The Smash Bros. series is pretty amazing. Not only is it flooded with fan service for Nintendo enthusiasts but it is also one of the best produced games on the market. A lot of this is due to the games director, Masahiro Sakurai. The man is a Nintendo alumni that has worked with/for the company since he was 19. Sakurai is well known for having an eye for detail and no game shows this off more than Brawl. Every character’s moves, animations and abilities can be traced back to a former game in some capacity. Fans have noticed this and are more than willing to share what they have noticed. Several have produced videos that walk you through each character, explaining all there is to know. While a quick search will reveal several such videos, this week I am going to point y’all to a couple videos produced by YouTube user CrappyCaptureDevice. In these two entries, Samus’ moves and animations are broke down in detail letting you know how awesome Smash Bros. really is. I want to encourage everybody to search out more videos like this. Smash truly is an amazing series and I don’t know if any one person understands all the tiny references made by Sakurai and his team. Video two after the jump.
The internet has been all ablaze over the last few days because of the image above. It apparently was an image leaked by a TT Games employee through his Twitter account. It shows what is rumored to be the redesigned Wii U Controller that Nintendo will be showing off next month at E3.
The picture shows the new analog sticks replacing the Circle Pads that were present on the device last year. Some of the buttons, like the + and – buttons being moved over to the right side of the screen and two mysterious squares on the face now. What these are is only speculation, but it’s rumored (and in no way confirmed) that the one by the Home button is to sync the controller and the one under the d-pad is the Near Field Communication area. It also appears that the controller will charge using the same cable as the DSi and the 3DS. Convenient that.
System Development Consultant Erlend Wollan confirmed today that the employee who leaked the image has been fired and there could be court action taken against him for breaking the NDA with Nintendo. Does the serious action taken against this employee confirm that this is the final design of the Wii U controller? I think it does, but that’s just my opinion.
The Wii U is set to launch later this year. Nintendo has experienced some hiccups with the last couple of systems they launched. The Wii saw shortages for months after it was released. The 3DS saw a great release with an immediate plummet in sales figures. That was attributed to a lackluster library and just a general lack of knowledge about what the system was.
Nintendo is hoping to avoid those mistakes with the launch of the Wii U. Our question today takes a look at that. “You’re in charge of the Wii U launch. What would you do to avoid problems and ensure the most successful launch for a Nintendo system yet?”
Gaz Says: If there is one thing to take from the 3DS launch it is that Nintendo systems launch best with strong, first-party content. Perhaps it was fortunate that Nintendo learned this lesson with the 3DS, a system that was always going to sell well thanks to the positive associations of the DS brand. With Wii U however, Nintendo have a massive challenge; not only do they need to launch a brand new system and get it selling, but they also need to throw off the negative connotations of the Wii name and bring back the alienated fans that have been turned off by the influx of casual games. Read more…
This is our first prize show of the season, folks. Listen to this week’s show for a chance to win the Resident Evil: Revelations soundtrack. You can also expect to learn about the Konami code, pinpall games published by Nintendo and spies. Turns out Tony is a spy. Who knew?
The Question Block – 51 Round 1 – Konami Code Music Round 2 – Nintendo Pinball Round 3 – I Spy Round 4 – Resident Evil (Prize)
If you like our banter here, you can get even more from our normal podcast. You can keep up with the goings on of the site by following us on Twitter, joining our Facebook group, chatting on our forums or subscribing to our YouTube channel.
What do you do when you’re bored on a Thursday night and there’s no news to actually speak of? You make funny things in Photoshop to pass the time. This one is for you, Shelby. The whole post is inspired by our love of Capcom and their constant misspelling of things. If you can’t have a little fun during a slow news period when can you have fun? [=^) There’s plenty more fun after the break.
We got the full crew back this week as Shannon has returned from his fight against the evil, virus king. Another slow news week but we manage to fill out the show with a little more WIYW talk than normal. As for the news itself, we hit a collection of smaller stories with some longer quotes… if you’re into that sort of thing. Also, I explode into a GameStop rant towards the end of the show. E3 is one week closer. I’m so not ready for it.
episode-116
Starring – Tony, Micah, Shannon, Shelby
Run time – 1:28:48
Send us emails! We want to hear from y’all; podcast@nintendo-okie.com is the address. If you want to win some video game swag, you should listen to this week’s episode of the Question Block. As always you can subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch all the Go Rounds a day early. Likewise, you can follow us on Twitter to get notifications about content as it hits the site. You can join our Facebook group to talk or our forums.
The countdown to E3 is ticking. If you haven’t noticed, news is scarce. Our last podcast was barely an hour long. It’s getting dark but the dawn is coming soon. Before too long we will be in a flood of news and game announcements. As always the big stuff will overpower the little things and all we will hear about is Halo 4, the next Mario game and Assassin’s Creed. At least Activision had the good sense to announce Black Ops 2 before everyone goes to L.A. We all want to know what announcements are coming and I am excited to hear what Wii U is all about. However, I am hoping Nintendo will make one specific announcement for the 3DS; a Virtual Boy collection.
I know the Virtual Boy wasn’t Nintendo’s proudest moment but I have never played the majority of VB games. My time with a Virtual Boy starts and ends with an afternoon after a friend dug his out of storage. I believe the only games I played were Galactic Pinball and Mario Clash; the former of which has a Samus cameo (or her ship at least). While the experience was mostly for novelty, I did have fun – so much so that I would like to check out the rest of the Virtual Boy’s small collection. From what I understand there are only 22 games for the system; of which only 14 made it to North America. I’m not sure how varied the under workings of these games are but since development never progressed too far, I can’t imagine it would be that difficult to emulate all the software. Read more…
What happens when we don’t play any games and there is no news? We make a short show. We barely manage to fill an hour this week due to the E3 drought and life keeping us from playing games. During the news we talk about how games don’t make any money unless it’s called Call Of Duty. Also, Micah almost ODs on food, Tony threatens to hurt his cats and I complain about bugs in my house. Oh gad, is E3 here yet?
episode-115
Starring – Tony, Micah, Shelby
Run time – 1:08:41
If you have something you want to ask us, send an email to podcast@nintendo-okie.com. The Question Block has returned so be sure to listen to that show. You can also join our forum to talk to us. You can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook group. Last but not least is our YouTube channel. Subscribe. Subscribe!
The Vita’s not doing so hot right now. I’m getting sick of hearing about it. I went through the same thing with the 3DS launch. These handhelds were launched with some typical, launch games but people always want something new. Vita sales will pick up soon enough. Things like Gravity Rush and a possible price drop are what I’m waiting for. You know what’s not going to sell? The PSP Go. Man, what happened to that thing? Lack of content, high price, no way to transfer your UMDs… yeah, Sony botched the PSP Go thing pretty bad. However, Sony did make the first, all digital platform so for that they have secured their place in the history books. Here’s the thing. I have a tendency to pick up old systems several years after their prime; for the novelty and to add to my collection. I imagine someday I will pick up a Go but depending on when that happens, it may be completely useless.
It’s only a matter of time before the PlayStation Network evolves past the point of PSP compatibility. When that happens, it’s going to be hard to add new games to a PSP. Granted the PSP has been hacked to oblivion and you can pirate just about anything you want at this point, but that doesn’t help somebody who wants to acquire things legally. Ten years from now I may be able to add games to a Go through by using a computer but that stuff always seems shady. It almost defeats the purpose of collecting a system like that. Read more…
“With great power comes great responsibility.” That’s an iconic quote at this point. So explain to me how the world’s biggest Spider-Man fan – Will – fails to use Spider-Man’s powers for anything responsible at all. A hero with no consequences, that’s what you can expect from this week’s Go Round of Spider-Man 2 for the GameCube. It’s Amazing! It’s Spectacular! It’s Web Of!
The Question Block has returned! Click here to listen to the latest episode. Not only will you be able to win prizes but now you can be on the show live! You will be asked to answer three questions of the category of your choosing. Listen to the show to learn more.
The Great Friend Code Exchange
