Vol. 2 Number 4

Mario Kart DS kickstarts Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

In the fortnight since our last edition, Nintendo's highly-anticipated Mario Kart DS has hit shelves worldwide, with the company's fledgling online service, Wi-Fi Connection, going live at the same time. Anyone who has picked up Mario Kart DS knows just how good it is, but for those who have yet to get hold of it, this is easily the best iteration of the classic series since the seminal Super Mario Kart. And praise doesn't come much higher than that. 112,000 Nintendo fans stateside saw fit to purchase the game in its first week, with a whopping 45% of those taking the game online in the same period, which is an unprecedented feat for a console game- Halo 2, in comparison, came in at under 20% online take-up over the same period.

Beth Lewellyn, presumably no relation to the Changing Rooms designer, who is NOA Senior Director of Public Relations, had the following to say:

"We are ecstatic with the results, and this definitely sets the standard for future Wi-Fi online gaming. Mario Kart should easily be a million seller in its life cycle, and we'd love for everyone with the game to touch the Wi-Fi experience. We've got Animal Crossing just around the corner, and Metroid Prime Hunters next year, with more to come."

However, these figures are likely to be less impressive for Britain, at least, where difficulties with logging into the Wi-Fi Connection from free public hotspots provided by BT and The Cloud are marring the launch. We are informed, however, that these are just teething difficulties and full compatibility for free online play on DS will be in operation shortly.

Meteos creator to direct Smash Bros. Revolution

Masahiro Sakurai, the respected creator of the original Smash Bros., the more recent Meteos puzzler for DS and Kirby games in the past, has decided to assist Nintendo in the development of the upcoming Super Smash Bros. He will be reprising his role as game designer and director for the forthcoming title, which he claims only began development after E3. You may recall that Sakurai left Nintendo's HAL Labs two years ago to set up his own company, Sora. However, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told him he might be contacted if there was a further sequel to Smash Bros. When the game was 'revealed' by Iwata back at E3 in May, though, he had no knowledge the title was even in production. Called to Iwata's office, it was revealed to him that the Nintendo president wanted him to be back and involved in the game's production, if possible as the game's director. And he promptly agreed. Which, in our book, is a Very Good Thing.

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>Of general interest to Nintendo fans, this one: creator of Nintendo's most beloved franchises and the most respected man in gaming, Shigeru Miyamoto turned 53 yesterday. Long may his reign continue.
>Animal Crossing fans will be pleased to hear that Famitsu, Japan's most respected magazine blah-de-blah-de-blah, has just awarded the online-compatible DS version, Animal Crossing: Wild World, an impressive score of 9/9/10/9 � That's 37/40 for the mathematically-challenged among us. Sonic Rush, meanwhile, scored a highly respectable 8/8/8/8 - (32/40).
>Will Wright, the man behind The Sims and the intriguing yet-to-be-released PC title, Spore, has officially declared his interest in the Revolution controller.

"I'm really interested in the Revolution to see how the controller works out... I like the idea of taking the games more outside the box and more into that close-body kind of space," he said.

>Nintendo's George Harrison has disclosed that we ain't seen nothin' yet as far as the Revolution is concerned.

According to Harrison, Nintendo have "not entirely pulled back the curtain just yet." He commented that there are "lots of exciting details about its capabilities and the unique gameplay you'll experience on it that we're keeping under wraps -- for now." Oh, the tease.
>American gaming magazine Nintendo Power has revealed Nintendogs Trading Card Fun Packs are to be released shortly. Costing a mere $1.99, the cards will have facts and info on the dogs, while the packs will also contain temporary tattoos and stickers. Strictly kids only by the sound of it. No word on a European release.
>Speaking of Nintendogs, Nintendo have revealed that the puppy sim has shifted over 1 million copies in Europe already. The console continues to go from strength to strength in Europe, with recent sales of Nintendo DS exceeding 100,000 units per week, and last week alone sales topped 120,000 across Europe.

Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, we're re-running last weeks competition for a GameCube 56k modem. How to win? Just let us know what you think would make a great advertising slogan for Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection. Drop us an email at [email protected] with 'Digest Extra' as the subject, and give us your suggestions. The winner will be announced next week.

What's that? Bored of Mario Kart already? Just in case you have, we've compiled a list of this fortnight's biggest releases on Nintendo platforms.

December 8th
Battles of Prince of Persia (DS) - could be worth a look, this: at least it's not a lazy port of the console games.

December 9th
Burnout Legends (DS) - Criterion's renowned racing series returns to a Nintendo console after a conspicuous absence. But can this really be as good as the PSP version?
Peter Jackson's King Kong (DS) - again, this is a bit of an unknown quantity- we doubt that the effort lavished on the console version will shine through here, but you never know.
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (GC) - the final part of the modern Prince of Persia trilogy. Hopefully they've dumped the dodgy rock music this time around.

Revolution-Europe's new-look, sleekly designed forums are a-buzzin' at the moment. Just some of the hottest threads of recent times which you may be interested in contributing to:

- Our new online gaming forum deserves a look- particularly if you're an early adopter of Mario Kart.
- If you're having any trouble connecting to Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection, you'll have access to hundreds of willing experts by clicking here.
- Animal Crossing is now out in America- our official thread is here.
- Don't forget about the GameCube- the fantastic Fire Emblem will keep your purple cube from gathering dust this Christmas. Read more here.

That's all for this edition of Digest Extra- there'll be more where that came from in a fortnight. (or, considering the lateness of this edition, a rather shorter time period - Ed)

Mark Cullinane
[email protected]