It’s no surprise that some companies have a particular mindset to be lazy or use their “B teams” to create certain Wii projects. The end result of doing so simply means that a poor product will enter the marketplace, in which, depending on the accessibility of the title, could end up as a relatively successful game. Reggie Fils-Aime is well-aware of the quality of some third-party projects and third-parties in general on the Wii though.
Reggie noted, “I will be able to say our licensees ‘get it’ when their very best content is on our platform. And with very few exceptions today, that’s not the case.”
Reggie also commented on the supply of Wii Fit during the holidays today and explained, “With Wii hardware, I think we’ve got a good shot at meeting demand during the holidays. With ‘Wii Fit,’ I know we’ll fall short. That’s a product we have consumers lining up for each morning outside of our Nintendo World store.”
“We believe that our strategy in going for a much more massive, much more mainstream consumer really is going to play well for us. And that’s because we not only are offering these consumers fantastic entertainment value, with all of these great products like the Wii, and Wii Fit, Mario Kart, our DS products, but what we’re also offering these consumers is fantastic pocketbook value in terms of what they pay and the value they get. So we feel very good that not only the typical gaming consumer will find happiness with our products but also all of these new consumers that are only now being able to find a Wii and purchase a Wii.” – Reggie Fils-Aime
Unlike in previous years, a lot of grandmas and average Joes will probably be searching for a Wii and perhaps Wii Fit. The video game industry doesn’t seem to have been hurt terribly as a whole, but as far as Nintendo goes, the company knows that they can rely on two types of groups to support them.
THE KING OF FIGHTERS XII
Newly Hand-Drawn in High Resolution, The Fight is on in 2009!
Glendale, CA – November 18, 2008 – Ignition Entertainment Ltd., a UTV Enterprise, a worldwide publisher and developer of videogames announced today that The King of Fighters XII is coming to North America and Europe in 2009.
In celebration of its landmark 15th Anniversary, The King of Fighters XII — one of the last great arcade 3-on-3 fighter games — is about to get even greater. For the first time in its history, this ultimate fighting game has undergone a complete graphical overhaul. All sprites used over the past 14 years have been dropped and replaced with new 2D high definition, high resolution sprites, on detailed 2D backgrounds, drawn 100% by hand.
1 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR ACTIVISION –
2 WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF LICH KING BLIZZARD –
3 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2009 SEGA –
4 GEARS OF WAR 2 MICROSOFT 1
5 FIFA 09 EA SPORTS 2
6 GUITAR HERO: WORLD TOUR REDOCTANE 17
7 PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE NINTENDO 6
8 MARIO KART WII NINTENDO 7
9 – PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2009 KONAMI 9
10 WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2009
Awhile back, it was rumored that Nintendo would release a special edition DSi. Square Enix confirmed today, however, that such a package is in the works. The DSi bundle will launch in conjunction to the release to Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days this February. No word yet on whether the game will be part of a bundle with the DSi, but it would seem logical to do so.
Austin, Texas – November 17, 2008 – Steel Penny Games, a videogame development company specializing in mass market and kid friendly games with an unwavering commitment to fun, announced today that it will be launching their first game, Bruiser and Scratch, exclusively for WiiWare in December 2008. Bruiser and Scratch is a unique take on a matching puzzle game where the player controls one of the heroes in each level and progressively unravels the puzzle by pushing life-sized pieces around. As the player matches pieces, they combine and transform into other shapes until at the end, they are combined into a single winning piece.
“Bruiser and Scratch is an exciting puzzle game for the whole family. As puzzle games go, this one is pretty challenging, rewarding and humorous,” said Jason Hughes, president and founder of Steel Penny Games. “It was our goal to develop a game full of character and fun that the entire family looks forward to enjoying together, a little bit at a time. Naturally, Wii is the ideal platform for this,” says Hughes.
Nintendo has officially released a new system update for the Wii, version 3.4. With this update, Nintendo is once again looking to disable homebrew projects and has added in a few new “features.”
Nintendo’s description of the update is as follows:
# An enhancement was made to the Wii console’s Parental Controls.
# A compatible USB keyboard can be used with the Mii Channel.
# The Wii User Agreement, which includes the Wii Privacy Policy, has been updated. Because the updated agreement applies to you and your use of the Wii Network Service, you should view the updated version by clicking on the Wii icon located on the lower-left portion of the Wii Channel menu, selecting Wii Settings, accessing the Internet setting, and selecting User Agreements.
Nintendo obviously mentions nothing about homebrew applications directly, but there have been reports that the company is doing its best to eliminate such additions to the Wii system.
