Gamernode: Latest Wii News

Miyamoto says we need to have balance in gaming

The man who built Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, had some wisdom for gamers as he discussed the role of video games in our lives. He said that video games were a vehicle to enrich us, but also stressed that gamers need balance as well.

He hoped that the game Wii Fit, a low impact exercise game, would bring family and friends together. "In Japanese households suddenly new conversations are springing up between fathers and mothers, fathers and daughters, talking about Wii Fit."

Miyamoto said that gaming needs to be offset with other activities. He drew from a personal example to illustrate his philosophy. "Spending too long, staying in and playing any video game is not good. I always tell my children to get out on a sunny day and I, myself, went jogging in Central Park yesterday. But I do my stre...

• (4)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

April 28th Virtual Console releases

Nintendo must be hurtin' for new (old) content, because we are again seeing a one-game update to the Virtual Console library. I am willing to let this one slide, though (I dunno what I could really do about it anyway), because the game in question is the excellent Double Dragon for the NES.

This arcade-style beat-em-up is a great follow-up to last week's River City Ransom; it was made a couple of years earlier by the same development studio, and can be viewed as a sort of grandfather of the genre. If you've ever played a side-scrolling punch-and-kick-everyone-in-the-face-until-they-drop game, Double Dragon is among the reasons you were able to, and you should definitely check it out.

From the official mouths fingertips of Nintendo:

Double Dragon (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated Everyone 10+ - Mil...

• (0)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Boom Blox: Best use of physics of any video game?

Last year Steven Spielberg signed a contract with EA to produce videogames and the resulting collaboration between the big-time movie director and big-time game publisher is Boom Blox for the Wii, scheduled for release on May 9. 

The game is described as a "high energy" game for the entire family. It will feature more than 300 levels, 30 plus characters, and include an in-game editor that will allow players to generate their own worlds of fun.

Amir Rahimi, senior producer of Boom Blox believes that the game has the best physics that have ever been seen on any game console to date.

"I certainly have not seen any game out on the Wii that uses... you know what? I might even be so bold as to say I haven't really seen another game that uses physics as well and as much as Boom Blox...We spend the ...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Earthworm Jim and others going Virtual Console

Following reports that Interplay will be reviving some of their old franchises, we now hear word that the company will be putting up their old Sega Genesis classics up on the Wii Virtual Console later this year.

The games Interplay will be bringing to the Virtual Console are Boogerman, Clay Fighter, and best of all, Earthworm Jim and its sequel.

Of course, the most exciting news for most of you (and for me) is the confirmation of Earthworm Jim coming to the VC. EJ and its sequel are two of the best games to ever grace the Sega Genesis and I'm elated to hear that the two games will be easily accessible on my Wii.

[via Gamasutra]

• (6)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Dev says there will be PS3/X360 graphics on Wii

High Voltage Software is developing a new graphics engine designed for the Wii called the Quantum3 engine and claims their engine is capable of producing graphics that are of PS3 and Xbox 360 caliber.

"Quantum3 is the result of 15 years development experience and enables developers to make use of advanced graphical features, including better dynamic bump mapping, light effects, glossing and other visual improvements. Additionally, Quantum3 uses a 16 TEV stage material pipeline that can blend up to 8 separate texture sources.

"The engine also uses advanced processing techniques to make gameplay smoother, examples including seamless resource streaming, projected shadows, morphing and much more."says High Voltage.

High Voltage's first title which will utilize the Quantum3 engine is called The C...

• (12)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

April 21st Virtual Console releases

Today is the day that dreams come true. Like every other Monday since its release, the Virtual Console library has been augmented with a couple of new games; what makes this update special is that one of those games happens to be River City Ransom - one of the best side-scrolling beat-em-ups in existence.

River City Ransom is the story of Alex and Ryan, a pair of high schoolers who set out to rescue Ryan's girlfriend from the gangs of River City. In addition to their hands and feet, the duo has a variety of weapons at their disposal, from sticks and chains to garbage cans and lead pipes. They can also learn special techniques via books purchased with money dropped by fallen foes. The RPG influence is evident, especially in the unique stat-growth system, but the game is fast-paced and a...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Wii Fit officially priced at $90

Confirming rumors from last month, Nintendo has decided on an official price for their upcoming Wii Fit; the game will debut on May 19th at the price of $89.99. Additionally, consumers who preorder the title from the Nintendo World Store in New York City will receive a Wii Fit T-shirt signed by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto himself. (Reproduced, of course.)

Obviously people will complain about the price, but are games getting too expensive?  I remember the Super NES and Sega Genesis era when the high-profile games were $80 or sometimes more. I very much remember having to save up $100 to purchase my copy of Chrono Trigger back in the day. Back then, high prices were quite common. Now in this day and age, that's the exception because most games cost thirty to sixty dollars with the rare gam...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

New Boom Blox screens

In case you forgot recently, EA and Spielberg are teaming up to bring you an "innovative puzzler" on the Wii, titled Boom Blox. The game is due to hit stores next month. For those who aren't "in the know," as we like to say, here's the official description of the game from EA:

"Fun for kids and the entire family, BOOM BLOX offers action-packed interactive activities that takes Wii play to a new level of creativity and fun with single player, co-op, and versus gameplay. Players can experience the visceral gameplay - perfectly suited for the Wii's interactive motion-sensitive controls - through brain-twisting challenges. They can interact with entertaining characters such as the block-laying chickens or baseball-throwing monkeys across four themed environments - Tiki, Medieval, Frontier, and...

• (1)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

April 14th Virtual Console releases

Another thrilling week for the Wii-kly update! This time we get two games which I vaguely recall playing back in the day, but obviously didn't enjoy enough to clearly remember. The two sidescrolling action games "invite players to blast and battle their way to a thrilling climax," so if you like battling your way to a thrilling climax (while blasting) then these may be the games for you. If not, better luck next week.

Fantasy Zone (Sega Master System, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Take command of the spaceship Opa-Opa and blast your way through various fantastical levels as you try to take out all the enemy bases in each stage. Once you've destroyed the bases, you'll have to beat the stage boss in order to move on to the next level. By using your guns and bombs wisely...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Nintendo takes the lid off Mario Super Sluggers

Maybe some of you guys were fans of 2005's Mario Superstar Baseball. I myself briefly dabbled in the game once at a friend's house.

The game was functional, fun, and managed to keep me entertained for more than a few hours despite my general dislike of everything sports related. So it is with mild interest that I greet Nintendo's unveilment of Mario Super Sluggers, the Wii sequel to 2005's hit Mario/Baseball mixture.

Screenshots reveal that Mario Super Sluggers doesn't showcase much graphical fidelity. At least it doesn't when compared to its predecessor. It could be the terrible quality of the screens, but it seems to me that the two games look completely identical.

Nintendo's very own Bill Trinen demoed Mario Super Sluggers at their currently on-going Media Summit event. IGN was there to c...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Europe to see Wii price drop

Price drops eh? People love price drops. Remember when Sony announced the PS3 was dropping from an overpriced 600 dollars to a slightly less overpriced 500 dollars? Everyone had to have one. It was like that scene from "It's a Wonderful Life" where everyone starts demanding their money.

There are an abundance of rumors claiming that Europe may see a Wii price drop soon. Currently the Wii retails for €249 ($391) which is higher than the Xbox 360 Arcade at the moment sitting on shelves and collecting dust at €199. The rumors claim that the Wii could fall to as low as €149 ($234) making it the lowest price current generation console once again.

Nintendo dropping their price in Europe wouldn't surprise me too much. The technology inside their system costs the least so by tha...

• (6)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sam & Max Season One announced for Wii!

The PC has been seeing regular episodic releases of the Sam and Max franchise for quite a while now. It was only yesterday, however, that Telltale Games announced the impending release of Sam and Max Season One for the Nintendo Wii.

Season One was released in its entirety on the PC in August of last year but the Wii will see it this fall in both the USA and the UK.

There was no mention of Season Two heading to the Wii (or any other consoles), but chances are we'll see it and the other seasons in due time. The Wii edition of Sam and Max Season One will be published by Dreamcatcher in the US and by JoWood in the UK.

[Via GameSpot]

• (0)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Forget about calling Jenny. Wii Fit works!

Chris Kohler, over at Wired, has been playing Wii Fit for a little over a month now. He reports that since starting his daily Wii Fit regiment, he has been getting daily exercise (with and without assistance from Wii Fit) which is a change from when he didn't do any exercise at all.

Kohler says that when he first started, he could only do six repetitions of the push-up mini-game but now he can do twenty. He reports similar improvements with the jackknifes--he can now do thirty or more of those with no problem.

He's also losing weight, albeit at a slightly slow but steady pace. However, this is probably because he's doing exercises that are meant to produce muscles and not burn fat. He voices some complaints that Wii Fit only keeps track of how much fat you burn and doesn't tally up how much...

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Reason behind Wii 'shortage'

Good old Michael Patcher, or M. Patch to those who have him in their Fantasy Analyst League, talked about the future of retailer GameStop and how they will fare during this economic recession. He shot out his rationale for why there has been a Wii shortage, nearly a year and a half into the life of the console.

M. Patch claims the Wii shortage is due to the weak dollar and places like Europe, with stronger currency at the moment, are "totally stealing our shipments," ... ok, that's not an exact quote. I made it up, but that's the general idea. Nintendo makes more money selling their system where the conversion rate to the Yen is higher so shipping more boxes to those countries intern makes Nintendo more mullah.

He went on to say that once the demand in Europe levels off, which should be so...

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Cruis'n USA and two C64 games hit Virtual Console

Yesterday, the UK region got their weekly VC update and with it came Cruis'n USA for the N64 and Uridium as well as International Karate. The big news here is those latter games because they're the first Commodore 64 games to arrive on the service. That said, the USA should see these games in the near future, maybe even as soon as this Monday.

As for the quality of these games, please don't expect anything special. I have very fond memories of playing Cruis'n USA with my older sister. When I fired up the game last weekend for nostalgia purposes, I quickly came to the realization that it was a very poor game and my happy memories were tarnished almost instantly.

As for the other two games, Uridium is yet another Space-Shooter, and God knows the VC has more than enough of those. So many, in ...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Wii Fit for $90?

Despite the infrequent release of quality titles on Nintendo's machine (aside from Brawl, at least), there's one thing that may or may not be on the minds of Wii owners as of late: Wii Fit.

While not all hardcore gamers have the desire to step on the balance board that will be bundled with the game, there's no denying that it may potentially appeal to the soccer moms that will see it in action when it's inevitably featured on morning talk shows throughout the country near the time of its release.Naturally, the first thought that will likely come to the mind of many will be, "How much?" A rumor has recently sprung up concerning the price of the big N's excercise set, which suggests that it will be attainable for $90. Considering that the company has been keeping the casuals in mind for the l...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Rock Band comes to Wii on June 22

MTV, EA and Harmonix have just announced that Rock Band will officially be released for the Wii on June 22, 2008. "The Wii's success among casual and core gamers of all ages makes it an ideal match for the cross-generational appeal of the music featured in Rock Band," said Bob Picunko of MTV. Like the regular package for the 360 and PS3, Rock Band Wii will come with the drum, mic, and guitar for the retail price of $169.99. For those of you who aren't looking for another guitar, the standalone instruments will also be available on the 22nd; no word yet if Boogie's mic will work with Rock Band, saving the unfortunate owners of Boogie even more money.

With six million DLC songs sold online, and with many people rocking out with distant friends, there's no doubt that online play is a big par...

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Brawl online "getting better" says Nintendo

There may be an end in sight to the nasty woes facing anyone who tries to play online with Super Smash Bros Brawl. NintendoEverything.com has quoted Nintendo as saying that the problem is rapidly being fixed and that it's getting better by the day.

"As with the launch of any online-enabled game, especially one as popular as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, everyone wants to play at once. This puts a strain on the pipeline. We have seen improvements in online play performance every day since launch."

As a commenter on their site so eloquently put it, "that's because a lot of people gave up." Funny, but probably not at all incorrect. People are still playing Brawl en masse, so the answer isn't that the game got less popular, it really is probably that people just got fed up with the mess and gave up.

G...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Still want a Wii? The drought will continue

When Nintendo's Wii was first launched almost a year and a half ago, who would've thought that shortages for the popular game console would still be here?

Those who are still looking for the rare machine won't get a break from the drought as GameStop executives predict that there won't be enough Wiis to meet demand for quite awhile.

GameStop COO Dan DeMatteo guesstimated that the Wii supply "won't meet demand for the next 2 quarters," and that means at least six months. A quick look around the Internet seems to prove out his point as online websites such as Amazon.com and Circuit City still report the game console as being sold out.

Although the Wii isn't expected to have any price drops in the near future DeMatteo thinks that there will be a $50 price drop for the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometim...

• (11)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Smash Bros. Brawl sells 1.4 million in the US with...

For those of you who love any- and everything Smash Bros. related, you'll be happy to hear that Brawl is officially the fastest-selling Nintendo of America game of all time. Since its launch, more than 1.4 million copies of Brawl have been sold, at a rate of 120 copies per minute. Those of you who lined up for its release weren't alone (obviously), as Brawl racked up over 850,000 sales on March 9th alone.

"Super Smash Bros. Brawl has made the leap from video game to cultural phenomenon," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Game reviewers and the public alike praise its fun game play and extensive, inventive content."

The game has met critical acclaim, getting a 10 from our own Dac in the first US Brawl review, and earning an average of ...

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
•