Late Night Consoling

More rumors about the Nintendo Revolution controller, which comes as a big surprise is no longer surprising at all. However, these are a little more substantial than most, and they don't involve a 15-year-old with a trial version of Maya.

Matthew Gallant of Computer Games Magazine has posted news stating that the controller does in fact use some sort of tilt sensor. However, it seems to go a bit further than prior implimentations in gaming, as Gallant states that it "will provide resistance to being tilted" by way of balanced weights (Revolution: system of choice for driving games?). He claims that the delay in showing the controller publicly is in fact due to Nintendo's attempt to ensure the controller can achieve this feat wirelessly, while not consuming an inordinate amount of battery power and while staying cost-effective.

Furthermore, a few sources have reported some encouraging words from the mouth of that wacky Peter Molyneux. The designer, quoted at last week's Leipzig Games Convention, stated that "There is a line at the end of the book 'Game Over' and it is: 'Never underestimate Nintendo'. That is all I can say about the controller." Not much in the way of explanation, but if nothing else it confirms that people have in fact seen the thing and it might not be unremarkable or ludicrous.

Not long after announcing that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has been delayed until 2006, Nintendo has announced that Metroid Prime: Hunters (DS) has also been delayed until next year. Unlike Zelda, however, this one is quoted as a First Quarter release. The news comes as a slight disappointment at first, but since most news outlets are speculating that the reason for the delay is to add online functionality, it becomes more of a blessing than anything else. The DS still has a more-than-solid lineup for the remainder of 2005, and Metroid and New Super Mario Bros. should do well to ring in 2006.

For some reason, a whole lot of Nintendo news surfaced today, both official announcements and rumors. Here's the rest:

Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball (GCN) is absent from Nintendo's newly-updated 2005 release list. The game was present at this year's E3, but since then it's been drifting farther and farther off the radar. Don't be too surprised if it ends up canned.

The DS sequel to Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA) has just received its final name: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. The game ships November 28.

Similarly to the presence of Mario, Luigi, and Peach in the GameCube version of NBA Street V3, rumor has it that those same three characters might make a playable appearance in the GameCube version of the upcoming SSX On Tour. Both games are published by EA.

Nintendo announced an update to their Play-Yan media player for GBA and DS--again, only for Japan. The device goes on sale at the same time as Game Boy Micro on September 13, and is appropriately named Play-Yan Micro. The device will feature native MP4 support (the old one required a patch) as well as interface improvements. Oddly, it no longer supports the extremely basic downloadable minigames featured in the previous version.

The upcoming Metroid Prime Pinball (DS) will apparently ship with a rumble pack upon its October 24 release. The main game will of course plug into the standard DS game slot, while the rumble pack itself will plug into the GBA slot. It is unknown whether other games will support the rumble feature.

Well, actually, due to a hand injury, he has someone type for him. Anyway, Microsoft's J Allard has participated in an online chat session, in which he fielded questions from gamers regarding the upcoming Xbox 360. Not surprisingly, most of the questions pertained to the recently-announced tiered price structure of the console. There was little new information revealed; most of the questions merely provided a platform for Allard to justify the company's retail approach. However, it's an interesting read and gives some perspective on Microsoft's position.

Mergers and acquisitions are all the rage in the Japanese games industry these days, what with Square and Enix, Sega and Sammy, and Bandai and Namco. Square Enix, formed from the two RPG giants in 2003, is now looking to add a third to their duo in the form of longtime arcade game studio/publisher Taito Corporation. Taito is best known for classics like Bubble Bobble, Space Invaders, Arkanoid, Bust-a-Move (praise be) and the like, which is a far cry from Square Enix's RPG-dominated history. By contrast, both Square and Enix were renowned for their blockbuster epic sagas, making their merger more natural. However, it also puts the publisher at risk of having too narrow a focus; the $610M bid to acquire Taito is one step to broaden its portfolio.

Participants in Majesco and Microsoft's Advent Rising (Xbox, PC) contest on Xbox Live will be disappointed to know that the $1M sweepstakes has been cancelled. However, they might be pleased to learn that as a consolation prize the companies are giving away Majesco-published games to those who entered the contest. Your Advent Rising UPC and participating Live Gamertag gets you two of the following games: Psychonauts, Bloodrayne 2, Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, Psychonauts, Raze's Hell, Phantom Dust, or Psychonauts. Please note that one of the games being offered is Psychonauts.

For more information, consult the official contest site.

Publisher Atari has announced that Saber Interactive's TimeShift, its upcoming timewarping FPS for Xbox and PC, will now be headed to Xbox 360 as well. The 360 and PC versions are due next spring, but oddly enough the Xbox version is not cancelled; rather, it is scheduled for release next summer. This comes as something of a surprise, as post 360 development support for the original Xbox has been rather sparse.

Tyler Sigman of Digital Eclipse talks with Next Generation about adapting Age of Empires to Nintendo DS. GameSpot also has a similar interview (this one's a video!).

Ren Reynolds reports on the 2005 Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival for Gamasutra.

Gamasutra catches up with David Siller, who has worked on such franchises as Crash Bandicoot, Maximo, Freaky Flyers, and others.