GamerNode: Latest Wii News

Little brother does a wee on his big brother's Wii...

The UK Metro reports that four year-old Ellis was getting tired of Danny's fixation with his new Christmas present--a Nintendo Wii.

He was feeling quite the dejected and ignored little sibling and decided to take revenge on him by weeing on his big brother's Wii game console.

The resultant aftermath of this liquid assault blew out the Wii and basically trashed (or waterlogged) the £250 (495 USD) priced game machine.

Kerry Emsley, the mother of the two boys, said of the incident "Danny was speechless with rage, Ellis knew he had done something wrong and went and hid under his bed."

Good thinking.

The father of Danny and Ellis was searching for months for the rare machine and finally scored one for Christmas for the boys. But now, it's all water under the bridge, so to speak. The parents are su...

• (11)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

If the Wiimote doesn't work, hit it!

Wired's GeekDad recently had quite an interesting experience with Nintendo's tech support line, regarding the functionality (or lack thereof) of his Wii remote. After opening up an xmas Wii for his kids and putting the thing to work for a while, the motion detection on one of the remotes went dead.

Replacing the batteries, re-synching, and resetting the remote yielded no breakthroughs with the problem, so the GeekDad sucked it up and gave Nintedo a call. The conversation went a little something like this:

Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady: "Okay - I want you to take the remote, button side down and smack it into the palm of your hand two or three times."Russ: "You've got to be kidding"Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady: "No sir, do it hard enough that I can hear it across the phone line but n...

• (8)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Psyclone Wii-mote charger stirs up a big storm

A charging device for WiiMotes may not only be faulty, but may also cause damage to the motion controllers as well, as many found out during the Christmas holidays.

The Psyclone Essentials Recharge Station for the Wii, which is sold by many big box retail stores such as Circuit City and Target, has been reported to melt or damage WiiMotes if left in the charger too long or in less sever cases-simply does not charge the controllers at all.

According to reviews of the Psyclone recharing station on Amazon.com, almost all of them have warned that the unit is a fire hazard or a product that will permanently fry your Wii controllers. Apparently, the warnings and high disapproval rating of the Psyclone charger has had its availability status on Amazon changed to ‘currently unavailable.'

Howev...

• (6)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

December 31st Virtual Console releases

Today marks the final Virtual Console update of the year, and at least one game on this list is worth making a fuss over.Anyone who hasn't played the classic action-puzzle game Bubble Bobble owes it to themselves to give it a try - especially if a friend is available to make the journey as well.

In addition to this gem, Wii owners also have the opportunity to play Light Crusader, a Genesis action-RPG, and SNK's Top Hunter. The latter's unique gameplay elements, like retractable arms, interactive environments, and dual planes to travel on, make this one an interesting play, too.

Read on for Nintendo's full descriptions:

BUBBLE BOBBLE® (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): BUBBLE BOBBLE's release in 1986 introduced the two bubble dragons, Bub and Bob, and brand new play m...

• (1)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Red Steel 2 on the way for 2008

According to the UK Official Nintendo Magazine, it has been confirmed that Red Steel 2, for the Wii, is in development and is slated for a release date sometime in 2008.

When the Wii debuted in 2006, Ubisoft was one of the first game publishers to publicly voice its support for developing Wii games at a time when other game companies took a "wait and see" approach.

Ubisoft's first foray into the Wii world was with Red Steel, which received mixed reviews and was criticized for its poor controller scheme, which was ironic seeing that the Wii was all about its new motion controllers.

The only real details about the new game are that it will sport, "better controls, better AI, better multiplayer and online play."

The first Red Steel game was a disappointment for many as there were high expectati...

• (6)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

17 WPS (that's Wiis Per Second) sold at Amazon

We all know that the Nintendo Wii was a hot gift item this holiday season, but exactly how intense was the demand? If online retailer Amazon.com is any indicator, the desire for the Wii reached an absolutely ludicrous level.

While the console was available, Amazon reports that it sold about 17 Wiis per second, or about 1500 in the time it will take you to finish reading this article. Among the website's other top sellers were the latest Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean DVDs, Garmin GPS systems, and Apple Macbooks. On December 10th, overall sales peaked, reaching as much as 62.5 items per second.

It's times like this that I wish I could go travel back in time and purchase a large chunk of Amazon stock.

• (4)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Dart pro almost loses match due to video game

If you've ever seen any of the darts competition on ESPN, it's a marvel how the pros can pinpoint their throws so accurately in such tight hit patterns.

James Wade, a professional dart competitor wasn't doing so well in his second round at the PDC World Darts Championship and complained about having a stiff back and shoulder problems.

He finally won, but with a lot of effort against a less than able opponent who scattered his darts as if he were shooting them out of a shotgun.

Wade racked his brain on what could have caused his painful condition and thought back to the day before--what did he do the previous 24 hours to have caused his injuries? Was it an alien abduction? Did he get mugged in his sleep? Maybe he did some sleepwalking and accidentally fell down the stairs?

To all these, the an...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Is a picture worth as much as the real thing?

Ok, so let's say that you have the ability to draw, and because you're so good at it, whatever you created turned into the real version. That would be pretty cool, although I wouldn't get much out of it because I can't draw a straight line let alone anything worthwhile.

Well Christine and Justin from Wants for Sale run a website where whatever they draw, they sell for the exact amount of what the real thing is actually worth. Want a picture of buffalo wings? They'll sell it to you for $12.70, then take the money and spend it on an actual plate of buffalo wings. Sounds crazy right? Maybe so, but they managed to draw (and sell) some of their favorite video games and consoles, including this Wii (pictured to the left) for $270.92; they've also managed to sell drawings of Guitar Hero, Halo 3, ...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

(PARODY) Smash Bros. Brawl update: Giygas!

I had to put "parody" in the title like that so no one gets any ideas and then complains that I lied. THIS IS 100% FAKE. That being said, it's so well made and so realistic looking (if you pretend the drawings are in-game graphics, of course) that I HAD to share it. The captions, the writing, the word usage... Perfect. If only this were real, it truly would have been a great Christmas.

If you want to see more artist by this guy (is his name Champ or Ian?) you can check out his gallery. Some odd stuff in there, but you can't argue that it's all high quality.

 Hit the full story for the image. 

• (2)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

December 24th Virtual Console releases

Twas the day before xmasAnd all on my WiiWas a couple of old games,Wait, no, it's three.Skaters and simiansAll through the house,And a couple of agents Who shot at that mouse.So spend all your Wii pointsOn this xmas eve,And next week there'll be more,That, you can believe.

From the press release:

BLADES OF STEEL™ (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Violence, 500 Wii Points): With stick in hand and confidence brimming, you are looking to bring home the cup, win the MVP award, get on the covers of major sports magazines and date a beautiful model (not necessarily in that order). But soon you will learn that, in this league, nothing is ever given to you, and before you can reach your goals, you'll have to put the puck in the net and score some. You'll need both the artful skil...

• (5)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Wii Opera browser SDK now available

An unofficial software development kit for use with the Wii Opera browser has been released. It offers would-be browser game designers the tools necessary to track all of the functions of the Wii remote while operating the browser. This includes distance from the screen, orientation, cursor position, and button depressions.

Thanks to Daniel Gump, who used these very tools to create his own browser game Hullbreach, these javascript libraries are now fully available to the public.

Hopefully this will encourage other creative minds to get to work on some TOTALLY RAD indie games.

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

A Wii lid that doesn't flap!

If you are like me, then the flaps that cover the legacy Gamecube controller and memory card ports on the top of the Wii are quite a bother to you. Hell, if you keep your Wii in the horizontal position, the hinges are actually hindered by whatever surface the Wii rests upon.

Apparently, the folks at Cyber Gadget have had enough of this hinge obstruction, and have released a single replacement for the two, called the "Cyber Lid."

For JPY 980 ($8.66), you too can own this sleek and functional piece of molded plastic, which replaces those bulky and cumbersome flaps with small sliding panels (for the controller ports) and rubber stoppers (for the memory cards). Now you can enjoy your old Gamecube library without haveing to be constantly reminded of the borderline retarded design of this part...

• (7)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

UK eBay scalpers crying. Wii prices crashing

I know it's the holiday season and everything--good will towards everyone etc., but one story has made me particularly happy.

It seems that scalpers on eBay in the UK, who were hoping to gouge and swindle high prices from people who desperately wanted a Wii for Christmas, are experiencing a huge Wii price crash.

Yay for the free market system!

According to the DailyRecord, a massive amount of Wiis have hit retail shops and, as a result, has caused the over-priced Wii units on UK eBay to fall like a lead balloon. Many scalpers were hoping to clean up and make a killing by hording the scarce units and unloading them to eBay buyers at outrageous prices.

But it seems the scalper's Grinch-greediness has backfired and the once high priced item is tumbling down rapidly as news of the abundance of ...

• (11)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

One step closer to virtual Wii environments?

If you aren't familiar with Johnny Lee, let me just say that the dude is a genius. He's already shown us how you can track your fingers and use the Wiimote as a cheap digital white board, but this new one tops those. What is it? In technical terms, head tracking for desktop VR displays using the Wiimote. In normal terms? It makes it like you're looking in a window/room, not at a TV.

According to Johnny's website:

"Using the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen. This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of...

• (7)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Reggie says third-party publishers are 'satisfied'...

Third-party publishers are mad at the Nintendo Wii because of poor performance on the system! According to Fils-Aime, that is just not true. "Just about every publisher I've talked to is quite satisfied with the software sales on our system," Fils-Aime said last week in a conference call.

Let us analyze this real quick:

There were four Wii titles that topped the charts in the month of November with two of them coming from third-party publishers. Activision's Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock sold around 426,000 units and Sega of America Inc.'s Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games moved about 328,314 in the same period.

Obviously, Nintendo's first-party titles dominated sales with Super Mario Galaxy which moved 1.12 million units in November, and Wii Play which moived around 564,000 units in t...

• (7)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Reggie concerned about Wii & DS supply, bundling

Nintendo's biggest problem over the past couple of years seems to be that the company simply cannot produce enough consoles to meet consumer demand. This goes for both the Wii home console and the DS handheld, which sold over 1.5 million units last month, according to NPD numbers.

In a recent interview with Reuter's, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime commented on this fact:

"The DS continues to perform exceptionally well, with some retailers voicing concerns about DS inventory going into the holiday."

Of course, the company continues to struggle to produce enough Wii systems as well, even a full year after the hardware's release. Retailers have been capitalizing on this shortage, "force-bundling" the system with games and accessories at an inflated price. Reggie addressed this issue wi...

• (4)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The Wii's weakest link--software sales

You would think that the immense popularity of the Wii and the constant shortages of Nintendo's game console would send the word out to the game publishers to develop more games for the Wii in order the catch the wave on profits. But according the thestreet.com, it just isn't so. 

According to the logic, although Wiis are flying off the store shelves like free water in the middle of the Mojave Desert, game companies are still cautious about making games for the Wii. Why? The typical Wii purchaser isn't a person who buys video games on an active basis.

These are your casual gamers--not hardcore people who normally buy at least one game per month or more. The attach rate or games purchased with the Wii at the point of sale is approximately two times less than that of the Xbox 360.

Additional f...

• (10)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

December 17th Virtual Console releases

It's sci-fi week on the Virtual Console according to the Big N. That means mechs, monsters, and aliens!

Cybernator is a cross between Mega Man and Abadox, involving both on-foot and in-flight shooting action. Alien Storm is your basic side-scrolling beat-em-up with really short range firearms and nifty little first person sections between levels. Monster Lair...well, I've never had the pleasure of playing that one, so the description Nintendo gives in their press release will have to do:

Read on for the release: 

Cybernator (SNES®, 1 player, rated E 10+ for Everyone 10 and Older - Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): It is the near future. Resources are dwindling, and the major powers of the world are in dispute over territory. Pilot the Cybernator G5-E for the 95th brigade of the mec...

• (3)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Wii Nerf sports pack detailed

Are you like me? Are you someone who loves to play Wii Sports with their friends but don't feel like you are getting the full experience of swinging a tennis racket, baseball bat or golf club? Well now you can add extra realism to your game with the Wii Nerf Sports Pack.

"Performance Designed Products' new Wii Nerf Sports Pack takes all that to the next level with safe Wiimote accessories to go along with your favorite games. Each pack includes a satin grip handle for the remote and cushy Nerf racket, club, and bat attachments."

The Nerf Sports Pack is available at GameStop, Target, Toys 'R' Us, Wal-Mart, and other retailers nationwide. I'm sure Wii owners would enjoy this as a Christmas present, just a suggestion for those out there that don't know what to get.

[via pcmag.com]

• (10)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Analysts predict Nintendo will lose $1 billion in ...

While we've all heard about the holiday Wii shortages, a few industry analysts are predicting that Nintendo will lose an excess of over $1 billion due to the shortages.

Sales are certainly picking up for the Wii; Nintendo sold 981,000 Wiis in the U.S. last month. But according to James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group, Nintendo lost out on a lot of potential sales; "they could easily sell double what they're selling." Along with other industry experts, Lin believes that Nintendo will lose out on more than $1 billion this holiday due to the Wii shortages.

George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing for Nintendo of America, doesn't believe Nintendo has made any mistakes when judging the Wii demand but revealed some nervousness about competitors swiping Wii players away.

"We ...

• (9)
• 
• 
• 
• 
•