Head on over the Jeux-France to check out a bunch of new pics of Jump Superstars for the DS. Looks like its going to be quite hectic with all those characters on screen.

Jump Superstars Pics

According to MCV, the Revolution will come out in the states first, with a November 2006 release and shortly after it would release in Japan. People from Europe are not to expect it before spring 2007.

Here’s a quote:

But speaking to MCV after the event, a senior Nintendo source outlined the company’s current thinking. “Revolution will launch towards the end of next year,” the source said. “We’re currently looking at mirroring the DS strategy, so Revolution would release in the US first in November, closely followed by Japan – then we’re looking at March 2007 for PAL territories.”

Keep in mind that this is still speculation, as nothing official has been announced. Nintendo has also recently stated the importance of Europe for its continued growth, so hopefully a Euro release date wont be far behind the others.

Click here for the full article

source: MCV

Just please provide us with your credit card number and email address.
j/k :p

Anyway, Digipen and Microsoft have teamed up to provide a series of webcast lessons on game development using C#. This service is free to registered participants. The webcasts will be conducted live throughout May and you can access previous lessons that you may have missed.

“Video Game Development: Learn C# the Fun Way”
Visual C# Express Edition ( Free )
Code Example and executable on Digipen’s website

Come talk with us on irc

Ign has nice hands-on impression of the new Bomberman DS game. This time you’ll be able to stock pile your power-ups and save them for later. So let’s say that you get killed, and you still have some power up in stock. You can use them as soon as you start. Check out the article for more info:

Bomberman DS impression

Gamespot has an nice little interview with George Harrison of NOA. While its mostly more of the same, as will probably be the case until they unviel the Revolution, there are a few tidbits that I found interesting:

Gamespot: So this is just kind of a remix of the Game Boy, a hipper Game Boy. Is this going to have a different price point?

Harrison: It may. We’re also looking at what the price and bundle combination might be for the fall. One of the things that they’ve launched in Japan that we’re considering is–it’s called the Play-Yan and it allows you to play MP3 music or MP4 video files in your Game Boy. We’re trying to see how that’s doing and if that makes sense to bring out as a companion to this.

and

Gamespot: So do you think that’s really going to ramp up more third-party support for Revolution? The fact that it’s going to be easier to make games for than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3?

Harrison: Well, we hope it will and, in fact, it’s really important to us. There’s some games that we do extremely well, our game franchises obviously, but there are others that we don’t do. I think if we look at the GameCube and say, “OK, what’s one of the things we missed in this generation?” Well, we really didn’t have the Grand Turismos or the Grand Theft Autos, so those are the things that the publishers with their particular expertise can really fill in the gaps on, and that’s important to us.

Check out the whole interview here:

Gamespot Interview

Here is an ad for the upcoming Kirby Canvas Curse for the DS.

DS Central Media Page

source: Playgressive

You know how no matter how ‘bad’ people think Nintendo is doing you can always say, ‘Well look, they are a consistantly profitable company… they’ve got to be doing something right.’ Well, you are still right. Nintendo profits have risen 163% this year. Good stuff indeed.

source: GameIndustry.biz

Someone on the Gaming Age wrote some impressions on ‘Brain Training for Adults’, one of the ‘nongames’ announced for the DS. Seems like a cool game… described as ‘a serious version of WarioWare.’ Sounds great to me! Sure it probably won’t make it to the US, but Electroplankton has taught me that with the DS… anything is possible.

source: GAF

GameDaily Biz interviewed Beth Llewelyn, PR Director for Nintendo and asked all the questions I would’ve asked. It’s a nice summary of what Nintendo’s official stance on the Revolution, online play, and the GB Micro and where they are going with each.

Here’s a quote from that interview:

It is very important for us to have new content… new franchises, new characters… we’re also working with third parties and other external developers to make sure that we do have a very broad library when we launch [Revolution], and that we do have something that will appeal to the 30-something gamer as well as the younger gamer that wants to be able to play Mario.

Read the entire article here:

Gamedaily Interview

Apparently the chaps at Engadget think that Microsoft is doing a 180 with its 360 (their pun… not mine)… following Nintendo’s line of thought about gaming in general. I think a snippet from the article says it best:

Microsoft’s positioning has changed as completely and dramatically as one of its new console’s removable faceplates. According to its Xbox executives, it’s (now) not about better graphics. It’s not about better sound (this time). It’s (suddenly) not about more capacity. It’s not about having a custom CPU (or presumably a new graphics processor). It’s not even about the potential Microsoft advantage of launching earlier than your competition. And it’s not about serving as a more affordable Windows Media Center or more powerful Media Center Extender. Surprise, it’s about the games.

The article is pretty bleak about the future of the 360, the author seems to think that without the crazy 3rd party support of the Ps2, the amazing in house games of Nintendo, or the graphics advantage that Xbox had… the 360 has only Xbox Live in its favor.

Me? I think BioWare, Sega, Team Ninja, and Rare are reason enough for me to buy an Xbox 360. That being said… the only reason I own as many Xbox games that I do is that any multiconsole release automatically goes to Xbox because it should be the best looking. Looks like that isn’t the case next generation. These console wars are going to be interesting.

source: Engadget

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for the GBA is available in stores now. Check out these two great videos about the game. One is a huge (190mb) walk through of the new features for the game. The second one is a quick interview with the developer/localization team.

Gamespot Media Page

You can also check out the offical site for the game:

Official FE Site

The recently announced Ultimate Spider-Man game now has a web presence. The game looks pretty good and being able to play as Venom cant be a bad thing. Check it out:

Ultimate Spider-Man Site

According to Reuters, the unions representing voice actors are planning to go on strike against the video game industry. Apparently, they want more money for all the work they contribute to videogames (ahem…). We’re talking about per unit sold fees they might be asking for. With rising development costs, this isn’t going to do anything to help keep the price of games where they are. Who knew using limited voice acting might turn out to be a GOOD thing for Nintendo? I love you Charles Marinet and Leslie Swan!

source: Reuters

People over at GBAdev have made an intersting discovery concering the rumble feature on the DS. Someone from the GBAdev.org forum tried the E3 demo of table hockey with a cartridge of Wario Ware Twisted in their GBA slot, and it started providing force feedback for the table hockey game.

source: gba.n64euro

[Mario is smashing prices!]

Want to get one of the most fun and creative RPGs of last year…for free?

UPDATE: I just wanted to clear this up a bit. With the purchase of Paper Mario you can get a gift voucher. Its not a rebate on the game, but a $20 voucher towards your next purchase. So, its more like two $20 games for the price of one, as opposed to one free game.

Anyway, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is now only $20. You can find the voucher on EB’s May Catalog on page 40.

source: Playgressive