Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Bplus was the very first company to announce a WiiWare game, Plättchen -- Twist 'n' Paint. It came out over a year later ... and didn't turn out to be worth waiting, or paying 1,000 Wii Points for (much less the 1,500 Bplus charged in Europe).

Bplus apparently wasn't discouraged by the poor critical reception. They're back with another WiiWare game with a similarly inscrutable title. Niki -- Rock 'n' Ball is a very retro-style single-screen platformer in which the character controls a rolling ball that can transform into a rock. Each level contains ZeLeLi pearls that the player must pick up, while defeating enemies, in order to open the exit.

Bplus has yet to announce a price for Niki. Hopefully they've learned from the Plättchen experience.

[Via WiiWare World]

We believe the technical term for this is "a no-brainer."

• Bomberman Blast -- WiiWare -- 1,000 Wii Points
• Plättchen Twist 'n' Paint -- WiiWare -- 1,500 Wii Points
• Midnight Pool -- WiiWare -- 800 Wii Points

Sorry, Plättchen Twist 'n' Paint, but if you're going to turn up at this party with absolutely no footage to show us and a price tag of 1,500 Wii Points, then you'll be spending the rest of the night alone -- we prefer our thrills cheap. And although we wouldn't usually be so dismissive, Midnight Pool, is it okay with you if we spend the evening just whispering sweet nothings in the ear of Bomberman Blast? It is? Great, punch bowl's over there, go nuts with Plättchen.

[Update: Plättchen footage has just entered the building -- hit the break!]

It's impossible to predict when these games will actually show up on the VC and WiiWare, but we're hoping that King of the Monsters will appear soon. It's been too long since we controlled a rock monster throwing tanks at a giant guy. Too long.

Medaverse has anounced that it is bringing an original title to Nintendo's WiiWare service in Gravitronix. It's supposed to support up to eight different players, but aside from that, all we know is that it is an action game involving the shapes in the logo up above, where players must assault enemy territories.

So, for those of you counting at home, this makes the second game headed to WiiWare, joining Austrian developer Bplus' PLÄTTCHEN twist 'n' paint.

[Via Joystiq]

In an interview with Cubed3, PLÄTTCHEN twist 'n' paint art director Bernd Geiblinger denied online play for the downloadable title, saying that "An online multiplayer mode would certainly be cool, but currently our focus completely lies on making the game as good as possible."

He then went on to utter the statement that will probably result in thousands of emails to Bplus: "Would you really want an online multiplayer mode? Would it be your reason to buy the game? If you like, you may start a poll about this and then we will discuss that again." We've learned that for any game that could possibly have online, there are plenty of folks out there who will demand it. Please, delete that draft you just started. Despite what Geiblinger said, they probably know that you want the game to be online.

Speaking of possibilities, does the fact that Bplus chooses not to include online play mean that it's an option for Wii Ware games? While you're pondering, be sure to check out the awesome PLÄTTCHEN wallpapers, from which we took the post image. They're certainly ... at a much higher resolution than the Wii can display!

[Via GoNintendo]

The Wii Ware gold rush seems to have started. Austrian developer Bplus announced that they have the official okay from Nintendo to release a game on the download service. The game, Plattchen Twist 'n' Paint, is a "puzzle shooter ... which has been designed specifically for Wii and its innovative new controller." No idea when it'll come out, of course, since that would inadvertently tip Nintendo's hand about the real Wii Ware release timeline. Assume a release date between "2007 holiday season!" and "When monkeys fly out of my butt."

Bplus was smart to make this announcement now when it'll get the most attention. We get the feeling that there will be a massive influx of Wii Ware announcements in a few days.

[Via 4cr]