Points of Interest – 12/09/06
- Ever wonder how Raphael originally met Casey Jones? Mirage has your answers right here.
- New images of TransFormers: Titaniums Beast Machines Cheetor and The Fallen have surfaced, courtesy of Big Bad Toystore.
- Looks like Kup is due to appear soon in IDW’s TransFormers series, as evidenced by this artwork. Wonder what the story there is…
- GameSpot gives its review of Sonic Rivals, clocking in at a 6.9, which isn’t too bad, considering the ratings other releases in the franchise have received lately. Should at least be worth a look.
The stage count doesn’t bother me too much, anyway. Heck, I’ve been playing the first Sonic on Virtual Console repeatedly, so…
Overall, the good seems to outweigh the bad.
- They also give a retro-review of the Virtual Console launch title Bonk’s Adventure, with a 6.6.
- GameSpot chats it up with Nintendo’s Rob Lowe about the recent UK Wii launch, as well as other subjects like why the decision was made to region-lock the Wii, as well as why Nintendo doesn’t want to be just for kids anymore.
GS: Why does Europe always have to wait until last with these launches?
RL: Oh come on, that’s not fair! A week later than Japan and three weeks later than the US, that’s not bad! I think you’re asking the wrong games company [that question].
Heh.
But I still think the region locking is crap. “We always have specific software for specific regions, so we try to keep it that way.” So what? I think if someone sees a title that they want that’s not being released in their region, they should be able to play it. We got Chrono Trigger, they got Terra Nigma (sequel to Illusion of Gaia, which we got). You can’t tell me the audiences are that different.
Besides which, it’s a really pro-conformist attitude. Play what we think you’ll like. Bah.
And the Wii Play part makes less sense, as we’re still getting it, just later.
I won’t even touch the DS/Game Boy part of the argument, either.
Chris Kohler just says he’s talking in circles.
- Speaking of which, GameSpot had a little hands-on time with the PAL version.
And like him, love him, or hate him, I wish The Dog were in the shooting tribute to Duck Hunt. Admit it, he made the game extra memorable just for his laughter alone.
Laser Hockey and Billiards have my interest, though.
- The Punisher star Thomas Jane speaks up about the sequel.
I still need to play the game…
- And GameSpy’s Game of the Month is…
…as though there were any doubt. Whatsoever.
- GameDaily reviews Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, giving it an 8.
- A peculiar, yet funny video found over at Go Nintendo.
- A new scan appears for Wario the… erm, “Theif.”
- More MS blogger thoughts on Wii.
- Wouldn’t normally mention this by this point, but Slashdot so rarely does reviews.
Here’s the Slashdot review of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Game|Life cracks open the Castlevania pre-order set and sees what’s inside.
- Awesome, my ringtone is still going strong on the Billboard charts.
And I’ve had it for about as long, too.
- Now this is a nice gaming rig.
- A member of the Kotaku family checks out the release of Blue Dragon in Japan.
Seems it’s up against stiff competition: Gundam, for the PS2 no less.
And the Kotaku writer also has an altercation of sorts with a Japanese sales clerk, arguably the best part of this entire ordeal.
- Legonomics wins again.
- Newsarama chats with Stan Sakai about Usagi Yojimbo reaching his 100th issue at Dark Horse this January.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”