Conduit fans will have to wait a bit longer to step back into Agent Ford’s shoes, as the first-person shooter has been delayed into next year. According to Nintendojo, an email exchange confirms this title’s delay until the first quarter of 2011. No reason was specifically given, but considering the various other FPS titles due out this fall/holiday season (GoldenEye, Call of Duty: Black Ops), it’s likely High Voltage Software wanted to avoid clustering the releases so closely.

The trade off for the delay, though, is the addition of Classic Controller and Classic Controller Pro support, giving FPS fans that prefer a two joystick control scheme a more traditional option. Conduit 2 also supports the Wii remote and nunchuk as well as Wii Motion Plus, giving players a wide array of options for this shooter.

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Dawn of Discovery (Wii) is one of many great games you can get for $20.

I’ll be hosting a Scavenger hunt that takes place on both NSider2 and Examiner. One clue will be posted each day, starting September 2nd, on my Twitter account. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback about the contest, feel free to email me any time at nexaminer@gmail.com.

Contest III start date: September 1st
Contest III end date: September 5th

How to enter: A random 8 digit number has been put into 5 different articles. The numbers will be in bold and will link back to the contest making it noticeable for anyone who’s searching. Additionally, they will be placed within the text in out-of-place positions where it’s obvious that it’s part of the scavenger hunt and not part of the article content.

When you find a random code within an article, write down the article’s name. When you’ve found all five of the articles, send an email with the article titles to nexaminercontest@gmail.com. First clue: You will find one code hidden amongst all of my NSider2 articles.

Click here to view my articles on NSider2.
Click here to view my articles on Examiner.

Prize: One $20 Amazon Gift Card code will be sent to the email address given by the winner. This can be used towards anything, including Video Game related products, on Amazon.com.

Winner determination: Every person who sends in the correct article names will receive a number in the order I receive each email. Random.org will then be used to randomly choose one of those numbers. After a number is chosen, the email address that corresponds with the number will be contacted.

Disclaimer: This contest is run by Phil Aronson (Gloryfinder on NSider2) and is not affiliated with Examiner.com.

While many people have still been skeptical about a 2010 release date for Nintendo’s 3DS, the main argument point has officially been taken care of. With a price drop announced in a recent press release, similar to what was seen in Japan, this is likely in anticipation of the still unknown release date of the 3DS. As mentioned in a previous article, there’s a number of reasons why it will likely be released this year; the main one being the Holiday season where sales are at their highest.

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo is dropping the suggested retail price of its Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™ video game systems. Effective Sept. 12, the new suggested retail price of the Nintendo DSi system will be $149.99, while the new suggested retail price for the Nintendo DSi XL system will be $169.99. The Nintendo DS™ Lite model will remain at a suggested retail price of $129.99. The Nintendo DS family of video game systems is the best-selling in the history of the U.S. and worldwide. The new prices offer consumers tremendous value for their money while providing access to the best portable video game experiences possible.

Stayed tuned for the announcement, at the end of September, which will likely reveal whether the 3DS will be released this year or the next. Regardless, the handheld is guaranteed to be available to consumers by March of 2011.

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A few weeks back, Yoshi_R and I had a Skype conversation about some of the things I experienced back at E3 in June.  We discussed Zelda: Skyward Sword, the 3DS, Metroid: Other M, the Vitality Sensor that wasn’t, and even tried to figure out Microsoft’s obscure hardware promotion strategies.

Since this is not an official ‘Podcast’, there is no formal opening or closing to the audio, but the original audio was edited for time and content purposes (and even then, the final result is about 40 minutes long).  Any future audio segments like this one will probably sound more professional, or at the very least be related to a more timely subject matter.  Maybe we can also find a better place to upload a large audio file by then.

You can listen to the conversation here

Before he was known for No More Heroes, Goichi Suda (Suda 51) made his North American debut with Killer7 on the Gamecube back in 2005, an action game with a hint of survival horror and first-person shooting. Every game from the twisted mind of Suda 51 is a mix of brazen originality and absurdity, and thankfully Killer7 falls just shy of complete absurdity, resulting in a unique and engaging game that will have you on the edge of your seat just to see what happens next.

Suda 51 has a knack for creating bizarre plotlines, and Killer7 might be the best example of that fact. The Killer7 assassins syndicate is composed of seven members, yet in reality they are all different personas of a single character, who is able to transform into each persona via televisions. Throw in some ghostly advisers, mutant-like terrorists, and a few odd superpowers and you’ve got the basis of the game’s story. The overarching plotline may seem like a disjointed mess, but it’s really the individual scenes that make Killer7 a fascinating game; it’s all so bizarre that you can’t help but watch with rapt attention. Amidst the otherworldly events and absolutely crazy characters are several poignant and thought-provoking scenes that are sure to make you pause. The story as a whole may be inscrutable, but it’s still an unforgettable journey across psyches and killers.

Aim for the glowing weak point to take out enemies quickly.

The story isn’t the only bizarre aspect of Killer7; the gameplay is a distinctly unique amalgamation of other genres into one tense adventure. It might be easiest to call it a survival-horror since you’re often in tight areas with enemies ready to creep up on you, but there are plenty of uncharacteristic aspects that make Killer7 a game of its own style. For one, you aren’t able to move freely–instead you press A to move forward or B to turn around and head back the way you came. There are still branching paths but this limited mobility simplifies exploration while making fights more tense–it’s almost impossible to dodge when an enemy is right on top of you, and good luck avoiding several at once. It may sound restrictive but it actually just cuts out a lot of unnecessary actions and allows you to focus on what’s in front of you, whether it’s an enemy or a puzzle. It’s a minimalist sense of game design that still manages to create a game with depth.

Puzzles are either basic video game puzzles–for example, you may need to find a combination for a lock, so you’ll explore the surrounding area–or an obstacle that requires one of your personas’ special abilities. One character can blast away walls with explosives, one can turn invisible to avoid security systems, etc. The basic puzzles are often easy or at the very least extremely straight forward and the character-based puzzles are not exactly challenging so much as they force you to use another character temporarily. It would have been great to see more emphasis on forcing you to switch characters–you can easily go through most of the game focusing on one persona and ignoring the others.

The HUD on the left shows your health (the eye), how much you've charged your shot, and how much blood you've collected.

Each persona uses a gun or throwing knife, so all the combat is based around aiming and shooting down enemies. By holding R you’ll go into a first-person perspective complete with cross-hairs. You have to be quick on the trigger and keep steady aim as, unless you hit an enemy in their weak point, they can take a good amount of bullets as they march toward you–some even require explosives to defeat. It can be particularly tense when several enemies gang up on you and you find yourself reloading desperately. You never run out of ammo completely but there’s still a sense of urgency to each fight, at least early in the game. By the end a lot of it feels like going through the motions. Boss fights, however, are wonderfully unique and never feel bland–each boss fight is carried out in a different style, whether it’s a quick draw showdown or racing through a maze to reach the weak point on the back of the boss. Each fight is a memorable and unique match.

The controls are a little awkward since you can only move forward or turn around, but it essentially complements the gameplay. The stiff controls are akin to a survival horror where you aren’t given the freedom to quickly dodge enemies and instead must take careful aim. Speaking of which, aiming can be a little difficult with the control stick, but most of the time you have plenty of opportunity to line up your sights and hit the enemy’s weak spot, so while the controls have a few kinks, they don’t impair the gameplay.

The neat and orderly environments contrast with the outlandish gameplay.

The graphics have a simple yet stylish appeal to them; environments are often composed of wide stretches of color gradients without much detail while character models have a similar sleek and trimmed down appearance. The cel-shaded graphics give the game an art-house appeal; it’s unconventional and off-the-wall, but there’s a certain elegance to them that you can’t help but appreciate. Plus, there are a few anime cutscenes thrown into the mix–a trademark of Suda 51–that help liven up the exposition sequences. The music and sound effects are great as well, varying from comically upbeat tracks to eerie laughs from approaching enemies. The voice work is surprisingly good, particularly given the wide range of characters in this game. Though the voices are not extremely prevalent throughout the game, it’s still good to hear that some consideration was taken with them.

For such a strange and unique game, ten or twelve hours feels like plenty of time to play through the game. The only real downside is that there is little replay value–there are harder difficulty levels and a sort of bonus mode unlocked when you finish the game, but fundamentally nothing changes to incite you to replay the game. Though you may want to play again just to puzzle out the story one more time.

Like all of Suda 51’s games, Killer7 dares to tread new ground, which in this case is largely a success. Granted, it sometimes feels like you’re moving forward just for the sake of moving and the action isn’t always rewarding, but if you can appreciate Suda 51’s unique sense of style, Killer7 is more than worth the effort.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Earlier this year, Nmap security experts David Fifield and Brandon Enright used the Nmap Security Scanner (created by Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon), to retrieve the favicon data of the top million websites (per Alexa traffic data). Exactly 288,945 of the images collected were used to create a graphical representation of the total reach of each site.  Although it’s very small, NSider2.com is in fact represented in the image.  You can see its location here (hiding just below the green wing of the MSN.com butterfly).

A few quick facts about the image:

• The full size image is 37,440 x 37,440 pixels.
• The largest icon, Google, is 11,936 x 11,936 pixels.
• The smallest sites in the image (approximately 0.0001% reach) are 16 x 16 pixels.
• NSider2.com’s image is 32 × 32 pixels.
• Nintendo.com’s image is 288 × 288 pixels.

A variety of new details about Kirby’s Epic Yarn have been released in the recent Nintendo Power magazine. The game takes place in “Patch Land”, appropriately named for it’s yarn-like look, where Kirby is transported to by an evil wizard. Unlike past games, Kirby cannot inhale enemies to take their form. Instead he can transform into a variety of things at will. Here’s a few of the mentioned transformations:

Car: When the player holds the wii remote sideways and double-taps left or right, he transforms into car mode. You can press the left or right button to move in the chosen direction. He can jump higher while in this mode.
Submarine: Kirby automatically takes this form whenever he jumps in the water.
Parachute: By jumping and holding 2, a parachute is created.
Weight: You can jump and press the down arrow to transform into a weight.

There’s also a few level specific transformations:

UFO: Has a tractor beam that sucks up objects and enemies. After 3 items are beamed up, you can unleash an electrical attack.
Tank: When in his giant tank form, he can drive around and shoot giant rockets, at different angles, towards the enemies. You can watch a clip of this in the video below.
Surfboarding Penguin: Yes, you read that right. No details were mentioned.
Drilling Machine: No details were mentioned.

While inhaling won’t be in this game, unless you count the UFO tractor beam as that, it sounds like it will have a large number of available transformation making the experience just as variable as you would expect out of a Kirby game. Kirby’s Epic Yarn is due out on October 17th of this year.

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]]> http://nsider2.com/2010/08/25/kirbys-epic-yarn-transformation-details/feed/ 0 http://nsider2.com/2010/08/22/golden-sun-dark-dawn-ds-details/ http://nsider2.com/2010/08/22/golden-sun-dark-dawn-ds-details/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:54:29 +0000 Gloryfinder http://nsider2.com/?p=9350

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the highly anticipated sequel to the popular Game Boy Advance game, has slowly been revealed to the public. Over the past month, many people have been able to try out a short demo of the game. Overall, it’s looking like more of the same; to most fans, that is not a bad thing. Keeping with tradition while offering up fresh graphics and new ways to experience the game has been popular with both the Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy franchises. While the details released are still fairly limited, here’s a few confirmed facts:

-The game, including movement, can be controlled with the touch screen.
-Most of the game can also be played without the touch screen.
-It features very high quality summoning cut-scenes.
-Overall, the graphics don’t seem like too big of a step up from the GBA games considering how powerful the Nintendo DS is in comparison.
-Battle system remains unchanged; it’s a lot more streamlined with the touch screen.
-Plot continues off of the previous Golden Sun games.

There’s still a lot of unknown facts about the game, but as its tentative late 2010 release gets closer, more information will likely be revealed in the next 1-2 months. Since the last Golden Sun game was released around 7 years ago, high expectations are set for this to be another classic in the making.

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]]> http://nsider2.com/2010/08/22/golden-sun-dark-dawn-ds-details/feed/ 0 http://nsider2.com/2010/08/20/jett-rocket-review/ http://nsider2.com/2010/08/20/jett-rocket-review/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:35:59 +0000 Eliwood8 http://nsider2.com/?p=9334

With few other 3D platformers on WiiWare, Jett Rocket stands out as bringing a typically larger experience to a smaller scale. Unfortunately, something is lost in the transition, resulting in a boring and bland game that is over almost as soon as it begins. This is one platformer that fails to get off the ground.

The story is you’re trying to recover energy stolen by the Power Plant Posse, some sort of organization bent on destroying Yoroppa. There’s virtually no investment in the already threadbare plot, which would be more excusable if the gameplay was more elaborate. Instead the platforming action in Jett Rocket is terribly simple and generic, with largely empty stages that give you little interesting scenery to explore. Over the course of a measly twelve levels, there are few moments of exciting or innovative gameplay.

Not surprisingly, your jet pack is vital for crossing long distances, or just getting the drop on enemies.

Each stage follows the same basic premise of “get to the end of the level” that all platformers use, but the problem here is that the obstacles between the starting point and the finishing point are not engaging. Almost every enemy is a pushover–and even if you are hit, you have three hit points and can collect more–while obstacles range from basic gap-jumping to simple and obvious puzzles; it’s hard to even call many of them puzzles when the solution requires one short step. Each level has a number of solar cells to collect, and while finding all of them in each stage can be a challenge, it’s hardly rewarding when you only need the base amount to progress. You are occasionally given a vehicle or item–such as a jet ski or parachute for gliding–but these also fail to liven up the gameplay and are instead minor diversions that fail to energize the game. When it comes down to it, this platformer is just too bland to warrant much attention.

You’ll only ever need to move, jump, and shake the Wii remote to attack, but the motion controls just feel unnecessary. When both the C and Z buttons aren’t even used, shaking the controller feels genuinely gimmicky and could easily have been replaced. The other problem with the controls is the camera. You can use the D-pad to adjust your view of the stage, but it’s not as smooth or as convenient as it should be for a 3D platformer like this. The controls are still manageable, but these issues become grating as the game carries on.

As sharp as the visuals are, there's not much to look at.

Jett Rocket boasts some particularly colorful and cheery graphics, but the glamor wears thin due to a lack of unique art direction. Stages are largely empty, with many flat or repeated surfaces, and what few enemies there are in each stage are repeated as well. The music suffers from a similar lack of inspiration; the soundtrack is hardly noticeable at times and unfortunately generic at others.

On top of the flat gameplay, Jett Rocket is a surprisingly short experience. The game barely lasts two hours; potentially even less if you collect only the bare minimum of solar cells. There is an achievement system that is meant to incite you to replay levels and explore everything, but the game is simply too dull to warrant replaying. Despite the hint of a Jett Rocket 2, this game is best left buried.

In the end Jett Rocket is not necessarily a bad game, just painfully simple. Everything from the gameplay to the presentation and even the controls begs for something more complex and exciting. For a lower price it might be worth trying out, but 1000 Wii points can go a long way toward better WiiWare experiences.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

If you’ve always wanted your very own Final Fantasy Orb, one of 50 in the world made for a Nintendo Power contest back in 1990, now’s your chance…if you have $250,000 to spare. That isn’t even the buy it now price; it’s the starting bid price. Even for Final Fantasy enthusiasts, that price will likely be too high. It would be cheaper to get yourself a one-of-a-kind custom made one of equal quality.

It certainly is a collectors item, as the congratulatory letter in one of the images says, but even many hard to find antiques can be found for much cheaper than that. I’m sure there’s plenty of millionaire Final Fantasy fans out there who have no plans of dropping that amount of money on something like that. There’s much more attractive purchases out there…like a $30,000 video game store.

If you had that much money, would you buy a Final Fantasy orb?

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