Sega is offering a first look into Conduit 2, with new details as well as the possibility of having your face featured in game.
Conduit 2 is expected to build upon the original with the added Team Invasion Mode, a cooperative multiplayer option that can work both online and offline for up to four players. There is four player split screen action that is apparently able to be had, although I do not know if the experience will be weird to some of the common video gamers of today who are used to fullscreen play. The 12-player online multiplayer is still there, but with larger and well made environments that are both indoor and outdoor. To have your face be featured on an in-game poster, you will have to head to the official Conduit website.
Being one of the best first person shooters to be had on the Nintendo Wii, this is major news for all hardcore gamers that own the Wii. This game offers intense close quarters action that resembles the likes of Golden Eye 64, one of the best games of all time. High Voltage Software, the developers of The Conduit 2, and Sega have announced a fall release on the Wii.
Nintendo and Capcom revealed new information about the Monster Hunter Tri North American edition, detailing its release date, providing exclusive demos and preorder incentives and making the online multiplayer free.
At the summit in San Francisco, Nintendo announced that Monster Hunter Tri will be released on April 20th of this year, and also that there will be no subscription fee required for online play in the North American version of the video game unlike the Japanese counterpart, which was a greatly contested announcement in Japan. Monster Hunter Tri will come with Wii Speak enabled on the online play for free, with purchasable items available in the Nintendo Store.
Capcom also announces that there will be a GameStop exclusive demo of the game to be made available on March 8th. Those who preorder their copy of Monster Hunter Tri, they will get a 500 Monster Hunter Tri Points Card, which you can use to purchase items in the Nintendo Wii or DSi shopping channels.
Monster Hunter Tri will either be available via a bundle with the new Nintendo Classic COntroller Pro for $59.99 or simply with the game alone for $10 less. This is a good deal, because the Classic Controller Pro costs about $20 on its own, so the bundle would save you $10 easily.
This is good news for those of you who are awaiting some of the epic monster killing action to be had in Monster Hunter Tri, be sure to preorder your copy soon.
Speculation seems to point in the direction of Nintendo coming out with a robust multiplayer service for the next console generation. As of now, the Nintendo Wii’s weakest point is its lacking multiplayer aspect. Sure it provides the bare minimum required, but besides for that, it is laughable to say the least.
It seems as if they are not even concerned with the online service in the slightest as of now, with reason. The Wii was made to target new gamers and old gamers alike. Online gaming is more of a modern video gaming aspect, while it seems that the Wii is more family oriented, which would mean offline multiplayer and single player enjoyment. It is quite obvious that this approach to sales have been a success, because the console is currently first place in the console war, though it is last place in terms of console activity.
You have to take a look at the accomplishments first before you begin to consider the failing points, to understand why such an approach was taken. The Motion Controller was announced for the Wii, and has quickly become one of its major selling points. It revolutionized the gaming industry, by showing how profitable such motion control technology can be, and possibly even changed the direction of focus to be taken for the next video game console generation to take. More focus is being given on innovation and exclusive features, opposed to which console has more raw power and prettier games. So when you consider the direction that Nintendo has been taking this whole time, it is understandable why the multiplayer service has been so lacking. Why compete with the Xbox Live and Playstation Network, which would take an amazing amount of time and money, when you can introduce a new concept to the video game industry and profit immensely off of it?
So now that they have successfully changed the direction and focus of the video game industry, one of the only things left for them to do is dominate the multiplayer aspects of a console. I am guessing that they will most likely incorporate a ground breaking or position shifting feature within their online service that will completely baffle the competition and most likely attract a greater crowd than ever before. As of now, they currently make use of a sloppy friend code system, which has received quite a lot of ridicule for being inconvenient and what not. It also has no protection against cheating that I know of, because I have used hacks on many Nintendo DS games while playing online, and had no problems what so ever. But I envision a future gaming console by Nintendo that will completely shift the focus in terms of an online service, some how connecting us to each other in a way not thought of before.
It is not as if Nintendo has much of a choice. Many gamers were weary about purchasing a Wii for the sole reason that it has a lacking multiplayer service. Many of the games today have a selling point that has to do with their multiplayer, especially the AAA top selling games. Nintendo has been lacking with support by third party companies because of the poor graphical capabilities, poor processing and poor online capabilities. So if Nintendo does not get their act together and fix these problems, they will alienate their old fan base composed of mainly hardcore and modern gamers. They will only be able to keep their inactive new and older gamers.
This all leads to Nintendo planning a robust and innovative multiplayer service that will take the video game industry by surprise in the upcoming console wars.
Capcom has announced that they are looking into having free online play and implementing WiiSpeak for the Western Monster Hunter 3.
Or so it is said, according to several reports claiming this. Which is a bit unfair, considering that the Japanese Monster Hunter 3 will have monthly fees associated with it. But according to the senior spokesman for Capcom, the circumstances in Japan call for that fee, opposed to anywhere else.
They say that Monster Hunter 3 is not as popular in the west, so adding a monthly fee would certainly raise eyebrows and alienate the few fans. Japan does not have friend codes, so Capcom has to run the servers and they need the monthly fee to pay for the costs generated. When they out right tell you the cause of the monthly fee, it makes it sound a bit more fair and understandable, actually. Since when you think about it, Monster Hunter really is not that much of a prized franchise over here in the west. But who knows what that may bring for the future of Monster Hunter in the west. Maybe one day, we will also have to pay the fees that Japan will have to pay.
While that is not a final decision, it is pretty clear that they are against monthly fees in the west for Monster Hunter 3. As for WiiSpeak, Capcom’s producer told G4 that they are looking into whether it is technically possible or not. If it is, they will make an announcement regarding to it, if it is not realistically possible, then they simply will have to leave it out. WiiSpeak has began to be considered by Capcom due to the large amounts of fans requesting a voice chat for the online game play that Monster Hunter 3 will have to offer. So keep an eye out, those of you in the west, for possible news regarding the free online play and WiiSpeak being implemented in the western Monster Hunter 3.
Nintendo has pretty much confirmed the status of the supposed price cut coming to the Nintendo Wii, and it is going to be effective by September 27th.
Nintendojo reported that in a conference call with Nintendo, they confirmed that the price of the Nintendo Wii will be cut down to $199 and will be effective September 27th, a Sunday. Though websites earlier have claimed to contact Nintendo for further elaboration, they simply said that they do not comment on rumor or speculation, as many gaming companies choose not to do.
But with the Tokyo Game Show in effect, most likely Nintendo will release this bomb shell sometime this week. It is almost a shame that this news was prematurely released, if they announced it without any prior spoiling, it probably would have brought up cheers all across the world. Now that might be a bit of exaggeration, because the Nintendo Wii is already the cheapest console on the market, but maybe the small population of people that haven’t been able to purchase the Nintendo Wii will rejoice. When I heard about the Wii getting a price cut down to $199, I admit, I considered going out and getting one the day the price cut goes in effect. But then again, I thought to myself, what games would I actually play on it, heh. There’s not enough grabbing games yet to justify me actually purchasing the console, no matter how cheap it is. But at least this is a step in the right direction.
Nintendo may comment on the truth of the Wii Price Cut down to $199 and may confirm whether or not it will go in effect on September 27th, so keep your eyes open for it!
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