WNR: 31 May 2010

Hey everyone! Welcome to the WNR ^^ Not much to say at the moment. No More Heroes 2 is being mindblowing and Samurai Warriors 3 is quite the fun game too ^^ two weeks to go to E3 and even less to Super Mario Galaxy 2 here in Europe! so yeah, stuff I look forward to X3 but let's move on and see what we got to show this week!

VC RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
no releases this week

EU
-Kirby's Fun Pak (SNES)

WIIWARE RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
-Art Style: Light Trax (Racing game)
-Manic Monkey Mayhem (Action game)
-Viral Survival (Arcade game)

EU
-Art Style: Penta Tentacles (Action game)
-Lead the Meerkats (Strategy game)
-Voodoo Dice (Puzzle game)

GAME RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
no releases this week

EU
no releases this week

NEWS OF THE WEEK

Shaun White Skateboarding was announced for wii. More details as soon as there are some I can give you! X3

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New scan, details, screens and a trailer for Xenoblade have been released (Action/RPG):
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40341/
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40489/
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40543/
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40349/

Kizuna-Form bonds with NPCs and members of
your party
-Bonds have much influencing in the game, impacting
battles and time spent in ntown
-Use Kizunagram to see who you’ve
formed bonds with, bonds other characters have
-Completing quests
will make bonds stronger (optional)
-“Kizuna talk” sessions
initiate after you and your allies meet particular conditions, lets you
see a different side of the character relationships
-Kizuna talk
areas are marked
-Kizuna talks are saved in a list that show the
characters involved, the area of the talk, title of the talk, bond levelYarikomi-Play awards: Similar to trophies/achievements
-Meet conditions to
receive play awards
-Use play awards to show how much you’ve
enjoyed the gameCollepedia-Record of
items collected
-Only Collection Items shown on the chart
-Use
Collection Items to complete quests, can give them to NPCs to make
bonds strongerCity Building-Can help
rebuilt a city which has been destroyed by the Kishin army
-Will
need to hand over money and items
-City grows slowly
-More
people will head over to the area to live there
-Status screen
indicates the level of redevelopment (percentage) and population
-Players can decide to develop certain areas (housing, merchants, nature,
“special”)
-Every section needs certain items and a particular
amount

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An Exclusive Sonic game has been announced for Wii! while the name, Sonic Colours, may sound a bit odd to most, I myself look forward to this game, especially since it may stray away from what Sonic Unleashed did with...well, pretty much everything, starting from the Soundtrack that tried to go too much after a Mario-like style. Here's the first teaser:
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40365/

First thing that came to my mind was Sonic 3D, those aliens reminding me of the Flickies, the surroundings reminding me of a greener Mushroom Hill and the music sounds like an old Sonic music remade with modern tunes. Sounds good enough to me :3

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Another quite interesting sequel has been announced: De Blob: Underground! So far we just have a few details, so enjoy them :3
-New moves, enemies
-Will have 2D platforming sections
-2-player support
-Blob on vacation at Paradise Island
-Some
strange things happen, Blob and Pinky head to Prisma City
-At
Prisma City, the two find out that Comrade Black is causing trouble
-Prisma City has been turned colorless by pollution and materialism
-Black calls himself Papa Blanc, establishes a cult in order to
brainwash citizens and turn them into his minions
-DS version also
in development

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New screens for Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory have been released (RPG):
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40436/

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A new video for Jett Rocket has been released (Platform):
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40487/

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Pokepark Wii: Pikachu's adventure has been announced for both american and european release! yay!! X3 anyway, the game will be released the 9th of July in Europe and in America. Here's a lil trailer:
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40513/

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New screens and a video for Arc Rise Fantasia have been released (RPG):
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40516/
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/40519/

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First details for the wii version of Call of Duty: Black Ops have been released (FPS):
-Separate team making Wii version
-Built ground up for Wii
-Trying to have same experience as PS3/360 versions
-Online co-op
-Treyach trying to “negotiate” with Nintendo regarding Wi-Fi
functionality
-Game takes place during the Cold War
-Control
elite black ops agents
-Customization, personalization,
socialization are important
-Different varieties of ammunition for
each weapon
-Game has a “Slaughterhouse” level

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WII GAME OF THE WEEK: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Genre: Adventure game
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Quebec (Rainbow Six: Vegas)
Time Spent: 10 hours



Usually multiplatform games always get the worse version on wii. Some think because the wii is an inferior console, but I think many of us know it's because of the lazyness of many third party developers. Games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed always had a very poor wii version with bad control implementations and little effort put in them. Just in the last months the third parties seemed to wake up. Prince of Persia: The forgotten sands came out on the three main consoles, but while PS3 and Xbox shared the same version showing off the graphic power, the wii got an exclusive version of the game. We aren't just talking about a different team working on a wii version of the game. The game on wii is pretty much all another game. Different setting, different story, different gameplay, different levels. It's pretty much like all another game, merely sharing the name with its HD counterparts. Let's see how the game is though.

The graphic style is heavily inspired from PoP: Sands of time. The 3D models of the prince and the enemies aren't the best thing ever made, looking a bit clunky in their movements (especially the enemies) even though they aren't ugly to look at and it's always a pleasure to look at the prince jumping all around from a platform to another one while slashing at enemies. The modeling of the surroundings on the other hand is really well made, especially the compositions of the place and the light effects, giving quite the visuals to the player, also never looking repetitive despite the game being constantly set in a fallen kingdom.

The gameplay is heavily focused on the classic Prince of Persia formula: very few battles here and there and a lot of obstacles, cliffs and walls to avoid, walk, jump and run on. The pure Prince of Persia goodness. At first the game will let you go trough obstacles and traps in the traditional way, jumping, climbing and running trough the levels. Soon enough though you'll start acquiring a few powers that will make use of the pointer of the wiimote in quite clever ways, pointing at things to activate them with magic, or even letting you create a ring on the wall to grab on or a small magic twister that will push you up in the air. Going trough the game I found amazing how the developers designed the areas of the fallen kingdom, giving you challenges wich get harder and harder each time, forcing you to combine your reflexes, your intelligence and the magic powers in a chain of actions, jumps and powers that will be quite satisfying everytime you'll get to land safely on the next platform. The game also features a few 2D sections, a reference to the very old games

Careful though, the game is not impossible, but it's quite challenging and death will not be a rare thing at all. Many gamers complained about the last Prince of Persia for having infinite lives. While here you can revive right after falling or dying, the thing is limited. By picking up light spheres trough the levels you'll be able to fill enough energy to come back after death for a few, limited times. Once attempts are out the prince will be knocked back to the last save point (wich are smartly scattered in certain points, so to not make the game too frustrating especially for beginners. believe me, I doubt you'll complain about how many there are around.)

Those light spheres also happen to work as exp for the prince. That's right, there's a level system in the game and a bar that can be filled by picking up those spheres, breaking hidden chests or defeating enemies. Everytime the prince "levels up" he'll either learn a new fighting skill or power up an old one. The fights in the game are quite rare like I said and they might have needed a bit more work. While they aren't exactly bad, there are a few problems, like the risk of waggle (even though experienced wii gamers know that you can just flick with the right timing wiimote and nunchuck and not wave the wiimote around aimlessly ) and a forced auto-lock on that can be quite annoying when trying to go for a certain enemy. Despite this the fights can be quite spectacular due to a few moves you can learn. Just be careful, the fights are challenging as well

The framerate of the game goes from 60 FPS to slighty lower framerates, though I don't think it'll ever give troubles.

The story reminds me a lot of the one of the first Prince of Persia game for PS3 and 360. It isn't like they copied and pasted the plot, but since they gave up on that saga, I get the feeling that this game might try to give another chance to the abandoned plotline, wich is about a fallen kingdom, corrupted by a strong evil (this time the Haoma, a sort of evil, poisonous weed). While the plot of the game isn't deep and certainly not the focus of the game (wich is the really satisfying and natural gameplay) it kind of feels good to follow...it's like a sort of Arabian fable. Not mindblowing, but not bad either. It also looks like this could turn into an actual saga, but you'll understand why playing the game.

The music is of the same style that made PoP famous, going with arabian tunes and while you may not remember any of them, they aren't annoying at all and they sort of feel atmospheric while you play the game.

If you were unsure if to pick up either the wii or HD version of this game, you may rest assured that the wii version is, not only a totally different game, but also a quite good one at that! PoP fans (especially fans of sands of time) will love it. The main game lasts around 10 hours, but the lenght goes up with all the stuff you can unlock (clothing, weapons, videos and galleries), an achievement system, a challenge mode and also the first two Prince of Persia games (the very old 2D ones) available in some versions of the CD (some have just the second game, check the cover when you pick it up).

A very nice adventure game for wii...I can say I'm satisfied X3

now, here are a few screens:
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/83151520100430_034803_3_big.jpg
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/83151520100430_034803_0_big.jpg
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/83151520100409_165217_0_big.jpg
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/83151520100409_165217_2_big.jpg

and a couple of videos:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/wii-story-prince-of/64461
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/platforming-gameplay-prince-of/100350

that's all for this week! have a good wii gaming time! :3

I've played on some of the PoP remakes for the wii. I wasn't impressed.

This one however seems to be much better, and has the same strange incomplex feeling that Okami did. I think I may even like it better than the PS3 version for once.

I do like the water freezing powers you get on the PS version though.

Do you get them on the Wii as well?

Anthan wrote:I've played on some of the PoP remakes for the wii. I wasn't impressed.

This one however seems to be much better, and has the same strange incomplex feeling that Okami did. I think I may even like it better than the PS3 version for once.

I do like the water freezing powers you get on the PS version though.

Do you get them on the Wii as well?

no, the wii version has its own powers, all of them make use of the pointer. Like I said it's a standalone game, they're two totally different things ^^

I'll get both then!