TNB Latest News

TNB was recently given the opportunity to ask Brett Caird, co-founder of 5th Cell Media and part of the development team of the newly released Lock’s Quest, some questions regarding the game.

So, to think up the best questions possible, we turned to the forums, and selected the five best questions to ask Brett.

Q&A’s inside.

Prince of Persia: The Fallen King, the DS-exclusive Prince of Persia title, has been dated for Australia. The game features an independent story that will coincide closely with the game on other platforms. Making use of the DS control scheme, PoP: TFK will feature a new visual style and the ability to switch between the Prince and new playable character ‘Magus’ with magical powers.

Releasing simultaneously with the Xbox, PC and PS3 game, The Fallen King DS will fall onto shelves December 4.

In a just-received PR email, EA have confirmed that Rock Band, the much anticipated band simulation title will be coming to Australia on November 7th 2008.

After a lot of outrage from Australian fans of the game for the constant delays, it seemed a release this year would be out of the question. This announcement will come as a relief to gamers across the country, even though the date will mark almost a year after the US release.

Rock Band will be released on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 in a variety of bundles for each. PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 owners will be able to buy the game and instrument pack for a surprisingly reasonable $250 AUD. They can also opt for the game and drums for $180 AUD, guitar and game for $140 AUD or an additional guitar for $90 AUD. The only real difference in pricing between the consoles is the standalone game, which will retail for $100 AUD on PS3 and Xbox 360, $70 AUD on PS2 and $90 AUD on Wii. There are also 200 songs available for download on PS3 and Xbox 360 online services (PS2 and Wii owners can buy song packs at retail).

Although music fans may be understandably frustrated with Rock Band’s year-long delay in Australia, EA has made a significant step towards appeasing fans by pricing the game quite a bit cheaper than Guitar Hero: World Tour. Activision announced pricing for its game earlier this month, which has it priced at $330 AUD for the instrument and game bundle on PS3 and Xbox 360 (it’s a little cheaper on PS2 and Wii).

Full Press Release from EA inside!

Are you tired of lousy controls in FPS? Think you’ve got a better idea of how a character should throw a grenade or switch between weapons? Well, now you have a chance to voice your opinions to High Voltage Software, who announced on Friday that they’re accepting fan-created control mappings for their upcoming Wii exclusive title, The Conduit.

According to High Voltage, the idea behind the competition is so that they can help bring a better experience to the game.

“From the start of the project our primary goal has been to make the definitive first person shooter for the Wii, and specifically for core gamers. Asking core gamers for their input is just a logical extension of that rationale,” commented Kerry J. Ganofsky, Chief Executive Officer.

To enter, gamers simply have to write down the individual control inputs for specific functions as if they were using a standard Wii remote and Nunchuck combination. High Voltage also encouraged gamers to feel free to use motion controls in their mapping ideas, though they ask that they’re described clearly enough so that the development team can implement them. To find out the entry details and functions you can design, click here!

Nintendo’s “musical toy” Wii Music has been dated in the US. The “game” gives players the choice of more than 60 instruments and over 50 songs in a variety of styles like popular, licensed, classical and Nintendo themes, with the ability to ‘play’ along or improvise and add new beats or twists to it. Simply select the instrument and move the controller as if you were actually playing the real thing. The game will also have the ability to send the remixed songs to friends via the Wii Message Board letting them add their own personal spin to the song.

Wii Music will hit the US on October 20, later here of course.

New details have been confirmed for the upcoming Wii-exclusive first-person shooter The Conduit, including WiiSpeak support and 16 player online multiplayer. The game boasts some of the best graphics on the Wii, with “Next-Gen” visual effects like Dynamic Environment Mapping, interactive water with real-time reflection and 4 stage texture compositions, with gloss, diffuse and bump mapping. Don’t know what any of that means? Basically it’s going to look pretty.

Players will take on a vast number of alien creatures with human-like combat tactics; for example, making use of cover and tactical thinking. You will be able to combat them with both human and alien weaponry, each with unique firing methods thanks to the Wii remote. A device called the “All Seeing Eye” will allow you to reveal hidden enemies and objects for deeper levels of puzzle solving.

Keep reading…

Could Nintendo be keeping something to themselves? Something incredibly desired? That may be the case, with an apparent Hard Drive found in one of the Starlight Foundation “Fun Centers”. The Wii inside was seen with a single USB device plugged in, and contained 20 games - meaning there had to be some kind of extra Hard Drive at work.

The discovery was made by WiiHacks forum moderator “ModderMan”. Wii Hard Drives aren’t for geeks and Nintendo fans - they’re for sick kids! It is also possible that this Wii is one of the special Red Faced Wii’s that have hard drives, but we doubt they have as slick an interface as this.

Unlike the fake list ‘revealed’ some time ago, this one has come from Activision themselves. The list of 86 master tracks is quite impressive, and not just for its size, featuring artists such as Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ted Nugent who will make an appearance both as a playable character and a guitar duel opponent. Nugent brings his song “Stranglehold” to the party.

Many of the songs cross over with Rock Band 2 but Activision has managed to grab a few good exclusives. Track List inside

Even though it’s been out a while now, Ultimate Nintendo’s 4th issue is just as applicable now as it was when it was released. In this issue, you’ll find a world exclusive preview of Dead Rising for Wii, and a hands-on feature with the upcoming Lego Batman, not to mention the wealth of other previews. In the reviews department you will find Lego Indiana Jones, Alone in the Dark, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Guitar Hero: On Tour and many more.

There is also a super-cool Brawl guide, which details all the characters in the form of playables, assist trophies and stickers, and gives you a rundown on their history.

UN Issue 4 is on sale at all newstands now.

Calm down, the game is still coming, but the original title revealed at E3 has been changed for us people in Ozland.

Animal Crossing City Folk will be launching with a new name when it hits Aussie stores later this year. The Australian Classification Board has today rated the game with a G - but it’s not called City Folk. Rather, it is named Animal Crossing Let’s Go to the City which frankly sounds more than a bit disjointed.

The game’s rating says “Gaming experience may change online” but no other details can be decoded from the rating. With the game rated now, does this mean Australia will be getting it in 2008? It’s likely, but since Nintendo Australia hasn’t dated anything past September, it’s anyone’s guess.

Check out the official rating inside…