Gamernode: Latest Wii News

Fire Emblem's Ike joins Super Smash Bros Brawl cas...

Nintendo has revealed the newest combatant in their newest installment into the popular all-star fighting franchise, Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl will feature the sword-wielding Ike from the Fire Emblem series. Not only does he look a bit more badass than half of the other Brawl-ers, but his finishing move, "Aether," lets him strike down opponents with a single sword slash.

With the addition of characters such as Solid Snake, Pit, and now Ike, it seems the competition is getting more serious - guns, arrows, and swords hurt.

In any case, at least link has some competition for the best swordsman in the Smash Bros arena, now.

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Get your fix with WiiPicross

Eager Pcross addicts may be having a hard time waiting for Picross DS to arrive at their videogame retailer of choice, so here is a little something to ease that burden.

WiiPicross.com will let you play the picture-puzzle game on both the PC and the Wii (via the Opera browser), and features 16 pre-made puzzles, as well as a puzzle designer and a message board. You can tackle the initial set in any order, and even try your luck at other users' creations.

The site is surprisingly captivating. I went over to try out one puzzle, and ended up doing about five before reminding myself that I had to get back to work. These time-wasters range from insultingly simple to brain-twistingly (yes, twistingly) difficult, but are all pretty fun.

Check it out.

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EA: "Wii" Underestimated Nintendo

Speaking at one of EA"s investor meetings yesterday, John Riccitiello called 2007 the publisher's toughest year yet.

He stated, "The transition was tough because we typically have two to three platforms and a five year period... One of the biggest challenges, of course, was that not a lot of people anticipated the success of Nintendo that they've shown with their wand controller and their Wii. That got ahead of us a little more than our expectations."

After this, the CEO talked about how jumping on the "powerhouse console" bandwagon (PS3 and Xbox 360) wasn't the best decision, after seeing how successful the Wii has been.

Despite this, the publisher still has the largest market share of sales on the Wii besides Nintendo. At the moment, only two of their sports franchises have made it to thei...

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Wii bowling league in New York City?!

I guess, the stereotypes are true, we gamers are all just a bunch of socially inept, physically unappealing dorks/nerds/whatever who are still bitter after all of these years for not becoming captain of the team that we have to create our own virtual leagues based on said sport.

That, or video games are becoming more popular and more socially accepted (and better?).

According to the "so sexy they make Fabio believe it's butter" chaps over at Geekanerd, the people behind Wiimbledon are gearing up for another go, but this time with Wii bowling, ingeniously named Wii Bowl NY. Co-creator Steve Bryant had this to say about his plans for the league...

"We expect it to be like a corporate softball league -- weekly games, three-person teams, played at various bars around the city. Probably start in ...

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Rayman Raving Rabbids 2: No multiplatform ports

The zany sequel, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, will only be released for the Nintendo Wii and DS, according to Ubisoft studio director Xavier Poix. Considering the lackluster reception from the release of Rayman Raving Rabbids across PC, PS2 and Xbox 360, Ubisoft decided that the upcoming release of the game's sequel will only be for the platform that excelled, and that's the Wii.

Poix stated, "We decided to go with the Wii for Rayman and forget all the other consoles, even as ports; they wouldn't be as interesting without the Wii controls." It looks like Nintendo scores points for the Wii controller, in this case, since it worked for their benefit.

In addition, there will be enhancements to the rail-shooter levels that were highly profiled in Rayman Raving Rabbids. According to Nintendo Power ...

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Canadian gym uses Wii for workout

Video games and exercising; two very important things but it's hard to convince people to actually spend time on the second one. So what better way to attract people than to combine both activities into one! That's what Canadian health club, Studeo 55, is offering.

Studeo 55 offers the Wii Workout Station; where you can spend some time punching, running and jumping with the console's movement sensitive controller. This training regiment caught the eye of Nintendo Canada, and a spokesman said that this is the first time they've heard a gym using Wii on its schedule.

Nathan Mellalieu, owner of Studeo 55, estimates that gym goers can burn 75 to 125 calories during one session of Wii boxing, tennis or bowling. In addition, Mellalieu stressed that exercise should be fun and that the Wii does tha...

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George Harrison "thinks about" memory management

Nintendo of America's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications George Harrison is a progressive kind of guy. He's a man of action and is ready for anything - even a hardware upgrade for the Wii.

When asked about any sort of revisions to the hardware spec on Nintendo's newest console, he had this to say:

"...it's not out of the question on Wii, but we're not even to our second holiday yet, so it's kind of premature to talk about any revisions to the hardware itself."

So an actual hardware change is not out of the question, but is still not even a question at all as of yet. Moving on to external or peripheral upgrades, such as a hard drive add-on, George said:

"Other people have talked about it and certainly memory management is something that consumers want to think about...

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Twelve Wiis at Best Buy this Sunday?

For those of you still waiting to get your hands on Nintendo's little Wii, this coming Sunday may be the day you get lucky. According to an inside source at Best Buy - a surreptitious hero for nerds everywhere - the nationwide retailer will have no less than 12 Wii systems per store that day.

According to a videogame journalist at Gamernode.com, those units will sell out faster than Bruce Springsteen's last concert in New York City. I recommend getting to your local Best Buy EARLY. Bring a chair, some food, and a handheld gaming system, because you may have to wait for a while if you want to be among the first dozen at the door.

If you want to thank someone for this tip, well, you can't. He has chosen, in true superhero fashion, to fade away into the night after saving the proverbial day...

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Bully: Scholarship Edition coming to the Wii & 360...

Rockstar Games has made the official announcement that the highly controversial Playstation 2 title Bully will be making it's way to both the Xbox 360 and the Wii this winter season.

According to the company's press release, Bully: Scholarship Edition will contain "additional new content" (is that redundant?), although no details have been given as to what that content might include. Otherwise, it will be the same game that has been available on the PS2 since last October.

"Bully: Scholarship Edition takes place in the fictional New England boarding school of Bullworth Academy, and tells the story of 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins as he experiences the highs and lows of adjusting to a new school. Capturing the hilarity and awkwardness of adolescence perfectly, Bully: Scholarship Edition pulls the...

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Nintendo shooting for PS2 worldwide sales record

There are some records in the gaming industry that are hard or impossible to beat. As far as handheld consoles, it is the Game Boy, in all its iterations, with over 149 million units sold. On the home console front, Sony's PlayStation 2 has sold over 120 million units since its introduction in 2000.

No one seems to think that the PS2 record will ever be broken...until now.  Reuters reports that Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, thinks that the Wii can.

He acknowledge the amazing feat of the PS2, but then went on to say that the possibility of surpassing the user base numbers for Sonys console is entirely within reach. He said, "Sony's PS2 sales of 100 million units is an extraordinary number that our home game console business has not achieved. But if we can make our bid to expand the gam...

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Mario Party 8 pulled in UK because of "dirty" word...

Nintendo of Europe announced that Mario Party 8 was pulled from stores in the UK today.

Their reasoning was,"we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error."

No re-release date has been announced yet, but Nintendo said it'll be shortly.

CVG did some further digging and uncovered the real reason why the game was pulled. Apparently at one point in the game, one piece of dialog uses the world "spastic", which is considered offensive in the UK.

This game pull is actually the second time it has happened over the use of that word. Ubisoft quickly pulled their DS and PSP puzzle game Mind Quiz following complaints of the use "super spastic" in the game just a few weeks ago.

This can't bode too well for the game, especially since it garn...

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Wii Virtual Console releases for 7/9

After a few weeks of realy soild offerings on Nintendo's Virtual Console, this Monday's releases seem just a bit lackluster.

Shooting, driving, and puzzle, it's a TurboGrafx16 game and two NES titles this week.

Without further ado, here thay are:

Mach Rider

It's the year 2112. Earth has been invaded by the forces of evil. Battle with the invaders as you race from sector to sector on your motorcycle searching for survivors. Feel the incredible sense of speed as you zip past evil Quadrunners and zigzag between treacherous rocks, oil spills, and other obstacles on the course.

For a different challenge, create your own course in Design Mode using the various twists, turns, and straight-aways the game has to offer. Remember, you are Earth's only hope--you are Mach Rider!

YoshiPublisher: Nin...

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Co-operative zombie killing! Resident Evil: Umbrel...

If there is one series that guarantees a stressful, terrifying and rewarding experience with each installment, Resident Evil is it.

Despite the fact the beloved series had a considerably lengthy growing pain process in the gameplay department, ranging from the first game (PS1, Saturn) all the way to Code: Veronica (first released for Dreamcast and ported over to the PS2 and GameCube with additional content), it had gotten over that troublesome hump with the release of the groundbreaking Resident Evil 4.

However, in between the gap of releases of the main games in the franchise, there were a few spin-offs going by the sub-title Gun Survivor, all of which featured first-person gunplay.

Unfortunately, the majority of them weren't the slightest bit decent.

Capcom isn't giving up on delivering a...

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Jenga for the Wii / DS - Jenga, Jenga, JENGA!

I don't know if you remember that commercial - the one where crazed Jenga players suddenly got caught up in a primal chant while pulling small wooden blocks from a tower - but I do.

That ritualistic mantra will haunt me forever.

Jenga is generally pretty fun, so the news that virtual renditions of the game are headed to the Nintendo Wii and DS this November must be good news.

"Players of the Wii version can get physical with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers as they battle to keep the Jenga tower from falling, while on the DS the touch screen provides equally intuitive control of the fast-paced action", says Atari.

The game will at least be a good party game if it's done right, and "a multitude" of gameplay options are to be included. Hmm...

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Wii catching up to Xbox 360 sales

We all love stats pertaining to console sales (well, I do, at least) because it automatically allows us (the consumers) to rip on the mega console manufactures for any poor sales. In other words, us fan boys can shove numbers pertaining to our beloved console into the face of any competition.

According to the latest global console sales figures on VGChartz, the "next-generation" console war is still in full force with the Xbox 360 at the top with 10.13 million units sold.

But trailing behind (not far behind, mind you) is the Nintendo Wii with 8.85 million units sold. Unfortunately at the very end is the PlayStation 3 with just 3.61 million units sold.

Considering the overwhelming technological advances the Xbox 360 has over the Wii, even that hasn't slowed down the sales for the Wii. It loo...

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Wii outsells PS3 6 to 1 in Japan in June

Nintendo is definitely feeling the hometown love since their Wii has been selling like hotcakes in Japan. According to sales figures in June, the Wii has been outselling their chief rival (PlayStation 3) 6 to 1 in Japan.

Official sales figures have the Wii at 270,974 units sold in June. Let's compare that to the PlayStation 3 at 41,628 units sold and trailing behind is the Xbox 360 at 17,616 units sold. The Wii has been garnering rather continual strong success beginning in April when it outsold the PS3 4 to 1 and then 5 to 1 in May.

Considering the mega success of its sister console, the Nintendo DS, Japanese fans are gobbling up the Wii's portability (it's much smaller than the other two consoles) and its heavy focus on group playing. Things are definitely looking good over in Japan for N...

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No online play in Metroid Prime 3; tiny delay

During an interview with GamePro, Michael Kelbaugh, president and CEO of Retro Studios, revealed that the upcoming Wii FPS Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, won't feature any online gameplay. This'll be a blow to eager multiplayer fans that were looking for some frantic FPS gameplay on the Wii.

Kelbeugh stated, "No. It's something we talked about early on, but we only have so many resources. We opted to devote those resources to making a better single-player experience."

It definitely looks like Retro Studios is focusing their efforts on defining the controls. Kelbeugh said, "The whole idea behind the controls in Corruption is to make them accessible to any Wii player... having the different settings gives us the flexibility to accomplish that."

In addition, Nintendo quietly moved the game's rele...

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Piano recital - Super Mario style

If you've ever been forced to take piano lessons as a kid, you know how difficult it is to keep your mind on the sometimes mind numbing exercises and scales.

Well, one resourceful student of the musical arts has decided to make his piano playing a fun experience -- he transcribed the tunes from level 2 in Super Mario 3

The player is anonymous, and probably for good reason -- his piano teacher would probably have a fit if she/he knew. Click on the the "full story" button to see it.

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Wii Ware coming. Xbox Live scared? Nahhh.

The Xbox 360 has Xbox Live. The PS3 has the PlayStation Network. Enter Nintendo with Wii Ware in 2008.

What will you do with Wii Ware? You'll be able to download original game content from the upcoming online service.

Right now, the file size that can be downloaded to the Wii has to be less than 512K -- the amount of onboard memory it has.

Add some SD cards to your Wii and you have more storage space. But having all those SD cards lying about is a fomula for lost games and unfortunate accidents -- "Er, I'm sorry, but my dog ate your game..."

This leaves the door open for USB external hard disk drives to come to the rescue. Nintendo isn't saying a thing about this possibility, but hints have been dropped by Nintendo management in the past about the possibility for add-on USB peripheral stor...

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Ubisoft: No Red Steel 2 in works. Wanna bet?

Red Steel 2 is reported to be in the works right now according to French Wii gaming news site, Live Wii.

According to some quick translation by members of destructoid.com. Ubisoft is apparently attempting to fix the biggest gripe that gamers had about the first Red Steel - the awful sword fighting interface.

Gamers would swing wildly with their Wiimotes while their onscreen counterparts would respond a full second or so later after the initial movements. Can you say, "die fast?" E3 participants, who saw the game demo last year, complained of the faulty interface. Ubisoft officials stated that the problem would be fixed by launch time. It wasn't.

Upon the leaked news that Red Steel 2 was in development, Ubisoft denied that this was true and stated that there was no official word about the seq...

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