The Grinder - debut trailer

Really amazing stuff! I'm not really as surprised as I am happy that someone finally took the time to actually do the necessary research and testing to see what the Wii can do. It seems what ATI and Factor 5 (rest in peace) were saying all this time was really true after all. ATI said at E3 2006 that the graphics seen in Super Mario Galaxy were only "the tip of the iceberg" on what the Hollywood graphics chip can do, High Voltage recently mentioned something similar about The Conduit saying that what was shown of the Quantum 3 engine was "just the tip of the iceberg" also. Funny how both said the same thing years apart isn't it?

Since graphics were never the selling point of the Wii in the first place, we can understand why they were never stressed in the beginning. Now that the Wii has been out for 2 and a half years, it's time that developers start "Grinding" into what makes the Wii tick. High Voltage has really taken the first big step that no other developer had been able to do up until now. The Wii has at least 3 times the performance of the Gamecube and The Grinder is the first game to truly show that in full. Some games have had certain effects in place but never going all at once like shown here. I'm most impressed by the amount of detailed enemies on screen at one time, a truly amazing feat with a system that has less than 90 megs of ram dedicated to graphics. I won't get into the specifics but if you've been following my site for the past 3 and a half years you'd know that the Wii uses 1T-SRAM which is all about performance and not raw power, so the number given can be misleading.

The Wii is an amazingly designed piece of hardware that people have really taken for granted. Doing more with less is always more impressive than doing what is expected (360, PS3). Hopefully these games that High Voltage are doing will force the hands of other developers to make their games look just as good. Some companies are really trying but aren't quite at that same level yet. If a small (but growing) developer like High Voltage can crank out graphics and effects like that on the Wii, there is no excuse for others to not be doing the same thing. High Voltage isn't using any magic tricks to get the results they're getting out of the Wii, all they're doing is giving an effort, which is what every game developer should be doing in the first place right?

Gladiator A.D. - trailer

High Voltage needs to learn to turn the sharpness down on either the monitors or the TV's that they are using to capture footage of this game. The sharpness is so high (some of The Conduit trailers have the same problem)that it meshes together a lot of the detailed textures giving the game too much of a sparkle look. No doubt if they learn to adjust the levels appropriately the game will look totally awesome. This looks like a 360 game in just about every way besides the resolution. If you notice the crowd in the background, they are not just little sprites but fully polygonal characters. Impressive.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - trailer

This game looks cool and pretty spooky. The faces on the characters look nice and the lighting is really good as well. Using the Wii remote as a real flashlight (finally) in a game is going to be really fun.

Arc Rise Fantasia - Japanese walkthrough

The Grinder - amazing screens!!!

I'll go as far as to say that this game looks better than some 360/PS3 games in my opinion. High Voltage is using their "Imposter and Instancing technology" to full effect here by being able to render many fully detailed enemies (65 to start and probably a lot more when the game is finished). Each enemy according to High Voltage has more detail on them than just about any Wii game seen yet and this is only the beginning of what the Quantum 3 engine can do apparently.

The game is set in a world where monsters are real and you'll be killing Vampires, Werewolf's and the Undead. You'll have four different characters to choose from to get you through the story mode. The most interesting aspect of this game maybe the inclusion of a 4 player co-op online mode which will allow for you and your friends to take on the story mode from start to finish with no lag at all (allegedly).

The Grinder is not supposed to be finished and ready to ship until the Holiday season of 2010, so if you have any complaints of how the game looks thus far, you can be sure that High Voltage has plenty of time to perfect this game in the year and a half of development time it still has to go. That right there might be the only thing wrong with this game, why did they have to tease us so early on! LOL.

Well, I guess when you're proud of your work it's hard to not show it to people.....

Excited? amazed? don't care? Tell me what you think in the comment section.

Gladiator A.D. - new screens & info

Take a look at Gladiator A.D. the newest entry from High Voltage Software. Using the same engine that powers The Conduit, they have made some big modifications which allow for even more detail; to go along with a new technique called "Imposter/Instancing technology" that enables the Wii to draw hundreds to even thousands of characters on screen simultaneously. This is some amazing stuff and I can't wait to see more, especially the multitudes of objects on screen. I'm sure we'll have a trailer very soon, so stay tuned.

Resident Evil: The Dark Side Chronicles - new screens

Most of this game will take place in Resident Evil 2, but with some new plot twists that remain to be seen. Hardcore fans I guess will be pleased for the story elements and maybe the simple point and shoot gameplay. Here's hoping Capcom still gives us what we all want soon.....

Resident Evil 5 Wii - Capcom undecided but hints at it

“(Referring to Resident Evil 5 on Wii) We haven’t decided [sic] to offer it or not.” - Capcom statement

“Up until now, after releasing our PS3 and Xbox 360 games, we have brought them to the Wii. Basically, this is the approach we are considering taking.”

Link and Link

It sounds to me that Capcom is just waiting for Resident Evil 5 to reach a little more saturation on 360 and PS3 before announcing the Wii version. Now just get rid of the forced Co-op and make it a more balanced game and we'll be in businessCapcom.

Need for Speed: Nitro - trailer

The preview at IGN didn't say if this trailer was using real-time graphics from the in-game engine, but it did strongly hint at by pointing out details you will see in the trailer that are in the game as well. The game looks like it will have a really great presentation, all while running at 60 frames per second. Apparently "Nitro" will also control with every combination of Wii controllers imaginable, while controlling with just the Wii remote horizontal may be the best way to go if you take IGN's word for it.

The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Terminator

Do you guys like to check out "The Angry Video Game Nerd" every now and then? I have a link to his site in my recommended site list if you are unfamiliar with him. I find him funny and entertaining. Since Terminator Salvation is coming out very soon ( and I'm a big fan of Terminator) I thought it would be cool to post this since obviously the Nerd is a fan too. Enjoy.

Punch Out!! - review

I can't wait to play this one! You guys excited as well?

Monster Hunter 3 - hot new screens

Nice to see a new area in the game. So I'm guessing we'll get to see some snow levels as well? I'm not complaining.

The Conduit - new screens

Now don't get me wrong I think The Conduit looks impressive graphically, I just don't think it looks as good as other Wii games (so far). Monster Hunter 3 and even Metroid Prime 3 look better in my opinion. High Voltage Software is doing a great job with this game and they have even said that the graphics seen in The Conduit thus far are only "the tip of the iceberg" on what the Wii can do with the Quantom 3 engine and that at E3 they will be showing something really impressive. We'll have to wait and see, but I want to make it clear that The Conduit is still the #1 game on my list for this year so far.

Monster Hunter 3 - new trailer

Amazing. This game is beautiful no doubt about it. Now how about a firm release date for the US Capcom?

Contra Rebirth - new screens

This game looks like the real deal to me, I can't wait to blast those aliens back to where ever they came from.....hahahaha

Spectrobes: Origins - developer video

I never played the DS games, but this Wii version looks kinda similar to Phantasy Star Online with art style and fighting. Anyone enjoy the DS games?

Contra Rebirth - new video

This game looks awesome! The action is relentless, just how I like it in a Contra game. If any of you have been following this site for the last 3 plus years, you know how much of a Contra fan I am. I can't wait to download this one. Are you guys excited for some new Contra action?

Need for Speed: Nitro - gameplay video

I've lost interest in the Need for Speed franchise since all the games end up being the same. The Wii version of this game at least looks nice graphically, the rest of the game will be a wait and see for me.

The Conduit - multiplayer screens

The multiplayer looks very close to the single player mode in terms of graphics and such. Some things change in FPS games and some things don't change; like how guys look when they are jumping up and down (as seen above). You can tell that this will be similar to other games (like Halo) in the way things will look, I guess there are rules to follow....

The Conduit - new video

This reminds me of Half-Life 2, in the beginning of that game you were on a train and then in the city. That's really not a bad thing since the Half-Life series is one of my all time favorites in the genre.

The Conduit - multiplayer videos

After hearing all the things about the Multiplayer in The Conduit, it looks like all the modes and easy of use will give the game very long legs. I can't wait to play it soon.

Red Steel 2 - debut trailer

This looks awesome, but the question is how much of that is actual gameplay or a true representation of how the game will look? If you look at some of the screens below this post you will notice that most of them take place in another area that is not in the trailer. My guess is that Red Steel 2 will closely match the graphics in the trailer; but E3 is only a short time away to know for sure.

Red Steel 2 - new screens

I think this is what we were looking for. This game looks totally different than the first Red Steel (that's a good thing), the art style is fresh and the graphics are awesome. Apparently the game is supposed to be running at 60 frames per second as well. You guys excited for this one?

Red Steel 2 - first image revealed

Click on the picture for a large look. The graphic style looks much better than I imagined; the Cell-shading actually helps instead of hurts. I'm looking forward to seeing how Wii Motion-Plus will work with this!!!