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    GDC09: Train your eyes on 'The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks'

    March 25, 2009 - 2:34pm


    Zelda more like Celda news now, with the return of Nintendo's favorite saucer-eyed adventurer in a new DS game. According to some very brief footage shown during Nintendo GDC 2009 keynote, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (tentative title) sees cel-shaded Link ditching boats and single-horsepower vehicles for a train. Considering said train is also equipped with a cannon, we think it's safe to call this the franchise's first on-rails shooter.It's due to be released later this year, if you can believe that.
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    GDC09: Virtual Console Arcade launches with 4 games, available now

    March 25, 2009 - 2:22pm


    Iwata has announced yet another platform expansion for Wii's Virtual Console. Virtual Console Arcade will offer classic -- meaning old -- arcade titles not available on other systems. Four launch games are available for download right now (directly to an SD card, if you prefer -- haven't you heard?), with two additional titles possibly available later day. Here's the starting lineup:

    • Gaplus (Namco Bandai): 600 Wii Points -- available now
    • Mappy (Namco Bandai): 500 Wii Points -- available now
    • The Tower Of Druaga (Namco Bandai): 500 Wii Points -- available now
    • Starforce (Tecmo): 500 Wii Points -- available now
    • Space Harrier (Sega) -- coming soon
    • Solvalou (Namco Bandai) -- coming soon

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    Joystiq live from Nintendo's GDC 2009 keynote

    March 25, 2009 - 2:16pm

    Relive every key moment, from bottom to top, just after the break!

    Continue reading Joystiq live from Nintendo's GDC 2009 keynote

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    Joystiq Review: Rhythm Heaven

    March 25, 2009 - 2:15pm

    These days, it's impossible to talk about rhythm games without bringing up Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band. Nintendo's Rhythm Heaven, to use the nomenclature, could be described as Soccer Ball Bounce Hero, Love Potion Mixing Hero, Race Car Photography Hero, Lizard Mating Dance Hero (that's right) and about 50 other things. But it's not really about any of those things. By making you do all kinds of different stuff rhythmically, it becomes a game less about simulating any one thing and more about pure rhythm. The fact that it's incredibly adorable doesn't hurt.

    Continue reading Joystiq Review: Rhythm Heaven

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    GDC09: A mess of Final Fantasy games for WiiWare and Virtual Console (that's right, Virtual Console)

    March 25, 2009 - 2:08pm

    Iwata just announced two new Final Fantasy games for WiiWare! My Life as a Darklord is a spooky-evil sequel to the WiiWare launch title My Life as a King. Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is the previously cellphone-only sequel to Final Fantasy IV!Even better, vintage Final Fantasy is coming to the Virtual Console! The Final Fantasy games will be arriving on Nintendo's download service starting later this year.
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    GDC09: Nintendo reveals Rock and Roll Climber

    March 25, 2009 - 1:54pm

    Nintendo's latest Balance Board-equipped game is a WiiWare title that combines the rush of rock climbing with the thrill of single guitar chords. Rock and Roll Climber uses the Wiimote and Nunchuk to simulate arm movements while climbing, while the Balance Board acts to read leg movements. According to our liveblog, at the top of the rock wall, "The character reaches the top, picks up a guitar, and plays a single riff."This isn't entirely unexpected -- the title showed up on the ESRB database last week, but Nintendo apparently wasn't ready to tell us about it!Permalink | Email this | Comments

    GDC09: Nintendo updates Wii Shop Channel with 'SD Card Menu' [update]

    March 25, 2009 - 1:40pm

    Click to check out our video walkthrough!
    At his GDC 2009 keynote, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will announce, Apple-style, that a Wii Shop Channel update will be available to all. We ran over to the Wii and began the agonizing update process to discover -- an "SD Card Menu" ...? Yes, it would seem that the vaunted "storage solution" has arrived."Welcome to the SD Card Menu! Here, you can launch channels saved on SD Cards by temporarily utilizing the Wii System Memory." CONFIRMED. That's right, launch from SD.If your system memory is full, you still have to delete stuff, but there's now a streamlined, automated process to do that from this new SD Card Menu. It will even choose stuff for you, if you want. Update: The new Wii system update also adds support for SDHC cards up to 32 GB -- that's alotta Virtual Console games folks!Permalink | Email this | Comments

    GDC09: Nintendo has shipped 50 million Wii consoles

    March 25, 2009 - 1:19pm


    Satoru Iwata's GDC keynote has revealed a somewhat unsurprising fact about the Wii. Iwata explained that global shipments for the Wii have reached "more than 50 million," propelling it to be "the fastest selling video game hardware in history." Let's look at some recent numbers, shall we?As many of you NPD followers know, the Wii sold a whopping 753,000 units in February, and 679,000 in January, making for a total of 1,432,000 consoles sold in North America so far this year. In Japan, the console has sold 354,367 units so far in 2009 (counting the last few days of December), and Nintendo revealed 45 million Wiis had been shipped worldwide back in January. Add AMD's 50 millionth GPU, and you can see where this is going. We fully expect Nintendo's next move will be to purchase Japan and rename it Kirbyland.Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Behind the scenes with Guitar Hero: Metallica

    March 25, 2009 - 12:05pm

    On March 29, Metallica thrashes into Guitar Hero ... axes blazing behind more than two decades of rock. Or for the less dramatic, Guitar Hero: Metallica is totally coming out soon. Ever wonder what goes into developing a game, starring one of the world's most famous bands? Three new "Behind the Scenes" trailers with interviews and capture session footage with James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo cover that very topic.Watch as the band rocks in mo-cap gear (video above), discuss the opportunity to introduce a new generation to their music and finally becoming rock stars after all these years (videos after the break).

    Continue reading Behind the scenes with Guitar Hero: Metallica

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    GDC09: Actual Duke Nukem games on PSP/DS

    March 25, 2009 - 11:40am

    Apogee's Duke Nukem Trilogy already eclipsed Duke Nukem Forever with its mindblowingly awesome, yet content-free, trailer. But now it has surpassed Forever even more, by existing! And, as if to show off, it's six games. Sort of. As OhGizmo! explains, Duke Nukem Trilogy features three games, which have the same stories, but are presented in a different style on DS than on PSP. The PSP versions are M-rated, with content that will be "tasteful, but it'll still be Duke." The DS versions will be T-rated, and thus toned down a bit in terms of dialogue and gratuitous strippers.The best part? The first game, Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, was actually there! There was a demonstration on both PSP and DS. Try that, Duke Nukem Forever. Try being playable on a game system.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments