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The Zelda: Twilight Princess Completion Calculator
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Activision, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
We’ve all heard about just how big the latest Zelda installment is - Nintendo earlier reported that the land of Hyrule takes about 45 minutes to get across on horseback, and the company also estimated that the game would end up with about 70 hours of play time for most gamers. So you’re probably feeling pretty high-and-mighty, having completed the game in only 35 hours, right? Well, here’s something to cut you down to size - the Zelda: Twilight Princess completion calculator. Simply enter the dungeons you’ve made it through, the number of hearts you have, and some other vital stats, and it’ll spit out a number telling you exactly how close you are to truly doing everything that can be done in the land of Hyrule.
Having not had a lot of time to play recently, I’m still only at about 25% after 16 hours of play time, so the 70 hour mark is looking pretty accurate for me. Anyone else have some especially good (or especially bad) numbers?
Read More 
| Zelda Completion Calculator via digg
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NPD December Numbers: $3.7 Billion, PS2, DS Dominate
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
December’s NPD final numbers have been released, and the video game industry as a whole did remarkably well, selling over $3.7 billion during the final month of the year. According to a GameDaily report, this puts industry growth year-over-year at 27.8%. In hardware, the biggest seller overall was the Nintendo DS, moving over 1.6 million handhelds. This was followed by Sony’s “last-generation” console, the PS2, which sold an amazing 1.4 million consoles sold.
For the current generation of consoles, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lead the pack at 1.1 million sold through December, followed by Nintendo’s Wii with 604,200 sold and Sony at 490,700. Supply constraints clearly impacted both Nintendo and Sony for their next generation offerings; Nintendo’s worldwide launch stretched console supply impossibly thin, and production issues kept Sony from pushing as many consoles to market as they would have liked. Microsoft has to be happy with their totals, maintaining their lead in the face of new competition, and the continued success of the PS2 helps take the sting out of Sony’s meager PS3 launch.
On the software side, Microsoft’s Gears of War continued to sell well and moved more than 815 thousand units, and clearly helped drive sales of the Xbox 360. Guitar Hero II was a huge seller for the Playstation 2, and the combined sales of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii and Gamecube moved over one million sold; Zelda for the Wii continued to have a huge attach rate with Wii console buyers, selling 519,200 units against more than 600,000 consoles.
Overall, each of the three console manufacturers has something to brag about for the month of December, and while the relative sales are interesting now, this is just the beginning of the next console war; most analysts are predicting that the holiday season for 2007 will be when consumers will see how the competition really shakes up.
Read More | GameDaily
Castlevania To Break Live Arcade 50 MB Limit
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
When Microsoft announced that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night would be heading to the Xbox Live Marketplace, gamers were concerned that the production values of the game, most notably the lush soundtrack, would have to be compromised for the release in order to fit the game within the Live service’s strict 50 MB limit for Arcade downloads. Gamespot was able to confirm with Konami that they were able to get an exception to the rule to bring the console game to Live Arcade intact. Gamespot also confirmed with Greg Canessa, Live Arcade group manager, that while the company would issue exceptions from time to time to the 50 MB limit, the majority of Live Arcade games will still have to fit within the size restrictions. Microsoft’s size limitations exist to open Live Arcade titles to the widest audience and for portability on memory cards, and Konami’s exception to the rule should not change that.
Read More | Gamespot
New Champagne PSP in Japan, Starting Feb 22nd
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Survival Horror,
With its shiny new exterior and designer-sounding color, the “champagne” PSP appears to be trying to emulate the success of the Dolce and Gabbana RAZR. Personally, I think the shade ends up looking a lot more like the default color choice for Cadillac-driving old fogies.
Whether you love it or hate it, though, chances are you won’t be able to get your hands on this PSP for a while anyway. These tiny bubbles won’t be available in the States just yet, and currently the only place you can read about it is on the poorly-Google-translated Playstation Japan website. If you’re into the import scene, you should see these popping up on eBay around February 22nd, for around $200.
Read More | Google Translation of jp.playstation.com
Microsoft Claims HDMI Xbox 360 Prototype Only
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Internet, Xbox 360,
GameSpot recently talked with Chris Satchell, general manager of the game developer group at Microsoft about the recent Xbox 360 announcements and the rumors of an HDMI-enabled Xbox 360. First, discussing IPTV, Satchell stated that the initial launches of IPTV would be from licensed Xbox 360 consoles direct from IPTV vendors. There is a possibility that Microsoft would provide the IPTV technology as a downloadable update later as the market demands. Satchell also denied the existences of larger capacity hard drives for the Xbox 360, and dismissed the rumors of a Xbox 360 shipping with HDMI as merely “experimentation” that the company is working on. Satchell basically stuck with the corporate message on Xbox 360 upgrades, and will probably continue to do so until they are ready to release a new box to the market.
Read More | Gamespot
Nintendo Again Raises Year End Profit Forecasts
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Nintendo last raised its profit forecasts for the fiscal year in October, when it adjusted its estimates upwards based on better than expected sales of the Nintendo DS. Recently, Satoru Iwata hinted that another adjustment might be in the future. Today, Nintendo of Japan again raised its profit forecasts by 20% to 120 billion yen, again based on stronger than expected sales of its DS console. The DS and software just continues to surge in popularity; a report on Bloomberg News indicates that the company now expects to sell roughly 23 million DS consoles for the fiscal year with related software sales of 100 million. While Nintendo did not raise its Wii sales projections, the general belief is that the only reason this was not adjusted upwards is that the company does not believe it can manufacture any more units. Overall, the success of the DS worldwide has been nothing short of amazing, allowing Nintendo to build up a war chest for the console wars.
Read More 
| Bloomberg
Read More | Nintendo News Release (PDF)
Zune Games To Appear By July 2008
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Casual, Hardware, Internet,
It was anticipated early on that Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player would offer some kind of gaming in the future; after all, the Zune already utilizes Microsoft’s point-based transaction architecture for song downloads and the MP3 player was created by one of the parents of the Xbox, J Allard. Now, it appears that there is a timeline for games on the device, according to a report from Bloomberg News. Peter Moore has confirmed that the Zune will see games support within 18 months to bring it on par with the iPod. Hopefully this will happen sooner, rather than later. By June 2008, the iPod will more than likely have advanced to its sixth generation release of the platform; Microsoft may need to have more up its sleeve to keep pace.
Read More | Bloomberg
Nintendo Europe To Offer 36 Virtual Console Titles In Q1
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Release Dates, Retro, Wii,
A press release from Nintendo of Europe has the Virtual Console receiving 36 new titles in the first quarter of 2007. Nintendo plans on offering 20 new Nintendo titles, 7 from the Turbografx-16, and 9 from the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Some of the titles have already hit the US, including Street Fighter II, but gamers in the UK will also see the classic Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. No release date for this game has been revealed for the US, but hopefully gamers in the North American territory will see this as well as Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario World around the same time that the games launch in Europe. Of course, gamers that managed to grab either the Zelda: Master Quest or Zelda: Collector’s Edition for the Gamecube could play those titles now, but the Virtual Console version is a lot cheaper than a trip to eBay to get those releases.
Read More | Nintendo Europe
Guitar Hero 2 for Xbox 360 to Launch in March, W/ Microtransactions
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Music, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Activision has finally announced a launch date for Guitar Hero 2 on the Xbox 360, and while it’s not too far away, the wait is going to seem interminable for most Xbox 360 owners. You’ll be able to get your hands on the Xbox 360 iteration of the game, along with the specially-designed “Xplorer” guitar, around easter 2007. In addition, Red Octane has plans for the Microsoft marketplace and its possibilities for downloadable content.
Dusty Welch, Head of Publishing, RedOctane, said of the game when it was first unveiled back at X06 last September: “With its large integrated hard drive, Xbox 360 provides an incredible platform for facilitating downloadable content. We believe there is no better title to feature micro-transactions than a music game like Guitar Hero II, where the content is the basis of your experience. The relationship with the Xbox Live Marketplace creates endless possibilities for exclusive content.”
Playstation fans may be able to gloat for a while at the fact that the Xbox won’t be seeing a wireless guitar just yet (the Xplorer included with the game will be wire-ful). Then again, Microsoft fans might be just as keen to point out the fact that you can’t even play Guitar Hero on the PS3, due to its lack of PS2 controller ports.
Read More | VideogamesBlogger.com
Nyko Announces Wireless Sensor Bar, Charge Station for Wii
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Hot Deals, Wii, Wireless,
Nyko announced two products for the Wii at the CES this week, one that will help you save on battery costs, and one that probably won’t. The first (and most exciting) is a set of battery packs and a charging station for those AA-draining Wiimotes. But even though you’re not wasting AA’s in your Wiimotes, you’ll probably go through them just as fast thanks to Nyko’s wireless Wii “sensor” bar (which is, in truth, just two infrared lights on a stick)
Prices haven’t been announced yet (or at least, we can’t find them!), but we’ll stay updated as more information becomes available.
Click the jump for more pics…
Click to continue reading Nyko Announces Wireless Sensor Bar, Charge Station for Wii
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