It's Metroid month. Nintendo's amazing first-person adventure sequel debuts on Wii August 27 and the company last week released the classic that started it all on the Virtual Console. Now, it's following up with what many to be the greatest Metroid game ever made: Super Metroid. It's available now for download on the VC, so what're you waiting for?
In addition to Samus Aran's S-NES adventure, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master and Neutopia are also available for download. We've got descriptions of all the games below, verbatim, courtesy Nintendo's release:
Super Metroid (Super NES, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Mild Violence, 800 Wii Points): The Space Pirates, merciless agents of the evil Mother Brain, have stolen the last Metroid from a research station, and once again Mother Brain threatens the safety of the galaxy. Samus Aran must don her awesome array of high-tech weaponry to retrieve the deadly Metroid hidden deep within the cave-riddled planet Zebes. Super Metroid features excellent graphics, with a huge variety of enemies and worlds to explore. The side-view action will be familiar to many players, only now there are new weapons and items, including the Grappling Beam, which allows Samus to swing across large chasms, and the X-Ray Scope, which reveals secret passages.
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Sega Genesis, 1 player, rated E10 for Everyone 10 and Older - Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): In this thrilling sequel to The Revenge of Shinobi, Joe Musashi finds that Neo Zeed - the crime syndicate he believed he had wiped out two years earlier - is indeed still alive and well. The return of Neo Zeed and its leader, the mysterious Shadow Master, forces Musashi to return from exile and confront the growing evil. As the Shinobi, the master of long-forgotten Oboro Ninjitsu martial arts, Musashi must utilize all his powers to overcome his various enemies. Thanks to his considerable combat skills and special Ninjitsu moves, only the Shinobi can thwart Neo Zeed and vanquish the Shadow Master.
Neutopia (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 600 Wii Points): In this action role-playing game, you take control of a brave boy who sets off on a journey to rescue the kidnapped princess and reclaim the eight medallions that were stolen by the evil demon, Dirth. You'll need to rely on your magic compass and information you've gathered to find entrances to labyrinths and defeat the bosses in them. Solve puzzles, avoid traps, move blocks and destroy walls to uncover secret rooms in the labyrinths. Carefully use your map to uncover hidden treasure and powerful equipment. Travel the land, underground, sea and sky on your quest to recover the medallions. With a save function, the right difficulty level and a system that doesn't include experience points, this is truly an RPG that anyone can enjoy.
Earlier today, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that the Folding@Home application for the PS3 would be updated to version 1.2. The popular distributed computer application receives a number of additional features with this firmware update, including the following functions:
# Now Folding@home can be remotely operated through PSP utilizing the Remote Play feature of the PS3 system. With this feature, PS3 users are able to view on their PSP the exact same Folding@home information that is viewable on their PS3, complete with the map of the world and the protein that their particular system is simulating.
# Additional computation cores are now supported allowing Folding@home for PS3 to support a wider range of protein-folding simulations which further enhances the science needed to be performed to research diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
# A screensaver mode can now be activated via the Settings menu in the Folding@home application, allowing PS3 users to consume slightly less power and to increase performance of protein-folding simulations.
# A link has been added to the Information menu in the Folding@home application allowing users to quickly obtain additional information about the specific research project they are currently contributing to.
# All visualization modes have been enhanced with improved shading, highlighting and focus effects, including: "Tapioca" displays the protein as a smooth surface with improved shading and depth; "Caviar" displays the protein as a smooth surface with defined edges; "Licorice" displays only the protein's bonds and "Backbone" which emphasizes specific sections of the protein that are of the most scientific interest to researchers.
# Advanced participation mode allows Stanford University to send simulations of varying computational lengths to PS3 users. Because the simulations in this mode can take significantly longer, Advanced Mode is only recommended for contributors who run Folding@home for at least eight hours per day.
In the five months that the Folding@Home application has been available for the PS3, more than 536,000 users have downloaded the program, contributing up to 600 teraflops of processing power for the project. The distributed computer project is aimed at studying the process behind protein folding and misfolding, and thanks to the added power of the numerous PS3s in the network, researchers are able to tabulate their results much faster.
"We take a lot of pride in the fact that more than half a million PS3 users worldwide have dedicated a portion of their machine's capabilities towards helping Stanford University and their Folding@home team research many of the diseases that inflict our society today," said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of SCEA. "It is one thing for us to provide the technology to make this possible; it is quite another to have gamers from all over the world proactively sign up for this program to make a difference in our global community. We couldn't be more pleased with the results we have seen to date in this collaborative effort."
PS3 users that currently have the application will be able to download the updated version by restarting the Folding@Home program, while new users will be able to join the program by clicking on the Folding@Home icon in the Network menu of the XMB.
Microsoft creates more excitement with the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite in India.
The premium black console provides enhanced features along with video game and digital entertainment system in a 120GB hard drive. Consumers can enjoy Elite, which offers space to store music and movie downloads.
Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite also sports a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port, a wireless controller and a high-definition cable for the console.
According to Mohit Anand, Country Manager, Entertainment and Devices division, Microsoft India, “India’s youth today has an insatiable appetite for style and entertainment in all spheres of life. There is a huge demand for gaming in the country and fans are constantly craving for products and features that enhance their experience. The Xbox 360 Elite’s good looks, larger storage space and premium features will allow our customers in India to enjoy all that the next generation of entertainment has to offer.”
Pachter believes that for the month of July, which will be official from NPD on Aug. 23, that the DS (450,000 units) and Wii (330,000) dominated sales in North America. Although, for the first time ever, the PS3 will show sales of 160,000 units, while the Xbox 360 will have 115,000. This would also mean that the PS3 will have doubled sales since announcing their 60GB clearance sale last month. He goes on to say that the Xbox warranty issue was a speed bump for Microsoft as “as consumers struggled with the meaning of the ‘three red rings of death’ issue.” He believes that the price cut and apparent fix of the design flaw will rebound Xbox 360 sales.
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