Filed under: Wii Warm Up
We usually use the Wii Warm Up to discuss and dissect Wii-related minutiae, but today we want to know more about your non-Nintendo gaming habits. Which other consoles do you own (current-gen or otherwise), which is your favorite (after the Wii, naturally), and what did you last play/are you currently playing through?
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Put a bit of yourself in Sonic and the Black Knight
Filed under: News
You might be feeling disheartened about not hearing back from the organizers of the Little King’s Story “UMA” Contest, a competition that gave fans a chance to have their art appear in the game. But don’t pack your crayons away and sulk just yet, because Sega is offering the exact same prize for Sonic and the Black Knight.
If you’re over 13 years of age, reside in the U.S. or Canada (there will be a European contest in the future), and are willing to draw Sonic or one of his awful friends, then get entering! If you’re one of the twenty artists selected by Sega, your art will appear in the title, and you’ll get a free copy of the game.
Did we say twenty? We meant nineteen. Naturally, we’re super-duper drawers and color-inners, so you may be lucky enough to have your art placed next to ours in Sonic’s world! That’s right: we just asked you to bring it.
[Update: removed link]
[Via Siliconera]
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Filed under: News, Controller, Video
This video, narrated by lead game designer Rob Nicholls, talks us through everything we’ll be able to meddle with in the game’s control settings. Tweakable stuff includes turning speed, running speed, cursor sensitivity, the ability to turn while your cursor is off-screen, and the auto-center settings. The best bit of all, though? Adjusting your dead zone as you play. Very nifty.
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Nyko unveils a strange concept: a wireless Classic Controller
Filed under: News, Peripherals
Nyko’s Wing is the first truly wireless Classic Controller alternative (that isn’t actually a GameCube controller): instead of a short cord, it communicates with the Wiimote via a wireless adapter. Unfortunately, it also looks about as comfortable to use as the Turbo Touch 360. The patriotic-looking Wing runs on two AAA batteries, and can even recharge them while playing via a USB cable. Nyko has yet to release any price or release date for this controller.
What’s so weird about a wireless Classic? It may not connect to the Wiimote with a wire, but it’s still connected. You still have to have the Wiimote sitting next to you (which isn’t really a problem). The controller communicates wirelessly with the Wiimote, and then the Wiimote communicates with the Wii. It’s like a relay for your button presses. We want one like GameCyte’s preview copy.
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Guiness World Records : The Trailer
Filed under: Video
We’ve just received a new trailer for upcoming minigame compilation Guiness World Records: The Video Game. It was kind of a sleeper hit for this blogger at E3. Despite it being a minigame compilation, which usually elicits a rolling of the eyes, it managed to impress through some fun scenarios and tight controls.
[Via press release]
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Japanese VC releases next month: Square Enix shares a Secret
Filed under: News, Virtual Console, Imports
Nintendo has updated their Japanese VC website with next month’s planned releases, including one extremely beloved game from general VC holdout Square Enix: Seiken Densetsu 2, otherwise known as Secret of Mana. Super Famicom fans will also have the opportunity to give Square Enix eight bucks for Space Invaders, which seems kind of high but also irresistably alluring. It does allow you to simulate the cellophane color bars from the arcade machine! Taito’s Liquid Kids, a platformer about a hippo who freezes enemies with water bubbles, rounds out the Square Enix (and affiliates) releases.
We’re particularly excited to see Capcom’s shooter Forgotten Worlds and the PC Engine version of Super Dodge Ball. See the full list after the break, along with some upcoming US releases via Hudson. There’s a surprise!
Famicom
Super Famicom
Mega Drive
Nintendo 64
PC Engine
US Turbografx-16 releases for September, via vc-pce.com:
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Nintendo shares on the rise again
You can barely move in the blogosphere without bumping into another “Nintendo is rich” story, and we’re not about to help matters — sorry.
Anyway, the skinny is that Nintendo shares have soared after the company upped its full-year profit forecast by 26%. It now anticipates that it will sell 26.5 million Wiis (surely taking it past the N64’s lifetime sales of approximately 33 million by year end) and 30.5 million DSes during 2008. Ninty also reckons that in the year ending March 31, net income will climb 59 percent to $3.8 billion, a.k.a. a lot of frickin’ wonga.
This news does represent a mini-turnaround of sorts in Nintendo’s financial fortunes — before today, the company’s stock had fallen 17% since July 30th, but the latest renewed forecast has seen shares boosted by 8.4%. Now if only we’d actually bought some in the late-’90s. Bah. Oh well, clink those champagne glasses, everybody!
[Via NeoGAF]
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Wii Music - the media blitz begins in earnest
It’s started. Admittedly only in Japan so far, but the first shots have been fired from the mighty Nintendo PR cannon, hoping to bludgeon audiences into submission and ensure that Wii Music is the fourth-quarter’s biggest-seller (with the possible exception of Animal Crossing: City Folk, natch).
Head on over to the Japanese Wii.com site and you’ll see a couple of short videos - one demonstrating a virtual marimba, and the other showing how you play guitar with just a remote and nunchuk. The freeform play sounds a lot more impressive than that E3 demo, and I’m getting a sneaky feeling in my waters that this might wind up being bigger than I originally thought - at least in Japan.
October 16th is the date our eastern brethren get their hands on Wii Music. We’ll likely hear a European release date at some point next week, so I’m told.
© Shiny Media - visit Wii Wii for more great content.
This week’s Japanese hardware sales figures have been released, and despite a general drop in sales for pretty much all consoles, it’s good to see the DS back on top, outselling the PSP by 9,000 units (56,000 to 47,000). Wii was once again in third, sinking slightly to 35,000 consoles sold, with PS3 and Xbox 360 way back on 9,000 units and 3,500 units respectively.
It’s traditionally a slow time for hardware sales, but things should pick up in the coming months - Wii Music will be a big seller in October, while the DS will get a huge boost from Pokemon Platinum in two weeks’ time.
© Shiny Media - visit Wii Wii for more great content.
Sony Japan’s new game - look familiar?
It’s fortunate that the Aquanaut’s Holiday series has been around for a little while, because otherwise Nintendo’s lawyers would almost certainly be on the phone to Sony’s lot, with the above footage looking rather familiar to fans of what’s officially Wii’s Fourth Most Underrated Game, Endless Ocean (or Forever Blue in Japan).
No word on a western release for this HD-ed up underwater adventure, so it looks as if European fans of the life aquatic will have to stick with Wii if they want to get their virtual scuba on.
© Shiny Media - visit Wii Wii for more great content.
