Nintendo:The Kingdom Enquirer/November-December 2008

Monster Hunter G remake for Wii, Monster Hunter 3 news
December 24th, 2008 By:

Capcom has revealed some new information regarding their Monster Hunter series through the newest issue of Famitsu. Most importantly, Monster Hunter G, a video game initially released on the PlayStation 2, has been confirmed for the Wii as a port. So far teh game is 77% complete, will feature 16:9 support, and will have online play, albeit at a price.

Regarding Monster Hunter 3, Famitsu stated that the game is %40 complete, will have a new desert area and a rock monster.

We Ski sells a million copies
December 24th, 2008 By:

Hudson Soft has announced that they've got another million seller on their hand - their second that they've published, and third that they've developed. The game, We Ski, has already got a sequel under way, and it's no doubt that Hudson Soft is extremely excited about this news. The other games that have sold a million that were headed by the company include Decca Sports and Mario Party 8, the latter one being published by Nintendo.

Jump Festa 2008 news
December 20th, 2008 By:


 * We literally got next to nothing when it comes to new information on the upcoming Tales game for Wii. The only thing that was confirmed was that it has been in development for 2 years now. edit: Apparently they're calling the game Tales of Ten now.


 * Some new information regarding the second Blue Dragon game for DS - Blue Dragon: Colossal Beast of the Underworld, has been announced. For one, Hironobu Sakaguchi will serve as the game's producer. Akira Toriyama is the game's character designer. The game has real time combat, though you'll have to wait to attack if the "wait gauge" isn't full yet. The game will include three player online games where you can send chat messages. You can create your own character and heavily customize him - even his voice can be changed (extra points if you can input your own voice through the mic). The game will take place two years after the original.


 * Some more Kingdom Hearts 358/2 news. For one, it's been delayed in Japan until Spring. Second, Demyx and Luxord have been confirmed as playable characters.

Free Radical shuts its doors
December 18th, 2008 By:

Tis be a sad day indeed for the gaming industry as Free Radical closes its doors. The creators of the brilliant TimeSplitters series, Free Radical gave millions of gamers hours of enjoyment. Their last title, Haze, didn't fare to well critically, and could have led to their destruction, which is too bad since they were already creating TimeSplitters 4 and possibly a new Star Wars Battlefront game. Well, so long.

Nintendo announces Q1 American releases for 2009
December 17th, 2008 By:

Nintendo announced their lineup for the rest of Winter in 2009, with an unfortunate abandonment of some of the company's most anticipated games like Mario & Luigi 3, ''Punch-Out!! Wii, and Sin and Punishment 2''. But at least there are some notable titles on the list - in fact, there are so many that I've just decided to list the ones you'd probably be most interested in. Games in bold are games that I'm probably going to buy.

Wii


 * Onechanbara Bikini Zombie Slayers - February
 * NASCAR Kart Racing - February 10
 * SimAnimals - January 27
 * Fishing Master World Tour - January 6
 * Major Minor's Majestic March - March (haha)
 * Little King's Story - February 17
 * Rune Factory: Frontier - March
 * New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis - March
 * New Play Control! Pikmin - March
 * The House of the Dead: Overkill - February
 * Sonic and the Black Knight - March
 * 'MadWorld' - March
 * Tenchu: Shadow Assassins - February
 * Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars - March

Nintendo DS


 * My World, My Way - February 3
 * Legacy of Ys: Books I & II - February 10
 * Trackmania DS - March 17
 * Puzzle Quest: Galactrix - Q1
 * Zubo - March
 * Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure - Q1
 * SimAnimals - January 27
 * Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero - Q1
 * Suikoden Teirkreis - Q1
 * Avalon Code - February
 * Flower, Sun, and Rain - March
 * Moon - January 13
 * Personal Trainer: Math - January 12
 * Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - February 16
 * Pokémon Platinum - March 22
 * Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - March 17
 * Big Bang Mini - January 6
 * Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time - Spring
 * Retro Game Challenge - January 6

DSiWare confirmed to launch on December 24th, lineup revealed
December 16th, 2008 By:

Nintendo just confirmed that DSiWare, the DSi equivalent to WiiWare, will launch in Japan on December 24th. The lineup of titles that'll be available was also revealed... and it's disappointing to some extent. Here's the games:


 * Moving Memo: Free
 * 3x Shuffle Game - 200 points
 * Funny Face - 200 points
 * Scary Numbers - 200 points
 * The Bird and the Bean - 200 points
 * Paper Airplane - 200 points
 * Art Style: AQUARIO - 500 points
 * Art Style: DECODE - 500 points
 * Dr. Mario - 500 points
 * Imitate Wario - 500 points
 * Chotto Asobi Taizen - 500 points
 * Chotto Brain Training: Arts Version - 1,000 points
 * Chotto Brain Training: Science Version - 1,000 points

Hey, at least they get two Art Style games, a new WarioWare and Dr. Mario.

Club Nintendo up and running in US!
Decebmer 16th, 2008 By:

After a long wait in the United States we've finally gotten Club Nintendo - the long anticipated service that's already available in Europe and Japan. In Club Nintendo you can redeem points (in America called coins, elsewhere they're stars) that you can use to purchase Nintendo related merchandise. So far we've gotten a hefty amount of items that were already featured in Japan. The following are a list of items currently available, and how many coins they'll cost you:


 * Game & Watch Collection - 800 points
 * White Nintendo DS Game Case - 800 points
 * Hanafuda Cards - 800 points
 * Mario Party Playing Cards - 500 points
 * Animal Crossing Playing Cards - 500 points
 * Mario Nintendo DS Game Rack - 600 points
 * Nintendo DS Game Card and Stylus Set (Black) - 600 points
 * Nintendo DS Game Card and Stylus Set (Super Mario Bros. Theme) - 600 points
 * Nintendo DS Game Card and Stylus Set (Animal Crossing Theme) - 600 points
 * Nintendo DS Lite Case (Silver) - 400 points
 * Wii Remote Holder - 300 points

New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game announced for Wii
December 10th, 2008 By:

Man, December 10th is really just the bearer of good news. First we get information on Dragon Quest X and now this? Wow! Well, the long awaited new installment in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game has just been announced. Unfortunately, like DQX, not much is known about the title so far, though what we do know is very fantastic. First, it's for Wii. Second, it's being made by some of the developers of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Third, it's ALSO being made by Team Ninja. Fourth... well, I don't think there's a fourth just yet, but when there is I'll be sure to report it!

Edit: (December 10th)

Alright, we've got a whole bunch of information now:


 * The game will be published by Ubisoft. They say that the game is not tied to any particular movie or television show specifically to keep the game original and interesting.
 * Development started in January of this year, though the concept of it started in October of 2007. Right now they expect the game to be released in September of next year.
 * It's going to be a 2.5D fighter, will feature interactive stages, 4-player versus, story mode, battle royal, tournament mode, winner stays, loser stays, practice mode and online mode.
 * Developers claim that the game's online will be much better than Brawl.
 * There will be unlockable characters and stages.
 * Because the turtles look similar, they will each emit a different colored glow to make it easier to know which one you are.

New Trace Memory 2 details
December 10th, 2008 By:

I wasn't a huge fan of the original Trace Memory, though after playing through Hotel Dusk, the company's next title, I have faith that the sequel will be at least better than the original. Well, more details were just revealed, and they include the following:

Once again Ashley Robbins is the main characters. It takes place two years after the first title, so she'll be like what, 15 or 16 years old? Wasn't she 13 in the original? Shocking that someone that age could solve mysteries and what not, but what ever - It's also strange that a 10 year old could save the land of Hyrule.

The game will be a point and click like the original game, though rather than using a stylus it'll, obviously, use the Wii Remote to point. The game will be released in Japan on January 22nd next year, and unfortunately no word on an American or PAL release date.

OH MY GOD!!!! Dragon Quest X announced for... Wii!!!
December 10th, 2008 By:

That may seem a bit dramatic, though it's because I just found out like a second ago. This is huge news! Super huge news! This almost confirms that Japan's favorite RPG series will be featured on Nintendo consoles for quite some time. We've already got Dragon Quest 9 coming out on DS next year, and not the tenth game will be released on the Wii! And we thought Square Enix was neglecting the system! Other than that, nothing new was announced regarding the game...

5th Cell announces Scribblenauts... MUST READ!
December 6th, 2008 By:

A few days ago IGN announced that it'd have the exclusive right to reveal 5th Cell's new video game. They had already created two classics already - Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest, both for the Nintendo DS. Now they've announced yet another DS game, and one that may just be the most shocking title to ever have been released... if of course the developers can execute it properly. The game, and before I say it - you must remember this game, promise me! The name is... Scribblenauts. It is amazing.

Basically, it has everything. Literally everything. The goal of the game is to have your star character find away to get the item he wants. Though to do it, he'll need to have a variety of items at his disposal - and by a variety I mean literally every item ever conceived by God and Human hands - E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. If it's a noun, it's in the game. It may not be the best tool to use, though you'll be able to use it nonetheless. Is the item you want on top of a tree? Then type in "beaver" and the beaver will cut the tree down. Type in "ladder" to go up and get the item. Use fire to burn the ladder and thus burn the tree down. Use a football, soccer ball, basketball or any other type of ball to knock it off the tree. Create a pond, but a shark with a laser on its head in the pond and then make it shoot the item out of the tree. Spawn a jetplane to ride it into it. Yes, there is literally everything. The designers spent an endless amount of time going through dictionaries and encyclopedias (Wikia websites no doubt) to find, record and animate every single noun excluding vulgar things and objects owned by other companies (i.e. no Xboxes probably!). If you wish to die, you can even cause a tsunami to occur and destroy your character if you type that in. The possibilities are endless!

When I first saw the trailer at IGN, I thought to myself, well, this is something that practically everyone has thought of - a game where everything is at your disposal, though I also thought that there would just be a few words that you could use and then that's the end of that story, then the designer comes in and says that every noun is in the game - seriously. He says that they may end up having to bring out a full list of the game's items due to the fact that you may never be able to find some because of how obscure they are. For the full beef on the game, check out IGN!

Activision Blizzard game announcements
December 3rd, 2008 By:

Well, we've got some good news and some... weird news. First of all, the obvious: Guitar Hero 5. I'm not saying that someone who enjoys these games should try and find a new series... but I am saying that... sooo... The next bit of news is better - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The first Modern Warfare (Call of Duty 4) is the only game in the series that I actually like (scratch that - loooove), so this is good news. Next, we've got more Tony Hawk for both the Wii and Nintendo DS, but apparently neither are controlled via a controller... wut... Finally we've got a, um, James Bond racing video game that's a mixture between Mario Kart and Forza. And FINALLY FINALLY we get the announcement that Activision is publishing more movie based games. Isn't it sad that they didn't announce anything, well, you know - new?

RUMOR: Dragon Quest IX to pull an Echoes of Time
December 3rd, 2008 By:

Square seems to really like multiplayer titles on Nintendo systems. We've got the Crystal Chronicles series and Dragon Quest IX for DS has been confirmed a while back to be the first game in the series to be a multiplayer title. Well, the new rumor is that the game will also head to Wii, much like Echoes of Time, which is soon to be released on both the DS on Wii. If this turns out be true, it'll be huge news. This is certainly going to be exciting if it turns out to be true.

Tidbits of information for December 2nd
December 2nd, 2008 By:

There was quite a lot of news today, so here's the rundown of some of the minor information:


 * Tommy Tallarico, one of the most appreciated western video game composers (and the creator of Video Games Live), personally confirmed that he is working on three of the tracks for Sonic and the Black Knight for Wii.
 * Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days confirmed for America.
 * GameStop plans on adding 200-300 new stores worldwide in 2009.
 * A new Wii Channel - Today and Tomorrow's Fortune Telling Lucky, has been released in Japan.
 * Sam & Max Season 2 confirmed for Wii.

Atari Live announcements (two new games)
December 2nd, 2008 By:

Two new games were announced at the Atari Live event in London, both for the Wii. First and probably most notable was the announcement of QJ for the Wii. It's a new title by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who you may know as the creator of games like Rez, Space Channel 5, and of course Lumines. The game will be a music title, and I'm sure most of you are excited to see how this game turns out.

The second announcement was the return of Ready 2 Rumble for Wii. It'll be in development by the team behind WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64, which some regard as one of the greatest boxing games of all time... or something like that. It'll feature famous characters from previous entries in the series like Afro Thunder and Boris Knokimov. It'll even feature the voice of Michael Buffer as the announcer, who started the phrase "Let's get ready to rumble!!!!".

Nintendo announces 100 Classic Book Collection for DS
December 1st, 2008 By:

Ah, now here's a title that many of our readers will probably enjoy. Nintendo just announced that they are publishing a title called 100 Classic Book Collection for the Nintendo DS. It includes 100 classic novels by a variety of writers ( *cough*most of which you could probably get for free online*cough* ) including the likes of William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens and more.

You'll be required to hold the DS like a book (hmm, I wonder why they come to that conclusion?) and you'll also be able to adjust the text size to your liking. You can flip the pages using the touch screen when you're ready to read the next page, and if you somehow are able to read all 100 novels, then you'll be able to download new ones via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (10 in all). Later on I'll create a page for the upcoming title that includes a full list of books and authors. One of the weirdest things about this - it was developed by the guys who make the console Pokémon games!

Fatal Frame 4 confirmed for Europe
December 1st, 2008 By:

Europeans are probably going to rejoice now that they are being given another core game by Nintendo, and one that was highly anticipated (maybe even more so than Disaster). And as the title says that particular game is none other than Fatal Frame 4 - a joint effort between an allstar company cast that includes none other than Nintendo (the publisher), Grasshopper Manufacture and Tecmo. The game is for Wii and according to ONM the game should be released in early February of next year. Why hath thou forsaken us, oh Fis-Aime.

Dragon Quest IX to be playable at the Jump Fiesta
December 1st, 2008 By:

Square Enix has confirmed that their highly anticipated JRPG Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS will officially be playable at the forthcoming Jump Fiesta, which we will of course cover here on the site. They also confirmed the inevitable that a new trailer will be shown.

Monster Games working with Nintendo once more
November 28th, 2008 By:

Gamers may remember Monster Games as the developer behind Nintendo published, Wii launch title Excite Truck. Well, while they would inevitably go on to create more games, they have just confirmed that they are making yet another Nintendo published title and that it has been in development for over 2 years! The 20 person team says that their project is nearly completed, and that it's SUPER TOP SECRET. So top secret, that they jokingly said that they have to dim the lights on the computer monitors when the bottled water deliveryman comes in.

Wii breaks 7 million mark in Japan
November 26th, 2008 By:

Nintendo just made another accomplishment - they have now sold 7,024,239, which as you probably know is over 7 million! The Wii and the Nintendo DS continue to be the dominating platforms in not only the land of the rising sun but in every other country as well. Nintendo is a force to be reckoned with - at the moment they seem unstoppable! In the past week alone the Nintendo DSi sold nearly 90 thousand units!

428 becomes Famitsu's ninth perfect video game
November 26th, 2008 By:

Congratulations to Sega on their new title, 428, which managed to nab four perfect tens from all the writers of Famitsu. The game is the ninth title to do so, the second on the Wii, and the fifth to appear on a Nintendo console. Other games that have been rewarded with this very rare score include the following:


 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo 64
 * Soulcalibur - Dreamcast
 * Vagrant Story - PlayStation
 * The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - GameCube
 * Nintendogs - Nintendo DS
 * Final Fantasy XII - PlayStation 2
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - PlayStation 3
 * 428 - Wii

I guess it's time to make an article!

Nintendo officially changes logo
November 26th, 2008 By:

Nintendo has released a press release explaining that they've officially changed their logo. It's not a dramatic change - simply they've changed the coloring from red to gray. We've already changed the logo on the Nintendo page here, and Nintendo's asked everyone to change whatever is red to gray - I'm personally going to have to debate whether or not to change the logo in our logo from red to gray. Here's the official message straight from a Nintendo PR:


 * "Dear Media Partner,


 * For several years, a new generation of Wii and Nintendo DS games have adorned themselves with a new logo, in discrete grey.


 * In various publications the former logo, with red lettering, can still be seen. In the event that you have not already done so, we would like to sincerely ask you to now only use the current, gray Nintendo logo.


 * Yours sincerely,


 * "Your friendly Nintendo PR team."

I just died a little...

New Monolith Soft news
November 25th, 2008 By:

As you may or may not know, Monolith Soft is the developer of the sort of acclaimed title Disaster: Day of Crisis. Nintendo purchased the company a while back, probably due to their work on the Baten Kaitos series. Well, Cubed3 recently had an interview with the company, and with it new details were given on the company's future.

First of all, there is a possibility that the Disaster franchise will continue on. The director of the video game expressed his wish for the series to appear on the Nintendo DS, though seeing the lackluster sales of the first title, which were according to Nintendo less than expected (which couldn't have been good in itself!), it's unknown whether his wish will become a reality. Second, the company hinted at multiple Wii projects underway, and perhaps most importantly they are ready to further the Baten Kaitos franchise.

Echoes of Time DSi bundle announced for Japan
November 25th, 2008 By:

We just reported the Black Friday bundles below for North America, though now Square Enix and Nintendo are partnering once more to release the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time DSi bundle, which will be released in Japan on January 29th next year. The bundle will come with a specially designed Echoes of Time DSi, a copy of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time and a soundtrack sampler which will feature the following songs:


 * "infinite sky should"
 * "Ring of Fates Medley"
 * "Crystal Chronicles Main Theme"
 * "Echoes of Time Main Theme"

Two new Nintendo DS bundles announced for Black Friday
November 25th, 2008 By:



Nintendo has announced that in celebration of this year's upcoming Black Friday, they will release two new special edition Nintendo DS bundles that will feature a limited style of a DS Lite and a video game. The most notable one in this humble writer's opinion is the Mario Red DS Lite, which sports a classic "M" on the front and comes with a copy of the highly acclaimed New Super Mario Bros.. The second is a nice looking blue DS Lite which will come with Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!. Both will cost an appropriate $149.99 USD and will be available in time for the formerly mentioned date this Friday. And seriously - if you haven't already gotten a DS - this is your chance!

''Edit: apparently the Brain Age bundle will also come with a light blue pack that you can place your DS Lite inside of. This is understandable seeing that the retail price for the game is about $10 cheaper than New Super Mario Bros.''