The Stuff of Which PSP2 Nightmares Are Made

NINTENDO: ALL YOUR CORE GAMERS ARE BELONG TO US

Nintendo’s been running the Disruption 101 and Blue Ocean playbooks since the introduction of the DS, and now that they’ve completely devoured the low-end, they’re going to be reaching out with a white-gloved, hammer-wielding, hand for the core gamer:

The Nintendo executive suggested in the interview that the DS primarily attracts consumers who don’t play games that often, but hopes that the 3DS’ graphical capabilities and gameplay will appeal more to the core demographic. Its line-up at E3 and the announcement of classic Nintendo 64 remakes would seem to support that aim.

In order to “expand into elaborate games targeting serious gamers,” Iwata says that he intends to work more closely with developers, and that third party support is of utmost importance to the platform. The 3DS was, apparently, created with external developers’ requests in mind.

I would not want to be Kaz Hirai (or a Sony shareholder¹) today, tomorrow, or any time in the next five years. (And don’t think MS is going to get off easy: the Wii2 will trod the same path as the 3DS just like its forebear followed the path the DS blazed.)

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^{1 Though there is a massive list of reasons why you wouldn’t want to be one of those already.}

Super Mario Mind Blown

Technically I’m late to this but only because this dude has racked up 1.2 million views in less than 7 days:

And:

And more.

Dreamcast Chus On An NES

NES I CHUSE YOU!

The newest in the demake stakes is a port of ChuChu Rocket to NES from Dreamcast:

There is no sound or music yet.

It does not yet keep track of which levels you have cleared.

Puzzle mode is basically complete.

Stage Challenge mode isn’t finished:

* Missing the 30 second time limit
* The 100 mice and Cat Soccer levels don’t do anything.

There is no multiplayer mode yet.

Controls:

* Start or A: Confirm or select something
* B or Select: Cancel or go back
Puzzle Mode:
* A + Arrow: place an arrow, replace an arrow, or pick up an arrow
* B: Take back the latest placed arrow
* Select: Quit, or return to puzzle mode if the game is running.
* Start: Set the game in motion! Also toggles double speed mode while the game is running.
Stage Challenge:
* A + Arrow: place an arrow. You can only have 3 on at a time, and can not place arrows on top of another. Arrows last for 10 seconds before they expire.
* Select: Quit

Emulator Compatibility:

Works great in FCEUX, Nintendulator, Nestopia, VirtuaNES, QuickNES, Mednafen.

Grab it here.

Zelda: An Auracle Assault

A SUBLIME SOUNDTRACK

Here’s an interesting tribute album of Zelda: Oracle of Ages tunes:

Essence of Lime is a remix album covering the soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. The project was originally a one-man endeavor that evolved into a community project. Having been introduced to the Zelda series through Oracle of Ages, I noticed the lack of Oracle remixes and decided to take on a solo remix project in early 2008. I planned to remix Oracle of Ages’ entire soundtrack by myself, assuming there would not be enough interest to organize a full-fledged project. After receiving several unexpected offers to help out, I opened the project as an unofficial community album with headquarters at OverClocked ReMix. I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped me tackle the project despite its unofficial status; this would have never been finished without them.

With 42 tracks by 17 remixers, the album contains over two hours of music. Seasons fans, you’ll have to forgive the fact that tracks from Oracle of Seasons have only been included if they appeared in both Oracles. I hope you’ll be satisfied to hear that we haven’t forgotten Seasons, and we have some exciting things planned for it in the future. For now, I present a complete album for Oracle of Ages. Enjoy it, or else.

It’s pretty cool and you can pull them down via these links:

Full Soundtrack (MP3)
Full Soundtrack (FLAC)
Torrent

Thanks to Zero for the tip.

3PM Snapshot: A Tale of Two Links

It Came From the ’80s: Famicom Twin TVCM

That’d be TV commercial in Japan-o-speak:

A 3DS Revelation

And Inafune pimps:

Anti-PSA: Wii Lose a Game

(ANTI) MILESTONE

Sonofa! Arcade Shooter: Illvelo, formerly of UFO Interactive ‘fame’, is no mas:

A UFO Interactive customer service rep explained Arcade Shooter: Illvelo has been canceled. The Wii shooter and its colorful box art also vanished from their website as if it never existed.

I have the import and it’s actually a pretty sweet little package–and now it appears as if, like Obi-Wan to Leia, it’s your only hope:

And: while I’m bemoaning the loss of Illvelo, where the hell is Zangeki no Reginleiv??? Surely someone is going to pick this up?? Atlus?? UFO?? NIS?? Someone??

So No 3D (Or Marketshare) For PSP2, Then?

THEY CALL ME KAZ

Oh Kaz, you silly little man:

“A portable with naked eye 3D does not have high precision, according to internal research,” Hirai said in an interview with Sankei Biz. “Presently, there are limits.”

Yes, limits on Sony’s imagination that has, already I’d wager, put the PSP2 6′ under while banking on glasses-based 3D tech (at some small¹ cost) for the PS3 which will be dead and gone within 5 years–even on large displays.²

Seriously: did Hirai actually think for a minute that the tech incorporated into the 3DS would be gimmicky crap? We’re talking about the follow-up console to what will soon be the best-selling game machine of all time and to believe Nintendo would do anything but get it right you’d have to be either a raving fanboy, the current president of Sony Computer Entertainment or Ken Kataragi.⁴

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^{1 And by “small” I mean in the ‘mere’ four figures…during a crippling, worldwide, recession. Oh, who am I kidding: even in 2005′s economy (when everyone was using their house to finance a fleet of Ferraris) that price would have painted Sony as completely insane and, once again, using their game biz to try to shore up their other units3–in this case 3D TVs–is borderline suicidal.)
2 I can remember when Sony was actually capable of innovation: when they brought out stuff like the Walkman and PlayStation. Now they’re reduced to hocking their wares to the very affluent/rich which guarantees they’ll never soar to the heights of PS1/2 ever again.
3 Blu-ray really worked out well for them, as they claw and scrape for a distant, second, place, right?
4 Then again, Sony completely fubared the PS3, so maybe he’s just working from experience on this score.}

Drawn Out of Hiding

Finally, some new video on the sequel to the all-but-ignored (twice!), Okami: It’s bad enough everyone ignored its big brother (twice!) on PS2 and Wii, so don’t let the same thing happen to the pup again! Please!