Tag Archives: Wii

Wii-mote straps at the ready, people. Otherwise, you might just “Objection” point your controller clean through your TV screen. That is, if a listing from the German USK rating system is to be believed.

The listing says Phoenix Wright is coming to the Wii. That’s all, though. No release date. No details. And, in typical German fashion, it’s not even in English! The nerve!

We’ll shoot an email over to Capcom and see what’s what.

Thanks, GamerBytes.

The Miyamoto floodgates have opened. Unless we explicitly say otherwise, you should probably just assume that any headline we post for the next 24 hours is a Miyamoto quote. (Miyamoto247? We think it has a nice ring to it.) This time, he’s talking HD graphics and Nintendo’s stance on them.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pretty graphics, and if I’m a consumer that has an HDTV, I’d want to be able to play my games with nice graphics too. And I think as we’ve seen the penetration rates for HDTV increase, we’re going to see video games and Nintendo’s games move along in step with the progression of technology,” Miyamoto told IndustryGamers.

“But what I don’t think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that’s going to make the gameplay experience better. So we’re still going to focus on the gameplay, but we’ll take advantage of the technology as it comes out.”

Wii HD confirmed. For 2019.

Nier director Yoko Taro’s got a blog. Sometimes, he writes things on that blog. Sometimes, those things are about the Wii’s lack of graphical power. This is one of those times.

According to a post translated by Andriasang, Taro got an eyeful of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. And while Crystal Bearers sparkled just enough to get passing marks from the developer, the Wii itself didn’t fare so well.

“Bearers’ graphics are well done,” Taro wrote. “I get the feeling that you could call them the highest level for Wii. However, SD graphics are just painful. This is the limits of the hardware, so you can’t do anything about it.”

“Nintendo should use their profits to make a backwards compatible HD Wii, or release an optional upconverter for the Wii, or give the television industry money to properly handle SD video,” he suggested.

More through the link.

Remember that whole Demo Play thing that had hardcore Mario masters up in arms a couple months ago? Well, as it turns out, it might not be that big of a deal. According to a Nintendo of Europe product listing, Demo Play’s just a gentle push in the right direction – not an autopilot.

“New Super Mario Bros. Wii is also the first Nintendo game to feature a dynamic help system, which allows you to access a mode showing how a level can be completed if you are stuck. The best thing about this mode is that you are free to jump into the action you’re watching on screen at any time,” reads the listing.

Bottom line: you still have to do all the legwork. Fortunately, if you want to watch Mario do his hopping and bopping without your input, you’ve still got the animated classic that is the Super Mario Brothers Super Show to fall back on. Thank goodness for that.

Thanks, Siliconera.

After being wooed by Microsoft early in the game, it appears that Netflix now wants to spread the love. Speaking with Reuters, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings outlined his plan to boldly stream movies where no other service has streamed before.

“Eventually we want to be on all the game consoles, all the Blu-ray players, all the Internet TVs. So we are working in parallel with all of those efforts. Currently our Xbox deal is exclusive and we haven’t characterized it more than that,” he said.

Expect to see Netflix on everything short of the Game Boy Color the second that exclusivity deal runs out.

More through the link.

First Toys ‘R’ Us, then Target, and now Best Buy. Kotaku received the above flier from an alleged Best Buy tipster, and it looks mighty official to us.

The crowd’s gathering. “Off with its head!” they’re screaming. Then, a metallic flash. The Wii’s price tag sits, rent asunder, splurting $50 bills all about.

That’s the future, folks. Nintendo says the cuts are retailer-specific, but this heaping mountain of fliers begs to differ. Now then, Wii price tag, let’s have bit off the top, shall we?

First Contra and Gradius got the “ReBirth” treatment, and now – if a recent ESRB listing is to be believed – Castlevania is next in line.

Titled “Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth,” the game’s ESRB description is as follows:

“This is a side-scrolling action game in which players battle against monsters in Dracula’s castle. Players use a chained whip to fight their way through halls and dungeons filled with zombies, skeletons, flying eyeballs, and bats. The enemy creatures frequently shoot projectiles and attack players in hand-to-hand combat. If players sustain too much damage, they keel over and emit a burst of red blood. Some rooms in the castle also have spikes or spears stained with red, blood-like splotches.”

Title sound familiar? That’s because a series entry on the Game Boy shared the same moniker. Could this be that game’s Dracula-esque resurrection? Probably. Either that, or Konami just loves confusing us.

Oh, the game will be rated “T,” in case you were wondering. That is sort of the whole point of this ESRB thing, isn’t it?

Remember when, back in May, Bethesda Europe managing director Sean Brennan lamented about the Wii’s dry-as-a-desert pool of “mature” games? Well, for those who don’t, he also teased the “really big” announcement of a mature Wii game from Bethesda.

VG247 asked Bethesda VP Pete Hines for clarification concerning that title, and here’s what he told us:

“[Sean] was referring to the Wheelspin Wii game Bethesda is publishing in Europe (only) and that is being shown in our booth at GamesCom this week.”

Wheelspin is — if the title didn’t give it away — a racing game. Its goal, in addition to going really, really fast, is to “push the hardware further than any other Wii racing game to date.”

It’s out this autumn, if you’re interested.

Spore Hero, a new Nintendo Wii and DS action-adventure spin-off of Will Wright’s evolution-themed magnum opus, is on track to reach the retail phase this October, EA announced today.

Both versions of the game will be arriving on October 6 in North America, and October 9 everywhere else.

Sure, the lack of geetar, drums, and rock is a bit disheartening, but pitting adorable creatures against each other in pursuit of evolutionarily gained powers has never looked so fun. Or maybe it has. Hmm.

Thanks, Shacknews.

Speaking with IGN, chief creative officer at Vicarious Visions Karthik Bala said that Guitar Hero 5′s Wii tour won’t be hindered by in-game friend codes.

“For GH5, we’ve implemented support for your global Wii Friend Codes. If you’ve got friends in your Wii address book, they’ll automatically be added to your friends list in game, so you can easily connect up with them in online multiplayer games,” he explained.

“It’s much easier to maintain a single list of friends on your Wii that you only have to enter once and use that address book directly in-game for invites, etc.”

Tons more through the link.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Nintendo just announced that SD cards working in collaboration with its brand new SD storage solution can store up to 240 games.

That’s a large number. Nintendo’s been liking the large numbers pretty well lately.

Do you even have 240 games? We don’t. And no, those cheap NES rip-off collections don’t count.

Get the full liveblog of Iwata’s keynote here.

Hard drive? No, but it’s still a storage solution, and it’ll have to do.

According to a report by Eurogamer, Nintendo recently updated the Wii system software to run games from all channels — Virtual Console, WiiWare, you name it — straight from an SD card.

Save games, however, must still be stored in the Wii’s system memory. Bummer. But not really.

Get the full liveblog of Iwata’s keynote here.

The American dollar’s apparently so devoid of value these days that GoGamer really just doesn’t care anymore. The site’s currently kicking its inventory out and telling it to get a real job with a certifiably insane 48-hour madness sale. Seriously, look at these deals:

• Little Big Planet (PS3) (I) – $21.90
• NCAA March Madness 08 (PS3) – $5.90
• Guitar Hero Aerosmith Software (Wii) – $11.90
• Stranglehold (Xbox 360) – $9.90
• Top Spin 3 (Xbox 360) – $9.90
• Prey (PC) – $2.90
• Evil Genius (I) (PC) – $4.90
• The Settlers VI: Rise of an Empire (PC) – $4.90
• Rainbow Six: Lockdown (PC) – $4.90
• Saitek Notebook Optical Mouse Yellow – $1.90
• Brain Spa (PC) – $4.90
• Call of Juarez (PC) – $4.90
• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions (PC) – $4.90
• Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred (I) (PC) – $4.90
• Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (PC) – $4.90
• Seven Kingdoms Conquest (PC) – $4.90
• Music On PSP (PC) – $1.90
• Virtua Tennis 3 (PSP) – $9.90
• Saitek Mini UFO USB Hub – $1.90
• ATV Off Road Fury Pro (PSP) – $9.90

You’d have to be some kind of fool not to capitalize on this bounteous sales bonanza. Now then, go on. Time’s running out, etc.

Thanks, EvilAvatar.

Destructoid has dug up the Japanese trailer for Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles on YouTube.

We’ve posted it after the break. It’s got zombies, guns.

The on-rails shooter is out this winter.

More »

In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, id Software mega-brain John Carmack admitted that he might’ve been a tad hasty in declaring Nintendo’s rascally white waggle-muffin to be an underpowered miscreant.

“Interestingly, I actually spend far more time playing Wii with my four year-old boy than I do with any other game console. So I’m definitely sympathetic to the platform,” he said.

“We’ve been pitched and talked about a project to do a title that would fit well on the Wii, and it’s actually related to an iPhone title that we’re doing. But that’s still kind of up in the air as to what other developer we would partner with on there.”

At the very least, however, Carmack is sure that his company’s first date with the Wii won’t be a crummy rehash of a previous id product.

“Yeah, it would have to be a completely different game. We would use one of our existing IPs where we have a little bit of leverage. It’s not something that really any of our titles, that are under development currently would be appropriate for,” he noted.

Tons more through the link.

After announcing that Bethesda was working an iPhone game at Comic Con yesterday, Todd Howard spoke his mind on Nintendo’s Wii, saying that he was “not threatened” by the console because “it’s a toy.”

MTV’s Stephen Totilo brought the subject up, and Howard said that from a consumer’s point of view “the Wii is a kids’ toy,” and the public thinks that “the PS3 and Xbox 360 are for evil killfests”.

NewsWeek’s N’Gai Croal responded to Todd’s remarks by mentioning the sales advantage Wii has, to which the Bethesda boss retorted that “the Wii is not a threat” because it caters to games that are vastly different to those his team develops.

Thanks, That VideoGame Blog.

Wii-owning Rock Band 2 fans are now able to grab music from corporate rockers Boston, as well as All-American Rejects and Blondie.

As of yesterday, users can now download the following from in-game Rock Band 2 Music Store for $2.00 (200 Wii points) each:

• Boston – Hitch a Ride, Peace of Mind, Smokin’, Something About You
• Blondie – Hanging on the Telephone
• The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret

Come March, Europe will geta taste of Southpeak’s Mushroom Men when they finally land on DS and Wii.

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is a 3D platformer in its Wii incarnation, while Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi is a side-scrolling action prequel to the former for DS.

The US got them in December of last year. They were suppose to come a month earlier to Europe, but thanks to Southpeak’s purchase of  Gamecock in 2008, the game was pushed a bit further ahead into February 2009, and now March.

First shown way back during the neanderthallic, pre-Wii E3 of 2006, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers’ existence has recently (and rightfully) been called into question. Well, stop doubting and start practicing your best post-victory boogie, because Square Enix has finally dropped a new FFCCTCB trailer, and it’s looking, well, pretty much like a Final Fantasy game.

Co-oping with the newly released Wii version of FFCC: Echoes of Time, the trailer features a blonde, be-goggled protagonist (not this guy) who flings enemies to death with the help of his righteous, probably Wii-Mote-controlled right hand and a thumping country soundtrack. Dogs seem to be considered an instrument here, as well.

Also blipping on this trailer’s radar are airships, Chocobos, and – you guessed it – crystals. Really, the whole thing looks fantastic, if we’re being honest.

Check out the full trailer after the break.

Thanks, Wired.

By Nathan Grayson

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VentureBeat has taken a long, hard look at the numbers and rendered a verdict. The site’s startling discovery: Wii is to PS2 as PS3 is to GameCube.

According to NPD data (U.S. only), Nintendo’s bid for the throne currently sits at 17.5 million units sold. At the same period during its legendary reign, Sony’s PS2 had only moved 15.9 million units.

Meanwhile, the PlayStation 3 is forging its own, decidedly less lucrative path with 6.79 million units distributed across the U.S. The GameCube, an odd duck in its own right, let Nintendo’s manufacturing facilities grow fat and complacent with a mere 6.75 million units sold.

As for the Xbox 360, well, you’ve probably already guessed; Microsoft’s second console is the spitting image of its first, moving only 18% more quickly at this point.

Any guesses as to who will snag the best horse on the merry-go-round next?

By Nathan Grayson