Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Wii owners should head over to Toys R Us next week (or, toysrus.com), as the retailer is having a good deal on Wii titles. From 8/3-8/9 (and even starting earlier in select stores, according to ads), if you buy a Wii game that costs $29.99 or more, you'll get $20 off a second Wii game.

Fortunately this deal includes games with peripherals, like Wii Play, Wii Fit, DDR, and Guitar Hero. That is, of course, if you can actually find said games (silly old Wii Fit) in stock.

Does anyone plan to use this deal to pick up a long desired title?

[Via CAG]

We already came to the conclusion that the lack of universal instrument compatibility holds us back from purchasing multiple rhythm games. Which peripheral-based music games do you already own, though? For what system or systems? Which do you plan to buy in the future?

Perhaps after hearing what you have and want, we'll have a better idea of where the faux-band game genre is heading in the future.

What does this woman think she's doing? We have seen some terrible outfits before, but this woman is crazy enough to wear hers with a smile. She should be ashamed just to have these embarassing pieces in her wardrobe, let alone actually on her, in public view. What excuse does anyone have to ever own checkerboard-patterned thigh-highs?

In case you missed the news from last week, Konami is following up its previous DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party game with DDR Hottest Party 2, promising Mii support, new gimmicks like the "triple stomp," more Wii remote interaction in the Dance n' Defend Battle Mode, new stages, and new characters, such as the unfortunate looking woman mentioned above. The rhythm title will also support a new soundtrack including "smash-hits from the last 4 decades," like Rihanna's immensely annoying "Umbrella" (ella, ella, ay, ay, ay) and Michael Jackson's least exciting single, "Black or White."

But let's get back to what's really on every gamer's mind -- how do these people live with themselves dressing in these clothes? This lady thinks she can get away with wearing a Zebra-print cap with matching hot pants and boots. Protip: it's best to pair a loud print with a neutral piece, rather than mixing or matching it with more loud prints. Now you know.

With DDR Hottest Party out and Guitar Hero III and Samba de Amigo on the way, the Wii is quickly building up an outstanding library of rhythm games (and also the Alvin and the Chipmunks thing). In some cases, especially with Samba, the Wiimote makes the system ideal, but the real draws are the popularity of the Wii and the relatively low cost of development versus other next-gen consoles.

What does the Wii need in order to have a truly classic music game library? Ports, remakes, sequels, or even original ideas are welcome. We long for a new version of Enix's early rhythm game Bust a Groove, whose combination of attack moves and somewhat flexible timing is still totally unique.

The highlight of this week's releases is undoubtedly Konami's DDR: Hottest Party. While we have yet to see how hot that party is for ourselves, we're sure many of you are sweating up a storm as you move to the beat. So, are you going to be cutting up a rug this weekend, or do you plan on playing something else?

This week doesn't hold much for eager Wii enthusiasts, aside from Konami's introduction of its wildly-popular franchise Dance Dance Revolution to the platform. If you're looking for something else to play, well you might just be out of luck. Most of what's available doesn't look all too appealing, to us at least.

This week's releases are:

• Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle
• Hot Wheels Beat That
• Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire
• Balls of Fury

So, any of you trying to pick one or more of these new titles up?

Konami has a weird idea of how to make a party look hot. It's not that this isn't a nice enough boxart-- it's attractive, and is a good color scheme for their basic "woman in silhouette on neon dance pad" boxart formula. We're not saying that the boxart suggests a bad party, although if Konami's idea of the hottest party is two people playing DDR ten feet apart in a dark room, then they must attend even fewer parties than we do.

All we're saying is that it's just not hot. The colors, by definition, are really more on the cool end in all but the logo. We were struck by the cognitive dissonance between the hottest party and this very icy-looking box. The boxart-inside-the-boxart thing is also great, but they've been doing that for bundles since Charleston Charleston Revolution.

Wii Fit may seem shiny and new, but not only is it a concept that console-makers and game developers have tried before, but it's part of a philosophy Nintendo has long tried to pursue. Over at Water Cooler Games, Ian Bogost recently spent some time remembering the Joyboard, a peripheral for the Amiga -- which boasted a single retail game -- that is similar to the balance board that is set to release with Wii Fit. Of course, it's not the only example; many of us still have dance pads for Dance Dance Revolution lying around, and some of the old-schoolers may even have old NES Power Pads tucked away in a closet, collecting dust, while gamers fondly recall Dance Aerobics and Track & Field.

What Bogost doesn't address -- which we think is a fascinating issue -- is Wii Fit's potential to succeed in the current market environment. Quite rightly, he calls upon gamers and critics to look back over the history of the industry in order to gain a better understanding of how we reached this point, and we agree with him that people should be less shocked by Wii Fit than they have seemed to be. Nintendo is no stranger to "non-games" and unusual peripherals. Particularly now, when the Wii has the potential to move even beyond the ubiquitous past presence of the NES and get into every home in America (and perhaps the world, huzzah!), it's no surprise that Nintendo is again angling to break the market wide open and offer something for everyone.

Does Wii Fit surprise you? Obviously, we knew a health pack of some sort was coming, but this is rather expanded upon what we expected. We know some of you don't like the concept -- while others, like this blogger, think it's the bee's knees -- but does it surprise you? What other market-expanding ideas do you think we'll see from Nintendo?

If there's one series in desperate need of a revolution, it's DDR. Unfortunately, adding Wii waggle is not our definition of a revolution. In many ways, Hottest Party feels like a spiritual successor to the last Nintendo DDR game, Mario DDR. The game reintroduces many gimmick arrows, such as bomb arrows that must be avoided, and other arrows that must be stepped on twice. Of course, the most significant addition are the waggle arrows, which have the player shaking the Wii Nunchuck or Wii Remote, depending on whether or not the left or right waggle arrow appears.

The new arrows don't feel like worthwhile additions. After extended play, it's clear that they're simply gimmicks. In addition, the waggle functionality doesn't feel precise enough for a rhythm game. We were also disappointed by the poor construction of the default pads, but that should come as no surprise for long-time DDR connoisseurs.

For dance fans that only have a Wii, it doesn't look like there'll be too many alternatives. The game will have a variety of music from the last four decades. One surprising omission from the game has to be the lack of Mii support: why can't we have the avatars we've created dance dance in the game? At least those will have a bit more personality than the generic anime characters that Konami has been using in the franchise. Do it Konami -- the fans want it.

The Japanese website for Konami's upcoming Wii installment in their incredibly huge rhythm-based franchise Dance Dance Revolution has launched. The Wii installment, Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party, doesn't have much going for it on its website, at the moment, but this is sure to change fairly soon. We're dying to see a demonstration of using all three peripherals at once, as we cannot possibly imagine how it could be done.

[Via Go Nintendo]

No, not the simple-yet-catchy Sleater-Kinney song, but in this instance, it's how you'll be using your Wii in the near future. Whether you want to dance, sing, or thrash, there's something on the Wii for all you musically-inclined gamers. And think -- this is only the beginning. By this time next year, how will the music-themed game scene look? We can only assume Guitar Hero love will expand tenfold when it hits the Wii, so we're curious about your predictions now about music games in the future. Will we move beyond guitars and DDR? Boogie is trying for something new, but again, we're talking tip of the iceberg. Let's do the future instead. What do you see?