How come more people aren’t talking about the amazing stuff Nintendo is doing with the new “Wario Ware” game for DSi?

As reported on the NeoGAF message boards, during a financial report today, Nintendo revealed “Made in Ore” as a DSi Store-only product — not yet announced for outside Japan — that lets you make your own “Wario Ware” mini-games.

That’s already cool on its own. Here’s the kicker: Nintendo’s also releasing a WiiWare title called “Asobu! Made in Ore,” which allows you to import that custom-tailored “Wario Ware” mini-game and play it on the Wii with friends.

For a company routinely criticized for their approach to online and previous attempts at connectivity, that’s surprisingly progressive and cool, no?

Microsoft claims that the New Xbox Experience — that big dashboard upgrade being pushed to all 360 owners on November 19 — will allow your favorite Xbox 360 games to load more quickly. To enjoy that benefit, a gamer will have to install their disc-based games onto their 360’s hard drive.

People keep asking me if doing the installation is worth the trouble. Are loading times that much better?

I tested Microsoft’s claim on four games, using my NXE-enabled 360. Above, you can watch the initial loading for “Grand Theft Auto IV,” DVD vs Hard Drive. After the jump, check out loading comparisons for “Fable II” and “Gears of War.”

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.) Read more…

Another day, another load of boxes.

Box #1 is from EA and it’s large. I’m guessing… “Nerf N-Strike“?

Box #2 is from Sony, and, it would be dishonest for me not to say that I was already informed that I’m getting “Resistance 2” today.

The pile of envelopes are from THQ, D3 and Sony. The Sony one says that it’s “ABBA Singstar,” so no mystery there. The other two have me thinking they’re going to be advanced discs that I won’t even be able to mention. I don’t know… “Puzzle Quest” and something WWE-related maybe? Let’s see….

Oh, and we’ve got a bonus package, sent to Tracey. The labeling indicates that it contains a skull. She also tells me that “Bossy Bear” is three inches tall.

Let’s open this stuff… (Anyone want to recommend a better tag line? We need a signature phrase!) Read more…

Most of us have accepted the realities of downloadable content. Some like it more than others, but it’s part of the industry now.

But what if the money you needed to earn to get it could be earned by playing a game?

Disney is proposing that very idea with their first wave of downloadable content for “Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals,” a sci-fi take on the “Pokemon” concept.

The six creatures available as downoadable content in “Spectrobes” — Windalo, Windino, Shasharp, Grispit, Samuspire, Sestar — are purchased using the same currency, Gura, that players use to purchase other items and weapons in the game.

This way, Disney isn’t asking you for more money, but they are requiring you to invest some time in their game to access the extra content. That’s a new idea.

I’d like to see more games give this a shot. What do you think?

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I recently met a few guys who were involved in the making of this week’s tower-defense game “Ninjatown DS.”

The development process sounded really casual, as if it would be possible for anyone with a dream and the right friends to make a game.

So how do you get from concept to release?

Here’s how they say it went down. (Warning: you are about to enter an experimental blog post)

*The Making of “Ninjatown DS” - In Pictures*

1) Gaming PR guy Rob Fleischer knew Shawn Smith , former “Electronic Gaming Monthly” editor — and creator of the Ninjatown characters — from about a decade ago. Read more…

My not-so-secret love of pro wrestling strikes again! Earlier this week, I was listening to a podcast that ran through the results of WWE’s recent “Cyber Sunday” pay-per-view show and heard that there was a video game angle to the company’s all-female Halloween costume contest. I checked WWE.com and found the photos that prove it.

By popular vote, WWE’s Mickie James won the contest by sporting the trademark outfit of “Tomb Raider“’s Lara Croft. Yes, she beat the woman in the banana outfit. And, yes, they brawled immediately after the photo above was snapped.

One more shot of Mickie/Lara is below. Or hit the link above for the full gallery. Read more…

I played “Gears of War 2” last night but can’t talk about that until Monday.

I played a tiny bit of “Fable II” but still haven’t re-rolled my still-hefty character.

I played “Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia,” and, so far I am liking it more than previous “Castlevania” games. The pacing is more brisk, and while I still find the setting cheesy, I’m not minding it as much as I did before. I need to play more to figure out why.

I am confounded by two things, though.

One: the character and item-management menus seem overly complex. The Glyph menu seems to list those signature power-ups multiple times without explaining why.

Two: I want to be able to attack in an upward direction! Maybe its sacrilege to think that my “Castlevania” heroine should be able to point her sword or rapier above her head as enemies dive down to attack her. Maybe it would be like asking why Mario can’t just punch the Goombas instead of needing to jump on them. But, really, being able to attack upward would be nice. Let me guess: that’ll be a power-up I get later?

“Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the ability to protect the top of your head!” Maybe?

Next: A weekend of “Gears” and “Resistance” is ahead of me, I think. With some “Fable” mixed in.

After picking up “Guitar Hero: World Tour” earlier this week, the number of plastic instruments littering my apartment is ridiculous.

As of this writing, we’re currently up to six guitars, four drum sets — one not pictured — and five microphones (thanks, “SingStar”). Mercifully, the cymbals for “Rock Band” just attach to the kit. I don’t need a new drum set for it.

The above picture is a nightmare for my girlfriend. We can’t put a couch in yet because of this! She makes me stow away most of the instruments in the closet. We’re thinking about hanging the guitars on the wall.

…or is that too far?

In a press release to report quarterly earnings today, Electronic Arts announced that its PC game “Spore” sold “nearly” two million copies in its first three weeks of release.

That’s positive news for a company that otherwise had to announce today that it was cutting six percent of its work force. Kotaku reports that that figure amounts to 600 jobs. EA’s release claims that the cuts will save the company $50 million.

Company CEO John Riccitiello noted that game sales had slowed in October, but promised a brighter future. “Longer term, we are very bullish on the game sector overall and on EA in particular,” he said in the quarterly release. “The industry is growing double-digits on the strength of three new game consoles and increases in the number of homes with broadband internet connections. EA is well positioned to benefit from these technology drivers due to the strength of our creative studios and our broad collection of game properties–from ‘The Sims,’ to ‘Spore‘ and ‘Madden NFL,’ to ‘Warhammer Online.’”

For the full press release, go to EA’s investors site.

You won’t run into a server error when booting up “LittleBigPlanet” anymore, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to play the community’s levels.

“LittleBigPlanet” is still having launch-day growing pains. The servers aren’t working as promised. Right now the servers seem “up” but user-created levels, a large reason people want to play “LittleBigPlanet,” can’t be accessed.

Above is what happens on my PlayStation 3 when looking for the “cool levels.” Nothing shows up. I imagine that will change later in the day, but there’s no update on Media Molecule’s website. We’ll just have to wait and see.

What’s your “LittleBigPlanet” experience been like so far?

Readers of gaming blog Joystiq’s preview of Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience got a pleasant surprise yesterday.

How pleasant?

They got treated to a guest appearance by me (or my “Grand Theft Auto IV” multiplayer avatar, to be more precise) playing a supporting role in their video explaining how the NXE’s Party system works.

They explain it pretty well. The Party system is a way for 360 gamers to stay linked together through voice-chat as they hop from game to game or to the dashboard. You don’t have to travel together, and you can invite the full party to whatever you’re playing at the moment. One detail they don’t mention is that your voice-chat can be set to be open to everyone in your party or to just those members of your party who are in the same game.

Keep your eyes peeled, everyone. You never know where your Multiplayer bloggers will pop up next.

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When I spoke with lead “StarCraft II” producer Chris Sigaty at BlizzCon earlier this month, he talked about all the things they’re doing to make sure pro gamers like the game.

But he also told me that he’s also trying to make “StarCraft II” playable for his mom.

“It’s definitely a very challenging tight rope walk,” he said of trying to make the game for both e-sports players and a broader audience. “We’ve trying to make sure that it’s perfectly balanced for e-sport, but look — I’m going to try to get my mom to play this game. I mean, I know she can’t [micromanage] at the level that these pro gamers can, so we’re actually experimenting back in the opposite direction… so that even the layman can come in and get a grasp of these cool things in the game.”

Sigaty explained that “StarCraft II” is in its alpha stage and is being tested by two former pro gamers on staff as well as pros at the conventions. However, his mom hasn’t gotten to try the game yet. But he said, without going into specifics, that they’re trying different things for more casual players.

“[Real-time strategy games] at this level — there’s a lot more there to think about and it gets really frantic really fast, and so it’s definitely off-putting to somebody that’s totally new to video games,” he said. “But we want to make it much easier for people to explore whether it would interest them.”

He added, “And yes, I want to try to get my mom and my wife to take a look and see if they like it. My wife has come to a lot of these events, and she loves watching [people play] but she says, ‘I could never do it.’ Well, I want to try and change her mind. I think that would be awesome if we could.”

So what do you think? Do you want your mom to be able to play “StarCraft II”? And would she play Zerg, Protoss or Terran?

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