GamerNode: Latest Wii News

Hot steamy details of Mario Kart Wii

Look out Live, Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connect is on the up and up. Nintendo UK just released some details on how they are going to handle Mario Kart on their free service.

It's no surprise that this iteration of Mario Kart has online play since Double Dash was one of the few Nintendo games that had online capabilities on the GameCube.

While a unified friends list does not exist you will be able to build a Mario Kart friends list and play with them. You will also be able to go head-to-head against other players on a continental or global scale. Race and battle modes cap at 12 players, which shouldn't really surprise anyone, any more than that and there'd be no room for your red shells.

What may surprise you is the Mario Kart Channel. It's a channel on the Wii that allows you to view rank on a ...

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Okami delayed until April 15th

Excited about the upcoming Okami Wii port? Ready to play the game at the end of this month?

Too bad.

Capcom confirmed yesterday that eager celestial painters will have to wait an additional three weeks to get their hands on Ready at Dawn's adaptation of Clover Studio' artistic adventure. Okami will be hitting store shelves on tax day, April 15th.

Capcom gave no reason for the delay, but one can speculate that it may be a result of the game's off-again, on-again 16:9 support or the fact that Ready At Dawn has been working hard on God of War: Chains of Olympus, and possibly set that as a higher priority up to this point.

Bummer. 

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Okami for Wii unsurprisingly getting better

The Wii continues to get its fair share of ports. The latest everyone is excited about is the phenomenal Okami which released on the PlayStation 2 last year. When announced it was quickly speculated how amazing the painting mechanic would work with the Wii remote. Thankfully, the developers of Okami felt the same way and a port of Okami is underway for the Wii. But can it get better? How does Okami running in 16:9 ratio sound? Check out the video below. While current Okami owners won't be blamed for refusing to re-buy the game a second time, those who do drop the cash will obviously be justified in their repurchase.

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March 3rd Virtual Console releases

Either Nintendo got lazy this week, or they examined the latest Virtual Console sales numbers and decided that they want more people to buy what's already out there. Only the SNES action title Super Turrican has been added to the Virtual Console library today, accompanied by a very amusing (to me, at least) press release.

Whoever wrote this one obviously knew that fans wouldn't be happy with this week's paltry offerings, and strategically planned a pre-emptive defense of the update. I've changed things up and have included the full release this time around, if for no reason other than to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Read on:

WII-KLY UPDATE: ONE NEW CLASSIC GAME ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL

March 3, 2008

March is roaring in like a lion on the Virtual Console™. This migh...

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Certainly not a laughing matter, Duck Hunt's trade...

The 1980s were a time of big hair, heavy metal, and lousy trademark filings with the latter being the subject of Nintendo's current dilemma. While other console makers are dealing with rather high failure rates, Nintendo's biggest setback seems to be how it filed for a trademark over 20 years ago.

GoNintendo is reporting that the original trademark filed for Duck Hunt is too vague to be renewed and that Nintendo has been issued "final office action." Apparently if nothing is done anyone who makes a game where ducks are hunted can register a new trademark and name their game Duck Hunt.

Nintendo does have the opportunity to appeal this action and restate their case, and you can bet your Miyamoto that they will. Hopefully this time they can be a little more specific in their wording.

I, for ...

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Mario Kart Wii: 8-player battle mode, no chat

The last we heard about Nintendo's newest kart racing extravaganza, Mario Kart Wii, was that the game would feature 12-player online multiplayer races, as well as local 4-player split screen match-ups. Gaming site Jeux-France is now reporting that the game will also support up to eight players in online battle mode.

As you will discover upon inspection of the image at the bottom of this page, there are eight player icons on the map in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. It's not a split screen, so one can logically assume that an online match is in progress. Woooo!!!

In other, sadder Mario Kart Wii news, Nintendo has confirmed that not only will voice chat be missing from the power-sliding, shell-tossing competition, but even text-based chat will be abandoned in favor of pre-determ...

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Disney planning Rock Band knock-off; Ultimate Band...

And you thought that me-too-copy-cat-games were only for WWII first person shooters, and pet ownership simulators. Well, apparently not, because Disney is planning a product to capitalize off the tremendously enormous fame generated by both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Titled, Ultimate Band, this new product doesn't seem like it will have all manner of expensive peripherals like its forebears. Word is, that this new game will use only the Wii-mote to imitate the motions of the instuments.

Playing with plastic guitars is one thing. Playing with what is essentially air-guitars, is quite another. I'm wondering what sort of features this game will have to make people buy it other than the presumably low price tag in comparison to its competition.

Other than this game, there's also the oft rumored ...

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New Blast Works trailer reveals lots

When we saw the initial footage for the upcoming build-and-play shooter, Blastworks, it appeared to be a simple port of the existing PC game Tumiki Fighters. This newest trailer reveals that Blast Works is in fact a suite of games and building tools for players to explore their creative side, play their masterpieces, and then share them with other Wii users via Connect24. It looks very interesting, in a graphically-inferior-shoot-em-up-version-of-LittleBigPlanet sort of way. Check it out:

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February 25th Virtual Console releases

Guess what! The Wii Virtual Console has been updated again.

Yeah, not much of a surprise, but I try. This week, Kirby is going 3D in his N64 adventure, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and "the mind of a twisted demon" is the stage for a side-scrolling shooter in Psychosis for the TurboGrafx16. I've never had the chance to play Psychosis, although exploring the evil portions of someone's mental space sounds enticing. As for Kirby 64, it's a bit dull for my tastes, but the 4 year-old in your life might love it.

The full descriptions from Nintendo's release:

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: (Nintendo 64®, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Kirby's first 3-D adventure is also his Nintendo 64 debut, and it finds the always-versatile hero battling a new enemy called Dark Matter...

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Mario Kart Wii GDC trailer

Just look at those people having fun with the Wii Wheel! Just makes you want to race, no?

Not really...but it does make me really appreciate the gameplay footage, as well as trailers that don't feature human beings playing the game. How about the rest of you - is anyone else sick of looking at these "people having fun" advertisements?

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WiiWare devs need only register and have an office...

Nintendo wanted to make it clear exactly how open a platform the upcoming WiiWare channel will be. The official press release announcing the channel's launch might lead one to belive that it is aimed at established development companies wanting to test new ideas in a low-cost environment.

"Through WiiWare, Nintendo hopes to offer developers a virtual laboratory that serves as a breeding ground for new games, which encourages great ideas that creators always wanted to develop. The combination of low development barriers and unique game experiences found only on Wii should enable developers to try new ideas with lower risk in a quicker, more creative and affordable way."

Since that statement, however, Nintendo has clarified just how accessible WiiWare will be to any upstart developer who wan...

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Nintendo reveals new pay to play Wii service

During the ongoing GDC '08 festivities, Nintendo announced a pay to play service for some upcoming Wi-Fi enabled Wii games.

Dubbed the "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay and Play" service, this new endeavor will surely confuse the gamers that once thought Nintendo would continue to support free online gameplay.

In a presentation, Takashi Aoyama, Nintendo project leader, announced the service at GDC '08 but didn't specify which upcoming games would require a purchase or a price tag for these games.

In effort to distinguish from free titles, the "Pay and Play" games will be identified with a red icon on the game's box instead of the blue Wi-Fi icon.

So to sum it up, the Wii's Wi-Fi Connection (Internet play) will remain free, while additional services or games may have to be paid for. In other wor...

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Phil Harrison: 3rd parties miss 40% of Wii market

Sony's Phil Harrison was also in the mood to talk about Nintendo's Wii console at this year's Game Developer's Conference, during the invite-only "Lunch with the Luminaries." He spoke slightly less favorably than Reggie, however.

Speaking with EA Blueprint's Neil Young, he said that third parties have insurmountable competition on the Wii from Nintendo's first-party software. This effectively limits the percentage of the console's intalled userbase that is available to third parties, according to Harrison.

"Your addressable market is only 40% of the installed base."

The EA exec cited EA's Smarty Pants as evidence to the contrary, which has proven to be successful on the Wii, stating that it was "very easy to build very quickly." He also said that Wii development is "...fundamentally much...

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Reggie says Wii will catch 360 by June

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is feeling pretty confident about the performance of Nintendo's little white box. Speaking with Bloomberg he said:

"The Wii will surpass the Xbox 360 in total U.S. sales by June, helped by video-game titles including Super Smash Bros. Brawl."

Nintendo stock reached its highest point since January 23rd yesterday, advancing 4.1 percent to JPY 53,300.

There is no doubt that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will help sell Wii consoles this year, but one has to wonder exactly how many games are in the average Wii owner's library as opposed to 360 owners'. Does the Wii measure up in the software department?

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Mario Kart Wii uses GCN, Classic controllers, too

For those of you who have been worrying that the tilt controls of the upcoming Mario Kart Wii (a la ExciteTruck) might not be your cup of tea, fear not! According to a 1UP preview, the game will feature three other control schemes for the fundamentalist in you.

Besides the Wii wheel players can choose to use a Wiimote/Nunchuk combo, the Wii classic controller, or a Gamecube controller. Just as with Super Smash Bros Brawl, Nintendo hasn't forgotten their hardcore fanbase - those grown accustomed to the controls of past games and would rather not make the switch.

There were some prior clues that this was going to happen, but now the proof is in the pudding. I'm pleased to read this, because I simply don't know which control setup I would like the most. It's always nice to have options. Do...

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Pandemic loves the Wii. No plans yet

Recently acquired Pandemic (by EA) is hard at work on their new Mercenaries 2 and Saboteur games, both being featured on present gen sytems. Even though Pandemkc president, Josh Resnick, has no plans at the moment for releasing games on the Nintendo Wii, he tells Next-Gen that he "loves" the platform.

"Pandemic has had a long-standing tradition of being multiplatform, and we're going to continue to do that," Resnick told Next-Gen in a recent interview. "Other than that, we don't have any other big announcements. But we love the platform."

He mentions details on development for the Nintendo Wii--that it won't just be poor ports from 360 or PS3 titles. "If and when we start working on [Wii] we're not going to make the mistake of just trying to port things over to it. We're going to do someth...

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February 18th Virtual Console releases

Well look what we have here. This week's Virtual Console update features two excellent classic gaming experiences in Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom for the NES and Phantasy Star II for the Sega Genesis. Today, my Wii gets a pat on the controller ports for a job well done.

Ninja Gaiden III is the final entry in the original Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, and although it doesn't quite match up to the second game in the series, it is still a fine (and difficult) action game. Phantasy Star II, on the other hand, was the first 16-bit addition to the classic franchise, and is considered by many to be among the best games of all time. If you appreciate these sorts of games, either one of today's releases is worth checking out.

From the press release:

Ninja Gaiden™ III: The Ancient S...

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Can PS3 and Wii sales overtake X360 sales in 2008?...

I usually don't heed what analysts or research firms predict regarding the gaming industry because real results can change at the drop of a hat. But they always tend to grow into good conversation pieces so with that said, research firm iSuppli released some facts with Reuters on how PS3 and Wii sales will overtake Xbox 360 sales by the end of 2008.

According to iSuppli, worldwide sales of the PS3 are expected to hit 10 million this year, while worldwide sales of the Wii and Xbox 360 will hit 12.2 million and 7.5 million respectively.

While the PS3 will appear as the underdog and overtake the Xbox 360, analysts are suspecting that the Wii will be the runaway success this year - at this stage, the Wii will hit 30.2 million units. In the month of January, the Wii was the best-selling console ...

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Nintendo to US: Please tell other countries to sto...

Today, Nintendo of America has asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to encourage governments around the world to take a more aggressive stance against the piracy of Nintendo's games and systems. They filed it under a "Special 301" process, which is when the U.S. Trade Representative solicits input from the public to find areas of concern.

Recently Nintendo has been working with governments to crack down on piracy (their stings in several countries are evident of that). According to Nintendo of America's senior director of anti-piracy, Jodi Daughtery, Big N estimates that "...in 2007, Nintendo, together with its publishers and developers, suffered nearly $975 million USD worldwide in lost sales as a result of piracy."

No word yet on what the Trade Representative will say in res...

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Smash Bros Brawl sells 1 million in 11 days

Hotcakes, what?

Super Smash Bros Brawl has become the fastest selling Wii game to date, reaching the "1 million sold" mark in just 11 days on Japanese store shelves. More precisely, Reuters reports that the game has shifted 1.08 million copies, citing numbers given by Japanese magazine publisher Enterbrain.

It took Nintendo's Wii Fit seven weeks to reach that milestone, said Enterbrain. Wii Sports required 11 weeks to do the same.

One has to wonder just how quickly the game will sell in North America, where Smash Bros. is arguably a much hotter property than in Japan.

Whatever the outcome, let this serve as a reminder to Nintendo: give fans what they want, and they will give you lots of money.

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