Lack of Nintentoad.com Updates

You have may have noticed I have not been posting much lately. The reason for this is that 1 my monitor is busted so at the moment I am having to use the family PC that is shared with 4 other people cutting my Pc time down by quite a bit. And the second reason for the lack of updates is, I am in the process of trying to build a new Pc.

At the moment my most up-to-date system, is a pitiful 5 year old Dell with a Pentium 4. And it was not great even when it was new.

This is my first time to build a system, so most of my internet time has been spent doing research and trying to choose and buy all of the parts. Picking out all of my components and fitting them in to my limited budget has been a very, very (plus a few more varies) long process.

I have finally managed to choose all of my components. But if you've built a PC before then you know that the budget is just a  set price that you have to go way over. So despite days and days of time, researching and choosing all of my parts. I now just have to wait until I can gather a little more cash to buy them.

Me being the super genius that I am, I have opted to skip getting a monitor so that a can afford a better system. Which means that there will be 5 Pc’s and three monitors, instead of just 4 PC’s and 3 Monitors in the house. And as further proof of my brilliance the screen that this new high-end gaming rig will be stuck with is a Dell CRT that’s about 10 years old (woot).

So the point is, until I manage to complete this project my updating may be a tad erratic. If you have any advice for a first time builder, please let me know in the comments. And if your curios about what I’m building, you can check out a list of all of the parts here Link.

Ghostbusters Wii Screens

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I have been somewhat surprised by the overall negative reaction the changed graphics style has gotten. Personally it has made me more excited for the Wii version of Ghostbusters.

A lot of people are saying that it looks to much like a cartoon. But its my opinion that this is a much better way to go, rather than trying to compete with the more powerful systems. (Besides the Ghostbusters cartoon was awesome!)

The fact that they are going for a completely different look for the Wii version gives me a bit of hope that this will be more than just another bad port to add to the endlessly growing tower of Wii shovel ware.

Feel free to leave a comment if you disagree, or even better if you just want tell me how right I am.

MadWorld US Release Date

MadWorld is one of very few Wii titles that is aimed at a more mature audience… well maybe not mature, but older anyway. It is by far one of my most anticipated Wii games coming out this year.

If you don't know, MadWorld is a black and whiteish brawler developed by Platinum Games. And it is one of the very few M rated games worth looking forward to on the Wii this year.

I am a huge fan of classic brawlers like Double Dragon and Battle Toads but there has been a major lack of good games in this genre for quite some time. And there is good reason to think that this will be a great one.

For one many of the developers working on this game were formerly members of the once great Clover Studio, best known for awesome games like Viewtiful Joe & Okami. And two I actually had a hard time finding a screenshot that was tame enough to put in this post. MadWorld also has some of the best looking and most stylized graphics I have seen on the Wii so far.

Lets just hope that the gameplay can live up to the graphics, and excellent developers behind this game, when it’s released on March 10, 09.

Dokapon Journey Announced for the DS

I am a little ashamed to say it, and also slightly afraid of one of the many crazed Atlus fans out there finding me. But with the exception of Trauma Center I am not a huge fan of most Atlus games.

What I do like about Atlus is that unlike most of the gaming industry, Atlus continues to make games that are not aimed at casual gamers. Actually quite the opposite, they mostly make games that are excruciatingly difficult. The only reason I am not a fan, is because just about the only genre of games I don’t like are turn based strategy games, which is what most of the games published or developed by Atlus are. 

Which brings me to the announcement of Dokapon Journey. At the moment it is set for release on April 14, 09.

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A bit about the Game

“The Kingdom of Dokapon is in peril! Desperate to do away with the monster invasion that has overrun his land, the King has offered his crown and the hand of his daughter, Princess Penny, to whoever can restore peace once again. Heroes from distant lands rise to the call, but with multiple adventurers offering to assist in the struggle, each eagerly eyeing the prizes that await the champion of Dokapon, they must now fight amongst themselves to save the kingdom and claim their reward!”

Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon 3 New Gameplay Videos

I have been really looking forward to Fragile ever since it was first announced back in November 2007. Japan got it on January 22 but much to my discontent there has still been no mention of Fragile coming out in any English speaking countries.

So for now just to torture us a bit more with how awesome this game looks, here are three new videos. After you watch them go kick Namco-Bandai in the head until they translate this game

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 Japanese Trailer

I am a huge fan of Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga 1-2 and Mario RPG. And I am very much looking forward to this 3rd entry into the series. However based on this trailer I am a tad worried. It looks good but it also looks a lot like Partners in Time.

Don’t get me wrong that’s not entirely a bad thing as the first two games were awesome. But by the end of Partners in time I was getting a little board, as it also felt more like an expansion to the first game instead of a full fledged sequel. Which was a bit of a disappointment considering how different the DS is from the GBA. I just hope that they do something to make the this one feel fresh.

Very little is known about Mario & Luigi RPG 3. But what is known is that someone is doing something that causes the inhabitants of the Mush Room Kingdom to inflate to a somewhat uncomfortable looking size. And for some reason Mario & Luigi are swallowed by Bowser which is where most of the game appears to take place.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings Coming to Wii

It would seem that this trailer that recently surfaced on YouTube, confirms that we will be getting some Indy action on the Wii, DS and PSP. According to the trailer Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings will be coming out Spring of this year.

With a multi-console game of this type, I do not have a great deal of hope for it. But it at least has to be better than the crap fest that was the fourth movie.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Dated

I actually really enjoyed Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on the GameCube, but it did sadly have several shortcomings.  The first being that there were so many components necessary to play the game. You had to have multiple GBA’s, multiple GBA to GC link cables, and at lest two people willing to sit tethered to the GC by those absurdly short cables. Then of course when you finally got that all together and sit to play the game you almost always discover that at least one of the GBA’s needed charging. Put simply it was a huge hassle to play.

But the really sad part about all of it was that the gameplay contradicted the effort. It was a very simple pick up and play RPG. All you really did was fight your way from point A to point B and fight the boss at the end (and of course do lots of bucket carrying). It was very simple but also very addictive. But it was just not a big enough game to warrant the trouble of setting it up.

Then last year there was FFCC: Ring of Fates on the DS. While did moderately improve on the gameplay it removed what really made Crystal Chronicle fun in the first place, which was the Co-op play.

Now we have Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Coming to Both the Wii and DS. The gameplay appears to be very similar to Ring of Fate but with the return of the multiplayer Co-op.

From what’s been seen so far the the Wii and DS versions of the game appear to be nearly identical, other than the controls and graphics. The details of just how the connectivity between the two systems is gong to work a still somewhat sparse. But this video below dose give a little idea of what we have to look forward to when the game is released for both Wii & DS on March 24, 2009.

Mother 3 Fan Translation Coming this Week

To any one who has ever read more than one post on this site, it is probably abundantly clear that I love EarthBound, as I have probably mentioned it in at least half of my articles. It is easily one of my all time favorite games! 

After nearly ten years without a sequel and nearly crying over the cancellation of EarthBound 64, in 2006 Nintendo finally released Mother 3 in Japan. Unfortunately it turns out that Nintendo hates there English speaking customers. All EarthBound fans kept holding our breath waiting for the US release date until we were looking like the citizens of Happy Happy Village (very blue). And finally after a few years of waiting & many petitions and angry letters later Nintendo at least had the decency to finally say there are no plans to translate it to English. As sad as that was something very good came of it. Some very dedicated fans over at Starmen.net decided it was time to take matters in to there own hands and translate it themselves.

Now after a lot of very difficult waiting by us, and hard work by the guys over at mother3.fobby.net, Mother 3 (Aka: EarthBound 2) is almost hear! It was announced a few days ago that the English patch will be released at the end of this week!

So now the only task that's left, is for all EarthBound fans every where. Is to pray very very hard that Nintendo does not decide to once again show there hatred towards EarthBound fans, by pulling the plug on the project at the last minute.

Project Origin on Wii? (in related news Hell freezes over)

The web site E3.net has reported that the much anticipated sequel to F.E.A.R., Project Origin is going to be released on Wii. And While it’s true that E3.net is not exactly known for there accuracy, This is still a pretty big typo.

Next to Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R. is one of my Favorite FPS. So the prospect of it appearing on Wii is very exciting. But sadly I think the chances of this being true are slim to none.

One of the main reasons this seems rather unbelievable is that F.E.A.R. was as much a technical show as it was a game. One of the things that really made that game so much fun was the (at the time) incredible shadow and lighting techniques that really helped to immerse you into the game. And so far Project Origin has shown no signs of breaking this tradition. So the Wii just seems like a odd fit for this game.

But as unlikely as it is that it will be on Wii. The thought of F.E.A.R’s awesome weapon mechanics with a Wii Remote, does give me a bit of excitement. 

Call of Duty: World At War Debut Trailer

Just a quick update, but it turns out there was a Call of Duty: World At War Trailer that I missed when I put up my first post about this game.

The trailer is clearly not console specific. So this does not really tell us much about the game, or what kind of graphics we can expect on the Wii version.

New Wario Land Shake It! Details

Nintendo has revealed some new details about the upcoming game Wario Land Shake It! (I think Wario shaking anything is right at the top of my list of things never want to see).

The game is a classic style 2D side-scroller. And it is controlled by holding the Wii Remote sideways and using the d-pad to maneuver Wario.

The goal of the game, like most classic platformers is to get to the end of each level by getting past enemies and obstacles (Duh). But in WLSI! you can shake the Wii Remote to cause Earth quakes, and empty bags of coins to defeat enemies (why would anybody want to empty a bag of coins?). Another intriguing feature is the ability to take control of multiple vehicles found throughout the game.

Nintendo has not yet said if this is a full retail game, or a WiiWare title. But either way, I cant wait for this games release on September 29'th 2008.

Call of Duty: World at War Details

I will start by saying I love WWII games, and I especially love the Call of Duty Series. Back when it was first announced that Call of Duty 4 was going to be set in the present my happy points dropped to zero. But then it was released and it turned out to be one of the best First Person shooters ever to grace a console.

As much as I loved it, I was afraid that it's incredible success would mean no more Call of Duty games set in World War II. But fortunately I was wrong.

Call of Duty: World at War Will take place in the South Pacific and European theaters. It will be using the Call of Duty 4 engine, and it will feature Co-Op play and the ability to use a flame thrower.

While it has been confirmed that it is being released on the Wii, there have not been any details about what differences there will be between the different versions.

This game is being developed by Treyarch, the creators of Call of Duty 3. Unlike most people I did enjoy CoD3. But I am a bit worried that they will put all of there effort into the more powerful systems and just make more shovelware for the Wii. Lets keep our fingers crossed that they follow Medal of Honor Heroes 2's example when it is released this Fall.

Return of the Nintentoad: When Tech Attacks

About a year ago while surfing the net, I stumbled across a program called Windows Live Writer. When I was downloading it I was somehow clueless enough to think it was just a word processor like Microsoft Word. After installing it I realized my mistake but decided to mess with it any way. So I started what later became Nintentoad.com.

But apparently I broke a lot of mirrors as a child because my luck really sucks. Just when I was starting to get some real traffic WLW stopped working with my blog. But I was so spoiled by it, that I could not blog without it.

I contacted Microsoft and Blogger about it many times, but nobody had a clue what was wrong. Now half a year later it has magically started working again. So as long as it continues to work I am back.

As there is so very much glorious Nintendo news all the time. I have decided to not bother trying to cover any of the stuff that happened while I was gone. So enough about me onwards with the uber awesome that is Nintendo. May Windows Live Writer Live Long and Prosper (but mostly just keep working).

Romulation.net Cheated Death!

Last October, I posted that the well known Rom site Romulation.net had been shut down by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association). But as many have informed me that is not true, as they are clearly still alive and well.

What happened was that the ESA did shut them down just as I reported (original post here). However after being down for about two months, Romulation mysteriously came back to life as if nothing  had ever happened.

When I asked them how a cease and desist notice from ESA did not permanently shut them down they said "Because of a technicality I'd rather not discuss, the important part is that we're alive again." (The fact that they're pirates probably means that the technicality involved sword fighting and saying Arrrgg a lot.)