This has got to be a joke. EA says Europe will get Spore Sept 5, 2 days before the US of A.

http://kotaku.com/355796/europe-gets-spore-two-days-early

Not that I'm so out of touch with reality that a 2 day difference is going to really irritate me, but really... Why Spore? Oh well, savor it while you can. I'll be playing Brawl for months before Europe even gets a solid release date.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3165798

Rock band is confirmed for the Wii by Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello during a conference call.

"In terms of pacing the next few quarters, you're probably well aware of the more than $2.5 million music downloads that have occurred on Rock Band, and that's a good part of the business. But what is probably the most interesting pieces right now is the coming launch on the Wii..."

AWESOME! I'm a little disappointed that there was no mention of DLC or what particular "flavor" of Rock Band we would be getting though. Here's hoping that Wii owners don't get screwed.

Just wanted to get my impressions of No More Heroes out here before the hype behind it gets old.

STORY

If you're remotely interested in NMH, you already know the backstory. You play Travis Touchdown, an otaku who has come into possession of a lightsaber and has been thrust into the UAA. Not necessarily his original plan, but he decides to play along and go for the #1 spot. I just got to the #7 ranked fight, and there are hints of a deeper plot, but so far there haven't been any twists.

GRAPHICS

NMH does not try to have what most would consider to be "quality" when it comes to graphics. The poly count isn't exceptionally high, the view distance is nothing to brag about, and at times there is slowdown. Where they excel though is in pure style. If you are a gamer/otaku at heart, you will love what you see in NMH, which is cel-shading, pixelated icons/powerups, and unique characters.

GAMEPLAY

This is the only part that truly matters, and to be honest, there are definitely places where NMH does not shine as brightly as it could. The camera system isn't all that great. The open world portion of the game isn't nearly as fleshed out as most other open world games are, and the way Travis controls and moves doesn't mesh very well in that environment. The "jobs" you do in order to pay the entry fee for ranked fights often consist of the mini-games that most "gamers" think are plaugeing the Wii right now, and are often tedious rather than fun.

BUT! Don't let all that negative turn you off of NMH! The part of the game that involves killing IS FANTASTIC! Travis is equipped with a number of methods of inflicting pain which keeps the fights engaging. You have your standard attacks, a move to stun enemies, and while an enemy is stunned, you also get wrestling moves. You'll see some reviews state that its possible to breeze through fights by mashing "A" and wildly swinging the controllers around, but that is not the case. In one on one encounters, perhaps, but those don't happen often, and the enemies WILL interrupt your combo and punish you if you aren't on your toes. The actual ranked encounters of which I've been through 3 of so far, are unique (in character and style of fighting) and have a different weaknesses to exploit.

MISC

Part of the open world portion of NMH is the ability to do some collecting. Some of the things you're able to acquire include new clothing (Travis has a pretty awesome sense of style, BTW), new lightsabers and upgrades for them, "perks" that aid in fighting, upgrades to your combo and strength, and probably more that I haven't seen yet. Honestly, the open world portion for me is just a means of getting to the ranked encounters, but the unlockables do help me justify spending a little extra time gathering money and "Kolokov Balls".

CONCLUSION

There's really not more to say except that the game is directed toward a specific group of people, and for those that fit that mold, it will be highly entertaining. I hope that others will be able to enjoy the game as well, but seeing how other Wii titles have done so far, I doubt it. As for me, I'm loving the experience so far and hope its able to stay as entertaining throughout the rest of the game.

http://us.wii.com/iwata_asks/ssbb/vol2_page1.jsp

Part 2 is up, and I didn't see anything posted about it, so here's the link. The topics covered are "As If It Was the Last In the Series" and "For First-Time Gamers." I will say that for something called "Iwata Asks", Iwata sure doesn't ask many questions...

Firstly, I love Nintendo. Seriously, I would have Miyamoto's babies if he'd have me. I try my hardest not to be a fanboy, but I have a really hard time hearing or saying anything negative about Nintendo and its franchises. That being said...

I'm getting REALLY fed up with Nintendo trying to tell me what I want regarding friend codes and the lack of communication in multiplayer. The most recent Smash DOJO update talked about the random multiplayer matches, and I quote "Names won't be shown and messages won't be sent. Neither your identity nor your opponents' will be known, so you can play without any worries." No Nintendo, there are worries. I'm worried that my multiplayer matches in SSBB are going to be totally bland because the "people" I'm fighting are no longer people when all evidence of them is hidden or suppressed. Now they're robots, albeit hopefully smarter robots. If I venture into the online world, I'm well aware of the
dangers of strangers having their way with my young mind (I'm actually 21, but you get the point.) I know there are going to be people who will insult my voice, my size, my sexuality, my skin color, the size of my ass, etc. Its an ACCEPTABLE RISK in order to enjoy the experience more fully. I want to hear these things because it essentially gives me permission to say the same to them. Why won't you let me do that?

All that shit in the above paragraph. I could live without it. But what about when I'm playing with my friends? In matches with friends, I'm playing with people that I know and enjoy the company of. Why the hell can't I talk to them? Why can't I chat with them with more than 4 pre-configured messages? I'm playing with them because I like their personality, to include their particular flavor of verbal abuse. I don't play with my friends because I enjoy the challenge of defeating a better opponent (most of the time). I want to play with them because I want to socialize with them. How the hell do I do that with the options that you have presented me? With the current system, they're no longer friends. Again, they're just another robot.

Whenever the subject of friend codes or the subject of communicating with friends is addressed by Nintendo, it's always the same answer. "Nintendo consumers are happy with the current system." No we're not. I don't know what "consumers" you talked to, but I haven't seen a positive comment on the friend code system from anyone, anywhere. Not
from parents, not from old folks, and certainly not from my friends and I. Whoever conducted your research for you, fire them. They forgot about a particular group, the GAMERS. I'm not really sure how... Its not like we're hiding our thoughts on the system. We're not hard to find... In fact, we're pretty vocal about how short-sighted your
decision to implement such a system truly is.

I've been incredibly loyal to you through the course of my life. Growing up, I got money twice a year. $50 for my birthday (used to buy singular b-day present) and $50 for x-mas (ditto). You want to know where that money went every single year? Yeah, I bought more products for my NES/SNES/N64/GC. All I want from you is the ability to communicate with my buddies in-game, whether it be through a separate USB keyboard or headset. Let my friends be more than the alternate AI. If you REALLY have to protect the kiddies, implement more flexible parental controls or restrict chat in random matches entirely. Not letting me chat with my friends, whom I have willingly added to my friend list, is down right insulting to my intelligence.

Destructoid editor Aaron Linde has made a few front-page posts about this game, but I know that at least for me its been a little tedious keeping up with this game, so I figure its fallen off the radar for a lot of people.

Well, now you have a reason to pay attention again. The blog Bit-Blot.com has a post up saying that over the next seven days they will be releasing more and more info, leading up to releasing the game on 7 Dec. FINALLY!

If you don't know what Aquaria is, here's a short video showing off some gameplay.