Wii-kly Update
Two WiiWare Games and One Virtual Console Game Added to Wii Shop Channel
Champagne? Check. Confetti? Got it. But you’re not fully prepared for New Year’s revelry unless your Nintendo game library is stocked with games to please everyone under the sun. As always, the Wii™ Shop Channel is open 24 hours a day for your downloading pleasure. The final slate of new game offerings for 2008 includes a couple of wild multiplayer titles on WiiWare™, plus an enthralling sci-fi title for the Virtual Console™. Load up and enjoy!
Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:
Gegmaga recently had a chance to speak with a few significant developers including Keiji Inafune. Briefly, Infaune discussed casual games, and stated that he would never create one such as Brain Age. There are a ton of other interesting tidbits as well from members of Square Enix, Namco, and more.
Inafune (Capcom) :
-Regarding Resident Evil 5, he says that their experience with Mega Man 9 in parallel turned out to be useful when it came to tackle the online aspect and more particularly to come to grips with the online services/infrastructures.
– He would never, ever make a casual game such as Brain Training.
– He was right about which hardware would win the systems war, but he never thought the DS would be selling that much. ” Sorry (for doubting you), Mr. Nintendo”
Kawazu (Square-Enix) :
– There might be a SaGa related surprise for the 20th anniversary of the series next year.
Yoshizumi (Namco):
– The Tales of Wii battle system has innovations that will, apparently, greatly impress people. “Please look forward to it”
Terada (Super Robot War’s producer):
– They might “reposition their development” on the second half of 2009…
Let’s face it: 2008 was far from a perfect year for the Wii and left much to be desired. However, 2009 is on the horizon and it’s time to look forward to what next year has to offer. At the same time, we should remember the happenings of 2008 and years past so that the same mistakes will not be repeated. So, without further ado, here are four Wii wishes that, if they come true, could make 2009 one of the best years for the Wii.
Better third-party support
2009 will be an unquestionably standout year as far as Wii third-party titles go. The Conduit, MadWorld, House of the Dead: Overkill, Deadly Creatures, Sonic and the Black Knight, and Little King’s Story – just to name a few – look very promising and will be releasing in the early months of 2009. However, I can’t help but wish for more third-parties to step up for the Wii in 2009. Even with the amount of spectacular products that were released on the Wii in 2008, there were mounds of shovelware and downright uninspired games that were also being placed on store shelves. Some companies still seem to focus on the Xbox 360 and PS3, leaving Wii on the backburner. Though, now that the Wii has proven itself on the market and third-party games such as Boom Blox and Guitar Hero have performed fairly well, will companies take notice and change their ways?
Peripheral support
Wii MotionPlus could arguably end up as the most useful peripheral for the Wii. True 1:1 motion control will finally be possible and therefore, developers will be able to take advantage of the added accuracy when creating new games. Still, even with the benefits of MotionPlus, there are two other Wii accessories which should not be forgotten: The Wii Balance Board and the Wii Zapper. Nintendo initially backed these two products heavily but have since left them for third-parties to explore. Even with that in mind, there are only a few decent Balance Board and Wii Zapper compatible games. As much as Link’s Crossbow Training and Wii Fit are enjoyable, it would be nice to see Nintendo produce another title or two that take advantage of either of the add-ons. Nintendo, after all, has proven in the past that they can reach the best results with their own products more than any other company.
Best Buy
High School Musical 3: Dance! (Wii) – $39.99
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Wii) – $39.99
Madagascar 2: Escape Africa (Wii) – $39.99
Carnival Games (Wii) – $29.99
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2009 (Wii) – $29.99
The Price Is Right (Wii) – $29.99
Little League World Series Baseball 2008 (Wii) – $29.99
Major League Baseball 2K8 (Wii) – $19.99
Ultimate Band (Wii) – $39.99
Ultimate Band (DS) – $19.99
Kirby: Superstar Ultra (DS) – $24.99
Buy one, get one free when you buy any Petz, Imagine, or Ener-G DS game of equal or lesser value
Circuit City
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Wii) – $39.99
DATEL Wired Controller for Wii – $12.99
VERGE Sports Pack for Wii – $8.99
NYKO Perfect Shot for Wii – $12.99
VERGE Wheel for Wii Remote – $7.99
All clearance video games – $9.96
Guitar Hero World Tour bundle for Wii – $79.99
Target
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii) – $39
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii) – $39
Call of Duty: World at War (Wii) – $39
SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 (Wii) – $39
Madden NFL 09 All-Play (Wii) – $39
Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip (Target Limited Edition/Wii) – $39
Guitar Hero World Tour Guitar bundle (Wii) – $77
Wii Fit starter kit – $39
Free DS Game when you buy any DS game listed:
(includes all regular $29.99 and less Imagine, Ener-G and Petz DS games, Each purchased DS game must be equal to or greater than the price of the free DS game)
– Imagine: Wedding Designer
– Ener-G: Gym Rockets
– Imagine: Fashion Designer – New York
– Imagine: Ballet Star
– Petz: Monkeyz House
– Petz Rescue: Wildlife Vet
“I’m sorry to hear that you’ve experienced difficulties with using Club Nintendo. As with any large online undertaking, we’re facing some growing pains, but I want to assure you that we have a team dedicated to improving the service and making it work for all users. We are currently doing maintenance on the Club Nintendo site which should resolve any problems you’ve experienced. As we don’t yet have an estimated time when the Club Nintendo site will be back up, we ask that you please keep checking back. Thank you for your patience!” – Nintendo representative
Club Nintendo has really been a mess since it launched, so it’s to be expected that it is undergoing maintenance. I’ve heard of all types of issues popping up including games missing from survey lists, games not showing up at all, and the lack of downloaded Wii content not appearing for everyone. Nintendo most likely wanted to make sure they kept their promise and launch Club Nintendo by year’s end, but it hasn’t been very cooperative since it went live.
Nintendo Wii
1. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
2. Wii Play (Nintendo)
3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
4. Active Life Outdoor Challenge (Namco Bandai)
5. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts)
Japan:
1. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
2. Taiko: Drum Master Wii (Namco)
3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
4. Resident Evil 1 Wii-make (Capcom)
5. Wii Sports (Nintendo)
Europe:
1. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Ubisoft)
2. Wii Play (Nintendo)
3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
4. Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Ubisoft)
5. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
Nintendo DS
North America:
1. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
3. Disney Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney)
4. Personal Trainer: Cooking (Nintendo)
5. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! (Nintendo)
Japan:
1. Legend of the Strongest Penguin!: A Penguin’s Troubles (Konami)
2. Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo)
3. Phantasy Star Zero (Sega)
4. Suikoden Tierkreis (Konami)
5. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo)
Europe:
1. 100 Classic Book Collection (Nintendo)
2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
3. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? (Nintendo)
4. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? (Nintendo)
5. Professor Layton and The Curious Village (Nintendo)
Unfortunately, I’ve come across a problem that has been happening for about a week or two with our contact form. Without boring you all with technical talk, basically, I was not receiving more than half of the emails that were submitted through the contact form. So, if you submitted something and were anticipating a reply, know that I don’t hate you…It’s just that I never received your email!
The problem has been fixed now and I don’t believe that the issue will arise in the future. But again, if you sent in an email and were expecting a reply, please know that you can now resend the message!
A few old and a few new in this batch. Old images are now watermark free.
