BusinessWeek Online - Nintendo’s (ntdof.pk.PK) Wii strategy was conceived from the get-go to encourage a less sedentary form of gaming. Now the company is unveiling its calorie-burning coup de grce, Wii Fit.
NewsFactor - Greenpeace has released the results of its investigation into hazardous materials in next-generation video game consoles. The study reveals that the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 Elite and Microsoft Xbox 360 have all tested positive for hazardous chemicals.
BBC News recently ran a story about an 11-year-old girl from Lincolnshire has been described as overweight by Nintendo\’s Wii Fit video game. However, comments on the Childrens BBC news site have shown that this is not an isolated incident. Many children, some as young as 9, are upset the game has labeled them as overweight. \”I got a Wii Fit for my birthday and it also told me I was overweight, even though I am an ideal weight for my height.\” said one 9 year old. Surely its time for Nintendo to make sure that there is a prominent warning in the game that states it is not accurate for young children?
Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America told those at the Electronic Gaming Summit today that the average Wii gamer is a hardcore gamer. According to Nintendo 79 percent of Wii gamers are 18+ males that have an income of $50k or more. They also say that more than half of Wii gamers play games 5+ hours a week.
Maxim Online have reviewed Wii Fit and aren\’t as impressed as others have been with the game. They say that if Nintendo expect them to act like fools on Wii Fit then they can feck off. \”Out of the options \”Buy, Rent, or Disembowel\” they recommend a good old disemboweling.
Nintedo has confirmed that three new DS colors will be released in Europe on June 13. The three colors are red, lime green and light blue.
Square Enix today announces that the Zenithia Trilogy, which includes DRAGON QUEST: The Chapters of the Chosen, DRAGON QUEST: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride and DRAGON QUEST: Realms of Reverie is coming to Europe and PAL territories. The trilogy begins this September with the release of DRAGON QUEST: The Chapters of the Chosen exclusively on the Nintendo DS. The forthcoming trilogy is the first time these classic titles have been released in Europe.
D3Publisher of Europe Ltd (D3PE) today announced it is to publish the latest game from renowned Japanese development team Treasure. Entitled Bangai-O Spirits, it will be released for Nintendo DS in August. The game is a blend of fast-paced shooter and puzzler genres, seasoned with strategic and tactical elements. It features 1-4 player multiplayer via local wireless and will let you create and edit levels and then transfer them to other DS systems via sound. Never before utilized for DS systems, the Sound Load technology in Bangai-O Spirits allows players to transfer level data among DS handheld systems via the use of sound and the DS microphone.
SCEA has revealed that they delayed the launch of Killzone 2 to Feb 2009 because of a crowded fall release calendar and made it clear that \”there is nothing wrong or causing a delay to the development of the title.\” We (SECA) had to look at the fall calendar with SOCOM, LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2, plus some PSN titles and make a decision where each game should come out. Killzone 2 was moved to Feb 2009 to make sure we didn’t have three shooters in the marketplace competing for retail dollars during the same holiday season. The game will be great and it will be out in Feb 2009 in both Europe and North America.
Sony were apparently talking quite a lot about community websites at Sony\’s \’Pre-E3 Judge\’s Event in LA\’ and it seems many PS3 games will be getting Bungie.net style community sites. Those confirmed to be getting community sites include Motorstorm: Pacific Rim, Resistance 2 and SOCOM: Confrontation. Killzone 2 already has a site for Killzone: Liberation but will add \”rankings and statistics\” for Killzone 2. Also, LittleBigPlanet should be getting some kind of community site but Sony have not decided on how to integrate the game with such a site.
More Haze reviews have come in and the game currently has a metacritic score of 54/100 which is the same average score given to \’Transformers: The Game\’. There are currently 4 reviews that have given the Haze a score below 50 with the rest hovering around the 60 mark.
A member of the official Playstation forums has done a good job creating his own gunmetal gray PS3. He used a tin of Tamiya Gunmetal TS-38 spray paint and used Testors Dullcote 1260 for the flat clear.
According to the official Playstation page, the PSN features game invites. It states: \”Send game invites to your PLAYSTATION Network Friends\”. hopefully we will hear more info on this soon.
SCEA today announced the Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack, a limited-edition bundle launching in August. This special bundle ($199.99 MSRP) will feature a limited-edition \”Metallic Blue\” PSP system with the Madden NFL 09 game; \”NFL: In Just One Play\” on UMD Video from Warner Bros.; a PLAYSTATION Network voucher to download Beats* from PLAYSTATION Store (accessible via a PC); and a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo(TM), for storing photos, music, video and more.
Xbox Live has banned another gamertag because it contains the word gay, however it is actually someones surname. Richard Gaywood will now have to change his gamertag \”RichardGaywood\” if he wants to continue to play on Live.