Nintendo Announces Wii U To Ship By Holiday 2012

Posted on January 26, 2012 by geelw

Of course, we all knew this was coming at some point, but Reuters has the official word (if not an official release date). Nintendo President Satoru Iwata noted that the Wii U would be launched in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan for the 2012 holiday season. No price point was announced and yes, you’ll need to wait a bit for the launch lineup. However, this means that E3 this year will be PACKED with Nintendo fanboys (some disguised as otherwise reputable games journalists) piling atop each other to tilt and whirl themselves into a feeding frenzy, followed by press events in a few spots including here in NYC.

Now, if I can actually get an invite to one of those events like I used to before Nintendo forgot I existed, I could do a better job of covering the upcoming console that doesn’t require me to hang around the Nintendo World Store here and ask all sorts of questions to assorted employees (he said, only half-joking)…

Kid Icarus: Uprising Trailer Shows What The Fuss Is All About

Posted on January 20, 2012 by geelw

Nintendo’s killer app (that would have made for a great launch title had the 3DS shipped in 2012) is finally soaring into retail in March, so here’s the latest peek at some gameplay. I still feel bad for Wii owners that they’re not getting this one, but it really would be nice to see the Wii U do something with the character now that he’s officially back on the gaming radar worldwide. Let’s hope we see more new games and not poor Pit relegated to another Smash Bros. sub-character no one under a certain age even knows about (like poor Ness from the Earthbound/Mother series)…

F1 2011 Races Onto 3DS

Posted on January 13, 2012 by geelw

Nintendo 3DS owners looking for a quality racer that’s NOT packed with cartoon colors and flying go-karts now have Codemasters to thank for this super looking portable game. I like the overall look of what’s here and sure, while it’s not running on a more powerful platform, it’s hard to deny the dev team’s skills at getting some great detail AND solid 3D effects from the system. As solid as this looks, I can’t wait to see the Vita version in action as well as how the home console versions are coming along…

Devil Survivor 2 Trailer: Atlus Asks That Eternally Unnerving Question…

Posted on January 5, 2012 by geelw

No, not “Why are they STILL making games for the Nintendo DS?” (ha ha), but “How Would You Like To Die?” Gee, thanks guys… It’s not as if I have anything better to do than NOT sleep at night because I’m afraid of NOT waking up or anything like that. Well, if you have to know, I’m not going to tell you, as I don’t want you to get any ideas. Anyway, click on over to the official Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 website to find out more about this sinister sequel to one of the best DS games to date. If it’s anywhere as spectacular as the first game, it’ll be a real winner as well as a keeper. February will be here sooner than you think and I want you all to be prepared when the game hits stores…

Gallery: N64 Library (Plus)

Posted on January 3, 2012 by geelw

What’s left of my N64 and Famicom/Famicom Disk collections plus some loose Super Famicom games I didn’t add with the boxed stuff a while back. As with all of the library pics, the collections here are much smaller than they were a few years back, but I’d say the Famicom stuff has been condensed the most overall, as it was around 150+ games at one point. I do miss my N64 imports (Bangai-o, Wonder Project J2 and Neon Genesis Evangelion among others) and most of the bunch of other stuff I don’t have these days, but that’s the way that ball bounces, I suppose. Oh well – once I’m rolling in loot from my world domination plans, I’ll grab a plane to Game Central and clean out a few places again. That is, provided the world doesn’t blow up before then…

Gallery: Game Cube Library

Posted on December 22, 2011 by geelw

And here you go, minus a bunch of stuff I played and sold or traded. Yes, the Windwaker manual is signed by Miyamoto, so that’s something off my bucket list (only 90,000 things left… yikes). Note to Dreamcast fans (and the guy who emailed me): SEE, I do have Skies of Arcadia after all. I did have the Eternal Arcadia box at one point as well as the US SoA for my DC, but sold them both off a long time back.

Anyway, Yeah, I need to get Baten Kaitos 2 one day, as I missed it when it came out and I liked the first game quite a lot. Yes, the last pic with the demos, GameCube promo DVD and Pac-Man VS. is here because I found them after I took the other pics (oops). Note: I only had about a dozen or so Japanese titles, but those are gone now. I think I still have a promo DVD with a booklet from Japan around here somewhere. but I can’t find it at the moment…

Review: Nano Assault

Posted on December 19, 2011 by geelw

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Developer: Shin’en

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Official Site

Score: A- (85%)

If there’s ever a proper Fantastic Voyage remake (and not some awful direct to video “update”) that actually rates a licensed game tie-in, Shin’en needs to be the go-to developer for the project. Nano Assault, their cool new game for the 3DS, drops you into a microscopic ship for 32 levels of arcade shooting against assorted mutated organisms and massive bosses in an attempt to shut down an alien virus before it wipes out the human race. While the game is pretty slim on the storytelling and a bit brief, it packs a killer visual punch and the shooting is excellent throughout. Continue reading →

Nano Assault Blasts Into Stores

Posted on December 5, 2011 by geelw

Shin’en’s third game in the Nanostray series has finally landed on the 3DS this time out and yes, you SHOULD run, drive, hop, skip or jump to your favorite game shop to snap this one up. Nano Assault takes things to the third dimension in style, so expect to fall off your bus seat when you’re bobbing and weaving like a formerly sleepy salaryman on a caffeine high. Majesco has another portable winner for the holiday season – review incoming.

Resident Evil Revelations Updated Story Trailer

Posted on December 2, 2011 by geelw

Fear not, fans of the franchise who want a more traditional RE game that hearkens back to the classic trilogy you’re so fond of. Granted, you’ll need to have a 3DS in the house, as this is an exclusive for the handheld. But my, doesn’t it look fantastic? Gameplay is slower, more methodical at times and yup, zombies WILL get up in your face if you get caught off-guard. Of course, the gloomy, scary atmosphere and limited ammo (from what I played in the demo version) add to the tension and some of those undead don’t go down without a fight. Anyway, keep your eyeballs peeled for this one, as it’s coming on February 7, 2012 in the US and January 27, 2012 in the UK (lucky!).

Gallery: Super Famicom Library

Posted on November 29, 2011 by geelw

OK, I was going to save posting there until I woke up in a few hours, but I decided to stay up an extra half hour just for you guys. Anyway, I figured that since I went to all that trouble to photograph my MD/Genesis collection, I may as well break out the stepladder and get the Super Famicom stuff down just to get it done. Here you go – enjoy. I’ve a bunch of loose carts as well, but I’ll get to those at some point when I have more time. Before you ask, my large SNES collection got sold off a few years back, save for a handful of extra loose carts and manuals I held on to.