None
The week started off slowly with Nintendo releasing just one game for the Virtual Console. Super Turrican, originally released for the Super NES; the game has you attempt to save the planet of Katakis from the Machine by equipping a mech suit. It will cost you 800 Wii points and is rated E10+. Nintendo did pick up the slack this week in other ways, however. Namco Bandai announced that they are going to release We Ski this spring. The game will utilize the Wii Balance Board as well as the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to simulate skiing in your living room. It will be the first third party title to make use of Nintendo’s new peripheral. Additionally, this coming Sunday marks the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. From all early reports it looks like this game will not only be fun, but highly innovative and even more addictive. We hope you pre-ordered the title; if not, you’re going to have to wait in line at one of the several locations that are going to have a midnight release. Around the middle of the week we learned that Capcom and Sega know how to make games that sell. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles from Capcom has sold over one million units worldwide. It is the second title in the series that has sold over a million units on the Wii. The first, of course, was the re-release of Resident Evil 4. If you think that’s impressive, the Sega and Nintendo partnership is proving to be extremely lucrative for both parties. The companies announced on Wednesday that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has sold an astounding five million copies since November 6, 2007! Last week it was rumored that former Sony super-executive, Phil Harrison, was on his way to Atari. That rumor proved to be true as he has accepted a position with Infogrames Entertainment. Phil Harrison will take over as President and Directeur Général Délégué of Infogrames Entertainment while reporting to CEO David Gardner. The pair will be charged with turning the “Atari brand into a leading online game company.” Specifically, Harrison will oversee the development studios and content development processes for the group. Rockstar hit a bit of a wall this week with the release of Bully: Scholarship Edition on the Xbox 360. The game is full of nasty glitches on a few ailing, older 360s. As of yet there is no patch or fix, but Rockstar is deep in the process of finding one. Rockstar promises to support consumers of the product and assures everyone they wouldn’t have rushed such buggy product out of the door if they would have known about the issues. This is probably a blessing in disguise for the company. Look for GTA IV to be gone over with a fine-toothed comb. There were also some really intriguing game announcements and progress reports this week. The three that head the list include a mystery title from Konami, Edge of Twilight from SouthPeak Games, and The Sims 3. Konami announced that they are pairing up with Spanish developer Mercury Steam to produce a cutting edge title for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Mercury Steam was responsible for the development of Clive Barker’s Jericho. According to Konami’s Dave Cox, “Mercury Steam is an exciting and very talented group, and their plans for the first Europe-grown title for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are both ambitious and ground-breaking.” SouthPeak Games seems to be utterly giddy over the solid progress being made on Edge of Twilight. According to the publisher, the game is currently being developed for the 360, PS3, and PC using the Unreal 3 Engine. As of right now it looks like the title will in fact release in 2009. Finally, The Sims 3 was also announced on Friday and thankfully will be rid of the monotonous “Eat-Sleep-Pee” gameplay. The new Sims promises a seamless world with deep gameplay and meaningful content. See you all next week! |