So, WiiWare launched yesterday! We were all excited to see what we'd be getting, and we even found the time to check outa pair of the more casual titles on offer. But, who cares what we think, we're just a bunch of dumb jerks on a gaming blog.
We want to know what you think. Did you download any of the games? Read some impressions? What did you think of the overall WiiWare launch line-up? And, to make it simple, just go ahead and assign WiiWare's launch a score, like we do with our reviews (keep it between 1-10, makes it easier).
The browser game that many of you have tried at one time or another has been revamped for Wii and launched alongside WiiWare earlier this morning. After spending a good bit of time with the game, we're confident that we can present a decent review of the title. With a price point of 500 Wii points, as well as a fairly addictive game just lurking beneath that small admission price, we're happy to report that Defend Your Castle is a good game and well worth your small sum of money.
As we anticipated, Nintendo waited until the last possible moment to reveal the details on WiiWare's U.S. launch. In a press release which describes WiiWare as the "most democratic environment in industry history," Nintendo confirmed the six titles that launched with the download service today -- and it looks like the leaked information from the weekend was spot-on:
So it's finally up -- hurray! Monday mornings haven't felt quite this optimistic in some time! Have any of you lot already downloaded yourself some WiiWare?
The North American WiiWare launch is almost upon us, and instead of the stealth releases that we thought were coming, Nintendo's press release of WiiWare games debuting this Monday (along with their point values) was recently leaked. While we can't be sure this list is 100% valid, it looks like we can expect the following:
Although we're disappointed by the lack of Dr. Mario, this looks like a pretty solid launch list to us. It'll be difficult to pick and choose exactly which titles we want, but there are definitely some that stand out more than others.
How about you? Do you plan on downloading any of the above, or are you going to wait for impressions and reviews first?
IGN has a rather extensive interview, along with other media, for WiiWare title Defend Your Castle. We don't have to tell you how good this new downloadable title is looking, so when we hear the developers behind it made a conscious effort not to do a quick port of the PC Flash game and instead are working to completely overhaul it, adding in 4-player co-op and the new graphical style we all love, we fall in love.
XGen Studios, your chocolates and roses are in the mail.
We weren't exactly hard to convince, since we already loved the "sweded" look of the Wii Ware version of Defend Your Castle, but we think that had we been in the "do not want" camp, seeing the game in motion would have melted our hardened hearts. Every interface is made to appear as if it was crafted from household items.
The temple, where you convert enemies into followers, is a paint can. The battering rams are popsicle sticks. The cursor is a bread clip. It's as if you made a found-art collage depicting a Wii game! And then, uh ... made it move and stuff.
Wii Ware's coming! And it's bringing games -- which is kind of the whole point of the thing. As we approach the launch of the service, new game announcements are coming at an increasing rate. There's already a ton of stuff to look forward to.
The really awesome new look of Defend Your Castle got us thinking about Flash games. With the budgets that come with the possibility of sales, Flash game developers are able to expand and revamp their games significantly for the Wii Ware audience. Defend Your Castle looks great, and we wouldn't mind seeing more.
Which Flash games would you like to see made for Wii Ware? What would you pay five bucks for, with potential motion controls and graphical upgrades?
XGen Studios has revamped the look of Defend Your Castle significantly for its May 12th Wii Ware release, swapping out the, well, "Flash game" look of the original for a lovely "made of junk" theme. The castle has become a set of construction-paper rectangles decorated with paper flags on toothpick poles, and the enemy invaders have become doodles with button heads. Our absolute favorite detail is the user interface: the health bar is now made of fabric scraps.
We hate to make the comparison to a not-particularly-awesome game, but this style was used to excellent effect in the Napoleon Dynamite DS game. The art was by far the best thing about that game, whereas this has already been proven to be a pretty good game.
According to XGen, Defend Your Castle (not to be confused with Castle Crashers) will be coming to Wii Ware in "early" 2008. The publisher reported last month that an "existing cult classic" was currently in the works for Nintendo's downloading service, but only recently confirmed which game it was. Most of you assumed it would be Stick Arena, but instead it's the castle-defending Flash title that's headed to the Wii.
The game will cost 500 Wii Points, and will (as you'd expect) look better than its Flash counterpart. XGen also promises some extra gameplay features, but will all this be enough to make you guys shell out some cash for the title?
If you have no idea what Defend Your Castle is, you can check it out the Flash game here.
