WiiNintendo

Thanks for your patience. The WiiNintendo forums are back online.

Special thanks to hey_suburbia, who did everything worth mentioning while I sat around pretending to help.

At a Nintendo meeting today, Kotaku has learned that Miyamoto is working on the new Zelda Wii title, which will sport swordplay with the MotionPlus feature. He is also working on a “DS game to play at home” and is interested in how the DS can be used in “public spaces”.

Nintendo mentioned that the company was not against HD, and Miyamoto pointed out that a title like Wii Fit would not benefit greatly from HD, but the Nintendo creator added that a game like, say, Pikmin would.

[Kotaku]

Come to Nintendo World between 11am and 3pm on Sunday, November 1 to be one of the first to play Band Hero for the Wii and Nintendo DS! Rock out to 65 of the biggest chart topping hits, get Band Hero giveaways, and enter to win raffle prizes.

The game is a standard mascot kart racing game, very similar to other games in its genre like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing. Characters race through various race circuits themed on different Sega franchises and collect power-ups to boost their speed or hamper their opponents. Like Sumo’s previous Sega game, Sega Superstars Tennis, each character has a special ability (called an “All-Star Move”) unique to them that they may use to their advantage (such as Sonic transforming into Super Sonic and AiAi riding in marbles), which they can obtain if they are running behind in the race.

Vehicles are separated into four different categories: racing, off-road, bike and hovercraft. As the terrain on the tracks will vary, vehicles can be either assisted or hindered by the surfaces they drive upon. For example, racing-type vehicles perform best on hard surfaces such as wood or concrete, but are hampered by soft terrain such as mud, sand or snow. The opposite is true for off-road type vehicles.

The game will have multiplayer options for up to four players on split-screen and eight players online. There will also be missions and an arena battle mode.

The game was showcased at E3 2009, where it was stated that the final version of the game will have over 20 different characters.

Lego Rock Band is based primarily on the same gameplay as the main Rock Band series, though includes aspects of collecting and building with Lego bricks as in Traveler Tales’ other Lego-themed games; as compared to Rock Band’s slogan of “Start a band, rock the world”, Lego Rock Band’s catchphrase is “Build a band, rock the universe”.

The music portions of the game will remain the same as the Rock Band series, though easier skill levels will be provided for “budding musicians”. This includes the addition of a “Super Easy” mode in which the player only needs to hit any button or pad on the guitar or drum controller, respectively, to play along, and an “auto bass kick” feature intended for those playing drums that cannot reach the bass drum pedal. A further change to help less skilled players is that it is impossible to fail a song if the player performs poorly. Instead, poor performances will consume Lego “studs” (equivalent of points) that have already been earned for the song. However, specially-marked “recovery phrases” will be presented before the end of the song, and playing these well will allow the player to regain studs they have lost. The game still retains the higher difficulty levels found in other Rock Band games, including “Expert” difficulty, which Harmonix has stated will not be any easier than from other games. Certain songs in the setlist that feature long intros or outros, such as “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police, can also be played through shortened edits similar to radio edits, in order to help younger players with shorter attention spans stay interested in the game.

Successfully completing songs will earn the players Lego studs which they may use to build and customize their Lego-style avatars, staff, vehicles, and their “rock den”. However, there will not be inclusion of previous Lego-based characters from previous Travelers Tales games as the cost of licensing these characters again from companies like Lucasarts was too much after securing song rights. There will also be Lego-themed challenges such as demolishing buildings by successfully playing songs.

The Nintendo DS version of the game is stated to play similar to Rock Band Unplugged, in which the player switches back and forth between the various instruments, trying to keep the entire band playing. The game will only utilize the touchpad and stylus, and will not include additional peripherals as used for the Guitar Hero On Tour series.

Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 is the fifth installment in the Clash of Ninja series and is the third installment to Clash of Ninja Revolution series and set for release in November 17, 2009. Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 will feature the Rescue Gaara story arc and will feature over 35 characters and fighting environments as well as Wi-fi multiplayer matches, co-op matches, and an overhauled combat system. New to the game is the ability to call on your teammate in team battle to help.

Playable characters
The characters in the Clash of Ninja series are directly based upon characters taken from the Naruto anime. Each game introduces a new set of characters, with their appearance and abilities derived directly from the source material. As Naruto Shipp?den: Gekit? Ninja Taisen! EX and its sequels take place during Naruto: Shipp?den, which is two and a half years after the initial storyline, the characters’ appearance is significantly different. As such, many characters in the GameCube games differ drastically from their Naruto Shipp?den: Gekit? Ninja Taisen! EX, EX2 and EX3 counterparts.

We’ve posted a couple stories on this Netflix-Wii idea lately, but there might be something you did not catch.  Of course, we still have rumors of Netflix being ready to come to Wii by the end of the year, but Nintendo wants to wait until the HD version of Wii, which (get this) is coming in early 2010.

“What I’m hearing is that Nintendo originally planned to bring the Netflix service to the Wii before the end of this year, which still might take place, but that Nintendo is also considering holding off on the Netflix service until they release their next generation Wii HD unit in early 2010.” – Dan Rayburn

[Streaming Media]

Well, you knew it was coming soon, right?  We officially have the announcement of the new Nintendo DSi XL coming to North American soil.  We’ll get it around the same time as Europe does, in the first quarter of 2010.  No word on the price yet, but the Japanese one will sell for about $220 (American).

“A new iteration of the Nintendo DSi? system will be introduced in Japan on November 21, 2009,” a spokesman told Kotaku. “To be known as Nintendo DSi LL in Japan, and as Nintendo DSi XL in North America and Europe, it will offer a screen 93% larger than the current Nintendo DS Lite with a better view angle, an additional longer touch screen stylus, and preinstalled Nintendo DSiWare? software. The new version will arrive in North America and Europe in the first quarter of calendar year 2010.“

[Kotaku]

Here are some more photos of the new Nintendo DSi XL/LL.  These were found by WiiNintendo blogger and forum moderator, DarkWish.

Watch in HD

Pre-order Raving Rabbids on the WiiNintendo Online Store