The first Wii title to utilise Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection for online play will be Pokemon Battle Revolution, the company has announced - with the game due to launch this summer.

The game, which continues the immensely popular Pokemon franchise, will also showcase the wireless link-up between the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii consoles for the first time.

Players who own Pokemon Diamond or Pokemon Pearl on the DS will be able to link up with the Wii title to import characters into Pokemon Battle Revolution - and will even be able to use the DS as a controller for the game.

The DS and Wii both have Wi-Fi functionality built in by default, but while many DS games take advantage of the function, to date no Wii games have offered online play or DS connectivity. Instead, the Wii has focused on non-games services delivered over the network, such as news, weather, messaging and Virtual Console downloads.

Pokemon Battle Revolution is due to launch on June 25th in North America, with no European date as yet announced for the title.

via gibiz ...

Following Sony's announcement of its new online community software, PS Home, Nintendo has gone on the offensive, deeming the service "an example of Sony's 'Mii-too' approach."

When asked of the company's thoughts on Sony's online plans, Nintendo told CVG: "This is an example of Sony's "Mii-too" approach. But as Mr. Miyamoto states, Nintendo years ago considered and rejected the type of approach Sony is now taking", presumably referring to creating a virtual online world.

Just in case you missed it, PS3 Home allows players to create their own character, like a 3D avatar, and take it into a realistic online virtual world to interact with PS3 gamers from around the globe.

Nintendo's equivalent avatar system, the Mii Channel, lets gamers make simple cartoon-style characters and save them onto the Wii's internal memory. These Miis can then be imported into games for gameplay, or sent to other Wii consoles via the internet.

Nintendo has clearly opted for a simpler approach - although some say the lack of customisation options make it a bit too basic.

But Nintendo is pleased with it's avatar system, saying: "Miis have become a cultural phenomenon in their own right, appealing well beyond the traditional core gamer audience, and the process of populating them across the Wii universe is just beginning."

3D avatars and real time interaction could become a huge aspect of gaming with the current generation of consoles. But will Microsoft join the party with their own PS3 Home or Mii equivalent?

via cvg ...

4 CommentsExpectation of StarFox 64's - Lylat Wars in the UK - appearance on Virtual Console has been ramped up courtesy of ESRB.org.

The website for the Entertainment Rating Software Board has a listing for the game for Wii.

StarFox 64 has been heavily rumoured for Virtual Console, and the listing on ESRB gives strong indication that those rumours are true. We've contacted Nintendo for comment and are awaiting a response.

via cvg ...

via CVG

Epic's Gears of War was won three categories including Best Game in the seventh annual Game Developers Choice Awards, closely followed by Wii Sports and Okami, which have won two awards each.

Winners of the Choice Awards, the awards program where honours are bestowed on developers by developers, have just been announced at GDC in San Francisco.

As well as scooping Best Game, Gears of War won in the Technology and Visual Arts categories. Wii Sports won in Game Design and Innovation, while Okami also won in Innovation in addition to the Character Design category.

The full list of categories and winners in each is below. The list of nominees in each category can be found on the Game Developers Choice Awards website.

Best Game

Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Cliff Bleszinski, Michael Capps, Rod Fergusson

Audio

Guitar Hero II (Harmonix Music Systems / RedOctane)
- Jeff Allen, Eric Brosius, Izzy Maxwell

Character Design

Ōkami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
- Mari Shimazaki, Sawaki Takeyasu, Kenichirou Yoshimura

Game Design

Wii Sports (Nintendo)
- Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita

Technology

Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Michael Capps, Ray Davis, Tim Sweeney, Daniel Vogel

Visual Arts

Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Jerry O'Flaherty, Chris Perna

Writing

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
- Kyogoku Aya, Nate Bihldorff, Mitsuhiro Takano

New Studio

Iron Lore Entertainment (Titan Quest)
- Paul Chieffo, Jeff Goodsill, Brian Sullivan

Innovation

Line Rider
- Botjan Cade

Ōkami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
- Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya

Wii Sports (Nintendo)
- Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita

Recipients for the evening's special awards were:

Lifetime Achievement
Shigeru Miyamoto

First Penguin
Alexey Pajitnov

Maverick
Greg Costikyan

Community Contribution
George "The Fat Man" Sanger ...

Gamers will be able to use the DS as a controller to play Pokémon Battle Revolution when it launches in the west later this year.

Nintendo told CVG: "There will be games that take advantage of a connection between DS and Wii. The first game to do this is Pokemon Battle Revolution."

"In Pokemon Battle Revolution, players can port characters from Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl via the DS and use their Nintendo DS units as controllers," explained Nintendo.

With both the DS and Wii having built-in Wifi capabilities, the two consoles will connect without the need for wires.

Pokémon Battle Revolution is, of course, also the first Wii game to boast online gameplay as we mentioned here last year.

The game will release in the US on June 25. A UK release is yet to be announced.

via cvg ...

Gamers will be able to use the DS as a controller to play Pokémon Battle Revolution when it launches in the west later this year.

Nintendo told CVG: "There will be games that take advantage of a connection between DS and Wii. The first game to do this is Pokemon Battle Revolution."

"In Pokemon Battle Revolution, players can port characters from Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl via the DS and use their Nintendo DS units as controllers," explained Nintendo.

With both the DS and Wii having built-in Wifi capabilities, the two consoles will connect without the need for wires.

Pokémon Battle Revolution is, of course, also the first Wii game to boast online gameplay as we mentioned here last year.

The game will release in the US on June 25. A UK release is yet to be announced.

via cvg ...

PC and Xbox 360 demos of Codemasters' Brian Lara Cricket 2007 have been released.

The 360 demo can be download from Live, obviously, while the PC version is available from Codemasters.

For your download, you get to compete in a warm-up one-day match of three overs between England and Australia, taken from the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 in India.

The full game releases on March 23.

via cvg ...

It's speculated, off the back of a little comment from BioWare, that its hotly anticipated Xbox 360 sci-fi RPG Mass Effect will be out before mid-July.

Speaking to IGN at GDC, the developer's CEO Ray Muzyka indicated that the role-playing game wouldn't be present at this year's E3, which runs from July 11 to July 13 in California.

BioWare is known to be in the final stages of production on Mass Effect - a July release would give it around three months to conduct the last bit of spit and polish on the title. Would that be long enough?

Obviously, the cryptic nature of Muzyka's comment makes it impossible to do anything other than speculate on a release date - but we'll do some digging and see what we can discover.

via cvg ...

Lightsaber-loving Star Wars fan looking forward to the impressive physics-based Star Wars: Force Unleashed will have longer to wait than expected.

Despite being officially confirmed for a November 2007 release, the game's website now deems the game's availability as "TBD", with it now expected to arrive in 2008.

This delay is a huge disappointment, coming so soon after LucasArts showed of an impressive tech demo demonstrating the stunning technology being put into the game. Still, better it be delayed and be as good as we all hope rather than be rushed out unfinished.

via cvg ...