This one’s called “Stadium Funky” (in Japanese, anyway) and requires you to collect the coins. There’s a very specific order to picking them up if you want to get the best possible time, and the official site informs you to check the map in the bottom-right corner to secure the best route.

Does anyone still bother with the online challenges? I’ve not attempted the last two or three, but it’s nice for Nintendo to consider DLC for at least one of their games, even if it’s really just allowing access to code which is already on the disk.

Meanwhile, Xbox 360 owners today got their hands on some downloadable content for Fable II in the form of an additional island - whose quests should take between two and four hours to complete. It’s 535Mb’s worth of extra stuff. Compare and contrast, folks. Compare and contrast.

Does Wii’s lack of storage space mean we’re getting short-changed when it comes to extra content? Should we expect more from Nintendo in this day and age? Or are you happy with just having a £40 game that’s never going to offer anything more than what’s in the box?

Bookmark It

Japanese Wii owners are to get another pleasant surprise this Spring - Nintendo is readying its own TV channel which can be watched by anyone with a Wii and an internet connection.  According to an article in The Times, “the Wiinoma channel is expected to deliver a family- oriented blizzard of cartoons, “brain-training” quizzes, cookery, educational and other lifestyle shows: all of it original content produced exclusively for Nintendo.”

The piece also hints that Nintendo is strongly considering expanding the idea into international markets, finally allowing westerners a piece of the multimedia pie we’ve been eyeing so greedily in secret.

Given the speed (or lack thereof) of the videos on the Nintendo Channel or the Wii Shopping Channel, I’d be surprised if this was a serious rival to ‘proper’ TV, but television bosses in Japan are apparently already quaking in their boots - they’ve been moaning that Wii is gobbling up all their viewers as it is, and this will undoubtedly make the situation even worse.

The Nintendomination continues.

Bookmark It

And it’s a faintly festive theme, as I hoped for in my post about the last tourney - well, it’s set in the snow, at least. I guess that’s about the closest we were going to get.

So, DK’s Snowboard Cross is the setting, and it’s one of those tricksy gate challenges. This looks a little more difficult than the last one, as you’ll have to use the ramps to jump through many of the numbered gates, and the Japanese translation suggesting a “cool action to jump in” may hint at the need to do a few stunts along the way.

As with every Mario Kart challenge, it’ll run for ten days, from the 15th to the 25th. Whether this will be the final challenge or whether the tourneys will run well into the new year is unclear - let’s hope it’s the latter, as it’s a nice way to keep the game feeling fresh, even as we Wii owners suffer from the lack of DLC for our games.

Bookmark It

It’s been a long time coming, but finally you can chat away to your Wii friends using the Wii Speak Channel - assuming your pals have the peripheral in question and have downloaded said channel from the Wii Shop, that is.

And it all works very well. My wife’s round at her parents’ house today, and we were both able to talk in a fairly relaxed manner, with Wii Speak picking up our speech very well. While we got the odd bit of echoey lag (I could hear myself speak when I raised my voice, which came through a couple of seconds after I’d spoken) the sound quality was decent, and background noise was barely noticeable. At least until my son decided to start shouting from the other side of the room…

Once you’ve downloaded the channel and accessed it from the Wii Menu, you can start adding your friends into a central space by ticking off their names - a Wii Speak mic will appear next to their usernames assuming they have said channel installed. Once you’ve added them, they’ll appear in a circle within your own space, which has plenty of room and can be scrolled around by holding the B button and moving the pointer. If you want to chat with one or more people, it’s a simple case of selecting their icon and inviting them to a chat. Assuming they accept you can then start having a chinwag. A nice touch is that you can add Miis to represent you, and swap between them instantly. Sound waves move out from the icon when you’re speaking while your Mii will turn to ‘face’ who you’re chatting to, with their mouth moving up and down as you talk. Lovely stuff.

You also have the ability to send short voice messages to friends, even if they don’t have the channel installed. I was given a warning that it might take a little while to arrive in my friend’s inbox, so I’ll check with him later to see if and when it arrived.

It’s a shame this wasn’t bundled with the Wii, as it would have offered a great social option from the outset. As it is, Nintendo will do well to make its audience more aware of this, as it’s a function which will no doubt appeal outside the core gamer demographic.

I’ll report further on Wii Speak’s effectiveness next week, once I’ve tried it out with a few more Wii Friends in a round-table chat and also in Animal Crossing.

Bookmark It

Eurogamer has a piece up clarifying the situation regarding Wii Speak, which caused certain internet-goers to get all flustered when they thought they wouldn’t be able to get hold of the peripheral second-hand.

(Though why you’d want to buy a second-hand peripheral I don’t know. Games are one thing, but controllers and other accessories I’d never consider getting pre-owned. Maybe you’re different, but it just seems a bit weird to me.)

Anyway, I digress. Nintendo had the following to say about the matter: ”Nintendo can confirm that when consumers purchase the Wii Speak accessory, they are provided with a Wii Download Ticket with a unique number. The ticket, which can be redeemed via the Wii Shop Channel, will enable the user to download the Wii Speak Channel free of charge to a single Wii console. Any consumer who may have misplaced their Wii Download Ticket number for the Wii Speak Channel or require a new number following a Wii exchange may contact their local Nintendo Customer Services department, where they can request a replacement Wii Download Ticket number.”

So that’s that, then. If you’re getting a preowned Wii Speak, then you’ll still be able to download the Channel. Praise be.

Bookmark It

It’s that time again, folks. Time to get downloading the latest data from the Mario Kart Wii channel, and get to beating my time on the latest online challenge.

For those who haven’t tried it yet, it’s a coin-collectathon around Maple Treeway, with a whole host of Wigglers to avoid. You’ll have to trust me on this one, as my screengrabber’s on the fritz, but my time stands at 37.193 seconds.

What I’ll need - as per usual - is pictorial evidence that you’ve beaten me. Prove it by uploading a snap of your time to any image hosting site, and then posting the link as a comment on this here post.

Whoever has the best time by 9am this coming Friday gets a copy of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon on Wii - a terrific little roguelike RPG that will keep you playing long into the winter months.

Good luck!

Bookmark It

Well, after promising faithfully that I’d be setting a time for you readers to beat on the last Mario Kart Wii online challenge, I found myself swallowed up by the rising tide of games produced during this silly season. But the next one - due to start on 1st October - is on one of my favourite tracks (the gorgeous Maple Treeway) and I’ll have prizes to give away to whoever can beat my time by the most.

The challenge is apparently to collect as many coins as you can - these are revealed by driving through the piles of leaves scattered across the track whilst avoiding the Wigglers. Sounds simple enough.

I’ll be posting details of the compo next Monday, which gives you the weekend to practise.

Bookmark It

And I may well be entering this one, and letting you lot compete to beat my time and win a prize or two. Watch this space over the next day or two. Anyhoo, the latest tournament details are up on the Japanese site, and the description (via Google Translate) has me a little confused. See below…

“RUIJISAKITTO” limited to handle the Wii, the cart is limited to race. The box also does not have the item! Go to the back of the cart and set in motion. Use a good slipstream to please the top prize.

So Luigi’s Circuit - got that. Karts only, Wii Wheel only - fine. But ‘go to the back of the cart and set in motion’? Surely you don’t have to get out and push? Any ideas, readers?

I guess we’ll all find out tomorrow when the new tournament is made available for download. Which makes me wonder how many more tourneys can we expect from Nintendo? Will it be supported for a year? More? Until Mario Kart Wii 2?

Who knows. But this is one of the best lifespan-extending ideas Nintendo’s had in an age. Let’s see more of this sort of thing. Like downloadable tracks for Wii Music perhaps, or new exercises for Wii Fit.

Bookmark It

I missed this yesterday unfortunately while away on a press trip, but suffice to say if you didn’t already know, now you do. Wii Speak and the related Wii Speak Channel (for to chat with your mates when you don’t want to play Animal Crossing) will be available on December 5th, as will Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City.

In a rare outbreak of total common sense, the game and the peripheral will both be available to buy separately, and also bundled together.

So there you have it. Just the facts, because that’s all that’s needed here. Oh, and a nice bit of Animal Crossing artwork released today by Nintendo.

Bookmark It

Here. According to Google Translate:

“Sambo was a giant! “DOSSUN field,” appeared in the Battle of Sambo. Sambo gigantic sunshade in the attack, while soldiers with bomb attacks please.”

Shocking. Looks to me like a Pokey which you have to defeat in the quickest time possible - certainly the pics suggest so - but I’m not sure quite what to expect after that description. Any ideas, readers?

The tournament runs from 1st October to the 10th. I might just give this one a go, and revive the old beat-my-time competition. Watch this space.

Bookmark It