Wii Exclusive: Kirby's Epic Yarn

Kirby's Epic Yarn wove itself into gamers' hearts this year with its syrupy-sweet fabric-based visuals and decidedly unpunishing difficulty. Bead-collection, hidden items, and creative level-design help keep more experienced gamers engaged, but young kids and those who don't usually game will also find themselves hard-pressed not to have tons of fun with the little pink hero. Kirby's shape-shifting abilities keep the action fresh, and optional mini-game-based levels do a lot to extend the experience. Read more »

Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

Today's Filter features a re-cut trailer for James Bond 007: Blood Stone, a teaser for the upcoming XBLA title Pinball FX 2, a "re-imagining" trailer for GoldenEye 007 on Wii, a spoiler-rich recap trailer for the Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse season finale as well as new videos for R.U.S.E., Burn Zombie Burn, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Ship Simulator Extremes. Read more »

Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

Today's Filter includes news screens of Portal 2 and Superstars V8 Racing as well as new trailers for NHL Slapshot, And Yet It Moves, MotionSports and GoldenEye 007 Wii. Read more »

Despite widespread interest in a downloadable Xbox 360 or Wii version of Rare's Nintendo 64 shooter GoldenEye 007, licensing issues and other concerns have the project "locked in a no-man's land," Rare senior engineer Nick Burton stated.

"The ball's not in anybody at Rare's court really," Burton informed Videogamer. "It's squarely in the license holders' courts. It's a shame. It's kind of locked in this no man's land. There's nothing on [Xbox] Live Arcade, there's nothing on Wii." Read more »

Despite recent buzz over a story in Xbox World 360, Microsoft Game Studios still has no plans to release Rare's Nintendo 64 FPS GoldenEye 007 on Xbox Live Arcade.

"Unfortunately, we were never contacted by the publication to confirm information or participate in the story in any way, as we would have confirmed that we do not have the necessary rights to release GoldenEye on Xbox Live Arcade," said MGS according to Eurogamer. Read more »

During a David Doak interview conducted by GamesIndustry.biz, the Free Radical Design co-founder (pictured left) issued strong comments regarding the current relationship between the UK government and video game developers. "Here's an industry that 20 years ago we led the world in--through bedroom rock-and-roll development on the early home computers--and now there's a very real chance that what is now a real profession is going to be driven out of the UK because they don't make any concessions to it," Doak said. His independent studio resides in Nottingham, England. Doak--whose past credits include Rare's GoldenEye 007 and Free Radical's TimeSplitters series--was also critical of the UK's focus on video games as a moral issue. "The UK Government needs to do something more useful than just criticizing violent content in video games," he said. Earlier this year, Labour party MP Keith Vaz met with Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss the issue of violent videogames being made available to children. Following that meeting, Blair had mostly good things to say about the industry, stating, "The talent and creativity that our industry houses and nurtures is what makes the games industry a part of Britain's cultural heritage, and more specifically, an important asset in Britain's creative and cultural future." What Doak would prefer is assistance, rather than talk. He pointed out the UK government's affinity for the film industry, while at the same time bemoaning the general disregard for the many video game developers across the country. "If you look up the best places to live in the world, Nottingham is not British Columbia," he quipped, explaining that personnel are often being pulled away to countries like Canada, where game development is currently thriving due in part to government support. Doak was in Paris for the Ubidays event, there to promote his studio's upcoming first-person shooter Haze. Although the game was originally expected to release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, the game's multiplatform status became unclear when publisher Ubisoft began referring to the title only as a PlayStation 3 game. Doak mentioned that, while the game will debut on the PlayStation 3, other versions are in development for "all platforms."

It wasn't until I looked at the list of Nintendo's published titles that I realized what a brilliant maneuver this is by the Big N. We all know Nintendo is responsible for a boatload of classics, but until you see them all side-by-side, it's hard to imagine how many they have. Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, Earthbound, F-Zero, Super Mario RPG, Yoshi's Island, 1080 Snowboarding, GoldenEye 007, Killer Instinct, all of the console Marios and Zeldas and so many more. All of those games, at your fingertips, and Nintendo is even thinking about making them free to download. I'm sure there some out there saying, "Who cares if they release any new games if I can get access to all those!"