GDC impressions/Punch-Out!!
– In Punch-Out!!, fighters flash red, internet message boards are exploding
– Punch-Out!! is great, but it’s very similar to the first game
– Bozon wishes there were 40 fighters, but there are 14
– Bozon describes the game as a “popcorn game”
– Chose to do Punch-Out!! again which is fine
– Craig glad they made a classic Punch-Out!!
– Not surprised about limited amount of fighters since animation is in-depth
– Beautiful, has great animation
– Daemon didn’t like the motion controls at all
– Next Level Games coy about online features
– Cut-scenes are like comic book panels
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
– People are flaming up the message boards (wanted Zelda Wii)
– Doesn’t seem to really do anything new
– Bozon hopes they put in d-pad controls but they probably won’t
– Navi icon replaced with spirit sparkles where you’re pointing
– Bozon thinks it looks like a fun game
– Matt would love to see a new Wind Waker on Wii
– Will be out later this year
Storage solution
– They called it a few weeks back that it would come out in March
– Still can’t use save data on SD card
– Some people don’t like how you have to save space on internal memory
– Every system has a little bit of wait
– Developers said even if you could run it off SD card, load times would be slow
Virtual Console Arcade
– Was also announced at GDC
– Hard to start – no instructions on how to start the game – it took Craig 10 minutes to figure it out
– Bozon likes how it doesn’t go into some weird aspect ratio
Denise Kaigler
– Chatted for 30 minutes
– Packed full of revelations (joke)
– Matt asked a punch of questions, couldn’t say much or give exclusives or anything
– Matt wishes he could put up some of the audio clips (they’re funny)
– It was a fun interview
– Anybody who goes in thinking you’ll come out with a lot – that never really happens
– Have to go in armed with questions that relates to Nintendo’s strategy
– Can sometimes get them to comment on strategy
– Chose not to give a tease
Winter 2.0
– Matt saw it last week
– n-Space title, survival horror, etc.
– Made a lot of graphical improvements
– Added Wii MotionPlus
– Added snow effects, bloom effects
– MotionPlus mapped to character attacks
– Notable improvement to what he saw awhile ago
– Optimistic that they’ll find somebody, but we’ll see
– Matt suggested that they stay behind the back with the camera
– Probably won’t have extra control depth if you don’t have MotionPlus
Wii MotionPlus
– Nintendo should package MotionPlus with the system
– Have heard that MotionPlus would ship with permanent condom
– Wii MotionPlus device would be infused with the jacket
– It’s what they heard, but nothing is confirmed
Spectrobes
– It’s pretty cool but Bozon isn’t a Spectrobes guy
– Use regular button attacks for main combos, gestures for bigger attacks
– Kind of Pokemon game if it was an action RPG
– Do a nice job of bringing out IR
– Has good feel to it overall
– Bozon not huge on the license
– It’s for a younger demographic but it seems cool
Bonsai Barber
– Comes from Zoonami
– Cut trees and vegetable branches/roots
– Point at screen with Wiimote which acts as scissors/razor
– Can do 5 haircuts a day, then game forces you to stop playing
– Game is fun, very simple
– Shows you outline of what you’re supposed to cut
– It’s not very easy – it’s precise
– Do get rated – up to 5 stars
– Might be a little overpriced
– It’s cute and original, perfect game for WiiWare
– Matt wishes it was $5
Night Game
– From Nicalis
– Daemon thought it was awesome
– 2D side-scrolling platformer
– Divided into scenes
– Control little orb, maneuver through scenes
– Physics based puzzles
– Apparently has a really cool soundtrack
DSiWare
– WarioWare: Snapped!, Aquia, Bird & Beans, Opera Browser were going to be for DSiWare launch
– Nintendo then called and said it was an example of what would be coming early on
– Mighty Flip Champs – just about everything is done, shaping a few things up – For launch-window
– Pop+ will be a DSiWare launch title
Reader questions
– Only region-encoding for DSi right now is for the store
– DSi supports WPA, but only with DSi software
– Everything in The Conduit just works – selling point for Matt are the controls, good technology – doing a lot more than most Wii games
– The Conduit will probably use friend codes
– Developers of Punch-Out!! said they jammed the Wii disc with stuff – a lot of voice-overs, animation
– Wouldn’t count on an Eternal Darkness sequel on Wii
– Broken Sword good from what Daemon can tell thus far
– Matt doesn’t think Nintendo needed to go casual to survive
– Bozon doesn’t think Jet Force Gemini will come back
– Can close DSi and play music
– Don King Prizefighter won’t be the best boxing game when it releases
– Aside from Link’s Crossbow Training, there aren’t any first-party games designed for Wii Zapper
– Nintendo (tries to) block homebrew channel with firmware releases
– Can move whatever Wi-Fi data from DS to DSi
