Gamernode: Latest Wii News

March 17th Virtual Console releases

This week in the world of the Virtual Console, we have a pair of games that compliment each other perfectly. Spelunker is about seraching through underground caves; Super R-Type is a space shooter. Spelunker features mostly environmental obstacles; Super R-Type throws hordes of enemies at the player. Spelunker kinda sucks, Super R-Type is a pretty decent game.

If you are a Virtual Console addict, then this week's choice is clear - stick with Super R-Type, please.

From the press release:

Spelunker (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Wander through miles of uncharted caves in search of the legendary underground pyramid and its vast treasures. To complete your adventure, you will swing from ropes and ladders, run across unstable terrain and down ravines, operate elevators,...

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Mario Kart Wii gameplay video

I've been a Mario Kart fan since the good old days of the SNES, so new footage of Mario Kart Wii is something I just have to share with GN readers. This clip shows off some of the new tracks and mid-aid tricks that will be integral to the game. It's looking pretty good to me, and if nothing else, it has the sense of speed that was simply not there in Double Dash (plus Donkey Kong does wheelies). Enjoy.

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Microsoft does what Nintendon't

Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold approximately a bajillion copies since its release on Sunday. Though the game is selling, well there seems to be two inherent problems. The first was the Wii not being able to read discs. A tragedy for sure.

Many people who have evaded the first problem have been plagued with a second problem, and that problem's name is Error Code: 85010.

For centuries gamers have wanted to play Super Smash Bros. against opponents all across the world, but due to Nintendo's late-to-the-party add-on to the GameCube, Melee never made it onto the internets. We had thought the time was finally here with Brawl, but Error Code: 85010 appeared rearing its ugly head.

What is this Error Code: 85010? Well according to Nintendo's official support site it is "typically caused by tempor...

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Mario Kart Wii gets April 27th NA release date

Nintendo of America has just announced the North American release date for their next big title, Mario Kart Wii. The game will ship on April 27th, just about two weeks after the April 11th European release.

As previously reported here at GamerNode, the game will include 16 brand new courses, plus 16 from previous Mario Kart games, and will feature 12-player online competition (without chat functionality). The game will ship with the Wii Wheel shell, but will be playable with the Wii-mote/Nunchuk combo, the Wii Classic controller, or the Gamecube controller, as well.

Said Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing Cammie Dunamay, "Mario Kart Wii transforms one of our most popular franchises into a race that every member of the family can join. Driving with the Wii ...

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A quick Smash Bros fix

By now, you've probably read that Super Smash Bros Brawl has been having a bit of trouble running on select Wii consoles. This is apparently due to its dual-layer capacity, and is a pretty big issue to be plaguing one of Nintendo's biggest releases on the console to date.

There is some good news, however, and it comes in the form of a quick workaround to the problem, published by 1UP Editor-in-Chief James Mielke. His instruction is as follows:

"I kept getting disc read errors, with different SSBB discs, but I found that if I put it in and let the Wii do all its scanning, before I started spamming 'A' to get to the game started, it usually started up. Basically, put the disc in, you can hear it making disc-reading sounds. Wait until they settle down, press A on the SSBB icon on the Wii menu...

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Brawl may not work on some Wii systems

Oh, the horror! Imagine, if you will, what it would be like to be around one of those Nintendo nuts who poured over Brawl screenshots for months--building up to the release when he/she found out that the copy they had been waiting for, and paid fifty dollars for...didn't work at all.

I can imagine the Amazon Death Cry right now. *Shudder* Scary stuff. Well, scary as it may be, the fact is that it actually is happening. There are reports being sent in that Super Smash Bros Brawl is simply caput on some Wii systems.

Now, as humorous as it would be to see this game ship with a debilitating bug that forced a mass recall (sorry, I know that's mean) this problem is far from irreparable. Nintendo themselves, the grand Mute that it is, has actually come down from on high to offer a fix for this pr...

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March 10th Virtual Console releases

It's another import week on Nintendo's Virtual Console; today's update features two 16-bit era games from the Land of the Rising Sun.

First up is the action game DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventures for the SNES (or Super Famicom). As its name suggests, DoReMi Fantasy has a cutesy musical theme, complete with lost songs and legendary instruments.

The other half of today's update is a Sega Genesis (or Megadrive) puzzler, Puyo Puyo 2: Tsuu. This is your typical line-up-the-falling-blocks-to-clear-the-screen puzzle game, but is supposedly supported by "an intriguing backstory." Hmmm.

From the official press release:

DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (Super NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Alcohol Reference and Comic Mischief, 900 Wii Points): This is an action g...

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SEGA says Wii isn't only for casual gamers

Simon Jeffery, president of SEGA of America, made some recent comments regarding that hardcore gamers shouldn't be excluded from Wii gaming; in other words, he said that Wii gaming shouldn't solely be aimed at the casual audience.

Regarding the platform, Jeffery said, "I do think going forward there is very much a place for the hardcore gamers on the Wii and there's a big opportunity for publishers to take advantage of that because we've seen the success of Resident Evil on Nintendo platforms."

Jeffrey went on to mention the potential downfalls of Western publishers only focusing on the casual gaming route for the Wii and DS.

"But I do also believe that a lot of Western publishers are only looking at the Wii for casual and family gaming, and I think that's a mistake - I think there's a lot mo...

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Guitar Hero III Replacement Disks Finally Shipped

If you bought Guitar Hero III for the Wii, one feature lacking in the final game was the inclusion of Dolby Pro Logic II. While not true surround sound it still enhanced the game enough to make a difference to Wii owners. Activision quickly made it possible to report a faulty disk and receive a replacement.

These replacements also fixed some the sound issues the Wii version of the game had in addition to the lack of the Pro Logic II. Reports are coming in that the disks are arriving and the problems fixed. Wii owners, you can breath a sigh of relief.

On a related note though, why the heck are all the music based games having issues these days? If it isn't Rock Band instruments breaking, Guitar Hero III wireless guitars being poorly built, it is the lack of Pro Logic II for the Wii. Talk...

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Cheerleaders approve of the Wii Balance Board

THQ, recently known for killing franchises, has announced a new game to replace their old ones. Will this game have a deep story focusing on the single player campaign - something the Wii needs if it wants to appeal to hardcore gamers? In short, no.

After a room full of men asked themselves, "what do girls like?" for several hours, the answer was abundantly clear. Girls like cheerleading. And girls like the Wii.

Much like Voltron, combining cheerleading and the Wii will create an unstoppable force not seen since the Sims 2 was launched.

The new cheerleading game, dubbed All-Star Cheerleading, should be available this year and will take advantage of the Wii Balance Board. So be prepared to step up and bring it on because dancing minigames are about to smack Wii owners in the face.

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Mario & Sonic sells 5 million copies worldwide

In news that certainly surprised me, SEGA announced that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has sold 5 million copies worldwide since its release back in November.

What can I say, people love Mario and Sonic, so obviously the first game to feature both of the two characters, along with plenty of other characters from classic franchises, will sell pretty darn well.

After its release, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games maintained a firm position in the top 10 best selling games in the U.S. in December, along with maintaining high positions in top sales charts in Europe and England.

Simon Jeffery, president and COO, SEGA of America, said, "With adored icons and fun game play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has shot to the top of the sales charts and is clearly resonating with the growing au...

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Hot steamy details of Mario Kart Wii

Look out Live, Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connect is on the up and up. Nintendo UK just released some details on how they are going to handle Mario Kart on their free service.

It's no surprise that this iteration of Mario Kart has online play since Double Dash was one of the few Nintendo games that had online capabilities on the GameCube.

While a unified friends list does not exist you will be able to build a Mario Kart friends list and play with them. You will also be able to go head-to-head against other players on a continental or global scale. Race and battle modes cap at 12 players, which shouldn't really surprise anyone, any more than that and there'd be no room for your red shells.

What may surprise you is the Mario Kart Channel. It's a channel on the Wii that allows you to view rank on a ...

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Okami delayed until April 15th

Excited about the upcoming Okami Wii port? Ready to play the game at the end of this month?

Too bad.

Capcom confirmed yesterday that eager celestial painters will have to wait an additional three weeks to get their hands on Ready at Dawn's adaptation of Clover Studio' artistic adventure. Okami will be hitting store shelves on tax day, April 15th.

Capcom gave no reason for the delay, but one can speculate that it may be a result of the game's off-again, on-again 16:9 support or the fact that Ready At Dawn has been working hard on God of War: Chains of Olympus, and possibly set that as a higher priority up to this point.

Bummer. 

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Okami for Wii unsurprisingly getting better

The Wii continues to get its fair share of ports. The latest everyone is excited about is the phenomenal Okami which released on the PlayStation 2 last year. When announced it was quickly speculated how amazing the painting mechanic would work with the Wii remote. Thankfully, the developers of Okami felt the same way and a port of Okami is underway for the Wii. But can it get better? How does Okami running in 16:9 ratio sound? Check out the video below. While current Okami owners won't be blamed for refusing to re-buy the game a second time, those who do drop the cash will obviously be justified in their repurchase.

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March 3rd Virtual Console releases

Either Nintendo got lazy this week, or they examined the latest Virtual Console sales numbers and decided that they want more people to buy what's already out there. Only the SNES action title Super Turrican has been added to the Virtual Console library today, accompanied by a very amusing (to me, at least) press release.

Whoever wrote this one obviously knew that fans wouldn't be happy with this week's paltry offerings, and strategically planned a pre-emptive defense of the update. I've changed things up and have included the full release this time around, if for no reason other than to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Read on:

WII-KLY UPDATE: ONE NEW CLASSIC GAME ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL

March 3, 2008

March is roaring in like a lion on the Virtual Console™. This migh...

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Certainly not a laughing matter, Duck Hunt's trade...

The 1980s were a time of big hair, heavy metal, and lousy trademark filings with the latter being the subject of Nintendo's current dilemma. While other console makers are dealing with rather high failure rates, Nintendo's biggest setback seems to be how it filed for a trademark over 20 years ago.

GoNintendo is reporting that the original trademark filed for Duck Hunt is too vague to be renewed and that Nintendo has been issued "final office action." Apparently if nothing is done anyone who makes a game where ducks are hunted can register a new trademark and name their game Duck Hunt.

Nintendo does have the opportunity to appeal this action and restate their case, and you can bet your Miyamoto that they will. Hopefully this time they can be a little more specific in their wording.

I, for ...

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Mario Kart Wii: 8-player battle mode, no chat

The last we heard about Nintendo's newest kart racing extravaganza, Mario Kart Wii, was that the game would feature 12-player online multiplayer races, as well as local 4-player split screen match-ups. Gaming site Jeux-France is now reporting that the game will also support up to eight players in online battle mode.

As you will discover upon inspection of the image at the bottom of this page, there are eight player icons on the map in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. It's not a split screen, so one can logically assume that an online match is in progress. Woooo!!!

In other, sadder Mario Kart Wii news, Nintendo has confirmed that not only will voice chat be missing from the power-sliding, shell-tossing competition, but even text-based chat will be abandoned in favor of pre-determ...

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Disney planning Rock Band knock-off; Ultimate Band...

And you thought that me-too-copy-cat-games were only for WWII first person shooters, and pet ownership simulators. Well, apparently not, because Disney is planning a product to capitalize off the tremendously enormous fame generated by both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Titled, Ultimate Band, this new product doesn't seem like it will have all manner of expensive peripherals like its forebears. Word is, that this new game will use only the Wii-mote to imitate the motions of the instuments.

Playing with plastic guitars is one thing. Playing with what is essentially air-guitars, is quite another. I'm wondering what sort of features this game will have to make people buy it other than the presumably low price tag in comparison to its competition.

Other than this game, there's also the oft rumored ...

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New Blast Works trailer reveals lots

When we saw the initial footage for the upcoming build-and-play shooter, Blastworks, it appeared to be a simple port of the existing PC game Tumiki Fighters. This newest trailer reveals that Blast Works is in fact a suite of games and building tools for players to explore their creative side, play their masterpieces, and then share them with other Wii users via Connect24. It looks very interesting, in a graphically-inferior-shoot-em-up-version-of-LittleBigPlanet sort of way. Check it out:

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February 25th Virtual Console releases

Guess what! The Wii Virtual Console has been updated again.

Yeah, not much of a surprise, but I try. This week, Kirby is going 3D in his N64 adventure, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and "the mind of a twisted demon" is the stage for a side-scrolling shooter in Psychosis for the TurboGrafx16. I've never had the chance to play Psychosis, although exploring the evil portions of someone's mental space sounds enticing. As for Kirby 64, it's a bit dull for my tastes, but the 4 year-old in your life might love it.

The full descriptions from Nintendo's release:

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: (Nintendo 64®, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Kirby's first 3-D adventure is also his Nintendo 64 debut, and it finds the always-versatile hero battling a new enemy called Dark Matter...

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