Gamernode: Latest Wii News

Sam & Max Season One announced for Wii!

The PC has been seeing regular episodic releases of the Sam and Max franchise for quite a while now. It was only yesterday, however, that Telltale Games announced the impending release of Sam and Max Season One for the Nintendo Wii.

Season One was released in its entirety on the PC in August of last year but the Wii will see it this fall in both the USA and the UK.

There was no mention of Season Two heading to the Wii (or any other consoles), but chances are we'll see it and the other seasons in due time. The Wii edition of Sam and Max Season One will be published by Dreamcatcher in the US and by JoWood in the UK.

[Via GameSpot]

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Forget about calling Jenny. Wii Fit works!

Chris Kohler, over at Wired, has been playing Wii Fit for a little over a month now. He reports that since starting his daily Wii Fit regiment, he has been getting daily exercise (with and without assistance from Wii Fit) which is a change from when he didn't do any exercise at all.

Kohler says that when he first started, he could only do six repetitions of the push-up mini-game but now he can do twenty. He reports similar improvements with the jackknifes--he can now do thirty or more of those with no problem.

He's also losing weight, albeit at a slightly slow but steady pace. However, this is probably because he's doing exercises that are meant to produce muscles and not burn fat. He voices some complaints that Wii Fit only keeps track of how much fat you burn and doesn't tally up how much...

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Reason behind Wii 'shortage'

Good old Michael Patcher, or M. Patch to those who have him in their Fantasy Analyst League, talked about the future of retailer GameStop and how they will fare during this economic recession. He shot out his rationale for why there has been a Wii shortage, nearly a year and a half into the life of the console.

M. Patch claims the Wii shortage is due to the weak dollar and places like Europe, with stronger currency at the moment, are "totally stealing our shipments," ... ok, that's not an exact quote. I made it up, but that's the general idea. Nintendo makes more money selling their system where the conversion rate to the Yen is higher so shipping more boxes to those countries intern makes Nintendo more mullah.

He went on to say that once the demand in Europe levels off, which should be so...

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Cruis'n USA and two C64 games hit Virtual Console

Yesterday, the UK region got their weekly VC update and with it came Cruis'n USA for the N64 and Uridium as well as International Karate. The big news here is those latter games because they're the first Commodore 64 games to arrive on the service. That said, the USA should see these games in the near future, maybe even as soon as this Monday.

As for the quality of these games, please don't expect anything special. I have very fond memories of playing Cruis'n USA with my older sister. When I fired up the game last weekend for nostalgia purposes, I quickly came to the realization that it was a very poor game and my happy memories were tarnished almost instantly.

As for the other two games, Uridium is yet another Space-Shooter, and God knows the VC has more than enough of those. So many, in ...

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Wii Fit for $90?

Despite the infrequent release of quality titles on Nintendo's machine (aside from Brawl, at least), there's one thing that may or may not be on the minds of Wii owners as of late: Wii Fit.

While not all hardcore gamers have the desire to step on the balance board that will be bundled with the game, there's no denying that it may potentially appeal to the soccer moms that will see it in action when it's inevitably featured on morning talk shows throughout the country near the time of its release.Naturally, the first thought that will likely come to the mind of many will be, "How much?" A rumor has recently sprung up concerning the price of the big N's excercise set, which suggests that it will be attainable for $90. Considering that the company has been keeping the casuals in mind for the l...

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Rock Band comes to Wii on June 22

MTV, EA and Harmonix have just announced that Rock Band will officially be released for the Wii on June 22, 2008. "The Wii's success among casual and core gamers of all ages makes it an ideal match for the cross-generational appeal of the music featured in Rock Band," said Bob Picunko of MTV. Like the regular package for the 360 and PS3, Rock Band Wii will come with the drum, mic, and guitar for the retail price of $169.99. For those of you who aren't looking for another guitar, the standalone instruments will also be available on the 22nd; no word yet if Boogie's mic will work with Rock Band, saving the unfortunate owners of Boogie even more money.

With six million DLC songs sold online, and with many people rocking out with distant friends, there's no doubt that online play is a big par...

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Brawl online "getting better" says Nintendo

There may be an end in sight to the nasty woes facing anyone who tries to play online with Super Smash Bros Brawl. NintendoEverything.com has quoted Nintendo as saying that the problem is rapidly being fixed and that it's getting better by the day.

"As with the launch of any online-enabled game, especially one as popular as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, everyone wants to play at once. This puts a strain on the pipeline. We have seen improvements in online play performance every day since launch."

As a commenter on their site so eloquently put it, "that's because a lot of people gave up." Funny, but probably not at all incorrect. People are still playing Brawl en masse, so the answer isn't that the game got less popular, it really is probably that people just got fed up with the mess and gave up.

G...

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Still want a Wii? The drought will continue

When Nintendo's Wii was first launched almost a year and a half ago, who would've thought that shortages for the popular game console would still be here?

Those who are still looking for the rare machine won't get a break from the drought as GameStop executives predict that there won't be enough Wiis to meet demand for quite awhile.

GameStop COO Dan DeMatteo guesstimated that the Wii supply "won't meet demand for the next 2 quarters," and that means at least six months. A quick look around the Internet seems to prove out his point as online websites such as Amazon.com and Circuit City still report the game console as being sold out.

Although the Wii isn't expected to have any price drops in the near future DeMatteo thinks that there will be a $50 price drop for the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometim...

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Smash Bros. Brawl sells 1.4 million in the US with...

For those of you who love any- and everything Smash Bros. related, you'll be happy to hear that Brawl is officially the fastest-selling Nintendo of America game of all time. Since its launch, more than 1.4 million copies of Brawl have been sold, at a rate of 120 copies per minute. Those of you who lined up for its release weren't alone (obviously), as Brawl racked up over 850,000 sales on March 9th alone.

"Super Smash Bros. Brawl has made the leap from video game to cultural phenomenon," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Game reviewers and the public alike praise its fun game play and extensive, inventive content."

The game has met critical acclaim, getting a 10 from our own Dac in the first US Brawl review, and earning an average of ...

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March 17th Virtual Console releases

This week in the world of the Virtual Console, we have a pair of games that compliment each other perfectly. Spelunker is about seraching through underground caves; Super R-Type is a space shooter. Spelunker features mostly environmental obstacles; Super R-Type throws hordes of enemies at the player. Spelunker kinda sucks, Super R-Type is a pretty decent game.

If you are a Virtual Console addict, then this week's choice is clear - stick with Super R-Type, please.

From the press release:

Spelunker (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Wander through miles of uncharted caves in search of the legendary underground pyramid and its vast treasures. To complete your adventure, you will swing from ropes and ladders, run across unstable terrain and down ravines, operate elevators,...

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Mario Kart Wii gameplay video

I've been a Mario Kart fan since the good old days of the SNES, so new footage of Mario Kart Wii is something I just have to share with GN readers. This clip shows off some of the new tracks and mid-aid tricks that will be integral to the game. It's looking pretty good to me, and if nothing else, it has the sense of speed that was simply not there in Double Dash (plus Donkey Kong does wheelies). Enjoy.

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Microsoft does what Nintendon't

Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold approximately a bajillion copies since its release on Sunday. Though the game is selling, well there seems to be two inherent problems. The first was the Wii not being able to read discs. A tragedy for sure.

Many people who have evaded the first problem have been plagued with a second problem, and that problem's name is Error Code: 85010.

For centuries gamers have wanted to play Super Smash Bros. against opponents all across the world, but due to Nintendo's late-to-the-party add-on to the GameCube, Melee never made it onto the internets. We had thought the time was finally here with Brawl, but Error Code: 85010 appeared rearing its ugly head.

What is this Error Code: 85010? Well according to Nintendo's official support site it is "typically caused by tempor...

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Mario Kart Wii gets April 27th NA release date

Nintendo of America has just announced the North American release date for their next big title, Mario Kart Wii. The game will ship on April 27th, just about two weeks after the April 11th European release.

As previously reported here at GamerNode, the game will include 16 brand new courses, plus 16 from previous Mario Kart games, and will feature 12-player online competition (without chat functionality). The game will ship with the Wii Wheel shell, but will be playable with the Wii-mote/Nunchuk combo, the Wii Classic controller, or the Gamecube controller, as well.

Said Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing Cammie Dunamay, "Mario Kart Wii transforms one of our most popular franchises into a race that every member of the family can join. Driving with the Wii ...

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A quick Smash Bros fix

By now, you've probably read that Super Smash Bros Brawl has been having a bit of trouble running on select Wii consoles. This is apparently due to its dual-layer capacity, and is a pretty big issue to be plaguing one of Nintendo's biggest releases on the console to date.

There is some good news, however, and it comes in the form of a quick workaround to the problem, published by 1UP Editor-in-Chief James Mielke. His instruction is as follows:

"I kept getting disc read errors, with different SSBB discs, but I found that if I put it in and let the Wii do all its scanning, before I started spamming 'A' to get to the game started, it usually started up. Basically, put the disc in, you can hear it making disc-reading sounds. Wait until they settle down, press A on the SSBB icon on the Wii menu...

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Brawl may not work on some Wii systems

Oh, the horror! Imagine, if you will, what it would be like to be around one of those Nintendo nuts who poured over Brawl screenshots for months--building up to the release when he/she found out that the copy they had been waiting for, and paid fifty dollars for...didn't work at all.

I can imagine the Amazon Death Cry right now. *Shudder* Scary stuff. Well, scary as it may be, the fact is that it actually is happening. There are reports being sent in that Super Smash Bros Brawl is simply caput on some Wii systems.

Now, as humorous as it would be to see this game ship with a debilitating bug that forced a mass recall (sorry, I know that's mean) this problem is far from irreparable. Nintendo themselves, the grand Mute that it is, has actually come down from on high to offer a fix for this pr...

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March 10th Virtual Console releases

It's another import week on Nintendo's Virtual Console; today's update features two 16-bit era games from the Land of the Rising Sun.

First up is the action game DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventures for the SNES (or Super Famicom). As its name suggests, DoReMi Fantasy has a cutesy musical theme, complete with lost songs and legendary instruments.

The other half of today's update is a Sega Genesis (or Megadrive) puzzler, Puyo Puyo 2: Tsuu. This is your typical line-up-the-falling-blocks-to-clear-the-screen puzzle game, but is supposedly supported by "an intriguing backstory." Hmmm.

From the official press release:

DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (Super NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Alcohol Reference and Comic Mischief, 900 Wii Points): This is an action g...

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SEGA says Wii isn't only for casual gamers

Simon Jeffery, president of SEGA of America, made some recent comments regarding that hardcore gamers shouldn't be excluded from Wii gaming; in other words, he said that Wii gaming shouldn't solely be aimed at the casual audience.

Regarding the platform, Jeffery said, "I do think going forward there is very much a place for the hardcore gamers on the Wii and there's a big opportunity for publishers to take advantage of that because we've seen the success of Resident Evil on Nintendo platforms."

Jeffrey went on to mention the potential downfalls of Western publishers only focusing on the casual gaming route for the Wii and DS.

"But I do also believe that a lot of Western publishers are only looking at the Wii for casual and family gaming, and I think that's a mistake - I think there's a lot mo...

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Guitar Hero III Replacement Disks Finally Shipped

If you bought Guitar Hero III for the Wii, one feature lacking in the final game was the inclusion of Dolby Pro Logic II. While not true surround sound it still enhanced the game enough to make a difference to Wii owners. Activision quickly made it possible to report a faulty disk and receive a replacement.

These replacements also fixed some the sound issues the Wii version of the game had in addition to the lack of the Pro Logic II. Reports are coming in that the disks are arriving and the problems fixed. Wii owners, you can breath a sigh of relief.

On a related note though, why the heck are all the music based games having issues these days? If it isn't Rock Band instruments breaking, Guitar Hero III wireless guitars being poorly built, it is the lack of Pro Logic II for the Wii. Talk...

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Cheerleaders approve of the Wii Balance Board

THQ, recently known for killing franchises, has announced a new game to replace their old ones. Will this game have a deep story focusing on the single player campaign - something the Wii needs if it wants to appeal to hardcore gamers? In short, no.

After a room full of men asked themselves, "what do girls like?" for several hours, the answer was abundantly clear. Girls like cheerleading. And girls like the Wii.

Much like Voltron, combining cheerleading and the Wii will create an unstoppable force not seen since the Sims 2 was launched.

The new cheerleading game, dubbed All-Star Cheerleading, should be available this year and will take advantage of the Wii Balance Board. So be prepared to step up and bring it on because dancing minigames are about to smack Wii owners in the face.

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Mario & Sonic sells 5 million copies worldwide

In news that certainly surprised me, SEGA announced that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has sold 5 million copies worldwide since its release back in November.

What can I say, people love Mario and Sonic, so obviously the first game to feature both of the two characters, along with plenty of other characters from classic franchises, will sell pretty darn well.

After its release, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games maintained a firm position in the top 10 best selling games in the U.S. in December, along with maintaining high positions in top sales charts in Europe and England.

Simon Jeffery, president and COO, SEGA of America, said, "With adored icons and fun game play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has shot to the top of the sales charts and is clearly resonating with the growing au...

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