EL33TONLINE: News archive for November, 2008
Check out this amazing Super Mario Galaxy cake. All I can say is wow. It was made by a father for his 4 year old daughter’s birthday. I wonder if she will grow up to be a gamer?
Head over to Kotaku for a closer look at the cake in action. Yes, the cake moves, complete with Bowser stomping, Mario outrunning Bullet Bill and Luigo spinning.
So, how did dad of the year contender make it? Here’s what he had to say.
“I had an extremely hard time deciding what to put on the cake. If you’ve played the game you might understand. There are so many levels its ridiculous. I had to have the castle and one round world. And for some reason I got bent on having the glass pill looking planet thing which I just thought would look cool on a cake. The silver disc was an add on at the end of my decision so I could add Luigi and some Galaxy like spinning. Seriously, I had the worst time cutting out worlds I wanted on here.”
Anyone have anything remotely similar to this growing up?
Great news for Durbanites. Core Gaming has announced “Nintendo Week,” a chance for you to check out the latest that Nintendo has to offer.
Head down to Gateway shopping mall this December to check out the Wii and Nintendo DS as well as test your brain age and put various Wii games through their paces. If you step up to the challenge you stand the chance to win great prizes in daily tournaments and you can even have your photo taken with Mario and Luigi, who will be on stage three times daily.
No matter what games you enjoy there will be something for you, ranging from Big Brain Academy to Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit. You can also test your musical ear with Wii Music, the latest game to hit our shelves, by joining a band and trying out 60 different instruments. The entire Nintendo catalogue will be available for game requests so don’t be shy, have a go at Family Ski, Super Mario Galaxy or even Mario Strikers Charged Football.
There will be daily tournaments running – get behind the wheel with Mario Kart Wii at 11:00, build up a sweat with Wii Sports at 15:00 or bend your grey matter in Big Brain Academy at 16:00.
You will also be able to check out the DS Lite as well as the latest DS games. If you are up to the challenge, make sure you don’t miss the dedicated area for Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training where you can participate in daily Brain Age Challenge sessions.
If you have a competitive streak you can join in the Mario Kart DS multiplayer action at 15:00. You can also share your puppy’s latest trick in the Nintendogs Bark Mode sessions.
Head over to the big stage at Nintendo week at the Gateway Promo Court from Tuesday the 9th of December until Monday the 15th of December. The Nintendo Team will be on stand between 9am and 10pm each day.
Just a reminder that we have some great competitions running at the moment.
We are giving away two Devil May Cry 4 hampers, each with a copy of the Xbox 360 version of the game tucked inside as well as some other really cool goodies. This is your chance to add some bling to your gaming collection with Juiced 2 red fluffy dice and keyring as well as a Metal Gear Solid 4 keyring and pen. To enter tell us who you would rather play as, Nero or Dante, in one great fan-induced paragraph.
If you are more of a wrestling type of gamer, you will be interested to know that we have two copies of TNA Impact! (one for PS3, one for Xbox 360) worth R599 each to giveaway. Simply tell us who your favourite wrestler is, it’s as easy as that!
Lastly we have an awesome Wall-E notebook and a copy of Wall-E for the PS2 up for grabs. Send us a drawing of the famous little guy and you will be in the running to win this cool hamper. We enjoyed our time with Wall-E so why not give it a go?
Gears fans find out how to win a cool Gears of War 2 hamper here.
Go! Go! Go!
If you are a Gears fan you won’t want to miss out on the chance to win this awesome Gears of War 2 hamper.
The winner will walk away with a cool Gears of War 2 T-shirt and cap as well as a copy of ‘Beneath the Surface,’ a must-have GOW2 art book. We also have another five art books to giveaway as runner-up prizes.
Head over to our Gears of War 2 competition page to enter today. If you haven’t played the game yet, read our Gears of War 2 review to see what you are missing out on.
Hardware sales were in general higher this week, no doubt helped along by the boost in software sales. The Nintendo DS was again the best-selling console in Japan, selling 107 423 units, roughly 18 000 more than last week. The DS Lite accounted for 18 580 of these sales and the remainder, 88 843, were sales of the DSi.
The DS dominated the software side of things, racking up six of the Top 10 games, most notable of which was Chronos Trigger DS which sold 271 000 copies to land second place on the chart.
The PSP also experienced a significant boost in sales, selling 61 226 units this week in comparison to last week’s 38 153. Although there was just one PSP title in the Top 10 software chart, that title (Gundam vs Gundam) performed well in its debut week with sales of 267 000 copies.
Square Enix has announced that downloadable content for their the Xbox 360 version of their latest RPG, The Last Remnant, will be available in December.
The first challenge pack will be available on the 1st of December. Titled ‘Purgatory’s Sins,’ this free DLC pack promises gamers the chance to level up with challenging guild-tasks.
‘The Key of Ancient Ruins’ will also be available for free on the 1st of December and set players on a path of discovery once they have unlocked the gates to the Ancient Ruins. Silver Xbox Live members will have to wait until the 8th of December for both of these packs.
Sony unveiled the Wireless Keypad for the PS3 earlier this year in August. SCEA’s PlayStation blog has revealed some new interesting information about the two new peripherals including the Wireless Keypad and the AC Adaptor.
The Wireless Keypad for the PS3 will be available in stores across North America for $49.99 in the first week of December. The Wireless Keypad is a Bluetooth device that players can pair with their PS3 or with any other Bluetooth enabled device that has keyboard functionality.
More Resident Evil 5 news can be found in this interview with Roger Craig Smith, better known for being the voice of Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5 and the voice of Curtis Miller in Resident Evil Degeneration.
Interesting to know that Smith is the second actor to impersonate two central characters to the RE series. Alyson Court, who played Claire Redfield and Yoko Suzuki, is the first.
Back to the interview now, Smith talks about voice-overs for the game and touches on what he thought about the motion-capture aspect.
Smith also reveals why he identifies with Chris, what we can expect to learn about Chris as well as a little about Chris’s relationship with Sheva. Smith also lets us know what we can expect from RE5 and how the game compares to a Hollywood blockbuster.
Head over to residentevil.com for the interview.
Japanese gamers can look forward to playing the demo of Resident Evil 5 this year. According to Capcom’s blog the Xbox 360 demo for Resident Evil 5 will be available in Japan on the 5th of December.
Other perhaps even more interesting news is that Resident Evil 5 will be released early in Japan. The game’s release date has been moved up one week to the 5th of March due to development “proceeding faster than predicted.”
If you are an avid gamer like me you will know just how many battery lives get sucked into your Wii Remotes. The iMP Dual Charge Station is an affordable solution to your battery woes.
Firstly, as you may have noticed by now, it is a dual charge station so you can charge not one but two Wii Remotes at the same time. The pack includes twin rechargeable battery packs as well as a charge station and USB cable charge.
Setting it up is easy, simply connect the charge station to your Wii via the USB port and replace the two normal batteries and back cover of the Wii Remote with the rechargeable battery pack. You will need to charge both rechargeable battery packs in the charge station over twelve hours before you use them for the first time but after that batteries on your shopping list will be a thing of the past!
It is quick and easy to slot the Wii Remotes into the charge station. There is no need to remove the batteries from the Wii Remote, they charge while still tucked safely away inside the Remote making it convenient to recharge and play. The dual station also features twin charge indicator lights to show the battery charge status.
The iMP Dual Charge Station is available in stores for R299. You can purchase it at Kalahari, Take 2, BT Games, Incredible Connection or ToyZone.
So what are you waiting for, power up today!
Thanks to MobileG for supplying the review sample. If you want to find out more about other cool accessories and stay up to date on what’s hip and happening head over to www.mobileg.co.za and sign up to their newsletter.
The latest feature to be added to the Nintendo of South Africa website, more specifically to Club Nintendo, is the Music Voucher Shop.
The Music Voucher Shop enables Club Nintendo members to redeem stars for songs or even albums from EMI. One song will cost you 350 stars while 700 stars will earn you two songs and 3000 stars secures you an entire album.
Head over to www.nintendo.co.za for a closer look at the Music Voucher Shop and to find out what other cool goodies you can swap your Star Points for. There is also a handy walk-through on how to download music from EMI using stars.
So, have any of you already swapped your stars for songs?
The Top 5 of the Japanese software chart are all new releases this week, with a mix of games for four different platforms. Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii debuts at the top of the chart with 305 000 copies.
If the popularity of its predecessor is anything to go by, the latest installment of Nintendo’s life simulation game will maintain a regular appearance in the chart for some time to come. Despite being released in Japan in November 2005, Animal Crossing: Wild World for the NDS retains a spot in the Top 30 at number 29.
It’s nice to see the sales numbers of the Top 5 up from last week. Chrono Trigger DS from Square Enix is new at number 2 with 271 000 copies while Namco Bandai’s Gundam vs Gundam for the PSP debuts at number 3 with 267 000 copies.
Videogame peripheral and accessories manufacturer, Sunflex Europe GmbH, has today announced the successful launch of their Zero G Motion Controller, bundled with Need For Speed: Undercover.
The Zero G Motion Controller is an officially licensed PlayStation product and introduces motion sensing technology to the PlayStation 2. From the press release:
“A 3D motion sensor provides intuitive steering and movement, matching the functions of the left mini joystick. The sensor can be turned on and off, accommodating the player’s individual preferences.” Owner and Managing Director of Sunflex Europe GmbH, Mike Steup had this to say:
“Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed Undercover is destined to become one of the holiday’s biggest racing hitsWith its innovative acceleration sensor for optional motion detection, the Zero G Motion is the ultimate controller to experience Need for Speed Undercover – we are happy to offer gamers throughout the United Kingdom, a fantastic bundle at an amazing competitive price”.
The bundle coincides with the European release of Undercover and will retail for £39.99, or you can get the control on its own for £17.99. For more information you can head on over to the official website.
While there’s all the usual stuff you may have come to expect from any given Xbox LIVE Marketplace update, there’s only one bit of content that’s worth any real time.
Yep, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix has hit Marketplace, and for only 1200 MS Points, it’s a bit of a deal. Receiving an excellent, high definition makeover and even a few gameplay improvements, Super Street Fighter II Turbo is back and better than ever!
Other new content on Marketplace today includes the following (Note: certain items are only available in specific regions):
Nintendo of Europe has decided to ditch its traditional red logo in favour of the grey version that adorns the Wii and DS packaging.
Various sites have reported receiving a press release from Nintendo of Europe asking media to make use of the new grey logo instead of the red.
The full press release reads as follows:
“For several years, a new generation of Wii and Nintendo DS games have adorned themselves with a new logo, in discrete grey.
In various publications the former logo, with red lettering, can still be seen. In the event that you have not already done so, we would like to sincerely ask you to now only use the current, grey Nintendo logo.”
Although the grey logo has been around for quite some time now, it was still used in conjunction with the traditional red one. We will keep our ear to the ground for confirmation from Nintendo. Until then which logo do you prefer? The red or the grey…
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