Gamernode: Latest Wii News

Crytek making Wii games...in 3 or 4 years

Crytek's focus is all over the place. Besides looking for a new home, the developer has been allocating its resources to various teams, projects, and other efforts. They have a new, dedicated PS3 team, they are working on non-Crysis, non-fps Xbox 360 game, and they even have "some secret technologies...not related to the CryEngine 2" brewing in the lab.

On top of all that, Crytek is planning a Wii bit of Nintendo work. Said boss man Cevat Yerli:

We have Wii development but it's very small, it's more like testing ideas. We don't have a project at this stage... Nintendo Wii is certainly on the radar, we will do something for Nintendo Wii — the question is when. I think some time maybe in three or four years, but nobody knows when.

Ok, so legitimate Wii development may take some time, but...

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Brawl Update: Diddy Kong joins the fight!

Finally, it seems that Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong's most popular sidekick, has joined the Super Smash Brother Series. Diddy Kong's addition to Brawl marks the first time a secondary character from the DK universe has been added to an SSB roster, and I personally can't wait to test him.

Little is known about what moves or what special features Diddy Kong will boast, but according to Brawl's official website, it seems that the character will have more evasive qualities than that of his partner Donkey Kong, who relies on brute strength.

See Diddy's picture after the jump.

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August 20th Wii Virtual Console releases

Another week, another round of Virtual Console updates...

This week isn't half-bad, however, led by the critically acclaimed Super Metroid and followed by fan-favorite Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. Rounding out the trio is Neutopia, a "Zelda clone" for the TurboGrafx16.

From the press release:

Super Metroid (Super NES, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Mild Violence, 800 Wii Points): The Space Pirates, merciless agents of the evil Mother Brain, have stolen the last Metroid from a research station, and once again Mother Brain threatens the safety of the galaxy. Samus Aran must don her awesome array of high-tech weaponry to retrieve the deadly Metroid hidden deep within the cave-riddled planet Zebes. Super Metroid features excellent graphics, with a huge variety of enemies and worlds...

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Is the Wii really a next gen game console?

We've heard a lot of grousing from some sections of the gaming community saying that the Wii isn't a true next gen gaming console. It's been referred to in demeaning terms such as GameCube 1.5 and other phrases that we can't utter in polite company.

In spite of the criticisms, the Wii continues to push on as one of the most sought after gaming consoles in recent memory. Stormfront Studios has sided with the Wii and has defended its right to hold the title, "next gen" game console. Ironically, Nintendo has said that its machine isn't really a next gen console, but with that aside, Don Daglow of Stormfront said at the GCDC in Germany today that:

"Next-gen hardware is any platform that, upon its introduction, dramatically changes players' view of the potential for interactive entertainment. If ...

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Achievements coming to Wii?

Over on CVG, they're reporting from the eyes of a perspective player that achievements may be on the way for the Nintendo Wii. After getting some playtime with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii, a player saw that you get various colored tokens for completing specific tasks, such as scanning enemies, accomplishing all side tasks, and beating bosses.

In turn, these tokens can be used to access extra content in the game. So are these just the beginning? My guess is that Metroid Prime 3 will be playing the role of the guinea pig and will test the waters. Another neat aspect added is that you can invite your friends to get in on the gathering tokens fun. This should provide lots of fun for competition fans.

Metroid Prime 3 will be released on August 27th for the Wii.

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Play movies on your Wii. But...

The exclusion of the ability to play movies on the Wii wasn't that big of a deal for a lot people because many households have a DVD player already. But some enterprising "fans" (wink,wink) have decided that this should not be and have devised a way of getting the Wii to do it.

MaxConsole reports that Team Symboite is issuing software based upon the combined efforts of many hackers in solving the "how to play DVD movies on the Wii" puzzle. But if you want to do this, you'll need a modded Wii, (which Mario really frowns upon) and the homebrew program named YAOSM 1.8.

If the Wii can play movies through homebrew code, perhaps Nintendo's little white box may have some secrets hidden away inside that just might allow it to do this one day through an update. It sure would make a lot more sense the...

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Wii Shortages will continue past 2008

Over the past year, the demand for the Nintendo Wii has been skyrocketing more and more each day. Despite the fact the console has already sold 10 million units, nearly surpassing the Xbox 360's first year run with an entire quarter to go, it seems a few chips will keep the Wii from ending its shortages problems.

According to DigiTimes, Taiwan-based chip makers have stated that delays on their components will cause Wii shortages to continue well beyond the upcoming holiday season, which bye-the-way, is Nintendo's best holiday lineup since the beginning of the Gamecube.

With the Wii becoming more recognizable each day as one of the world's most wanted next-gen game console, demand for the Wii will be an ongoing situation. The realization that shortages will continue, however, is a bit of a ...

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'Brawl' adds a fighter: Pokemon Trainer

Over the past couple of months, Nintendo has slowly been brewing the "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" hype machine into what looks to be one of the most tasty games the company has ever produced. Today it seems they just added a key ingredient that will make most fans of Pokemania go nuts.

The Pokemon Trainer from the handheld adventures have joined the fight. At precisely 3 AM ET, when the announcement was confirmed on the website, millions of shouts were heard around the world from 12 year old (and older) Pokemon fanboys.

This new character allows for three different Pokemon to be pulled out as a character, and each has a seperate and unique movepool; so its basically three Pokemon in one set.

Players will get to choose between Charizard, the franchises other mascot Squirtle, and Ivysaur. B...

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Metroid released on Wii's Virtual Console

Nintendo has released three new classics for the Wii's Virtual Console today. The standout title this week is Metroid, originally released on the NES. The two other titles are Shining in the Darkness, originally released on Sega Genesis and Cratermaze, which was originally released on TurboGrafx16.

Metroid, the first installment of an immensely popular series, will cost you 500 Wii Points and is rated E for Everyone. Experience the very beginnings of the story of Samus Aran and the fight to protect her home planet of Zebes from being destroyed by "Metroids".

Shining in the Darkness will cost you 800 Wii Points and is also rated E for Everyone. Cratermaze is 600 Wii Points and is rated E for Everyone.

Super Metroid is supposedly coming out next Monday, so you may want to save up those point...

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Plethora of Metroid content for August

With Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's launch date on August 28th, Nintendo has decided to make the weeks leading up to the release all about the Metroid franchise. Starting on August 13th, the original Metroid will be available for download from the Virtual Console for 500 points while on August 20th, Super Metroid will be buyable at 800 points. In addition to these stellar titles, Nintendo also created a Metroid specific channel which awards eager fans two videos to watch for the upcoming Corruption.

The first of these two videos is more of a trailer, giving gamers the overall feel for Metroid Prime 3. The second video, for hardcore fans, is direct footage of Samus fighting off droves of Space Pirates on top of a platform. While there is no onscreen indicator of what exactly one has to do wi...

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New Super Mario Galaxy scans reveal new features

Super Mario Sunshine was not the return to form many Mario fans were hoping for. The water jet pack fundamentally changed how the game played and many felt that, while fun, Super Mario Sunshine was nowhere near the quality of the cherished Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64.

Super Mario Galaxy isn't suffering from this problem. Every time new content is revealed people get more excited about its release this fall. The majority of fans are calling it a return to what made Mario great, and with what we have seen so far, it is hard not to argue Super Mario Galaxy will be the best 3D Mario game to ever hit shelves.

So in order to hold over all us hungry fans, Joystiq has found three pages of new Mario Galaxy content thanks to scans of Famitsu via NeoGAF. The scans are not only high quality, but ...

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Metroid Prime 3 preview on Wii

Seems like Nintendo may have been paying attention to gamers, after all. I was sitting here typing when all of a sudden the Wii erupted in that blue-glow I've come to love (and awkwardly awaken to) so much.

What did I find? In the Wii Ware section of the Wii Shop channel, there is now a Metroid section, which contains two Metroid videos (streaming and in fairly low resolution, sadly). Two other videos are also slated to be released on the 13th. One of the videos is a trailer for Metroid Prime 3, while the other is a gameplay demonstration. There are also a couple cool images to look at via some sort of scratch game. Nintendo, welcome to the Internet age!

As of now (roughly 3~ A.M.) the videos are only available in the US. For a minute or two European Wii owners were able to see the new sect...

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Secret photo on next Wiimote security strap device...

This week Nintendo announced that they will be issuing another strap upgrade to the Wiimote controllers.

This time around, they are adding a security clip that locks the strap loop from unloosening. The first upgrade was a thicker strap that, theoretically, would prevent "snapage" of the strap and thus the breaking of all things valuable in the flying controller's path such as televisions and stereo equipment.

But just how far is this going to go to make the WiiMote 100% secure? Well, according to a secret photo file that GamerNode was able to obtain from an insider source, the next iteration of the security strap will look like this:

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Cooking Mama 2 releases early next year in Europe

The original Cooking Mama was a smash hit on both Wii and DS. So it surprises no one to find that a follow up will be hitting European store shelves in early 2008. There is no word yet on the details of the game, and it hasn't even been confirmed whether the title will be brought to North America or not.

However, like I said, the first two games in the series were smash hits and made a sizeable amount of money, so it is very likely that it will see release over in the States and friends.

There are no details, but expect the game to be eerily similar to the first. Casual games aren't in the habit of changing a successful formula.

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New Wii update allows use of keyboard... sorta

With the Wii firmware update today, a lot of nice things were added. Something that slipped under the radar, however, is the support of USB keyboards. Currently not all keyboards are working, and they only work for things like the Wii Shop and Wii Message Board, not the actual Internet browser. At least the message board is feasible to use, now.

Is an Internet Channel update imminent? According to a few sources who wish to remain anonymous, there is something currently in the works.

The bigger implication of this update, though, is the possible support of keyboards in future Wii titles. Now, if only Nintendo would add USB stick support so I can have more saved games...

Does your keyboard work or not work after the new Wii update? If it does (or doesn't), please let us know in the comments, ...

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Sonic Joins Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Hoax?

Over the past couple of months, Sega and Nintendo have been droping hints to their beloved fans that perhaps, the legendary game icon, Sonic, will join the fight in the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

A photo has been leaked to the internet this week that is probably the biggest "hint" of them all. The EB Games advertisement features realistic box art, as well as a bunch of classic Nintendo characters labeled as being a part of the gam plus the game's title logo.

The most iconic of these fighters to be revealed was Sonic, the mascot of Nintendo's (ex?) rival Sega. Whether or not this is true is unclear, mainly due to EB Games immediateley covering up the slip by saying it was merely a mock up. Still, EB has some explaining to do if that's true, because the photo will be misleading to t...

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Wii firmware update

It looks like Nintendo's little Wii has received a firmware upgrade. Initially, he most obvious change is the addition of a digital clock on the Wii Menu screen, but delving deeper reveals greater improvements.

I took the time (lots of it) to download this one, and I guess I'm satisfied with one more device screaming the time at me, but it's the grand reorganization of the Wii Shop Channel that impresses me the most.

Wii owners can now search for the classics by name, publisher, genre, and popularity, in addition to the preveiously available system categorization. This is sure to make the Wii shopping experience easier.

Here is the official list of udates from Nintendo:

Wii MenuThe weather forecast will now be displayed on the Forecast Channel icon in the Wii Menu.Headline news will now be ...

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Three New Titles for Virtual Console

Even though summer is winding to a close that hasn't stopped Nintendo from releasing its latest batch of Virtual Console classics. The Virtual Console still can't match XBLA in terms of volume, but with stellar titles like those released today it is growing in the right direction.

Here are the three new titles available for download on the Virtual Console.

Wave Race 64 Console: Nintendo 64 Players: 1-2 Rating: E for Everyone Wii Points: 1,000 Wii Points Wave Race 64 was one of the first N64 titles for the system. What really sold it to gamers back in the day were the amazing water effects, varying track conditions, and the ability to pull off stunts. Time hasn't been kind to this title, but those wanting to relive the good old days when nine tracks, four characters, and handstands on a ...

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Single-player announced for Super Smash Bros. Braw...

If there was one feature past Super Smash Bros. titles were lacking it was a proper single player component. Battling against the computer was engaging, but not nearly as addictive or fun as fighting together with three friends.

To combat this, Smash Bros. Dojo has revealed that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will include a standalone single-player adventure mode, titled The Space Emissary. Keeping in line with the Brawl mentality, The Space Emissary will be a side scrolling adventure game which follows the cast of Brawl as they fight against a yet-to-be revealed adversary. Fans wanting to see Zelda and Princess Peach fight side-by-side will finally get their wish.

The addition of single-player will add longevity to the Brawl experience, especially after all the unlockables are obtained, and ever...

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Capcom Removes Islamic Phrase From Zack & Wiki

In response to the inclusion of an Islamic phrase in Capcom's Zack & Wiki, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) requested that the game be altered, and said phrase be removed. According to a press release that was issued today, it seems Capcom was happy to oblige.

The phrase "Allahu akbar," meaning "god is most great," has already been removed from the Wii game, and CAIR is very happy with the way Capcom handled the situation.

From the press release:

"CAIR contacted Capcom after receiving a complaint about the use of the phrase in Capcom’s “Zack & Wiki” game. The Arabic phrase is one of the most frequently repeated religious statements made by Muslims and is used often in daily Islamic prayers… In an e-mail to CAIR, a Capcom spokesperson wrote: “W...

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