SSBB Adventure Mode Trailer

Need I say more? Everyone knows that the new Smash Bros Brawl will feature an exciting new adventure mode. Looks way cooler than in the last game, in my opinion. Watch the trailer here.

Reviewer Leaves Gamespot

Recently Gamespot writer Jeff Gerstmann was fired by CNet Networks Entertainment. Rumors said that the reason for this was that his unenthusiastic review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men upset advertisers of the game on Gamespot’s site. Soon afterward a Gamespot article was released assuring everyone that the rumors were, in fact, wrong. The reasons for Gerstmann’s termination were strictly internal, according to them. Things started to calm down, but it wasn’t over. The incident has come up again in the form of the departure of another Gamespot reviewer. However, this one was not fired: he quit.

Frank Povo had worked with Gamespot for over seven years, and wrote around 750 reviews. Today, he gave his reasons for leaving. “I believe CNet management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons,” Povo wrote in his blog. “I believe CNet intends to soften the site’s tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy.” Quite an accusation, but he wasn’t finished. “The GameSpot staff did not fire Jeff. The GameSpot staff are NOT corrupt. GameSpot itself is NOT the problem. CNet is. CNet’s management is.”

Concerning his departure, Frank Povo stated, “I feel sad about the whole thing, but I can’t write for a site that could one day punish me for honesty.”

Gamespot has for years been well-known for their honest opinions in up-to-date news and reviews. Let’s hope Povo’s predictions don’t come to pass.

Red Steel Sequel Arriving 2008?

About a month ago Ubisoft’s office in Paris released a wanted ad, apparently in search of a game designer for the “continuation of the Red Steel project,” Red Steel 2.

It’s been reported that the sword system for the next Red Steel will be completely reworked. Hopefully they will also consider many critics’ complaints of the first games’ frustrating controls.

According to the latest issue of UK Nintendo Magazine, the game should be coming out sometime next year.

17 Wii’s Sold Every Second In Stock

The end of this year marks Amazon.com’s thirteenth holiday season, which has been confirmed to be the the company’s most successful yet. According to a recent news release, every time the Nintendo Wii was in stock they sold 17 per second. This made the Wii a best-selling videogame item this year, along with the games Super Mario Galaxy and Call of Duty 4.

Japanese Developers Behind The Times?

Akira Yamaoka was recently interviewed about his experience working with the Silent Hill franchise. He was asked what it was like working with an American team for Silent Hill 5, the series’ latest installment. This is what he said,

“It’s completely different working with an American team. There are of course advantages and disadvantages, but overall, I’m really impressed with the American staff and their technology. Their graphical and technical ability is amazing. There’s a huge gap, actually. They’re very advanced. I’m Japanese, and I think this is not just with Silent Hill but with the whole of the industry — I look at what American developers are doing and I think wow… Japan is in trouble.”

I would hope not. Over the course of gaming history Japanese developers have continued to create great games, including series’ like Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy.

Good games tend to sacrifice technically proficient graphics for visual style and innovation, things that are infinitely more important and add the lasting value that can be seen in classic games. But I guess the real question is which aspects are most important to the average gamer. These days, do we judge a game solely by it’s graphical performance? If so, Yamaoka just could be right.

Ninja Reflex detailed, Screenshots

Electronic Arts has announced more details for it’s party game title called Ninja Reflex. As it turns out, EA will be working with Nunchuck Games to co-publish Ninja Reflex, which is currently being developed by Sanzaru Games Inc.

The gameplay revolves around minigames that test your ability to react, developing your “ninja reflex.” The game also features 1-4 player battles.

Nunchuck Games president David Luntz commented, “Ninja Reflex channels the accessible multiplayer fun of Wii Sports and the self-improvement aspect of Brain Age into a martial arts universe that is ideally suited for the Wii and Nintendo DS.”

Ninja Reflex is scheduled for release on the Wii and DS next March.

Kynapse Wii Supportable

Kynapse is an AI pathfinding engine, used for managing large numbers of non-player characters. Today, Middleware developer Kynogon announced that this tool now supports the Wii.

Kynogon CEO Pierre Pontevia stated,

“Wii is a remarkable success and we are proud to offer Kynapse to Wii game developers. The unique capabilities of Wii allow developers to produce creative forms of gameplay that require innovative AI. Kynapse has been selected by a very significant number of industry leaders for the development of AAA titles. With Kynapse, we feel Wii developers have another critical tool in their hands that helps them unleash the real magic of the Wii system.”

According to Kynogon, Kynapse is already in use for 2 game developers.

Prince of Persia movie being filmed next June

Since 2004 rumors had been circulating that Jerry Bruckheimer had obtained the rights to the Prince of Persia franchise, and there was to be a movie trilogy, based on Ubisoft’s series. These rumors were soon found to be true, and ever since then the world has been watching, waiting with bated breathe for some clue, some sign…

Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating. A little. Anyways, the project has been highly anticipated by many.

Well, there was recently an interview with Bruckheimer himself, during which this question was posed: will the ongoing writers’ strike affect plans for the Prince of Persia movie trilogy? His answer was,

“Well we’re not going to film until June so hopefully the writers will come to some kind of consensus with the studios and we can continue.”

The first installment in the movie series is called, like the game, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. It is currently scheduled for release July 10, 2009.

Guitar Hero IV and Call of Duty 5 announced

Perhaps you’ve heard of the $19 billion deal joining Blizzard and Activision. In any case, many gamers are skeptic, and wonder just how this will affect the future of both companies, and their games.

Well, if you are one of those gamers, rest assured; all games currently in development by Activision and Blizzard will continue as scheduled. In fact, the existence of both Guitar Hero IV and Call of Duty 5 have now been confirmed. Though no details have yet been released, this should be welcome news for fans.

Harvest Moon creator wishes to make a game like Spore

In a recent Gamasutra interview with Yasahiro Wada, creator of Harvest Moon, the desire was expressed to create a game quite like Spore. His words were,

“Eventually, I’d like to make something like Spore, where you create something, and from there, new stuff is going to be created again and again and again. In a micro world, like The Sims for example, you have the city expanding, but you can’t see it. But you want to be one of the people living in the city, and to be a part of this growing too.”

He said this when he was asked whether he wanted to create a new universe, since Harvest Moon was so well established. However, it may be that he wishes to apply these concepts to Harvest Moon. When asked how long he’d been thinking about this idea, he answered, “Since I started working in video games. Harvest Moon was actually a part of this idea.”

So, when are we gonna see this idea of his happen?

“I think you can do it now,” Wada says. “Machines specifications are getting better, graphics are getting better, and space is getting bigger too. For a small calculation, you should be able to make that too. It will be one day, that we are able to make this game.”

The complete interview’s pretty interesting, if you want to check it out. As for Wada’s ideas, I ain’t holding my breath, but it’d be really cool if it happened. Let’s hope it does.