via Computer and Video Games


With Wii continuing to do incredibly well, third parties are jumping on board faster than we can keep track of, but Nintendo wants devs to "take time" on their creations instead of rushing out quick cash-ins.

Speaking of Wii's healthy third party support, Nintendo of America's George Harrison said: "Certainly there's a strong line-up of third party titles, and we're trying to encourage them to make them.

"But, we're also trying to encourage third parties to take the time and effort to make something unique, not just to sort of throw something out on Wii because the Wii's the fast-selling system."

We're glad it's not just us noticing what's going on - late ports from old consoles, broken Wii Remote controls and the rest of the gumpf we've seen from too many third party productions.

He then goes on to state the obvious: "I think the ones that have spent the most time in the box are the ones that are going to be the most successful this holiday."

Elsewhere in the interview with our friends over at Next-Gen, he discusses Nintendo's production numbers for Wii, in light of the ongoing global shortages.

"I can't give an exact number for November and December. We had to make our final decision on how much to produce each month for the holidays back in the summer. It takes about five months for us to increase the actual monthly rate of production," he said.

He goes on to reveal: "We're at a rate now worldwide of about 1.8 million Wiis produced every month, and that's going to sustain itself until we get on top of this. We're trying to make decisions on almost a weekly basis about which market to ship the product to, because in Japan it's a big success, and same in Europe."

Insert potentially offensive joke about the poor, over-worked souls churning out 1.8 million consoles a year here. ...

via Eurogamer


Super Smash Bros. Brawl is set to include a new Spectator mode that allows you to watch random matches over the Internet and gamble on the results.

Unveiled on the official Smash Bros. DOJO!! website, Spectator mode does much as it says - although, this being Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, no player data is actually shared, so you can't groom anyone. Aw.

Surely the best bit though is that when you get into your random match, you can bet coins on the character you think will win before it kicks off. Which is just wicked.

Spectator mode joins an ever-growing list of cool little bonuses announced for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which already has a star-GET-studded character line-up and a PictoChat-themed level.

If it's anywhere near as good as the GameCube one, we're all in for a treat when it's released early next year. ...

via Eurogamer


Not much going on in the land of Virtual Console this week, with only the Nintendo Entertainment System's 1989 basketballer Double Dribble to download.

Offering "realistic five-on-five action" (steady) on a horizontally scrolling court, it doesn't sound like the most amazing example of the noble sport of being tall and wiggling ever committed to read-only memory, but it is only 500 Wii Points. Er.

Anyway, if you want to get a better idea of its quality, try peering at some helpful screenshots provided by Nintendo, or hang around and our beloved scribe Dan Whitehead will no doubt knock up one of his Virtual Console Roundups for us. Should be a belter! ...

via Eurogamer


Capcom business development boss Christian Svensson has revealed that Okami Wii would never had been made if you lot hadn't belly-ached about it.

He was chatting openly on the official US blog, praising you lot for being so tenacious and helping prove there was an appetite for it.

"Even before the Okami's PS2 release, the media and Capcom fans would constantly ask us if it was ever going to come to Wii, citing the interface as being ideal for the brush mechanics," chirped Svensson.

"Okami Wii specifically exists because of that direct communication, especially those we receive on our message boards (even if they're sometimes mean to us)."

You may remember us giving Okami top marks on PS2, but despite our - and many others - singing and dancing it failed to fly off of shop shelves. For Svensson, this was a problem bought about by the choice of platform.

He added: "The bulk of our core audience was thinking about new platforms. And while there are standout new IP successes like God of War that released that same year (albeit 9 months earlier than Okami), its was still an uphill battle no matter how you sliced it."

Ready at Dawn, of Daxter and God of War PSP fame, is handling the port - a relationship formed in a hotel suite at GDC back in March and helped considerably by the onset of beer.

But the choice was far from easy, according to Svensson; for a game as beloved as Okami only the best would ever be good enough for the Capcom's table [get out - Ed].

"This was never going to be a quick turn and burn cash in..." proclaimed Svensson. "The project was far too important to do anything other than applying the utmost TLC if we were going to be successful."

The Wii version has no new content as Capcom feels it is big enough already, but alongside the new and naturally fitting motion-sensing controls Svensson hinted we may see some technical nips and tucks. Quick, belly-ache about 16:9 support.

So far work on Okami Wii is going swimmingly, and Svensson is confident it will be in (US) shops by next spring.

"As it stands today, the team has the game assets converted (quite the laborious process), up and running in a ported version of Clover's engine. There are still several systems getting set up properly but there's most definitely a Wii-driven Amaterasu running around Wii-rendered environments as we speak," concluded Svensson. ...

via Computer and Video Games


So Assassin's Creed is finally in the shops. Bought it yet? You can read our review here in case you're still sitting on the fence. And in case you're musing over which format to pick up, why not take a look at our 360 / PS3 comparison movies while you're reading our verdict.

But what about that massive twist Ubisoft made everyone pretend wasn't there? You know, the one we all got wind of at the end of Jade Raymond's live demo at X06 when the screens went all wavy when Altier died? Looked like something out of Total Recall to us...

Turns out the massive secret isn't even a twist, it's the whole premise for the game. And it's revealed in the game's intro, which is a bit of an anti-climax if you ask us.

Anyone who plays Assassin's Creed will discover the truth in a matter of seconds of starting up a new game.

Because we've been bound by goodwill to pretend it wasn't there - even when we (and the internet) all knew it was - we can't wait to get it off our chests. If you've already played the game than it won't come as a surprise at all. Just like if you've got past the opening cut scene.


Video here ...

via Computer and Video Games


Following in Sony's lead Microsoft is planning to bring DivX video support to the Xbox 360, says a report on XueCast.com.

According to the site the news was confirmed by DivX CEO Kevin Hell (great name), who said that his company is currently working with Microsoft to bring Divx MPEG-4 to the Xbox 360, though it's not high on MS's priority list.

Currently an un-modded Xbox 360 can only support video formats such as WMV, HD WMV, H.264 and MPEG-4.

Hell confirmed earlier this week that DivX support will also be coming to the PS3. "DivX is currently working to certify PS3 and deliver a superior digital media technology to consumers in the near future. Current PS3 end users will be able to add DivX functionality to their systems via a separate system software update at a forthcoming date," he said.

According to Hell, there are more restrictions surrounding software on the Xbox 360, so the 360 Divx project is moving at a slower pace compared to the PlayStation 3.

Good news if you fancy putting some of your mucky videos on your Xbox, and presumably it means developers can use it for games too. ...

via Eurogamer


Mark Rein has said Unreal Tournament 3 already works on Xbox 360, and it did as far back as last spring.

What he meant to say yesterday was that his team will "start working on it again" after Christmas, not begin from scratch, silly.


The PC version is out on 23rd November and we are all very excited, but there is increased concern over whether the PS3 offering will be out this year - it was announced as a console exclusive until the end of 2007 back at E3.

Rein and Epic Games offer only that it "will be done when it is done", and are working as hard as they can to make it so - even if they are taking Christmas off how dare they etc.

Once back and a few belt-sizes bigger they will get back to work on the 360 version, which will hopefully prove a cinch, given that Epic already made something or other for it that did quite well.


We had a good old chat with Mark Rein recently and popped out words up yesterday for you all to read. Shove your head into our Unreal Tournament 3 interview to see what Epic has planned for a mod-hungry crowd. ...

via Games Industry


Singapore's Media Development Authority has reversed its earlier decision to ban Mass Effect, and will now allow the game to be released under an M18 rating.

As reported earlier, the Media Development Authority originally decided to ban the game in Singapore due to the inclusion of a sex scene between a human woman and a female alien.

The Board of Film Censors said in a statement that it will selectively use games ratings to "enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore" until it puts a games classification system in place in January.

This will allow games to "enter the market with immediacy" while giving the games industry and members of the public a better understanding of the benefits of the proposed games classification system, the BFC said.

Singapore has previously banned games such as God of War 2 and The Darkness for nudity and religious expletives, but has allowed games with graphic violence to be sold with consumer advisory labels. ...

via IGN


A small retail fiasco has unfolded this morning with the revelation that major games retail chain, EB Games, has started selling the highly anticipated Mass Effect a week ahead of the official street date, November 22.

We sought Microsoft Australia for comment. They replied with the following:


We actually ventured out to our local EB Games and came away with a copy of the game and some inside knowledge. We read the email instructions dated November 15 at roughly 3:30pm. To paraphrase, the email began with "Good news!" and stated that stock had just been received and was currently being distributed to branches Australia wide for a noon-time delivery. It also finished with instructions to "sell immediately" and call all preorder customers and notify them.



The Australian Mass Effect retail box we bought.
We've also sought comment from EB Games Australia and are currently awaiting a call back.

Update: We just spoke to a senior member of the EB Games Australia head office team. He confirmed that there was no embargo issued on the game, unlike Halo 3 or the upcoming release of Assassins Creed. He also stated that it was EB Games' policy to adhere to any requested street date release provided and, since there was none for Mass Effect, the decision was made to sell it.

The official EB Games Australia website currently displays an image promoting the early release of the game. It is not currently known what impact this will have on the sales reactions of other retail chains; however a JB Hi-Fi games manager indicated to us that they were adhering to the original release date.

We'll provide updates as information presents itself. The current review embargo for websites still stands at November 20. Look for our review around that date. ...