f**k yeah! I am ALL in that!

(But still I hope for BH5 for Wii after this.)

Some interesting Wii rumours here, and I hope some of them are true: http://gonintendo.com/?p=5659

If that last one is true, then it looks like Wii Points will replace the current Stars Catalogue system in Europe (hopefully with all our stars being converted to Points).


And there's some Fire Emblem Wii footage too: http://gonintendo.com/?p=5661

And another Resi title has popped up... http://gonintendo.com/?p=5687

Does anyone know when the opera browser is supposed to come out?
We have wireless internet at my work and I don't own a laptop...
If using the japanese version pretty self explanitory, I might prefer to get that instead of waiting.

But didnt the stars catalogue used to have those 'real' items like posters and what not? and i had thousands of stars and everything was always 'sold out',then they changed it to the computer stuff you get to DL now.
I do hope they convert the stars over,and also bring the wii points to Finland....we USED to get stars here but in the last 6months they stopped doing them,so i have to get my games from england and get my brother to send them.
im STILL waiting for my delivery of MPH,my brother posted it at the end of may......im sure someone just stole it.im so pissed about that,as i STILL havent played it coz i cant afford
anyone selling one?

The Opera Browser can be downloaded from day one for an undecided price (or possibly free for a short time). You probably can't get the Japanese version either, as the online content is region-specific, and downloads are tied to user accounts.

And yeah, the stars catalogue rarely gets games and merch nowadays, and when it does, there's only a hundred or so of each item. I loved the pre-release DS deal though. Seeing as I have over 5000 stars in my account right now, I'd like them to be transferred.

I meant opera for the DS. Shoulda made that clear.
But I wasn't planning on bringing a wii to work instead of a laptop.

Ooops, didn't read that right. The Opera Browser has been dated for October 6th here in Europe (possibly along with the GBA MP3 player addon), but no date has been set for the US to my knowledge.

I've changed the first post in preparation for TGS this week, and I'll be posting all the biggest news from that too.

Ooh, so Europe is getting it first?
I guess its not all that often that we have to wait longer here, so I guess we'll have to accept that.

So, Amazon.com started offering Wii pre-orders today. They're sold out already.

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Wii/dp/B0009VXBAQ/sr=1-1/qid=1158513049/ref=sr_1_1/103-0349243-6756669?ie=UTF8&s=electronics
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13971

Ew, this review of Lego Star Wars DS does not look good.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/733/733339p1.html

Apparently, it crashes during the brief periods where characters and backgrounds aren't suddenly bugging out and disappearing for no apparent reason.

I took advantage of the Best Buy deal the other day and managed to get 3 DS games for the price of two (saved $30). I thought, what if I took a screenshot of their page online and proved to them that their offer does in fact exist (after having them tell me on the phone that it didn't) and sure enough they gave me the deal right there on the spot, in their store.

I picked up Lego Star Wars II, Mario Hoops and another copy of Mario Kart for the wife. She's lovin' every bit of it and I couldn't be happier for her. We've been rockin' out on some Tick Tock Clock among other tracks together.

Grand, so far I've run into one bug with LSW, where my partner character would disappear for a brief second or two , but I haven't run into anything else beyond that yet. This is after playing through a couple levels already. I'll be your guinea pig if you like however and let you know after some more play time if this game was worth it. I'm enjoying it so far though, despite the annoying camera.

Yeah, my girlfriend seems to enjoy the DS too. She likes Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros. and Nintendogs. She'd probably like Animal Crossing: Wild World too, because I got her into the original and she really likes that one.

And by origional, you mean the N64 one from Japan?

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?optio ... 0&Itemid=2

Microsoft are starting to add console-style bars to the top of PC games under the new 'Games for Windows' thing they've got going on.

OK, not that you guys needed me to tell you this, but stay FAR, FAR AWAY from LEGO STAR WARS II on the DS!!

It blows. and not because of the gameplay, but because of the bugs and glitches, of which I've encountered many as I progressed through the game slowly, but painfully. It makes me sad, because the gameplay would actually be decent otherwise. I'll be returning this game shortly due to it being nearly completely unplayable.

Haha, ouch. That's rough.
I feel bad for whoever is responsible for that game.

Lucas Arts, I presume. Though it does make me wonder if it could actually all be pinned on one guy.

and before anyone else says it...*cough*george*cough*

(and no, I don't think george is entirely to blame)

Blame the DS. It's such an unsuitable platform for full-scene 3D it's not even funny. I feel bad for the developers that made that game... I feel their pain.

Task:
'Memory black holes'

Discipline:
'Tech'

Estimated time:
'unknown'

Priority:
'on fire'

Risk:
'scary'

Nah, I don't blame the game system. Not by a long shot. SM64 works well. So does Mario Hoops and a handful of other 3D games without the glitches I encountered on LSW2.

I'm sure the game was rushed because Lucas Arts simply had to have the game out on every single platform at the same time as the DVD release.

I'm betting it's all marketing and deadlines. The developer didn't stand a chance to clean it up in time. But yeah, I sorta feel bad for the developers too. It's their reputation on the line, namely to those who don't know better.

You know, they could have made a fabulous sidescroller with prerendered 3D models a la Mario vs DK. They went a different route with Splinter Cell and Tony Hawk on the GBA, and the games were great because of it.

It's unfortunate, because the game (LSW2) looks great in motion.

Well, when it works, it works great.

While browsing through game development and community blogs and forums, I'm hearing people say that if given enough time to work on a game like this, it would have turned out just fine.

Playing the game, it really does seem to me that they could have pulled it off just fine, like any other 3D game on the DS. It just needed to be cleaned up and thoroughly tested.

I'm just speculating of course.

I thought the first one was great on GBA. I played some of the XBox version, and it seemed like a completely different game. I've been contemplating getting the Gamecube version, just to see. I've been tempted to pick up II, but wasn't sure which I wanted to get - DS, GC or PS2. Someone recommended PS2, but I don't know what the difference would be. I'll keep your DS warning in mind. I had it in my hand the other day, but decided to wait.

No, I mean the original in America, Animal Crossing for GCN. Why would I show my girlfriend a Japanese copy of a game, when I am implying that she doesn't play games very much?

GCN, less loading then Ps2.
Playing the first one on Ps2 loading wasnt to bad but was there,

Indeed. With infinite time and infinite monkeys. Nintendo games are never a bar for third party quality, as they know all the little tricks to their console and they don't tell us any of their secrets. It's how they keep the quality gap between themselves and third parties.

Having shipped 2 full scene 3D games so far, and in progress on a third, I can say it is nothing short of MONSTROUSLY PAINFUL to write a bullet proof 3D engine for this system.

That's a shame, what you say about them not sharing their tips and tricks for 3D game development. I guess I don't know what Nintendo stands to gain by not sharing the info, especially with their official seal of quality being clear and present on the LSW2 box. Strange stuff. I'd think their reputation would be on the line as well and that they'd go to great lengths to protect it. I guess maybe I've been under the false impression that the seal of quality meant strict standards on game testing, wherever and whoever the seal is given to. Now I feel bad, not only for developers, but consumers as well. Everyone but the publisher appears to get the shaft in cases like these.

Not to name names, but we've shipped games with bugs before that Nintendo's testers didn't catch. One nasty hard crash bug in particular that we didn't find until the game was already on the shelves.

Nintendo usually holds our games anywhere from 1-3 weeks for quality testing before approving it for manufacture...but during that time, they don't communicate with us about it. They test in a black hole.

I wouldn't take that seal to mean anything other than someone plugged the game in and it booted up, so they gave it the 'ok' to manufacture.

They do have a separate program that I believe is optional where they have an elite crack group of special ops ninja testers bang on your game and break it six ways to sunday if thats even a real saying, but it takes too much time and can only happen during the most time-sensitive portion of the development.

Maybe she was from Japan?

I'm just glad that they didn't catch most of the sequence breaking glitches and tricks in Metroid Prime until the PAL and Player's Choice versions of the game. Bah! Testing!

From what I've read about Twilight Princess, they're speed-run proofing it. Seems that one of the world's best Zelda players had trouble doing some of his old tricks in the game. Of course, that just makes it more fun to try to find the new tricks.