Say it ain’t so! Surely Nintendo has had enough time to buy a few more factories with its Wii revenues to keep those consoles coming? But not according to analysts Lazard Capital Markets, who say that Wiis could still be in short supply after Christmas.
It’s not great news for The Big N. Although there’s some PR benefit from Wii sellouts, this’ll be the first Christmas that all three next-gen consoles go head-to-head for gamers’ wallets. As such, you’d hope there’ll be a flood of Wiis in retailers to ensure the console keeps its momentum.
At least, that’s what Nintendo says, in an effort to dispel assumptions that only Nintendo makes any money out of publishing games on its platforms. Ninty US boss Reggie Fils-Aime says two Ubisoft games, and EA’s Madden and Tiger Woods titles are all on the verge of selling over 500,000 units for Wii.
“There’s a historical view that third-party licensees cannot make money on Nintendo platforms, and it’s just false,” he says. “Today, third parties are doing extremely well both on Wii and DS. That’s why they’re devoting more and more of their own development resources against these two platforms.”
Okay, so you’ve got Nintendo’s first online Wii game, and you’re getting mashed by other players who never seem to give you a chance to keep the ball, let alone power up a megastrike. What to do?
Well, after a weekend playing the game, I’ve got a bunch of tips that might help you at least get competitive online. They won’t turn you into Manchester United overnight, but they should help you hold your own. Read on.
I’ll cut straight to the point: it’s marvellous. Absolutely marvellous.
Yes, I’ve been playing Mario Strikers Charged Football online, and am back to report on my first two matches. And thankfully, I’ve only got good things to say.
The Wi-Fi Connection match-up process is simple and seamless, the game plays without any noticeable lag, and most importantly, I’m winning!
Hurrah. Half an hour spent playing Mario Strikers Charged Football, and I’m back to give some first impressions of the solo mode, before tackling online play.
First off, forget everything I said earlier about it playing a solid game of football. It’s not really football at all. I now realise why all those reviews of the Mario basketball game on the DS said you shouldn’t try to play it as a traditional b-ball game. MSFC is the same.
It’s out then. I’m fresh back from Woolies with my copy of Mario Strikers Charged Football – the first Wii game to make use of Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection to play online.
But before firing it up (and trust me, I’m itching to get started), I thought it was worth tapping out a few expectations for the game:
- I’m a bit worried about all the explosive power-up extras, being a committed Pro Evo fan. Will MSCF play a decent game of football, or will it just be pot luck in terms of what power-ups you can find. Admittedly, this is a hair’s breadth away from wondering if Mario Kart is ruined as a serious racing simulation by the power-ups – of course it isn’t. But for some reason, football is different.
That’s right: those pesky rabbids are back for more Wiimote busting fun and frolics, and Ubisoft has confirmed that Nintendo has exclusive dibs on the sequel to one of our favourite Wii party games.
RRR2 will have 60 mini-games spread across eight gameplay types, and in a new twist, the games take place around the world – with rabbids in “local environments” promised.
I’d love this to mean comedy French, British and German stereotypes in rabbid form, but I’m guessing it’s more likely to mean cartoon Eiffel Towers and so on. The game’s due out this Autumn. Start saving now.
If tomorrow’s release of Mario Strikers Charged Football wasn’t exciting enough, it’ll be getting some heavyweight competition later in the year, when EA brings FIFA 08 out for Wii.
Details are scarce on how the game will be optimised for the Wiimote controller, although I’m guessing EA’s development team will have been paying close attention to Nintendo’s new footy game (albeit probably not nicking the crazy special moves).
Whether you think these clips are real or not is secondary. Whether you think they’re just cleverly filmed or not doesn’t matter. We’re not showing you these clips today to say “wow! it’s a dog! and he’s playing Wii!” We’re showing you these clips because they’re, quite simply, fantastic comedy. I’d go so far to say that these clips are inspired. I really need say no more than that; the wii dog, he does exactly what you might expect… And the best is after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
Adding to the list of ever-growing official Wii game websites (Mario Strikers & Twilight Princess), the Smash Bros. DOJO!! has recently launched and, if you haven’t already concluded, this means all sorts of Super Smash Bros. Brawl goodies, info and clips for us to peruse online. Although there are still some sections at the time of writing to be populated (the Game Modes and Notices pages are both still offline), the site has a bunch of cool stuff to get us all ready to play; character profiles, stage and item information, even a How To Play walkthrough.
But perhaps the coolest section of this new site — and definitely a major reason why the e-trip there is worth the effort — is the Music section. It details just who is working on the game’s soundtrack and, as your eye scans down the huge list, you begin to realise the very real talent behind the Smash Bros. score. Musicians who have worked on games like Twilight Princess, Killer7, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, Super Mario Bros, Pikmin, Star Fox, NiGHTS and Pokemon to name but a few (yeah, seriously) are all there. We talked about videogame soundtracks to buy recently. Let me tell you with all honesty: as soon as they release this one to buy, it’s mine. I don’t even have to hear it to know that the music in this game is going to be very special indeed. Swing past the dojo and read for yourself here.
Okay, so you’ve got Nintendo’s first online Wii game, and you’re getting mashed by other players who never seem to give you a chance to keep the ball, let alone power up a megastrike. What to do?
I’ll cut straight to the point: it’s marvellous. Absolutely marvellous.
Hurrah. Half an hour spent playing Mario Strikers Charged Football, and I’m back to give some first impressions of the solo mode, before tackling online play.
It’s out then. I’m fresh back from Woolies with my copy of Mario Strikers Charged Football – the first Wii game to make use of Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection to play online.
That’s right: those pesky rabbids are back for more Wiimote busting fun and frolics, and Ubisoft has confirmed that Nintendo has exclusive dibs on the sequel to one of our favourite Wii party games.
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