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Wii Warm Up: Provide your own soundtrack


Photos from Flickr user beastandbean recently popped up in our RSS feed, titled "Wii Fit Jams: Music to exercise to!" Now, we never really got the appeal of listening to other music while playing a game, but then perhaps we're really old and fusty and out of touch (likelihood of this: high).

We can sort of understand it with Wii Fit, with its plinky-plonky elevator music (music which is designed to be nothing more than background noise), but some friends of ours actually play their record collections all the time with every game. Are we alone in thinking they're as mad as a hatter?

Wii Warm Up: Trade-ins



News of GameStop's trade-in offer on Mario Kart Wii may well have had some of you sifting through your collections for those barely used copies of Cabela's Big Game Hunter and Carnival Games, but is trading in your games a regular thing for you kids? This blogger has always been something of an anti-hoarder, and consequently I've become a serial trader in the last year or two, after discovering that reasonable deals could be had on the high street, if you look in the right places.

Wii Warm Up: What Brawl is missing?


Super Smash Bros. Brawl seems to have pretty much every base covered. Really, it's the ultimate gaming box of chocolates, boasting an absurdly vast array of fighting modes, trophies, characters, items, stages, stickers, challenges, music, snapshots, customized stages, and much, much more. But here's something it doesn't have: Miis.

Reader Mark wrote to us pointing out that he rather liked the idea of putting himself up against the Brawl cast. We hadn't even considered this, but now Mii integration in Brawl appeals to us also! It may seem churlish to complain about a lack of stuff to do in Brawl, but then Miis make appearances in other Nintendo titles, so why not Brawl? Think you'd have enjoyed seeing a miniature, blobby version of yourself kicking Pikachu in the gums? Of course you would!

Oh, and bonus points to anybody who can tell us who the dozen Miis above are based on.

[Thanks, Mark!]

Wii Warm Up: Getting your TV on


To our pleasant surprise, the Television no Tomo Channel G Guide turned out to be even more well-rounded and awesome than we first anticipated. This is cause for cheer, obviously, but also makes us wonder: will U.S. Wii owners ever get the chance to channel surf with their Wiimotes? There are no plans announced yet, but perhaps we need to demonstrate to Nintendo that we're interested! So people, who would use this if it ever came stateside?

Wii Warm Up: Not the usual suspects



Pretty much everybody is pumped for the big titles, and events such as the ongoing Game Developers Convention only further inflate such rabid anticipation. But what of smaller, less hyped games? Which upcoming titles are you looking forward to hearing news about that don't have "Smash," "Kart," "Fantasy," or "Fit" in their names?

Wii Warm Up: Gaming couples

As it's the Most Romantic, Passionate Day of the Year™, we'd like to know how many of you regularly get to game with your partner or spouse? Gaming may once have been predominantly male territory, but the numbers are far more even nowadays, and a lot of that seems to be down to Nintendo and its all-encompassing approach.

If you are a gaming couple, what are your favorite titles to play together? Do you prefer co-op games, or to compete against one another? And if it's the latter, who wins?

See also: Valentine's Day for the gamer in your life

Wii Warm Up: On Mario Kart Wii



We've been hearing new details about Mario Kart Wii recently, and it's pretty clear that there's going to be some notable tweaks made to the tried-and-trusted formula. Firstly, we should make one thing clear: we are genuinely thrilled about many of these modifications. Online leagues, global rankings, and online multiplayer for up to twelve people is the stuff dreams were made of back in 1991, when Super Mario Kart (above) was soaking up our afternoons like a particularly fun, addictive sponge (and on a tangential note, how well has that game aged?).

But look at some of the other changes being made: we already know about the bikes, but it looks like the game will also include aerial tricks and bike wheelies, introducing some sort of stunt element to the experience. Is this a case of Nintendo over-egging Mario Kart, in the same way that it over-egged Mario Kart: Double Dash!!? There's an awful lot to be excited about when it comes to Mario Kart Wii, but are you Mario Kart traditionalists concerned by some of these new developments, or is it simply too soon to tell?

Wii Warm Up: Let's talk Rock Band

EA confirmed earlier this week that it would be bringing Rock Band to the Wii, an announcement which prompted spontaneous high kicks and even the splits from most of the Wii Fanboy crew. This is a fantastic development, and the pairing of Rock Band and the Wii seems absolutely right. It's the ultimate party game for the console that is most suited to social gatherings.

So, we can't help ourselves. We want to chat some more about Harmonix's big-budget rhythm game, and get some of your thoughts. Firstly, will you be buying it? If so, all of the instruments? And which role will you be playing?

Also, is this the kind of thing your relatives would play with you? We'd love to see bands that span the generations, with grandmothers on bass and uncles maintaining a steady beat on the drums. Our families won't have a choice, frankly. They will be playing and they will enjoy it.

Wii Warm Up: Best. Q1. Evar.



We were recently sifting through the latest list of forthcoming Wii releases, when it struck us: for Wii owners, the opening three months of 2008 are looking surprisingly healthy. As anybody who is familiar with this industry will know, the first quarter of any given year is usually a drought for quality games, a period for wallets to gain some respite from the Christmas bombardment of releases.

Things seem different this year, however. We've already enjoyed No More Heroes (which, don't forget, you can win in our latest Fanswag) and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and still have Baroque, Okami, Opoona, and Worms: A Space Oddity to come. Oh yeah, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Even though Mario Kart seems to have slipped to not-Q1, that's a tasty line-up for what is traditionally the quietest time of the year. Are you similarly impressed by this unexpected onslaught, or are we getting over-excited?

Wii Warm Up: 'Fess up to your gaming non-achievements

We've all got them: those classic games that we just never got around to completing, or, in some cases, playing.

For his part, this blogger has only ever completed two -- TWO!! -- Zelda games (Link to the Past and Twilight Princess), and only made it through one-third of Super Mario Bros. 3. I have played other Zelda and Mario titles of course, sometimes for scores of hours each, but just never quite found the time to finish them. As for Super Mario Galaxy, that was left to collect dust a month ago, with only 21 stars obtained, and 99 still missing.

I am not proud of these facts. But I am coming clean now, and it feels good! So put any concerns about your precious gamer cred to one side, and tell us: which gaming classics have you either failed to complete, or not even tried? It'll be our secret. By which we mean, the entire internet's secret.

Wii Warm Up: Gaming marathons



Gaming endurance seems to be a bit of a theme this week. First, there was the story of Bill Tangeman, who racked up a quite unearthly score by playing a single round of Geometry Wars: Galaxies on his DS for 24 hours. Then, and perhaps more impressively still, we heard about these guys, who are trying to complete four Zelda games in 48 hours for charity and pizza. As we type, they're speeding through The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

You pretty much know where this is going, then: we'd like to hear about your own marathon gaming sessions. It'd be nice if these were on the Wii, but we're also happy for you to tell us about that time you spent thirteen straight hours playing the first Halo in a friend's attic. Wait, no ... that was me. Oh, the sweaty, unwashed shame of it all!

Wii Warm Up: A good yarn



Cory Barlog's recent remarks on Super Mario Galaxy's "vapid story" riled quite a few of our readers, with many arguing that Mario games simply don't need much of a narrative hook to be hella fun.

That argument certainly has some weight, but we don't want to open that particular debate again today. Instead, we'd like to know how important a good story is to you when it comes to choosing games. Are you more a fan of epic tales (Final Fantasy), do you prefer something a little more subtle (Ico), or couldn't you care less about having a story to wade through? Finally, if you do appreciate a strong narrative like the Beatrix Potter fan above, which Wii games have kept you glued?

Wii Warm Up: Splashing the cash

It looks like Wii fever on eBay is finally fizzling out, ending weeks of people paying crazy money for Nintendo's console. But just the thought of all that wild, unabated spending got us reflecting on some of our own high-priced video game purchases.

Back in the day, in a (ultimately unsuccessful) bid to complete the Dreamcast library, yours truly once threw $250 at a Samba De Amigo bundle (a purchase that now, with the benefit of hindsight, looks rather unnecessary). Then again, we sense that may be rather tame compared to some people, so tell us: what's been your most outlandish gaming purchase?

Wii Warm Up: A time for sober reflection



It's been just over a month since Super Mario Galaxy released in the U.S. and Europe, and we normally find that's enough time for us to be able to objectively stand back and view the aftermath of a game's true impact. Our question today is a simple one, then: is Galaxy really one of the best games of all time, a worthy title to be wrestling with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for that #1 spot on Game Rankings? Or would it -- shock, horror -- not even be your choice for GOTY? Speak out!

Wii Warm Up: Manual? We don't need no stinkin' manual!


We admit it. Sometimes we just jump right in to a game without busting out the manual first. We figure, hey, we're professionals here. We've been doing this gaming thing for years. We've progressed far beyond reading the manual before getting into the game.

Of course, we're also often wrong, and we retreat, tails between our legs, and start flipping through the little booklet, grumbling all the while.

The thing of it is, we remember way back in the way back, in the days when we were smaller than we are now, reading the manual was one of the best parts of getting a new game! The useless character profiles that we pored over, the descriptions of monsters, the control schemes ... it was all part of preparation. Maybe we've just grown impatient in our old age. What approach do you take? Do you read the manual before you start a new game? If not, did you ever, or have you always been a risk-taker?

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