Consolation Prize

In some landmark news for UK gamers the Nintendo Wii has now become the fastest selling console to achieve the “one million sold since launch” milestone in UK history. This number was achieved in 38 weeks compared with the Sony PS2 (49 weeks), and Microsoft Xbox 360 (60 weeks).

This is an impressive achievement. In my opinion there hasn’t really been a steady flow of quality “AAA” titles appearing on the platform since its release and this figure highlights just how much of an impression the Wii has had on the hearts and minds of gamers (casual and hardcore alike).

Original source:
Telegraph online

Rejoice! It looks like I’m finally going to have some Wii games to buy later this year that interest me. Leaked European release dates from the Leipzig GC07 conference in Germany have surfaced on the net and if confirmed it’s going to be a busy 4th quarter for Nintendo fans.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - October 26th
Endless Ocean - November 9th
Super Mario Galaxy - November 16th
NiGHTS - November 23rd
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - November 30th

A date for the highly anticipated DS title The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has also surfaced as October 19th.

Originally sourced from
Kotaku

As-well as Microsoft and Sony having E3 conferences revealing some nuggets of information, Nintendo also had there own little shin dig on Wednesday at the Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica). Even though this news is probably old hat now I thought it was only fair to extract some facts and information from the conference.

Of special interest was the announcement of Wii Fit with custom hardware (Wii Balance Board) and as anticipated release dates for some high profile first party titles were also revealed. However the dates listed were for the US only and European dates are yet to be announced.

Nintendo platforms have experienced a 69% growth this year.

The Nintendo DS has now doubled its sales percentage of all videogame consoles sold from 12% to 23%!

Nintendo’s strategy of targeting the female demographic seems to be working as they have now achieved a 67 / 33 split for male to female gamers whereas it was stated this is usually 80 / 20.

The Nintendo DS has now sold over 40 million units worldwide and there will be 140 more new titles to appear this year.

Wii Fit was announced for the Nintendo Wii and features a new bit of hardware which is similar to a step aerobics platform known as the Wii Balance Board. The platform can measure weight distribution and calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index). The “game” covers different genres of activities such as aerobics, yoga, muscle conditioning and balance games. A price and release date has yet to be announced.

The Wii Zapper was announced which is basically a light gun incorporating both the Wii remote and Nunchuk and will be compatible with forthcoming games like Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Medal of Honour. The Zapper will be bundled with first party Nintendo software or sold separately for 19.99 USD.

A new channel is coming to the Wii called Check Mii Out. In the new channel you will be able to vote on Mii’s and search for popular Mii’s.

In terms of online statistics it was stated that 5.5 million players have used the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection with 230 gameplay sessions and the Wii Virtual console has had 5.6 million downloads.

Super Mario Galaxy will be released in US on November 12th.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be released in US on December 3rd.

Mario Kart Wii was announced and will feature online play. The game is scheduled to be released globally in quarter 1 2008. A custom steering wheel will also debut alongside the release of the game.

After reading the rumours it has now been officially announced that the Wii will play host to “WiiWare” starting early 2008. WiiWare is going to be a new service that enables developers to make available original downloadable content for sale via the Wii shopping channel. It’s reported that Nintendo will be responsible for setting the price of games (payable via Wii points), but it is up to developers to secure a games rating.

The service is, in some respects, similar to that on offer by both Microsoft and Sony via Xbox Live and Playstation Network repectively, but it’s still great to see Nintendo following suit and offering new original games content and not just virtual console games for download. The only thing that still needs to be answered is how all this new content can be stored. Can SD cards be used? or are the rumours about a new piece of Wii hardware (external HD drive) true?

Official press release via
PR Newswire

Nintendo’s WiiWare Paves The Way For Fresh Games, Cool Consumer Experiences

REDMOND, WA UNITED STATES

Nintendo Sets a New Paradigm: One Game Can Still Make a Difference

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 27 /PRNewswire/ — The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare(TM), a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content for sale by Nintendo through the Wii Shop Channel of the hot Wii(TM) home video game system. WiiWare paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers. The first WiiWare content will launch in early 2008.

“Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners.”

The possibilities for WiiWare are limited only by the imaginations of developers. WiiWare provides game creators a simple method by which they can get their games to the public. This approach, combined with the remarkable motion controls of the Wii Remote(TM) and Nunchuk(TM), will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers’ minds. The reduced barriers to development provide developers the freedom to create and an inexpensive,
clearly defined path to reach consumers who will ultimately determine which game will become the Next Big Thing.

WiiWare will be posted on the Wii Shop Channel. As with current Wii Shop Channel offerings, users will redeem Wii Points(TM) to download content. It will support a variety of pricing options. Details about that and upcoming projects will be announced at a later date. For more information about Wii, visit http://www.Wii.com.

The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.4 billion video games and more than 409 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(R), Metroid(R), Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo,
visit the company’s Web site at http://www.Nintendo.com.

Europeans it’s time to rejoice! Nintendo Europe have not forsaken us and has issued its Quarter 3 release schedule. At last some key Wii titles have been dated but before you get too excited there’s still a while to wait before you can get your hands on Super Paper Mario, Mario Party 8 or Trauma Centre.

Mario Party 8 - 13th July 2007
Trauma Center: Second Opinion - 10th August 2007
Super Paper Mario - 14th September 2007

The full release list can be found on
Eurogamer

There’s been a new trailer posted on GameTrailers recently for
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles which is due to appear on the Nintendo Wii. It looks like the game is going to be an on the rails shooter (think “House of the Dead”) combining different story elements from Resident Evil: 0, 1, 2, 3 games and making use of both the Wiimote and nun-chuck controllers.

I’m a fan of the Resident Evil series and this looks quite entertaining if you want some instant non-thinking zombie killing gratification, but somehow I would have preferred some more unique content in a Wii exclusive game. The game is scheduled to be released sometime later this year.

I’m a bit late posting this information, but there are four releases this week on the Virtual Console:

Wonder Boy in Monster World
Shockman
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Virtua Fighter 2

I’ve not played any of these games, but there’s a good review roundup on
Eurogamer should you wish to get some impressions.

It’s Friday, and as usual the Virtual Console has had a few more releases added to it’s growing portfolio of retro games.

This weeks offerings are:
Final Fight (SNES),
Mighty Bomb Jack (NES points) and
Battle Lode Runner (TurboGrafx-16)

Of those listed I’ve only ever played the GBA version of Final Fight. The game is a side scrolling “beat-’em-up” with players progressing from left to right dispatching a steady stream of enemies and end of stage “boss” characters. Eventually they will come face to face with the final boss “Belger”. I remember the game being quite fun, and if you’re looking for a quick fix of action this may be worth checking out.