Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands debuting May 18
Super Mario Galaxy 2 debuting May 23
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor debuting June 7
Metroid: Other M debuting June 27
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies debuting Summer 2010
Media
Super Mario Galaxy 2 Trailer
Nintendo brought the goods today at their Media Summit event. Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M within a month of each other? That’s insane. The Galaxy 2 trailer had me tingling with anticipation already, but what about Metroid: Other M? We haven’t seen anything about it and they’re already aiming for a June release? I hope it’s as good, if not better, than Metroid Prime 3: Corruption which is one of my favorite Wii games thus far.
This reminds me: I’ve got to do the Luigi run of Super Mario Galaxy before the sequel hits.
What’s X10? It’s Microsoft’s Xbox 360 media event for 2010 and boy were there announcements made there. I’ve taken the liberty of gathering all the fun and placed it all in one post.
Announcements
Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition bundle will be available on March 9 for $399.99 USD
Includes a 250GB Hard Drive, two wireless controllers, exclusive Xbox avatar items and a standard copy of the game
Perfect Dark XBLA & Game Room will launch in March
Splinter Cell: Conviction debuting April 13
Alan Wake debuting May 18 exclusively for Xbox 360 (trailer below)
Lost Planet 2 debuting May 18 as well
Dead Rising 2 debuting August 31
Xbox Live! exclusive Dead Rising: CASE ZERO is a prologue to Dead Rising 2 and will be available prior to Dead Rising 2 launch
Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing DLC coming to Xbox 360 and PC
Fable III will debut holiday 2010
Crackdown 2 debuting later this year
Halo: Reach multiplayer beta starts May 3 and will be accessible via Halo 3: ODST disc
Just how successful is the Nintendo DS? Is it successful enough to become a home console replacement? Nintendo could be testing that theory with the Nintendo DSi LL (or XL for the rest of the world).
It’s essentially a Nintendo DSi, but bigger in every regard; a bigger screen (4.2 inch vs 3.25 inch from DSi), a pen sized stylus and even longer battery life. This is the DSi for your home as Nintendo so aptly portrays on their official website. I suggest you all explore the site if you wish to see some comparisons.
I can’t say that I’m against this addition to the DS product line because for some people, this makes sense. Their DS never leaves the home and they would like to have a bigger screen — even if it means stretching that 256 x 192 resolution onto 4.2 inches screens. Just hold it further away I guess.
The Japanese release is just weeks away on November 21st while North America and Europe will be receiving these extra large DSi’s in early 2010.
Hear it from Yoshinori Ono, the man himself, (via translator):
You can find some screenshots of the two new characters, T. Hawk and Juri, over at Famitsu.
So it’s going to be a retail disc at a “discounted” price. I’m expecting $39.99 USD. Should I trade in SFIV? It does have a TIV of $36 at the moment. Maybe. There was a tease dropped about an extra bonus for those who hold onto their disc.
Decisions. Decisions.
I’ll probably end up keeping it because of the DLC I purchased.
Two respective console exclusives bound for October have gone gold today. One is a simulation racer and the other is an action packed adventure. Both will eventually enter the household.
While Sony simply announced Uncharted 2’s gold status and cinema plans, fans of Forza 3 will be pleased to know that a demo will be hitting Xbox Live! on September 24. They’ve also announced a few details concerning the demo including the featured cars:
2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
2009 Ferrari California
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
2009 Mini John Cooper Works
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves hits store shelfs October 13, 2009 exclusively for the PlayStation 3. While Forza MotorSport 3 debuts a couple of weeks later on October 27, 2009 exclusively for Xbox 360.
If I see any deals for either of these, I’ll post them up on the GameDealsCanada feed.
Apple had an event today. An iPod event full of updates and announcements including:
iTunes 9
iPhone OS 3.1
New iPod Touch
New iPod Nano w/ built in camera & FM Radio
The iPod Touch will now start at $199.99 USD for the 8 GB with $299.99 USD (32 GB) & $399.99 USD (64 GB) variants following. Finally! A sub $200 iPod Touch. And to top it off, they’re including Open GL|ES 2.0 which means expanded graphical capabilities for games.
They finally started to compare the iPhone to the DS & PSP which is valid on one hand, but complete nonsense on the other. There is a definite market for iPhone’s bite sized gaming, but it doesn’t offer the same kind of gaming that the NDS or PSP offers at all. Sure there is a Halo-esque game called Nova coming, but that’s nothing like a Phoenix Wright or a God of War. Good for Apple for taking its gaming initiative seriously though.
The “new” iPod Nano with the built in cameras make a lot of sense considering the form factor and how it fits when held horizontally. Apple also decided to add a FM radio antennae and pedometer in it. And at $149 USD for an 8 GB and $179 for 16 GB, it’s hard to resist. I would pick one up if I was looking for a new MP3 player today.
Head over to Apple’s website to check out the new hotness. If it’s not there yet, it should be there some time today.
Hardware Announcement
Apple had an event today. An iPod event full of updates and announcements including: