Nanostray DS

Nanostray is an intense, pulse-pounding 3D Shooter designed exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Supporting touch screen input, network play and dual screen support, Nanostray’s arsenal of weapons, non-stop action and beautifully designed environments make this game one of the most exciting and innovative 3D shooters ever. This Wi-Fi supported DS title ads to the other three online DS games (Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and Tony Hawk) that uses the Developers System's (NOT Dual Screen btw, though many tend to think) wireless online capabilities.

Top Secret Sega Conference Revealed!

(Please click here for video)
This video was taken in a backstage (no public access) conference at the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2005. Apparantly someone had been brave enough to smuggle in a cameraphone and has recorded footage of some outcoming Sega games for the nintendo Revolution. They are all realtime, but not in-game. But still, this proves that nintendo has not forgotten about power for their next generation system, cause the graphics look amazing, even through a heavily pixelated cameraphone.

I believe there is game footage of Afterburner, Virtua Fighter, Mech Assault, Sonic and also some weirdo zombie-killing game. Please check the video out :).

On a similar topic, some pictures have been revealed, with the leaker claiming them to be examples of the Nintendo Revolution's graphical capabilities. They look even more amazing than in the Sega video, but I doubt they are authentic, as anyone could have stolen them from Deviantart, and also, these screens have graphics that make games on the Xbox 360 and PS3 look like Pong :).

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/8766/re...nfaces015wv.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/3986/re...ceswomen1zl.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/8231/re...kinetown6hx.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5058/re...ayamon028gq.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/8718/re...street015ht.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/2363/re...lworld028fe.jpg
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Extra deal with Pokémon XD

Starting Aug. 28, Pokémon fans who reserve a copy of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness for the Nintendo GameCube at participating retailers will receive a custom Nintendo GameCube vinyl skin featuring characters from the game. Below is an image of the skin.

GTA SA Banned from Australia

One of the current topselling games available for the Playstation 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, has been banned for sale in Australia. From what I've heard, apparently game raters (Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification to be exact) had not been informed about the "Hot Coffee" module which provides players access to cartoonic sex. It seems that having explosives in your stomach, shooting police and beating up prostitutes were fine elements in the game, but show a bit of pixelated PS2 quality nudity, and it's banned from the country.

Nintendo DS Wi-Fi Commercial
Source: IGN

Nintendo will launch a multi-million dollar campaign kicking off the company's focus on taking the Nintendo DS online with a film-style teaser trailer hitting movie theaters in the U.S this weekend. The theatre-only advertisement, titled "The Sad, Agonizing Tale of Bhuvan Ganguly," is a minute-long mini-movie that teases viewers with the idea of affecting people anywhere in the world from anywhere in the world. The film has been created and produced by Nintendo's longtime advertising firm Leo Burnett. "The Sad, Agonizing Tale of Bhuvan Ganguly" will be spotlighted in more than 5,000 theaters in the US starting July 29th through August 25th.

To view the ad for yourself, please click here.

Nintendo and Sony to spoil Xbox360 launch
Source: http://home.btconnect.com/hgi/ps3/nextgen.html

"I was looking through IGN and started jotting down release dates for big DS and GameCube titles. A + is added before third party titles.

August:
Geist
+Sonic Gems
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Metroid Prime: Hunters
Nintendogs

September:
+Ultimate Spider-Man
GameBoy Micro
Mario Tennis Advance
Doctor Mario & Puzzle de Pon
NES Classics

October:
+Viewtiful Joe DS
+Tony Hawk DS
Fire Emblem
Dance Dance Revolution Mario
Pokemon XD

November:
Mario Kart DS
Animal Crossing DS
Mario Party 7
Kirby Adventure
+MegaMan X Collection
Odama
Super Mario Strikers
Zelda: Twilight Princess

Sometime in the Fall:
Age of Empires DS
MegaMan Battle Network 5 DS
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Sonic Rush

Four big titles in August. Four in September (including a new handheld system!). Three in October, BUT the first DS online games come out (Tony Hawk apparently), which is pretty big. Plus two highly anticipated games, Fire Emblem and Pokemon XD, two of Nintendo's biggest RPG's (even though I hate Pokemon).

Then November. The month the XBox 360 is released. Nintendo's big online games. Animal Crossing DS (I know people getting DS's just for this), Mario Kart DS, Mario Party 7, two Mario games, and a new Kirby game. And most importantly, ZELDA, the most anticipated title of 2005.

I get the distinct impression Nintendo is keeping a steady stream of good games for the three months leading up to November then hitting with all the anticipated games RIGHT before the XBox 360 launch.

And now there's a new Spong article (remember now, Spong is the most unreliable news site on the planet).http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=8968According to this, Sony will drop the PS2 to $100, and that Nintendo will make their own price cut plus offer RE4 and Mario Kart GameCube bundles, around the time of the XBox 360 launch (and Christmas).

Looks like they're throwing everything at Microsoft at once."

Gyroscopes comfirmed!...?

An agreement between Nintendo and gyroscope company Gyration has been found (http://www.gyration.com/intl/uk/pr-nintendo_uk.htm). The agreement was made around the same time as the release of the nintendo Gamecube, so that means there is a (very) good chance that the anticipated gyroscopes on the Revolution's controllers will be there.

From the page...

"Gyration intends to be the first company to produce game controllers enhanced with gyroscopic motion-sensors, which have a tenfold performance increase over accelerometer tilt sensors and add the ability to sense yaw as well as pitch. A gyro-equipped, motion-sensing controller provides a natural method of game control that draws the player into the game and makes game play more enjoyable. The motion sensor can take the place of a typical thumb pressure pad allowing one-handed game play, or can be integrated into a two-handed controller to add a dimension to game playing not possible with traditional game controllers."

The Revolution out by March 2006?

Some evidence has been revealed that claims the Revolution will be released early next year. Last year Nintendo claimed that the Revolution will beat the PS3 to the market, but more recently this year, they only said that Revolution will launch sometime in 2006. Many took this to be a sign that Nintendo lost the race to be the earlier launch console, but nothing had been confirmed. Now, evidence has it that the console will be making the March release, there are three parts.

The first clue are the release dates shown at this gamestop page. As you can see, the games are listed be be released on the 1st of March 2006, and they are all confirmed launch titles for the Revolution.

Clue number two are the supposedly "leaked" ads for the system, here they are.



The first ad reads "the Revolution starts March 2006".

The last clue, of course, are the claims made by seriousgamer007 on his blog. For months he has continued to claim that the Revolution will be released on 01/03/06, please refer to his blog for confirmation.

Revolution to have a virtual headset?

Was the Nintendo On video to be authentic after all? Most people now say no, especially after Pablo claimed to be the creator of the video, and that it was only a mockup based on his speculation about Nintendo's nextgen system.

If you don't know or haven't seen the On video (you won't be much of a Ninty fan), it is available at http://www.nintendoon.com. It is a 6 minute long video showing an incredible virtual headset that was supposedly the Nintendo Revolution.

Now, why the virtual headset theory was revived, you may have seen this...
-----------------
Call this number 425.882.7878
Virtual Vision
7659 178th Pl NE
Redmond, WA 98052-4953
(425) 882-7878
Virtual Vision Phone Phone Number

2. Ask for Bruce
3. When they say "Bruce who" reply "The One who Pilots the Cessnas"
4. When Bruce answers, ask how the meeting with Nintendo went today
----------------
Those are supposedly instructions on how the leakers obtain inside information on the Revolution (try it if you dare). Virtual Vision is the Washington Division of the eMagin corporation. eMagin is a company that produces virtual headsets with inbuilt groscopic tenchnology.

Of course, many believed this to be a fake, as anyoone could have come up with those instructions. But some people actually followed them. Bruce's secretary answered the phone number, but Bruce wasn't there to take the phone. However, one caller actually got through to Bruce, the conversation was recorded and available here.

Again the recorded conversation was seen by many people as a fake. But then many who had dared to phone Virtual Vision, although Bruce wasn't there to answer the call, heard his answering machine, and can confirm the Bruce's voice matches the one in the recorded conversation.

If this was true, that it means that Nintendo have made an agreement with imagine, and there will indeed be a headset for the Revolution. One drawback of this idea is that eMagin's latest stereoscopic headset costs $899 U.S dollars, so it'll be a wonder if Nintendo could squash that price down to an affordable number.

And so the speculation continues...

Chat with seriousgamer007

Over this weekend you will have the chance to chat with the leaker serious gamer. In case you didn't know, his blog "King of Gamers" is at http://www.seriousgamer007.blogspot.com/. He is known for leaking information about Nintendo's upcoming home console, the Revolution. The blog gets over 2,000 visitors each day, although many (including me -_-) believe him to be a fraud (I stopped believing leakers after Osoko Tanaka and Aries).

The chat will be held at 9:30am Pacific time tomorrow, so for the folks here in Sydney, that's 3:30am on Monday :D.

Weekly Japanese sales statistics (consoles)
Source: Nintendo Insider

Game sales were pretty solid for the week of July 18th through the 24th in Japan, with sales being 101.47% of the weekly average. The Nintendo DS is, once again, the #1 system in Japan, with 41,982 systems sold during the week. The PlayStation 2 came in second with 25,980 units sold, and the PlayStation Portable dipped under 20k with 19,043 sales.

New Boxart for games

Nintendo has released new boxart and release dates for several upcoming games. The first new boxart is for Battalion Wars, releasing September 19th. This is the Gamecube version of the popular Advance Wars on GBA and SNES. Nintendo says of the game, "Battalion Wars blazes onto Nintendo GameCube with a platoon of real-time strategy (RTS) action. Whether players are hoofing it across the plains as a lone infantryman or commanding an entire platoon from atop an armored tank, the challenge is real and the mission is critical."

Next, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for Nintendo GameCube will be releasing on October 17th. Nintendo says of the game, "The turn-based strategy series Fire Emblem™ takes on a new dimension in its first Nintendo GameCube title! The continent of Tellius is divided into humans and half-man/half-beast demi-humans. These two races have battled for centuries and only recently established an uneasy peace. Now, a new force threatens to tear apart the seven kingdoms and reignite the flames of war. Joining the Fire Emblem ranks are new units, such as the shape-shifting laguz who transform into beasts to attack their foes. Additionally, characters can now learn unique skills as they gain experience, giving players even more ways to customize their strategy. With the addition of beautifully animated cut scenes and 3-D battles, Fire Emblem looks and plays better than ever."

Finally, Trace Memory for Nintendo DS is due out September 26th. Nintendo says of the adventure game, "Trace Memory takes full advantage of the DS's dual screens to guide players through Blood Edward Island. The game play takes place on the touch screen, where players get an aerial view of the game world. Meanwhile, the top screen shows a first-person view of scenes and conversations. Players can tap on any area on the touch screen to get a closer look."

Miyamoto interview with Gamespy

The link to the full interview is at http://cube.gamespy.com/articles/636/636728p1.html, but here are the importants aspects of the interview:

"The idea that somebody might look at the Revolution controller and think, 'Oh, this is too much for me' is something that I would really regret. That is something I would love to avoid if I can," says Miyamoto.

"The controllers for this generation do not look fun to use. You don't look at any of the controllers and think, 'Wow, I want to play [with] this.' You look at these controllers and think, 'Oh my God, it looks so difficult.' That scares people away."

"Actually, at Nintendo, we're not even sure which is better. Is the + control pad the better way to, go or is the analog stick the better way to go? I haven't really been able to decide which is best." (...)"With the Revolution we're hoping to do is utilize the interface to create more interesting and unique games."

"We're looking at utilizing the functionality of the Revolution and its user interface to create really unique gaming experiences."

"What we really want to do is create something that's not frightening to the user that is usable for a Zelda-type game. We're going to have to figure out a way to marry both those ideas."

Miyamoto says that Nintendo has created such a controller. Asked about all the secrecy surrounding the new controller design, he says, "Graphic chips are one thing. Those are hard to imitate. But if we showed our controller, we'd be revealing way too much. It's very easy to copy. We really want to present our interface, the controller, with software as a package."

Nintendo guy reveals some info?

There´s new release date rumours courtesy of this Gamespot forum thread. Read it yourself.

"my girlfriend's dad works for nintendo. he does something with marketing/promotion or something like that. i am a huge nintendo fan and i'm always begging him for any info on the revolution but he is not allowed to tell me anything. however, today when i asked him for any new info he told me that nintendo will be releasing everything soon. how soon? he wouldn't tell me. all he said was that he's seen and used the revolution and that i shouldn't worry so much because it WILL in fact live up to all the hype and then some. word for word he said to me "stop worrying so much about the new system. i've played with it and it's amazing. it will shatter your expectations. think about the greatest system ever and times that by ten. that's the revolution. when the time comes, we'll tell you everything. but don't lose any sleep over this. now stop asking me so many questions." he wouldn't tell me anything else even though i literally begged him for about an hour."

Now, if that is fake, there is surprisingly little info here. It seems all quite understated - not the usual "I know someone who has seen the controller and it´s made of pure gold and plays the violine" type of claim we usually get. Unfortunately, I think it´s still fake. When pressed by other posters, the guy revealed the name of the person to be Derek Hanley. The poster himself lives in Texas according to his profile. I phoned NOA and they knew noone of that name. Nor do they have a branch in Texas. The only Nintendo-related people working in Texas are PR company Golin Harris´ staff and the guys at Retro Studios. Now, Retro do not employ marketing people. And Golin Harris has noone listed by thast name at their Houston and Dallas branches. So I guess this rumour is fake. That doesn´t mean, however, that Nintendo won´t reveal the controller soon.