GamerNode: Latest Wii News

Nintendo apologizes for "geeks and otaku" remarks

The Wii accomplishes its game saves and storage of downloadable content on its internal 512MB memory and removable SD memory cards, which can be a chore, and has started discussions about an HDD among Wii owners.

About a week and a half ago, Laurent Fischer, marketing director for Nintendo Europe said that only "geeks and otaku" would want a hard disk drive add-on for the Wii game console.

The insult didn't go unnoticed by the Wii community and Fischer has apologized for his harsh remarks.

"I have huge respect for those who, like me, share a common passion for Nintendo and want to make it clear that I would never use and I didn't use this terminology in such a context or way to cause offense, he said. "I regret that this misunderstanding has created such offense and disappointment within the...

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June 16th WiiWare/Virtual Console releases

Another Monday, another round of WiiWare and Virtual Console updates.

Whether Nintendo adds one game, ten games, or none at all, GamerNode will be here every Monday with the official details - titles, platforms, ratings, pricing, and even a taste of some corny marketing copy - keeping you up to date with everything from the online Wii scene.

Without further ado, the games:

WiiWare

Block Breaker Deluxe (Gameloft, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Suggestive Themes, 800 Wii Points): Prepare for the frenzy of the coolest block-breaker game ever. Block Breaker Deluxe is a reinvention of the classic arcade brick-breaker game with a trendy graphical style, fun atmosphere and an exclusive multiplayer mode. Lively characters and amazing graphics provide distinctive settings of the jet-set ni...

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Sid Meier isn't abandoning the Wii

With no announcement of a Wii version of Sid Meier's newest title, Civilization Revolution, some fans of both Sid and the Wii have become uneasy, thinking that Meier has perhaps abandoned the system.Well that isn't the case; last Monday, GameDaily conducted an interview with the established developer. Sid said he and Firaxis both think the Wii is "a fantastic platform, and have no intentions of turning our backs on it!"

Unfortunately, he didn't confirm any plans for a Wii edition of Civilization Revolution but at least there's the possibility considering his enthusiasm for the Wii.

When asked about the possibility of a Civilization MMO, he replied "I'm exploring lots of exciting ideas right now. A Civ MMO is a really intriguing idea and we're spending time thinking about how we could make it...

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The Conduit to have superior Wii visuals

The team who brough you Tom Clancy's GRAW 2 is out to make a statement about themselves and the power of the Wii. High Voltage Software, Inc., one of the world's largest independent developers, has officially announced The Conduit, a stunning first-person action shooter that promises to provide some of the best visuals seen to date on Nintendo's Wii gaming console, for Q1 2009 release.

Using their proprietary Quantum 3 Game Engine technology, the team at High Voltage Software is fusing fast and fluid gameplay with an advanced set of visuals intended to squarely establish the Wii as a true current-generation gaming platform. The first-person shooter boasts a competitive online multiplayer component and a thrilling single-player campaign. Advanced graphical features include dynamic environmen...

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Nintendo says only geeks would want an HDD for Wii...

As many hardcore Wii-ites can attest to, there are only so many virtual console games and game saves that you can squeeze onto a flash memory card.

This proves to be a big pain in the posterior for those Wii owners who keep running out of memory space. Wouldn't it be nice if the Wii had the capacity to allow an external HDD to be used?

Laurent Fischer, Nintendo's marketing manager for Europe, made a statement about the odious situation regarding the Wii's lack of a hard drive and said that only people that were "geeks and otaku" would ever want one.

Well, how's that for real slick marketing technique? Obviously, Fischer comes from a different school of how to sell and make your products more appealing to the consumer--you insult them?

Regardless of Fischer's smooth, polished sytle, it is obvi...

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June 2nd WiiWare/Virtual Console releases

Another Monday, another round of WiiWare and Virtual Console updates.

Whether Nintendo adds one game, ten games, or none at all, GamerNode will be here every Monday with the official details - titles, platforms, ratings, pricing, and even a taste of some corny marketing copy - keeping you up to date with everything from the online Wii scene.

Without further ado, the games:

WiiWare

Protöthea (Ubisoft, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, Fantasy Violence, 1000 Wii Points): Protöthea is a top-down scrolling shooter game with free movement that puts players in complete control of a last-generation spaceship. The mission is to destroy the asteroid called Maqno 01 and finish with the plans of The Core. UbiSoft's Protöthea introduces new concepts to a beloved, classic game style while mixing genres ...

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Surfing the Earth with the Wii Balance Board

If you're anything like me, when you first caught wind of Nintendo's newest Wii-controlling contraption, the Balance Board, you quickly conjured up images of videogames involving leg-powered exploration -- running, climbing, jumping, and the like -- thinking to yourself that we are inching ever closer to full immersion in the virtual realm. Or maybe you thought that it was just a silly novelty item. That's a perfectly valid position as well.

Regardless of anyone's initial expectations, the fact remains that all we've been able to do with the peripheral thus far is exercise, ski, or, *ahem*, cheer, and that's not enough. Thanks to the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, however, we can add one more application to that list -- air surfing (dramatic pause) the WORLD.

The foll...

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Wii-exclusive Fatal Frame IV gets a release date

The next installment in the relatively creepy Fatal Frame series has finally been given a concrete release date -- in Japan, at least.

Nintendo of Japan has updated its release schedule, listing Fatal Frame IV, a Wii exclusive, with a July 31st street date.

The game will be published by Nintendo, and will be a collaborative effort between Fatal Frame director Shibata Makoto and Grasshopper Manufacture's charismatic and creative Goichi Suda (Killer7, No More Heroes). Judging by the track record of these two individuals and the teams they've worked with, I would be willing to wager that this could turn out to be one very interesting Wii title.

[via CVG]

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Wario Land Shake shakes it on Wii

Yesterday, Nintendo announced several new entries in some of their established franchises including a new Rythm Tengoku game (an awesome music game released only in Japan).

Probably the best piece of news, however, was the announcement of a new Wario Land game for the Wii titled "Wario Land Shake" which is obviously a reference to the Wii's motion-sensing capabilities. No initial details were revealed, but a Babelfish translation of the text on Nintendo's website yielded some interesting results.

"As for the head title 7/24Wii "[wariorandoshieiku]"After a long time, seeing, touching, it was the pleasant [do] lively action game.It shakes remote control and/or it can tilt something occurs it is.And method of entering to the movement and the earth tube which [wario] seem made [niyari] unintent...

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May 26th WiiWare/Virtual Console releases

Another Monday, another round of WiiWare and Virtual Console updates.

Whether Nintendo adds one game, ten games, or none at all, GamerNode will be here every Monday with the official details - titles, platforms, ratings, pricing, and even a taste of some corny marketing copy - keeping you up to date with everything from the online Wii scene.

Without further ado, the games:

WiiWare

Dr. Mario Online Rx (Nintendo, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): The doctor is in! Mario takes a break from his adventuring ways and once again dons his stethoscope for a new generation of germ-battling mayhem. In addition to the classic mode of using vitamins to exterminate viruses, you'll find two battle modes and an online multiplayer mode where you can hone your skills against players fro...

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May 19th Virtual Console/WiiWare releases

The Big N has settled into a new routine now, updating both the Wii Virtual Console and WiiWare catalogs every Monday. Today we have a pair of new WiiWare games and one NES title hitting the little white box, down from the six new releases we saw last week.

Critter Round-Up is a puzzle game where players must fix fences in order to keep animals from escaping a virtual barnyard. Star Soldier R is a timed space shooter, featuring ship upgrades and power-ups, as well as an online leaderboard updated via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. The lone Virtual Console game, Sky Kid, sees players assuming the role of the Red Baron, shooting down enemy planes and pulling off loop-de-loops in grand, 1986-meets-1917 style.

Here are the official details from the press release:

WiiWareCritter Round-Up (Kona...

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Pitfall Harry falls onto the Wii

We last saw Pitfall Harry in his 2004 title Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. It was a merely passable game but Activision must have saw enough success to warrant a sequel. Enter Pitfall: The Big Adventure exclusive to the Wii.

The game apparently boasts over 60 levels with a diverse range of landscapes and areas. Players will use the Wii Remote to pull off various feats. The title is being developed by Edge of Reality, the same people who brought us the previous Pitfall game. The Big Adventure is set to hit store shelves this fall.

From what I've seen, the game doesn't look too great. Actually the graphics are downright awful compared to other Wii titles or even other GameCube games. This game looks even worse than its predecessor with worse lighting, texture tearing, and poor draw distance.

A...

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Will WiiWare take off? Yes!

WiiWare has launched in the US. The big question on most Nintendo fan lips is "Will it take off?" This is a good question considering the service has a few limitations. For one, the developers are constrained with a 40 MB limit for their games.

This caused some people to wonder if WiiWare would only see mini-game collections or other games of comparable status. Well several developers have put those fears to rest. With Frontier Developments' LostWinds and Square-Enix's latest Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles already on the service, the future definitely looks good if day one already brought us those games.

We also have several confirmed titles in the works like Gyrostarr, Dr. Mario Online, and others. I think it's safe to say that WiiWare will be a huge hit. I know I'm looking forward to it...

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May 12th Virtual Console/WiiWare releases

Exactly zero games have been added to the Wii Virtual Console lineup this week. Instead Nintendo is "taking a week off" to celebrate the launch of WiiWare, the console's original games download service.

The good news is that six WiiWare games have been release for its inaugural week, headlined by the newest Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, My Life as a King, and Frontier Development's LostWinds. These initial offerings range from simulation kingdom building to casual bubble popping to a casino card game, so hopefully not everyone will be completely distraught over the momentary ebb in classic videogame flow.

From the press release:

FINAL FANTASY® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES®: My Life as a King™ (Square Enix, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes,...

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Nintendo Channel goes live

Earlier this morning, the Nintendo Channel (known as Everyone's Nintendo Channel in Japan) went live in North America. So boot up your Wii and head over to the Shop Channel to download it. This new channel opens up several new and exciting features to Wii owners including the ability to watch videos, commercials, and interviews.

The channel also allows you to rate any game you've played for more than an hour. Nintendo will then use your ratings to recommend games to you, although some games are not currently available for rating. I really wanted to tell people how awesome No More Heroes was too, bummer.

The most exciting feature, however, is the ability to stream demos of DS games right to your DS. It's like those DS Download Stations you sometimes see in stores only now you can do the sam...

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May 5th Virtual Console releases

Happy Cinco de Mayo from the land of classic videogames! This week's Virtual Console update isn't exactly the celebration of victory one might be hoping for, however, as it features a lackluster addition to a genre whose concept has been perfected elsewhere on numerous occasions, and a re-skinned version of a game that could have made it to the Wii for half the cost.

Renegade is the third NES beat-em-up from Technos to come to the Virtual Console in as many weeks, but this time the excitement of River City Ransom and Double Dragon just doesn't carry over. Actually, Renegade will make you wish you were playing those games, instead. As for Pokemon Puzzle League, it is basically the Pokemon-coated version of Tetris Attack. That's not a bad thing, but if it was replaced by Tetris Attack (an...

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Animal Crossing for Wii expected at E3. Whee!

VideoGames Blogger speculates that a Wii edition of the popular Animal Crossing franchise will make a showing at this year's E3. The reasoning is that Nintendo has yet to reveal any of their second-half 2008 lineup. 

They also, by dissecting each and every bit of Animal Crossing information for the past three years, have come up with a plausible list of features that the title might have. Most interesting is that they say the game will feature the ability to travel to friend's towns and play with several friends simultaneously.

"This creates a real-time, online community in larger towns that allow you to chat, work on building the town, and play motion controlled mini-games together", they say.

They also touch on the possibility that Animal Crossing Wii will be an MMO title that utilizes Nin...

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RUMOR: Prince of Persia coming to Wii?

A brand new Prince of Persia game was recently announced for both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, and a few gamers have been wondering if the Wii will see a port of the title. In a recent Edge interview, Ubisoft confirmed that they will not be producing a port but there might be a different Prince of Persia title in the works for the system. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

"It's connected to the game in a very interesting way, but it's not a port. A complementary experience, shall we say? We ported Two Thrones to the Wii. It was a quick and dirty port, I can say. With that we saw a lot of potential. The controls were not fully optimized, and it did not take full advantage of the Wii, but a lot of people saw the PoP universe could certainly have a home on Wii. Since then, people h...

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EarthBound is coming to the Virtual Console!

Today I woke up to the best news I've heard in a very, very long time. EarthBound, my favorite game of all time, is finally coming to the Wii Virtual Console. Today EarthBound was rated by the ESRB with an E rating.

What tells us that it's coming to the VC is that it's listed under Wii. Since the creator of the series told us that there won't be any more original games in the franchise, this can only mean that the SNES RPG will be hitting the VC.

We don't know when it's coming but now we definitely know it is coming and that's better than nothing. The good news is that newly rated VC games usually hit the service quickly after it's rated so we may see this gem sooner than we think.

If you would like to see the rating for yourself, head over to the ESRB website and type "EarthBound" into the...

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Nintendo prez says the Wii needs more "surprises"

It's no news that critics of Nintendo's Wii say that the game console has been mired in shovelware of late and that the Wii is a gigantic giant ready to take a hard fall. But among those voices comes one from Nintendo's own ranks-none other then the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata.

First off, he related that he wasn't very concerned with other game companies copying the Wiimote motion sensing concept but was more concerned with bringing in new ideas to the Wii consumer base.

"We are not concerned about what other companies may do but rather more concerned with presenting them with new ideas to our customers based on the prospect that our existing customers will surely get tired of the plays enabled by Wii Remote if we do not try to improve the experience. In other words, what matters to ...

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