Topic: Empty Clip Studios Announces Groovin' Blocks for WiiWare

[Nick DiMola]

The start-up developer is bringing its rhythm-puzzle title to WiiWare next week.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=16656

 Empty Clip Studios announced today that their puzzle-action title Groovin' Blocks is coming to WiiWare next Monday, September 8.  (According to Nintendo, WiiWare or Virtual Console release dates are not official until confirmed by the Wii-kly Update on Monday mornings.) The studio is a brand new company started by Francois Bertrand and Matt Shores, two industry veterans who were involved with titles such as Gladius, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.    

Groovin' Blocks for WiiWare, the studio's debut title, blends both the rhythm and puzzle genres into a twenty-seven level title that should appeal to hardcore and casual alike. Players will be able to unlock up to fifteen extra bonus items as well as compete head-to-head or tackle the title cooperatively.    

Groovin' Blocks will be available through the Wii Shop Channel this coming Monday for 800 Wii Points ($8.00 USD).

[UltimatePartyBear]

The screens made it look like just a Columns clone, but that bit about rhythm makes me wonder just what's going on.

[Kairon]

Yeah, I'm curious... what does a block-rhythm game play like?

[Jonnyboy117]

Okay, so basically it's a lot like Lumines.  Surprisingly awesome music.  You know how most Tetris games and clones let you press down to instantly drop a block?  In Groovin' Blocks, you try to drop blocks to the beat of the music.  Doing so builds up a score multiplier and activates power-up blocks.  The different power-ups are unlocked (and leveled up!) as you play.  The first difficulty tier has nine songs; I'm not yet sure if there are other songs locked up in the higher difficulties, but it seems likely given the structure of the game.

Warning: it's 316 blocks to download.  But so far, seems like a bargain at only 800 points.

[Jonnyboy117]

By the way, there are no motion controls.  You can play with the Remote held sideways or with the Classic Controller.

[Flames_of_chaos]

That's an interesting comparison to Lumines, how do you exactly eliminate the blocks? Is the elimination based on colors of the blocks like puyo pop, or is it strictly based on the rhythm of the songs?

[Jonnyboy117]

You eliminate blocks by matching at least three of the same color, horizontally or vertically.  Once you make a match, the block removal is "contagious", meaning that any adjacent blocks of the same color (but not part of the match) will also disappear.  It's also quite similar to Meteos, now that I think about it, except you can't shuffle around blocks that have already been placed.

[KDR_11k]

I'll stay away, I have no sense of rythm. Or at least no sense for rythms dictated by outside sources.