Great games blog

Filed under: News, Virtual Console

Oh, woe is us. Microsoft just dispatched (and then pulled) a press release boasting about the imminent arrival of Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox Live Arcade, describing the game as an XBLA “exclusive.” We can safely assume this means the bird and bear won’t be made available on the Virtual Console, news that conclusively crushes whatever slim hopes we had for the game appearing on Nintendo’s service. We suppose $540 million buys you these kind of perks, eh?

To rub salt in our open wounds, Microsoft also disclosed that sequel Banjo-Tooie would be made available on XBLA early next year, “making Xbox 360 the new home of the beloved Banjo-Kazooie franchise.” We think we’re going to sigh sadly now, reader. Feel free to join us.

* sigh *

[Via Joystiq]

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ads by Google

Filed under: News

We doubt that Nintendo will make amends with Panesian (who probably doesn't exist anymore) or any other unlicensed NES publishers, no matter how much we want them to. So, if you're extremely desperate for awful, awkwardly lewd NES games, you should probably go ahead and look into buying an original NES cartridge, because you'll be waiting for Virtual Console releases of this stuff until the eventual heat death of the universe.

Well, chances are that nobody bidding on this copy of the extremely rare Bubble Bath Games is interested in playing it at all, and is after it as a collectible only. We say humbug to that: if you pay over $600 for one of the worst NES games ever made-- and somebody will pay a great deal more than that once this auction's over, we bet-- then you should play it until you get your money's worth. Which, again, may take the entire lifetime of the universe.

Just because one of you may be crazy enough to go buy the thing, we'll warn you now: if the ESRB had existed back then, they probably would have rated this game AO. Don't buy this if you're under 18, is what we're saying.

And speaking of ridiculously overpriced rare NES items, GameSniped also found this QuickShot Zapper scope for only $99. Act now-- supplies are limited!

[Via GameSniped]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

In a recent interview at Comic-Con with Rare software engineer James Thomas (TJ) and designer Justin Cook (JC), who are both key figures in the Viva Pinata franchise, they talked about Viva Pinata being overshadowed by Gears of War back in the winter of 2005. Did you know Viva Pinata has so far sold half a million copies? Not bad at all.

Question: So Viva Piñata itself didn’t, sales-wise, take the world by storm as much as everyone had hoped. Why do you think that was? How do you feel about that?
JC: I suppose we knew from the start that we were going out to the limit there, because we were going to do something different to the usual game for the Xbox 360, obviously. I don’t know if it worked out badly for us — we’ve got close to half a million sales now, so that isn’t a terrible debut for a game.

Question: Is that worldwide?
JC: Yeah, that’s worldwide. I think it’s about that number. And we seem to keep creeping along — it doesn’t just stop. We keep selling a few copies, a few copies… it might work out okay.

JT: I think from our point of view, it was interesting to see how the marketing budget was split last Christmas, because obviously everyone knew that Microsoft were publishing Gears of War and Viva Piñata. Yet, so much of the money went towards Gears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway. It was a bit of like, “What about the other franchise?” I think we got left in the wake somewhat. Hopefully with the PC version this Christmas, it might get something of a second wind.

Question: It struck me as a bit of putting the cart before the horse, because there wasn’t quite the casual market there yet.
JT: I think it was always stated that we were going to be the trailblazers. A lot of the preproduction on Viva Piñata was basically going, “We are going to take this round to third party publishers and show that Microsoft and Rare are committed to trying to expand the market themselves. Come join the party.” Obviously, that flood of titles hasn’t hit just yet. I suppose someone’s going to go first, and we were them.

JC: We always knew it was going to be tough, but you have to start somewhere, and we always thought that we had got a kick-ass way to start that off. We thought we could set a standard. We weren’t just a tie-in game, or one of those usual kids’ games that nobody really likes but it sells really well because it’s got the license. We thought we’d do a really good quality game and hopefully spin it out from there. So start on a good foot and expand from there.

Question: It was also kind of a multimedia launch, right? The show was coming on at the same time.
JC: Yeah, that was brand new to Microsoft and Rare, but obviously not for 4Kids. It was new to us on our side. That’s a whole kind of learning process in the making.

Near the end of the Gamasutra interview the Rare employees mention that so far Perfect Dark Zero has over 1.5 million sales on Xbox 360!

Share This

Filed under: Rumors

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Viva Pinata would be gracing the DS comes whispers about the rumor mill that the franchise could also find its way onto the Wii. The source of these rumors (the latest issue of gaming mag EGM) states that due to the success of minigame compilations on the Wii, Viva Pinata: Party Animals could very well hit the console in the near future.

As you all know, we honestly think the Wii needs less minigame compilations and more actual games. Like, those with a beginning and an end, preferably a plot tossed in there for good measure. Maybe some sort of conflict and resolution?

Oh, who are we kidding? The Wii isn't capable of such things, apparently.

[Via Game | Life]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Developer Rare answers fan questions on their Rareware site once a month. This time they bring good news for Nintendo fans who like Donkey Kong Country (DKC).

The first question asks if we’ll see non-Donkey Kong Rare games, like Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark, on the Wii’s Virtual Console (VC)? Rare’s answer: “As for VC, it’s ultimately Nintendo’s decision what gets released. Beyond the [three] DKC games we don’t have anything in the pipeline at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in future.”

Good to know Rare or Microsoft don’t have any issues with their games appearing on Nintendo’s Virtual Console. But putting aside the fact that Microsoft has a similar online download service for old and new games (Xbox Live Arcade), will Nintendo ask for these Virtual Console games?

The second question asks Rare about the possibility of a new “real” Donkey Kong game developed by them (referencing a 2D sequel). Rare’s answer: “Apart from make a new Banjo game and a REAL Donkey Kong game, whatever that is – and as we’ve already said, the former we’re already doing [Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox 360], while the latter [Donkey Kong Country 4] is not so likely unless Nintendo specifically request it.”

We referenced a 2D Donkey Kong Country 4 (SNES/Virtual Console) sequel, because the 3D Donkey Kong 64 (N64) was not received well by fans of the Donkey Kong series.