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Itching for Punch-Out!!? Join the club-especially now that Nintendo UK came out with more details on their website. For some strange reason, Nintendo promptly removed the two press releases before anyone could say "Von Kaiser's lederhosen." Fret not; we have pulled PRs right here.

Category: Boxing

Age rating: 7+

Players: 1-2

Publisher: Nintendo

Release date: 22/05/2009

The legendary Punch-Out!! is back with a vengeance on Wii, but this time it packs an even bigger punch! Featuring all of the well-known characters from Glass Joe to Von Kaiser, superb duck and weave action, and the addition of enhanced functionality for Wii, the game returns for another assault on Europe on 22 May 2009.

After a flawless fight record on the NES and Super NES, Punch-Out!! revives the story of Little Mac as you follow his journey from up-and-coming boxer in the Bronx, NY to undisputed World champion. The game reunites the much-loved mean men of the World Video Boxing Association, who Little Mac must challenge and defeat one-by-one. The truly international line-up of characters includes all the wacky favourites from Von Kaiser, to King Hippo and tireless trainer Doc Louis.

The game brings the tactics and skills of boxing to Wii as you spot weaknesses in your opponent's armoury - such as changes in their body position - and exploit them with your best upper cuts, hooks and jabs. However, this time the game packs even more power with bold new 3D graphics and the introduction of the motion sensing controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to give a more instinctive boxing experience as you weave, bob and duck your way to the top!

Punch-Out!! on Wii offers great new control opportunities, utilising both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to let you mimic the movements of the left and right hands as you let the leather fly. Meanwhile, the "classic" control system, invites you to use the Wii Remote in a sideways position to simulate the original NES controller and gives the real retro fight feel that Punch-Out!! fans love.

Punch-Out!! Will certainly bring the thrills of the big ring to Wii and will give you the chance to experience Fight Night in the comfort of your own living room. It's seconds out and time for round one!

See the second one after the jump:

Cosplay isn't easy. For one, the costumes are tough to make. Then there's the risk of making a complete fool of one's self-especially when the costume doesn't cover the face. Fortunately, video game character Samus Aran of Metroid fame is covered from head to toe with a cybernetic power suit so there's no shame in cosplaying her, even if the costume your mom made is utter crap.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to the Nintendo DS later this month, but have you seen it in action? The game has been getting a lot of hype as of late, but ironically, Rockstar seems to be keeping a lid on the available footages. So far, the only substantial morsel we have (aside from a few screenshots) is this video:



And when I say substantial, I mean that in a relative sense. There aren't many gameplay videos of GTA: Chinatown Wars circulated over the interwebs today and so far, the clip you've just seen is one of the longer ones.

As luck would have it, the video hardly shows any gameplay either so you're just going to have to wait for a few more days before you'll see GTA: Chinatown Wars in its full, top-down glory.

Nintendo's quirky little box made its debut two years ago today. So today is a great time to reflect on what Nintendo has accomplished as well as what hasn't quite worked out.

This was a machine that was causing controversy from the start, at least in the world of video game enthusiasts. As is well known, the console was originally called "Revolution," and nothing was known about it. It seemed as if every little detail caused uproar: its comparatively low specifications, "budget" price, and motion controls all sent message boards into a furious rage. Of course the coup de grace was the name itself, when it was changed from Revolution to Wii.

Yet it is the games that matter when it comes to consoles. So let's take a look at what I'd consider to be the must buy, must play experiences on the system, leaving out two games: Wii Sports, which is a terrific game and a pack-in (so you already have it), and Wii Play, which is bought mainly for the extra controller (you probably have it).

Also note we are only covering exclusives to the console (yes, I allowed two "special cases," so sue me!!!):

10. Rayman Raving Rabbids

Yes, mini-game compilations are the Wii's bread and butter. The dirty secret to these types of games, however, is that the better ones are pretty fun to play by yourself, too. And Rayman was one of the first out the shoot, and remains one of the finest efforts in the genre. (Note: Technically, this game is multi-platform, but the other versions are fundamentally different)

9. Red Steel

Battle lines get drawn over this early effort. Someone really took me to task in the comments the last time I said anything nice about this game. But the simple fact is that all the haters are folks who played this game for an hour and tossed it in the dust bin when it was discovered that the swordplay was scripted and (THE HORROR) there wasn't any BLOOD (OMG, NO BLOOD!).

The simple fact is, this is a fun first person shooter that isn't WWII, in space, or horror themed, and has multiple strengths: fun scripted sequences like the harrowing car wash shootout as well as the Matrix inspired lobby blast-a-thon, complete with concrete pillars shattering all over the room.

8. Sonic and the Secret Rings

Despite SEGA's penchant for awful voice over work, this game stands out as the one Sonic game in recent memory that actually returns to his true calling card: Speed. A sort of "on-rails" platformer, it also features some of the finest graphics on Wii. A sequel to this game is forthcoming, so now might be a good time to cheaply experience the first adventure.

7. Mario Kart Wii

Considered my many to be the finest Mario Kart since the original SNES offering, Kart on Wii offers amazing track design and tremendous multiplayer, especially online. This is Nintendo's finest online effort and hopefully a sign of things to come.
6. Zack and Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros Treasure
5. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
4. No More Heroes
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
1. Super Mario Galaxy

I've been sitting on the news, now mostly well known, that a No More Heroes sequel called "Desperate Struggle" is forthcoming at a date unknown (perhaps late 2009). However, more details have been percolating, and it is my duty, dear reader, to report them to you!

There was a few scattershot reports that he wanted to make the game "serious." Fanboys went into a rage, because No More Heroes had a signature weirdness that, if missing, would make it less fun. Fortunately, Suda cleared that up. Desperate Struggle will have the usual Japanese developer "strangebrew" (to borrow a term from m0zart, and internet friend and Gamespot/Video Game Critic.net moderator).

Second, he wants to focus on the open world gameplay. This is good, because while mowing the lawn was a funny swipe at GTA/Oblivion style open world games, it was clear that Santa Destroy was done "on the cheap," compared to the rest of the game. Some loving care spent here would benefit the game.

Of course, Travis, assuming he is still the protagonist, will still be an obnoxious otaku stereotype!

Read.

1up.com has officially reviewed Wii Music, and is the first major outlet to do so.

So, did they fall prey to fanboy rage, or did they give the game a fair shake?

With a grade of A-, I'd say they sure did. Interestingly, reviewer Jennifer Tsao is a classically trained musician. As such, I think she saw many of the same merits I have seen. Interesting, and it proves that some of my argumentation may be correct, despite the obvious caveat that I, of course, haven't played the game!

Here's a money quote:

True musicianship has taken a hit recently with all the music-based videogames captivating today's youth, and Wii Music will surely be the next virtual music experience replacing real music for everyone. As a classically trained musician, I might take offense at this - except that Wii Music gets it really right. Using the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, and (optionally) Balance Board to mimic the motions of real instruments may have seemed like a bad joke when the game was first announced, but in practice, it works amazingly well. It's worth it to take the time to learn the four different instrument motions (drums, guitar, horns, and violin) because the game offers so many varied opportunities to pretend-play all of the dozens of instruments in the game, and knowing how to wave your arms and press the buttons just right makes the crucial difference between a stupid-silly game and an actually fulfilling one.

Yeah, pretty much what I've been saying. She does criticize the lack of tunes, not necassarily the amount of them, but the fact they are mostly public domain. Here's hoping this title sells well, and that Nintendo responds with an expansion.

Color me stoked for Wii Music's official release next week!

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It is the latest fighting game from Capcom, in their famous "vs." series (Marvel vs. Capcom, Capcom vs. SNK).
Tatsunoko is an anime studio, so it is their characaters fighting against the likes of Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, among others.

As you can see, the game looks amazing in the video. People really need to write Capcom to tell them to localize this and prep it for American release. Rumor has it that Capcom might do this by swapping out the Tatsunoko sprites with some American super heroes (a la Marvel vs. Capcom). Although the original game is fine, if it takes that IP switch to bring this game here, that's cool with this blogger.

Go to Capcom and tell them to give us Tatsunoko vs. Capcom!

Image by Rob Howard for House of Nintendo.

Whenever any news about anything new regarding Zelda comes to this blogger's attention, it must be written about! Miyamoto recently commented, as he has before, that the Zelda team is hard at work. But this time, he noted that the team is searching for innovative new ideas for the series. The mony quote, from the Danny Glover to our mel gibson, Gonintendo:

"The Zelda team in particular always works on Zelda titles. The core members of the Zelda team have for a very long time now been focused on Zelda games, and continue to focus on Zelda games, so they are hard at work and working away. And then, of course, we have the DS Zelda team as well, so even there we're having some switching of people in and out where the DS team is mixing in with the Wii team and working on the Wii version. I don't necessarily think it (Zelda) will change that drastically, but I think that Zelda is a franchise that does need some big new unique ideas. And so the team right now is very focused on trying to find those ideas." - Miyamoto

Zelda is tricky because I feel that the gameplay is so time honored, and absolutely amazing and wonderful, that I'd be delighted with another game that took the Twilight Princess/Ocarina of Time gameplay and just put a new storyline to it. But of course it is important to move a series forward. Yet I also want Zelda to be, well, Zelda, with huge dungeons, insanely epic boss battles, and lots of sweet items. The last thing I'd want to see is Unreal Engine 3 used, with photo realistic elven characters.

I think Resident Evil 4 is a great example of a series redesign that went right. It got the fanatics mad, but almost everyone else agrees that it is a better game. Can such a change be in store? We'll see!

Read.

I hate to be mean, but the latest news regarding Suda 51's collaborative project with EA (that is being released for Wii) shows the ignorance of the video game blogosphere.

To remind readers, EA is partnering with famous Japanese video game developers to make what should be some very interesting gaming experiences. Suda 51 (No More Heroes) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil series) are The Dream Team coming up with a survival horror game, which is coming to Wii (as well as the other platforms).

What has people stumped is that Unreal Engine 3, the world famous game engine that pretty much everyone uses now (I have done extensive work in it as well as school), is supposed to be "for the big boys only." How can they squeeze that engine into a Wii game?

Well internets, it is simple. They've bought the engine. That means they have access to the code base. Meaning they can pretty much slice it and dice it and chop it into a zillion pieces. So, yeah, with EA's money backing them, no doubt they have software engineers doing just that. No problemo.

It just isn't the big deal people think it is.

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