I have a couple of videos to get up on the site. The videos usually take the longest to post so anytime in the next roughly 5 hours there should be trailers on the site. I will try to use our internal video system and also a link to a Revver version.

Just wanted to post a little post here. I know there is a bunch of media and news coming out from game companies. I see as the storm before the Show. The Show being the mutilated E3. I believe most companies are going just release info on or around the beginning of E3 and not actually be there. As I remember from last year not really much at all happened at E3 mostly companies releasing press releases and such. All the activity happened before or after E3.

I am going to be collecting media and news from the last couple days and I will be back on Monday Night or Tuesday Morning to update on all the news and/or normal media. Only so much can be done at once.

When Galaxy was first anounced for the Wii I remember I started to imagine what kind of new gameplay mechanics you could use the wiimote for in a game like that. And my ideas where ofc pretty bad, but it involved physics and using the wiimote as some kind of tool, actually even with a physical representation in the game world if I remember correctly, and that’s why it was a bad idea. But anyway the game finally arrived and there was use of the wiimote, only, not as a physical tool. I mean, there was the target reticule and the steering mechanics, but not much else (I think at least). That’s not something that makes the game less of a great game, it’s just something you can hope will appear in a future title, like “Galaxy 2″.

What talks against that something like this happens is…

If they were to implement it, what would happen with the already established target reticule that is so vital when you collect stars? Sure, you could map the different functions of the wiimote (that is physical tool a la boom blox, and target reticule a la shooting range) on the d-pad for easy access, but maybe this would make the game too difficult for Nintendos casual gamer market? I’m not kidding here, it could actually get the thumbs down from Nintendo because of this, but this is very unlikely though.

Maybe Nintendo would feel like they borrowed too much from Spielberg if they did this? Although that is very unlikely as well, since it wouldn’t have to involve the same mechanics, just as Boom Blox is a different game from Jenga, and it also wouldn’t be that big a part of the actual game to matter anyway.

The hardware could get too taxed from this function, after all, even Boom Blox is reported to slow down somewhat in the later levels, when there are a lot of bloxes on the screen; so if “Galaxy 2″ were to have this function as well as the same fantastic graphics as its predecesor, there would have to be some serious magic involved to get it to work, although they could of course see to it that there never was that much loose things to manipulate with the wiimote in any level featuring such puzzles or mechanics.

Just as Nintendo never settles for only 2 power-ups in a Mario game, so would they maybe reason if they were to discuss implementing “Boom Blox gameplay”. The target reticule was there to ease collecting stars and shoot at enemies, but it wasn’t that necesarry for the game. With 2 functions the player would suddenly ask the question “but why only 2 functions for the wiimote? Shouldn’t there be more functions?”. So in other words, “Boom Blox gameplay” could be scrapped because no one could come up with more ideas for the wiimote in the actual platforming segments (which ofc is most of the game…), but that’s ofc insane :D What’s the logic in comparing power-ups with wiimote functions?

As for a possible “Boom Blox 2″ borrowing from platformers? Sure, why not? Although it might get too difficult to combine platforming gameplay with boom blox puzzles… and also, one of the developers for Boom Blox said they only wanted to use the wiimote. Ofc, platforming gameplay would be scratched from the multiplayer so there you’d still stick with only the wiimote.

Anyways, I think this merger is a lot more unlikely than “Galaxy 2″ with a spice of “Boom Blox gameplay”.

You cannot imagine my joy for the site today. Other than the posts that were posted today by the crew I am happy for another reason. I really really do not want to brag but I have to post this. We are actually featured on the Conspiracy Entertainment publisher website for a review that we have done of Cocoto Magic Circus. Now some of you out there would think this is a small accomplishment but it is huge from where I am sitting. Especially since we are maybe one of the longest running blogs since the whole Revolution/Wii deal started. We got a mention on Renegade Kid Dementium: The Ward blog, also mentioned on the Red Fly Studio blog for kind words about their games, and now we are shown on the publisher site of Conspiracy Entertainment. WOW!

You do not know the joy I am feeling today.

If you want to see our accomplishment please visit here, here, and here.

“If it is predetermined that the hardware price shall gradually decrease, then that model reiterates the notion that early purchasers will suffer a loss, which I do not believe is the right business model. I believe that something must be wrong if we conduct our business with the premise that we will need to cut prices of our hardware as time goes on.”

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/080425qa/index.html

Nintendo are kind for not lowering the price of the Wii, because if they would have.. well.. then the early adopters would have felt stupid for buying something that suddenly starts selling at a lower price. Commendable. Am I being sarcastic here? No, I mean, it is a valid point. But I don’t get the part where he mentions that there must be something wrong with a business if it presupposes that you have to cut prices of the product at one point… I mean, it’s technology, if the product becomes cheaper to manufacture, if the product isn’t “cutting edge” anymore, then you lower the price, at least if it started out at a relatively high price point for what it is… ok, so that statement is of course not quite right, the Wii was never cutting edge from the get-go, and that was never the plan either, and the price point isn’t ludicrous, just think about how much money you have to dish out to buy a new personal computer and how weak that hardware is compared to Xbox and Playstation. Nintendo obviously just wants to make a profit of what it’s selling, I mean, compare that to Microsoft who is playing catch up with the software, hoping that the revenues from the software–or games–sales will even out the loss they make for every Xbox being sold. And that’s of course what’s so funny: Microsoft is selling something that’s somewhere in between 10 to 15 times faster than what Nintendo is selling for the same price, but Nintendo is still outselling them.

“Likewise, the costs for Wii are expected to decrease. However, when we compare Wii with other machines, whose core semi-conductor chip comprises a comparatively big share of the costs, there is a difference in how a price decrease of these semiconductor chips contributes to the total price cut, as the chip price is not a dominant factor in deciding Wii hardware’s price.”

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/080425qa/05.html

So what Iwata is saying here is that there really isn’t any major cost associated with the Wii hardware? Because what else is expensive in a videogame console other than the semi-conductor chip? The sensor bar and Wii-mote aren’t expensive at least. I just think this quote is a bit funny. It’s like Iwata is saying “hey!, since there isn’t any expensive semi-conductor chip in our product it wont undergo the same decrease in price as the competition will see. I’m not saying it’s just a shell, but you get the idea”. I mean, sure he is not saying that, and he is clever and trying to allude to there being other things you take into consideration as well when putting the price on a videogame console, and sure, that would be the controls, and yes, they are more expensive than the competitions controls, so in that sense, a valid point, but above all it’s really the simple plain fact: they know what people want and what sells, they are alone with this, and they are in a position to sell millions, which they do. They are in their own market and thus can set their own price point. It’s like saying “hey! we got this really cheap aeroplane here for you, I mean, it’s just as cheap as that boat over there” “yeah, so? I want to be at sea, with a fishing-rod, and the only thing that can offer me that experience right now is the boat, so I buy that” “but the aeroplane will take you to your destination in no time…” “it might, and that’s all great, but it’s a different experience, and right now I prefer the boat experience, besides, the aeroplane has been around for ages, I want to try something new (and that’s where this analogy sucks big time, but that’s just the way it is)”.

Will the Wii be slightly cheaper to buy next year? Probably, although chances are just as high that the Wii will be in the same high demand come next year. I mean, Iwata is right when he mentions that it’s the actual software that sells the system, and that with only the right software you can prolong a consoles lifetime with several months or years (although years probably wont hold true in today’s competitive videogame market).

Nintendo will of course push at two fronts this E3: casual and hardcore. The thing is… with all the money they have been making on both the Wii and the DS; they will probably show a lot of titles. If they usually only show 2 major franchise titles every E3, they will probably show at least 3 this year, 2 or 3 very robust new ip’s, and maybe 2 very robust casual titles, and this is not counting all the third party support. I wonder what those guys who previously worked on the “Project Hammer” title have been up to, not because I had any interest whatsoever in that title, which they apparently just stopped working on, but because they obviously are talented, and if they are working on something new, it would be interesting to see what that is.

Anyways, the reason I mention E3 is because it’s not like Nintendo is a company that just makes a lot of money and then sits back and relaxes comfortably, they invests their money in what they need to survive.

Yes, the forum is back on the air. This new forum is tied to our wordpress user list so what that breaks down to is if you signed up for this site and are logged in you are also logged into the forums. They are quite simple forums but I plan on working on them much more.

Those that have signed up to our previous forums and have posted many things. I apologize but you have to re-register to the new forums. We will see how this forum works out!!

To see the forum click below:
Forum Centrum

Sigh, the ongoing adventures with the forums. Forums are scrapped - again - for the time being (spam issues and no moderation) as well as the chat but I think these two things were the least used on the site. I am looking into a built-in Wordpress forum for the site here. I may have to do some site updates but probably not today as there is way too much media/news to put up on the site.

Well I will be updating the site with news today but I just wanted to put this out on the Net.

Hey everybody, you the people that at least look at this site once a day. I have added a Nintendo-Centrum Product Store up on the site. The product store has games, accessories, gaming shirts, movies, music, and electronics to buy. You can check out our store by clicking the link that says store, clicking the ad on the right bar, or below the post if you’re looking at this page directly. This store is in addition to our T-shirt shop that is linked. Moreover, get this, when you buy a product from us you are actually helping us to pay the site bills.

Go, Buy, Play, Enjoy!