Wii Rally

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.

(more…)

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

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.

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?

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…)

(Hehehe Thrustmaster!?!)

In an interview in 2006 NoA president Reggie Fils-Amie said that consumers would have to look to third party companies for a rechargeable battery pack solution for the WiiMote. Thrustmaster to the rescue while they may not be the first third party company to develop accessories for the Wii but their entries seem pretty solid.

If you’re tired of that strange black gunk that makes your pretty little WiiMote look scuzzy than you can grab Thrustmaster’s T-Protect to keep that WiiMote looking pristine. It’s a shame it only comes in black and white I’d love a sexy purple one. (I’m talking to you Thrustmaster!)

Thrustmaster’s T-Charge is not an ideal solution to the WiiMote’s NiMH thirst but it will certainly do the job. The T-Charge is powered by your Wii via USB cable. Inside the T-Charge is a charger, guess what that does? It charges two AA batteries (duh), so you can charge while you play. You will still have to swap the batteries when one pair gets low and you can always use more wires coming out the back of the Wii. Alas I guess that third party battery pack is still a way off. (Hint hint Nintendo)

Word is coming out of Redmond, WA (NoA’s home) about the next 3 months of new releases for the Wii.

Most Wii owners are already placing their pre-orders for Wii Play which comes out on February 14th. As an added bonus Wii Play comes with a WiiMote controller bundled in.

“Our tremendous worldwide launch shows people, from experienced players to non-players, are hungry for the kinds of entertainment only Wii provides,”

Says NoA President Reggie Fils-Amie. There is some really interesting stuff on this list, including a new Prince of Persia game from Ubisoft, and everyone’s favorite bubble shooter Bust-A-Move which has 8 way multiplayer.

Feb. 14 Wii Play with Wii Remote Nintendo
March 27 Disney’s Meet the Robinsons Buena Vista
March Bust-A-Move Bash Majesco
March Prince of Persia Rival Swords Ubisoft
March TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Ubisoft
March Bionicle Heroes Eidos
March Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII Ubisoft
Q1 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 EA
Q1 SSX Blur EA
Q1 The Godfather Blackhand Edition EA
Q1 Medal of Honor Vanguard EA
Q1 Sonic and the Secret Rings Sega

There are a couple things that trouble me about this list. Why are there no games being released between Feb 14th and March 27th? Also this list only contains two actual dates the rest of the titles are dated simply “March” or “Q1″. Doesn’t anyone like to give dates anymore? One small bonus they do mention in the press release that Mario Kart 64 is coming to the Virtual Console very soon, like possibly next week soon. Great Mario Kart comes out and I’m stuck here waiting for Punch Out! Where’s the justice.

Source: GamesPress

Hellllllllooooooooooo 2007 show me what you got!

This should be a great year for the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Amie has already promised that there will be no game drought for the Wii this year. For those of you who do not know a gaming drought normally occurs once a year during the summer months. Video game and consoles tend to dip a little and most tell themselves it because kids are outside playing in the sun. I however think that gamers are forced outside due to the lack of quality software but let’s not get into a “Chicken before the egg” debate here.

Droughts were especially common for first party Nintendo games. Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Paper Mario were supposed to be GameCube titles and ended up being moved over to the Wii, not that I think anyone is complaining about Twilight Princess being on the Wii, in fact you can check out Jeremy Parish’s Review, He gave it a 10.

Now there are lots to be excited about in 2007. All I need to do is think about Super Smash Brothers: Brawl and I begin to salivate. Also, Wii owners have not even gotten a taste of what Nintendo might offer in the realm of online multiplayer. Which might come with the release of SSB: Brawls or Pokemon: Battle Revolution. Trust me folks it’s going to be a very fun year. Still I do feel kind of bad for those poor souls that shelled out almost 800$ for a PS3 all because it’s HD.