Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Veterans Day this year will be marked by silences, parades, and a bunch of people buying the latest Call of Duty game. Previous speculation that Call of Duty: World at War would launch in November has now been confirmed -- World at War will appear on November 11th, hopefully giving Wii owners an accomplished shooter to play before The Conduit arrives on the scene.

For some time, Activision has promised us that the (Zapper-compatible) Wii title will be "comparable" to versions on other consoles, based as it is on the Call of Duty 4 engine. We'll see how robustly such claims hold up a couple of months from now.

Call of Duty: World at War has hit the intertrons! The official COD domain has always been a general-purpose website, but the latest information for the upcoming shooter has been granted its own dedicated section with a whole range of groin-grabbing goodies.

The whole point of the site is the get involved with everything Call of Duty. You'll sign up and create your profile, and from there you can complete a variety of "missions" to earn points and level up. This include posting in the forums and taking part in polls, but you'll unlock more missions the further you progress within the site.

Why does this sound like a video game? It's a website -- but a pretty good one at that. The Intel and Reconnaissance (that is, news and media) sections should be updated regularly, and a developer blog is up and running. Off you go, then!

[Via press release]

Even though it was revealed earlier, a recent press release has confirmed co-op gameplay in the upcoming Call of Duty: World at War. While the other versions boast four-player online killfests, the Wii will have its own gimped "unique co-op mode for two players."

It's not all downgrades for the Wii's World at War. Senior producer Noah Heller is confident in its capabilities, claiming "It's going to look better than any Wii game I've ever seen on the market." Also, despite the online and co-op changes, developer Treyarch says "For all intents and purposes it's the same game." Top stuff, because Call of Duty 3 wasn't entirely up to scratch.

Hit that big play button up there to check out the debut trailer for World at War. Officially it's footage from the 360 and PS3 version, but since it's "the same game," the Wii shouldn't miss out on too many of the heart-beating battles in the above video.

[Via press release]

Call of Duty is one of the biggest names in gaming today, and the hard-fightin' adventures of World War II soldiers just keep coming, ready for twitchy trigger-fingers to blast some baddies. The Wii had a taste of the action with Call of Duty 3, even though it couldn't match the super-fine graphics featured on the other consoles.

In development at Treyarch, Call of Duty 5: World at War is coming to all three consoles -- but this time, the Wii gets a bit more TLC. It's being developed by a separate team, although the graphics will be much more comparable between the different versions -- apparently running the COD4 engine on the Wii. That's no slouch, folks, as the COD4 engine was stunning.

We can expect vehicle and squad-based additions to the multiplayer, along with ZOMG! a full co-op mode. That's pretty hardcore, because this isn't your church-picnic Call of Duty. Apparently, the setting will be far "grittier" than anything we've seen in the series thus far, which means plenty of grizzled soldiers standing around looking badass with cigarettes, simultaneously getting their violent on. This all goes down in the Pacific theatre of WWII, where hectic battles were commonplace.

We want great games to be commonplace on the Wii, and COD5 is shaping up nicely. Stay tuned for more details as they arrive!

Update: The price for the used game from Gamefly is $29.99. Sorry I neglected to put that into the post. BFF again?

We tried to tell you all about how Battalion Wars 2 is a lot of fun and you should play it. Heck, it's even great with friends, both online and locally! And now is the time for you to get a copy of it yourself, for pretty darn cheap. Sure, it's used, but it beats paying $50 for it new, right?

Oh, and you could always bring it to Game Night. You know we like to play games every Thursday, don'tcha?

Camp Lincoln Keokuk Iowa
October the 23rd, 1862
To Miss Dorothy W. Sullivan

My darling Dorothy,

I will inform you that I am well at this time, in this God Forsaken regiment. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I am to be no more. Death is coming, Dorothy, I can feel its stench in the blood-soaked battlefields on which we stand, in the eyes of my comrades as they see the fallen friends who once laughed and drank alongside.

Would I were back with you, dear Dorothy, that all happiness should come to us as it once did. My country hath borne me on these winds away from you, and unseeing with my one eye 'gainst your two, I tread as they so commanded. Your bright smile still warms me as I lay in drought, and those who would care care not about me, and those who do not pay as much mind as they did.

My forefathers have fallen, and yours live strong; our children might not remember the lineage which I bestow. O Dorothy! Do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

- Percy Sullivan

- DS Lite: 172,359 39,034 (29.28%)
- Wii: 77,913 2,154 (2.84%)
- PSP: 29,459 4,609 (18.55%)
- PS2: 11,398 1,474 (11.45%)
- PS3: 11,000 948 (7.93%)
- Xbox 360: 2,307 593 (20.45%)
- GBA SP: 860 206 (31.50%)
- Game Boy Micro: 449 168 (27.23%)
- Gamecube: 266 99 (59.28%)
- DS Phat: 81 65 (44.52%)
- GBA: 55 29 (111.54%)

[Source: Media Create]

According to our patrons at Joystiq, who never let us in on any of their fun, the Wii's Call of Duty 3 may not boast the power of its rivals on the PS3 and 360, but it brings something far more important to the table: fun. Yes, an actual fun video game! Try not to wet yourself with glee. Joystiq's Kevin Kelly got to spend some time with all three, and has written up a great comparison of what each version can offer.

Unlike the last minute twists and turns on the PS3 controller, the "Battle Actions" performed with the Wiimote and nunchuk feel natural, Kelly reports. It pulls you into the game. Does that mean we're all going to look like the guys in the various Red Steel trailers? Probably. Draw the shades and drop the blinds before you pick up the Wiimote.

But while the Wii is kicking eight sorts of ass in the controls department, it's not all sunshine and roses. The Call of Duty franchise really benefits from online multiplayer, which is a feature we will not have. And the graphics are not quite up to the quality of the other consoles, though from the screenshot above, we're not seeing much to complain about.

You may have taken notice of a war in the land of handhelds recently. It turns out the conflict has spilled into next-gen streets (GASP!) as well. In the first, of what we assume will be many more, blows against Sony, You Tube user luigirulesnintendo has put together a video highlighting what he believes to be are the console's stellar attributes and superior capabilities above its more expensive competition. Continue reading to see the embedded video.

[Thanks Wii-lover!]

Epic Games' Mark Rein, in a Q & A session attended by Joystiq Blogger Christopher Grant during the recent GDC, said that we probably "won't be seeing Unreal Engine 3 on the Revolution." Mark implied that the Unreal Engine 2 would be more than sufficient for anything the platform may demand and had yet to be informed on what the final specs for the console would be.

Mark's comments were more towards down-scaling HD projects, such as the upcoming Gears of War, for the console and cited that it would not be very cost effective. We assume that titles will eventually utilize the Unreal Engine 3 on the console, however upcoming titles created specifically with HD resolutions in mind are more than likely not going to see an incarnation on Nintendo's system.