Now this is just downright insane. Over at Gamevideos.com, a user has uploaded video of a working calculator that was constructed in the LittleBigPlanet beta. This is just crazy, folks. Check out the video below, and then read what it took to put it together.
1up picked up on this video and asked the creator what it took to make this all work, and here’s what they said in their writeup:
The creator, PSN user ‘Upsilandre,’ admits that there are probably easier ways to create a calculator, but he opted to create an electronic calculator capable of doing decimal and binary conversions, as well as addition and subtraction. It was built using more than 1600 parts, including 610 magnetic switches, 500 wires, and 430 pistons. I find it difficult to wrap my head around organizing that many things, let alone making them the backbone of a functioning calculator.
It’s pretty incredible to think that Upsilandre was able to work this out in his head, and it’s equally incredible that the game allows for such creativity. I really can’t wait to see what the game will offer when the final retail version is out in the public’s hands.
Oh boy, these things are hotter than Hansel. Check ‘em out.
Greatest thing ever, or best thing ever? It’s a toss up if you ask me.
Nintendo’s Japanese Media Summit conference has just concluded, and I must say it was one hell of a ride. In addition to a flurry of announcements regarding the Wii and the new DSi, they also released a list of the Wii’s line up for the remainder of 2008 and a preliminary lineup for 2009 in Japan. The titles in BOLD and marked as NEW are games announced at the conference. (List stolen from Neo-GAF)
2008
- Wii Music (Nintendo) 10/16
- Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 11/20
- The Melancholy of Haruhi (Kadokawa Shoten) 11/27
- Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes (Capcom) 12/11
- 428 (Sega) 12/4
- Samba de Amigo (Sega) 12/11
- Let’s Tap (Sega) Dec. 2008
- Cooking Mama 2 (Taito) 12/4
- Rygar: Muscle Impact (Tecmo) Dec. 2008
- Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Activision) 10/16
- Karaoke Joysound Wii (Hudson) 12/18
- Sky Crawlers (Bandai-Namco) 10/16
- Happy Dance Collection (Bandai-Namco) 10/23
- Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard (Bandai-Namco) 11/13
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (Bandai-Namco) 12/4
- Taiko Drum Master Wii (Bandai-Namco) 12/11
- Tenchu 4 (From Software) 10/23
- Harvest Moon: Exciting Animal March (Marvelous) 10/30
- Rune Factory Frontier (Marvelous) 11/27
- Shape Boxing (Rocket Co.) 10/30
2009
- Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) Spring
- Start w/ 100 Conversations! English Conversation (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Punch-Out!! (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Trace Memory: R, Gateway of Memory (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Kensax (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Cosmic Walker (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Spawn Smasher (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Dynamic [illegible] (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Takt of Magic (Nintendo) 2009
- Sin & Punishment 2 (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Forever Blue 2: Beautiful Ocean (Nintendo) 2009 NEW
- Everyone’s the Star on the NHK Red-and-White Quiz Battle (Nintendo) 2009
- Line Attack Heroes (Nintendo) 2009
- Castlevania: Judgment (Konami) Winter 2008-2009
- Dead Rising: Zombies’ Sacrifice (Capcom) Winter 2008-2009
- FFCC: Echoes of Time (Square-Enix) 1/29 NEW
- Sonic and the Black Knight (Sega) Spring
- Fragile (Bandai-Namco) Winter 2008-2009
- Arc Rise Fantasia (Marvelous) Winter 2008-2009
- Oboro Muramasa (Marvelous) Spring NEW
Nintendo is intent on celebrating its past and exposing its newfound “expanded” market to the finest titles in the Nintendo portfolio. With the Virtual Console Nintendo has been able to steadily release classic titles, but great games from the GameCube are obviously too big to make use of the Virtual Console service and many stores are no longer carrying GameCube software. In yesterday’s press conference, Nintendo announced that certain GameCube titles would see a re-release on the Wii with a budget price point. The first title to be released will be Pikmin, one of the best titles of the past generation. After Pikmin, DK Jungle Beat will see a re-release. At this point it’s not sure if they will enhance the games in any manner of if they’ll be just straight re-releases. Either way, it should be a great opportunity for Nintendo’s new audience to experience some of the classics that defined Nintendo’s underappreciated predecessor to the Wii.
Off the top of my head I can think of a few games that could definitely use a re-release in addition to Pikmin and DK: Jungle Beat. For starters, I’d like to see Pikmin 2, Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, Super Mario Sunshine, and Eternal Darkness.
In a conference yesterday in Japan, Nintendo unveiled some new games, services, and even a brand new DS model. The new DS is called the DSi, and will sport a few improvements over the DS Lite, while at the sime time dropping the GBA slot in favor of a slimmer design. The DSi was presented by Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, and here are the details that we know so far:
- Smaller and lighter than the DS Lite with bigger screens
- No GameBoy Advance slot
- VGA resolution camera
- SD card slot for media and storage
- Larger speakers with improved sound quality
- Music player
- Downloadable software (DS Ware). Wii Points renamed to Nintendo Points. Software price brackets will be Free/200/500/800 points.
- Built-in web browser.
- Will release in Japan November 1 for 18900 yen (about $180), two colors: White and flat gray.
The device hasn’t been given a release date for North America yet. It’s possible that the US won’t see a release until the Spring, but we’ll definitely find out more soon. There was more announced at the conference than just the DSi, so we’ll be updating on that shortly.
Official Site: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsi.html
After spending a few hours with LittleBigPlanet, I thought I’d chime in with a few thoughts and impressions. When you download the beta (a special download key is required), you’ll get eased into the action through a few simple tutorials and a bit of hand holding. Within 20-30 minutes, you’ll have passed enough levels that the game will allow you to either start playing user created levels or to design your own.
When you’re ready to give level design a try, it’s best to play a few user created levels before jumping in to make your own. Not only will get great ideas, but you’ll also earn more objects to use when building your levels. The flexibility given to you to create scenarios, traps, obstacles, and fun little platforming elements is truly amazing. In fact, for the first half hour of level creation, I was almost paralyzed by overwhelming choice. Just this little exercise made me appreciate all that much more what professional level designers are able to accomplish.
So far I’ve spent far more time in other player’s worlds than in the ones that come packed in with the beta download, and I figure that’s how it will be when the retail version hits stores on October 11th. One of my favorites was called Hest (Part 2) and it had me breaking into a bank, while trying to avoid arrest and imprisonment. The level was extremely clever, and it leaves me extremely excited to see what the community is going to be capable of when this game makes its way into millions of homes.
For the most part, the actual gameplay is pretty solid, but jumping is a little floaty. The physics are great, but it would be nice if you could rely on your jumping just a bit more to bail you out. Also, there was an instance when the level didn’t reset a vital piece (a moving platform) after I died and got moved back to a checkpoint. Once that happened, it made the level impossible to finish. Hopefully by the final release these sort of issues can be addressed. Aside from those two things, however, there really isn’t much to complain about.
When LittleBigPlanet rolls out onto store shelves I figure it’s going to make a huge buzz. We’ll see videos all over YouTube, GameVideos, and all sorts of video sharing sites. Below I’ve embedded a really simple creation that shows a PS3 fan taking a jab at the 360 RROD problem. While there isn’t any gameplay in the level aside from some walking, it’s still a fun use for the LBP creation tools.
Wow, how any of us could be patiently waiting for We Cheer to hit shelves is beyond me. Preorder, boys and girls…preorder. I imagine that Silent Hill is going to be the biggest release of the week, as reports of Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood say that the game is less than great.
Xbox 360
- Silent Hill Homecoming
- Mobile Ops: The One Year War
PlayStation 3
- Silent Hill Homecoming
Nintendo Wii
- Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
- We Cheer
PlayStation 2
- Mortal Kombat Kollection
Sony PSP
- Valhalla Knights 2
Nintendo DS
- Unsolved Crimes
- Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
- Tornado
- Margot’s Word Brain
- Pop Cutie: Street Fashion Simulation
- Princess Debut
- Pipe Mania
Greetings everyone, I bet you’re all so used to only Jeff posting to this blog. Well that has just changed. My name is Brad Mosbacher, former Features Editor for Nintendo World Report. I have been brought aboard to provide all of you with interesting and well written updates when Jeff himself is unable to post.
I am also here to provide posts that slightly differentiate in taste compared to the standard variety of posts that Jeff makes. However, this alone is not the cause of my appearance. Jeff and I have big things planned in the future. What these plans are I cannot say just yet, but it is the culmination of his and my combined resources. Needless to say, I hope you will enjoy what we have in store for all of you.
The video below is Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb just having a blast with Mega Man 9. The game is brutally tough, and Jeff is making sure that you can understand his frustrations in this video. Note: The video contains a bit of strong language, so send the kiddies out of the room.
And I don’t know why a white rectangle is showing up above the video. Just ignore it and don’t complain, ok?
This whole issue has passed and at first I refrained from commenting on it, but I think it’s still worth commenting on. Last week, Cheap Ass Gamer ran a contest within their community to see who could make up the best and most believable rumor. A few bloggers, including Kotaku’s Brian Crecente, picked up one of the rumors and ran with it. I’m not going to name the rumor, because it doesn’t really deserve any more attention, but the fallout of these blogs running stories based on the competition merits a little discussion. Once the Internet’s finest detectives flushed out that the source for the rumor was indeed CAG’s little contest, Brian was backed into a corner and forced to admit that he posted an unconfirmed bit of (fake) news. Of course, rather than showing some good humor and admitting his mistake, Brian did what he always does; he lashed out and decided to push the blame back into CAG’s hands. Below is what Brian said when he updated his original rumor post:
UPDATE: It appears that this rumor story could be CAG throwing their credibility out the window as part of a contest. Kotaku”s decision to run rumors is always based on the credibility of the site and the information contained within it. In the past CAG has proven to be a reliable site, having broken a number of stories through apt reporting. It appears that may no longer be the case.
Well, jeez, Brian…can you really blame this on CheapyD and CAG? Is that really fair? You failed to fact check, you failed to follow up on a lead, and you made the decision to run with a rumor that had no credibility in the first place. All you had to do was a little bit of simple digging and you could have easily found out it was all part of a fun community contest put on by CAG. Don’t blame CheapyD and Wombat for trying to have some fun with their readers and podcast listeners. Your arrogance in these sort of matters is what turned me off of Kotaku years ago and is the same reason I don’t visit the site today. It’s ok to be wrong, but it’s not ok to throw a site under the bus simply because you failed to do a simple thing like fact checking before hitting the post button. And no, CAG wasn’t throwing their credibility out of the window by running the contest, you were when you ran with the rumor in a sad attempt to beat your competition to the scoop. Bravo, Brian, bravo. Here’s what your update is really saying to me:
UPDATE: It appears that this rumor story could be me throwing my credibility out the window as part of a premature reaction. Kotaku”s decision to run rumors is always based on the ridiculous need to get lots of hits to drive up our click count to appease our traffic-hungry superiors. In the past CAG has proven to be a reliable site, having broken a number of stories through apt reporting which we’ve hastily grabbed and slapped on our front page. It appears that we may either need to start fact checking like most reputable sites and blogs or risk continuing to look like total clowns and amatuers.
For the record, Joystiq, Kotaku’s biggest competitor, refrained from posting the rumor that they were very much well-aware of. Joystiq and CAG good. Kotaku bad.
