nintendo MAZ on 08 Jul 2008
Category Archive for "nintendo"
ds & nintendo MAZ on 02 Jul 2008
Lightsaber DS stylus
They come in two flavors: a three-pack of standard plastic ones for $7.99 or a two-pack of glowing ones for $16.99. They will be available July 31st.
Via Kotaku
nintendo MAZ on 29 May 2008
The history of Nintendo’s peripherals
Who can forget the Power Pad? It’s the first thing that came to mind, for us at least, when Nintendo unveiled the Balance Board. Oh, the many days we spent running in place as we virtually raced friends. Going outside and doing it for real was for losers!
The Power Glove. Not only was its marketing hilarious, but who can forget the antagonist’s role in The Wizard? This thing was touted as such a mold breaker when, in reality, it was a pretty horrible way to try and play a game. The thing just couldn’t ever work right.
While not peripherals, technically, these controllers, which released on both the NES and SNES, helped Nintendo realize that just a traditional game controller might not be enough. If Nintendo didn’t constantly strive to innovate, they would most certainly perish.
The Game Boy received some odd peripherals back in the day, most notably the Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer. The camera took really low-quality photographs and the paper to restock was really expensive (actually, you can still buy it and it still is expensive). Despite all of that, we recall fond memories of using the peripheral to play spy on our siblings way back in the day.
The NES Zapper is still one of the most recognizable peripherals today and, even with Nintendo’s reissue of the peripheral for the Wii in the white shell you see before you, remains the most awesome thing you can ever hold in your hand. Well, aside from a bag full of money, we suppose.
R.O.B. (short for Robotic Operating Buddy) was, sadly, only supported by 2 games (although you can use him in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, if that counts). Despite that, R.O.B. was a huge success in managing to get Nintendo’s NES system onto store shelves via a bundle, as retailers were scared to stock video games following the big crash.
The Super Scope was the Zapper for the SNES. Ditching the Zapper name, it came bundled with Super Scope 6, a collection of games such as Blastris, a form of Tetris, and LazerBlazer, a more traditional light gun game.
Released with Mario Paint for the SNES, the peripheral received support from numerous titles following its release. There have also been folks who’ve modified the mouse to work with their PC, if you’re into that sort of thing.
The titular N64 title came bundled with the microphone accessory you see before you. Players would be able to give Pikachu voice commands, which he would then perform in-game. The technology behind this title would later then be built into the DS.
When the GameCube released, Nintendo would put out a little music title by the name of Donkey Konga. Bundled with the game was the bongo controller you see before you. The controller would later be used in other GameCube titles, such as Donkey Konga 2 and 3, as well as Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat.
After their dabbling with the technology on the N64, Nintendo would come back to the microphone again on the GameCube. With the release of Mario Party 6, the company bundled in a new microphone.
While not direct inspiration for the Balance Board, this is a timeline of Nintendo peripherals so cut us a break. Releasing a mere month before Wii Fit (and, in turn, the Balance Board), the Wii Wheel (which comes bundled with Mario Kart Wii) allows the player to feel more at home in controlling a racing title, rather than just holding the Wiimote sideways on its own. Of course, not everyone feels that way.
And it has all lead to here, the Balance Board. What a crazy ride. We can’t wait to see what other great peripherals Nintendo has in mind for the future.
Via Wii Fanboy
nintendo MAZ on 28 May 2008
New DS colors coming soon
Nintendo has confirmed new DS Lite colors for the European market due out on June 13th, no word on US release dates.
