Month: January 2009
Nintendo Patents – Wiimote was for Gamecube
The people over at Siloconera have been digging up information on patents recently in search of more information on the recent “Miyamoto” patent. However, Instead of finding more information about that patent they actually uncovered an old patent that had to do with the Gamecube that was filed on March 10, 2006. The patent was for what we know today as the Wiimote. Although, it wasn...
Xbox Live Arcade hit UNO coming to WiiWare
UNO on Xbox Live Arcade is something of an enigma. This simple card game, known for its share of skips, multi-color wild cards and reversed directions, has become something of a hit on a system dominated by shooters, shooters and, well, shooters (and other stuff too, re-LAX). Now, that fame and fortune is coming, unsurprisingly, to WiiWare and the DSi. PS3 and mobile phone versions are also planne...
Nyko Promises Superior, Uglier Wii Remote
Nyko is a Wii accessory juggernaut. After giving us a zapper alternative that actually looks like a real gun, a wireless nunchuk, and a wireless Classic Controller, Nyko finishes their off brand accessory lineup with a Wii Remote alternative – “The Wand.” In addition to the speaker, motoin control, and standard button layout of the official Wii-Remote controller, the Wand boasts ...
Review: B-flick spirit oozes from Spore Wars
A glowing meteorite has slammed into the forest, painting the ground with eerie green phosphorescence. It glazed the rocks with a radiant gleam. It covered each blade of grass with a dusting of limelight. And it woke up the mushrooms. The story fueling Red Fly Studios’ Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is deliciously bizarre, reveling in the campiness of 1950s B-reel horror. It pays homage to the...
Deep Nintendological Thoughts #3: Fictional Labels
This year, as part of a belated New Year’s resolution, I vow to not use the terms “casual gamers” or “hardcore gamers.” This is a video game blog after all, and while we delve frequently into biased opinion, heated discussion, passionate reporting, and all sorts of other things in between, we’re not Sony PR, and we don’t do fiction.
Barack Obama’s Wii Sports Christmas revealed!
President-elect Barack Obama is one cool dude. He’s our next leader, an Apple lover, and today he can add one more impressive accolade to his resume: He got a Wii for Christmas. Mr. Obama said he’d have his hands full attempting to rescue the American economy. But he has gotten in a little practice in bowling lately on the Nintendo Wii his daughters received for Christmas. Mr. Obama, w...
Harmonix: no Rock Band 3 in 2009
At a conference during CES, Harmonix co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopolous said: “We’ve actually made a choice to break out of the annual release cycle for Rock Band this year,” Rigopolous told the assembled press and industry members. “[This is] partly because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer. We’re trying to take a long term view.” I can’...
What should Wii do differently this year?
“If I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!” — Rocky IV Wii went bananzors in 2008, as it did in 2006 and 2007 before. But while popular, some traditional gamers still grumble over what they percieve as a lack of core games, the ones that feel like the games we’ve been playing since at least the mid-’90s, and in some cases, the ’80s. In response,...
EGM shuttered in massive Ziff Davis game division sell-off
Happy 20th anniversary, Electronic Gaming Monthly! You’ve been discontinued, and a number of video and podcast departments at 1up have joined you. It’s a sad day for print, but an inevitable one, as online is the future, much like digital distribution. The current EGM on newsstands is the final one, and next month’s, already completed, will be delivered digitally online. With the...
Pelloni blows his top, insults/threatens Nintendo
Robert Pelloni, a self taught game developer who single-handedly created a self described twenty-hour long “retail quality” DS game, recently locked himself in his office in a sit-down protest in hopes of getting Nintendo’s attention. However, what started as a passive and polite protest is turning ugly. Recently, Pelloni started to update his website with paranoid theories: ...
The future of Nintendo looks to the past
I loves me some Google News, especially the archives, which let you search stories by the decade. The service only goes back to the early ’80s right now, and features a limited number of articles. But the following old-school Nintendo headlines still caught my attention: