Wii Rally

No I’m not talking about Sub-Machine Guns I’m of course speaking about Super Mario Galaxy. Nintendo revealed some nice juicy footage at last week’s e3 including this all new trailer which shows us that Mario will need to don several of Aunt Harriet’s magic hats to complete his outer space adventure.

Super Mario Galaxy e3 ‘07 trailer.

Now to get a little more in depth with a play through of one of the levels that was demonstrated at this years e3.

Alright Super Mario you’ve made it onto my Christmas list again this year. Are you happy now can I have my pet turtle back?

SMG will be released on November 12th 2007

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 really need to stop trying to do things that depend on streaming internet video. I know I promised all of you a breakdown of Nintendo’s E3 media briefing today but I can’t seem to get the feed to work. I will try again tomorrow. Sorry everyone but check back tomorrow for all your Nintendo E3 goodness.

Hello once again everybody out there in Rally land. Well it’s E3 week and two of the weeks biggest events take place today. Nintendo and Sony’s E3 media briefings. As I write this post I am listening to Microsoft’s media briefing which was yesterday. Nintendo’s media briefing starts at 9am PST which is 12 noon EST. I’ll be watching the briefing and will break it down for you later today so stay tuned.

Alright, in the interest of full disclosure I must tell you that I’ve been a fan of the Mario Party games for quite some time. One of the main reasons being that my girlfriend Jen particularly enjoys them as well. More often than not Jen just watches me play games but the first time I brought a copy of Mario Party, I think it was 5 over to her house she jumped right on board and wrestled the controller away from me. She waited with great anticipation for the next game in the series which happened to be the finest to date. Mario Party 6 was incredibly fun with a nice selection of compelling mini games. Mario Party 7 was all wrong it seemed that the series had lost it’s momentum. Enter the Wii and an entire new control scheme, which bring us to the topic of today’s lesson Mario Party 8.

Mario Party 8 is the series’ Wii debut. Many gamers were excited to see how the new controls would be implemented and what surprises Hudson (Who developed the game) and Nintendo (Publisher) had in store for this latest party game-a-palooza. Especially since the game was originally slated for a March ‘07 release which was delayed until June of the same year. Why the delay? I doubt anyone outside of Hudson or Nintendo knows.

A key mistake was made with this title. Mario Party 8 should have really showcased what the Wii Remote’s motion controls could do. The problem was they forgot to implement them. OK that’s unfair yes some very few motion controls are used but they are limited to tilting the Wii Remote to fly a plane and shaking one up and down like a can of soda pop. Most of the mini-games throughout Mario Party 8 are controlled with the Wii Remote’s D-pad. I know that these are mini-games we are talking about here but come on how about knocking the complexity up a little especially for those long time fans like myself who already know how to play the game. Which brings me to my next point.

No matter how well versed you are in the Mario Party universe, Mario Party 8 seems to treat you like a moron. Explaining every little detail like you’re 100% grade A “nub cake”. A way to tell the game “hey I’ve played this game before I know how it works” would have been nice but an old English teacher once told me “Always assume the members of your audience are ignorant to what you are talking about.” I’ve never used this rule myself I like to give my audience a good amount of credit I mean they can obviously read at least.

The stages or “game boards” in Mario Party 8 are seriously lacking in some decent creativity with the exception of Boo’s castle I felt as though I’ve played these game boards many times before. I did however enjoy the new Star Battle mode but felt it was too short.

With Mario Party 7 being a disappointment I began to suspect that the series may have lost it’s momentum and fun factor. I believe that Mario Party 8 confirms this suspicion. It maybe time to call the cops on this party and have it shut down. Ever go to a house party and by about 2 or 3 in the morning almost everybody has left except for a few obnoxious party people and you just want them to leave? Well that’s how I feel about Mario Party 8. I really do think that 8 is enough.

I’m hearing that it’s still not that easy to procure one of the little white consoles. A source of mine from Wal-Mart tells me that his store got some 18 Wiis last Friday and to no ones surprise (including my own) they were all gone by lunch on Saturday.

Reggie says that Wii console production is up, so why are there still so many out there who are Wii-less? Just like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie-Pop, we may never know. Those of you out there in Rally-land who still find themselves using a remote to simply switch TV channels can take to heart that you aren’t missing much.

With Mario Party 8 launching this week the only game really worth getting excited about is RE4: Wii Edition which drops on June 19th. You can’t even really get that excited for it seeing as how the game was released back in 2005. Nope not much to look forward to at all, unless you’re in to cartoony soccer.

Things will get better though, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption hits store shelves on August 20th. Just sit tight and it will all be worth the wait.

The folks at Nintendo are being slackers today and not posting the new Virtual Console games. What are they hiding……I wonder?

Anyway, for now I’ll tell you about new games that are being released this week for the Wii.
There’s a bloody fighter, a board game and a digital pet political sim.

This weeks biggest release is Nintendo’s Mario Party 8. This is the first time the hootenanny has been held on the Wii.
Quick tip: Don’t play this one alone. What? you’re gonna sit there and tell me that a dude dancing solo at a party doesn’t look foolish?

Also releasing this week is Tamagotchi Party On! Party On has a similar vibe to Mario Party and seems to be geared for a younger audience. I have to ask the question “Wouldn’t young kids be too young to remember the Tamagotchi craze of the mid nineties? Bahhh I’m sure it’s still fun.

Finally his week we have another “wii-make” of a game that really wasn’t that significant to begin with. But if you like violence and mediocre fighting than you could pick up Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

Wii games to be released this week
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon May 29th
Tamagotchi: Party On! May 29th
Mario Party 8 May 29th

It’s been months since I’ve heard anything about Nintendo’s other big titles but fears were put to rest at a recent Nintendo press event.

Every-one’s favorite corporate president Reggie Fils-Amie said that gamers will see Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, Super Mario: Galaxy and the highly anticipated DS title Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass in 2007.

To be honest once I saw that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was to be released in August I figured it was safe to assume that the two other big Wii titles were going to be released just in time for Christmas. It is nice to hear it from the “horse’s mouth” though. Maybe now I can get some sleep at night.

Source: GameSpot

Nintendo released their list of titles that are to be released for the Wii this summer.

Hard Dates
July 30 Mario Strikers Charged/Nintendo
Aug. 14 High School Musical: Sing It!/Disney Interactive Studios
Aug. 14 Madden NFL ‘08/EA
Aug. 20 Metroid Prime 3 Corruption/Nintendo

August
Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘08/EA
Space Station Tycoon/Namco Bandai
Brunswick Pro Bowling/Crave
Dave Mirra BMX Challenge/Crave
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection/Crave

September
Battalion Wars 2/Nintendo
Brothers in Arms/Ubisoft
Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal/Warner Bros.
George of the Jungle/Crave

Fall
Boogie/EA

You may notice a couple of things about this list. First of all Mario Strikers: Charged drops on July 30th which should give everyone in North America a taste of what online play on the Wii will be like. Another highly anticipated game is on this list, Metroid Prime: Corruption is slated for release on August 20th. Will it have online play like it’s DS counterpart? That remains to be seen but here’s hoping. One mare thing to notice about this list is a complete lack of games being released in June/July does that not count as summer? No drought indeed.

Hello everyone I have an announcement; it’s almost “Party Time!” and by that I mean Mario Party time. Yes the long awaited release date is fast approaching but does Nintendo have any surprises in store?

Gamers first learned about Mario Party 8 for the Nintendo Wii when it was announced officially at a Nintendo press conference way back in September 2006, long before many of us had even laid hands upon a Wii.

Fast forward to March 2007. The long wait for mini-game goodness is almost over. Mario Party 8 is slated for a March 5th release and all seems to be going well. Then a day before the game was supposed to be on store shelves, Nintendo announced a delay the new release date? “Q2 2007″ I love it when they get specific.

Which brings us to the present. As of right now Mario Party does have a release date which is listed by GamePress, GameSpot and Nintendo as May 29th 2007. Will we see Mario and his game playing ilk on the Wii that day? I remain skeptical but if the “party” goes off without a hitch then I will be left wondering why was there a “delay” in the first place.

Or

It will be my party (or lack thereof) and I’ll cry if I want to. You would cry too if you had to play TMNT just for something to do.

Mario Party 8 releases in

North America on May 29th 2007
Europe on June 22nd 2007
Japan on TBA

While hanging out in Nintendo’s Online press room I found this .PDF document which contains a Q&A session with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. To be honest it kind of reads like one of those White House briefings I see on CNN. Seeing how this Q&A is directly from Nintendo you really have to take it with a grain of salt. The document has most likely been screened by both Nintendo’s lawyers and PR department so don’t count on any big bombs being dropped. The document contains about 27 questions which I’m guessing are from all sorts of different people.

Iwata does his best to answer every question, he only passes over the questions regarding former Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman Ken Kutaragi.

Here are some highlights.

Q1: Please tell me when and what game titles will be launched that can satisfy hard-core gamers.

Iwata: “It will be from around the end of this summer to the end of this year.
We will then launch a new title of Super Mario (Super Mario Galaxy), Smash Brothers (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) and Metroid Prime (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) although the last one is primarily for the overseas markets. These will be the key titles for the period ranging from the summer until the holiday sales season of this year, and I think we will be able to cater to the specific needs you mentioned.”

Big titles coming out in the window between Labour Day and Christmas; now that’s thinking “outside the box”

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Hey remember that drought we’re not supposed to be having?

Remember when NoA president Reggie Fils-Amie said that there would be no shortage of quality games for Wii owners to enjoy?

But hey, lets not live in the past. Let’s concentrate on the here and now.

Last week I walked into my local Blockbuster to find a new Wii game to play, having had enough of scrolling through the copious amounts of text found in Super Paper Mario. Still, I looked at the shelf and couldn’t find a single game I wanted to take home. I don’t think I’m being picky, but both the Wii and the PS3 seem to be suffering from the same disease: lack of quality content.

I can’t explain why this seems be occurring. All I can do is bite my cheek and hope for the best. Things do look like they’re going to pick up around the last week in May, but don’t be surprised if that drops off again around June. I noticed that there are a couple barren weeks between now and September where no games are slated for release. However, if you are a fan of games based on movies things should be great for you as all the publishers cash in on all the summer blockbuster licences.

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.

That’s right kiddies Super Mario is back! No Super Mario Galaxy is still a long way off but Mario fans recently got their beaks wet with a new addition to the Paper Mario series which debuted way back during the N64’s heyday.

I can’t talk about Super Paper Mario without first mentioning that the game was originally supposed to show up on the GameCube much like Zelda: Twilight Princess. I blame this on Nintendo’s commitment to quality which often results in long development times. This time around the GameCube was six feet under even before the Wii was picked from Nintendo’s secret underground console farm. Seeing as how both titles were given extra functionality and 0 to -10 load times I’m hardly complaining here.

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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.