Posts Tagged ‘virtual console’
Nintendo updates services, adds My Life as a Darklord
If you’ve played Square Enix’s WiiWare exclusive My Life as a King you’ll be glad to hear that the game’s follow-up, My Life as a Darklord, has recently hit the service.
This game will apparantly take the empire-building elements from My Life as a King and adapt them in a darker way. Players will be pitted against an onslaught of adventurers from who they must protect a tower from with an arsenal of traps and monsters.
There are two more WiiWare titles along with a DSiWare title included in this same update all of which you can read more about after the break.
Japanese PSN to get Turbografx-16 titles
Sony has recently made it known that classic games other than previous Playstation titles have made their way to the Japanese Playstation Network.
The classic games in question are those found on the Turbografx-16 such as Bomberman ‘94, Sengoku Mahjong, Devil’s Crush and New Adventure Island all priced at 600 yen or about $6. Furthermore, all 4 titles will be playable on both the PSP and Playstation 3.
With Nintendo’s Virtual Console service proving to be quite profitable, it’s no surprise that Sony too would hop on the bandwagon to offer such games. Let’s just hope the same services gets implemented into the American Playstation Network.
via Joystiq
Weekly Nintendo Update is unexciting, but includes a clock
Nintendo has just released details on exactly what this week’s update, spanning the DSiWare, WiiWare and Virtual Console services, includes.
Well, most importantly we have Clay Fighter for the Virtual Console which made its original debut on the Sega Genesis in 1994. This is the classic 2D fighter in which the developers photographed actual clay models and then digitized them to make for the game’s graphics.
Other than that, we have ADVENTURE ISLAND The Beginning and BUBBLE BOBBLE Plus! for WiiWare and American Popstar: Road to Celebrity and Photo Clock for DSiWare. Yeah, we weren’t kidding when we said this weeks update is unexciting.
You can read more about the update including the pricing for all above mentioned titles in the press release after the break. More »
Wii Retro Controller Adapter Debuting At E3
Although the Wii Classic Controller or a Gamecube controller works well enough for most virtual console titles nothing would beat the sheer joy of playing old school Nintendo games with the original controller. Before now you’d have to possess MacGuyver level skills to wire an old-school NES controller to your Wii, but a new peripheral set to be revealed at E3 will substitute for the mullet-style tinkering.
The 3-in-1 Virtual Retro Adapter will plug into the Gamecube controller port and accept inputs from the original NES, Super Nintendo and N64 Controllers. It’s compatible with both 1st and 3rd party controllers and is set to launch June of this year, with an MSRP of $19.99. It’s manufactured and designed by Komodo and distributed by Innex
Weekly Nintendo Update – 5/4
With the introduction of DSiWare comes the introduction of almost useless applications – Both additions for the DSi are based around Animal Crossing and get this; they are a clock and a calculator, nothing more. Both applications are priced at 200 DSi Points and do everything you would expect a clock and calculator to do.
On the Wii side of things, it gets a bit more exciting:
WiiWare
Penguins & Friends – Hey! That’s My Fish! (Gammick Entertainment, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points™): The penguins are hungry and need your help. Catch all the fish you can before someone steals them from you. Strategy is fundamental in this exciting game. Keep moving ahead of the other penguins so you don’t get trapped, and try to get to the ice floes that hold more fish. One to four players can play Penguins & Friends at the same time, provided they can handle the polar cold. The board is made up of ice blocks with a set number of fish under them. The ice blocks are hexagonal and form a structure like a beehive. The starting position of the ice blocks can change, creating different game boards.
Virtual Console
Tower Toppler™ (Commodore 64, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Weird things are happening on Planet Nebulus. Someone or something has begun building huge towers on the sea floor without a construction license. Your mission is to ascend each of the eight cylindrical towers, passing various obstacles along the way, and to trigger the tower’s destruction mechanism to demolish the evil threat. Praised upon its original 1987 release for its graphical innovation, this is considered to be the most outstanding game from Hewson. Don’t miss out on this classic favorite.
Weekly Nintendo Update – 4/20/09
Nintendo has recently released details on their weekly update for the DSi and WiiWare services, along with the Virtual Console.
This week, Mario will make his debut on the DSiWare starring in Dr. Mario Express. If you’ve played the previous Dr. Mario titles you’ll be familiar with the Tetris like gameplay. The game will hit the service for 500 Nintendo DSi points.
For everything else included in the update read on:
Nintendo DSiWare
Master of Illusion Express: Deep Psyche (Nintendo, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 200 Nintendo DSi Points): Master of Illusion Express titles offer mind-bending magic tricks pulled from the popular Nintendo DS™ game. Learn the illusions, practice up and amaze your friends.Master of Illusion Express: Deep Psyche asks a series of pointed questions and reveals a startling truth.
WiiWare
CRYSTAL DEFENDERS R1 (SQUARE ENIX, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points™): In CRYSTAL DEFENDERS R1, you must deploy various units such as Soldiers and Black Mages to stop wave after wave of encroaching monsters from escaping the area with your party’s crystals. There are many different types of units to choose from, some specializing in powerful short-range attacks, some wielding far-reaching magicks, and still others equipped with bows that enable them to bring down aerial foes. Deploy units in strategic locations to take full advantage of their traits. Each time an enemy breaches your defenses and reaches a map’s exit, your party will lose crystals. When all your crystals are gone, the game is over. CRYSTAL DEFENDERS R1 comes complete with a plethora of exciting stages, each varying in layout and difficulty. Can you defend them all without losing a single crystal?
Virtual Console
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Cartoon Violence, 900 Wii Points): The once-quiet town of Xenobia is under attack from fierce and gruesome monsters. As Leo, it’s up to you to save Xenobia from danger as you navigate through a series of worlds in a race against time. Use your sword and jumping abilities to battle foes. Watch for power-ups that will increase your health and add to the amount of time you have to complete your missions. Go it alone or play co-op with a friend who can take the role of Priscilla. Do you have what it takes to save the world?
Weekly Nintendo Update – 4/13/09
It looks like we’ll have to change the name from Weekly Wii Update to Weekly Nintendo Update as Nintendo has recently announced they will being updating the DSiWare service along with the WiiWare and Virtual Console services.
Retro gamers will be happy to hear that Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, which originally made its debut on the Sega Genesis, was added to the Virtual Console this week for 800 Wii Points. Other than that, we have puzzle and party games added for both the Wii and DSi which you can read about below:
Nintendo DSiWare™
Mixed Messages (Activision, 2-21 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Nintendo DSi Points): Mixed Messages is the hilarious party game of mixed-up miscommunication. Sketch a picture to capture your friends’ sentence, or try to figure out what in the world they’ve drawn. You might start with, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” and end up with “A crazy surfer outruns flying sticks of dynamite while his fans cheer!” Two to 21 players take turns writing sentences and drawing pictures to pass along a message. This isn’t a game about winning and losing – it’s all about the funny miscommunications that happen along the way. You’ll laugh when you see just how wacky things can get. Get together with your friends and mix it up.
Master of Illusion™ Express: Shuffle Games (Nintendo, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 200 Nintendo DSi Points): Master of Illusion Express titles are mind-boggling magic tricks pulled from the popular Nintendo DS™ game. Learn the illusions, practice up and amaze your friends. Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games will boggle your audience members’ minds as they try to figure out how you know exactly what they’re thinking. Also included is the bonus Vanishing Card trick, which the Nintendo DSi system performs for your enjoyment.
WiiWare
Party Fun Pirate™ (TOMY Corporation, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone – Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points): Based on the popular Pop-Up Pirate toy, players take turns thrusting swords into a barrel that holds your captain captive, trying to see who can insert the most swords into the barrel. Thrust a sword into the wrong hole and you’ll send your captain flying, which means it’s game over for you! Unique Wii features add to the excitement, making for a fun-filled party game. Try swapping out the captain and putting your custom Mii character in the barrel for some real laughs!
PAL Virtual Console gets Majora’s Mask
Nintendo recently announced that the N64 title, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, has hit the PAL Virtual Console today.
Priced at 1000 Wii Points, Majora’s Mask makes for an almost complete library of console Zelda games provided by the Virtual Console, quite impressive.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was originally released in 2000 for the N64 and was met with praise from the gaming community, so now’s your chance to experience it if you never got the chance to.
Read (ThatVideoGameBlog)
Weekly Wii Update – 3/16/08
Yep it was inevitable, another update from Nintendo for the Wii’s WiiWare and Virtual Console services. Hey, it is Monday after all.
This week we are greeted with the Commodore 64 tite, Summer Games II for the Virtual Console and the beat makin’ BIT.TRIP BEAT for WiiWare.
More information, straight from Nintendo, below:
WiiWare
BIT.TRIP BEAT (Aksys Games, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): BIT.TRIP BEAT is a rhythm game that brings retro action into the present, letting you use the motion-sensing Wii Remote™ controller to bounce beats. Retro visuals, classic game play, four-player multiplayer and an 8-bit soundtrack will get you in the zone and rock your world. The challenges are mighty, but if you can stay cool as the difficulty increases, you’ll discover the beginnings of the BIT.TRIP saga.Virtual Console
Summer Games II™ (Commodore 64, 1-8 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): A thousand athletes. A hundred countries. Billions watching around the world as you enter the stadium, marching confidently among your nation’s strongest, fastest and boldest young men and women. Your gaze sweeps the crowd as you realize the scope of your achievement. You are about to compete against the world’s best athletes in a 3,000-year-old competition. This is the pinnacle of athletic achievement: the Summer Games. Summer Games II challenges your competitive skills with a series of athletic contests for one to eight players. Experience the excitement and realism of eight different events: cycling, equestrian, fencing, high jump, javelin, kayaking, rowing and triple jump. Practice each event to sharpen your skills, then choose from the 18 countries you can represent in the competition.
Top Ten Reasons Why The Wii is Winning
Since we’ve discussed why the PS3 is foundering it’s only fair we point out what the Wii has been doing well.
10. Brand Loyalty.
When it comes to video game companies, Nintendo boasts an incredible amount of longevity. Their first console, the Nintendo Entertainment System almost singlehandedly made home gaming popular and they’ve been going strong ever since. People have been buying Nintendo products for years. Sony hasn’t been in the games industry for quite as long and Microsoft is a relative newcomer to the console game.
Weekly Wii update – 3/9/09
Nintendo has recently released information regarding their usual slew of updates for the Wii’s Virtual Console and WiiWare services.
This week, we have a glactic shooter from Konami for WiiWare and a classic platformer which originally made its debut on SEGA.
More information on both below:
WiiWare
Gradius ReBirth (Konami, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Fantasy Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Blast your way through levels filled with alien spaceships and otherworldly creatures in this retro side-scrolling shooter. Pick your weapons carefully and upgrade them to create a devastating arsenal of space-aged weapons that will aid you in your challenging mission. Players can post their high scores to worldwide leader boards via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection and see where they rank against all the other Gradius ReBirth players. Test your skills with Gradius ReBirth and see if you have what it takes to beat this action-packed arcade shooter.
Virtual Console
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars™ (SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, Crude Humor, 500 Wii Points): In this platformer from the 1980s, help Alex Kidd in a race against time to find the 12 missing zodiac signs hidden in six challenging levels-including toyland, the robot factory and an outer-space level-all complete with crazy enemies.
And no, I have no idea if the 8-bit minion in the above screen shot of Alex Kidd: The Last Stars is nude or not, you be the judge.
Read (Nintendo)
Weekly Wii update 3/2/09
Today is Monday, you know what that means, right? New releases for both the Virtual Console and Wiiware thanks to our good friends over at Nintendo.
This week we are graced with Ogre Battle for the Super Nintendo, and Family & Friends Party, developed by Gammick Entertainment.
Sound fun? More info on both of the above mentioned games below:
WiiWare™
Family & Friends Party (Gammick Entertainment, 1-8 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Have fun with all your friends and family as you take on some very exciting challenges. This is an interactive board game for as many as eight players of all ages. The goal is to be the first to complete a series of challenges. During each turn, a challenge will be played by one or two players per team depending on the type of challenge you’ve been given. (Other players on your team can still help and support you). There are six different “Single” challenges that must be played cooperatively by members of the same team. Family & Friends Party can also suggest “Versus” challenges, which must be played competitively by all teams at the same time.
Virtual Console™
Ogre Battle™: The March of the Black Queen™ (Super NES™, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): It’s up to you to defeat the Empire. It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since the Zetegenian Empire first conquered the Kingdoms of Zenobia with a wrath of fear and bloodshed. You are the leader of a band of rebels who’ve fought to preserve the last shred of honor in this desperate time of treachery. Manage the ranks of a full-blown rebel army, complete with hundreds of characters, magic items, weapons and mystical Tarot cards. You must succeed in ousting the evil usurpers-your fate, and that of the entire population, depends on it.
Read (Nintendo)
Weekly Wii Update – 2/16
Both the WiiWare and Virtual Console have been updated with a single game thanks to Nintendo today. On the WiiWare side is Evasive Space by Yukes Company of America which has you guiding your on screen ship through different levels using the Wiimote avoiding obstacles and collecting power-ups.
The Virtual Console gets Life Force from NES which is basically Evasive Space, except you can shoot stuff. More below:
Evasive Space™ (Yukes Company of America, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Launch a one-of-a-kind mission to rescue the stars. The universe is going dark, and it’s up to you, Konki the Stellar Guardian, to set things right. Dr. Dark Matter and his roving band of space thieves have stolen many of the Constellation Stones that make up the heavens. It’s time to suit up, power up, recover the Stones and once again bring light to the night sky. Using the Wii Remote™ controller’s unique pointer capabilities, simply point and thrust Konki through 20 dangerous time- and collection-based missions in the harshest of environments. Navigate through narrow, mazelike astral caves riddled with space worms, steam pipes and mining drills. Explore vast space stations while avoiding turret fire, mines and huge crushing gears. Weave through cluttered asteroid fields and gaseous planetary rings. Evade the hazards, pick up precious items and ship upgrades, and save the Constellation Stones before the night sky is lost forever.
Life Force (NES, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): This classic shooter, originally ported to the NES in August 1988, is a spin-off of the seminal Gradius series. Pilot the Vic Viper through six stages of intense action, alternating between horizontally and vertically scrolling environments, and take on wave after wave of enemies. Destroy particular enemies throughout the game (which takes place within the body of an enormous alien) to release power-up capsules and equip your ship with your choice of more powerful weapons, extra speed and shields. Utilize the power-ups carefully, though, as a fearsome guardian lurks at the end of each stage and won’t be easily defeated. You can go it alone or bring along a friend to take on the challenge simultaneously. Do you have what it takes to save your planet?
Weekly Wii updates – 2/09
As the beginning of another week comes to a close, let’s take a look at the new games Nintendo has introduced into their online services.
Both services, Wiiware and the Virtual Console, will only recieve one game this week, check them out below:
WiiWare
LIT (WayForward Technologies, 1 player, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older—Violence, 800 Wii Points): Dark creatures have taken over Jake’s high school, and it’s up to you to guide him through each classroom in order to be reunited with his girlfriend Rachael. Existing light sources must be used smartly to create bridges of light for Jake to cross. One false step and Jake gets pulled into the darkness. Along the way he’ll encounter twisted versions of his school’s faculty, which must be battled in order to advance. LIT is a horror/puzzle game that requires the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers. It contains 30 levels, five boss battles, replay modes and several unlockables, including multiple endings, Dark Mode timed challenges and an unlockable character.Virtual Console
Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS (SEGA GENESIS, 1 player, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older—Mild Violence, 800 Wii Points): Following a rash of terrorism outbreaks and increasing opposition from guerilla fighters, the U.S. government has decided to hire a group of professional mercenaries to undergo secret missions, battling through enemy lines to go where no ordinary soldier would dare to go. Based on the popular arcade game, the SEGA GENESIS version of MERCS lets you play as a MERC and also adds an original mode, allowing players to choose from five different characters. Take no prisoners as you shoot, drive jeeps and tanks, and clash against huge bosses to accomplish your mission.
Read (Nintendo)
Tags: virtual console
Weekly Wii updates
We’ve made it yet another week so you know what that means, right? Updates from Nintendo for the Virtual Console and WiiWare.
Upon skimming through the updates I noticed ‘cuddly-yet-evil monsters’ in the WiiWare update, just to give you a heads up of what to expect:
WiiWare
Niki – Rock ‘n’ Ball (Bplus, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points): Are you in love with those unforgettable arcade classics where the only goal is to vanquish all opponents to reach the next stage? Niki – Rock ‘n’ Ball is a new interpretation of those games with a completely innovative and unique gaming mechanism. Roll along with Niki through fantastic worlds, find all the ZeLeLi pearls, and liberate your village from cuddly-yet-evil monsters before it’s too late. Timing is everything. Jump in the nick of time to avoid landing amid barbs. Hop across the stages thanks to the realistic gaming physics. Snap on the ZeLeLi amulet, transform yourself into Niki Rock, and force even the most obstinate monster to its knees. Explore all the stages and win valuable medals while dribbling through them, alone or with a friend. Use familiar controls in Retro style, or experience novel controls in the Wii style.Virtual Console
Wonder Boy™ in Monster Land™ (SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Alcohol Reference, Mild Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): After the defeat of the evil king, the kingdom of Wonder Land was a paradise…for a time. The peace was broken when a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon struck without warning and took over Wonder Land with a swarm of evil, monstrous henchmen, turning the once-peaceful land into the utterly chaotic Monster Land. Unable to fight, the people now look to Wonder Boy. Realizing that he is Wonder Land’s last hope, Wonder Boy sets out on an incredible journey to rid the country of the monsters and defeat the “invincible” evil dragon. Guide Wonder Boy through various environments and dungeons, and defeat enemies using Special Weapons and Spells.
Read (Nintendo)