The Tendo Project – Daily Nintendo News

Here it is, Tuesday already,  and that can only mean one thing:  I’ve gotta go pick up God Of War 3!  Seriously, though, we are looking at another packed week of new releases.  Here they are, broken down by platform:

Microsoft Xbox 360

• Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening 3/16
• Metro 2033 3/16
• Resonance of Fate 3/16
• Perfect Dark 3/17

Nintendo DS

• Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans 3/14
• Pokemon HeartGold Version 3/14
• Pokemon SoulSilver Version 3/14
• 101 MiniGolf World  3/15
• Zoo Frenzy 3/15
• Let’s Draw!  3/16
• Sonny With a Chance 3/16
• Hidden Mysteries: Buckingham Palace 3/16
• T.A.C. Heroes: Big Red One  3/16
• Infinite Space 3/16

Nintendo Wii

• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood 3/15
• Rage of the Gladiator  3/15
• Triple Shot Sports  3/15
• Family Gameshow 3/16
• Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon 3/16
• GTI Club Supermini Festa!  3/16
• Pizza Delivery Boy  3/16
• Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space 3/16
• Hall of Fame: Ultimate Hoops Challenge  3/17

PC

• Aika Online 3/16
• Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight 3/16
• Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening 3/16
• Metro 2033 3/16
• Pet Forest  3/17
• Mount & Blade: Warband 3/19

Sony PlayStation 3

• Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening 3/16
• God of War 3 3/16
• Resonance of Fate  3/16
• Wakeboarding HD  3/18

Sony PSP

• GTI Club Supermini Festa!  3/16

So many games to choose from, so little time to play them!  We know that a lot of you have already picked up either Soul Silver or Heart Gold.  We won’t be surprised if quite a few of you end up with a copy of God Of War 3. Finally, we expect that all you PC gamers will want to check out Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight.  But what about the rest of you?  What great game are you picking up that everyone else should know about?

Source: Gamespot

On the whole, games companies are cruel. Every day, we hear statements from a company, telling us how fantastic they are, and how terrible their competitors are. Such as how Sony’s PS3 is better for publishers than the Xbox 360, or how the lack of Blu Ray was key to Xbox 360 sales and continued sales dominance over the PS3. Suffice to say, it can all get a little tedious. So it’s refreshing, if incredibly shocking, to see a big company like Nintendo admit their faults.

Speaking to Industry Gamers, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime admitted that Nintendo doesn’t cater to the Bioshock 2 audience sufficiently, and that they need to reinforce the support behind their 3rd party developer community:

“For us, it is important that third parties bring their very best content to our platform. You could say ‘Why?’ It’s because… well, let me focus in on the West. There are 28 million Wiis out there in the marketplace. We know, based on our data, that we’ve got consumers from 5 to 95 playing on that platform. The fact of the matter is we know we create great content for younger consumers, we know we’ve got great content for more casual players, and we want fantastic content for that more active player who loves Metroid or Zelda but maybe also wants something like a BioShock 2 to play as well.”

So how could Nintendo achieve this? According to Reggie, Nintendo has already done its part and now it’s all on the developers to make the good games.

“First, as a platform holder our responsibility is to create a large installed base for developers to create content, to provide them with the tools and the insight to help them create great games, and to have in place a profit model that motivates them to create the content and reap the rewards. We’ve done that; global installed base is over 67 million for Wii and there are 120 million in the DS family. So there’s a large installed base, an easy platform to develop for and a strong set of tools out there…”

It’s well known that titles developed by Nintendo on the Wii have incredibly long lifespans. So it was interesting to see Reggie discuss the sales of games such as Dante’s Inferno and Bioshock 2 , both multiplatform games that aren’t available on the Wii. For Reggie and Nintendo it’s not so much about a single title like Dante’s Inferno, but rather:

“How can the development community create content that will strike a chord with consumers and be financially attractive?”

All in all, it’s certainly refreshing to see Reggie be so open about Nintendo’s flaws. To see Reggie admit they may have been lackadaisical when it comes to that particular audience, well, it’s exciting that Nintendo seems to acknowledge their mistakes in an attempt to fix them.

I know I certainly don’t want Bioshock 2 or Dante’s Inferno my Wii, but what do you want? Do you agree that Nintendo needs to encourage more third party developers to go ahead with more ‘core’ titles?

Source: Industry Gamers

Alright, fans of giant robot action, time to get caught up with Transformers: War For Cybertron.  High Moon Studios Game Director Matt Tieger and friends take you on a behind the scenes tour of the upcoming third-robot action title.  Set on Cybertron during the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, Transformers: War For Cybertron is a completely fresh take on the Transformers universe.  Check out the Transformers: War For Cybertron behind the scenes video:

The game certainly looks nice.  Plus, it’s great to see a Transformers game that draws from the history of the toys, rather than merely aping the Michael Bay movies.  So, are you ready for War, or will you be sitting this battle out?

Transformers: War For Cybertron breaks out June 22nd on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, and DS.

In the current issue of UK gaming magazine Edge, Codemasters confirms that Dirt 3 is in development.  Says Codemasters Studios vice president Gavin Cheshire, “There’s some great stuff coming from Birmingham that’s going into Dirt 3.”  Though not terribly surprising news, this is the first official word that a third game in the Dirt series is on the way.

Great looking and well reviewed, Codemaster’s Dirt series practically owns the genre of rally racing games on the current generation of consoles.  Sony’s Evolution Studios, once attached to the World Rally Championship PS2 titles, are now fully focused on the Motorstorm games.  However, Gran Turismo 5 does feature WRC events, so perhaps Dirt 3 will have some competition after all.

The racing genre just keeps getting more and more crowded.  As the lone title focused entirely on rally racing, Dirt stands apart from the pack.  But is that enough to keep your interest?  Or are you racing in a different direction?

Dirt 3’s release date and target platforms have yet to be announced.

Source: Edge

Following in the footsteps of the Biggest Loser and Survivor, the Bachelor franchise is about to get a video game treatment – so gamers, will you accept this rose?

According to TV Guide, the game will allow players to “go against the game’s characters for alone time with the Bachelor or Bachelorette. And to keep in the true spirit of the reality show, players can sabotage other dates to up their odds to win the final rose.”

In addition, players will interact with an avatar of host Chris Harrison as well as digital versions of past bachelors and bachelorettes including Jason Mesnick.

The title will set players back a mere $30 (half the cost of drinks during ladies night) and be available for both the Nintendo Wii and DS.

So, if you’re looking for an excuse to talk your girlfriend into letting you buy a Wii or a DS – this may be your golden ticket.

The title doesn’t have a specific release date yet but is scheduled to hit shelves this summer.

Source: TV Guide

It appears that the developer Rockstar (of GTA fame) and publishers Take 2 are finally warming up to the Nintendo Wii. If ´Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars´ on the DS turns out to be successful then hopefully Rockstar will be prompted to bring the wonderful GTA franchise to the Nintendo Wii.