Wii Rally

Everyone likes to dance! Young, old, casual, hardcore once in a while they all need to just get down and bust-a-move. No I don’t mean by matching coloured balls. I mean actually get down with one’s bad self and just let loose.

Next week EA will unleash Boogie on the unsuspecting public at which time living rooms the world over will erupt in a disco inferno of sorts with Wii Remotes and nunchucks flying about. But don’t take my word for it see for yourself.

And that’s not all! Boogie will come packaged with a microphone peripheral which will allow you to sing along to your favorite boogie-licious tune.

Did I spy some co-op gameplay with one player singing and the other gettin’ down with the Wii Remote? Find out August 9th when Boogie hits store shelves nationwide.

Can’t be at E3? Well neither can I, So I’ve got the next best thing Internet video.

OK here Wii go.

First up for the Nintendo media briefing is a 2 minute video of some news stories and user videos which have used the Wii as a focal point. Nintendo begins by tooting their own horn….obviously.

After the short video a gigantic man in a beige suit [Reggie Fils-Aime, NoA President] walks to the middle of the stage and says “Hi I’m Reggie and I am Happy!”

The first segment of Reggie’s speech is about all the stuff that only venture capitalists and investors care about. You know stuff like expanding demographics, sales figures, and market share info….BORING!

Now some interesting stuff. Reggie states that by the holiday shopping season there should be over 160 Wii titles available in North America and over 430 DS titles for the same territory.

After a second video similar to the first Reggie introduces to the world the first offspring of the Wii Remote and nunchuck. The Wii Zapper a housing for your Wii Remote and nunchuck making it look like a small SMG. Reggie goes on to talk about 3 new games that are being designed around the new housing, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Sega’s Ghost Squad a popular arcade light gun game, and the newest addition to the Medal of Honour series will also be centered around the Wii Zapper which will retail for about 19.99 USD. Reggie also mentions plans for a 1st party title that will come packed with a zapper later this year.

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I have a confession to make. I am a fan of Harry Potter, not in the fanatical sense but I do appreciate the books and films. Although I didn’t like the film version of Goblet of Fire they cut too much out.

This really is a great time for Potter fans there seems to be no shortage of the young wizard lately. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: The Videogame releases for all platforms on June 25th with all new wiggly Wii Remote controls for the Wii version of the title. Not sure what I mean? Good thing I have this video.

Harry Potter OotP Developer walkthrough

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I know I’m not one for posting about screen shots but when it comes to My Sims I find it hard to resist. I just love the cuteness of this game and the possibilities for crazy customization. I never played Animal Crossing myself but I did spend a couple of hours watching my girlfriend play. I didn’t care much for the non-human esthetics but the gameplay looked pretty solid. I would have done a couple things differently myself. Pulling weeds constantly is not my cup of tea unless I’m playing Harvest Moon. There wasn’t much in the way of living space customization or clothing. You could pick out different outfits and organize your house any way you liked but you were still stuck with the house you were given and you couldn’t change the look of the outfits you had received.

Now with My Sims the player almost has complete control (within reason) to personalize everything in the game including the town itself. Also with Nintendo’s WiiConnect24 service there are some real possibilities for sharing content with other players.
I really do think that My Sims will usher in a new way of playing with other Wii gamers who may not be in the room with you. I’m looking forward to some really solid online features here.

Prediction: I predict that gamers will see their My Sims chanters and Nintendo’s Mii characters become closer as time goes on and I do have a feeling that Nintendo will eventually completely integrate the two. You will hopefully be able to have the same amount of customization that will be in My Sims with all those little Miis that call your Wii home.

Anyway, on to the screen shots.

*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.

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A couple of former EA Canada employees have started up their own development firm called Jet Black Games to focus on Nintendo Wii and DS development. EA Canada which is known for their stellar work on the popular EA sports titles except Madden of course. Is where these developers got their stripes before heading out on their own.

But why focus on Nintendo Wii and DS game development? Roger Freddi Co-Founder and CEO of Jet Black Games explains.

“Both the Nintendo DS and Wiis WiFi capabilities provide an advanced medium for Jet Black to bring already popular franchises to an even broader worldwide audience.”

Jet Black is going to have their work cut out for them seeing as how Nintendo isn’t really ready to share Wii Online game secrets with 3rd party developers yet. Now lets just hope they come up with something a little better than Need for Speed Carbon.

Last week details started to emerge about two new games currently in development by Capcom for the Wii. I use the term “new” loosely here because both of them seem to be following a common trend in Wii game development know as the “Wii-make”. A “Wii-make” is when a developer takes an existing game and re-tunes the controls to make use of the motion sensing controls of the Wii Remote. Often what you get is a game with shoe-horned wiggle controls that doesn’t really add any depth to the gameplay and can often detract from what was originally a pretty solid game.

So far one of the worst offenders is Prince of Persia: Rival Swords (Don’t let the name throw you it’s PoP: Two Thrones with wiggle controls) This game adds little depth to a series that peaked with it’s first game. I think the only reason why they didn’t do the other PoP games is because it would have blatantly been seen as a cash grab.

No I’m not going to say that all “Wii-makes” are bad. EA’s Godfather: Blackhand Edition is amazingly fun and probably the most violent Wii game so far. It’s also the only Wii game I have considered giving a 10 which is a moot point since I think that rating a game with numbers is stupid. The two Capcom games I mentioned earlier are Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and RE:4 Biohazard Edition. Both look very promising.
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Sorry everyone I am out of town today looking for a new home for myself the lovely Jenifer but the show must go on so I have complied a collections of My Sims gameplay videos each describing a different aspect of the upcoming game. Enjoy and try to make sure your teeth don’t fall out.

Character Customization Gameplay

Character Interaction Gameplay

Hit the jump for two more videos (more…)

Anybody who has read Wii Rally long enough or happens to know me in person knows that there is one thing in this world that I hate more than clowns, spiders, those costumed guys at theme parks and waiting in line all rolled into one. That one thing is Final Fantasy.

Now in all honesty I have no gripe with any particular game in the series or one of it’s many many many spin offs. My problem is with Final Fantasy itself. Pretty much anything with the name Final Fantasy on it draws my loathsome ire despite what positive points any sort of product bearing the name would have. I’ll tell you why, to put it simply Final Fantasy is indicative of exactly what is wrong with the video game industry. Reports have started to surface about Square-Enix’s list of titles to be published in 2007 among this list are ten yes I said TEN games bearing the Final Fantasy name . I’m sorry but to me this does not project an image of the innovation and progress that has made this industry great. All I see is a bunch of SquEnix COs literally beating a dead horse till brains leak about the sides and it looks more like a deformed llama than the epic tale of the Heroes of Light that saved this once great company from a terrible end.

Just because a game is a success doesn’t mean that there is a reason to create a sequel, spin off or remake. Not since the cheesy slasher flicks of the eighties has series numeration risen to such absurd levels. In this age of Tony Hawk 8 Final Fantasy 13s Dynasty Warriors 8 and Test Drive Unlimited (the one that got so high they lost count). I lament that even new ideas and IPs are being subjected to what I call the “trilogy treatment” this can be seen with the Halo series and even though nothing has been officially announced Gears of War.

Now games that have dropped the enumeration are no better. Sure you’ve got your Madden’s and your NHL/MLB/FIFA/NBA/NCAA/MLS/XYJ ‘0whatever but those are sports titles and it’s part of the simulation to have the most up to date rosters even though any real fan would tell you that the games are always a season behind. But do we really need 6 Burnout titles and over 15 entries in the Need for Speed series?

What has happened to the innovation and the desire to create new and fantastic worlds, monsters and characters the likes of which nobody has ever seen. I know that it is unfair to take out my frustration on a particular series like I often do with Final Fantasy but the name in itself inspires great rage due to a childhood incident involving the Never Ending Story. In my humble yet serious opinion this needs to stop and soon or games will lose much of their magic and credibility as a medium.

I’m sorry for writing an entire post without mentioning the Nintendo Wii but what good is soapbox like this if you can’t use it shout from the rooftops every once in awhile.

GDC (Game Developers Conference) is going on as we speak so what better theme for this week Video Thursday than a collection of Wii videos coming out of this years conference.

First up is a tutorial/developer walkthrough of the highly anticipated Super Paper Mario due to hit stores on April 9th.

The second video is a demo of the Chariot Escape scene from Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: Rival Swords for the Wii.

As always hit the jump for this weeks bonus round (more…)

It’s Video Thursday once again and like the title says today we are featuring some video reviews from GameTrailers.com. Don’t get me wrong I like print reviews just fine but I find it infinitely easier to understand what a reviewer is talking about if I can see it at the same time. With that said I bring you reviews of two Wii games which came out recently. Sonic and the Secret Rings by Sega and EA Big’s SSX: Blur. Interesting side note regarding SSX: Blur. All my sources retail and otherwise are telling me that SSX: Blur is out already but EA’s website and various other publications are telling me that the game will be out on March 15th. So either EA didn’t bother to announce the date change or every retailer broke the street date and no one cared.

Grab a cup of tea maybe a few cookies sit back and enjoy. Maybe you will decide which games to try out this weekend.

Sonic and the Secret Rings: GT Review

SSX: Blur GT Review

Don’t forget to hit the jump for this weeks Bonus Round (more…)

The sun beats down on my back as I crawl forward in search of refreshment. “Water? Water!” I yell “Water and games, will this drought never end?” But wait as I look out into the horizon I see it. Relief from this crazy drought we have been stuck in since January. Get ready for a flood here come the games of March.

Getting serious now. Reggie once promised us that we would see no game drought for the Wii in 2007. Well what do you call the last 2 months big man? Sure there’s been some hotness on the virtual console and both Sonic and Wario have made their debut on the Wii but still there hasn’t been that much to be excited about. Hopefully March will change that with 8 new Wii games set to make Wii owners the busiest they’ve been since Christmas.

March will see the release of some original content along with a couple of shoe-horned “Wii-makes”. It would seem that almost every major publisher has a game coming out for the Wii in March. Nintendo kicks off the party right at the beginning with the release of the anticipated release of Mario Marty 8. You know what they say March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, well the same is true for games. The month of march starts strong but then kind of peters out at the end.

Who will rule the charts Ubisoft’s TMNT? EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘07? or Hudson’s Wing Island? We shall see.

Hit the jump for the complete list of Wii games launching in March. (more…)

I noticed something interesting about the Wii Shop channel today.

Once you have purchased a Virtual Console game from the Wii shop channel you can no longer see the price. If you view the listing for a Virtual Console game after you have purchased it in the area that once displayed the price (in Wii Points) the words “downloaded” appear. I know this is nothing new but I recently pondered the implication of such a feature. Yes it’s good to see what you have already downloaded so as to prevent repeat downloads but what is stopping Nintendo from changing the prices of Virtual Console games later on?

Look at it this way. You download Donkey Kong for the NES for 500 Wii points you play it and enjoy it. Then 6 months later Nintendo changes the price to 250 Wii points. But you will never know because as far as you know it’s “downloaded”. So you go through life wondering why people are snickering at you behind your back. All because you paid 5 bucks for 3 stages of Donkey Kong, what’s up with that anyway.

I’ll give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt though. I have faith that big “N” wouldn’t do business in such a sneaky underhanded way but then again EA was founded on similar principals. Just something to think about before you blow all those Wii points on something you might regret later.

Aside: Stupid Donkey Kong I swear there was more than 3 stages back in 1983.

Today Maxis and EA announced MySims which is being developed exclusively for the Wii and DS. The game will allow for crazy customization of yourself, everything you own and even the whole town. Will EA capture all those hardcore “Sims” lovers out there or will the cutesy aesthetic limit the game’s appeal?

EA has a great opportunity to really show what the Wii can do. I’m hoping for some Wii-DS connectivity or the ability to visit other people’s town. Details outside of the general premise are scarce at the moment but I’m gonna be following this one for awhile. EA does have a trailer up on the MySims website.

EA Big put out a new SSX Blur trailer today detailing some of the different characters that will be available. SSX Blur hits store on March 16th.

Video after the jump (more…)