Quote:There were obviously a ton of great games to see -- Mass Effect, Too Human, the Halo 3 trailer again. But after finishing about a half hour of intense multiplayer action, there was one game I knew I had to see again: Gears of War. I don't care if I have to hold Cliffy B. hostage or spray hot booth-babes with a fire-hose as a diversion, but I will play Gears again before the end of this E3 -- it was that fun.

Quote:...Epic nailed the controls. They are intuitive, simple, fluid and seamless, and pretty damned fun.

Quote:The second thing you'll notice is the outstanding level design.

best Sonic game in the making?

Quote:All it takes is a few seconds of play time and the changes to Sonic's core gameplay can easily be seen. For starters, the control has been completely stripped, replacing the original analog execution with tilt control. Players control Sonic by simply tilting the Wii-mote (held in the classic NES position) left or right. Rather than positioning the game as yet another free-roaming adventure, each level instead acts as a rollercoaster of sorts, sending Sonic on a pre-determined path, while giving the player full control over movement and speed. Since the path is already set, players use the tilt function to navigate the track, grabbing items and fighting enemies at their own pace. It may sound basic, but that's what brings the series back to its original form, as it controls like the 2D version did, while still providing a 3D feel.

http://mfile.akamai.com/12890/wmv/vod.ib...2.200k.asx

Eddy! :D

Well, watch this little video. Seems a crook decided to sell a product with no evidence at all it works. Turns out, this news team ran a well run experiment to test these pills that are supposed to get you better gas mileage (through strange sciency sounding words that show that they know how to make up sciency sounding phrases and have no idea what actual sciency terms they state even mean). The experiment shows absolutly no evidence at all these pills do anything. Further, the pills were spectographed to detect a chemical the stench of them suggested was there. They are moth balls. And, old 1970's moth balls, the sort that were poisoness (though the bottle says they are non-toxic).

So basically, this is a warning. Be skeptical about ways to save your money before you end up just losing it!

http://www.fileplanet.com/163385/160000/...igh-Res%5D
(video)

DOAX2, so over the top it's kind of funny... :)

Quote:From Reuters:

Microsoft sides with Nintendo in fight vs Sony
Thu May 11, 2006 2:25 PM BST



By Daisuke Wakabayashi

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> sided with rival Nintendo Co. Ltd. <7974.OS> on Wednesday in the fight to unseat video game leader Sony Corp.<6758.T>, saying many consumers will choose to buy both of their machines for the price of one PlayStation 3.

The bad blood between Sony and Microsoft in the fight for dominance in the nearly $30 billion video game industry has escalated over the last few days, with both sides trading barbs at the E3 Expo, the video game industry's annual trade show.

Microsoft entered the next-generation game console market first with its Xbox 360 last November.

Sony aims to extend its market leadership with its upcoming PS3, while Nintendo plans to offer a new game machine called Wii in the fourth quarter.

"Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3?" Peter Moore, a Microsoft vice president, said in an interview. "People are going to buy two (machines.) They're going to buy an Xbox and they're going to buy a Wii ... for the price of one PS3."

Microsoft predicted on Tuesday it will have 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market before Sony launches the PS3. The high-end Xbox 360 sells for $399, but it does not include a built-in high-definition DVD video player that comes with Sony's PS3.

Sony plans to sell a premium PS3 model for $599 when it debuts in North America on November 17, and Nintendo has not yet disclosed pricing for Wii.

Wii comes equipped with motion sensitive controllers to allow users to mimic the motion of wielding a sword or swinging a tennis racket.

Moore then turned pitchman for Nintendo's Wii, the latest offering from the Japanese company that once dominated the video game industry.

"People will always gravitate toward a competitively priced product -- like what I believe Wii will be -- with innovative new designs and great intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Metroid," Moore told Reuters.

Sony currently dominates the worldwide video game market with a 66 percent share, while Microsoft and Nintendo each hold 17 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.

"We have 100 percent market share of the next-generation, and their job is to take that from us," said Moore.

"When I think on everything that we've got going right now that is real versus what Sony promises to do six, seven months from now, obviously we feel very good about where we stand."

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Despite Microsoft's head start with the Xbox 360, the software giant still faces an uphill climb in Sony and Nintendo's home turf.

Microsoft received a tepid response to its Xbox 360 debut in Japan and demand fell short of expectations during last year's holiday season when it sold about 100,000 machines.

The company introduced a competitively priced console in Japan, but some of its game titles did not appeal to Japanese gamers. Moore expects upcoming role-playing games like "Lost Odyssey" and "Blue Dragon" from the creator of the popular "Final Fantasy" series to do well in Japan.

"Quite frankly," said Moore, "if we're sitting here a year from now and things continue to fall flat, then we might say 'we don't know what to do anymore."'

E3 2006: More Metroid 3 Secrets Unveiled
New gameplay and release date info inside.
by Peer Schneider

May 10, 2006 - In an interview with the Retro Studios team, IGN Wii learned today that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will indeed be a launch game for Nintendo Wii. Developed from the ground up for the new platform and its unique controllers, Metroid will arrive alongside The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess offering up a first-party double punch when the console ships this holiday season.


Like its predecessors, the game will not feature an online mode for competitive multiplay -- however, support of the system's 24-hour-connection is under consideration. This would allow Nintendo to push upgrades and additional content to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption owners with wireless connections even when the console is switched off.

Retro Studios also confirmed that Metroid Prime 3 will depart from the light and dark world setup introduced in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and instead feature large areas to explore on multiple worlds. Though Samus will use her new gunship to travel between planets, players hoping to pilot Samus Aran's new gunship may be disappointed to hear that they will not be able to pilot the ship themselves. Travel between areas likely occurs only in cutscene form. That's not to say that the ship doesn't feature a large role in the game, however. Retro hinted at a new visor mode that lets Samus command her ship from the ground. For example, she can use the gunship uplink to blow up obstacles in her way and gain access to new areas.

Though the other visors are still being kept a secret, Retro did confirm that the X-Ray visor will return and play a bigger part in both combat and puzzle solving. Used in conjunction with a new beam that is able to shoot through walls, players will be able to detect obscured enemies and take them out safely.

The developer is also hard at work on polishing the graphics in the game to make it a noticeable step up over the previous titles. Retro has added new bloom effects and much more complex particle systems for even bigger fireworks. The target framerate for the final game is a smooth 60 frames per second.

Look for the complete interview soon.

-----------


YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! launch title baby!

now, while i'm disappointed that you cant fly the gunship, it's a very interesting concept to use it 'remote control' to blast open certain areas, i bet it will make an appearance for boss battles where you have to work between fighting the boss and ordering your ship to perform certain functions. very cool news indeed. retro also says that the graphics are being updated constantly and this is still a prebuild about 80% done and was originally designed for the GC (hence the GC graphics and Wii added special effects). when the rumor of Prime 3 being delayed hit i was seriously upset, but Nintendo is actually going to put Zelda and Metroid out on the same day. Insanity! :D:D:D:D

That's unexpected... Super Smash Brothers: Brawl announced. Many pics. With some interesting new characters...

Before the good news though, first the bad: 2007. It's not a launch title. Anyway, here we go...

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/707/707504p1.html

Quote:Smash Bros. Brawl
Playable Characters unveiled!
by IGN Staff
The Omen

May 10, 2006 - Nintendo just pulled a fast one on us. At an after-hours press briefing a mere minute ago, the company pulled another ace out of its sleeve: Smash Bros. Brawl -- the next installment in Nintendo's popular Super Smash Bros. series.

Details are just now rolling in, but we have confirmed the following playable characters:

# Pit (Kid Icarus)
# Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)
# Zero Suit Samus (the blue "no-suit" Samus from Metroid: Zero Mission)
# Meta-Knight (Kirby)
# Wario (Wario)

The game also features a range of new nasty toys, such as the ability to unleash a puppy from Nintendogs that will run up to the screen, put its paws up and obscure the view of the action. Mario, Kirby, Pikachu and Link have been confirmed as returning characters.

More as it breaks.

Quote:Live: Super Smash Bros. Brawl revealed for Wii, featuring Solid Snake!

Posted May 10th 2006 10:16PM by James Ransom-Wiley



Speaking at a special Nintendo developer event, Miyamoto has just unveiled Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii. Newcomers include: Pit (Kid Icarus), Zero Suit Samus, Wario, and ... Snake!



During E3 Last year, Miyamoto approached Masahiro Sakurai, the series creator and now independent developer, insisting that he make a new Smash Bros. To make it happen, Nintendo put together a team to assist Sakurai. The result is Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the first Wii titles to avoid motion-controlled attacks.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be fully compatible with the GameCube controller. Sakurai's reasoning is simple. He doesn't want to alienate gamers that prefer the traditional gamepad.



The game will feature online multiplayer. Singel-player mode will see some changes, but Sakurai has declined to elaborate. Miyamoto did say (via translator) that we can expect "a very robust" single-player mode.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl will not be a launch title. Sakurai has confirmed a 2007 release.



Wario will have a special fart attack.



Kojima had begged Sakurai to inlcude snake in the GameCube version of Smash Bros., but since it the middle of the development cycle, it was too late to add the character. When Brawl became a realirt, Sakurai contacted Kojima and the decision was made to include Snake. Solid Snake will use explosives ... and a cardboard box.

Snake is the only thrid party character confirmed for Brawl.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option...3&Itemid=2

Quote:Miyamoto Faces the Future
By Staff Print | Send to a friend | Email the editor
Shigeru Miyamoto knows that this industry is at a crossroads – he’s been one of the most prominent figures in getting it to this point. But then, he's at a kind of crossroads as well. Where he chooses to go from here has huge ramifications for all of gaming.
ImageIn an interview with Edge Magazine, Miyamoto discusses his company, his life, and his competition.

On The Evolution of New Gamers

“I think that by the end of the last year, DS was selling very well to all kinds of people – ladies in their 20s, people in their 50s – and for many of them the DS was the very first games console they had ever purchased in their lives. And actually, many people in the industry and in Nintendo thought that maybe these newcomers to the gaming world would be only interested in the games like Brain Training, that maybe they would not be purchasing any more games afterwards. However, the fact of the matter is that they are now buying a lot of the so-called traditional games, including Super Mario 64, so that was a big surprise for us.”

The DS in the West

“What’s happening right now is that Nintendo has been unable to introduce the new types of software in the west that we’ve been able to introduce in Japan. When it comes to Europe and the US, all we have done in the Touch Generations series is Nintendogs. I wish we could have done the localization processes much earlier so we could have brought this software out last year, but we couldn’t. However, I think this year is going to be the year that we’re going to see the real evolution of the Nintendo DS, because… well… before I answer that, I have to ask you a question. What did you eat two nights ago?”

“…this is what we do. This is what we did in Japan. We just asked: ‘Do you like dogs?’ We didn’t say ‘Ah, there is a new game called Nintendogs for the DS available at this date and at this price,’ we just asked people if they liked dogs. And they said: ‘Oh yes, I like to play with dogs. They don’t care what format it’s on or how it works, they just like dogs. Then we asked what they ate two nights ago and everybody found out that they had to think very hard about it, and that helped them show that Brain Age was software that was one way or another relevant to their daily lives. It’s not a game machine, it’s not a personal computer, it’s just Nintendogs or Brain Training and suddenly they felt: ‘Oh, that’s something for me.’ And we haven’t created that atmosphere in Europe or the US yet – but as long as we’re asking questions like ‘Do you like dogs?’ and ‘What did you eat two nights ago?’ then we get a reaction from people that’s almost identical wherever we are.

On Where the Industry is Heading

“Regardless of whatever industry you’re doing business in, it isn’t healthy for everyone to be heading in the same direction. Each of us needs to look into the possibility of some other directions all the time so we can expand the core industry. So, because of that, I think what Nintendo is doing is right for the industry but if other companies believe that their future course is also right, then that’s healthy too.”

“What Nintendo is trying to do is introduce a completely new platform which means we can give small teams with unique ideas the opportunity to make a great game. And those kind of great games have the potential to become the most successful software in the world. So I think it’s definitely the right direction for Nintendo to be taking into the future.”

Nintendo and the Perception of Nintendo

“We always want to be the number one creators for whatever Nintendo hardware platform we are talking about. We have to do that – of course! But what we’re trying to do is to make the hardware that will drag out the very best possible quality from the software. What we try to be is the role model – we want other developers to learn from us.”

“As far as Japan is concerned, thanks to the overwhelming success of the DS, I think a lot of people now understand what kind of company Nintendo is and what it is we are trying to do. In the rest of the world we are yet to see that but I think that this year is going to be very important – if we can send the right message to the customer then we will see people start to understand Nintendo. For example, when it comes to Revolution, we don’t call it a next-generation console. We call it a new-generation console.”

On What he Admires about his Rivals

“Well. In the case of Sony, I think their endeavors to create new chips and then to make enough of them to reduce the manufacturing cost – I think that’s something that’s nice for this industry, as well as for other industries. As for Microsoft, I think they have a good attitude to providing the developer kits and development environment that make it easy to make games. I think that attitude needs to be appreciated.”

From press.nintendo.com...

Big Brain Academy™
Brain Age™: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
Chibi-Robo™: Park Patrol
Children of Mana®
Clubhouse Games™
Custom Robo™ Arena
Diddy Kong® Racing DS (looks like an improved port of the N64 game with some added characters, possibly? No fact sheet or video is available, only a logo and one screenshot...)
DK™: King of Swing DS
DS Air (flight game, name temporary)
Elite Beat Agents™ (Osu! Takatae! Ouendan! US version)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215™ (graphic adventure made by the Trace Memory people)
Kirby™ (classic normal 2d style Kirby)
The Legend of Zelda®: Phantom Hourglass
Magical Vacation (working title)
Magnetica™ (Puzzloop)
Mario™ Hoops 3-on-3
Mario vs. Donkey Kong™ 2:March of the Minis
New Super Mario Bros.®
Pokémon® Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
Pokémon® Ranger
Star Fox® DS
Sudoku Gridmaster
Tenchu: Dark Secret™
Yoshi's Island® 2

Now THAT is a good lineup.