Sometimes, it really sucks to be the little guy (especially if the big guy you're up against is Nintendo). Take Forbis Technologies, for example, who came out with the Weemote (and trademarked the name in 2000) long before the Wii even launched.
Nintendo never officially refers to the Wii's controller as a Wiimote, and always calls it by the full name Wii Remote. Retailer and blog outlets such as ourselves are the cause of the problem, however, as we constantly use the unofficial nickname. Ever since the term "Wiimote" caught on, though, the Weemote's sales have "fallen considerably."
Wii Music was the big news at E3 in terms of Wii games about pretending you were playing a fake instrument (in contrast to games like Guitar Hero, in which you actually play a fake instrument). But it wasn't the only game in town: Disney's Ultimate Band also features the Wiimote and Nunchuk subbing in for guitar, bass, and drums. Except, instead of MIDI versions of your public domain favorites, Ultimate Band has you playing along to abhorrent covers of recent pop/rock hits. Also, unlike Wii Music's freeform nature, Ultimate Band is a game with, like, goals and points and stuff.
Hey, there's a party beneath the sea, and you're invited! Reflexive Entertainment just announced a WiiWare version of its maritime-themed PC puzzler Big Kahuna Reef, except because this is the Wii and the Ultimate Party Machine, it's now called Big Kahuna Party. Adding Party has worked for at least one other title, we believe.
Gameplay in Big Kahuna Party is of the "line-tiles-up-to-make-them-disappear" variety, and while that may not sound wildly exciting, there will be both co-operative and competitive play for two to four players in all of the game's 99 levels. The reward for completing stages is the chance to unlock 26 "beautifully rendered" exotic fish and, uh ... that's it.
Oh yes, and you can totally play it for free already, much like certain other WiiWare games. No release date for this one yet, but we sense it needs to be cheap.
We just got a press release sent in about some cool features at the LEGO Batman website. The only problem is, these features have not gone live yet. That isn't stopping us from telling you what to expect, though.
First of all, there's a downloadable widget for your desktop, in the form of Batman himself or The Joker. Also, there's a tool for creating your own custom wallpapers, if you're into that sort of thing. Then, there's the usual: screens, video (the E3 trailer you saw already) and other miscellaneous goodies. Keep an eye on the site for the new content, which is supposed to be live right now, but wasn't when we checked.
On top of that, there's also a new Facebook group for the game. That is, if you're into the whole social networking site thing.
If the previous videos for Helix got you all kinds of excited for the WiiWare title, then the new, official trailer for the game is likely to make your heart explode with anticipation. To us, it's the usual: some experience shots sprinkled throughout gameplay clips and a list of the game's features. According to the trailer, we can expect this one to hit WiiWare sometime next month.
Poor Koji Igarashi seems to be getting the same question a lot: Why is Castlevania Judgmenta 3D fighting game? He had his stock answer about short-session Wiimote whipping at the ready when Wired's Chris Kohler asked him.
He also had other, shockingly new things to say in relation to Judgment, which sadly reveal the kinds of budgets Konami offers Castlevania games these days. In response to a question about the environment for third-party games on the Wii, Igarashi said the following, which lays bare the approach taken by Konami:
"I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible; the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer."
There is hope for more real Castlevania games on a smaller budget, and that hope is called Mega Man 9. "I'm watching that very closely to see how it does," IGA told Wired. "Myself, I'm a big retro gaming fan, so if it is successful that definitely opens up doors for what I can do." It's no wonder that Igarashi would be interested in a console game that reuses 8-bit sprites.
The latest Japanese Wii software update added this item to the Wii Shop Channel's settings, with a gold icon and a label about "bonus content." Above it is a link to Club Nintendo through the browser and a link to the settings for Wii Shop presents. The "bonus content" link prompts users to enter 16-digit codes before being awarded ... something. But what is this bonus content? Free Wii Points as a promotion for game purchases? VC games linked to retail games in the same series? A puppy?
It might be that stuff later, but for right now, it's how you get the Speaker Channel that interfaces with Daigasso! Band Brothers DX on the DS. A bit disappointing, sure, but having infrastructure in place for Wii Shop bonus stuff could lead to interesting things in the future.
Aside from knowing the game exists, I didn't have anything else to go on when I came across Guinness World Records: The Videogame at my closed-door session in the back of the Warner Bros. meeting room at E3. When the game was revealed, I figured it would just be another cookie-cutter mini-game compilation that didn't hold much value. Actually, I was wrong, as Guiness World Records is a pretty fun title.
Sure, it may be the most neglected continent in the history of video games, but those crazy Australians are going positively mental for Nintendo all the same. According to industry tracker Gfk, the Wii has just passed the 500,000 mark down under, making it the fastest-selling console in history. Well, Australia's history. Does that still count as cool?
The Wii achieved this monumental feat (remember, there's only 20 million people in Australia) in just 84 weeks since launch in December 2006. On top of the "hey, we're awesome!" announcement, a few new release dates for some hot Wii games have been revealed. Wario Land: The Shake Dimension will be hitting consoles on September 25th, and Trauma Center: Second Opinion (yes, that neglected) is coming out August 28th.
While it may look like some Laser Cats to most of you, us history buffs know that Lasers were not discovered in Japan until 1714, much later than when Tenchu IV takes place. So, these cats can't shoot lasers, but they can do other awesome things. Like look cute and distract enemies.
Thinking of a ninja's arsenal, kittens don't really come to mind. They're prone to make noise (which could mean certain death for a ninja) and they take up a lot of space in a satchel. This space could be used for more deadly ninja stars. But, hey, we're not complaining. We love kittens. Even the fake kind in video games.
Our operative (me) couldn't even get through the Plug Man level featured in the E3 Mega Man 9demo. The heroes at Gamersyde, however, succeeded in that task, and recorded the event as well. That means a whole level of Mega Man 9 for your viewing pleasure, in only slightly shaky cam-vision. Or at least as much of a level as was available: the bosses were not present in the demo, with only a "Coming Soon" window in their place.
We can't embed the video, but we think seeing Mega Man 9 in action is worth having to click on a link.
Whether or not you've been able to find Wiis in stores as of late, the holiday season is a completely different beast. Even now, in July, company president Satoru Iwata can't promise that there will be enough Wiis stocked to meet demand this Christmastime. If Wiis are scarce, this will be the third holiday season in a row that people in the U.S. and UK have had difficulty locating the console.
Iwata promises that the company is doing everything in its power to avoid this situation, and is on schedule to develop 2.4 million units for 2008 by the end of the year.
We can imagine only that some other Nintendo stock (we're looking at you, Wii Fit) will be a nightmare to find this holiday season, too.
Posted Jul 23rd 2008 11:00AM by Phil Larsen Filed under: News
With Chinatown Wars on the way to the DS real soon, it's abundantly clear that Nintendo has no qualms about releasing a Grand Theft Auto game on their hardware. The next question is obvious: will we see GTA on the Wii? Speaking to MTV, Reggie had an answer for that -- maybe. Lay it out straight for us, home boy.
The fact is, it's not really in Nintendo's "power" to simply rock up and demand Take Two and Rockstar get working on waggling with hookers. Reggie simply said a Wii installment "is all based on what Rockstar and Take Two want to do." If they want to go ahead with it, Reggie won;t have a problem, saying "if they build a bottoms-up game that takes advantage of what we do well, I'd love to see it on the platform."
We would love to see it on the platform too. Please?
We know a lot of you are a little bummed after E3. You didn't get what you want. We know how that can feel. In the tiniest of efforts to make you feel better, we're giving away a couple of classics this week as part of Virtually Free. If you don't have them, you should -- and we're going to give them to one lucky reader:
Punch-Out!! (NES, 500 Wii points/$5)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 500 Wii points/$5)
To enter, just leave a comment here (with a valid e-mail address!) and tell us one thing you liked about this year's E3. 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 calendar day between now and Monday, July 28; 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.
Simon Jeffrey, known around some parts as the President of Sega, is either very smart or ... not. It's a fairly simple story here -- he casually mentioned Resident Evil 5 in an interview about MadWorld, saying "when that [Resident Evil 5] happens on the Wii, it'll help," referring to attracting more hardcore gamers to the platform.
Later, he referred to the comment as a "slip of the tongue," but that doesn't mean it's not true. If it wasn't true, he would say "mistake". We're not going to hoist the confirmed flag or anything (as some have been awfully quick to do so), but a guy so high up in the industry couldn't possibly pull this rumor out of thin air on the spot, right? We'll keep you updated, so any RE5 hopefuls should stay tuned!
Sometimes, it really sucks to be the little guy (especially if the big guy you're up against is Nintendo). Take Forbis Technologies, for example, who came out with the Weemote (and trademarked the name in 2000) long before the Wii even launched. 
