news via pro-g

Pandemic has confirmed that Mercenaries 2 is coming to Xbox 360, PC and PS2 in addition to the previously revealed PS3 game.

Speaking with IGN, Pandemic senior producer Jonathan Zamkoff has revealed that, as had been expected, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is also coming to Xbox 360. More surprising is news that the PC and PS2 are getting a version of the game.

On the whole the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions will be pretty similar.

"So here's the scoop. We are shooting for true feature parity on the PS3, 360, and PC," said Zamkoff. "There will be small visual differences on those consoles due to platform specific texture compression algorithms and other platform-specific graphics implementation, but to the end-user the game experience will be nearly identical."

PS3, Xbox 360 and PC owners can look forward to online co-op play, but PS2 gamers will miss out on this feature. Zamkoff believes that the PS2 feature set is, however, "ambitious enough."

"For the PS2 we are taking a different tact. We're working extremely closely with Pi studios down in Houston, Texas. They're 100 percent focused on developing the PS2 game under Pandemic's direction," said Zamkoff. "They are using the Mercs 1 core engine and toolchain, coupled with modified Mercs 2 assets to create the Mercs 2 PS2 version. Due to memory and processor limitations we will not be able to have the exact graphical feature set (e.g., certain lighting models, etc.), but Pi has done an incredible job of having the PS2 game mirror its next-gen cousins as closely as possible."

Despite news that the game is now heading to multiple platforms, the previously announced PS3 game remains the lead SKU, although that doesn't mean the Xbox 360 version is to be treated like an unwelcome house guest.

"We started from scratch to program for the multiprocessors on both machines. They were both in mind when we were writing the text, so we didn't want to create a PS3 engine, which was and has been, and is, our lead SKU, but we didn't want to ignore the Xbox 360," explained Zamkoff. "Even though we're just now announcing the 360 version, we have been working on it for quite some time."

Mercenaries 2 is shaping up well and might well end up on your 'must have' list in the autumn.

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news via dailytech

Nintendo console has officially gone geriatric



Nintendo is off to an incredible start with the Wii. With continued demand and leading sales even after the holiday season, Nintendo couldn’t be happier with the system’s early success. The Wii’s innovative controller design has opened up video gaming to a previously untapped market—non-gamers.

The marketing minds behind Nintendo looked beyond the traditional gamer mediums and advertised its innovations at targets as far from gaming as you can imagine, such as retirees. Nintendo even went against the current and took the Wii to an AARP convention. “The AARP thing was a little bit tough at first. They were like, ‘We don't really want to talk to you because we're all grandparents and we already buy stuff for our kids,’ and so we said, ‘No we want to talk to you about you,’” said Perrin Kaplan, VP Marketing & Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America. “It took several attempts for them to finally say, ‘So why do you want to talk to us?’ And it's because we have products for them as well now.”

Nintendo’s efforts seemed to have paid off. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Wii is now the latest rage at the Sedgebrook retirement community in Lincolnshire, where the average age is 77. In particular, the Wii Bowling component of Wii Sports has members of the retirement community hooked on playing the Wii installed inside the Sedgebrooks’s clubhouse lounge.

“I've never been into video games, but this is addictive,” said 72-year-old Flora Dierbach. “They come in after dinner and play. Sometimes, on Saturday afternoons, their grandkids come play with them … A lot of grandparents are being taught by their grandkids. But, now, some grandparents are instead teaching their grandkids.”

Wii Bowling has become so well received that more than 20 residents signed up to participate in a virtual bowling tournament without the need to leave the clubhouse lounge. Sedgebrook's entertainment committee said that they even have a fan for people to dry their hands before they bowl, just like at a real bowling alley.

Although Wii Sports features cartoon-like graphics and characters—imagery normally aimed at children—the retirees are absolutely taken with the realism offered by the Wii Remote.

“This is pretty realistic. You can even put English on the ball,” said Don Hahn, 76, a veteran of numerous real-life bowling competitions. “I used to play Pac-Man a little bit, but with this you're actually moving around and doing something. You're not just sitting there pushing buttons and getting carpal tunnel.”

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news via worthplaying

Tricked into believing that the Solar Empire is developing a devastating super-weapon, Commander Pierce and Colonel Windsor of the Anglo Isles launch a pre-emptive strike on the Coral Atolls. The world is once again at war.

Drive tanks, command ships, pilot planes and direct your troops into the heart of the action in the return of the popular tactical action game for Wii.

Features :

* 3 Online Multiplayer Modes, Assault: Instant Combat, Skirmish: Tactical depth, Co-op: Work with friends
* 3 Theatres of War, Combine land, sea and air combat
* 5 New Naval Units, Battleship, Frigate, Submarine, Dreadnought, Transport
* 6 Different Races, 5 Different Environments, With new vehicles for each side
* Wii-Controller, Provides intuitive, all-action gameplay
* Greater tactical depth, Capture facility buildings to re-spawn units (HQ, Barracks, Factories, Airfield, Docks), Use Map Screen Commanding to order from afar
* Bigger and Better, 20+ single player missions AND 15+ mp missions, Increased replay value

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news via punch jump

Hudson Entertainment this week announced that it will release the classic puzzle game Chew Man Fu to Nintendo Co.'s Wii Virtual Console.

The title was originally released for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 in 1990.

In Chew Man Fu, players must roll four spheres onto their respective tiles in each level. The game will include all original 50+ levels and a two-player kickball mode.

"Chew Man Fu represents an era of gameplay during which Hudson established itself as a creator of fun games that were easy to pick up and play, and also appealed to a wide range of gamers," said John Greiner, president of Hudson Entertainment. "With such a fantastic catalog of games released over the last 30 years, Hudson is in a great position to bring back some of these classics to a whole new generation of gamers."

Nintendo's Wii is the best-selling console in the month of Jan., selling 435,503 units in the U.S.

Chew Man Fu for Wii is expected to launch next month. A mobile phone version will also be released at the same time. ...

news via stageselect

All-New Adventure Created Specifically for the Wii System



SAN FRANCISCO (February 20, 2007) - SEGA® of America Inc. today announced that Sonic and the Secret Rings™ has shipped for the popular Wii™ system. Built specifically to take full advantage of the revolutionary Wii Remote™, Sonic and the Secret Rings delivers one of the most intuitive and engaging Sonic adventures to date. Rated “E” for Everyone, Sonic and the Secret Rings, delivers an innovative and interactive gameplay experience for Sonic fans of all ages.

The game opens as Sonic is mysteriously transported to the world of The Arabian Nights where he encounters a mystical genie, Shahra. Shahra pleads with Sonic to save her world from the powerful evil genie, Erazor Djinn. As the story unfolds, Erazor confronts Sonic and pulls him into his evil plans. Sonic has a limited time to deliver Erazor the seven World Rings and save the storybook world.

Navigating a world full of obstacles and enemies, from Erazor’s genie minions to dinosaurs, players will use a bevy of core moves to keep up the pace. Holding the Wii Remote horizontally, players tilt the controller left and right to control Sonic’s signature speed. They will jump, perform sliding stops, pull off wicked homing attacks with a snap of the controller, and even walk backwards with a tilt of the Wii Remote. Players will also hop aboard winged pots and fly with a vigorous shake of the controller. They will also launch themselves from catapults with a whip of the Wii Remote, surf through rapids on tree trunks and even pilot flying carpets in the race to restore this storybook world before all is lost.

With exciting new depth and strategy, players will navigate 100 missions within eight wildly varied worlds, gaining new moves and abilities along the way. As players progress through the game, Sonic’s abilities can be strategically equipped based on the demands of the mission ahead. From a boost called Speed Break to an ability called Time Break that slows the world around him to a near stop, Sonic will need every trick in the book to make sure Erazor Djinn stays in the storybook world.

In addition to the engaging single player adventure, Sonic and the Secret Rings offers 40 mini-games that support up to four players. Showcasing the abilities of the Wii Remote, players will use the controller as a violin bow, an ax, a canoe paddle and dozens of other motions to compete in these hilarious and easy to pick-up-and-play games.

Developed by the Sonic Team, Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii has a MSRP of $49.95. For screenshots and art, please visit the SEGA FTP site at http://segapr.segaamerica.com. For more detailed information about the game, please visit the official product website at www.sega.com/sonicrings.

About SEGA® of America, Inc.
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The SEGA® of America Web Site is located at www.SEGA.com.

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news via forbes

All work and some play made for a sparkling outlook at Analog Devices.

The hi-tech device maker said that its MEMs division helped January orders that poise the company for a solid second quarter. Its MEMs, or microelectrical mechanical systems, have expanded recently from the graver role of crash sensors in cars, to more lively uses like sensors in Nintendo (other-otc: NTDOY - news - people ) Wii controllers.

Shares of Analog Devices (nyse: ADI - news - people ) rose $3.02, or 9.0%, to $36.34 in afternoon trading.

Craig Ellis, an analyst at Citigroup, upgraded Analog Devices stock to "buy" and said in a client note that its MEMs business probably grew by 23.5% last year. He expects that scale of expansion to persist this year.

Ellis said Analog's MEMs division has often been overlooked because its margins are tighter than the company's other products, such as amplifiers and converters, but "that could change if ADI can successfully move beyond its dominant automotive base to higher-margin consumer applications," like it has done with the Wii.

Nintendo Wii controllers use Analog Devices MEMs technology to register changes in direction, speed, and acceleration made by the user holding the controller.

"MEMS is a technology that we have been in for the better part of 10 or 15 years that in the past has been mostly limited to accelerometers and gyroscopes that go into cars," said Analog Chief Executive Jerry Fishman during a Wednesday conference call. "But I think what we have seen over the last year is a fairly radical market development to include MEMS devices in a myriad of different end equipment."

Fishman also said in the call that strong orders in January means that Analog opened the current quarter, which began Feb. 1, with $29 million in backlog, an 8% increase over last year.

Analog's rosy future was enough to excite investors despite slightly disappointing earnings for the previous quarter. First-quarter net income was $153.2 million, or 44 cents per share, up from $120.6 million, or 32 cents per share, the previous year.

But when excluding one-time gains, like a divestment and income tax savings, earnings per share were 40 cents, under the 41 cents predicted by analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

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news via Adrants

It was only a matter of time before Wrigley's Candystand, whose candy-tagged games get progressively better, would start testing waters in real gamer territory.

Candystand and Wii just joined forces in a bizarre cross-branding where Wii web games are peddled on Candystand and Candystand is totally accessible through the Wii browser.

The relationship isn't exactly low-key - within 24 hours of launching on Wii's Internet Channel, Wii.Candystand.com drew 6000 visitors and a ton of positive reviews. That is, according to Scott Tannen, Wrigley's director of global digital marketing.

This is the first branded site to link to the Wii browser, which will definitely get competitors sniffing at the door to be next in line. Candystand's content offerings are also formatted for television instead of computer monitors.

Kudos to Wrigley for creating a series of branded offerings that seem able to stand alone in gaming world. It hasn't been an easy trek, considering Candystand was first introduced in '97 - building this kind of recognition takes time. Just ask Target.

We still harbor doubts that our Socom buddies would be deeply impressed to hear we destroy the competition on Altoids Sheep, though. ...

news via ecommerce times

Nintendo's Wii reportedly was the top-selling video game console in the United States in January. U.S. sales figures for Wii were 436,000 units in the month, compared with 294,000 units for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and 244,000 units for Sony's PlayStation 3, the NPD Group reportedly found.

The latest reports from the front lines in the video game console wars show that Nintendo's Latest News about Nintendo Wii Latest News about Wii was the U.S. market leader in January, according to new market research data Download 17 Rules of the Road for CRM..

Sales figures for Wii were 436,000 units that month in the United States, compared with 294,000 units for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft Xbox 360 Latest News about Xbox 360 and 244,000 units for Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony PlayStation 3 Latest News about PlayStation 3, the NPD Group reportedly found.

Sony's 7-year-old PlayStation 2 Latest News about PlayStation 2, surprisingly was actually in second place, with 299,000 units sold in January; it recently became the top-selling video game console in Japan.

An NPD spokesperson declined to comment on the new figures.
A Broader Appeal

Nintendo's Wii currently sells for US$250, compared with $300 to $400 for the Xbox 360, $500 to $600 for the PlayStation 3, and just $130 for the PlayStation 2.

The Wii, released in November, is known for its use of motion-sensitive controllers that allow users to participate more actively in the games, while the Xbox 360 and PlayStation games are known for their photo-realistic graphics. During the 2006 holiday season, Wii consoles were perpetually sold out.

"I think the Wii is winning because of its price tag, and also because it appeals to a wider demographic," Ted Pollack, senior analyst for the gaming industry at Jon Peddie Research, told TechNewsWorld. "It's not cost-prohibitive to buy the hardware, and the games can be less intimidating to play and more casual. It appeals to girls, boys, young people and senior citizens."
The Novelty Factor

As a relatively recent entrant in the video game console arena, the Wii stands out for its unique use of motion-sensitive controllers, and Pollack cautioned that there may also be a novelty factor at work behind some of its popularity.

"It's possible some of that could get scaled back a degree after the curiosity factor is satisfied about the motion controller and the whole new way of gaming," he suggested. "Even Nintendo is being cautious."

For some users, he added, graphics could ultimately emerge as the most important distinguishing factor. "The Wii is an awesome machine, but from a graphics performance perspective, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are superior."
The Blu-ray Factor

The impact Blu-ray Disc technology ends up having may also have a defining influence on the market, Pollack added. Sony's PlayStation 3 includes an embedded Blu-ray Disc player.

"It's too early to call winner," Pollack said. "If Blu-ray continues to gain ground, we'll see the PlayStation 3 start to catch up."

Yet despite the frequent references to war imagery when the competing video game consoles are compared, Pollack thinks all three competitors could have a place. "From a market penetration perspective, all three console companies will do great," he concluded. ...

news via gaming bits

SEGA has announced a few of its SEGA Genesis titles "will soon be available" from the Wii Shop's Virtual Console. The games below will run for 800 Wii Points ($8).

From SEGA:

Vectorman - In the year 2049, mankind is forced to abandon an over-polluted Earth to seek out other planets for colonization while the mechanized Orbots stay behind to clean up the mess. When the Orbot leader, WarHead, starts blowing a few circuits and a war among the mechanical brethren, a sludge barge pilot named Vectorman is the only one willing to step up and fight him. You'll morph into a speeding train, a power drill, a mechanical fish, or a mighty dune buggy in this warfare adventure. Equip yourself with weapons, pick up morphs and power-ups to defeat WarHead and restore peace on Earth.

Sonic Spinball - With his Veg-O-Fortress built high up on an active volcano, Dr. Eggman is turning all the cute, furry creatures of Planet Mobius into robot slaves! Sonic and Tails rush to save the animals and quickly discover the only way to stop the mechanizing madness is to trigger a volcanic eruption. Sonic knows this can be done by removing the Chaos Emeralds that keep the volcano stable. However, Dr. Eggman is also aware of the fragile relationship that exists between the Emeralds and the mountain, and he's set up an elaborate Pinball Defense System to make sure the precious jewels don't go anywhere.

Sword of Vermilion - When the evil wizard-king, Tsarkon, invaded Excalabria, King Erik V had no choice but to turn his infant son over to his most trusted warrior, Blade. As his castle burned, King Erik hurriedly gave Blade an ancient family heirloom, the Ring of Wisdom, and asked him to leave at once in the hopes that the young heir to the throne would survive. Blade raised Erik VI as his own, knowing one day the prince would fulfill the prophecy of the Malaga fortune tellers. Now, eighteen years later, Erik VI returns to Excalabria to avenge his father’s death and reclaim the kingdom.

Beyond Oasis - You are the young Prince Ali in a desperate fight to defeat the evil that is threatening your island empire, Oasis. Long ago, a war raged between a wicked sorcerer who used a silver “armlet” to unleash destruction on the island and a wizard who defied him with a gold armlet that could summon four powerful spirits. Both armlets had been lost until recently when someone unearthed the silver band and began using it for their evil gain. Just when you think all is lost, you discover the precious gold armlet and finally have the power to combat the wearer of the silver band…but can you stop them in time?

The Four SEGA Genesis Classics Will Soon Be Available for Download on the Wii™ Shop Channel ...