Posts tagged Minigames at Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Posts with tag minigames

New Active Life screens leap, skip, and kayak our way

Posted Jul 3rd 2008 9:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens

We found little in the latest batch of Active Life: Outdoor Challenge screens that was new to us, though they are the first English language shots (not that the game was packed with mountains of kanji in the first place). It's the usual mix of runaway minecarts, kayaking, and jumping over logs -- increasingly, this is looking less like an exercise game (and thus a competitor to Wii Fit) and more like a light-hearted selection of minigames bundled with a potentially fun peripheral; we could never imagine Active Life: Outdoor Challenge calling us fat, for example.

More screens and (terribly lifestyle) boxart follow the break.

Continue reading New Active Life screens leap, skip, and kayak our way

Cooking Mama gets a new perspective

Posted Jun 30th 2008 7:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

According to a press release sent out by Majesco today, Cooking Mama: World Tour is going to represent a significant revamp of (formerly Office Create) Cooking Mama Limited's signature cooking game series. Mysteriously, the press release describes an "upgrade to full 3D graphics." Yes, that means that Mama has gone 3D. It also means that the game's view has flipped: instead of playing in first person, you now look directly at your avatar as he cooks.

For the first time, you'll be able to control Mama herself in spontaneous minigames, as she rushes in to fix your mistakes -- for example, she can catch mis-flipped burgers in her apron. "Additional rhythm and motion" has also been added to the main Wiimote-based gameplay. Whatever that means, at least Cooking Mama Limited is taking steps to avoid stagnation.

[Screens at IGN]

Square Enix localizes four Chocobo games for immediate release

Posted Jun 24th 2008 8:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

Surprise! Four brand new Chocobo games are available for your enjoyment right now -- exclusively to registrants at the Square Enix Members website. They are, of course, the four adorable web games released in May of last year to promote the Japanese release of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.

Now you can read the instructions and understand the nuanced control schemes involved in keeping Jail Bird on top of a stick so he can catch apples in Chocobo's Balancing Act, deftly avoid ice in Chocobo's Snowboard Glide, fly on borrowed wings in Chocobo Flight, and goof off in class in Chocobo's Classmate. Not that you couldn't have figured out how to play those.

Ubisoft announces Play Zone, we die a little inside

Posted Jun 19th 2008 10:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News

Ubisoft has continued on its quest to make us sneer at almost everything it attempts by announcing "Play Zone," a new Wii-exclusive division focused on "party games." Hey, we hear it's all the rage nowadays! Ubisoft's first contribution to this festival of mediocrity is Sports Party or, as North American readers will know it, Digital Embryo's Summer Sports: Paradise Island, which Ubisoft has snapped up the European publishing rights to.

Says Ubisoft marketing director John Parkes: "With our new Play Zone party titles, the Wii gamers who like to spend time with friends and family will have fun with the Wii through innovative and involving mini-games." Join us in the gallery and we'll all hold each other and cry.

Gallery: Summer Sports

[Via press release]

Major League Eaters become major gamers

Posted Jun 12th 2008 1:15PM by Phil Larsen
Filed under: Video, WiiWare

The competitive eaters out there are a true inspiration for the children. Everyone felt sick (except the eaters) after the original press event for Major League Eating: The Game, but this time the food is ditched entirely. It's still a tough competition, but the pros are trying their hand at the game itself, munching the Wiimote as if it were made of sweet, sweet candy.

In hindsight, the professionals down their food faster than lighting, so it probably wouldn't make much difference if they were eating hot dogs or Wiimotes. They won't be gorging on Nintendo accessories anytime soon, but it's the funniest display of fake eating since, well, this.

Gallery: Major League Eating

Steering blobs and dropping dudes with Costco's $10.99 sale

Posted Jun 11th 2008 1:15PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Sales

Is Mercury Meltdown Revolution a part of your Wii collection? If not, it absolutely should be, for Ignition's addictive puzzler must be one of the most criminally overlooked gems on the platform. And now Costco has it for $10.99, along with a bunch of other titles that range from pretty damn good to shovelware (oh, hai Pool Party). Angelina Jolie favorite Ghost Squad is also on sale, giving you a chance to knock terrorists from their speeding, swan-shaped jet skis, and save money in the process. If a better offer has come along this century, we've yet to see it.

Below are the six titles that most stood out to us (the full list is past the jump); we expect at least two of these to be in your house by June 22nd, when the sale ends:

Ghost Squad
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sega Bass Fishing
Mercury Meltdown: Revolution
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
SSX Blur

Gallery: Mercury Meltdown Revolution

Gallery: Ghost Squad Wii

Continue reading Steering blobs and dropping dudes with Costco's $10.99 sale

Birdo & Silver & Jet & Donkey Kong at the Olympic Games

Posted Jun 11th 2008 8:45AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Hacks

As if Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games wasn't already home to enough abysmal characters, a group of hackers have discovered a way to unlock numerous other unused playable characters in the title, including Silver the Hedgehog, Jet the -- ugh -- Hawk, and Donkey Kong (who would have been a welcome addition, actually). Birdo is also available, though comes with some sort of hideous facial deformity, as though the model never had its nose finished. It looks kind of wrong, truth be told. Not as wrong as this, mind.

There are plenty of other background characters that can be played with (some of which are fairly obscure), though only in certain events (such as trampolining). These include Shy Guy, Toad, the gut-churning Charmy, Espio, Cream, Boo, Bullet Bill (!), Goomba (!!), "Heroes Enemy 1," "Heroes Enemy 2," "SA1 Monkey," and -- nooo! -- Big the Cat. Sprint through the tape and into our gallery for a couple more screens.

Gallery: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Famitsu pitches us fresh Mario Super Sluggers shots

Posted Jun 9th 2008 7:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens

Famitsu has posted another line-up of Mario Super Sluggers screens, covering everything from minigames (which look, erm, totally unrelated to baseball) to a few of the character-specific moves (such as Luigi's "tornado" pitch that you see above, and one of Mario's fiery shots) to some of the game's varied arenas, which include Yoshi Park, a jungle-themed Donkey Kong stage, and a pitch set entirely on ice. Hit the "Source" link to see all sixteen shots.

In case you needed reminding, Mario Super Sluggers launches in Japan ten days from now, though we're still waiting on an official release date for the U.S. and ~~regions that will probably never understand or care about baseball~~ the rest of the world.

Gallery: Mario Super Sluggers

Continue reading Famitsu pitches us fresh Mario Super Sluggers shots

Six Flags is better than five flags, Wii agrees

Posted Jun 5th 2008 9:00PM by Phil Larsen
Filed under: News, Screens

Do you like rollercoasters? Haunted houses? Sideshow games? Now you can enjoy them all, simply by sitting on your couch. Six Flags Fun Park is now in development for the Wii and DS, and it's no surprise given the previous mutual agreement. Hopefully, after being best buddies with the Wii for so long, Six Flags and Brash Entertainment will have the decency to put out a quality game.

It won't be a management game like the excellent Rollercoaster Tycoon series, but rather a -- big surprise -- collection of mini-games and virtual rides. Before dropping your dollars, weigh up the alternatives. Would you rather buy the game, or spend the money on a day's entry to the real Six Flags? The choice is yours, and we have some fresh screens in the gallery to help you with the decision.

Gallery: Six Flags Fun Park

Sega (and UK) still not sick of Mario & Sonic

Posted Jun 2nd 2008 4:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News

If Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games were a cow, it would have udders forged from diamond-encrusted, solid gold. This metaphor particularly applies in the UK, where the Nintendo/Sega crossover has sold over 1.2 million copies, and Sega (the distributor of the game throughout Europe) isn't yet ready to stop yanking furiously on those udders.

Over six months after it launched in Britain, the game is still being advertised in prime time spots, such as during Saturday's final of Britain's Got Talent, which was watched by one-fifth of the UK (and which that dog should have totally won). And, with the Olympics due to start soon, Sega UK head honcho Alan Pritchard has promised that the company will continue to advertise the title "heavily," right through until the end of 2008.

So there you go, Brits: if you weren't already sick to the molars of the plumber and the hedgehog, you ain't seen nothing yet. In fact, Mario & Sonic could turn out to be the Wii's answer to Brain Training.

Gallery: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Cooking Mama serving again this October?

Posted May 30th 2008 5:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Rumors

Back in March, Majesco quietly announced a new Wii Cooking Mama game called Cooking Mama: World Kitchen, to be released in fiscal 2008. We haven't heard or seen anything about it from Majesco since, but GameFly is providing evidence that the game is on the way, having just listed the game in their "Coming Soon" area with a release date of October 30.

The Cooking Mama series continues to make tons of money for Majesco, allowing them to fund some interesting games. In addition, it's hard to imagine something as basic as motion-based food preparation getting stale, so we say bring 'em on.

We're gonna have a Rabbids TV Party tonight!

Posted May 29th 2008 6:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Video

We've got nothing better to do than watch video from Ubisoft's Ubidays presentation, and have a couple of brews! Don't talk about anything else -- we don't want to know! We're dedicated to our favorite Balance Board- and/or Wii Remote-based minigames!

We get the feeling from the above trailer for Raving Rabbids TV Party, and especially from the on-stage demonstration (which can be found after the break), that Ubisoft is more than proud of their butt-based gameplay. They're thrilled to finally be able to design Rabbids minigames that are controlled by booty movement. It's kind of the whole theme of the presentation. If you're looking to get your posterior more involved in your gaming life, this is absolutely the game for you.

Gallery: Raving Rabbids TV Party

Continue reading We're gonna have a Rabbids TV Party tonight!

Babies Party their way onto Wii

Posted May 29th 2008 1:15PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

The most notorious game in Ubisoft's Imagine series of girl-focused casual games is headed to the Wii -- as a party game, of course. Babies Party combines the babysitting theme of the DS game with 30 minigames including (according to the press release) "memory games, puzzles, coloring and cutting up activities."

You can choose to play either as a baby or a babysitter. It's unclear exactly how the gameplay will change, but we imagine that there are different minigames involving taking care of babies as opposed to being babies. As with pretty much every Wii game that gets announced, Babies Party will support the Balance Board in some games.

Babies Party enters the exciting genre of baby-based party minigames created by the Korean arcade series Come On Baby, which also made use of innovative controllers.

Gallery: Babies Party

Active Screens: Outdoor Challenge

Posted May 27th 2008 1:15PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Screens

We kind of wonder if the Wii Fit hype will help or hurt Namco Bandai's Active Life: Outdoor Challenge. People may become interested in exercise games in general as a result of Nintendo's entry into the genre, or they may feel that their foot-based gaming needs are met sufficiently by Wii Fit, with no need for other games or peripherals.

Regardless of whether or not it's good business to release a fitness game with its own peripheral after Wii Fit, we can't help but think that Active Life looks like fun. Not "fun for an exercise game," but fun. Just looking at this speed skating screenshot (which doesn't look particularly outdoor to us) makes us want to try it. Looks like we'll have to make room for another peripheral!

Get teased about Rayman Raving Rabbids 3

Posted May 26th 2008 2:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Video

We don't have to tell you how charmingly insane those little rabbids are. Even when it comes to Wii Fit, they just have to find their own delightfully ridiculous way of doing things. Well, it would seem, based on the teaser trailer above, that you can look forward to a third installment in the Rayman Raving Rabbids franchise. Hard to believe, we know, seeing as how a lot of you bought the previous titles in the franchise.

Who's excited about a new Rayman Raving Rabbids game? Anything you'd like to change in the new game that you weren't all that happy about in the last two games?

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Nintendo Wii Fanboy

New Active Life screens leap, skip, and kayak our way

Cooking Mama gets a new perspective

Square Enix localizes four Chocobo games for immediate release

Ubisoft announces Play Zone, we die a little inside

Major League Eaters become major gamers

Steering blobs and dropping dudes with Costco's $10.99 sale

Birdo & Silver & Jet & Donkey Kong at the Olympic Games

Famitsu pitches us fresh Mario Super Sluggers shots

Six Flags is better than five flags, Wii agrees

Sega (and UK) still not sick of Mario & Sonic

Cooking Mama serving again this October?

We're gonna have a Rabbids TV Party tonight!

Babies Party their way onto Wii

Active Screens: Outdoor Challenge

Get teased about Rayman Raving Rabbids 3

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