Look, I'm a stereotypical Briton: I moan a lot, I don't mind the odd cup of tea, I'll only clap if a lot of other people are clapping at the time and I think American Football is a watered-down Rugby. I also enjoy playing cricket, not so much watching it. I've long moaned to those around me that developers haven't taken it upon themselves to make a Cricket game for a console which is calling out for it; the Wii. There's been cricket games in the past... And I mean, the past; the last cricket game I recall seeing at all was Brian Lara's Cricket '96. That was 13 years ago. According to Wikipedia, there has been some as recent as 2007.
Codemasters will be using the up-coming Ashes tour to release the most recent iteration of the cricket game series on the Wii, complete with motion controls. With the lack of the keywords; "Motion Plus", don't expect to have incredible controls, however, from what one can gather, there will be someone accurate bowling controls... Although I could just imagine it be swinging the Wii Remote forward... There's also a lack of the Nintendo WiFi Connection logo on the box, meaning local multiplayer at best. On the up-side, the game is fully licensed so expect to see some of your favourite cricket heroes turn up... Like... ... Uh... ... Onions? The game's out in August.
[Source: CVG]
Today, quite abruptly, I'd like to welcome you to the new 50Hz Gamer group. I'll take this time to announce a few things; first off: 50Hz Saver. Ever since my attention was drawn to CheapyD's; Cheapassgamer.com website, I was fascinated by the idea. Unfortunately, it was USA-based and thus, all the deals they presented was American. Then BritishGaming.co.uk launched their VGBargains, a website which I whole-heartedly implore people to visit, subscribe to their RSS or whatever. I am in no way, shape or form in competition to these websites and hope they wont feel myself intruding into their websites. As like all my sites, I am not funded in any way. So these deals are completely for the interest of viewers. 50Hz Saver should be considered as "beta" for the time being. So basically, if you encounter any errors, I'm working on them... Hopefully. If not, drop me a bell.
Next up, as you can see already, 50Hz Blogger along with 50Hz Gamer have had a slight design update. All 3 main 50Hz Gamer sites now share the same theme, where as previously they were all disjointed. 50Hz Gamer now looks cleaner, 50Hz Blogger now feels more spacious. If you're using Internet Explorer 6, please, upgrade. (Those at work with IE6, my heart is with you, seriously. Hope your company gets decent web applications soon.) So, enjoy. So far the designs work perfectly* in Internet Explorer 7/8, Firefox 3/3.5RC3, Safari 4, Opera 9.x and Chrome 2.x. (* Blogger has one slight issue with IE7/8, when I'm bothered, I'll fix it.)
Many have once again raised questions about the service, wondering why a pay-for service like Xbox Live will receive adverts. Others argue that other pay-for services like cable and satellite TV have advertisements. Whatever your thoughts on the matter are, Mr. Hryb has said that the ads will be 'organic' to the Xbox experience and will not be intrusive to functionality of the Dashboard as many had feared. Are the inclusion of more ads a sign of weakness to the Xbox Live business strategy, Microsoft acquiring more funds for bigger projects or is Microsoft cashing in while they can? We'll let you be the judge.
[Source: Major Nelson's blog]
Hanabi Festival is an annual event for Nintendo now, the event which is named after the Japanese festival of fireworks, it is the only time of year in which Japanese or American titles, which weren't released in Europe, get added to the European Virtual Channel. Today saw the addition of the Megadrive title; Pulseman and SNES title; Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen.
In the coming weeks the following titles will also be added to the Wii Shop Channel; Bomberman '94 (Turbografx), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super Nintendo), Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (NES), MUSHA (SEGA Megadrive), DETANA TWIN BEE (Turbografx), Smash Table Tennis (NES). They're priced as normal Virtual Console games, but word of caution, any Japanese titles will not have English screen-text, however, Nintendo does pick titles with minimal text in order to aid those who do not speak the magical tongue of Moon.
[Source: Nintendo]
If you saw the news earlier today of Wii Sports Resort's sales figures, you'll not be surprised what's number 1 this week. However, quite a few big-hitters have landed in this week's Japanese sales rankings; Blazblue and Valhalla Knights 2 being the most notable (plus Wii Sports Resort). Blazblue had strong showings on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, with the 360 version predictably coming second-best to the PS3 version. Kingdom Hearts is down at 7th, Monster Hunter keeps hanging in there. Full list below;
Rank / Title / Platform / Genre / Developer / Sale date (JP)
1. Wii Sports Resort - Wii - Action - Nintendo - 25/06/2009
2. Tomodamo Collection - NDS - Other - Nintendo -18/06/2009
3. Rolona no Ateliei ~ Island no Renkinjyutsuma - PS3 - RPG - Gust
4. Tsurugi to Mahou to Kakuen Mono 2 - PSP - RPG - Acquire - 25/06/2009
5. Blazblue - PS3 - Action - Arc System Works - 25/06/2009
6. Blazblue - 360 - Action - Arc System Works - 25/06/2009
7. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - NDS - RPG - Square Enix - 30/05/2009
8. Agarest Senki ZERO - PS3 - RPG - Compile Heart - 25/06/2009
9. Valhalla Knights 2 Battle Stance - PSP - Action RPG - MMV - 25/06/2009
10. Monster Hunter 2nd G (PSP the Best) - PSP - Action - Capcom - 30/10/2008
[Source: Famitsu]
Famitsu Game Rankings are sales figures collected and compiled by Japanese magazine company; Famitsu. They are generally posted every Wednesday and reflect the sales of games from the past week. All sales dates are Japanese dates and may not reflect release dates from other regions. 50Hz Blogger translates these lists and places them on the blog every week. Check back every Wednesday for updates. (Sometimes there may be an unexpected delay, in which case readers may find them appear on a Thursday or Friday.)
Let's have a short history lesson. Back in 2007, Sony released the Playstation 3. This big, bulking, behemoth of a machine launched with no less than amazing specifications for a home console... However, it also came with a huge price tag to match. After sales of the console were slow world-wide and developers and publishers alike were starting to grow wary of the Playstation 3, if they pulled out, it would be devastating for Sony, who had invested billions into the Playstation 3's development. The errors made in the release of the PS3 was so bad that the 'father' of Playstation, Ken Kutagari was effectively fired.
When the console was released in Japan and North America, the system had the same processor from the Playstation 2; the Emotion Engine, which meant that all Playstation 2 titles were 100% fully compatible with the console. However, along with a card-reader and other assorted cuts, the Emotion Engine was removed from the Playstation 3 on release in Europe, which I wont make any qualms about; I went ballistic about the move, especially since the console still retained it's ludicrous £425 price tag. Later variations of the console world wide would be missing the Emotion Engine clip along with other parts of the Playstation 2 included to make software-based backwards compatibility possible.
Present day; the Playstation 3 has but backwards compatibility for Playstation 1 titles, Playstation 2 compaibility has gone with the wind... Or has it? A new rumour circulating these-here Internets is that Sony is looking to re-introduce backwards compatibility of Playstation 2 titles to new hardware variations. It comes after Sony patented Emotion Engine emulation technology for the Playstation 3's main CPU; the Cell Processor. This means that Playstation 2 games could be back on the big black box... Or the small black box, if those PS3 slim rumours are true as well... Sometime in the near future.
[Source: CVG]
If many had doubted the popularity of Wii Sports resort and thought everyone kept playing it because it came with the Nintendo Wii console, prepare to have your minds blown. Wii Sports Resort, the version of the game which you have to, you know, pay for. Has so far shifted a grand total of 353,827 units in four days according to data collected by Japanese company; Enterbrain (the people behind Famitsu). The sales aren't as impressive as other Wii titles in the same period, however, with Mario Kart Wii being served 608,000 times and Super Smash Bros. Brawl shifted 816,000 units.
In reality then, Wii Sports Resort sold half of what Mario Kart Wii sold, however, for a fairly new IP from Nintendo, 350k is a pretty big figure, especially for what is seen as a casual title. Some may question if it was just the most economical way to get the Wii Motion Plus accessory, as many will see this as being the future for the Wii. Sure, it's price at retail includes the price of the Wii Motion Plus controller, however, in my mind, there have been very few varied and fun uses of the Wii Remote's motion sensing capabilities outside of Wii Sports, those looking to take advantage of the Wii's new found Motion Plus peripheral will find safety in Wii Sports Resort too, I'm willing to bet.
[Source: Famitsu]
Over recent years, there have been constant rumours of Swedish phone maker; Ericsson pitching a Playstation-branded mobile phone with the capabilities to play high-end video game software. If the rumours are also true, Sony apparently shot the idea down, not wanting to hand a brand such as Playstation over to a 3rd party. However, since that time, Apple has moved into the phone market and started making some big splashes, stealing marketshare and poising the iPhone and iPod Touch as video game machines through the AppStore.
Now, rumours are circulating like sharks around a helpless inflatable
[Source: Reuters, Via Kotaku]
This week: Nintendo takes top spot with another new IP, when will they stop printing money? Capcom grab 2nd with the Type Moon beat-'em-up, Kingdom Hearts for the DS grabs bronze and the golden oldies; Monster Hunter 2nd G and Wii Fit still relaxing in the top 5, how do they do it? More of this and much more at 10. Full list below:
Rank / Title / Platform / Genre / Developer / Sale date (JP)
1. Tomodachi Collection - NDS - Other - Nintendo - 18/06/2009
2. Fate/Unlimited Codes Portable - PSP - Action - Capcom - 18/06/2009
3. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - NDS - Action RPG - Square Enix - 30/05/2009
4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) - PSP - Action - Capcom - 30/10/2008
5. Wii Fit - Wii - Other - Nintendo - 01/12/2007
6. Sloan to Machel no Nazo no Monogatari - NDS - Puzzle - Level Five - 21/05/2009
7. Takokagaya no atama no Taisou Dai 1 Shuu Nazotoki Sekai Isshyuu Rykou - NDS - Puzzle - Level Five - 18/06/2009
8. Gyakuten Kenji - NDS - Adventure - Capcom - 28/05/2009
9. Shin Sankoku Musou 5 Empires - PS3 - Action - Koei - 28/05/2009
10. Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon Sora no Tankentai - NDS - RPG - Pokemon - 18/04/2009
[Source: Famitsu]
Famitsu Game Rankings are sales figures collected and compiled by Japanese magazine company; Famitsu. They are generally posted every Wednesday and reflect the sales of games from the past week. All sales dates are Japanese dates and may not reflect release dates from other regions. 50Hz Blogger translates these lists and places them on the blog every week. Check back every Wednesday for updates. (Sometimes there may be an unexpected delay, in which case readers may find them appear on a Thursday or Friday.)
Nintendo has presented, in the flesh, a new colour variant of the Nintendo Wii's Wii Remote Controller at Japan's World Hobby Fair 2009. The Wii Remote is apparently limited to 5,000 units, which will be given out as a prize draw in the time-honoured Club Nintendo fashion (first come, first serve? Although looking at very distant photographs of the stall it may be a prize draw). The set comes complete with Blue Wii Remote, Blue Nunchaku and Blue Wii Motion Plus adaptor plus an extended blue Wii... What do you call them, the silicon cocoon Nintendo's Health and Safety Ninjas force us to use... Nintendo also offers people Wii Sports Resort branded beach bags, beach towels and top-less golf-hat-like-thing as well.
Sony also confirmed that the White PSP Go will be available in Japan from 1st November 2009 along side it's Black PSP Go model as well. The PSP Go will come in at 26,800 Yen (About £169), that sum will get you a shiny new PSP Go, the AC Adaptor, a USB cable and the Media Go software on a CD ROM. To be honest, it feels like a huge step backwards, not only are you paying the original price of the PSP, but you're also not getting those swanky PSP headphones the original PSP had. I call shenanigans, Sony.
Yeah, news has been slow recently...
[Sources: Famitsu, Game Watch]
