The Weekend Wrap-Up – 11/12/06
- The Allspark has a link to an interview with Peter Cullen, voice of Optimus Prime, Eeyore, Mario, and others, from The Oklahoman:
Optimus Prime’s cool leadership qualities made him a Gen X hero. But Cullen didn’t know about his influence until years later, when, on the insistence of his daughter, he attended a Transformers convention.
“My eyes were opened wide,” he said. “I was shocked, and I was surprised. The little information that I had was on such a minimal basis, you really couldn’t get an overall picture on how big it was. It still is kind of a surprise to me. I think about it, and I think gosh, it’s an honor.”
- If it happens (and I’m betting it won’t, this just smells of so many other “buyout/merger” rumors of yesteryear), you heard it here first: GoNext reports that Microsoft is interested in buying up Capcom of Japan.
- If you’re a fan of the old TransFormers movie and feel the need to have a seasoned old ‘bot curse all the turbo-revvin’ young punks on your toy shelf… well, he may not be Kup, but Brakedown GTS comes damn close, and BWTF.com gives you a closer look at why.
- GameSpot puts in a little overtime overseas and shows us how Sony’s latest offering fared at its launch.
As one would expect, there were plenty of disappointed gamers.
In fact, IGN reports of a Kotaku story that paints a much uglier picture of the launch than Sony might want you to see.
According to the story, many of the so-called ‘early adopters’ were in fact of Chinese origin, hired by wealthy Japanese businessmen and families to endure the gruelling lines and constant claustrophobia in order to secure a unit for a small fee in reciprocation. Also outnumbering the ‘hardcore’ contingent were the foreign resellers who were there to buy up as many consoles as possible for resale on eBay and other auction sites for vastly inflated prices.
Sounds like most of the people buying the newest game system weren’t even gamers at all.
Ken Kutaragi addressed the crowds as the rain poured down. He spoke to the very first PS3 customer who was unable to answer him, assumedly because of the language barrier. Tellingly, the first twenty sales were of the hardware only, and all refused media interviews.
…yeah. Also irksome to me is how Kutaragi is described as being “prideful” at this thing. I would love to know just how he reacted when the first customer couldn’t even answer him, nor bought any software.
- Next-Gen has the latest in their line of Holiday Profiles, now featuring Nintendo, with the likes of Microsoft, Capcom, Konami, and THQ to follow, among others.
- onNintendo reports that The Seattle Times has a profile on Reggie Fils-Aime.
I must say in as heterosexual a way as possible that Reggie is looking quite good for his age. Here’s hoping I can age that well.
- Silly Wii prank.
I’d have been tipped off by the fact that Metroid is supposed to use the nunchuck.
- Go Nintendo reports that some IGN blogging reveals that whereas HDTV is essentially a must to get the most out of your XBox 360 or PS3, that it actually hurts the Wii.
But Game|Life disagrees!
Shame these things don’t have a switch (or so I’d assume) that switch between HD and SD…
And while it’s by no means something I’d applaud, I’m still content given my lack of an HDTV.
- Kirby Squeak Squad is reviewed.
- GN reveals that Prima is going to have a special Zelda guide out for the holidays.
The cloth map and hardcover sound alright, but the last two are things I’d expect anyway. What else does it have?
If Nintendo Power were to make a guide like they did for A Link To The Past, just watch me scoop that up.
- CVG talks turkey with the Big N about Virtual Console concerns.
How will VC games be organised on the channels page? Will each game be an individual channel or can users group say all the titles of one format (SNES) or all the titles of one series (Zelda)?
Nintendo: Each VC title downloaded will be displayed as an individual channel. Users may move these channels around to suit them.
Oh, great. Just like in Animal Crossing, I guess. I found it rather annoying to have 10 NESes sitting around on the floor…
Click Picture.- CNN Money talks about production numbers for the PS3 and Wii:
?Nintendo seems to have a good handle on the flow of their goods. With Sony we?re getting less information. ? Sony has put out signals that they?re not getting as many as they would like. We?re not getting the message that the hardware is going to flow smoothly through this holiday season.?
Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, wouldn?t budge from the worldwide number, but did say he expects the first batch of units (which go on sale Nov. 19 for $250) to sell out by Wednesday, but said he expects many stores to be restocked on Black Friday.
Comforting news.
- I’ll just let the ladies say what they will about this.
- …showoffs.
- Note to self: show this to the wife.
(She loves German Shepherds.)
- Oh, goody-goody gumdrops, Kotaku’s gotten ahold of the teaser poster for the Castlevania movie.
- Ol’ buddy Blaze Hedgehog has a new demo up, this time a Castlevania program that’s pretty dang good. You can get more details about it here.
- Newsarama reports on how you can name a Kick-Ass Marvel comic book character, and help a good cause in doing so.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”