This makes them Guiness Record holders now, something that we're quite jealous of, to be honest. Why? Well, because we've got ten years on them and have zero world records. Basically, it feels like we have wasted our lives.
Posts with tag uk
UK duo get world record playing Guitar Hero III in UK
This makes them Guiness Record holders now, something that we're quite jealous of, to be honest. Why? Well, because we've got ten years on them and have zero world records. Basically, it feels like we have wasted our lives.
Another Week in Europe
Grand Theft Auto IV has absolutely steamrollered everything else in this week's European charts, with only plucky Spain holding out and wedging Wii Fit between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of Rockstar's hooker-killing simulator.Essentially then, everything has been bumped down a notch, with Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit mostly leading the rest of the pack (and giving young girls complexes in the process), and games such as Sega Superstars Tennis and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 suffering the biggest drops.
Next week, we'd put good money on the arrival of Boom Blox shaking things up a little, though sadly won't be expecting any sales miracles from the likes of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors and Speed Racer.
Nintendo flashes cash, sponsors UK Gladiators
It's not just North America and Australia that are seeing a television revival for Gladiators -- the UK is getting its own remake this summer, as hosted by Kirsty Gallagher and the highly slappable Ian Wright, and Nintendo has coughed up £1m to make sure that the "Wii" name is plastered all over it. Marketing Week reports that all transmissions and repeat transmissions of Gladiators will be exclusively sponsored by Wii, as well as all on-demand Gladiators content through Sky Anytime TV.
Although we don't personally think of gurning, lycra-clad beefcakes whacking one another with giant cotton buds whenever we boot up Nintendo's box, we can certainly see where the company is going with this: back in the 1990s, Gladiators was renowned as wholesome teatime entertainment for the family (well, in Britain at least -- I'm not sure about the U.S.), and will no doubt attract a similar all-demographics-covered audience this time around.
British magazine giving away free Wii Wheel
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.
Update: Corrected U.S. price.
Gallery: Reinventing the Wii Wheel
Gallery: The Evolution of the Wii Wheel
[Via Go Nintendo]
Wii Fit quick out of the blocks in Britain
Of course, we always expected as much. Preorders for Nintendo's fitness title were sky-high in Blighty, with the game pretty much selling out before it even appeared on store shelves. Even so, the record-breaking success of Wii Fit may have surprised the most optimistic of Nintendo executives.
Over the weekend, Wii Fit became the sixth fastest-selling UK videogame of all time. That's an impressive achievement for any title -- until you remember that the Wii Fit bundle costs almost as much as two games (£70). Then, the achievement stops being merely impressive, and becomes jaw-dropping. It also set a new record as Nintendo's fastest-selling game ever in the UK, beating out poor old Mario Kart Wii, which held that particular title for ... two weeks. Ouch.
Gallery: Wii Fit
Another Week in Europe
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.While yours truly had trouble tracking down a copy of Mario Kart Wii on the high street (for our review), it appears plenty of others around Europe had no such problem.
Bar Denmark (where it has now dropped to fifth), the title sits at the top of every European chart, and we suspect it might even be influencing the sales of other games. Surely the rise of Mario Kart DS to 8th in Ireland, 8th in France, and 7th in Germany can't all be a mere coincidence? By our reckoning, Mario Kart Wii has ramped up Europe's interest in Mario Kart generally. Fortunately, Mario Kart DS is the bee's knees!
Finally, this week's overachiever award goes to Sega Superstars Tennis -- despite the Wii version's lack of online play, Sega's tennis/blue skies extravaganza climbed to fourth in the UK. Head beyond the break for more European chartage, and please accept our humble apologies for the lack of a Spanish top ten -- that should be back next week.
Brawl, WiiWare and Nintendo Channel dated in Europe
The latest Nintendo of Europe release schedule contains fairly awesome news for the neglected continent, as there's finally a concrete release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nintendo's wildly popular fighter is hitting stores in the region on June 27th, and there's more happy tidings, with WiiWare and Nintendo Channel set to launch on May 20th and May 30th respectively.
There's little else in the list that both interests us and has a specific date (de Blob and Blast Works have both had a vague "Q2 2008" slapped next to them, though it appears that Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors will be out on May 9th), but heck, why are we yammering to you about this? Check out the latest European dates for yourself past the break!
[Update -- Corrected date for Nintendo Channel]
Gallery: SSBB gallery four
Continue reading Brawl, WiiWare and Nintendo Channel dated in Europe
Another Week in Europe
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.Oh, Denmark. We thought we were friends. Sure, you and us Brits had that silly tiff back in 1066, but since then you've brought us nothing but joy. Think Hans Christian Anderson, Danish bacon, and Peter Schmeichel.
But now look what you've gone and done: on its debut week, you've relegated Mario Kart Wii -- top in every other European chart -- to second place.
Still, we suspect it won't matter in the greater scheme of things. All that needs to be known is that Mario Kart came, it saw, and it emphatically conquered, leaving closest rival Gran Turismo 5: Prologue choking on its cartoony exhaust fumes. Seeing whether it has legs over the next few weeks should prove interesting. As usual, make the jump for lots of painstakingly formatted chartage.
Nintendo takes Wii Fit out for a run in the UK
The tour starts this week at Mall Galleries in Bristol, where Wii Fit will be on display from the 18th to the 20th. The full list of dates and locations is after the break.
Gallery: Wii Fit
Continue reading Nintendo takes Wii Fit out for a run in the UK
Another Week in Europe
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.Gran Turismo 5: Prologue dominates Europe this week, and only plucky little Sweden (where the game lies second) prevented it from being top dog in every single European chart.
In many cases, however, it's being hotly pursued by Wii software. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is still holding its own (rising to 3rd in the UK, 4th in Ireland, and keeping fifth place in Spain), Mario & Sonic continues to grip to the higher positions like a particularly stubborn limpet, Germany is the usual Nintendo lovefest, and Sweden finally has a Wii game that isn't Guitar Hero III in its top ten. It's a good one, as well.
As far as new games go, there's just the one, with Dancing Stage Hottest Party strutting its stuff and grabbing its crotch at 7th in the Dutch charts. Finally, Game Party and Carnival: Funfair Games continue to plummet down the UK charts. Muahahaha.
Next week: some racing game.
BBC iPlayer takes the Wii by storm
If you're one of the five people who didn't send us this tip and don't know what's up, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) announced today that their iPlayer, which allows viewers to catch up with BBC shows online, is now compatible with the Wii. And yes, that means you'll be able to watch Dr. Who, EastEnders, and other such programmes on your TV to your tea-drinking heart's content.
Should this venture by the BBC become successful (which we think it will -- after the news was announced, the number of people using the iPlayer rose significantly), we wouldn't be surprised to see other major networks adopt their services to Nintendo's console.
That's not to say that the BBC isn't running into some problems with the idea, though. Right now, the network is quarreling with ISPs over who should pay the extra service costs. Even so, the player can be used as soon as today, with more polished video quality promised in the future. You'll probably also be relieved to know that the service is free, although it will cost you money to download Nintendo's internet channel if you haven't done so already.
The other catch? The BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, for the time being, but BBC Worldwide is apparently working on getting an international player up and running.
[Via TVSquad; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Another Week in Europe
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.Unlike reigning full beard freestyle world champion Elmar Weisser of Germany (who we admire fiercely), we have mixed feelings about this week's European sales charts.
For example, while we're heartened by the success of debutant Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (5th in the UK, and the Wii edition supplemented sales of other versions across Europe -- not bad for a game that appeared on every other console last October), we're irked by the flat performance of House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (15th in Britain, and nowhere to be seen in the charts of mainland Europe).
Europe, if you're reading, stop buying Game Party (7th in UK), Smarty Pants (10th in Spain), and Mario & bleeding Sonic (high everywhere) and let's get something half-decent up there for a change. Sega Bass Fishing should make next week's chart, so that'd be a good place to start -- let's have that top ten somewhere, please. Sigh. At least Elmar will never fail to impress us. Click on for the charts.
Highland Spring promo gives away Wii consoles in UK
As if the Wii needed any more advertising, a new joint venture between Nintendo and Highland Spring, a bottle water provider in the UK. Also, the promotion will feature tennis superstar Andy Murray, as well as the possibility for UK citizens to win a variety of prizes.It will start in just over a month, in May of this year. One free Wii will be given away each week, with 32 finalists heading to Roehampton to meet Andy Murray. One lucky finalist will even get to test their abilities against him in a match of Wii Sports: Tennis.
You can enter via text message or by hitting up the official contest site right here.
Pachter: Shortages coming to an end later this year
Michael Pachter is at it again. This time, of all people, he spoke with a writer for the Dallas Morning News. Now, we're not experts in this institution that reports real world news, but we do know that video game news tends to usually fall below their radar. But they care about the Wii because, well, everyone and their grandmother bought one.Regardless, Pachter did, and he is saying that those of us in the U.S. need to blame it on
His belief is that the console will be more readily available in the U.S. later on this year, when the dollar is expected to bounce back some. Based on the fact that the console released over a year ago, though, we're not going to hold our breath.
[Thanks, Matt!]
Another Week in Europe
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.If you live in Europe, there's an exceedingly good chance that you're into games about dudes shooting other dudes, though not dudes slashing other dudes. Two factors have led us to this conclusion: the recent chart-topping success of cow-brained murder-fest Army of Two (and now Ubisoft tactical shooter Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2), and No More Heroes' sudden disappearance from every European chart going, a week after it launched.
For other Wii games, meanwhile, it's been a week of mixed fortunes. On the plus side, Mario & Sonic continues to hold its own, by making the top five in the UK, Ireland, Holland, France, and Spain, and it looks like Wii Play is finally getting restocked, as it came from nowhere to reach 5th in Germany, 11th in Ireland, and 7th in the UK.
Less positively, Sega Superstars Tennis made all the impact of a kitten breaking wind, managing only 12th place in Sonic-mad Britain. Check out the full charts past the break.
