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The Conduit Wii case mod much cooler than actual game
If you own more than one console, there's a sizable chance that you found The Conduit underwhelming. A commendable effort, sure, but not the world-rending behemoth we were all hoping for. That said, if you own multiple consoles, you probably also have enough money to afford a sweet custom rig. Thus we present a custom Wii dedicated to High Voltage's good ol' college try.
While it might appear to be little more than a Wii with a face painted one side and a logo plastered on the other, the real magic happens when you turn it on, causing it to light up so very prettily. See it all in the detailed (and vaguely sensual) video after the break.
[Thanks, John]
While it might appear to be little more than a Wii with a face painted one side and a logo plastered on the other, the real magic happens when you turn it on, causing it to light up so very prettily. See it all in the detailed (and vaguely sensual) video after the break.
[Thanks, John]
Astro Boy voice acting gets real with Kristen Bell
Licensed game from High Voltage inspired by Bionic Commando

"Yes, we were playing Bionic Commando Rearmed when we were initially pitching the concept for the game to D3Publisher," producer Josh VanVeld told Siliconera. The Claw allows Zak Saturday to grapple (amongst other things), so that kind of mechanic seemed like a perfect fit and gave us the opportunity to try out a new 2D/3D hybrid camera system in our engine."
While Zak's grappling-based gameplay seems to be most prevalent, VanVeld said that there are "literally dozens of other characters, all of which have unique play styles." The mere mention of grappling was enough to get us to try a game based on a cartoon we've never watched.
[Thanks, Ed!]
Sega clarifies first-week sales numbers for The Conduit

Sega's 150k figure, the publisher told us, was based on copies of the game shipped to retailers during that first week. Although a rep explained that this figure was "global," the only part of the globe the game was available in before July 10 (the UK launch) was North America. Those 72,000 units reported by NPD, then? Those were how many of the 150,000 copies shipped were sold-through to consumers (a.k.a. actually sold), according to Sega.
While this certainly makes the game's first week less impressive, we'll need to see how The Conduit did for all of July before delivering a fair verdict. We'll have those numbers as soon as the next NPD report hits.
Hacker claims The Conduit 'virtually unprotected,' easy to foil

"Everything is virtually unprotected," hetoan2 discovered when he dumped the game's data and opened it up in a remote debugging program. "All values can be edited fairly easily, and there's virtually no sign of an attempt at hiding values, fixing bugs, or preventing online hackers." hetoan2 said that hacking the online version is as easy as hacking the offline version, because the code is completely identical. "The only difference is in the online mode the game sends the variables in real-time to their server."
hetoan2 released some patch codes for The Conduit, but initially altered them to corrupt the save files of anyone using them. Now, he told The Wiire, he's working with High Voltage to identify cheaters, whose MAC addresses are currently being sent to Nintendo for banning.
Gallery: The Conduit
Review: The Conduit

Gallery: The Conduit
Metareview: The Conduit (Wii)
- GamePro (70): "The Conduit is the closest you will get to recapturing the magic of Goldeneye ... To be blunt, The Conduit is a by the numbers shooter that offers a couple of thrills but ultimately doesn't make much of an impact ... anyone who loved Goldeneye will want to give a look as well if only to get a nice dose of nostalgia, but the rest of you shouldn't feel a need to abandon your favorite next-gen shooter for this one."
- GamesRadar (80): "The Conduit is fun, controls well, and is, at times, quite beautiful ... Both humans and alien drones are animated with competent physics and personality that puts High Voltage Software's Quantum3 engine outside the realm of the "GameCube 1.5" criticisms ... The truth is you probably wouldn't bat an eye at The Conduit had it appeared on PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 ... The solid, yet unremarkable single-player won't win any awards, but The Conduit still features the most finely honed online outings available on Wii."
- IGN (86): "The Conduit is not a revolutionary first-person shooter, but it's a damned good one ... the title features the tightest, most comfortable control scheme of any console-based first-person shooter to date ... The Conduit features a robust list of modes and maps to play online and nearly 20 weapons to use as you rip through arenas blasting foes ... it's not revolutionary, but The Conduit is a great first-person shooter designed just for Wii owners."
Gallery: The Conduit
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: E3 interviews
The Conduit delayed in Europe, Australia [update]

Sega has announced that the European release of The Conduit has been delayed from its original June 26 date to July 10. According to CVG, unspecified issues with the game's multi-language European localization are responsible for the holdup.
VOOKS has also confirmed a delay for the Australian release of High Voltage's FPS. Once given a June 25 release date, the game has been pushed back to July 16. Neither Sega nor VOOKS offered any reason for this version's delay, and the Australian release shouldn't be affected by the same localization problems. At this point, your best shot at playing The Conduit next week remains the "living in North America" strategy, or the slightly less drastic "importing from North America" strategy.
Gallery: The Conduit
Impressions: Gladiator A.D. (Wii)

Impressions: Astro Boy (Wii)

Impressions: The Grinder (Wii)

See Gladiator A.D. in bloody action
We know that it's not fair to pass judgment on a game when its at an early stage of development, but we're having a problem with this first trailer for High Voltage's new Gladiator A.D. Namely: It doesn't look very good. It's not that it doesn't look fun, there's no way of knowing that, but it just looks really ... homely.
We're going to cross out fingers and hope that this is just a super-early clip and the finished product is going to knock our sandals off in Q1 of 2010. Agreed?
We're going to cross out fingers and hope that this is just a super-early clip and the finished product is going to knock our sandals off in Q1 of 2010. Agreed?
High Voltage follows The Conduit with Gladiator A.D.

The 300-inspired fighter allows players to choose from a selection of gladiators from different backgrounds, each with his or her own story and rival characters. The fighting takes place from an over-the-shoulder perspective, with each Wii controller representing one of the fighter's hands. Optional MotionPlus compatibility allows players to control the angle at which their swords cut into their opponents.
Gladiator A.D. is currently slated for a Q1 2010 release. High Voltage told IGN that it would also announce another title before E3.
[Thanks, KEENMACHINE]
Astro Boy movie adaptation coming to Wii, DS, PSP, PS2
It appears that High Voltage Software's unannounced non-FPS title has been revealed, and ... it's only wearing underpants. According to a recent press release, the Conduit developer, along with D3Publisher, will be bringing Imagi Studios' upcoming CGI-infused Astro Boy film to the Wii, PSP and PS2 -- but in the form of a video game. How very clever! We'll see how well this bold experiment pans out when the game drops this Fall, probably around the film's October 23 release date.
The title will also be developed for the DS by Art Co. Ltd., who also adapted Coraline for D3Publisher. That doesn't exactly fill us with confidence, but hey -- it's pretty tough to screw up "Finger Lasers, Arm Cannons, and Butt Machine Guns."
The title will also be developed for the DS by Art Co. Ltd., who also adapted Coraline for D3Publisher. That doesn't exactly fill us with confidence, but hey -- it's pretty tough to screw up "Finger Lasers, Arm Cannons, and Butt Machine Guns."

















