Slick Mini Documentary Chronicles The Last Story

The Last Story will FINALLY see its american release later this month care of XSEED Games. To celebrate its release, a french YouTube channel known as sidekickfr has created a rather nice mini documentary chronicling its development from the beginning when it was known as Last World and starred a blind female lead.  Released 2 months ago in french, sidekickfr recently re-released the 15 minute doc with an english language narration which is a nice bonus for american fans of this final epic for the Wii.  Make sure you show your thanks to XSEED and pre-order this amazing game as it's sure to become a classic like Final Fantasy.

Also, for those who pre-order, The Last Story will come in a Limited Edition that will include a 44 page artbook and special collector's box.  Enjoy.

Atlus Shows 3DS Owners Some Love With Code Of Princess This Fall

Not only has Atlus decided to bring over the beautiful Code Of Princess from Japan, which I am personally thrilled about, they are doing it in style.  Atlus is bringing this slick 2D/3D game over with some awesome bonuses in the form of a sweet looking Soundtrack CD & Art Book, showing that Atlus much like XSEED Games knows how to treat us game collectors well.  Code Of Princess is an action/brawler/RPG in the same vein as the brilliant Guardian Heroes for the Sega Saturn.  Loaded with content, the game features:

• Gorgeous Handrawn 2D Sprites On Multi-Layered 3D Levels
• Over 100 Quests
• Over 50 Playable & Customizable Characters
• Online Multiplayer Featuring Co-Op Quests & Versus Multiplayer

Outside of the indie community, Japan continues to be a welcome source of original games that are not mired in the glut of FPS' and unoriginal sequels that plague many american made games. Code Of Princess is one to keep an eye on when it releases this fall.

Club Nintendo July Rewards Are Live

    Today begins Nintendo's subtle reworking of its Club Nintendo program.  First up are the new coin values being applied to both physical games as well as digital titles.  Oddly enough on the 3DS, Nintendo seems to be rewarding people who purchase actual cartridges vs. 3DS Ware with greater coin values.  It's pretty nice that Nintendo is taking small steps to to reward fans & collectors who love hard copy gaming.
    Next up are the Platinum/Gold Elite rewards which are currently listed as coming soon.  I try not to get my hopes up but every year I secretly hope for something such as an exclusive game cartridge or soundtrack.  To this day, the two exclusive Nintendo DS Game & Watch Gallery's rank among my favorite rewards for the US Club Nintendo program.
    Finally, the last update comes in the form of the digital games you can purchase with earned coins for your Wii & 3DS.  While the selection is light with only 2 games, Nintendo has changed their availability to only about a half of the month.  This move seems to indicate a shift to encourage fans to return to Club Nintendo more often to see whats available.  The games are:
      Mario Tennis - Wii Virtual Console
      150 Coins (Available Until July 22)
      Electroplankton Rec-Rec - Nintendo 3DS
      100 Coins (Available Until July 15)
These moves, while subtle, seem to indicate a shift in Nintendo's attitude towards its online space which makes sense considering the upcoming MiiVerse community they hope to build between the 3DS and upcoming WiiU this fall.  Stay tuned for any new updates on the Club Nintendo front.

Pikmin 2 Grooms Wii Owners For WiiU

With Pikmin 3 gearing up as one of the major first party launch titles for the WiiU, Nintendo has decided to FINALLY release the "New Play Control" edition of Pikmin 2 on Wii.  I say finally because the game was released in Japan, Europe & Australia over 3 years ago which is just pitiful.  The US is actually getting this title as a way to help boost recognition of the series in preparation for the WiiU launch.  The US version drops the "New Play Control" label and is instead branded with the red border "Nintendo Selects" boxart.  The two enhancements to this version are the obvious Wii pointer control for the cursor which greatly enhances gameplay and full widescreen support offering a larger view of the playfield.  This version of the game also debuts at the very affordable price of $19.99 which is welcome considering the premium collector's prices for the Gamecube edition.  Personally, I enjoyed the first title in this series but it was Pikmin 2 that cemented my love for this quirky and original adventure/strategy title.  Highly recommended!

Kirby Sucks Wii One Last Time!

With the Wii reaching its final days, Kirby's Dream Collection will be joining the amazing and fittingly titled The Last Story as one of the final games on Nintendo's most divisive and successful home console.  Kirby's newest game is a 20th anniversary compilation of the pink puffballs "Dream Land" adventures.  The game will compile six of the main games in the series spanning four Nintendo consoles. The included Kirby games are:

      Kirby's Dream Land (Gameboy)
      Kirby's Adventure (NES)
      Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Gameboy)
      Kirby Super Star (SNES)
      Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
      Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)

Also included on the disc are:
New Challenge Stages - These are done in the graphical style of Return to Dream Land and include new time/score attack levels exclusive to this disc.
Kirby Museum - The game includes a chronological history of every Kirby game including trivia about what was happening around the world at the time of each game's release.

While it is true that you can access all of these game digitally between the Wii & 3DS, having them all in one physical collection with added content is a nice bonus for fans & collector's.  Oddly, this collection shows an actual level of thought and care very uncharacteristic of Nintendo when you consider their handling of the anniversary's of Mario and Zelda and their complete ignoring of Metroid last year.  You can get your suck on this September, long live the pink creampuff!

Do We Really Need A New PlayStation & Xbox?

With the WiiU finally revealed and the so called "hardcore" gamers pissing and moaning about how Nintendo is an epic fail as usual.  The big question is what will happen with Sony and Microsoft's new consoles and the game industry in general.  Next years E3 will most likely see the reveal of Sony's PlayStation 4 (Codename Orbis) and Microsoft's Xbox 720 (Codename Durango).  Outside of tech numbers relating to console power and potential handling of the used games market, very little is known about these two systems.  Considering that we are reaching the "Law of Diminishing Returns" in terms of video game graphics, what is all of this power going to be used for?  I'm curious to hear what gamers in general have to say about these new systems.  Please comment below sharing your thoughts on these new systems.  Here are a few questions to get things rolling.

- What will set these systems apart from their current counterparts?

- How much are you willing to pay for these new consoles?

- Do you think "next-gen" graphics will really be that much better than now?

- What kinds of games would you like to see?

- The big question I pose to you is, do we really need or want a new set of consoles from Sony & Microsoft?