGN: Best Shooting Game (Wii), Best Graphics Technology (Wii) and Best Overall Wii Game. The Conduit is a stunning, futuristic title powered by a new game engine technology that delivers remarkable visuals and effects, as well as a rich interactive experience that is unlike any other title on the Wii.

“The Conduit is one of the most talked-about Wii games this year and High Voltage Software has only scratched the surface of the game in terms of what they have shown so far,” says Simon Jeffery, President of SEGA of America, Inc. “They have proven that graphical and technological innovation can be exciting to the Wii market, and SEGA is thrilled to partner with a team that truly shares our belief in the Wii’s gaming potential beyond the casual market.”

“High Voltage Software’s partnership with SEGA to publish The Conduit represents an important milestone for this studio,” said Kerry Ganofsky, CEO and founder of High Voltage Software, Inc. “SEGA shares our vision for the title and its tremendous potential, which is why we chose them from a long list of potential partners. With their support, we are confident that The Conduit will deliver the definitive shooter experience that Wii fans have been waiting for.”

The Conduit takes players into a dark story in Washington D.C. after a vicious alien invasion has rocked the country. An organization called the Trust has sent in Secret Service agent, Mr. Ford, to go up against the insect-like alien race known as “The Drudge.” Armed with an array of futuristic weaponry and an intelligence-gathering device simply called the “All-Seeing Eye,” players follow an intricate storyline filled with conspiracy, shady government activity and terrifying aliens.

The Conduit’s detailed control system allows players to customize and configure look sensitivity, turning speed, the dead zone and much more. As players delve further into the mystery behind the extraterrestrial invasion, shocking details reveal that the invasion may have been brought on with help from the government itself.

Powered by High Voltage Software’s groundbreaking Quantum 3 engine, The Conduit ensures that players will experience single and multiplayer gameplay with graphical fidelity never seen before on the Wii. The Conduit will also support the recently announced Wii Speak peripheral, allowing online multiplayer gamers the ability to chat as they destroy aliens in each terrifying level. Additionally, the game will take advantage of the Wii MotionPlus for optimal control.

The Conduit, exclusively for the Wii, is slated to ship in spring 2009. For more information on the game, please visit http://www.conduitgame.com. For screenshots and art, please visit the SEGA FTP site at http://segapr.segaamerica.com.

[Via WiiFuse]

The podcast should begin at 9:45 pm eastern time, which is about 15 minutes from now. Join us to discuss what we discuss. Please note that the comments won’t show up until they are approved since we don’t want spam. I hope to talk to all of you then.

Don’t you just love leaks? Check out this Sega site: ftp://segapr.segaamerica.com/SEGA_GAMES/

All of that is straight from Sega, so it’s obviously official. You’ll see all the Sega titles and the media that is hosted on Sega’s website. Well, earlier today it seems there was another folder there that is now mysteriously missing. Yup, you guesssed it… The Conduit. So why would there be a folder for The Conduit (which was empty at the time by the way) that got taken away mysteriously after it was discovered? Sounds like Sega is The Conduit’s publisher to me. While there isn’t total evidence yet, it seems very likely to me that this is a real leak. Hopefully we’ll get an official announcement soon.

UPDATE: We now have a screenshot of the folder for The Conduit on the website. I updated the picture above with the screenshot.

UPDATE 2: There’s another screenshot of the empty folder if you hit the jump. This has to be legit guys. Looks like it’s Sega that is the publisher.

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