Latest Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, and GameCube news, screenshots, and game previews

Ubisoft officially announced TMNT: Smash Up, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for the Wii.

TMNT: Smash Up is a brawler, similar to Super Smash Bros. series. It’s also being crafted by Game Arts, the same developer responsible for Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii.

Look out for TMNT: Smash Up this fall.

Tags: Game Arts, Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, TMNT: Smash Up, Ubisoft, Wii

Moon for the Nintendo DS has been generating a lot of buzz lately. If you like first person shooters and you own a DS, you might want to look into Moon.

IGN DS
When it comes to making a purchase decision on Moon, I encourage anyone that loves FPS games on DS to check this one out, as its technical offering, story, design, style, and control are all amazingly well done.

DS Fanboy
For some, the action may drag on, and repetitive puzzles and battles won’t help. For others, the sense of isolation, the pressing, often eerie atmosphere, and the sinister music and effects will blend together into a seamless whole.

Modojo
We have mixed feelings with Moon. It’s a superb visual achievement with spectacular controls and fun shooting, but we grew tired of the old school “hit this switch to activate this door” gameplay. So long as you go into it expecting a slow-paced first person adventure instead of Doom, you’ll enjoy this lunar vacation.

Ars Technica
This is a great surprise this early in 2009, and it’s the sort of satisfying and well-designed experience that the Wii needs. Shooter fans, those who like adventure titles, or just anyone looking for a solid single-player experience on the DS should pick this up.

Tags: Moon, Nintendo DS, Reviews

GamesRadar goes hands-on with the Wii exclusive, Deadly Creatures.

The tone and creativity involved definitely piqued our interest, and the gameplay seemed to offer a nice variety of exploration and tactical combat. Skittering around and discovering the nooks and crannies in the world of vermin will absolutely be interesting. What we can’t be sure of is whether the combat will hold up for the game’s entire length. From what we saw, it was not a mindless button masher – a good ways from it. If they can keep us on our toes by maintaining a continuous stream of imaginative environments and combat challenges, then Deadly Creatures will be a sleeper hit even for the hardcore Wii owners (and yes, we do exist).

I think it sounds pretty good! Deadly Creatures hits stores in February.

Tags: Deadly Creatures, Hands-on, Previews, Wii

Hardware sales for all consoles are falling in Japan and the Wii is dropping closer to the PlayStation 3.

Considering its price-point, Sony’s PS3 appears to have made the best impression. Though it continues to double the weekly turnover of the Xbox 360, Sony may be more interested in the fact that the console is now just 12,000 sales behind the Wii; the closest it has been to the home console market leader in months.

Nintendo, however, may be anxious about sales of the Wii, which have fallen disproportionately against the overall hardware decline. Two weeks ago Media Create reported it had sold close to 90,000 units more than its current rate.

Will the Wii bounce back?

Tags: Japan, Media Create, PlayStation 3, Sales, Wii, Xbox 360

Cowen analyst Doug Creutz has some new rough estimates based on Nintendo’s success and Sony’s struggle during last year’s holiday season:

• Sony will sell about 4 million PS3s in 2009, down from previous projections of 6.25 million units sold. Fewer PS3 sales in 2010 too, now projecting 4.5 million units sold vs 6.5 million previously.
• Wii picks up the slack: 8 million consoles to be sold in 2009 vs 6 million previous. More in 2010 too: 6 million vs old estimates of 4 million.
• Little change to Microsoft’s Xbox 360: Estimates fairly steady, Doug sees 4.25 million this year, and another 4 million in 2010.

The interesting thing is Doug sees total console sales fairly flat — it’s just Nintendo is grabbing more customers that otherwise would have been Sony’s.

Is Sony sure they aren’t in competition with Nintendo?

Tags: PlayStation 3, PS3, Sales, Sony, Wii

Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot today announced several new games for the 2009/2010 fiscal year and also mentioned “that Ubisoft is indeed working on a MotionPlus-sporting Red Steel 2, but declined to discuss any details about the game.” If all goes according to plan, expect to see Red Steel 2 on the Wii before March 2010.

Tags: Red Steel 2, Ubisoft, Wii, Wii MotionPlus

Sequel to the very successful Mario & Sonic at the Olympics for the Wii, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics was hinted at by a Spanish Nintendo magazine and confirmed by sources talking to IGN.

IGN’s done a little digging, though, and has independently confirmed that the game is in development and set to be announced in the next month — which, by the way, really isn’t hard to believe given the astronomical sales figures for the first title in the franchise.

Look out for more coverage on the sequel when it’s officially unveiled. Until, let the speculation wars rage on about which winter games will and won’t make the cut, and just as importantly, whether the title will support Wii MotionPlus, as we all hope it will.

Tags: Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics, Rumors, Sega, Wii, Wii MotionPlus

Take a look at this excerpt from a recent Ubisoft job posting:

Ubisoft Entertainment, a global leader in the video games and entertainment software industry, is currently seeking a full-time Lead Designer. We are looking for a highly talented, motivated and experienced person to help guide the creation of an exciting new cross-platform music based game.

• Categories: Game / Level Designer / Creative Director
• Experience Required: 10 yrs
• Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii
• Minimum Education Level Required: Bachelor’s Degree
• Work Site: On site

Could this be Ubisoft’s answer to Rock Band and Guitar Hero?

Tags: Guitar Hero, Music, Rock Band, Ubisoft, Wii

Check out new screenshots of Sega’s Wii exclusive: The House of The Dead: Overkill.

Tags: House of the Dead, House of the Dead Overkill, Screenshots, Sega, Wii

Kaz Hirai, current Chairman and group CEO of Sony, has been taking a lot of heat lately for his recent comments dismissing Nintendo and Microsoft as competitors and claiming PlayStation is the “official” industry leader.

“This is not meant in terms of numbers, or who’s got the biggest install base, or who’s selling most in any particular week or month, but I’d like to think that we continue official leadership in this industry,” Hirai told Official PlayStation Magazine.

“It’s difficult to talk about Nintendo, because we don’t look at their console as being a competitor. They’re a different world, and we operate in our world - that’s the kind of way I look at things.

“And with the Xbox - again, I can’t come up with one word to fit. You need a word that describes something that lacks longevity,” he added with a laugh.

Today Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg responded to Hirai’s comments claiming that Sony is an “old hardware company that’s comfortable with its market position” and they’re “out of touch with where the industry and consumer is today”.

Tags: Kaz Hirai, Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360