Tuesday 3 October 2006
If you struggled to make sense of the Japanese Wii Channel demo video we brought you last month then here's a batch of screens from the English language version of Wii's start-up interface, including images of the Mii character creator, the Virtual Console launcher and the main Channel page.
We're not convinced that all of Wii's Channels are of much use - when is your mum going to turn on the console, write out a note about ice cream on the message board and then save it
MS BK WTF
Here's a question. Who has the more terrifying fixed plastic grin: Burger King or Brooke Burke?
You won't have to wonder for long, because for a mere $3.99 you can suffer through games starring both of them. Starting November 19, Burger King will be offering up a slate of games - playable on any Xbox or Xbox 360 - alongside the purchase of any value meal.
The best possible idea - Burger King vs King of All Cosmos - is, sadly, not happening. No, we're getting Pocketbike Racer
Now that we're out of the summer doldrums, game releases are picking up speed with each passing day. This week alone there are 20 or so new titles on the shelf, compared to, oh, five or so during June and July. Next Gen, our companion site-at-arms, has sifted through the upcoming tidal wave of releases and settled on 45 upper-deck games you have to play. That should give you an idea of how many games there'll be total, if 45 is the "must-have" list.
Head here for the complete list, hitting all
Monday 2 October 2006
Nintendo's Wii console will feature a system called Play History, a permanent record that keeps tabs on what you're playing, when you're playing it and for how long. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata hopes Play History will "stop games being regarded with hostility in the family".
The Play History record cannot be deleted and is designed to "allow parents to discuss with their children how much they are using the console," says Shinichiro Tamaki, of Nintendo's research and
Originally posted on September 29, 2006
The editors we sent to this year's Tokyo Game Show might have been fresh off a plane and still reeking of jetlag when they came back to the office, but that didn't stop us from dragging them into a bright room and fixing our cameras on them. Why? To collect their raw thoughts on what they'd just spent the last week seeing, of
Seriously... what?
We know corporate-level trash talking has to be done - Microsoft faces big-time competition - but just saying something doesn't make it true. Blu-ray will help the PS3 have better games; it's a fact. By the same token, though Phil Spencer of Microsoft Game Studios might pretend that the Nintendo Wii won't offer new types of gaming, he isn't kidding anyone.
Asinine quote of the day: "I don't think the promise of a new input device means a new kind of game." Right, Phil...
Pokemon attack Tokyo
We've got a preview of the import version in the works - never fear - but we thought we'd bring you a quick note to remind you: Pokemon Diamond / Pearl, for the DS, has hit Japan. The lines are long - 150 people outside of one store in Tokyo. As Wired blogger Chris Kohler points out, the DS has managed to ravage Japan before Pokemon even came out. Where is there to go but into the stratosphere?
Raiding next-gen tombs
Poring through very dull financial statements isn't
Opera Software has announced that its internet browser, already confirmed to be a part of Wii's online presence, will be free until June of 2007. After that, it'll be available for purchase by using Nintendo's fun-money Wii points. The price hasn't been revealed as of yet.
The browser will be downloadable from Wii's Shop Channel - you can find out much more about this and all the other channels by reading our
Get your hands on a PS3... easy
You probably won't be able to buy one this November, but it shouldn't be too hard to get some time with a PlayStation 3 - behind glass, anyway. Sony has announced plans to install 15,000 playable demo kiosks of PS3 at retail locations in the US and Canada in time for the system's launch - five times what the company offered for PS2, our sister site Next Generation reports. It should be pretty simple to figure out if the thing's worth $600 when you see it in
This latest round of Sonic and the Secret Rings shots is one of the few times you'll catch the game standing still: Wii has provided a perfectly bright and speedy return to form for Sega's tireless mascot.
Some of the screens also offer an indication of how you'll be wrangling the Wii-mote, chauffeur-style, to steer Sonic through the levels - although in the case of most of the screens it seems to be holding it level and just drinking in the Arabian Nights-inspired
