
AND ITS SILVER!
Source: gonintendo.com
In Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, a rejuvenated Neo Cortex is taking over the world one brain at a time! Cortex and N. Brio devise a new kind of evil – a text-messaging, do-anything device which controls both mutant and bandicoot minds. Armed with his quick-wits and lightening agility, Crash must free his friends, the titans and save the day!The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
"The Crash Bandicoot franchise has built a wide audience of loyal fans, appealing to both male and female gamers of all ages," said Al Simone, senior vice president, Global Marketing for Sierra Entertainment. "The Crash series remains one of the most recognizable franchises in our industry and we're excited to make this year's family-friendly title appear at the top of every gamer's wish list this holiday."
Key features in Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant include:
Mutant in your Pocket! - Not only does Crash gain the ability to control his enemies when he jacks them – now he can store his favorite monsters in his pocket, upgrade them and utilize their powers when they are most advantageous
"Free-Romping" World Design - Wumpa Island becomes a "free-romping" environment, allowing players to travel and explore through intersecting worlds, with different gameplay options available depending on what creature you've brought along for the ride
In the final chapter of the trilogy, players find Sypro teaming up with an unlikely ally - Cynder, his former enemy, to face his most challenging mission to date. As the Dark Master's (voiced by Mark Hamill) evil envelopes the world like a plague, Spyro must fulfill his destiny and unlock the true power of the purple dragon within him to stop the Dark Master in his tracks. The game introduces two never before seen elements into the Spyro universe: Spyro can now fly at any time and players can drop-in/drop-out with the new cooperative feature. The co-op feature allows players to have the option of completing the game as either Spyro or Cynder, giving them more freedom to explore Spyro's world in completely new ways. "Spyro has grown up a lot since his debut, and players are going to notice advanced gameplay, character design and story lines in Dawn of the Dragon," said Al Simone, senior vice president, Global Marketing for Sierra Entertainment. "The game takes some exciting twists and turns – fans of the series and newcomers alike will experience non-stop fun, a renewed sense of intensity and the type of challenging adventure only Spyro can overcome.
A "10" is not a score we give out very often. In fact, the last time we gave a 10 to a console game was Soul Calibur in 1999. A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect -- it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws. Certainly, GTA IV has some issues, the most noticeable being the occasional flaw in the cover system, but there are many more pieces of GTA IV that are better than anything I've seen from a game in the past decade. We don't give 10s often -- just to games that merit the score.
With 593,576 units in its debut week, Mario Kart Wii was the biggest game in Japan this past week, pushing Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G into second place after two weeks at the top.Woah.
But Capcom's PSP smash didn't do too bad either. Media Create's software chart for April 7 to April 13 has it at 221,781 units. The game has now topped the 1.59 million mark, prompting the question, where's the press release about two million shipped, Capcom?
The rest of the top 10 was all old. Coming in at third was Warriors Orochi Maou Sairin (Koei, PS2, 55,506 units), followed by Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii, 31,325), Pokemon Ranger Batonnage (30,159), Tottado (Bandai Namco, DS, 26,109), Pro Baseball Spirits 5 (Konami, PS2, 21,510), Star Ocean 2 Second Evolution (Square Enix, PSP, 17,591), Deca Sporta (Hudson, Wii, 17,171), and Smash Bros. X (Nintendo, Wii, 14,297).
Mario Kart may have topped the software chart, but it didn't do too much to spur Wii hardware sales. The PSP was once again at the top this week with 85,721 units. DS Lite came in at second with 47,158 units, beating the Wii's 46,296.
The PS3 pulled off another shocker this week, dropping into four digit territory with 8,232 units. Below it were the PS2 at 6,834 units and the Xbox 360 at 1,147 units.
All I can say is another win for Nintendo, and this is March. They have Mario Kart this month. Then the casual gamers get a hit in May with Wii Fit. Nintendo is a genius...
In March, Nintendo again defined industry momentum in both home and portable video games sales, according to the independent NPD Group, which monitors retail activity in the video game industry. More than 720,000 Wii systems sold in March, representing the highest monthly sales total outside of holiday months (November or December) to date, while Nintendo DS™ also sold through nearly 700,000 systems.
Nintendo also finished with the top-selling U.S. game of March. Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which launched March 9, came in at No. 1 with 2.7 million units sold.
"Nintendo systems represented 58 percent of all video game hardware sold in March in the United States," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We expect our momentum to continue with big upcoming game launches like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit."
Nintendo kicked off its Media Summit this morning with a quick preview of its next mascot-filled baseball title, now known as Mario Super Sluggers. Nintendo of America's Bill Trinnen walked the gathered press through a single inning—much speedier than the real life thing—featuring the Mario Firebats team taking on the Peach Royals. Like Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Super Sluggers uses a similar coach character team set up, with second string NIntendo characters like Shy Guy and Baby Mario covering the field while the player handles pitching duties.As for me, I am glad they have the feeling largely controlled with the AI, because on Wii that would be difficult to control. But I do like being able to shake the Wiimote to let your AI controlled fielder run faster to get the ball. I also am glad they have that same coaching system that they used in Mario Strikers Charged, where you pick from Main characters to do main things, and use secondary characters to handle the fielding and other things. This is looking to be a great game. I just hope they get the motion right. If they do alls cool!Mario Super Sluggers uses a control scheme built on the foundation of Wii Sports baseball, with only Wii Remote gestures required to play. With Mario as his pitcher, Trinnen demoed the game's controls, using Wii-mote swinging to throw fastballs, curveballs and, naturally, fireballs. Twists of the remote during your swing allows for curveballs, with a properly timed swing—performed just as a set of glowing rings centers on your character—adding extra heat to the ball.
Power moves can be pulled of with an A+B button combination, when charged.
Fielding appeared to be largely controlled by the game's AI, with a shake of the Wii Remote making your fielder sprint to the ball. Throwing to a baseman requires just a simple toss. A quick press of A will make your defensive player dive for the ball, for dramatic last second catches.
Batting used a similar control method, with a Wii Sports-like batting swing and timing for hits following the same ring indicator. Your character can use power-ups while at bat, with Mario delivering a flaming baseball to centerfield, which Donkey Kong obviously dropped when caught.
Nintendo was light on details during the brief demo of Mario Super Sluggers, but it looks to follow previous Mario-themed sporting events, with guest appearances from a big number of Nintendo mainstays. We saw Mario, Luigi, Peach, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Daisy, Shy Guy, Monty Mole, and Donkey Kong—who opts for a boxing glove instead of a bat—in the line-up.
Mario Super Sluggers was described as one of Nintendo's "bridge games", one that is designed to appeal to the Wii Sports crowd, and looks to aim for accessibility for traditional non-gamers. No one will mistake it for anything resembling a sim, but it's clear Nintendo is going for an even more casual audience-friendly look and feel.