Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We here at Wii Fanboy would like to welcome yet another new blogger to the ranks: James Konik! James is joining us from the faraway land of Japan, and we hope to abuse his linguistic abilities round out our global coverage with a man on the ground in the land of gaming heaven. By way of greeting, he had this to say:

"I'm originally from sunny England, I like most games, particularly adventure games with pirates in, and I hope to flip the lid on new and unexpected areas of the Nintendo fanboy world."

Sunny England and pirates, eh? Well, at least he has a sense of humor. Please make him welcome, and give the poor guy a few days to adjust! And forgive us this interruption -- we'll get back to the news directly.

Sonic and the Secret Rings has been released, and in what is certainly the highest profile release since the epic Twilight Princess at launch, our expectations are rather high. In what is being billed as the first truly decent 3-D Sonic game (or, at least the first one since the original Sonic Adventure), the hedgehog has the scores to prove it. IGN's was a little low, but it turns out they hate the color blue. So, you know.

Who wants a little blazing-quick spiny-mammal in their lives?

• Gaming Age (85/100) has very little but praise for SatSR: "Sonic and the Secret Rings makes a solid attempt to fix the problems that have plagued the Sonic games over the past few years. Many of the gripes have been addressed in this newest title. The extraneous characters have been eliminated and Sonic is now the only playable character, just the way [it should be]. The horrible camera and hit detection problems of the prior games have been fixed. The speed has been ratcheted up and the action is fast and furious."
  
• Gamespot (76/100) is impressed with the visual splendor: "The graphics are great in Sonic and the Secret Rings. Each level is large and has a great sense of scale, with huge dinosaurs, pirate ships, corkscrews, loops, and other structures to run on. The visuals are sharp and colorful, and you'll have a great time just watching Sonic run because the game provides the same thrilling sense of speed that made the Sonic games appealing in the first place."
• IGN (69/100) dislikes things that are blue: "Players will fail to complete levels again and again in Secret Rings not because they lack the skill to progress, but because the control mechanics are too loose and unresponsive, the camera is too stupid to shoot the action accordingly or, worst of all, the level design is simply poor."

... the latest addition to the Nintendo Fanboy staff, longtime reader JC Fletcher! He will be joining us here as soon as he gets accustomed to the chains The Man employs to keep us in these tiny, tiny cubicles. By way of greeting, he said:

"Hello, Fanboy readers! I'm thrilled to be joining the team and helping to provide your daily meta-Nintertainment. I hope we can have a very happy and well-adjusted poster/commenter relationship.

I promise I'll never say "Nintertainment" again."

He signed a contract immediately after, proving he will never again use that word. Give him a few days to adjust, folks. After that, do what you must.

And while we're at it, an update on the state of our search. If you were contacted for the second round, we are still considering your submissions, as we have room for at least one more blogger. If you have not received anything from us so far, then we're sorry -- this wasn't your time. We got a ton of great applications, though, and we offer heartfelt thanks to everyone who sent in samples.

Smash Bros. Dojo, the official Smash Bros. website, has updated the character section. Pit, star of the game Kid Icarus for the NES, and Meta Knight, rival to the gluttonous pink ball that is Kirby, are the first two of the game's characters to receive the star treatment with added screenshots and biographies.