Not sure why this is showing up now, but thanks to the people over at neogaf for putting this together.

Summary Complete:

Smash Bros.:

-Pikmin are multiple throw items.
-Matt has been trying to force himself into using the wii-mote only option. Fran a more core smash player, found he could do everything he needed to do with the option, though he still prefers to use the GC.
-Better than Galaxy/Metroid?? Matt: No, not for him. It is a really damn fine great fighter, but it does have some issues that need to be acknowledged.
-They haven’t decided who will review it, perhaps multiple people since its so huge

SSE:

-Matt on SSE: Its not entirely polished, its a good single player mode but it does have its flaws
–Some loading screens have ten second loads.
-Bozon “There may be a different ending i still gotta get”
-Bozon “It did start to get more fun, at about the 50% mark when you’re no longer playing to unlock characters and the evil presence really makes its mark and you want to start it”
-When it comes to review, even though we don’t love the single player much, we realize its a multiplayer oriented game so it won’t be doc’d a lot of points for what is essentially a side mode, they then go on to list the vast amounts of other side modes

MoH:Heroes Australia:

-No explanation provided for why there was no online
–PR said it was a misprint on the box.

BoomBlox:

-We like it, fun Jenga-style game for the Wii, feels like it was designed for the Wii.
-Bozon originally thought it would be a mid 7.0’s game before going over to EA thinking it would be kinda meh, apparently after the EA visit he’s enthused about the game.
-Matt’s biggest let down was that in the level editor when you start to make huge levels, there could be some slow down, they hope its fixed prior to release.
-“Its one of those games that’ll get a score, but really its a fun game to play with the family”

Okami:

-No advertising blowout, no TV commercials
-No New Content, but the controls are feeling better and it looks better.

Julian (Factor 5 President) Interview:

(Paraphrased responses but very accurate)

Q — Will this game push the Wii Hardware?
A — We want to push the hardware, for us its easy to push the hardware. A lot of it is exploiting the uniqueness of the Wii. On the graphical side of course we are going to try to out due everything else on the platform, like we did with the GC star wars games, but of course the emphasis is on the controls. He personally really loves the pointing device. Pointing stuff is probably the biggest innovation they are working on right now.

-Matt and Bozon talk a little about how some games over-use the waggle just to waggle(No specifics) then talk about PES and their innovative use of the IR.

Q — Are you going to use the nun-chuck controller?
A — I can’t comment yet, you try to design every game for the Wii to avoid the nun-chuck, but for some games the nun-chuck is a very viable option. When trying to go casual, the first barrier to over come is the ability to not have to use the nun-chuck.

-Matt and Bozon talk a little about how they like how games are designed for the Wii-Mote, but plugging in the nun-chuck can give you a little added effect (Boom Blox)

Q — How far along in development are they?
A — We are pretty much at a state where we are almost done with the engine. We’ve also worked on content quite a bit. Biggest milestone is the engine, does everything (pretty much) the PS3 does and then some. So we’re happy with that.

-Matt and Bozon talk about the PS3 comments. They think what he means about the PS3 comments he was referring to the controls of Lair. Glad the engine is done.

Q — Did they give up on the idea of a flying game? (After the canceled Pilot Wings project back in the day)
A — Would never give up on the idea of a flying game, well maybe not an entirely flying game. ….(history of Factor 5 relation with nintendo late GC Era)… There were never any hard feelings about Factor 5 going to work on other consoles, since Nintendo was quiet about Wii, Factor 5 had to dive into the other consoles to keep the studio running so they didn’t have to fire people.

Q — Something to generate hype, a hint?
A — At least what we’re working on will blow them away with the technical achievement. We hope that we can blow them away by the innovation in controls, accessibility, new experiences. As for what property, is it a Nintendo property, Third party property, internal property he won’t comment.

Q — Casual or Hardcore?
A — As Casual as possible. Not the attempt to suddenly capture the attention and heart of the hardcore market. Unsure how many games they will make for Wii. There are publishers talking about doing things for the hardcore market on the platform, our engine would be perfect for that, but he says they will wait to see how some of those hardcore games sell.

Bozon – Interesting to hear Factor 5 say they will use the motion and IR for their game, while Smash and Mario really did have traditional controls when you think about it.

***Matt – Apply the rumors being thrown around about Factor 5, then apply them to what Factor 5 just said, and think about how those can meld, should prove for some interesting ideas. “Of course we can’t comment, <Giggles>”.

Coming Soon this week/ Valentine’s day:

– Cool story coming next week about publishers/developers having trouble selling an adult style game on Wii. Piece should be enlightening and interesting to a lot of people. Can’t comment on what game its about, but the developer will come on a podcast about the game and they will show the game. Since they are having a difficult time getting a publisher. Bozon likes this kind of feature a lot more than his issuing out PR. Should be a look at the world beyond PR, reviews, media and Press releases.

-On Valentine’s day they will be unveiling some games that are darker in nature. (Yes, plural)

Questions:

-Insiders only as of now. May put a template for people to submit.

Q — Any unbalanced feeling characters?
Matt — Olimar&Pikmin are difficult to use
Bozon — Olimar and Dedede. Though Dedede can lay the smack down to some characters
Both — Meta-Knight and Pit have some serious cheese 1 on 1

Q — More time with Brawl still like it?
Both — Liking it a lot more.

Q — Price on Boom Blox?
A — $49. They both would like it 30-40

Q — Civ. Revolution gone forever?
A — Sorta on hold forever. Hope it goes DS.

-Chatter about their review standards.

Q — Star Fox for Wii, When?
Matt — Hopefully never. It was great back in the day, it was one of the first 3d games so that was the wow.
Both –Now every game is 3d. Make it Sonic and the Secret Rings Roller coaster ride 3d, and no one has been able to do it yet. Keep them in vehicles no Jet Force Gemini Light having them run around. No DS game either where its half strategy and really don’t know what to do with it.
Bozon — Hope Nintendo makes it a $10 Wii-ware game, old school arcade style, but they don’t think it will happen.

Q — Why were you both confident there would be Square and Capcom characters in Brawl, why do Sega and Konami each have one?
Matt — Thought it was natural, figured these companies have been partnering for years now. Hopefully theres some WiiConnect24 thing, but doubts it
Bozon — Thought since they had all these musicians from all these companies working together in this big collaborated effort, with Sonic and Snake already in, thought it would have been just natural. Instead its still a Nintendo show with two friends. Ended up more closed off than they thought it would be.

Q — GDC big Nintendo announcement?
A — I wouldn’t say big, but medium size news. Would be surprised if this wasn’t used to show off something with Wii-Ware or WiiDS channel. Nintendo doesn’t have a big key note.
Third Party perhaps.

Q — NA WiiFit and Mario Kart dates soon?
A — Hopefully pretty soon, think around GDC should be expected.

Q — Now that Nintendo is publishing Fatal Frame, can we expect others to want to publish dark games?
A — Theres a bunch of dark games… Bad news is one of the dark games got canned because Nintendo wanted to mini-ize it. Matt “There you go everyone Nintendo wants to make mini games everyone, sometimes”. Same thing also happened to Project Hammer. One of the dark games they mentioned is the one they will show next week.

Q — What level of difficulty did they start out on SSE?
A — Started out at Green, then moved up. About 50% of the play been on the Yellow one, but he has done the hard one a little.

Q — Load times in Brawl?
A — Multiplayer, pretty quick, 2 seconds if that. SSE sometimes 10 seconds. Game has a 2 second load screen on start up that just says Loading.

Q — Third party alternatives to voice chat?
A — Ya, think you will see it. Depends on when Nintendo puts out its voice chat solution, which is definitely coming. Reference people back to the feature they talked about the voice chat, very not traditional. When that happens third parties will tap into that for the traditional headset. Once Nintendo announces what they are doing, it’ll take not even a week for people to tap into that.



Q — WiiDS download channel?
A — No idea

Q — Final Smashes, how do you feel?
A — Likes Samus, Mario, Links. Not like the blue shell at all, its really fun when they appear. Mention the cloned FS, Star Foxes and Links.

Q — What do you feel is absolutely essential in a Wii version of Animal Crossing?
A — Online component. Want Voice chat and open it up a little better. Fishing needs to be amazing.