Top 5 Multi-Platform Games of the Decade

Per their post this morning, Wired's Game Life blog has ruled Left 4 Dead 2 the top multi-platform game of the 2000's. To put it their way:

"With development budgets at an all-time high, game publishers have found that spreading their biggest, baddest titles across as many platforms as possible is the best way to make back their money."

And while the site's top multi-plaform releases are the following 5 picks: 

5. Borderlands (360, PS3, PC)
4. The Beatles: Rock Band (360, PS3, Wii)
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, PS3, PC) 
2. Assassin’s Creed II (360, PS3) 
1. Left 4 Dead 2 (360, PC)

We think the best multi-platform game of the decades is called Decades. It comes playable for iPhone, Android devices, PC, and Facebook and it's out (SMERC's) widest release yet. Check it out!

To get the nitty gritty about those other guys' games, follow this link.

Nintento Trademarks "Zii"

So, if yesterday we said to ourselves, "Hell yeah", this morning, we said, "What the hell?"

According to this article, via IGN, Nintendo's trademark filing for the term "Zii" has started off rumors of a new console release, which is, as some speculate, may be the long-awaited Wii HD unit. In other words, Wii HD = Zii. What a cacophony of names that will truly be, if real.

We're at a crossroads on how to feel about this development, because, we love the Wii so much, but, also don't know if "Zii" is a console who's name we can pronounce with a straight face. So, here's hoping that the following bit from the article turns out to be true:

"The trademark could be little more than a move to protect Nintendo's existing intellectual properties."

And that the Wii HD we get to play has a strong, manly name...or at least isn't homo-phonic to the beginning of the word zebra.

Mega Man Ten Announced for March '10

When we saw this bit on MTV Multiplayer today our only thought was, "Oh hell yeah!"

We are super into the idea of retro/iconic characters acting as source material for new gaming product and we couldn't really think of a better title than Mega Man to keep expanding on.

We sure do love to see retro visuals in updated 21st century style, and Mega Man 10 will certainly be that, as it comes out in March '10 (the schedule for Wii and DS early 2010 titles was released today).

The release has already picked up buzz over as a debate on which characters will be included and how they will look and if you wanna get the full scoop, do check out Protrude RockMan's gallery of alleged characters and this article about Sheep Man's co-boss.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll be jumping up and down in the next room trying to contain our excitment. In case you're curious, that visual might look something like this.

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

All week, we've been reporting about the rocky terrain in virtual instrument gaming these days (see here and here) well, today, Activision, despite the fray, has decided to push forward with the addition of three new bands to their Rock Band Music Store.

The White Stripes, Kasabian, and legendary band The Damned will all have tracks available for purchase through XBox 360, PS3, and Wii next week and we can only hope that none of these acts find fault with the silly Rock Band avatars we'll all make up to sing their songs (although, we have tried very hard to keep our Rock Band style of dress pretty slick).

The individual tracks should run you about $2 a pop and a full package of tracks should square off around $4.50. Seems like a solid deal to us. You can check out the full announcement via VG247.

Wii Could Be Very Excited

As if we don't dork out on Wii enough on this blog, we've now decided to top off our previous news item about PlayStation for Netflix with rumors and conjecture regarding a possible similar marriage between the video rental website and Nintendo's massively successful console.

 

So, the breakdown of all the salacious details is as such:

1. According to this blog post, an un-named source connected to the Wii/Nintendo collaboration has confirmed that Wii and Nintendo are in fact working together

2. According to this same blog post, the un-named individual has also seen screen shots of the Netflix site running through Wii

3. News of this collaboration isn't really that news-y at all as Netflix has both recently surveyed its customer base to ascertain how much of it would prefer to view streaming video through a Wii and has posted job openings for in-house programmers to help deal with the project

4. The release date is merely marked as "soon", but, two possible timing points for the announcement of the collaboration have been suggested to be "by the end of the year" (this means, 09!) or whenever it is that Nintedo finally announces Wii HD. 

GameSpot breaks down the gossip pretty well and we personally can't wait. HD or not, we think it'd be pretty darn cool to wave a Wii controller at the TV and have Amelie come on.

Why HSN Should Stick To Bartering Jewelry

And why you should be extra careful with that new Wiimote

Mario For Wii Announced, Legendary Designer Elaborates on Console's Future

So, after having mentioned our irrepressible excitement over a possible new "Mario" game this week, we actually researched the announcement a bit to find an entry on Wired's GameLife blog from last week that has, in fact, already announced a new Mario Brothers for the Wii console (see: Miyamoto: New Mario Tests Your Hard-Core Gaming Chops). 

Additionally, the game's creator, god-father of gaming, Shigeru Miyamoto has spoken out this week about the advances on the gaming console Nintendo plans to make in the coming months. He spoke out to Popular Mechanics quoting the following... 

“'What we’ve been able to do [with the Wiimote] is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for a broad audience.'

 

But more interesting are his comments on what lies beyond the Wii. Amazingly, he envisions a console that is largely the same, but even cheaper.

'What I can say is that, my guess is that because we found this interface to be so interesting, I think it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient.''"

Though we agree the new series of "Wiimotes" are fairly slick, and will likely give quite a holiday gifting booster to the already massively popular gaming system, what possible minimazation of the console and it's cheaper price will do for sales down the line remains to be seen.

Check out the formal Mario Brothers's announcement here and the full article on Miyamoto via Geek.com.