Nintendo Wii Fanboy

If you caught the first game, then you know what to expect from this video: more senior citizens in he bowling match of their lives. At least, that's how they treat it, as many teams across this great nation throw down for the ultimate prize of glory and respect. There is one thing we can definitely say about a lot of these bowlers, though. They would probably stomp us in some Wii Sports: Bowling.

[Thanks, Zach!]

We love to see people, regardless of their age, enjoy gaming. We even love the spirit of competition. Heck, we love lots of things these days.

So, with that in mind, we bring forth this video of the first game being played in the First Annual Erickson Sports Nintendo Wii Bowling Championship. And, like any kind of championship, we're impressed by the presentation of it all. Oh, one other thing: don't mess with Charlie "The Hook" Dierbach. That man looks like he's liable to mess you up.

You got served!

Update: Wow, me am not good at grammar. Sorry for the mistake in the headline, all is fixed thanks to the keen eye of Miranda.

[Thanks, Zach!]

Maybe we're the only ones who fear a robot uprising and the enslavement of all humanity at the cold, metallic hands of cruel, unfeeling robotic overlords? No? Well, then why are people dying to build robots that perform human tasks? Bueller?

And, in case you didn't follow all of that, the embedded video past the post break presents a robot designed to bowl a perfect game in Wii Sports: Bowling. Whether the credit belongs to the robot or individual who made the robot is anyone's guess. We're going to go with the individual, however, since we hate robots.

Please do keep the human resistance informed of any new developments in the robotic community, won't you?

[via Battle Bricks]

Columnist John C. Dvorak has some very positive things to say about Nintendo's Wii console, namely its bundled game Wii Sports. Actually, he's very impressed by Wii Sports: Bowling, to be precise. Being a man with a rather illustrious bowling past, he found the game to be dead-on as far as realistically translating real-life movement into in-game action goes. This is something we thought was so impressive about the game from our first moments with it, however we had no frame of reference as we never really excelled in the sport out in the real world.

What's odd about his piece, however, is that he claims prolonged play with the title will cause some adverse medical conditions in the player. This is something we ourselves can't believe, as we've had sessions that have lasted quite awhile, bordering on the double-digit hour time frame. Even those nights we never found ourselves to be physically fatigued in any way, aside from our feet (having stood up so long, y'know).

Do any of you suffer from cramps or pain from prolonged play with Wii Sports: Bowling?

After posting about an impressive run at Wii Sports: Bowling's power throw mini-game, we were sent a link to someone who supposedly got a perfect score in said mini-game. We say supposedly because we PLAYED it, we know how difficult it is to get nothing but strikes in this mini-game. Also, lacking video documentation doesn't help his claim. It's a lot easier to fake pictures than it is to fake a video. What do you guys think?

See also: Rollin' a perfect game in Wii Sports: Bowling

[Thanks Tyler!]

For the uninformed, the power throw mini-game is a challenge set in Wii Sports: Bowling where the player must go through ten frames of action where the number of pins steadily increases from ten in the first frame, to a gigantic 91 pins in frame ten. This means that, given consecutive strikes, the top score possible is 890 pins. The embedded video, available past the post break, shows You Tube user DarkPlayer1988 getting to 804 pins, just a mere 86 pins away from mini-game perfection.

Have you achieved perfection in this mini-game? Take a picture or, even better, some video and let us know! We're always on the look-out for this kind of stuff.

[Via Joystiq]

With the validity of the above image in question, we're hard-pressed to believe it ourselves. While we know full well how heated Wii Sports: Bowling can get, we've never been so aggressive in our pursuit of bowling perfection as to whip the Wiimote with so much force it could even be conceivable the velocity of our throw would result in the above image. What do you think? Fake or real?

In the embedded video, which is brought to us courtesy of Epileptic Gaming in an attempt to debunk statements made by IGN claiming that "skill is a major factor and if you're good, you will bowl strikes; if you're not so good, you'll be much more prone to hit the gutter." The video proves that IGN overstated things a bit and the game doesn't rely on your skills as a real life bowler to dictate skill in-game.

Joystiq's own Kyle Orland sat down with the Wii and looked to test out the learning curve. In choosing Wii Sports: Bowling, he looked to see if Nintendo's motion-control scheme was as intuitive and easy to use as the company had marketed. So how does one accomplish this? By playing a lot of Wii. Going through natural motions and even trying to "trick" the game, Kyle's results were as follows:

• Game 1: Having trouble letting go of the "B" button in mid-swing. The result is a late throw that ends up dribbling down the lane for a few pins. Score: 110

• Game 2: Better with the timing, but the ball has a natural curve at the end that makes most shots miss the mark just barely. Score: 116

• Game 3: Consciously focusing on keeping the ball straight. Throwing it at less than full power seems to help. Score: 146

• Game 4: Confident in the straight game, I focus on adding some spin to the end of the shot. Most shots end up too turning too much or too little. Score: 145

• Game 5: Working off a surprise strike from game 5, I decide to try a standard first shot for all ten frames -- full power, straight on from the right edge with maximum leftward spin. I get two strikes but miss a few easy spares. Score: 147

• Game 6: I try shooting with an approach from the extreme left side, angled towards the center with a slight spin. No strikes, but I pick up the spare on all but one frame. Score: 166

• Game 7: No set strategy -- I pick shots based on flights of fancy. Pick up eight spares and two splits. Score: 159
  

• Game 8: Arm is getting a little tired from 140+ straight throws without a break, so I try to fool the system by sitting down and just flicking my wrist. The results are disastrous. Score: 111

So what did Kyle find? He found that over these 8 games, in slightly adjusting his movements, he actually got better at the game. Also, trying to trick the game by flicking the Wiimote fast did little to improve his score. So what does this mean? Well, if you're good at bowling in real life, you'll probably be good in Wii Sports: Bowling.