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    Super Punch-Out!! and rare Ogre Battle rated by ESRB

    January 9, 2009 - 10:00pm


    That copy of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen you stashed under the mattress to partly fund your early retirement just got a whole lot less valuable. The ESRB has rated the rare Enix RPG for a Virtual Console release, along with another, more widely known SNES gem: Super Punch-Out!!. Is Nintendo planning to release the classic pugilist title alongside its modern Wii equivalent, as it did in the case of Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption? Perhaps!Those aren't the only surprises in the latest ESRB ratings: Lonpos, a launch title for the Japanese WiiWare service no less, has also been classified. As it's been a while, here's a reminder of what it looks like:

    Rez meets Pong? The game behind the 'Commander' viral campaign

    January 9, 2009 - 9:05pm


    Just as we were preparing to play along with the "Commander" viral campaign for months on end, Nintendo Power came along and saved us from a lot of tedious guessing by just revealing the damn game. And, hey, the once-mysterious title sounds way cooler than its viral marketing.The Gaijin-developed, Aksys-published Bit.Trip: Beat is a rhythm-based WiiWare game in which you rotate your Wii Remote to control an on-screen paddle and bat away colored blocks to music. As blocks hit your paddle, they create sound effects of their own that blend into the "pumping" tunes.According to the magazine, good timing is crucial, because you'll need to deflect blocks in sync with the soundtrack. Play well, and the visuals become "flashier." Play poorly, and the visuals lose their color, and the sounds dwindle down to mere, simple bleeps. Throughout the three levels (each of which has a boss battle), the block invasions become more complex. Finally, there'll be a four-player co-op mode, and five other releases in the series to look forward to.So there we go: mystery solved, and an awesome new WiiWare title to look forward to!

    Namco confirms Klonoa coming to North America

    January 9, 2009 - 8:10pm


    And it's doing away with that pesky subtitle Door to Phantomile. Yes, Namco's remake of the classic PSOne game will release in North America, as reported earlier, and will simply be titled Klonoa. Should be easy enough to remember.All we have to go on right now is a 2009 release window. Namco hasn't specified an exact date within the year, but, hey, it's 2009 right now. Let's hope we get it sooner rather than later.See also: Born for Wii: Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil

    Brace yourself for a new Cave Story sprite

    January 9, 2009 - 7:17pm


    Following the post about DLC, Nicalis has now officially come back to blogging, and by "blogging" we mean "teasing us regularly about Cave Story". And, as they return to their schedule, we now find ourselves back in our weekly ritual of thinking dreamily about Cave Story in response to the posting of a new sprite from the game.This time, it's Curly Brace, who protects a group of Mimiga children and eventually joins protagonist Quote on his journey. The new sprite looks pretty great to us, but one Nicalis blog commenter classifies her new appearance as "fattie". We guess ... that one shaded square in her midsection is now white? And now she's totally fat?

    WiiWare to look forward to in the next two weeks

    January 9, 2009 - 6:20pm

    http://www.wiiware-world.com/news/2009/01/jungle_speed_swings_onto_wiiware_next_week">
    Wow, two WiiWare card game stories in one day! This one is likely to have more immediate payoff, however. In addition to Planet Pachinko, North American gamers can (probably) expect Jungle Speed to be available, for 1,000 points. Jungle Speed is a card game in which players sequentially flip over cards until they reveal two identical cards, at which point they must race to reach for a totem in the middle of the table. The high-speed gameplay sounds like a potentially interesting Wii party game. While the press release doesn't mention the developer, an OFLC listing identified them as Next Level Games, the Canadian company behind Super Mario Strikers and the new Punch-Out!! This is likely to be true, as the game is apparently "produced with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada". Government-subsidized WiiWare!The next Monday, January 19, High Voltage Hot Rod Show, the racing game from the developers of The Conduit, will go up on WiiWare, also for 1,000 Wii Points.

    Patent shows Wiimote was originally a GameCube peripheral

    January 9, 2009 - 5:25pm

    Some new images and details on Nintendo's patent for the Wiimote have surfaced on the net and they show that the original idea was planned for the GameCube. The Wiimote was to attach to the console via an adapter, much like the WaveBird's. But, as you all know, the GameCube ended up going the way of the dodo, and so the Wii was born. The image to the right shows Mario playing tennis, which is where Nintendo originally got the idea for Wii Sports, we assume, but there's more. Past the break, you can see more diagrams showing how the Wiimote would work with the GameCube, if you're into that kind of thing.

    Wii games have superior resale value

    January 9, 2009 - 4:31pm


    Once the current economic crisis really takes hold and you have to sell your Wii collection* just to afford this month's supply of baked beans and ramen, be thankful that Wii games officially attract the highest resale prices. See, things aren't so glum!A poll conducted by the stat-tastic VideoGamePriceCharts.com has discovered that Wii software carries the lowest margin of loss when resold, losing on average 25.4% of its original MSRP. At the other end of the table, Xbox 360 owners typically lose 37.2% of their initial outlay whenever they resell a brown and gray futuristic shooter. Not only that, but Nintendo-published games are also high in resale value -- out of 45 publishers, only Bethesda's games are sold on for more. We suspect Wii Fit may have skewed the results somewhat, but all the same: yay!Make the jump for the publisher charts!* You did sell all of the family first, right?
    Catch the full table covering all 45 publishers here.
    [Via Gamasutra]

    New patent describes Miyamoto-developed hint system

    January 9, 2009 - 3:35pm


    While the language used in patents is miles above our heads, we feel obligated to try to report on it, because it's apparently Miyamoto's design, and it's potentially quite cool. If we understand correctly, Miyamoto has invented a system that allows players of vastly different skill levels to play adventure games like Zelda, with the ability to skip or receive hints at difficult areas. In addition to accommodating various skill levels, this is designed for people who don't have a lot of time to play games. In effect, it makes the skill level almost totally configurable.One component of the idea is low-resolution "hint movies" that display the solutions to difficult puzzles at the player's request. In addition, there is a "digest" component that allows players just to watch the game's storyline up to the point of their choosing -- but only after a specified time period (presumably to encourage people to play the game for some number of hours before watching). Finally, there's a DVD-style "chapter" ability that allows players to start the game from a previous "scene" -- rather like the save system in the new Pikmin remake.All the associated images use a Zelda-like game "Legend of OO" to demonstrate the concepts, but that might just be a context used to help explain the concepts. But if you want to call "OMG NEXT ZELDA CONFIRMED WITH HINT SYSTEM THING," have fun! And if the USPTO image viewer doesn't work for you, check the linked NeoGAF thread for a few images.[Via NeoGAF]

    Ghostbusters confirmed for June 16 release on all platforms [update]

    January 9, 2009 - 2:41pm


    [Update: Atari just sent out a press release announcing that the game is coming out across all platforms on Jun 16!]Terminal Reality, the developer behind the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the upcoming Ghostbusters game, said the game is indeed slated for release during the week of June 16th, to coincide with the release of Ghostbusters on Blu-ray. But, what about the Wii version of the game?It's being developed by Red Fly and, while we'd like to think the game will release alongside the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, nothing has been confirmed. Stay tuned for more info as it's made available.

    CES 2009: Will Nyko's Wand work with MotionPlus?

    January 9, 2009 - 1:45pm


    We'd like to say one way or another, but when Joystiq stopped by Nyko's booth at CES yesterday to try out the Wiimote alternative, the rep couldn't commit. Nyko hopes the Wand will be compatible, but they're not ready to say one way or the other.On top of that, Joystiq offered up some general observations while testing out the Wand at Nyko's booth. You can check out the hands-on piece right here.