Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Sad smiley faces at the ready, everybody -- looks like Masahiro Sakurai has remembered he has an actual game to make, as this is going to be the last dojo update until January 7th. The good news is that it's a pretty decent one, with two pieces of news and tons of screenshots.

First up, we have a new item to purr over: the Dragoon. Capable of one-hit KOs, this powerful addition to the Brawl armory comes in three parts: the nosecone, the hull, and the tail. Collecting all three lets you target your fleeing foes, before unleashing all sorts of crazy havoc on them. Like the Smash Ball, however, Dragoon components can be fumbled if the holder is hit, and the parts are also dropped if you lose a life.

Secondly, we're given the skinny on the new "Smash Service," which you'll have to switch on if you want to receive data from Nintendo (including snapshots and the daily fan-made stage) and your friends. The stuff you'll get from Ninty gradually cleans itself out, freeing up your memory in the process, though anything sent by your friends will have to be either deleted manually, or saved to an SD card.

And that's it. See you again for more dojo delights on January 7th, when we'll finally have something to read again on these cold, lonely winter mornings.

Add another game to the short list of upcoming Wii titles with WiFi Connection support. Mario Strikers Charged will feature both Ranked and Unranked matches for players all over the world to compete in. Ranked games track your wins and losses, calculating your standing on leaderboards (We can already imagine the problems with early disconnecters.). The Unranked mode allows you to set up a quick round with your friends.

[Via Joystiq]