IGN Nintendo Voice Chat Ep. 2 summary

The overall theme of this show seems to be that good things are coming. Major third party titles will be announced fairly soon, which is always a good thing. There’s plenty of talk about Sonic Unleashed, which the IGN team is torn on. Check out the summary below, which comes from our friend Valay.

Rock Band

- Coming out in June, 63 songs (5 exclusive), offline multiplayer, in stereo
- Missing important features - downloadable content, online - yet, still costs the same
- Basically a port of PS2 version
- Rushing the game

WiiWare

- Launching in Japan tomorrow
- Videos, interface, etc. will be available

Final Okami version in office

- 16 X 9 mode is perfect
- Runs at 30 FPS, sometimes dips
- Good, not better than Twilight Princess
- Better looking on Wii than on PS2

We Ski

- Uses Wii Balance board - go down slopes
- Looks slick (Matt and Bozon were surprised), but not dazzling

We Love Golf!

- Matt excited, videos have been posted
- Looks solid
- Team previously has developed Mario Golf games
- Hasn’t sold well in Japan, Matt wants people to support it in America

Mario Kart

(Notes below are about local play - Bozon and Matt can’t talk about online)
- Grand Prix - one player only
- Battle mode - up to 4 players, must use teams - free for all gone
- Balloon Fight, Coin Runners
- You can come back in Balloon Fight when you lose all of your balloons - scoreboard utilized for the mode
- Timed 3 minutes each
- Coin Runners: lose all of your coins when hit, also 3 timed 3 minutes
- Reviews that are out that haven’t been fully tested - can’t talk about online in reviews

Sega Superstars Tennis

- Not as good as it should have been - Matt
- No online, looks blurry

- Skycrawlers coming out for Wii
- Blast Works looking impressive - gameplay is really at level editor

Reader Questions

- Sonic Unleashed won’t come to Wii - Matt thinks it looks too nice, Bozon thinks it actually looks good
- Nintendo is trying to attract casual gamers with Mario Kart Wii
- Bozon doesn’t think Guitar from Guitar Hero will be compatible with Rock Band
- Letter-grade system, 5-star system good review score systems
- Some sports games (ex: Madden - off of the field, hockey) would benefit from PES system
- Voice chat plans up in the air, won’t depend on Pay to Play - may follow DS model
- The IGN office has already had a Brawl tournament
- Is Mario Kart Wii a must-buy? Matt:”Eh…” - Will depend on online functionality - Bozon thinks DS version is better
- Matt cannot confirm/deny Factor 5 Kid Icarus rumor
- Mother 3 won’t be brought to America
- Matt hasn’t seen Kid Icarus in action, “developer is pretty damn good”
- Fight Night on Wii has potential
- Recent Capcom announcements: Matt hopes to see new IPs
- Sonic and the Secret Rings improvements: Speed, random walls popping up should be removed, more loop moments/shooting Sonic in air
- Pay to Play: Will apply to some downloadable content (ex: WiiWare games)
- Mario Kart release date was positioned to counter GTA4 a bit, but GTA will outsell it
- Favorite Wii titles that nobody has played - Matt: Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Zack and Wiki , Bozon: Scarface, Godfather
- Other than harddrive, voice chat, Matt would like to see “graphics,” more horsepower
- Bozon really excited about Target Terror (joke)
- Nintendo might do downloadable content for Animal Crossing on Wii, won’t be MMORPG
- There’s a chance Command and Conquerer could come out on DS and Wii (speculation)
- No MegaMan on Wii yet, Bozon hopes to see it on Virtual Console
- Wii Music may have a peripheral, but Matt doesn’t know yet
- Matt will ask Camelot questions about Mario Golf
- Sonic Unleashed HD screenshots on Wii story going around is a lie
- Soma Bringer might be localized, Matt and Bozon love the game