Nintendo Wii Fanboy

If you're asking yourself why we're continuing to cover this game, know that it's sort of turned into a sick obsession for us. Taking widely recognized baseball players and making their likenesses compete in minigames that are anything but their sport of choice is like taking a gardener and asking him to build a rocket and land on the moon. It's just plain silly.

But, then there are small, tiny rays of hope that manage to break through the thick protection of cash-in that is the outer crust of MLB Superstars. That ray of hope? The Philly Phanatic. It can't be all* bad now, can it?


*Yes, it can. And probably will be.

Even though we're a few days past the holiday, there's still plenty of reason to enter our latest giveaway, which will award one lucky reader with a copy of MLB Power Pros 2008 for the Wii (retails for $30) from 2K Sports. To enter, simply leave a comment between now and Wednesday, September 10th at 11:59PM ET, telling us what your favorite baseball team is. We'd like to say being fans of certain teams will get your bonus points, but the winner will be chosen via random drawing. You can leave one comment per day.

There are a few things you should know before entering. Entrants must be current and legal residents of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec) and at least 18 years of age or older. Read up on the rest of the official rules right here.

Following word that Rockstar would be bringing their Table Tennis game to the Wii, Take Two announced that its popular tennis franchise Top Spin Tennis would also be gracing the Wii. After seeing Table Tennis, though, many reported it isn't the fun game on the Wii that it is on the Xbox 360. Now, doubts are surfacing regarding Top Spin Tennis.

Senior producer Jean-Yves Patay wants you to rest assured that Top Spin Tennis will be a full-fledged tennis game and nothing like Wii Sports: Tennis. "Wii Sports Tennis is a wonderful game but in Topspin you will have to move your character and do different swings. You can move normally and that'll be fine - you will just perform regular swings. But if you want to perfect your technique you will need to practise. So I like to say it's a finished game on Wii."
Sounds good to us, because we always wanted something like Wii Sports: Tennis, but with more depth.

If there's one thing the Wii needs, it's more tennis. And that's just what Take Two and 2K Sports think, as they get set to bring their top tennis franchise Top Spin to the console sometime this spring. The game will be developed by 2K's Paris studio PAM Development in conjunction with 2K Shanghai and, if press releases are to be believed, will feature "fun, flawless tennis action and the most real life tennis experience to date for the Wii."

Players will use the nunchuk for controlling their player and their aim, while, as one would assume, the Wiimote will be the player's tennis racket, allowing them to take use of the motion-sensitive controls. This will allow players to control what kind of shot they make, as well as the power and intensity of that shot. Oh, and there will be party games. We all know a Wii game is incomplete without them!

Sadly, no Wi-Fi support was mentioned.

[Thanks, Tim!]

Some of us here at Wii Fanboy are fans of America's oldest institution: Baseball. As such, we're incredibly excited that Konami and 2K Games are teaming up to bring the Japanese baseball franchise Power Pro Baseball to the Wii and PS2 here in the states. Dubbed MLB Power Pros for us English-speaking folk, the game sports a very deformed chibi style of presentation, along with a mode that mixes in RPG elements into the equation.

Catch a trailer of the game past the post break.

Take 2 has let loose a flurry of new details on their upcoming Wii slugfest The BIGS, revealing a number of songs that are to be featured in the game, as well as revealing some of the unique characteristics that come from having your game on the Wii. Utilizing the Wiimote's unique control scheme, players will be able to exhibit their own unique swings, as well as pre--at-bat waggles.

On the mound, players will be able to control pitch speed and variation, depending on wrist and arm movement. Not only that, but fielding and base running will also be affected by use of the Wiimote and nunchuk, allowing the player to perform a variety of Baseball's most common moves in an uncommon way.


Read - Features for The BIGS
Read - Soundtrack info

Colin Torretta headed out to the Nintendo Media Summit for the Joystiq Network to get a little hands-on time with a lot of games, including the upcoming baseball blowout from Take-Two's 2k Sports, The BIGS. The BIGS is a baseball game, sure, but it's not your average game. It's baseball made bigger, better, faster, and completely awesome ... unless, of course, you want a fully realistic experience. But come on, you can get that anywhere. Sometimes it's nice to wallow in a string of heart-wrenching moments of baseball badassery -- and that's what The BIGS promises.

And according to Colin's impressions, The BIGS delivers exactly as promised in most ways ... but not in one highly-anticipated extra. The controls sound fluid (like a beefier Wii Sports Baseball), and judging from the screenshots, we don't have much issue with the look of the game. But it seems that the promised online mode is missing from the Wii game. It's a shame, but we're starting to get used to inviting people over to enjoy the Wii at this point.