Japan Trust Technology has become the latest third-party company to offer an alternative to the perfectly-fine-as-it-is Wii Wheel. Unlike Nintendo's own effort, the JTT wheel comes with a steering column that attaches to surfaces through a combination of a suction cup and your disgusting saliva. We've seen third-party wheels add a steering column before, though this one also allows you to vertically swivel the wheel through 120°, likeso.
We've not a clue if this will ever see the light of day in the west, but if it does then JTT might want to reconsider the price: right now, this is retailing for ¥2,980, a.k.a. $28, a.k.a. three first-party Wii Wheels. That's hella pricey -- especially for something you can get for free!
Hey, you know what game should be on the Virtual Console? Rock 'N Roll Racing! This blogger can't tell you the amount of time he spent on that game. It's one of the most under-appreciated gems on the SNES. Now, through this eBay auction, a little piece of the game's history is up for grabs. The pictured art covers all of the characters in the game, done by game artist G C Almond.
With Rock 'N Roll Racing on the brain, we're wondering why the game hasn't been released to the Virtual Console yet. Actually, why hasn't it been a spotlight of Virtually Overlooked? We've got too many questions that need answering!
We're not vain people who fret about occasionally looking silly (a quick peek inside our wardrobes would more or less confirm this), so stretching, swiveling and gurning on the Balance Board in front of others was never a huge deal for us.
However, our indifferent attitude might yet be tested by G1 Jockey. Koei announced today that its horsey sim would also utilize the Balance Board, allowing players to adjust the position of their on-screen jockey as they "whip" their invisible steeds with the Wiimote. Picture somebody playing that game for a moment; doesn't it sound just a little too ridiculous? Apparently not. "Assuming a jockey crouch and powering to victory should brighten up even the longest of faces," lies the press release.
Fortunately for us, we are just about vain enough not to be seen in public purchasing a copy of G1 Jockey.
The trouble with first impressions? You only get to make one. They good news for Candella? They managed to put together a pretty fancy show, and Pyroblazer looks like an interesting uber-fast racer for the Wii.
In actual fact, the speed of the game seems to be the only disappointing feature so far. You can't come to a Nintendo system, peddle your futuristic racer, then expect uproarious support when it isn't up to our existing standards of speed. Fair enough, this is only the first trailer, so we'll wait until we're cruising through New Aperion before complaining that the game might have been designed by senior "safe" drivers.
Along with the trailer, several screens are available at WiiHD. The catch? There's a PC version in the works, and apparently the media is drawn from that. The graphics are good, but surely nothing the Wii can't handle, right? Guarded optimisn, thy name is Pyroblazer.
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 favoriteGhost 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:
What do you think of, dear reader, when we say these words: Ferrari. Videogame? If you're anything like us, your mind will have just flashed back to either OutRun or the seminal Dreamcast port of Ferrari F355 Challenge, your pulse will have started quickening, and we can almost certainly meet up IRL.
Since Yu Suzuki's two awesome racers, little else has filled that Ferrari-shaped gap in our gaming hearts. So thank goodness for Activision and System 3, who are combining to bring us Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli this summer in North America. Described as "more sim than arcade," the title will let you cruise through 15 international racing circuits in your stallion of a car.
Considering this is also being released on the PS3 and Xbox 360, we're taking promises of downloadable content and online play for 16 players with a mountain of salt where the Wii version is concerned, but you never know, eh? Hit the break for some screens which are not from the Wii iteration.
This video demonstrates a totally cheap shortcut for jerks -- or if you're playing single-player, a really cool shortcut -- in Mario Kart Wii's Grumble Volcano track. With the judicious use of a mushroom, you can avoid the track altogether and rack up record-breaking lap times without being troubled by any of those obstacles or opponents that are always ruining your records.
We really doubt this will give anyone a significant advantage online. In fact, it's going to be very funny to see entire groups of online players trying to crowd onto this tiny rock at the beginning of every race, leaving smart racers a wide-open track.
The first Mario Kart Wiitournaments were no big deal, offering pretty much the same kind of Mario Kart action you'd enjoy normally, but with more people involved. The latest tournament, which is available until the 9th, surprised us with a new level based on Super Mario Galaxy! It's ... a really boring track (in that it's just a disc), but Galaxy Colosseum is, at the very least, proof that there is still new content to be found in Mario Kart, probably on the game disc.
What's even more interesting is the task: defeating four of Galaxy's Topman enemies in a Boss Attack challenge -- a new gametype! If Nintendo keeps this up, Mario Kart Wii will have a long, healthy life online. If not, we'll just go back to being disappointed.
Those of you who booted up the Wii this morning and checked out the Mario Kart Channel may have noticed that the first competition has finally been opened for entry! The process is simple: complete three laps of Mario Circuit as quickly as possible, upload your time to Nintendo's big list 'o times, wait until the deadline (May 9th or May 10th, depending on your timezone), and get ready to bask in internet glory. Hurray, right?
Wrong.
When we think of Mario Kart time trials, we think of gradually shaving milliseconds off of our best times, of taking every corner as finely as possible, of finding the best way to utilize our three mushrooms, of locating the perfect racing line, and of keeping our noses just ahead of the time trial ghosts. Yet this first Mario Kart Wii competition totally misses the point.
For instance, it's not a time trial at all, but a fully fledged race, complete with eleven opponents and all the usual items. In other words, you can take every corner as flawlessly as possible, only to get blue-shelled on the final straight. Which doesn't strike us as a terribly fair contest. We guess this is meant to level the playing field for newer players, but shouldn't more skillful players be justly rewarded?
Anyway, if you do want to try your hand at being robbed of a deserved victory, this blogger's best time so far is a quite appalling 2:03.325.
Here's something: despite our initial skepticism, we actually really like the Wii Wheel -- in fact, it's all we use now for Mario Kart Wii. The only downside? At $10 per wheel (or £7 in the UK), buying enough for four-player matches can get kind of pricey.
So the way we see it, you have two choices:
Go with one of our totally awesome (and totally free) homemade Wii Wheels (the option we'd recommend) or:
Pick up the latest issue of NGamer, which comes with the above "free" wheel packed in. It's not technically free, obviously, because you'll have to pony up the £4.99 for the magazine, which optimistically suggests that the free gift is worth £7, meaning somebody in NGamer's accounting department may well be clearing their desk later this month.
Incidentally, while NGamer is a UK publication, some of my U.S-based colleagues think they may have spotted copies in Barnes & Noble, so keep your eyes peeled and you too might save hundreds of cents.
Okay, you've had some quality time with every Wii owner's latest obsession, Mario Kart Wii. Now that you've had ample time to play a few of the game's tracks repeatedly, we were hoping you wouldn't mind chiming in and telling us who's hot, and who's not, so to speak. Loving the newer tracks? Been enjoying some of the remakes? Weigh in!
And no, we're not even talking about Deca Sports, which features kart racing as one of its ten activities. Rather, Conspiracy Entertainment is making anotherWii game in their Cocoto series, called Cocoto Kart Racer (which is already out for the DS, GameCube, PC and PS2). The title should be coming out soon (the press release said Q2 2008), and will probably break the hearts of children everywhere. We're not saying it will necessarily be a bad game (even though the other versions got poor reviews, so let's be realistic), but the point is, it's not Mario Kart.
Imagine a child asking his or her parents for Mario Kart, only to be sorely disappointed when they come home with Cocoto Kart Racer instead because they don't know the difference or want to go with the cheaper option. We can definitely see that happening.
With its inclusion of bikes, stunts, and the Wii Wheel, Mario Kart Wii is an almost note-perfect riposte to all of those accusations that Nintendo is reluctant to innovate in its first-party games. In fact, in its bid to simultaneously please both newcomers and veteran players, Mario Kart Wii ends up feeling like the biggest deviation for the series since its inception sixteen years ago. And, on the whole, that turns out to be a good thing.
After unboxing the game last night, Joystiq has been running on no sleep to bring you massive amounts of coverage on the game. Just about the only thing they're missing is, well ... uh, we can't think of anything! Seriously, they're covering all bases here. We'd like to bring your attention to their analysis of the several control schemes available in the game.
Barring those ridiculously annoying mid-race voice-overs from your competing racers, we still like what we're seeing from Speed Racer. Originally, we thought the roads looked too narrow to pass anyone, but it seems like you can also flip over other racers (which is pretty sweet). We're also still insanely curious about the music. Considering the game's F-Zero and Wipeout influences, it has a lot to live up to in terms of soundtrack.
We've embedded another video below that was labeled as a "Stunt Gameplay" trailer, which shows the player (in Racer X's car?) tossing other racers of the way, among other things.
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