The eighth iteration of the Nintendo Voice Chat has just been released. The show discussed quite a number of games such as Electronic Arts' Boom Blox and Sega's Iron Man for the DS (also available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Playstation Portable) as well as a few of the storage issues on the Wii. To find out more, check out the full article.

Download: Nintendo Voice Chat Ep.8

Except for his appearance on the Wii's Virtual Console, Pit of Kid Icarus spent a very long vacation time away from the video game spotlight until his sudden and welcome appearance on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. But will he be a solo act again any time soon? According to a recent IGN podcast, the answer is "absolutely." More info in the full article.

Point and click adventures used to be Sierra's forte, a reign that was only once rivalled by that of LucasArts' The Dig (nothing like Digg, mind you), and then recaptured by the limelight of the later Quest series (Police Quest, King's Quest, Space Quest, etc.). Until Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem on the GameCube.

 

Today Capcom is reviving the genre with a game that has certainly captured IGN Wii's attention (and their pockets for sure), coming in the iffy title Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. What's that you ask? Well that's the new name for Project Treasure Island Z, a game we've heard little about.

But it's certainly got IGN excited - enough to get them to recommend that Wii owners pre-order a copy of the game right now. In fact, Matt Casamassina was quoted to have said:

But we're telling you, Zack & Wiki is fun. Really fun. Really smart. And really enjoyable. And we're not going to stop this campaign until you've pre-ordered it. Do it. Do it right now. What do you mean your local retailer isn't accepting pre-orders? That's no excuse for the truly dedicated. Start saving. Create a Zack & Wiki fund. And get on the message boards and spread the word. It's come down from the IGN Wii editors that Z&W (as those in the know call it) is the real deal and must be owned. As loyal Nintendo fans, you cannot disobey.

We're not quite sure with what got IGN so worked up with the game, but anything that capitulates on the strengths of the Wii and is comparatively great to a genre...uhh..older gamers started out with is appetizing enough. In fact, it's good enough to compel us to check out this game as soon as it comes out later in 2007.
But all the same, we'll be watching out for new developments on this game. Keep your eyes peeled.

 

For those allergic to hype, steer clear. Honestly speaking though, hype - or demand and anticipation for a game - is the reason why rumors about a said game persist. In this case it's Soul Calibur. While we've already reported on the rumor that a version of the franchise is supposedly going to be made for the PSP, this time, the rumor's for Ninty fans.

A lot of folks have noted that in IGN's Wii-k in Review podcast (for 05/04/07), Matt Casamassina said that there used to be a fighting franchise that came to the GameCube, and what's nice is that it's now coming to the Wii. The thing is now, it'll be a "crazy ass adventure game."

Wii news blog, Go Nintendo, speculates that the game could be Soul Calibur.

Well, a number of Soul Calibur fans here at QJ would like to add that Go Nintendo's speculation only makes sense. It can be recalled that, in the previous Soul Calibur online survey that Namco Bandai conducted, there were a lot of questions regarding the Wii. Moreover, a shift in game genre isn't farfetched, since the Chronicles of the Sword game mode in Soul Calibur III did work in its own weird way.

Our take on this rumor? Likely. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

In the later part of an interview with IGN's Matt Casamassina, Midway's Ed Boon said that  Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the Wii could have had online play, only if the Wii had something in place to support it. With the Xbox, they had Xbox Live. With everything else, they had GameSpy.

So while the Nintendo Wii had Wi-Fi capability and the Connect24 feature in place, they didn't have the service that mattered: game matching. If there was any, Midway would have had included multiplayer easily, because Armageddon already comes with online play capability.

But since Nintendo seems to be hush-hush about their dealings with GameSpy and their plans for online multi-play, it looks like the Wii version will remain a hot seat versus game instead. But Midway is not giving up hopes on Mortal Kombat Wii multiplayer.

Ed Boon answered a question regarding a sequel with online play support with: "If there was [multiplayer support] in place, of course we would definitely support it." Story of the Wii-gamers lives, isn't it?

IGN's editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina recently had the chance to talk to MySims producer Tim LeTourneau about the upcoming Wii and DS title from Electronic Arts.

Of course, one of the first few things that get asked about next gen videogames revolves around multiplayer capabilities. Casamassina had earlier revealed that while EA wouldn't confirm it right away, the MySims developers are indeed exploring an online component for the video game.

LeTourneau also confirmed this, although he declined to reveal specifics about their online strategy for MySims. Letourneau did say that they recognize Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection as a "great feature of the Wii" and that they "definitely want to take full advantage of all the capabilities of the system."

Judging from LeTourneau's answers on whether or not the title will be more focused on single-player gameplay, it seems that the online capabilities of MySims is more centered around "sharing". "It's more about sharing what you've done," said LeTourneau. "Showing people. Saying, 'Check out what I've done. Look at this.'"

DS and Wii connectivity also appears to be a no go at this point. According to LeTourneau, the dev team for MySims will be "taking full advantage of the DS platform and how it differs from Wii. We haven't really talked about the connectivity between the DS and Wii at this point in time."

For the full interview, click on the Via link below. You might also want to check out the new screenshots from the game below.

   

More screenshots after the jump!

Ever since MySims became, well, MySims (it was simply called The Sims for Wii before), people have been asking if the game will have an online component. In the recent days, we've been hearing that the Wii will be invading online territory when the next wave of titles come out, and so the topic about the simulation game came up once more.

IGN Editor-in-Chief Matt Casamassina mentioned that he recently had a discussion with Electronic Arts (EA) about the matter. According to him, EA wouldn't confirm it right away but admitted that game's developers are indeed exploring an online component for the video game.

Quite interestingly, one reader commented that he/she saw a MySims display box up over at EB Games sporting the WiFi network symbol. Casamassina commented that this only strengthens the belief that the video game will have that feature. The editor added that Pokemon Battle Revolution will be kicking off very soon alongside other titles.

On a slightly off-topic note, one reader asked if a WWE game is headed for the Wii. Casamassina unfortunately had no information on this whatsoever but remarked that THQ usually makes wrestling project announcements during WrestleMania.

Matt Casamassina is one of the more influential video game journalist out there. He is the Editor-in-Chief of gaming site IGN and is currently in the process of designing his own Virtual Console game.

The last time we heard about him was around a couple of days ago, with him saying that Friend Codes will be implemented as well for Wii. Anyway, the editor-in-chief, in his official blog, is now saying that there are a lot of wicked Wii games coming out soon.

He doesn't want to spoil any official announcements so he didn't reveal any. Casamassina knows perfectly well that some may think he's just talking nonsense but it's up to fans to believe.

There are some potentially crazy-awesome games coming down the pipeline for Wii, by the way. You guys have no idea. I know that's vague, has to be, but I've seen some stuff that you simply have no idea even exists and frankly, if you did, you'd flip out.

He then reminded his readers that Electronic Arts never really announced its new Wii project so that must be forthcoming too.

Back in October, the Editor-in-Chief of gaming site IGN Matt Casamassina clarified certain points about Friend Codes (FC). To those of you who are not quite familiar with this system, a friend code is a means to preserve users' privacy by providing a unique online identification.

For lack of a better explanation, you can think of it as Xbox Live's gamertag.

Anyway, Casamassina, during one of IGN's chat sessions, brought up the topic once more when online games for Wii were discussed. Judging from what the guy said, it seemed evident that he knew of other Wii titles in the works now that do have some sort of online play.

FC worked fine with Nintendo's handheld, DS, especially with Mario Kart DS and Metroid Prime Hunters. Fans, on the other hand, have different feelings about using this system on the console. Regardless of what people think, Casamassina left the room with this message: It looks like friend codes are back, at least in this early stage of online play.

Now there are a lot of videos out there. We can't possibly do justice to them all. And since we're so close to the Wii launch, any Nintendo top 10 list would naturally be heavily biased towards Wii vids.

Two old-school Ninty vids

To get us into a Nintendo mood, let's look at Nintendo in popular culture. This first video is by far one of the best in this list. Martin Leung, aka the Video Game Pianist aka VGP aka The Blindfolded Pianist became famous (on the Internet and in real life) because of this video. This 10-minute medley will make you wee in your pants - especially when Mario's running out of time and has to run really fast to get to the flag!


Redefined, a group from the University of Wisconsin sings theme songs (while acting out scenes) of Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Mortal Kombat, and, featuring a right-handed Link, Legend of Zelda.

Never mind if the SNES port of Mortal Kombat was one of the worst ports of the game (gray blood - what were they thinking?! - that looked like the fighters were sweating grease... and no uppercut countering of air attacks?!), because it was also one of the best (graphics and sound outstripped those of competitors at that time, in our humble but very perfect and very correct opinion). Trust us, we have some very old people here who remember the 1980s and 1990s with clarity.

See the other eight videos (plus the bonus 11th video - think "Zelda pornography" and other happy thoughts) after the jump. Click on the Full Article link below!