Late Night Consoling

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently spoke with Japanese technology publication Tech-On!, published by major news source Nikkei. Iwata discussed the research that went into the company's upcoming Wii console, the parallels between the success of DS and plans with Wii, as well as some practical details about functionality with the system's Virtual Console and WiiConnect24 services.

In regards to Virtual Console, Iwata confirmed that Nintendo hopes to see developers create smaller games on lower budgets to be distributed online, in addition to the classic titles already planned for download. "It is possible to create a reasonably entertaining game in 2 months with a team of three," he said, and suggested a price of 500 yen for such games, equivalent to about $4.42. "By offering an environment that allows this," Iwata continued, "we hope to encourage more developers to pursue basic yet enjoyable gameplay."

Since Nintendo DS demos can be distributed to DS consoles via wi-fi kiosks, and since Wii will include built-in wi-fi capability, many have speculated that it may be possible for gamers to download DS demos from the internet to a Wii console, then send the demos to a DS system. Iwata also confirmed that this will be possible, when describing an example of functionality for WiiConnect24, which allows Wii to stay connected to the internet at all times. "This would allow Nintendo to send monthly promotional demos for the DS, during the night, to the Wii consoles in each household," said Iwata. "Users would wake up each morning, find the LED lamp on their Wii flashing, and know that Nintendo has sent them something. They would then be able to download the promotional demo from their Wii's to their Nintendo DS's." He admitted that while users can already download DS demo content from retail locations, he expects people to prefer to do so at home.

Despite recent comments by Microsoft's Peter Moore suggesting that Xbox 360 backwards compatibility may be on the back burner, it looks like there's still another compatibility update in the works. According to members of the Gamerscore Blog, run by Microsoft PR employees, a patch consisting of about a dozen games should be available "in the next few weeks." No specific game titles were mentioned in the posting.

Today, Microsoft issued an announcement that the first new map pack for Rare's Perfect Dark Zero (X360) had been released via Xbox Live. However, gamers who logged into the service to try and purchase the content quickly discovered that it was nowhere to be found. Soon after the announcement was made, Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb confirmed in a blog post that the update is indeed not yet ready.

Still, the preemptive announcement suggests that that maps are nearing completion, and gamers can probably expect them to appear in the relatively near future. When Map Pack #1 is actually available, it will contain four new maps for 500 Microsoft Points ($6.25). The maps are entitled Plaza, Trench, Rooftops, and Gas Plant. Last week, a free Perfect Dark Zero was released containing the map Plaza.

Citing a "friendly anonymous source at Microsoft," Joystiq has rumors of price points for several upcoming Xbox 360 accessories. Earlier this week it was revealed that Xbox Live Vision, the name of Xbox 360's upcoming camera peripheral, would be released September 19 in North America. Joystiq claims that it will come in a $39.99 bundle along with a current model wired Xbox 360 headset, a copy of Xbox Live Arcade's UNO, and one month of Xbox Live Gold service. It is unclear whether the camera will also be available separately.

The wireless headset announced during E3 will reportedly sell for $59.99. A new 256MB Memory Unit is said to be priced at $59.99, compared to the current 64MB Memory Unit which sells for $39.99. Xbox 360 faceplates themed around Halo, Forza 2, and Viva Pinata will go for the standard faceplate price of $19.99 each. All of these accessories are planned to ship this fall. Finally, the USB wireless gaming receiver, which will allow Microsoft's wireless Xbox 360 peripherals to be used with Windows PCs, will go on sale in early 2007 for $19.99.

Microsoft of course has not commented on the accuracy of the reports. Joystiq claims that the information was in fact taken from official pricing plans which have not yet been publically announced. All of the price points seem reasonable and expected, but, as always, treat this as rumor until further confirmation is received.

Last week, Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview that it may be possible for player characters in multiplayer Wii games to feature user-drawn faces. Today, Wired's Chris Kohler published excerpts of an interview with Nintendo producer Katsuya Eguchi confirming that this is indeed planned as a console-wide feature rather than being limited to the Wii Sports games which made use of such caricatures at E3. "The caricatures will exist in the hardware, as data, as one of several profiles that you could save in the Wii," explained Eguchi. "And if you insert compatible software into the Wii, it will pull up the images that you chose."

Today, Ubisoft launched its official site for Taito's Over G Fighters (X360), a near-future combat sim with real world jet fighters. Nintendo launched its official site for Mitchell's Magnetica (NDS), a remake of Mitchell's original Puzz Loop, later cloned by PopCap as Zuma.

The New York Times has an interesting article on Sony that may shed some more light on the PS3's hefty price tag. Howard Stringer, Sony's new CEO, is hoping to revitalize the "Sony premium," the higher prices that have traditionally accompanied Sony products because of the confidence they can give consumers that the products in question are superior. As it has expanded out into so many different consumer markets beyond its core competencies, particularly in Japan, that premium has become devalued. The company is hoping to bring it back.

Eurogamer has an interview with Capcom's Keiji Inafune, speaking on the upcoming action title Lost Planet (X360).

GameSpot has a Q&A with Insomniac president Ted Price about the company's upcoming shooter Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3).

Game Informer has a fairly uninformative five part video interview with Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan, in which she discusses probably nothing that you haven't heard before if you've read any other Nintendo PR interview recently.