Nintendo Wii Fanboy

World of Goo has been a squishy blip on our radar for ages now, but development will be wrapped up soon. WiiWare World got a chance to chat with 2D Boy duo Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler, who revealed that development for the U.S. version will be complete in September, and that they're hopeful the game will be released Stateside in late October. Oh, and it'll cost more than 1,000 Wii Points. Wait, what?

So far, only Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King has dared to breach the 1,000 Wii Points mark, but Nintendo clearly thinks 2D Boy's gooey, beautiful puzzler is worth the extra pointage. On the bright side, North Americans won't be paying as much as Europe, where the game will be retail-only, cost €40 (£31), and has been delayed until Q1 2009. The European version will have a sixth chapter, however, one that takes place on the moon.

Amongst all the new details to digest (also worth mentioning: the two-player co-op mode now accomodates four players), Gabler seems like he'll be relieved when the game is out of the door. "I like to hate the game as much as possible, and believe that it's ugly, with horrible gameplay, and that nobody will like it," he admitted. "If this were a human relationship, it would be very unhealthy, and World of Goo would cry a lot." Man, that brings back memories.

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!

Because we weren't already excited enough about dipping our fingers into World of Goo, 2D Boy has now confirmed that the WiiWare version will feature a rather lovely, exclusive feature: a two-player co-op mode that allows you and a sidekick to wield a Wiimote each and construct giant, gooey structures to your hearts' content. The news first hit the internetz via a 2D Boy newsletter, and the ever-helpful Ron Carmel confirmed it to us earlier today.

Having tried the game ourselves, we can see how well such a mode would work. We're no closer to a release date yet, but we advise you set aside money for a second Wiimote and some Wii Points now. Oh yes, and if you're us, acquire a friend.

The Event matches in Super Smash Bros. Melee proved to be a fairly absorbing distraction from the main game for this blogger, so their return in Brawl is pleasing news for yours truly. Better still, Brawl lets you tackle Events with a friend, and comes with a number of Event stages designed expressly for co-op play. Sounds good!

Elsewhere on the dojo today, we got confirmation of two more modes, because Brawl is really lacking in that department, right? Coin Battle sees players thumping currency out of one another, with the richest player at the end of each round being declared the winner, while golden oldie Target Smash makes a return.

Ever since Trauma Center: New Blood was announced, it seems we're awash in videos from the forthcoming title, but really, who can complain? This latest shows off some of the cooperative play, and by "some of," we mean an entire operation. Looks like nothing's decreased in intensity here, but really, what is Trauma Center if not an experience in getting your ass kicked? We're in!

Some people are all in favor of the Zapper, as we discussed this morning, but Game|Life's Chris Kohler is not among them ... at least, not when it comes to Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. After trying the game several times, he has consistently found that the Zapper is less optimal for this game than the simple naked combination of the Wii remote and nunchuk. At TGS, he was playing co-op with a freelancer who was even excited about the Zapper and its potential with the game. He played without, and she played with -- and halfway through, they switched.

Once finished, he asked her which she preferred ... and she agreed with him. The Zapper may end up being great for other games, but in Umbrella Chronicles, it seems to make actions ungainly rather than precise, particularly when one has to reload or pick up objects.

This makes us doubly interested in seeing how the shell affects other games, like the pack-in Link's Crossbow Training, but for now, we think we may just stick to the remote and nunchuk. After all, the remote is a pointing device all on its own, and we've seen just how fantastic it can be for shooting.