The English version of the Channel is way better than the Japanese version. Here are two things I noticed right away:
- Game pages now have a "Purchase" link. Clicking that will whisk you off to a Internet retailer listing page on the Internet Channel where you can select your favorite online retailer and buy the game right there and then through your Wii.
- You can pause and rewind/fast forward videos. Extremely useful. There are video volume level controls through the Wii Remote, too.
There's also the recommendation system and the game search, which is much better than sifting through the Wii Shop Channel. Curiously, though, not all publishers' games are listed in the index at this time. I speculate it's because they haven't signed on with (read: paid) Nintendo to put their games on the channel yet. Shouldn't be very long, though.
Check out our newly created NWR Steam group. I intend on getting some events going for NWR peeps, particularly in Team Fortress 2 (costs money) and TrackMania (FREE!!!). If you have Steam, please join us. If you don't have Steam, GET IT:
If you've been listening to the podcast or have been snooping through our email then you'll know that we can't stop talking about TrackMania Nations United, which is a totally free game you can play online. You can also build your own tracks with the game's ridiculously simple and powerful track editor, and then share those tracks online. So yeah, get Steam, get the game, and join us!!
Again, I will say that the new NWR (and the concurrent forums tweak) will make things better for everyone. Please stick with us!
Also, I want to say that I just came up with a brilliant, ads-related idea that everyone here will get a kick out of. This idea of mine is so brilliant that you'll wonder why we didn't do it before! I'm not going to say what it is until I work it out with Ty, but needless to say I think you'll love it!!!
I've been the owner of the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band for quite some time now, so the Wii version of Rock Band was nothing new to me. If you're interested in the game at all, it probably isn't anything new to you, either. But if you know not of this music game, Rock Band recreates a four-person band made up of a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a singer.
The full retail package for Wii includes the game, one guitar, a drum kit, and a microphone to get things going. The standalone guitar will be available at the game's launch, as will a game-only version in case you just want to get the guitar and the game separately. The Rock Band Fender Stratocaster guitar controllers are wireless; however, they don't use the Wii Remote to connect to the console like the Guitar Hero III Gibson guitar controllers. Instead, they have their own built-in transmitters that make the guitars one big giant controller. The microphone and drum kit are connected to the Wii via a USB connection.
Rock Band for Wii in action.
Unfortunately, the Wii version of Rock Band does not have online play or downloadable content. The game is essentially a port of the PlayStation 2 version, which does not have online functionality, so coupled with Nintendo's poor track record of online support, this missing feature shouldn't come as a surprise. However, Matt Kelly, a producer at Harmonix, told Nintendo World Report that Harmonix is still pursuing DLC for the Wii version of Rock Band in some form or another. How it can happen after launch is an unknown, but at least Harmonix is still looking into it.
The Wii version of Rock Band will be available on June 22.
Guitar Hero revolutionized the music game genre on home consoles and now Activision and Vicarious Visions are looking to give the same treatment to the Nintendo DS. Guitar Hero On Tour features the same gameplay that Guitar Hero fans know and love, but is designed in a way to make it work for a handheld.
The first question should be obvious: How the heck do you plug a guitar into the DS? Red Octane, manufacturers of the guitars for the console games, came up with a grip for the handheld that feature four guitar fret buttons, one less than the standard five-button Guitar Hero guitar controller. The grip includes: a velcro strap that can be adjusted to fit, a guitar pick and storage slot, and a reversible skin inside the grip that can be customized. The device plugs into the Game Boy Advance slot on the bottom of the DS, and will ship with an adapter that will make it compatible with both the original and Lite models of the Nintendo DS.
The attachment in action
According to Activision, the DS guitar grip only has four buttons since it found that to be the magic number in terms of fun and usability, taking handheld (and therefore, screen) stability into account. Activision said it had prototypes of units with three, four, five, and even six-button units (the company labeled Guitar Hero DS a "crazy experimental R&D project") until it settled on the current model. Even with one less button, the development team is claiming that the game is still "freakin' hard" on expert difficulty.
The game is operated by slipping your hand into the guitar grip and holding the DS vertically, much like you'd do in a game like Brain Age. Notes scroll down the screen on the top screen, just like they would in Guitar Hero on your television. During gameplay, the touch screen shows a representation of a guitar. To play a note you need to hold down the proper fret buttons and strum across the screen. From the looks of the presentation we saw, back and forth strumming, sustains, and whammies, were possible by holding and zig-zagging the pick on and across the touch screen. Vicarious Visions claims that the action is "very similar" to picking and strumming on a real guitar.
Star Power can be activated in two ways. For those with no shame, once the Star Power meter is at least half-full, yelling into the microphone will turn on the juice. For those that would rather not embarrass themselves, tapping the Star Power meter on the left side of the touch screen will also activate the score multiplier mode.
Guitar Hero On Tour will be similar in structure and progression to Guitar Hero III on the Wii, but includes new modes. One of them is modeled after battle mode multiplayer in GHIII. Duel mode in On Tour, which Activision is calling "very important" to the game, has the same spiked power-up notes as the console version, but the attacks are much different. Some of them are brand-new, and others taken from GHIII have been changed to take advantage of the DS touch screen.
The first new duel mode attack we saw was "sign my purse." When a player gets hit with this attack, a lady's purse blocks the guitar on the touch screen and must be scribbled on (or rather, "autographed") before they can resume strumming on the guitar. Later we saw that other objects also appear to get signed, like a T-shirt. Another attack will set your opponent's guitar on fire. The only way to put it out, and start playing again, is to blow into the DS microphone a few times.
Returning attacks have new twists up their sleeve. The dreaded broken string must now be physically re-strung by dragging a string up the guitar neck on the touch screen. The amp overload now cuts out all the audio while you play, making it harder to follow along with the music. Duel mode can be played against a friend wirelessly or during career in a dedicated single player duel mode.
You can't talk about a Guitar Hero game without mentioning the music list. While a full music listing is not yet available, we did at least see "Are You Going to be My Girl" by Jet and Twisted Sister's classic "We're Not Going to Take It" during the demonstration. There will be 20 songs exclusive to the DS version as well as transplants from Guitar Hero III. The total number of songs is not yet known, but over 100 minutes of music, optimized for the DS speakers and headphones, have been crammed into the game.
Guitar Hero On Tour will be rated E10+ and is set for a release in June.
As everyone knows by now, the idea of Wii Fit is to give people an excuse to exercise under the guise of a game. Wii Fit includes mini-games like ball rolling and skiing as well as fitness tests like strength training and yoga exercises. It even has a variety of charts to track your progress and encourage you to keep at it every day. The point of these charts is to show you how using—or not using—Wii Fit on a regular basis will affect the fitness progress is being made.
Wii Fit measures your body mass index and your weight every time you start playing the game. Over time, any gains you make in lowering your BMI will be visually obvious on the progress tracker. Even small gains from day to day will show up, which can encourage people to keep at it.
Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen, who had been using Wii Fit regularly, demonstrated what happens when someone stops using Wii Fit for an extended period of time. For someone as high up on the Nintendo food chain as Trinen, a busy schedule is a given, so there were stretches of time when he simply didn't have the opportunity to use Wii Fit. The BMI tracking chart reflected this. Before a large gap of inactivity in the chart, Trinen's BMI had been decreasing slowly. However, the first time he went back to measure himself after returning to the game, his BMI measurement shot up slightly. Outside circumstances aside, the chart made it pretty black and white: physical inactivity leads to weight gain.
Wii Fit isn't something that's only going to be a fun way to exercise. Based on what Trinen said about his personal experiences with it, it also looks like something that can help you stick to an exercise plan, even if Wii Fit is the only exercise you'll be getting. No one likes to see themselves gain weight, but the problem is that most of the time people don't notice it happening to themselves until it's already happened. With Wii Fit, the BMI and weight tracker charts can help show people that progress is being made toward a goal weight that they can set for themselves. If the chart starts to consistently move upwards, that may be an early warning sign that not enough is being done to maintain a current weight.
Wii Fit could be a lot more than just something you move your body to. Based on Trinen's account and presentation at the media summit, Wii Fit is looking more and more like a useful tool for staying fit and keeping healthy.
I've been looking forward to LostWinds since the moment it was announced. The fact that the game tells me I'll be able to put the power of the wind in my hand intrigues me on many levels. (The wind is kind of mything.) Once Nintendo put out the WiiWare games, on day two of the media summit, LostWinds was the first game I jumped at. I got to the game station so quickly, in fact, that the Frontier rep demoing the game wasn't even around.
That didn't stop me from diving head-first into the demo available. Using my wind-smarts I quickly gathered that the main character, a boy named Toku, couldn't jump on his own. Instead, he has to rely on the wind spirit named Enril to help him out. Enril is just the fancy name for the Wii Remote pointer cursor, which directs a stream of wind wherever you streak it across the screen. There's no need to press a button to get a wind gust going. All you need to do is quickly make a line on the screen to make Mother Nature do her thing.
Initially, I was frustrated that there was no way for Toku to jump without help. Even after I came to grips with how the wind system worked, and was able to get Toku airborne by shooting a gust of wind up from underneath him, I still wasn't landing larger jump with 100% accuracy. Once I got a handle on it I was doing pretty well with scaling large gaps and going up tall steps, though still not all the time. By this time, someone came over to the demo station to explain how the game works. After expressing his surprise at how far I got on my own (boo-yah!), he skipped ahead to a point further in the game and showed me some more advanced moves and puzzles.
By collecting wind spirits scattered about the game you can upgrade Enril's power and abilities. The most practical application of the power boosts, I was shown, was the ability to use multiple wind gusts to propel Toku around. This can be used to get him up higher and over farther, which makes it act like a double or triple jump. It also makes it easier to get up smaller ledges, since if you miss a jump with the first gust you can recover with the second. Toku can't survive large falls, so to save him you need to waggle the pointer cursor under him and use the wind to slow his descent. Most enemies can be taken out by literally blowing them off the screen.
Still, just seeing those actions didn't make the game look like anything more than a straight platformer. Later on in the demonstration I finally got to try out some of the game's puzzle elements. One area had two pressure switches on a high ledge and one boulder on the ground below. The first thing to do was to use wind power to blow the rock up to the top ledge, a task that felt somewhat clunky. Once the boulder was on one of the switches, a door to the left opened which led to a room with another boulder behind a door. To open the exit, I had to navigate Toku to a handle above it, which was too heavy to lift on his own. It took at good upward wind thrust to pull the switch and open the door, enabling me to move the boulder back to the pressure switches and move on to the next area.
Further along, I got to see how the wind generated with the pointer cursor affects the environment and how to manipulate it to serve your purposes. Moving the wind cursor around the screen will cause background elements to react to the gusts. Leaves on tress rustle around and windmills rotate when the cursor passes over them. The wind can also pick up water and fire. If a planted seed is near a water source, blowing some water onto it will make it sprout into a launcher for Toku. The launchers allow him to reach higher places. Fire will cause the plant to return to its seed form. The hot stuff is also handy to burn down wooden gates blocking the way.
I got to see a combination of the above, where Toku had to get a seed, plant it in the right spot, water it, get launched up into the air near a lit torch, blow the fire toward an unlit torch to light that, use the newly lit torch to burn a door down, move the seed to a new area on the other side of the door and replant it, and then water it again to get shot up to the next area. I was told that this area was still fairly early on in the game, so there may be puzzles with a lot more complexity than this.
Gameplay trailer showing off some of the wind's uses
One other ability that might lead to this increased complexity is the jetstream. With this move, gusted objects will follow the path of what you draw on the screen with the remote pointer. This can be used to arc fire from one torch to another if there's an object in the way, or better yet, guide Toku up and around twisty passages. In the game trailer (seen above), there's a sequence where Toku has a helicopter plant and gets swept down, around, and up a passageway after the pointer cursor made a path to do so.
From what I played of LostWinds, I think it will make a solid WiiWare game. The concept is interesting, and based on what I saw it looks like the puzzles will be pretty good. The only concern I have is that it may be frustrating to do certain tasks in the game if you can't get the wind gusts to go wherever you want, but that could be something that could be taken care of with a lot of Wii Remote practice.
Space Invaders is one of the all-time classics of video games. Old-timers like me (at the ripe old age of 25) still get a kick out of playing the original black-and-white version with its simple graphics and sound effects, but trying to get a young'un with a five-second attention span to play it is impossible. Taito decided to do something for the Nintendo DS generation, turning the bland backdrop into a pulsating kaleidoscope of color, giving your ship an array of weaponry, making the invaders attack in different configurations and patterns, and adding a bumpin' interactive soundtrack.
The result of this extreme makeover is the appropriately-titled Space Invaders Extreme. The core Space Invaders gameplay still shows up in this extreme version, with waves of enemies making block formations at the top of the screen and your ship at the bottom. (All the regular action takes place on the touch screen of the DS.) However, one big change is that enemies are color-coded. If you can shoot down four enemies of the same color in a row, they'll drop a weapon power-up. These will grant your ship weapons like a wide laser that cuts through everything in its path, a bomb that explodes on impact, a five-wide broad shot, and others. Another one of the power-ups is a shield that can block incoming fire. All of the weapons have a time limit, though, so you're going to need to use what's available to either take out what you can or pick up another weapon power-up.
The invaders coming in have new tricks, too. Some of them carry shields of their own that can take a few hits before going down. Other types of enemies also take a few hits before dying, but that's because they're five times the size of the regular invaders. Some of them can split into micro-sized invaders, making them much harder to hit. Still other enemies are marked with a red outline. Destroying these will cause them to explode, taking out anyone in their immediate area. I don't know why invaders from space would stuff themselves with explosives. Then again, aliens are strange creatures.
During the course of gameplay, you'll sometimes launch a bonus round that feature shooting action that's more similar to Galaga than Space Invaders. These bonus rounds use the height of both DS screens and require you to shoot a target number of enemies. If successful, you'll return to regular play in fever mode, which will give you a more powerful version of one of the weapons. The same dual-height screen format also appears during boss battles. A giant invader, made up of little blocks will appear, and to win the stage you need to chip away at it to reach its red weak point. This is harder than it looks because you need to gauge your shots over the distance of both screens so that by the time your bullet reaches the top, it will hit where you want.
What makes Space Invaders Extreme so ... uh, extreme, is that all of the gameplay happens in the midst of rave-like sounds and color. The background colors constantly change as things happen on the screen. There's also a pretty neat HUD that's integrated into the background and edges of the playfield that uses futuristic-style text. As you do better and better, the game music picks up in intensity and complexity, complementing the beats that are produced every time you fire a weapon from your ship or hit an enemy. In fever mode, the colors and sounds are accentuated in a way that really gets you into it.
Psychedelic
The last game I remember combining the aspects of a shooter and interactive music was Rez, which was recently remade for Xbox Live Arcade. From what I played of Space Invaders Extreme, it looks like it's going to have the same vibe coming from it. With shooters you can get in the zone and reach a new level of concentration and reaction. With music games, you can zone out and become a part of the music. Combining the two? Let's just say that I really, really want to play Space Invaders Extreme again as soon as I can.
From the very first time I saw Boom Blox, at E3 last year, I thought it was going to turn out to be a pretty cool game. The positive vibes I heard coming out of GDC a few months ago cemented that feeling. Now that I finally got some hands-on playtime with the first Steven Spielberg-Electronic Arts collaboration, I can say with confidence that what I played of Boom Blox is certifiably awesome.
For the media summit demo, the entire game was available. However, the attendees gravitated toward one multiplayer mode in particular. In it, a series of Jenga-like blocks were stacked in a variety of configurations. The aim of the game was to throw balls at the structures and fell the blocks to score points. Each of the blocks had a point value on them, with bigger blocks usually, but not always, worth more points.
Using the Wii Remote pointer allows you to look around the structures from any angle, including from above and below. Aiming the pointer cursor at the screen and holding down the A Button, when you've found your spot, sets you up to hurl a ball at that spot. The throw is achieved by doing the obvious action with the Wii Remote and then letting go of the A Button at the right time. It's just as if you were throwing a baseball. (Trust me when I say that you should definitely use the wrist strap while playing this game mode, even if you're not a fan of using it.) If you hit the right spot, you'll dislodge some blocks and score some points.
Look at 'em fall
There are real physics behind these actions, however. It's possible to topple large chunks of a tower to score huge points if you can knock out enough blocks under it, but because there is more weight on the blocks below that's not easy to do. I found that I could get leverage by aiming downward at a block that was protruding out of the pile and throwing a ball at toward its end. This created a seesaw effect, vaulting blocks on the other end into the air and scoring me good points on many occasions.
Other players, in the four-player game we were playing, had other strategies. One was able to hit blocks in such a way that they ricocheted into other blocks, causing mini-chain reactions. The alternating shot format of this mode made it so players could take advantage of the setups other players created, as every shot weakens the tower (or towers, depending on the level) further and further. Before too long, someone is going to knock over a lot of blocks and score a lot of points. Some players played to that strategy, looking to weaken the tower in a way that would best play to their advantage when it was next their turn to throw.
The amount of strategy and depth in just this one mode is ridiculous, yet it's based around the simple concept of throwing things and knocking stuff down. The action is a little boring if you're playing with three or four players in this mode, but only because it takes a while for it to be your turn again. It's awesome fun to play the game and watch others play the game. There's really no other way to put it.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Boom Blox. There are over 400 levels in the game broken up in various single player and multiplayer modes, and they are categorized into a ton of different game modes with all kinds of special blocks. Some blocks are shaped like animals that have special properties, like a chicken block that lays bomb blocks. Ghost blocks disappear when hit. Another level we saw required blocks to be shifted around within a pre-constructed tower to lower a bridge.
To take it a step further, every level in the game can be placed into the custom stage editor to tweak to your liking. Of course, you can build a level from scratch if that's your fancy. During a presentation we saw a few examples of what was possible with the level editor. One stage was as abstract as a Rube Goldberg machine; it ultimately exploded a herd of cows. Another quick demo showed us the behavior of various animal blocks and what could be possible in creating a stage.
Exploding animals, and other destruction.
Boom Blox looks simple and childish on the surface. But based on what I've seen and played, this game has the potential to be amazing fun for all types of gamers.
From the very first time I saw Boom Blox, at E3 last year, I thought it was going to turn out to be a pretty cool game. The positive vibes I heard coming out of GDC a few months ago cemented that feeling. Now that I finally got some hands-on playtime with the first Steven Spielberg-Electronic Arts collaboration, I can say with confidence that what I played of Boom Blox is certifiably awesome.
For the media summit demo, the entire game was available. However, the attendees gravitated toward one multiplayer mode in particular. In it, a series of Jenga-like blocks were stacked in a variety of configurations. The aim of the game was to throw balls at the structures and fell the blocks to score points. Each of the blocks had a point value on them, with bigger blocks usually, but not always, worth more points.
Using the Wii Remote pointer allows you to look around the structures from any angle, including from above and below. Aiming the pointer cursor at the screen and holding down the A Button, when you've found your spot, sets you up to hurl a ball at that spot. The throw is achieved by doing the obvious action with the Wii Remote and then letting go of the A Button at the right time. It's just as if you were throwing a baseball. (Trust me when I say that you should definitely use the wrist strap while playing this game mode, even if you're not a fan of using it.) If you hit the right spot, you'll dislodge some blocks and score some points.
Look at 'em fall
There are real physics behind these actions, however. It's possible to topple large chunks of a tower to score huge points if you can knock out enough blocks under it, but because there is more weight on the blocks below that's not easy to do. I found that I could get leverage by aiming downward at a block that was protruding out of the pile and throwing a ball at toward its end. This created a seesaw effect, vaulting blocks on the other end into the air and scoring me good points on many occasions.
Other players, in the four-player game we were playing, had other strategies. One was able to hit blocks in such a way that they ricocheted into other blocks, causing mini-chain reactions. The alternating shot format of this mode made it so players could take advantage of the setups other players created, as every shot weakens the tower (or towers, depending on the level) further and further. Before too long, someone is going to knock over a lot of blocks and score a lot of points. Some players played to that strategy, looking to weaken the tower in a way that would best play to their advantage when it was next their turn to throw.
The amount of strategy and depth in just this one mode is ridiculous, yet it's based around the simple concept of throwing things and knocking stuff down. The action is a little boring if you're playing with three or four players in this mode, but only because it takes a while for it to be your turn again. It's awesome fun to play the game and watch others play the game. There's really no other way to put it.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Boom Blox. There are over 400 levels in the game broken up in various single player and multiplayer modes, and they are categorized into a ton of different game modes with all kinds of special blocks. Some blocks are shaped like animals that have special properties, like a chicken block that lays bomb blocks. Ghost blocks disappear when hit. Another level we saw required blocks to be shifted around within a pre-constructed tower to lower a bridge.
To take it a step further, every level in the game can be placed into the custom stage editor to tweak to your liking. Of course, you can build a level from scratch if that's your fancy. During a presentation we saw a few examples of what was possible with the level editor. One stage was as abstract as a Rube Goldberg machine; it ultimately exploded a herd of cows. Another quick demo showed us the behavior of various animal blocks and what could be possible in creating a stage.
Exploding animals, and other destruction.
Boom Blox looks simple and childish on the surface. But based on what I've seen and played, this game has the potential to be amazing fun for all types of gamers.
A nice surprise at the media summit was a playable Wii version of Samba de Amigo, a game that holds a special place in the hearts of many music genre fans. I got to try out a few songs in both the double-remote and Wii Remote/Nunchuk configuration and noticed things weren't completely right in the build that was available.
Before a song starts, players are asked to calibrate the Wii Remotes (or Wii Remote and Nunchuk) by pointing them in the upwards, neutral, and downwards positions. I found that the calibration wasn't perfect (whether by my fault or the game's, I don't know), and that there was a bit of lag when changing positions in the middle of a song with a lot of notes.
In this video, you can see how people use the Wii Remotes to play the game. (Video capture of the screen was not allowed at the event. Sorry!)
Then again, that could also just be an excuse for being out of practice. Once I became acclimated to the controls, I was getting pretty good combos and landing things with the same consistency that I remember getting in the Dreamcast version with the maracas. After my third song I was getting C grades, which is about how well I did when I first started playing DC Samba. There are some kinks that need to be worked out in the interface, but I also feel that I could do much better with more play time.
There was one obvious problem, however. The sensitivity for shaking the Nunchuk was much different from that of the Wii Remote. While there's no way of knowing the exact reason for this, the game may have been calculating values from the accelerometer in the Nunchuk as though the Nunchuk were the same weight as the Wii Remote. Since the Wii Remote is much heavier than the Nunchuk, this theory would explain why the Nunchuk felt clumsy. Hopefully developer Gearbox can address this issue before the game is released in a few months.
Technicalities aside, I think Samba on Wii will be just as fun as the original released eight years ago. Although the game loses something without the maraca controllers (which still might be a possibility, according to Sega), I was still exaggerating poses for flair and moving my hips along with the beat. Any music game worth its salt will make you want to get into it, and I was getting into it a little. If I had more hands-on time with it, I think I would have gotten into the groove a lot more.
Sega's Samba de Amigo, the maraca-shaking Dreamcast classic, is headed to the Wii courtesy of developer Gearbox Software. Those unfamiliar with the series can get up to speed with a quick trip to YouTube, but in short, Samba is a music game that features two maraca controllers which must be shaken in time with the music and the visual prompts on the screen. The Dreamcast's maraca controllers featured motion sensors not unlike those in the Wii Remote that detected whether or not the player using them was pointing the maracas high in the air, low toward the ground, or out in front of them. Prompts called for combinations of these positions to create various moves and poses.
The Wii version doesn't have maracas (at least, not yet; Sega says it's looking into possible maraca accessories for the Wii), but it has something for which Wii owners have been waiting quite a long time: Samba de Amigo will be the first Wii game to support double Wii Remote control for a single player. Each controller acts as a maraca and shaking it will produce the maraca sound out of the Wii Remote speaker. Two players will require a total of four remotes. The game also supports the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo in the event that there aren't enough remotes to go around.
Samba de Amigo for Wii will have over 40 songs, which will include those from the original game, the 2000 version that was only released in Japan, and new tracks. Songs are of a Latin flavor, which includes hits like "The Cup of Life" and "Samba de Janeiro." The game will also include some of the game modes from the 2000 version, such as hustle mode, which requires extra controller waving movements and poses during songs. There will also be additional Wii-specific touches, such as dancing Miis in the background.
The intriguing thing about Samba Wii is that Sega wasn't the company behind the idea. Instead, Sega told us that Gearbox approached them about doing a Wii version, to which Sega agreed. We'll see how well things work out when Samba de Amigo is released on Wii this Summer.
Hey guys, I just want to speak a bit with the ads situation and address some of the comments on them.
First, about those "questionable" ads. The thing about working with advertising partners is that you don't always know what will show up in the code they give us to put up on the site. Nonetheless, we've contacted them about the ads and let them know that not everyone on our site appreciates them. So we're aware of that.
Secondly, about the new ads in the forum, in general. Look, I know you hate ads. I hate ads. But you know what? There are eyeballs that are looking through the forums that can also be looking at ads, which will generate revenue for us. The reality of the Internet is that the best way to make money from websites is through advertising revenue. Unless you guys want us to charge you money to come to the site, you're going to have to accept this fact. Please note that we're not, nor are we ever, going to start charging people money to come to NWR. We're doing our part, so why don't you?
Finally, to all of those using adblockers, I have a request. Why? If our ads don't load in your browser, we don't make money. Plain and simple. Sure, one person blocking ads isn't going to be a big deal for us, but when you consider that a lot of our readers aren't that much different than you forum guys are, and you're the type that blocks ads, what do you think that tells you about how many people block ads on NWR? If you insist on blocking our ads, the only thing we can do to counter it is to add more ads, which is something no one wants to see. But we may have to do it if the general attitude around here doesn't change.
I just ask you to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem. Complaining about it isn't going to change the reality of the situation. I promise you that the new NWR will have ads that are better integrated into the site and won't be too much of a nuisance. The forum ads were also kind of shoehorned in, so hopefully before long we'll make them fit in better, too. We want to make it so you won't mind not blocking our ads!
Just remember to think of it from our perspective, and hopefully you'll understand where we're coming from.
The Nintendo Spring Media Summit is underway in San Francisco, and we're there. Check out what Nintendo went over this morning and get a glimpse of what to expect from us next week. http://nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=15733
Select members of the media were invited to Nintendo's semiannual media summit in San Francisco, and we were there to check out what Nintendo has coming up for the Wii and Nintendo DS in the coming months. Although not much has emerged from the summit in terms of big news thus far, Nintendo let us in on a few details on some of its games.
New Nintendo Executive VP of Sales and Marketing Cammie Dunaway kicked off the summit with a welcome and introduction. In her opening speech, Dunaway explained how Nintendo "bridge titles" like the newly detailed Mario Super Sluggers will help transition new gamers from Wii Sports to other games.
Dunaway also briefly touched on WiiWare and what the service means for the console. With WiiWare, Nintendo hopes to bring the current DS library model, with its big and broad library of games for everyone, to Wii. WiiWare is also being touted as an opportunity for game developers to try something different and to reap the benefits of doing so.
The presentation then shifted to game demonstrations. First up was a look at Mario Super Sluggers, the Wii sequel to the GameCube baseball title. Nintendo demonstrated the Wii Remote controls and other parts of the game. (For more on what we saw during the presentation, click here for our first preview of Sluggers.)
Bill Trinen demonstrates a Yoga posture from Wii Fit known as "The Warrior."
Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen appeared next to talk more about Wii Fit and discuss his personal progress with the game. Though he admitted he was "a little nervous" about showing the crowd his body mass index and going through some of the exercises (he hadn't been using Wii Fit for a while at that point in time), ultimately he is more comfortable talking about his health in public because of the progress he's been making with Wii Fit.
During Trinen's demonstration, he challenged himself to score 300 points in the Hula Hoop game. As the score counter zipped higher and the timer got lower, the crowd cheered him on, only to have him come up one point short with 299 twirls, much to the disappointment of the crowd.
Bill Trinen begins his Hula Hoop quest for 300.
Next up was a look at Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness for the DS. This is the sequel to the original GBA/DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game, and like the first, it features completely random dungeons. Now exclusive to the DS, the graphics for the series have gotten a noticeable upgrade. A new feature is the ability to send out a dungeon rescue request via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to friends or to anyone in the world. It's even possible for you to email friends when you require a dungeon rescue.
After that presentation wrapped up, we got to see further demonstrations of the other Wii and DS games. Unfortunately, we can't elaborate on those titles since they are under a media embargo until next Tuesday. You will also need to wait until next Tuesday to see and read all of the previews, impressions and gameplay video we've gathered during our playtime with the games on display. Don't get your hopes up for any mind-blowing surprises, since there aren't any, but there are plenty of pleasant little surprises that we'll bring you next week.
Mario and Co. are heading back to the diamond for another baseball game. Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii will feature America's past-time while taking advantage of the Wii Remote in a way not unlike Wii Sports Baseball.
Like its predecessor, Mario Superstar Baseball on the GameCube, Super Sluggers features all-star teams of Nintendo characters playing in various Nintendo-themed baseball stadiums. All the characters from the last game will be back for the sequel, from the classics like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Daisy, to the lesser-appreciated supporting cast of Shyguy, Monty Mole, Toadette, and Boo. We even spotted Dixie Kong during the brief demonstration of the game.
The game will use the Wii Remote for pitching and hitting. Like in Wii Sports, these actions are performed with a throw or swing motion. However, Super Sluggers adds a special timing ring to give actions more power. Starting a pitching motion will create a circle around your character that constricts a smaller circle. Throwing when the circles line up will produce an optimal pitch. In addition, curve can be added to pitches by twisting the Wii Remote while throwing.
Batting works in much the same way as it does in Wii Sports: players must swing the Wii Remote to swing the bat. Batters also have timing circles which can help create more powerful hits. Characters have their own special bats, like Bowser's spiked club. Other characters have more exotic hitting implements, like a Hammer Brother's hammer. Donkey Kong forgoes the bat altogether and just uses a boxing glove.
A combination of button presses and Wii Remote shakes triggers actions such as fielding balls, throwing to base and running the bases after a hit. The faster you shake the remote, the quicker these actions are performed. Players can also execute advanced defensive maneuvers such as diving for a ball using the A Button.
Mario Super Sluggers will be released in Japan this June and later this year in other countries.
The big deal about Pro Evolution Soccer (or Winning Eleven, if you prefer) for the Wii isn't just that it is the first top-flight Konami-developed game for a Nintendo home console in a very long time. The big deal is that it uses the full functionality of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in a way that not only makes sense for a soccer game, but allows for field control that is simply impossible with a traditional control scheme.
The Wii Remote pointer controls most aspects of offensive movement. By selecting a player with the pointer's cursor, and holding down the A Button, you'll be able to control movement by dragging the pointer in any direction as indicated by a directional arrow. The beauty of this system is that you can control the movement of any player on your team while on offense, whether they have the ball or not. A player in control of the ball can also be controlled with the analog stick on the Nunchuk, making it possible for you to completely and independently control two different players at the same time.
The Japanese trailer for Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven) 2008 shows off the moves you can perform with the Wii Remote controls.
The movement system extends even further by letting you "set and forget" player movement. You can send the player with the ball on autopilot by pointing where you want him to go with the movement arrow and releasing the A Button. Once his path is set, you can take control of other individual players and move them into more favorable positions. Like the ball carrier, you can quickly point them to run in a general direction or take control of an individual player that doesn't have control of the ball. Being able to control anyone on your team, anywhere on the field, makes it possible to open up running lanes, create space to work with, and even come up with your own set plays on the fly during free kicks.
Passing also uses the Wii Remote pointer. All you need to do to perform the basic pass is aim where you want the ball to go with the cursor and hit the B Trigger. For more complex passing routines you can point at an offensive teammate without the ball, hold down the B Trigger, and move the receiver in any direction. The player with the ball will pass to the spot pointed at when the trigger is released, hopefully with the moving player ready to receive it.
The Wii Remote pointer is the ultimate system for making passes. With it, you can make passes exactly where you want them to go. For instance, if you have a winger running down the side of the field, you can pass the ball to a spot well in front of them so they can take the ball without slowing down. You can also make that same winger turn toward the center of the field before passing him the ball, or have him charge toward the corner for a possible centering pass. With the game control system you have the power to make that call on the spot.
What makes the control system so incredible is that it's extremely easy to use. Even though you can control so much on the field at once, it's not confusing at all once you get acclimated to it. The controls feel very tight and responsive, despite the fact that you're using a shaky hand to make pinpoint selections. The pointer cursor on the screen is very stable, making it easy to quickly issue commands to multiple players in a short time. Because you have control over everything on the field, it will really feel like you scored the goal yourself. If you can move your players in just the right way to confuse the defense and then make a perfect pass for a one-time shot for a score, it's an awesome feeling.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of the defensive controls, however. You can still control a single player by pointing at them and holding down the A Button, but for the most part you'll be passively managing your defense. Clicking on a player of the opposing team will have your closest defender mark him wherever he goes. Multiple defenders can be assigned to the same opponent by dragging a movement arrow from a free defender onto the player to be defended. You can do things like stand in passing lanes (Z Button) and perform a hard tackle (Z Button plus Nunchuk shake), but all of it needs to be manually commanded. There have been plenty of times when I've seen some of my defenders just stand in place and watch someone from the other team just waltz right by without even an attempt to stick a leg out or make a play on the ball. I'm sure there are more defensive tactics for me to learn, but so far it looks like this game is primarily about the offense.
This gameplay footage demonstrates how the Wii Remote controls can be applied to game scenarios.
The feeling of do-it-yourself sweetness is replicated in the game's main single-player mode, Champion's Road. Here, you start off with a rag-tag team of amateur players and must work your way through a series of branching tournaments. Winning matches will earn your players experience points that increase their skill in different categories such as: offense, defense, speed, and so on. You can also pick up random players from defeated opponents and add them to your own roster. Players are rated in several categories, including an overall star rating, so with some luck you can pick up good players and make your team better more quickly.
You'll have full control over your team between matches. You can choose between preset formations or create your own to best fit your currently active roster. Players may tire or injure after a series of hard matches, so it may be wise to swap them out with players on your 16-player reserve squad. Flashing arrows denote whether or not players may be down in performance. On the flip side, players with arrows pointing upwards are rearing for some action and will get performance boosts. Champion's Road is not just a test of your on-the-field skills, but is also a challenge to see how well you can manage your team to get the best performance out of them in a given situation.
We're currently testing out the game's online features and other game modes. Look forward to our thoughts on Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 in our review, coming soon. In the meantime, you can check out some more videos below.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooal!!!!
In Champion's Road, your players gain experience that can be spent toward performance boosts. You can also get players from opposing teams and add them to your roster.
Crusin' USA for the Nintendo 64 and Wonder Boy for the Sega Master System are the two newest releases for the Wii Virtual Console. This week's games mark a double-first for VC.
Developed by Midway, Crusin' USA marks the first time an N64 game from a third party publisher has seen release on the service. The arcade racer costs 1,000 Wii Points ($10).
The Sega Master System sees the light of the day on VC with its first release, Wonder Boy, an action title costing 500 Wii Points ($5). The SMS becomes the seventh format to be made available on Virtual Console in the United States, and the ninth worldwide.
The full Nintendo press release is below.
Wii-kly Update: Two New Classic Games Added to Wii Shop Channel
It's a week of fun-filled firsts at the Wii™ Shop Channel. Each of the latest game offerings represents the first title in a memorable series that has influenced many subsequent titles over the years. Whether you prefer high-speed drives or side-scrolling adventures, it's clear that these classic games have lasting appeal. What's more, Wonder Boy is the first-ever Sega Master System title to be made available via Virtual Console.
Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:
Cruis'n USA™ (Nintendo 64®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Ever felt like driving to the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore and the White House in one day? Well then, gear up to put your racing skills to the test in a frantic trip across the United States, following a route that you won't find on any map. Whether it's the rolling hills of Appalachia, the flowing cornfields of Iowa or the crowded tunnels below Chicago, you'll find yourself too focused on the intense racing action to worry about the scenery. Get started by picking from a garage full of cars to find the one that best suits your style--if you're good enough, you'll even find a few hidden ones to round out your selection. Then choose one of three different playing perspectives and get ready to hang on tight. With five difficulty levels, the ability to remove traffic or other racers, and two-player simultaneous racing, it's enough to make you forget all about finding that next rest stop. Just watch out for the cows, OK?
Wonder Boy (Sega Master System, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone--Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points): As Tom-Tom the Wonder Boy, it's up to you to rescue your girlfriend Tanya from the vile clutches of the monster that has kidnapped her. To do so, you must navigate a series of worlds in a race against time to reach your goal. Along the way, you'll battle foes and collect fruit that will add to the amount of time you have to complete your mission. You can also receive helpful power-ups from various eggs, but make sure to avoid the bad eggs and poisonous mushrooms that sap your precious vitality. Find the magic doll in each level to open up hidden areas, and make it to the very end of your journey to rescue your one true love.
The developer of the Tenchu game series is now a wholly-owned developer of the Japanese publisher.
Capcom has announced that it has agreed to purchase K2 Co., Ltd, via a buyout of K2 stock with Capcom stock. The deal will be finalized on May 1.
K2 has been a close partner of Capcom in recent years. Though K2 has been the main developer for the Tenchu game series they have also worked on numerous projects outsourced to them by Capcom. Capcom has not published any entries into the Tenchu series; recent installments have been published by companies like FromSoftware, Sega, and Microsoft.
"K2 has a proven record as a reliable provider of game development services for Capcom," Capcom said in a statement. "By making this company a wholly owned subsidiary, Capcom plans to make its game development activities more efficient and speedy. Capcom also believes that pursuing a business strategy based on closer ties with K2 will help increase the value of the entire Capcom Group."
Capcom has not said what it plans to do with K2 or if it will be developing any games for Nintendo platforms in the future.
When I was a kid, I remember watching all kinds of roller derby games on the TV. I loved auto racing, speedskating, and hockey. Roller derby is a wonderful combination of all three, wherein crazies on roller skates run around a banked track trying to lap each other to score points. How awesome is it? First, watch this:
This is what roller derby pretty much looks like these days. All-women teams compete on either banked or flat tracks and has quite a big following. There are large organized leagues of banked-track teams in Texas and Los Angeles, and every year the two meet up to skate against each other. I've been to a few L.A. events, and I have to say that they are quite awesome.
Rollerjam was an attempt at a mainstream revival of roller derby on national TV. What made it awesome was that everyone used inline skates (instead of quads which roller derby traditionally uses) which meant skaters, particularly the men, went around the track fast. I mean, dangerously, awesomely fast. What sucked about it is that it slowly turned into a wrestling off-shoot with crappy storylines, fake fights, and a total disregard for the competition on the track. I lament the loss of this.
This was a one-year roller derby mutation in the early 80s. You can tell that by watching the videos further down this page. (I recommend watching video 4 and the last video.) It had a figure-8 track, a grossly banked "Wall of Death," a ramp, and an alligator pit. Yes, an alligator pit. How could you not watch that? Apparently, the producer of that original series is putting together a new modern version of Rollergames for the Internet, due out later this year (hence the website). Awesome.
By the way, this series was 80's enough to get an NES game made, which was terrible.
This was a Japanese version of traditional roller derby that was called "Roller game." This is roller derby at its most awesome. Nothing is scripted, and there's no fake-ass fighting. What it is, is full-contact balls-to-the-wall awesome. Just watch the video! The skaters are decked out in hockey pads and the lead skater is wearing a full-face helmet. And they needed it! How can you see that and not think roller derby is the best thing ever?
Hudson has announced that it has a slate new WiiWare games in development. Tetris, Bomberman, Alien Crush, Blue Oasis, and Joysound were revealed during a press event in Japan yesterday.
Hudson explained that 40% of the 20 million Wii consoles in the world are connected to the Internet. That means eight million consoles are capable of accessing WiiWare content. The company is looking to capitalize on this fact but concentrating on what it does best: making family-friendly games that are multiplayer focused.
Tetris: Japan Online is another version of the puzzle classic. It includes six-player online multiplayer, online leaderboards, Mii support, and a two-player cooperative mode that features two players sharing a double-wide playfield. Tetris for WiiWare is currently scheduled to release in Japan this June.
Wi-Fi 8-Man Battle Bomberman is the classic multiplayer Bomberman game that features, as you might have guessed, eight-player games over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Mii support is also planned, allowing you to put the head of your Mii on the body of a Bomberman. Hudson is also working on a full retail version of Bomberman, and the two games will share the same engine. It is not known if this means WiiWare players can play against owners of the full version of Bomberman. The WiiWare Bomberman title will be released in Japan this July.
Alien Crush is a true sequel to the TurboGrafx16/Virtual Console pinball game of the same name. The boards will be rendered in 3D and the game, like Hudson's others WiiWare titles, will take advantage of the Wii's Internet functionality to offer online leaderboards. Alien Crush is set for an August Japanese release.
Blue Oasis: Sakana no Iyashi Kuuken is a virtual aquarium wherein players need to tend to their fish. There appears to be a way to send fish back and forth between friends. The Wii Forecast Channel will also be integrated with the game in some way. This game does not have a solid release date, but it will be out in Japan some time this year.
Finally, Joysound is a different kind of WiiWare application. It's not a game, but rather, a karaoke hub. Hudson is teaming up with X-sing, an established professional Japanese karaoke company, to deliver the joy of karaoke singing to the homes of Wii owners connected to the Internet. With Joysound, Hudson hopes to succeed where other console-based karaoke platforms have failed.
Through a monthly subscription service, Joysound users will be able to select from over 20,000 songs on X-sing servers, with a thousand new songs added every week. Joysound users must purchase subscription cards and USB microphones from a regular retail store before using Joysound. Joysound will be available in Japan sometime this summer.
Including the recently-released Star Soldier R, these new game announcements bring Hudson's known WiiWare game count to ten games, the most of any developer by far.
Windy seemed to have an awfully hard time rotating the pieces. It seems like a pain in the ass to control. Still, it looks fun, and I'd be interested in it if the price were a little lower.
There's an option to hold the Wii Remote in the classic style and use the D-Pad to control everything, but I prefer the Wii Remote pointer configuration. You rotate the pieces by twisting the remote. It only needs a small twist to turn a piece, hence why you see me flipping out all over the place some time. Still, it's better than the D-Pad.
I love puzzle games. Looking through the available selection of Japanese WiiWare launch titles, I couldn't help but give LONPOS a try, even with its 1,000 Wii Points asking price.
LONPOS for WiiWare is a virtual version of a real-world puzzle game of the same name. The real game consists of a 5×11 grid pre-filled with a number of unique shapes. There are 12 different puzzle pieces in total. The goal of the game is to completely fill in the grid with the pieces not already set in place. Sounds pretty easy, right?
It is, or at least it is in the early levels when you only need to slot in two or three pieces. Once you need to start placing four, five, or more pieces, things start to get a little difficult. Pieces can be rotated and flipped, and because of this a couple of pieces have up to eight distinctive configurations.
LONPOS gameplay video of Level 1, Level 5, and Level 9. It's harder than it looks.
Some puzzles have more than one answer, but it's difficult to know what pieces to put down, and where to put them, to start building toward a solution. This is especially apparent in the level 9 puzzle, which only starts you off with two preset pieces, asking you to fill in the other 10. Did I mention you only get 10 minutes to do it? That's probably the reason why the level 9 section is marked with a skull and crossbones icon.
The entire game is built around the placing of pieces into an empty grid, but there are a few different modes to help mix things up a bit. One single-player mode is a test to see how many consecutive correct pieces you can place on the grid. There is a two-player game that is a race to clear puzzles. This can be played locally or over Wi-Fi. There are also online rankings tables with which you can compare your single player mode scores with everyone else who has the game.
From a technical standpoint, LONPOS feels very rough around the edges. There is no widescreen or progressive scan support. The game doesn't let you know when you've finished all the puzzles in a difficulty level, which means you may repeat some puzzles if you're not aware of what you've done previously. And if not for the very challenging puzzles, the drab look and feel of the entire game would bore you to death.
More than anything, playing LONPOS for WiiWare wants me want to hunt down one of the plastic puzzles, so I can solve some of these things myself, without the sometimes-clunky control interface getting in my way. I can't complain because I've never heard of this puzzle before I downloaded the game, and as it turns out, I like the puzzle a lot. I wish the game it is featured in would have had a little more heart put into it, though.
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