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Namco Bandai announced We Ski and Snowboard, a new title for Wii, at its press conference yesterday. We Ski and Snowboard will utilize the balance board, nunchuck, and Wii controller as players venture down a mountain. The game will feature a modified trick set up from the original title, locations outside of Japan, races, schools, rescue missions, and much more. We Ski and Snowboard is scheduled to ship in March, but the first gameplay of the title should tide you over until then.


Socialising and communicating with friends and family has just got easier – and more fun – as the new Wii Speak accessory and Wii Speak Channel are launched for Wii across Europe on 5 December 2008.

Wii Speak enables people to connect to and communicate with friends using the free-to-use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection* in a way that is very socially inclusive. Wii Speak can be connected directly to the console and pick up the conversations from an entire room of people, meaning friends and families can all get involved in conversations, sharing gaming and social experiences together. It’s just like using a phone to make a call and chat with other Wii-friends: but with Wii Speak, everyone in the room can get involved in the conversation.

The new Wii Speak Channel, accessed from the Wii’s main menu, allows up to four console users – who can be anywhere in the world – to connect together to chat, or to share pictures and text messages at no extra cost. Once connected, the Wii Speak Channel brings user’s Miis to life: as users’ Miis represent them on-screen during their conversations. When players are talking to each other, their Miis also ‘talk’ to match the sound that is being picked up by the Wii Speak accessory.


Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo’s Senior Director of Corporate Communications, has told Kombo what has taken a Wii storage solution so long, highlighting that the company wants to make sure that the interface is intuitive and that it is a necessity to make sure the solution is of high-quality. “We heard the gamers, there was frustation there. We hate hearing that so we tried to create a solution for it and we’re still listening, we’ll see what the response is to this and see how it goes. To why it took so long, I can tell you that quality control is job number one for us. We don’t want to get it out there until we know it’s going to work, we don’t want to get it out there until we know that it’s going to be a good easy intuitive interface. Hopefully good things come to those that wait.”

That last line sounds pretty good to me! I’m just glad we finally have a solution. Hopefully, the storage solution will be able to end the problems that many Wii owners face. I know some had wanted a hard drive, but if this works well, I personally won’t mind the SD card solution.


Videos

Wii Music: This week’s Instruments 1
World of Goo Info Video
Midnight Bowling Info Video
MadStone Info Video
Mario Super Sluggers: Mitch vs. Ande
NBA LIVE 09 ALL-PLAY Video 1
Skate It Video 2
Digest Video

Demos (expire 10/12)

Crosswords DS-Wordsearch Demo
Spore Creatures
Lock’s Quest
MySims Kingdom


Namco Bandai has an event scheduled to show off unannounced games in just a few short hours. The stage presentation will last about 45 minutes and the company is promising “Secret and exclusive revealing titles.” It’s expected than a few new Wii and/or DS titles will be shown, but we’ll know for sure very soon. We’ll keep you posted.

Source


The possibilities of what Wii MotionPlus have been desired for a long time. For this reason, most Nintendo fans were more than content when the add-on was announcement. However, some have argued that MotionPlus should have been available in the Wii controller itself, when Nintendo launched the Wii console. Reggie Fils-Aime has explained Nintendo’s decision on the matter: “We were aware of that technology (the gryoscopic chips made by Invensense) at the time we designed the original Wii. But the cost would have been too high for the business model. It would have been unacceptable.”

I can’t believe how expensive it will become to obtain the “full” Wii controller experience. In North America, the Wii controller is $40, the nunchuck is $20, and then there’s Wii MotionPlus. If you ask me, that’s a lot to ask for if you’re interested in just one controller experience. Imagine how expensive it would be if Nintendo invested in the gyroscopic technology when they were creating the Wii initally.


An unknown source claims to have assets of Saint’s Row, a game which was at one time in development for the Wii. The source further claims that Californian Mass Media Inc. was in charge of the project. The game would see obvious downgrades in textures and geometry, though the general idea was to keep gameplay intact. As can be seen however, the project never saw the day of light.



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