Many don’t realize just how many Gamecube games have 480p and/or 16:9 widescreen support. Nintendo and other publishers never really promoted the higher resolution due to the general population’s lack of proper HDTVs. Now a few years down the line and we find ourselves with shiny, new HDTVs. Conveniently, almost 200 Gamecube titles will output at 480p. We’ve compiled a list of GC games that have progressive scan and/or widescreen. Better pick up some component cables…

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His red cap expresses more than words are able. The fact that “his” name is not necessary information, and that a mere description of his headwear floods the mind with fond memories - punctuated, of course, by a gleeful “Woo hoo!” - is proof enough.

Mario defines gaming.

Nary a single one of his adventures has been ill-received by critics over the years. His entertaining romps through the Mushroom Kingdom are celebrated events for gaming faithful, and production values and quality of the highest order are expected of each entry in the series.

But in 2002, Nintendo updated the classic Mario gameplay formula with a new look resulting in one of the most controversial games and clear opinion splitters in the company’s storied history.

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Let’s take a look back to when you booted up Metroid Prime for the first time. You might of had doubts that Nintendo would be able to convert the series into the third dimension. But when the opening cinematic began showing a shaky video feed of a modernized metroid while accompanied by an even eerier, but epic soundtrack….you knew that this was going to be good.

The introduction to a game is a very important element that in a way prepares you for your upcoming tasks. All three of the Prime games intros have accomplished that sense of an epic Sci-Fi flick that will slip you a few hints. Contributing to the Month of Metroid, I have combined all three intros of the trilogy for your viewing pleasure.

Here are the new releases coming out for all Nintendo systems this week:

Wii
Madden NFL 08
Billy the Wizard: Rocket Broomstick Racing

DS
Madden NFL 08
Heroes of Mana
High School Musical: Makin’ the Cut
Luminous Arc
Operation: Vietnam
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
ATV / Monster Truck Mayhem

GameCube
Madden NFL 08

RPG fans get an early Christmas with Heroes of Mana, Luminous Arc, and even Rune Factory coming out this week.  Operation: Vietnam makes me think of a guy with a buzzing, red nose for some reason.

How many consoles are you buying Madden for this year?

More here, here, and here…

The Pikmin series has been one of those strange, but extremely brilliant sets of games that have once again shown that Miyamoto had an endless imagination for an intuitive gaming experience.  Lets take a look back on how the series started, how it’s held up, and what might be in store for us in the near future.

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Here are the new releases for all Nintendo systems in North America this week:

Wii:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pokemon Battle Revolution
The Bigs
Chicken Shoot
Driver: Parallel Lines
Ratatouille
Transformers: The Game

DS:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Touchmaster DS
Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix
Nervous Brickdown
Ratatouille
Zendoku
Vegas Casino High 5!
Professor Brainium’s Games
Rafa Nadal Tennis

GBA:
Horsez
Ratatouille

GameCube:
Ratatouille

Holy cats, are my fingers tired!  That’s a huge list and it has some pretty heavy hitters on it.  GBA and GameCube titles, too .. what is this, 2006?!

Buying any of these titles this week?

According to average review scores on Metacritic (in parenthesis), here are the top 10 GameCube games to date:

1. Metroid Prime (97)
2. Resident Evil 4 (96)
3. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The (96)
4. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (96)
5. Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition, The (95 )
6. Madden NFL 2004 (94)
7. Soul Calibur II (93)
8. Viewtiful Joe (93)
9. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (92)
10. SSX 3 (92)

See the complete list here.

Here are the new releases for all Nintendo systems this week:

US releases:

Wii:
- Mario Party 8
- Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
- Surf’s Up
- Tamagotchi: Party On!

DS:
- Pony Friends
- Surf’s Up
- Tank Beat

Game Boy Advance:
- Surf’s Up

GameCube:
- Surf’s Up

EU/UK releases:
Wii:
- Legend of the Dragon

DS:
- Meteos: Disney Magic
- Wario: Master of Disguise

Another animated movie coming out means we actually see new GBA and GameCube releases this week. Mario Party 8 is calling my name. How about a little Mortal Kombat action? No? Well, there’s always Pony Friends for DS.

Buying anything this week?

To steal a term coined by Kotaku, I put together the above charticle juxtaposing the first six month console sales of Wii, 360, PS3, PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. First, the Wii has sold better than the mighty PS2 after the first six months. Amazingly, both the PS3 and 360 sold worse than the GameCube for the same period (!). Cumulative first six month totals in units sold are as follows: (more…)

I just got done with Godfather Blackhand Edition, played enough Tiger Woods, and I’m done with Super Paper Mario too. My Wii has finally hit a resting spot, at least for me anyways. However, while at GamePro last week, I heard some awesome things about Super Mario Strikers. The fellers there said they’ve been playing a preview copy for hours, in full-out screams and yells it’s so fun. Can’t wait for that as well as Mario Party this summer too.

That said, some homey has compiled a list of 10 things he plans on doing while he waits for more games. It’s funny because as last months NPD numbers showed, the rest of the world (read: gamer laymans) are still being initiated into the Wii life, particularly Wii Sports. For those that have had the system six months now, you may or may not be coming to a temporary stopping point. If so, here’s an idea from the list: “Play the past top 25 Gamecube games. Despite it’s lower market share and small size, the Nintendo GameCube has a TON of great games that a lot of people missed out on. Check out IGN’s list of the top 25 games on the little system.”

Halo 3 Beta on 360 is quite a bit of fun too.

The DS and Wii outsold the competition in that order yet again for the month of April; the DS selling a whopping 417K units with the Wii selling 360K units. GBA even managed to outsell the PS3 by 4,000 units at 84k. From a competitve console standpoint, the 360 sold an unimpressive 176K units considering the seven year old PS2 outsold it yet again. Oh, and Nintendo games made up the top four selling games last month. Impressive. How long before someone says “it will still fade?”

UPDATE: The PSP continues to sell surprisingly well at 183k units. Very interesting. Also, given slow “next-gen” sales (read: PS3, 360), how long before a Microsoft price drop puts the pressue on Nintendo, if at all?

Eternal Darkness sequel? This must have slipped under my radar last summer but I stumbled upon the following intel while working on another article this week. Behold, my copy and paste skills attack once again!

Wikipedia: Denis Dyack, designer of “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem” and Too Human, said “absolutely yes” in July 2006 regarding the question of a possible sequel to Eternal Darkness in his Too Human IGN blog. He stated that Silicon Knights intended for Eternal Darkness to be a stand-alone game, but the company have always intended to make more games set in the Eternal Darkness universe involving the Ancients. A sequel has been announced but not the platform it will be released on. (more…)

Ok, OK. There are certainly hardcore gamers out there, but there’s a point to made in here somewhere. The point is that for Nintendo, the phrase “hardcore gamer” is about as relevant to their bottom line as tube socks. Microsoft themed tube socks. It’s irrelevant to Nintendo because I seriously doubt Reggie or Miyamoto or Iwata sit around big stuffy conference rooms sweating bullets over whether or not the big and all-powerful hardcore gamer is going to like their shiny new systems. And it’s not that they can say this now, after 18 months of Wii and DS successes, it’s that I doubt they said anything like it when they were first designing both systems back in 2004 or 2005.

So why would they do this? Why would they ignore the “base” and pander to the sporadic, unreliable “non-traditional gamer?” Isn’t it obvious? It’s because they’re both a myth, at least as far as Nintendo and its strategy is concerned. (more…)