VG Arabia » nintendo

Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Other M dated for US

Ahmad Dajani — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:57:38 +0000

Nintendo has officially announced the release dates for two of the most highly anticipated games for the Wii console. During Nintendo Media Summit 10, the company has announced that the sequel for one of the greatest platformers of all time ‘Super Mario Galaxy 2′ will be released on May 23th in the US.

Though, this isn’t the only big Wii title to get a 2010 release date in North America. Team ninja’s hotly anticipated action game ‘Metroid: Other M’ which will provide a completely different experience from Retro Studio’s recent series of first-person action adventure will release on exactly June 27th in the US.

The Wii lineup for 2010 looks much stronger compared to last year’s. Now, all we need from Nintendo is to announce a 2010 release for the upcoming Zelda game.

Miyamoto: Couldn’t get a job at Nintendo today

Ahmad Dajani — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:22:57 +0000

Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary mastermind behind some of the greatest franchises of all time and the very successful Nintendo Wii has told Edge magazine that he “would probably not have been employed by Nintendo” If he applied for a job at Nintendo these days. He told Edge magazine “I often say to Mr Iwata: ‘If I was applying for a job here today, I, with my actual college degree, would probably not have been employed by Nintendo!’”

He said that Nintendo has became a target for top graduates from the best colleges “Nintendo has become one of those companies that graduates from colleges and good universities really want to work for,” he explained “Because of that, the competition’s really become so fierce for positions. And that means that a lot of the recent recruits for Nintendo have tended to have the higher degree from the prestigious colleges and universities and whatnot”

I’m not very surprised that most of the people wants to work in Nintendo, especially if you consider the never ending success of the Nintendo Wii and the NDS. Is Nintendo is the ideal place to work in these days? Or it’s just a compliment from the legendary creator?

You can see the full interview in the latest Edge issue.

Reggie: “There is no Wii HD”

Ahmad Dajani — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:09:53 +0000

There has been a lot of rumors about Nintendo next console, the so called Wii HD. But it seems that the president and chief operating Officer of Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aimé has dropped all of these rumors.

Speaking on GameTrailers TV, Host Geoff Keighley asked the Nintendo guru about the Wii HD. His answer was clear and straight forward with a big ‘NO’:

Reggie: Michael Pachter continues to be the only one who believes that this is gonna happen. I don’t know how forcefully we can say there is no Wii HD.

Keighley: It’s not coming, period?

Reggie: No.

You heard him, but is he telling the truth? Time will tell.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii US release date confirmed

Ahmad Dajani — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:07:34 +0000

New Super Mario Bros is an upcoming side-scrolling platform video game being published and developed by Nintendo for the Wii video game console and is the sequel to New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.

This exclusive Wii game will hit US retailers next month, November 15. The game is rumored for a December 3 release in Japan. Check the picture below, as it contains the US release date of the game:

How can the next Zelda game dethrone Ocarina of Time?

Ahmad Dajani — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:25:31 +0000

Zelda series is one of my favorite games series ever. I really loved every title in this epic saga, but Zelda games are still using the same formula and gamers are getting bored with it. We want this series to evolve and to become the game that will define again the action-adventure genre.

A lot of people consider Zelda OOT as the best game ever made. You may like other games or other Zelda games more than OOT, but there is one fact all gamers must have to know: Zelda OOT is still ranked as the highest rated game ever.

A lot of games tried to take the crown from Zelda OOT, but till this day there isn’t a game that has been able to take its place as the highest rated game ever made. You may say “it is not necessary for the highest rated game to be the best game ever made” since scores from gaming websites doesn’t always reflect the quality of the game, but it is a different story here. Gamers around the world voted numerous times for Zelda OOT as the best game ever created, so basically you can’t ignore this fact also, because it is decided by the majority of the gaming community.

While integrating motion controls into the gameplay is a welcome addition, I want to see more important stuff in the game. This is my list, but feel free to add your suggestions in the comment section:

6. Fully orchestrated soundtrack:

when you play a game for more than 40 hours, it is very important for the gamer to hear a good soundtrack when he is playing the game for a long time, as you will hear most of the tracks over and over again. Am not saying that Zelda games does have a dull music, no, far from it. In my opinion, Zelda games does have some of the best music ever created in video games. But there is one problem, Zelda series is still rendering music in the same sample-driven, synthesized style that the series has had since the Nintendo 64 days. They have to let go of the midi sounds and to render the music in the next Zelda game using pre-recorded orchestra.

Listen to the original soundtrack from Twilight Princess (Hyrule Field Main Theme)

Now, listen to the orchestrated version (Hyrule Field Main Theme)

Which one do you think is more epic?

5. Make the game harder:

Zelda games has never been known for its difficulty, but if you have played OOT, you may have noticed that Nintendo has been tuning down the difficulty for every Zelda game released after OOT. You can’t blame them, as they have been trying to capture the casual gamers market and as you know by now they have succeeded in their mission. But there is one question, what about Nintendo hardcore followers?

One of the most impressive things about Zelda series is how they managed to design puzzles that are both challenging and logical at the same time. But at the same time, the combat in Zelda games isn’t challenging and it doesn’t requires a lot of skills from the players. I hope Zelda team to tune up the difficulty in the next Zelda game.

4. Make the story darker:

When you travel through time to the future in OOT and you see how the game world is in the verge of destruction, you feel responsible for saving the people and the world they live in.

The first time I pulled the Master Sword from the Temple of time and I went out of the temple to see what awaits me outside, I was like “wow, what has happened here?”.

OOT story was dark and gloomy, Twilight Princess comes close, but it doesn’t give the gamer the same feel of fear and disturbance.

3. Voice acting:

Most of Zelda fans will flame me because of this, but before you do that, just imagine your favorite characters in the Zelda series speaking instead of yelling, wouldn’t this make the story and the atmosphere of the game more epic?

Just give the supporting characters voices and keep Link silent if you (Nintendo) fear that Zelda fans will go against giving Link a voice, like how Lionhead did in the Fable series.

2. Make the game more Open-ended:

If you played one Zelda game you know exactly what to expect. You will see the same structure design; you beat a dungeon, then you will search the game world for someone or an item to progress in the story and you will repeat the same process over and over again.

How about to give the player more things to do in the game world? Also how about to give the player more than one way to finish a mission?.

If they considered doing both of the above mentioned suggestions, it will increase the re-playability of the game and it will give a refreshing feel to the gameplay.

1. More RPG elements:

I know that Zelda is an action-adventure game, but imagine if the Zelda team integrated a level up system like the one in Fable 2. I don’t feel like Zelda games really encourage players to toy around with the combat. It would be nice if the next one permitted more experimental combat.

Give more reasons to fight monsters, I don’t want to fight monsters just because the game is throwing them at me, the game must reward the player to encourage him to experiment with the battle system.

So, those are my suggestions. What are yours?

Super Mario 64 2D remake?

Ahmad Dajani — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:37:33 +0000

Mario is an iconic game character. If you are a gamer who played the original Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 system, you will be shocked for how good this 2D remake is.

The game have a new story line featuring our favourite characters from Princess Peach to bowser, and of course mario. Who has most of his moves from the original game and a few extras like the watercannon from super mario sunshine.

The game wasn’t created by Nintendo, it was created by Runouw and his team. It is a flash game so he name it Super Mario 63 instead of Super Mario 64.

Hit play to experience this wonderful remake.

Play