Have you heard the news? The Wii is kicking major butt all over the place! Not bad for a system with no games, eh?
Wii emerged as the month's best-selling video game system of any type in the United States and achieved its highest weekly sales rates since December, despite pricing shifts in the industry, according to the independent NPD Group and internal Nintendo figures. Wii and Nintendo DS remained the two best-selling video game systems in the United States, with Nintendo hardware outselling all other systems combined!
Nintendo is averaging 9 new games every month for the Wii since launch, which is more than any of the other consoles out there. Add in the huge catalog of DS games (300+ games) and you can see a very bright future for Nintendo.
Nintendo also claims six of the industry's top 10 best sellers, including the top three: Pokemon Diamond (overall No. 1) and Pokemon Pearl (No. 3) for Nintendo DS, and Wii Play (No. 2) for Wii. I know why the Pokemon games sell so well but I'm not so sure about Wii Play.
Tomorrow we can expect the next top game to be released: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption!
Electronic Arts just released its new Wii game Boogie this August. It came out at just about the same time as Mario Strykers Charged so no one gave it a lot of attention, except for me!
I went to the game store to pick up a new Wii game that weekend and there were several games for me to pick from but only one came in an over-sized Wii box with an over-sized price. That game is Boogie.
Why does it come in an over-sized box? The only other title to ship in the large box is Wii Play and that one had an extra Wii-Remote in the box. So, what did this one have? It comes with a USB microphone that plugs into the back of the Wii and has a very long cord. I did not unroll it all the way and check the length but it is quite long.
Shake it. Sing it. Create it.
Those are some mighty big words up there and they are plastered onto the back of the box. The game plays in either single or double player mode. There is a sort of third "party" mode that I will cover later.
Characters
In the Boogie game you play as one of five interesting characters:
Julius is a mean green dancing machine. He has recently decided to leave the limelight of fame and popularity to live a life of seclusion with his ancestors. By ancestors we mean plants, I did say he was green, right? Julius can not stay out of the spotlight for long though.
Bubba is a... um... I'm not sure what he is but he likes to eat seafood and dance. We first find him working at a gas station in the middle of nowhere but he quickly becomes a central figure in the story.
Lea is your basic "home girl" character. She is scouted out by one of the Party Freaks and invited to be a part of the big show at the Megalactic Grooveplex.
Jet is the opposite of Lea only in that he is male. He is the stereotypical boy-band type guy. He talks about himself in the third person and acts as if he is all that.
Kato is a cat-like creature who is also a martial artist. Kato, or Master Kato as Bubba refers to him, is also in the process of teaching Bubba. Well, teaching might be a stretch but you get the idea.
Party Freaks - These critters are all over the place and come in different colors. In game play they give you items and in the story mode they are the bad guys.
Play Modes
Story Mode - Pick one of the five characters and play though a series of stages to unlock items, locations and songs. Once all of the story modes have been completed the final scene will be shown and the final dance floor will be unlocked. There is not much challenge here at all.
Karaoke Mode - This is where the microphone comes in. You have to match pitch and a few other things while singing into the mic. Your "friends" are free to use the Wii-Remote and nunchuk to make your character dance around while you sing.
Dance Mode - This is where most of your game play will take place and I will cover it below.
Party Mode - Two player dance mode.
Video Maker - This is similar to a single player dance mode but it records your moves and you have an unlimited amount of Boogie Power. After you perform you can then edit your video by adding in special effects and changing camera angles.
Shop - This is where you go to spend your tokens to buy new outfits, songs and dance floors.
Practice - A very simple and easy to follow tutorial to teach you how to play the game.
Story Mode
The story mode is over almost as soon as you begin. The point requirements to clear each stage are so low that you may score high enough in the first round to beat all of the remaining rounds combined!
Each song gets progressively harder as you move forward. The interesting thing here is that all of the character stories intertwine. As you play through your second and third character you will begin to see the plot develop from the other characters points of view for events you have already passed.
It does not matter what order you do the characters in, the final scene will not be revealed until all of the stories have been completed.
If anything, the story mode is a good way to introduce people to the game as the songs are not too difficult.
Karaoke Mode
I only tried this mode briefly as I am not much of a singer. The book says you need to hit the right note at the right time and pay attention to lyrics but I was able to blow through the few songs I did by mumbling at the right time. I didn't get awesome scores but I did not fail either.
I do know a few kids that would greatly enjoy this part of the game but they have not been over the house lately.
Dance Mode
This is where the whole game is. You can play with just the Wii-Remote but adding the nunchuk makes moving your Boogie a lot easier.
The dance floor is a three by three grid with nine possible places to dance on. This is important because the Party Freaks will show up during the song holding items. If you grab these items they can do good things for you
Items
Point Multiplier - Doubles your points earned for ten seconds.
Boogie Boost - Completely fills your Boogie Meter.
Tokens - Grab 5, 10 or 25 tokens which can be spent in the Shop.
When you play in Party Mode a few more items appear.
Party Mode-only Items
Reversomatic - Inverts your opponent's controls for a short time.
Freeze Burn - Freezes your opponent for a short time.
Dancing is like DDR for your wrist. I say that because you dance by flicking the Wii-Remote up, down, left and right to the beat of the music. The Wii-Remote speaker makes a ticking sound in time with the beat to help those of us who have no natural rhythm.
You also use the "A" button to change styles of dancing. You need to change styles while you dance to improve your score. No one wants to see you doing the same four dance moves all the time!
As you dance (if you keep to the beat) you will accumulate power in your Boogie Meter. The power can be used to either Strike a Pose or pull off a Combo.
If you have the microphone plugged in you will have one or two short karaoke sessions that require you to sing. If you do not use the microphone you use the "Z" button on the nunchuk. If you do the singing bit well enough you will be rewarded with points and Boogie Points!
A short warning will appear on the screen before and after this mode. This gives you enough time to get ready with the mic.
Songs are rated between one and five stars and the rating is supposed to indicate difficulty but I find the single star songs are the hardest because they are so slow! Sometimes you need a good mid-range tempo to really get your groove on.
Strike a Pose
One of the two things you can burn Boogie Points on during the dance session is the act of striking a pose. You enter this mode by holding the "Z" button. You then tilt the nunchuk around to hit certain targets on the screen. You can use the control stick to move your characters eyes and facial expressions. Pressing the "C" button changes this to lip control.
I do not care for this mode that much as I can score far more points making combos than I can striking poses. If you are going to try this, stick with the slow songs.
Combos
While holding down the "B" button you will enter combo mode. This mode also drains your Boogie Points but it also regenerates them if you pull off a combo!
When you hold down the "B" button a series of arrows will show up on the screen. If you can hit those arrows to the beat of the music you will pull off a combo. If you hold the "B" down the whole way through each successive combo will be worth more points.
There is a limited number of combos for each character and once you do the hardest one they cycle back through in the same order. The start out with only four arrows and progress as high as six arrows. The difficulty level you play at will also be a limiting factor; you can only pull off 4 move combos in easy mode.
Conclusion
So, what do I think of this game? For starters it is not a $59.99 game. Even with the added USB microphone it should not have been more than the price of Wii Play. Do the math and you will likely agree.
Is the game fun? Yes, it is a lot of fun to stand up and dance to the beat of the songs. You could sit on the couch and play but, if you are going to look like a goofball playing this game you might as well go all out.
How about the songs? They packed a bunch of classic dance tunes onto this game and you might think that is what drove the price up but... They are all covers! They couldn't land any original artists doing their songs? I understand about Guitar Hero being a new game and all that but we are talking about EA here, you know, the guys who have been putting out a new Madden football game every year since about forever? The only other problem I have is that some of the songs are ones that I prefer not to have played in my house.
How does your wrist feel? Yes, your wrist will get tired after a while of playing this one so be sure to take a break now and then.
Should I buy it? Sadly I would have to say that most people will not get the full enjoyment out of this game to warrant the high price tag. It is good as a party game and will likely appeal to the "Wii Sports" crowd but not too "real" gamers. It is also a good "kid" game.
Imagine my surprise this morning when I found the front of my Wii glowing blue. That is the signal that you have mail waiting. So, what did this mail tell me? It told me that there was something new in the Wii shop for me to download for free, something to do with Metroid Prime 3!
Yes indeed, Nintendo is making the Wii better and better by adding a preview option for new games. If only it was a playable demo! I guess we will have to wait until Nintendo allows us to plug in a USB hard drive for that though.
It's about time Nintendo starting offering content such as game trailer previews to the Wii. What better way to advertise a new game than by putting a preview channel right on the Wii? The only problem I had was that the preview trailers were somewhat jerky at times due to connection problems. See, the trailers are not downloaded to the Wii but are instead being streamed.
Either way I'll be getting this game when it comes out! That and a bottle of motion sickness meds.
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 27, 2007 – The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare™, a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content for sale by Nintendo through the Wii Shop Channel of the hot Wii™ home video game system. WiiWare paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers. The first WiiWare content will launch in early 2008.
"Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners."
The possibilities for WiiWare are limited only by the imaginations of developers. WiiWare provides game creators a simple method by which they can get their games to the public. This approach, combined with the remarkable motion controls of the Wii Remoteâ„¢ and Nunchukâ„¢, will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers' minds. The reduced barriers to development provide developers the freedom to create and an inexpensive, clearly defined path to reach consumers who will ultimately determine which game will become the Next Big Thing.
WiiWare will be posted on the Wii Shop Channel. As with current Wii Shop Channel offerings, users will redeem Wii Pointsâ„¢ to download content. It will support a variety of pricing options. Details about that and upcoming projects will be announced at a later date. For more information about Wii, visit Wii.com.
I just picked up my copy of Pokemon Battle Revolution for the Wii and I'm reading through the instruction manual. I have not played the game yet so this will just be a "first glance" article where I cover things from the instruction booklet that I feel will interest you.
On the back of the box is a symbol indicating you will need two Wii-remotes. There is also DS connectivity as long as you also have a Diamond or Pearl game in your DS.
Save Games
29 Blocks of Wii system memory are needed to save the game.
Up to four save game files.
You can not move the save game information to an SD card.
I was worried that they would only allow for one save game (as was standard on the Game Cube RPG games) so I am glad to see that up to four save games will be allowed. Not being able to move the save file to an SD card means don't bother looking online for hacked save games.
Colosseum Mode
Use rental Pokemon or Pokemon 'copied' from your DS games.
Multiple colosseums all over Poketopia.
Customizable Battle Passes.
Transfer a Battle Pass to your Wii-Remote memory.
Copied Pokemon also keep their held items.
Copied Pokemon remain in the DS game (think of it as a clone being made).
You can battle against 'friend passes' even hen they are not online.
Playable with the Wii-Remote.
The Colloseum Mode is very much like the older Pokemon stadium games from the N64 days. Pokemon do not gain experience while battling and you don't lose them from your cartridge. It looks like it copies ALL of your Pokemon at once, that means ALL of the Pokemon in your cartridge become available for battling!
When battling you can earn something called "Perfect Points". Thse points are earned by beating a trainer and not having any of your Pokemon faint. You can use these points to re-fight a battle you have lost rather than having to fight all the way through that colosseum again. You can't re-fight all battles and you lose the Perfect Points after you defeat that colosseum.
You also earn Poke Coupons when you win battles. These can be redeemed for gear and...
Mystery Gift
Yes, you read that right! You can get (and transfer to your DS) Mystery Gifts in Pokemon Battle Revolution.
You will be using the "Get Via Wireless" option on your DS game to get the Mystery Gift from the Wii. You then pick up the item from the deliveryman in the Pokemon Mart.
Colosseum Rules
Lv. 30 Open - opponents Pokemon will be at a minimum of level 30 if your are lower. Otherwise they will all be of a level equal to your highest level Pokemon.
Lv. 50 all - Everyone becomes level 50.
Some Colosseums only offer the Lv. 30 Open option
Free Battle / DS Battle Rules
Anything Goes - well, anything goes!
Lv. 50 all - as in Colosseum mode.
Editable rules - customize the battle rules as you see fit.
I'll go into the multi-player battling after I have had a chance to play the game. One thing I did notice is that when battling multi-player over Nintendo WFC Pokemon will use their type name not nickname. This takes car of the problem where people name their Blastoise "Venusaur" and then trounce your Fire Pokemon!
Online setup is extremely easy, even for novices. With a few clicks, players are instantly connected, whether they're using a Wii Remote or a Nintendo DS as a controller.
Trainers are fully customizable. Players can select one of three female or three male Trainers and outfit them with clothing, hats and glasses after earning points during competition. Players can even create personalized in-game text for their Trainers to use when they win or lose a battle.
I'll be picking up my copy this week as I pre-ordered it two months ago. Once the game store calls to let me know the game is in I will gt in my car and go get it!
This game is more in line with the previous coliseum games rather than the Game Cube games that had an RPG element to them. As such I'm not expecting much out of this game. You can already link up with other trainers for Wi-Fi battling on the DS with Diamond and Pearl. Granted you can customize your trainer and the battles do look cooler but you can't talk to your opponent when battling like you can with the DS games.
So Apple just announced some limited YouTube functionality for the Apple TV. They made it sound as if it were ground breaking news! You might get the impression that watching a YouTube video on your TV was some amazing new thing! Guess again.
If you have a Wii and a broadband connection you can already do this. The Wii also cost less than the AppleTV and it does more.
“This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun. YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the Internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room.â€
said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO
Some other folks on the Internet have been talking about this but I ignored it for the simple fact that it is not really news.
So, when will we hear Steve Jobs talk about their ground breaking deal with StumbleUpon to bring video to the AppleTV?
The AppleTV is not a real good product by any stretch of the imagination. It's not a DVR, it only streams content from another computer. Why would you buy such a thing? If you want to put your computer on your TV just get a video-out board. In fact, most new video cards already have a video-out option and some HD TVs have a VGA port.
Some of you may wonder why I would do this but I did. I got a skin for my Wii and I put it on.
The Wii has a certain simplistic beauty to it's stark whiteness. Ask any Mac fan and they will tell you that plain white is an awesome color for technology products. Even the Wii-Remotes and nunchuks are white. So why would I want to cover up their natural beauty?
I did it for you people! Yep, I did it for my readers.
I purchased the skin from a web company based in Canada called Game Face Graphics. They offer a service where they will turn any graphic into a skin. Because I could not decide on an image to have done up in custom fashion I went for one of their stock skins.
I ordered a Wii skin and one set of controller skins (Wii-remote and nunchuk). The skins came in a big envelope with a short set of instructions.
Instructions:
1. Clean surfaces with a soft cloth and rubbing alcohol.
2. Align and reposition skin as needed.
3. Pres on skin and rub out air bubbles toward edges.
The only tough part I encountered was getting the skin on the nunchuk. Because of the curvature of the controller the front part of the skin was cut at an angle and you have to align those cut edges together. It was a pain but I did get them aligned.
Click images for larger image
This is the sheet with the controller skins on it. Notice the cut at the top of the nunchuk skin? It was a bit of a pain getting that skin on!
Here we have a shot of the controller skins all in place. If you look closely at the Wii-Remote skin you will notice that the holes are just a little bit off center. Not enough to be a problem, but they are off a little bit.
This is a view of the right side of the Wii.
Notice the cut-out for the Nintendo logo? How about the way the skin on the Wii matches up with the skin on the base? Yeah, that's what I call attention to detail!
Even the left side matches up with the base unit. Yes I know I got some flash on this shot but hey, I'm a writer not a photographer.
Here we have the Wii from the front. Because the side to the right of the disc slot was so thin it was hard to line up properly. You can't tell from the picture but the pattern on the base does match up with that on the front of the Wii.
There is no skin for the bottom. There is for the top though I did not take a picture of that part. I figure they expect most people to put their Wii in the stand and not set it on its side. I would have liked to have seen a piece for the bottom just so buyers could have the option of not using the base unit.
Here is the Wii in its natural habitat. I hung the Wii-Remotes by thumb tacks pushed into the inside wall of the wooden cabinet. The nunchuks are out of site in a drawer. If only the Wii could play DVDs I'd be able to ditch my broken DVD player!
Before you decide to buy a skin for your Wii I'd like to point out a few good and bad things about these particular skins.
Good
The skin is more rubber than plastic and is printed on 3M Controltac Graphic Marking System paper.
The material is very forgiving if you need to reposition it.
They can make a skin out of any image you send them.
The skin covers most of the Wii.
Bad
The skin on the front does not allow the SD Card door to open properly.
No coverage for the bottom of the Wii.
The die cutter is not as sharp as it should be and some edges became jagged or torn upon removal from the sheet.
I don't know what the thermal effects of this 3M paper are. Most skins add an extra barrier to heat dispersal.
Wii-Remote skin did not line up perfectly.
In a few weeks time I will remove this skin and see how well that goes.
Overall I was impressed with the quality of the skin. The price is also within my limits of being a "good deal". I could have gotten three more sets of controller skins but I wanted to see how these worked out first.
If you decide to buy one of these skins make sure you tell the guys at Game Face Graphics that you heard about them here!
Have you heard the news? The Wii is kicking major butt all over the place! Not bad for a system with no games, eh?
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 27, 2007 – The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare™, a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content for sale by Nintendo through the Wii Shop Channel of the hot Wii™ home video game system. WiiWare paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers. The first WiiWare content will launch in early 2008.
I just picked up my copy of Pokemon Battle Revolution for the Wii and I'm reading through the instruction manual. I have not played the game yet so this will just be a "first glance" article where I cover things from the instruction booklet that I feel will interest you.
