Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We here at Wii Fanboy are pretty intrigued about Endless Ocean, because it looks like such a unique gaming experience-- underwater treasure-hunting mixed with adventure game elements. But, strictly speaking, it is not unique at all. It is, in fact, another entry in the Everblue series of diving adventures for the Playstation 2.

Well-rounded and experienced gamers though we are, there is a big old hole in our gaming history in the shape of the Everblue games. This is especially embarrassing for us, as we are possibly alone in our fandom of Arika games like Technic Beat and even the Street Fighter EX series.

We figure somebody out there has played one of the Everblue games. We'd love to know what you thought of the experience. Should we stop caring about Endless Ocean? Should we be getting Endless Ocean tattoos? Also, do you think this game is the sort of thing that waggle can genuinely improve?

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo confirmed that they do in fact plan to release Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl by the end of this year, as well as pretty much every Nintendo game announced for the Wii. This corroborates an IGN report to the same effect, and is also totally, totally rad. Here's the full list of Nintendo's planned 2007 releases. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race is slated for June 28, and the rest are all "2007":

• Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race
• Wii Health Pack
• Disaster: Day of Crisis
• Mario Party 8
• Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
  
• Wii Music
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Battalion Wars II
• Forever Blue
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Keep checking with us for news of the inevitable delays of about half of these. Seriously, that's a lot of first-party Nintendo games for just half a year or so. Aw, we just made ourselves sad with our own skepticism. Still, if half of this stuff does get released in Japan this year, it'll be great news and do a pretty good job of ending any drought that may or may not be happening.

Update: fixed some italics and formatting.

Yesterday, we posed a question regarding which of this year's so-called "Big Three" you would pick, if you had to pick (and we know it's tough!). Today, we're gonna do something similar ... but instead of using the biggest games of the year, we're going to look at the more creative side of things. We looked over the list of upcoming titles and want to know this: of Disaster: Day of Crisis, Forever Blue, or Project H.A.M.M.E.R., which one interests you the most? Again, this is an all-or-nothing, no halfsies sorta thing -- you have to choose just one. So which one do you pick?

It's been a while since we've seen anything about Forever Blue, the undersea diving game scheduled for later this year, and developer Arika still seems to be keeping things under wraps. One lone screenshot has surfaced, however. We can add this to the slowly developing collection. By this fall, we may know a little more than we do now!

Check out the screen after the jump. All we can say so far is: it's a good thing we're fond of blue.

It's rare that we get tipped off about a title by a scuba diving site, but it looks like there's a first time for everything after all. Forever Blue, a diving game set for the end of 2007 (for now, at least), was first announced during the Japanese Nintendo event last month, but there was so much going on that we hope you'll forgive us for losing it in the shuffle. Developer Arika has some experience in the creation of underwater environments, as they were responsible for the PS2's Ever Blue and Ever Blue 2. A shift to the Wii for a game like this just makes sense. And you won't be swimming solitary in the deep, either; WiFi support is planned, so you can explore with your friends.

It's interesting to note that a diving site not only picked up the story, but presented it with such enthusiasm, while at the same time having to explain the Wii to their nongamer audience. Though this is certainly not the first game of its type -- see above -- the immersion of the Wiimote makes it a unique and exciting title, and one that we have high hopes for.

[Update 1: Somehow, the link to the original story disappeared ... fixed!]