WiiNintendo

The first chapter in the Tales Of Monkey Island series has been released through WiiWare today and Telltale’s design director has told ONM why he thinks Wii is a perfect fit for their games.

“We think the Wii audience is perfect for the kinds of games we make, orientated towards story and characters and casual play – a sofa expeience if you will – and WiiWare is an amazingly effective way to reach that audience.”

Gameplay

The game has two different control methods, one that involves the Wii Remote and another that uses the Classic Controller (for players who prefer more precision).

Graphically the game is similar to Odin Sphere, retaining the same hand-drawn 2D art style, though inspiration will be drawn from Japanese mythology and culture rather than Norse mythology.

The game will have over 30 different stages.

Two playable characters have been specified: Kisuke, a young amnesiac ninja, and Momohime a young princess of Narukami Han, Mino Province. Momohime starts off in the eastern Kyo and goes to the western Edo, while Kisuke goes the opposite direction. Both wield three katana out of 108 possible to collect and forge.

Swords are distinguished into two categories, Tachi and ?dachi. ?dachi is bigger and deals higher damage but bulkier than Tachi, suitable for sweeping a group of weak foes, while Tachi has a shorter attack interval and is geared for aerial or high agility combat. Each sword has an ?gi, the powerful attack technique. Overuse of a sword (unleashing ?gi or defending) will deplete its “Soul Gauge” and eventually break it and its attack power will drop substantially. A broken sword will automatically recover itself when reserved for a short span.

The game can be played in 3 modes:
Unmatched Mode, Carnage Mode, and Insane Death Mode. Unmatched Mode focuses on character leveling as opposed to action, whereas Carnage Mode is more action based, recommended for skilled players. Insane Death Mode is only available after a player clears the game in Unmatched Mode, this mode plays in the same fashion as Unmatched Mode but limits player’s HP to 1 and will never grow when leveled up.

Plot

The game takes place during the Genroku era at the time of shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi on Honsh?, the main island of Japan. Because of his thirst for power, a conflict over immensely powerful swords, the Demon Blades, occurs. The swords are cursed and are said to bring tragedy, madness, and untimely deaths. As the chaos from the conflict spreads, creatures from the netherworld are summoned by these blades, along with Dragon and Demon Gods.

Story

Kisuke, who has lost his memories, is a fugitive being chased for a crime he no longer remembers. His only desire is to find a certain katana. After defeating his arresters, he meets Yuzuruha who offers to guide his path. Meanwhile, Momohime, after being possessed by a foul swordsman, Jinkuro Izuna’s soul, is forced to flee her castle and accept Jinkuro’s offer to complete his plan.

Release Date: September 8, 2009

Capcom has updated their million sellers list, with strong performance from the Wii edition of Resident Evil 4.

Total sales on the Wii are at 1,600,000 (as of the end of June 2009), slipping past numbers for the GameCube original. For reference, the PS2 edition has so far sold around 2.1 million copies.

I called it! Yesterday, the DSi Browser was updated in Europe and Japan (and Ugoku Memo was updated in Japan). I predicted that this update was going to release alongside the DSi firmware update that Nintendo promised at E3, which would add the ability to post photos directly to Facebook. Well, as I predicted, firmware version 1.4 was released today for Europe, Japan, and Australia so far.

The new firmware adds Facebook Connect and makes the DSi Camera faster. It also happens to block all current flashcards that work on the DSi. It is possible that the flashcards can be updated to work on version 1.4, but for now this proves that Nintendo is taking action against flashcards. No word on a DSi System Update or DSi Browser update for the US yet. If I had to guess, I’d predict it will come on Monday alongside the rumored US release of Flipnote Studio. We’ll just have to wait and see.

[GBATemp]

Download the 7668 x 6000 version

MegaStryke, created this awesomely huge Mega Man Chart

I wanted to hunt down every last piece of software or electronic equipment that ran some semblance of a Mega Man game. Every port, every arcade machine, every cell phone app, every game-playing calculator. If there was a toaster that ran a Mega Man-skinned clone of Breakout (there isn’t, I checked) then you can bet it will be in my chart.

The only things not in the chart are budget re-releases and special editions. Other than that, everything I’ve found, regardless of how shady it may appear and to the best of my knowledge, is an official Capcom or Capcom-licensed release. There might be some obscure gadget that flew under my nose, but I highly doubt it.

Japanese Celebrity Anna Ishibashi shares the excitement as the countdown to Monster Hunter 3’s release is down to 3 days.

Monster Hunter 3 (tri-) is the third console installment in the popular Monster Hunter franchise scheduled for release for the Wii. The title was initially scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3 but was announced to have been moved to the Wii during Nintendo’s Fall 2007 Conference “due to high development cost of titles for PS3?.

Monster Hunter 3 will be released in Japan on August 1, 2009.

It has also been recently announced that a special package for Monster Hunter 3 will be available for retail in Japan. This package will include, Monster Hunter 3, a Black Wii, and a Classic Controller Pro, for 33, 000 Yen (roughly $340 US). It is not confirmed however, whether the bundle will only be in Japan or not.

Guitar Hero 5 set list:

New Additions

* 3 Doors Down – “Kryptonite”
* Arctic Monkeys – “Brianstorm”
* Blink-182 – “The Rock Show”
* Dire Straits – “Sultans Of Swing”
* Jimmy Eat World – “Bleed American”
* Johnny Cash – “Ring Of Fire”
* Megadeth – “Sweating Bullets”
* Mötley Crüe – “Looks That Kill”
* Muse – “Plug In Baby”
* Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
* Queen & David Bowie – “Under Pressure”
* Stevie Wonder – “Superstition”
* The Killers – “All The Pretty Faces”
* The Raconteurs – “Steady As She Goes”
* TV On The Radio – “Wolf Like Me”

Previously Announced

* A Perfect Circle – “Judith”
* AFI – “Medicate”
* Attack! Attack! UK – “You And Me”
* Band Of Horses – “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands”
* Beastie Boys – “Gratitude”
* Beck – “Gamma Ray”
* Billy Idol – “Dancing With Myself”
* Billy Squier – “Lonely Is The Night”
* Blur – “Song 2″
* Bob Dylan – “All Along The Watchtower”
* Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name”
* Brand New – “Sowing Season (Yeah)”
* The Bronx – “Six Days A Week”
* Bush – “Comedown”
* Children Of Bodom – “Done With Everything, Die For Nothing”
* Coldplay – “In My Place”
* Darker My Love – “Blue Day”
* Darkest Hour – “Demon(s)”
* David Bowie – “Fame”
* Deep Purple – “Woman From Tokyo (‘99 Remix)”
* The Derek Trucks Band – “Younk Funk”
* The Duke Spirit – “Send A Little Love Token”
* Duran Duran – “Hungry Like The Wolf”
* Eagles Of Death Metal – “Wannabe In L.A.”
* Elliott Smith – “L.A.”
* Elton John – “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”
* Face To Face – “Disconnected”
* Garbage – “Only Happy When It Rains”
* Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”
* Gov’t Mule – “Streamline Woman”
* Grand Funk Railroad – “We’re An American Band”
* Iggy Pop – “Lust For Life (Live)”
* Iron Maiden – “2 Minutes To Midnight”
* Jeff Beck – “Scatterbrain (Live)”
* John Mellencamp – “Hurts So Good”
* Kaiser Chiefs – “Never Miss A Beat”
* King Crimson – “21st Century Schizoid Man”
* Kings Of Leon – “Sex On Fire”
* Kiss – “Shout It Out Loud”
* Love and Rockets – “Mirror People”
* My Morning Jacket – “One Big Holiday”
* Nirvana – “Lithium (Live)”
* No Doubt – “Ex-Girlfriend”
* Peter Frampton – “Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)”
* The Police – “So Lonely”
* Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde – “Bring the Noise 20XX”
* Queens Of The Stone Age – “Make It Wit Chu”
* Rammstein – “Du Hast”
* The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For The Devil”
* Rose Hill Drive – “Sneak Out”
* Rush – “The Spirit Of Radio (Live)”
* Santana – “No One To Depend On (Live)”
* Scars On Broadway – “They Say”
* Screaming Trees – “Nearly Lost You”
* Smashing Pumpkins – “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
* Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”
* Spacehog – “In The Meantime”
* Sublime – “What I Got”
* Sunny Day Real Estate – “Seven”
* T. Rex – “20th Century Boy”
* The Sword – “Maiden, Mother & Crone”
* Thin Lizzy – “Jailbreak”
* Thrice – “Deadbolt”
* Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down A Dream”
* Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “American Girl”
* Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”
* Weezer – “Why Bother?”
* The White Stripes – “Blue Orchid”
* Wild Cherry – “Play That Funky Music”
* Wolfmother – “Back Round”

Alongside the DSi Browser update, the Japanese version of Flipnote Studio (known as Ugoku Memo) has been updated. Ugoku Memo is now version 2.1 and the update made it easier to add friends and improved the efficiency of traffic to the server.

And still, no word on when Flipnote Studio is releasing in the US. Its release date is this Summer and it’s official website has slowly added more English to it, so the release should be near. There have also been rumors of a release this Monday, but nothing confirmed just yet.

[NeoGAF]

Japanese DSi owners will now find an update to the DSi Browser in the DSi Shop for them to download for free. What does the update do? Well, two of the people that downloaded it said they didn’t notice anything different. Maybe it’s just bug fixes? Or maybe… now this could be a stretch, but maybe this update is in preparation for the DSi system update that will add Facebook Connect to the DSi as Nintendo mentioned at E3. Or I could be completely wrong and it’s just bug fixes or something. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Update: It seems that the new DSi Browser in Japan still has Opera version 9.5, but the build was changed from 446 to 507 (it’s build 483 in the US by the way). Sounds like just bug fixes to me.

Update 2: Supposedly it’s on the Europe DSi Shop too. According to one user, it seems to be loading a bit faster and text can now be made larger or smaller while in text mode.

[NeoGAF] [GBATemp]