The Nintendo Basement – Australia’s best community for all the latest Nintendo news and reviews

One of the highlights of my life is receiving videogames in the mail. The thrill of ripping open the packaging like ‘twas Christmas morning, holding the case in your hands for the very first time like a newborn child, and then inserting the game into the corresponding console and feeling that rush as the game fires up for the first time ever. All of a sudden, the game world you’ve been dreaming about for months appears, unfolds before your very eyes, and what was once dream is now reality. You dive headfirst into this incredible new virtual experience, crossing things off your ‘things to try when the game arrives’ list, and loving every minute of it while also feeling a sense of childlike joy with every new discovery.

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Thanks to the rockstars over at Activision Blizzard, TNB recently ran a Guitar Hero competition, giving readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies of the awesome Guitar Hero: Metallica on Wii.

The competition has been run, and 3 lucky winners have emerged! They answered the question:

If you were a Metallica band member, what would be your chosen stage name and why?

Were you a winner? Winning entries inside!

In stark contrast to our earlier update about Shia Labeouf’s opinions on the Wii, his sultry Transformers co-star, Megan Fox, has spoken of her fondness for Nintendo’s console, during an interview with What They Play.

Along with numerous other tidbits about her gaming credentials, Fox revealed that the Super Nintendo was the first gaming console that she owned and that she is “totally a fan of the Wii”.

The 23-year-old star went on to speak positively about the interactive nature of the Wii controls, describing Wii Fit as a “totally hard workout”, ahead of revealing that her favourite game to play on the system is actually Lego Star Wars, particularly owing to its co-operative gameplay elements.

Anyone else have a sudden urge to play Lego Star Wars?

Welcome to TNB’s extra special E3 wrap up! I am your host, Mr_M, henceforth to be known as ‘The Other Other M’!

Alex: I’m Quatters, hereafter known as Alex.

Matt: And I’m PrattP, finishing out the three amigos. I’ll be referred to as Matt further on!

The Other Other M: Gentlemen, let me explain the rules: the game we’re playing today, inspired by various sporting talk shows, is known as ‘Good Call, Bad Call’. The rules are simple: one person makes a statement regarding Nintendo’s E3 show. The other two people must declare it a ‘good call’ or a ‘bad call’ and explain why. This should hopefully result in an E3 wrap up that’s actually fun for us to write (and you to read)!

Matt: Rules understood!

The Other Other M: Okay, if we’re ready, I will begin with a question regarding Nintendo’s biggest franchise! New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, unlike the DS version, WILL be a true classic! Good call, or bad call? Continue Reading…

The outlaw of videogames is back. Yes, you know what I’m talking about, Grand Theft Auto. Just about every GTA title in the past has received criticism from parents, legal eagles and, of course, the media. Chinatown Wars’ announcement was received in a similar fashion to its predecessors. Gamers were hyped and the rest of society decided to have a little bitch about the title. Rockstar, as usual, ignored this and focused on providing DS gamers with a true GTA game.

Having played the final product, it’s safe to say they’ve achieved their goal, but unlike the many other reviewers out there, I’m not completely satisfied. Continue Reading…

Financial experts have predicted a possible price drop for the Wii, after Nintendo posted its third straight month of sales declines in May.

According to sales data released by Nintendo, 57% less Wii consoles were sold in May this year, prompting many to speculate that a price drop may soon be announced in order to reduce the current price gap between the Wii and its cheaper competitor, Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

A Nintendo spokesperson has been quoted as saying that the company has “no plans to reduce its prices at this time”.

Source: Wall Street Journal

SEGA have pushed back the Australian release of The Conduit, which will now launch on July 16.

Originally slated to hit store shelves on June 25, High Voltage Software’s much-anticipated first person shooter for Wii has now been pushed back a whole month. The news follows accounts of retailers pushing back the date for pre-order pickups, and the absence of a weekly release update from SEGA last week. The title was recently pushed back in North America, and will release there on June 23. Source

Peripheral based instrument games based around a single band don’t tend to hold up well. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith made the rookie mistake of thinking that there’s anyone left who still cares, even slightly, about Aerosmith, whilst AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack was a horrible misfire, serving up a paltry 18 songs from Australia’s favourite hard rockers.

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New Super Mario Bros. Wii has been revealed to include an optional mode which will allow the player to let the CPU take over until the player is ready to continue.

Shigeru Miyamoto said “In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if a player is experiencing an area of difficulty, this will allow them to clear troubled areas and take over when they’re ready. And yes, we’re looking into this for future games.”

The optional mode, dubbed the “Demo Mode” is Nintendo’s way of making sure that new players don’t get stuck or find the game ’too hard’ to proceed. It is currently unknown whether this will allow the player to put the game on ’auto-pilot’ while they sit back and watch, or if it will simply show the player a way through their current dilemma.

An interesting idea, but could it promote lazy gaming?

This year the Big N has revealed one new device and a number of upcoming titles for both the Wii and DS.

Click on through for a summary, transcript and show floor pictures of all the happenings in the E3 09 Nintendo Press Conference! Continue Reading…