Struggling with that pixel-perfect leap? Help is at hand...
It’s been mooted for a while, but Nintendo has finally confirmed it will be introducing a new help system to assist gamers when they’re stuck on a particularly difficult bit.
Rather than video-based hints or walkthroughs or a DVD-style chapter-skip, however, players will simply be able to pause the action and select an option which sees the game play itself - completing any tough sections and allowing the player to regain control at any time thereafter.
This generation, Nintendo’s mantra has been all about reducing the barriers of entry for non-gamers and less experienced players, and so this is a sensible and logical next step. And as the tentatively-named “demo play” is merely optional, it’s only the weak-willed whose play experience is going to suffer.
The feature will be introduced in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and will likely be used in all future first-party titles. Should Galaxy 2 have any challenges rivalling Luigi’s Purple Coins in the difficulty stakes, temptation might just be too great for me to resist pressing pause for a computer-controlled leg-up.
WiiWare arrives on European shores tomorrow – but are YOU ready for Nintendo’s new download service? Here are three suggestions for what you need to do to ensure you’re WiiWare prepared.
1. Free some time
With eight games to choose from – at least four of which are worth downloading – you’re going to need a bit of time. If you’re lucky enough to own a 360 and/or PS3 too, then spend any free time today getting GTA finished. Clear your schedule as much as you can – you’ll need a little while to get the games downloaded before you’re ready to play.
2. Get organised
To maximise your WiiWare time, you need easy access to your WiiWare games, so make sure your main screen is free of useless channel clutter. Write down your shopping list of titles, and the order you want to play them in. Get an SD card (see point 3). Buy a Wii Points card or two, or use your credit card to add a substantial amount to your account. There! You’re almost ready to roll.
3. Search and destroy
Erase, erase, erase. Or copy, if you can’t bear to re-download your beloved VC titles. You’ll need a fair amount of space, especially if you’re planning on picking up the space-hogging triumvirate of LostWinds, TV Show King and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King. If you’ve got an SD card, get transferring. Be ruthless – how often do you REALLY use the Check Mii Out channel? And the hidden memory-snatchers that are your save files might need a good pruning. Having traded MySims and Elebits in a while ago, I was shocked to see that the two combined were eating up well over 200 blocks of HD space. Now I’ve enough room for Critter Round-Up – reportedly available on the US store tomorrow. Huzzah!
Bought Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 on Wii this weekend, did you? Well, you’ve made a very tidy purchasing decision there, my friend. But chances are, particularly if you’re more used to traditional methods of controlling a football sim, you’ll be struggling to beat your initial opponents on the default difficulty. Or perhaps you’re a newcomer to videogame footy and those cheeky scamps Michael Owen and Ian Wright made it look much easier on the adverts than it actually is? Either way, you’re in the right place. Settle down with a cuppa, and click on the jump to get some expert tips with our five key things to remember. Once you’re done, you’ll be pinging the ball about with gay abandon and carving defences to pieces better than Messi with a machete. Read the rest of this entry »
In a move that can only be a product of the generation engendered by Tom Green and the show Jackass, a brash gamer has taken it upon himself to demonstrate his dislike of shovelware by crushing a copy of Crazy Pigs with a mallet, placing the splinters in a blender along with several more palatable ingredients, and drinking the resulting fluid.
It looks fairly perilous, but you don’t actually see him swallowing any cart parts, and I’ve got a feeling he was careful to avoid ingesting any shards, if only because a man this deeply opposed to shovelware is unlikely to risk puncturing his stomach wall over it. Still, he probably paid for the game, which indicates a certain degree of misguidedness.
It’s a shame more people don’t take action over the nonsense that befouls Nintendo’s libraries. After all, it was the Nintendo Seal of Quality that rescued the videogame industry from its great depression in the 1980s, and now that company is the single biggest culprit of giving unsatisfactory games a platform. Perhaps if we all ask a friend to film us destroying a shovelware cart, the world will actually become a better place.
That said, I reviewed Crazy Pigs. It’s not that bad.
As you’ll already have seen from our review, we really liked Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure. It’s a real gem of a game, and it certainly deserves to sell better in today’s fickle market. Perhaps potential customers are deterred by internet chatter about the difficulty level, but we don’t think it’s that hard.
To help you on your way, we’ve compiled a few basic tips for progressing through the game. At least one of them should prove useful. If not, and you’re still stuck, there are links to further resources at the bottom of this post.
We haven’t covered any stories of an overtly technical nature in a while. S’not cause we’re not interested, honest. It’s more the case that nothing of note has been happening lately. Until now, that is.
Two major developments today. Both of them are only RUMOURS, so take with a very large pinch of sea salt. Or, if you’re feeling health conscious, perhaps a low-sodium alternative.
1) An exploit has been discovered in LoZ: Twilight Princess that allows you to run unsigned code. Full details over here at TehSkeen forum, but apparently you can modify a saved game to crash the machine and then start it up again to run your own code. Best of all, the console wasn’t even modded to enable this.
2) From the same source, someone got hold of a special Nintendo Wii disc codenamed the “Gay Fish”. This disc is used to restore Nintendo Wii consoles to their factory state and allows you to change some internal settings. Of especial concern to Nintendo is that it’s now loose in the wild hinterlands of the internets…
That’s all the details we have for now, we’ll let you know more if we hear anything else. All together now, can you say “region-free games”?
Blimey. We shamefully neglected to check the WiiWii mailbag over the festive holidays; imagine our surprise when we found it full to bursting with questions.
Here’s a selection of the least offensive queries, accompanied by our sage and worldly advice. If you think we’re propagating lies and useless information, feel free to correct us in the discussion thread below.
Without further ado:
“We just got super monkey ball banana blitz and it is a great game but when we go under party mode we can’t get it to add a second play and i was wonder how to do so thank you for your time” Kim
WiiWii: You need to sync your Wii remotes to the Wii console, either temporarily or permanently. The best place to do so would be via the Wii Menu. Read your Wii Instruction Manual for more info - that’s what it’s there for! The relevant information can be found on pages 20 and 21.
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“i didnt now hoe to get one, so i thought you half to buy the game. So i did and i thought you could order the feather stylus for free if you had the game. If there is any chance to give me one , send me a order phorme. ty.” Cody
WW: The feather stylus is a US only promotion, which is obtained by registering your copy of Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo of America website and then filling out a survey. More details can be found here.
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We like this hack, which basically involves hooking up a dance mat to a Game Boy Advance. If the video is to be believed, you can play a nice relaxing game of Pac-Man just be stamping your feet in the appropriate direction. Crazy stuff, but oddly compelling. Could it point the way towards Balance Board/Nintendo DS interoperability in the future?
Unless our eyes are mistaken, that looks like a regular size Wiimote propped up next to the smallest HD television in the world. No, waitaminnit, we’ve got things the wrong way round. That’s actually the largest Wiimote in the world, looming over an equally massive HD television and about to start a fight for control of the living room.
Unfortunately it’s not a working Wiimote, it’s just a cabinet built by one lucky gamer’s dad to store - I dunno - stuff. It’s mighty impressive though, and we’re green with envy. The only time my parents got out a hammer and saw was to bust me out of juvenile detention, but that’s another story for another time.
Wii hacks? Can’t get enough of ‘em. That little Bluetooth module inside each and every Wiimote has proved to be a blessing disguise, and each day brings a new and exciting development in DIY engineering. The latest and greatest is this studenty hack for the Sony AIBO (remember those?), with the Wiimote being used to control the useless dogbot to an unprecedented degree.
Dubbed the “Wiibot” by students at the University of Calgary, it’s a research project based on human device interaction. In the video above, they compare the Wiimote hack against standard keypad input controls; can you guess who comes out the winner?
At this juncture we’d make some fanboyish observation about Nintendo technology once again kicking Sony’s ass, but it’s late on a Friday afternoon and our mind is busy with thoughts of the pub. Woof!
 
 
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