Wii Rally

When Castlevania dropped on to the Euro VC some time ago I was sure that would be coming to North America the following Monday. I set up the post and even found this awesome picture but that Monday came and went with no Castlevania well today I finally get to use the post I started writing weeks ago.

3 more titles for the VC today. A Konami classic, a nicely challenging action-adventure and what appears to be another MegaMan clone.

Mystical Ninja is totally worth the 800 points. Trying to finish a game like this long before sites like GameFAQs were around was just short of torture but it was worth it to see that ending scene. Although if running around feudal Japan isn’t your thing you can always save the world from Dracula and his army of the undead. See there’s something for everyone.

Castlevania (NES, 500 Wii Points)
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Super NES, 800 Wii Points)
Shockman (TG16, 600 Wii Points)

Greetings all, I had a crazy one this weekend. Some of you may know that I graduate this June I’m really excited to enter the next chapter of my life and the next chapter of my career as a budding games writer.

I figured I’d let everyone on a little secret. My girlfriend and I are buying a house but the hose will not only provide us with a place to eat and sleep it will of course be the new home of Wii Rally and Tim Ashdown Publications. I’m going to be launching my own website this summer which will feature my portfolio as well as a personal Blog so you can get all you uncensored Tim craziness. Don’t worry Wii Rally will still be around and the content won’t change. I like writing for 451 Press and will continue to do so as long as I can.

Other than my own uncensored website I’m excited that I will be able to devote a lot more time to writing come July 1st with school done at that point. So be on the look out for my takeover of the intertubes MUAHAHAHAHAHA! On to the Wrap!

Monday
NA VC Update 04/23/07
Nintendo Booth Bound for TGS ‘07
Wii Browser Warning

Tuesday
Rumour: Wii-boards On the Way

Wednesday
A Few Words About The Godfather: Blackhand Edition

Thursday
Wii/DS Combo Helps With Record Numbers

Feature Friday
Feature Friday: Internet Channel FAQ
Euro VC Update 04/27/07

3 more (par for the course) new Virtual Console releases for Europe this week including another fine Capcom title for the SNES.

Final Fight (SNES, 800 Wii Points)
Battle Lode Runner (TG-16, 600 Wii Points)
Mighty Bomb Jack (NES, 500 Wii Points)

I really recommend Final Fight this week if not for the super fun beat um’ up action or the sweet sprite work than out of the simple fact that it is much better than the crappy pseudo-sequel Mighty Final Fight for the NES. Plus the city where Final Fight takes place has one bad ass mayor.

Since Nintendo and Opera released the final version of the Wii Internet Channel I have been asked many questions regarding the software and how it works. So I decided to take today’s Feature Friday and turn it into a FAQ sheet. If you have any questions that you would like answered please feel free to email them to me and I will track down an answer for you and post it here. I’ll do my best to keep this FAQ updated as new questions come in.

Question: What is the Wii Internet Channel?

Answer: The Wii Internet Channel is a web browser that you can use on your Nintendo Wii console.

Q: Who made the Internet Channel?

A: The Wii Internet channel was made by developers from both Nintendo and Opera software.

Q:What can I do with Internet Channel?

A: Almost anything you can do with a regular PC/Mac/Linux based browser you can do with the Wii Internet Channel. Check email, get the latest news, visit your favorite website, and of course read Wii Rally.

Q: How many versions are there?

A: As of right now there are two versions of the Internet Channel. The first version was the “trial version” which was released in December 2006. The second version was the “full version” of the software and was released in April 2007

Q:How much does the Internet Channel cost?

A: As of right now the software is totally free. Once you buy a Wii that is. It is available from the Wii Shop Channel free of charge until June when it will cost you 400 Wii points.

Q: Does the Internet Channel support Flash?

A: Yes the browser supports Flash 8 and lower. So far there have been no plans announced to include support for Flash 9

Q: Can I restrict what websites the young gamers in my family can access?

A: Kind of. The Wii does have parental controls but they only allow you to enable or disable the Internet Channel itself. The Wii does not allow you to block individual websites.

Q: Can someone use the Internet Channel to access pornographic material?

A: Again kind of. The Internet is full of porn but to get access to most sites you require a valid credit card number. I would say that it is no easier to access porn on the Wii than it is on a computer. Still there is no substitute for parents visually monitoring what their children do online.

Q: Is the Internet Channel secure?

A: Yes. The browser has built in security by McAfee. There was a vulnerability in the trail version which has been fixed in the full version. Seeing as how the Wii OS is very different from the Mac/Linux/Windows I know of no viruses that exist.

Q: Can I play my favorite Flash games using the Internet Channel?

A: Yes! the browser supports Flash 8 and lower. Websites which offer games and other content specifically designed for the Internet Channel are pooping up all over the net.

Q: Where can I get more information about the Wii and the Internet Channel?

A: You can visit www.wii.com , www.opera.com or www.nintendo.com for more info.

Have a question not answered here? Send me an email (mephistar@gmail.com) or by clicking on the Contact Me link located on the Wii Rally sidebar.

Good news for Reggie and anyone who happens to be a Nintendo shareholder.
Today Nintendo posted their consolidated fiscal year revenue numbers for the year ending March 31st 2007. Now I aint no stock/money dude but the numbers are quite stellar.

Nintendo posted revenues of around 8.08 billion USD and operating profits of about 1.89 billion USD which would equal an increase of 90% and 150% respectively, company records on both accounts according to the release.

Why such strong numbers you ask? Well it’s no secret that the Wii and DS have been selling like well for lack of a better simile “hotcakes”. DS unit sales were about 23 million last year resulting in lifetime sales of over 40 million.

The Wii numbers are far more impressive. Nintendo has sold about 5.84 million Wii consoles since launch in November. Pretty nice for a console that has what one game design student would describe as “Xbox 1 graphics” but since when does that matter?

Short story: Big N is making tons of dough.

*Note* This game has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and should not be played by anyone under the age of 17 for more information about ESRB and their rating please visit http://www.esrb.org

There are some ignorant people out there (fanboys mostly) that would have you believe that the Wii is just for kids. Well The Godfather: Blackhand Edition is definitely not for kids or adults that happen to be pacifists. From the opening cut scene to the final mission blood, guns and barehanded assaults are never in short supply

This game is essentially a Wii-make having already been released for Windows, Xbox(360) and PS2 there is also a special “Don’s Edition” for PS3. What’s unique about the “Blackhand Edition” is of course the Wiis unique motion controls which have been integrated nicely I might add.

I did find the precision aiming a little wonkey and insensitive which seems to be common among most Wii games especially those made by a certain french developer which I will not name. The Godfather has a “lock-on” targeting system so the precision aiming didn’t get much use so I can’t really penalize EA for that.

(more…)

In the interest of covering my own butt I’m gonna file this one under rumour but I’m getting word that Wii owners will soon have an easier time sending messages and surfing the web using the Internet Channel. This easier time is brought to you buy a novel idea for an input device; a keyboard.

Word on the street is that Logitech is stepping up to manufacture some keyboards which will work with the USB ports located on the rear of the console. But wait…. there’s more! The May issue of Game Informer says that even though they haven’t announced anything official yet Nintendo may jump into the peripheral market with a keyboard of their own.

To be honest I was a little surprised when I tried to plug a regular USB keyboard in to my Wii and it failed to work. This news however seems to be a step in right direction and definitely could get more people using the Wii message system and Internet Channel which to be honest doesn’t get a lot of play ’round my house but that could change.

Face it your Wii spends a lot of time on the internet. With traveling Miis, inter-console messages and WiiConnect 24 your Wii sends and receives a lot of info across the intertubes. So it comes as no surprise that the Wii is starting to see its first vulnerabilities.

I was reading the Tanooki today and was pointed to a post from the McAfee Avert Labs Blog where the writer David Rayhawk warns that those using the 1st or “trial” version of the Wii Opera browser may have a system venerability. Don’t worry too much though there isn’t much that can be done to your Wii from an outside source. I’m guessing that “worst case scenario” here would be a wiped hard drive and missing game saves. I think a couple of reports may have surfaced about manipulated images but that has not been confirmed.

The good news is that in the latest edition of the Wii Opera browser the problem has been patched. So once you upgrade to the “full” version you should be safe and secure. If you don’t have the “trail” version of the browser or your Wii is not connected to the internet you’re already sitting pretty. Don’t forget that come June the Wii Internet Channel will cost you 400 points so act now before this limited time offer is gone…gone…..GONE!

Bashcraft over at Kotaku is reporting that Nintendo will have a full blown booth at this years TGS (Tokyo Game Show). Nintendo has always had a presence at the show but this will be the first time where they will have booth space set up. Nintendo normally saves it’s budget for the other industry trade shows like CES, E3, or Nintendo’s own exposition Space World but since E3 has been scaled down this year I guess Nintendo had some extra money and no where to spend it so they decided to up the ante at TGS.

Well as always I like to play the speculation game here at Wii Rally. So what big announcement(s) do you think Nintendo will make as the summers trade show season gets underway next month. New Zelda? Online play? How about a new and exciting 1st party IP? Who knows? All I know is that with the warm weather comes the summer game drought which according to Reggie shouldn’t happen. Maybe that’s why the latest virtual console release have been less than drool worthy. Nintendo could be saving the big dogs for when they have no new games coming. Any thoughts?

Good morning everyone. It was a stellar weekend here in Canada the sun was shining, the birds were singing it was beautiful outside. So of course you couldn’t ask for a better weekend to stay in and play video games. Much playing was done by me and Jen. I finished the Godfather: Blackhand edition (Review coming soon) Jen got the first good chunk of Super Mario done as well. So far I’m digging the new platform heavy baddy stomping gameplay but the story seems really long winded and nonsensical at times. Still there are a few good quips like the villainous Count Bleck’s maniacal laugh “Bleh he he he he he BLECK!”

Anyway enough friendly banter I almost forgot that it’s Virtual Console Monday.

The old standard of 3 new releases should be available by noon today (9am pacific). Nothing particularly exciting but with the release of Gradius III that means that there is now over 5 different side scrolling space based shooters on the virtual console for you to enjoy. Oh Goody, let me get my credit card.

Battle Lode Runner® (TG16, 600 Wii Points)
Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis, 800 Wii Points)
Gradius III (SNES, 800 Wii Points)

Wrap up time again. As you probably noticed today marked the highly anticipated return of Feature Friday. I hope every one liked it and the accompanying video. As for me I have had a very busy week and am looking forward to relaxing this weekend with some Super Paper Mario (finally) and celebrating today’s holiday (420). Hope everyone has an equally great weekend see you all on Monday.

On to the Wrap!

Monday
NA VC Update 04/16/07

Tuesday
Editor In Chief
The Trouble With Wii-Makes
EA Canada Births New Wii/DS Studio……Sort of

Wednesday
NeoGeo VC Games Not Exclusive To Japan
A Few Words About: Cooking Mama: Cook Off

Thursday
Video Thursday: Zombie Edition

Feature Friday
Euro VC Update 04/20/07
The Return of Feature Friday

Well this has been a long time coming but I thought it was time for the steallar return of Feature Friday today I’m gonna tell you all about the Wii Photo Channel.

First of all your going to need one thing before you even think about trying to fire up the Photo Channel. That one thing being an SD memory card. Why you ask? Because you need a a photo to use the Photo Channel silly. So get yourself a card pop it in your digi cam and then snap a quick pic of your friends, your parents, your pet hippo whatever you like. Once you have a photo put the SD card in the SD memory slot located on the of the Wii next to the disc slot. Alright start up the Wii Phot Chanel and you’re off to the races.

I’ve created a video (with some help of course) which will demonstrate some of the things you can do with the application.

Once you have made a photo you like you can then post it to the Wii Message Board and from there send it to as many of your friends as you like.

Thanks to Lisa for filming and helping me with the video and hosting.

Two new titles make a splash across the pond in Europe. My question is why spend 1000 Wii points on something dull like Lylat Wars a.k.a Star Fox 64 when you can go on the into the amazing adventure of Donkey Kong Jr. Math? Running around saving your dad from evil divisors and polynomials.

Actually I think the math within the game is fairly simple and never really gets to the extent of calculus or complex differential equations. So unless you have young school children in the house you may want to skip DK Math.

Lylat Wars (N64, 1000 Wii Points)
DK Jr. Math (NES, 500 Wii Points)

Earlier this week I talked a bit about “Wii-Makes” well today on Video Thursday I give you some video from what seems to be the finest “Wii-Make” to date.

This is the New trailer for Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition which I thought was sub-titled “Biohazard Edition” But that could just be the Japanese title cause this trailer doesn’t make any mention of such a “Biohazard”. Nevertheless it’s an awesome trailer that made me jump up from my seat in triumph.

The trailer also contains some gameplay as Ada Wong which allows me to draw the conclusion that the Wii edition will contain “Separate Ways” originally only available on the PS2 version of the game. Ha! Take that Sony.

Today’s second video is 3 minutes of Umbrella Chronicles gameplay footy from Capcom’s Gamers Day earlier this month. We know that it’s kind of a retelling of the first RE story but some interesting things I noticed were that Chris and Jill may not split up this time and almost everything seems destructible. Reminds me of Area 51 which was and still very common at arcade here in Canada.

That’s it for this weeks Video Thursday see you all tomorrow.

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below: