Posts with tag hockey
Retail and download releases for the week of September 8th
Continue reading Retail and download releases for the week of September 8th
Hockey Allstar Shootout skating onto WiiWare
Big Blue Bubble, developer of Home Sweet Home, has announced a new WiiWare game that is a bit more stereotypically dude-oriented than the home-design game. Specifically, Canadian-dude-oriented. Hockey Allstar Shootout is a hockey game in which players use the Wiimote as a hockey stick in three game variants.Rather than a full hockey game, Shootout, as the title implies, focuses on hitting pucks at targets or toward goalies. There's also a Power Shot Challenge, in which you are judged on
[Via press release]
Top 5: Activities that Need Waggle
Hardcore gamers sure do hate tacked-on waggle. Indeed, no one likes to flail their arms around like they're trying to signal aircraft when a simple button press will do. And the guys on the other sides seem to be under the impression that the Wii is nothing but a PS2 that replaces thumb pressing with wrist flicking. So when a new title or an iteration of an existing franchise gets announced for the Wii, the non-believers tend to thumb their snooty noses and prattle amongst themselves with ingenious statements like "Dead Rising on the Wii? More like Waggle Rising. YEAH! HIGH FIVE, BRAH!" All right, maybe they're not quite as neanderthalic, but the sentiment remains: the use of waggle is often met with skepticism from the core.
To ignore the importance of waggle would be to forget what makes the Wii so awesome. Sure, some games have no real need for motion-based controls, but let us not forget the joy and immersion experienced by the non-gamer who first picked up a Wiimote and found themselves instantly engaged in a lively tennis match. To downplay motion controls would be to forget what made the Wii so successful in the first place. Without it, the Wii would be just a beefed-up GameCube. (THERE, I said it!) Just for a moment, let us forget about why Super Mario RPG has yet to be released on the North American Virtual Console and go back to the flood of imagination we felt when the Wiimote was first unveiled. Here are the activities we wish were made into games on the Wii.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up. E308: NHL 2K9 demo gets us pumped for hockey
We haven't highlighted many sports games at E3 (unless you count Wii Sports Resort), but NHL: 2K9 is different, as it's the first legitimate hockey game to hit Nintendo's console. We are some very hockey-starved individuals, so we're keeping a cautious eye on this one. You can see a little bit of the game for yourselves in the demo above, and maybe we're just easy to please, but we like what we've seen so far.
Ignoring the fact that the 2K rep is blatantly (and unconvincingly) reading a script, we appreciate some of the features he highlighted. Getting into fights sounds like fun (and makes us wistful for the days of Mutant League Hockey), as well as the simple but clever Zamboni driving. Seriously, who's never wanted to drive a Zamboni? At least we'll sort of get the chance now, even if it has to be through virtual means.
The rep also takes special care to mention the Wii game and its controls, which he says are simple but work well (as you hold the Wiimote like a hockey stick). Sounds good to us.
Ignoring the fact that the 2K rep is blatantly (and unconvincingly) reading a script, we appreciate some of the features he highlighted. Getting into fights sounds like fun (and makes us wistful for the days of Mutant League Hockey), as well as the simple but clever Zamboni driving. Seriously, who's never wanted to drive a Zamboni? At least we'll sort of get the chance now, even if it has to be through virtual means.
The rep also takes special care to mention the Wii game and its controls, which he says are simple but work well (as you hold the Wiimote like a hockey stick). Sounds good to us.
NHL Hockey finally comes to the Wii
Sure we've had football, baseball, soccer, and even tennis grace our precious white consoles, but hockey has been sorely missing from the group -- unless you count Ice Hockey and Kidz Sports Ice Hockey, which we don't. Finally, 2K Sports has stepped up and is bringing NHL 2K9 to the Wii. We don't know much about the game, except that it's coming, which is enough for us at the moment. Oh, and it will utilize the Wii's motion controls, in case you had any doubts.
[Via press release]
VC Monday: Plus Four!
Nintendo promised something like ten a month, but at this rate, we'll be seeing sixteen. Nintendo dropped yet another four vintage goodies on us at noon EST today, and here are the pickings:- Ice Hockey (NES) - a much-loved hockey sim that, unfortunately, is beginning to show its age. Where is the ever-revered NHL '94 for SNES?
- Gunstar Heroes (Sega Genesis) - If Jack Thompson had been as retarded in 1993 as he is now, he'd certainly have gone after this game. Much-lauded for its frenetic and gleeful gut-ripping gameplay, GH is considered one of Sega's best games. Check this 2-D shooter out.
- Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Sega Genesis) - some beans are falling, or something, and you have to match them...whatever. We got Columns last week, didn't we?
- Alien Crush (TG-16) - a rather odd pinball-sim involving scary aliens with a multitude of eyes. If you're into the pinball scene, go for it, if not, settle for some extraterrestrial orange soda. (Zing!)
EA's NHL 07 not releasing for Nintendo systems
Jen Riley, Electronic Arts publicist, commented recently that the release of the 2007 edition of their NHL title would not be gracing any Nintendo consoles or handhelds, including the company's next-generation console, the Wii. The company has not decided to totally abandon Nintendo consoles, however, as Jen commented that "many of our other games are continuing to support DS and we hope to be on the Wii in the future."Now, we can understand not having the game launch on the GameCube, which has all but been forgotten, but to not support the Wii? Even given that EA would have little time to come up with a way to properly utilize the Wiimote in this title, should that be enough for a game to be denied exposure on the system? Just because Nintendo has this groundbreaking control scheme doesn't mean that every game's experience needs to be centered around it.
