Nintendo Wii Fanboy

... if you're in France. Despite much frantic hunting on the internets, we've only been able to locate this neat little piece of Boom Blox merchandise at a French outlet, where it's being given away to those who purchase the game early (Boom Blox launches across Europe tomorrow).

Although it lacks a ball to knock your blocks down with once you've finished building, assembling this puzzle is probably the perfect way to pass the time while your family plays on Boom Blox and you stubbornly refuse to admit that you might have been wrong. Bah. Oh, one word of advice, though: handle with care.

Gamers these days seem to be obsessed with the divide between what's "casual" and what's "hardcore." Often, software is immediately labeled for one group or the other. That's why it's nice to see games that bridge this gap, like Steven Spielberg's Boom Blox. There's nothing better than a title that everyone can enjoy. Did people enjoy it, though?

The answer to that question is a resounding yes:

• 1UP (100/100) loved the game so much that they gave it an A+: "Boom Blox is simply a laundry list of great features and options wrapped around an incredibly fun, expertly designed, and well-tuned puzzle game. Sure, its cute veneer won't do it any favors with the more intense console crowd, but I found it charming and refreshingly cheery. It's a casual game made for a casual crowd, but it's far and away the best one I've ever played."

• IGN (81/100) enjoyed a lot of the game's features, but felt that the title's biggest strength was its addictive multiplayer: "EA has really capitalized on the Wii remote to give you pinpoint accuracy as you make throws with real, calculated velocity -- throws that interact with block formations encased in genuine physics. You will find the single-player offering robust and varied, but the multiplayer mode -- compatible for up to four gamers -- is tantamount to crack cocaine in its ability to addict. And while there are hundreds of levels to keep you busy, there's also a full-blown stage creator that works hand-in-hand with WiiConnect24."

• Wired (80/100) praises the game's mass appeal: "Boom Blox does what so many Wii titles wish they could, by splitting the difference between casual players and lifelong gamers. You can pass the Wiimote to your grandma or a 5-year-old and they'll have a ball with its clever mix of brainy puzzles and satisfying explosions. But hard-core players like me will find a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay and a satisfying, addictive challenge."

[Update: EA announced the official release date at the Nintendo Media Summit: May 6th.]

Wow, those little rectangular kittens are adorable. How could you not love little fuzzy (and sharp-cornered) kittens in bows? They're just out trick-or-treating in the creepy woods. They're just so cute that we want to ... throw stuff at them. We're pretty sure that they would wobble and fall down. Can they has stuff being thrown at them?

The latest screens of Steven Spielberg's weird Wii project also reveal that -- we think -- Boom Blox is using the "paper" look (like Paper Mario or, in a more dramatic example, Defend Your Castle) for at least one of its locations. Well, it's either supposed to look like paper or the backgrounds are just really flat.

[Via Joystiq]

Remember the ever-so-awesome Johnny Lee's experiment with head tracking? We were so wistful then, seeing what the Wii's equipment was capable of in the proper hands.

Well, as it turns out, we don't have to be wistful anymore.

In a continued effort to make us look bad, the creators of BOOM BLOX revealed yesterday at GDC that the game would incorporate some head tracking. Before you get too excited, executive producer Lou Castle told Joystiq that this would only be an "Easter egg inclusion."

This feature won't be an integral part of the game, clearly, but it's still a big step for gaming nonetheless. We're a little worried that in order to use this feature, the player must make their own LED headset -- we think most people won't bother doing that, and thus miss out on something great. Castle said that they weren't going to promote the feature, and we're assuming that it's for this reason. Whether you take advantage of the head tracking option or not, though, it's still a laudable inclusion in our eyes.

As part of their crazy EA coverage yesterday, Joystiq's James Ransom-Wiley got to check out the EA/Spielberg joint BOOM BLOX, and the final word is that our initial assessment of the game was delightfully off-base. When it means that the game isn't worthless tripe, we will be happy to be proven wrong.

In fact, BOOM BLOX gets nothing but exaltation throughout the preview, being referred to as "very first-party" and "(feeling) like a Miyamoto game." The heart of BLOX's success is in its creation engine, which allows for an infinite variety of very different levels. Not only can different shapes be made using different kinds of blocks, but it is possible to design levels with different goals. Ransom-Wiley said "Imagine a bottomless bag of these pieces, a virtual world driven by 'real,' responsive physics (how hard you toss the ball actually matters), and the freedom to create; to set your own rules to the game."

This is the true magic of Spielberg, we think. We never would have guessed that a game about tossing balls at bricks would cause a Joystiq editor to declare "This May, put down Brawl, pick up those blox."

We're beginning to warm to the idea of a puzzle game based on knocking over a tower of blocks (or BLOX -- nah, blocks). With certain blocks providing special effects (like 'splosions), and the ability to create and share your own structures, there might be a solid puzzler in here, or at least more than just a game about busting stacks of stuff. Plus the block characters are really cute -- so cute that someone has already been inspired to create a papercraft model of the rooster character.

Are you slowly coming aboard the BOOM BLOX not-quite-hype-but-at-least-not-disgust train? Have you always been down for some block booming? Or are you outraged that Steven Spielberg's concept for a Wii game doesn't seem to include much in the way of narrative?

We were heavily criticized for our initial (and, okay, harsh) opinions about BOOM BLOX. Even though we softened up to the game after seeing the trailer, we can't say we were behind it all along. Some people were, though, like the notorious Surfer Girl.

Surfer Girl, who is famous in the world of video games for her endless flow of industry rumors, thinks very highly of the title. In fact, she calls it "this year's best third-party Wii game." Those are certainly some strong words, and although she doesn't elaborate on why the game is so great, she does say it's a fun puzzle experience.

So, who will be eating crow, us or Surfer Girl? It's too early to tell, but we're ready for some humble pie if the game turns out to be as amazing as she says.

GameDaily spoke with EA's Louis Castle about the Spielberg-headed block-toppling game BOOM BLOX, getting a little bit more information about the gameplay as well as a weird statement about the famous filmmaker's nebulous involvement with the game: "It's actually Spielberg's concept. He was inspired by his play session with Miyamoto on the Wii and came to us, since we had an agreement to work with him on multiple titles, and said, 'I'd really like to make a game that I can play with my kids for the Wii since it's just a fantastic system.'" So Spielberg's concept was ... a Wii game? Maybe that was just the prelude to the development of the concept.

As for the gameplay, it consists of four modes: multiplayer, creation (in which you build structures using various kinds of blocks), a puzzle mode with over 300 levels ("a very contextual series of levels that Spielberg helped to create and imagine where there's four different themes"), and some kind of "explore mode" whose goal we can't figure out -- it seems to be some kind of adventure mode crossed with creation. In all the modes, you're given tools including a hand for manipulating and building things and a "blast" for giving ice cream to blasting things. Structures made in Create Mode can be shared via WiiConnect24.

When the game was last shown at E3, it was an underwhelming throwing-stuff-at-blocks game with little point. Now it's got these neat-looking puzzles and adorable characters, and it's actually starting to look like something. Yes, certain elements of the Wii Fanboy staff haven't fully jumped on board, but the new trailer (above) may do something to sway DO NOT WANTERS to DO NOT NOT WANT status.

Perhaps we've been wearing our cranky pants too tightly, but the latest media from Steven Spielberg's Wii project does not fill us with hope. Of course, we always knew that BOOM BLOX -- a new name for the title as of this morning, and yes, it's okay to feel irritated by the UNNECESSARY CAPITALIZATION -- was going to be a bit like Jenga.

But heavens, this game looks generic, if the first screens are anything to go by. Featuring "thirty wacky characters, more than 300 levels, and an easy-to-use in-game editor that allows players to express their creativity," BOOM BLOX is a block-based puzzle game that makes EA Playground look like a Suda 51 masterpiece.

Perhaps we were expecting a little more from the involvement of a film director who has reaped critical and commercial success in his field for the past few decades. Then again, we've had this debate already.


[Via press release]

We hate to be mean, but we have to wonder how closely the world's best-known film director was involved with the concept for Blocks. It doesn't exactly take the most creative person in the world to come up with "throw a ball at some blocks." We suspect that this one wasn't just phoned in, but phoned in by proxy by an assistant who was also on vacation. Either that or Spielberg has been cultivating this idea since he was 2 years old.

Yes, the hyped PQRS project is Blocks, a puzzle game about knocking over structures of blocks by hucking stuff at them. Some of the blocks explode, some cause chemical reactions, and most just tumble. It looks like it would be pretty fun for a Flash game. The most interesting part of Blocks is the in-game level editor, which allows you to go all Incredible Machine on some block structures.

There seemed to be two possible reactions to yesterday's post about the Spielberg game-- "the Wii game sounds better than the 360/PS3 game" and "the opposite of what the first thing was." Eric gently implied that he was not a fan of Spielberg's intentions for the Wii. Since this is a rather divisive issue, he suggested I offer a counterpoint to his assessment that the other systems are getting the better deal. And, since I generally enjoy disagreeing with things, I accepted. But, being a professional grump, I couldn't decide which part to disagree with.

First, then, I'll take the cynical approach and disagree with the potential quality assessment. This is the idea that the action game sounds better than the Jenga-inspired puzzle game we're getting. Well, I'll tell you right now, a game that is one long escort mission built around an AI that is supposed to be adaptive? That sounds basically like torture.

Second, I'll address the idea that we're getting shorted on non-casual content. This is just true. However, from Spielberg's perspective, it's a smarter decision to put the puzzle game on the Wii. In fact, he probably thinks that the money from the Wii game will help fund the riskier one on the other systems. Between the Wii, the DS, Flash games, and cell phones, we're in the midst of a casual games revolution. Spielberg has always made populist movies, and it's no surprise that he'd jump straight for the widest possible audience with games.

These two seemingly unrelated points allow me to arrive at a fairly tidy conclusion: we have the choice of a terrible game that won't sell, or an insubstantial but potentially fun game that'll make a bundle. And, most importantly, no games based on A.I.

Which of these two recently-announced Steven Spielberg games would you want to play?

• an action-puzzle simulator that "neatly blends the creativity of the building-blocks game Jenga with the charm of a Saturday-morning cartoon," or
• a game in which "you're an ex-secret agent, and the bond that you forge while on the run with [a] computer-controlled woman -- good, bad, indifferent -- determines the nature of her special abilities and the ways in which she'll assist you."

We hope you picked the former because that's the project Electronic Arts and the famed director plan to bring to the Wii! The other title -- the one which Newsweek's N'Gai Croal described as "yet another hit" from Spielberg -- is headed for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Expounding on the Wii action-puzzle sim, code-named PQRS, Spielberg explained, "It just seemed like a great thing for the entire family to play together over Christmas." We bet you can't wait for Christmas!

It shouldn't be news to any of you that Steven Spielberg is working on a game for the Wii. Heck, EA's VP Neil Young even chatted it up a bit. So, we know it's coming and we're all jazzed. Well, prepare to become even jazzier, as word has hit that out of Spielberg's 3 projects with EA, his first to arrive is the one for the Wii. Ha, take that, competition!

This game, which has yet to be named (or shown), is due to hit before the end of the 2008 fiscal year. Including this, EA is tossing all sorts of exclusive titles to the Wii, showing the company really is determined to support the Wii, answering Miyamoto's call. And even though many have a beef with EA, we can't complain about the fact that we're getting more games.

Neil Young, the Vice President and General Manager for EA Los Angeles, sat down during GDC and conducted an interview with GameDaily.BIZ, talking about the Phil Harrison keynote and, more importantly, the announced projects between EA and Steven Spielberg. Neil even takes some time to talk about the company's support of the Wii, including the upcoming Medal of Honor: Vanguard and how it will handle itself on the console.

In regards to the Spielberg projects, however, Young states that he "can tell you one of them is what you might expect, in that Steven's stories are often intimate stories set against an Earth or world changing event. And if you think about Steven Spielberg's movies, those big stories are sort of shown through the eyes of a small number of people that are intimately connected. The first product that Doug Church is producing is very much in that vein. The second product is really not in that vein, and Lou Castle is producing that game. Lou's one of the great game makers in our business, just like Doug, and that's a product that we're building for the Wii. So it's very different and very interesting and we're excited about that." While we would've liked some more information on the game, the news that Spielberg is working so hard every day, along with the core development team, is reassuring.