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Kneel. Place hands on either side of the ceramic-like object. Wait. A sudden urge takes you, spewing the remains of a previous ingestion. You glance at what was just created; between the remains of what were once good ideas you see those extra things you tacked on that seemed like a quick fix at the time but ultimately caused their own regurgitation. You lament at the pain you caused yourself, but deep down you can feel that the pain is still there.

So what have you been eating? Or in this case, what have various developers been feeding the ceramic bowl in question, the Wii? Their own regurgitation, that's what - and a little bit of Nintendo's own leftovers for good measure. The Wii is the one that's sick, suffering from delirious spells of minigame collections, shoddy ports, forced motion control schemes, and God knows what else.

A little examination is in order. Five case studies have been prepared, each a different opinion of how Wii software appears. Some of it isn't too pretty – but fear not, we might even discover a cure. So lean back, relax, and try not to throw that Wii remote into the tv.

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Destructoid has spotted the ongoing eBay auction of a Limited Edition Zelda GameBoy Advance SP - signed by the Zelda master himself, Shigeru Miyamoto, at the grand opening of the Nintendo World Store in New York City.

Here's what the winner gets:

• New Gameboy Advance SP Zelda Limited Edition in gold signed by Shigeru Miyamoto
• New The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap cart
• Booklets and manuals
• Slightly crushed display box
• The new feeling of receiving something shipped from Canada
  

At current the item is listed at $500 with zero bids on a gaming device that Miyamoto actually touched, but if you're a Miyamoto/Zelda freak you'll get a joyful giggle from just glancing at the listing.

I love the way Miyamoto signs his name. /dreamy sigh

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Why It Won: Zelda games come around more frequently than Mario games and so aren't held to the same absurd scrutiny. In fact, after a lifetime of mostly-identical storylines (the princess is kidnapped, oh noes!) it wouldn't be altogether ridiculous to wonder when something new would come along for Link to do besides spend all day fishing, blowing into an ocarina, and looking for pieces of the much-elusive Tri-force. I'd all but discounted the series as an ad-tedium retread of the same concepts when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came along and I, feeling sorry for my oft-neglected DS, decided to give it a whirl.

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If you're a Halo and a Guitar Hero fan, you might be interested to know that Neversoft, Bungie, Activision/RedOctane, and Microsoft have teamed up to bring the Halo theme (MJOLNIR Mix) to Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Xbox 360.

The song is free and launches on the Xbox Live Marketplace on Thanksgiving day, Thursday November 22.

Here's some info on the theme if you're a music buff:


"It’s a real pleasure to hear one of the best loved and most iconic themes from Bungie’s Halo Universe in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock," said Marty O’Donnell, Composer and Audio Director for Bungie Studios. "As longtime fans of the Guitar Hero franchise, it was great to collaborate with Neversoft and Activision/RedOctane to offer this exciting free download to our fans."

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NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. informed GameBump today that Soulcalibur Legends has shipped to retailers throughout North America for the Nintendo Wii.

Soulcalibur Legends boasts the following features:

• Wii Exclusive -  Designed specifically for the Nintendo Wii, use the Wii remote and Nunchuk to master a character’s suite of attacks in order to unify the pieces of Soul Edge
• Unique Ally System - Switch between the various characters encountered throughout the quest to gain more versatility in every situation
• Classic Soulcalibur Roster - Play and level up as one of several renowned Soulcalibur characters as you follow their path within history and level up through the ranking system
• New Enemies and Bosses -  Sword fighting capabilities are pushed to the limit as players encounter a lineup of new enemies and large scale bosses
• Weapon progression Weapons evolve with your experience, giving you added control and more powerful attacks

The game carries a $49.99 price tag.

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Activision has launched two new song packs for its popular Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Xbox 360. The packs are available online through the XBL service and cost 500 Microsoft points a pop. Here's a song list for each pack:

Velvet Revolver Pack

• "She Builds Quick Machines" Off of the "Libertad Allbum"
• "Slither" Off of the "Contraband Allbum"
• "Messages" Off of the "Libertad (deluxe version)", as performed by Velvet Revolver.

Content: Foo Fighters Pack

• "The Pretender" Off of the "Echoes Silence Patience & Grace"
• "All My life" Off of the "One by One"
• "This Is A Call" Off of the "Foo Fighters (self titled)" as performed by Foo Fighters.

[Edit] The PlayStation Store has also been updated with the same content, so I guess everybody's covered.

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Namco Bandai has announced that SoulCalibur Legends is golden for the Wii. The game departs from the traditional arcade style combat to an action adventure title that allows you to fight hordes of enemies with veteran fighters from the previous games. Soul Calibur Legends is slated to be released on November 20.

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Game Factory has announced that it is publishing Legend of the Dragon, based on the popular children's television show, on the Nintendo Wii. The game is currently being developed by Neko Entertainment and will mark the publisher's first step into the next-generation arena, capitalizing on the company's younger audience.

"We are thrilled to be publishing for the WiiTM," said Henrik Mathiasen, Game Factory’s President. "While the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 next-gen consoles have really captured the imagination of the more mature gamer, at Game Factory we’re really excited about the potential impact WiiTM will have on the children’s market, as this is obviously our forte."

The Legend of the Dragon story begins against the backdrop of China’s sacred temples and just as a new Golden Dragon is selected. The Golden Dragon is the honourable title given to the chosen warrior set to fight the evil Zodiac Master, Woo Yin.

Each of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs has its own temple protected by a guardian; all guardians have individual powers unique to their zodiac symbol to help them defend their temple. The Zodiac Master – Woo Yin - plans to capture these powers; with them he will be unstoppable in his fight for the dark side to reign over China.

Ang Leung has been chosen as the new Golden Dragon over his twin sister Ling, but the surprise and humiliation of this decision is too much for Ling and she quickly defects to the dark side. In her new position as the Shadow Dragon, she will fight against her brother and old friends in a bid for revenge.

Legend of the Dragon will feature 19 playable characters that are able to transform into "mystical" warriors, a real-time spell-casting system, cell-shaded visuals, and destructible environs.

The title is currently slated for a Q2 2007 release. Enjoy the new artwork.

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Originally written by Shiva Stella

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This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Role-playing games have been a big part of Sony’s console success both in the United States and abroad for the PlayStation 2. They are hoping to continue that trend on the PlayStation 3 with one of the system’s first RPG’s, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. Sony Online is very familiar with the hack and slash genre with hits like Everquest and Champions of Norrath. Does Sony have a hit in the making or is Untold Legends another run of the mill role-playing title?

 

Overall the story and game experience are solid. You go on a near 20 hour exploration in the land of Dureth. In the beginning you are given the chance to choose one of three fighters - the warrior, scout, or mage - and then you can choose to play in one of four levels of difficulty. Both the inclusion of three different characters and four difficulty levels does provide a nice variation in play and gives players the opportunity to go back, especially considering each fighter has a slightly different story to tell.

From there, you are chosen by the king to go out and extinguish the barbarian unrest by facing wave after wave of enemies. Soon enough though, you realize that the king himself is killing his own people and now it’s up to you to stop him.

Like most other RPG’s, the game allows you to level up by gaining experience and various orbs in a variety of colors. Red orbs are for health, blue for mana, and yellow for essence. As far as experience goes, killing enemies will boost your statistics which in turn can be used to level up one of nine spells included in the game. Meanwhile, essence is used at checkpoints to upgrade a wide variety of items for you including new armor, upgraded weapons, and more.

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This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.The original author is Evan Lahti.

Look below for 14 new images from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii. Arguably the "must-have" title for the console at launch, Link's latest adventure is said to capture a darker tone, much like Majora's Mask did on the Nintendo 64.

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