Visual Concepts, the developer for MLB 2k10, is well aware of the reception last year's 2k9 received from gamers and critics alike. With this years 2k10 being part of the series's 10th anniversary, the developer is looking to make amends. Today Visual Concepts held a conference call to talk about the new features gamers can expect from this years MLB, including the game's revamped gameplay mechanics and a commitment to make MLB 2k10 the definitive baseball game across all platforms.

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A typical console's life cycle usually winds down at the five year mark and rumors of the next console usually start to crop up at around the four year mark. Since the Wii was released in 2006 this would be the time that rumors surrounding the next system would really start to surface correct? Nintendo of America Executive Camie Dunaway says, "I don't think it'll be any time soon"

When interviewed by Gamespot after Nintendo's media summit Camie Dunaway went ahead and shut down the idea that news of a new console would be coming anytime soon saying that the Wii "...has a lot of room to grow." She went on to mention that just because there is no news now, doesn't mean that Nintendo isn't preparing for the future:

"That said, part of Nintendo's heritage is to always be looking at innovation, and to always start working on the next hardware every time we launch a platform, so we'll have it ready when the time is right."

Analyst Michael Pachter once said that there wouldn't be any new consoles released till 2013. This theory may be well suited for Microsoft and Sony, but considering the Wii is already underpowered and lacks HD capability lets hope that we won't have to wait much longer for a successor.

[via Gamespot]

Following today's news that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would be releasing in North America on May 23, a new trailer was sent out for the game, originally shown at the Nintendo Summit this morning. It's been a long time since we've seen anything from the game -- since E3 if I'm not mistaken. That said, it's good to see a full-length trailer, and a pretty awesome one at that.

Disney today announced a new mystery party game exclusively for the Wii. Developed by Wideload Games, Disney Guilty Party allows up to four players to solve crimes in a number of locations around the world, attempting to take down the criminal mastermind Mr. Valentine. By using the Wii Remote as a magnifying glass, flashlight, lock-pick, fingerprint kit, and other classic detective tools, players will "unlock the secrets of Mr. Valentine's grand scheme."

Guilty Party will offer both competitive and cooperative multiplayer when it releases in the second half of 2010.

"We're packing an amazing amount of play-time into a single game," said Wideload director Patrick Curry.  "Guilty Party is a bit like a board game, since families can play each mystery over and over again and never have the same experience twice."

This is the first franchise Wideload has developed for Disney Interactive. The game will be shown off at next month's Game Developer Conference.

The news keeps rolling in from the Nintendo Summit. This morning we learned that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be releasing May 23. Just over a month later, Metroid: Other M will be releasing on June 27. The game is scheduled to release in Japan this summer.

The Other M will take players "deeper into Samus' story," and it's said to be taking a back-to-basics approach, resembling the earlier installments in the franchise as opposed to the Prime games.

At the Nintendo summit this morning, Nintendo of America's Cammie Dunaway announced that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be releasing May 23 in North America. The company also showed a demo of the game which is playable at the summit.

Nintendo let slip earlier this morning that Metroid Other M is also being slated for a mid-year release rather than a holiday one.

More information to come as the Nintendo Summit continues this afternoon.

While the PS3 and Xbox 360 have seen significant price drops since their respective debuts, particularly the former by way of the PS3 Slim, the price points are still not where EA would like them to be. Even four to five years after their launches, the publisher would like to see lower prices on console hardware.

"I think pricing has not come down as much as we would have expected at this point in the cycle compared to the last," said EA's CFO, Eric Brown, at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. "We do have a long way to go with respect to pricing. Last cycle, approximately 48 percent of PS2 units were sold at a price point of $149 or less. Clearly at $299, we're nowhere near that price point."

When asked about the lifecycle of this generation's consoles, Brown explained how we likely won't see a quick transition to a new generation like we did when the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii released.

"It's a possibility that we don't see a sharp and distinct console transition like we've seen in the past. Today, we have two of the three consoles operating at full, high-definition and are running games at 60 frames a second," he continued. "If you have a multi-billion capital investment to develop the next generation hardware, the question I would ask is, 'If you were to produce that, what would you display it on?' There's really nothing in terms of broadly available consumer viewing technology other than 1080p televisions. You could upgrade in theory, but you wouldn't get the obvious graphic benefit that we saw that drove the transitions in the prior cycle."

[via IGN]

Nintendo is going on a string of media conferences world wide so all sorts of golden information nuggets are dropping at our feet. The latest bit of news from Nintendo's conference in Australia has some surprising regardin two of Nintendo's biggest releases this year.

While more information is due to come later today, during Nintendo's U.S. media conference, the big N let slip that Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Other M are being slated for a mid year release as opposed to the expected holiday drop.

With Red Steel 2 arriving in less than a month and these two games coming only a few months later things are looking pretty good for the Wii owner this year.

[via Kotaku AU]

The Wii has been known to cater to the less-than-hardcore gamer, but Ubisoft says it can bring core gamers to the system with Red Steel 2. Bold words indeed. Creative director Jason Vandenberghe made the statement while speaking with CVG.

"I think we've got a great chance of bringing people back to Wii," he said. "If you haven't played on your Wii for a while we've got the game for you.

Vandenberge criticized developers who categorized gamers into two groups: hardcore and family friendly. According to him, gamers are gamers, each with varying tastes and preferences.

"Personally, I call this the great hardcore Wii Jihad," he continued. "I don't really care about the religious war! Some developers who are making hardcore games for the Wii made a big deal about the separation of church and state, saying (puts on deep voice) 'there's hardcore and there's family friendly.'

"F*** those guys! I don't feel that way. I think there are gamers and there are gamers of different opinions and different tastes so the goal was to create games that gamers want and to see how many people like it."

I'm not sure if I can agree with Vandenberge on this one. It's hard to know how much success Red Steel 2 will see. The Wii's userbase consists primarily of what some call "casual" gamers, and this title is not going to be on their radar. Then again, I guess it depends on what  your definition of "success" is, but the industry standard would be the break-even point. 300,000 copies? Hardly. There have been multiple "hardcore" games on the Wii, such as The Conduit and Mad World, yet they have have been poorly received. Third-party games simply don't do well on the Wii for the most part. That's why developers are shying away from the Wii.