O:9:"magpierss":22:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:20:{i:0;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:60:"Wii Fanboy Weekly: December 13th, 2007 - December 19th, 2007";s:4:"link";s:100:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/wii-fanboy-weekly-december-13th-2007-december-19th-2007/";s:4:"guid";s:100:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/wii-fanboy-weekly-december-13th-2007-december-19th-2007/";s:8:"comments";s:109:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/wii-fanboy-weekly-december-13th-2007-december-19th-2007/#comments";s:11:"description";s:5502:"
Filed under: Features
Hey, how are you? Are you doing good? Can we get you anything, like a bottled water or some ginger snaps? Maybe a nice cup of hot cocoa? How about a consolidated list of our very best coverage over the last week? Will that do you right, instead? Great!
Features:
Best of 2007: First-party games Which of these is the best first-party game on the Wii?
Best of 2007: Worst attempt at a cash-in With the Wii's popularity coming out of left field, who scrambled to get in on that action?
VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 12/17/07 We demo the three latest games on the VC
Virtually Overlooked: Contra Hard Corps This is totally Virtual Console material
Revolutionary: 10 Things I Hate About the Wii Our columinist Mike Sylvester plays the role of Wii hater
Video:
Playing the world's smallest violin in Nodame Cantabile How do you even pronounce that?
GT previews No More Heroes, we need time to recover February = No More Heroes, not that other game
Codemasters reveals new game Reminds us of Crazy Taxi
Comparing Cruis'n on N64 and Wii (you know, because it's funny) Are these graphics real? This has to be a dream
News:
Zack & Wiki heads to Australia, we ask everyone to buy it Seriously, one of the best games of the year
Wii surpasses Xbox 360 in UK Nintendo wins another territory
Are video games more effective than pain medication? Canadian researcher thinks so
Nintendo has no plans for Kirby game on Wii Sad, but true
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:12:"weekly-recap";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"David Hinkle";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:49:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:5502:"
Filed under: Features
Hey, how are you? Are you doing good? Can we get you anything, like a bottled water or some ginger snaps? Maybe a nice cup of hot cocoa? How about a consolidated list of our very best coverage over the last week? Will that do you right, instead? Great!
Features:
Best of 2007: First-party games Which of these is the best first-party game on the Wii?
Best of 2007: Worst attempt at a cash-in With the Wii's popularity coming out of left field, who scrambled to get in on that action?
VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 12/17/07 We demo the three latest games on the VC
Virtually Overlooked: Contra Hard Corps This is totally Virtual Console material
Revolutionary: 10 Things I Hate About the Wii Our columinist Mike Sylvester plays the role of Wii hater
Video:
Playing the world's smallest violin in Nodame Cantabile How do you even pronounce that?
GT previews No More Heroes, we need time to recover February = No More Heroes, not that other game
Codemasters reveals new game Reminds us of Crazy Taxi
Comparing Cruis'n on N64 and Wii (you know, because it's funny) Are these graphics real? This has to be a dream
News:
Zack & Wiki heads to Australia, we ask everyone to buy it Seriously, one of the best games of the year
Wii surpasses Xbox 360 in UK Nintendo wins another territory
Are video games more effective than pain medication? Canadian researcher thinks so
Nintendo has no plans for Kirby game on Wii Sad, but true
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198122540;}i:1;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:42:"Man with awesome name rules out GTA on Wii";s:4:"link";s:87:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/man-with-awesome-name-rules-out-gta-on-wii/";s:4:"guid";s:87:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/man-with-awesome-name-rules-out-gta-on-wii/";s:8:"comments";s:96:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/man-with-awesome-name-rules-out-gta-on-wii/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3783:"
Filed under: News
As we've seen throughout the first year of its existence, the Wii isn't exactly lacking system-selling software. There is one big-selling franchise that looks highly unlikely to appear on Nintendo's all-conquering platform, however: Take-Two and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto.
Admittedly, we always suspected a Wii version of the epic crime series was highly unlikely, but now Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick has seen fit to bang the final nail into the coffin, and altogether rule out bringing GTA to the Wii. Speaking in a conference call earlier today, Zelnick concluded that "there are other titles better suited to the Wii than Grand Theft Auto." You know, like Carnival Games.
We're curious about Zelnick's statement, simply because we think GTA could work on the Wii. If the PlayStation 2 had the technical muscle to support numerous GTA games, then the Wii would surely cope just fine. It's not a question of audience taste, either -- let's not forget how Resident Evil 4 shifted a cool million copies earlier this year. Honestly, Strauss, if you didn't have such a rad name, we'd be pretty miffed.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:52:"carnival-gamesgrand-theft-autogtare4rockstartake-two";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:16:"Chris Greenhough";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3783:"
Filed under: News
As we've seen throughout the first year of its existence, the Wii isn't exactly lacking system-selling software. There is one big-selling franchise that looks highly unlikely to appear on Nintendo's all-conquering platform, however: Take-Two and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto.
Admittedly, we always suspected a Wii version of the epic crime series was highly unlikely, but now Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick has seen fit to bang the final nail into the coffin, and altogether rule out bringing GTA to the Wii. Speaking in a conference call earlier today, Zelnick concluded that "there are other titles better suited to the Wii than Grand Theft Auto." You know, like Carnival Games.
We're curious about Zelnick's statement, simply because we think GTA could work on the Wii. If the PlayStation 2 had the technical muscle to support numerous GTA games, then the Wii would surely cope just fine. It's not a question of audience taste, either -- let's not forget how Resident Evil 4 shifted a cool million copies earlier this year. Honestly, Strauss, if you didn't have such a rad name, we'd be pretty miffed.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198116000;}i:2;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:57:"Nintendo missing out on $1.3 billion because of shortages";s:4:"link";s:101:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/nintendo-missing-out-on-1-3-billion-because-of-shortages/";s:4:"guid";s:101:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/nintendo-missing-out-on-1-3-billion-because-of-shortages/";s:8:"comments";s:110:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/nintendo-missing-out-on-1-3-billion-because-of-shortages/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3446:"
Filed under: News
Did you know that every time someone can't find a Wii console to buy, God kills a kitten? Okay, maybe not, but the shortages are definitely costing Nintendo a lot of money. The total adds up to an estimated $1.3 billion, which we're sure Nintendo would like to have in its pocket.
Analyst James Lin of the MDB Capital Group believes that Nintendo could sell twice as many Wiis as it's making each month. Since 1.8 million consoles are produced on a monthly basis, that means Nintendo might be missing out on a heck of a lot of sales. Just because it's not making as much money as it could be, though, doesn't mean that the company is hurting for it. In fact, we think Nintendo will be just fine.
";s:8:"category";s:27:"analystmoneyproductionsales";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:14:"Candace Savino";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3446:"
Filed under: News
Did you know that every time someone can't find a Wii console to buy, God kills a kitten? Okay, maybe not, but the shortages are definitely costing Nintendo a lot of money. The total adds up to an estimated $1.3 billion, which we're sure Nintendo would like to have in its pocket.
Analyst James Lin of the MDB Capital Group believes that Nintendo could sell twice as many Wiis as it's making each month. Since 1.8 million consoles are produced on a monthly basis, that means Nintendo might be missing out on a heck of a lot of sales. Just because it's not making as much money as it could be, though, doesn't mean that the company is hurting for it. In fact, we think Nintendo will be just fine.
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198112400;}i:3;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:37:"Rumor: New consoles on the way to VC?";s:4:"link";s:80:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/rumor-new-consoles-on-the-way-to-vc/";s:4:"guid";s:80:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/rumor-new-consoles-on-the-way-to-vc/";s:8:"comments";s:89:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/rumor-new-consoles-on-the-way-to-vc/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3306:"
Filed under: Rumors, Virtual Console
Is the Virtual Console family about to gain another two members? If the above graphic from the Japanese Virtual Console website is anything to go by, we'd have to say: HELL YES. And then possibly head outside to whoop loudly with excitement. After all, surely Nintendo wouldn't have added those tantalizing, enigmatic gray boxes to its site for no good reason? They must be there to accomodate some future goodness.
Digging further around the aforementioned site basically confirms that the MSXwill fill one of those slots, but the other? Given the space that would be required for games from disk-based systems and the Wii's 512mb of internal memory, our money is on the Master System.
";s:8:"category";s:22:"japanvcvirtual-console";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:16:"Chris Greenhough";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3306:"
Filed under: Rumors, Virtual Console
Is the Virtual Console family about to gain another two members? If the above graphic from the Japanese Virtual Console website is anything to go by, we'd have to say: HELL YES. And then possibly head outside to whoop loudly with excitement. After all, surely Nintendo wouldn't have added those tantalizing, enigmatic gray boxes to its site for no good reason? They must be there to accomodate some future goodness.
Digging further around the aforementioned site basically confirms that the MSXwill fill one of those slots, but the other? Given the space that would be required for games from disk-based systems and the Wii's 512mb of internal memory, our money is on the Master System.
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198108800;}i:4;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:40:"Best of 2007: Worst attempt at a cash-in";s:4:"link";s:84:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/best-of-2007-worst-attempt-at-a-cash-in/";s:4:"guid";s:84:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/best-of-2007-worst-attempt-at-a-cash-in/";s:8:"comments";s:93:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/best-of-2007-worst-attempt-at-a-cash-in/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3741:"
Filed under: Wii Fanboy poll
During 2007, lots of companies realized that the Wii was doing good. Perhaps, too good. So, they scrambled to make games that they could port or "enhance" for the Wii, or other games that were made to take advantage of the console's adopters who were new to gaming and thus susceptible to spending money on crap games the unique capabilities of the Wii's controls scheme, causing a slew of cash-ins on the console that didn't necessarily bring anything new to the Wii other than another game sitting on the shelf. So, let's look at those games and you tell us what the most shameless and useless game of the lot is.
During 2007, lots of companies realized that the Wii was doing good. Perhaps, too good. So, they scrambled to make games that they could port or "enhance" for the Wii, or other games that were made to take advantage of the console's adopters who were new to gaming and thus susceptible to spending money on crap games the unique capabilities of the Wii's controls scheme, causing a slew of cash-ins on the console that didn't necessarily bring anything new to the Wii other than another game sitting on the shelf. So, let's look at those games and you tell us what the most shameless and useless game of the lot is.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:157:"armageddonbest-of-2007capcomcarnivalgameseaeaplaygroundghostsquadlegolegostarwarsmarioandsonicmkmortalkombatmysimsnamcore4residentevil4segasoulcaliburlegends";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"David Hinkle";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3741:"
Filed under: Wii Fanboy poll
During 2007, lots of companies realized that the Wii was doing good. Perhaps, too good. So, they scrambled to make games that they could port or "enhance" for the Wii, or other games that were made to take advantage of the console's adopters who were new to gaming and thus susceptible to spending money on crap games the unique capabilities of the Wii's controls scheme, causing a slew of cash-ins on the console that didn't necessarily bring anything new to the Wii other than another game sitting on the shelf. So, let's look at those games and you tell us what the most shameless and useless game of the lot is.
During 2007, lots of companies realized that the Wii was doing good. Perhaps, too good. So, they scrambled to make games that they could port or "enhance" for the Wii, or other games that were made to take advantage of the console's adopters who were new to gaming and thus susceptible to spending money on crap games the unique capabilities of the Wii's controls scheme, causing a slew of cash-ins on the console that didn't necessarily bring anything new to the Wii other than another game sitting on the shelf. So, let's look at those games and you tell us what the most shameless and useless game of the lot is.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198105200;}i:5;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:24:"Dojo update: Team Healer";s:4:"link";s:68:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/dojo-update-team-healer/";s:4:"guid";s:68:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/dojo-update-team-healer/";s:8:"comments";s:77:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/dojo-update-team-healer/#comments";s:11:"description";s:5399:"
Filed under: News, Screens
Today's dojo update is all about helping out friends; or, to be more specific, teammates. While the "Team Healer" may not boast the most devastatingly imaginative name, its ability to patch up your buddies in the heat of Brawl's Team Battles will no doubt prove colossally useful. Especially if you're a bit rubbish. Which we're not.
Lobbing this at your teammate will trigger its healing qualities and replenish their health meter, but be careful -- should your Team Healer go astray and hit an opponent first, they'll benefit instead. Finally, because Brawl is a Nintendo game, and Nintendo loves giving everybody a chance (see: Mario Kart and its habit of handing out lightning bolts willy-nilly to the less gifted racers), those with a higher damage meter will recover more health.
Gallery: SSBB gallery three
Gallery: SSBB gallery two
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:35:"dojomultiplayersmash-bros-brawlssbb";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:16:"Chris Greenhough";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:5399:"
Filed under: News, Screens
Today's dojo update is all about helping out friends; or, to be more specific, teammates. While the "Team Healer" may not boast the most devastatingly imaginative name, its ability to patch up your buddies in the heat of Brawl's Team Battles will no doubt prove colossally useful. Especially if you're a bit rubbish. Which we're not.
Lobbing this at your teammate will trigger its healing qualities and replenish their health meter, but be careful -- should your Team Healer go astray and hit an opponent first, they'll benefit instead. Finally, because Brawl is a Nintendo game, and Nintendo loves giving everybody a chance (see: Mario Kart and its habit of handing out lightning bolts willy-nilly to the less gifted racers), those with a higher damage meter will recover more health.
Gallery: SSBB gallery three
Gallery: SSBB gallery two
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198101600;}i:6;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:64:"Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 12/10-12/16";s:4:"link";s:110:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/another-week-in-japan-hardware-and-software-numbers-from-12-10-12/";s:4:"guid";s:110:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/another-week-in-japan-hardware-and-software-numbers-from-12-10-12/";s:8:"comments";s:119:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/another-week-in-japan-hardware-and-software-numbers-from-12-10-12/#comments";s:11:"description";s:6829:"
Filed under: News
It's that time of the week again when we find out how the Wii and its games sold in Japan. While we really have no need to be worried about the hardware, certain unconfirmed numbers earlier this week did raise concerns about third-party software sales.
So, how did the fair Wii fare in the land of the rising sun this week? Regarding hardware sales, the Wii just barely eked out in front of the PSP to take second place with 168,000 units sold, jumping up over 50,000 units from last week. As for the software, there's some good and bad news. Check after the break to see the numbers.
Hardware:
DS: 249,000
Wii:168,000
PSP: 158,000
PS3: 53,000
PS2: 21,000
Xbox 360: 8,700
Software:
Mario Party DS (DS) ---160,000 (763,000)
Wii Fit (Wii) --- 120,000 (527,000)
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3) --- 108,000
Dragon Quest IV (DS) --- 78,000 (854,000)
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS) --- 73,000 (482,000)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) --- 71,000 (571,000)
Wii Sports (Wii) --- 68,000 (2.26 million)
Wii Play (Wii) --- 67,000 (1.81 million)
Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii) --- 58,000 (207,000)
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (Wii) --- 44,000
The software numbers show that first-party games had a lot of success this week. Wii Fit fell back into the second place spot, while Super Mario Galaxy jumped up to sixth place. Meanwhile, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Sega's Mario and Sonic all managed to find their way back into the top ten. Then, finally, at number ten, we have Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, which sold 44,000 copies in its first week. While not great by any means, it's not too bad of a start for Square Enix's title, especially if the game proves to have legs.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well for some of the other third-party releases this week. Here are the Wii games that bombed:
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams --- 17,000
We Love Golf! --- 8,600
Soul Calibur Legends --- 6,900
Shikigami no Shiro 3 --- 970
There's not much to say other then these numbers are not good. Perhaps it's an issue of there being too many games, thus leading to cannibalizing Wii software sales, or maybe there just wasn't enough advertising for these titles, but the bad numbers are ultimately what counts. One interesting thing to note is that Shikigami no Shiro 3 sold three times more copies (3,100) for the Xbox 360, which has a much smaller userbase in Japan. Of course, that could just have to do with 360 owners having a lot less games to choose from.
";s:8:"category";s:256:"another-week-in-japanchartschocobos-mysterious-dungeonfamitsuhardwarejapanjourney-of-dreamsmario-and-sonicmario-and-sonic-at-the-olympic-gamesnightssalesshikigami-no-shiro-3softwaresoul-calibur-legendssuper-mario-galaxywe-love-golfwii-fitwii-playwii-sports";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:14:"Candace Savino";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:6829:"
Filed under: News
It's that time of the week again when we find out how the Wii and its games sold in Japan. While we really have no need to be worried about the hardware, certain unconfirmed numbers earlier this week did raise concerns about third-party software sales.
So, how did the fair Wii fare in the land of the rising sun this week? Regarding hardware sales, the Wii just barely eked out in front of the PSP to take second place with 168,000 units sold, jumping up over 50,000 units from last week. As for the software, there's some good and bad news. Check after the break to see the numbers.
Hardware:
DS: 249,000
Wii:168,000
PSP: 158,000
PS3: 53,000
PS2: 21,000
Xbox 360: 8,700
Software:
Mario Party DS (DS) ---160,000 (763,000)
Wii Fit (Wii) --- 120,000 (527,000)
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3) --- 108,000
Dragon Quest IV (DS) --- 78,000 (854,000)
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS) --- 73,000 (482,000)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) --- 71,000 (571,000)
Wii Sports (Wii) --- 68,000 (2.26 million)
Wii Play (Wii) --- 67,000 (1.81 million)
Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii) --- 58,000 (207,000)
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (Wii) --- 44,000
The software numbers show that first-party games had a lot of success this week. Wii Fit fell back into the second place spot, while Super Mario Galaxy jumped up to sixth place. Meanwhile, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Sega's Mario and Sonic all managed to find their way back into the top ten. Then, finally, at number ten, we have Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, which sold 44,000 copies in its first week. While not great by any means, it's not too bad of a start for Square Enix's title, especially if the game proves to have legs.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well for some of the other third-party releases this week. Here are the Wii games that bombed:
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams --- 17,000
We Love Golf! --- 8,600
Soul Calibur Legends --- 6,900
Shikigami no Shiro 3 --- 970
There's not much to say other then these numbers are not good. Perhaps it's an issue of there being too many games, thus leading to cannibalizing Wii software sales, or maybe there just wasn't enough advertising for these titles, but the bad numbers are ultimately what counts. One interesting thing to note is that Shikigami no Shiro 3 sold three times more copies (3,100) for the Xbox 360, which has a much smaller userbase in Japan. Of course, that could just have to do with 360 owners having a lot less games to choose from.
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198098000;}i:7;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:55:"Playing the world's smallest violin in Nodame Cantabile";s:4:"link";s:99:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/playing-the-worlds-smallest-violin-in-nodame-cantabile/";s:4:"guid";s:99:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/playing-the-worlds-smallest-violin-in-nodame-cantabile/";s:8:"comments";s:108:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/playing-the-worlds-smallest-violin-in-nodame-cantabile/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3758:"
Filed under: Imports, Video
We don't mean that in a sarcastic fake-sadness way. We mean that in Nodame Cantabile: Dream Orchestra, you'll be playing a violin so small that it is insubstantial. We introduced you to Nodame Cantabile's novel gesture controls before, but now the unfortunate Namco Bandai staffer stuck in the mongoose suit is back to demonstrate the pantomime-based control scheme on video. It's like Air Guitar Hero.
Each instrument has its own page on the Cantabile website, with a diagram of its Wii approximation and a short video of the dapper mongoose demonstrating it. The embedded trailer contains even shorter demonstrations. While you're at the website, be sure to download the calendar wallpaper! We suggest doing so while it's still December, for obvious reasons.
";s:8:"category";s:51:"bandai-namcomusicnamco-bandainodame-cantabilerhythm";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:11:"JC Fletcher";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3758:"
Filed under: Imports, Video
We don't mean that in a sarcastic fake-sadness way. We mean that in Nodame Cantabile: Dream Orchestra, you'll be playing a violin so small that it is insubstantial. We introduced you to Nodame Cantabile's novel gesture controls before, but now the unfortunate Namco Bandai staffer stuck in the mongoose suit is back to demonstrate the pantomime-based control scheme on video. It's like Air Guitar Hero.
Each instrument has its own page on the Cantabile website, with a diagram of its Wii approximation and a short video of the dapper mongoose demonstrating it. The embedded trailer contains even shorter demonstrations. While you're at the website, be sure to download the calendar wallpaper! We suggest doing so while it's still December, for obvious reasons.
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198094400;}i:8;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:68:"Oz gets Zack & Wiki in February, Wii Fanboy suggests everyone buy it";s:4:"link";s:110:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/oz-gets-zack-and-wiki-in-february-wii-fanboy-suggests-everyone-bu/";s:4:"guid";s:110:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/oz-gets-zack-and-wiki-in-february-wii-fanboy-suggests-everyone-bu/";s:8:"comments";s:119:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/oz-gets-zack-and-wiki-in-february-wii-fanboy-suggests-everyone-bu/#comments";s:11:"description";s:4664:"
Filed under: News
Gamers down under are getting a treat come February 21st when Capcom's stellar title Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure hits retail shelves. Australia, we have one thing to ask you: will you please buy this game? Seriously, you need it.
When we reviewed the game, we found it to be one of the absolute best games on the system. It's such an amazing game on all levels that we're incredibly surprised that nobody else thought so, as the game's sales were incredibly poor. We wondered if complex games such as this would even have a future on the Wii. Actually, we still do.
So, Australia, do your part. Make sure you buy this amazing game.
Gallery: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
";s:8:"category";s:34:"australiacapcomozpuzzlezackandwiki";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"David Hinkle";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:15:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:4664:"
Filed under: News
Gamers down under are getting a treat come February 21st when Capcom's stellar title Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure hits retail shelves. Australia, we have one thing to ask you: will you please buy this game? Seriously, you need it.
When we reviewed the game, we found it to be one of the absolute best games on the system. It's such an amazing game on all levels that we're incredibly surprised that nobody else thought so, as the game's sales were incredibly poor. We wondered if complex games such as this would even have a future on the Wii. Actually, we still do.
So, Australia, do your part. Make sure you buy this amazing game.
Gallery: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198091700;}i:9;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:35:"Simple Block Kuzushi drops the ball";s:4:"link";s:80:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/simple-block-kuzushi-drops-the-ball/";s:4:"guid";s:80:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/simple-block-kuzushi-drops-the-ball/";s:8:"comments";s:89:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/simple-block-kuzushi-drops-the-ball/#comments";s:11:"description";s:4008:"
Filed under: Imports, Screens
While a couple of the games in the Simple Wii series have been interesting (though we can't comment on their actual quality), it's fairly apparent from screens that Simple Wii Vol. 5 THE Block Kuzushi is basically a miss, due to some questionable design decisions.
The main problem is that the actual playfield is so small. About 20% of the screen is occupied by actual game, with the rest going to gaudy backgrounds and a view of your "Apian" avatar (all the Simple Wii games use the same totally cute avatar creation system). This seems like an odd choice, especially since it forces all the actual blocks and the paddle to be tiny onscreen. In addition, if there is pointer control for the paddle, we would much prefer to have the whole screen at our disposal instead of being restricted to minute movements.
The other issue we can spot from screens is that, for some mysterious reason, the playfield is tilted. Both of these choices seem like they would make the game harder to see and more annoying. On the upside, the game has a level editor. With the awesome-looking THE Shooting Action scoring a 17/40 in Famitsu (and with little chance of localization), we shouldn't continue caring about these games, but we still do. Famitsu reviews don't matter anyway.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:29:"block-kuzushibreakoutd3simple";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:11:"JC Fletcher";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:30:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:4008:"
Filed under: Imports, Screens
While a couple of the games in the Simple Wii series have been interesting (though we can't comment on their actual quality), it's fairly apparent from screens that Simple Wii Vol. 5 THE Block Kuzushi is basically a miss, due to some questionable design decisions.
The main problem is that the actual playfield is so small. About 20% of the screen is occupied by actual game, with the rest going to gaudy backgrounds and a view of your "Apian" avatar (all the Simple Wii games use the same totally cute avatar creation system). This seems like an odd choice, especially since it forces all the actual blocks and the paddle to be tiny onscreen. In addition, if there is pointer control for the paddle, we would much prefer to have the whole screen at our disposal instead of being restricted to minute movements.
The other issue we can spot from screens is that, for some mysterious reason, the playfield is tilted. Both of these choices seem like they would make the game harder to see and more annoying. On the upside, the game has a level editor. With the awesome-looking THE Shooting Action scoring a 17/40 in Famitsu (and with little chance of localization), we shouldn't continue caring about these games, but we still do. Famitsu reviews don't matter anyway.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198089000;}i:10;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:56:"GT previews No More Heroes, we need some time to recover";s:4:"link";s:100:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/gt-previews-no-more-heroes-we-need-some-time-to-recover/";s:4:"guid";s:100:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/gt-previews-no-more-heroes-we-need-some-time-to-recover/";s:8:"comments";s:109:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/gt-previews-no-more-heroes-we-need-some-time-to-recover/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3131:"
Filed under: Video
There is just too much awesome in this video preview for No More Heroes. Immediately after watching it, we had to turn off all of the lights, shut all of the curtains tight and lay down on our floor in the dark, going back over all of the greatness in our minds. Then, we got up and watched the trailer again. Then, we got back down on the floor and started crying. We need this game so freakin' bad, you have no clue.
We'd take time to say what is in the video right around here (the body of the post), but then there might be a chance you wouldn't watch it. And that, we can't abide by. So watch it already!
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:36:"grasshoppernomoreheroespreviewsuda51";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"David Hinkle";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:45:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3131:"
Filed under: Video
There is just too much awesome in this video preview for No More Heroes. Immediately after watching it, we had to turn off all of the lights, shut all of the curtains tight and lay down on our floor in the dark, going back over all of the greatness in our minds. Then, we got up and watched the trailer again. Then, we got back down on the floor and started crying. We need this game so freakin' bad, you have no clue.
We'd take time to say what is in the video right around here (the body of the post), but then there might be a chance you wouldn't watch it. And that, we can't abide by. So watch it already!
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198086300;}i:11;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:40:"I love ten Power Gloves. They're so bad.";s:4:"link";s:82:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/i-love-ten-power-gloves-theyre-so-bad/";s:4:"guid";s:82:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/i-love-ten-power-gloves-theyre-so-bad/";s:8:"comments";s:91:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/i-love-ten-power-gloves-theyre-so-bad/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3594:"
Filed under: Fan stuff, Peripherals
Here's our variation of the "tree falls down in the woods" question: If ten Power Gloves are inside sealed boxes, never to be opened, are they still awful controllers? We think yes, but we'll never know for sure. Whatever dangerously insane collector decides to buy a case of ten unopened Japanese Power Gloves is very unlikely to be insane enough to ruin their value by opening any of them. Apparently these Power Gloves were a retailer's dead stock (the Power Glove was a spectacular failure in Japan), and have thus been put on eBay in their original form, as they came from the manufacturer.
The item is at a current price of $209 AUD ($180 USD), should you have the desire to build a fort out of failed peripherals. The Power Glove is a reminder that motion-based controllers will never work on Nintendo consoles -- especially when those controllers require external sensors.
[Via GameSniped]
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:27:"ebaymattelnespaxpower-glove";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:11:"JC Fletcher";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3594:"
Filed under: Fan stuff, Peripherals
Here's our variation of the "tree falls down in the woods" question: If ten Power Gloves are inside sealed boxes, never to be opened, are they still awful controllers? We think yes, but we'll never know for sure. Whatever dangerously insane collector decides to buy a case of ten unopened Japanese Power Gloves is very unlikely to be insane enough to ruin their value by opening any of them. Apparently these Power Gloves were a retailer's dead stock (the Power Glove was a spectacular failure in Japan), and have thus been put on eBay in their original form, as they came from the manufacturer.
The item is at a current price of $209 AUD ($180 USD), should you have the desire to build a fort out of failed peripherals. The Power Glove is a reminder that motion-based controllers will never work on Nintendo consoles -- especially when those controllers require external sensors.
[Via GameSniped]
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198083600;}i:12;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:33:"The VC Advantage: The Wonder Mess";s:4:"link";s:77:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/the-vc-advantage-the-wonder-mess/";s:4:"guid";s:77:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/the-vc-advantage-the-wonder-mess/";s:8:"comments";s:86:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/the-vc-advantage-the-wonder-mess/#comments";s:11:"description";s:7376:"
Filed under: Virtual Console
The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.
There are a lot of games in the Wonder Boy series, but it's not always apparent which games are. For example, there are fiveWonder Boy games on the American Virtual Console, a number beaten only by the Mario series and matched by Donkey Kong (according to our quick count). Of those five games, only one has the words "Wonder" and "Boy" in the title. The rest are just similar-looking (or not-so similar) side-scrolling action games, some of which have some light RPG elements. Two of the games on the Virtual Console are the same game. To put it succinctly, it's a big mess -- and one that, thankfully, has been explained for us already. We're just going to provide some codes for those of you who have dared to get into the series.
Dragon's Curse (TG16) Start in Hu-Man form: We apologize if this spoils the beginning of Dragon's Curse for you, but you get turned into a Lizard-Man shortly after the opening of the game. It's the beginning of the game, and also sort of the central gimmick. Anyway, if for some insane reason you'd rather be a dude than a lizard-style dude, you can use this password to make that happen. It'll start you in the first town in Hu-Man form. There are reasons, like better armor and stronger attacks, but, on the other hand, lizard. It's a tough call. The password is NODEGOSOOOOOOO.
Monster Lair (TG16 CD-ROM) Continue: This is one of the basic varieties of classic code: the secret continue function. It's the only way anyone ever got anywhere in Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road, if, for some reason, they were playing Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road. To continue in Monster Lair (which has more in common with the NES's Adventure Island than it does with Dragon's Curse) press left, right, down, up, then hold Select and left. Oh, and be dead.
Wonder Boy in Monster World(GEN) Stay at inns for cheap: Not much of a cheat, but this one trick beats the information we have for The Dynastic Hero, which is none. Possibly due to its rarity, nobody seems to have played enough Dynastic Hero to get any cheats. It's quite possible that this trick for the Genesis game works on The Dynastic Hero as well, since they're the same game and all. Anyway, this is pretty simple: if you can't afford the cost of a stay at an inn, the inn will gladly take whatever you've got on you. Even if it's nothing.
Adventure Island (NES) The very first Wonder Boy game can be found on the Wii with Wonder Boy removed and Takahashi Meijin in his place. Longtime readers know that Adventure Island (and its sequels, which are divergent from the Wonder Boy sequels) was already the subject of its own VC Advantage. But here's a weird glitch we didn't discuss then:
See the next boss: If you pause the game right as the first boss is leaving the screen, the next boss will appear. Pretty awesomely useless, huh?
[Codes via GameFaqs]
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:46:"dragons-cursemonster-lairvcadvantagewonder-boy";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:11:"JC Fletcher";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:7376:"
Filed under: Virtual Console
The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.
There are a lot of games in the Wonder Boy series, but it's not always apparent which games are. For example, there are fiveWonder Boy games on the American Virtual Console, a number beaten only by the Mario series and matched by Donkey Kong (according to our quick count). Of those five games, only one has the words "Wonder" and "Boy" in the title. The rest are just similar-looking (or not-so similar) side-scrolling action games, some of which have some light RPG elements. Two of the games on the Virtual Console are the same game. To put it succinctly, it's a big mess -- and one that, thankfully, has been explained for us already. We're just going to provide some codes for those of you who have dared to get into the series.
Dragon's Curse (TG16) Start in Hu-Man form: We apologize if this spoils the beginning of Dragon's Curse for you, but you get turned into a Lizard-Man shortly after the opening of the game. It's the beginning of the game, and also sort of the central gimmick. Anyway, if for some insane reason you'd rather be a dude than a lizard-style dude, you can use this password to make that happen. It'll start you in the first town in Hu-Man form. There are reasons, like better armor and stronger attacks, but, on the other hand, lizard. It's a tough call. The password is NODEGOSOOOOOOO.
Monster Lair (TG16 CD-ROM) Continue: This is one of the basic varieties of classic code: the secret continue function. It's the only way anyone ever got anywhere in Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road, if, for some reason, they were playing Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road. To continue in Monster Lair (which has more in common with the NES's Adventure Island than it does with Dragon's Curse) press left, right, down, up, then hold Select and left. Oh, and be dead.
Wonder Boy in Monster World(GEN) Stay at inns for cheap: Not much of a cheat, but this one trick beats the information we have for The Dynastic Hero, which is none. Possibly due to its rarity, nobody seems to have played enough Dynastic Hero to get any cheats. It's quite possible that this trick for the Genesis game works on The Dynastic Hero as well, since they're the same game and all. Anyway, this is pretty simple: if you can't afford the cost of a stay at an inn, the inn will gladly take whatever you've got on you. Even if it's nothing.
Adventure Island (NES) The very first Wonder Boy game can be found on the Wii with Wonder Boy removed and Takahashi Meijin in his place. Longtime readers know that Adventure Island (and its sequels, which are divergent from the Wonder Boy sequels) was already the subject of its own VC Advantage. But here's a weird glitch we didn't discuss then:
See the next boss: If you pause the game right as the first boss is leaving the screen, the next boss will appear. Pretty awesomely useless, huh?
In a place called Crisis City, you'd imagine there is plenty of people in need. And, there is, as it's up to you to help these fine folk in Codemasters' upcoming Wii-exclusive Emergency Mayhem (wasn't this supposed to be an Xbox game back in the day?). As you can see in the trailer above, there's enough variety in the way you're helping these people to keep things fresh, so we're looking forward to that. And, is it just us or do the driving segments really remind you of Crazy Taxi?
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:41:"codemastersdrivingemergency-mayhemwiimote";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"David Hinkle";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:2773:"
Filed under: News, Video
In a place called Crisis City, you'd imagine there is plenty of people in need. And, there is, as it's up to you to help these fine folk in Codemasters' upcoming Wii-exclusive Emergency Mayhem (wasn't this supposed to be an Xbox game back in the day?). As you can see in the trailer above, there's enough variety in the way you're helping these people to keep things fresh, so we're looking forward to that. And, is it just us or do the driving segments really remind you of Crazy Taxi?
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198078200;}i:14;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:32:"Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity intro";s:4:"link";s:76:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/sonic-riders-zero-gravity-intro/";s:4:"guid";s:76:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/sonic-riders-zero-gravity-intro/";s:8:"comments";s:85:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/sonic-riders-zero-gravity-intro/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3266:"
Filed under: Video
Oh, Sonic. How we love to hate on you (but we'd love it if you didn't make it so easy). Maybe it's just that we've grown up, or grown away from you ... or maybe it's you, man. Maybe it's you.
We'll be diplomatic and call this Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity intro "pleasantly familiar" as opposed to "somewhat derivative," and just hang back and try to enjoy it. It's not every day that we get to see the opening of a game, right? That alone is cause for rejoicing. Of course, whether or not we'll actually be buying this one is a matter of some debate. We will say this, though: all the video looks one hell of a lot better than the screens we've seen.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:39:"racingsegasonicsonic-riderszero-gravity";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:16:"Alisha Karabinus";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:45:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3266:"
Filed under: Video
Oh, Sonic. How we love to hate on you (but we'd love it if you didn't make it so easy). Maybe it's just that we've grown up, or grown away from you ... or maybe it's you, man. Maybe it's you.
We'll be diplomatic and call this Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity intro "pleasantly familiar" as opposed to "somewhat derivative," and just hang back and try to enjoy it. It's not every day that we get to see the opening of a game, right? That alone is cause for rejoicing. Of course, whether or not we'll actually be buying this one is a matter of some debate. We will say this, though: all the video looks one hell of a lot better than the screens we've seen.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198075500;}i:15;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:30:"Wii Warm Up: Will you get fit?";s:4:"link";s:73:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/wii-warm-up-will-you-get-fit/";s:4:"guid";s:73:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/wii-warm-up-will-you-get-fit/";s:8:"comments";s:82:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/19/wii-warm-up-will-you-get-fit/#comments";s:11:"description";s:2919:"
Filed under: Wii Warm Up
We're getting closer to "early 2008," which means it's almost time for Wii Fit. Are you squirreling money away for the fitness program and balance board, or are you waiting? Time has dulled our excitement a little; after all, we've had a few months to get used to the idea, though once it gets closer to release, we may perk up again and start bouncing on our toes (or balancing, in preparation). Are you similarly on the fence, or have you made up your mind one way or another?
I personally think it may be a fun (and quiet) way to help shed that baby weight in the coming months, but since I can't see my feet at the moment, we'll have to see how things go when we get there!
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:31:"exergamingfitnessreleasewii-fit";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:16:"Alisha Karabinus";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:2919:"
Filed under: Wii Warm Up
We're getting closer to "early 2008," which means it's almost time for Wii Fit. Are you squirreling money away for the fitness program and balance board, or are you waiting? Time has dulled our excitement a little; after all, we've had a few months to get used to the idea, though once it gets closer to release, we may perk up again and start bouncing on our toes (or balancing, in preparation). Are you similarly on the fence, or have you made up your mind one way or another?
I personally think it may be a fun (and quiet) way to help shed that baby weight in the coming months, but since I can't see my feet at the moment, we'll have to see how things go when we get there!
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198072800;}i:16;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:41:"Revolutionary: 10 Things I Hate About Wii";s:4:"link";s:85:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/18/revolutionary-10-things-i-hate-about-wii/";s:4:"guid";s:85:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/18/revolutionary-10-things-i-hate-about-wii/";s:8:"comments";s:94:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/18/revolutionary-10-things-i-hate-about-wii/#comments";s:11:"description";s:13548:"
Filed under: Features
Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
The holidays are a time of giving and love, and it's high time we give the Wii a little bit of tough love. I've thrown criticisms at the console and the big N more than a couple of times, and so far, it looks like most of my gripes are being addressed. This time I'm picking nits for the most stubborn issues many of us are hoping to see rectified, but seem to be on the bottom of the power players' to-do lists.
With games up to the quality standard of Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and Resident Evil 4, it's easy to forget there's anything wrong with the Wii. But I'm taking some time off from the nearly perfect games to scrutinize and deliver up a list of complaints. Of course, I'm only doing this because we love the Wii so much and want to see the most made of its enormous potential.
10. The waiting game Some things never change. Nintendo is well known for family friendliness, extremely polished games, and designing hardware that prints money, but they're also known for delays. Chances are, if you own something made by Nintendo, you didn't get it on the date it was first scheduled to be on the store shelves. In most cases, it's worth the wait for Nintendo to put on the extra coat of perfect, but even knowing that doesn't make the wait any easier. Smash Bros., I'm talkin' to you!
9. Franchises MIA Nintendo has been accused time and again of "putting on a red light" for some of their popular characters and franchises. Even this generation, they've squeezed Mario into a red dress a few times, while it has left us puzzled to find that other IPs have seemed to put away their makeup. </Roxanne> We're not sure why there hasn't been any word of a new Pilot Wings, Wave Race, Pikmin, Punch-Out, or Star Fox when those gametypes are so ideally suited for a retrofit to the Wii's unique controls.
There's also a lot of portable franchises that are ripe for a crossover. We know that the DS stylus and Wii pointer are fairly similar analogs of each other, since this has been proven by Brain Age, Trauma Center, and Wario Ware, but where's the Nintendogs, Elite Beat Agents, and Nintendogs? You can keep your fingers crossed for a chance to paint on Kirby's cursed canvas with your Wiimote, but don't hold your breath.
8. Graphics Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Zack & Wiki, and No More Heroes sport graphics and gameplay styles that make it easy to forget how unevenly matched the specs of the Wii are against other now-gen consoles. But those games are merely exceptions to the rule. The majority of Wii games have graphics that make the PS2's first generation stuff look prettier than the prom queen by comparison. Bad graphics don't necessarily ruin a game, because we're still loving Guitar Hero III -- despite the fact that it's an obvious port of the PS2's assets (which don't even look good by that platform's standards). Which brings me to my next point ...
7. Cash-ins To think, we used to believe it would be a good thing for Wii development to be so cheap and easy that just about anyone could make games for it. Then along came Ninjabread Man to show us why not everyone should be allowed the privilege. Yet, as Guitar Hero III shows, it's not just the small developers who are trying to make a fast buck with the least amount of effort. Evidently, they sent the QC team home early on that one.
6. Shells I don't need them, so I should be able to ignore them, right? No. I'm constantly getting asked by friends and associates if they'd need to get the racket/bat/club attachments to play Wii Sports. The sad part is that there are plenty of people out there that don't have a Wii fanboy to steer them clear of those worthless purchases, and their folly feeds the beast. Wouldn't you rather see games or useful peripherals filling that shelf space?
5. Storage It didn't take long for the Wii's internal 512MB of flash memory to fill up. Starting out, it seemed like a bottomless well with the lightweight offerings of the early NES, SNES, Genesis, and TG-16 lineup, but how things have changed. With games that originally appeared on CDs now beaming through the air into your Virtual Console, it's become apparent that we need more storage.
Nintendo's stance on this is that we can always delete and re-download games, but that's hardly an elegant solution. At times, even small games can take ages to download from the Wii Shop, and if your console is away from an internet connection, you won't be downloading anything. The simplest thing would be letting us back up our downloaded games onto SD cards and swap them back to internal memory when it's time to play. At least that would make the iPod excuse analogy easier to swallow.
4. VC minus Wouldn't you love to race a friend in Mario Kart 64 from across the country? Or shoot that annoying mutt in Duck Hunt with the Wii Zapper? How about playing Punch-Out with motion controls, a la Wii Sports Boxing? Well, forget it. All those features would require significant modification to the code of the original game, and Nintendo has stated unequivocally that it will not make any such changes to the Virtual Console's offerings.
Well, we can deal with that. After all, we're in it to experience these games like we did back in their day. But I distinctly remember my controller rumbling when I played Star Fox 64 on the Fun Machine. In fact, the box the game came in was oversized to accommodate the (then) new Rumble Pak controller attachment. Rumble was so integral to my memories of the game, it just didn't feel the same when I played it on the Virtual Console. And I'm sure many of you are wishing you could save Ghost data on your Mario Kart 64 time trials, but being that it used a controller add-on as well, you're out of luck.
3. The Classic Controller "1995 called, it wants its controller design back," is a flame I usually reserve for Playstation forums. It's too bad Nintendo decided to take a step backward in controller ergonomics and mold it into a peripheral that feels too cheap to be a 1st party product. Were it not for the GlovePIE scriptability, I would not own a Classic Controller, electing instead to use my good old Wavebird, or this for playing Virtual Console wares.
2. Online multiplayer I know this is Nintendo's first online-centered console, but for its functionality to be as limited as the Dreamcast's is simply inexcusable in this day and age. We hated Friend Codes on the DS and waited in dread to find out if they'd be reused on the Wii. While it's a little better than that (you can get away with just having one Friend Code for the console instead of per game), it's still eons behind the competition. It'll take a few more Heroes to make us overlook the shortcomings here.
1. Scarcity The thing I hate most about the Wii is that none of my friends have one. Well, that's partially true. I have a lot of gaming enthusiast friends from various internet communities that followed routine and pre-ordered the console before launch. But the scarcity of product has made it impossible for any of my less-dedicated, offline friends and family members to be able to get one. When even Nintendo executives are claiming that their families can't get one, it kind of puts the Wii in a legendary category with Sasquatch and underpants gnomes.
If I would have guessed a year ago what would be my main peeve with the Wii come December 2007, it would have probably been the name. But I've since come to accept it and embrace what it embodies, although some aspects haven't fully been realized. Wii is about bringing many people together to play, but the online infrastructure makes it impossible to add new friends you've met through a game, and your casual gaming friends probably don't yet have a Wii of their own to share a friend code with you.
It is more difficult than you might imagine to come up with a 10 item list of gripes against the Wii. The A+ titles out are of such a high caliber, it's hard to get into a glass-half-empty train of thought. But it's not all lollipops and gumdrops, and the Wii has a lot of room for improvement. At only one year old, there's time enough to make a few adjustments and ride on cruise control down the road to excellence. How many grievances can you air against the Wii? If you are perfectly pleased with every aspect of it, we want to hear about it anyway, so drop a comment.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:28:"joystiqfeaturesRevolutionary";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:14:"Mike Sylvester";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:45:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:13548:"
Filed under: Features
Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
The holidays are a time of giving and love, and it's high time we give the Wii a little bit of tough love. I've thrown criticisms at the console and the big N more than a couple of times, and so far, it looks like most of my gripes are being addressed. This time I'm picking nits for the most stubborn issues many of us are hoping to see rectified, but seem to be on the bottom of the power players' to-do lists.
With games up to the quality standard of Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and Resident Evil 4, it's easy to forget there's anything wrong with the Wii. But I'm taking some time off from the nearly perfect games to scrutinize and deliver up a list of complaints. Of course, I'm only doing this because we love the Wii so much and want to see the most made of its enormous potential.
10. The waiting game Some things never change. Nintendo is well known for family friendliness, extremely polished games, and designing hardware that prints money, but they're also known for delays. Chances are, if you own something made by Nintendo, you didn't get it on the date it was first scheduled to be on the store shelves. In most cases, it's worth the wait for Nintendo to put on the extra coat of perfect, but even knowing that doesn't make the wait any easier. Smash Bros., I'm talkin' to you!
9. Franchises MIA Nintendo has been accused time and again of "putting on a red light" for some of their popular characters and franchises. Even this generation, they've squeezed Mario into a red dress a few times, while it has left us puzzled to find that other IPs have seemed to put away their makeup. </Roxanne> We're not sure why there hasn't been any word of a new Pilot Wings, Wave Race, Pikmin, Punch-Out, or Star Fox when those gametypes are so ideally suited for a retrofit to the Wii's unique controls.
There's also a lot of portable franchises that are ripe for a crossover. We know that the DS stylus and Wii pointer are fairly similar analogs of each other, since this has been proven by Brain Age, Trauma Center, and Wario Ware, but where's the Nintendogs, Elite Beat Agents, and Nintendogs? You can keep your fingers crossed for a chance to paint on Kirby's cursed canvas with your Wiimote, but don't hold your breath.
8. Graphics Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Zack & Wiki, and No More Heroes sport graphics and gameplay styles that make it easy to forget how unevenly matched the specs of the Wii are against other now-gen consoles. But those games are merely exceptions to the rule. The majority of Wii games have graphics that make the PS2's first generation stuff look prettier than the prom queen by comparison. Bad graphics don't necessarily ruin a game, because we're still loving Guitar Hero III -- despite the fact that it's an obvious port of the PS2's assets (which don't even look good by that platform's standards). Which brings me to my next point ...
7. Cash-ins To think, we used to believe it would be a good thing for Wii development to be so cheap and easy that just about anyone could make games for it. Then along came Ninjabread Man to show us why not everyone should be allowed the privilege. Yet, as Guitar Hero III shows, it's not just the small developers who are trying to make a fast buck with the least amount of effort. Evidently, they sent the QC team home early on that one.
6. Shells I don't need them, so I should be able to ignore them, right? No. I'm constantly getting asked by friends and associates if they'd need to get the racket/bat/club attachments to play Wii Sports. The sad part is that there are plenty of people out there that don't have a Wii fanboy to steer them clear of those worthless purchases, and their folly feeds the beast. Wouldn't you rather see games or useful peripherals filling that shelf space?
5. Storage It didn't take long for the Wii's internal 512MB of flash memory to fill up. Starting out, it seemed like a bottomless well with the lightweight offerings of the early NES, SNES, Genesis, and TG-16 lineup, but how things have changed. With games that originally appeared on CDs now beaming through the air into your Virtual Console, it's become apparent that we need more storage.
Nintendo's stance on this is that we can always delete and re-download games, but that's hardly an elegant solution. At times, even small games can take ages to download from the Wii Shop, and if your console is away from an internet connection, you won't be downloading anything. The simplest thing would be letting us back up our downloaded games onto SD cards and swap them back to internal memory when it's time to play. At least that would make the iPod excuse analogy easier to swallow.
4. VC minus Wouldn't you love to race a friend in Mario Kart 64 from across the country? Or shoot that annoying mutt in Duck Hunt with the Wii Zapper? How about playing Punch-Out with motion controls, a la Wii Sports Boxing? Well, forget it. All those features would require significant modification to the code of the original game, and Nintendo has stated unequivocally that it will not make any such changes to the Virtual Console's offerings.
Well, we can deal with that. After all, we're in it to experience these games like we did back in their day. But I distinctly remember my controller rumbling when I played Star Fox 64 on the Fun Machine. In fact, the box the game came in was oversized to accommodate the (then) new Rumble Pak controller attachment. Rumble was so integral to my memories of the game, it just didn't feel the same when I played it on the Virtual Console. And I'm sure many of you are wishing you could save Ghost data on your Mario Kart 64 time trials, but being that it used a controller add-on as well, you're out of luck.
3. The Classic Controller "1995 called, it wants its controller design back," is a flame I usually reserve for Playstation forums. It's too bad Nintendo decided to take a step backward in controller ergonomics and mold it into a peripheral that feels too cheap to be a 1st party product. Were it not for the GlovePIE scriptability, I would not own a Classic Controller, electing instead to use my good old Wavebird, or this for playing Virtual Console wares.
2. Online multiplayer I know this is Nintendo's first online-centered console, but for its functionality to be as limited as the Dreamcast's is simply inexcusable in this day and age. We hated Friend Codes on the DS and waited in dread to find out if they'd be reused on the Wii. While it's a little better than that (you can get away with just having one Friend Code for the console instead of per game), it's still eons behind the competition. It'll take a few more Heroes to make us overlook the shortcomings here.
1. Scarcity The thing I hate most about the Wii is that none of my friends have one. Well, that's partially true. I have a lot of gaming enthusiast friends from various internet communities that followed routine and pre-ordered the console before launch. But the scarcity of product has made it impossible for any of my less-dedicated, offline friends and family members to be able to get one. When even Nintendo executives are claiming that their families can't get one, it kind of puts the Wii in a legendary category with Sasquatch and underpants gnomes.
If I would have guessed a year ago what would be my main peeve with the Wii come December 2007, it would have probably been the name. But I've since come to accept it and embrace what it embodies, although some aspects haven't fully been realized. Wii is about bringing many people together to play, but the online infrastructure makes it impossible to add new friends you've met through a game, and your casual gaming friends probably don't yet have a Wii of their own to share a friend code with you.
It is more difficult than you might imagine to come up with a 10 item list of gripes against the Wii. The A+ titles out are of such a high caliber, it's hard to get into a glass-half-empty train of thought. But it's not all lollipops and gumdrops, and the Wii has a lot of room for improvement. At only one year old, there's time enough to make a few adjustments and ride on cruise control down the road to excellence. How many grievances can you air against the Wii? If you are perfectly pleased with every aspect of it, we want to hear about it anyway, so drop a comment.
Reggie Fils-Aime may not have promised us Wiis, but he did promise us rainchecks. Now, Gamestop is delivering on the promise by launching the "Wii Certificate Program" (as it's officially called) on December 21st. These rainchecks can only be gotten on the 21st, which means that Reggie was wrong on some of the details. However, since he could probably crush us with his pinky finger, we'll forgive him.
So, here's how it works: When a customer pays $249.99 (plus tax) on the 21st, they will reserve a Wii console for pick-up in the same store by January 25th. Then, Gamestop invests the money to make a pretty penny or two until the system becomes available. See, everybody wins! Except, of course, for the kid on Christmas who opens up a paper-holding DVD case with Mario on the cover saying, "Happy Holidays! Your Wii is on the Way!" Oh, and the people who don't actually manage to get one of these limited reservations. But who cares about all of them?
";s:8:"category";s:24:"gamestoprainchecksreggie";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:14:"Candace Savino";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3661:"
Filed under: News
Reggie Fils-Aime may not have promised us Wiis, but he did promise us rainchecks. Now, Gamestop is delivering on the promise by launching the "Wii Certificate Program" (as it's officially called) on December 21st. These rainchecks can only be gotten on the 21st, which means that Reggie was wrong on some of the details. However, since he could probably crush us with his pinky finger, we'll forgive him.
So, here's how it works: When a customer pays $249.99 (plus tax) on the 21st, they will reserve a Wii console for pick-up in the same store by January 25th. Then, Gamestop invests the money to make a pretty penny or two until the system becomes available. See, everybody wins! Except, of course, for the kid on Christmas who opens up a paper-holding DVD case with Mario on the cover saying, "Happy Holidays! Your Wii is on the Way!" Oh, and the people who don't actually manage to get one of these limited reservations. But who cares about all of them?
Today's dojo update introduces yet another Metroid stage. This time, though, instead of having Ridley terrify you in the background, that pleasure is given to (dun dun dunnnnnn) the Parasite Queen.
You may find the Frigate Orpheon stage to be vaguely familiar, as it's one of the spaceships that Samus infiltrates in Metroid Prime. Of course, something is bound to go wrong, like, say, the stage flipping over on you. After a siren sounds (well, at least there's a warning), you'd best prepare to have everything invert on you, since the stage will flip a full 180 degrees. With some caution and good strategy, the flip can be a nice way to pick off a scrambling enemy.
Also added today was Porky's theme from Mother 3. We think that this militaristic tune is a nice fit when it comes to beating up some folk, but maybe that's just us.
Gallery: SSBB gallery three
Gallery: SSBB gallery two
Read: Frigate Orpheon Read: Porky's theme
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:8:"category";s:64:"dojofrigate-orpheonmetroidmother-3porkysmash-bros-brawlssbbstage";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:14:"Candace Savino";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:5755:"
Filed under: News, Screens
Today's dojo update introduces yet another Metroid stage. This time, though, instead of having Ridley terrify you in the background, that pleasure is given to (dun dun dunnnnnn) the Parasite Queen.
You may find the Frigate Orpheon stage to be vaguely familiar, as it's one of the spaceships that Samus infiltrates in Metroid Prime. Of course, something is bound to go wrong, like, say, the stage flipping over on you. After a siren sounds (well, at least there's a warning), you'd best prepare to have everything invert on you, since the stage will flip a full 180 degrees. With some caution and good strategy, the flip can be a nice way to pick off a scrambling enemy.
Also added today was Porky's theme from Mother 3. We think that this militaristic tune is a nice fit when it comes to beating up some folk, but maybe that's just us.
Gallery: SSBB gallery three
Gallery: SSBB gallery two
Read: Frigate Orpheon Read: Porky's theme
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ads by Google
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198018800;}i:19;a:10:{s:5:"title";s:28:"Wii surpasses Xbox 360 in UK";s:4:"link";s:73:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/18/wii-surpasses-xbox-360-in-uk/";s:4:"guid";s:73:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/18/wii-surpasses-xbox-360-in-uk/";s:8:"comments";s:82:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/12/18/wii-surpasses-xbox-360-in-uk/#comments";s:11:"description";s:3167:"
Filed under: News
According to the sales data from Chart-Track (your friendly neighborhood UK chart compiler), the Wii's total hardware sales surpassed those of the Xbox 360 in the land of Great Britain. Wait, the Xbox 360 was on the market for an entire year before the Wii, you say? It ain't no thang. Nothing can keep that little white console down.
Chart-Track declined to release the total sales numbers of each console, due to corporate policy. The charts did reveal, however, that 100,000 Wii units were sold in the UK last week. That may not be enough to meet demand, but still shows that Nintendo is supplying a good amount of consoles to the region.
";s:8:"category";s:43:"chartshardwaresalesukunited-kingdomxbox-360";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:14:"Candace Savino";}s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:00:00 EST";s:7:"summary";s:3167:"
Filed under: News
According to the sales data from Chart-Track (your friendly neighborhood UK chart compiler), the Wii's total hardware sales surpassed those of the Xbox 360 in the land of Great Britain. Wait, the Xbox 360 was on the market for an entire year before the Wii, you say? It ain't no thang. Nothing can keep that little white console down.
Chart-Track declined to release the total sales numbers of each console, due to corporate policy. The charts did reveal, however, that 100,000 Wii units were sold in the UK last week. That may not be enough to meet demand, but still shows that Nintendo is supplying a good amount of consoles to the region.
";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1198015200;}}s:7:"channel";a:7:{s:5:"title";s:19:"Nintendo Wii Fanboy";s:4:"link";s:32:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com";s:11:"description";s:19:"Nintendo Wii Fanboy";s:8:"language";s:5:"en-us";s:9:"copyright";s:97:"Copyright 2007 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.";s:9:"generator";s:35:"Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/";s:7:"tagline";s:19:"Nintendo Wii Fanboy";}s:9:"textinput";a:0:{}s:5:"image";a:3:{s:3:"url";s:45:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/feedlogo.gif";s:5:"title";s:19:"Nintendo Wii Fanboy";s:4:"link";s:32:"http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com";}s:9:"feed_type";s:3:"RSS";s:12:"feed_version";s:3:"2.0";s:8:"encoding";s:10:"ISO-8859-1";s:16:"_source_encoding";s:0:"";s:5:"ERROR";s:0:"";s:7:"WARNING";s:0:"";s:19:"_CONTENT_CONSTRUCTS";a:6:{i:0;s:7:"content";i:1;s:7:"summary";i:2;s:4:"info";i:3;s:5:"title";i:4;s:7:"tagline";i:5;s:9:"copyright";}s:16:"_KNOWN_ENCODINGS";a:3:{i:0;s:5:"UTF-8";i:1;s:8:"US-ASCII";i:2;s:10:"ISO-8859-1";}s:5:"stack";a:0:{}s:9:"inchannel";b:0;s:6:"initem";b:0;s:9:"incontent";b:0;s:11:"intextinput";b:0;s:7:"inimage";b:0;s:13:"current_field";s:0:"";s:17:"current_namespace";b:0;}
As we've seen throughout the first year of its existence, the Wii isn't exactly lacking system-selling software. There is one big-selling franchise that looks highly unlikely to appear on Nintendo's all-conquering platform, however: Take-Two and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto.
The software numbers show that first-party games had a lot of success this week. Wii Fit fell back into the second place spot, while Super Mario Galaxy jumped up to sixth place. Meanwhile, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Sega's Mario and Sonic all managed to find their way back into the top ten. Then, finally, at number ten, we have Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, which sold 44,000 copies in its first week. While not great by any means, it's not too bad of a start for Square Enix's title, especially if the game proves to have legs.
their day. But I distinctly remember my controller rumbling when I played Star Fox 64 on the Fun Machine. In fact, the box the game came in was oversized to accommodate the (then) new Rumble Pak controller attachment. Rumble was so integral to my memories of the game, it just didn't feel the same when I played it on the Virtual Console. And I'm sure many of you are wishing you could save Ghost data on your Mario Kart 64 time trials, but being that it used a controller add-on as well, you're out of luck. 
Reggie Fils-Aime may not have promised us Wiis, but he did promise us rainchecks. Now, Gamestop is delivering on the promise by launching the "Wii Certificate Program" (as it's officially called) on December 21st. These rainchecks can only be gotten on the 21st, which means that Reggie was wrong on some of the details. However, since he could probably crush us with his pinky finger, we'll forgive him..jpg)
According to the sales data from Chart-Track (your friendly neighborhood UK chart compiler), the Wii's total hardware sales surpassed those of the Xbox 360 in the land of Great Britain. Wait, the Xbox 360 was on the market for an entire year before the Wii, you say? It ain't no thang. Nothing can keep that little white console down.