Madworld, the ultra violent snuff game soon to be released for the Wii is a game that promises to shake the Wii’s reputation as a family friendly gaming console. There have already been a few notable exceptions such as Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 which did not fit in line with the Nintendo Wii’s usual ensemble of cartoonish characters. The general story behind Madworld is that terrorists have taken over and created a game show that involves constestants in a fight to the death. Madworld’s style features a style similar to that of Frank Miller’s Sin City. Madworld is published by Sega and set to release in the first quarter of 2009.

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You might have walked into your local Gamestop and noticed along the walls all the titles that have a “used” sticker on them. The price difference is a meager 5 dollars off from the original 60 for most new titles. This doesn’t really mean much but for your average gamer, 5 dollars off is a meal so why not right? While the venture is indeed popular and profitable for retailers like Gamestop and the average gamer looking to save a buck, it can be devastating to game developers. Recently, the gaming industry has taken steps to try and mitigate this threat. Animal Crossing for the Wii was released with a code that “cannot be replaced if lost” for download of the peripheral Wii Speak channel. Gears of War 2 also had a code that was needed in order to download the classic map pack. These small steps ensure that there will be a loss of gameplay experience when buying a used game. This could be the first in a series of steps by game developers to try and hamper the re-sale market.

-Derek

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Nintendo DS sales figures have just come in and they show that sales have declined over the past month. In the month of October, sales of the Nintendo DS fell 14% from the month of September. For the month of October, Nintendo DS only sold 491,000 units, compared to 536,000 in the month of September. Although the next-generation Nintendo DSi has been released in Japan only, there is still no excuse for why sales of the Nintendo DS fell. Part of the blame can be placed on the declining world economy, but I can’t find any other reasons for the decline.

- Geoff

[Source: I4U]

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In preparation for the Black Friday mayhem of 2008, Gamestop has announced that they carry enough Nintendo Wii consoles to last through the buying storm. It has been 2 years now since the release of the Wii and they are still hard to find. The question has not so much been about the supply chain issues as it has been about Nintendo’s marketing schemes. Could it be that perhaps Nintendo has deliberately been short on the Wii in order to build up hype for the system and hopefully cash in on that Wii impulse buy? Nintendo however has repeatedly denied these allegations and cited their production chain as the primary reason.
-Derek

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EA Sports is seeking to capitalize on the success of the Wii Fit with its own take on the game/exercise genre. The new “game” titled EA Sports Active seeks to give users a more well rounded work out that will go beyond the simple calisthenics with the balance board of the Wii Fit. EA Sports Active works with a resistance band and the Wii controller to track movements. The whole package is also built to work in tandem with the balance board. At 60 dollars, the whole bundle including the Wii fit will still run for less than a typical Gym membership. If you stretch that out over time, it should make for an excellent money saver that will probably be a whole lot of fun too.

-Derek

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The popularity of the R4 DS has been surging as of late so here is a R4 DS tutorial to get you started. I have put an SNES and a Neo Geo emulator on my DS through this piece of equipment and it adds countless hours of playability to my unit. You can find the R4 DS online for pretty cheap. TheDSdeals.com was the site that I used to buy mine.

-Derek

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With the competition embracing HD, Nintendo has often been the subject of scrutiny regarding its decision to stay with the standard format for its Wii console. Nintendo Legend Shigeru Miyamoto has said that the Wii does not HD because technology evolves so fast in Japan it is unrealistic to keep up with everything. He has hinted however at the Wii going HD some time in the future. Some analysts say that it will only be a matter of time until the Wii goes HD. It just takes time for the GPU’s and CPU’s that HD rendering requires to drop in prices. After all, Nintendo’s sales are strong regardless of their slightly dated technology.
-Derek

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It is probably not advisable to do this to your SNES if you still play a lot of games on it but if you already have the next 3 generations worth of consoles, you might as well do something about your old SNES. SNES modding over the years have gotten very creative and this latest mod is no exception. This Alarm clock mod does as the name suggests. I guess with the SNES taking on an almost vintage quality now, it might be worth your time and effort to do this. It might just garner a few chuckles from fans of the system. I know I smiled…

-Derek

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The DS Lite is a very versatile platform (after watching the video above) and music creators were not left out of the loop. For about 40 dollars, you can purchase the Korg program which basically turns your DS Lite into your own electronica work station. This full feature synthesizer has some retailers still balking at the 39.99 suggested retail price but most music lovers and hobbyists know that it is an absolute bargain at such a price. Along with the R4, this makes the DS almost a small portable notebook!

-Derek

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The average number of games the owner of a specific console buys is called the attachement rate in the industry. This figure is of particular importance to developers when they try to project their expected sales. According to the results released in the study comparing the big three consoles, The Xbox is in the lead with 6.6 games per console. I am a little concerned about the Wii because although the console sells very well, we may not see too many third party games for it. Nintendo has had a history of doing a lot of its game development in house.

-Derek

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