Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Frontier Developments' LostWinds seems to be one of the standout WiiWare titles, judging from the discussion around the site (and in the comments for other WiiWare game reviews). We're glad you like it, and, we assume, so is Frontier Developments, because otherwise they stand to lose a bunch of money.

Their website features a link that allows visitors to "REGISTER FOR ADVANCE INFORMATION on Frontier's forthcoming LostWinds sequel containing amazing new gameplay as Toku and Enril's incredible adventure to save Mistralis continues."

That doesn't really leave much room for misunderstanding, does it? The sequel's on the way. No hinting, no teasers, just "Hey, guys, we're making another one." Having a quickly-announced sequel makes it seem like an episodic title, doesn't it? We guess there isn't really that much difference between an episodic game and a game with really quick sequels.

This week's a little different for the Virtual Console, so it's a little different for Virtually Free as well. What's new? Well, for starters, we're not giving away a Virtual Console game. Instead, we're celebrating the release of WiiWare by giving away LostWinds (1000 Wii points/$10)!

So what do you have to do to win? First of all, you have to leave a comment (with a valid e-mail address) on this post telling us what you're looking forward to most of the announced WiiWare titles. Second, you must be a legal resident of the United States with an American Wii (sorry, Canadians, we have to leave you out of this one; blame the gifting system and not us!) and 18 years of age or older. You may enter once per day between now and Monday, May 19; the contest comes to a close that night at 11:59 PM Eastern time, and we'll select a winner in a random drawing the next day. Questions? Check out the official rules.

LostWinds continues to look like the most tranquil Wii game of 2008. Is it just us, or does this WiiWare adventure strike you as the antithesis of most modern games, which too often seem obsessed with packing non-stop action into our already crammed craniums? We quite appreciate an occasional change of pace, and could comfortably drift off to sleep simply while listening to this trailer (were it not for our ferocious superiors, who routinely patrol the Wii Fanboy dungeon, watching for napping bloggers).

Wikipedia has LostWinds down as a WiiWare launch release, though the official site is still displaying TBA. More as we ge -- zzzzzzzzzzz.

We thought we understood LostWinds. There's a guy, controlled with the Nunchuk, and then there's wind, controlled with the pointer. But when we hear Frontier Developments' David Braben explain the game, we aren't so sure anymore. About the basic gameplay: "Toku is relatively small and vulnerable yet he has physical presence in the world, whereas Enril has no physical presence, just a localised sphere of influence of wind power around the shard of Spirit Stone that Toku is carrying."

And it's not just simple platforming made to sound more complex. There's actually a lot going on in LostWinds other than jumping and gusting. You can use the wind to interact with the environment, including blowing water into the ground to grow an assortment of seeds that you can then use.

The interview goes on to discuss the importance of audio and narrative in games, and LostWinds' stylized appearance. Braben also denies (for now) a Virtual Console release of his Commodore 64 classic Elite.