1UP has MGS, all week long.

I know it's been two days, but better late than never.

1Up has a great line-up this week for MGS fans as they delve into everything Metal Gear related... well almost. They started off Monday with a rundown of Metal Gear Ac!d 2 with director Shinta Nojiri. The interview includes tons of great info about Ac!d2: improvements, additions, pics of half naked girls getting soaked with water and... sorry, just making sure you're listening, but, ya they talk about some of that too. Aside from that, they talk about how they want Ac!d to grow into its own mini, handheld franchise, different than that of the console versions.

Tuesday, 1UP covered Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence, with all the ins, outs, in betweens... ins, you know, everything. They highly praised its online features, Metal Gear Online(MGO). Kojima Productions added some MGS refinements to well known online games such as "Capture the Frog", where players search the map for the green frog and return to their base to score a point.

Wednesday, that's today, they'll be breaking out thee ol' ham factory. ??? They're going to bring us all up to date on everything that Hideo Kojima has ever done, ever!

Thrusday, I have an exam in the morning, but aside from that, it's all MGS4, all that time, well at least for that day, then maybe nothing for a couple days, who know? The trailers, the characters, the details, the non-details, and maybe more. And then Friday, well that's the big day, the day when the man himself, Kojima talks about a whole buncha stuff, like the 360, Raiden, Rumble Roses, and working with Team NINJA's Itagaki. And then, a special MGS edition of the 1UP show. I've never seen the 1UP show. Have you seen the 1UP show?

So ya, make sure to tune in to 1UP everyday to catch what's new.
1UP presents Solid State

Ya it's been a while, now shut up and listen!

First of all, Microsoft has some of the best marketing ever. I wasn't a big fan of the original XBOX but appreciated its gaming and online community. I haven't bought a 360 and don't plan to for atleast another 6 months. I probably won't ever buy one and that's ok with me. Watching all the cool stuff that Japan is getting is making me jealous. Fully colored systems, an awesome XBOX 360 Lounge ; I want to live there. Nizar is very impressed with Microsoft and their marketing/advertising.

There are many Japanese gamers who won't be getting a 360 because they're either not impressed, or just want to stick with the "Japanese system only" bandwagon. Let me tell you, if I lived in Japan, I'd so be getting a 360 just because no one else would be. But fortunatly, there have been goobles of pictures of lines forming to buy the 360 at launch. I'm kind of just babbling on now so I'll stop.

Wait, hold on, I'm not done. I don't really like their line-up though. I mean ya, there's some good games like Call of Duty2 and Need for Speed, even DoA is nice, but I would have to wait until there was a solid game shelf to choose from.

Oh ya, we're really sorry for not updating in so long. Like Amy said, we've bought a Gamecube and we both have been playing Animal Crossing: Wild World. Animal Crossing is a great game by the way. And plus, Amy's grandma broke her ankle and she's been at her place all the time. But, be sad not, once exams are finished, we'll be back at it again. I also want to talk a little about the PS3 and MGS4, but I have to go, so I'll do that next time.

It's been a month!

Well, guess what...I wish I had posted more. I'm sure that anyone who used to look at the site, doesn't anymore because of lack of updates. Anyway, my grandma broke her ankle in three places and I've had to stay the night over there, while going to school during the day. Also, I bought a GameCube bundle with Mario Party 7, and Animal Crossing for my DS, so NO TIME TO POST!

There has been a lot of news this month, too. Revolution will be shown at E3, but we all knew that before. Rumors are saying that the Revolution will be out Thanksgiving 2006, but I really don't want that to be true. I liked the idea of summer, but with a May unveiling, summer seems too close. It's great to watch all these things unfold, and I can't wait until I can have a Revolution in my house.

As for updates, I probably won't have many. I used to update mostly on the weekends, but I don't have time anymore. I'll try to do something every now and then...

sorry.

Platinum Club Nintendo Members-- 2 items!

Members of Club Nintendo in Japan who were a Gold or Platinum member between 10/01/04 and 9/30/05 will be receiving some very nice prizes. Gold members get 1 item: A 2006 original calendar with a certain character on the cover like Nintendogs, Zelda, Mario, or Kirby. Nice, isn't it.

The most amazing part of course, is the additional item that Platinum members will be getting-- A Revolution controller shaped TV remote!

Detailed here in Japanese. Here's my rough translation of the description,
"Revolution Controller TV Remote Controller.
It's the same size and shape of the controller for the new "Revolution" game system coming in 2006." The disclaimer is like, "You can't use it as a game controller" and also, "The design and color are.." I'm unsure, but I would guess the rest of the sentence says that the design and color of the product might be different in the final product, or...different from the picture shown. Anyone that could translate better would be appreciated.

Most sites are thinking that it's also about time that America get some cool looking revolution promotional pieces, too. There's no system in Nintendo's American website for club levels, is there? I'm an Nsider after registering three products, but...I believe that's the extent of the member deals. Of course I'd love to own a piece of anything that resembles the Revolution, but I would doubt something would be offered in America...

Let's move to Japan and hang out with people who just happen to be Platinum Members but don't really care about Nintendo, and will give us their gift for free. The end.

Hideki Konno is cool

Here, you can read the full interview. Hideki, the man behind Nintendogs and Mario Kart DS, has some interesting things to say in this interview.

One thing that's mentioned at the beginning of the interview, a "game with a big wok that you use to cook Chinese food... and use the controller to flip the food around without it spilling out of the pan."

He also talks about an indicatior that will allow people to tell how skilled a person is at the Mario Kart. "As you're playing for a while, maybe if you beat some staff ghosts in the time trial mode, you'll get stars next to your user name. You can get up to three, and you have to do quite a bit to get those three stars." That makes me want to get the game on launch day so that I won't get left behind with zero stars after everyone has had a good chance to get some!

As for Nintendogs Wi-fi, a few days ago I was just thinking about how much I'd like to play online. Here you go, "We have a lot of ideas (laughs). That [Nintendogs Wi-fi] is the next thing we'd like to tackle."

Nintencats?
In another interview I found by EuroGamer, Hideki talks about Nintencats. "To tell the truth, we were already starting to develop a cat-based game at the outset of this project. So we already have the cat models, voice data and so on."
I love my real life cat, but..I just don't have the same love for the idea of nintencats.

Wi-fi is here!

Last night I was able to look at the wi-fi website, but now it seems to be down again. It looked nice and really got me excited about the new wi-fi games. I logged in using my MyNintendo username, which I read some people had a problem with theirs being too long.

If I had known that it wasn't really up last night, I would have taken screen shots. The cool part about the site is that for every game, you click it, and you can see users who have played it the most times, the city and state of the people where the most people are playing, recent avatars, and a lot of other things that I can't remember. At the time, there were four people on the "most played" list, and one named Mario had played over 100 times who was from Washington...others were named WifiTest and stuff like that. The Mario one is Nintendo of America Inc., it would be awesome to be one of the few people up on that list.

Even though the website is up, it won't do any good until games are released and we can get our ID code deal.

http://www.wififreespot.com
By city and state, free hot spots in your area.

http://www.wifinintendo.com
By user number, you can find friends, once we get the games.

This Week in Nintendo News

Many updates and clarifications have been discussed this week.

DS: Wi-fi is on its way! IGN has the hands-on of the USF connector, and it seems nice. Also, the best part would be that if you buy it, it could be used for the Revolution, too. On that note, I'm so glad that I didn't go out and buy a wireless router just for the Revolution. Nintendo's attempt at internet service is going to be so easy and fun.

Revolution: Nintendo has hade comments that game information and an official name will be announced before the years end, hopefully to steal some X360 thunder, and get people talking about the system this holiday season. With an official name, big game sites like IGN, 1UP, and Gamespot will create real pages rather than covering it under the Gamecube. They need an official name, and it should be announced rather soon.

Then, the announcement that no games will be shown this year is not a big upset to me. They're announcing enough, little by little, to keep people guessing and interested. By E3 there will be playable demos, and until then, more confirmed launch and launch window titles will be announced.

I am wondering, however, what this "secret" is. They say that all of the capabilities of the Revolution controller have not been released. I wouldn't imagine it to be something big, because what else is there? Maybe Speech, it's not too innovative, but it's easy. Actually, speech recognition on the controller doesn't even make sense. If you go to talk into it, it'll probably mess up your character. Maybe they just mean that they'll show off some official peripherals.

Also, the idea that the Revolution will be release worldwide within 14 weeks is very exciting. That way, the launch is close enough to other countries, but not too close to have massive shortages. I think Nintendo would be able to launch worldwide in whatever time frame they wanted, and it would go off flawlessly. I'm still convinced that America will get it first if it's launched in the summer. I believe Nintendo launched the DS to America first in order to be in stores on the day after Thanksgiving. With that same idea, America should get the Revolution first so we wouldn't have to spend half of the summer waiting for it. Either way, 14 weeks isn't a long time, and if Japan gets it first, America will get it at 7 weeks, and Europe at 14. Seven weeks is 2 months, which is half of the summer. We'll see.

Either way, these months ahead will be filled with speculation and surprises, all leading up to the launch date. It gives me chills just thinking about it.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Unconscious

I've found some bad news guys. Well, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence was first announced to be released on November 14th, and they then pushed it further back to December 22nd. Now, Konami has gone and moved it to March, or at least Q1 of 2006. I've been waiting to buy this game for a long time and now it seems I'll just have to satisfy my MGS need with Metal Gear Acid 2.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence includes the original MGS3 Snake Eater game, and also the game with 3rd person view. Along with that, they've put in a theater and movie mode which enables you to watch all the cutscenes whenever you want. Metal Gear Online is a new feature that allows you to play with others in online multiplayer games and skirmishes. Duel mode lets you play through all the memorable boss battles. With all of this, the three disc set also includes the original MSX2 versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear2: Solid Snake so gamers can play through the whole MGS story.
Delays and push backs seem to be a part of everyday life now, whether it be a game or a console *cough*cough*PS3*cough*.

Is Nintendogs hinting at the Revolution?

I went to the Nintendogs promotion at GameStop today. They had a DS set up by the register set to bark mode that you could interact with. It was supposed to be Haylie Duff with a special voice message, along with a gift of Star-shaped Glasses or something, but it wasn't, and that's okay. I guess that the GameStop wasn't participating in the promotion, strange enough. What I did found instead was more interesting.

It was a dog with a trainer named Revolution, a birthdate of 09/02 (September 2nd), and the message "The Revolution is upon us!" WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

There was a voice message but I couldn't hear it, because it was slowed down a lot. I wish I had listened harder, maybe it was telling me something I wanted to hear.

Is this a clue to the Revolution release date? What do you think..

No "Hot Coffee" for Toni, maybe he's into guys.

I was playing GTA: LCS last night and at the end of one mission, Rockstar made reference to the whole "Hot Coffee" deal. I though it was pretty funny for Rockstar to poke fun at the matter. But unlike CJ, Toni doesn't "come inside for some coffee."

Playing Liberty City Stories, I've enjoyed the game so far. They've brought back all the things that made me, and everyone else, love GTA. Some gamers, including myself, are probably disappointed that Rockstar cut out many of the things they'd built up till San Andreas. Things like lack of character customization don't turn me off as much, but simple things like dying in water again get irritating, but it's nothing I can't live with it. Fans of the series will happy to again hear the delights of the radio, as it features new DJs, new music, and most of all, new commercials. If you loved GTA3, or just love GTA, you might want to pick up a copy. Running through the street of Liberty City again can bring back great memories. Refinements to the scenery and cityscapes add a little spice, so it doesn't feel completely the same. The controls are slightly different and in some cases, a little difficult (i.e. drive-by's, side and rear views).

With new characters, new missions, new gangs, and new cars, this same old lovable, crime ridden city is better than ever.

I don't buy things in plastic, sometimes.

So, I'm in Walmart with Amy about to buy the Teal Nintendogs DS bundle, and I couldn't help but notice the PSM with "Playstation 3 Uncovered!" on the cover. The magazine was in plastic, and I didn't want to buy the magazine, but I'm wondering if the info they're giving out is really news or stuff I already know. Also, they had info about MGS4 and the new GTA, which I'm very excited about. Many sites and news blogs are all talking about the PS3 being released in 2007, maybe late, late 2006, which made me angry at first, but then I realized that I would be playing Amy's Revolution for the whole time I'm waiting. So I guess it's all good.

If anyone has PSM, what is this "Secret Launch Date" info?