To clarify, we’re talking about Super Mario Kart, the one from the SNES era, Pilotwings, again, the SNES version, and, much to my personal delight, the Nintendo 64 Smash Bros.

According to the report, Mario Kart will release this Monday and the other two at the cryptic “sometime this holiday season” timeframe.

I feel the only appropriate statement to be issued here is “It’s about freakin’ time!” But really, I’ll never be satisfied, as Goldeneye will likely never show up.

Source: GameSpot via Kotaku + Joystiq

A survey of over 1,000 random wishes, conducted by online gift-giving site Lottay, found that, for both dudes and ladies, the Wii topped the list of most popular holiday wishes.

Can’t say we’re too surprised about that. Now at $199, and with a helluva strong software lineup available today, we’d expecting nothing less, but we are a tad surprised by what Lottay also found.

According to their survey:

· The Wii is wished for twice as much as Sony and Xbox 360 combined.

· Top wished for consoles, in order of popularity: Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, Xbox 360.

· People are also wishing for more Wii accessories and games than for other consoles.

· The most wished for game that appeared along with a Wii console is Super Smash Bros.

· The hottest new game is Left for Dead 2.

· The most popular accessory is the Wii Fit.

· Top product wishes are the Nintendo Wii, Wii games and accessories.

· Top wishes for men include the Nintendo Wii, cash as a gift, travel, love and sky diving (tied), iPod, and a car.

· Top wishes for women include the Nintendo Wii, travel and vacations, cash as a gift, massage, iPod, and boots.

PlayStation 3 more wished for than Xbox 360. Now that’s interesting.

What do you make of this list? Reasonable? Not so much? Jackie?

That’s not to say anyone can’t play and enjoy being a virtual DJ here. The game caters to all skill levels, but to really get the most out of the mix table peripheral, you’ll need to master the higher skill settings. Regardless of which difficulty level, DJ Hero is amazingly fun.  Almost 100 mix tracks come with the game and it’s the first music game since Dance Dance Revolution to especially appeal to the techno crowd. The mixes cover the musical spectrum though—plenty of rap, hip hop, Motown, and pop from the last 30 years. But the magic is how the game mixes two tracks together to create something new.

Nowhere else could you hear Marvin Gaye crossed with the Gorillaz, the Beastie Boys and Queen, the Killers vs. Rihanna, David Bowie and 50 Cent, and an impressive and entertaining number of other great mixes. It’s not a stretch to say that this eclectic, dance-centric line-up is the best yet for a Hero game and it makes the color-coded button pressing gameplay feel more distinctive than ever.

The mix table controller is a cool new addition to any gamer’s stash. The main focus is on the turntable, which both spins and has three colored buttons. On the medium difficulty level and below, this is all you’ll really need, and the game plays just like any of the Hero/Rock Band games. Color-coded circles stream down three trails on the screen and the object is to hit the appropriate button at exactly the right time. At times, you’ll have to spin the turntable up or down based on the onscreen cues. The concept is simple, the execution is fun, and the presentation is bright, colorful, and quirky.

Once you get comfortable with the basic gameplay and switch to a higher level, the crossfader becomes a major part of the game. This slider bar is at home in the center, but at times, you’ll have to slide it right and left in time with the music trail, while keeping pace with the button presses and spins. The crossfade bar adds an interesting level of challenge in general, and adds some great variation to the music. On the downside, it can be a bit unruly. Despite have a bit of feedback, when the game is in high gear, paying attention to the current position of the bar without having to actually look at it can be frustrating.

There’s little in the way of onscreen prompts to keep track of the slider’s position as well, making the learning curve a bit steeper than it could have been. Another feature that is great in concept, but still in need of some work is the overlap with Guitar Hero. Some of the tracks allow for a guitarist, yet few of them felt particularly optimized for this feature. Usually the guitar tracks end up being painfully repetitive. Still, it’s a nice bonus feature that could use improvement in the sequel.

The overall presentation is much like other music game, with the moving gameplay tracks taking up most of the screen acreage, and stylized graphics of your on-stage DJ, the crowd, dancers—all reacting to how well you’re doing. The pumping soundtrack is especially awesome for home theater-equipped systems, but as expected, it sounds great in general.

Blast Factor: Without a doubt, DJ Hero is the most distinctive and original music game on the market. While the game is enjoyable for all skill levels, it takes on a whole new level coordination for the hardcore crowd. The packed soundtrack is phenomenal and mix table controller is responsive and fun to use. The  main problem for DJ Hero is the steep asking price. $119 is a lot to spend on one game with only a single controller. If you don’t mind the cover charge though, this is the coolest virtual rave in town.

Another Take — Bradley Ouellette

Activision’s latest Music game is an interesting new twist. They have taken the well-known style of the Guitar Hero franchise, and instead of playing a guitar, the player spins a record, and acts like a DJ mixing tunes. The Music in the game always consists of two pieces that the player has to mix together, fading between the two pieces and adding other effects including scratching, freestyling, and cross fading.

The game plays similar to any other Guitar Hero style game, moving the cross fader to select the track, scratching, or pressing the buttons to cause different effects to the music. When the player gets all of a lit up section correct the game gives a charge to the Euphoria button–this is the same as star power.

The scoring in DJ Hero feels different than the scoring in Guitar Hero also. The multipliers earned from rows of correct notes is very important since if you don’t hit 4x multiplier for a while in the game, you pretty much can’t score more than 3 stars. So hitting an extra note that isn’t there can kill your rating. Also if the player gets enough notes correct in a row, there is a rewind button that will show up in the display. This looks like the regular rewind button on a remote. When that’s on the screen, spinning the turntable back one full turn will rewind the song, and let the player replay a section to increase their score. This can be especially fun, if in Emode, when there is a bunch of cross fading back and forth, since it will allow the player to get a huge score with little effort. That being said, the rewind mode can also kill the score, since while it rewinds it’s easy to mess up a note and lose the multiplier.

Over all, I loved the game. I thought it was a neat new twist in the music genre; whereas the guitar band games haven’t had as much innovation lately, this was completely new. I found that game played smoothly, except for the cross fader. Even with the issues of the cross fader, loved the game, and will highly
recommend it if you generally like music games.

DJ Hero is available on the Wii, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, and retails for $119.99. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Those of you who have picked up a copy of Need for Speed: Shift, you may have high hopes for NITRO. However, Shift and NITRO are two completely different experiences. Where Shift was in the vein of a racing simulator, NITRO returns to Need for Speed’s Arcade roots. You drag race through the city while trying to beat other racers and avoid the police. The more damage you do while driving, combined with your position in the race, will draw more police attention. So if you’re in first place and causing a large amount of damage to your surroundings, watch out. The challenge makes the game interesting and makes it feel like you’re racing in the Fast and the Furious (not an opinion everyone may share).

The game play is definitely designed for casual racers instead of hardcore racing fanatics, so this game will probably not appeal to racers who enjoy realistic racing. The racing itself is very cartoonish, which doesn’t take away from the game, but makes it rather endearing. You drive with acceleration and braking and also use Nitrous to speed up the car for a competitive edge. The difficulty levels are just right so that it’s not insultingly easy but not soul crushingly hard (sorry to disappoint all you masochists out there). You play in either Arcade or Career mode and use the Wii remote to drive. However, you’re not limited to using only the Wii remote – you can also use the classic controller (a personal favorite), the Wii Wheel from Mario Kart and even a Gamecube controller! That was a great relief for when I tried out multiplayer with my friends and found that all four worked on the game.

There are 30 cars that are available to use but you have the ability to customize them however you wish. The 30 cars are separated into three tiers: Supercars, Balanced Performance and Commercial vehicles. Supercars are fast racing cars while Commercial vehicles are slower but sturdier. You can paint your cars in whatever way you like in order to make it more interesting. While you can drive around, you can’t total your car. That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for reckless driving. If you crash too many times, you end up losing your nitro meters, which can cost you the race.

Visually, the game is very cartoonish and animated in a way which makes it interesting to look up. Unfortunately, the game’s variety limits its potential. The game has very few levels and only 30 cars. Even if you increase the difficulty of the levels, there’s little incentive to keep playing when you know what the tracks are like. This incredibly repetitive game play is a big disappointment of a fun game to kill time with. This is surprising given the fact that the game’s simplicity would have seemed like the biggest letdown.

Blast Factor: Need for Speed: NITRO is a fun arcade racer which suffers from a very repetitive set up. The cars are interesting, as are the visuals, but that doesn’t really improve the lack of courses to race through and the fact that there are only 30 cars. This isn’t a bad game, and it is perfect for fans of casual arcade racing games but it isn’t something which would appeal to hardcore racers. If you want something silly for the kids this is definitely a game for you to pick up.

Need for Speed: Nitro is available on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, and retails for $49.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

This week’s breakdown:

WiiWare: Pokemon Rumble, BIT.TRIP BEAT (Demo), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (My Life As A Darklord Demo), NyxQuest:Kindred Spirits (Demo), World of Goo (Demo)

Virtual Console: Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures and Street Fighter II:Champion Edition

Nintendo DSiWare: Art Style:DIGIDRIVE, Arcade Bowling, Robot Rescue

Fans of puzzle games will love Art Style: DIGIDRIVE and Robot Rescue. Both games focus on shifting puzzles and the application of logic. Art Style: DIGIDRIVE lets the player take on the role of a traffic controller. You move cars in order to create fuel to keep going through the game. Robot Rescue lets you play as a robot who needs to rescue his comrades from 45 different labyrinths. But when you move through the dungeon you move all robots so strategy is key.

Arcade Bowling is a straight forward bowling game for the DSi which will entertain fans of portable bowling.

Indiana Jones’ and Street Fighter II are the classic releases (from SNES and Capcom respectively). Indiana Jone’s Greatest Adventures takes scenes from his best movies (no Crystal Skulls here) and allows the player to play as Indy as he searches for fortune and glory (kid).  Street Fighter II needs no introduction: the fighting game we know and love, on virtual console!

And now onto WiiWare!

Pokemon Rumble allows players to battle against other Pokemon in order to gain access to the Battle Royale and fight multiple Pokemon at once. Sound interesting? While the game is available for purchase, there’s also a free demo, so check it out before you buy it so you know it’s a game you’d like.

The rest of the releases are demos for upcoming Wii games which may or may not interest you. Here’s the breakdown for each game:

BIT.TRIP BEAT: A rhythm game which uses the Wiimote to play out beats in this retro game. Check it out if you were a fan of Bop It! or other rhythm games.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (My Life As A Darklord Demo): We all love Final Fantasy, so this new game was automatically on our list of games to check out. The demo lets you play as the Darklord’s daughter as she explores her castle and installs traps while fighting monsters. The objective is to protect your Dark Crystal from the explorers who want to destroy it.

NyxQuest:Kindred Spirits: Nyx, a winged girl, comes down heaven to look for her missing friend, Icarus. With the help of the other gods, she looks for him while flying above Ancient Greece.

World of Goo: a physics based construction game in which construct things. Out of Goo. The Goo Balls who inhabit the game don’t know they’re in a game. Or how delicious they are with crackers.

Any of these games sound interesting to you? Check them out and let us know how you like them.

I won’t ask why the evil enemy’s robots are capable of being shot down by foam darts and soft balls, but we’ll just use video game logic here to say that it works and you best not question why. Regardless of what they are using for ammo, the four friends team up to take down this evil-doer, and they pick up loads of blasters along the way, blasters that they can customize to their liking. You purchase upgrades with items you find scattered around levels and hiding inside your enemies, just waiting to burst out when you blow them up. This adds to the replay value significantly–light gun games like House of the Dead and Time Crisis suffer on occasion from not having enough incentive to replay them, but when you’re given a reason (like this spring’s House of the Dead: Overkill, with its achievement and upgrade systems) then you’ve got yourself a keeper, as playing through it again isn’t painful.

To add to that, you can also play with another person, even if they don’t have their own Nerf blaster. They can just use the Wii Remote (or another peripheral like the Wii Zapper or Nyko Perfect Shot) in order to play along–some areas are only available to you if you are playing co-op, so there’s good reason for Little Timmy to invite Little Billy over to blast some robots.

Outside of blasting everything in sight, the big hook for N-Strike Elite is the Red Reveal–there’s an attachment for the Nerf blaster that you look through at certain parts of the game, in order to reveal secret codes that you can use in various places. The places where you need Red Reveal could not be anymore obvious if they had signs with fingers pointing surrounding them, but it’s hard to read the text without the Red Reveal, and it is the sort of thing that your little pre-teen adventurer will eat up due to it’s undercover, secret agent mystique.

The one knock the game has is that it’s very non-violent, but that may also be a selling point to many parents who want their kids to be able to enjoy video games, but don’t exactly want them sawing off aliens heads with a chainsaw bayonet just yet. The kids don’t die; the game just sort of stops and you get the chance to restart from your last checkpoint. Foam darts and balls will also not be mistaken for bullets anytime soon; it’s not like they go inside the robots, they just sort of bounce off, but then again, that would happen if you turned and blasted your co-op buddy with the fully functional Nerf blaster you’re playing with anyways, so it makes sense.

The Nerf blaster is a better product than the Wii Zapper, though I would put it a step below the Nyko Perfect Shot; the grip on the handle is not long enough for comfort if you’ve got big hands, but otherwise it’s well-made and works perfectly for its intended Wii related purposes. Considering you’re getting it with a game without too much of a price hike, it’s not a bad accessory to have around for other games.

Blast Factor: Nerf N-Strike Elite made a great design change from the original, going for more of a light-gun adventure than an arena-based series of challenges. It makes for gameplay that immerses the player into the experience more, and with the loads of customization options and many blasters to collect (and don’t forget co-op) there are plenty of reasons to come back to this title. It’s $60, but it comes packaged with a peripheral that works better than most similar products on the market alongside a quality game.

Nerf N-Strike Elite is available exclusively on the Wii for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

For those who are not familar with this game, it is a new arcade-style puzzle game.

Check out the trailers below so you can experience the trippy, multicolored puzzle packed experience (and a really cute cartoon animal)!

- Nintendo DSiWare: Sparkle Snapshots, Viking Invasion, and Battle of Giants: Dragons – Bronze Edition

- WiiWare: Carnival King, “Aha! I Got It!” Escape Game, Family Card Games

- Virtual Console: Fighting Street, R-TYPE

Sparkle Snapshots – Take photos and edit them to your hearts content. You can choose frames, backgrounds, stamps and funny outfits to decorate your photos or paint them to maniuplate them in detail. A must have for DSi owners

Viking Invasion – Defend yourself from the attack of the Vikings. Fortify your defenses and take back your freedom from Olaf from raiding your land and taking your treasur back to his fierce wife Olga.

Battle of Giants: Dragons – As the last of the Bronze Dragons, you must defeat the SALMU dragons and reclaim the 15 stolen gems. With customization, this game is something special and definitely worth checking out

Carnival King – Play classic carnival games on your Wii. Play through three different amusement parks for a set of 12 games.

“Aha! I Got It!” Escape Game – You’re trapped in a room full of puzzles and can only escape if you slove them all. This is a good game for fans of puzzles and brain teasers!

Family Card Games – Play card games with friends online in this family fun game which includes three card games!

Fighting Street: A port of the arcade version of Street Fighter! You can take control of Ryu or Ken and beat your opponents to win the game. This classic game is a gem, so you should definitely check it out.

R-TYPE: a side-scrolling arcade shoot-’em-up that was developed in 1987. It’s the 22nd Century and you need to save humanity from the evil Bydo Empire. Your ship comes with a gun and you use your reflexes to try and win the game. The game get’s an updated secret level never before released!

Each of these games are a great addition to a gamer’s collection. Check them out if any sound interesting!

The superstore will also offer a $137 Wii fitness bundle with Wii Fit Plus, a balance board, The Biggest Loser game, a Biggest Loser cookbook and a one-month membership tot he Biggest Loser Online Club.

Other deals this week include $22 Blu-ray 2-packs and a $319 Vizio 26-inch 1080p LCD HDVT, regularly $389.99.

I wasn’t really a huge fan of the GameCube game, but I think that by porting it to Wii, it might be interesting to play through again. It’s available for a good price and will probably be a good choice entering the holiday season.

What do you think of the cover art? Let us know below.

For instance, the tutorial in the PSP games takes hours. I’m not exaggerating. Every time I thought I was finished with the tutorial, it turned out that I was still learning how to do things by going out on much easier missions than I maybe wanted to. Basically, the game kept you out of the hardcore action and the monsters you want to slay for far too long, which kind of kept people from getting into it if they were impatient. It doesn’t help when it looks like you have hours upon hours of learning to do before you can even kill a monster that wants to hurt you as bad as you want to hurt it.

In tri, the hand-holding is less evident, and you will be out there in the fields fighting impossibly huge creatures before you know it. The tutorial is much more in the vein of, “Hey there, let me tell you about that sword you’re holding” then it is “Now before you can wield a sword, I need to send you out on this overly simplistic sword-based mission”. This lets you learn as you play, and also allows you to dive in to the meat of the game much earlier–I’ll admit I’m a bit of a Monster Hunter rookie, but I’ve played Freedom Unite on the PSP, and I can tell you this is a welcome change.

There are also a lot of little changes that are worth noting–you can now change your gear inside the meeting hall where your online compatriots can see it, rather than going outside to change your equipment and then coming back in. This is nice for showing off some gear you’ve picked up, or if you just need to make a last minute change to your equipment and don’t want to hold your buddies up. Harvesting plants and digging are also much easier now, as a context sensitive button will appear next to these items and let you perform the action–no more stopping and going through your inventory to equip your pick axe before you start mining. This all makes for a smoother experience, and keeps you from having to muck around in your inventory every time you see something you want to dig.

The biggest change is the fact that you now have split-screen co-op and online multiplayer, rather than the more limited online of the PSP titles. In Japan, this service requires monthly payments, but as of now, the American side of Capcom has not made a decision. One reason they can do this in Japan is due to the popularity of the series–people would probably pay way more than Capcom charges to get their hands on it–but that may not fly over here, considering it’s just not as popular. Regardless, the game will be on Capcom’s own servers, and will not require Friend Codes. It’s much more like playing an online game on the Playstation Network or over Xbox Live, which works for me.

I played two levels during my time with Capcom–the first of these had us fighting a brand new monster that would call for help from other monsters if we stopped attacking it for too long. The obvious solution was to beat the thing into submission, but the monster didn’t just stand there and take it, so it’s easier said than done. With four of us working on it though, the fight did not last too long–it showed off how important teamwork can be in a Monster Hunter mission though. I got to mess around with a brand new weapon during this mission, the switch axe. It’s either a huge axe or a massive sword, depending on which mode you choose to use, and you can switch back and forth using the right bumper on the classic controller. Both have their positives and negatives, as axes are obviously swung slower than swords but do massive damage, and vice versa.

One other thing I noticed during this session–you get up from being knocked down significantly faster in the Wii version than in the PSP one, which is great. Monsters won’t be able to get as much of a head start on you if they run, you can get back into the fight faster–nothing bad can come from speeding that up a bit, especially since it took so long to get back up in the older versions.

The other level I demoed was meant for the hardcore Japanese audience that is used to playing Monster Hunter, meaning I had little to no chance of completing it. It did show off the new underwater combat though, which means I needed to give it a go. Water combat is a lot like combat on the ground in some ways–get near your enemy, use your weapon, rinse and repeat–but also very different. Since you need to angle yourself in the water, the combat is more 3D, since the monsters can come from behind, in front of you, on top of you or underneath you. There’s also a layer of strategy here–if you can harass the monster until it gets out of the water, sometimes you help your chances. Not everything that swims fast is as adept on land, and you may be able to turn a once difficult foe into a sluggish, easier target on dry ground. That’s not always true though, as some enemies that you find in the water excel on land, so you will learn when this is a good tactic to employ and when you’re better off fighting aquatically.

Don’t worry about running out of breath, either–you can dive for around 20 minutes without any problems, and there’s an item you can take just like a potion that will allow you to breathe underwater indefinitely.

Lastly, the graphics in this game are fantastic. Despite the gargantuan beasts, Monster Hunter utilizes a realistic graphical style, and it looks like the Wii finally got their graphical showcase for that style of game. Everything is brightly lit, with light and shadows playing an important part in the landscapes (especially underwater) and everything also looks very, very smooth. You can see for yourself in the screens, but the game looks better in motion.

Monster Hunter is one of those series that always intrigues me, and I want to love it, but there’s always something that gets in the way of me either picking it up or diving in as much as I want to. With tri, Capcom seems to have done away with many of these barriers to entry, and may have set themselves up to release their best effort yet on the Wii. We’ll have more info on this game as it nears release, but for now, just know the series seems to be headed in a positive direction.

The latter was a Code Veronica level, with Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside doing the zombie killing on Rockfort Island, as Claire searches for her brother Chris in his pre-boulder punching days. The gameplay was similar to the Resident Evil 2 level demoed earlier this summer, though there was a lot less running from zombies given you were in a more secluded area than a city’s streets.

Here are the basics–the game is on rails, but this has a more cinematic feel to it than Umbrella Chronicles did. There’s a lot more looking around at your environment, a lot more going on in the way of dialogue–it feels much more like a standard first-person game at these times than an on-rails shooter. The shaky cam adds to this feeling, especially since the game doesn’t wait around for you to kill every bad guy in your path. If Umbrella Chronicles was like House of the Dead, then Darkside Chronicles is more like the recent Dead Space: Extraction.

Except for when it isn’t, and after exposure to EA’s latest “guided first-person experience”, Darkside Chronicles may have some catching up to do, at least on the gameplay side of things–the Resident Evil mythology and universe may carry the day as far as story goes, given how much deeper and longer the history is for this franchise. There isn’t much dialogue during the actual gameplay; for the most part, it comes during cutscenes, which affects the games flow. Whereas in Extraction it felt like you could be attacked at any time, from anywhere, because the game did not make distinctions between cutscenes and gameplay moments, the line seems to be drawn pretty thick in Darkside Chronicles–you have a good idea of when you will be attacked, even if you don’t know from where. That being said, what gameplay is here does work, though it’s to be seen if it will stand up to Extraction when we get a full copy of the game for review.

The Code Veronica level was enjoyable, but the highlight was the brand new locale, meant to fill in spaces in Resident Evil history. Those of you that played Resident Evil 4 are aware of the rivalry between Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser–the history isn’t exactly clear or revealed during that game, but Darkside Chronicles looks to fill in some of those gaps. Krauser and Leon work together in South America in broad daylight, in an area that looks more than a little bit like the African lands that Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar traversed in Resident Evil 5. A Capcom representative even mentioned that developers from Resident Evil 5 were impressed with the way the Wii handled these scenes, and that they felt it meant the system could have handled Resident Evil 5. Mind you, that’s not a confirmation that it’s coming or anything, just an observation from an impressed developer.

This was visually impressive in a few ways–it was well-lit, and despite being essentially a ghost town, had that same feeling that it used to be vibrant, much like the African setting in RE5. On the other hand, without the shadows and darkness to conceal some graphical shortcomings, the stage’s rough edges showed up a bit more–of course, there’s still a few weeks left of development for this game, and this demo was originally from the Tokyo Game Show, meaning it could already be cleaned up.

One thing I could not get direct confirmation on was whether Darkside Chronicles would feature some of the level types that Umbrella Chronicles did, where you were able to play as series’ villain Albert Wesker. It would make sense to have them again, and a “no comment” is more of a positive than a “no”, so keep your fingers crossed.

As a fan of Resident Evil, I’m excited for The Darkside Chronicles. From the looks of things, I may not be as enamored with the gameplay as I was that of Dead Space: Extraction, but the Resident Evil backstory–including new sections created for this game that are meant to fill in the gaps–should do wonders to make this game a quality holiday title on the Wii regardless.

Anyway, don’t let my horribly corny jokes dissuade you from checking out Van Halen’s edition of Guitar Hero.  It offers much more depth than you’d expect from an installment of Guitar Hero that is more of a side project, and it totally shames the Rock Band offering of The Beatles, at least in this humble reviewer’s opinion.  While it clearly isn’t as polished or as much of a value as Guitar Hero 5, if you love Van Halen or need more Guitar Hero fun, it is a clear “must buy” for you.

As you can imagine from the premise of the title, Guitar Hero: Van Halen focuses primarily on the band.  Almost every significant single is included, from the pure arena rock nature of “Jump” to the… uh, other arena rock songs, like “Hot For Teacher” and “Jamie’s Crying.”  Happily though, some deeper tracks are included, such as the ultimate shredding song, “Eruption,” which is as ridiculously difficult as you would expect.

A note right up front about the song selection – The game only features songs and avatars of the current  lineup of Van Halen.  Given the band’s notoriously challenged relationship with past contributors, this probably isn’t shocking to most of you reading that actually enjoy Van Halen.  Almost every David Lee Roth song of significance is included in the 25 Van Halen tracks, and the avatars are of Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen.

When it comes to the other 19 tracks, they were picked out by the 18-year-old Wolfgang, the son of Eddie, and it shows.  Weezer, Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World and Fountains of Wayne are artists you would normally associate more with modern rock, but I’d argue that they have more in common with Van Halen than, say, Twisted Sister, or some other hair band from Van Halen’s era.  Case in point – While era contemporary The Clash have a song on the game, “Safe European Home” is more gritty punk than the refined, arena rock sound of Van Halen.

The difficulty of Guitar Hero: Van Halen is definitely a tick up from the most recent rhythm game releases, Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band: The Beatles.  Then again, that is probably to be expected with the tracks featured.  The guitar and bass portions feature lots and lots of notes, especially if you’re trying to segue from The Beatles, who feature fairly simple transitions and chords.

However, while the game is incredible at its core goal – Roth-era Van Halen excellence – it doesn’t incorporate some of the features from Guitar Hero 5.  I suspect that development on this game began far before the completion of Guitar Hero 5, which might explain why some of the new tweaks weren’t incorporated.  (It might also explain why there is a Foo Fighters song present, even though Dave Grohl got pissed that his former band mate was a playable character in Guitar Hero 5.)  For example, there is no drop-in play, and while you can chose or create an avatar to play as, you can’t swap out other members of the band.  On the plus side, the crowd sings along during certain choruses.

One other sticking point is the price – $50 for the Wii edition.  Eech.  For practically the same amount, Guitar Hero 5 is a much better bargain, since it provides almost double the amount of songs: 85 to 45.  Although Guitar Hero: Van Halen was a throw-in for purchasing Guitar Hero 5 early and features half the songs, this is not reflected in the price at all.

Blast Factor: Your enjoyment of this game though, as with any of these band-specific rhythm games, hinges on your enjoyment of the track list.  I love Van Halen, so I loved this game.  If you love Van Halen, the higher price tag will probably not dissuade.  In addition, if you love modern rock and alternative, this is definitely the best track list next to Guitar Hero: Modern Hits for the Nintendo DS.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is available on the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 systems, at a cost of $49.99 and $59.99 respectively. This review concerns the Wii version. A copy of this game was redeemed via the Guitar Hero 5 offer for review purposes; the official retail version is not available until December 22.

The game is a bit light on story, but here’s the short of it: the Blob lands on Earth, and he needs help to save his planet of Blobolonia. The titular boy finds him, and they set out on a journey full of danger, puzzles, jellybeans and hugs. Yes, there’s a button specifically used to hug Blob, and it’s as adorable as it sounds. Don’t laugh, you’ll catch yourself using it.

The game is presented via beautiful handrawn artwork in a 2D style. It’s 2D, but it isn’t simple–think of Wario Land: Shake It! as this game’s closest kin, presentation wise. The game animates very well, and the real star of the show is Blob, as he morphs into loads of different shapes throughout the game, fluidly and impressively. This morphing process occurs when you feed him jellybeans–different beans give you different abilities, like the jack, for lifting objects and enemies, a trampoline, a bowling ball, a rocket–the list goes on and on.

In the original game, you had a limited number of jellybeans, and the game was a bit more open-ended. In this update, you have unlimited jellybeans, and the game is broken into levels–there are 40 of them, plus 40 bonus levels. You are given a few specific jellybeans for each level, which is basically simple platforming combined with puzzles that grow in difficulty the further you proceed in the game. There are also three treasure chests in each level–they are easy to spot and pick up at first, but this grows more difficult as time goes on as well. You will not find all of the treasures on your first playthrough unless you scour the game world for each and every one, but you can return to a level at any time to replay it as well. Picking up all three treasures in a level unlocks a challenge level for you to visit (more on that later).

These puzzles are very satisfying to complete, especially as you progress through the game. Eventually you will need quick reflexes and to do more than just toss a jellybean anywhere in order to proceed. You can throw jellybeans by holding the B button and checking the angle at which it will land and bounce, and Blob will give chase. You can call Blob back if you miss too, using the C button. This also works if Blob is stuck off screen; the Blob’s AI works most of the time, but for the odd time when he (she?) doesn’t follow you when they are supposed to, you can press the C button a few times to start an automatic return process.

Just because you have a specific set of jellybeans for each level does not mean there is just one way through many of the game’s puzzles or enemies, either. Lots of enemies charge at you from a distance–you could try to peg them with the bowling ball if it’s available, drop an anvil on their head if there’s a ledge above them, drop a hole in the ground, or jump over them as they charge with the trampoline. Oftentimes your jellybean inventory will be full or close to it, so these options are close at hand assuming the environment cooperates.

Even boss fights are puzzles, kind of like in Braid. Once you figure out what to do, it’s very simple, but until you do you may have a bit of a problem. It’s nice to combine action with the puzzle every now and then, so these are satisfying moments in the gameplay.

This slow-paced, puzzle-based gameplay is something you need to be aware of before you throw money down on this game. If you’re looking for a fast-paced platformer where you can run and jump around, then this isn’t the game you’re looking for. The boy is basically helpless without the Blob–he doesn’t run very fast, doesn’t jump very high, and needs the Blob to get around even some of the most basic looking levels. That’s not to say it isn’t a great experience, because it is, you just need to be aware that this is, first and foremost, a puzzle game with platforming elements, not the other way around. My one complaint with this setup is that the hint system–signs with painted Blob objects on them–detracts from some of the satisfaction of solving the puzzles. There are fewer of them as you play, but an option to turn off hints would have been nice.

Then again, Wayforward may have just been saving the bigger challenge for the post-game play. When you complete the initial 40 levels, which takes more time than you think it will–levels extend in length as the game goes on, and as they rise in difficulty the amount of time you spend completing them will also rise–you can play 40 challenge levels, assuming you’ve been discovering the treasures in each level along the way. If you’re unfamiliar with Wayforward games, let me tell you that they don’t kid around when they say “challenge”. These levels will require your reflexes and quick thinking in order to complete them, but once you do, you can unlock concept art and storyboards–this is a great looking game, and you get what you put into the story, so those are two fun additions outside of bragging rights. I played through some of the challenge levels for this review, and they are aptly named–I’ll be happy to pick up the rest of the treasures and complete as many challenge levels as my brain and thumbs can handle now that this review is done.

Blast Factor: Wayforward and Majesco’s A Boy and His Blob is what a remake or re-imagining should be–it keeps the core concept of the original, but improves on enough that the game feels fresh and new. The artwork is gorgeous, and shows off just what the Wii can do with inspired art direction and capable artists, and the gameplay is worthy of the excellent concept of shape-shifting puzzle solving, something the original game has a harder time claiming.

A Boy and His Blob is available exclusively on the Wii, and retails for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Ignition, in conjunction with Marvelous Entertainment, aim to change that, as they are bringing Arc Rise Fantasia, a very promising looking turn-based RPG that I’ve been keeping an eye on for ages now, to North America in summer of 2010. The title, developed by Image Epoch (Luminous Arc and its sequel) is turn-based, but has some new twists to it that should keep battles fun and engaging. You are not required to use all of your party members like in most turn-based RPGs, but can instead pick and choose until you use up your Ability Points–there are lots of bonuses for using certain members for certain things too, so there’s a deeper level of strategy than in your traditional turn-based title.

“In Arc Rise Fantasia, we’ve implemented a fun and quick paced battle system to give gamers an enjoyable RPG experience,” said Hiroyuki Kanemaru of Image Epoch. “Ignition Entertainment has a great track record with bringing established Japanese experiences to new western audiences and we’re delighted to be able to team up with them to publish Arc Rise Fantasia.”

Check out the first screens for the North American version below, most of which show off characters or some of the bright and colorful effects of the game.

Speaking with Popular Mechanics, Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative force behind many Nintendo games, said motion control will likely return in the Wii 2, and teased a lower price-point and physical size of the controllers.

“With both the Wii remote itself and Wii Motion Plus, what we’ve been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for a broad audience,” said Miyamoto. “And while we don’t have any concrete plans for what we’ll be doing with hardware in the future, what I can say is that, my guess is that because we found this interface to be so interesting, I think it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient.”

Miyamoto also spoke about the lack of HD graphics on the current Wii system and if the next console would feature greater graphical fidelity.

“What I don’t think is particularly true is that the graphics make the game,” he said. “We’re still going to focus on the gameplay. We’ll take advantage of the technology as it comes out, but right now, this is what we offer.”

Nintendo started the motion-control gaming revolution with the Wii, so it would make sense that they’d continue that effort in the next version, but, and it’s a huge but, this is Nintendo we’re talking about, so your guess, or the guess of my ten-year-old sister, is just as valid.

What do you want in a “Wii 2″?

Source: IGN

Meant to be played with a full living room, of the ten games represented in Deca Sports 2, none of them are any of the sports showcased in the previous Deca Sports.  Some draw similarities like figure skating to synchronized swimming, but in an attempt to make everything fresh, Hudson offers:  Darts, Petanque, Synchronized Swimming, Mogul Skiing, Road Racing, Tennis, Kendo, Speed Skating, Ice Hockey and Dodgeball.

Crossing timing mini-games with accuracy, most of the games in the collection are fun for ten minutes.  Petanque, a game very similar to bowling in Wii Sports or shuffle board, was one of the only games in the set to offer some depth.  Kendo is a random flail victory, and road racing is as exciting as it is in Mario kart minus weapons and Mario.  It’s hard to really replicate the experience of running around in gym class on a dodgeball court but that is exactly why it shouldn’t be in a mini-game compilation.

Dodgeball is an intense sport with strategy and timing, but in Deca Sports 2 it’s overly simple where one button throws to the people outside the court and another makes you catch the ball flying at your face but that’s all there is to it.  Shaking the Wii-mote sometimes has your whole team dodge the ball, which in Deca Sports 2 the whole team is controlled by one player therefore everyone moves together making the court look silly instead of like a battlefield, hurting any ability to get into the game when it’s all luck and two buttons.When you get down to your last player though, it works better, since that feeling of silliness is gone and it’s more about timing than luck.

We’ve all heard about the Wii by this point and considering the Wii is packaged with Wii Sports, we’ve all had the chance to play one of the five games on it.  While a solid game, there is always room for improvement.  Deca Sports 2 does it’s best to improve upon the one crossover Wii Sports game, tennis, by allowing the character the ability to miss-time a serve as well as run in towards the net or away.  A huge complaint in Wii Sports, the fact you can’t control where the character moves, was seen and fixed by the people at Hudson.  I’m trying not to draw many comparisons to Wii Sports but it is very hard not to, giving the natural similarities.

The game itself isn’t all bad.  The fact that you can customize your team using their  Mii-esque character creator like it does in Wii Sports is still fun.  It’s nice to play a league tournament with five characters you made yourself.  The body size of the characters you make also affect what their skills are.  If you pick a small character they may be quicker than a bigger guy, but the bigger guy packs more of a punch for games like tennis and petanque, therefore you have options for who you want to play for which sport your team is up to compete in.

Overall, there are some moments of fun here.  Also, don’t be afraid to play synchronized swimming because, surprisingly enough, the timing and motions they ask you to do are somewhat rewarding.  When I watched my hairy large white man with a beard twirls his shaved legs out of the water to music, I got a kick out of it.

Blast Factor: If you’re craving more mini-games that will keep your kids glued to the Wii or you’re in need of simple games, than this is the game for you.  Otherwise, you’re probably safe with Wii Sports, or maybe even picking up Wii Sports Resort for its Motion Plus games.

Deca Sports 2 is available exclusively on the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $29.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Here’s the soundtrack:

Artist – Song

Alex Metric -What Now

Bloody Beetroots feat. Cool Kids – Awesome

Crookers feat. Wiley and Thomas Jules – Business Man

Crystal Method feat. LMFAO – Sine Language

Danko Jones – Code Of The Road

Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden – Bonkers

Drumagik – Make It Rock

Earl Greyhound – Oye Vaya

edIT feat. Wale and Tre’ – Freaxxx

Evil 9 – All The Cash (Alex Metric Remix) Feat. El-P – Hold The Line

Hollywood Holt – Can’t Stop

k-os – FUN!

Lady Sovereign – I Got You Dancing

Major Lazer feat. Mr.Lex & Santigold – Hold The Line

Matt & Kim – Daylight (Troublemaker Remix)

Mickey Factz – Yeah Yeah

Pint Shot Riot – Not Thinking Straight

Placebo – Breathe Under Water

Rise Against – Kotov Syndrome

Roots Manuva – Buff Nuff

Rye Rye – Hardcore Girls

Street Sweeper Social Club – Fight! Smash! Win!

Taking Back Sunday – Lonely Lonely

The Enemy UK – No Time For Tears

The Gay Blades – O Shot (Dmerit Remix)

Two Fingers feat. Sway – Jewels And Gems

Wii Fit Plus is an extension of Wii Fit, meant as an upgrade to replace the original. The question here is whether those who have already purchased Wii Fit can find anything worthwhile in this version, or if there is now enough included to bring in some of the skeptics from the past.

The short answer: Wii Fit Plus is a better exercise tool than the original, and a better game. There’s more emphasis on the game portion this time around, with 15 new activities–many of which are mini-games exclusive to Wii Fit Plus–and more attention paid to multiplayer and competition. Sure, they aren’t the most strenuous exercises around, but the key thing with them is that you have fun while you’re exercising–anything that keeps you from noticing you’re doing something healthy is good by me. Think of Wii Fit Plus as a Fitness Ninja that gets the job done without you ever noticing while it’s happening.

The new games are meant as a fun diversion though, and not as a replacement for strength training and aerobics–don’t expect to lose weight by replaying Rhythm Kung Fu or golf over and over again, even if they are fun and working modes. There are plenty of other enhancements to Wii Fit Plus that make it a better workout tool. It’s more family oriented now–you can weigh your pets and babies if you want, which is fun in its own way even if it isn’t necessary. There’s a calorie counter, which tracks how many calories you have burned during your workout. This is done by using METS (metabolic equivalent of task) which basically measures the amount of time you work out by the METS number for said workout to give you an idea of what you’ve accomplished. To give the calories some context, you can also compare the total to different food items within Wii Fit Plus, or pick a food item equivalent worth of calories you plan to burn each day. Have a need for a soft serve ice cream every day, but don’t want to put on extra weight? Make that your workout goal and burn those roughly 200 calories. This also serves as a wonderful reminder of how awful fast food can be for you–see how willing you are to shove two cheeseburgers from your favorite drive thru into you after you see that it will take you half a day of exercise to work it all off.

Have a certain area you want to work on? Maybe you have a schedule of workouts you want to rotate if you use Wii Fit Plus all the time? Thankfully, you can now create custom routines or use ones that the game has in mind for you, rather than just mindlessly choosing exercises and programs like in the original. This is something I enjoyed, as I don’t mind doing the aerobic exercises daily, but like to switch up yoga and strength training so I don’t overdo it. This is also good for those of us who may not want to use the mini-games very often, but prefer using this for a legitimate workout tool.

I’m not a fan of the Wii Fit Age setup. It worked well for Brain Age, but when you just do a few of these per day and at random–and I, like many others, probably do this early in the morning when their body is awake but their brain is still napping–the results are going to be negatively skewed. I already have tools to measure my brain’s age, so let’s stick with how my body is doing in the future instead of linking them up. Thankfully, you can always skip these and just get your updated weight and progress.

For those of you who do not work out everyday, you can install the Wii Fit Channel on to your Wii Menu, and check your daily weight from there. This is also nice since you don’t have to switch discs a bunch of times if you want to play a game right after your workout. With SD card support, you also have no excuse to not have room for the channel.

Another issue with Wii Fit Plus is that it uses BMI still. The weights it estimates for many users, including myself, are not always as healthy as the game thinks they are thanks to BMI. I’ve been at the weight the game suggests before, and it’s a good 5-7 pounds below my own personal comfort level. That being said, you can make the mental adjustment–like I just said, I know I should be about 5-7 pounds above what Wii Fit told me–and still appreciate the software for what it does right rather than focusing on what it doesn’t do.

If you already own Wii Fit and have a Balance Board, Nintendo has not forgotten about you. Wii Fit Plus is available in standalone form for $20, which is a great deal considering that it is the superior software and has loads more to do than the original.If you are sans Balance Board, you can pick this up for $100, $10 more than the original. I’m not pleased with that price increase, but it’s also much less expensive than workout equipment or a gym membership, as previously stated, and worth the money.

Blast Factor: Wii Fit has shown itself to be much more than a passing fad, and it now has an updated version that fixes many of the original’s issues. The calorie counter, the food comparisons, the customizable workouts, and the emphasis on making this more of a game help the Plus version of Wii Fit stay true to its name. If you already own Wii Fit, you should pick this updated version up, and if you haven’t jumped in yet but need an excuse to get off the couch, then Wii Fit Plus is the answer for you as well.

Wii Fit Plus is available exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $19.99 by itself and for $99.99 with a Balance Board peripheral. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

… Wait, actually, that never happened.  But somewhat unfortunately, Spyborgs did.  If you lust for the days of mowing through thousands of enemies, then this game is kind of okay.  I mean, on a primal level, it is fun to just repeatedly jam on a button to beat things into a pulp of mechanical gadgetry, completely oblivious to the block and jump buttons because you don’t really need them anyway.  However, Spyborgs has several nagging features that make this seemingly simple goal harder to accomplish.

For starters, they do not believe in lights in the future.  Apparently, they live in a despotic world run by Al Gore, and all light sources have been eliminated in order to fight global warming.  This might be a slight exaggeration on my part, but only slightly so – Half the time I was playing Spyborgs, I had trouble discerning the character I was controlling from the enemies I was fighting, especially since everyone looks weird and robotic.

I could talk about the characters, but really, they’re just an excuse to hit the button to attack the other characters who are attacking you.  There is a bit of a plot in place, the type that would be enjoyable if you were still a kid and watching Saturday morning cartoons.  Basically, your female robot ninja, machine gunner and robot must fight through these creatures because, uh… Well, they’re trying to kill you.  Oh, and at some point, some evil organization double-crossed you, so of course you have to get revenge against them.  The female ninja is kind of hot, so you’ll probably want to fight with her most of the time.

Anyway – Smushing stuff talk.  The enemies come after you, wave after wave, with a typical stage having in upwards of 50.  You and a buddy, or you and a computer-controlled buddy, have to attack them, while you also bust open crates and boxes for health and power boosters scattered inexplicably throughout the stage.  The primary goal is to string together attacks to create combos – The more hits, the better the combo rating, and the more points you get at the end of the stage to upgrade your characters.

Like every game of this type released since God of War, and similar to Madworld, you can fill up a power gauge to perform super combo attacks with your buddy or the computer-controlled character.  These are kind of neat to watch, except that using them almost always kills the enemy you’re currently attacking.  For point-harvesting purposes, it’s normally better to just beat them up yourself as opposed to relying on the combos.  They are somewhat neat looking though, and their application – slashing the Wiimote, or pounding down with it and the nunchuk – are one of the few productive uses of motion controls in Spyborgs.

That doesn’t mean that the combo attacks are the only motion controls used, just that they’re the only production controls.  I would have scored this game a half-point higher if it weren’t for the frustrating method used to discover “hidden” items.

Basically, by pointing the Wiimote at the screen, a little blue circle floats around.  Certain parts of the background look transparent, and pointing the circle at them will reveal hidden crates, kind of.  You actually have to point the Wiimote at it, then press A, and then yank up with the Wiimote, in order to reveal whatever you’ve found.

This sounds kind of neat, but its actual application is a nightmare.  There is a “ping” noise each time your Wiimote comes across a hidden crate, which would be fine if it was an occasional thing.  It’s not, as there are dozens of crates hidden in every god damn stage, all of which must be “uncovered” to be broken open.  Even worse, in later stages enemies are cloaked, so you have to manage this feat while they jump around like idiots, shooting green laser blasts at you.  By the way, the “hidden” crates are also placed right next to existing crates in the majority of stages, meaning you would have to be an idiot not to find them.

Blast Factor: I constantly felt like I was about 10 years old while I was playing Spyborgs, so I guess that the hidden crates next to existing crates was the right move.  If you have a small kid, they might enjoy this game.  But if you’re no longer stuck in a Saturday morning cartoon mindset, you’re better off playing the ultra-violent Madworld, a classic like Final Fight or checking out some of the more “epic” mash games like Lord of the Rings and Dynasty Warriors.  There really isn’t anything new in terms of gameplay to recommend here, and the cloaked items and enemies detract from an otherwise average experience.

Spyborgs is available exclusively on the Wii, and retails for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

According to the press release, a USA Racquetball game, though unnamed, will debut first on Nintendo Wii and then will “roll out games for other videogame console formats.”

The project is currently in development and scheduled for a release in the latter stages of 2010. No mention was made of what other systems the game will venture to, but its beginning on the Wii seems a logical fit.

“We are thrilled about translating the sport of racquetball into a videogame, especially due to its natural fit for the Wii system. The physical dynamics of racquetball present unique opportunities that are very appealing to a videogame player and we are looking forward to creating an authentic playing experience. Anyone who has ever played racquetball knows how challenging a workout and how much fun playing racquetball can be. Now they will be able to actively feel this experience in their own home.” Said Kenneth L. Hurley, CEO of Graffiti

I’ve played Racquetball a handful of times and can absolutely attest to the “pure fun” factor of the sport, and if properly executed in the game, it could be one hell of a great sports game for the Wii.

No screens of the game have surfaced yet, but when they do we’ll be all over it.

It’s Monday, so that means another Nintendo Download! This week’s selection is relatively short (only 3 new titles), but I’m sure you’ll love what’s been released. This week’s titles include Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon, Gravitronix, and Final Fight 2. Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon is pinball with a plot. You fight your way through a quest of mythic proportions, interacting with gods and goddesses in order to fulfill your quest to become a pinball champion. Gravitronix is a strategy game where you go head to head with your opponents throwing and dodging projectile attacks in order to best them and become the king of the Gravitronix arena. The gem in the release is SNES’s Final Fight 2 on the Virtual Console. Return to Metro City as Haggar in order to take on the Mad Gear Gang and rescue their hostages. One of those classic must play games, finally available on the Virtual Console. For more details, just check out the press release below!
Nintendo DSiWare

Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckonâ„¢
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Pointsâ„¢
Description: Pinball takes on mythological proportions in this Nintendo DSiWare exclusive. Choose from two modes of play (Regular Game or Daily Game) and begin your journey to becoming a pinball champion. Conquer mythic quests, collect gifts from the 12 Olympians, and push your skills to the limit by facing Medusa, the Sirens and more. Your portable pinball table will give you a quick adrenaline rush as you watch the steel ball fly through ramps and carom off bumpers all over the playing field. Rack up combo points, open specific game modes and enlist the Oracle for some help. Will you accept Zeus’s challenge?

Virtual Console

Final Fightâ„¢ 2
Original platform: Super NESâ„¢
Publisher: Capcom USA
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Violence
Price: 800 Wii Pointsâ„¢
Description: It’s been several years since peace settled in Metro City. With Cody and Jessica on vacation and Guy resuming his training out of town, everything seems to be in order. But Haggar is feeling uneasy after learning that Mad Gear was not completely destroyed. Once again, the Mad Gear Gang has emerged, and this time they want revenge. They’ve kidnapped Guy’s master, Genryusai, and Genryusai’s daughter, Rena. Now Haggar must travel the globe in search of Genryusai and Rena. Hopefully, with the help of Maki and Carlos, the reign of the Mad Gear Gang will be destroyed.

WiiWare

Gravitronix
Publisher: Medaverse Studios
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: It’s time to claim your rightful place as the champion of the Gravitronix arena, but get ready to deal with up to seven other players who are all shooting for the same title. Vanquish your opponents with four different projectiles and the powerful beams of your gravity platform. Intercept attacks and take careful aim at exposed vulnerabilities. Deflect incoming projectiles or capture and charge them with energy for devastating explosive attacks. Team up with a friend and battle through campaign mode, or recruit up to eight players on a single Wiiâ„¢ system in versus mode for an all-out battle. Customize your matches with a variety of different options, such as flooding the arena with projectiles or making the game insanely fast. No matter how you like to play, grab your friends and have a blast.

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSiâ„¢ Shop and the Wiiâ„¢ Shop Channel at 9 a.m.

Not only can you play as the Mii you have saved on your Wii, but also as the Miis of several professional skateboarders.

This “Mii Trailer” wraps it all up nicely and has me truly contemplating a Wii purchase instead of the better looking PS3/360 version.  Decisions, decisions!

We reported earlier this week that the long awaited and now confirmed Epic Mickey video game is to be a Wii-exclusive, but that doesn’t seem so likely any longer.

The Game Informer story said the game was coming “exclusively to Wii,” but according to 1UP, Junction Point, the team behind the game, are considering other options for the project.

According to the source, all references to its exclusivity have been stricken from the story, but I guess we’ll find out for sure when the issue hits next month.

Extraction is, as EA puts it, a “guided first-person experience.” While many people scoffed at the notion, and claimed that EA was just dressing up the term on-rails shooter so that the opinion of this Wii prequel would be higher, those who have now played through Extraction will have to admit that EA was not full of it, and the game is much, much more than your standard on-rails shooter. The first-person perspective, the focus on action and atmosphere and the constant dialogue from your characters makes this game much more Aliens than Alien, but it’s still Dead Space in every way.

In order to make this feel like it belonged in the Dead Space universe, Visceral needed to accomplish a few goals. First, they needed to nail the atmosphere. The original took its cues from games like Resident Evil 4, Doom 3 and the Metroid Prime series to create a sci-fi world where you would feel isolated, helpless, and very, very scared, and these feelings permeated the entire experience. With ammunition at a premium, every battle with the Necromorphs was a struggle as you tried to dismember their limbs and push on through the halls of the Ishimura. Visually, the game was stunning, with attention to detail in things like shadows and lighting that helped you scare yourself when the game wasn’t busy doing it for you. The audio was also fantastic, and helped to keep the mood thick with tension that you couldn’t get over even when the coast appeared clear.

While Extraction is not as much of a horror game as Dead Space, it still managed to meet the expectations for atmosphere–enemies attack you in large numbers from all directions,  you need to keep an eye on your ammunition, and, despite the stop and go nature of an on-rails title, there are plenty of surprises thrown your way thanks to the developer’s control over the action. The sound is also excellent, with text logs and reloading effects coming through the Wii Remote speaker and plenty of bumps and thuds in the dark to keep you on edge. I’m also happy to report that this game is a visual stunner–there was not a single moment in my entire playtime of Extraction where I wished the game was on more powerful hardware, because Visceral Games did a fantastic job recreating the visuals. Remember–this is a game that places place in the same exact areas as the original Dead Space, so the fact that Visceral was able recreate those areas and environments without forcing the player to think negatively about them in a negative sense is a huge achievement. Seeing the same rooms also helps shed some light on how certain areas ended up covered completely in the bodies of the dead, or destroyed by blasts and so forth. For those who have played the original, it’s a very nice, subtle bit of fan service and story expansion.

Besides that, Visceral also would need a compelling narrative; while the characters themselves fall into horror movie stereotypes–the calm, collected leader figure, the veteran soldier, the helpless girl, the shady, self-important guy that won’t reveal his past–the story itself is right up there with the action as far as being compelling goes. You’ll keep playing Extraction to learn what happened to the Ishimura and its crew, as well as those people from the colony you’re in control of,  not just because blowing the limbs off of mindless creatures is exhilarating. (though that has its merits as well!)

The game is broken up into 10 chapters, and you’ll control a slew of different characters throughout depending on what needs to be done and who has been separated from who. To keep you on your toes, many characters you travel with or are controlling are killed off without warning as part of the story–you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next, which helps build the tension. You’ve got loads of Dead Space standbys at your disposal, like the Plasma Cutter, the Flame Thrower, the Ripper–which by the way, works much more effectively in Extraction than in the original thanks to pushing and pulling on the Wii Remote to aim the spinning blades–as well as a few new weapons, like the Rivet Gun. The Rivet Gun is used for its tool purposes–you’ll seal off barricades by riveting them into place–but also as your basic “pistol” type weapon that does not run out of ammo but is clearly weaker than your other options. Secondary fire modes are enabled by twisting the Wii Remote, and the only motion you’ll deal with is intuitive: to enable the flashlight-esque Glow Worm, you’ll shake the Wii Remote–this will often need to be done while in dark hallways in the middle of battles, so keep an eye on it and feel that tension build–and in order to throw a Necromorph off of you as it tries to devour your face.

You have recharging stasis shots that come in handy for environmental puzzles as well as slowing down faster enemies or dangerous ones in your peripheral vision. You’re able to grab ammunition, weapons, health, audio and text logs from afar using Kinesis; you can also grab projectiles from enemies and explosive canisters that can be fired off with the B button. You can do all of this in single-player, or pair up with a buddy anytime with drop-in co-op–on the harder difficulty levels, some people may find co-op a necessity just so you can fire twice as often and at different targets. Even on Normal, the second half of the game is challenging. You’ll most likely live through it, probably without dying even, but it will get hairy on occasion. Given the game has four difficulty levels, you’ll be able to test for yourself just how good you are at Extraction. It’s a good thing too, because the game may run a little short. It’s long for an on-rails title, clocking in at 7-8 hours, but still short as far as a shooter goes.

Besides the difficulty modes, there are a few more extras that will help you get your money’s worth out of the title though. You’re graded on each level you complete, and you unlock additional health and weapon upgrades by achieving higher scores. Challenge modes unlock as you complete the story; the title is not misleading, as you face wave after wave of Necromorphs as they try to tear you limb from limb in order to make you like them. You can also check out some Dead Space comics in motion comic form, which is a neat extra, especially for those that are very much into the Dead Space universe and all of the non-game content.

Blast Factor: Dead Space: Extraction had a lot to live up to in order to be a worthy entry in the Dead Space series, but it succeeded in many huge ways while only failing in minor, negligible forms. It has more depth than any on-rails title you’ve ever played, a great and engaging story, and many reasons to come back; namely, more difficulties, the Challenge modes, and the motion comics. I hope this is the start of a companion series for the Wii used to flesh out details of the Dead Space universe, but even if it is not, this game stands up on its own as a great Wii title and one of the system’s better releases in 2009.

Dead Space: Extraction is available exclusively on the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $49.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Star Fox

Star Fox was an impressive achievement when it first released for the Super Nintendo back in 1993. It utilized the Super FX chip, designed by Argonaut Games, in order to achieve Star Fox’s 3D style gameplay, and helped pave the way for future 3D titles thanks to its success. This chip was a microprocessor that could do things with 3D that the Super Nintendo could not–remember, the SNES was known for its ability to fake 3D with its Mode 7 capabilities, but true 3D was out of its initial abilities. Argonaut and Nintendo simply installed the chip in the Star Fox cartridge so that the SNES could handle the 3D held inside.

Even in caption form, Slippy is annoying.

In addition to its technical pioneer status, Star Fox also established yet another Nintendo franchise that would see sequels, spinoffs and appearances in games like Super Smash Bros. Though it is not utilized as often as Mario or Zelda, or as critically acclaimed as Metroid, it’s still one of the big boys from the Big N. Star Fox 64 is available on the Virtual Console, which may be why the original is not available; it’s still a fun game to play, but its sequel enhanced every facet of the game, and is the more famous one for a few reasons (Do a barrel roll!)

As for the gameplay, it’s an on-rails space shooter, though you can control your speed with thrusters and fly around to avoid objects and collect items. It has a very arcade feel to it, which makes it different than most Nintendo franchises. I also find it kind of funny that they have more 3D space shooters than old-school 2D shoot-em-ups, especially given how far back the company’s history and game development goes. Most of the games in the series have been this way–the exception is Rare’s entry in the series, the GameCube’s Star Fox Adventures. That’s a game people love or hate (or love to hate) thanks to its departures from the series norms, which you can’t blame people for given how strong those roots are. (Then again, a lot of the people that complained about Star Fox Adventures are probably the same people that complained that Namco’s GameCube entry was too similar to the Nintendo 64 game).

Pilotwings

Mode 7 was very impressive for its time, and helped show off the power of the SNES

This is a series that is screaming for a Wii sequel, especially given how neat the flying mechanic in Wii Sports Resort (Motion Plus!) is. The original was a launch title–you had this, Super Mario World and Sim City, three titles that still hold up today and are considered classics by many. Pilotwings did not utilize 3D like Star Fox did for its flying–this was a few years before the advent of the Super FX chip–but it was capable of rendering what appeared to be 3D thanks to Mode 7–when flying, objects on the ground appeared to be popping out of it naturally in three dimensions, but when you would land or come very close to the ground you could see that they were flat and on top of the ground–if you’ve ever watched the camera pan closer to the landscape in an SNES title utilizing Mode 7, you can picture what I’m talking about.

There’s a lot more to do in Pilotwings than just fly planes, as you can also use a hang glider, a rocket belt, or a helicopter, and you can also go skydiving (again, Wii Sports Resort makes me feel like Pilotwings Wii is necessary). Though the Nintendo 64 entry (also a launch title) may be the better game, the original is a lot of fun, and neither of them are on the VC. It’s been over 18 years since the original released and 13 since its sequel hit–it’s time to put them back on a Nintendo console, first Virtually, then maybe with a proper sequel.

Speaking with the Financial Times, the Reginator said: “The consumer response has been very strong to the price reduction.”

The Nintendo President said he couldn’t reveal hard sales data, but did confirm the Wii’s drop in price was part of a company-wide strategy to get the Wii into more homes this Holiday season.

“There are literally millions of consumers out there who want a Wii and had been on the sidelines,” he explained.

“They’d been waiting for that little nudge to go out and pick it up – the price decline, the sampling, the launching of key software like Wii Fit Plus – we believe it’s what’s pushing them over the edge to get into the category.”

Additionally, Fils-Aime added that third-party publishers will release 140 titles on the Wii over the next three months. Wow.

Source: IGN

Noted highlights of the interview include how the sequel will include Wi-Fi score-ranking, allowing gamers with egos to show off their marks to the world, new difficulty settings, and length of the game overall.

Quick answers? In terms of difficulty, Sin and Punishment 2 features a refined system that will leave players on both ends of the spectrum pleased. Thank you! For anyone unfamiliar, the game is freakin’ hard at higher difficulties.

Additionally, in the sequel, you’ll be able to control two players instead of one and can not only move your character on the ground, but also in the air.

Finally, if Sin and Punishment 1 wasn’t lengthy enough for you, the sequel is reported to have a “considerable increase” in the number of stages and the story this time around? You’ll play as Isa Jo, son of the original’s main characters, Saki Amamiya and Airan Jo, and the game takes place in the same universe as the original, but on a different planet.

We’ve barely scratched the surface. Read the full story over at IGN

But for now, watch this Sin and Punishment debut trailer

Sin and Punishment 2 releases in Japan at the end of October and Q1 2010 in North America

IGN revealed today that the Wii version of Tony Hawk’s latest foray in the game-world, will allow you to use your Mii as a playable, skateable character and that two Wii-exclusive maps will be in the final product.

Additionally, Mii versions of professional skateboarders including Paul Rodriguez and Steve Nesser are in the game, if their actual character models just don’t do it for you.

“One of the big wins for us is that you can skate as your Miis,” said Yale Miller, Tony Hawk: Ride’s producer. “We kept asking to get this feature in, and Nintendo liked what they saw.”

Buzz Monkey, developer of the Wii version of RIDE, also built two levels exclusive to the game. It’s likely not enough for a multiple system owner to jump to the Wii version, but at least it’s something.

Full story at IGN

In the video are all the sights, sounds, and sheer terror we have to look forward to. Oh joy!

In the game your only source of light is a flashlight, or burning torch as the video shows, and this mechanic looks to do wonders to adding that extra level of tension to the experience.

The game takes place on a tropical island (Wii Sports Resort?) and features hand-picked exercised by Jillian as well as customizable Resolutions Mode, and most importantly one-on-one training with the fitness goddess. I’ll take that any day of the week!

Jillian’s distinctive voice and likeness return in the sequel and her over-the-top drive for results should get you up and moving during sessions of Cardio and Strength training.

The game has a 6-month training calendar built-in ensuring your continued motivation to leave the couch.

An iteration of the game will be available on Nintendo DS later this month, cementing Majesco’s goal of “living a healthier lifestyle courtesy of America’s toughest trainer.”

Head on over to JillianMichaels.com for more on healthy lifestyles and the game.

According to IGN, who broke the story, the mini-game is titled Kamenin Merchant, and has players team up in groups of four to explore randomly generated dungeons. Additionally any item you earn in the mini-game can be transferred back into Graces to unlock goodies. And on top of that, the further you progress in Graces, the more levels you’ll earn for the mini-game.

The mini-game will work with both the DS and the DSi and you’ll be able to save your progress by transferring back to Graces, and saving there.

Additionally, Namco Bandai is planning to release Kamenin Merchant by itself through DSiWare, though details are currently vague.

Tales of Graces is due out in Japan in December, with no current North American release frame, but, enjoy these screens of the mini-game and a new character, Prince Richard.

The accessory is simple. It’s Darth Vader holding his red Lightsaber but instead of vanquishing peace-minded Jedi, the Lightsaber is used to hold the precious Wii Sensor Bar during those long sessions with Wii Sports Resort or Grand Slam Tennis.

You can snag one for yourself for $49.99 at the Star Wars Shop and we won’t make fun of you, we promise. Christmas list? Yes, this is on mine.

via Joystiq

BLAST: A Boy and His Blob is a property that has not seen the light of day in years–it hasn’t even been released on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console. How did the idea of a re-imagining of the franchise come about, and what appealed to you about working with it?

Sean Velasco: It was actually quite random. A Boy and his Blob has been one of those games that I would play occasionally due to the bizarre factor. On top of that, it has always been a great concept for a game, but the original is just not that fun to play. I talked about it among my peers at WayForward and got the go-ahead to develop a pitch. We wanted to retain the transforming alien toolkit and weird world of the original game, and pair it with modern design and technology. Once our Art Director Marc Gomez created the soft look of the characters, we knew we had the beginnings of something special.

BLAST: For those who have never played the original NES title, let’s hear a bit about the premise and the how the game plays. What similarities and differences are there between the two, just from a gameplay perspective?

SV: Well, let’s start with the similarities. Both of the games have a similar premise; playing as the boy, you feed your alien blob friend jellybeans, which turns him into useful objects. Each jellybean flavor yields a different transformation; tangerine trampoline, root beer rocket, licorice ladder, etc. You use these transformations to navigate the world, solving environmental puzzles and collecting treasure.
As far as differences go, there are many. The new game is split up into levels, whereas the original was an open world. This helps us focus the experience and change the jellybean loadout for each stage. Our game is also much more user friendly than the original; the player has totally redesigned control, infinite beans, and infinite lives. However, this has opened up our level designers to be more fiendish than the original game. Many puzzles require fast reflexes, quick thinking, and multiple transformations in order to solve. Finally, there is a layer of sweet visual polish and a beautiful soundtrack.

BLAST: There are forty standard levels and forty challenge levels in Blob. How are these different from the main levels, and do they exhibit the same kind of difficulty we are used to seeing from Wayforward?

SV: The challenge levels are shorter and more focused on single transformations than the regular levels. And they get hard! The purpose was to let us use the transformations in ways that might be too weird or too hard in the regular levels. Also, the challenge levels must be done in one run without checkpoints. Kudos to whoever can finish every challenge level; it’s quite an accomplishment!

BLAST: The art style is eye-catching, and on its own has gained attention even without knowing how the game plays. What influenced the art direction, and how did you decide this was what a Blob reboot should look like?

SV: We wanted to make the game look like an animated film. Since WayForward is all about great characters and animation, it was an easy decision to take it in this direction. The character designs are all soft, friendly, and hand painted and animated. The background art is also lushly hand-drawn. On top of that, there are many programmatic effects like advanced lighting and moving trees. We wanted to echo the look of Miyazaki or Disney; to create a timeless aesthetic that is instantly appealing.

BLAST: The original A Boy and His Blob was difficult, but not in an intentional way–it came off as frustrating because of some of the game designs, like running out of jelly beans. What would you like to say to those without fond memories of the original, in regards to why they should give the series a second chance?

SV: This game aims to give you everything you remember fondly about the original without the sour bits. There is so much to love; it’s a very complete package. A Boy and his Blob for Wii is a totally new experience, so please check it out!

I can’t name many young children I’ve met in my life that would understand what setting up a fake branch of the government to requisition flowers means, or why it’s a funny scenario, but MySims Agents does that and more throughout the title, and even has nods to more mature EA titles like Dead Space–who wouldn’t want to wear an Isaac Clarke suit as they uncover clues for the next mystery?–as well as some subtle pop culture references to things like the X-Files. MySims Agents takes the series in a direction that, while feeling slightly less like a MySims title than previous efforts, feels more like a game that anyone can enjoy, despite being aimed more specifically at the younger gamer.

With that out of the way, let’s focus on the game. You play as a character that you create, the guy or gal trying to become a special agent. Very quickly you are handed your own agency thanks to solving your big break of a case, and you are able to hire new agents to help with side missions while you’re off saving the world from Morcubus, the MySim villain who loves nothing more than to cause needless issues for other residents of the MySims universe. Having a legitimate plot this time around keeps the game interesting and gives you a reason to come back, since you’ll want to continue to solve mysteries in order to see how everything is connected and what Morcubus is up to.

In the main missions, you have a set of tool that you use–you start with a crowbar, wrench and magnifying glass–and you have to find clues hidden in boxes, trash cans, dumpsters, rooftops, indoors, or on the ground by following tracks or footprints. There are mini games for putting together broken machinery that have you putting spare parts where they belong, as well as games for analyzing evidence and hacking into computers and the like. It’s a lot like a point-and-click adventure in many ways, and the IR and Nunchuk combination make all of your moving around simple and fast.

You’ll talk to people to collect clues and discover leads, and you’ll be able to check all of this information just by pressing the Plus button. One other nice touch is that the game can intentionally mislead you; all of the things you can learn are not necessarily pointing at the person in the wrong. Older gamers playing the game should be able to pick up on things easily, but there appears to be enough challenge there for the younger crowd.

Eventually you receive more advanced tools that any special agent would be envious of, and you’ve got your own lady in distress in a dress to attend to as well–James Bond would approve, for sure. You aren’t the only one solving cases though, as said before; you hire new agents after meeting up with them in the real world and solving cases. By using them in teams where their specific skills can work in concert, you can pass the 50 dispatch missions, earning yourself more rewards (costumes, items, etc.) and unlocking an additional ending. There’s a lot of game here for a younger player, especially with all of the traditional MySims player customization in place. Maybe you want to wear a trench coat and sunglasses around town, but a tux or a Yeti costume while you’re up in the mountains. It’s your call, as per usual, but it’s nice that you can create your own special agent and toy with him or her as you like throughout the game.

The game has the same kinds of sound effects that past MySims titles have, with the Sims speaking their own language, so if it bothered you in the past it’s still here. Like I said though, the dialogue is worth reading for the most part, so there’s always that to focus on. Graphically the  game looks decent enough as well. There aren’t much for special graphical effects or anything like that, but everything looks smooth, colorful and the title is bereft of technical issues. My one complaint may be that the camera occasionally gets in your way, but for the most part if you’re hanging out somewhere where it is difficult to see what you’re doing, you probably don’t even need to be there.

Blast Factor: MySims Agents might be the best of the traditional MySims titles, despite feeling the least like one. The customization options and MySims universe that has become so popular is still there, but this time there’s a legitimate plot and gameplay suited for those outside of EA’s normal demographic, instead of just the specific audience they historically shoot for with the series. Younger gamers will enjoy this game for the gameplay and the MySims features, while older gamers no longer have to be embarrassed about picking up the controller to play along with their little siblings thanks to the dialogue and nods to the more core crowd you’ll discover along the way.

MySims Agents is available on the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $49.95

DSiWare-

Art Academy: Second Semester (800 DSi Points, 1 player)- is the sequel to the original, however this time around it brings a larger set of tools and more in-depth lessons for you aspiring artists.

Dragon Quest Wars (500 DSi Points, 1-4 players)- this Square Enix developed grid-based strategy game features loads of Dragon Quest monsters you’ve grown to know and love as well as DSi Wireless and Wi-Fi play to put your skills to the test.

WiiWare-

Araknoid Plus (1-2 players, 600 Wii Points)- a sequel to the blockbuster arcade original, Plus features a plethora of new modes and settings including the “Arcade,” “VS,” and “Time Modes,” all of which will undoubtedly add to the replay value of the title.

DRiift Mania (1-8 players, 800 Wii Points)- a unique top-down racing title that amazingly, allows for up to 8 players to take part in the driving mayhem. The press release was extremely vague. But when we learn more, we’ll pass the information along.

Virtual Console

Altered Beast (1,000 Wii Points, 1-2 players)- The priciest addition of the week, this is the same beat ‘em up sidecscrolling adventure game you remember from those long lost SEGA Genesis days in which you control a centurion tasked with rescuing Zeu’s daughter Athena. You remember, right?

Remember, if you recently purchased a DSi, you have until October 5 at midnight to log onto the DSi Store and claim your 1,000 free DSi Points.

Look for our review of Dragon Quest Wars soon. It’ll show up. We promise.

Nintendo, you’ve done it again, following through on your promise of variance in offerings, but I’m still waiting for Super Smash Bros. Pretty please?

Today at retailers everywhere you can snag the same bundle you did yesterday, with the same contents, but for $50 cheaper.

In the box you’ll find a Wii system, a copy of Wii Sports, a Nunchuck, and a Wii Remote, all for the new and lower suggested retail price.

If you’re still on the fence, even with the lower price tag, look for our Holiday 2009 Buying Guide soon. It’s here that we’ll compile a list of our favorite/the highest rated games for the Wii for you to enjoy. We hope it’ll help ease the pain of shopping and allow you to return home feeling great about your software purchases.

Developed by Wayforward Technologies, makers of Shantae, “A Boy and His Blob” is the latest in the Blob line which began in 1989 with “A Boy And His Blob: Trouble in Blobolonia” for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the NES.

The 2009 version stays true to the original in terms of gameplay, as you’ll still feed your blob jelly beans to morph him into various objects needed to solve the game’s 80 levels, but doesn’t make use of the Wii’s motion-sensing technology.

A Boy and His Blob comes exclusivley to Nintendo Wii October 13.

Final Boxart

Sengoku BASARA Samurai Heroes is set during a tumultuous period in Japanese history. Take on hundreds of opponents, as a samurai while fighting to save the land . With unlockable characters you can command and lead armies in order to re-write history.  You  could even end up in control of all of 16th century Japan. The game will be released on PS3 and Wii, with an additional online co-op planned for the PS3.

Ghost Trick is a mystery puzzle game with a supernatural twist. Players take on the role of an amnesiac ghost who must use his powers to protect several people while uncovering clues as to how he died. Players can possess items, float through the air and even rewind time to save lives during missions. The plot alone is enough to put this on my DS watchlist.

I’m going to keep an eye on these games to see if they are worth buying. Comment below with opinions or buzz from Japan!