Lost in Shadow could be very special

With platforming titles such as Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Disney Epic Mikey are all due to release this year, 2010 is a very exciting time for platforming fans. However, amidst this excellent roster of titles is HudsonSoft's less publicised Lost in Shadows, a platformer that is well worth taking note of.

Super Mario Galaxy 2: Update

I have a pre-ordered copy of Super Mario Galaxy 2 waiting for me at home. Quite a brilliant way to start the summer don't you think? I expect that I will be writing impressions and a review within the next few weeks and perhaps, I could well have another addition into my favourite video games of all time list.

Quick note about blog posts

Hello there, as you may have noticed I don't tend to post here as often as I have previously. Due to my recent commitments with university amongst other things I have been unable to blog as often as I would like. However I intend for this to change once my exams are finished and I have more time to write.

I have been thinking about the best way to go about my blogging, aside from writing articles and reviews which can be time consuming, I have decided that a good percentage of my future posts will be concerning news, primarly Nintendo related. As I am aware that it would be foolhardy to compete with terrific sites such as Gonintendo for news coverage, I hope to post news that I and hopefully others will find particularly interesting, as well as my brief opinions and thoughts on the subject.

Anyway, I have revision and work to get back to. In the next few weeks I plan on posting an improved and more in-depth edit of a review for Red Steel 2 that I wrote for my university newspaper. But until then I hope that the news and opinions that I post are interesting and encourage further procrastination.

ABAHB

Fifth Generation Pokemon: Pokemon White/Black to be revealed on April 15th

The first details about the future fifth generation of Pokemon games has emerged. We don't know much as of now, but as previously reported, Joystiq has stated that "every aspect will be reborn innovatively." So it is looking as though this is the series overall that people have been expecting. 

I'm glad that they are reverting back to colours and not more stones. I'm surprised it's for the DS and not the 3DS though. I expecting there to be some kind of 3DS functionality though, as Gamefreak have been in possession of the 3DS dev kits for quite some time now. 

The Wii Gets Its First Black Box, Others Follow.

In Japan, the black box isn't for the specific game, but the game's rating. Japanese Wii games rated 15+ are to be given black boxes. The black box will be an additional warning to parents along with the colour rating on the side and front. Nintendo first announced the change in box color before the release of Zangeki no Reginleiv, an extremely violent Wii game featuring 4-player co-op and limb dismemberment with full blood effects. The game has received a CERO D rating (17+), the first Nintendo game of its kind in Japan since Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube.

Hit the jump for more:

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle – Launch Trailer

As of this moment I have not watched the above video, I have specifically avoided all media and spoliers bar the first trailer released. I fully expect this game to take months of analysis and multiple play-throughs to fully wrap my head around and I plan on being thoroughly suprised and impressed. The first title still makes me laugh, scream, think, and violently "recharge my beam katana"  to this day and I expect this to be no different.

"Entirely New" Pokemon Series Coming This Year. Series rebirth?

Nintendo has announced that Gamefreak is working on a brand-new Pokemon RPG, and it's due out this year in Japan. There are (of course) going to be brand-new Pokemon involved, and the series is going to experience some sort of rebirth. Expect new functionality and play types, according to Nintendo. Just how different will this game be? Only time will tell, I guess, but Nintendo is already confident that it'll be a huge hit.

Along side the promised rebirth of the Zelda series with the Wii iteration, Metroid:Other M and previously Super Mario Galaxy and possibly this new Pokemon title, Nintendo seem to be in the process of rebooting their key franchises this generation. Personally the anticipation of what they will do to these beloved I.P's has me more excited than anything else this upcoming gaming year. Although I hope they don't add too many new Pokemon this generation, because it would be almost impossible for me to catch them all. And people who can obviously cheated, everyone knows you can't catch mew.

Wii, DS and DSi North American holiday release list

Making a long post even longer: This is a pretty good idea of what North American users can expect this coming holiday. Although I live in the UK, I have highlighted the games I'm interested in bold font.
I'll write up my opinions about the games in this list and some of the titles we can expect early next year in my next post.
Oh, and incase you wern't aware I shamelessly took inspiration from the title of game pictured below to decide on the title of my blog.
*Cough* iwantedtocallmyblogaboyandhisblog.blogspot.combutthatwasalreadytakensadface *cough*

Wii

2K Sports
NHL® 2K10 - Sept. 15
Baseball Blast! - Sept. 28
NBA 2K10 - Oct. 6

2K Play
Dora the Explorer™: Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom™ - Fall
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Super Game Day - Fall
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey™ Circus - Fall

505 Games
My Ballet Studio - November
Baby and Me - November

continued after the break...

New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Video Interview

I have had my doubts about this, I mean it appears to be a pretty low effort on Nintendos part in terms of the graphics (It doesn't look THAT much better than the DS SMB) but each time I see new scans /videos from an updated build and I learn more about it's features I feel more optimistic. I don't ever think this title will reach the level of hype I am holding for Super Mario Galaxy 2 but I'm still planning on picking it up, however I don't think It's going to be a day one purchase and I didn't appreciate the whole 'oh we can't have online co-op because the game makes full use of the Wii hardware' BS either.

But it's brilliant to hear that there are lots of hidden areas. Hidden areas are really important 2D Mario game, and I'm glad there are plenty of them in NSMBWii.

Video Games - E3 2009 - Wii

Scribblenauts: More fan made print ads

I came across these whilst looking at the 'We create magazine ads for the hell of it' thread at Neogaf and think there worthy of posting. Besides, almost anything relating to Scribblenauts is worth checking out.

This is going to. be. the. greatest. puzzle. game. EVAR!
/hype

[Click the images to enlarge]

Scribblenauts: Laughing at the target audience?

I've already seen so many brilliant Scribblenauts videos, but I think that this is possibly the most amazing discovery I've seen yet.



I love stuff like this but I see another connection:

5th Cell = Game Developers = Gamers = Virgins?

Haha Narf

Sribblenauts - Release hype

I have got to get me one of these Rooster hats, even if I have to search Ebay for one. I am considering importing this from America as I can't see myself waiting til the 15th of October for the European release date, and on top of that I'm starting university very soon so my play time consisting of riding velociraptors and sending out Yetis to beat up whales is going to be very limited.

The only people I can see not enjoying this are those kids in school who only knew how to draw a square box for art lessons.

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle- New Trailer

Where are the Pre-Orders at?

Unpacking Metroid Prime Trilogy (PAL Version)

Below are some pictures I took whilst opening up Metroid Prime Trilogy. Although I would have liked the metal packaging the US version came in I'm still very impressed with the quality of the packaging used in the PAL copy (as far I know this is the same packaging used worldwide minus North America).
The game comes with a high quality card slip on cover with a highly reflective surface on both sides and an embossed title. The box itself features the same reflective surfaces and art minus the text. Inside it's the same as documented in the US release including an impressive art and story booklet and thorough manual documenting all 3 titles.
So overall it's a pretty sweet deal and It's hard to argue with 3 of the best games to be released in the last 10 years on one disk.

Oh and what's with all the complaining about some of the minor details in the first title being removed? Yes they added to the incredible atmosphere of the first title but people are forgetting that retro went back and used higher resolution and more vivid textures, proper widescreen support along with the superb Wii controls and interesting achievement system. Which in my opinion more than make up for the lack of trivial special effects.
But more importantly, the doors open more fucking quickly!

New Muramasa: The Demon Blade video

As ever this game looks amazing. Between this and A Boy and His Blob, The Wii has arguably two of the years best looking games. And Recently after seeing this video the developers Epic Games (Gears of War and Unreal) have written a new piece of dialouge for the next title in the Gears of War franchise:

Marcus: Dom, come check this out.

Dominic: What is it, Marcus?

Marcus: I think it's... yellow?

Dominic: ...Th' Fuuuck

Pokemon Card Game Championship Winners

Holy shit, is the kid in the middle wearing a Kyogre hat? Fuck me, I want one!


EDIT: I got my own Kyogre hat in the mail today! It doesn't match the level of the one shown above but it's pretty nice. I'm definitely going to upload some pictures of this thing.

PSPgo.co.uk =/= PSPgo

If you head over to PSPgo.co.uk you'll see that the site has nothing to do with raising interest for the upcoming PSPgo, but rather a brilliant advertisement for how amazing the DSi is. It looks as though some DSi fans with some proffesional web design skills have bought the domain name and linked everything on the site back to Nintendo's official pages.


It may not be a big deal as i'm sure someone as Sony will do something about it. but not before having a good laugh.
But Sony should do the mature thing here... and buy NGAGE.CO.UK!

Flipnote Studio released

This past week Flipnote Studios has become available for everyone outside of Japan and you can download it free of charge from the DSi store.
Seriously, its such a good package that Nintendo could have charged for it and I'm sure people would have praised its features and content. It almost feels like a brand new Mario Paint but more advanced and intuitive.

What's even more surprising is how robust and addictive the online site is. You can view the site from your DSi as well as your PC and upload your own creations whilst also checking out some of the amazing animations other people have done after registering with Hatena.

Everything is simple and easy to use with plenty of options that will keep people people addicted for a long time. It's definitely a step forward in terms of user generated content from Nintendo.

At the moment I'm still currently working on my ambitious (and rubbish) first flip note and I'll post it on here as soon as I'm done. For every other DSi user who hasn't downloaded it yet, what are you waiting for?! It's free and easily one of the DSi's best features.