Some news is starting to trickle out of Nintendo’s US Media Summit in San Francisco. The company has confirmed dates for two highly-anticipated videogames for their Wii console. And let’s say summer is gonna be a good season for Wii gamers, which is generally unusual for the industry.
The sequel to arguably the best Wii title to date, and perhaps this generation of consoles as a whole, Super Mario Galaxy, is dated for May 23. Super Mario Galaxy 2 was predicted to be a huge holiday title for the Big N when it was first announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, but it never saw the light of day — nor mentioned much after the convention.
Another big title which was also first shown at E3 — Metroid: Other M – now officially has a date. The title, which is being co-developed by Team Ninja — makers of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden — will be in stores on June 27th of this year. The next installment of this particular Metroid game, will experiment with the combination of both first and third-person action sequences, a departure of the recent Metroid games, which was almost all in a first-person prospective.
It’s interesting to see Nintendo release these games before or right after E3, considering not much has been talked about them. With that said, it’s going to be hard for Nintendo to gain E3 hype for both titles. While I don’t see that being to much of a problem for Mario because well…it’s Mario, I do see Metroid having some advertising problems.
When Metroid is released, it pretty much is right after E3 ends, which doesn’t sound like a horrible idea at first; however, it’s risky. The reason is because the title could get lost, with all the other gaming announcements by various companies. And if the game doesn’t impress gamers when it’s showed off, they might forget it even exists when it ships a few weeks later.
I hope Nintendo has something HUGE up their sleeve for the expo because these are two games that would normally be considered Christmas titles. With that said, Nintendo is certainly not forgetting about the ever-so-important holiday season. So I fully expect some major announcements by Nintendo at the famous videogame convention in June.
During the E3 press conference, Nintendo revealed a new Metroid game called Metroid: The Other M. Many wonder with the announcement what will happen with the beloved Prime series because it was evident that this new introduction to the famous series has nothing to do with the past three Metroids released.
While speaking with ONM, Nintendo’s Kensuke Tanabe teased the magazine that the Prime series could be making a return, but not for the Wii. “We are always planning to make new games in the Metroid Prime series,” said Tanabe. “Depending on the timing and the situation, we cannot deny the possibility of realizing it on DS or DSi.”
Is it me, or did he just confirm a new Metroid Prime has been greenlit for the popular handheld?It’s not to big of a surprise to hear that, considering an ‘installment’ of the Prime games was already released for the DS. If you remember, Metroid Prime: Hunters was launched back in 2006 and was heavily inspired as an online multiplayer shooter. While getting decent reviews from various outlets, we haven’t seen a DS sequel since then — so this could finally be just that.
Will keep you updated, but for now — expect to see a new Metroid Prime game for the DS sometime in the future.
Easily one of the best announcements to come out of the Nintendo press briefing was Metroid: Other M. Other than the name being terrible, the game is looking mighty incredible.
First, Nintendo is working with Team Ninja (Dead or Alive) to development the next installment of Metroid. Although, it seems like a surprise, which it is, this isn’t the first time the Nintendo has worked with the studio. Members of Team Ninja worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, so the relationship must have grown for Nintendo to trust them with their beloved franchise.
Up top is the first trailer of game and boy does it look sick. The game has cinematic’ that compares with the Final Fantasy titles, which is a first for the series. Fans of the retro Metroids will be happy to know that 2D exploring is going to make a return, however, it will also go into a first-person mode which reminds me of the Prime games.
All in all, this is a game to look out for and should make hardcore Nintendo fans breath a little easier. Check out the awesome footage up top.
