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Harry Potter paves the way for bartending on the Wii

Who would ever think of Hogwarts as a glorified bartending school? Well, Jason Cipriano from MTV Multiplayer, for one. After getting his hands on the Wii's upcoming Harry Potter title, he was impressed with the potion-mixing minigame portion of the demo. The game works as you might imagine; simply enough, you tilt the Wiimote downward as if you were pouring liquids. The key is in applying the right amount of force to the motion, otherwise your potion might explode (making the new Potions teacher, Horace Slughorn, none too happy). There are some other motion-controlled mixing actions you have to perform as well, to keep the minigame from feeling too basic.

Harry Potter
aside, though, Cipriano points out that this type of liquid mixing gameplay could work well in a title like Cooking Mama, where Mama kicks back with a few G & Ts, or perhaps even an original bartending title. Imagine a game like Order Up!, only instead of pleasing customers in a restaurant, you had to serve your patrons drinks. We think we could dig it, though we're not sure Nintendo would be so keen. Then again, we are seeing a Beer Pong game come to WiiWare sometime in the future, so you never know.

Wii's Sunday bargain bin

We love Sundays, as there are always new game sales to look forward to. Luckily, this week there are some sweet deals on a few Wii titles. Scouring through the ad listings at Cheap Ass Gamer, the ones we found of interest include:
  • Okami for $29.99 at Best Buy
  • Boom Blox with a free $10 gift card at Circuit City and Target
  • Speed Racer for $29.99 at Target
Keep in mind that while Circuit City offers its deals online, Best Buy and Target's are brick and mortar only. Also, Target deals vary by region, so the ones above may or may not apply to stores near you.

[Via CAG]

Read: Best Buy ad with Okami for $29.99
Read: Boom Blox with free $10 gift card at Circuit City

Speed Racer videos show cars chasin' after someone

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.

Continue reading Speed Racer videos show cars chasin' after someone

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is summoned to the Wii

You probably won't be stupefied to know that EA announced the next video game in the Harry Potter series, based on the sixth novel by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will come out later this year, so that it coincides with the movie's release.

In case you are unfamiliar with the games, though, the series puts you in a GTA/Bully-esque sandbox-style world, only you're spending your time at Hogwarts and aren't issuing magical commands to give people wedgies (accio underpants!). When Order of the Phoenix was announced for the Wii way back when, Potterheads everywhere salivated over using the Wiimote as a wand. Upon playing the game, though, it turned out the controls weren't very well-executed. We're too jaded to get our hopes up again, but EA made mention of the company's focus on waggle this time around. If there's any license-based series that we want to like, it's this one, so hopefully EA can deliver.

[Via press release]

He's a demon on USB

Are you likely to be spending some money at Target in the near future? Then you might as well head on over there sometime soon and pick up this Speed Racer-themed gift card (which you can use later to buy what you actually wanted in the first place). Even if you're not interested at all in the upcoming game (or movie), you'll still land yourself the free mini USB 2.0 Flash drive that comes with it. The drive only holds 62.8 MB worth of stuff, but should that bother you, you're missing the key word here -- free.

Initially, 51.6 MB will be taken up by promotional Speed Racer goodies, but that stuff can always be deleted. Those of you who are looking forward to seeing the Mach 5 in action soon enough, though, might enjoy some of the extras provided. According to GamerTell, the drive includes:
  • Five coloring book-style pages featuring the Mach 5 and Racer X's car (PDF file)
  • A coupon for $1 off a Speed Racer Powerburst racer and $3 off a Speed Racer Powerburst figure-8 track set (PDF file)
  • Two Speed Racer desktop wallpapers
  • A Speed Racer family movie (MOV and WMV files)
  • A special code for the Wii version of the video game (we wonder what that will do/unlock?)
Due to the nature of the internet, we're sure you'll be able to find the game code without buying the Flash drive-bundled gift card. Still, we recommend getting one of these pseudo-free sticks if Target is one of your regular stomping grounds.

Adventure's waiting just ahead in Speed Racer

MTV Multiplayer has some exclusive gameplay footage of the upcoming Speed Racer game (embedded above), and we're actually more impressed than we thought we'd be. We do, however, have some complaints:
  1. The constant barrage of comments from the other racers -- is that really necessary? It might be fine at first, but we can foresee our patience wearing thin if that continues throughout the whole game.
  2. The tracks look a little on the dull side.
  3. Where's the music? Obviously the actual game will have it, we just wish we could've gotten a taste of it in the gameplay video.
Since we haven't heard any news of an F-Zero title heading to the Wii, though, this seems like the next best thing. We definitely don't get the sense of polish and utter awesomeness that F-Zero games tend to bestow upon us, but considering this is a license-based game that's being targeted to kids, Speed Racer isn't looking too bad.

(Note: MTV's videos are region-locked, unfortunately, so we're sorry if those of you outside of the U.S. can't watch it!)

Speed Racer ... you know, for kids

If you spent your days as a youngin' watching cartoons, you're probably familiar with Speed Racer. Yet, most fans of the series are all grown up now, considering that it aired over a decade ago. (Yes, Speed Racer X was around more recently, but that doesn't count since it got yanked after only a few episodes.)

That's why we were kind of baffled after watching this interview with the game's producer, Jeff Nachbaur. Nachbaur explains that the target audience for the upcoming Speed Racer title is 8-12 year olds, so the developers focused most of the game's testing on them. He also mentions that kids will love the roller coaster-esque tracks, in case you weren't sure that this game was made for kids. While we can definitely see those in a young age group becoming enamored with the new movie (which is what this game is based on), what about the gaggle of oldschool Speed Racer fans (like this blogger)? Will we enjoy it, too?

Perhaps -- after all, Mario Kart is an all-ages racer -- but the constant emphasis on this being a kids game has us a little less excited.

[Via GoNintendo]

To the LEGO-Cave!


We're not really sure what's going on in this picture, but they sure do look guilty, don't they? Or perhaps just annoyed that we're watching while they attempt to sneak up on some villain types. From the latest screenshots from LEGO Batman, there are plenty of those running around. See for yourself in our fresh new gallery!

Gallery: LEGO Batman

Lego Batman to hit Wiis next year

TT Games officially announced today that the next game in the LEGO franchise, LEGO Batman: The Videogame, is coming out on the Wii (and pretty much every other system). The game will be made by the same development team that made the popular LEGO Star Wars games.

LEGO Batman not only lets you play as Batman and Robin, but you can also play as the bad guys. The press release didn't specify whether or not villain control will be limited to certain sections of the game or available throughout, but it's still a nice feature to add. More things to look forward to include the vehicle construction feature, utilizing Batman's gadgetry, and a two player co-op mode.

We're 100% convinced that this game is going to rock our world. The game is schedule for a Fall 2008 release, though, and we just don't know how we're going to wait that long. Ah, the sweet, sweet torture of it all.

[Via press release]

Lego Star Wars developer travels to Warner

Travellers' Tales, the British developer most recently known for their Lego Star Wars series, will soon be acquired by Warner Bros. Luckily, this does not spell the end of their popular series, as they have announced that they will maintain their current partnerships with Lego and LucasArts. Quite a relief for those looking forward to the upcoming Lego Indiana Jones game.

Just about the only relationship this new acquisition calls into question is that between Travellers' Tales and Sega. TT has had a longstanding partnership with Sega, developing high-profile games like Sonic R, Sonic 3D Blast and Super Monkey Ball Adventure. Of course, those aren't the best three Sega games, so maybe it's not much of a problem for them to be off the market.

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