Nintendo recently filed a trademark patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which, as you might have guessed, has been shot down. Apparently, the word "remote" is far too common and incapable of being trademarked, said a letter sent to Nintendo from the USPTO last week.
The attempt to patent the term "Wii Remote" was filed back in March by Nintendo, and even though it was denied here, Nintendo still has the ability to patent the term. It would merely require that Nintendo "disclaim" any ownership of the word "remote," except for when used with "Wii Remote."
Atari recently caught the Ghostbusters game in its ghost trap, and has now revealed a release date for the title -- the once-shaky project will escape its Ecto-Containment Unit in June 2009! There's no word yet on which region that date is for, though Atari's press gathering is taking place in the UK, for what that's worth.
Who's excited, then? We noticed a few naysayers in the comments of our last Ghostbusters post, but the involvement of (Mushroom Men creator) Red Fly gives us confidence!
A pleasant surprise will have greeted Japanese Wii owners when they awoke this morning: a brand new Wii channel! Spencer from Siliconera freed up the necessary 82 blocks of space to download the "Today And Tomorrow's Lucky Fortune-Telling Channel," and wrote about his experiences.
Truthfully, it sounds very cute and novel, if a tad pointless. Six Miis can be added to the channel, which uses each Mii's preset birthday to calculate how lucky they are -- as you can see above, Mr. Green Jumper will be enjoying some good fortune! If you're down on your luck, you can change clothes to a luckier color by holding down the A and B buttons. Click on a Mii, and you'll be able to read what the future holds in five categories: love, work, school, communication, and money; while this Mii is pretty loved up, she is also penniless.
There are other modes to play with, including a friendship compatibility test, the results of which change daily. You can also get your Miis to ask about a certain subject, and receive three random words for you to interpret yourself.
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:45PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Okay, we're doing our best to calm down enough to type this out coherently. Atari has announced a new music game, tentatively titled QJ, for the Wii. According to the very short announcement, the game is being developed by Q? Entertainment founder Tetsuya Mizuguchi. We can assume from the title that his company is the official developer. Either that or it's tied in to the website.
That's all the information we have, but it's enough to make us FREAK OUT. While still at Sega, Mizuguchi was responsible for the pioneering music/shooting game Rez and the incredibly awesome dance-rhythm game Space Channel 5. To celebrate, let's all enjoy the Mizuguchi-produced "Heavenly Star" by Genki Rockets!
Few genres can match the gnawing, unquenchable addiction of the puzzler. The classics like Tetris and Puyo Pop have populated virtually every platform under the sun in one form or another, and modern-day classics like Hexic and Zuma have undoubtedly caused more than one dreary office worker to find himself ejected from his cubicle. Sadly, just as many wonderful puzzle games have fallen by the wayside. One of those games is Wario's Woods.
Wario's Woods has an odd history for a game: released on the NES and the Super NES only a few months apart in 1994, two similar, though notably different, versions of the game were on the market at the same time. Though the game only differs slightly from Puyo Pop and its various clones, the mechanics unique to Wario's Woods make it one of the most addictive puzzle games ever made. The NES version of Wario's Woods has been available on the Virtual Console for two years, but the superior Super Nintendo version is nowhere to be found. We've seen nothing new from the series for nearly 15 years -- it's well past time for a revival. And for reals, this time.
Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Star Wars: Republic Commando, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
Guitar Hero games have been going on salea lot recently. It makes sense to mark down something so high-profile to attract holiday shoppers -- and we really don't mind getting a break on something as ridiculously expensive as the plastic-instrument games.
The latest deal comes from Amazon, who has kicked off their "15 Days, 15 Deals" promotion with temporary price drops on Guitar Hero: World Tour guitar bundles. For $70, you get the game and one of those bizarre new guitars with the touch pad. It's a nice deal for people not interested in the complete band kit -- or for people trying to cobble the band kit together over time.
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 10:00AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
When it was first announced back in February, Rainbow Studios' Deadly Creatures seemed poised to be one of the most 'hardcore' action titles in 2008's Wii lineup. Now, we're quickly expending our supply of 2008, with nary a Deadly Creature to be found.
This Halloween, on one of the game's planned release dates, THQ set their sights on December. Now that's been pushed back to February 2009. As usual, the endless delays only drive our desire to play a game about a scorpion and tarantula who follow criminals around. And maybe the extra development time will mean we're less disappointed with what now looks to be one of the most 'hardcore' action titles in 2009's Wii lineup.
Nintendo of Japan has started off December the right way: with a bunch of video games. Between Virtual Console and WiiWare, an astounding six new (or new to Wii) games are available in Japan today. Of course, one of those games is Atlantis no Nazo, which was so bad, it was almost released as a sequel to Super Pitfall. The other, Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi (Day of Resurrection) contains the original Invaders along with a "Plus" mode that adds new graphics and powerups. It's also 200 points cheaper than the other version of original Space Invaders.
The WiiWare game you're most likely to care about is Overturn, the Balance Board-compatible, online robot fighting game. We like Yomikikase Asobi Wii, the interactive Momotarou storybook, but it's got pretty tough competition from online robot fighting.
For games that are compatible with both, which do you find to be your more preferred way to play: using a GameCube controller or the Classic Controller? For us, we tend to go with the wireless bliss of the Wavebird, when allowed. How about you all? Which is the superior way to game in your opinion?
Ken Moore likes to fiddle around with things. His latest project turns the Wiimote into a theremin, which is one of the earliest electronic instruments and the first that is actually played without touching. Above, you'll see a video of Ken providing a tech demo and brief history lesson on the instrument. Past the break, you'll see Ken attempt to do the theme for the original Star Trek show.
Square Enix has announced plans to release Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time in North America next spring. The cross-platform ARPG will let players of the DS and Wii editions fight, level up, and build junktogether, regardless of which console they're playing on. Both versions will come out on the same day, because that's kind of the point. Worryingly, GameStop has the Wii game priced at $10 more than its DS cousin -- in Japan, both cost the same.
Lumping DS and Wii players together means both games are pretty much identical (minus some on-screen furniture), but also allows us to pass the DS gallery off as a Wii gallery. Handy!
Metal Slug 2 (NEOGEO, 1 - 2 players, 900 Wii Points) Wii Fanboy says: do not download
This week, we've only got one new Virtual Console game to check out. But, thankfully, it's a pretty good one. It might not be recommended to download (9 bucks, ouch), but you all should find a way to play it, because Metal Slug 2 is good. How about Metal Slug Anthology, which is under $20 at most places, including Amazon? Yeah, we suggest that.
Each week, we here at Wii Fanboy like to check out the latest Virtual Console releases in our VC Monday Madness feature, in the hopes that you can make the most sound decision possible regarding purchasing retro titles from the Wii Shop Channel. If you're looking for more retro goodness, check out Virtually Overlooked, which talks about games that should be on the Virtual Console.
Even though the Wii reigned supreme on eBay, other retailer sites saw crazy demand for Nintendo's fitness package, Wii Fit. For major retail site Amazon.com, the Wii and Wii Fit were the top-selling video game items throughout the day on Friday. On eBay-owned Shopping.com, the top searches were for Wii Fit and the Nintendo Wii. And during a season that is expected to generate $29 billion, that's a lot of green for Nintendo.
Any of you snag a Wii or Wii Fit to gift someone this holiday season?
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.
So it has come to this. Sonic and Knuckles, both kitted out in body armor (including some truly laughable headwear on Knuckles), and having it out with swords. Just kill us now.
Mind you, one possible explanation for this trend cropped up in the latest IGN 'Three Red Lights' podcast, where Sonic Unleashed developer David Clayman argued that a Sonic game featuring only running stages would last around three hours, such is the hedgehog's speed (full transcript here). In which case, may we politely suggest a WiiWare Sonic game, David?
Nintendo recently filed a trademark patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which, as you might have guessed, has been shot down. Apparently, the word "remote" is far too common and incapable of being trademarked, said a letter sent to Nintendo from the USPTO last week. 
Few genres can match the gnawing, unquenchable addiction of the puzzler. The classics like Tetris and Puyo Pop have populated virtually every platform under the sun in one form or 
