Wii Sold 2 Million in November

Nintendo is rolling in the dough and finally shipping more units to consumers. The NPD is reporting that the Wii hardware sales for November reached past 2 million units.

2nd place is held by Nintendo's very own DS hardware, which brought in 1.5 million units during November. No other company came close to even reaching half of the Nintendo Wii sales.

XYBA Podcast Ep 20

XYBA Podcast Crew is Andy, Eric, Josh, and Marco. This is Marco's final episode. We talk about some E3 stuff and of course the usual topics. Guitrollers FTW!

0:00 - Opening with Andy, Eric, Josh, and Marco
0:55 - Games We're Playing :|: Civilization DS and 360, Wii Fit, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Rockband
19:05 - Gaming News :|: E3 stuff
36:07 - Rountable Discussion :|: New XBOX 360 Upcoming Updates
42:19 - Games We're Looking Forward to :|: Prototype, APB, Saints Row II, Infamous, Gears of War II, Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Left 4 Dead, Rockband 2, Resistance 2, and Ghostbusters
1:01:05 - Rants :|: Corrupted files on Xbox harddrive
1:03:18 - Shoutouts :|: Good luck Marco



Download XYBA Podcast Ep 20

Dead Rising for Wii Confirmed

MCV has confirmation that a port of Dead Rising will make its way to the Wii. No news about the game was given at E3, but Capcom of Japan has confirmed that it is true.

This is pretty cool. I loved Dead Rising and I'm kind of curious to see how it works on the Wii. Hopefully they will use all the graphics power behind the Wii to make it look and play almost as good as the 360 version.

Nintendo Apologizes for Insults

Nintendo's Laurent Fischer, marketing director for Nintendo Europe, has apologized for says that only "geeks and otaku" would want a hard drive for their Wii. Fischer says the remarks were not meant to be offensive. Who uses the word otaku anyway?

I also don't see why the console companies get so mad when gamers want bigger storage space. Yes, the Nintendo Wii could use a real hard drive instead of just 512 MB memory or memory cards. And remember when Microsoft would get so mad when people were asking for a hard drive bigger than 20 GB?

IGN Has the Big E3 List for 2008

IGN has posted the list of games that have been confirmed so far to be shown this July at E3. The list is as follows.

Bethesda Softworks
Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, X360)

Capcom
Bionic Commando (PC, PS3, X360)
Bionic Commando Rearmed (PC, PS3, X360)
Capcom Project #1 [untitled] (other)
Capcom Project #2 [untitled] (other)
Dark Void (PC, PS3, X360)
MotoGP 08 (other)
Neopets Puzzle Adventure (PC, Wii)
Plunder (PC, PS3, X360)
Resident Evil 5 (PS3, X360)
Spyborgs (Wii)
Street Fighter IV (PC, PS3, X360)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3, X360)

D3 Publisher
Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
Ben 10: Alien Force -- The Game (DS, PS2, PSP, Wii)
Naruto: Clash of The Ninja Revolution 2 (Wii)
Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 (DS)
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (DS, PC, X360)

Deep Silver
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (PC)

Electronic Arts
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC, PS3, X360)
Crysis Warhead (PC)
Dead Space (PC, PS3, X360)
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, PS3, X360)
Mirror's Edge (PC, PS3, X360)
Skate It (Wii)
Spore (PC)
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, X360)
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)

Microsoft
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (X360)
Fable 2 (X360)
Gears of War 2 (X360)
Halo Wars (X360)
Too Human (X360)
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (X360)

Namco Bandai
Soulcalibur IV (PS3, X360)

Natsume
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS)
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii)

Sony Computer Entertainment
Killzone 2 (PS3)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
PixelJunk Eden (PS3)
Resistance 2 (PS3)
SIREN: Blood Curse Episode #1 [PSN] (PS3)
SOCOM: Confrontation (PS3)

Valve
Left 4 Dead (PC, X360)

XSEED Games
Little King's Story (Wii)

E3 will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 14 to July 17 this year.e

Weak U.S. Dollar Bad for American Gamers

The L.A. Times has an article about the shortages of Wii Fit in the U.S. Part of the problem is that the U.S. dollar is weak, so Nintendo can make more money sending the peripherals to other countries, like the UK.

"The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere," said Michael Pachter an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Patcher also estimates that only half a million units were shipped to North America while 2 million units went to Europe. Fortunately for Nintendo, the Wii and all of it's popular items will stay trendy for quite some time, so the audience will always be there regardless if the product isn't.

Wii Fit Calls People Fat

I know this news has been all over the web recently, but the Wii Fit calls a lot of gamers fat. Isn't that why they're playing the Wii Fit to begin with?

A friend of mine got the Wii Fit. He is one of those crazy people who actually go to the gym and work out on a regular basis. He is not fat, but Wii Fit ranked him at the fattest possible on their scale. This is because his BMI is more than the "healthy" average should be. Muscle weighs more than fat so if you just looked at his weight, height and age on a chart, it would indicate that he is a big tubbo.

That's all it is, people. A chart. Your BMI is at one spot, the game will tell you you're healthy. Another spot and you're fat. So what? It's just a tool to try and help keep you a little more fit. You want to really be fit? Be crazy and go to the gym and eat healthy.

I've also seen stories about gamers who bought the Wii Fit but are too heavy to play it. It says right on it that the maximum weight is 330 lbs! If you weigh more, the Wii Fit is not for you!

XYBA Podcast Ep 19

Andy, Charlie, Jeff, and Josh bring the gaming pain with another XYBA video game podcast. Again please feel free to leave us a review on iTunes.

00:00 - Andy, Charlie, Jeff, and Josh
00:30 - Games We're Playing :|: Bionical Heroes, Glory Days 2, Culdcept Saga, Pocker Smash, and Charlies just playing whatever he can steal. M3 chip is sucking up our DS juice.
07:54 - Gaming News :|: MMO Marvel Universal Online Cancelled, DJ Hero trademarked, Leisure Suit Larry game cumming soon, 360 failure rate, PS3 sales, and more
30:04 - Roundtable :|: The XYBA crew discuss the lates Devil May Cry 4 required assets download for PS3 and if this is the future of games on consoles.
50:40 - Games We're Looking Forward To :|: GTA IV, Star Wars: Force unleashed, Dark Sector, and mo
54:27 - Shoutouts :|: Check out our sister sites ThunderPudd.com, Game on Cafe, and Jigsaw HC's Rants

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 19

XYBA Podcast Ep 18

Andy, Jeff, and Josh come together for the 18th episode of the XYBA Podcast. We are trying a new format where we keep our podcast a little shorter. Let us know what you think. Be sure to leave us a review on iTunes and check out a machinima we are working on. Enjoy.

00:00 - Introductions
00:33 - Games We're Playing :|: Half-Life 2, Stuntman: Ignition, and Ghost Squad
13:36 - Gaming News :|: GTAIV in April, Little Big Planet in beta, Orange Box games for PC, EA announces Rockband for Wii, and some other gaming news
37:06 - Roundtable :|: The Child-Man debate
48:25 - Games We're Looking Forward to :|: Ninja Gaiden DS, GTA IV, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, Army of Two, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Fable 2, and Culdcept Saga
53:24 - Rant :|: Games with flashlights suck

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 18

XYBA Podcast Ep 16

The XYBA crew is back with a semi long podcast. Lots of video game talk and little news and no rants. We've been gone for more than a month playing games and now have a lot to talk about.

0:00 - Intro Music
0:58 - Games We Are Playing :|: Mass Effect (we talk about this for a while), Rockband, Guitar Hero III, Assassian Creed, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Kane and Lynch, Stranglehold, Beautiful Katamari, and Halo 3
55:30 - Gaming News :|: Xbox Live Dashboard Update, Super Mario Galaxy not selling as well as predicted, DLC for Bioshock, R4 Chip for DS costing Nintendo millions, Nintendo Virtual Console does good for it's first year, and more
1:24:09 - Shoutouts
1:24:46 - Outro music

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 16

DS Breaking Sales Records in the UK

The DS is selling like, well, a Nintendo product that's not the Gamecube. According to the MCV the DS has beaten out the PSP's weekly hardware sales of 185,000 units from September 2005.

The DS sold over 191,000 units in one weak. Nintendo says "Momentum has been increasing on DS sales and to achieve the highest weekly sales figure ever in the history of the games market is fantastic.”




Just as a side note, I participated in the Black Friday sales and the Circuit City I was at was packed full of people buying the new DS Lites that were bundled and customized for Zelda and Nintendogs. It was a good deal to because you got a cool looking DS with a good game.

XYBA Podcast Ep 15

The XYBA Video Game Podcast is back with Episode 15. Andy and Josh host with guests Sean and Nick from the 217 area code.

Download XYBA Podcast Ep 15

Wii Bit O' News

Nintendo announced at their Fall Conference that the Wii will soon allow DS users to download demos. No more going to Gamestop and standing around looking like some creepy older guy trolling for High School girls.

This is a nice little feature that I'm sure will get a lot of use from the community. Also, the Wii has been updated to allow the use of a USB keyboard. Now typing in those friend codes is a lot easier.

Free Wii Remote Jackets...

...for early customers. If you bought a Wii before the Wii Remote Jackets were included with the system, Nintendo wants to still give you the jackets for free.

Just go to their website to request your Wii Remote Jackets. You need your Wii's serial number, and the maximum number of jackets you can get is four.

The free jackets will start shipping October 15th.

Nintendo.com Forums Say Bye Bye

If you frequent the Nintendo.com forums you'll get a special message from the big N that they are overhauling their site, but the forums have been taken down and may not return.

"Nintendo is working on a major overhaul to Nintendo.com to support the continued success of Nintendo DS and Wii. As we prepare for this huge site update, Nintendo must unfortunately close the Nintendo NSider Forums message boards indefinitely beginning Sept. 17, 2007."

Is this another case of Nintendo not showing love for the hardcore gamer? Are they tuning the site to be more presentable to the casual crowd? No one knows, but this is definitely a strange move to redesign a site. I've heard of sites locking the forums, but to completely delete them is a little extreme.

If you are a hardcore Nintendo fan, be sure to take this opportunity to start your own forums as there is a large group of gamers looking for a home. Hell, Nintendo recommends it. This could be a good moneymaker for some fan out there.

16 Players on Mario Kart Wii?

I thought this was some cool news a couple days ago when it was announced that Mario Kart Wii would allow 16 players online. Apparently the source, the Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK, was not saying there will be 16 players on Mario Kart Wii now.

What they meant was that they speculated that it would have 16 players online. Sounds like someone has been stealing my writing style over in the UK. Rest assure Mario Kart fans, that the trailer the journalist did see "clearly showed" 12 players online, which is a good amount of players.

If it is true that there will be 16 players online, I feel that Halo 3 should at least bump their players to 20. Now Mario Kart can have the tagline "With as many players as Halo 3 online."

It's Viva Pinata DS Style

Rare has confirmed that it's coming out with a Viva Pinata for the Nintendo DS and that it will play more along the lines of the original 360 garden creation game instead of the upcoming mini-game collection game, Viva Pinata: Party Animals.

Tending to your garden and interacting with the characters will be done through the DS touchscreen. Rare is saying that "it's the same game". According to a Rare Employee on their forums, the game won't have the same 360 graphics, but the DS team has gotten "most of the features from the original into the DS version".

It will be created by the same team as the 360 version and the graphics will be "beautiful" and the game will be coming soon. No word yet on if you'll be able to mail friends items through Wi-Fi, but I imagine they would set that up like they do for Animal crossing's mail system.

Guitar Hero III with Removable Necks

That's right Guitar Hero III will be like Manhunt 2, where you get to remove necks. But this neck is from the guitar controller and not an enemy on the game. Besides the only real enemy in Guitar Hero is jazz.

According to Joystiq, they got to see some Red Octane wireless guitars that had removable necks and faceplates. So instead of customizing your guitar with stickers you'll most likely be able to add cool faceplates and necks. I guess if you're really into customized controllers that would be exciting.

Nintendo E3 Press Conference Highlights

Nintendo had their press conference. I also did not watch this one, but I will give you some of the highlights.

Game Releases

* 100 US Wii games this year
* 140 US DS games this year
* Brain Age 2 - August 20 2007
* Super Mario Galaxy - November 12 2007
* Smash Brothers Brawl - December 3 2007
* Mario Kart Online - Early 2008
* WiiFit

Accessories

The Wii Zapper was premeired. It's meant to be held with two hands. Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad and Medal of Honor(up to 32 player multiplayer) will all be created with the Zapper in mind. The Wii Zapper will cost $19.99 if bought individually. Or you can buy it packaged with certain games.

Fads and Casual Gamers

Nintendo admitted they can see how some complain that the Wii is a fad, but they believe the Wii will prove the critics wrong. Nintendo also admitted that some of their games such as DS Cook Book could be a turn off for hardcore gamers, but they believe that starting gamers off with casual games will get them more used to gaming and turn them into lifetime gamers.

Geometry Wars: Galaxies

Nintendo Power has announced that Geometry Wars is coming to the Wii and Nintendo DS. If you haven't played this game, it's a really fun game with very simple graphics. The games will include multi-player mode along with the single player campaign. Currently you can get the game from Xbox Live Arcade.