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New Nintendo Power details

by rawmeatcowboy
21 July 2006
GN 1.0 / 2.0

The lastest issue of Nintendo Power has made its way to subscribers, and CR has the details. Check out all the info below. Thanks Luigi193!

UPDATE 1: The Wii-mote got ‘in the way’ of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Using it might have been great but also tiresome.

UPDATE 2: COD3 will finally be one of the first games to involve the Canadian Armed Forces. Historically, Canadians were in Italy before D-Day, had sent over 1.1 million forces for the war effort and was a major supplier and ally in the war.

UPDATE 3: Nintendo Power hopes for a House of the Dead and Spore title for the Wii. They also confirm that Trauma Center: Second Opinion is a launch title.

UPDATE 4: Mephisto is in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and that a campaign to rescue heroes from Mephisto will have an epic boss battle (multi-stage) as one of the heroes makes the ‘ultimate sacrifice’.

UPDATE 5: Michel Ancel on Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wii: “(Wii) It’s so different from the other consoles that we decided to reconsider everything…We believe in the Wii and building gameplay around the controller. So now we are designing Raving Rabbids specifically (It’s an EXCLUSIVE!) for the Wii. It’s not just an adaptation. It’s a very special project, because this is really a revolution for us. Now we have to focus on one version - the Wii version.”

UPDATE 6: Xavier Poix on Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wii: “The more we heard about the Wii, the more interested we became. Then when we got our development kits, we knew that everything we dreamed of doing on this was possible. That’s why we changed our minds. We decided, ‘Ok let’s just focus on Wii’. That’s it. The other (versions) can come later.”

UPDATE 7: Rayman Plot: Unexpected invasion from crazed bunnies (Rabbids) that lived underground and have planned and waited for the day they could take over the world. Michel Ancel speaks about the game: “When you start the game, Rayman is a prisoner. The Rabbids don’t know anything about him. They don’t know that he’s a hero.” Nintendo Power mentions that the story is similar in a way to the Acadamy Award-winning movie Gladiator where Rayman becomes more popular amongst his captors to the point that he must become more popular than the obese and sadistic emperor of the Rabbids.

UPDATE 8: More about the controls are explained for Rayman. You can ride on top of a Warthog and you steer the animal tilting the Wii-mote left and right and you can flick the controller to pick up speed. Final version of the game is promised to have full destructable obstacles. You can swing (chained) cows (remind you about Earthworm Jim) while holding the B trigger and you swing the Wii-mote over your head to swing the cows and you can increase velocity to the point that you let them go. One of your goals in the game is to slam the bathroom stall doors where the Rabbids are sitting on the toilet before they use a plunger against you. There is an FPS sequence in the game where you are dropped on a desert island wearing only a fig leaf and you are up against an army of Rabbids while armed with a plunger gun.

UPDATE 9: Rayman consists of at least 60 trials and you do alot of things like flicking the nunchuk to do a jump on a jump rope, a foot race, using Rayman’s hands to fling and grab objects when you flick the nunchuk etc . Unfortunately the main attraction of the game isn’t platforming although there will be many platformer-type trials and the game is an adventure title. Also you actually dance physically so you can gain popularity points.

UPDATE 10: Rayman will have a multiplayer component. Ancel says “We hope the player can continue having fun with his friends even after he’s finished the single-player mode”. Some multiplayer trials include passing the controller around while others allow for four players. One of the trials included a cow milking contest. Regarding WiiConnect24 and Wi-Fi compatibily Ancel responds “We’re still waiting for more information from Nintendo. We have some ideas that we definitely want to implement; we’re just waiting to hear from them to make sure we can do it.”

UPDATE 11: Ubisoft’s Ancel on Wii’s Graphics: “In terms of visuals, if it’s fluid, if you can understand the picture, that’s enough. The number of polygons does not make you laugh or cry. We did a lot of good looking games on this generation of graphics processors. The Wii hardware is more powerful than those, so that’s good enough for us. We’re using our energy on gameplay and new ideas more than on shaders and things like that…The hardware capabilities aren’t a limitation. It’s more a question of coming up with new ideas than worring about technical specifications. With the Wii, it’s all about having fun.”

UPDATE 12: Ubisoft’s Xavier Poix speaks on Wii’s Graphics: “When it comes to graphics, we’re more focused on the artistic side. You know, when you see the last generation of games on Gamecube-Resident Evil 4, for instance-it’s beautiful. When you look at what they’re doing on Xbox 360, they have many great-looking games, but usually it’s more focused on the number of polygons than on the real artistic side. And we here focus on the artisitic side. We like it.”

UPDATE 13: There are about eight Rayman screenshots from the game and in my opinion they look really beautiful. There are also concept arts of the game and one of them show the emperor himself (similar to Jabba the Hutt). Be patient and wait till these screens are out in high quality or at least get the issue.

UPDATE 14: Nintendo Power asks Michel Ancel of Ubisoft about a ‘Beyond Good & Evil’ sequel. Ancel replies “(jokingly) We’ve already relased it! Haven’t you played it yet? I think it’s still in the hearts of everyone here. There are no plans at the moment, but it’s out there somwhere. Who knows? It could be our next project. We just don’t know yet.”

UPDATE 15: Nintendo’s Daiji Imai speaks about Twilight Princess: “We’re still figuring out how to best use Wii’s capabilities. There’s still alot of work to do, and fans’ expectations are very high. I don’t think we should make things too complex though…So far, we have only revealed a handful of things about the latest Zelda-the village, the forest, the dungeon-but there are many other things waiting for you in the final game. I think Twilight Princess might be different from player’s estimations, but I guarantee that it will exceed their expectations. You can count on it!”

UPDATE 16: The next big feature in the issue is on Red Steel. The first two pages is practically a poster with a Japanese ‘bad girl’ (from the Shibuya Girls) holding a blade, sitting on the lap of one of the bad guys who hold’s a gun. And there is a table with the Wii-mote and nunchuku. All of a sudden the image I have of Red Steel…suddenly changed…According to Nintendo Power, The Shibuya Girls are mysterious geishas with an attire that conceals their taste of blood (kinda gothic). Apparently the mistress of Tokai takes control of the Shibuya Girls and the community while one of the old-school leaders requests your help to restore order to the streets of Shibuya.

UPDATE 17: In Red Steel, the main baddie Tokai is looking to take power of six other Yakuza clans. One example is the Financial Clan, who control the major banks as it seems. Tokai is trying to sway many of it’s members while you have to infiltrate the clan’s boss’s office in order to convince him to align with you. The other example is the Game Fight Clan who watches over the legal/illegal activities of the entertainment industry. They set up the games, find the players and makes sure everyone pays up, all while keeping the police off their back (the ones that aren’t Yakuza controlled). You’ll have to earn their trust in the game and go through many challenges in ’specially designed arenas’.

UPDATE 18: In Red Steel you have a few friends who help you along the way. Otori is a former Yakuza member and martial arts trainer in Japan and your first contact. He will teach you the ways of your new weapon but not join you in battle. Harry Tanner is an American night-club owner in the heart of Yakuza territory. He’ll instruct you in the art of firearms and help you connect to other Yakuza bosses that visit his joint.

UPDATE 19: There are a few screenshots and concept arts from Red Steel in this issue. Also they took 7,000 photos of Tokyo to develop ‘realistic’ scenery for the game.

UPDATE 20: The October issue of Nintendo Power will have a feature on Metroid Prime 3 and as to why it will change the FPS genre forever.

UPDATE 21: Small previews of One Piece, Final Furlong and Open Season were shown with new screens. Nintendo Power isn’t sure if One Piece and Final Furlong will be making it’s way to American shores.

UPDATE 22: Major League Baseball from 2K Sports should be out for the Wii around 2007-2008 along with other 2K titles.

UPDATE 23: Nintendo Power speculates that you might be able to expand your DS games to the TV Screen (similar to GBA Player?) with the Wii.