The launch of Nintendo's Wii console could be the most destructive videogame event for more than 20 years. More destructive than the launch of PlayStation, which in effect killed Sega as a console producer and relegated Nintendo to a humiliating court jester role. More destructive even than the 1983 collapse, when Atari released so many gut-bustingly awful games it almost killed the industry.
Wii is unprecedented and unpredictable. Eschewing the ruinously expensive hardware war, in which console manufacturers seek to out-muscle each other with ever more complex hardware, Nintendo has built its comparatively modest machine around a novelty controller: the Wii Remote, a wireless, motion-sensing device that can be used variously as a sword, tennis racket or fly swat, depending on the game.

This presents two huge problems. First, game publishers sell 90% of their products on the quality of the graphics. Boasts such as "intense next-gen visuals" and "awesome animation" are burned into the brains of marketers.

But Wii is challenging this approach. Screenshots of launch games like Call of Duty 3 and Excite Truck reveal jagged polygons and mediocre distance drawing.

Then there's the Wii Remote. On a practical level, this bizarre device requires developers to re-think the way games work, replacing button combinations with movements. But then there are the devastating psychosexual consequences.

The barbarians - and by this I mean women and older people - are at the gates, armed with Wii Remotes. My wife will figure out how to use this device as quickly as I do, because it does not rely on the spatially illogical mapping of actions on to small plastic buttons. For many men this is a terrifying, emasculating prospect.

If there's one thing western publishers are more scared of than women and old people, though, it's Nintendo. Companies are already grumbling about the decision to bundle the internally produced title Wii Sports with every console sold. The impact on sales of third-party launch games is likely to be significant.

Some, however, welcome the impeding chaos. Last week Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft's North American division, told Reuters that he believes Wii can help his company topple EA from its dominant position as king of publishers. This could be the first of several stalking horses.

An immense power vacuum is looming. Terror, catastrophe and motion-sensing gaming await. ...

Nintendo on Wednesday announced that it has sold close to 3.5 million Touch Generations portable games in the U.S.

Introduced in Mar., the Touch Generations brand offers casual games for the Nintendo DS handheld.

The company will release a new version of the popular Touch Generations game Nintendogs called Dalmatians & Friends to U.S. retail on Oct. 15. The game will allow owners to adopt, train, and care for a puppy from six breeds.

In addition, the new Touch Generations offering Clubhouse Games drops to stores on Wednesday, Oct. 11. The game features 40 traditional party games like checkers, darts and poker.

Via punchjump ...

News about Wii and PS3 Preorders at SuccessHK

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News about Wii and PS3 Preorders at SuccessHK

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It’s another PS3 bad news double-whammy today, as it's revealed that both models of Sony’s ‘super computer’ will come bundled only with the standard red, white, and yellow composite cables in Japan.

Of course, you’ll also get a power cord, USB cable and ethernet cable.

The disappointing news that you won’t be able to connect your PS3 to a High Definition TV out of the box comes from the latest issue of Japanese gaming bible, 'Famitsu'.

Playstation 2 users who have already kitted themselves out with a component cable will be able to use that on their Playstation 3.

News is also emerging that the PS3 lacks an IR port. This, in effect, means that home cinema buffs looking forward to using the PS3 as their Blu-ray movie player won’t be able to use a universal remote with the machine. They will, therefore, have no choice but to shell out for Sony’s own PS3-compatible remote.

So, what do you think? Are these minor gripes? Would you be happy to go out and shell out £10/£15 ($30) on a component cable when you buy your PS3? Or should you have one already? ...

Nintendo and AiLive have unveiled the development kit behind Wiimote motion capture for gameplay. While the news is a bit inside baseball it is pretty fascinating how easy Nintendo is making it to program games for that use their Wiimote's special functions.

AiLive LiveMove essentially lets you capture Wiimote motions in real-time and instantly attatch them to a function in your game.

"In early 2006, I challenged Dr. Wei Yen and his AI scientists to develop AIware for the Wii Remote. When Nintendo's development teams saw LiveMove, we instantly recognized how it would greatly increase our ability to explore and experiment with new concepts and make our lives easier," says Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director/General Manager of Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd. "This revolutionary tool liberates the imaginations of game creators. We are more than happy to share this collaborative LiveMove tool with independent Wii software developers all over the world. From a cowboy's lasso to a samurai's sword or a chef's cooking utensils, we just can't wait to play the developers' new, 'unexpected' applications."
One of the examples the website offers is for a team making a zombie cowboy game. Instead of forcing a programmer to waste all of their time programming and testing out different motions on the Wiimote for gameplay, some non-programming creative lump can sit in his or her office swinging the controller about until he finds the moves he likes. Then it's just a matter of ringing up programmers and saying "All done," apparently the kit does the capture and most of the heavy lifting.

It's genius that Nintendo recognized the importance of streamlining development for the more unusual aspects of the Wii. It will get that many more developers to think about creating games for their console using the special features. And, according to the release, the kit costs only $2,500 per seat. Cheap! ...

The Xbox 360 nabbed a Good Design 2006 award (yeah, it was released in 2005, so what?). The console was designed by Astro Studio and hot Japanese designer Chiaki Murata and is a tremendous step up from that awful black doormat Microsoft released a few years back. The award was given by Japan's "Good Design Council," started back in 1957 and has the sole purpose to find "excellent design products, which encourage the contribution to the quality of life and industrial field via power of design." Okay.

The criteria for winners were three basic questions:

1. Is it a good design?
2. Is it a superior design?
3. Is it a design that breaks new ground for the future?
So Japan may hate the Xbox 360, but that doesn't mean it hates the Xbox 360. It obviously likes the way the machine looks. On store shelves, for example. ...

It's the most infamous DS game we've never played. And we know surprisingly little about Doki Doki Majo Saiban. Intertube reaction has run the gamut of amused (us) to critical (others) and in denial (others). Some are claiming the title is flat out porn, while some state that there's no way Nintendo would let that happen. We doubt that the game is at either end of the pole and still giggle at the newly minted touch-a-girl-to-see-if-she's-a-witch sub-genre.

Earlier today, I contacted SNK Playmore Japan to see if we could find out more regarding the title, such as whether or not it was an adult title and what it's CERO (Japan's ESRB) rating would be. The response? Some of the screenshots on the internet are not official, which common sense tells us is easy to separate. And regarding the rating, it hasn't been announced. As an official statement, we were sent a short description of the game's story that has been circulating since TGS. Here's a quick and dirty translation:

Story: Previously, there were a few witches in the world. Current day. People don't know it, but the number of witches have grown. So God has chosen two mischievous middle school students, Akuji and Tenshi ("Angel") Ruru, to search for witches. Using the touch pen, players engage in a witch hunt adventure.
SNK didn't provide any more information beyond that. This description along with some screens shots of girls in short skirts and cleavage. So, is it porn? Doubt it, and always have. A quick look at the actual SNK images show that the game probably isn't intended for children. Still, we are delighted about this touch-a-girl-to-see-if-she's-a-witch sub-genre. Sounds wicked!

Screenshot Via Comments
Via Kotaku ...

Well, we don't know much about it, but my job, o faithful reader, is to suck hard when I taste the flimsiest stream of liquid trickling from the game industry's PR tit.

Beginning in Spring 2007, Nintendo will apparently begin the "Wii Compact Software" line of games which will allow players to download certain Wii titles to their console rather than purchasing a disc. Pricing and storage details, as well as what software will be made available, were not provided.
Well, that's certainly a little cooler than the VirtualConsole. Are we going to see Nintendo's equivalent of XBLA, where smaller developers might get the chance to offer cool, tiny games to home users? Or are these more likely to be little quasi-useful widgets aimed squarely at the house mother set Nintendo's trying to appeal to with the Wii? ...